Star Wars Winter Lego Sets 2012

It is heading into that time of year that most Lego fans are getting anxious for...  The European Summer SW Lego releases.

Photographs have been sourced from the Eurobricks forum.

This European Summer (winter here...) we will get the following:

• Jabba's Palace.
• Desert Skiff.
• Gungan Sub.
• Saesee Tiin's Jedi Starfighter.
• Pre Vizsla's Starfighter.
• The Malevolence.
• Republic Striker - Class Starfighter
• Sith Fury - Class Starfighter. 

We also get an additional 3 planet sets as well, all 3 are from the Original Trilogy being:

• X-Wing Starfighter and Yavin 4.
• Twin-Pod Cloud Car and Bespin.
• AT-ST and Endor.

From first inspection I'd say there is a healthy blend between EU, CW and the 6 movies.  

From the EU we have two sets being the Republic Striker and the Sith Fury both from Bioware's 'The Old Republic' (TOR) game.

We have 2 Sets from the Return of the Jedi, Desert Skiff and Jabba's Palace while 1 more set appears from The Phantom Menace being the Gungan Sub.

The Clone Wars animated series receives 3 sets being Saesee Tiin's JSF, Pre Vizsla's Starfighter and The Malevolence.

First Impressions 'The Old Republic' sets:

Republic Striker

Pieces: 376
Minifigures: Satele Shan, T7-O1 & Republic Trooper.
Price:  $80 AUD

Initially I liked the look of this set, I think its a fair representation of the craft from the game and should have mass market appeal with the children even if they do not know much about the game.

Iamge from:  http://www.spielwaren-kontor24.de/Lego/LEGO-Star-Wars/LEGO-Star-Wars-9497-Republic-Striker-Starfighter

 The 3 minifigures are a fine selection as the trooper and Jedi Shan are featured in the following clip

The droid is a standard style from that era as portrayed in TOR and features heavily in Bioware's original release of the Kinghts of the Old Republic I and II.

The design from first inspection seems to reflect the style of this ship quite well, it features flick missiles which are always a hit with the kids and the canopy looks like it would sufficiently hold Satele or the trooper quite comfortably.

My only concern is the fact that the republic trooper appears with no helmet in any of the pics nor preliminaries.  It would've been nice if you opened up the set and received one inside for a different appearance, more generic trooper as opposed to the trooper shown above, as iconic as he is.

The next set is the Sith Fury, also from TOR.

Sith Fury

 Being Sith it features only Sith along with the more iconic figure in the game Darth Malgus (features in all of the trailers and appears as the Sith lord in the clip above).

 

Pieces: 748

Minifgures: Darth Malgus & 2 Sith

Price: $139 AUD

My first impression of this set is the size of the Fury, it looks significantly bigger than the Republic Striker shown above. I like that the fins can fan out at the back, giving it a cross between the tie look and the sith infiltrator that we have come to know in the movies.

The 2 types of minifigures are good, one Sith Lord (Malgus) and 2 troopers, these troopers look like they would in the game and as have been shown on various comics and associated texts relating to the Old Republic game.

Personally looking forward to this set to see what surprises or details that Lego have designed with this set.

I would say two strong debut sets from 'The Old Republic' hopefully we can get a few more of these in the future.

Clone Wars sets:

Saesee Tiin's Jedi Starfighter:

We have had a few of these over the last few years, there has been Plo Koon's, Mace Windu's Anakin Skywalker's and Obi-Wan Kenobi's (featuring the Hyperspace booster ring) and not that much has changed apart from the colour or character.

Pieces: 244

Minifigures: Saesee Tiin, R4-C9 & Even Piell.

Price:  $60

The minifigure contained in this set look good firstly, however the seem an odd assortment. Piell was in the Citadel trilogy of the Clone Wars Season 3 and as he was killed within that story arc it makes no sense to include him in this set.  Lego being Lego they tend to do that (similar scenario for the Gungan Sub).

Saesee Tinn appears to be the same minifigure from the T-6 Jedi Shuttle from 2010, with R4 being a new colour droid and Even Piell being an all new minifigure.

Flick missiles on the front seem to be one of the few subtle changes that have been made to this set.

Overall, not too impressed with this set, not saying its a bad set, just doesn't make me want to rush out and add it to my collection straight away either.

The Malevolence:

An unusual selection this set, being its inclusion was part of a 3 story arc early in season 1.   The ship itself looks great in the cartoon show not too sure here though...

Pieces: 1094

Minifigures: Anakin Skywalker, Padme Amidala, Count Dooku, General Grevious & 2 Battle Droids.

Price:  $179 AUD

I'm not sure why, but this Seperatist ship doesn't grab me, perhaps we could've seen Grevious' flagship the 'Invisible Hand' may have been a more appropriate choice.

The scale of the ship looks impressive and the Ion electronic weapon is reasonable created using the lego diodes.

Minifgures in this set are what you would expect from the story arc, Dooku, being the leader of the Seperatists, Padme and Anakin who has to rescue the former and Grevious as he was in command of the ship throughout its brief tenure on the show.

It is good to see another Count Dooku minifigure included, I cannot remember the last set that he was in...

Perhaps a more iconic ship from this canon could've been selected? there are a number out there as the Clone Wars is continually pushing the realms of the Star Wars EU.

The last addition to the Clone Wars sets for this mid year release is Pre Vizsla's Starfighter.

Pre Vizsla's Mandalorian Starfighter: 

Pieces: TBC

Minifigures: Obi-Wan Kenobi, Pre Vizsla & Mandalorian.

Price:  TBC

I'm excited for this set, I don't think that there is enough Mandalorian influence in Lego as a generalisation.  The inclusion of Pre Vizsla is a good idea and an additional Mandalorian trooper to accompany the 4 in last years battle pack gives a healthy number of Mandalorians.

The ship takes its origins from the Season 2 Death Watch arc whereby these ships have featured, also re-emerged in season 4.

The minifigs accompanying this set deal with the confrontation between Pre Vizsla and Obi-Wan and make sense to include them both.

I am disappointed with the weapon given to Vizsla, the sword looks cheap and nasty, perhaps a ninjago sword could've been used?

I can see that it has the same rotational element as the T-6 Jedi Shuttle however, I wonder if the wings will invert as they do in the show? if they do I would be completely sold on this set being the pick of the bunch for the Clone Wars sets. 

The movie sets from are only 3 however we get an update on all 3 previous releases:

• Gungan Sub.
• Jabba's Palace.
• Desert Skiff.

The Gungan Sub is another set updated from the original release in 1999 when the movie came out.

Pieces: TBC

Minifigures: Obi-Wan Kenobi, Pre Vizsla & Mandalorian.

Price:  $100 AUD

The deficiencies in the first where more cosmetic than anything else as it was more movie accurate than some of the others released back then.  One of the few issues back then was the fact that the set couldn't accomodate all 3 of Qui-Gon, Jar Jar and Obi-Wan.  The 2012 version has fixed this and I think its a nicer set because of it.  

It holds the shape of the Gungan sub rather well and the inclusion of flick missiles gives it an added level of playability although they resemble no relevance to the  movie. 

the minifigures are great, a more orange haired Obi-Wan than the original and the updated Qui-Gon and Jar Jar from last year.  

The shining light in this set is the new Queen Amidala and her red flowing gown which seems iconic for very little reason but is.  When this minfigure was unveiled at SDCCC last year I was excited to see how they would add her to the line, putting her in this set makes no real sense, but I couldn't think of another way to include her with any of the vehicles save from creating the Naboo Royal Starship...

A solid set, made the more so by the Queen's inclusion.

The last 2 sets that have been included in the mid year release are the Desert Skiff and Jabba's Palace.

The Desert Skiff:

Pieces: 213

Minifigures: Kithaba, Land (Skiff Disguise), Luke Skywalker & Boba Fett.

Price:  $50 AUD

I like this set as it is an update on the original we received almost 10 years ago.   although the original wasn't a bad set, probably more detailed than most of that era, this set is an upgrade that brings the ship closer to the movie.

The minifigures aren't bad, Luke has a a greyer tunic than before and adding Kithaba was a nice touch considering he has just featured in Hasbro's Vintage collection for action figures.  Boba Fett is the modern version with an upgrade and the Lando figure looks quite nice too.

The Sarlac actually looks more

All in all not a bad mid sized set.

The last set to be brought out this year is Jabba's Palace... and what a might set it is.

Jabba's Palace:

Pieces: 717
Minifigures: 9 (see below)
Price:  $200 AUD

The minifigures are solid, we get a new Jabba (with painted eyes and body), a Salacious Crumb, painted Gammorean Guard, Han Solo in Carbonite, Boussh with the Leia Hair piece as an option, Oola, an updated Bib Fortuna, Chewie and a B'Omar Monk.

I like play sets from Lego for Star Wars, we have had a few more of them in the last couple of years with last year's Echo base, the Battle of Endor 2 years before that, the Death Star and now we get a better version of the original release of Jabba's Palace.

I don't want to build this set up too much but I think this set has me most excited as I missed out on the original release back in 2002...


Palpatine's arrest has a few pictures up now but no confirmation as to who will ship this and if in 2012

EU or not EU?

Star Wars is generally associated with two era's, the Original Trilogy (OT) or the Prequel Trilogy (PT).  These 2 era's are the most significant within the Star Wars universe, however, with the release of Bioware's MMO 'The Old Republic' a new generation of people are now exposed to a period that lies outside the accepted PT or OT time line in an era known as the EU (Expanded Universe).

The EU is not limited to a period of time that exists before the OT or PT, rather, it can be loosely defined as the period of time that occurs before, between (to a certain extent as the Clone Wars series fills in most of the details) and after the 6 movies.

EU is not a new concept for those who are engrossed in the SW universe and perhaps it would be wise to have a look at how some of the earlier origins of this canon developed.

The 2 pieces that had the most impact on the EU can be defined as the novel/comic Shadows of the Empire and the Thrawn Trilogy.  These two pieces of work gave fans answers to two questions that seemed to exist from almost the moment Episode 5 - The Empire Strikes Back and Episode 6 - The Return of the Jedi, these questions were "What happened to Han and how did he end up in Jabba's palace?" and "what happened to the Empire after the demise of the Emperor and Darth Vader after the defeat at Endor?"  These 2 pieces gave us the first look into a universe far beyond to the 6 films and for those who read these a new world of potential opened up.

The first of the Thrawn Trilogy, Heir to the Empire was published in 1991, a novel by Timothy Zahn.  This gave fans their first look at the years after the battle of Endor where the Empire re-appears under the leadership of one of Emperor Palpatine's Grand Admirals.  Grand Admiral Thrawn was introduced, which is an iconic moment as he is a non human (a blue skinned Chiss), something not typically seen in the upper echelons of the Empire.

In this trilogy we were introduced to the species the Noghri, a lethal species whose debt to the Empire was a result of Darth Vader and his interaction with their home world.  The cloned mad Jedi Master Joruus C'Boath on a planet called Wayland.  Mara Jade an ex-employee of the Emperor's court working for a smuggler Talon Karrde  on the planet Myrkr, where a species of force repellent creatures exist.

This trilogy deals with the conflicts between people who hold others responsible for their current situation, while delving into the lives of the heroes we followed in the OT movies.  Han and Leia are married and expecting twins, Luke is dealing with his fathers past, all these aspects and the new characters introduced couple with Zahn's writing style led to a thoroughly enjoyable first step into the unknown post the movies.
  

Shadows of the Empire followed after the success of the Thrawn trilogy.  This novel dealt with the interplay between Darth Vader and a Vigo of the Black Sun criminal organisation named Xizor, a Falleen, both who were positioning for Palpatine's favour.  Luke, Leia and Lando along with Wedge Antilles from Rogue Squadron are pursuing Boba Fett on his way to deliver Han to Jabba.

This novel continued the adventure style that we became accustomed to in Episode 6 along with a strengthening of the relationships between Leia, Luke, Chewie and Lando vying for their trust after handing Han over to the Empire in Episode 5.

Through the pursuit of Han we are introduced to another character being Dash Rendar, an individual who has no love for the Empire after the way his family was treated.  Dash is hired to assist with trying to prevent Boba from delivering to Jabba.

The characters go through highs and lows on their way to getting to the point where Episode 6 begins, this reinforces the start of that movie, understanding how they came to be where they were and the change in characters, such as Bouush being played by Leia.

The success of these 2 stories led to a hole spawn of other EU novels, majority of these leading up to the last 3 main series of stories being the New Jedi Order, Legacy of the Force and The Fate of the Jedi.

The New Jedi Order dealt with a new threat to the whole Galaxy by a species called the Yuuzhan Vong.  The Yuuzhan Vong were a warrior caste that detested technology and considered only organic creatures to be acceptable and everything else being a perversion of life and as such waged war against what they thought to be an inferior collection of species.

This series was memorable for several reasons, one being the murder of Chewie very early in the series (the first time one of the main characters had been killed outside of the movies) and Anakin Solo later on, the other memorable being the capacity for the Yuuzhan Vong to resist all the techniques that Jedi could use, the lightsaber had no affect on their weapons or armour and the force was futile as they could not manipulate nor sense the Yuuzhan Vong in the force, this made for a particularly interesting time in Star Wars history as the EU went back to a dark place similar to the OT.

The Legacy of the Force series dealt with the slide of the Solo's other son Jacen to the dark side of the force through the guidance of Lumiya, Jacen's relationship with his Uncle Luke was an interesting side note along with Jacen's torturous ways and his appreciation for the way that his Grandfather (Darth Vader) handled matters.

Under Jacen's command the military waged war on races of people and included the burning of the Wookiee planet Kashyyyk, used his influence with a Jedi apprentice Tehiri Vella who he had slay the Imperial leader Giliad Pellaeon.

Jacen raised the fury of Boba Fett by killing his daughter along with Luke's wife Mara Jade.  In the end it was Boba Fett who helped train Jaina Solo to fight her brother using Mandalorian techniques to overcome and eventually slay him.        

The events of the Legacy of the Force flowed into the Fate of the Jedi Series.

Within the Fate of the Jedi Series we read about the power struggle between the Galactic Alliance leader Natasi Daala and the Jedi Order, whereby she exiles Grand Master Luke Skywalker as a result of Jacen's actions.  Luke takes the opportunity to trace Jacen's steps and to try and see where he went wrong.

While this is unfolding another series of events leads to the emergence of 'The Lost Tribe of the Sith' a race that has evolved in hiding from the days of Naga Sadow.  The race of Sith emerge in part to work with Luke Skywalker against the evil power known as Abeloth, who has been awakened.

Events in this series unfold highlighting the power in the force and the link to past traditions are broken down, a tribe of Sith defies Lord Bane's rule of 2, Jedi have attachments and they are strong but help them identify who they are as well.


In the last few years we have also seen a shift in Star Wars EU literature, there is less of the 'After Battle of Yavin' (ABY) than previously written and more filling in the period of time identified as 'The Old Republic'.

The Old Republic tells stories of the Sith through 3 novels to date specifically:

Fatal Alliance
Deceived.
Revan.

These 3 novels tend t deal with the period of time before the rule of 2 and are approximately 3700 years before the Battle of Yavin (BBY).

There have also been several others that have been written throughout that deal with the evolution of the galaxy as we knew it in the movies.  Darth Bane established the 'Rule of two' which played key role in the 6 movies.

There have been other pieces that have been written about closer to the period of the BBY, in Knight Errant some 1000 years (approx) before the modern movies.

My point is that we can no longer see Star Wars as purely OT vs PT when the EU has played such a big hand in the way people view Star Wars these days.

Merchandise

Merchandise has also embraced the EU, in the current Hasbro Line there are several EU figures on the market, two being Darth Malgus from 'The Old Republic' and Nom Anor a Yuuzhan Vong from the New Jedi Order novel series. Others released in this collection include Galen Marek from 'The Force Unleashed' computer games, Bastila Shan (shown below with Revan and Malak) from the original 'Knights of the Old Republic' computer game and Shae Vizsla also from 'The Old Republic' MMO.

Preceding this was in the Thirty Anniversary Collection with Darth Malak, Darth Revan both from the 'Kinghts of the Old Republic' (shown in the image below)  and a Pre Cyborg Grievous.

Imaged sourced from:
http://flickrhivemind.net/Tags/revan/Recent

Lego have also had sets that they released based upon the EU, some of these include the to be released Old Republic Sets:

Images sourced on Eurobricks forum 

The Old republic has received a lot of merchandise support ranging from comics, computer accessories to clothing, offered by a company called Jinx    

Even the 12" figure market has been littered with EU characters, ranging from Darth Malgus a pack in for the Collectors Edition of 'The Old Republic' game to the Shae Vizsla and Darth Revan busts.  The EU appears to be growing in popularity further supporting the claim that there are now 3 legitimate cannons OT, PT and EU.

The original break through in EU products was Hasbro's Power of the Force collection which shows the Dark Empire characters many of whom were in the Thrawn Trilogy, these figures came with a 3D diorama on the packaging.

Imaged Source from Brains Toys

There was also the successful Shadows of the Empire line as well which featured the 5 figures shown below to accompany the first of the comic 2 packs (Darth Vader vs Prince Xizor and Boba Fett vs IG-88) along with Dash Rendar's Outrider and a Swoop with rider.

Imaged Sourced from Brians Toys

It is my hope that through this post people have come to understand the role that the EU plays in the life of a Star Wars fan, I acknowledge that it is not too everyones liking, some see it as a perversion of the original story, I tend to view it as an expansion on the liberties we see in the original movies.  The EU provides fans with the opportunity to see relationships grow, friends die, conflicts rise and enemies renew.

Material for this article has been sourced using Wookieepedia, Starwars.com, Rebelscum.com, Jeditemplearchives.com and Eurobricks.com

A long time ago...

Cliché I know, as this is the first post I thought that I would start off with something a little iconic, and the scroll through text seemed perfect for a blog post title.


As stated I'm interested in Star Wars, my passion includes Hasbro's assorted line of figures and vehicles, Lego and their play sets, Selected 1/6 figures and Star Wars Literature.


Through this blog I hope to talk about some of the upcoming figures, Lego sets and a number of all things Star Wars that pop on the net.


I hope that you enjoy my blog and any feedback on how to improve it or what you would like to see would be greatly appreciated.