Lego Star Wars 2014

Some of the new Lego Sets for 2014 are up on the website for purchase:

http://shop.lego.com/en-AU/Star-Wars-ByTheme

The sets that are currently listed are:

75038 - Jedi Interceptor
75039 - V-Wing Starfighter
75042 - Droid Gunship
75043 - AT-AP
75044 - Droid Tri-fighter
75045 - Republic AV-7 Anti-Vehicle Cannon.
75046 - Coruscant Police Gunship

Not all the sets have been released but its not a bad start considering they aren't supposed to be out for a little while...

The following have yet to make an appearance online:

(Images sourced from Eurobricks)

Grabbed 3 so pretty happy post boxing day...

Star Wars the Black Series and sneak Peak of some Lego 2014 sets

The black series has been in Australia for around 2 months now and so far all that has been seen retail wise is series 1 and 2 of the 3.75" and series 1 of the 6", series 2 has already dropped in the US and can be found here at on line e-tailers in most countries presently.

Series 2 of the 6" is rather impressive, I think the character selection is stronger with Boba Fett being there, Greedo is a far stronger character than Biggs and has been long overdue also, both Han and Leia Speak for themselves too.

My criticism of the 3.75" line has been its rather week character selection wave 2 does nothing to refute this idea either, clearly Pablo Jill, Mara Jade Skywalker and Luminara Unduli are the strength of the wave although this has also been tempered by a sub par Mara Jade figure, the full wave can been seen below:

Personally I feel that Hasbro have thrown far too many troopers into the first two waves and really should have thought about some other characters to break it up a little.  

A list of the current waves and the pending third wave can be seen at Yakface in their toyguide section, several other figures from the second half of this year can be seen there also.

Jedi Temple Archives have had some images up of some of the third wave of figures coming out in the black series 3.75" the more impressive figures are Darth Plageuis, Vizam and Merumeru, suffice to say that Rex and Neyo are the only clones of this wave too, hopefully this trend continues next year.

Lego:

Someone on the internet has shown some images of the upcoming lego sets for next year as you can see from the clip the figures are place holders only, these are working images one would imagine, on first impression I think the cannon lacks, the little 'chibi' vehicles look rather good, the AT-AP which has been previewed at SDCC looks rather good but its a little light on as a wave, personally I believe that this is the wave suffers from being the first of Disney's involvement since the takeover of Lucasfilm and its subsidiaries, hopefully it is only a glitch.

Star Wars product starting to hit Australia

In the last few weeks we've had a number products from Hasbro and Lego arrive in Australia:

There have been the mission series figures found at toyworld

The vehicles have started appearing at Target. Selling for $35 each.

K-mart has the saga legends selling for $10 with the 2 pack mission series selling for $15, both prices are quite reasonable.

The black series has been found at Minotaur in Melbourne, however these are imported and the prices are extremely over the top! (check the link - the prices will shock you!)

Toys R Us have the vintage X-Wing in stock (this is Bigg's one from Episode IV)


Also Lego have had their mid year wave arrive in the last 3-4 weeks, with the sets shown in prior posts. click here to view them

lego, hasbro

Celebration Europe and Star Wars.

Wow... what a start to celebration!

starwars.com has a few blogs, one confirming John Williams as the composer for episode 7, possibly the worst kept secret! The other cool piece of information related to Star Wars Rebels, Dave Filoni provided some screen grabs from the upcoming season, the man never disappoints.  

Here is some of the artwork from this upcoming series..

These images can be found at starwars.com

Looking at these pics it can be clearly seen that McQuarrie has definitely inspired this series.  I cannot wait till we see some more.

On a local note there has been a recent influx of Star Wars products with the Lego 2013 line being:

• 75015 Corporate Alliance Tank Droid.
• 75016 Homing Spider Droid.
• 75017 Duel on Geonosis.
• 75018 Jek-14's Stealth Starfighter.
• 75019 AT-TE
• 75020 Jabba's Sail Barge.
• 75021 Republic Gunship.

These can be found on the Lego store here

Another product that has shown up without much fanfare has been The Vintage Collection X-Wing (specifically Biggs red X-Wing), I purchased this item my self yesterday at Toys R Us in Melbourne.

(Image from rebelscum.com forums)

 

a UCS Nebulon B Frigate

Over at Eurobricks someone has done their own MOC of the iconic Nebulon B Frigate seen at the end of The Empire Strikes Back and more prominently throughout The Return of the Jedi.

Here is the link to check it out, its impressive, hopefully one day Lego will actually make this model!

http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=84136&#entry1632682

Star Wars Rebels to come in 2014

Hot off the Press courtesy from starwars.com Dave Filoni the Director and one of the creative genius' from the Clone Wars animated series over the last 6 years is involved in bringing a brand new animated series to screens the world over.

There undoubtedly will be numerous questions with this announcement, such as who will the characters be, what shape will the time frame be and how will these blend in with the prequel trilogy and the original trilogy?

I'm sure that in time and possibly the not too distant future some of these questions will be answered, most likely at Celebration Europe where Kathleen Kennedy (CEO of Lucasfilm) will be in attendance.

The statement from the Starwars.com website can be seen below:

New Animated Series Star Wars Rebels Coming Fall 2014

May 20, 2013

Production has begun on Star Wars Rebels, an exciting, all-new animated television series based on one of the greatest entertainment franchises of all time. Scheduled to premiere in fall 2014 as a one-hour special telecast on Disney Channel, it will be followed by a series on Disney XD channels around the world.
Leading the development of the series is a creative team of exceptional talent. Screenwriter/producer Simon Kinberg (X-Men: First Class, Sherlock Holmes, Mr. & Mrs. Smith) is an executive producer on Star Wars Rebels and will write the premiere episode. He is joined by Dave Filoni as executive producer, who served as supervising director of the Emmy nominated Star Wars: The Clone Wars since 2008. Executive producer Greg Weisman brings with him a wealth of animation experience with credits such as Young Justice, The Spectacular Spider-Man and Gargoyles.
Gary Marsh, president and chief creative officer, Disney Channels Worldwide, said, "The entire team at Lucasfilm has provided extraordinary creativity and innovation for over three decades, and we're thrilled to be bringing the expansive and imaginative world of Star Wars to Disney XD's viewers."
"I couldn't be more excited to explore new corners of the Star Wars universe," said Kathleen Kennedy, president, Lucasfilm. "I think Star Wars Rebels will capture the look, feel and fun that both kids and their parents love about Star Wars."
The action-filled series is set between the events of Episode III and IV -- an era spanning almost two decades never-before explored on-screen. Star Wars Rebels takes place in a time where the Empire is securing its grip on the galaxy and hunting down the last of the Jedi Knights as a fledgling rebellion against the Empire is taking shape. Details about the show are a closely guarded secret at this point.

Star Wars Rebels will be produced by Lucasfilm Animation, featuring many of the key talents that made Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Fans attending Star Wars Celebration Europe will be the first to get an exclusive look at the new series. Casting will be announced at a later date. More information about this developing project will be found on StarWars.com and on Facebook at facebook.com/starwarsrebels.

There is also a you tube clip of this impromptu discussion

75025 Jedi Defender-class Cruiser

Pictures from Eurobricks showing the new Old Republic set to be released this winter.

This will be one of the winter exclusive sets, possibly a Toys R Us exclusive here in Oz although you never can tell.

This set strangely comes with a Sith Holocron, perhaps this is the point as they are hunting the Jedi to get it back.

I like the way the front of the ship opens up, gives a nice bridge feel to the ship.

The engines look quite big which is nice it gives the appearance of a certain level of size to the ship, perhaps they could've doubled the blue translucent engine as indication of both speed and size, the one looks a little too small in its housing.

The minifigures that accompany this set are:

One being the Sith Warrior, Jedi Consular (white - Murilan) and the Jedi Zabrek.  Funnily enough they have not been given names just their game character class, an unusual step but possibly one that will allow lots of play-ability going forward.  having two of each Sith and Jedi in the one set is nice again, perhaps a republic trooper or two could've been added and that would've filled this set out nicely. 

Overall:

This is the 5th Old Republic set in the last 12-18 months which would be safe to assume that there has been a good take up of this product as a sub theme in the Star Wars Universe.  Perhaps going forward we can get a few smugglers and a couple of mercenaries. 

Clone Wars on ABC3 in Australia starting the 4th of May.

According to 'The Age' in Melbourne  Season 5 (the last of them after Disney announced they would no longer continue with the animated series sometime ago mentioned below) follows the paths of numerous characters that people have come to love...  Who will fall is the mantra of this season and one can only wait to see how the last of this series plays out... and who may be left standing at the end.

Lego Set 75024 HH-87 Starhopper

I came across this on the internet at Eurobricks:

This set has been rumored and some preliminary images have been around for sometime, however this is the first time that images of sufficient detail have surfaced.

On first inspection I like the set, it gives you another Cad Bane (you can never have too many of those!), Obi-Wan Kenobi as Rako Hardeen from the Bounty Hunter Arc, and a Nikto Guard, no its not a weequay, look closely at the face and it appears to be a Nikto from this Arc when they land on Nal Hutta. 

Image sourced from wookiepedia.com

The one disappointing aspect of this set is that there will be no Moralo Eval the charming individual who's plan it is to assassinate the Chancelor.

Image sourced starwars.com

On the whole I am looking forward to this set very much as it brings a little more of the bounty hunter feel to the series, too often Lego has focused on the Republic vs the Separatists and missed some of the side characters from this television series, a shame that this is starting to be addressed after the series has been cancelled.

Lego 2013 Sets more pics

As this year continues to be the Annus Horribilis for Star Wars with Disney's decision to close down Lucasarts and the decision to end the Clone Wars with a little snippet of information here, its been a pretty disappointing start to Disney's takeover, however there is one thing that has still stood out for collectors and that is Lego.

This year Lego have carried the whole franchise forward as there has been little else to purchase from other suppliers.  The following images have been sourced from Eurobricks.com.

 

And ended this Clone Wars has...

News that has just come to hand has been Lucasfilms' decision to stop the Clone Wars series after season 5.

In this clip featuring Director Dave Filoni he mentions that although the series is no more, they still have material that they will release, perhaps straight to DVD?

More information will undoubtedly follow...

Lego 10240 UCS X-Wing Red 5

News from a number of forums have surfaced on the internet over the weekend of the latest Lego UCS set for this year.

Surprisingly, Lego have opted to redo one of the first UCS sets that they created being the X-Wing.

Watching the designer video its clear to see that there have been improvements from the original, personally I'd say that cross wing support is the far superior to the original that could sag due to the weight of the wing and how it was positioned

I like the detail in the air intake and the engine at the back, the canopy includes the targeting computer.  It feels from looking at the designer video that they have paid attention to detail, more so than when this set first came out.

With the sets that have been released perhaps a Slave 1 or a Jedi Interceptor could've been a good choice.  It will be interesting to see what set we get later in the year.

More images available at www.fbtb.net 

Hasbro's lineup for the rest of 2013.

Lets start off by giving Hasbro a little bit of a get out of Jail free card here.

Firstly everything that was planned for this year was thrown into dissary by Disney/Lucasfilms decision to abandon the releases of both Episode 2 and 3 in 3D this year.  One can only imagine what this would've done to product planning and line going forward.

Hasbro have prett much cancelled the Clone Wars wave for this year (being only a Eurpoean exclusive), with no more to come in the future.  These will be absorbed into the realistic look of future waves, no more animated look.

Class 1 vehicles didn't appear to have anymore this year after the first release which are already out.

So what did we get?

not much, this year is a year for a few exclusives.  In the Vintage packaging we have a Slave one with a new Han in Carbonite, Biggs X-Wing, Tie Interceptor and a Republic Gunship.

Hasbro announced a Black Series figure collection that will be highly detailed 6" figures featuring characters from the movies predominately, although the fans choice Mara Jade will be released in this line up also.

For images click on the link here


Images sourced from both Rebelscum.com and jeditemplearchives.com.

New York Toyfair - 2013 Lego SW sets

Toyfair was over the course of last weekend in New York, below are some of the images from the upcoming sets that Lego are bringing out in the second half of 2013.

New Star Wars Lego set pics from New York Toyfair 2013 (sourced from toyark.com)

75016: Homing Spider Droid

Minifigs: Stass Allie, Clone Trooper & 2 Super Battle Droids

Pieces 295

Price: $29.99 (US)

There was a version of this a couple of years ago as an exclusive set shown here, this time the it appears a little more round and comes with a spider droid.  Apart from the rounding of the droid little else has changed.

This version comes with Stass Allie as a minifigure which will please a lot of people, lego are slowly building the Jedi council piece by piece.

This set like many others seems to be released purely based upon the proposed release of both Episodes 2 and 3 in 3D this year which has been delayed

75022: Mandalorian Speeder 
Minifigs: Darth Maul (Cyborg legs), 2 x Mando Commando's
Pieces: 211 
$24.99 

This set is from the Season 5 episode The Lawless, a good episode.  I am glad that we have a couple of different paint schemed Mandalorians, between the battle pack and Pre Vizsla's starfighter over the last 2 years there has been enough death watch so new Mando's is a nice change.

The speeder itself is nothing special although its pretty representative of the episode, which is good looks like a solid build.

The minifig of the set and pretty much the purpose of the set is Darth Maul, he comes with Cyborg legs, however his legs are different in this arc to previously when they were created as such.  Its a great to have him with his legs however tempered by the fact that they don't represent what is going on with the show at this time.

75015: Corporate Alliance Tank Droid 

Minfigs: Battle Droid, Jango Fett and Clone Trooper

Pieces 271

Price $19.99 (US)  

75017: Duel on Geonosis 

Minifigs: Count Dooku, Yoda, Poggle the Lesser 

Pieces 391

Price: $39.99 (US)  

This set is an expansion/update on the AOTC set from 2002 that included Count Dooku and Yoda.  This set has been expanded to include the hangar where the battle between Anakin, Obi-Wan, Yoda and Dooku takes place.  The set introduces the 2 character being Poggle the Lesser and Dooku's droid for the solar sailor.  adding the structure is a good way to expand on another scene set which are slowly creeping in to more Star Wars sets.

75018: Jek-14's Stealth Starfighter 

Minifigs: Imperial Bounty Hunter, JEK-14, R4-G0, Special Forces Clone Trooper (blue stealth trooper)

Pieces: 550

Price: $69.99 (US) 

This set is from the Yoda Chronicles series, cannot say too much about it except that its a completely new set, interestingly enough they have a minifigure with a translucent arm, perhaps we will star getting Jedi spirit figures?

I like the shape of this craft, it looks like an E-wing, I'm sure its not put it has that appearance.

75019: AT-TE  

Minifigs: Mace Windu, Coleman Trebor, 2 x Battle Droids, Clone Trooper

Pieces: 794 

Another AOTC set (see where this is going, shame SW delayed the release of these movies (Ep 2 & 3) to work on Ep 7) this set comes with mace windu, appears to be sans the cloak from Palpatine's arrest and Coleman Trebor, a jedi who is on screen in the Geonosian Arena for 30 seconds before he is killed.

I like the look of this set, a shame that it only comes with one clone....

75020: Jabba's Sail Barge 

Minifigs: Slave Leia, Ree Yees, Max Rebo, Jabba, R2-D2, Weequay

Pieces: 850

Price $119.99 (US)

A ROTJ set here, one that has been long overdue for a remake.  This set takes perfect advantage of new Jabba's sculpt from the Jabba's palace while giving us 3 new minifgs in Max Rebo, Ree Yees and an angry Weequay.

The design doesn't seem to have the nose of the older set, however it looks quite nice, the sails and teh cannon on the top look very good, and if you combine this with the Rancor, the Palace, the Skiff you could pretty much recreate the first 30 minutes of the ROTJ, which is quite an achievement in the last 18 months from Lego.

75021: Republic Gunship 

Minifigs: Padme, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker, Clone Pilot, Clone Gunner, 2 x Super Battle Droids

Pieces:  1175

Price:  $119.99 (US)

The last of the AOTC set for the midyear release, this Gunship features all of the individuals in their pursuit of Count Dooku as he escapes the Genosian Arena.

The minifgs are a good selection and Padme even comes with her back slashed, courtesy of a pesky nexu in the Genosian Arena, perhaps an arena is in the offing a couple of years from now?

The Gunship looks like it lacks a little red as seen here.  A good looking set with nice minfigure selection here.

The last set for the Year???

75023 LEGO Star Wars Advent Calendar $39.99 254 pieces