I've been perusing lots and lots of discussion regarding the big ticket sets of the SSD, DS, UCS R2D2 and whether or not they are a good idea to buy now, due to speculation that the EOL dates must be approaching soon this year, due to reasons such as a) already having had a long lifespan/two+ year lifespan b ) the increase in high range sets (New UCS X-Wing, etc.) as well as the incoming UCS Sandcrawler and expected Slave I displacing them soon c) various employee rumors (*chuckles*) and out-of-stock scares across various retailers.

 

What I haven't seen anyone talk about in depth is the effect of the future JJ Abrams Star Wars movie on the lifespan of current sets. I doubt that the current DS is going to live all the way to 2015, but seeing that the DS has run for this long could it be possible that they would extend the SSD, R2D2, or Sandcrawler to live up to, during, and beyond 2015 to ride the hype train purchases of the new film(s)? Or is a 2 year time increase not make sense, and LEGO would rather be producing new sets related to the new fiilm? This question would also extend to the popular 7965-1 Millennium Falcon, almost undoubtedly going to make a reappearance in the new films, as well as any other current OT sets with a moderate chance of connection to the new film.
I would suspect the Falcon, Sandcrawler, and maybe the DS to be the ones to be doing this, as they are the ones with the most playability and therefore the most likely to be sold again, since both Star Wars and LEGO is aimed at children.

 

What do you expect? Any factors not mentioned? Will the film unexpectedly cause extension of current sets, or EOL dates as we expected them to be?

 

 

(On a completely unrelated side note, what is Brickpicker's stance on necroposting? I know some forums will tolerate if a good point is brought up for discussion, and other forums will flat out frown at any form of it. @Mods?)

So considering JJ made the Enterprise about 2.5 times longer than the original (which means a significantly larger volume), I wonder how big all the new SW vehicles will be...

 

 

 

Now I really want to see battle between the Federations (TOS era) vs the Imperial Navy (RotJ era). 

I am going to excuse the TNG/DS9 era ships since anything after Dominion Wars will just obliterate the Imperial Navy

Now I really want to see battle between the Federations (TOS era) vs the Imperial Navy (RotJ era).

I am going to excuse the TNG/DS9 era ships since anything after Dominion Wars will just obliterate the Imperial Navy

And the stillness was broken by the sound of a million nerds about to throwdown. Arguing ST vs. SW is like arguing politics.....

And the stillness was broken by the sound of a million nerds about to throwdown. Arguing ST vs. SW is like arguing politics.....

It is a slow day..  and bring it on..

Couldn't resist.

 

^Nicely done     Make sense too as Enterprise D should have tech advantage but they are defensless against "mystical" powers like the Force.

 

Love the end sequence

So considering JJ made the Enterprise about 2.5 times longer than the original (which means a significantly larger volume), I wonder how big all the new SW vehicles will be...

 

 

Can you imagine a 10' Lego SSD.

That's amazing.  I didn't get that impression from the movie.  

 

I hadn't noticed the size difference either until I saw something about it on Gizmodo after the new ST movie came out.  

 

Then thinking back on it, just picture the scene in the new movie when Scotty and Kirk use the transporter to get aboard the enterprise while it's travelling at warp speed and they arrive in the "engine room" (and Scotty is in the coolant tube thingy) and just how HUGE that room is and later when they eject their "cores"  (plural)  compared to any engine room depicted in the original and next generation movies.

 

Also wondering what JJ might do with the styling, I love the old hand built model look of the original 3 SW movies, the squareness, the dirty "lots of love & use" look. DIRT looks real.  The uber pristine clean look with too many curves of the 3 SW prequels really didn't sit well with me -- I just couldn't suspend disbelief whenever I saw those ships.  JJ seems to like his curves too, hopefully he doesn't use too many otherwise we're going to need a lot of new custom LEGO parts to depict them nicely.

Ahh but LEGO has always replaced the MF with a new version every 4 years, so I think it's entirely possible we get a new, updated version.

Ahh but LEGO has always replaced the MF with a new version every 4 years, so I think it's entirely possible we get a new, updated version.

Ahh but LEGO has always replaced the MF with a new version every 4 years, so I think it's entirely possible we get a new, updated version.

Yes, if you read my post carefully, that is what I m saying. Also I think we will get a new updated deathstar sometime after it is retired. Hard to say how many years, I would guess not right away but less than 5 years.

It'd be weird to see a DS III...

That could probably be one of the worse things to happen, IMO. At least Jar-Jar was original, but repeating a third trench run? That would be pretty bad.

 

So considering JJ made the Enterprise about 2.5 times longer than the original (which means a significantly larger volume), I wonder how big all the new SW vehicles will be...

 

 

...wow. If anyone else here watches anime, this is beginning to remind me of the scale increases in Gurren Lagann...

 

Still love them snub fighters though.

 

Also wondering what JJ might do with the styling, I love the old hand built model look of the original 3 SW movies, the squareness, the dirty "lots of love & use" look. DIRT looks real.  The uber pristine clean look with too many curves of the 3 SW prequels really didn't sit well with me -- I just couldn't suspend disbelief whenever I saw those ships.  JJ seems to like his curves too, hopefully he doesn't use too many otherwise we're going to need a lot of new custom LEGO parts to depict them nicely.

They are doing precisely that. I don't remember what I read exactly, but one of the things mentioned was exactly that, that they would be embracing practical effects more over CGI, as well as shooting the movies on film, not digitally.  It seems that they are very, VERY attentive to the fanbase concerns, as opposed to Lucas taking free-reign with his story wherever HE wanted it to go. Also to note, Star Trek has always looked to be a lot more about curves and shiny ships in the first place - Abrams variation just took the existing material and emphasized it, y'know, with the gloss white reflecting allllll of those lens flares.

 

Maybe it's because for me the prequels and the OT were both out when I saw them, but I thought that aesthetically the ships were perfect. If you've seen any of the documentaries, or just have an intuition for it, the prequel design team was very centered over how things would look as time went on. Shiny ******-1 Naboo Starfighters gave way to the rugged military machines of the Republic, which gave way to that which we know best in the OT. Assuming Abrams continues this line of thought, combined with their obvious attentiveness to the complaints of the past few years, he's most likely going to be taking the rough and ready look we all know and love, which should translate beautifully to LEGO. Then again, the idea of a reborn Republic with the fall of the Empire could also mean new-looking ships...

I think if the MF is EOLed, then it will be immediately replaced with another. The history of Lego MFs is (not including the small ones):

2000: 7190

2003: 4488

2004: 4504

2007: 10179

2011: 7965

 

So yeah, looks like Lego know everyone loves the set and won't have much time when it is not available. I don't know how this impacts its investing potential. If the new MF is significantly different (larger, new minifigs, etc...) then people might want both. But if they are the same, I don't see why somone would want 7965 + whatever new one is made

So if there is a new one, which I do suspect us to be getting one, I don't plan to get it unless it either has a vastly different and improved upon interior, has a fairly decent size difference, and also has a different way on opening up the top to allow for more playability.

However, I can also see the price of 7965 go up quite a bit more than usual once retired if we get many more fans of the OT because of the new trilogy and they want to basically collect every version of the MF. Now I just want a Slave 1... never owned one and hope the rumor on the UCS one is true, just hoping that it is $150 with around 1600 pieces. Could also boost up the prices of the original ones if we don't get a new minifigure scale version of one.

So if there is a new one(EDIT: This was regarding the MF, forgot to mention that), which I do suspect us to be getting one, I don't plan to get it unless it either has a vastly different and improved upon interior, has a fairly decent size difference, and also has a different way on opening up the top to allow for more playability.

However, I can also see the price of 7965 go up quite a bit more than usual once retired if we get many more fans of the OT because of the new trilogy and they want to basically collect every version of the MF. Now I just want a Slave 1... never owned one and hope the rumor on the UCS one is true, just hoping that it is $150 with around 1600 pieces. Could also boost up the prices of the original ones if we don't get a new minifigure scale version of one.

I know the rumors are of a slave 1 UCS set this year, but I cant get over this screenshot of a possible UCS Falcon '> with what appears to be the newer, midsized star destroyers that are coming out this summer. If you compare the pieces on the very front to the pieces on the old UCS Falcon, they are pretty damn close. The one in the picture appears to have at least 4 studs at the very front, if not 5, while the old one had 5 http://brickset.com/sets/10179-1/Ultimate-Collector-s-Millennium-Falcon while the newest regular sized one only had 2. And if you also look at the "wings" on the front of the ship, it has those 4 large sunken in circles like the UCS had, and the regular sized one lacked. If you study the ships in the background, they have what appears to be the same plating and pieces as the new upcoming ISS http://brickset.com/sets/75055-1/Imperial-Star-Destroyer . This makes me think that possible large Falcon is current. This is only speculation I know, but I wouldnt mind a new UCS falcon lol.

I know the rumors are of a slave 1 UCS set this year, but I cant get over this screenshot of a possible UCS Falcon '> with what appears to be the newer, midsized star destroyers that are coming out this summer. If you compare the pieces on the very front to the pieces on the old UCS Falcon, they are pretty damn close. The one in the picture appears to have at least 4 studs at the very front, if not 5, while the old one had 5 http://brickset.com/sets/10179-1/Ultimate-Collector-s-Millennium-Falcon while the newest regular sized one only had 2. And if you also look at the "wings" on the front of the ship, it has those 4 large sunken in circles like the UCS had, and the regular sized one lacked. If you study the ships in the background, they have what appears to be the same plating and pieces as the new upcoming ISS http://brickset.com/sets/75055-1/Imperial-Star-Destroyer . This makes me think that possible large Falcon is current. This is only speculation I know, but I wouldnt mind a new UCS falcon lol.

 

Very interesting speculation.

 

out of curiosity, where did the screen shot come from? Commercial, video game, website? thanks!

Very interesting speculation.

 

out of curiosity, where did the screen shot come from? Commercial, video game, website? thanks!

It came from a screenshot from the new episodes of "The Yoda Chronicles". And after watching that show I can confirm they are flying around in a very large UCS looking Falcon. The show also has most of the newer vehicles from this past winter line and future summer line in it (including speculation about the new MTT that is in the show). However, at the very end of the episode, they show the old style sandcrawler. So there is the possibility they are just flying around the older style Falcon as well. But, only time will tell!