LEGO Star Wars 2013 Analysis: Part II

The LEGO Star Wars rumours for next year are continuing. Hoth Bricks have reported a list that confirms many of those first revealed here, plus a couple of new additions. Read on for the rest of my analysis of the LEGO Star Wars line-up for 2013…

The really juicy part of the new list at Hoth Bricks are two sets previously unmentioned. That means that these are likely to be exclusive to a certain retailer. They will probably go the standard retailers in each country who tend to get LEGO Star Wars exclusives.

BARC Speeder (75012) will probably be the same sort of price as the Sith Nightspeeder (7597), although the BARC Speeder will have to be bigger than previously released versions to justify that price and fit the sidecar. It may be that this set is marked up slightly so the retailer can knock some money off later in the year (Toys R Us like to do this with their exclusives in the UK).

Umbaran MHC (75013) will hopefully be a reasonably sized set, as the Mobile Heavy Cannon is quite a cool design. Hopefully Ahsoka will have a new torso (seems unlikely) and the Umbaran soldier mini-figures could be cool. This is also another completely never done before type of set.

Neither of these will set the pulses racing too much, but this year’s line-up does include three new sets, two new-ish sets and just one definite re-do in the A-Wing (75003). That’s very impressive when compared to previous years, and shows that LEGO can surprise us with some newness in their Star Wars offerings. There isn’t a great deal of classic trilogy goodness on offer, but the excitement of the Rancor Pit (75005) makes up for the lack of quantity.

From Hoth Bricks:

Planet Series 3 (12.99 €)
75006 - Kamino & Jedi Starfigher (R4-P17 Astromech Droid)
75007 - Coruscant & Republic Assault Striker (Republic Trooper Pilot)
75008 - Asteroid Field & Tie Bomber (Tie Pilot) 
Planet Series 4 (12.99 €)
75009 - Hoth & SnowSpeeder (SnowSpeeder Pilot)
75010 - Endor & B-Wing (B-Wing Pilot)
75011 - Aldeeran & Tantive IV (Rebel Trooper) 

The new list has revealed Series 4 of the Planets sets. Whilst these are neat novelties, I still remain completely unconvinced that they are worth the asking price of £9.99. What is great about both Series 3 and 4 is that the mini-figures included are generic pilots, so will give collectors useful duplicates instead of frustrating ones. The mini builds will not contain too many surprises, but the B-Wing will be interesting to see in that scale.

The surprise from these rumour lists is the lack of Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith product. With those two films being released in 3D, more sets to tie in would have made sense as more sets from The Phantom Menace were before that film’s return to the big screen. The problem that Attack of the Clones has faced since 2008 is that The Clone Wars features similar vehicles and characters, so it probably doesn’t make sense for LEGO to make sets from both at the same time. Also The Phantom Menace  did not do numbers like The Lion King for its 3D re-release, so perhaps Star Wars licencees plan to treat these next films with more caution. On the other hand, the Summer launch may be focused on these films as it will be closer to their Autumn release date.

Let’s hope that the second wave of sets for 2013 looks as promising as this lot. With thirteen years of LEGO Star Wars having already happened, it’s hard to look at the regular range and be too blown away. But the rumour lists so far don’t leave us with the collective groan and shrug that some years have of late. The Rancor Pit is clearly the pick of the bunch, and LEGO knew what they were doing by choosing that one to showcase at ComicCon.