I am so glad we have someone like you to thoroughly explain the problem with Lego Star Wars minifigures. We almost never seem to get a good set that meets every mark, ( Great quantity and quality of minifigures, Great build, and Good value/price). One of these is always missing, and because of that I haven't bought a set this year, and I was hoping to buy something in August but now I'm not sure.

the gunship could of also included pilots. we haven't seen a phase 2 pilot sense the head hunter. that mold was so sick.

LEGO just knows that - with all loudly expressed criticism - AFOLs will just buy the sets. So why add more value if you don't have to? They know their customers,

Sad to see you didn’t say “The Justifier really didn’t JUSTIFY its price”

You really are spot on with the "added value" section. Great video.

Lego Star Wars would be saved if they gave us Ben Quadrinaros smh

That minifigs per interval graph was really great, and a great way to communicate how many minifigs should be included at any given price point. I do wonder what your opinion on UCS sets is though, say like a $500 UCS set that comes with over 4,000 pieces. Would you still include that interval considering that would come out to be about 26 minifigures?? Or would it be that the interval doesn't matter with UCS sets because those are made primarily for display and not play??

So refreshing to see educated takes about the issues with the modern Lego era. So many just complain and take the reasons given as excuses for Lego being lazy. Feels nice to see someone actually recognizing themes have a budget with the amount of new prints they can introduce each year and because of that you instead offer alternatives like including more repeat figures across sets or in the same set, when it applies. Keep up with the great content!

the licencing costs are not that big for Lego. Lego is not the friendly company that some people think. They do the bare minimum at the maximum price, that they think people will buy that shit. As long as people buy that sets for the high price, Lego will not change. My solution for this: look at the competitors. The last thing Lego has are the minifigures, (also the custom market is in this point way better) everything else is significantly worse than the competitors

As a minifig-focused collector, I couldn’t agree more. I want more figs than we’ve been getting (and more builds that aren’t just ships; I want buildings and settings, something I can keep on a table and place figs and it’ll make a nice thing to look at).

I see star war lego I click 😅

I wish that you also mentioned in detail how bad the quality of figures is. Inaccuracies, lack of waistcapes and shouldercapes, most figures not even having leg printing or coming with plain legs when they need dual molding. The gunship is a good example: Instead of giving us a new Padme look, they recycle an old one and give her no dual molded legs although she clearly wears boots. Fox armor is inaccurate, pink instead of white and has no waistcape. The set is not worth its price, doesnt have enough figures and 40% of them are lackluster, all of that considered I dont see how this is a budget issue, unless the budget for this 150$ set was 50$.

Supply answers instead of just complaining about it??? Thats unheard of😂

Thank you for making this video and making it so well argumented. I'm a Lego star wars fan and the pricing, quality and minifigure distribution issues are frustrating, it's important to talk about them.

the point about adding more troops is something i agree with, even as an adult. id love to have gotten enough 212th troopers to fill out the at te and gunship. but you know lego does it so they can sell more battlepacks. money money money.

Lego really is greedy on generic troops/grunts. Like in that Moff gideon vs Pre vizsla set - The scene has 3 pretorian guards, why only put 2 in the set? it's like a few cents in production costs

Well done, a solid systematic argument that doesn’t simply complain (although warranted) but brings facts and examples

My biggest complaint is I hate it when they give us a vehicle with not enough clones, droids, stormtroopers etc to fully man it. I get it, they do that so you’ll buy a battle pack or something but just give me more basic variants to have a fully kitted vehicle.

Man, this is a great video... Thank You!! I just found your channel. Instant Sub!!!

Do you know why Lego in America isn't that good in quality because the factory is in Mexico and Lego in Europe is higher in quality because the factory is in Denmark itself because R2-D2 or Clone troopers/stormtroopers never have never have a miss printed pieces in Europe and the Lego pieces in Europe looks higher in quality too than Lego pieces in America when i watch lego reviewers from the USA or Canada i see that the Lego bricks doesn't look that great but i watch Lego reviewers from the uk too and the lego bricks looks fantastic. 🇪🇺👌🏻

Lego doesn’t need to license every character for each set, they just license the brand as a whole

Not Critical at all. All you have to look at is the 500 dollar (+) UCS collections with 2-3 mini figures. And we keep collecting. :/

I 100% agree I need more clone phase 2 pilots and vehicle crewmen for my vehicles

It's nothing short of incredible how stingy LEGO can be when they pinch pennies in a LEGO Star Wars set. On the scale they work with, including cloth pieces in a $20-$40 costs them pennies. Yet, other than capes, they have chosen to omit them outside of $100+ sets(except in the case of Clones. They don't get cloth pieces anymore, period, unless it's Captain Rex. Even then they cheaped out and printed the waist cape). They used to do it. They CAN do it. It's not inflation preventing them from including cloth pieces- it's greed. Pure unadulterated greed.

How they plan sets and minifigures baffles me, it makes no sense to get a new x-wing or speeder almost every other year. People have longed for older sets like Palpatines arrest, Home one, Rancor pit. In some cases they will bring back a crowd favorite but end up making it worse, being of smaller size and worse choice of minifigs. Examples would be Imperial shuttle and the MTT. So the sets keep getting less appealing and more expensive. I understand that disney wants a cut of the profit but they should not charge more then 10% of the cost of an unlicensed set.

Do they really have to licence every character separately? I would have expected that the licence taker (Lego in this case) would have a deal that includes the whole theme in a flat rate deal situation. It's not like Sony acquiring the movie rights only to Spider-Man and not Marvel as a whole or different entities holding the rights to specific characters. Even when Timothy Zahn invented Thrawn he's not holding the rights to the character since it all belongs to Disney now (and back then probably some entity as Lucasfilm or it's book branch.

I agree with pretty much everything, but I do think it’s important to point out when LEGO gets it right and includes the perfect amount of [great] figures like the MBS Mos Eisley Cantina.

Video is very well done, look forward to more uploads from you!

This is my first time watching one of your videos, so I dunno if you do this all the time, but thank you so much for reminding me that I need to re-listen to the Metroid Prime soundtrack.

oh lord, the Tallon Overworld depths track playing in the background was delightful

The fact that we could have gotten both Thorn AND Fox in the same set really peeves me off

Part of the problem with these sets, along with other themes, is tie in sets not including the proper characters because Lego wasn’t given the proper context. Most of the time it’s just random vehicle with random inaccurate figures because Lego simply didn’t know. It’s the problem with tie in sets for new films and shows.

LEGO is doing the exact opposite of what Kenner did, where LEGO has made dozens of the same characters over the years, while mostly ignoring all the "Glup Shitto" characters. Thinking back, I think only sets based on events of Tatooine include a bunch of unique aliens. I can't say "unnamed", because they're all named, but lesser-known or with barely any screen time. Both Jabba's Palace sets, any Mos Eisley Cantina set (especially that SWEEET $400 one, favorite thing I've ever bought) so on and so forth. Unique aliens are just so rare outside of it. I know some do exist, especially if the alien plays a larger part in the story like Admiral Ackbar or some of the sequel aliens, but yeah I agree we need more figures. But I want more aliens!

I'm a Boba Fett fan. I've collected every set with Boba Fett in it, and continue to buy new sets with a Boba Minifigure. The mech set they brought out last year had me excited, and I bought one because it had a new updated figure, with new arm printing. It was a little disappointing that there wasn't a cape, but I get it because they said a mech set needed a functional Minifigure without capes so it would fit easily inside the mech. Fair enough. Then the new pics of the 2024 desert skiff set come out. It's the exact figure from the mech. They can't say it needed to have no cape, because this isn't a mech, or anything where Boba is designed to go into a cockpit or anything. Then what makes me more disappointed, is that this design is totally inaccurate when it comes to the movies. The Boba we see in ROTJ has a cape, and the leg printing is not accurate for the movie either. They've previously released skiff sets with more accurate figures, with capes. Why are they doing this? It really makes me want to reduce my buying down so that I only buy new sets if the figure is actually new, or exclusive to that set. I'm so disappointed, because I grew up loving lego star wars, and went on to being an adult collector of lego, with a complete Boba Fett collection. And I like to see new versions of the figures. I'll also note that I collect Jango Fett as well, and I've hoped for years they'd release a new Jango Fett Slave 1. I don't care about the size, or the accuracy too much. Just a nice build with a new figure set. Fans have asked for this for decades. Literally. So my question is - WHY WHY WHY?????!

The dude who designed the $30 Clone Battlepack with a ton of figs (awesome value) is no longer with Lego. They hate putting a ton of figs in SW sets.

That minifigs-per-interval is…*chefs kiss*

Sadly this great arguement you make is exactly how I value SW sets within the past 3 years. Iv had people tell me its due to licensing and being a branded IP which can still be true, but I have been a SW fan far beyond lego for over 2 decades. If theres one thing I know is these product making companies know SW fans are some of the most fanatical and collection driven customers in the world. Any and everything you can think of can and will be collected by some group within the fan base. Lego minifigs are no exception and they can be the worst. Lego literally has that community by the stones. Theyll either buy the set straight up, on a sale, or buy the figures second hand. The problem is, Lego knows they can get away with these prices regardless of who buys it because SW minifig collectors will still casually spend $10-$20+ on a figure second hand. So $80 for a desert skiff set really translates to, $80 for 6 minifigs and a bunch of pieces. Which in some peoples minds is cheaper than buying all 6 of those minifigs or any number of them second hand and selling the rest to recoop part of the money lost. Perfect example is the recent retired Justifier that was at $170 retail. I bought just the justifier ship for $80 second hand because of how valuable those minifigs were in that set

very well articulated !

Spectacular video as always.

You only have to look back at the first waves of SW sets to see where sets had more minifigs and parts in general. I’ve found frequently it feels like a set needed 2-3 extra figures to round it out. On Yavin IV temple design, it was plainly evident a larger set was in mind as the two wings holding the briefing room and command room appear cut down from a larger design. Once you extend them out a bit proportionally to the center section the set feels and looks right. I’m convinced the original design had larger wings after seeing it. To the point about figures, the set cries out for at least three minifigs: X-Wing Pilot Luke, one more Rebel Trooper and one Rebel Ground Crew. With the extended wings (about 5 studs depth) and the additional figures it hits the mark.

Great video as always Pen. Most Lego Star Wars sets feel like they are lacking in either the build, figure selection, or both for the price they cost.

= Disney owns the IP not Lego. Disney takes a huge percentage of sales yet it sells… So Lego is doing whatever it takes to cut costs while making a profit. Hence why Lego’s original IP such as Ninjago is full of Quality. They also have to go through “approving” the designs… which is why sets come out late. It’s that simple.

This is the most level headed chanel I have seen in ages. Both for Lego and Star Wars.

Lego Star Wars and other premium sets should be a loss leader for Lego. Lego is too big to fail at this point. And giving their premium sets more minifigs or parts to buy, is a reason to keep coming back and buying them. People will always buy Star Wars or marvel sets. If you give them more, it just makes them want to come back and buy again. Think milk or bread for stors, if they buy milk or bread, they’ll buy bacon and eggs, it’s a whole ecosystem of recurring purchasing in a regular bases. Or because Lego is too big to fail, they know they can undercut their premium sets, because you can’t get them anywhere else.

IMO there should be 1 minifig per $10. it shouldn’t decrease after a certain amount. A $200 set should absolutely include 20 minifigures.

preaching to the choir. well done, but doubt anything will change sadly.

Lego knows we're hot on clones, so they gove us the bare minimum to keep us thirsty for more or to buy more copies of the set, Or, there are just wrong people working on the wrong work.

I think lego star wars fans always manage to see the negatives in sets and don't appreciate the positives as much.

I definitely agree with a lot of this. I can’t imagine the complexity that goes into pricing LEGO sets and I assume there is still a measure above what we understand, but it sure would be nice to see a bit more improvement on minifigs. I hope that LEGO is doing their best with what they can 🤞🏼

Legos getting greedy with these prices… 45 dollars for the new Jedi Bob’s starfighter is bonkers

For the at-te i swapped out the 212th with my 501st cause i had 14 and thats plenty to fully fill the walker with some extra to walk around outside the walker.

Thank you for making this video, Instead of just complaining about the mini-figure problem you actually provide a decent and reasonable argument not fully founded on emotions. With a actual rational solution that seems all to reasonable to me. The special focus on the new Gunship with the Thorn and other shock troops is a fantastic point to make and I don't know why they make these bigger sets able to be built out like armies is very silly to me. Great vid, you got my sub man.

I enjoyed the video but I feel there were a few times the music was cut oddly. Do you think Disney has a choice on what figures should be included because I know they do have a say on some others sets that have released with what characters were in it

So by your calculations, how many minifigures should have come with the UCS AT-AT? I have it and adore it, but it is lacking the numbers of minifigs I would expect for being the most expensive Lego set.

About the CG Gunship, I'm not defending LEGO don't get me wrong but kids today don't have long enough attention spans to go back and watch TCW to understand who Rush Clovis is so it wouldn't matter to them if it was included (yeah ik most LEGO SW fans are collectors anyway but I just wanted to say something funny)

also annoyling lego keeps forgetting that there are clone piltos who pilot clone gunship

Licensed LEGO = diorama sets, not play, and that's a problem

They couldve just made the scene in the justifier from earlier in the episode, put a couple phase 2 plain clone troopers in it, and boom, perfection. (Except for the price)

I see you casually plugging in that metroid prime music in the background. Finally a lego you tuber with proper taste and culture

Hey Pen now that we just got bumblebee do you think you may do another transformers video? Hopefully the next character we get is soundwave or another decepticon.

5:20 i so want that set! Wish is wasnt discontinued.

This is actually an excellent and logical video 👏

honestly I feel like Lego star wars fans care way too much about minifigures, I saw so many people complaining that the UCS venator only came with 2 minifigures, when you can't even do anything with them.

Great video, thank you for articulating something that seems so obvious to us fans but for some reason Lego doesn’t seem to understand

Great explanation! I've always felt like the Star Wars theme sorely lacks diversity & consistency with quality

I’m glad we share the same opinion on this topic!

Am I missing something? Don’t Lego pieces cost like pennies to make? The atat has exactly 40 seats for the 40 troopers the plate says. For 1299 aud I dont understand why I can’t have 35 more troopers.

Wen die nun keine Prints für jedes Set rausbringen und noch immer Aufkleber benutzen seh ich sowieso schwarz für Lego

just add 4 more red clones so we can fill our gunship more clone means happy

Nice vid, and thoughtful Minifigure Metric! I DO feel as though price per piece has to be factored in, however. The Interstellar Spaceship, for instance (60430) has 240 pieces, ONE minifigue, no stickers, and costs $20 - basically the perfect set.

I think they can leverage the minifigure series to bring us less important characters or more generic .Imagine a series only for clones , other for separatists (including og droids ,neimodians,geonosian etc).Other for jedis (the ones that we dont get since 2013 or before),other for clone wars secondary characters ,other for old/less important themes like the series.Imagine having back the minifigs of rogue one ,rebels and also series from newer series(ahsoka,kenobi,characters from mandalorian). As you can see there are infinite options. Of course they could include some relevant character from time to time. I dont really know why they dont do this, I mean there no reason against.

Thought you would comparé with the Harry Potter Line up. This side meet more often if not almost the Time... Sure maybe the liscensing Price is lower and help with that feeling but when I see the same Price and notice the voie is more interesting on Harry Potter theme, it hurt a bit to be a Lego Star Wars fan doubled with being 1 collectionnor...

Is that music from Metroid? Metroid Prime?

I had the opportunity to purchase the Justifier on discount for $99 (if you call that a discount at Walmart) at one time and I passed it up. I'll probably not purchase the new Star Destroyer set because I get enough used parts every year that I could eventually build my own (hopefully) twice as big.

lego marvel has an issue too.

Why does everyone complain about minifigs per dollar? Do you just want minifigs only packs if you had the chance or would you like, you know, an actual set the minifigs can be used on/in? Would you expect the UCS Venator to have like 50 minifigs?? I think what they're doing is fine. If you want more minifigs, it gives you the impetus to buy other related sets to get the extra minifigs. Lego strategy win. As much as they claim they'd like to bring fun to you, at the end of the day they have to line their pockets. This is a good strategy for offsetting the licensing fees while making you come back for more.

I like the video

Would be nice if we got a ROTJ Boba Fett in ROTJ sets, instead of ESB Bobas Also Thrawn would have been perfect if lego didn't unnecessarily remove 2 code cylinders

It’s insane how much of the fandom bootlicks literally anything Lego does Like people saying that fox miniature is good when it is objectively terrible with really poor quality And I hate the “it’s just for kids” argument as it would literally change nothing for them for the built to appease more to older fans who at this point are probably the majority anyway

Is anyone going to say anything about no Rebel ground vehicles?

Isn't the tentative iv scene 55 dollars and not under 50

lego have a budget problem. It feels like every year the rules for designers become more strict - for example, one minifigure cuts pieces from building even if it's a duplicate, not only just couple studs but mostly function elements. I think lego just playing too safe, this is even comical, but sadly a corporate toy world.

Why I stop collecting and stop selling 😂

Yeah at this point the mini-figures often outvalue the set itself, back in the day a great army men play set had to have a great set design and dozens of playable soldiers for the set to be successful. What the fan base actually wants is like 20 clone troopers at a time, with a value of $2-3 a fig. That's what a battle pack should look like, no need for lousy side builds. BTW great video.

They really need to find a way to do collectible Star Wars minifig series. 2 every year. There’s just so many characters we don’t get for years or haven’t gotten at all. Dooku for example. A main antagonist, a must have if you collect them, and he was last released 10 years ago. Asajj Ventress hasn’t seen the light of day in years as well. I’m running out of room for these $500 sets that have the most exclusive yet coveted figs if you collect them. Cloud city Lando is a perfect example for that. An iconic character and to get the best version of him, the only one that will stand next to your modern Luke and Han, will cost you hundreds of dollars. Like sure, I can be on the ball and bricklink the specific figs I want right after the sets come out, but there’s just got to be a better way. With 2 series of collectible mini figs every year, they could cover all eras, and the mains we’ve been missing for years could return. With what gets released now, and for some years now, we’ll probably never get an updated Zam Wesell figure. Collectible series could change that. Along with adding ones we haven’t gotten like Wat Tambor, Admiral Trench, Zygerrian Queen and Slavers, Second and Ninth sister. Updates on Shaak Ti, Obi Wan in his bounty hunter disguise, Plo Koon. So much they could be doing with a collectible Star Wars minifigure series

Great video . I feel and make the same points especially with the new 500.00 Jabbas sailbarge that’s coming out in the fall. It’s ridiculous as we are getting a ton of rehash figs like R2 and C-3PO which is getting as ridiculous as it gets . Also we are getting another max reebo which is fine but how about sy snootles and droopy McCool so that the band can be complete . Also so many Jabbas Goons and Henchman that can be made but no same old . Sorry Lego is getting lazy and it will start hurting them especially with prices they are charging these days

yea 100% understand people love builds but for me its figs so you nailed the reasons I passed on that gunship this set would have been better with Padme (New Outfit), Rush Clovis, Thorn, x2 Shocks & x2 Pilots if they needed more would not have minded getting the sep senator or the banking clan member either would be the first for their race so could even get new molds or as you said embo could even get his hound (molded mess me with that brick built crap) not sure we would ever get these figs again so such a shame they we're not included also, DC may be the worst offender theme wise for me personally so many characters yet it's almost always batman or superman stuff :/ for awhile did hold out hope for young justice figs but ig not going to happen so I'll stick to customs ik we may get some figs soon from guns reboot (not that it will be any good) but why wait they have so many shows & movies to take from

while I think that the recent sets had some cool characters in them that we hadn't seen in a while, I 100% agree that Lego Star Wars could easily be 10x better with a few simple steps mentioned in the video. I really wonder why random 4€ collectible figures get dual-molded, side-printed legs and arm print for no reason, while Star wars characters dont get it even though they absolutely need it (Sabine Wren for example). And dont even get me started on cloth pieces/waste capes

Is there any problem LEGO doesn’t have? 😂 First with droids and snapping joints, then with a shortage of Clones and Imperials, lastly let us not forget the brittle colored bricks issue. And now this? Are you just clickbaiting us or is LEGO hiding something behind closed doors? Great video btw.

We didn't get a regular version of CW/Episode III Anakin for 10 years. I'm not counting the Mustafar one because of the burn marks. It's insane. The issue isn't necessarily that Lego puts wrong versions in sets, it's that the default is often not available at all. Certain characters across all trilogies should always be available.

Why have we not had a Star Wars mini figure series? Do they not want our money?

getting sick of lego sw minifigs photo hunt, some very difficult to see the variance

Ok

i think. we gotta see it from a wider view too. is lego being a greedy capitalist company. or is inflation making the price of stuff go up. u gotta remember a well. lego is plastic. plastic has pretty high tax’s on.

8:00 it was a missed opportunity to not use this colour scheme gunship during the grogu chase on corruscant in the mando flashback. Such a waste of a design.

the one thing that i kinda disagree is that for the most part other licensed themes that are popular like star wars i.e harry potter and marvel superheros get more minifigures get more variety and are typically cheaper for what you get. (i will note both harry potter and marvel are getting more expensive, but they tend to have a lot more variety and minifigures with them when compared.). imo i find it rather annoying when star wars sets feel so limiting despite being the biggest theme lego has, though i will say that the theme has taken an interesting direction (not bad either)

Lego minifigs have been reduced to a kinder surprise type of thing.. I honestly don't understand the greed for minifigures. There are so many that they become redundant. And sometimes the realism is very offputting, and corny...minifigs are just the cherry on top, not the cake.

WHole Lego has minifig problems. The quality is so low nowadays... WHat happened with PREMIUM LOOKING cool figs for big sets as well?

just stop buying lego star wars sets

I guess you missed the actual ‘problem’ Lego Star Wars has, it does have a limited licensing deal based on it being a buildable set. So agreement are probably in place based on minfigs per price or per amount of bricks. I am also not sure if these agreements are based on individual sets or per year, per year would explain the Justifier. As it would definitely lower the minifig per price/bricks ratio for that year. I also can’t imagine it mattering which minifig is included licensing wise, I think having 4 identical stormtroopers is just cheaper in production than 4 unique models especially if they require a new mold. CMF line probably requires a colab with Hasbro.