LEGO Star Wars The Freemaker Adventures & 75098 Assault on Hoth Details Revealed

[lego the hutt]

People keep mentioning the Ewok village in comparison. I agree it is much better. I think you are doing this Hoth set a diservice. I would argue the Ewok village is THE BEST set Lego has ever produced...by a lot. But that is a whole other discussion ( how much time do you have? Pm me if you want to continue that line of discussion) The Ewok village is much much better...but it's a bad comparison, similar to saying this set should have come with an at-at to make it worth the price. If it was microscale I would agree...

It's not perfect but it has numerous upgrades we have never received before...which is impressive considering how many Hoth sets we have had in the past. The PPP is pretty standard for a SW set. It's what is expected.

I think we should all understand why Lego keeps going back to the "Hoth well" at this point...white plates are a cheap and easy landscape that equals a good profit margin. That horse has been beaten to death at this point.

It is far from perfect, but it isn't as bad as some of you seem to be saying.

[auralgami]

The PPP is pretty standard for a SW set. It's what is expected.

Not really, in the sense that there's wiggle room

Slave-1 $199 1996 pieces
Sandcrawler $299 3296 pieces
X-Wing $199 1559 pieces
Tie $199 1685 pieces
Ewok $249 1990 pieces

Some go over, some go under. The Hoth set could have been priced at $199, making it seem one of the better deals. It was not.

The Hoth set also has the advantage (to Lego) of being an update of a bunch of previous sets with a few new elements. The cost and difficulty of design would have to be a lot less than something as complicated an update as, say, the Sandcrawler or a totally new design like the Ewok Village.

Economies of scale, the price of oil -- these should all be reasons it should cost less for this set, not more.

Is the set bad? No. I think there's a good argument for it being disappointing and overpriced. Had Lego either not charged as much or thrown in an AT-AT (with perhaps some rejiggering of piece counts here and there) it would have appeared to be a much better value for the money, a better representation of the concept ("An Attack on Hoth"), and enough to sway more people to buy it or at least be enthused by it.

And again: this is UCS? Up until now, UCS has been the best of the best. This ain't it.

[lego the hutt]

The PPP is pretty standard for a SW set. It's what is expected.

Not really, in the sense that there's wiggle room

Slave-1 $199 1996 pieces
Sandcrawler $299 3296 pieces
X-Wing $199 1559 pieces
Tie $199 1685 pieces
Ewok $249 1990 pieces

Some go over, some go under. The Hoth set could have been priced at $199, making it seem one of the better deals. It was not.

Let's use your examples...

Slave-1 : 10 cents pp, 4 minifigs
Sand crawler: 9 cents pp, 13 minifigs (great ppp but it is skewed because of a ton of tiny tread parts)...and a couple of the minifigs are brick built droids.
Red Five: 12 cents pp, 1 minifig
TIE: 11 cents pp, 1 minifig
Ewok Village: 12 cents pp, 16 minifigs
Hoth: 11 cents pp, ...listed as 14 minifigures +R3A2 ( not sure why he isn't counted in the total?)+Tauntaun+Wampa

Seems to me that the new Hoth base is one of the best values there...not to mention it has 7 exclusive minifigs (more than Ewok village).

I probably don't need to say it again but, the price is what is expected.

Your example saying it could have been priced at 199..would put it at 9 cents pp...with 15 figs, a Tauntaun and a macrofigure. Really? Lego can make more than that from this.

To say it could be cheaper is silly, everyone always wants sets to be cheaper.

The Hoth set also has the advantage (to Lego) of being an update of a bunch of previous sets with a few new elements. The cost and difficulty of design would have to be a lot less than something as complicated an update as, say, the Sandcrawler or a totally new design like the Ewok Village.

Economies of scale, the price of oil -- these should all be reasons it should cost less for this set, not more.

I don't claim to know specific costs involved in production but, as mentioned previously, I think it is common knowledge that one of the reasons why Lego keeps producing Hoth sets is that using white plates as landscape is a cheap and easy way to design a set. It seems logical that it equals a high profit margin.

I guess I don't understand why you would think that, if Lego saves a few bucks during production they would pass that savings onto the consumer? That's not how it works. They just make more profit. Hasn't this been going on for years with all of the Hoth sets? That point seems moot.

Is the set bad? No. I think there's a good argument for it being disappointing and overpriced. Had Lego either not charged as much or thrown in an AT-AT (with perhaps some rejiggering of piece counts here and there) it would have appeared to be a much better value for the money, a better representation of the concept ("An Attack on Hoth"), and enough to sway more people to buy it or at least be enthused by it.

And again: this is UCS? Up until now, UCS has been the best of the best. This ain't it.

I'm a little disappointed too. The design of the Hoth set could have been better.

~Personally, I feel like if they had just connected the Ion Cannon and Shield Generator to the base using some plates, maybe a snow drift or a tiny hill so that it looked like one massive build instead of one large build and 2 small builds it would be perceived better.

A lot of the reaction towards this set has snowballed on the Internet by people who don't look closely and evaluate for themselves. It has some good points but of course there could be improvements.

Is the only reason people keep bringing up an at-at because of the set name? Assault on Hoth? If that is the case then fair enough. It's hard to assault the base on Hoth without the quintessential at-at. Maybe they should have changed the name?

Having a at-at in this set would make it laughable. Cutting out 1kish bricks from the rest of the model to include a normal size at-at wouldn't have worked. " rejiggering of the piece count" huh? Not in the normal "system" scale. I don't agree that it would have "appeared to be a much better value for the money". People are complaining now...can you imagine if we got another at-at (similar to the one that was just discontinued)...and a base that is 1/3-1/2 smaller? It would be bad...

[Legotrain1]

I mean, if you had to chose Ewok Village or this, is that even a question? Even if you are not an Ewok fan, the only way you'd like this better is if you are just a die-hard Hoth fan.

Just another way TLG is after profit vs. good sets. I think they thought they could jump the price $50 by including a Taun Taun and Wampa. No thanks.

a Tauntaun is a good point.. for 249.99 USD.. one tauntaun.. one snowspeeder, two imperial guys to take out the shield generator? What?
It is not a UCS set especially if there is no AT-AT, and if those sets become available later.. A UCS set should not have ancillary sets needed to 'complete' it, it should be complete.. Heck I would have accepted a 399.99 USD price tag had they done the set right: stuff in there now + 1 AT-AT, another snowspeeder, 2 more Tauntauns, about 8 more Imperial troops, the bacta tank, Leia, and the stinking probe droid.

[AbuTaleb]

I have to say I expected something better than that.

However, I have non of the previous sets that are in this set. Therefore, this set (even it is expensive) may be a good choice for people like me which is better than buying the old sets which will be really expenssive.

[moo10032]

This image shows kind of how lame this set really is... Its like just a pile of random tid-bits, like some kind of wild party or small blips of old sets. Like the old Wampa cave is much much better then the little micro cave in this set. I just don't get how this is considered UCS...

https://www.flickr.com/photos/brothers- ... ateposted/