It began in January, with the anticlimactic results of the LEGO Ideas Second 2017 Review, that is, the one where none of the entries passed. One of those failed submissions was a set recreation of one of the most iconic scene from Empire Strikes Back where Darth Vader declares “I am your father.”
Though the review panel didn’t elaborate further on the decision, a prevailing speculation was that said Ideas entry wasn’t approved because LEGO itself was already developing a new set based on the Cloud City, where the abovementioned scene happened. We haven’t heard much about this rumor since, until shortly before May 4.
In the last days of April, discussion on LEGO forum Eurobricks turned towards the still-rumored LEGO Star Wars Cloud City set following the leak of a new Boba Fett minifigure. This was expounded on by Eurobricks member Paperballpark, who has delivered good info on confidential LEGO projects in the past.
As Paperballpark theorizes, the new Cloud City is similar to the already-released Wars LEGO Star Wars Death Star (75159), a multilevel structure with exposed rooms for equipment-minifigure interaction (Luke-Vader duel scene possibly included). Rather than the spheroid Death Star, Cloud City will have only an upper hemisphere with support struts below.
LEGO has years ago released a more compact LEGO Star Wars Cloud City (10123) set with only a portion of the interior and not shaped like the whole thing. The rumored new version might have room for two LEGO vehicles, a la the Death Star’s (75159) TIE fighter.
May the 4th, aka Star Wars Day, saw only the release of the LEGO UCS Y-Wing Starfighter (75181), with no official peep on whether the much-speculated Cloud City is real or not. Paperballpark on Eurobricks is fairly confident it’ll come in the fall, and even provided its number (75222). Still, it remains rumor for now.
