As this visual from the official LEGO catalog (January-June 2012) confirms, Leia's minifig in the set 9495 Gold Leader's Y-Wing Starfighter bears the official name Ceremonial Leia. The costume and hairstyle are faithful to the final scene of theEpisode IV: A New Hope on Yavin IV and highlight Luke's sister and Padme Amidala's daughter (I'm still struggling to write this, I don't know why ...)

All those who hoped for this minifigure in a future work of DK editions as was the case for Luke (LEGO® Star Wars: The Visual Dictionary) and Han Solo (LEGO® Star Wars Character Encyclopedia) are at their expense.

Note also that this set is presented as Hard to find, which means that it will be distributed only on the LEGO Shop or by a specialized brand (TRU?), initially in any case.

Finally, Americans are entitled to a free poster for any pre-order of these first wave 2012 sets. This 61 x 81 cm poster (see below) presents the minifigs of these new sets in their context on one side and the X-Wing and a few Tie Fighters in the middle of each other's fight. 

We do with what we have, and in this case we will have to be content with the review of cei on Eurobricks as for the set 9493 X-Wing Starfighter.

Few surprises, the minifigs are excellent, the vessel rather well designed and the elastics still present at the level of the opening and closing mechanism of the wings.

The final rendering is correct, undoubtedly one of the most faithful to date in this format System, and I just regret the use of the eternal cockpit seen and reviewed throughout the set. LEGO could have refreshed this element to make it less cubic, especially on the flat part at the back of the canopy which is not as long on the model of the film.

The guns are well rendered, I already like the studded wings less, they are thin (too much?) And remind me of the old versions of this ship.

The engines are very well rendered, they are long and protrude widely from the rear of the ship like those of the original X-Wing. Too bad for the stickers on these engines.

To see more, visit the dedicated topic at Eurobricks. 

 Following the comment of Revolution, I put here the video comparing the X-Wing of set 9493 and the X-Wing of set 6212 and which clearly presents the new wing opening mechanism (7 min in the video).

This is a question that inevitably arises for all those who buy the set. 6858 Catwoman Catcycle City Chase and who discover out of the box that Batman comes without a cape.

Some theorize that the presence of the jetpack justifies the absence of a cloak in this chase scene with Catwoman.
This explanation seems a little short to me, Batman without his cape is like Superman without his red cape: the character has no interest and loses one of his main attributes, even equipped with the most beautiful jetpacks ... .

Especially since if we look carefully at the presentation of the set on the official LEGO catalog, the minifig put forward like the one in the set does sport a blue cape. The image of the Batman minifigure could very well be that of the version common to this set and the set 6860 The Batcave, and in this case LEGO would have used the same visual for both presentations.

So, forgetting on the part of LEGO or the assumed choice not to put Batman's cape in this set? No one has yet obtained a real answer to this question, but for the AFOLs that we are, this image is a bit like false advertising ...
A manufacturer of the stature of LEGO must not make this kind of mistake.

You will find below for download the original double page of this catalog in pdf format: 2012 LEGO Catalog.

Outrider? This name may not mean anything to you, but you have surely heard it somewhere ... This ship, belonging to Dash Rendar, a smuggler, a sort of video-game version of Han Solo seen in video games Shadows of the Empire et Star Wars: X-Wing Alliance, is a much less well-known craft than the Millennium Falcon.

Made, like its cousin the Millennium Falcon, by the Corellian Engineering Corporation, this ship is a modified and heavily armed version of the YT-2400 Light Freighter.

Dash Rendar, who studied atImperial Academy with Han Solo still refused to officially join the rebellion but nevertheless participated in the Battle of Hoth alongside members of the Rogue squadron.

LEGO came up with an honest take on this Outrider as an alternative model of the set. 6211 Imperial Star Destroyer released in 2006 which also offered an alternative model of the T-16 Skyhopper. I also offer you the instructions for download in pdf format directly on Hoth Bricks for these two models, so you will avoid looking for them in the shallows of the internet if you want to assemble these ships with the parts of your ISD:

6211 Imperial Star destroyer Alternate Model: Outrider (6 MB)
6211 Imperial Star destroyer Alternate Model: T-16 Skyhopper (5 MB)

Nannan Zhang also offered a very successful version of this vessel with this model in Midi-Scale format designed from the parts of the set 7778 Mid-scale Millennium Falcon released in 2009, proof if any of the family link between the two devices ...

For the record, this ship makes a (very) brief appearance in theEpisode IV: A New Hope (Special Edition). We see him leave Mos Eisley, which nevertheless gives him a canonical value beyond his first appearances in the video games of the franchise.

LEGO having so far confined itself to the canonical Star Wars universe, with some more or less happy forays into the Extended Universe and now into the Star Wars The Old Republic video game, why not release this ship in the form of a System set? After all, we've had so many versions of the Millennium Falcon that this Outrider would be welcome ...

Bruce alias Brick Tales, cumulates blogs and you certainly already know Comicbricks, or MicroBricks, two blogs that he runs daily with many MOCs, customs, news, etc ...

So he launches TolkienBricks, blog dedicated to the world of Lord of the Rings, and you will find many MOCs, recent or not, as well as news on the next LEGO LOTR & The Hobbit range.

If you have a few minutes, be sure to check out his LEGO version of LOTR, there are some beautiful, nicely reconstructed scenes.