If there’s one LEGO theme that I had absolutely no intention of becoming hooked on in 2013, it’s LEGO Galaxy Squad. But I have a weakness for cool LEGOs (if you can believe that), and I feel hopelessly in love with the theme the first time I saw the 2013 LEGO Galaxy Squad sets in stores. I had planned on curtailing my buying of the theme when the Galaxy Squad summer wave came out, but then a terrible thing happened: I came across the LEGO Galaxy Squad Summer 2013 sets while out hunting for the new LEGO Castle sets. And predictably, now I want them all…

When I previewed the Summer 2013 LEGO Galaxy Squad sets a few months back, my attitude was one of “Those are pretty cool, but I don’t need them.” Now that I’ve come face-to-box with these sets, my attitude is basically “Yeah, I do need those.” And were my wife not standing next to me staring at the price stickers, I certainly would have brought home that $74.99 LEGO Hive Crawler 70708 set. Alas, another day.

This was my first opportunity to see the backs of the boxes for the Galaxy Squad summer wave of sets, and I think LEGO did another sensational job with these. The backs of the boxes really do great work in selling all of the action features of the sets and spotlighting what makes the sets really stand out. And yeah, that Hive Crawler is so going to be mine.

I was also surprised to realize the scale of the LEGO Galaxy Squad Eradicator Mech. The official promotional photos don’t really convey the size of the mech properly, but the various shots on the back of the box made it a lot clearer how big (or not that big, in this case) it is. The 70706 LEGO Crater Creeper set was also in stock, but I remain unimpressed with that set–I just can’t see a slow-moving, open-canopied, delicate-legged insectoid robot vehicle as being a viable military option.

The one set that wasn’t present was the Galaxy Squad Galactic Titan 70709 (which is good, because I probably would have bought it). I’ve no idea whether this is going to be a mass release item or a retailer exclusive, but if it’s an exclusive to anyone, I would guess it would be to Toys R Us (likely at a crazy inflated price point).

Thus far the 2013 LEGO Galaxy Squad summer sets have only appeared at Toys R Us–not even the online LEGO Shop has started to sell these yet. These LEGO summer sets should be widespread by mid-June 2013. I’ll post an update when the new Galaxy Squad wave starts to hit more retailers, and you can follow Bricks and Bloks on Facebook if you’d like LEGO news, sightings, and reviews beamed directly to your Facebook Newsfeed.