Latest impact of other themes on historic themes

[zoth33]

9 hours ago, Agent Kallus said:

Honestly I feel quite the opposite, almost all of them have something useful for historical stuff, but I'll wait till we see clearer images.

Right Mulan seems to have a new molded dagger, Mulans, robin hood, prince john, the evil queen, the 2 princess's, legs and torsos all look useful.  the new owl color.  

[Aanchir]

Now that clearer official pics of the individual Disney figs are available, it's a little easier to pinpoint what parts seem particularly fun/useful for historic builds:

• Practically ALL the Evil Queen's parts will be widely applicable to historic characters. The crown is especially exciting to me as a new headgear option for minifig royalty. The antenna piece is also new in Warm Gold, and could be useful for accessories like scepters, fantasy weapons, musical instruments, and more! Her dual-colored cape (Black on one side, Dark Red on the other) and white collar are pretty versatile as well — it's quite rare for dual-colored capes like that to show up in sets! On that note, Jiminy Cricket has a smaller white collar which could have quite a bit of utility in its own right.
   
• Tiana's Spring Yellowish Green tiara/diadem is also a neat recolor, and while it's hard to get a good look at her hair in this image, it seems rather versatile. I'm honestly surprised that after multiple mini-doll/micro-doll appearances, it took her this long to get a dedicated hair piece (all the Tiana mini-dolls so far have instead opted for a recolor of Cinderella's hair and headband). Dr. Facilier's spooky tarot card could be a fun accessory for fortune tellers or magicians, though it wouldn't technically be historically accurate for medieval characters or builds (tarot cards existed in the late medieval period, but they were still used strictly as playing cards back then — their use in divination came later).
   
• The Queen of Hearts is the first time a set has included an unprinted heart tile in Bright Red! Besides being quite useful as a decorative detail, it could also be useful for health items in video game inspired fantasy MOCs. I wouldn't be surprised if the rumored Legend of Zelda Great Deku Tree set used one of these as a heart container.
   
• Aurora's owl is a bit more cartoonish than other modern owl prints, but still generic enough for use in MOCs. Her gown and hair could also be useful for figs with a similar fairy-tale aesthetic, although her hair's Bright Yellow color means it will primarily be useful for people who use fleshies in their creations rather than traditional Bright Yellow minifigs.
   
• Pinocchio's hair with conical pileus-style hat could be of great use for peasant characters if you don't mind its bright color. For those who use fleshies in their creations, his legs could also be useful for child characters, although his torso is probably too cartoonish for many builders' tastes due to its oversized blue bow.
   
• Cruella de Ville's hair is very specific to that character and her outfit as a whole is too 20th-century inspired to be much use to historic builders, but the printed fur collar of her coat could certainly have applications in historic builds. Same with Prince John's spotted fur collar.

[Triceron]

Prince John's cape/cloak and torso would be great for a King too.  His legs are passable if you have him mounted in a horse

Edited March 1, 2023 by Triceron

[Aurore]

The Mario "Dry Bowser Castle Battle Expansion Set" set (71423, announced for August 1st) includes a recolor of the new fern part...in dark bluish grey! So useful for architecture details! 

And also a recolour of Peach' castle's roof part in green.

Edited March 10, 2023 by Aurore

[zoth33]

9 hours ago, Aurore said:

The Mario "Dry Bowser Castle Battle Expansion Set" set (71423, announced for August 1st) includes a recolor of the new fern part...in dark bluish grey! So useful for architecture details! 

And also a recolour of Peach' castle's roof part in green.

That's interesting.  The new leaf/fern piece in that color will definitely open up some nice scenery.  The new green roofs may go well with a forestman build I have planned or I may use them for a homestead or manor.  

[Aanchir]

Another new recolor in the Dry Bowser Castle set is the 2-stud-long handle/hilt with studs on both ends (i.e. the part used in black on the Medieval Blacksmith's door handles and sign) in Medium Stone Grey. Never hurts to have a good generic connector piece like that in another neutral color!

Perhaps even more exciting, the castle includes four 2x4x13 half-cylinder columns in black! This part is BEGGING to be used for sailing ship masts, and could also be useful for tree trunks or architectural columns like the ones from Night Lord's Castle. In any case, black is a color that could prove very useful in ANY of those applications.

A lot of the time the decorations in Super Mario sets don't strike me as especially appropriate for this topic due to being very cartoonish and/or IP-specific. But there is one exception in the Dry Bowser Castle set: a 2x2 box/container with treasure chest printing (most clearly visible in this pic). Could be useful for smaller coffers, lockboxes, or jewelry boxes compared to the treasure chest piece, provided you don't mind the keyhole part of the pattern being in bright yellow. Especially since this box piece allows for such a wide variety of different lid shapes!

[Aanchir]

The Build-A-Mini parts for 2023's second quarter apparently include some Lion Knight parts, including a unicorn knight head (same head mold as the Vidiyo unicorns)!

https://jaysbrickblog.com/news/first-look-at-the-new-build-a-minifigure-bam-q2-2023-selections-including-a-unicorn-lion-knight/

I'm sure this is "meh" to a lot of folks here, since it leans more into zany fantasy than a lot of folks' Lion Knight collections/layouts (or castle collections/layouts in general). Even to me, it's a bit perplexing that the designers opted for a Bright Yellow head like those used for human knights instead of more of a "horse" color. But it does feature printed gold cheek guards with ornamental lion patterns (matching those on the belt of 10305's Lady of the Castle, whose torso is reused for this figure).

Even so, the other non-unique Lion Knight parts being added to BAM this quarter (such as the Lion Knight shields yellow lion rampant on a blue field, and the aforementioned lion knight torso with gold belt and gorget) might be of interest to castle fans buying BAM packs for other reasons, such as for the printed wizard robes and dual-molded wizard hat which continue to appear in this batch.

[Roebuck]

For me personally it would have been better if they re-released the BAM falcon knight alongside the wizard instead of that hodgepodge of lion knight parts with a horse head

[jodawill]

3 minutes ago, Roebuck said:

For me personally it would have been better if they re-released the BAM falcon knight alongside the wizard instead of that hodgepodge of lion knight parts with a horse head

Yeah, same here. I was never able to find enough of them because they were always in such high demand. They really ought to add them to PAB.

[Triceron]

Welp, got my second chance at getting the Wizard dude at least.  Will be good to replace that way-too-generic LKC excuse for Majisto.

 

I kinda like the Unicorn head.  Not sure if I would use it for minifigures, but it might useful to have.

 

And if the LK Shield is part of BAM, would that be cheaper per-part than buying em off PAB?

-Edit- Just checked in with my local store, looks like this will be the cheapest way to get those shields.

Currently $1.45 CAD per shield

Build a Mini is $0.86 CAD per shield!  (15 pc for $13 CAD)

 

Now the problem is finding stock, cuz I know my local store will be swamped by the AFOLs....  I couldn't even get my hands on a silver falcon chainmail torso the first time around.

Edited March 23, 2023 by Triceron

[MAB]

10 hours ago, Triceron said:

Currently $1.45 CAD per shield

Build a Mini is $0.86 CAD per shield!  (15 pc for $13 CAD)

Does your local store allow just 15x shields per pack, or do they insist on complete minifigs?

[Triceron]

7 hours ago, MAB said:

Does your local store allow just 15x shields per pack, or do they insist on complete minifigs?

They allow mix and match of accessories at this location.  I didn't even have to ask specifically, they outright told me either 3 minifigures, or 15 accessories of choice.

 

Which is both a blessing and a curse, since it means they can run out of stock in one fell swoop.

Edited March 24, 2023 by Triceron

[MAB]

4 hours ago, Triceron said:

They allow mix and match of accessories at this location.  I didn't even have to ask specifically, they outright told me either 3 minifigures, or 15 accessories of choice.

 

Which is both a blessing and a curse, since it means they can run out of stock in one fell swoop.

That's good value then. Round here they insist on you getting one of each type per figure. Not bad value although the heads are usually not worth so much.

[DaleDVM]

I suppose I could use a couple of the Maleficent and Princess dresses.  The Robin hood body can also be useful if you can cover up the white fur in the front.  

The outfits are not the best for medieval MOCs, but are passable as long as you don't have too many in a scene.  

[Aanchir]

For those with a taste for the fantastic/whimsical, the recently discovered Disney Magical Treehouse has some stunning new recolors:

• 6 x 6 x 2/3 ice/crystal textured tiles, 4 x 4 ice/crystal textured wedge slopes, and 1 x 1 rock crystals in Tr. Blue Opal (Satin Trans-Dark Blue)
• Ferns and a 4 x 6 x 1 1/3 pointed windscreen in Tr. Medium Violet Opal (Satin Trans-Dark Pink)
• Reeds in Bright Reddish Violet
• 1 1/2 x 1 1/2 x 2/3 domes (BB-8 droid heads/mushroom caps) in Bright Reddish Violet (Magenta), printed with metallic pink spots.
• Elephant tail/trunk, dinosaur tail/neck, and short triple stem/hair pieces in Aqua (Light Aqua)
• 2 x 6 x 2/3 spiral stair segments in Bright Bluish Green

Not gonna lie, this set makes me really miss LEGO Elves, with its otherworldly "magical forest" vibes. I recognize, of course, that none of these parts except perhaps the crystals are particularly suitable for real-world or real-world-adjacent historical builds, but I figured that for those who dabble in more medieval fantasy or fairy tale influenced stuff, they'd be worth bringing up here.

[zoth33]

1 hour ago, Aanchir said:

For those with a taste for the fantastic/whimsical, the recently discovered Disney Magical Treehouse has some stunning new recolors:

• 6 x 6 x 2/3 ice/crystal textured tiles, 4 x 4 ice/crystal textured wedge slopes, and 1 x 1 rock crystals in Tr. Blue Opal (Satin Trans-Dark Blue)
• Ferns and a 4 x 6 x 1 1/3 pointed windscreen in Tr. Medium Violet Opal (Satin Trans-Dark Pink)
• Reeds in Bright Reddish Violet
• 1 1/2 x 1 1/2 x 2/3 domes (BB-8 droid heads/mushroom caps) in Bright Reddish Violet (Magenta), printed with metallic pink spots.
• Elephant tail/trunk, dinosaur tail/neck, and short triple stem/hair pieces in Aqua (Light Aqua)
• 2 x 6 x 2/3 spiral stair segments in Bright Bluish Green

Not gonna lie, this set makes me really miss LEGO Elves, with its otherworldly "magical forest" vibes. I recognize, of course, that none of these parts except perhaps the crystals are particularly suitable for real-world or real-world-adjacent historical builds, but I figured that for those who dabble in more medieval fantasy or fairy tale influenced stuff, they'd be worth bringing up here.

The build reminds me of the elves sets.  That fern piece is going to be so useful and now in 2 colors I can't wait till it gets on PAB.  The reed in that color and the elephant trunk in aqua will go great for my moon elves.  So many useful new colors.  

[Agent Kallus]

A new mold for a baby dragon from Ninjago has leaked, I think he could fit quite well in other fantasy settings.

[zoth33]

5 hours ago, Agent Kallus said:

A new mold for a baby dragon from Ninjago has leaked, I think he could fit quite well in other fantasy settings.

Yes different prints on this would be great in the future.  They could easily use it for a in house fantasy theme.  

[Roebuck]

Apparently one of the HP sets has as least one knight statue fig..

Edited April 18, 2023 by Roebuck

[zoth33]

3 hours ago, Roebuck said:

Apparently one of the HP sets has as least one knight statue fig..

I don't think it will look like those though it will most likely be a plain grey fig with a helm, sword, and shield.  

[Roebuck]

7 hours ago, zoth33 said:

I don't think it will look like those though it will most likely be a plain grey fig with a helm, sword, and shield.  

Yes I agree, my guess is a recolor of a part at best..

[Exetrius]

On 4/5/2023 at 8:00 PM, Aanchir said:

For those with a taste for the fantastic/whimsical, the recently discovered Disney Magical Treehouse has some stunning new recolors:

• 6 x 6 x 2/3 ice/crystal textured tiles, 4 x 4 ice/crystal textured wedge slopes, and 1 x 1 rock crystals in Tr. Blue Opal (Satin Trans-Dark Blue)
• Ferns and a 4 x 6 x 1 1/3 pointed windscreen in Tr. Medium Violet Opal (Satin Trans-Dark Pink)
• Reeds in Bright Reddish Violet
• 1 1/2 x 1 1/2 x 2/3 domes (BB-8 droid heads/mushroom caps) in Bright Reddish Violet (Magenta), printed with metallic pink spots.
• Elephant tail/trunk, dinosaur tail/neck, and short triple stem/hair pieces in Aqua (Light Aqua)
• 2 x 6 x 2/3 spiral stair segments in Bright Bluish Green

Not gonna lie, this set makes me really miss LEGO Elves, with its otherworldly "magical forest" vibes. I recognize, of course, that none of these parts except perhaps the crystals are particularly suitable for real-world or real-world-adjacent historical builds, but I figured that for those who dabble in more medieval fantasy or fairy tale influenced stuff, they'd be worth bringing up here.

Yes, the Elves vibes are strong with this one! No bittersweet feelings at all...  I'm excited for the larger and smaller crystal elements! The 1x1 rock crystals seem trans (opal?) purple to me though, not blue. Maybe I'm just seeing what I want to see, because trans purple crystals have been on my wish list for years! Hadn't spotted the reeds yet, nice!  

[Agent Kallus]

A lot of cool parts coming from Ninjago and dreams, can't be sure how useful till we see them properly.

And the sonic sets have the giant legs in a more useful colour.

[LordDan]

On 4/5/2023 at 2:00 PM, Aanchir said:

For those with a taste for the fantastic/whimsical, the recently discovered Disney Magical Treehouse has some stunning new recolors:

• 6 x 6 x 2/3 ice/crystal textured tiles, 4 x 4 ice/crystal textured wedge slopes, and 1 x 1 rock crystals in Tr. Blue Opal (Satin Trans-Dark Blue)
• Ferns and a 4 x 6 x 1 1/3 pointed windscreen in Tr. Medium Violet Opal (Satin Trans-Dark Pink)
• Reeds in Bright Reddish Violet
• 1 1/2 x 1 1/2 x 2/3 domes (BB-8 droid heads/mushroom caps) in Bright Reddish Violet (Magenta), printed with metallic pink spots.
• Elephant tail/trunk, dinosaur tail/neck, and short triple stem/hair pieces in Aqua (Light Aqua)
• 2 x 6 x 2/3 spiral stair segments in Bright Bluish Green

Not gonna lie, this set makes me really miss LEGO Elves, with its otherworldly "magical forest" vibes. I recognize, of course, that none of these parts except perhaps the crystals are particularly suitable for real-world or real-world-adjacent historical builds, but I figured that for those who dabble in more medieval fantasy or fairy tale influenced stuff, they'd be worth bringing up here.

That set looks really interesting, lots of cool colors and parts. But $160 for only 1000 pieces? I guess its due to the larger parts and loads of figures, but still  

[JimBaggins]

New small palm leaves and banana mold with the donkey Kong set, could be useful. (Moreso for pirates, but 🤷‍♀️)