HIDDEN SIDE - 2019

[shadefoundry]

Just now, parsom said:

According to pocket-lint.com:

"You don't get ghost mini-figures in the box, for example, although included characters can be "possessed" by replacing their heads. Instead, the ghosts are supplied through AR and it feels as if the phone is the portal into a different world."

Too bad, I like plastic ghosts...

That is kind of a shame, but ghostified versions of characters is still pretty unique and interesting. Heck, if the theme goes more than one wave we might eventually start to see them show up in plastic.

[Lyichir]

This theme looks really cool. I'm really excited for it—much moreso than I had been for Monster Fighters.

[lego_guyon02]

12 minutes ago, Robert8 said:

Hope it will last more than just 1 wave. 

Most of the time themes like this, Ninjago, Chima and Nexo Knights have a runtime of 3 years. After that LEGO will evaluate how the theme is doing and decides what they'll do with it. Thats why the third year of Ninjago sets were nicknamed ''The Final Battle'', Nexo Knights however did so poorly that most year 3 sets were cancelled

[TeriXeri]

This theme appeals a lot more to me then a Licensed Scooby Doo or Ghostbuster theme would do, mainly because it doesn't have to follow any movie/story/show that has been written already, so sets tend to be more freely designed.

Also I like sets mainly focused on buildings/locations, and when the vehicle sets are seperate sets.

Edited February 14, 2019 by TeriXeri

[Captain Nemo]

Not having physical ghost figures I think is potentially the weak point of this. It also looks like the possessed characters use a similar design (with a uniform new hairpiece), which is not ideal as having some color variations (like the digital ghosts) at least might increase ones desire to collect them. 

All the minifigures are expertly deigned—I just hope we get enough characters to offset the lack of physical ghosts. Jack and Parker are amazing, but getting one of them in every set and no ghosts? On the physical brick side of things that could get old fast. 

 

 

[Borex]

Ow wow. Not really into the schoolbus, but the other sets look really cool. These might end up in my house! I also really like the main characters. Cool!

[Laura Beinbrech]

41 minutes ago, Captain Nemo said:

Not having physical ghost figures I think is potentially the weak point of this. It also looks like the possessed characters use a similar design (with a uniform new hairpiece), which is not ideal as having some color variations (like the digital ghosts) at least might increase ones desire to collect them. 

All the minifigures are expertly deigned—I just hope we get enough characters to offset the lack of physical ghosts. Jack and Parker are amazing, but getting one of them in every set and no ghosts? On the physical brick side of things that could get old fast. 

While it is rather sad we're not getting any actual ghost figures, the heads & wing bits for "possessing" regular figures (if included in sufficient quantities) would be great for making custom wraith/barrow wight/ghoul figures that could be used to, for the lack of a better term, flesh out the ranks of my undead faction's army.

I do really like most of the set designs, and I'm definitely getting the lab, and the boat & train sound really interesting as well.

[Peppermint_M]

Loving this theme! I know I will be buying plenty of it. 

[MAB]

51 minutes ago, Captain Nemo said:

Not having physical ghost figures I think is potentially the weak point of this

 

 

My feeling too. Also the app could be a weak point. Let's hope they learnt from their experiences with LEGO Fusion how not to do it.

Plus I hope the app runs on tablets that are fairly basic that kids own, rather than them expecting people to buy the latest ipad or have an android tablet produced in the last six months only.

[RacerRabbit]

I think it looks rather good. Especially the school bus. I like a well built Lego vehicle that has a distinct style to it and that bus kinda fits the bill for me. Plus, theres a train and a truck coming as said in a previous comment. I hope they'll be pretty good. Not too bothered by the whole smartphone app thing so I'll just be buying them for the sets themselves.

[Hisstori]

Looks pretty neat so far. I'll probs pick up at least the bigger ones.

[Mylenium]

Just saw the teaser video... The sets look promising (as much as one can discern them), but I honestly don't care for the AR stuff. Just strikes me as another attempt to cash in by selling tons of ancillary stuff like additional minifigures, collectible cards and mags with extra codes to unlock in-game content.

Mylenium

[legonerd54321]

Has there been pictures of the train????

[Robert8]

If they are possessed, then these they arent ghosts. They are demons. TLG probably didnt want any controversy around it and they jusy calles them ghosts. 

[Pisces no Aphrodite]

17 minutes ago, legonerd54321 said:

Has there been pictures of the train?

I guess not.

[Legochaek]

1 hour ago, Robert8 said:

If they are possessed, then these they arent ghosts. They are demons. TLG probably didnt want any controversy around it and they jusy calles them ghosts. 

Maybe they’re dead possessed people who can’t cross over to the other side . So demonic ghosts 

[PenPlays]

This theme looks fantastic.

One gripe though, I only see mint colored pieces, not glow-in-the-dark ones (which look white, not mint, for those curious).

It's like NINJAGO 2015 all over again.

[Lyichir]

1 hour ago, Mylenium said:

Just saw the teaser video... The sets look promising (as much as one can discern them), but I honestly don't care for the AR stuff. Just strikes me as another attempt to cash in by selling tons of ancillary stuff like additional minifigures, collectible cards and mags with extra codes to unlock in-game content.

Mylenium

From the sound of it, the content seems like it will be determined by which actual sets you have, not by scanning unrelated media or objects. Nexo Knights may have had scannable Nexo Powers in ancillary materials but the AR component of this game reminds me more of Fusion, which did not.

1 hour ago, Robert8 said:

If they are possessed, then these they arent ghosts. They are demons. TLG probably didnt want any controversy around it and they jusy calles them ghosts. 

Ghosts and demons are both fictional and the "rules" that govern them (including whether people or objects can be possessed by them) vary from story to story. Just because the ghosts are possessing people doesn't mean they don't qualify as ghosts.

[pawcanada]

On the one hand, I do like how some of the sets look, especially the graveyard, and I love ghosts, monsters and horror in general when it comes to Lego themes like this and Monster Fighter.

4 hours ago, parsom said:

According to pocket-lint.com:

"You don't get ghost mini-figures in the box, for example, although included characters can be "possessed" by replacing their heads. Instead, the ghosts are supplied through AR and it feels as if the phone is the portal into a different world."

Too bad, I like plastic ghosts...

On the other, this kinda kills the line for me. I'll admit I'm more interested in mini figures than full on sets and while some of them may make for great horror/Halloween displays (again, like the graveyard), I'm more interested in seeing interesting ghosts and monsters as figures I can mix in with my collection from the CMF line and Monster Fighter. Perhaps some of the possessed ones will scratch that itch (one looks like it might) but I'm afraid this may be a pass for me, or only if I can get some of the sets for a good price.

[Aanchir]

1 hour ago, Penkid11 said:

This theme looks fantastic.

One gripe though, I only see mint colored pieces, not glow-in-the-dark ones (which look white, not mint, for those curious).

It's like NINJAGO 2015 all over again.

As fun a gimmick as glow-in-the-dark is, I think Spring Yellowish Green parts tend to look much spookier by default, whereas White Glow parts don't look particularly spooky EXCEPT in the dark.

2 hours ago, Robert8 said:

If they are possessed, then these they arent ghosts. They are demons. TLG probably didnt want any controversy around it and they jusy calles them ghosts. 

Demonic possession and spirit possession are both concepts that are well established in both modern fiction and religion/mythology going all the way back to ancient times. If they were demons and LEGO was only calling them ghosts to avoid controversy, then they would almost certainly have designed them to LOOK the way demons are typically depicted in pop culture, rather than ghost-like. After all, LEGO showed with Nexo Knights that they're not afraid of depicting demon-like creatures and calling them something more innocuous like monsters.

For that matter, LEGO didn't hesitate at all in their set descriptions to refer to the Oni-mask-powered add-on in 70639 as a "demon torso", to the figs in 853866 as "Oni demon minifigures", to the ghost in 75828 as the "demon ghost Mayhem", and to the hobgoblin minifigure in 76058 as an "evil demon". I think a lot of AFOLs overestimate the lengths LEGO will go to to avoid upsetting people with fringe viewpoints like getting outraged by toy LGBTQ+ characters, toy mining and forestry machines, or fictional toy demons

4 hours ago, Guyon2002 said:

Most of the time themes like this, Ninjago, Chima and Nexo Knights have a runtime of 3 years. After that LEGO will evaluate how the theme is doing and decides what they'll do with it. Thats why the third year of Ninjago sets were nicknamed ''The Final Battle'', Nexo Knights however did so poorly that most year 3 sets were cancelled

I think it's hard to tell at this point if this will be on the same sort of scale as those "big bang" themes or more along the lines of more short-lived stuff such as Agents and Ultra Agents, but launching in the summer with a wave of just eight sets (instead of at the beginning of the year with considerably more than that) makes me suspect the latter. Which would be nice in some respects, because I know people have been bummed at how few short-lived, experimental in-house themes there have been lately compared to bigger and more long-lived themes like Ninjago, Nexo Knights, City, Friends, and Elves.

2 hours ago, Mylenium said:

Just saw the teaser video... The sets look promising (as much as one can discern them), but I honestly don't care for the AR stuff. Just strikes me as another attempt to cash in by selling tons of ancillary stuff like additional minifigures, collectible cards and mags with extra codes to unlock in-game content.

Mylenium

Considering LEGO has produced a lot of that type of stuff over the years even in themes like Bionicle, Knights' Kingdom, and Ninjago that didn't tie in with any sort of AR functionality, I wouldn't say that the AR feature here can be dismissed as a cash-in so easily.

I see stuff like this or the Nexo Knights and Ultra Agents apps as more of a parallel to the way LEGO has been using digital content like online game points, unlockable video game characters/vehicles, and download codes in lots of their themes since the turn of the millennium so that kids can engage with the physical products and media in both physical and digital ways. I'm talking stuff like the mask codes in 2001 Bionicle sets, the Kanoka Club and B.I.O. codes from 2005–2010 Bionicle sets, the EXO Codes from 2007–2008 Exo-Force sets, the Hero Codes from the 2012–2014 Hero Factory sets, the club codes they had for many years in LEGO Club and LEGO BrickMaster magazines, the online challenges and rewards that tied in with each of the LEGO Master Builder Academy kits, etc.

The reality is that most kids who play with LEGO and other physical toys are also going to have interests that involve apps, video games, or the web. Putting stuff like this in sets is a good way to boost their appeal by making the products satisfy both those categories of interests. And as for any of us adults who might not enjoy AR games quite as much, it doesn't look as though these sets are lacking in physical play value on their own, so we can mostly think of them like other play features we don't care much about (like, say, flick missiles) and choose to either enjoy the parts of the sets we do like and ignore the features we don't, or swap them out for features or details that we get more enjoyment out of.

Personally, I'm always really impressed when LEGO can make the supplementary parts of their themes (whether they're physical stuff like magazines and trading cards or digital stuff like apps and online games) so neatly integrated with the physical product. An example: I loved how well the 2011–2012 Ninjago trading cards and spinners worked together to create a unified play experience, where the cards interacted with the physical play experience both as commands to play with the spinners in different ways (raise the spinner up a brick in height for one round, spin your spinner and character upside down for one round, give your character a second weapon, etc) and as physical objects (throw a card at your opponent's spinner like a ninja star this round, put the cards down as obstacles so the first spinner to touch them loses the round, etc).

It bummed me out that subsequent LEGO card games haven't been as well integrated, though I suspect the main issue was the amount of reading they entailed, and thus the amount of translation required for that aspect of the products to resonate worldwide. Meanwhile, as far as apps go, I felt like LEGO Fusion was an interesting experiment, but the sets had little to no play value without the app. LEGO Ultra Agents and Nexo Knights were better in terms of the physical play experience, but the physical and digital play experiences were still entirely separate, and it was more or less just a new way of handling the kinds of digital unlock codes we'd seen in so many themes before.

This seems a LOT more integrated in the way that I like, in that the physical product isn't just incidental to the in-app gameplay. The physical product IS the in-game level, and interacting with the product's physical play features is a big part of how you interact with the in-game world. This is maybe the best example I've seen yet of a true "augmented reality" toy, in that the real-life toy and its physical features are still the thing you're playing with, but the app gives you a separate, more "gamified" format in which to play with it.

Edited February 14, 2019 by Aanchir

[TheGlynreaper]

5 hours ago, Guyon2002 said:

It's an interesting idea how this all takes place on a school campus. But am I the only thinking its weird a school has a graveyard? 

it could be a pet cemetery for all the class pets that have died but seriously that school and bus is beyond awesome and there was me saying to a lego store employee how they need to do another monster fighters type theme

 

[Chilis]

OMG! That school bus! It will go right into the Apocalypseburg-part of town This theme was a nice suprise!

[Still Raindrop]

23 minutes ago, Aanchir said:

I think it's hard to tell at this point if this will be on the same sort of scale as those "big bang" themes or more along the lines of more short-lived stuff such as Agents and Ultra Agents, but launching in the summer with a wave of just eight sets (instead of at the beginning of the year with considerably more than that) makes me suspect the latter. Which would be nice in some respects, because I know people have been bummed at how few short-lived, experimental in-house themes there have been lately compared to bigger and more long-lived themes like Ninjago, Nexo Knights, City, Friends, and Elves.

I'm kind of hoping it will be this. Just the other day I was thinking about how I miss short-lived, experimental in-house themes. I enjoy bigger and more long-lived ones, as well, but there's something about the freedom of not being tied down to a bigger theme that I really enjoy.

[badchriss]

What I´ve seen so far looks amazing.

Is it just me or does the schoolbus from the upcoming "Hidden Side" line remind anyone else of the schoolbus from the Ninjago Movie?

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3014284/mediaviewer/rm3050055168

[Fenghuang0296]

This theme looks fascinating. I love the massive transformation feature the school has. 

Unfortunately, I just don't have a lot of use for a school when I already have Hogwarts in my village layout . . pity . . so I hope that the other sets have similar transformation features. I'm particularly interested in the Diner and the Train - I have been waiting for an interesting, non-City, non-Harry Potter train since coming out of my Dark Age in 2015, and it sounds like I might finally be satisfied! Woohoo! 

The lab looks interesting, and seems to confirm that there will be other minifigures in the theme beyond . . wait, do we have names for the two main characters yet? 

The no ghosts thing sucks, but I still have some leftover from Ninjago, Ghostbusters and CMFs. I should be able to make do. 

I can't wait to see the other sets! So hyped!

And if this does last two or three waves at least, I hope to see some residential houses. And more transformation features. Please. 

I WILL MOC THEM IF I HAVE TO.