HIDDEN SIDE - 2019

[Lyichir]

1 hour ago, Captain Nemo said:

For the first wave I think it's OK to have Jack and Parker in almost every set--I'm not happy about it, but I understand that for the story and the app to function you would presumably need both in each set. Jack/Parker are supposed to send an alert when ghosts might be around (like during events, such as Halloween), so you would most likely need both in each set because of this. Still in comparison it's also a bit strange this this team is only two people in total. Ninjago's team is way too big, but at least its size allows the sets to focus on specific members at a time. 

That said, if we get a second wave or more, they're really going to have to add some actual variety to Jack and Parker--adding or removing a jacket is going to get real old real fast too. 

Speaking of characters though, while a bit premature, I seriously hope that Lego goes all out with the periphery characters' lore, i.e. I want actual names for all of them. The dog's name is apparently Spencer and we know the science teacher's name is JB, but the (admittedly unfinished) box art also names every other character as basically just "Captain", "Waitress", "Conductor", etc. which is hopefully not final. Just randomly complaining over here , but I really hope we get some lore for this town and the people in it, and that starts with every character being a named person. 

To be honest I think it's good that they're starting with a somewhat small cast. They can potentially expand that cast of characters later, but for now four core human characters (Jack, Parker, JB, and El Fuego) seems like a decent variety. And story-wise, a smaller cast is easier to develop—I can't help but consider Ninjago vs. Nexo Knights, the latter of which started with a bigger cast of main heroes (five knights+Robin & Ava+Merlok) but did a poorer job of developing those characters as well as distributing them throughout the sets effectively (the biggest victim of which was Ava, who got frustratingly little development compared to her peer Robin and not only never got so much as a costume change but was left out of the final wave entirely).

[Aanchir]

14 hours ago, Dr.Cogg said:

Not having real ghosts, just possessed things is my main problem with this theme, which is where the App causes the problem.

Just look at this and tell me you wouldn't want more minifigs like this:

Five years ago, before that ghostly trail element existed, I don't think AFOLs would have cared one way or the other about the idea of spooky ghost figures wearing regular pants. After all, that library ghost figure already has regular hair and a regular shirt. In fact, take away that ghostly trail element and the new "possessed" figures honestly look a lot MORE ghostly than the library ghost does, due to having transparent heads, glowing eyes, hair that waves and twists in an unnatural-looking way, and sometimes even additional monstrous accessories like wings or tentacles.

And the fact that a ghostly trail element like that exists doesn't strike me as a reason to think that it should be expected on all ghost characters going forward. Even in its initial debut in the Ninjago Season 5: Possession sets from 2015, it only appeared on four of the ghost characters that year, and three of those characters also appeared in other sets from the same wave with more traditional leg pieces (albeit in the same transparent color as their faces). Furthermore, plenty of ghost minifigures and zombie minifigures from themes like Pirates of the Caribbean, Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings, Ghostbusters, Minifigures, and Ninjago likewise just wear the same clothing as when they were alive, sometimes with no more than their head and/or hands conspicuously revealing their undead nature.

12 hours ago, Dr.Cogg said:

Ok, here is a picture of the ghost we should have gotten :

To me that ghost, looks better than the possessed minifigs. 

If there had not been an app, the ghosts would have almost certainly NOT looked like that, since it is lacking in much distinguishing detail that would have been possible to achieve on a minifigure. Its main distinguishing trait other than having a ghostly face and no legs is that it's entirely transparent, something LEGO has not yet found a way to do in a way that meets their quality standards. The colors of the ghosts in the app and illustrations also seem to be chosen in accordance with gameplay mechanics, such as different colors of ghosts having different behavior (sort of like in the Luigi's Mansion games). So if there were no app, even the ghost colors in the sets might have simply stuck with the same uniform yellowish green as the possessed people/vehicles/buildings in the sets.

As such, if LEGO were designing physical ghost minifigures for this theme, there's no telling WHAT the baddies. would have looked like — but one way or another they would have had designs optimized to exist as minifigures, not ones that whose most distinguishing characteristics were selected with the app in mind.

4 hours ago, TeriXeri said:

Wouldve been even better if they switched up the outfits a bit more on the headpieces.

Still means 8 of the same hoodie/cap pieces, and potentially the same (double sided) faces.

But maybe I'm asking too much as someone potentially interested in multiple sets.

I do know the monster/civilian side of things is very varied, and including extra heads/hairpieces for the normal/monster versions is a good thing.

It's possible that the headgear was used in as many sets as possible in order to offset their costs, since unlike the Nexo Knights headgear they're both printed and/or 2K molded. Not to mention to keep their otherwise ordinary outfits recognizable, since their outfits otherwise aren't emblazoned with the kind of unmistakable logos and color coding typical of characters like the Nexo Knights or Ninjago ninjas.

Edited February 18, 2019 by Aanchir

[saysonder]

Had Jack and Parker not already had great designs with new pieces I’d like to get my hands on, I’d be a bit more upset that they only have two variations each, but I’ve seen at least three face prints for them when scrolling through the photos, so thats something I guess. I can certainly see more kids heir age joining them in later waves, but for now, I like that I don’t have to collect 7-8 main characters like others themes.

I don’t get why people are so upset about no ghost figure so beign included. Not only would they look awkward because they can’t be fully transparent, but stop discounting the actual figures! You act like we aren’t getting anything spooky when in reality we’re getting a fisherman with tentacles and a possessed four armed chef! Possessed civilians are 10x cooler than generic spooky ghosts flying around without any additional accessories like the wings or new hair pieces. Some of you just need to complain it seems like,

55 minutes ago, Aanchir said:

If there had not been an app, the ghosts would have almost certainly NOT looked like that, since it is lacking in much distinguishing detail that would have been possible to achieve on a minifigure. Its main distinguishing trait other than having a ghostly face and no legs is that it's entirely transparent, something LEGO has not yet found a way to do in a way that meets their quality standards. The colors of the ghosts in the app and illustrations also seem to be chosen in accordance with gameplay mechanics, such as different colors of ghosts having different behavior (sort of like in the Luigi's Mansion games). So if there were no app, even the ghost colors in the sets might have simply stuck with the same uniform yellowish green as the possessed people/vehicles/buildings in the sets.

As such, if LEGO were designing physical ghost minifigures for this theme, there's no telling WHAT the baddies. would have looked like — but one way or another they would have had designs optimized to exist as minifigures, not ones that whose most distinguishing characteristics were selected with the app in mind.

I like you.

[DraikNova]

It wouldn't be that difficult to create a leg mold that suitably represents the ghost from the banner; effectively, it'd only really need to be leg tubes and several translucent spikes jutting downwards forming stud-clutching holes (plus the obligatory rectangle in between to hold it all together, of course). Definitely as simple or simpler than the ghostly goop leg mold Ninjago introduced.

I doubt a mold so similar to the existing one would be created though, even if the banner ghost actually shows up as a major villain at some point.

 

Really, the only thing I majorly dislike about the possessed figures is that they look like the ghostly elements are just tacked on. The ghostly elements would look better if they were partially combined with the color of the figure, or perhaps more translucent if the idea is to communicate that parts of the ghost itself are just sticking out of the possessed people.

[jimmynick]

6 hours ago, Aanchir said:

In fact, take away that ghostly trail element and the new "possessed" figures honestly look a lot MORE ghostly than the library ghost does, due to having transparent heads, glowing eyes, hair that waves and twists in an unnatural-looking way, and sometimes even additional monstrous accessories like wings or tentacles.

Great point.

3 minutes ago, DraikNova said:

Really, the only thing I majorly dislike about the possessed figures is that they look like the ghostly elements are just tacked on. The ghostly elements would look better if they were partially combined with the color of the figure, or perhaps more translucent if the idea is to communicate that parts of the ghost itself are just sticking out of the possessed people.

Good point too.

I think the spooky characters in this theme are pretty good, and having a variety of characters is exciting in a way that an army of generic ghosts is not.

The game seems to encourage you to collect ghosts and level up to get more exotic and scarier ghosts, so it would be nice if it rewarded creativity in terms of MOCs and alternate builds for kids, but as has been said in this thread, it looks like that won't be supported.

[Aanchir]

30 minutes ago, DraikNova said:

It wouldn't be that difficult to create a leg mold that suitably represents the ghost from the banner; effectively, it'd only really need to be leg tubes and several translucent spikes jutting downwards forming stud-clutching holes (plus the obligatory rectangle in between to hold it all together, of course). Definitely as simple or simpler than the ghostly goop leg mold Ninjago introduced.

To be honest, if they wanted ghost minifigures with that kind of wispy shape they would probably just use a recolor of the same one as Ninjago introduced. After all, the Ninjago ghosts with that leg shape were depicted with a look not too unlike the ghosts in the Hidden Side app: https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/ninjago/images/2/21/Bansha1.png/revision/latest?cb=20150725222835

The bigger concern I was bringing up in my post was the ghost designs from the apps and illustrations being entirely transparent. LEGO has tried different approaches to making fully transparent minifigures in the past and none have fully met their safety and quality standards. The usual connections between minifigure parts are too tight to work as a connection between two polycarbonate parts (the material LEGO typically uses for transparent elements of standard LEGO hardness), since tight connections between polycarbonate can result in enough friction/resistance to limit their ability to rotate or even permanently damage them. If you've ever connected a transparent 1x1 round cone to a transparent lightsaber blade you ought to recognize how this can be a problem. LEGO has found workarounds for some issues like this in the past, either by using different materials, or creating new molds with connections that aren't quite as tight). Sometimes But so far they haven't found any adequate way to make this work with minifigures. Posts like this one from people lucky enough to own prototype minifigures can attest to them being much stiffer and more brittle than the ones that appear in sets.

Ordinarily, LEGO deals with this by using transparent heads, arms, and/or legs but not transparent torsos, hips, and hands. But I really don't feel like this would be adequate for recreating the look of a ghost like in the illustration shared earlier, which don't really have many distinguishing characteristics (clothing, etc) besides their bodies being transparent. It'd just look like it was a pink ghost wearing a T-shirt and gloves made of pink bubble gum — gross, maybe, but not very creepy or ghostly looking. This is also why force ghosts and full-size holograms of people like those in Star Wars and Nexo Knights have yet to appear as physical minifigures. Someday, maybe…

[Fenghuang0296]

2 minutes ago, Aanchir said:

Someday, maybe…

If I could upvote posts on Eurobricks . . I agree completely!

Hey, has there been any word on an associated TV series or wenisode series to go with this theme?

[Aanchir]

21 minutes ago, Feng-huang0296 said:

If I could upvote posts on Eurobricks . . I agree completely!

Hey, has there been any word on an associated TV series or wenisode series to go with this theme?

I saw one site report that there will be YouTube videos, but no idea whether that would mean a full series of webisodes or just a few promo videos like pretty much all themes get.

[koalayummies]

On 2/15/2019 at 6:14 PM, Digger of Bricks said:

Besides the Scooby Doo and Ghostbusters comparisons, anyone getting any Time Cruisers/Time Twisters vibes from what's been seen so far? 

Definitely! Kept getting a nostalgic feeling off of these pictures recalling vague sets from the past and had to google. Recalled 'time ____'... oh yeah Time Cruisers!

[pawcanada]

9 hours ago, DraikNova said:

Really, the only thing I majorly dislike about the possessed figures is that they look like the ghostly elements are just tacked on. The ghostly elements would look better if they were partially combined with the color of the figure, or perhaps more translucent if the idea is to communicate that parts of the ghost itself are just sticking out of the possessed people.

I second this. The possessed butcher/chef is a good example of this, as I really like how the possessed head and second pair of arms look, but they don't blend into the lower torso. It reminds me of when I would randomly put parts from two different figures together as a child.

That said, I do like how the possessed grave keeper and lighthouse keeper look (based off the photos so far anyway), as I feel enough of their "normal" body has been covered so you can switch for the possessed parts without it clashing.

[Digger of Bricks]

On 2/18/2019 at 11:16 PM, koalayummies said:

Definitely! Kept getting a nostalgic feeling off of these pictures recalling vague sets from the past and had to google. Recalled 'time ____'... oh yeah Time Cruisers!

Also, it more vaguely reminds me of @Nuju Metru's series of Body Battlers playset MOCs somewhat. Must be just the shared '50s vibe. 

 

[JJ Tong (zfogshooterz)]

3 hours ago, Digger of Bricks said:

Also, it more vaguely reminds me of @Nuju Metru's series of Body Battlers playset MOCs somewhat. Must be just the shared '50s vibe. 

 

Dang! These playsets (MOCs) looked darn good. And they even seem quite legit to the actual deal for MOCs! 

And yeah, both this and Hidden Side does give similar vibes to me too. Though this added a pinch of Alien Conquest vibe too.

[Digger of Bricks]

Just now, JJ Tong (zfogshooterz) said:

Dang! These playsets (MOCs) looked darn good. And they even seem quite legit to the actual deal for MOCs! 

He's also done FOUR WAVES worth of playset MOCs for a fictional playtheme of his named Dragon Lands. 

 

[JJ Tong (zfogshooterz)]

Just now, Digger of Bricks said:

He's also done FOUR WAVES worth of playset MOCs for a fictional playtheme of his named Dragon Lands. 

Man, gotta say. I was near-speechless on first sight. That is awesome stuffs there!  

[Digger of Bricks]

6 minutes ago, JJ Tong (zfogshooterz) said:

Man, gotta say. I was near-speechless on first sight. That is awesome stuffs there!  

...and, he's done a STEAMPUNK theme too! 

 

[crimsondeity]

Those are amazing! I’m curious as to how he built the balloon parts for the airship and hot air balloon...

On topic, I’m not a huge fan of the “possessed” figures from a purely aesthetic view. I like some of the pieces, but I feel that having only certain parts look ghostly and other pieces being normal off-putting. For my own collection anyway; similar to how I feel about fleshies compared to the standard yellow.

[JJ Tong (zfogshooterz)]

2 hours ago, Digger of Bricks said:

...and, he's done a STEAMPUNK theme too! 

 

That is darn cool and interesting stuff too! Thanks for showing!

[TeriXeri]

50 minutes ago, crimsondeity said:

On topic, I’m not a huge fan of the “possessed” figures from a purely aesthetic view. I like some of the pieces, but I feel that having only certain parts look ghostly and other pieces being normal off-putting. For my own collection anyway; similar to how I feel about fleshies compared to the standard yellow.

I don't mind the way they can transform, while they won't have full-on monster torsos or legs, I think it makes sense going with the town being normal at day, and spooky at night.

The builds/minifigs could be used for a regular Town/Creator type scene in their normal forms. But considering there's 2-3 main characters in each set, the amount of other minifigs per set is still good.

Themed minifig pack with monsters could still be a cool idea for a wave 2.

Or actual ghosts in different colors , Slimer was already made in 2 different transparent colors, they could use something similar with different prints.

Edited February 20, 2019 by TeriXeri

[Henry Bricklider]

This is a really cool theme. I like all the builds and the ghost dog is really cute. I am most likely just going to get either the graveyard or the lab, though. 

[crimsondeity]

13 minutes ago, TeriXeri said:

I don't mind the way they can transform, while they won't have full-on monster torsos or legs, I think it makes sense going with the town being normal at day, and spooky at night.

The builds/minifigs could be used for a regular Town/Creator type scene in their normal forms. But considering there's 2-3 main characters in each set, the amount of other minifigs per set is still good.

Themed minifig pack with monsters could still be a cool idea for a wave 2.

Or actual ghosts in different colors , Slimer was already made in 2 different transparent colors, they could use something similar with different prints.

Oh, I get why they went the way they did; and I think they did a great job (as far as I can tell from tye pics). I’m just not sure they’ll fit into my own builds. We shall see! At the very least, I can use some “normal” parts to build characters.

If the line goes beyond the one wave, I’d love to see other types of monsters. Amd I’m a huge fan of mini-fig packs.

[x105Black]

18 hours ago, Digger of Bricks said:

Also, it more vaguely reminds me of @Nuju Metru's series of Body Battlers playset MOCs somewhat. Must be just the shared '50s vibe. 

I had the same thought!  They are definitely similar.

17 hours ago, Digger of Bricks said:

He's also done FOUR WAVES worth of playset MOCs for a fictional playtheme of his named Dragon Lands. 

I love these (except that I prefer molded creatures).

I'm curious to see how popular these Hidden Side sets will be.  I have a feeling that they will appeal greatly to those City builders that also enjoy something a little different, like Marvel and DC sets.

[Fenghuang0296]

Just now, x105Black said:

I'm curious to see how popular these Hidden Side sets will be.  I have a feeling that they will appeal greatly to those City builders that also enjoy something a little different, like Marvel and DC sets.

Considering that I fall squarely into that category (one of my ongoing city projects is a Modular base of operations for my mashup superhero team, and I am very proud of my expansion of Lockwood Estate into a dinosaur experimentation laboratory) I completely agree. These sets are going to be awesome and I can't wait.

[Darnok]

I am pretty sure that school will be the starting point for many cool modular MOCs. You can even put it in a City setup as it is, and it would fit in just fine.

Once "de-mystified", all of the sets work well in a City environment!

 

I hope this line becomes very popular,so we get more of it. I for one am in love already!

[karmajay]

Looks pretty fun. It would be cool if they added stuff in the app for the Scooby Doo sets.

[Aanchir]

2 hours ago, karmajay said:

Looks pretty fun. It would be cool if they added stuff in the app for the Scooby Doo sets.

As cool as that would be, I think it would be kind of upsetting for kids who get into the app via Hidden Side and missed their chance to pick up the Scooby-Doo sets when they were available.

I suspect that's also another reason that LEGO tends to stop supporting a lot of their toy-connected apps (Life of George, Fusion, Ultra Agents, etc) and offering them on iTunes/Google Play after the products in question have been retired for a while — because it leaves them with no way to satisfy customer service/tech support requests from people who download these apps and then want to know where to get the sets that tie in with them.

Granted, that DOES mean they probably have to deal with the opposite (people getting an app-connected set secondhand and not being able to download the app), but at least in that case the bricks themselves are still usable in builds. Plus, I think it'd be much more common for parents looking for free, wholesome LEGO apps for their kids to accidentally download one that the kids can't play without a retired product, than for parents to buy retired sets specifically so their kids can enjoy the connected digital content.

If the latter were a major PR issue, then they'd probably have already run into it with the online game/download codes that appear conspicuously in some older RoboRiders, Bionicle, Exo-Force, and Hero Factory sets, or with products like LEGO Studios or older LEGO Mindstorms kits that used computer software designed for now-defunct operating systems.