HIDDEN SIDE - 2019

[Fenghuang0296]

Oh wow, these look great!

I'm seriously disappointed that they aren't doing ghost minifigures; the ghosts in the theme are portrayed as red, yellow and blue, while the heads are green. Plus I'm looking at the box art of the Truck set and seeing an incredibly badass-looking cowboy/gunslinger ghost and damnit I want that to be a thing . . to say nothing of the ghost octopus seen in the Boat's art. 

It's shame they haven't released pictures of the Diner, Lab and . . well, I have zero interest in the Bus so that's fine, but still. 

Edited May 8, 2019 by Feng-huang0296

[Aanchir]

4 hours ago, Lyichir said:

EDIT: Thanks to the high quality, finalized box images, we also can see more of the character names!

Jack (ghost-hunting boy)
Parker (ghost-hunting girl)
Spencer (ghost dog)
J.B. (scientist)
Mr. Nygh(?)/El Fuego (janitor?)
Jonas Jr. (fisherman)
Captain Jonas (fisherman)
Mr. Branson (gravedigger)
Paola (schoolgirl)
Wade (schoolboy)
Mr. Clarke (teacher)
Rose Davids(?) (teacher)
Chuck (train engineer)
Ms. Santos (station master?)
Dwayne (biker)
Joey (biker)

Amazon.co.uk has finalized pics of the bus. So to continue this list, its characters are Worker Bill and Worker Hanna.

[Fuppylodders]

Regardless of the lack of physical ghost figs (which I think would have made an awesome addition-I understand why they didn't, but think perhaps they'd make a great addition for the next wave as people would have gained the connection with them by then) I think these sets are an awesome breath of fresh air. None of the other in-house themes really interest me except for the modulars and fairground sets. Star wars ucs is a let down for me this time round, and no fairground ride in sight, I feel they really done well in the design in all of these sets. Every single one has a lot of details, features and plenty of minifigs which are awesome in themselves. 

Definitely looking forward to getting all of these! I do hope they do more than one wave! 

[TheGlynreaper]

lets hope the theme sells well and more sets can be made

 

Edited May 9, 2019 by TheGlynreaper

[Thedarkmaster2]

while an interesting theme. I like the ghost figures. I doubt the clothing style is really gonna age well though... 

On 2/22/2019 at 10:09 AM, Soupperson1 said:

. I don’t want to get into a sexuality debate but I’m really impressed with LEGO going against the social norm with this character and that’s coming from someone who loves mini-dolls. 

You don't want to start a debate yet you ar eliterally the only one talking about it

[Lyichir]

1 hour ago, Thedarkmaster2 said:

while an interesting theme. I like the ghost figures. I doubt the clothing style is really gonna age well though... 

You don't want to start a debate yet you ar eliterally the only one talking about it

Clothing style? Not sure what you mean by that. The regular civilians seem to wear fairly ordinary clothes—either outfits related to their professions or casual clothes like hoodies, jean jackets, and graphic tees. Not sure what among that wouldn't "age well".

Edited May 9, 2019 by Lyichir

[Fuppylodders]

One thing which I'm kinda surprised about, after thinking about it, is the name of the theme. 

Say the name without any context and you have no clue what this theme could entail. Every other theme you can take a wild guess due to at least one of the words in the name and be not too far off. 

It just doesn't seem catchy in any way. Something like Ghost hunters/seekers, Hide 'n' Ghost-Seek or... I don't know, but 'hidden side' just gives nothing away to the theme other than something is hidden. Well, lots of sets in many themes have hidden play features, but it doesn't relate to some specific connection that separates this theme from any other though.

Hopefully this doesn't detract any sales from what looks to be a promising in house theme. 

[Lyichir]

1 hour ago, Fuppylodders said:

One thing which I'm kinda surprised about, after thinking about it, is the name of the theme. 

Say the name without any context and you have no clue what this theme could entail. Every other theme you can take a wild guess due to at least one of the words in the name and be not too far off. 

It just doesn't seem catchy in any way. Something like Ghost hunters/seekers, Hide 'n' Ghost-Seek or... I don't know, but 'hidden side' just gives nothing away to the theme other than something is hidden. Well, lots of sets in many themes have hidden play features, but it doesn't relate to some specific connection that separates this theme from any other though.

Hopefully this doesn't detract any sales from what looks to be a promising in house theme. 

"Hidden Side" most likely refers to the "hidden side" to the town that is revealed to the characters using their phones to detect the ghostly presence there (and that can be revealed to kids using the app game). It's true that it's not as on-the-nose as many past theme names like "Monster Fighters," "Space Police," or "Elves" but it does evoke the sense of mystery that the genre of teen paranormal investigation entails. Hopefully that sense of mystery will be enough to hook kids—but if it is, it wouldn't be the first time. The name "Bionicle", after all, tells you remarkably little about the story or sets, but became a decade-long hit.

[lhp776]

This is probably going to be somewhere in between kid and adult.  Probably Teens and Pre-Teens.  It is awesome that it's going to be AR though.

[Thedarkmaster2]

7 hours ago, Lyichir said:

Clothing style? Not sure what you mean by that. The regular civilians seem to wear fairly ordinary clothes—either outfits related to their professions or casual clothes like hoodies, jean jackets, and graphic tees. Not sure what among that wouldn't "age well".

I meant the main characters

[Lyichir]

57 minutes ago, Thedarkmaster2 said:

I meant the main characters

So did I? Their outfits to me look like... the kind kids might wear. Jack's outfit is slightly sporty, while Parker's looks a bit more punk-rock what with the ripped denim, but both are generally fairly casual and don't strike me as particularly likely to go the way of go-go boots and parachute pants any time soon.

[ShadowWolfHount]

On 5/8/2019 at 6:38 AM, incognito said:

official pics are out. very strange/interesting box art:

https://www.thebrickfan.com/lego-hidden-side-official-set-images/

OH MY! Jack literally running in front of the truck, we're getting death already before the theme even starts. 

18 hours ago, Thedarkmaster2 said:

while an interesting theme. I like the ghost figures. I doubt the clothing style is really gonna age well though... 

Agree, as said many time before, they scream "hello fellow kids". The blogger thing especially not helping at all, despite the gimmick.

 

[Robert8]

4 hours ago, ShadowWolfHount said:

Agree, as said many time before, they scream "hello fellow kids". The blogger thing especially not helping at all, despite the gimmick.

 

I wonder why they didnt use the medium legs for thesem 2 

[Lyichir]

5 hours ago, Robert8 said:

I wonder why they didnt use the medium legs for thesem 2 

My guess would be that Lego probably doesn't yet have enough of those molds to produce them in the kind of quantity necessary to use those legs across every set of this theme. We've seen a similar sort of prioritization of the dual-molded legs in the past—even if they now have the capability to produce a part, that doesn't mean that they can produce it in anywhere near the same quantity as older parts that they have been producing for decades.

There are other potential reasons as well—the longer legs would allow them to switch to dual-molded legs for those characters in the future, for instance, if they were to opt for costumes with shorts or boots in a future wave. And while these characters are meant to be audience surrogates to a certain extent, they're also probably meant to be aspirational—many kids in the tween-to-teen age range prefer to be seen as older or more capable than they actually are, which means that they might relate better to older, teenage characters (hence the school being a high school rather than, say, a middle school). Framing the teenage protagonists as older teens also lets them do things like drive cars without being seen as breaking the law.

[TheGlynreaper]

interestingly all the hidden side set images have disappeared from amazon uk

[Lyichir]

3 hours ago, TheGlynreaper said:

interestingly all the hidden side set images have disappeared from amazon uk

Unsurprising. They were still listed with preliminary names (including the CONF_BANANA codename for the theme itself) so it's not surprising that they were not supposed to go up just yet.

[TheGlynreaper]

so are they slated for release in june or august honestly I expected them to be released near Halloween considering the spooky theme

[Aanchir]

4 hours ago, TheGlynreaper said:

so are they slated for release in june or august honestly I expected them to be released near Halloween considering the spooky theme

In general LEGO tends to release seasonal sets, licensed sets, etc. a month or two ahead of whatever they're meant to tie in with.

• For one thing, it gives friends and relatives more advance notice so that they can give kids seasonally-appropriate gifts without waiting until the last minute to buy them.
   
• Also, when a new product comes out shortly before a movie or holiday that drives up demand for it, it can make it harder to reliably satisfy all that urgent demand. Giving people a little longer to buy sets makes things easier on retailers, distributors, and manufacturers.
   
• To top things off, some of the folks at Toy Fair said they were hoping to do a special Halloween event in the app itself… so launching the sets and app before that gives buyers a chance to get accustomed to what the game's core experience is like before that "twist" is added later on.

[Thedarkmaster2]

On 5/10/2019 at 5:28 AM, Robert8 said:

I wonder why they didnt use the medium legs

The medium legs will kill the short legs, and make my large stone army obsolete 

 

On 5/10/2019 at 1:22 AM, ShadowWolfHount said:

Agree, as said many time before, they scream "hello fellow kids".

Yeah it might be fine for a few years maybe a decade.

[Robert8]

In this case I think the medium legs were better than the long ones, because there are meant to be teenagers

But I dont think these will replace the short legs.  

[ShadowWolfHount]

Unless they meant to be late teen, rather than early or mid teens. 

[Lyichir]

2 hours ago, ShadowWolfHount said:

Unless they meant to be late teen, rather than early or mid teens. 

I think the fact that Jack is driving a small buggy/ATV might imply that. Mind you, I expect that, like Ninjago, the media might keep things vaguer than providing a specific age. Old enough for responsibility/independence, young enough for kids to relate to.

[Digger of Bricks]

If anyone here has any questions about the Hidden Side theme for its designers, well...

The Brothers Brick - Ask LEGO Anything: We’re Talking to LEGO, and We Want Your Help! [News]

Quote

Next week The Brothers Brick will be in Billund, Denmark at LEGO’s headquarters to talk with LEGO about how the company interacts with the fan community. That’s not all we’ll be doing though, as we’ll also have an opportunity to sit down with a handful of LEGO designers to pick their brains about your favorite themes. We want to give our readers a chance to get in on the action, so if you’ve got a burning question about one of these themes, you can fill out our form to submit your question. Just remember, LEGO designers can never talk about unannounced future products or plans, so there’s no point asking “will LEGO ever make Monorail again?” or “what sets are planned for next summer?”

The design teams we’ll be speaking with include Creator Expert, Games (Video Games & Apps), Harry Potter, Hidden Side, Ideas, Jurassic World, and Speed Champions. Although the brand-new Hidden Side theme hasn’t been released yet, we did get a hands-on look at the sets back in February at the New York Toy Fair, and saw all the official set photos last week.

We’ll also have a chat with Tormod Askildsen, LEGO’s Head of AFOL Engagement–that’s right, LEGO has a whole department dedicated to interacting with Adult Fans of LEGO (aka AFOLs). The department supports a variety of activities throughout the fan community, such as providing early access to sets for some of the reviews we do here on The Brothers Brick. If you’ve got a question about how LEGO thinks about adult builders, now is your time to ask it.

Submit your questions here

Since time will be limited, we can’t promise we’ll get to everyone’s questions, but we’ll ask as many as we can.

 

[Fenghuang0296]

@Digger of Bricks I've already put in a question about how much modification the Hidden Side sets can take before the AR functionality starts to break down. But if more people want to ask that question, then TBB will see it as a 'frequently asked' question and probably prioritise it. So everyone else, ask away!

[Thedarkmaster2]

13 hours ago, ShadowWolfHount said:

Unless they meant to be late teen, rather than early or mid teens. 

Thant makes sense. Also how much will we be able to modify the hidden side sets until they;re AR  functionality breaks down