wesker

I'm excited to see what Lego comes out with in the summer wave for Ahsoka.

I'm pretty sure minifigures already in production don't add to the cost of a set. That's the benefit of having the CMF series and X-Jet come out first. As a hypothetical scenario lets say the X-Mansion has the design budget for eight new minifigures. The CMF has already provided Wolverine, Storm and Beast The X-Jet provides Cyclops, Jean Grey, Rogue and Gambit That's seven minifigures now available in addition to the eight spots from the mansion's design budget. Now the X-Mansion can include: Wolverine, Storm, Beast, Cyclops, Jean, Rogue and Gambit as recycled minifigures Professor X, Jubilee, Bishop, Sunspot, Magneto, Mystique, Sabretooth and Mr. Sinister as new exclusive minifigures The exception to this would be if one of the preexisting characters has a costume change. If Beast came with a lab coat then that new torso and leg print would be coming out of the mansion's budget, taking away a spot that could have otherwise gone towards a new character instead. The leaked image looked like an early concept for an X-Men set that took inspiration from a number of different sources. The tan colors in particular are definitely more reminiscent of the mansion seen in the Fox movies than the browns from the cartoon. As a product likely based directly on X-Men 97 I think the model will have to undergo some changes to closer reflect what we see on the show.

Hopefully they have a few surprises ready in the summer wave. I'm expecting it will just be more Infinity Saga sets again but I'll be happy if we at least get a Sentinel set thrown in there somewhere. Just any characters missing from the leaked minifigure list. Quicksilver, Loki and Selvig are the main omissions that stood out to me. I'm also hoping Ant-Man comes as a regular sized minifigure and not just a repeat of the trophy piece. It doesn't make sense to leave him out if we're getting a new Wasp minifigure and who knows when those two are going to be revisited again after how poorly their last film did. Coulson and Maria Hill would also be welcome for the sake of completion but realistically I don't expect to see either of them appear here. More likely we'll have to wait for a SHIELD Helicarrier remake to get them again.

I agree the Phoenix figure could be much improved today. In addition to using a lighter shade of green I think the yellow parts of the costume could be replaced entirely with pearl gold instead. Firestar's hairpiece from the Daily Bugle would also look a lot better than the one that was used on the Comic Con figure. I don't mind if they did give Mystique a printed skull. It wouldn't be much different to Bo having a printed headset on her minifigure and it looks fine there. If they're going to create new pieces for the characters I'd rather they went to someone like Juggernaut or Apocalypse instead. For other villains in the X-Mansion we can't forget about Sabretooth. He was present in the leaked set image and is a pretty important antagonist being that he's Wolverine's arch nemesis. It would also be a shame not to get Mr. Sinister given that he will be the primary villain of the new series.

I think this just became my favorite set of the year. October can't come soon enough!

Dual molded legs would be preferable but I could see Lego cheapen out on a couple characters. Rogue could very easily just get leg printing like this Wolverine figure. Gambit and Jubilee could also use the printed trench coat technique that a lot of other minifigures have been using lately. One character who will definitely need dual molded arms is Mystique. I just can't see them pulling off her animated/comic costume without it. She's already expected to appear in the mansion so hopefully they can find the budget for it. Also hoping she gets the new Bo-Katan hairpiece in red. A molded visor would look great! I'm expecting him to come with a printed one again like last time but it would still be nice if they did decide to go all out with a specialized piece. I can't think of too many other characters who really need new molds. Mainly big figs like Apocalypse and Juggernaut but I doubt we'll be seeing them next year.

There's the 327th Star Corps Clone Troopers. We haven't seen these guys since 2007 while Commander Bly has yet to appear in a set. There's also the BARC Trooper that was last seen in 2014. Finally there's the 442nd Siege Battalion Clone Trooper. This one doesn't actually appear in the movie (they did have CGI models for them) but it would still be nice to get a modern remake of it.

I don't think it will happen with the X-Jet. If the CMF figures are reused its more likely to be in the X-Mansion. Four unique characters seems plausible to me. A lot of X-Men 97 merchandise seems to really be centered around Cyclops, Magneto, Gambit, Rogue and Bishop in particular so I could see those being the primary characters Lego might choose to focus on with the X-Jet. With the CMF figures I think Wolverine and Storm have a good chance of being completely reused for the X-Mansion. If the set is themed around X-Men 97 it wouldn't make sense to be putting them in costumes they never wear on the show. Beast could end up being the lab coat variant we saw in the preliminary image with only the head and hair reused.

Hopefully any reused minifigures will be limited strictly to the X-Mansion. I do wish we could get some confirmation from leakers already as to which characters are actually included in the X-Jet so we can put all this speculation to rest.

Lego reusing elements from CMF figures has happened more than you'd think. Sometimes it will just be a single print such as a head or torso. Other times it's an entire minifigure that's either completely unchanged or only receives minor alterations such as a new facial expression. The main examples I can think of include: Head prints for Aquaman, Scarlet Witch and Wonder Woman Series 22 Bard in the Lion Knights Castle (only the legs remain exclusive to the CMF) Dobby in Privet Drive (only the face print was changed) Series 8 Santa in multiple Advent Calenders and the Winter Village Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, Maggie and Krusty in the Simpsons and Lego Dimensions sets Donald Duck in the 2016 Disney Castle Princess Tiana in the 2023 Disney Castle Dick Grayson and Arkham Joker in The Lego Batman Movie There could be more beyond that. I believe a few early CMF figures like the Wicked Witch and Statue of Liberty were also reused in some Lego store exclusive products.

Sign me up for some HK Droids! I do wonder if regular minifigure bodies are going to be the standard for most droids going forward. We haven't really had a specialized droid body since 2-1B in 2018's Hoth Medical Chamber. I also remember there was an interview last year with the Lego designers (I believe from Comic Con) mentioning they are aware of the issues surrounding the Super Battle Droid's brittle joints and how they will need to be redesigned before appearing again in future sets. I think both the HK Droids and MagnaGuards would work perfectly fine as a standard minifigure and wouldn't be opposed to K2-SO, EV-9D9 and 2-1B getting redesigned in that fashion either.

That's good news. The set already has a low piece count as it is. At least the focus will be solely on the jet and not wasting parts on a pointless side build. I stand by that the Sentinel needs to be its own separate set. They're supposed to be huge towering robots and the tiny mech we got in 2014 did not do it justice at all.

The Baxter Building seems like a prime contender for 2025 when the Fantastic Four make their MCU debut. I think its going to come down to either that or the Daily Planet from Superman Legacy depending on which film gets the bigger marketing push. Oscorp is another option but they might wait until the Bugle has retired before coming out with another Spider-Man themed modular. Beyond those two I could see them moving away from the modular building format in favor of stand alone D2C sets. We're already expecting that to be the case with the X-Mansion next year but Asgard and the Avengers Compound could also be done in a similar fashion.

I do wonder if they still plan on using that purple costume or if its only intended to appear for the first couple of episodes? I don't think its been showcased again since Comic Con last year and all the merchandise and marketing material for X-Men 97 so far has been depicting him back in the classic red costume.

Only four minifigures is incredibly lackluster. No doubt Cyclops will be among them. Hopefully the others are fresh new characters and not just repeats of ones we've gotten in the past. Jean, Rogue and Gambit would be the ideal line up but if it has to include a villain then Mr. Sinister would be preferable over another Magneto. I hope they leave the Sentinel out. The 2014 mech was too small and the X-Jet doesn't need a side build eating away at its already low piece count. Better that Lego just surprises us with a Sentinel Construction Figure in the summer wave.