gedren_y

The Lunch Lady reminds me of the Adam Sandler and Chis Farley SNL song skit Lunch Lady Land.

Bioplastics, and other biodegradable materials, for packaging are relatively easy these days. Reproducing the quality of TLG's established ABS, and its color palette, is another thing altogether. Add to that the trans colors plastic, and the various softer/rubber parts, as well as the locations of the manufacturing plants around the world, and switching to renewables is a larger undertaking than many might think. As for price: My local Walmart finally started carrying CMFs with the DC line. They priced them at $3.49, and subsequent series have rung up the same price. Stores with their own distribution networks are likely able to get these at barely above wholesale, and be able to undercut Shop@Home prices.

On the hopeful side: With the trajectory of City Space, and the Creator sets, I wouldn't be surprised that we get an alien worlds exploration theme in the next few years. Story-wise something between Exploriens and Life On Mars, with non-minifigure aliens reminiscent of TLM2, would be my guess. Maybe with augmented reality as the gimmick, like Hidden Side.

I think what was meant by the 'IP losses' comment was that there is likely some drop-off of interest in an IP theme when there is no accompanying major motion picture, or popular TV series. Star Wars has theme park attractions (depressed tourism thanks to Covid-19), its own section on Disney+ where most of the existing films and TV shows are hosted (haven't seen the Ewoks movies there yet), and novels and comic books, so that drop-off is slight. Star Wars related merchandise hasn't really ever gone away. Harry Potter is in a very similar situation, though its merchandising spread is less in non-movie years.

I have a few digital ship builds, made for BOBS, that might fit this description. The Island Rose, the Consort's Duty, and the Valiant Phoenix all use unusual colors, and implausible parts combinations.

I was actually expecting Looney Tunes to be later in the year, coinciding with the Space Jam 2 release.

Distressing news: this might be why LEGO seems not to be interested in restoring the LOTR license.

"Meep! Meep!"

"Meep! Meep!"

Cute kid in devil costume, yes. Woman in zipper-to-crotch 'catsuit' lady devil, no.

"It's Gojira, you moron!" quoted from a movie I actually was talking about with one of my coworkers this morning.

I'm remembering a shield that got lot of circulation before it was revealed that it was a Pick-A-Brick exclusive print. This part could be the same, and probably had been in production for distribution to LEGO Stores well before the pandemic.

I thought Disney renegotiated both of them to be non-exclusive. It would explain why the Star Wars battle packs are ending.

@Ross Fisher, there are at least a couple of items in the Grand Halos History Museum that may be of interest to the Canon. Think he might take advantage of the unrest to acquire them?

Henry Hawk could be with Foghorn Leghorn, like Tweety and Sylvester/Granny. The Roadrunner could be with Wile E. Coyote (and maybe dynamite) like the flamingo was with the Gardener in Series 19. In one of the empty spaces in your list I'd put Taz.