BrickBob Studpants

I consider replacing the dress piece with legs a downgrade, but maybe that's just me

This doesn't hold water either. If TLG sanctioned this, Disney would have to be in on it too, and Hasbro as well, since this concerns their exclusivity contract As I've said before, this is on the same level as a conspiracy theory

I'm not looking at it from a legal perspective. Lemme put it this way: would you publicly, with your real name, lie about a contract the major company you're working for has made with another, even bigger corporation? Save way to keep one's job long-term, isn't it

You do realise they can‘t publicly lie about the contents of a contract, right? This is conspiracy theory nonsense

Aka the only interesting one Moody and Trelawney are almost 100% downgrades from their CMF S1 counterparts and the remaining characters are the usual suspects anyway (plus some generic students in the suitcase set)

It’s not a theory, they’ve confirmed it‘s actually part of the contract: “Any time any toy company works with a licence partner, it’s through a contract,” he explains. “Simply put, the contract that we have with Lucasfilm and Disney is to develop construction toys. We can include minifigures in our construction sets, because that’s part of the play experience, but we do not have a licence to develop action figures.” https://www.brickfanatics.com/lego-responds-to-rumours-over-star-wars-minifigure-licensing-rights/ The May the Fourth minifig polybags were exempt from this rule because they were promotional items, in case you‘re wondering. Same principle applies to books and other gear

I expect more rationality from a store owner than your average influencer

We‘ve had next to no catalogue leaks for a couple of years (between 2017 and 2020, IIRC). I was pretty impressed they even came back last year Sure, someone could leak them again, but it‘s not that likely given the punishment that awaits the leaker. It‘s not worth hurting business relations (and maybe even be fined for breaking an NDA) over 10 minutes of Internet fame

Don‘t forget that the source that leaked the catalogue got burned because their watermark was all over the pictures. I highly doubt they‘ll ever get their hands on a catalogue again Same goes for the source that provided the 2HY pictures

Too early for the latter, unless a brave soul wants to destroy their business relations with TLG The watermarks in the catalogues seem to work, for the most part

Not too sure whether to expect sets or not… I mean, they‘d have to be released in February or March to tie in with the film, unless the new date was decided so recently that TLG couldn‘t adjust their schedule accordingly

I also hope Battinson gets a new cowl piece. Nothing else in these sets absolutely requires new moulds, so this shouldn‘t break the budget

Um, I did say „personally“ though Not in the traditional sense, as those will most likely include named characters primarily

Are the three sets really all that‘s left? Pretty weird wave with only one MF and one BP

Only if you ignore the LEGO movies, those had all even more sets But still a valid point, no other „third-party“ movie has ever had that many sets in one wave. The theme must sell pretty well then