Lacdaran

I'm obviously in the minority, but I'm happy to pay $5 if the quality is there. If lego is having any issue with the unlicensed CMF I think its driven by making boring generic figures. Just look at Harry Potter series 2 versus Series 20, the quality and creativity difference is astounding. (Although, don't get me wrong, HP S2 has some duds as well). The rumored cost of the new Harry Potter wave is scary though. Hoping for some duds there to protect my pocket book.

Dear financial advisor, Is it a good idea to take me a 2nd mortgage out on my house to buy Harry Potter lego? Sincerely, Mr. Lacdaran

This is depressing. These are always so much better than what the lego group ends up actually making it bums me out. In every real CMF series maybe 1 or 2 of the figs stands up against Robert8's consistent quality.

1. Golfer 2. Tennis Player (Female) 3. Renaissance Inventor (Leonardo Da Vinci type) 4. Pioneer Girl (think little house on the prairie) 5. Super Warrior (following on series 20, but yellow color, female face) 6. Farmer with Sheep (Female) 7. Fashion Designer 8. Postal Worker 9. Centaur 10. Underworld God (Similar to Greek Hades) 11. Cow Costume Guy 12. Hamburger Costume Girl Additions if 16 figures: 13. Dentist 14. Reporter 15. Sorceress (female spin on series 12 wizard) 16. Carrot Costume

I know, I wasn't serious. In an attempt to be amusing I was just saying if we are going to be talking about our hopes and dreams we might as well dream big.

I'm hoping 2021 will look like this: Jan: Series 21 (20 figures) March: Star Wars - Series 1 (20 figures) May: Series 22 (20 figures) July: Series 23 (20 figures) Sept: Harry Potter - Series 3 (20 figures) Nov: Series 24 (20 figures) Might be a bit optimistic though.

Full Halloween series or just a figure or two? I'm excited about either.

I support the idea of lego and D&D crossovers in any form. I think you could do great things with a whole D&D theme. I personally would want a few more of the traditional races before getting into races like tortles and grung. I had some non-city themed people pack ideas a while back one of which had some DnD inspiration. Dungeon Adventurer Pack - Dwarf Fighter (M), Human Rogue (F), Orc Barbarian (M), Human Paladin (F), Human Monk (M), Gnome Bard (F), Human Wizard (M), Gnome Cleric (F), Elf Druid (M), Elf Ranger (F), Orc Warlock (M), Drow Sorcerer (F), kobolds x3.

The blind bags mean that Lego doesn't have to do the very difficult marketing task of determining the popularity of each figure. No blind bags in this series and you find the first army builder that walks into a store buys every Viking and they are sold out everywhere on day one, and then a bunch of the green brick dude sits on shelf for months pissing off retailers.

I think Lego is trying to make the most appealing photos possible with the released sets, and isn't afraid to move things a bit in the future. We see here they moved clocktower replacing it with the AT. I approve of this because it is far more screen accurate. In the future I bet the angle on the clocktower changes a bit by flipping the dance section and we do actually end up with a loop. Speculating a bit; Three to five more sets wrapping around the back side of this nets you a pretty great Hogwarts. Long Gallery/Bell tower (combo or 2 sets) connects to AT, Middle Courtyard/Library (Combo or 2 sets) connects to Belltower and room of requirement. Then a set similar to weeping willow with a long wall piece and maybe the bridge connects middle courtyard to clocktower. This set might contain the Owlery which is actually a separate building from the main castle in that area.

This is closest to the correct locations on the Hogwarts map as well. I may try to change up the connections to swing the AT forward a bit versus this photo though.

I feel themes like Minions and Trolls are inevitable. You are always going to see those movie tie ins for some kids property and while few of them are going to appeal to most AFOLs they will appeal to kids. That almost feels like a separate inevitable resource pool that I would presume LEGO makes money on. New unlicensed themes, on the other hand, are a rare enough thing that when they miss they feel like wasted resources. Mario is a unique case in my mind, good property bad execution.

I love a student pack with all four torsos and will buy a few, but did we really need another Harry Potter?

Personally, I just find having another Ninjago-like series disappointing as I'd prefer more variety in themes. Taking the successful Ninjago formula of historical fantasy mixed with technological vehicles and mechs, and shifting the fantasy side from Japanese Ninjas to Chinese mythology seems to make great business sense for expansion in China, but the net result is way too many sets with this formula. I would much rather LEGO have one line with the best couple set designs from each of these themes, and a separate completely unique theme (castle, pirates, scifi, heck Monkey King set in the past without tech, whatever) So while I'm not exactly rooting for Monkey King to fail I am rooting for some of the resources it took to design these two themes to be diverted to other more unique themes in the future. As for whether it will fail or succeed I think it's a hard call. Ninjago has been a hit. On the other hand Nexo Knights was the same concept with Arthurian Legend and it was a bust.

The press release makes it very clear that what I and some others thought weeks ago is the case. This is Chinese Ninjago, made in China, for a chinese audience. LEGO is sticking to their pledge to not do region locked sets, but sales outside of china are not in any way a focus here. The high US and European prices are another sign of this. Has it been made clear if these are actually going to show up at US/European retailers that normally carry Lego? Or are they exclusive to lego.com and lego brand stores outside of China?