Venkefedo

Yes! Legend of Chima's 70004 Wakz Pack Tracker has at least a couple (attached to the chain 'tail' of the vehicle, with the white 'viking horn' spikes on 'em), and 70006 also has 'em on the croc-boat's 'feet' below the dinghys on its sides (with big black claws attached). They're probably in several other sets (and possibly themes), too, but those are the only ones I could find in a couple minutes.

Great review! I love the figures, but am kinda more excited about having access to the 4 heads for customizing other troops and officers.

It's definitely a new mold, and even better: it's available in black, too, in a couple of the sets!

Oh, brilliant... Nazgul and Rohirrim for Knights, Gandalf the Grey and Gandalf the White for good Bishops, Saruman and the Mouth of Sauron for evil Bishops, Haldir's Elves and Uruk-Hai for Rooks, Gondor Soldiers and Mordor Orcs for Pawns, Aragorn and Galadriel for King & Queen on the one side, Sauron and the Witch King for King and Queen on the other (a king as a queen... eh, it's just an idea!). A distinct lack of hobbits, dwarves, trolls, etc, but a good representation of heroes and especially villains and much-wanted army-builders as pawns, plus a few other nice 'builders as knights and rooks. But back to the Advent Calendar: great idea, and loving all the builds so far!

Great pics of the new planet sets. Interesting that Kamino includes Obi-Wan's droid, but is basically Ahsoka's fighter with the lime green pieces. Love the TIE Bomber and the "R5" heads for engines (not to mention the pilot's striped helmet). Can't wait to get the A-wing, too! I think they're much more successful in translating the movie-style helmet to Lego form than Hasbro was for their figures (it's GIGANTIC on 'em)

I'm tempted to get a 2nd before it vanishes. It's a fantastic set... the lack of numbered bags was a bit frustrating when I built my first last year, but it's also kinda fun to spread it all around the table and hunt for the pieces you need.

The mohawk AND tomahawk will probably be with the Native American warrior... Hawk Warrior Woman will get the spear. Makes far more sense that way (seeing as Tonto is depicted with the tomahawk in the Lone Ranger teaser image)

...I don't quite get the Billy jokes going around, aside from the lack of a substantial vehicle and duplication in an exclusive or poly. Orange is the only team with more than one human, so Billy's just as 'alone' as Solomon and Chuck. It's just that Jack & Chuck also appear in polybags and Solomon appears in the exclusive set, too. Or am I over-thinking it?

That'd be great! I've been hoping in vain for the long arms & legs of Woody to show up on Chewbacca for awhile now... that needs to happen. Long arms on the Gorillas would be a fun, unique way of setting them slightly apart from the others. As for the new set names, they sound like fun. The Croc base will probably be similar to what we saw in the teaser, so something akin to the Troll Mountain Fortress (but with less 'solid' towers, more open structure) with a big, hopefully brick-built, Croc head gateway similar to the Atlantis portal's giant shark head? Could be kinda fun if that's the case. Whatever they all are, I'm excited to see 'em! Expensive year, 2013...

Monsters don't get much more 'classic' than Medusa, y'know

She is. It's in the bio: "As a member of the Forestman’s merry band, she can slip silently into the trees and shadows to disappear from sight…but her greatest skill lies in building traps." Series 1 archer is called "Forestman".

They could call Tuck a brewer or vintner and pack him with a barrel, lid, and goblet for his alcoholic wares... and give him the Grandpa bald-cap with dark brown hair and a brown outfit & cape? I think the Forest Maiden's info is just a pointer to Series 1 as well, unfortunately. I'd love for a greater faction to emerge (along with Black Falcons), but don't have high hopes for that. I also don't think the Heroic Knight is gonna lead to a grander faction, as he could easily fit in with the Crownies or Lions without any trouble (as a champion or royal guard-type knight) I third the centaurs; nice as the Brickforge ones look, I'd love some official ones (preferably with the poseable hindquarters ala LOTR horses as well as unique deco akin to BF's). If/when Fantasy returns, hopefully they'll be there!

Picked up 9492 TIE Fighter #2 today at Target... $15 off makes it a good deal, and having a 2nd Death Star Trooper (helmet) to add to my Death Star is great! The extra officer and droid don't hurt, either. Another seat filled at Tarkin's conference table!

I think the CMF 'factions' aren't meant to be kingdoms (except, perhaps, the Elf and Evil Dwarf), but just mini-factions, more like an actual medieval kingdom. The Boar Knights are basically mercenaries according to the bio; could be the Boar is the sigil of the one Evil Knight alone, or of an entire troop of mercs. Whatever the Heroic Knight's emblem turns out to be, it doesn't have to represent a kingdom, it could just be his house... more like Knight's Kingdom II than traditional Lego Castle themes. Many of the Castle factions don't even have royalty, so they're more fiefdoms than kingdoms! And that works for me! You can throw a lot of fiefdoms together with their own emblems & colors to flesh out a larger kingdom.

At the Lego Store once (series 3, I think, with me checking dots), one of the employees asked which I was after (elf, hadn't found him yet), and got another employee who was a master at feeling 'em up. Got me an elf in no time. At one TRU, they have 'em in a box at Customer Service, and sometimes an employee will ask which I'm after, but they're used to collectors spending half an hour there with packs. But my favorite experience was at Target with a Series 6 restock... I was hunting down more Centurions (and found a couple) and a lady with her 8-ish year old son came up, he was excited to try to find a Leprechaun but they didn't have much time to stand around looking so she only let him feel a few packs. They walked off without any luck, but the pack I was inspecting as they walked off--Leprechaun! I double-checked, then raced after 'em and handed it to the boy. Felt all warm & fuzzy inside.

The only valid reason I can think of is buying by the case... or maybe from a store that doesn't allow returns. I've been fairly fortunate enough to find extras of what I wanted with the dots or 'feel' method. I only really regret being a bit too miserly about the prices and self-conscious about standing around feeling up wrappers or checking dots against a printout in the earlier series Never got extras of the Spartan, or enough Elves, etc. But from 6 thru 8, I've been pretty good about getting my fill.

I think the toughest part will be waiting for Target to get 'em, in my area, to do squad-building. $0.50 difference between Target & TRU will add up quickly if I bought 'em all at TRU right away, and I definitely want a few Cyclopses to hang out with my Minotaurs, a few Heroic Knights if only to lend their shields to others to flesh out a faction (his armor & torso print may also affect that), a few Archers for more 'peasant' ladies and additions to the old Forestmen faction, at least a couple Mechs, and some Alien Marines to battle Galaxy Patrol, interfere with Galaxy Squad, and perhaps supply their armor & helmets to a 'mercenary' Space faction hired to augment Galaxy Patrol or Galaxy Squad in their missions (since I'm not too crazy about the enemy Alien Marines wearing gear identical to Galaxy Patrol but for color & emblem, but I love the alien prints on 'em)

I don't recall if the Mantis was confirmed as the exclusive before--though it clearly made the most sense with doubles of the Blue minifigs but 'exclusive' alien--but that Russian price pretty well proves it. YIKES what a price-jump compared to the Bug Obliterator!

Kinda disappointed in Eagle's Castle... more like Eagle's Pedestal. Maybe the Lions will get a proper castle if the theme continues, as they seem to have a full-on walled city in the teaser. But the Raven glider looks nice so far, and the Eagle 'queen' looks intriguing in 70011. Nice find!

Not exactly; they're giving the ninja theme a break since Ninjago reached an 'end'. The cartoon made it clear they COULD return, but it's time to try something different for a while and this "Thundercats-ish" animal-warrior theme looks like fun. Different builds, colors, fancy minifigures with a lot of great print variety... lots to like! Let Ninjago and ninjas in general rest for a year or three; maybe Ninjago will return, maybe a new Historical-type ninja theme will return.

It does indeed! It's based off one of the various TIE helmets visible in the films. Sometimes it's tough to see the silver detailing, but the TIE helmets were mostly custom-decorated just like the Rebel helmets--the big central silver stripe like in 75008, silver 'tear' lines down the cheeks... Hasbro's covered a lot of that in recent years with the various pilot figure packs and vehicle pack-in figures. Not a fan of the 'asteroid field', but I'll have to get that set for the pilot and mini-bomber at least! He'll make a good squad leader for my few TIE pilot minifigs :)

There are video reviews of the orange and green Galaxy Squad sets, showing the backs of the robots VERY clearly. Red's the only one I haven't seen, but due to its odd head I think it can be safely ruled out.

Nope, the detailing on the sculpt is different from the Galaxy Squad bots. It's not the blue bot's head, either, and seems obviously not the red's weird noggin.

Well, different ghost-types like the Flying Dutchman in 3817! Didn't think about the snake-tail body not fitting in the bag. That's too bad!

Tough to tell for sure, but I THINK the Heroic Knight has the new sword mold from the later Kingdoms chess sets. Doesn't seem as long or pointy as the greatsword, and the hilt looks a little taller, too.