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Hopefully if Barad-Dur goes ahead they'll include some Elves with shields from the opening prologue. The leaked survey only mentioned Frodo, Sam, Sauron and Mordor Orcs among the included minifigures but if Rivendell is anything to go by surely there will have to be more. Would be a good set to also reintroduce Gollum and the Ringwraiths.

Wasn't Cerebro being a huge round room mostly an invention of the Fox movies? I remember in the 90's animated series the Professor would just use the helmet in the War Room and occasionally on the Blackbird. Will be interesting to see how X-Men 97 and the MCU both approach it.

Unfortunately Balin's beard hasn't been used since 2015 so I assume the mold for that is gone. Dwalin's should still exist though as it was used as recently as 2021. Thorin, Fili and Kili shouldn't require their old hairpiece anymore since the Bro Thor one is more or less a modern replacement to that part. I have no doubt it will be used on Eomer if he ever returns to the line. Don't forget new Merry and Pippin variants covered in ash from their fireworks prank.

I think Eowyn can easily fit in with Minas Tirith. She's present in enough scenes there to be included based on either the Battle of Pelennor, Houses of Healing or Aragorn's Coronation. Depending on the success of the theme's revival they could really squeeze quite a few sets out of her. She'd be an obvious inclusion for both Helms Deep and Edoras getting the D2C treatment and the Witch-King Battle really deserves a set all of its own.

The set looks great! I'm surprised they molded so many new weapons for this set. I wasn't expecting that at all. The updated figures of the Fellowship all look good although Sam and Gimli being gingers might take some getting used to. I do hope we eventually see some more affordable sets in the line.

Hopefully its system scale. Its been ages since we've had a yellow N1 Starfighter and we're long overdue for a Theed Battle Padme minifigure.

My only concern about getting ROP sets is if they come at the expense of getting more product from the original trilogy. Last thing we need is Eowyn, Faramir, Gondor and the Witch-King getting neglected again.

Nice to hear NWH sets are on the way. Now if we can only get some confirmation on whether the X-Men are coming or not this summer.

Glad the Sail Barge is coming sooner rather than later. Hopefully the names of the summer wave sets start leaking soon. I'm curious how they will approach the Desert Skiff - included with the Sail Barge or released separately like Luke's Landspeeder was with the Cantina?

As much as I want to see Eowyn vs Witch-King become a set I don't think it should be locked behind a GWP. Its too big a scene for such a limited release window and the high cost requirement to get it. It really deserves a wide release. The Faramir polybag is a nice idea though. Its a great way to get the character into the line early and doesn't rule him out of appearing in future sets for anyone who misses out. The head and neck of the Basilisk could work quite well if Lego ever does an official Fell Beast.

Bib Fortuna's ROTJ lekku is starting to look a bit outdated. I wouldn't mind that piece getting a completely all new redesign although it also wouldn't surprise me if he ends up reusing the BOBF headpiece to save costs despite its inaccuracies. Saelt-Marae/Yak-Face is an absolute must if the Sail Barge comes into fruition. Also hoping they throw Tessek in there as well since they currently have the Quarren mold in production.

Just not too small. The Blackbird really needs to be the size of the latest Quinjet in order to be able to seat a full team of X-Men. I'd be disappointed if we got another under scaled set like the 2014 version that can only fit 2 or 3 characters.

The size of the Sail Barge looks fine to me. It captures the shape a lot better than the last two sets did. It definitely needs a Desert Skiff and Sarlaac Pit though. They've still released merchandise since the Disney buyout and the costume was recently featured as a playable skin in the Skywalker Saga video game. I don't see why they wouldn't include her. The 18+ branding should also give them some extra leeway like it did for Punisher's inclusion in the Daily Bugle and the Slave/Huttslayer name is irrelevant when Lego sets only ever refer to her as "Princess Leia" on the box packaging regardless of what costume she is wearing.

Glad to see the X-Mansion is at least under consideration for a set even if its not confirmed for 2023. A facade is more or less what I'd expected it to be since that was the approach taken by Arkham Asylum and Lockwood Manor. The set definitely looks to be taking inspiration from both the Fox movies and Animated Series in its appearance but could use some more depth in its build rather than being just a flat wall. Still I'll take anything based on X-Men at this point. Shame its missing Jean Grey, Gambit, Rogue, Jubilee and Mr. Sinister but nothing a Blackbird in the summer wave can't fix. Lego Batman is making a comeback in the summer wave? Perhaps the next D2C location is from DC instead of Marvel this time? There's no shortage of options between the Batcave, Wayne Manor or an Arkham Asylum remake. Its an iconic Marvel landmark and the centerpiece during the Battle of New York from the first Avengers film. The two previous sets of the tower also don't really cut it anymore when compared to the quality of the 2021 Daily Bugle. Its like why settle for the 2014/2018 Mos Eisley Cantina when you can have the Master Builder Series one? Doesn't really matter if its branded under Stark Tower or Avengers Tower - its the same building at the end of the day and deserves a definitive release. The minifigures would be the least interesting part of the tower. We've got them all before. For me its all about the build.

For traditional modular buildings? The Baxter Building is the only other notable location I can think of but I don't see that happening until 2025 at the earliest. The only other option would be something similar to Assembly Square where a single set focuses on a variety of smaller Marvel themed establishments such as Nelson & Murdoch and Spider-Man's apartment. The X-Mansion and Asgard are both iconic enough for a D2C set but neither really suit the modular building format. They'd have to be stand alone display pieces more in line with the Disney Castle, Lion Knights Castle and Home Alone House. DC has plenty of potential modular options on the table but don't think anything is likely to happen while the theme is currently on the backburner. We'll have to wait for the DCU reboot to bring some interest back to the line.

To be honest Osgiliath is the last set I'd want a display piece for. Its not visually interesting and is easily bottom of the list when it comes to iconic LOTR locations. Even when it gets requested as a future set on here it mostly seems to be army builders looking at it as an easy way to amass Gondor Soldiers at an affordable price rather than the setting itself having any sort of appeal on its own.

Latest rumor going round is that What If Season 2 has now been pushed back to 2024. Can't say I'm bothered by it to be honest. I'd be happy for the show to sit out the next CMF series and summer wave of sets in favor of better content. Hopefully X-Men 97 remains unaffected. Unfortunately the Daily Bugle was only able to get away with including so many minifigures because it reused a lot of existing generic parts and required characters to be introduced in other Spider-Man sets from the Winter wave. Any X-Men D2C would very likely be another Sanctum situation unless it had several additional retail sets to cover the budget for new minifigures whom would all need new prints and potentially new molds. It's one aspect where playsets would be more beneficial over a D2C as it would help cover a larger variety of characters. I think a common mistake many people make is assuming every Marvel/DC location that becomes a D2C set automatically HAS to be a modular building. Modulars only work for locations that are part of a larger city block. For more secluded locations you're better off going with a stand alone display piece like the Home Alone House, Mos Eisley Cantina and Disney Castle. I wouldn't want it to be any bigger than the 76057 Bridge Battle set. The draw for NWH sets is ultimately all about the minifigures. If I wanted a D2C Statue of Liberty I'd rather buy an Icons set based directly on the real landmark instead of some movie's adaption of it.

Got to keep expectations realistic and in check though. The only reason X-Men sets are even a possibility for discussion at the moment is due to a cartoon series coming out later in the year. We'll be lucky to even get one set in the summer wave. A D2C would be pushing it and a single house split into three fully enclosed modular buildings? Never going to happen. The format of the 2021 Hogwarts playsets would be a good fit. The Mansion itself filling the role of 76389 while the Danger Room, War Room and Infirmary/Lab get released separately like 76386, 76367 and 76395. But ultimately that would depend on how deep Lego is willing to go for the series assuming we even get any product at all. At this point I'd be thankful for just a Blackbird and all eight members of the team. Anything beyond that is a bonus.

Its a shame they won't do more with the older Batman films. There's plenty of potential sets they can cover across the 60's series, Burton era, Schumacher era and Dark Knight Trilogy that could breath some life back into the line.

I don't mind the CMF series leaving out the X-Men entirely. Getting sets for their new show would be much more preferable over just 1 or 2 minifigures. Can you imagine getting a Sentinel, Blackbird and X-Mansion like these sets? Konshu would be great. I'd actually prefer seeing him in the new CMF series over Scarlet Scarab. I'm definitely on board with the idea of doing Moon Knight and Mr. Knight as a single package.

I'm in no hurry for US Agent. He's going to be in Thunderbolts so a minifigure of him will happen one way or another. I'd rather the CMF series focuses more on the TV characters who aren't likely to appear in sets over the next couple of years.

Another CMF line sounds great. Definitely expecting to see Hawkeye and Moon Knight among the shows included this time around. I really hope they leave out Ms. Marvel though. She's pretty much guaranteed to show up in The Marvels set (76232). Do we really want her wasting a spot in the CMF line that could easily go to someone like Daredevil, Agatha or Zemo? I'm completely okay with that. The most important thing with X-Men 97 is getting the complete team. A CMF series that only includes Wolverine and Storm but completely ignores Cyclops, Jean, Beast, Gambit, Rogue and Jubilee is not going to cut it. It would be much easier to include everyone in a proper set like the Blackbird. If X-Men 97 does have a presence in the CMF series I rather they focus on the supporting characters from the new season like Mr. Sinister, Nightcrawler, Cable, Bishop or Emma Frost.

That's true. The piece counts for the Black Panther bust, 1989 Batmobile and SHIELD Helicarrier are not far off from it either so it could very well be anything.

450 less pieces isn't too much really. The Bugle did have a number of side builds that would've used quite a few parts. I'm still hoping the next building is Avengers Tower. It feels too soon for another Spider-Man modular (Oscorp), Baxter Building won't happen until 2025 at the earliest and anything DC seems unlikely with the theme currently on the back burner.

We are getting leaked set numbers for just about every theme in the summer wave but LOTR so its not looking too good at the moment.