wesker

My guess is that the construction figures will be an April release again. Hopefully they're smart enough to release Galactus and a Sentinel next year. I want sets from The Dark World primarily for Asgard and the Dark Elves. Asgard in particular is one corner of the MCU that Lego hasn't touched yet despite being one of the more iconic locations from the franchise and home to a large portion of Thor's cast. The Destroyer from the first Thor film and anything Hydra related from Captain America: The First Avenger would also make for some great sets.

Glad we're finally getting some new Spider-Man characters. Its also nice to be getting Ultron in a set again. No idea if he'll be based on the comics or MCU but I'm happy to have either version, Disappointed there's no sign of the X-Men. Maybe something might come up in the August wave or a third CMF series but I'm not holding my breath. Its only 2 (potentially 3) new minifigures. I'm not going to read too much into it just yet. I'm still leaning towards either Superman or Fantastic Four getting the D2C spot as they are going to be the two main headliners for the superhero genre next year. At the moment there's just nothing to indicate an Oscorp set is even on the table outside of wishful thinking.

Feels like it was only yesterday we got the Tumbler set with Scarecrow in it. Still I can't complain if it gives us Two-Face and a cheaper alternative at getting Ledger's Joker. The Superman mech gives me hope he'll be getting more sets later in the year. Things are starting to look brighter for the DC Superheroes theme.

Anymore X-Men sets?

7 is still a decent number of sets. I'm not too worried there. The main thing I want to see is some variety in which superheroes they are based on. I do wonder if the Marvel logo is included here or if it has its own separate numbering system like the Art sets do.

I wish Lego would just make the BTAS designs the standard for all Batman sets going forward. We hardly get any character variety with the comic versions anymore and the designs they've been using lately are super generic anyway. I would've had bought the 4+ Batcave had it included the BTAS versions of Joker and Batgirl in it. The Batski is the only thing left I want from the Burton films. Once they release that I'm happy to move on from those films altogether. While it wouldn't offer anything new in terms of minifigures it would still be nice having Catwoman and Penguin available in an affordable set instead of being locked behind the Shadowbox's massive paywall. Could be a good opportunity to upgrade Catwoman with some leg printing too. As for the Schumacher films I don't think they would be that big a risk. As divisive as they were there are still many fans who have plenty of nostalgia for them. The Funko Pop and DC Direct figures surprisingly sold quite well. Kids probably wouldn't be too fussed about them and are happy just to get a new Batmobile with some cool Batman characters in it.

Unfortunately I have no interest in it. The original Airport Battle still holds up and I can't really see this new set doing much to improve upon it. The minifigures don't really excite me either as I already own multiples of each character and the differences between the new and old are going to be minimal at best. The only exceptions would be a non-phasing Vision or a regular sized Ant-Man with an updated helmet but neither of those are worth dropping $100 on a full set for.

Getting minifigures from the canon movies/TV shows was always the best part about those sets. Back then it felt like a lifetime that we were waiting for an official 4-LOM minifigure to be released. As much as I hated the Freemakers I'm glad we at least got that out of it. The Ithorian and RA-7 Droid were also great additions to go alongside the Cantina and Sandcrawler sets that came out that year. Yeah the Ithorian wasn't officially Momaw Nadon but it was a close enough stand in until the real one came along. Its too bad the Halloween Special got skipped over and we never got a Mother Talzin figure out of it. The Phantom Menace not getting one of those slots is the most frustrating one to me. They definitely could've done more for the anniversary. No Queen Amidala, Boss Nass or Shmi Skywalker. No MTT or Naboo Fighter remakes. No Royal Starship. Not even a Duel of the Fates diorama. I would have gladly taken any of them over this Build the Galaxy special.

@FoggyFate Do you know of any X-Men sets included here?

That's the most frustrating thing for me about the prequel sets. As much as I enjoy the clones, they aren't the only thing that matter about that era and there's still a wealth of characters that are constantly being neglected in favor of them. I'm grateful for at least getting Taun We and Chancellor Palpatine in recent years but they still really need to step up their game and flesh out that corner of the galaxy more.

I'm a little disappointed the Jedi Interceptor is not a Utapau remake which rules out our chances of getting R4-G9 and Tion Meddon next year but having Ahsoka's Interceptor instead is a nice compromise. I'm curious if this version will come with her re-imagined Clone Wars costume from Tales of the Jedi and the Ahsoka flashbacks. Hopefully the set will throw in at least one other characters besides her and the droid. I'd love a new Clone Wars Anakin with accurate colors for his costume this time. Its about time we also got a new ARC-170. Hard to believe its been 15 years since the last release. Is it too much to ask that it comes with Kit Fisto again? While I don't expect Lego to go all out for the 20th Anniversary of ROTS I still hope they have a few surprises in store for May. It would be a shame to cancel the diorama series without releasing one based on the Mustafar duel. The Invisible Hand, Office and Senate duels would be great options as well. It will also be interesting to see if we get another prequel UCS set next year. If they continue to release them every two years (Gunship in 2021, Venator in 2023) then we should be due for another. The Turbo Tank would be a great choice to tie in with ROTS.

The Onyx Cinder just looks like another Knight of Ren ship to me. At least it has something resembling an interior this time. Without having seen the show the minifigures don't appear all that exciting either aside from the Max Rebo looking character. Maybe I might pick it up on clearance if I end up liking the show but for now its a pass for me. I'd prefer getting Enoch in a Police Gunship remake. We haven't had one since 2014 so its about time we got another. Plus I would hate for Lego to wrap up Ahsoka without giving us the Great Mothers. How does one have a zombie army without some Nightsisters around to bring them back from the dead? Keep the battle pack focused on the army builders.

I'm happy to move on from both films to be honest. They may have been well received by audiences but the existing sets for No Way Home and Guardians 3 have been shelf warming like crazy around here. The Final Battle diorama hasn't been the success story many thought it would while retailers are really struggling to clear out the Bowie set even at a 50% mark down. I'd hate to see them Marvel theme end up on life support like DC has become.

Duel on Peridea does a good enough job with the build at recapturing the scene but I really can't behind the high price for what's essentially a small platform. Ahsoka's new minifigure looks great even if it is more grey than white and the recolored darksaber works well for Morgan's sword. Its a shame the rumors about Enoch were incorrect but I don't mind Lego holding off on him for a future set if it means doing his helmet justice. Plus we still need the Great Mothers to go alongside him. The Desert Skiff looks good for the most part but the design of the nose does throw the look off a bit and like Peridea the price feels a bit too high here. Still its nice to have a more substantial build for the Sarlacc Pit this time and the new figures for Luke, Lando and Nien Nunb look fantastic. But as others have stated there's no excuse or cheapening out on Boba Fett the way they did with both the lack of cape and inaccurate costume. If there are plans for a Jabba's Palace set in the near future I hope they can rectify this with a proper ROTJ Boba Fett.

She was one of the lead characters in a recent TV show that was notably absent from the tie-in sets. Its also a fresh new variant for the biggest female character in the entire franchise. Yeah I can see why she might have more appeal to some people over a ginger waifu that hasn't had any relevance in the franchise since last appearing in a bunch of non-canon novels over a decade ago. While she wasn't my first choice for the anniversary spot (no Queen Amidala was a missed opportunity to tie in with TPM's 25th anniversary) I don't have an issue with getting the character and don't see how a Lego figure of her is different to having TPM Anakin and AOTC Boba.

There was also the Little Mermaid D2C that was based on the recent live action movie instead of the original cartoon. I don't think the film being set in a different cinematic universe from before would really play much of a factor in their eyes. It ultimately comes down to how confident Lego are in Superman as a character and whether they feel he's marketable enough to carry such a set. Although the Sanctum Sanctorum incorporated elements of Infinity War into the set it was still primarily released to capitalize on the hype for Multiverse of Madness first and foremost while Doctor Strange was at the center of the public eye. Its the same reason why we're getting the X-Mansion this year with both X-Men 97 and Deadpool & Wolverine bringing the X-Men brand back into relevancy. As it stands Superman and Fantastic Four are set to be the two main headliners for the superhero genre in 2025. If either of them were to get a D2C set it makes the most sense to do it while public interest for both properties is it at its absolute peak.

Iron Man's face print looks perfectly fine to me. I'm not really a fan of changing a character's face print just for the sake of it. I'd rather keep some consistency when having multiple figures based on the same character. I agree the Thor head is pretty bad though. I never liked it even on the Endgame figures it was made for.

Hopefully we get something out of Caped Crusader next year. It would be a shame to skip over those character designs, especially Harley Quinn and Catwoman. The more I keep seeing of the new Superman film really makes me hope the Daily Planet gets the D2C/Modular Building spot next year. It would be a great way to cover the large cast of characters that would otherwise be passed over in the regular retail sets.

Nice to see the dual molded C-3PO figure is no longer exclusive to the UCS Landspeeder. Hopefully it will also make another appearance in the UCS Sail Barge. The buildable figure turned out a lot better than the Chewbacca one did. Curious to see how well it scales alongside the R2-D2 set. The young Leia figure looks fine for what it is. Its not the most interesting choice they could have gone with for an anniversary figure (Queen Amidala, Duchess Satine or Mother Talzin would have been preferable) but its still nice to at least fill out a major omission from the Obi-Wan series. Lola is bigger than I expected but I think she has more presence here than she would have as a 1x1 round tile. I do wish we would get pics of the Desert Skiff and Peridia sets already.

I think a lot of the dwarves could get away with using existing parts. Thorin, Kili and Fili have the Aquaman hairpiece. Balin could use the new Snow White beard. Dwalin's beard was in production as recently as 2021 on a Harry Potter figure and could still be brought back. Gloin and Bifur could reuse Gandalf's beard with whatever hairpiece fits. Dori can use Morgan Elsbeth's hairpiece. Ori never had any exclusive parts the first time around and can just reuse the Harry Potter hair again. That just leaves Bombur, Oin and Nori as the only ones who really need a new mold created. Ideally Bofur should as well but I could also see them reusing the City Arctic hat to save costs.

Regardless whether we get Oscorp or not I just want something new out of the Spider-Man sets. I'm getting pretty bored of the same recycled characters and throwaway builds in all the comic themed sets. Outside of that one Morbius minifigure there hasn't been anything worth buying since the Daily Bugle came out. Hopefully next year's range will take some inspiration from the Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man cartoon. I'll be disappointed if one small set is all we get out of X-Men next year. At the very least the characters should also have some presence in the next CMF series. Nightcrawler and Jubilee are essential to the team and it would be nice to get Sinister and Bastion before Season 2 rolls around. As a long term Marvel collector I also hope next year won't be too heavily focused on the Infinity Saga. There's only so many times they can keep recycling the same material. At this stage the only sets I really want out of Age of Ultron are an updated Quinjet and Final Battle diorama. As long as they include Ultron, Quicksilver, AOU Scarlet Witch and a non-phasing Vision I'm happy to leave it at that. Revisiting Civil War doesn't excite me in the slightest because I can't see it bringing much new to the table. We already have a giant Ant-Man set still on shelves and most of the character variants aren't all that exciting. The only draw for me there would be getting a regular sized Ant-Man minifigure to go alongside the Wasp that came in Avengers Tower. Don't have much interest in Thunderbolts beyond US Agent and Red Guardian potentially getting minifigures but I am looking forward to the Fantastic Four. Even if the film turns out to be a flop I'll still be happy just to have sets for them.

I don't have an issue with combining the two. Both the original Bunker and Ewok Village were pretty inexpensive compared to most D2C's we're seeing today and both sets did contain a lot of overlap in terms of side builds and minifigures. Alternatively they could also just release both locations simultaneously as separate sets like the UCS Sail Barge and Desert Skiff are doing this year. When it comes to the builds the bunker isn't a large building in the movie and doesn't need to be any bigger in size than what the original set was. The only thing they can really improve on there is the detail and better landscaping. With the Ewok Village the main area I think they can improve on is the build for the trees. They were fine for their time but look dated now compared to modern sets like the Lego Ideas Tree House and Speeder Bike Chase Diorama. One thing that would make me favor a new Ewok Village is that its our chance to finally get minifigures of the three Force Ghosts.

The X-Wing looks good aside from the tall landing gear. The shaping along the nose really elevates it above previous models. Not really a fan of the new TIE Fighter. It looks too blocky to me like that 4+ version they released a few years ago. The Dark Falcon looks good but its a shame they're not using the cockpit piece that was created for the 2022 City Space sets. Both parts are still in production and would look a lot better than the huge cone pieces the Falcon has been stuck with since 2004. Hopefully they've also fixed the misaligned boarding ramp from the TROS Falcon.

I think the best solution would be keeping the theme targeted at adult collectors with affordable display pieces such as dioramas and buildable creatures (think 76394 and 76406 from the Harry Potter theme). They can be limited to roughly 3 sets per year, can co-exist alongside the larger D2C release and avoids the issue of over saturating retailers with a theme kids might not have much interest in.

I don't think Moria really needs the MBS treatment. Trying to squeeze everything into a single set has the potential for it looking like an incoherent mess which is something both Cloud City and Assault on Hoth were heavily criticized for. It would be better to just release the Balrog, Balin's Tomb and the Gate/Watcher as three separate sets. I disagree. Edoras is definitely one of the more memorable locations from the trilogy and one that is frequently requested by fans. I don't think it will happen before the Shire or Minas Tirith but its certainly fair game after that. The only locations that can really compete with Edoras by that point would be Helms Deep and Orthanc.