Vindicare

That, again, boils down(I imagine) to the wave as a whole. They chose to lessen that(and the Water Strider) a lot. I certainly wish there was more to the dragon, it was originally the only mech from the movie I planned on getting...but ended up getting almost the entire theme. Looking at what the movie version was it’s a bit of a disappointment. But that kinda goes to all of them.

It’s all good, it’s just the matter of fact when it was opinion was a bit much. As to Alien Conquest & Galaxy Squad(to a lesser extent) I always figured they were in the same category as Pharaoh’s Quest, Monster Fighters, Dino & the like. One & done themes, not that those themes didn’t get the attention they deserved. I would love a return to that multi faction, multi year Space theme, even if they go a different route than the Classic factions.

In an email I see they’re running a raffle sweepstakes for a Shazam! SDCC minifig. Entries are 50 points. That’s pretty cool. If they offer others, I may be more inclined to enter.

This is looking fantastic. The details on those buildings is cool, I really like the white & teal best.

Just because you don’t like or prefer they went in a different direction doesn’t mean it’s half baked. That’s discrediting everyone who likes/loves those themes. How do you know it never received the priority or development time? Again, just because you don’t like said Space theme doesn’t mean we didn’t get Space themes alongside SW....because we did. That’s not subjective. We did get Space. Maybe not your vision of Space...but we got it. See, this is the attitude I spoke of earlier. Stating matter of factly “we are not” to “we are getting Space, too” is objectively false. There are plenty of themes I don’t care for, but I don’t sit here complaining & calling them shoddy designs & attacking the theme as a whole(and the designers in a sense)or anything. I just know they aren’t for me.

Granted I haven’t bought many, I just own the first wave & the Green Ninja Dragon Mech. I can’t speak to the construction of the others, but they all look pretty interesting(minus the couple low part count ones, can’t do much with that). I actually really like & plan on getting the two gamer ones. They remind me of things out of Digimon, I saw Metalgarurumon in parts of Jay’s. Drogon is a whole other beast. As @Peppermint_M said earlier, it’s directed at a different market. Only one Ninjago dragon, in piece count, is even remotely comparable to that one. And despite it’s four heads(which I imagine AFOL’s may find a bit much), its a pretty substantial dragon.

Wow, this is really coming along! I love the square. The pattern, the seating areas. The 2x4 brick set. The way you framed it with the buildings. Great job. Everything else is coming together nicely too. One thing I’ll suggest...color. Maybe add some splashes of color on the ground of the square. It’s a lot of one color. It does look good as is, but it could be boosted. I have a plaza area much like you that was all dark tan(4 32x32’s for the most part). I added some color around my seating areas & it made a world of difference.

Looks great. Purple is an odd color for sure, but given the details you put in, it works extremely well. I love that top level with the columns & windows. It really sticks out.

That is a fantastic build & would fit quite nicely into the calendar. I love how the wings are.

@danth That’s just nitpicking, honestly. We do get Space themes along with SW...just not during the times the movies are in theatres. Knowing what SW means to LEGO, I can’t say that I blame them. At the same time, I’m sure they could’ve stood side by side without seeing much of a dip in SW sales. Adults would most likely get both if they were so inclined. I doubt many kids, after seeing the movie, would choose a random “generic” ship without those characters they just saw on the big screen. But to act like we haven’t seen Space themes because of SW is disingenuous. We periodically didn’t. I happen to think Alien Conquest & Galaxy Squad were both fresh, creative, & colorful. And they were on the shelves side by side with SW. Going off what you said however, we should be getting a new Space theme this year(unlikely at this point probably) or next since SW is done for the foreseeable future. I get that. I don’t mind it so much, as they’re easy enough to figure out who’s in there, despite being a bit time consuming. There was quite a few of these types of toys when I growing up as well, plus I was big on trading cards of all sorts, so definitely used to the blind bag concept. Not knowing what you’re buying, in a sort, is off putting a bit.

Whoa, that’s quite a list! Better be careful, there’s some fan favorites there. If Marvel could do CMF series’ I would probably be okay with the theme going away. I mean, the sets have mostly been nice, but the minifigs are where it’s at. There is a lot to unpack here. Just remember, you not liking a movie doesn’t negate the millions who do & continue to buy the merch. I also don’t understand where this notion that SW is killing the chance to get non licensed Space? We’ve had plenty of themes & waves of Space in the twenty years SW has been around.

That’s why I said we need to take the wave into consideration. Looking at the wave, I wouldn’t want that set to replace the Clocktower set, which is the price point that could do the dragon justice. If they put it in Hagrid’s Hut place, we wouldn’t have likely gotten Buckbeak, so another no go from me. Maybe the Carriage or Knight Bus could’ve been excluded & done later(but that argument could be used on the dragon). Now, my defense of the horntail doesn’t mean I love it. I do like it, for what it is...but I certainly wish it were more. It leaves a lot to be desired. I hope they return to it once they’re done with the initial run of movies & we get something more worthy.

Piece count absolutely matters when you’re critiquing a design. If we swapped the horntail for Drogon, it would be amazing. The horntail is probably what...125 pieces? Compare that to the 700 or so that Drogon is. I can agree that the horntail we have is a bit underwhelming, but we have to take the set(and wave) it came in into consideration. The head is a let down, most people agree to that. They also have quite a lot of new parts being released in that theme, so they had to pick & choose. It’s size aside, once you get it in hand & built, it’s not so bad. Hopefully if this theme runs long enough, we can get a more appropriate dragon.

You can’t compare that GoT dragon to the horntail, for many reasons. HP one is short of 300 pieces at $30 while the GoT is over 700 at $70, with the dragon being the only build. Looking at other dragons on the shelves, I think the Ninjago ones are great. Even the older brick built dragon should we’re pretty cool. I don’t own Smaug, but he looks pretty amazing. I’m not overly find of the Fantasy Castle dragons. They’re neat, but nothing great.

Me too, I love them. I already have the Gamer’s Market & I plan on getting Empire Temple of Madness, Empire Dragon, and the Arcade Pods. ‘19 also had 12 more sets than the ‘11 wave.

For sure. I hated reading books in school, but now that I can pick what I read, I love it. Being invested & going back to the subject time & time again certainly helps too.

If the box & physical instructions aren’t a problem, why not just Bricklink(if accessible) the parts & build it? Granted I have no idea of the process of doing that as I never have, but it seems to be a bit of a common occurrence.

I bought it day one & don’t regret it. The builds are actually pretty neat, albeit a bit lackluster. I was pleasantly surprised with the end result, not just the minifig selection. At $40, I would definitely grab it...since I did at regular price.

Missed a few updates! It’s nice to see Lord Business getting back into the swing of things. Hopefully he stays on the straight & narrow. I love what you did with the CNY sets as well. They’re quite tricky to place in a city layout, even in a temporary fashion. I’m still trying to figure out a way to at least put the small gate build from the Lion Dance somewhere. It would be a shame not to show them off. I wholeheartedly agree that these are definite contenders for sets of the year.

Unappealing & boring like the exterior of the Dursley’s? Their house will be a fine build no doubt. I’m very excited to get it, but it doesn’t have anything on that makes it distinct or any great details. It wouldn’t be boring. Looking at pictures of the actual building, it has some nice detail s that could easily be realized in brick. The first floor with the little fence & steps with the white walls moving into a brick facade. I can agree to it not being a super appealing architecturally, but what LEGO house outside of the Modulars really is?

This is fantastic. I love the new & alternate characters you have there. Living Brain is a nice inclusion down there.

They could do Grimmauld Place similar to how they did 76108 Sanctum Sanctorum Showdown. It’s a good sized building in width, height, & depth. 5 minifigs, with one being a bigfig. They could replace that with two minifigs & that would give us a decent line up.

I would guess it connects to the Clocktower, as it’s next in line. It’s that or we see what the connections on the backside of the GH were put there for.

That’s my problem as well. I have the sections of Hogwarts on top of a bookshelf...and it’s crowded. I’ll have to find a new home for them once this next wave hits. Everything but the Knight Bus is in plastic containers at the moment, with the Bus in my town.

They look like they did in their minifig form....Although, Macnair(and others) looked just like the Graveyard one as well. Yes, Crouch with an iron leg...like the movie...when he was parading as Moody. Who has an iron leg. You have seen the movie right?