Soupperson1

With LEGO releasing a statement of why the crooks hideout was cancelled, I wonder if we could get a statement if someone of note (even Brick Fanatics again ) reached out about the winter cubes?

But it wouldn’t be just two minifigures, it would be two minifigures and all the secondary characters they’d include like Sven, Olaf and Marshmellow etc. Minifigures are much easier to make purist versions then minidolls too! Besides it’s not like we have hundreds of Frozen minidolls it’s just two more characters than the minifigures. They could easily catch up in the next CMF. XP I just don’t see how minifigures would automatically increase the set’s appeal by a considerable margin. People are clearly buying the minidoll Frozen sets, people buy D2C sets that don’t have minifigures (or the minifigures to them are just a bonus) and they already have the two most important characters in minidoll form. I think LEGO should try a minidoll D2C to see if there’s a market for it and if they’re not going to test it with Friends, Frozen is the best bet for a success because of its massive fan base. I think the excitement from minidoll fans for their first D2C would balance out with the AFOLs who refuse to buy sets with minidolls. Also I still maintain that the Temple of Airjitzu really broadened Ninjago’s appeal within the AFOL community so I think trying to apply that method to a good minidoll set could potentially broaden their appeal too. :)

There's only been four characters released as minidolls - Anna, Elsa, Kristoff and Matthais. They haven't even released Hans yet... Sven's mould is pretty accurate for what he looks like in the film. His design is cartoony. :P Yup! I think it's high time they do it too. If the D2C was designed with rich kids in mind it would explain the inclusion of dolls. :P

I’ve seen noone talk about the summer wave anywhere despite the photos leaking a month ago. The AFOL interest in this theme seems to be tiny! 41935 Lots of Dots - 1040 pieces for €20! No printed pieces from what I can tell to drive down the price. 1x1 circular tiles in yellow, blue, black, orange, coral, dark turquoise and red. 1x1 ”teeth” or “D” shaped tiles in white, yellow, dark turquoise, purple and red. 1x1 regular tiles in green, yellow, purple, coral, cool yellow and medium azure. 1x1 quarter round tiles in spring yellowish green, dark turquoise, purple, red, medium azure, coral, white, black, blue and yellow. 41936 Rocket Pencil Holder - €20 for 321 pieces. A white pencil holder with a dark blue rocket shaped front with coral cones at the base. It’s weird the nose of the rocket will probably cover most pens as it sticks up high above the white pencil holder. There’s also a place to hold a photo in the cockpit. 41937 Multi Pack (Summer Vibes in German) - €30 for 441 pieces. A medium azure bracelet, a orange bag tag, a rectangular photo frame and a teal cactus pencil holder. Like the rocket it’s back and sides are mostly a white rectangle. There is a tiny part at the side to connect two cactus arms. 41938 Creative Designer - €40 with 779 pieces. Most of the pieces aren’t DOTs but random bricks (mainly SNOT) and tiles in yellow, red, light pink, aqua, black, blue, white and lavender you use to create different creations (more pencil pots and photo frames resulting in the question how many are needed by kids). There’s also 50 different white 1x1 tiles in a teal curvy typography. 41939 and 40 the Unicorn and Dragon bag tags release in September. I wonder if we’ll get a series 6 to go with them? Promobricks doesn’t list it so it seems unlikely. :/

I see no reason why the 4+ sets couldn’t use characters like Clarabelle and Pete. Before I saw the images of these sets I assumed this line was going to have at least a few new characters but all it has is Pluto and variants for the main 5. :S Promobricks also confirmed it comes with a new sheep! Ive seen no one talk about these two sets: 43193 Ariel, Belle, Cinderella and Tiana’s Story Book Adventure (yes all 4 at once) with 131 pieces for €25 (so an extra $5 too). Why? :S It’s like they’re actively trying to make these unsuccessful. Also what type of set needs Ariel, Belle and Cinderella to sell it at once? I imagine they could’ve included just one of them and three of the lesser popular princesses? I guess they might’ve wanted to do Ariel’s teal dress and Belle’s blue one but what an odd way to justify it. XP 43195 Belle’s and Rapunzel’s Horse Stables with 239 pieces for €50. I have zero idea what this could include to justify that price. Again why are two popular princesses being used at once!? :( Also Belle is getting her horse in the summer and Rapunzel’s has appeared twice. Could they not have done Aurora’s, Merida’s or Cinderella’s Major (properly)? xP Maybe this is also excuse to get Belle in her blue dress but there are frankly more logical ways of getting that e.g. a town set. :P I’m hoping Rapunzel gets her light pink dress from the end of the film too, but I bet they’ll just reuse or make up something gaudy for both of them. I really don’t like the idea of them making up new locations for the princesses, especially now that the builds of the actual ones have finally started getting good. xP

The magazines can be bought in most places were a wide selection of magazines are sold like Super Valu, Tesco, Costcutter, Easons etc. They don’t always get them on time though. XP

Does anyone know when the magazine with Palpatine is supposed to release in U.K. and Ireland? One site lists March 17th but it already seems to be out in Germany.

Nice catch @Nicster2000! It’ll be interesting to see which of those parts end up going on sale.

The Friends Cubes are roughly the same size and also introduced new big and bulky moulds. They even had the same blind bag feature as the tiles with the animals, except the randomly coloured four animals (which required uncommon larger pieces than tiles to be redone in new colours) were exclusive to set while bar one these are shared across the line. They retailed for less than half of the Beat Boxes in Europe though. I know they weren’t licensed but there’s no way these cost more than double to make then those even factoring in the license and fancy minifigure.

I’ve been meaning to post this for a while but I really think the Mall is one of the worst Friends sets in quite some time. The only new items for LEGO fans in the shops are a pink controller and the lavender wig (which is also in the Raya Boat set). I think that’s lame for such an expensive set. The rabbit, accessories or skirt could’ve been a different colour, rarer or new instruments (even ones from Vidiyo) or even stickered tiles of toys such as LEGO or doll boxes in the toy store would be neat. I guess it wouldn’t be that much of a big deal of there was more to do in the shops but apart from the game on the laptop in the tech shop and slushie machine there isn’t beside picking an item, paying and leaving. There’s no changing room for the accessory store and a catwalk has been replaced with a turntable. :/ Even within the shops there’s only six studs worth of depth for play. I think the worst offender is the food court. There’s no where to prepare the food. You can’t even stand a figure behind the tables and pretend to have them serve the characters as there’s no studs. Why was on earth was it designed like that? :S Then the table only fits three figures despite five figures being included and in general Friends is trying to make the largest sets fit five figures in case girls want to play with the other core friends not included in the set. Besides the lack of depth I think the build is monotonous due to the uniformity of the shop’s designs. The fact he shops all look the same from the outside bar the colours used on their signs rob them from the character which Friends buildings are famous for! The worst part of the design is the balconies don’t curve around the floors. It makes the build seem unfinished and again it’s not a budget set by any stretch of the imagination. Now for some positivity I really love all six figures (though for Olivia I’d wish they’d stop using outfit combinations from other sets in general) and I’m very happy that the Friends line is finally putting the main characters’ families in sets that aren’t just the houses. It is unfortunate there’s not a single employee though! I like everyone else love the escalator. I think that’s pretty perfectly designed and deserves to be in a better set. The atm, changing room and toilet sections are really good uses of space. Then the slide into the ball pit and photo stand are also fun additions. I was going to get it Day 1 to meet the Amelia Earhart threshold but I think the negatives overwhelmingly outweigh the positives. I just can’t justify spending €100 on it. I don’t think it’s worth the money at all. XP

There’s quite a few if you google LEGO Vidiyo in news or click last 24 hours. For convenience here’s: CNET and WIRED. One compares them the Beat Boxes to the Rexcelsior. I’m really curious what you thinks them worth their price. I think they’re just set minifigures (no side leg printing, no dual moulds on most, no side arm printing, single sided heads, most reuse accessories) with three fancy tiles, that are randomised amongst these and the Beat Boxes.

I agree with everyone who has reservations of the prices for this theme. Interestingly if you read reviews by sites who aren’t fans of LEGO who were sent press kits they applaud the low price points and easy to build features. But all themes aimed at kids Compare the Beat Boxes to the Friends Cubes, which are half the price. The cubes measures over 2.5 in (8 cm) long, 3 in. (8 cm) wide and 5 in. (13 cm) high compared to Beat Boxes which measure 2 in. (7 cm) long, 3 in. (10 cm) wide and 3 in. (8 cm) high. That is not nearly enough of a difference to justify such a significant price increase. I know there’s new moulds (the Friends cubes a,so started out with three) but don’t all new themes usually get big budgets for their first wave? The only difference is the few extra pieces for the mosaics (I think nearly all of which are common enough?) and then the generous amount of printed tiles. The problem with the printed tiles is they’re randomised amongst different sets and once you have one you already have the feature in the app. Now I know AFOLs can use them as posters, CDs, DVDs, magazines etc. in MOCs but even then less and more variety I think would be better. The Beat Boxes have a price increase compared to CMFs in most countries now. While you do get three tiles per set I think the figures aren’t of the same premium quality of CMFs. None of them seem to have dual sided faces and only two have dual moulded legs and side leg printing. Eight have existing accessories too! They’re really not worth the premium price in my eyes. I also think this is the least LEGO like product in quite a while. Say what you will about BIONICLE, Friends, DOTs, Fusion or Super Mario but building is at a core to all of those products. Here you only build a cube, tiny mosaic and then after you switch around tiles. :/ I really don’t want to dislike this theme as I have an interest in music and teaching kids the basics of studio work is a good idea in my eyes. I just think the theme has a bad start. I will definitely give it and the app a try (I’m excited to see how the “aqua” tiles work with licensed songs) but not until I get one of these sets at a significant discount. CMFs have definitely been struggling pre and mid pandemic where I’m from. Most retailers have stopped stocking the unlicensed series. I imagine this is what lead to the Beat Boxes price increase. Figures clearly don’t cost €5 if they can sell €10 4+ sets with exclusive prints, extra large pieces and two figures. :P

I find it really neat that they updated Batman’s colours from sand blue to light grey. The suit is more of an in between hue so having the choice of two options is really nice. :) I’m really excited for this set and it will probably be a day 1 purchase for me as I love 60s Batman! I never got the Batcave as I didn’t like the build but even if I don’t like the build here at least it’s a lot cheaper. :P I can’t wait to see Joker and I have everything crossed we’ll get a third figure, even if it’s just Robin. :-) I wonder do all the new figure prints suggest the D2C will be a 66 Batmobile? Seems like a lot otherwise.

I think this set perfectly shows why LEGO has a problem with leaks. There’s a huge glare on part of the build so it looks even worse than the final model. I’m not particularly excited about what’s clear though either. Why 3D eyebrows? XP

Does anyone have a single ID for the Mario stickered action tile pieces? I’ve been looking but I can’t find any. I found on this thread they were available at one point though!

Can anyone tell if Sinistra has a new face?

Yup, it’s like how two Flying Fords were available as the Whomping Willow was also kept on shelves due to its popularity. :)

Has there been any instances when a piece previously regarded as licensed became available after it started appearing in unlicensed sets. I’m specifically intrested in Marcel’s headpiece from 41444, which previously was exclusive to Ernie in a Harry Potter set. That’s the only piece of Marcel’s that isn’t available on Bricks and Pieces yet.

That island is one of the prettiest sets I’ve ever seen.

A potential 60s Batman set is really exciting! I think if they wanted to do Eartha Kitt’s Catwoman they could use Mia’s hair + the new cat ears hair accessory from Friends. :)

The picture of the Amelia Earhart set has been revealed. It seems like it’s a March release! The build is really neat and has a rather deluxe display stand. I believe the figure is made out of regular parts though.

Disney’s summer sounds really disappointing! 43193 is a Storybook. Promobricks lists this as Beauty and the Beast/Ariel but I’m really hoping that just means the same style of those sets and not a remake of one of them. 43194 is a Frozen 4+ set, I think it’s very unlikely we’d get new characters there unless it’s troll based. 43196 is another Belle Castle, but this one isn’t 4+ Then they list 43195 as a Horse Show which is surly wrong and the other sets as coming out in December. That suggests they might be based off Encanto, which would be neat as the protagonist doesn’t seem to have anything to do with being a Princess. :) It’s a shame that after becoming one of the six most popular themes Disney Princess doesn’t get a single increase in the amount of sets produced. :/ I know this year has more expensive sets, but it be nice to get more cheap sets too. :P

The band mates don’t seem to be only connected to the pods, there’s a cheerleader at the end of LEGO’s announcement video? I can’t believe they’re actually making essentially 5 CMFs in a year on top of the Mario blind bags. :P

It’s such a shame there’s little to no AFOL discussion for this theme. Promobricks uploaded Dots March pictures. There’s an actual decent variety of different unprinted parts in the extra dots pack for once. :P I particularly like the cool yellow 1x1s, light aqua 1x1s, medium azure curved 1x1x1.1/3rds, coral cheese slopes and light pink teeth shaped 1x1. I think a lot of kids and adults alike who are into MOCS will like the eyes. I think the mouths will have a smaller appeal. You seem to get 7 (+1 spare) of each, which means there won’t be too many matching eyes. :S Even if the variety is better here I’m still only planning on getting one! The bag tags are fine and I feel a good value for money. I think a lot of kids and adults will like these, as long as those pieces don’t fall off. Cheese slopes fall off bracelets really easily so I’m worried. :S Anywho, there’s some nice pieces (aqua 1x1 teeth pieces!) in some of these including new prints which also add value. I’m still going to wait until the summer ones leak to decide on which one I get as I can’t see myself having use for more than one. The music bracelet makes the theme look like it’s on its last legs, which it isn’t. XP All the pieces (besides the admittedly nice prints) including the bracelet colour have come in other DOTs sets. :/ The cactus bracelet’s colour is from the multipack which irks me. I just love it’s prints and the inclusion of magenta 1x1s and green Opal pieces?! We’ve never got that colour combination before. If only the bracelet colour was new. :( As for summer DOTs is getting its two biggest sets ever which I guess means the theme is selling well with kids! I do think it’s odd that a lot themes are getting big summer sets with smaller winter waves. I think it will turn away collectors as it’s too expensive to collect an entire theme, let alone multiple! :P Anywho as for the sets dragon and unicorn bag tags are coming which seem much better choices than a narwhal and leopard. The snouts for each can be seen below. I’ll wait to see these in full before picking which one I get oh of the six! Extra Dots series 5 is coming too, I’m excited to see what it’s themed under. They seem to be doubling die. on that idea with the 1040 piece “Lots of Dots”. I wonder what it’ll include? The four default DOTs pieces in many LEGO colours maybe and some white plates to put them on? But if that’s the case I probably won’t buy it as just collecting the bracelets, extra DOTs and other themes I have a lot of these. :P If it’s just a big extra DOTs set that would be exciting as it could be as cheap as €20. XD Theres another big set called Creative Design Box which doesn’t seem it could be that much different. Select LEGO RLUGs got something similar last March with a bunch of unused prints as @Lyichir linked. I wouldn’t mind if all of those made an appearance. :3 I imagine it will contain a bunch of DOTs, exclusive prints, plate canvases to build into a photo frame and at least one bracelet. Maybe even a bag tag too? I’m really excited to see these two big ones! I have no idea what Multi Pack Summer Vibes is. Maybe another large bracelet pack? But I don’t see how they could justify it getting 141 extra pieces. It is weird there’s no summer bracelets though! It would be quite funny if it’s more buildable food, but this time it’s fruit. Why kids would want to decorate fruit is beyond me, but yay toencouraging healthy eating. Lastly there’s another pencil holder too which I find bizarre as that’s the easiest thing to DIY, but at least there’s one set I don’t want. :P Lastly, LEGO accidentally revealed a lot of the summer prints in their online fan designer kit! I think this gives credence to the fact they might be reusing prints in either the Creative Design Box or Lots of Dots.

Whenever the back of the box doesn’t show the interior from the back I think it’s an immediate red flag. The mall box is just so empty. Each of these shops seem to have the bare minimum. The only stuff we can’t see from the original blurry images are things in the corners of some of the shops. :S I’m still planning to get it, but now I’m going to have to customise the heck out of it. :P I really don’t think this set is worth €100 at all. Really disappointing after how great Andrea’s House was! I wouldn’t say the vet has a bad interior but it has the bare minimum, but I guess in in that sense it’s already a step up from City. :P But the rest of the set is so great I wish they went the extra mile to create the perfect Friends vet. They could even have increased the price and ditched the turtle crossing road. :P The chunky vet ambulance set has two complete interiors at least, the colours kind of scare me as an adult though. :P I still don’t understand what the tree part is supposed to be - a vet clinic in a treehouse? The little 4+ bakery gets its job done. I think little kids will be happy if they recurve that as a present. It’s a shame there’s no pictures of the small €10 Stephanie and Andrea set though!