BrickJagger

I imagine this will be of interest to you all:

I find it very unlikely that a cancelled Castle theme got that far into the development process without us knowing. For example the "Dots" theme was cancelled right before its planned launch but by then we had the theme's name and set numbers. Here's what I think it happening: either that shield is from a S19 minifigure that was axed from the lineup at the last minute, or it's from S19 and for some reason this piece is circulating. I don't see any scenario where this relates to a full Castle theme.

Is that a real piece or just artwork? If it's a piece, is it showing up in the minifigure station or somewhere else?

I get the gist but it's a little unclear. Basically we have to pledge a certain amount of money if we want to buy the set, and if enough people pledge it goes into production? If that's the case, sign me up

Looks great! Does the winner get made into a real set?

Thank you to @kabel and others for providing context, I was having a hard time figuring out what was going on using Google Translate What I gather from this is that Lego is intimidating their critics with thinly veiled lawsuits over frivolous things. If that's truly the case, consider me disappointed, but unsurprised. I will note that I've seen a number of larger youtube channels that used to give honest reviews turn into Lego's biggest fans overnight once TLG started sending them free products and endorsing them. Having a stranglehold over public opinion is seemingly a good business tactic, but I view it as being quite scummy since much of that propaganda is aimed at younger kids. Unfortunately 2019 is Lego's worst year in over a decade for a lot of us and I'm starting to think that the company is beginning a slow spiral around the drain. This year I only intend to buy Benny's Space Squad and a couple of polybags, and nothing at all in the summer. It's a shame that Lego is losing a lot of us as customers but I don't intend to spend money on a bad product in the interim. Hopefully they can get their act together and their declining sales will push them to make some much-needed changes to their product lineup. I never doubted that this was the case, and I'll have to watch some more of Thomas's videos (Do you have any links to videos where he mentions this?). There was, is and always will be a market for those themes but Lego seems to be opting for the flashy licenses and Big Bangs to serve as "replacements" for them. It's like trying to put a square peg in a round hole.

Thanks for the heads up, never would have seen that otherwise. I think that this might possibly be the best deal I've ever seen on S@H, I mean that's practically a dollar for a figure. I just bought several more to add to my collection.

Here are the tweets in question: Although Jestro turning evil a third time is a bit tiresome, I found the "Jester-bot" concept interesting. I also like how Monstrox corrupts the Dragovs, who look significantly more interesting than the identical vampires we got this year. After seeing these I have no doubts that there would have been a summer wave that contained "Paladin Clay", members of the Wizard's Council, Vampire Ruina, winged vampires and a few more named antagonists. He also seems to confirm that the fifth season never aired because it lacked funds. Sidenote: Vincent Tong (Jestro's voice actor) makes it pretty clear in the comments that he wants the show to come back. Possibly an outside chance for the last season to air at some point?

We should find out within the next few weeks whether we'll get one next year, or else I'm probably taking a yearlong break from posting on here. What happened in the last issue? I feel that Nexo got a lot of unfair hate. It turned out to be a Castle theme only in name, but I highly doubt we would have gotten anything historical in the last three years regardless. I also think that people are a little too harsh on the Stone Monsters, they were pretty good for what they were. I would have a appreciated a few more named characters and a stronghold of some kind for them, but it was really the knight's vehicles that made year 2 the worst year of the theme. Merry Christmas to everyone who celebrates it, by the way.

Indeed I did! You all are welcome to continue discussing the morality of leaks and leakers over there.

Well this thread has gone downhill fast I don't think it's reasonable to treat Lego leakers like they're involved in some sort of high-profile drug ring. It's really...dare I say, not important?

Thanks for the confirmation. I think TLG is making the right decision to cut off Brickheadz before it jumps the shark. There were a ton of them this year to the point of oversaturation, and I think that most people ended up being satisfied with the wide range of properties Lego covered.

Good question. I think that Benny's Space Squad will be a bestseller, but partially due to the fact that it is a $10 set with a main character, four minifigures and two vehicles. Lego is really only dipping a toe in the water with these two sets, but I figure that the much larger spaceship from 2014 must have sold well enough to warrant more sets.

If Lepin is relying on leaked instruction manuals to create their bootlegs, doesn't it support what I said even more? Only employees of Lego and factory workers have access to those manuals before they're released, and that's a problem Lego has to deal with internally. My point is that some people think that leaks hurt Lego a lot more than they actually do. Sure, they could be seen as an annoyance, but does it warrant a no-holds-barred war against the leakers, who are almost always ardent fans of their company?

Best Theme: Creator Expert (Downtown Diner, Rollercoaster, Winter Village Fire Station) Best Minifigure: Series 18 Dragon Suit Guy Best Set: Pop-Up Book Worst Theme: DC Superheroes Worst Minifigure: Don't know Worst Set: Betrayal at Cloud City Most Anticipated 2019: Benny's Space Squad, the new Modular, and hopefully a Castle theme next summer!

I'd also like to see the "Leaderboard" section at the top of the home page get fleshed out. We could have a list of all-time most posts, members of the week, etc.

How many players do we need to start?

I doubt it. The first wave seems to have sold really well, and although the new Fantastic Beasts movie might not be a massive success, there are still three more coming out. I think it will go on for a few more years, but it won't be nearly as large as some people think. Next year's wave is probably the precedent for the rest of the theme's life cycle.

I'm not sure what you mean by that.

The game is pretty much a tournament to determine the best Castle set of all time. Every few days there will be a poll between two sets, and the winner moves on to the next round. It's pretty much like March Madness. NK was discontinued this year. Some people think that Overwatch will be replacing it, but I don't think that's true because it only has six sets and no gimmicks like the other Big Bang themes. There's no real "Big Bang" theme coming next year because of TLM2, maybe we'll get one in 2020? There's literally no historic based themes whatsoever next year in January, and I think we're overdue for a new one in the summer. Nexo Knights and Elves were both discontinued this year, and Harry Potter is only getting four sets next year. Perfect opening for a new Castle theme IMO. If there is one, we likely won't hear about it until late December because Lego has been tightening up their leaks.

I think that both TLG and EB have reasonable positions in regards to leaked products, and I can understand not wanting your future products out there for everyone to see. However, @Space Police XVIII makes a good point that clone companies get, at most, a few extra weeks to create bootlegs. I'm not even sure that leaking is "bad for business" because I would imagine that whatever sales you lost by the sets leaking early would be made up by the attention that the leaks get from Lego's actual customers. I tend to only care about leaks for sets that I'm interested in, and when sets leak early I have more time to plan how many sets I want to buy the following year. Also, as a fan, it gives us more to talk about. @Echo is right in that there's pretty much no hype for next year's sets anymore, that much is apparent just by visiting EB. At this time of year, EB used to have a ton of people online (mostly for leaks, let's be honest) and there seem to be fewer and fewer people here each passing year.

@JJ Tong (zfogshooterz) @leafan @Aine @x105Black @ElectroDiva @Aanchir would any of you be interested in playing Itaria's "Greatest Castle Set" game? If so, please vote in this poll because we don't have many votes at the moment. I guess we could continue that Nexo Knights conversation over here if you have any questions. We were derailing that thread a bit.

I saw that too and thought the same thing. There's nothing wrong with the current one, but I wouldn't mind a new variant. I also think that the CMF Roman spear below should be integrated into the next Castle theme, because the most recent spear mod is entirely made of metal

I think it's encouraging that Harry Potter and FB are only getting one wave of four sets next year. Lego clearly isn't trying to make it the next Star Wars, and I see a clear opening for a new Castle theme. After all, HP is currently the only thing with remotely historic influences, and even that is a stretch.