GoldenNinja3000

Honestly, I think that the Dominion wave for next year may be the first time we care about figures in Jurassic World sets. Obviously we all wanted the original Jurassic Park characters as figures and we eventually got them through the D2C and velociraptor set, but this is the first time I’m actually excited to see the figures and not just the dinosaurs for this theme. That’s not to say the minifigures in the sets are bad, but they’re very expected- too many Owens, several Claires, some other main characters and then the army builder figures. However, Dominion’s massive cast really has me excited to see the figures for the new sets!

I can’t believe they’re going to make me buy three of these mosaics...and I can’t believe I’m going to do it because I’m a sucker for LEGO Marvel. I do think $120 is a bit too expensive considering they’re pushing consumers to buy 3-4 copies of each set. $100 would be a lot better.

I saw those, didn’t realize they were only for pre-order. I was about to feel like such an idiot for importing the sets, especially since they haven’t arrived yet. It’s nice that the exclusives are up for pre-order first though, since hopefully it’ll allow LEGO to judge demand better so the Burrow doesn’t immediately go out of stock.

It’s back in stock on Target’s website! Just placed my order.

Damn, it’s already out of stock? That’s insanely fast.

If anyone else was wondering about release dates, customer service still doesn’t know and just says hopefully before the end of summer. I think I’m just gonna get them from Target, I do want the VIP points and free gift in July but since all the sets except the Tower and Hulkbuster are available at my local store I don’t think I can hold off.

I preordered an entire box from Minifigure Maddness for Series 1, which is the first and only time I’ve bought a whole box. It arrived at the end of August but was definitely worth the wait for the great price, and if their prices are still around €180 for Series 2 I’ll definitely be buying a whole box again because they now cost $300 with the price increase if you order one from LEGO’s website.

Exactly. I don’t know about you guys, but in 2018 I was worrying about the Great Hall being on shelves for long enough to warrant continued Hogwarts expansion sets for the next 3-4 years and figured it would retire by 2020 at the latest. Now it’s two years since the line started and only three sets have been retired, which is something I never expected to see. If the sets continue to sell well enough to stay on shelves longer than the typical 1 to 1.5 year lifespan of sets, I can see LEGO not having to do remakes until 2023 or 2024.

The figures I’m really hoping for from the CMF are Rita Skeeter, Madam Pomfrey, Tonks, and Lockhart. I hope the reveal is actually this week!

I’m really excited at the prospect of getting some real Deathly Hallows sets. There’s lots of interesting things they could do, and personally I hope they make Xenophilius Lovegood’s house and Shell Cottage eventually (maybe not next year). A wedding set might be a nice addition to the Burrow as well, if it’s around $50 they could include the tent and features to set it on fire, and minifigures could be the trio in their party wear, Bill, Fleur, and a Death Eater. I also think a small $20 set with the tent that the trio camps in would be perfect. Deathly Hallows obviously has a lot of non-magical locations, though, so I’m unsure of how many sets LEGO would make. I highly doubt we’ll get multiple houses in a wave and if I had to pick one I’d rather have Harry’s home in Godric’s Hollow before the others (except maybe Malfoy Manor).

It’ll still take time to ramp up to normal production levels, though. These delays are completely understandable, and it’s definitely disappointing for us but there’s not really anything that can be done except to wait. I called customer service and they said that they can’t comment on release dates if it isn’t shown on the website.

Well, it’s past midnight on the 21st and the sets aren’t available on Shop@Home. I guess they are in fact delayed for a while. This sucks but it’s understandable, I just hope they release soon.

Something to remember about Cloud City and the Death Star is that they both have higher than normal price per part ratios and at least in my opinion are not worth their prices, like many other Star Wars sets. I’d prefer a Diagon Alley with 4000 pieces and as many buildings as possible and 10-14 minifigures over one with 3000 pieces and 24 minifigures. I think the build shouldn’t be compromised for figures and while I’d obviously like to get a ton of minifigures, I’ll definitely be happy with the most important ones (trio, Weasleys, shop owners, maybe a couple Death Eaters) and some random characters to populate the alley. I’m expecting 14-15 minifigures as the absolute maximum, also because D2C sets with 15+ figures are all from Star Wars, aren’t they?

I really don’t think the small mechs take up “valuable set space”. I highly doubt we would have seen three $10 sets based on other things in January if they weren’t mechs. They’re basically just bonus sets. It’s like Mighty Micros- it’s not like Mighty Micros prevented us from getting some epic $10 set instead, and these mechs aren’t either...

I definitely count the Venom one since it’s built in the exact same way using the same large body piece. Honestly I’d like to see a War Machine mech if they continue this little line but I’d also like to see a Captain Marvel one! They’ve never made a mech for her.

I mean yeah the old helmet makes his head bigger, but so does every other helmet piece LEGO uses. I think having the built in flip up function is worth the slight awkwardness, but more importantly for me I think the larger helmet captures more of the MCU style of helmet with its molded detail. Looking at Blazer next to the actual Hot Rod suit, the helmet has just translated very poorly with the newer mold because it’s so flat on the front. That flat front works great for Rescue and it’s more useful overall because the older mold traps you in that particular helmet shape, but my biggest issue with the newer helmets is that it just makes the new armors inconsistent with the older ones. Blazer and Tazer are clearly based off of Hot Rod and Blue Steel, but they don’t fit in with the rest of the MCU armors which is just what’s bugging me the most. Overall while I’ll always like the original mold best, I do like how useful the newer design is for non-MCU suits.

I really wish that the new armors based off of MCU designs used the MCU helmet mold. The newer one works better for Rescue and certain Iron Man suits for sure, but not for the 3 new “MCU” armors. The mold is still in production from last year’s sets and they’ve mixed the new helmet with the old one in the same set in the previous Hall of Armor, so I don’t see why they couldn’t have done it again.

That’s my thought process as well, and I think LEGO has a good track record of focusing on making large D2C sets as good as possible without fracturing the build by having sizeable side builds (Assault on Hoth being an exception), but in the back of my mind I’m reminded of how iconic the Diagon Alley at Universal Studios is with the dragon perched atop Gringotts. I hope it’s a separate set next year only because I don’t want a $30-sized side build preventing us from getting more buildings. I’m curious to know what other people think will happen to the price of the old Diagon Alley set. I’ve wanted it since 2011 and have been looking into purchasing it over the last few days, but it’s just so expensive and then today I remembered that the price is likely to drop with the release of the remake, much like with the UCS Falcon and Taj Mahal.

My most wanted buildings for Diagon Alley are definitely Gringotts, Ollivander’s, and WWW. I hope LEGO makes a separate underground dragon escape set so we can pose the Ukrainian Ironbelly on Gringotts, although I’m also very slightly afraid that they’ll throw it into the D2C as a side build. In terms of other shops I’d rather have Flourish and Blotts and Quality Quidditch Supplies over The Leaky Cauldron, because while the Cauldron would be cool, it’s just a pub while the shops would have more interesting and detailed interiors. I’m also hoping for stall side builds or something for animals and clothing like the older set had.

I guess we’ll see with the Crocodile Locomotive releasing on July 1st and Mickey and Minnie releasing on August 1st! I hope the D2Cs don’t get delayed but I wouldn’t expect the CMF series to be delayed if they aren’t produced in the Mexico factory.

I could see a Hogsmeade D2C being similar to Diagon Alley and I don’t think the price would be much lower. The “big 3” buildings of Hogsmeade are the Shrieking Shack, The Three Broomsticks, and The Hog’s Head (at least to me). Honeydukes is a must as well, and including Zonko’s would be great. I hope there is a microscale Hogsmeade GWP this year even though kingnono was a liar, as that would be awesome! I really can’t wait to see Diagon Alley and hope it lives up to our expectations!

I really like the black boxes for certain sets, like the Star Wars helmets for example. However, it just looks bad for some sets and it would look horrible for Diagon Alley. I really really hope that Diagon Alley has a more normal style of box art because having such a vibrant street on a black box wouldn’t look good. I shudder to think what Ninjago City would’ve looked like with one of those plain black boxes...

I think a huge motorized Hogwarts Express and a D2C Hogsmeade are both possible if the line goes on long enough!

That’s not a minifigure series, though. It’s buildable characters. It’ll be like in 2018 when the Unikitty blind bags and HP/FB series 1 ran at the same time.

Haha, I think not having any door frames would upset my mind’s desire to leave official sets as unchanged as possible, but I also kind of want to cover up the open side of the tower so perhaps my mind will have to shut up with this one!