Karalora

However, some or all of them might be anthro animal characters re-using AC head molds.

A possibility no one seems to have brought up yet is anthropomorphic animal characters. Thanks to Animal Crossing they have a lot of head molds to play with.

Licensing conditions can be weird. There's certainly an incentive for the licensee to say "Promise you will only sell this animal in sets with our branding" in order to strengthen the public perception of a connection between that animal and their franchise. If LEGO starts producing the animal for the license when they didn't previously, they don't have much reason not to agree. They recoup the cost of the license by selling more of the licensed sets; if they can get people who wouldn't otherwise care to buy one just for the exclusive animal, as far as they're concerned that's a win-win.

Ultimately of course, we are going to have to adjust our expectations regarding PPP just due to regular inflation. We've been cruising at a rough ten cents per piece for a very long time and the main driver of price increases has been that the sets themselves are getting larger on average. But sooner or later, the PPP itself is going to have to go up across the board.

I kind of feel like the entire Mario theme has been a years-long lead-up and then tie-in to the Mario movie and inclusion at Universal theme parks. The movie was the biggest boost to Mario's visibility probably since the release of the Nintendo 64 console. In that regard, any Zelda sets, including the one we have and the one we are presumably getting next year, could be considered tie-ins.

At the rate things are going, there's also a decent chance we get sets tying into the live-action movie that's set to release in 2027.

You would think, but then they don't clutch. That set came out right at the peak of the "brittle brown" problem.

Eh, it was worth a shot! I'm planning to get the new Haunted House this year and (probably) finally retire the Monster Fighters Haunted House I put up every Halloween. Every year, it seems a few more parts crack and have to be replaced.

Great design! I would totally buy the instructions if they were posted to Rebrickable!

Dark red and sand blue would be good.

Flamingos vs. different-shade-of-pink flamingos, like my Flamingo Wars theme idea.

Truly the depth of our tragedy is unmatched in human history...

This is precious! I love all the details! Great portal effects with the microscale locations!

I've been mulling this one over for a while and I can't remain silent any longer: Many AFOLs are too hung up on impressive size, visual accuracy to source material, and complex detail when creating MOCs and judging the MOCs of others. This attitude often comes at the expense of whimsy, charm, and especially accessibility--newcomers to the hobby find it nearly impossible to get helpful feedback on the smaller, simpler creations that they are capable of when they start out, and this hampers their ability to progress. IDEAS and the BL Designer Program are heavily biased toward big, expensive sets, restricting the number of people who can afford to engage with the fan-driven content. Sometimes it seems like those of us who haven't been consistently building since we were nine years old have no change to catch up.

The full name of the channel is octane thermoplastic, but be forewarned: he mostly does Legend of Zelda MOCs.

I "know" him (we converse a lot on his YT channel)! I made sure to vote for The Dig Site! It's a great throwback to Adventurers as well as a real gem for anyone interested in archaeology, poetry, desert landscapes, or any combination of the above!

If you're not into "that scene," you're probably unaware that TTRPGs come in all different complexity scales. This would not be a DnD or Warhammer-sized venture--it would be simple, whimsical, and--appropriately for LEGO--customizable. I wouldn't have to lay out individual stats for every single possible molded piece--just 20 or so examples of each category, along with guidelines for adding others to your game. I don't figure many people would sit down to play plastic trapezoid adventures and expect the ruleset to be tight and perfectly balanced.

(That's "tabletop roleplaying game," for those who don't know.) So this is an idea that popped into my head the other day. I'd already heard about people using minifigures as gaming miniatures, because of how easy they are to acquire and customize with the parts you need to illustrate your character--if you don't mind your character being a plastic trapezoid, that is!--and I thought, why not cut out the middleman and make a game where you play as a minifigure in a LEGO world? I haven't developed it much (yet), but here are a few salient points: Your character has only three base stats--Head (mental faculties), Torso (physical prowess), and Legs (movement.) There are numerous ways to modify these stats, including skills, bonuses from equipment, etc. Most minifigures will also add some sort of Headgear, which can take two forms. A Hat imparts a bonus to one of your skills depending on the job or role it represents--a construction hardhat boosts your Building skill (very important!), a knight's helmet improves your melee fighting, etc. Alternately, you might have a Hairstyle, which provides boosts in certain social situations--a mohawk helps you fit in with the punk community, a crisp business 'do impresses business-y folk, etc. You can change your Headgear freely as you acquire pieces representing different Hats and Hairstyles. Another important character trait is your Theme, which determines the skills and equipment you can start with (though others can be acquired through play in different "sets"). Sample themes include City, Space, Castle, Pirates, and Ninjago, though these are far from the only possibilities. You can even be from a licensed theme, technically...but there's no particular advantage vs. being from the closest equivalent non-IP theme. The gameplay loop revolves around exploring "sets," fighting brick-built monsters that show up, and scavenging for useful Parts so you can build things to empower your character. This isn't too nitty-gritty--pieces for items are considered either Basic Parts or Specialty Parts, and each item costs a certain number of both. You can also obtain Personal Parts, which include Hats and Hairstyles and other items a minifigure "wears" such as capes and swim fins. And finally, there are Accessories: handheld items that can be used as-is, no assembly required. In order to build a particular item, besides having enough Parts in your inventory, you either need to succeed on a roll with your Building skill (to understand how to put them together), or have Model Instructions for the thing you want to make. Model Instructions are rare treasure, much like scrolls of magic, and each can only be used once (though successfully building anything, via a Building roll or Model Instructions, gives you a bonus to building the same thing in the future). Commonly built items include vehicles and fancy weapons, but even something like a creature can be put together and brought to life. And of course, anything built can be disassembled after use, and the parts returned to your inventory. That's about all I have for now, but I had to share it here!

May Queen, Eostre, Springtime Girl, whatever they choose to call her...let's get a young lady with a wreath of flowers in her hair, chop-chop!

Do we have a standardized image of Eostre? It's my understanding that the only known references to her come from the Venerable Bede, who was not an illustrator. In any case, the "May Queen" I have in mind--with a pastel gown and a wreath of flowers in her hair--could certainly stand in for a springtime goddess.

Sure, the Florist can be a fella. Some of these are gendered but most could be either/or. I imagine we don't have a Watering Can Costume because that's...not really a thing? Little kids dress up as flowers for school pageants sometimes, but I don't think a watering can suit has any role in the culture.

My picks for a springtime-themed CMF: Easter Bunny (as in an anthropomorphic rabbit in a dapper pastel suit) Flower Fairy Robin Suit Guy Female Leprechaun Picnicker Egg Seeker Birdwatcher Florist Kite Flyer Mardi Gras Celebrant May Queen Jack-in-the-Green

1. A Zelda CMF would be so great! But I think it would work best alongside a full theme, where we could get important characters in playsets/display sets and fill out the cast from the CMF. It would take some deft design to portray some of those characters, though, when they go really exaggerated with the designs. 2. My ideal Zelda theme includes both display sets based on scenes and places and items from specific games--your King of Red Lions, your BotW/TotK Stable, your Skyloft Goddess statue--and playsets based more on recurring concepts and elements from across the franchise, than specific locations from individual games. 3. I follow octane thermoplastic on YouTube! We're kind of buddies at this point, since I comment on all his videos and I've submitted a couple mini-builds to fan celebration projects he's done.

To be fair, a Spider-Man minifigure doesn't have to represent Spider-Man. It could represent someone cosplaying Spider-Man! Thank you for this. This so often seems to get lost in online discussions.

N-no? I'm just saying some people like the licensed themes, some don't, and everyone seems to be talking past each other.