Karalora

Not exactly a song (since no one's singing), but I'm quite fond of "Our Universe," the main theme from LEGO Universe: Many of the other tracks from the game soundtrack are a delight to listen to, such as "Nimbus Walks," "Elephant Escarpment," and "Pirate Camp."

"O" Boy! ... I'll see myself out...

Have we ever gotten new parts in a People Pack before? I was assuming that any animals included would be existing small ones, like the baby chimp or a parrot. Granted a Zoo theme is one we're sorely lacking in general and if a People Pack is the only way to get it, I'll take it.

Based on my buying habits over the past few years, it's either the Collectible Minifigs...or Build-a-Mini. Does Build-a-Mini count as a theme? I have a mild addiction.

!!!! Fun at the Haunted Attraction! YESSSSSS! @Robert8, you are a genius!

I like outdoor scenes with lots of foliage and landscape features. I build lots of trees in my own MOCs (especially for fall with all the colors).

Just a few themes I'd potentially be interested in, and my ideas for minifig concepts: Amusement park/carnival--Visitors, barkers, ride attendants, clowns, food sellers Museum--guides/docents, security guard, artists and/or scientists, kids on a field trip, exhibits themselves (such as a statue, or a mannequin displaying historical costume) Renaissance Faire--people in Renaissance costumes of all kinds and varying levels of quality College campus--students, professors, visiting parents, graduate, demonstrators, athletes Snowscape--skiers/snowboarders, kids playing, snowmen, generic people in winter clothes Mall--shoppers, shop/kiosk employees, food court servers, mannequins Music festival--musicians, fans, roadies, crowd-control people I actually wouldn't want a Fun at the Zoo pack unless a Zoo subtheme already existed. The point of a zoo is the animals, not the people, and while a few (small) animals could definitely be included in a People Pack, it would still be underwhelming.

FWIW, I have a couple of custom minifigs I have designated as "sorceresses," one definitely wicked and the other probably good but very sexy. The wicked one uses the head from the Castle Fantasy Era witch, Wild West Wyldstyle's torso and skirt slope, the wrapped braids hair in black, and the silver tiara from the Bride CMF. The sexy one uses the Egyptian Queen's head, Slave Leia's torso and legs, and the Dance Instructor's hair--I was going for a Boris Vallejo look with her, and I really like how she came out even though the archetype is pretty cringey nowadays. More on-topic, we got an Evil Dwarf CMF without first having gotten a default-good Dwarf, so there is some precedent for designating things that way based on reversed expectations rather than contrast with an existing figure. I just...I would really like for LEGO to break their streak of only nasty female magic-users. Maybe? I think fairies are usually described as having innate magic rather than casting spells per se. There's a lot of ambiguity and fuzzy edges in fantasy and folklore.

It depends on your fiction, really. Some works define "sorcery" as evil, while others make it morally neutral. In Dungeons & Dragons, the distinction between Wizardry and Sorcery is that one is intellectual and the other is more instinctive, and either sort of spellcaster can fall anywhere on the alignment chart. In Blue Rose (another fantasy roleplaying game), "sorcery" is the term given to black magic. In the Dresden Files, "wizards" are members of a globe-spanning organization that enforces certain rules, and "sorcerers" operate outside that organization, which implies sinister motives and behavior. But...I mean...since you bring it up...what would you call a good female spellcaster? Is there a word that gets that meaning across without caveats? If not, then that really sucks...and I'm also fine with TLG squaring that particular circle just by sticking the word "Good" on the name of a minifig. Good Sorceress...or Good Witch, for that matter. Fixing the English language to be less sexist isn't really in their wheelhouse.

I'd actually rather a CMF Sorceress be assigned to the side of good. I have been uncomfortably aware for years that outside of the HP license,* there are no female spellcaster minifigs who aren't characterized as wicked witches. Wizards come in both good and evil flavors, but the ladies are all cackling horrors. * And I guess the Avengers, if you take Scarlet Witch's name at face value.

The one in Woodland Hills, CA yesterday had CMF Wizard torsos and hats in navy blue! No corresponding skirt slope, but they also had the new skirt piece in plain navy blue. And acoustic guitars in tan.

I don't think merely using a Cthulhu-like design for a monster character automatically implies the themes of the entire mythos. It's just a neat monster visual, and one that has been used in plenty of cartoons, as a reference to Lovecraft, without calling the, erm, social politics of those cartoons into question. LEGO itself has already flirted with similar designs with Davy Jones and the Alien Trooper.

Wow, reviving a thread after three and a half years! We sure have seen a lot of great new minifigs in the meantime, haven't we? Here are some of my top picks: S15 Faun, because he's so cute and I love mythology figures S15 Flying Warrior for his awesome helmet and gold wings S16 Ice Queen for representing my favorite fairytale, The Snow Queen S18 Dragon Suit Guy, because dragon! If licensed series are also allowed to play, I have to give a nod to Maleficent from the first Disney batch. She is without a doubt one of the most terrific Disney Villains of all time and I'm thrilled that they included her.

At this point I feel I should disclaim that I've never so much as taken a Marketing class; this is all based on my personal observations and what little I do know about Disney's internal decision-making processes.

I was speaking more about how Frozen merch is marketed generally, not the LEGO sets in particular. It might help to think about branding hierarchies. Any toy is branded, and if the umbrella is sufficiently large, there are sub-brands. With general Disney merch like dolls, Disney is the main brand and the sub-brand is Frozen or Princess or whatever. But you don't tend to get sub-sub-brands. All Princess merch is created equal, more-or-less. Ariel doesn't have her own logo. With Disney LEGO sets, on the other hand, LEGO is the main brand. In a big-box store with a toy department, the Disney LEGO sets are shelved alongside other LEGO sets, not alongside other Disney merch. But that means they have to be careful about how they sub-divide the Disney sets so TLC doesn't have to purchase too many separate licenses from Disney. Marvel and Star Wars work fine on their own, and in any case they were well established long before Disney got its big white gloves on them. But Frozen's appeal is really inseparable from the appeal of animated Princess fairytales in general, so they might as well consolidate.

It's possible that the Disney Princess Frozen sets were released because they were operating under the assumption that Anna and Elsa would officially join Princess. That never happened because Frozen continued to be such a valuable brand on its own.

Including Frozen and Moana despite their leads not having been officially included in the Disney Princess brand, because they're still super-popular with girls. It's still conceptually the Princess line. My ideal Disney line would a) be minifigure-based, and b) include more than just Princess movies. Where's my Pinocchio? Where's my Pooh Bear? Where's my Robin Hood? (Actually, my ideal Disney line would revolve around the theme parks, but I recognize the sharply limited crossover fandom there.)

I was gonna say, the LEGO Movie CMFs depict the major characters in costume variants that they wore only briefly, or else minor one-off characters that appeared similarly briefly. We weren't going to get a "Lord Business's Reception Area" set for the Velma Staplebot figure, but she still has a unique look that makes her potentially fun to have as a supplemental figure for other sets taking place in Lord Business's skyscraper. I would absolutely love it if we got an evergreen Disney Animated Canon theme with sets from a wide variety of movies. The Disney CMFs could then focus on characters that are individually very recognizable, but come from movies that are not popular or well-remembered enough to get their own sets.

I've picked up a few 3-in-1 sets over the years, sometimes to fill out my bricks of a certain color but usually because a particular build really appealed to me. I tend to like the "outdoorsy" themed ones like the Lakeside Lodge or Treehouse Adventures--you don't get many wilderness scenes unless the Police or Fire sub-themes are tied in somehow. But overall, if AFOLs don't go for 3-in-1 sets, it might be because they come across a little generic. What's happening in this set? Not much, you just build it (and then take it apart and build it again, and then take it apart and build it again), and then...there it is! Sitting there! Most of the City-type 3-in-1 sets depict minifigures going about their daily life, which is fine in itself, but when you're an adult, you already do that stuff for real all the time, without the medium of LEGO. Building a simple ice cream shop is not as enthralling when you have the option to go to a real ice cream shop any day you please. If I got to go camping as often as I'd like, the outdoor sets probably wouldn't interest me as much as they do. Another point is that the requirement of including a parts selection that can become three different, but thematically related, builds is limiting in its way. You'll never get something as sleek and impressive as the Modular buildings from a 3-in-1. The brick-built animals often look clunky and weird because their parts have to sub in for two different animals. Some of the vehicle ones are pretty nice (speaking as someone who's not really into vehicle builds), but they also tend to be very small. Maybe what this all adds up to is that 3-in-1 sets don't offer anything specific that isn't done better by more focused sets, and as adults, we can pursue those other sets of our own free will.

I'm sure I've said this before, @Robert8, but I wish you were in charge of the actual collectible minis.* The only one of these I don't think I'd be excited to get is the Tae Kwon Do fighter, and even then, her trophy has a really cool design. The tan skull for the expy of Poe is so obvious that it makes me wonder why TLG hasn't done it already to represent a weathered old skull. The Acrobat's hairpiece is superb, and overall there are just so many different takes on cultural, historical, mythological, and holiday-related characters that I'm giddy with delight! * Although maybe in that alternate universe, someone else would be doing this and coming up with the designs we actually have in this universe, and we'd be just as thrilled and wistful...anyway...

I think it's more a case of evergreen popularity or recent/ongoing/upcoming releases featuring the characters. Consider: Vintage Mickey & Minnie: Mickey's 90th birthday occurred late last year and the merchandise event is still ongoing. Jack Skellington and Sally: Perennially popular characters Jasmine and Jafar: Live-action Aladdin coming out this year Elsa and Anna: Frozen 2 coming out this year Scrooge and the triplets: New DuckTales series is ongoing Edna Mode and Frozone: Incredibles 2 came out last year and is still being promoted to sell the video release. Chip and Dale: Core characters The only ones who don't fit this scheme are Hercules and Hades, and if you're right about the KH3 connection, that handily explains their presence, as they have been in all three of the mainline KH games.

Based on the color, I'm calling Loch Ness Monster costume. It's a fan of the creature, or else a prankster pretending to be it.

The outline reminds me of the lid of a grand piano...but I guess we'll see in a few days!

I thought the boxes might make for a cute presentation, and it would get them out of my apartment without me simply throwing them in the trash. I definitely plan to ship in boxes if I do end up selling them, but thanks for the tip!

Oh, I'm loving this already!