gedren_y

The whole team of knights aspect was the main problem with Nexo Knights, and Knights Kingdom II before it. Each knight being a leader of his/her own group outright works better. The knights, and those who serve them, could be competitors, or cooperate as needs be. Each knight should only have two looks, armored and everyday dress. The soldiers beneath them would have a standard livery, but with some variation depending on the role they fill. What the Castle theme needs to hold on to is how the feudal society worked in medieval Europe. If it leaves that framework the theme is only something else dressed up as Castle.

@Aanchir got a few things wrong. The original run of Bionicle got at least three animated movies (my local library has two of them), a board game, and a host of small comic books. Galidor was not in-house, but a licensed theme. The show came first, which is why the parts diverged so much from the rest of what Lego was doing at the time.

A little prognostication: 1) Porky (confirmed) - not sure what he would have 2) Bugs (obvious) - with carrot and Duck Season printed tile 3) Taz - with something like one of those Ninjago spinners 4) Foghorn Leghorn - with the Chicken Hawk 5) Wile E. Coyote - with the Road Runner 6) Sylvester - with Speedy Gonzales and cheese slope 7) Granny - with Tweety and rolling pin 8) Elmer Fudd - with shotgun and removable hat (pin hole) 9) Daffy Duck - Rabbit Season printed tile, and maybe something else 10) Witch Hazel - broom and large pot 11) Yosemite Sam - pistols and dynamite 12) Marvin the Martian - oversized single stick of dynamite

The current problem is that too many IPs overlap Castle at different points (and to a lesser extent Pirates) for an in-house theme to penetrate, even if it had a media tie-in. Ninjago has eaten up a lot of space by how quickly it has changed directions. The cyberpunk sets are still around, so the medieval sets might still be around at Christmas. The upcoming island and underwater sets won't help matters either. Some of the Legacy sets could also overlap, but that would probably be less of an issue for a mostly realistic Castle theme as opposed to something like Fantasy Era. Harry Potter isn't going away anytime soon either, but it can exist alongside Castle by simply focusing on other parts of the story. But now we have a Disney movie IP contending for space too. While it looks like Raya and the Last Dragon will only get a small wave of sets, depending on how Disney's release schedule pans out, these could be produced for quite some time too.

The repeated character issue is easier to solve in Castle than in any other theme. Give each named knight their own demesne, with characters in their livery (squire, cavalry, swordsmen, pikemen, archers) and the citizenry they are charged with protecting. Villains can range from evil lords and knights, through bandits (Wolfpack?), to dangerous creatures. This opens up things so that mid to large sized fortresses belonging to the named knights could be spread across multiple waves. With this kind of set-up you'd have soldiers in livery protecting carts delivering goods from bad guys, soldier training sets, a royal outpost manned by figs in various livery, blister packs galore, knights' field tents, a tavern, the obligatory blacksmith, a faire, and a royal tournament with events that could be spread across multiple sets (think A Knight's Tale). With the advent of newer base parts, a shepherd with his flock vs. a beast could even be a set, or just let the sheep be grazing around a ruin of some previous Castle theme. Call it Kingdoms II, and keep the fig and heraldry realism standard we know Lego is capable of. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- And back to reality. With themes like Harry Potter, the current direction of Ninjago, the upcoming Raya and the Last Dragon, and even Monkie Kid filled with so much that could fall under Castle, a true theme isn't going to happen anytime soon.

I did mention this is Deadpool's 30th, but I seriously doubt Lego would acknowledge that with a D2C.

Commodore Grei stood in a rush, pounding his fist on his much perused reports, and exclaimed, "'Too late' is right! Our delegation for urged humanitarian aid early. Tried to get this body to act! We called for the building, and funding, of a hospital. A hospital that could have tended to those wounded in defense of democracy. And maybe, just maybe, returned them to enough form that Kings Port might not have fallen. And now what Oleon has done, it is beyond the pale! I call for sanctions! I . . ." The Commodore's fellow delegates pulled him down into his seat. "Let us handle this," Lady Cantoni cajoled him, and rose to address the assembled, "When last we met, this body elected to seek out the truth in the allegations set before it. Now we have the truth. And yes, whilst some of the anecdotes in Commodore Grei's reports came from dubious sources . . . " "Dubious, my big behind," Hammish grumbled. Valentia glared at him, but continued, "The picture they painted was largely a true one. Worse as it turns out. The nation of Oleon has committed to the usurpation of Terraversa's democratically elected government. That a theocratic monarchy could think to do such a thing to a government like our own is, as the Commodore boldly claimed, beyond the pale. The very sovereignty of all nations is at issue here. We are not advocating a declaration of war, as Corrington has done, but we here must take a stand!" She took a breath, then finished with, "My colleague will now explain our position on aid and economic relief." Hammish began to rise again, but Viscount Doblin held him in place as he stood to speak, "Our positions on Terraversa's needs are two-fold, a resubmittal of our proposal of humanitarian aid in the form of a hospital, and economic relief for Terraversan trade." "For the hospital," Alexander continued, "There are quite a number of empty houses in the Terraversan cities still held by the legitimate government of the island that can be properly purchased, and quickly outfitted. To staff such an undertaking we should make it a National Service for all those who practice medicine to do foreign humanitarian aid work. I am certain that Priestesses and Consorts of the Crahaish neh Triuri who practice medicine would answer the call, but so would more traditional doctors and nurses, as well as those of our indigenous island citizenry." The Viscount motioned to a page to bring him a glass of water. After quenching his thirst, he returned to his address, "For a measure of economic relief, I propose that we as a nation cover all Eslandola settlement port taxes (if any still exist) for all Terraversan vessels, and offer to Terraversan trade vessels the opportunity to convoy with our trade fleet. These measures to last for the duration of the current conflict." Alexander paused for a moment to take a measure of the room, then finished with, "On the matter of our response to Oleon, I think it prudent to hear what my fellow members have to propose before making ours."

More troops!

A troop build, for various reasons.

It was a dusty day in Fuerte Unido, especially at the dry wash north of town. Here is where royal cousin Camilla Isobel la Reiy has come to see the mercenary company her funds have amassed. Dearji the Windsong and Kali the Phlin have come along to offer a traditional Triuri warrior's blessing. They seem a motley bunch of odd-balls and psychopaths. Captain Ian Daffys, a veteran Truachesh soldier, had been hired to gather a force of enthusiastic fighters to "defend the blessings of democracy in the Brick Seas." He is currently considering the battle strategies he could employ with this group. Dearji sings her blessing, but it is hard to hear over the raucous gathering of mercs. Camilla is resolute in the face of chaos. Kali is mildly frightened. Ian's longtime "companion" Jean LaDior, a Triuri faithful of Corrish extraction, and their dog, favor the seemingly somewhat competent few on their right. Outlandish armor, outrageous weapons, and of course tattoos are well represented in this gathering. Those of varying religious views have also been spurred to action. As well as some just wanting to test their "innovations" on some live targets. (Check the spoiler tag for a few pics of the landscape devoid of figs.) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- My first Lego pics with my current phone. I'm still working on getting the camera settings where I need them. CCC

It wouldn't be hard to rework the idea that became Knights Kingdom II with a more modern design sensibility. To do it right, though, would require a significant time frame commitment, and a serious budget. You could even use the old factions and named characters to great effect. To avoid character repeats, each knight could have a number of characters in their livery. Plenty of possibilities for townspeople, bandits of various flavor, and other folk. If it needs some media content, short 2D animated videos made available across Lego's media platforms would do.

Some small news about Tom's brother in the movie makes me want the webbed-up upside-down drug dealer in one of the sets. Not likely to happen, but I foresee that being an MOC in the not too distant future.

Most of the panning of KKII was the "jelly bean" knights in the first two waves, and a few ridiculous small builds. The third wave gave us better designed good guys. It just took too long for the fig design to truly work. The structures in the sets were pretty good, even though they relied on a couple of pieces that could get warped easily. The larger of the two seems to have been permanently retired. Vladek and his army were awesome, and still make it into my builds today (literally). Dracus had one of the best dragon heraldry shields ever, even though he and his minion's legs made it seem like they were only wearing thong underwear. Even the large figure shields and armor are great pieces for MOCs.

I expect one of the cast to say it's Spider-Man: Home Alone.

Commodore Hammish Grei strides in with righteous intent, carrying the same reports he had last session, now all crumpled and folded. He heavily plops them down on the Independents' desk, and sits with his arms crossed, glaring about the assembly hall. Viscount Doblin and Lady Cantoni enter with more reserved measure, but their concern over recent events is well etched in their gaze. Viscount Doblin nearly stumbles getting into his seat. Lady Cantoni adjusts her seat slightly, and gives Hammish a one-handed shoulder rub to get him to sit more calmly.

You'd think it was Year of the Monkey. City: New monkey mold Raya and the Last Dragon: three different monkey-like creature molds Monkie Kid: The Legendary Flower Fruit Mountain has 7 monkey character figs I'm expecting lots of Planet of the Apes MOCs to show up here in the next several months. Now if only Lego would reissue Welcome to Apocalypseburg!

It is entirely possible that the leaked image of blind boxes with Series 19 printed on them could have been an early box test for Vidiyo. Working out how display might have to differ from the other blind purchase products. There are a number of reasons why Lego might have used in-house imagery for this, especially if they needed work with outside interests for this testing.

I think the worry that Vidiyo's blind boxes extending to the CMF line is just borrowing trouble. If Lego were going to make such a drastic change to an established theme's format there would have been some kind of announcement. At minimum retailers would need to be informed because it would affect the display format. If Vidiyo's format were going to be applied to all blind purchase items, such information would have leaked from a retailer long before now.

Well before the pandemic there had been rumors of some of the voice actors from the 90s TV series being in talks about reprising their roles. A 30th Anniversary event would make sense for all parties. That doesn't mean anything came of it, but given the current level of contractual quiet Marvel keeps its actors under, the lack of news on that front gives it even odds. This added to other stated reasoning suggests that an X-Mansion set is at best a year away. The discussion being of anniversaries, this year is Deadpool's 30th. Make of that what you will.

A non-MCU Marvel D2C could be just about anything. It could be a model of the very first comic appearance of Iron Man for all we know (unlikely). What If . . . will be a cartoon, and because of the nature of the stories, won't be part of the MCU or 616, so the quite low probability of an Uatu build has increased somewhat. Remember that AFOLs that are also fans of Marvel are just a portion of the overall adult Marvel fan market. To truly have an understanding of what to expect of the Marvel D2Cs we need to understand who the target demographic is. A large portion of the general movie going fanbase are unlikely to purchase a $300 Lego set, even less probable now given current economic conditions and major delays in movie releases. The ideal buyer is someone with a willingness to spend on a Marvel product without the additional promotion that comes with the release of a movie, or other commercial property.

Lego redesigned the over-the-fig ghost mold for Monster Fighters, but I didn't necessarily mean that. Ghosts these days use the dual molded tail piece. For nostalgia, I would think a modern design ghost might be one of the old theme's kings. Okay, now I'm picturing Hamlet in my head.

Am I the only one considering the plausibility of a comic/cartoon Sony characters Spider-Man set? Yes, the movies got repeated delays, but since the sets for those characters don't directly reflect them, we could still see that as well. I'd love to have a winged bat-faced Morbius fig.

The Spider-Man sets are usually where we get the non-MCU Sony Marvel characters. One of the delay release dates for Morbius had been March 5, so a Spider-Man set featuring him could be in the upcoming offering. There are a few scenes from the Morbius story run in the 90s cartoon that I would enjoy seeing in Lego.

Someone was able to capture, and even enlarge a bit, the images for these and repost them to IG with the usual hashtag.

Not a true animal leak, but an image of the upcoming Ninjago "scuba suits" makes the characters look like frogs. The figs look like they are actually built more like the Nexo Knights scurriers.