Haltiamieli

I'm all for Blacktron I (and we've already had Blacktron II references in Space Police III and earlier CMF), but it is unfortunate that they chose to use neon green instead of yellow in this fig. Makes it some sort of strange hybrid between the two Blacktron factions, not really home at either.

Figs I'd like to see: 1) We've already had many mythical creatures, but who doesn't want more? For example a dryad, a little bit like kinder and yellow-skinned version of Poison Ivy. I doubt a centaur would fit in the bag but who knows - Medusa's tail did! It should have a similar but somewhat smaller body than regular horse, with studs to attach a human torso. I would be happy enough without any posable hinge parts (like hind legs of the new horse). Harpy and satyr I'd like too, but I'm not sure if they are really doable retaining the Lego look. 2) Someone above suggested Indian princess and I like the idea. Princess from India, that is (though indigenous American princess would be nice enough too). She could have Tamina's hair piece in black, maybe, with a bindi on her forehead and richly embroidered sari or something like that. 3) Medieval figs are my obsession and a minstrel with a lute is probably my biggest wish. A pastoral shepherdess with a lamb would be awesome. Apart from the lamb she could have some new headress, there's not too many that would fit for medieval women. Also I hope CMF series will finally provide us with a king with a proper crown instead of the helmet crown that's been in use since the 90s. A monk in brown robes would be more than welcome (grandpa's bald piece and the new hood piece from The Lego Movie's Wyldstyle), but sadly might be something that Lego is avoiding. Maybe they could do a druid instead? We could still have a brown robe and also a sickle. 4) We've had many male wizards through the years in Lego, but the only female magic users have been witches/hags. So a sorceress would be nice, either good or evil (both, of course, could not be in the same series). 5) I have little interest in City figures, but a gardener with a new watering can accessory could be really cute, and if he/she had a new flower/plant piece that would be a must-have fig indeed.

Yeah, I noticed that too. Not too familiar with rollerskate waitress dress culture but I'm sure she would look better with sleeves.

And there's also What minifigs are we missing - post your detailed suggestions here on Embassy. This topic, I presume, is meant to be something in-between: what we wish for Series 12 to include, compared to Itaria No Shintaku's guessing game where we are making guesses for what it actually will include, warts and all (or lady robots and all?). For example speed skater is one of my guesses, because I think January series* will probably include some new winter sports figure, and Lego might want to reuse skate-mold another time. However if I made a dream list, i.e. in my opinion the best possible outcome of Series 12 (but with as-realistic-as-possible dispensation of different themes, so as not to include 16 historical army-builders), that list wouldn't include speed skater because that figure wouldn't have a single piece that I would be interested in. Some other sports figure, inevitable as the theme itself is, might at least bring a new colour of some nice hair mold or something like that. * Of course, the announced CMF series tied to The Lego Movie may push the next regular series to a later release schedule. Remains to be seen.

Wait, what? "Nordic" does include Finland too, doesn't it? ...I'm gonna go and cry in the corner.

Judging by his bio, the Barbarian is clearly on his way to becoming .

I think, realistically speaking, the distribution is rather good. I would have swapped the numbers of Bavarian Girl and Lady Robot, and the numbers of Jazz Musicians and Welders (six welders is the biggest surprise for me, I was certain it would be max four and probably two), but otherwise I think this was more or less as expected. Of course it would be nice if there were less characters that are only 2-in-a-box, but apparently that's just not gonna happen...

I wouldn't say it entered only in The Hobbit. It has lurked in the background ever since the Fellowship, The Hobbit just really brought it forward. Fellowship already had the Moria staircase sequence and there were, of course, all the Legolas acrobatics throughout the movies. But I do admit I'm afraid to watch AUJ again... I saw it twice on the premiere day and felt rather good about it, would rank it the second after Fellowship, above TTT and RotK. But I know that for that feeling I did turn a blind eye to much of the mindless action sequences (well, the second time I did sleep through some of the Goblintown sequence) and stupid characterisations. I fear I won't be able to do it again, with rewatchings. I already felt rather numb about the DoS trailer, which is the first time Jackson's Tolkien adaptation trailer has ever left me cold. And I've been watching them repeatedly since the internet preview of spring 2000. Lake Town Chase looks nice enough set, and good parts pack for reddish brown, but like many other Hobbit and LotR Lego sets it seems somewhat... dull, bland, colourless? Not necessarily a problem for us AFOLs, but might not sell that well for kids. I hope we get a bit more colourful sets too (like Unexpected Gathering or Rivendell).

Another official set that might give some useful ideas could be 8078 Portal of Atlantis, even if it is meant to be under the sea. I planned to mod it to a Necromancer's stronghold (they would have used the portal to pull tormented souls out of Hell to walk the Earth once more as undeads) until the siren song of the cool pieces in the build overcame me and I ripped it apart.

So, they decide to take a backside and profile picture for Lady Robot, the one fig almost nobody is interested in and which doesn't have anything new on the back. Are they messing with us on purpose?

In geek/nerd culture it reads as "leet", that is "elite" (cf. linked Wikipedia article). Strange design choice for the old-style bobby, I have to say. Maybe there's some interesting story behind it.

Hopefully they will take and upload also pictures of the backsides. I want to see Bavarian Girl's hair piece from behind. So the bobby belongs to JCF... So, err, Jamaica Constabulary Force? Considering the 1337 on his collar it might jokingly refer to Java collections framework?

Yeah. It seems like an obvious chance to reuse Musketeer's sword, and fencing suit is quite a striking visually. I had the fencer already on my Series 8 guess list and I'm gonna keep it in until they make one... it's only a matter of time. (personally I don't have much interest in the said figure, but that is more or less true of all the sports and city ones)

This game is getting slightly harder as the time goes by. Starting from my Series 9 guess list I had to cross out seven figures that have since been produced. There's still nearly infinite possibilities for new figures, but many more of the most obvious choices have been done in the meantime. I didn't list any of the things seen in The Lego Movie trailer, as that would've felt a bit boring to me, and anyway we don't know yet if we'll see Panda Suit Guy and co. in the special movie-connected series or in regular Series 12. - Golfer - 18th century noble woman, "Marie Antoinette" - Sorceress - Flight attendant - Shepherd - Gardener - Medieval minstrel with a lute - Canadian mountie - Fencer - Mongol warrior - Firefighter - Chef - Speed skater - Sheriff - Astronaut - King

My guesses are: Sixes: Barbarian, Evil Mech, Mountain Climber, Bobby Fours: Bavarian Girl, Gingerbread Man, Yeti, Scientist, Jazz Musician, Waitress Twos: Scarecrow, Tiki Warrior, Holiday Elf, Welder, Grandma, Lady Robot

It is an error, you can see the pickaxe better on the other side of the leaflet. I'm surprised how many are disappointed with the pretzel, it's still a rare part (after Lederhosen Guy it has been in two sets according to BL) that is useful in quantities. That might even be a new colour? Looks rather dark, but who knows. Not that I wouldn't have minded some new mold instead, but the pretzel is so much better than trans-clear cup for example!

Barbarian: Nice, but obviously there's no real catch here - no new parts or anything really standing out. Their one chance to legitimately use a BFS and they cop out Scarecrow: I was hoping for a slightly more timeless torso design for my medieval purposes, but I suppose this is good enough. Nice to get a Tonto crow, I'm not sure if I'll get around buying Lone Ranger sets. Bavarian Girl: I'm really not fond of cloth skirts, but otherwise a very nice design. The torso is great for my villagers and the hair is sweet too. I wish CMFs would include more neutral expressions. All these wide grins are getting tedious. But freckles! Aww! Blacktron Mech: I'm not liking the look of this one too much, and obviously it's a complete rehash (of a Battle Mech I actually really liked surprisingly much). But still, it is Blacktron. It was destined to be a bad fig. Evil, even. I'll get one for the sake of nostalgy (just like I did with Series 3 Blacktron cyborg thingy). Tiki Warrior: Really surprising that they decided to use the old, simple spear! I wasn't expecting to ever see that in CMFs. The mask is undeniably cool, but I do wonder how the fig will look like from other angles. Won't the room between head and mask look awkward? Gingerbread Man: Really not my cup of... what ever he's supposed to be dunked in. Just awkward. Veeery awkward. Holiday Elf: Another usable torso for my villagers, but the expression isn't the best, as has been said. All in all I'm not too fond of this type of kid-like and green-clad Christmas elfs (maybe because I know them just from all the overcommercial overcheerful American holiday movies and such). Yeti: As I've said before, I would have hoped for a bit different and more serious take of a classic case of cryptozoology, but I'm fine with this one too. It's cute and I certainly want one. It would have been nice to get a normal head and hair piece instead of a single mold, for different uses. Mountain Climber: Not for me, and somehow even the rope piece doesn't look right. Welder: Not for me, but certainly a useful figure with great accessories for all the City builders. Scientist: Well designed figure, but there's nothing that really stands out. She's quite like the Barbarian in that aspect. Flasks are of course nice. And she has the best (most neutral) expression out of the females in this series, though it's not that spectacular either. Jazz Musician: Cool, but actually... I kinda expected the saxophone piece to look better. Don't know why really, but I'm slightly disappointed. Might look better in real life though. Waitress: Another cup of something other than my tea. But it will be interesting to see whether the light yellow on yellow will look less awkward in person. Grandma: So against our guesses this was not a supporting figure for Little Red Riding Hood's adventures but a more contemporary figure. I was really, really, really hoping against hope that the fig wouldn't have glasses, but no luck. Here's to hoping that we'll get some other elderly female minifig some other time. It's hard to judge the cat mold before I can hold it in my own hands and turn it around, but nevertheless it's great that Friends doesn't have a complete monopoly on producing new animals into Lego world. Bobby: Great design, awesome moustache! Lady Robot: Ugh. Just ugh. But what to expect, I already disliked the Clockwork Robot.

Or she may be just concerned, as we too often are when we think TLG is going in a direction we don't appreciate (how much "biased and facticious stuff" has been said over the "cheap China plastic" among AFOLs? Someone might call your argument in the previous paragraph decidedly "facticious" as you used magician and karate sets as examples when these 2013 weren't known of or available at the time when the video was released). She may not have got all her facts correctly and may have misconstrued or oversimplified some things for the sake of argument, intentionally or not, but that doesn't necessarily mean she's, like, evil. Admittedly I'm not in the mood to watch that video again, I saw it around the release time, but as far as I remember there were some good and informed points (how important they are is subjective) and less misinformation than in some other Friends critiques. Indeed. This is an issue (if an issue at all, how ever one sees it) on a societal or cultural level, and I think it shouldn't be brought to the level of individual kids. Certainly one should not suffer for conforming to any cultural gender roles or stereotypes, no more than for diverting from them. Probably the saddest thing about this whole debacle has been the people who furiously proclaim to start a boycott on Lego and not buy any more sets for their children. Yeah, that's a very important point many critics have unfortunately failed to see during the debate, and certainly the campaign (and many AFOLs' opinions, for that matter) started with very misinformed view on this. But I think this argument about simplified builds has been used less and less lately, or at least less prominently, so maybe actual contact with the product is changing opinions. What happened to the "only dictatorial, antidemocratic, or people who know they are purposely selling false things, disable the opportunity to reply"? After close to 700 posts, which have already included a few somewhat heated arguments, I don't think this topic is in any immediate danger of suddenly "going too far".

Better late than never, surely? Besides, this is a much bigger enterprise than straight-to-DVD Clutch Powers flick (hopefully better too) or City Undercover game. And wasn't there already this set that's sort of linked to City Undercover.

Hmm, hopefully there will be some Castle-themed set and/or figures too. The trailer was somewhat lacking in that aspect, only including 2013 lion knights with, for some inexplicable reason, pirate swords. The new hood piece on Lucy looks nice, and her hair isn't bad either. Presumably Lucy being the female lead will be in some other set(s) too, which is nice as I'm not that interested in the vehicles and robot policemen.

Nice castle but ouch! They have broken the poor eagle's wings to make it flightless and force it to defend the castle. That's quite barbaric.

I suppose many AFOLs would be disappointed, but I think Gandalf vs. Balrog set would work best if it packed all the oomph to the balrog build and included only Gandalf as a minifigure. Goblins and other members of the fellowship... they don't matter in that scene, they would be just a distraction to the design and hike up the price unnecessarily (leaving room for such medium-to-large sets that really do need minifigures and/or substantial scenery). And maybe, just maybe, if the balrog would be awesome enough, most of us could appreciate the set for what it is and not just see it as a failed opportunity to get more minifigs.

She has seen it – it was one of the centerpieces of anti-Friends campaigning (cf. for example this by same author). While Lego is and has always been by default unisex toy, SPARK's point that the company hasn't been very good at marketing these possibilities for girls and has drifted – compared to something like the early 80s of that advert – towards more gendered/boy-oriented themes is (I think) quite valid in itself.

I suspect the robot sheriff, even if he's not just a lower-tier henchman, is still more Darth Vader than the Emperor. Doesn't look like the man who'd be behind the curtain.

Besides, there's not much to ruin in Star Wars franchise anymore, Lucas himself has seen to that. But yeah, we won't see any more Lego Indy unless there's a new movie or something. That's the fate of licence themes.