lottie_cat

Just a heads up for fellow UK people, March sets were all out in my local Smyths. Picked up 41171 and 41172 - I have to say, the water dragon is absolutely lovely - although there is a slight stubbiness to the torso when in standing pose (which was a surprise as it wasn't apparent from the promos) - BUT the sticker colour is quite a bit out from that of the brick (oops). Not very visible on the feet where the wings cast a shadow but so distinctive on the hindquarters and tail. Already contemplating a second, for the un-stickered finish, real shame the stickers are coloured and not clear (possible finger-prints or not!)

Soupperson1, is that on the back of the box? Had a good look at the front of the packaging, but can only see the group pet artwork... Or do you mean in general? Palace Pet toy advertising usually has the relevant Princess cuddling their latest pet on the packaging. On the grounds every other pet has their respective owner though, I'd be shocked if we didn't get Pocahontas soon :) Fingers crossed!

Lots of little girls are animal mad - I was one of those way back when - and Disney have specifically tapped into that with the Palace Pet line and looked to lock in success by tying them to their classic Princesses. Walk through the Disney Store and you'll see a lot of their dolls now come with their respective (glitter-mauled) pets. Their sudden heavy appearance in LEGO isn't that surprising... They're LEGO's target audience, not us. Although I too am a little disappointed that the only 'proper' Princess sets are just the two and both exclusively Frozen-themed... (From 6, to 4, to theoretically '2'? Ouch!) Some of these may well look better in person though, sometimes I find the promo shots don't always do (some) sets any favours... On the other hand, 'Treasure' (Ariel's Cat) is notoriously difficult to make look good as a toy - Build a Bear produced a version with this long brush-able side fringe that made the poor cat look like a certain dictator... I get the sense mine (because who am I kidding,I will buy all of these sets) will end up disappearing off to hang out with some of those Nexo Knight bad guys at the end of the day. Look at it on the plus side for us AFOLs, new animal moulds! The head-gear all looks detachable, so having Windflower certainly looks positive for a future Meeko (and Pocahontas) appearance. The bright colours of the new critters that we have will nicely populate out the expanding Elves' fantasy forest... I certainly will be tracking down extra Windflowers if her tail is as sweetly done as her face. If they sell well, LEGO may well knock out a few more Pets.. So perhaps a lilac panda (Mulan), peacock, elephant, lynx, pink skunk, new tiger mould... The vegetation around my various Castles look pretty barren of life since those Friends Animals Packs bit the dust, so expansions in beasties (even in fantastical colours) is VERY welcome from this fan! ... Although Treasure is pretty bad, it has to be said.

Out of curiousity, does anyone out here store/display their LEGO collection entirely in their 'complete' forms? We have a collection of 1200+ sets (according to brickset, which would include many CMFs, so not all giants) and we don't break them down. We modify and MOC with loose brick purchases, but set them up in displays rather than just boxing up as the individual bricks... We've builders starting today on a (single car) garage conversion for the plague of our collectibles to be re-housed (everyone is tired of stepping over, dancing around, having to hold their drinks as the coffee table is full to bursting at this point, etc, etc, with the LEGO) But... Well, there are still on-going household arguments over the best options for display! I'm wondering if people have ideas/photos of their own solutions/general advice, etc, for storage.

I hate to rain on the parade - but I don't think we'll be seeing a belle/beauty&beast set just yet based on those titles. As G2G says: Korallina - 'Treasure', Ariel's red kitten. Daisy - Rapunzel's yellow Maltese dog. Ballerine is another palace pet; the name for 'Pumpkin' Cinderella's white puppy. (I do so hope that Lego haven't copied those awful blue earrings for that poor dog though!) Sounds like we're due an absolute treat for new moulded critters. Fingers-crossed they stick with the hole-in-the-head approach to attach their crowns separately so they can be used for some non-Princessy settings. (And here I'd been wondering why I'd been picking up those fluffy-tailed Palace Pet things at the expense of my Lego Budget/Display Space!)