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Ninjago sets are already on the shelf in my TRU, I'm sure leftover Batman sets will show up next week. I'm sorry if this isn't the case in your store. They were a little reluctant to sell directly (it depends on which employee you get), but said they would try it. They did and of course it works.

The Ninjago villains for next year have a similar style, actually. I've seen heads in light grey with white faces that could look like vampires as well, and the color schemes aren't too far off.

Yeah, I never have any luck finding these things.

I have not seen this black bear, but I'm sure it's fantastic.

To be honest, while I do think those are among the best minifigures, I haven't gotten them. I love the design work they do to create characters like Magmar and Krakenskull, but I ended up buying normal lava villains (Ash Attackers, Moltor, and other pieces) and stone villains (Stone Stompers and other pieces). I was interested in General Garg, but not a fan of the blue lightning. That's the problem. They are making really cool minifigures and using really cool pieces, but when put together I just don't like the end result. A black gargoyle General is a great idea, though, and I'd love to see them do a better one. So I guess what I'm saying is that I'll reserve judgement for the named villains, but I have little hope that I will actually like them. And since I'm not into vampires, I have a feeling I won't be getting much in the way of villains this wave. So maybe there are better looking knights? Maybe their visors / helmets / armor will get me interested? I hope so. As much as I'm a pessimist about the very existence of this theme, I want to find things in it that I like and can use.

I'm happy to report that I was able to get 2 of the Batman Bricktober packs today. I purchased Scarecrow Fearful Face-off and Battle Of Atlantis (both on sale), along with a Ninjago minifigure and one of the Batman Bricktober packs. With that, I got the second pack free.

Those are good looking minifigures using these pieces.

I was able to see the picture, and I have to say that this color scheme is pretty bad, and not at all the color scheme he should have. We've all seen the original image from the show before he was corrupted, that's the minifigure we need. Not excited about these techno-vampires, although I guess it's good for fans of vampires and green / black color schemes. Hoping for a very cool named villain. One thing I will say in favor of the theme: The designers were thoughtful when designing minifigures in that they made the legs match up with multiple torso designs. That's good.

I really hope they still have them on Wednesday, I can't get there until then.

What color is Jestro?

There are always minifigures that work in a City setting because people in the present day dress up in all sorts of crazy outfits all the time. I'm just hoping that there will be something worthwhile for the Castle theme, and the Space theme. It doesn't seem as likely.

Well I've seen it now. It's interesting, to say the least. Not too keen on it, but then I'm not the target audience here as a Castle fan.

Would have liked to have seen it, just to know what this theme is going to feel like next year.

Those could work nicely. There are a lot of ways they could go with this. That's not a bad idea, either.

I agree. It brings me back to the days of the conflict between the Lion Crusaders and the Black Falcons. I think the Eagles here are the aggressor, attacking the Lion Castle, but the design of the faction doesn't directly indicate villainy.

I'm not sure why that is. They seem to want this theme to be successful, and by all accounts it has done pretty well. But I get the feeling there are a lot of us here who would be even more interested in the theme if they were to include these more obscure characters. In other themes, I'm often surprised at which obscure characters get added, yet here they focus only on the primary cast.

Fair enough, it's possible.

For that matter, how about other members of the Wizards Council? There are some really nice beard and staff molds in there... And if Monstrox is the villain, and his goal is to regain his human form, I would assume he will no accomplish this goal because if he did, the hero Nexo Knights will have failed. Then again, a scenario where villains win and heros lose could be fitting for this topsy turvy, science fiction, fantasy, future, past mashup.

I agree, to a point. I'd add to that the color scheme of Tolkien sets. I think that a focus on locations like the Elves line would be good. Some of their sets have great shapes, like the Treetop Hideaway, Sky Castle, and a few others. That said, let's get full builds rather than just dollhouse facades. The Nexo Knights have had some great villains. Certain aspects of the Lava faction and Stone faction have been great. I particularly liked the Ash Attackers and Stone Stompers, and named characters like Flama, Moltor, General Garg, and Lord Krackenskull. Also, the level of detail on all of the minifigures has been great. The royalty have all looked very good, Merlok and Stone Clay also look great. So there are certain aspects of the Nexo Knights minifigure selection that could be great if brought into a new Castle theme. I'm adding the Tolkien color scheme because I find it to be far superior to either the Elves or Nexo Knights. Elves focus more on the pastel colors, especially in the light blues and lavenders, but also mix it with light greens and magentas. Nexo Knights focus more on simple colors like the blue, red, green, and yellow of the knights, but also add in bright colors like translucent neon orange. Yes, both themes use a lot more colors, but those colors are always pretty prominent. Tolkien used a lot of dark brown, dark green, dark orange, sand green, and other darker or more natural colors. I much prefer this for a Castle theme. Both Elves and Nexo Knights have color schemes that suit them, and I think that the Tolkien color scheme would suit a Castle theme. Changing gears a little here, we were talking about factions. I think I mentioned this already, but it may have been in another thread. Duplo has had a different faction for their Castle theme in 2005. I think it would fit into the Castle theme nicely. Here is a shield depicting a Phoenix faction: They appeared in the Black Castle set, all other sets from 2004 - 2008 had a Dragon faction as the villains (except one, which I will get to later): It's a good looking Dragon faction, though. I wouldn't mind a Dragon faction using this color scheme. Also, in the most recent Castle themed Duplo set from 2014, Big Royal Castle, they used these Eagle and Lion factions: That Eagle isn't bad at all, and might make a good substitute for the all-too-common Lion that is used for the hero faction. I should also point out that this Duplo Castle theme had a lot of molded dragons. There are dragons in Dragon Tower (dark red), Castle Black Dragon (black), and Black Castle (green). Additionally, there is a set called Dragon Tournament that features 2 dragons (black armored & green), and it seems this is the only other appearance of the Phoenix faction. There is a character in gold Phoenix armor overseeing the tournament: Just throwing some ideas out there. I like the Phoenix Faction, the Eagle faction is also pretty nice, and I love all of the molded dragons. These are things I'd love to see in a new Castle theme.

While I wouldn't mind recolored King and Queen minifigures, I'd much prefer to see, for example, a recolored Frightening Knight and a recolored Heroic Knight.

Wasn't there talk of a Firestarter suit in the Shuttle set? Is that still happening? Another suit I'd be interested in is the Night Terror suit.

That's something we should have gotten in the first year, absolutely.

Since they're talking about the Free Gift With Purchase, I doubt a full Battle Pack would be possible. A pack with 2 new Black Falcon knights and a small build shouldn't be impossible, though. And of course, the idea of Castle returning would brighten many an AFOL's day.

I hope that Space Shuttle looks cool, because I want Reggae Man.

To me it's a good price per piece, but it's just a high overall price. Yes, D2C sets are always high priced sets, I'm not denying that. With this set in particular, I think most people wouldn't mind the price if it were simply Wayne Manor, but it becomes a high price when you think about the wasted parts for the Joker theme. I'm fine with it, I'm not really that interested either way (although without the Joker pieces it would be an awesome parts pack for Castle). Just making observations on people's reactions.