Lyichir

Cute video of some of the stars playing with their Lego versions:

Definitely strange news. After not getting any cartoon episodes this year I wouldn't have expected Dreamzzz to live on as a framing device for a random licensed crossover. Don't really know how to feel about it.

This is a really cool MOC, but to be honest I think an issue with brick-built monorails as far as set potential is concerned is that they could end up being a very tedious building experience. I don't think it's a coincidence that most Lego train and road systems of any type use big prefabricated parts—while hobbyist AFOLs can often have the dedication and patience to put lots of work into a large layout, I think for most builders the vehicles and buildings are the "exciting" part of the build, so having so much of the build consist of assembling brick-built track sections could majorly drag down the experience of putting it together.

Oh, I'm not suggesting that's what I think THIS set would be, it's just a thought of what they could potentially do for a future set at some point.

Speaking of buildable objects, another potential one that occurred to me due to the popularity of the Botanicals sets would be a buildable Silent Princess from Breath of the Wild. Perhaps it could even come with a vase/flowerpot that has a minifig-scale diorama inside like the flowerpots in the Disney Princess or Wednesday sets (perhaps Zelda's study from Hyrule Castle, which could potentially be a good way to make BotW Zelda more widely available in a cheaper set).

If it's standalone (i.e. not establishing a whole new subtheme), I kind of hope it stays the same style (or at least something somewhat compatible).

Technically the current horse tail is attached to the back legs, not the body. So they could presumably introduce new components for the head and back legs/tail while using the same body piece. That said, at that point I don't know if the savings would be that worth it compared to making a wholly new zebra.

I definitely think a bigger "heavy point" Chopper appearing in sets is an inevitability sooner or later. I don't know if its execution here is my favorite way of going about it—the large surface for torso printing is versatile, but the lack of shaping/texture on the torso ultimately feels a little "flat" compared to bigfigs or previous mid-sized figs like Axl from Nexo Knights. But if they did go with this for the actual sets, I suppose I could get used to it. Looking through the trailer I also see Zoro in his guard uniform from Drum Island. Kuroobi looks good too. Both are figs I hope we might see in sets if they someday revisit Season 1 and 2 scenes. I'm curious who's animating this... is it a studio that's done previous Lego animated specials, or a new one? It looks pretty good, nicely toy-accurate but with some good cartoony motion.

New trailer for the Lego One Piece special:

It looks great! The video shows it looking really good in motion, too—very smooth and responsive. It does look like it doesn't have any feature to automatically "reload" the barrels from the bottom to the top, but it also seems like it includes plenty of barrels so you don't have to manually reload it too frequently. EDIT: Upon further review it does look like it automatically reloads when barrels reach the bottom! I just finished the Pac-Man set the other day and was very impressed, so I'm glad to see that this one seems to be maintaining that high standard!

I wasn't talking about clone brands and I'm kind of tired of people bringing them up in every discussion. Clone brands cut their own corners (whether it's less consistent part quality, poorer customer service, violating trademarks, or most frequently, relying on the design and engineering of Lego's pre-existing parts instead of designing their own), issues many people are happy to ignore as long as it costs them less as an end consumer. Personally I'm fine paying more for an entertainment product like Lego if it gives me more peace of mind. In any case, this set could've been stickerless if they'd just cut more of the easter eggs and references to specific episodes—the main structure of all three buildings mostly relies on brick-built detail (plus printed parts for the windows). But I don't agree that that would make the value better. I see the stickers as just squeezing a handful of extra details into the set, and I'm more than capable of applying them myself without making a fuss.

Same reason any set has stickers—all the frames for new elements were used elsewhere in the set, and they wanted to include additional decorations. Ultimately the idea that a high price level=no stickers is neither universally true nor all that realistic especially when a set is particularly reference-heavy like this is and thus needs a ton of individual decorations. That said, I see several prints in this outside of the figs—the Bikini Bottom sign and windows both seem to be printed parts. Also, to be honest, they probably couldn't do this stickerless even budget wasn't an object—I don't think they could realistically print the inside surface of that panel used for Squidward's shower curtain.

I don't think using existing minifig animals would work for any Pokémon, to be honest. Even if it was a sorta close match it likely wouldn't meet the licensor's brand standards.

The Spongebob set also has this 5x5 panel in reddish brown, which could maybe be useful for ship hulls (albeit maybe not realistic ones)

Just realized that since the new Spongebob fig seems to use Minion arms (attached with a Technic pin), you could probably swap them out for bigfig arms to imitate the Anchor Arms episode.

Yeah, that's a great idea! Though if they used that piece I feel like it might be better to recolor them to something less bright and cheery to match the spooky vibe (maybe something like tan or ochre yellow for the cob and olive green for the husks)

I think maybe a smaller shipwreck or ghost ship could be paired with maybe a spooky old lighthouse to give it some context in a village scene. A ghost train/station is a great idea as well. A farm scene with pumpkins, scarecrows, and spooky plants could be cool too!

I like it! It's a little small but it feels like a nice "foundation" for the start of an ongoing series.

I don't know if I agree with all your adjustments... I feel like the closed mouth and eyebrow angle/shape on the fig look better, and the wavy hair (while not accurately textured) provides a more similarly boxy silhouette than the more rounded piece you've used, and I feel like that boxy shape is more essential to Oak's classic look. And while it's not ideal, I fully understand the choice to have a printed backpack on Red since the shape of the FRLG backpack was so specific—I reckon if the choice was between an existing backpack piece that had more "body" but was inaccurate to the in-game version and a printed one that was fully accurate to its in-game appearance, the latter was probably preferable (a new mold would probably not be practical since again, the backpack in FRLG is not shared with other characters or protagonists and if new molds were an option I'd prefer things like hairpieces that contribute more to figs' looks from front view to be prioritized). Ultimately these sorts of compromises are part of why I thought a minifig-based approach wouldn't be ideal in the first place. If you need new molds for every small Pokémon (unusable outside of that theme) as well as every major character's hair and accessories, it'd be extremely hard to sustain at the kind of scale a franchise as big and varied as Pokémon deserves. It makes more sense to me to focus on the creatures in a buildable form and, if minifigures are necessary, to use them in a limited way that doesn't force the majority of sets to conform to that standard.

The tricky thing about having both staircases and open backs for playability is that increasing the depth of the building to fit stairs makes it harder to reach all the way inside even with an open back (especially with large adult hands). Your solution seems to work pretty well, with the caveat that those upper floor plates aren't supported by much and adding additional supports could reduce the ability to reach in easily. One other option that might be practical is having the staircase on a hinged section behind the rest of the building, so that there's a practical way to move between floors but the stairs can also be moved out of the way to more easily access the rest of the interior (I know some Lego Friends sets have done this while keeping an open back, and some sets like the 2012 Haunted House or the Ghostbusters Firehouse do something similar with a closed back, hinged design).

The sketch looks like they've done a great job with the pineapple—the old ones always left something to be desired whereas this seems to have much more of that iconic pineapple texture! I like the new Patrick that leaked as well—the original Lego version was okay but his proportions weren't quite right with his face so high up on his torso, the new color is also much better, and like many early minifigs with shorts/swimwear, the dual-molded legs are a big improvement. Despite how rudimentary it was the 2006 one was a childhood favorite of mine so this set seems like it'll be very tempting. Hopefully if this set is successful they might do other sets to this higher standard—a bigger, more detailed Krusty Krab and Chum Bucket could make a great set as well.

If nothing else I hope the print on the new Patrick is more durable—I remember the print on the original fig's head being WAY too easily rubbed off.

Huh, cool to see a Spongebob set again. I had a couple of the original sets back in the day but they were quite rudimentary by modern standards. A big Icons set has the potential to become the definitive version of that setting. It'd be cool if they could give Avatar the Last Airbender another go as well (the original sets left a lot to be desired and could be done so much better today), but I'm not gonna get my hopes up.

The unprinted black cat reminds me of these souvenir building cutouts my grandparents used to collect: https://catsmeow.com/ The lack of printed eyes is less interesting/detailed for play scenarios, but for this sort of minimalist silhouetted animal it'd be perfect!

Not gonna happen and it's kinda laughable to frame this as "consumer rights", to be honest. Don't get me wrong, that information could certainly be helpful for people who have a preference, but unlike the kinds of labeling you give as examples in other industries (or Lego's own safety labeling for things like electronic components with batteries), there's no actual legal requirement for Lego to have labeling of stickers versus printed elements, which is what you'd need for this to actually be a consumer rights issue. And there's really no chance of such a law being passed about such a non-issue (things like food safety standards, clear labeling about hidden costs, or labeling about potential child safety hazards on toys are on a completely different level of importance than "misaligning a sticker").