Lyichir

I'd wait for the actual release before necessarily assuming that that'll be the case... it almost looks like the picture itself is just oversaturated (note the bluish tint on even the black parts, or the dark color of the lightning pieces). It would not surprise me if the parts which look Dark Azur in that picture are just Medium Blue, or if the parts that look Sand Blue turn out to just be Dark Stone Grey.

Maybe not the entire mission—it doesn't include the launch platform or crawler transporter.

Lloyd definitely has arm printing in the above photo. Not sure whether the others do, or for that matter whether they're supposed to.

Castle ruins are far less universal than you give them credit for. For one thing, they're pretty much entirely absent in America—we've never really had "castles" to speak of, outside of the estates of wealthy tycoons. And even assuming something similar in concept in Asia and Africa, the actual appearance of such ruins could vary wildly. For a theme as archetypical as City, that kind of specificity could be a deal breaker. That's not to say a "fun in the forest" or "fun in the woods" set couldn't work—it'd just have to focus more on more widely relatable subjects, many of which I imagine would revolve around nature. Trees, mushrooms, animals, and minifigures based on hikers, scouts, and naturalists would make for a much more globally relevant set.

The last I heard, it might have just been a misentry on Brickset's part, and there was no fourth summer set for this year. Hoping that's not the case, though...

A little off-topic, but a few years ago I had considered the possibility of a "spooky" Friends subtheme where they're solving mysteries in spooky locales (a la Scooby Doo or Nancy Drew). That'd offer plenty of opportunities for animals like mice, crows, bats, black cats, and maybe even spiders. Now that the actual official Scooby-Doo theme has wound down perhaps that sort of subtheme could still happen one day.

Very good overview! I feel like I learned quite a lot about what makes modular buildings effective. One thing that might not be essential for aesthetically fitting in, but is a commonality between the official modular buildings, is that the second floor of all modular building sets can be "duplicated" indefinitely to extend the height of the building. This requires that the "floor" and "ceiling" of that floor to be identical in shape (not becoming deeper or narrower near the top or bottom), as well as for any stairwells to begin and end in the same place. Many of the good builds you list adhere to this, but the third one you list might not—it depends on whether or not the balcony and climbing ivy are attached to the rest of the floor or a separate structure like on the Parisian Restaurant. It also looks like the click hinge detailing on the bike shop might prevent that floor from being stacked, and while it doesn't look like anything structural would prevent you from stacking more of the Natural History Museum's middle floor, the nice continuity of the columns would be interrupted. Again, this is a minor concern (more applicable to consumer sets than to MOCs designed to be displayed in a single configuration), but I felt it was worth mentioning as an oft-forgotten aspect of the modular building series.

Lula is Aqua, actually. But yes, not Miku.

Just a heads up, Brickset has added hi-res pictures of the summer Elves sets from Lego.com. https://brickset.com/sets/theme-Elves/year-2017

Aw, that's a bit of a bummer... though it is a clever solution. And the good news about that is that it means the torso won't swivel around awkwardly.

Ughhhhh. Every time someone bumps this topic I get excited about a new update for a fleeting moment before I realize it's just the previous one.

I am curious whether standard armor pieces will work on the new Garmadon's upper torso piece. It seems like it might, considering this new version doesn't seem to jut out in front like the old one. For that matter, this more basic-looking design might work better in themes other than Ninjago, in the event that they need four-armed characters.

Lego part names aren't always the most sensitive. The conical straw hat piece from Ninjago used to be labeled as "Chinaman Hat" on LDD before Lego changed it (not sure whether it was due to internal or external pressure).

I wonder how the bottom half of the new ninja hoods works paired with the ninja's hair? Does it even fit for all of them? And if so, how well? I'd certainly be curious to see that combination even if it doesn't get used in the sets or the movie.

I don't think so? Neither of the other minifigure packs have been tied in with a larger subtheme. Besides, I would sort of expect a full zoo subtheme to include plenty of figs and animals already if we were to get one... the only thing we might not get are as many civilian (non-zookeeper) figs, and it's not like people wear really distinctive outfits to zoos that couldn't be featured just as easily in other scenes.

"Fun at the Zoo" could be cool, though personally I'd prefer a more robust zoo set (or sets, plural) with more animals and enclosures, rather than one that focused on people at the expense of the build. Same goes for "Fun at the Farm"—that's a much better subject to cover in a whole subtheme (as has been done before), rather than a minifigure pack that wouldn't necessarily have space for many animals or heavy machinery. How about "Fun at the Circus"? Plenty of opportunities for both spectators and performers in a set like that, without necessarily needing a huge part of the set to be dedicated to builds or to a bunch of more expensive animals. A lot of others seem like they'd be harder sells. A set of school-based figures would be cool, but it might be slightly harder to convince kids that "fun" would be an adequate descriptor for such a set.

There have been some catalog leaks with preliminary pics which show what the actual set will presumably look like. The set version does in fact use hull elements for the front, but not exactly in the most conventional way. I hope that official, finalized pictures become available soon, not just so that people can more easily see it but also so that I can get a better look at more of this set's details, like what sort of interior it has to offer! It occurred to me recently that this discussion might have been better suited for the "Useful Pirates Pieces in Other Themes" topic... ah well. Hindsight is 20/20.

I don't know of any universal trend for Big Bang themes' performance in Europe. As far as I'm aware Ninjago has been similarly popular in Europe to its performance elsewhere in the world, while I've heard that Legends of Chima was actually MORE popular in Europe than it was here in America (hence the second wave of constraction figures being released in Europe but not in America). I haven't heard much specific news about Nexo Knights' performance in Europe, but would not be surprised if it is doing well there. I will say that I don't think Lego has much interest in designing whole themes primarily aimed at one specific market. Yes, they have done so in the '90s, and themes have often had their distribution strategy modified in subsequent years, but I think Lego would generally be much more keen on creating worldwide hits whenever possible, rather than building a theme with such a limited marketing strategy from the get-go.

For all we know, that could BE the Ultimate Ultimate Weapon (in which case it'd presumably be inside the temple).

Gonna be hard to sink a ball into that basketball hoop in that configuration!

I actually sort of preferred the B-model of the 24-hours racer to the A-model. I thought its functionality was generally more interesting even if the shaping might have been slightly compromised by the available parts.

Um, it very decidedly IS primarily a kids toy. Kids make up the vast majority of the buying audience, and the majority of products (excluding a very small number of sets) are targeted at them. I don't know exactly what this show will be like prior to the airing of any actual episodes, but the fact that it seems like it'll be targeted at kids is hardly a mark against it. Not everything needs to be tailored to adults, and even things targeted at kids stand a chance at appealing not just to the young but also to the young at heart.

It's a cartoon about Lego, specifically revolving around one of the most childlike characters from The Lego Movie. I'd be severely worried if it DIDN'T sound "kiddy".

Very possibly. Though it wouldn't be new—it's already available in one of this year's Ninjago sets in that color.

A little off-topic, but exclusives aren't always small, either. The mystery Elves set could be a retailer exclusive or a D2C (hard to tell with little to no information other than a set number), but even if it's just a retailer exclusive, that doesn't mean it'll be small. Last year in Ninjago the biggest set of the year (Samurai X Cave Chaos) was a Toys R Us exclusive. Desperately trying to bring it back around to Disney Princess discussion... oh! I recently noticed that between the Disney Princess theme and DC Super Hero Girls, this year marks the first appearance of mini-doll characters with non-human skin tones. Maybe not a huge milestone, but a milestone nonetheless.