Lyichir

Beyond the fact that there's little about the new Samurai character that looks explicitly masculine either, it's worth noting that until this season Pixal had already been occupying the mind of the decidedly non-feminine Zane. It's not too much of a stretch to think that her consciousness could be transferred to a genderless robotic character just as easily. (Also, just to nitpick, but there was one key female character who lacked any feminine characteristics save for in the most abstract sense—the Preeminent)

Recreating the molds is not actually as expensive as you might think. Firstly, much of the expensive work of designing and engineering each part is already out of the way. Secondly, they do not necessarily have to maintain the same tolerances and durability of Lego's own precision-engineered steel molds. So while Lego pays a huge amount to ensure that they can continue producing millions of parts very precisely with a single mold, a smaller operation like Lepin can cut corners on the overall quality and does not need to produce nearly the same quantity of parts to break even. As for removing the Lego prints on the studs, that's an easy modification to make when creating new molds, and gives them a certain amount of plausible deniability. You need only look at the number of Lego fans in this very forum (or the even larger number on Brickset) whose definitions of counterfeiting are so narrow that they can try to defend Lepin as a legitimate competitor or alternative to Lego on the mere grounds that they do not falsely claim that their product is actual Lego.

Not necessarily. For System parts, Lego often does use different molds for transparent colors, because the tolerances for transparent Polycarbonate pieces are slightly different from those for solid-colored ABS pieces. However, I was under the impression that most Technic parts, were already Polycarbonate whether they were solid-colored or transparent. In those cases Lego could and would use the same mold design regardless of what color the part in question was being cast in.

To be honest it makes sense that other characters should be able to do more things than the "main characters", right? I mean, if it were the other way around (with fun pack characters who were the same as the starting characters but less versatile) then there would be very little incentive to buy those particular packs. The nature of the Toys to Life business model means that releasing "upgrades" of the starter pack characters is an easy way to encourage customers to expand their collections.

Ultimate Clay also had a different sword than the one-piece claymore he usually wields. The stud shooter in Aaron's Stone Destroyer is indeed Trans. Light Blue. It's a color that was introduced and used several times in the Bionicle theme.

They've already delayed it one year—it and the accompanying Lego sets were originally slated for last year. I could see delaying it again if the movie weren't ready, but if it's at or near completion I don't know if it makes sense for Lego and Warner Bros. to just sit on it for another year. Also, another delay would necessitate yet another "filler" wave of sets and story for the Ninjago theme to take the place of the movie sets, which could have a substantial impact on Lego's projected sales for 2017.

Assuming we haven't seen anything before then, I would be extremely surprised if we didn't get a trailer attached to Batman. After all, presumably the main reason we haven't gotten any trailers so far is to avoid causing any confusion or distraction from the imminent release of the Batman movie, so after that's released there shouldn't be anything preventing the release of further information.

As neat as Pixal becoming Samurai VXL could be (particularly since it'd potentially allow for some great interactions between two of Ninjago's more prominent female characters), I don't see any particular reason to assume that that picture (which for all intents and purposes looks to be fan-made) reveals any key story points, unless there's some other more authoritative source that the MOC in question was based on.

A sci-fi theme for girls (like Lego Friends and Elves) would be awesome, but I'm not sure what the best approach for that would be... Space? Mechs? Steampunk? It's possible that the licensed DC Super Hero Girls theme already covers too much of that niche for the time being. With Bionicle over I am hoping for a new original Constraction theme in the near future, though again, I don't have many specific ideas of what that should be. In terms of sub-themes, I would love to see Lego create "buildable doll" spin-offs of themes like Friends or Elves like the "buildable action figures" from the Star Wars and Super Heroes themes. It would definitely be a challenge but I don't think it'd be an insurmountable one. Like many AFOLs I would love to see a new take on Classic Space. Even a single Juniors set might suffice! As a fan of both Agents and Ultra Agents I would not mind another new take on a secret agent/spy theme. The recent CMF spy kind of has me wishing for a new, better take on Alpha Team!

Just wanted to chip in a suggestion for The Sleeping Dragon Inn, which a lot of people might have missed due to being an Elves MOC in the Action Themes subforum. But apart from the figures it could easily stand alongside some of these great Castle MOCs.

Well, it's not like Lego doesn't partner with McDonalds at all anymore—we're getting a Lego Batman Movie promotion in February. But in general I'd be skeptical of any sort of advertising mascot appearing in Lego Dimensions. It'd be super weird to have, say, the GEICO gecko or the M&Ms characters show up in a completely unrelated video game, even one that features so many crossovers with pop-culture IPs.

Glad I'm not the only one who has that issue with Zelda games! I've started but not finished Twilight Princess, Skyward Sword, and Wind Waker HD, and while the former two are partially due to wanting to transfer my data from my Wii to my Wii U but losing some of the cables I need to hook both systems up at once, my general desire to get 100% completion, combined with the difficulty of doing so before the final boss battle, does not help matters. I have a better track record with the portable games (including Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask for 3DS), so hopefully the portability of the Switch makes it easier for me to complete Breath of the Wild. Despite being a lifelong Nintendo fan I've never really been an early adopter, but that might change with the Switch. My birthday is at the end of March and the Switch seems like it'd be a fun console to have while I'm up at college, despite the somewhat paltry launch library. And there are certainly enough good games on the horizon to justify getting the system eventually—it's just a question of when that happens.

Is that confirmed? If so, nice! I wonder what character player two will control?

It's shown in the back of the instruction booklet for Lance vs. Lightning, similarly to how many of the other sets show off their combination features. If you have the time you can just look through the digital manuals for those sorts of callouts, though I think I've listed most of the ones for the sets that are currently available (as far as I can tell Macy's small drill tank from Jestro's Headquarters lacks any such feature).

It was mentioned in his Bricklist of sets he designed. In general Brickset's featured Bricklists can be a great insight into the design process behind sets.

The small turret from the Black Knight Mech set unfortunately doesn't have any way to connect to Jestro's Volcano Lair—Mark Stafford apparently wanted to have it function as an expansion but budget constraints prevented it. The majority of the knights' vehicles from this year's sets are compatible with the Battle Suits in some way, and can even be mixed and matched (so, for instance, you can attach the module from Lance's Twin Jouster to any battle suit, not just Lance's). The rear sections of Clay's Falcon Fighter Blaster and Aaron's Stone Destroyer are similarly compatible with the battle suits, while the top section of any of the battle suits can be exchanged with the head of the robo-horse in Lance vs. Lightning to make a centaur-like mech.

Gotta say I'd expect some sort of more typical spaceship if anything. Nexo Knights is a blend of space and castle and biplanes don't really qualify as either. :P

I'm not disputing the idea that it combines with Battle Suits. I'm questioning whether, if the dragon acting like a dropship is one of the set's primary gimmicks, it would rely on an entirely different set to show off that function. It would make more sense to me for the dragon to include a different, non-repeated battle suit in order for that function to be usable even if you haven't already purchased a separate Battle Suit set. As a bonus, that'd allow Macy to pilot the dragon itself (after all, it's her vehicle) while another character sits ready for action in the Battle Suit.

I'm not certain but it could possibly have to do with movies having to be rated by the Australian Classification Board. Compared to America's MPAA, which is a private trade group that merely creates guidelines on what films are appropriate for what audiences, films and video games in Australia apparently have to be rated by the government-run classification board in order to even be imported in the first place.

While a wheelchair for the hospital would be great, I'm not quite sure how a wheelchair would work (either the existing one or a new one) with mini-dolls, given their long, straight legs and lack of connection points on their butts. Has anyone who owns the wheelchair from City tried it with a mini-doll and could shed some light on the matter?

I don't know... while it's possible that could happen, I'd think a feature that's included in the name itself ("Bot Drop Dragon") would be made feasible using only the contents of the set, without needing a separate set. And I doubt they'd include another Battle Suit for Macy in the set, since she's already got one. However, it's possible that such a set could feature a dragon piloted by Macy that drops an included Battle Suit for another character—maybe Robin, or King or Queen Halbert.

While all of those are unlikely for their own reasons, D&D definitely won't happen because it's wholly owned by Hasbro.

It really depends on your priorities. If you absolutely want the best prices, then the best time to buy sets is often when sets are close to retiring and get discounted through various retailers—though waiting that long on average sets is not just a challenge but a gamble (seeing as sets can easily go out of stock before you get your hands on them), and Lego exclusive "D2C" sets like the Disney Castle rarely get those sorts of discounts. For those, double points periods are generally your best bet.

I'm still a little curious whether the non-Batman villains might just be part of a Scarecrow-induced dream sequence. We know we're getting a Batwing set in the summer, we know that Scarecrow's helicopter will also probably appear in one of the sets, we know that the Gremlin scene at the very least takes place on the Batwing, and we can assume now that the Flying Monkeys and Wicked Witch appear in one of the summer sets, very likely one with aerial vehicles considering their flight capabilities. Those factors combined suggest to me that at least some of those villains if not all of them may just be repressed fears of Batman's that are activated by Scarecrow's fear toxin.

In all seriousness, though, I'm starting to worry a little that this might be the last year of Elves. It's the theme's third year (a common ending point for many multi-year themes), there are fewer sets this year than last (though Brickset still lists one additional summer set number, which could be promising), and the animated series moving to Netflix reminds me uncomfortably of Bionicle's end last year (though Disney Channel repeatedly proved itself to be a poor home for the series and we're due to get more content in the Netflix series than both previous years combined). I don't know. It might just be paranoia stemming from Bionicle's cancellation. But Elves is pretty much my favorite Lego theme these days and unless it were replaced by an even better successor, its end would be a major disappointment for me.