AnnaBuildsLego

Best Theme: The Lego Ninjago Movie. Incredible range of sets, all very high quality throughout different price points and all wonderfully varied. You have beautiful large sets like Ninjago City and Destiny's Bounty which will go down in LEGO history I think as some of the most loved sets ever produced; you also had several really wonderful mid-range sets like the Green Ninja Mech Dragon; and even genuinely delightful small sets like Master Falls, Ninjago City Chase and Spinjitzu Training. It was really a theme that had something for everyone, even if they weren't previously interested in Ninjago; a dragon, a ship, a gorgeous pseudo-modular, jungle settings, mechs, flying craft, you name it. Honorable mention: Ideas. This didn't get the top spot simply because it didn't have the sheer range that the Ninjago Movie did, and because the Adventure Time model wasn't good in my opinion. However, the Women of NASA set was a nice thing to get; and of course, the theme smashed it out of the park with the Old Fishing Store and Saturn V, again, two sets that will be very fondly remembered in the future. Best Minifigure: I honestly have no idea for this one, as I tend to focus on builds rather than minifigs at this point. Best Set: Old Fishing Store. This was a really tough one to choose, as there were some FANTASTIC sets this year; however, I gave the Old Fishing Store the edge purely because of its originality. It's a gorgeous, visually appealing set that also has a ton of interior details (it's incredibly generous with the things it gives you) and so much character to it - you can tell that it was designed out of the love of a fan. I also chose it because of its price point: it's pricey (as all large LEGO sets are) but not completely out of the reach of children who want to ask for it as a big gift. It's just a lovely set that can appeal to a wide range of people and is wholly unique. Honorable mentions: Ninjago City, Destiny's Bounty. These are both gorgeous sets! I couldn't give Ninjago City the top spot simply because of its price point - I think the 'best set' should appeal to kids too. Destiny's Bounty is glorious and I really struggled to decide between it and the Old Fishing Store, but ultimately my town-building side won. Still, Destiny's Bounty is the first ship that has appealed to me enough to buy it, as well as being well-priced, packed with fantastic details and including every ninja minifigure, as well as being an absolutely stunning model. Worst Theme: BrickHeadz. I understand that these are meant as collectables ala Funko Pops, but I have a real problem with LEGO producing renditions of characters with absolutely no pose-ability, movement or play features at all. A LEGO set that does not want to be played with is not a good set, in my opinion. Dishonorable mention: Nexo Knights. That colour scheme remains very garish to me. Worst Minifigure: Again, no idea really. Worst Set: All of the Brickheadz. All of them.

5 sets is fantastic, in my opinion! I think I'm just utterly grateful that any sets are happening at all. Harry Potter has never hugely waned in popularity (if anything, it seems almost as popular as it's ever been), but the fact remains that the last book came out 10 years ago, and the film series ended 6 years ago. It's a testament to how much Harry Potter has persevered that LEGO is even considering making anything; if it weren't such a potent franchise, LEGO wouldn't make a single set more for it. I think with that in mind, we should just be really grateful that we're getting a new round of sets at all. It's also wonderful for anyone who missed out on the original runs of sets. My guess as to what the sets will be: - Hogwarts Castle (either D2C or a regular large set). - Hogwarts Express - Hagrid's Hut - MACUSA Headquarters - Not sure? Probably a Grindelwald vs Dumbledore fight in some capacity.

That X-Wing seems lovely! Also it's great that they're doing another Sandcrawler, that will pair really well with the Tatooine battle pack.

Perhaps throwback minifigures from fan-favourite themes? Have AFOLs vote on their favourite discontinued themes, and then one minifig designed as a tribute to the most popular retired themes would be released. Ie. If people voted for Power Miners, then a new Power Miner minifig would be made with a little collector's plate and some small build with an action feature. Considering most of the free gifts only have one minifig, if this first tribute figure was popular then the next most popular theme could be made.

Wow! Was brought right back to the start of the Philosopher's Stone game, haha. Fantastic MOC!

I agree! I've never cared about Ninjago at all before this movie wave. The sets seemed to be great for kids but not so appealing for adult collectors, which is fine and to be expected. I usually pick up at least one small set from each original LEGO theme, but yeah, Ninjago was one that never was meant for me. I was always a City and Star Wars collector, although I've become more City/Creator based as time's gone on. This wave really has changed my whole outlook on it. Modestly priced, amazingly detailed sets. I'm currently building Destiny's Bounty, the first LEGO ship I've ever bought, and I'm having an absolute blast. It's like a D2C set at the price of an ordinary large-scale set (I got mine for €100, and it has more pieces than any set I've ever owned according to Brickset, over Palace Cinema). I probably can't afford Ninjago City, but it too is certainly one of the best official sets ever made. The Green Ninja Mech Dragon is a set I'll probably cave on even though again, I've never had a LEGO dragon. It's just gorgeous and looks huge, great value for your money. Even the little sets like Master Falls and the City Chase are wonderful. I really do think you're right in saying this is one of the strongest waves of any theme ever.

The new Ninjago Movie Destiny's Bounty, €70 cheaper than Shop@Home's price at Smyths!

Head's up for any Irish or British LEGO fans, Smyths is having an up to 50% off sale which allows you to get Destiny's Bounty at a huge discount. I just got it for €100, saving €70 on Shop at Home's price. Can't wait to build this thing! I've never owned a LEGO ship or any Ninjago sets, so I'm a bit nervous as I had meant to buy the Fishing Store, but at that price I couldn't say no.

Yoda's Hut sounds interesting, I hope it's good! I love little iconic scenery sets. I haven't bought a Star Wars set since Poe's X-Wing, as all of the other vehicles did not appeal to me.

The Boat House Diner is adorable, but definitely too similar to the Fishing Store, especially the top tower bit. I'm glad I voted for the Pop-Up Book, what a cool thing. Hope it does well!

Since you specify that you want a one-and-done set with lots of interior detail, I'd say the Parisian Restaurant. Great interior, pretty exterior, and it's the next oldest set after Palace Cinema. If you think you'd ever get into collecting multiple modulars (like if you get one and then get addicted like most of us, haha), it's worth noting that Palace Cinema is retiring soon. It has very very little in terms of interior detail so it may not be your thing, but head's up regardless if you ever wanted it. The interior may be sparse but it's fun to mod it yourself and fill it out with custom details.

Stickers, that's disappointing. Still a lovely little set. Thanks for showing it to us!

Just announced an hour ago on Facebook, Palace Cinema retires soon! Good for LEGO to give a head's up to people. I love my Palace Cinema a ton, would certainly recommend that anybody buy it if they've missed out on it!

I agree that the weak sales can be attributed to the line being much too huge. There were WAY too many sets to choose from, and like @linnormlord said, many kids would probably just want a Batman and wouldn't care to get any other sets for obscure figures (even though those weird obscure figures would please many AFOLs). LEGO vastly over-calculated how many of these sets would be bought. Had the line been smaller and more condensed, it would have performed better. As it was; too much choice meant that some models would inevitably be left on the shelves because kids could only afford one, and kids can already get Batman in the main DC sets anyway. LEGO essentially released two whole waves of products together as one wave, expecting this colossal amount of choice to sell like wildfire because of their popularity and Batman's enduring fame, but they simply put too much unnecessary stuff on the shelves. Some of the sets could surely have been axed or left for a wave 2 if the first bunch performed well, which arguably I believe they would have. The sets were of course also very mismatched in price range. If a kid just wanted Batman, they could pick up the Joker escape and be done with it. Meanwhile, you have the Joker's Lowrider, which may be a pretty car, but you're getting the same 2 characters and one extra and one car to zoom around for €50. That's not good value for kids at all. On a personal level - perhaps just me being a jaded DC fan - I'm a bit tired of Batman's over-saturation in DC products as a whole. He's already everywhere. Having a colossal line dedicated to a movie about him is pushing that to the extreme when he also appears constantly in regular DC sets. Overall - the line was too wide. I think it would have performed much better as simply a cheaper, more conventional Batmobile, Arkham Asylum, a smaller Bat Cave, a cheaper Joker's Lowrider, and Catwoman Chase with a Batman figure; plus the CMF series but with fewer figures. I think that making a Series 2 of the CMFs is an ill-advised plan, and feel that it will go the way of Simpson's Series 2 in terms of a lack of interest.

Oh, amen to that! I forgot that none were ever made, that's insane to me. Also, how cool would it be if a minifigure scarf mold was made in various house colours? That would be a nice mold to have and reusable outside of the theme. If the rumours and indications toward a CMF series are revealed to be true, that might be a place where Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw things could appear. I think Harry will always be in every Harry Potter set. You can't really have one without him; he's the title character, and every scene (at least in the books) is seen from his perspective or he is involved in some way. There are very few scenes to my memory (please correct me if I'm wrong, my memory is awful) where Harry is not there. To exclude him would be like having an Indiana Jones set without the title character; it's just a bit weird and would probably disappoint kids. I do agree with having variations between sets though. I used to always have a problem with how Harry's minifig retained the shaggy, somewhat long-haired piece originally used for him even for sets based on the later movies, where his haircut was much shorter. There are also plenty of outfit variations that could be made with muggle clothes, quidditch uniforms, the Triwizard costumes - all of which we've seen before, but which would be nice to have updated. If there are Fantastic Beasts offerings, which I would certainly bet there will be, then your wish for sets not including those characters would be fulfilled. I can see this being a half-and-half Wizarding World release; you have a handful of sets based on Fantastic Beasts 2, and some classic Harry Potter ones also to back those up. Just my guess!

This is truly tremendous work, you should be incredibly proud of this! I love so much about it, wow! If you put this on LEGO Ideas (perhaps the smaller version would work well there), you'd have a vote from me! Brilliant stuff!

All indications over the last few months seem to suggest a wave and a collectable minifigure series, I'm in! How wonderful to get this theme back, it's always been a source of great builds and figures! I hope it is successful, which I'm sure it will be. I hope we get a good mix of Fantastic Beasts and Harry Potter characters!

I'd say none of these. I've never seen Gilmore Girls, but it doesn't seem to be very child-friendly, or am I wrong? The Big Bang Theory wasn't intended for children either I suppose, but that set could justify its existence for a while because of the size of its audience, whereas the appeal of Gilmore Girls is severely limited in comparison. The Peru display is nice, but again too niche and specific. 'I Am Your Father' is out of the question, there is no point for LEGO to put Star Wars in the Ideas line considering they can make whatever they want themselves (see the BB-8 model that was on Ideas, followed by the main line model LEGO has now created). The Space Shuttle is a strong model, but again it's something LEGO already makes themselves time and again. It's arguably not new or unique enough to justify Ideas theming. The Launch Tower has absolutely no chance; it only works as a model when combined with the Saturn, a set which is being promptly discontinued. Without the Saturn on the market, the tower would be obsolete and would only appeal to a very, very limited audience of people who have the Saturn. Plus, I think the idea of selling something that expensive without including the big rocket itself is a bad idea. The only set here that strikes me as possible is the Research Aircraft; however, it's been pointed out here that LEGO can and has made jets like this in the Creator line, so I'm not optimistic that this will make it either.

The idea of a D2C coming alongside the Harry Potter CMF series didn't occur to me at all, and that's made the possibility all the more exciting! Wow, that would be truly fantastic (pardon the accidental pun). I think you're right in saying that Fantastic Beasts currently doesn't have enough minifigs to support its own series; Harry Potter in general has more opportunities, but I wonder if they could just blanket it under a 'J.K Rowling's Wizarding World' kind of title and mix and match figures from Fantastic Beasts and Harry Potter. That way, they'd get to capitalise on the evergreen Harry Potter hype while also promoting Fantastic Beasts 2. That all suggested, I do think a pure Harry Potter CMF series is most likely. Unless it's debunked, I'll be massively surprised if the series isn't Fantastic Beasts or Harry Potter.

Torn, but #TeamBoba.

I've always sort of wanted a big LEGO ship, they've always looked beautiful, but they never fit into my collection (City and Star Wars mostly). Destiny's Bounty is absolutely beautiful though and well-priced at about 140 euro I'm guessing? I think it'll be hard to pass on, and I hope I can save throughout the year for Ninjago City as well. The designers of these sets should be so proud. I've never had any interest in Ninjago, but now they have the two biggest sets in this wave practically sold to me, very excited.

I guess Harry Potter/Fantastic Beasts. The other Dimensions brands are either too niche/adult-oriented and not current enough for kids (eg. Back to the Future, Ghostbusters etc), or just wouldn't have enough good options for a CMF series. Of the themes that remain, Scooby-Doo would be a definite option only for the fact that its full-fledged theme didn't sell too well or at least didn't merit a second wave. Sonic could have enough figures, but again isn't really that hugely popular anymore with kids, at least to my knowledge. Adventure Time already has the brick-built Ideas set which provides kids with most of its main characters; it also doesn't seem to be as popular as it used to be, and a CMF series of it might be costly to make, because I'd imagine they'd need many new specific molds. Jurassic World would be an option only for the fact that people would just want the dinosaurs, and those probably couldn't be sold in minifig packs. Harry Potter is practically evergreen as a property - the 20 year anniversary of the series just passed and it's as popular as ever. LEGO has a decent track record of producing multiple waves of HP sets so they know the property can be lucrative. The sets have been missed and while LEGO perhaps can't justify bringing back the full HP theme, they know that both kids and AFOLs would be drawn to a HP series and LEGO have the justification in Fantastic Beasts. This also fits into the hint that it's an "old" theme. Harry Potter has been a LEGO theme since 2001.

Looks cute! Seems like there's plenty of space for minifigs to sit inside and a nice staircase up to the top level. I don't think I'll buy one, but it does look very nicely designed. Should hopefully fit in very well to people's displays with Tower Bridge and Big Ben.

I don't believe I'm alone in being terribly underwhelmed with these sets. The builds don't look in any way aesthetically pleasing to me (Battle of Atlantis just gives you a bunch of pillars; Knightcrawler looks like yet another generic black mecha; Flying Fox is similarly generic and uninspiring with that blockiness and drab colour scheme) but at least the minifigs do look very good. I'm sure Lego did their best with the designs from the movie they had, but the price of the sets plus their look remains ultimately off-putting. I don't think I'd buy any of these except maybe the Aquaman set if it ends up heavily discounted. I'm a big Flash fan so I might order his minifig online because it looks great, but otherwise, not very impressed with this bunch of sets. But hey, being disappointed in sets is actually a good thing, because I can save money properly to get the sets I want.

Poe's X-Wing from Art n Hobby, 60 euro. Big improvement on the usual 85 euro asking price! Have wanted this set for a while, I love me some Poe Dameron.