AnnaBuildsLego

I think the only theme which has shown a considerable decline in quality/interest this year is Star Wars, which perhaps feels worse than it actually is, just because Star Wars fans have come to expect so much from the theme over the years. Star Wars has always been a strong theme - however, there are multiple factors which seem to have hit it all at once this year, making it drop in quality a bit. Its pricing tends to be quite extravagant on a number of sets (I'm not educated on the reasons why; I can forward a guess and say that Disney wants to milk the Force Awakens resurgence of Star Wars brand hype, but whatever the reason, it's noticeable in sets like Battle of Takodana and Encounter on Jakku), many of the builds are based on obscure elements of the universe that aren't as iconic or recognisable as past sets, and minifigures have been extremely lackluster in my opinion. There have also been some very repetitive/similar builds (e.g. the two X-Wings are the same with just different colour schemes) and an overall lack of colour - there's only a certain length of time before the abundance of obscure generic grey spaceships gets boring. Let's not talk about the Assault on Hoth debacle. All of this said about Star Wars in 2016: I think the problems with the theme this year are indeed significant, but they are elevated by how good the theme has consistently been in the past. Back in 2009/2010 before my Dark Ages, Star Wars was my favourite theme, and the ships that I have from that time look so much better to me than anything currently on the shelves. Outside of Star Wars, I think 2016 has actually been a pretty great year. Sure, the D2C's have been met with a pretty lukewarm response for the most part - the Batcave wasn't great, Minecraft doesn't appeal to everyone with it's simplicity, and Brick Bank (while awesome like all the modulars) was a bit small - but the regular sets are largely killing it in their respective themes this year. We got a Disney CMF series that rocked, a German football theme with tons of flesh tones, as well as Series 15 (SHARK GUY, I mean, come on); Super Heroes has been on fire, no pun intended; City has the wonderful Fun in the Park set; Friends continues to offer up great things for City fans; it's all pretty great! Big Ben is also nearing release, with one of the best price-per-parts ratios I've ever seen for the 5th biggest Lego set of all time, if I'm correct! So overall, I would disagree that 2016 is disappointing - only Star Wars has been truly disappointing, in my opinion, and a few D2C's. The year has been great for regular sets.

Finally bought the Flash/Captain Cold Mighty Micro set, absolutely in love with the thing! Great cheap minifigs, and I got it for €9 which is a bit of a steal seeing as it's usually priced around €12! Swapped out the small legs to make a Wally West to team up with my Barry Allen. Now, if only Lego would make a Kid Flash minifig so I could have a younger Wally too! I hope they continue the Mighty Micros series soon. a Mighty Micro-ized Green Lantern could be great. Next stop - the new Juniors set. Anybody here have it and would recommend it? I need to save up so that I can somehow afford it and some of the new DC Rebirth comics, so I have a dilemma on my hands.

Not sure if it's been said already, apologies if it has, but for fellow Irish fans: The Summer sets are now available at Smyths. Also, Kevii23, your bridge made from 2 of the sets is brilliant! It just confirms that buying 2 of these will let people make awesome bridges for their cities. Very cool! As someone strapped for money though, I wonder if I could make a mini bridge from just one set.

THE FLASH: - Blue Lantern Flash (I can dream, okay) - Reverse Flash - Black Flash - Classic Kid Flash - Impulse - Jay Garrick - A specific Wally West Flash variant (although you can make one using the Mighty Micros figure). TV show specific figures: - Flash and Reverse Flash, based on their TV show designs - Zoom (I would be so happy) - Harrison Wells with the new wheelchair piece, Cisco Ramon, and Caitlin Snow - TV show Captain Cold YOUNG JUSTICE: - Kid Flash, although I mentioned this before - Artemis - Superboy - Speedy - Aqualad - Miss Martian OTHER CHARACTERS: - Parademons - Firestorm - Black Canary - ATOM - Booster Gold - Anti-Monitor bigfig - The Question - Dr. Fate - Captain Marvel/Shazam - Killer Frost - Vibe - Flashpoint Batman (again, I can dream) - John Stewart Green Lantern - King Shark -Onomatopoeia

Hmm. Not very excited about this series (I definitely feel like I prefer Series 15) but as always, there are goodies within! Ones I like: - I like the literal Demon Child, mostly because we'll be able to use parts from this to make an actual demon. It's a bit disappointing that it comes with another pumpkin trick-or-treat basket though, having already gotten one from Series 14 Skeleton Guy. - Spooky Boy is rather fun! Should add a bit of personality to people in Lego City. Definitely one I'll try to get, if mostly to make a custom minifig of my friend. - The Hiker is adorable and I love him. Look how excited for adventure that little guy is! - The Wildlife Photographer is rather boring as a figure, but the real draw of course is that new System penguin, which is very cute. I don't know if I'll go out and get it, however! - Penguin Suit Kid is pretty cute, of course, like all the suited figures. - Dog Show dude is a boring figure, but gives you a nice hairpiece and a very cute new System dog which my Pet Shop will be thankful for! - Banana Guy is fun! - The Babysitter is a cool way to get the new Lego baby if you didn't want to buy Fun in the Park (although you should totally get Fun in the Park). There are no "musts" for me in this series, unlike Series 15 where I was obsessed with Shark Guy. However, my surprise favourite is the Hiker!

What a beautiful model! I don't know if I'd ever be able to afford it, but I was SO happy watching that designer video. What a beautiful, well-priced, massive, gorgeously accurate and intricate set. Even though the scale would be well off, I'd kind of love to sit two minifigs out on a bench in front of this eating ice-cream, or some tourists taking photos. Fantastic set, it really couldn't have been better. Great job, LEGO!

This is a tremendously clever MOC with that use of the planet as the body of the Omnidroid! You captured that scene incredibly (ahem) well, awesome job!

The Brick Show posted their review of Rex's AT-TE! I have to say, I actually quite like it, but that may be just because of my liking of Rex as a character. I think it looks nice and colourful (which in my opinion, LEGO Star Wars has been massively lacking recently) while having an actual reason for being so full of colour in-universe (the fact that the in-universe vehicle itself is cobbled together out of random parts put onto the standard AT-TE). It's nice to have some colour and creativity in this set - which again, I think has been sorely lacking elsewhere in recent sets, but that's only my opinion. I wish Rex had faded blue arms - I know this is an easy customisation to do, but I've heard that removing arms is actually not recommended by LEGO, and sure enough so many of my old minifigs have cracked sides, oops! So it's a bit of a shame. I also wish that they came with beaten-up versions of their helmets. The Fifth Brother figure is fantastic, however! Overall though, it's a pretty cool set, but rather overpriced. I don't think I'll buy it, but I may BrickLink Rex and Ahsoka... I have a soft spot for The Clone Wars characters.

There will DEFINITELY be a second series, it would make no sense for there not to be. These have been tremendously successful, based on how often it is selling out/being the top seller on S@H and how quickly stock is disappearing from shops nearby me. Disney is such a massive IP and I'm sure that this will be the first of several series - if the Simpsons could get 2 series, Disney could run for four or five, or "to infinity and beyond." I found Aladdin very difficult to find as well. The lamp is so small, so I would suggest to anyone looking for Aladdin NOT to look for the lamp first. You first need to feel out the hairpiece with the fez (which is a rounded cyclider kind of shape, flat at the top). If you need extra confirmation, find the lamp by feeling for a small version of a minifig head (that's the lamp's body) with two small things sticking out of either side.

Oh wow, that price is impressive! I may actually buy it at that price, interesting. If Google is at all accurate, it'd be around the same (30 euro).

They do look cool! They still don't really achieve the glowing white effect, but at least it would work out better than the blue blades. Depending on what price Ahsoka is on the aftermarket, I may get her and switch out the blades like this. I'd say Shop@Home is totally worth it dude, if you really don't want to miss out on the set if it doesn't come out in Smyths. I used to always buy LEGO in Smyths too, but Shop@Home has a great selection, the VIP system, and freebies every month that can be awesome (polybags for example that you can't get in Ireland otherwise). If you bought this Ahsoka set there, you'd get free shipping too because it would be past the 55 euro threshold.

Yes, but none that are transparent or 'glowy' at all (to my knowledge, at least). Just a bar/blade of pure white. It probably won't look great if you swap those in for the blades, but I'm still frustrated with LEGO for inaccurately giving Ahsoka blue sabers. It's not only an inaccuracy that makes the figure less authentic, but it also ignores a vital part of Ahsoka's story, because the reason she has white sabers is because of her whole ordeal with the Jedi. It's such a shame! If I BrickLink the figure, I'll probably swap the blades out of pure white ones even if it looks silly, at least her lightsabers will be the right colour. It possibly will be! Smyths have a great selection of sets most of the time. If not, won't it just be available on Shop@Home? I'm Irish too, and I get any exclusive sets there. If all else fails, Amazon!

Very ugly set, in my opinion! Absolutely not worth it at all for that price, it's very generic and boring as a ship itself (it's just not recognisable enough either) and it's very clear that the ONLY draw of the set is Ahsoka. Her inclusion is likely all LEGO needs to move these sets, and unfortunately I think that's all they're banking on here. I'm a big Ahsoka fan myself, but I don't think I would ever buy this. I may BrickLink her separately - although I do have Clone Wars Ahsoka it'd be nice to have the adult version. Her figure at least looks fairly superb, ALTHOUGH her lightsabers should be white - that's pretty important to her story arc - and so the use of blue annoys me. Not the best, unfortunately!

Not a fan of that Tanker Truck at all, looks overly chunky and made of too many massive parts for my liking - it reminds me of a very chunky LEGO City build. Minifigs are the only draw of this set, in my opinion. They all look phenomenal! How much is this set estimated to cost?

His review just confirmed to me that Fun in the Park is probably one of the absolute best sets to come out this year! Absolute must-have, I really appreciate the variety of minifigs, detailed accessories/surroundings, and the inclusion of the baby and wheelchair! The bus stop sign is even printed! LEGO went above and beyond what they had to do here, and I hope the set does wonderfully because it is a beautiful, excellent set. I don't think the price is too steep for this one, so I'm very happy! The Airshow set actually seems much better now than it did before. I really like the look of the planes in the hangar and each plane individually has some very cool looks to them, and the minifigures are very strong indeed. It's not something I'm going to buy - I'm fairly deathly afraid of the idea of planes so it does me well to be away from them, even LEGO ones. Jang is great to have reviews out so early, thanks Jang! And thanks BlockLogo for the head's up!

Doesn't seem like they're available on the Irish S@H, though? Is it only in specific European countries?

Thanks for the suggestions! I'll try that as best as I can - I think this series is very difficult to feel for, TBH. Lots of pieces that feel surprisingly similar! I think with Aladdin, I'll try to find the lamp again now that I have Genie and therefore I kind of know what the lamp would feel like. It's sort of like feeling a shorter minifigure head with two things poking out of the side. Hopefully I can find him, thanks guys!

It looks just about okay! PROS: - That "how to use the Lazarus Pit" illustration is adorable. - The little Bat Buggy thing actually looks pretty good. - I like the cage for holding Damien, and it looks like there's some sort of play feature for kids there, probably to open the cage door. - I like Desert Batman, although I would have liked him more if his cowl had come in a different colour. I also like Ra's. - The spiral staircase and main doors are cool. CONS: - The main building is just a facade, rather than having an actual interior. It looks unfinished. - The Lazarus Pit is comically tiny, may as well be a bathtub or a puddle. I would have liked it to look grander and a bit more important. Speaking of, is that a launcher to launch Ra's from the pit, because that's terrible and hilarious?! - Talia Al Ghul looks terribly generic, as does Robin IMO. In the end, I think how good/bad this set is depends on how much it costs! I personally think the good here outweighs the bad a little bit - because thank goodness, a location-based set! Even if we only got a suggestion of the location at hand, I'm still quite relieved that we have one. Also, while usually I dislike sets with an overly heavy Batman presence, this time Batman seems to be balanced out with his villains, and because Ra's is traditionally a Batman villain I'll allow Batman's presence here (unlike in sets like Green Lantern vs Sinestro, where Batman is just tacked on for no reason). Alright set!

Does this include the Juniors set? Because I'm very excited to get that!

Tesco finally have these in stock! Picked up two whilst trying to feel for Genie and Aladdin, but I was a bit rushed because my friend was waiting for me to leave. Managed to accurately feel Genie, but ended up with Syndrome instead of Aladdin. Still, I love how Syndrome looks (even if I would have rather had Aladdin just based on love of that character)! Aladdin is honestly really difficult to find. Does anyone have some easy tips to feel him out? 3 down, 15 to go!

I thought that the Juniors line doesn't have any stickers? So those are all printed pieces, I think. Still of course very useful for any Batcave! Flash vs Captain Cold is this glorious Mighty Micros beastie which is already out and available.

No, it reportedly varies between batches of figures, so sometimes it is right and sometimes it could be wrong. I'm fairly new to it, but I used it on Series 15 and it worked out perfectly - however, I felt the packets as well as checking the codes. I would make sure to feel the packet first and then verify it with the bump code. Bump codes are good if A) you've already felt the packet and you want another little bit of assurance that this is the right one, B) you want to make sure you don't have duplicates, or C) you're in a rush and you don't have time to feel packets. However, I would only really recommend options A and B. If you look at the very bottom of a CMF packet, you'll JUST about be able to make out some very small bumps/dots along the end of the packaging. The bumps come in different patterns which designate which figure is inside (I think it's so that manufacturers can correctly distribute the figures in a box). So, say, a packet that has Stitch in it would have a different sequence of dots on the bottom of the packet than one which contains Ursula. Sometimes, people will post the bump-sequences online so that people can try to match the bump codes to the figures they want. It's not 100% accurate, but worth a try! If you use it in conjunction with throughly feeling the bags, I'd be extremely confident that you'd get the figure you want. Even if it doesn't work, comparing the bump codes of two packets will at least confirm whether or not they are duplicates of the same figure.

Wow, the Juniors set is wonderful! I'll definitely try to pick it up over the Summer, along with Captain Cold vs the Flash. Lovely minifigs (especially Lex) and fantastic printed pieces. The fact that it has no stickers is pretty great!

Oh cool! I wasn't sure how stocking/re-stocking worked with CMF series' because this year is the first year I've been back since my Dark Ages, and I've forgotten what it was like when Series 1 came out just before I went into my Dark Ages! I wasn't sure if LEGO produced more of a series if it was in demand, or if it was one of those "one wave will be made, run out and get them" type of situations. Glad to hear that it won't be the latter! Funnily enough now that you compared the Disney Series and Monsters, at the shop where I got my Stitch, the shop had sneakily thrown some Monsters into the Disney box in an attempt to sell them. I'm sure if they did fix the printing issues, they would allow you to swap any poorly printed figures for new ones, surely?

Yikes, with my college budget I'm not sure I'm going to be able to complete this series before it disappears! It's a shame because this is the first series of minifigures where I've genuinely wanted to have a complete set. I have Stitch only so far! Which figure is your favourite? Going to try to find Aladdin or Genie at some point this week as my reward for studying for exams. Hopefully Tesco will restock soon, I might ask them about it but I have the feeling I'd be too awkward.