Lucarex

Nope but I do now!

Yellow is an interesting choice, maybe one of the designers is a fan of Luigi This is the classic Cinquecento not the modern version/Abarth variant.

All reports say it’s more like MF Vampire Castle.

Issue 5 is being released 6 Feb

Interesting as that minifig is the male version of the Subway worker (not firefighter) from wave 2. Meanwhile the rest of us, with issue 5 and Biker Girl out this week, is still stuck with wave 1 figs, like selfie Jack, Parker, Pizza Boy and El Fuego.

No it doesn’t. Different layout, fonts and colour pallete. It’s “similar” but not even close to infringing IP.

I meant it as in most likely for a HS sub, given the size/scale and widespread use in in-house themes/sets like City, Atlantis etc. As opposed to one appearance from 3 years ago manufactured specifically (as canon) for a single licensed set. Not that I know anything either way of course, just seems logical. Much cheaper to recolour existing widely used part. And yes, by “classic” shark - with the printed eyes - I meant the one that has been used now for years, but I’m aware of and have myself the earlier now-obsoleted incarnation. Incidentally, the HS teddy here is spring green with dark green printed features, so the “green eyes” description also fits the shark.

The rear of the car is superb, the vintage suitcase (the irony of printed “stickers”!) is a perfect addition. Then there’s the engine bay, spare wheel in there, and retractable soft top. It’s a step up in quality from the VW Beetle IMO.

Licensed piece and too large a scale. It will be the smaller classic shark shown above, but hopefully in new colour which is exciting enough!

I make it 12

Meh. I prefer the original...

Here’s hoping it’s all gloomified spring green like the teddy bear...

The Castle MF count should be higher given the piece count/price difference surely? Say 6 or 7 like the High School. Also hoping the Sub comes with gloomed spring green shark!

Agree. Speaks volumes.

You could say that about every theme! Ninjago just one example. As always €€€€ talks, so if this is true, maybe there was a big upswing in sales over the holiday period (both waves). The launch wasn't great by all accounts.

Hmmm. Any more detail however sketchy?

Remember the badly dubbed tv series was a bit of thing as a kid in the 80s, so I'm curious if nothing else. Agree with those saying this is TLG just blatantly chasing the Chinese market, along with the numerous CNY sets and Old Trafford.

Maybe my memory but remember a good few months between the smaller sets and the HH and limited Zombies being made available? Certainly seemed like 2 waves but let's not split hairs, there were what 8 or so sets in total? The CMF series that followed several years later also doesn't technically count but those figs were begging to be added to the VC and HH. Sadly I don't think we'll see this happen again with HS, which is a massive shame as everyone, kids and AFOLs alike, love ghosts and all things spooky, but for all the fun aspects of HS, there's just been too many poorly executed and disappointing elements IMO.

That placeholder was spotted months ago. It was supposed to be released on launch so I wouldn’t be surprised to see it cancelled - wouldn’t be the first time.

Agree with this, but you have to remember Nexo Knights also had "special" potential (the forest and water monsters Lego published alongside wave 1, plus a much better app than HS) but they didn't follow through and the theme ended with a partly aborted, completely incongruous and truly awful "vampire" wave 4 which was rejected by a lot of retailers, and sold very poorly where it was available. MF was also a very short theme of just 2 waves, a mistake all but acknowledged when they released a monster CMF line a couple of years later. I guess the AR side of things will continue with Leaf/Monkey Kid or Zebra or whatever. I guess the point I'm making is yes, unrealised potential is always disappointing but Lego has form here, so best to just enjoy themes whilst you can, a year or so. Other than the eternal Ninjago (way past it's sell-by and a horse flogged to death IMO), this is how things go. The "itch" of the new rules in the world of toys.

HS launched summer 2019 so just 12 months if Leaf launches this summer as expected.

Just a random thought but given the HS designers confirmed that the Portal and Subway sets were designed to sit back-to-back (thematically if not actually connected), perhaps the Abandoned Prison and Castle are part of the same location (as in real-life Oxford)? Similar to Nexo Knights Fortrex where the Merlock’s Library set was actually a smaller modular that connected into the castle build when opened up.

So it'll basically approximate the same footprint as the (equally boring) Capitol set.

Abandoned Prison? (size of Shrimp Shack/Lighthouse) Mystery Castle? (size of High School) Sign me up!

Any bigfig ghosts would be welcome!