Rolyat24

I’m not seeing any of the Ninjago minifigure parts on the US PaB. How are you finding them?

I doubt Dr. Julien would ever appear in a theoretical Ninjago CMF, not because he’s been dead for 10 years and irrelevant to the current story, but because he wouldn’t be a very interesting minifigure worth putting in a CMF series. The minifigure would basically look like a very typical doctor, with a common hair piece and an unremarkable faceprint. Actually, this is the reason why in general I’m not sure we’ll ever get a Ninjago CMF for the show. Most characters that haven’t been made (or variants of existing characters) are fairly unremarkable minifigure-design-wise. Even looking at fan dream designs of a series, they include such remarkable figures as “Zane with an apron” and “Cole in a prison jumpsuit” which are pretty bland even for fans of the show. I’ll admit that there are a few characters that I’d be interested in (the Upply, silver Karloff, etc) but I don’t think those opportunities are enough to warrant a full cmf series, especially as some of those desired characters haven’t been around the show for a long time. I think the best chance of getting semi-interesting ninja variants or named background/side characters is in sets like Ninjago City Markets.

I assume the post was in reference to a fan-made CMF, as I agree it would be strange to get a Ninjago series next year (although I’d definitely welcome it). Then again, as others have noted, with only 12 spots and 6-8 ninja, Wu, and maybe Garmadon, we wouldn’t really be looking at much wiggle room for new/interesting designs. There’s an unlicensed space cmf for next year? I haven’t heard this before, but sounds exciting!

It would be interesting to get a kangaroo in a CMF so soon after the Australian wildlife minifig we got just this year (with the koala). I can’t think of a different enough fig to come in the next unlicensed series, other than maybe a kangaroo costume character (with a pouch for joey? We can only dream)

It would be interesting if we did get a more grown up Riyu so soon. He’s been a pretty big part of DR so far but if he gets larger he can really only appear once per wave. (I guess if he was a pretty small build, they could put him in multiple sets, but I don’t think there’s much precedent for that. I guess something like Metalbeard from TLM). Maybe when the DR arc wraps up in the last couple of waves we could see it? I guess it depends on the long-term plans for the show. As for the set list, I usually skip the smaller mechs, so I can’t see this wave being all that exciting for me. My wallet may rest easy yet!

This is reaching too far back into my memory, but I believe SDCC “exclusives” have appeared in regular retail sets before, I believe in the Hobbit/LotR theme, though I don’t recall how those were marketed. It’s possible they never used the term “exclusive” to describe them. I wouldn’t expect this to show up, but I suppose it is possible.

Might as well share my thoughts since everyone’s talking about it. Pros: - The overall shape of the full design works surprisingly well. I was worried it would end up looking more like a Rancor pit scenario with a big gray box sitting below the bank. This is actually sleek and interesting to look at! - The minifig lineup is top-notch. Probably couldn’t have been better unless they included Bill, which was always a long shot. - It’s fully compatible with Diagon Alley, which wasn’t guaranteed. I think I need to wait to see pictures of other configurations of the complete Alley, because the official picture doesn’t look great, but I think if you put Gringotts on one of the ends it’ll be much better! Cons: - That front entrance sticker is just so bad. The designers should have either printed the lettering or designed a way to have a single sticker. As it is now, it’s really inexcusable in a set of this size/price. - The mine cart starts at a random floating point in the bottom half. The track probably should have been connected to the inside of the main building in some capacity. - If displaying with Diagon Alley, there really isn’t a place to put the lower half of this set. I was originally thinking it could attach to the side or back of the building, but that doesn’t seem like a real option with the way it was designed. - When displayed without Diagon Alley, the side builds at street level are awkward and distract from the silhouette of the bank. - For a set of this price, it really does feel like it’s lacking a certain “oomph” in building style. Compared to sets like the microscale Hogwarts, UCS Hogwarts Express, or even LotR’s Rivendell, the other sets all look like artwork deserving of a premium price tag, whereas this looks more like a really expensive playset. I guess the same can be said of Diagon Alley, but because of the sheer number of buildings in that set it felt more worth it. Overall, I’m glad LEGO was able to make something that fully represents Gringotts while still having the option to integrate it with DA, but it does feel like compromises were made in order to do both. I’ll be interested to see reviews and hopefully the build in person sometime at the LEGO Store.

We’ve talked about this on here before. Though a little surprising due to the insane popularity of Ninjago in the west, I think some good points were made about how much of Ninjago is influenced by Japanese/Eastern culture, so Christian mythology/tradition would feel a little out of place. Then again, some people in Japan surely celebrate Christmas, so I don’t think it would be too out there to see an advent calendar in the future.

I think it’s still a little early to draw that conclusion. These lists are often incomplete or get the pricing wrong, especially this early on. I suppose it is possible that if we are getting a second DR season 1 wave that it will be on the smaller side, since we’ve already gotten a pretty big wave this summer. But who knows, maybe these are the January sets and there will be more in March. I doubt we only get four smallish sets in the winter.

I believe Lloyd’s CORE dragon is still on shelves now, so that might explain why the green dragon from DR hasn’t shown up yet. I’m guessing after it retires we’ll get the new one.

Sweet, then I revert to my prior statement. CORE is dead, for better or worse.

I guess it isn’t officially known yet, just a leak/rumor. I’ve seen it reported on Instagram and discussed here, so I’m thinking it’s true. If anyone knows the actual source of the rumors, do let us know!

I’m not so sure, I don’t think a second wave is at all out of the question. We know the second half the season is coming in the fall, so a January wave wouldn’t be too late to go alongside it. We haven’t really seen much of what the second half of the season will look like, so it’s entirely possible that there are new vehicles/locations/characters that could be made into sets featured in the later episodes. As JTimG mentions, we’ve seen this before, albeit not in awhile. But I personally wouldn’t mind going back to two full waves of sets per season. It gives the designers a chance to feature more characters and especially villain-oriented sets. We also know that CORE is ending, so unless Cartoon Network wants to start airing two seasons per year again, we don’t really have another option for a winter wave. An early 2024 season 2 is certainly possible, but it’s not any more likely than a summer 2024 one, which is more in line with recent timelines. Finally, it’s far too early to know what’s coming in January. The fact that there haven’t been any leaks yet tells us nothing, as no sets from other themes are known yet either. By this logic, I guess we aren’t getting any LEGO sets in winter 2024. Overall, it’s just too soon to know what’s coming next year. I’d expect we’ll start to hear rumors around August.

I suppose I’ll throw my 2 cents into the ring. Dragon Power spinners: I like the l minifigures here and I’m curious to see the new spinners in action. I usually try to pick up at least one of the gimmick sets to try out before deciding if the others are worthwhile. I think I’ll start with Nya’s as she’s my favorite of the ninja and lord knows I have enough Kai and Lloyd spinners. 4+ Sets: I have never bought a 4+ set and this wave won’t be changing that. The builds aren’t interesting enough to justify the spend. I’m glad they exist for the younger kids though! Hound: I like it, but it isn’t something that interests me very much. I like that Ninjago continues to deliver some new ideas even 13 years in. Zane’s Car: I do appreciate them giving Zane a car, as I don’t have anything like that for him yet. Maybe the closest we’ve seen was the Tumbler back in DotD? But I easily could have forgotten another set. It’s a sleek car and I think for maybe $5 cheaper I would consider it. Sora’s mech/bike: A cool transforming build, but not standing out quite enough to make my list. There are so many mechs, I have to pick and choose. Lava dragon: I like the color scheme and I think if executed more smoothly the “transforming” aspect would be a lot cooler. Either then, or take out that function and create a more natural-looking long neck. As it is, I like it and will buy it. Team mechs: This set feels way too expensive in the US. But even it was $30 cheaper, I still don’t see myself picking it up. Again, cool concept, but pretty mediocre execution. Temple: I think I’ll wait to see reviews on this one. I think it’s nice-looking but certainly feels less substantial than the Core temple, and I passed on that one. Lightning Dragon: This is the set I’m most excited for! Again, quite expensive, but it’s a great dragon! I want to see it next to the larger Core dragons to see if it’s really worth the large price bump. (I understand the mech is also included, but I’ll mostly be buying it for the dragon). Bounty: Surely I sound like a broken record here, but this is just too much money. I believe this is most expensive mainline Ninjago set that we have ever seen (in the US), and it just doesn’t feel worth it. The Legacy bounty arguably looked better, had more bricks, and was still $30 cheaper! I would only consider this set because I currently own every bounty from Ninjago’s run, but this feels like a hard sell. The Markets: I may be in the minority here who actually likes this set! I love the cable car and think it’ll add a uniqueness to the skyline that we’re missing. I hope the negative initial response doesn’t hurt sales too much, because I’d love to see more of these in the coming years. I only have Gardens so far but I think Markets will look best between two corners. Also, can we talk about that minifigure lineup?? I mean, this is what we’ve been asking for with every new expansion! The prior three were mostly dotted with random civilians. We’re finally getting a bunch of new characters and variants that everyone has been asking for! Chamille! Gayle Gossip! Vinny! Racer 7! Cyrus Borg! Miss Demeanor! Detective Zane! Blacksmith Kai! We’re one Fugidove away from crossing most figures off of my list anyway. And I’m so happy we’ve gotten all of the elemental masters. Only took 9 years! Overall, I agree with others that the wave leaves a lot to be desired. I think at the start of the new show, the designers wanted to go with a “bread and butter Ninjago” wave, which certainly makes sense. And so we get the usual dragons, temples, bounty, mechs, etc. It just feels a little extra overdone at this point because of the abundance of Core and Legacy sets the last few years. I will say I love the detailed minifigures. I’m not completely convinced about the new hoods yet, I think that’s something I can’t judge until I have the pieces in-hand. The antagonists are for the most part beautiful figs but the faction as a whole lacks something. I’m not sure what it is yet. I’m willing to give this new show and characters room to breathe and develop their own more creative waves further down the line. I think we’ll continue to see some truly wacky stuff once this new show is more established.

I agree that with the BoH set and the “official” layout of the modular castle, it does feel like that system is coming to an end. However, I’m left wondering what would set a new system apart from the previous two enough to warrant such a reboot? I think it’s too soon to simply rehash the 2018-2020 system. Personally I’d love the truly modular castle that 2021 promised us, but that seems even less likely. I’m curious what you all think. I doubt LEGO would go even a year without Hogwarts in some form. As for the summer sets, I’m definitely underwhelmed. I have no interest in the buildable creatures/characters, although Dobby does look better than expected. With a tight budget, I’m definitely not hashing out for another Express or WWW. They’re both nice enough though for those who don’t have them already. If the Quidditch trunk were maybe $30-40, I could see it, but at the current price it’s laughable. Likely the only set I’ll buy from the wave is the BoH (+ Gringotts eventually). That’s just as well, I still have the 2022 sets to catch up on.

Oh yeah, that makes a lot of sense! Nice then to know that whatever the new wand/spell piece(s) are won’t be exclusive to the Patronus set!

The wave looks really good from what I can tell. As expected, BoH is the only one that I’ll likely buy, but the other sets look nice too! Other folks are usually better than me at picking out blurry details, so I’m curious what y’all make of the colored splotches on the ground in front of Hogwarts. There’s a dark green shape that is surely Voldemort, alongside a bright green and pink something. I can’t think of any characters that would be that brightly colored, but I’m not sure what else they would be?

I’m starting to suspect that Jay and Cole will be out of the action this season, not unlike Zane was during Prime Empire. It would give the writers more room to explore the new characters. Now, I’m still hoping minifigs turn up for them in at least one set, but you never know. Again, Zane never got a minifigure for Prime Empire.

I think the implication was that the “4 students” refer to four quidditch players, one from each house. It’s certainly possible that they (the leaker) meant just generic students, but then I think they would have phrased it differently. Also, when folks on here talk about missing characters, they mostly mean from 2018 onwards. Most of the earlier figures (but not all) don’t hold up so well against their newer counterparts. That’s also why you’ll hear people asking for Karkaroff and Narcissa, despite both of them having appeared prior to 2018. The death eater mask print that you’re referring to, however, was pretty good, and I don’t think it would look too out of place amongst the later sets.

I don’t know, we’ve had some pretty great minifigs before from Ninjago. Akita and NRG Nya come to mind immediately, but there are surely other great ones too. Speaking of Akita, I think others are correct that Sora will be a formling. Hoping this means Akita will show up in the show!

How likely is it for the Dobby set to be in the style of the Harry and Hermione Maxifigs? I feel like that would be the only way it might turn out looking less-than-horrifying. Happy to be proven wrong though

I just bought DA this year for the same reason, although I haven’t built it yet. I was going to crack it open soon but now I’m thinking maybe I ought to wait until we see the new sets. I would be surprised if the Gringotts D2C wasn’t at least in scale with the old DA. Even if it isn’t fully compatible (e.g. not on baseplates, different style of street out front) I think it would be a huge miss if the two sets didn’t at least look good displayed together. I also have a hard time picturing a $500 Gringotts set looking more compatible with a $90 WWW set than the current D2C version unless it features more buildings. Otherwise Gringotts would just be massive compared to the other shops.

Fair enough, I’m just trying to ease any fears. Before you know it there will posts on #legoleaks claiming that the expansion is cancelled citing this thread as evidence.

Yeah, and it’s not even April yet. I mean, we don’t even have images or descriptions of the regular June wave and nobody is worried that it’s going to be cancelled. I wouldn’t worry until mid-May if we haven’t heard or seen anything else. Not that it can’t leak sooner, just that it isn’t guaranteed with D2Cs.

We’re still pretty far out from the rumored release date and we have a name and number. For D2C sets we don’t typically get a description or other leaks until much sooner. Besides, we have some reliable leakers vouching for it. That doesn’t 100% mean it’ll happen, but I wouldn’t worry just yet.