Fenghuang0296

Ooh, another new version of Batman! Exciting! Think they’ll print the belt on again or finally reuse the TLBM belt piece? Because seriously, they’ve used it in tons of other themes but it’s been ages since it was actually used for Batman.

. . . An SDCC exclusive set . . . using CMF minifigures?! . . . I like it!

High ticket, that’s exactly what I was thinking just yesterday. My usual strategy for themes like this is to get a few of the low-to-mid range sets, focusing on diversity of characters included, then if budget allows one of the large sets that inevitably have exclusive characters. Nexo Knights 2017 for example, my top priorities were Lance’s Twin Jouster and Ruina’s Lock and Roller, because of the exclusive Ruina, Queen Halbert and (at the time) Rogul figures. Whereas the only exclusive characters in the big Jestro’s Headquarters set was Cloud Monstrux and Lightning Jestro, and since I already had the Year 1 versions of Monstrux and Jestro (and guessed correctly that they would appear again later) I wasn’t fussed. Now, in Monkie King. Nine named characters in the first wave. Under normal circumstances, I’d get the Food Truck for integration into my city, the Cloud Jet for Red Son, Demon Bull King for DBK and Princess Iron Fan and my big purchase for the theme would be the Secret HQ boat for Sandy, Mei and General Ironbark, betting that Monkey King would appear again in a later set. But at these prices I just can’t afford almost any of that.

Limited exclusivity is a thing. I’ve seen it before, albeit not in LEGO. All I know is, I’m still very not excited about this line. The sets are gorgeous but the prices are awful, and the one good thing about Shop@Home compared to normal retailers is that they keep sets available for a lot longer. The only set I particularly want from this theme is the Food Truck, and that’s just as much for my OCD ‘have at least one thing from every theme ever in my city’ pipe dream as it is for actually wanting to collect this theme. That is to say, I’m absolutely in no rush to get the Food Truck. The way things are going budget wise, it might be sometime next year that I actually lay hands on it.

Sounds awesome! Do it!

If LEGO does Luigi as a ‘digifig’, there is absolutely no way he won’t be basically a recolour of Mario (maybe modified to be a brick taller). I’d be very surprised if Mario’s power ups weren’t compatible with him. Given how they screwed up Cat and Builder Mario’s appearances, I highly doubt they’ll be bothered about Luigi having a yellow cat outfit instead of green for the sake of promoting playability. Honestly, anything less would be seen as stupid by the average consumer who wants it as a toy.

Lucky . . so far I’ve just been scrounging 1x2s and 1x4s from wherever I can, like the WV Fire Station and the Dragon Boat Race . . still, based on the leaked description the Gardens will come with a ‘secondary’ side build that consists of an island garden on a 16x32. I’ll probably be able to modify that and use the plates and tiles from there to cover at least some of my exposed baseplate area, so that’ll help.

Here's a few shots of my whole Docks area. There're a few rough patches, I'm currently renovating this entire section of my layout (and looking at it more closely I'm noticing a few little issues I meant to fix but forgot about) but I'm very happy with it overall. And the entire upper level comes away as one whole subassembly! (Oh, and I grabbed the arcade machine out of the Empire Temple of Madness, but there wasn't room for it in the arcade, so it's kind of just permanently 'being delivered'. https://www.flickr.com/photos/189586176@N07/50231935456/in/dateposted-public/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/189586176@N07/50232155862/in/dateposted-public/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/189586176@N07/50232161222/in/dateposted-public/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/189586176@N07/50232162097/in/dateposted-public/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/189586176@N07/50231303323/in/dateposted-public/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/189586176@N07/50231941511/in/dateposted-public/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/189586176@N07/50231305908/in/dateposted-public/ (I was really hoping it would embed the images, sorry . .)

Sure, I can share. Fair warning, there’s a lot of exposed baseplate, I’ve been meaning for about a year to get around to ordering a bunch of trans-blue 1x2s to cover it all up but I only have so much money . . give me a few.

I’m not going to be able to get Diagon Alley . . a fifty-five-hundred piece set consisting of nine separate buildings and forty-five minifigures (if the leaks are accurate)? Budget concerns aside where would I even put it? Ninjago City Gardens is going to make me feel a lot better about not getting Diagon Alley. (Though I do hope they maybe make a follow-up set with one or two extra shops next year, I could afford something like that.)

Promobricks has a silhouette up. Which is decidedly interesting. Unfortunately, no, it doesn’t seem to have been inspired by anything that existed in the TV show. I think the most interesting part is that this Garden is actually comprised of two models that can be separated; the actual garden, built on a 16x32 baseplate and significantly shorter than the city, and the ‘city block’, on a 32x32. Which is interesting and awesome and just about perfect for my city, really. I foresee the main model being in the same vein of the original city with a lot of buildings and businesses stacked on top of one another, and then the ‘garden’ is more like an ‘island park’ of sorts. Now I’m curious if the city block is going to be a straight or a corner like the original Ninjago City. Here; I’ve translated the semi-official description from Promobricks. Idle speculation; if there’s a Zane minifigure included and seventeen civilians . . could we finally get a Dr. Julian minifigure?

In fairness the production run of the average WV set is three years and Modulars last as long as five. But I’m definitely looking forward to this ‘garden’. I’m sceptical, sure, but it sounds exciting. I couldn’t afford the original Ninjago City a couple of years back, but I managed to get the Docks on a discount, and I’ve heavily modified and expanded it. (Mine now stretches across three baseplates and features a much larger pontoon with a loading bay for trucks, a craft shop, a fast food joint, a tiny police station, and, ironically, a garden.) Now I’m very happy with myself for preserving the modularity even though I thought the line was over. Can’t wait to see and get these Gardens!

You mean like the NES? Besides that, I fully expect a Peach’s Castle next year. Though you’re right, a lot of the builds are simple and the game isn’t incredibly exciting. Fun, sure, but it lacks replayability.

I skipped Expecto Patronum because it seemed a bit redundant, with boring builds, and I was holding out hope for an OotP Ministry set with a version of Sirius Black that isn’t for whatever reason still wearing prison stripes. (Plus, what would I do with two Dementors in my city?) Though now that I’ve set up the Room of Requirement, it does look a bit empty with just Harry, Ron, Hermione, Luna, the Death Eater dummy and the two small Patronuses. Would you (or anyone who wants to weigh in) recommend it?

Honestly if not for this forum I would have no idea what the story behind the Virus Vampires was.

The set looks awesome. I really hope I’ll be able to afford it.

This is great! Though, if you’re not going to have Mario jump on the second one, maybe pit the stickers tile on the second one on the second blue pad?

Sounds like a set themed around the robots - maybe we’ll finally get a new Samurai X? Pixal’s been shafted in the last couple of years, we haven’t gotten a new version of her since 2018. Yaaaaay, more rehashed ninja vehicles in Legacy . . though if by some miracle this Roto Jet comes with a ToE Python or Garmadon I might get it. (I missed most of the 2015 line.)

It isn’t down under, for whatever that’s worth.

It’s cheaper and better value than Star Wars, and when was the last time we didn’t get at least two waves of that per year? Still you have a point about it being niche. Limited distribution probably doesn’t help either.

So, what’s the book that Harry has in the CMF?

Ah, my mistake. My desk is a bit of a mess, I probably misplaced one, heh. (Should have built it at my workbench, but the shed doesn’t have wifi and I wanted to watch my show and build . .)

Same, but I think you’re supposed to put it underneath the two trans-clear panels that support the question block.

Ah. Zonju didn’t show up on the one in this topic . . oh well. Long term goals, I guess. Thanks!

Oh . . Uh . . hang on. I saw a route linking Imynusoph to Skye and that Imynusoph was on the end of the Hydian Way (which is the southernmost planet that the Confederacy has access to), and thought all I'd have to do is take Imynusoph . . but now I'm looking closer and realising "that's not a route, it's a sector line," and also I checked the Planet IP spreadsheet and Imynusoph isn't on it? So, uh . . I'm realising that I messed up a bit and also why isn't Imynusoph on the spreadsheet yet? Is it just that no one's got any IP points on it? Also, follow-up question; Sector J21 only has two planets, Imynusoph and Kinooine. Would the Confederacy be treated as controlling that sector if we had 50 IP on both those planets? Since there's no third planet to take? (I'm working on a new strategy for getting to Skye, but for now this is hypotheticals.)