Mandalorianknight

It's not so much about directly tying in as putting the heroes in the public consciousness as something interesting and cool. We had a good number of avengers sets not based off the movies, but kids bought them because of the movies. The 2020 avengers sets certainly weren't selling because people liked the game. My assumption about why teen titans go doesn't work is that it's a straight comedy. The heroes, even batman, are treated as morons. It's fine for what it's trying to be, but it's not really going to encourage kids to buy DC sets as much. You're likely right. When was the last time this theme got a new mold, the Keaton cowl?

I wouldn't have expected/needed the fig to have arm printing, but you're right that it's totally inaccurate. For one thing, I think you're completely right about it needing to be gunmetal for the dark gray bits- the suit looks metallic. It was the first thing I noticed years ago when the suit teaser came out (That and the fact that the symbol was a separate component- I remember everyone theorized it was made from the gun that killed his parents). He also definitely needed a new cowl and a new face, the existing ones just don't work. And he should have used the thin cape they use for the mandalorian rather than the standard batman cape.

Nice! I dunno if it's taking advantage of them not being logged in the inventory, it's moreso that desirable figures are going to cost a pretty big chunk of change to get right at release. The price will probably drop over the couple of years the set is in production for, so if you're trying to get just the figs I'd wait, but I'd make sure to snap one up by the time the set retires, because I doubt we're seeing Fives or Malak again anytime soon and the price is only going to increase after that. No problem. If you want them to, they'll send you a new part for the misprinted one- they've done it in the past for me when I've had helmets printed wrong. Yup! I sent a pretty extensive message to them- I was polite, but just about hit their word/character limit. Explained that I didn't want replacements, but the QC drop and simultaneous price increases are a bad look, and that while I hadn't noticed it until recently, I have purchased significantly less lego over the past year than in previous years. I also brought up- and I don't know if anyone else has been seeing this- the blotchiness and ink misprints on the instructions. Occasionally the newer instructions will have ink blots just on the page where it should be blank, or the lines will be blotted and blurry. Since it's not the actual legos themselves, I hadn't said anything to them before, but it is emblematic of the overall quality decline. I never saw anything like that growing up, but since they switched to the new instruction style a year or two ago I've seen it in about 1 in 10 sets I've built.

There was- technically speaking- and it did release around the same time as some JL sets- but the episodes were only around 10 minutes, it was a pretty low-budget affair, and it either released on youtube, or was released poorly enough/did poorly enough that DC was fine releasing the entire series on youtube fairly quickly after official release. So I guess I should clarify- I think they need a normal budget, quality justice league/batman cartoon out with a wide release.

I spoke about this in another thread but I had this issue as well. I believe I had the exact same stormtrooper issue- was it the white guy? where the eyebrows are printed wrong, though in my case they're printed too far to the right and he looks very quizzical. I also had a larger issue- my vader's lightsaber blade was missing. No real issue for me- it's annoying, but I have a number of spares accumulated over the years. But imagine if your son had gotten my copy- I'm sure he'd be very upset, especially if that's his first vader. I would highly reccomend emailing lego's customer service, even if you don't ask for replacement parts (this is my plan- I have spares of both and don't want to deal with the hassle of getting replacements.). As @MKJoshA said in the discussion thread, lego needs to be aware of their quality decline.

Both superheroes themes fall within the same team, but generally speaking, designers work across a variety of themes. I do not believe the theme being worked on impacts designer pay as far as subject matter goes. The issue is certainly not that the designers are paid less, or busy with other themes. (I have to be honest, that second one really confuses me. Are you saying the reason we don't have more DC sets is the designers just... don't have time? Putting aside how DC's lawyers may feel about that, why wouldn't lego just hire more designers? Why would the amount of sets be based on time, rather than popularity or shelf space? I feel it's clear that the reason DC does not do well in lego is that lego believes DC sets based on the wider comics universe do not sell well, and likely have sales data backing it. WE might desperately want more comic-based DC sets, but that wider 6-12 demo doesn't seem to- which makes sense. Think about what kids have DC wise right now. The vast majority of DC movies recently have either been exceedingly unsuccessful or exceedingly mature. The only current DC cartoon aimed at lego's age range right now, and the only one available for some time, is Teen Titans Go. What we need, as has been discussed pretty endlessly here, is a new DC cartoon accessible to kids. For everything Gunn's put in play, I'm really surprised a new batman or justice league cartoon wasn't immediately put into the works.

Entirely unintentional- the set isn't meant to be based off the games, otherwise I'd have put everyone's favorite non-bat-related hero in the fig list- but I stand by the bald tim drake disrespect anyway. That's what I've been trying to say! The only way we'd get the POSSIBILITY of Oa is if a Green Lantern show got as popular as CW flash was during it's heyday, or multiple movies in succession were fairly popular. I don't think we'd ever see coast city- there just aren't any remotely iconic locations involved, and the majority of popular green lantern events and stories are space based or massive events.

I think getting DC modulars would be cool- though I don't think it needs any marvel comparison, the marvel modulars are fine, the Bugle in particular is excellent. That said, there's really not much you can do for most of these that would keep the general consumer base. Gotham would obviously be fine, but most of the rest, I dunno. Metropolis could work- Superman, even if the upcoming film does well, lacks the rogues' gallery of spider-man for a set like that to work super well, but a daily planet/lexcorp combo could sell fine if it had some other leaguers involved given the drought of non-batman DC sets. The real issue is central and coast city, especially if you're removing star labs. There certainly ARE locations in the comics that could be used- Ferris air, his lab in the GCPD, etc, but there's not nearly enough to sell a modular, especially if Gotham and Metropolis are already covered, and especially if Star Labs is being removed for it's own thing. Though I'm surprised we haven't had an Arkham yet, something like this: Arkham Asylum ($499.99): large Arkham compound consisting of a front gate, central building, and two wings ending in watchtowers. The central building contains an entry room, prisoner property room, Psychiatrist's office, and guard armory. Above the rafters there is a small, hidden area for Batman to use for surveillance. Each wing has a roughly identical design, containing 7 normal cells, an environmentally controlled cell, two larger, more reinforced cells, and a watchtower. (For a total of 20 cells). Also includes a police car and prison van. Comes with Batman, Robin (Damian Wayne), Commissioner Gordon, 4x Arkham Guard, Harleen Quinzel, Hugo Strange, Aaron Cash, Joker (prison jumpsuit), Poison Ivy (prison jumpsuit), Male Inmate (face print implying it's zsaz), Female Inmate (face print implying it's Talia), Riddler (prison jumpsuit, bowler hat included), Two-Face (prison jumpsuit), Killer Croc (bigfig), Bane, Catwoman, Mr. Freeze, Ra's Al Ghul, Firefly, Deadshot, Killer Moth, and Hush.

$10 for that battle pack is excellent- I was at a target earlier today (not for legos, unfortunately) and when I dipped into the aisle, they still had the pack at $20, though oddly enough they had the newer 332nd pack at $17. Some of these prices do make me laugh when you see them next to eachother- Who's gonna go for mando's N-1 microfighter over the slave one microfighter when one is 70% more expensive than the other for essentially the same value of product? Do kids have no other way to get Mando and Grogu?

I'm glad people like it and hope it does well, but pretty much none of this is for me. I'm not opposed to mosiacs- I was pretty close to dropping more than I'd have liked on those sith mosiac sets before they retired- but something about this one feels tacky and off to me. I think part of it's the way they did this one regarding studs. IMO it either needs to be a true mosiac fully made of studs, or something with few visible studs. The sky being studded with mainly tiled/SNOT buildings just doesn't look good for me. I'm also not really a fan of the figs- I always saw BTAS Batman as having a LBG suit, not DBG. I also don't really like Catwoman having fully black arms, it makes it look like she's wearing a tank top over a black jumpsuit. Harley is pretty solid, but ironically Joker is my favorite, and it's because of that head. Most of the existing joker heads don't really capture his insanity/evil to me, but this one REALLY does. Even if, for whatever reason, they've chosen to go with TNBA Joker in a BTAS set.

A pretty solid chunk of the target age range for the set wasn't ALIVE when force awakens released. A number of them were still in diapers when TROS released. What are you gonna say to them, too bad, should've picked up the set when you were 2? I'm sure many retailers still have some copies of the sets left, but that's not the point. Lego believes a TIE and X-wing must be readily availible for kids consistently, and I completely agree. Completely agree- more stuff is a nice incentive for AFOLS. I'm gonna pick on you personally, you generally make a pretty clear distinction that something isn't interesting for you as opposed to an objectively bad set or idea. I'm on the fence about buying it myself. I have the 2018 X-wing and TIE, but I wouldn't mind a smaller model, especially for the x-wing- the 2018 one feels very oversized, but the 2021 one just felt a bit too small, and I didn't like how the body mashed to put the wings in attack mode. That said, since I've already got A version of them, interesting or unique figs could easily be what tips me over the fence to purchase the set. (I'm rooting for a Wedge with a unique face print, but it'll never happen. Biggs/Porkins are far more likely and also more interesting to most people). And for kids, they're mainly going to want just to be able to have an X-wing and TIE, as well as the major characters like Pilot Luke. (Or Tarkin? I guess since he's just a guy in a uniform who doesn't fight lego must not think kids want him as bad, but I know as a kid I REALLY wanted tarkin. Always saw Palps/Vader/Tarkin as the empire's "big three" opposing Luke/Han/Leia) On an unrelated note, I got the boarding set today. I love it, excellent set, and I really did get a sense of value from it- it's very dense and of course chock-full of figs. Fives is wonderful, the Kama being flat actually looks great in real life, which I wasn't expecting. The main issue I do have, though is QC, which I feel like is going off the rails. I've had more QC issues with lego in the past year or two than in my entire childhood. This set was missing Vader's lightsaber blade and the male stormtrooper's head was misprinted- the eyebrows are pretty far to the right so now he looks really skeptical. It generally wouldn't be an issue, but lego does charge a LOT for their sets, so you'd expect them to have a better grasp on it than this. I know if I was a kid and this was my first Vader, I'd be devastated that his lightsaber blade wasn't included instead of now, where I can just grab one from my weapons bin

As was mentioned by someone else about Sp//dr, the only time we DON'T get lego mechs is when they exist in a large scale in the franchise!

@psqidexslizer put this pretty sufficiently- and even then, we HAVE SS harley- why not just more popular versions? The DCEU had some films people liked- Snyder Cut from those who saw it (Personally I LOVED it, saw it four times, and I wasn't even one of the guys campaigning for it to be released), Man of Steel, etc. But you compare that to the comic versions, The Dark Knight, the Burton films, Reeves Superman, even stuff like CW flash- it's no contest which are more beloved. I think the DC CMF failed because it was a combination of characters casual fans didn't care about and costumes casual fans didn't care about. Great for collectors to get bumblebee, Simon Baz, and first appearance suits for WW, Batman, and Sinestro, but the average fan wants more normal outfits. And at this point, given how we don't get many comic sets at all anymore, and NO justice league, why not just do a CMF of the major characters in iconic suits? Something like: 1. Batman (DBG/black suit with batarang and grapple gun) 2. Superman (power blast type piece for eye lasers) 3. Wonder Woman (lasso, sword, and shield) 4. Flash (Barry Allen- lightning trail and power blast to "throw" lightning) 5. Aquaman (orange outfit with trident and fish) 6. Green Lantern (Hal Jordan- green hammer and anvil, ring) 7. Cyborg (Mother Box and arm cannon build) 8. Robin (staff) 9. Joker (pow flag gun, laughing gas canister) 10. Harley Quinn (baseball bat, cork gun) 11. Lex Luthor (chestplate, kryptonite, arm cannon) 12. Reverse Flash (Lightning trail, power blast to "throw" lightning)

This seems to be a common misconception- they need something exclusive and desirable to "justify the price" or "sell it" to old collectors, sure, but it's an x-wing and tie. To sell well, all it needs to do is accurately portray the ships, provide play value, and not be egregiously overpriced. There are plenty of fans who don't have an X-wing and TIE yet, have ones old enough they feel an upgrade is warranted, and most importantly, KIDS who don't have the older models. Even the most generous estimates on adult lego fans' numbers still seem to concede that children make up the majority of sales, especially if you focus on the standard system sets and not 18+ sets. My assumption is the models will be a bit of an upscale of the 2021 models- especially considering the TIE launched at $40, so they've already partially taken recent inflation into account.

they didn't give him a unique face to show off how glorious his mustache is, so it's like a 9/10. They're lucky the face they chose had that excellent triangle stache design. That said, Biggs is one of 4 1999 figures I have in my collection, so I agree on a more general sentiment.

But what better place to put the full bat-family than a massive comic batcave? I view it as echelons. You've got the core- Batman/Alfred/current robin, then you've got the other 3 main robins and Barbara Batgirl, then you expand outward with Orphan, Signal, Spoiler, and debatably Azreal and Catwoman. Personally I cut the bat-family off at Batman/Alfred/4 robins/Batgirl/Orphan, but I thought with a set like that no reason to throw more in. Besides, Signal looks cool and I like the idea of a daytime operator. Right now, lego DC is ONLY the good old classics- TDK, Burton films, BTAS, '66. Assumably because they think being generally well-regarded media, it'll do better than the newer stuff that's generally not liked as much. Though I'm not sure it's working- the Burton batwing and batmobile are shelfwarmers around me, and while the Shadow Box isn't something you can pick up at your local Walmart, it sounds like it's not doing well either.

look man, no one's saying you shouldn't be allowed to like the set. There's a lot of subjectivity with this stuff so at the end of the day it's what you want it to be. But on a more objective level, it doesn't seem to be doing well. Not enough people like the set like you do. BTAS/DCAU, certainly, but Dark Knight Trilogy? I mean, the movies are much better, but I really don't think the batcave would be a better set. You've got either a pretty generic and empty Batcave, or literally just a white box with a Tumbler off to the side depending on which movie. I think a lot of people were hoping for a comic-based batcave that could feature a lot of the iconic batcave features and characters. As an example of a potential idea: The Batcave ($399.99): Batcave build consists of a large central area with two wings that can fold in. The central area has room for a batmobile and a couple motorcycles below, which can be moved out for a training area. A staircase on either side leads to the massive central bat-computer. One wing contains a row of racked batsuit cases on the second level, with an armory and vault below. There is a perch for the 2023 batwing to sit as well. The other wing contains a trophy room- giant penny, T-rex, and various villain momentos. Figures included are Bruce Wayne, Alfred Pennyworth, Batman, Nightwing, Red Hood, Robin (Tim Drake), Robin (Damian Wayne), Batgirl (Barbara Gordon), Spoiler, Orphan, Signal, Azreal, Catwoman, Commissioner Gordon, Lucius Fox, Joker, Harley Quinn, Riddler, Mr. Freeze, Bane, Poison Ivy, Two-Face, Hush, Failsafe, and Clayface.

I completely agree, though ironically I think the Marauder should be DBG instead of sand blue. Since other media set in the OT has hammered home the light gray interpretation of the TIEs, so it's unlikely we'd get one in normal circumstances, an anniversary set, especially one in a wave with jedi bob's starfighter and an "evil" millenium falcon, would be the perfect opportunity for a sand blue TIE and LBG X-wing. We've never had a biggs with a visor print, somehow.

I think it would be really, really cool if the TIE fighter and X-wing set used Sand Blue instead of the LBG for the tie and light bluish gray instead of white for the X-wing. Would both serve as a callback to the blue ties and gray x-wings of the past as well as kind of fit how they looked in ANH and provide a little more differentiation for the people who can't handle Lego re-releasing popular vehicles.

That fits pretty well with what we've seen in the past, too. In that case, we don't have to worry unless spider-ham doesn't show up again by 2030. Though I'm not really sure what brought this all on in the first place- Spider-Ham's barely a cameo in ASTV, so whether or not the mold for his head is around hardly tells us anything about potential ASTV sets.

You're right. The calendar would retire before the bugle, so this doesn't change the part's production. Regardless, the part doesn't need to currently be in production for the door to be open for it's return. We don't know the exact timeframe before scrapping a part, but we at the very least have a couple years after the bugle ends it's run.

It's 100% the one who's in the middle on the front of the book. Honestly, don't mind this much. It's a cool nod to the 20th anniversary figs while not being something I'd feel like I'm missing out on if I don't shell out $20-30 for a book I wouldn't want to read. They do seem to like making Maul the book exclusive, though, wasn't he the exclusive for the last one of these we had?

If it's a TV show for adults, it changes nothing. We don't get sets off Harley Quinn, Joker, the Snyder Cut, etc. any day now if it is an april release

Soundwave is also very likely, as is starscream, but I wouldn't rule out megs. All they have to do is make the tank cybertronian to distance it from real-world tanks. It's not like they have to worry about source material accuracy for G1 megatron's tank alt mode, since it never origionally existed, and it's much easier to get a sci-fi tank out of a G1 megs than it is to get a real-world one. Same here! The trouble with G1 bumblebee is Volkswagen can be iffy about whether or not they let Hasbro make him a VW Beetle, but a VW beetle bumblebee is rumored for an upcoming studio series transformer, so it doesn't sound like it'll be an issue for this set either. Fingers crossed it is indeed G1 beetle bumblebee!

And this also might be the reason they were so outlandish- no one was expecting a jedi bob's starfighter or "evil" millenium falcon, so no one's out there making educateed guesses, unlike, say, they could have for the Rex's y-wing microfighter or Desert Skiff. I think something- not on this level, but the same general concept- was done before with lego or LAN's consent. IIRC it was an uncharted set "leak" a LAN member came up with and spread to see which leakers reposted it. Not the same as this- condoning someone else's fake leak is different than generating your own- but I don't think it's crazy to assume lego would put out some false info to see who spreads it.