Mandalorianknight

This doesn't cover stuff like indiana jones, which as we've just seen they're alright continuing to make sets for, and also kinda hits a wall when you realize they aren't making just generic batman sets. They made batman sets specifically for BvS. You say this, but we do know some of the sets at least have been selling poorly. Off the top of my head the BP bust has been a catastrophically poor-selling set, which we can piece out from people who know store owners, how quickly it got more VIP points, etc. There are ways to tell how well something sold pretty easily without having lego's metrics.

My friend is hyped because he just bought the AT-TE and now he can have every class for the 212th as well. (no special printing of course, but what can ya do?) I agree that the Slave 1 looks silly, I'd go so far as to say it looks stupid. For the 501st pack, I was gonna say I'm very happy there's no new generic trooper since we just got a ton, but then the new helmet mold.... but then there are generic 501st helmets in the set. You're out of your mind if you think this will ever hit clearance, though. I'm not sure I'm gonna manage to get any opening day. The TIE bomber has no right looking as good as it does. I'm really suspicious that we're not seeing something, because that's solid value for a $65 set if it is as big as it looks. I'm not rating the bomber until we get more angles, as like I said it's suspiciously good, but it does look really nice. Looks like there is a large new piece to connect the wings to the cockpits.

I 100% agree with literally every word you've put down in this comment, lol. Stories with wholesome values and themes that stand the test of time are timeless precisely because of that, like you said. As opposed to the cynicism, biting tone, and trying to push a message about current events that more modern movies do all too often. That's not to say darker, more modern media is bad. But it can't rely on being cynical and edgy. For example, I thought Andor was pretty good. But something like the boys, where the edginess is all the substance the show has, is literally unwatchable for me. (It's not that I don't like gore/violence. Well, I don't, but I've loved shows like Invincible where the gore isn't the point of the story. But when it feels like the creators expect you to applaud them just for being edgy, I can't get through the show.) And yeah, I agree about the brickheadz too. I don't understand why Frodo's receding hairline isn't a bigger issue for most people. If it wasn't for the ring and the packaging you wouldn't be able to tell it was him. I think it was @Rui Miguel who posted much better brickheadz of Frodo and other characters just weeks before these were revealed. I think I might get Arwen and Aragorn for my stepfather, since he's a huge fan of LOTR, but honestly I might just make Legolas and Gimli myself for him, since those are his favorites, and given the quality of the official ones I think I can do fairly well. And finally, I totally agree that both the first hobbit movie and it's sets were strong, with the sequels falling off. The hobbit should have been either a two-parter or just a 3&1/2 hour movie.

My thoughts: (scaling: 1: unpurchasable 2: abysmal 3: really bad. 4: bad 5: subpar. 6: ok aside from a minor issue 7: decent. 8: good. 9: great. 10: exemplary.) X-wing polybag: 7.5/10 it's fine. It's an X-wing. The "nose" seems a bit long. 501st battle pack: 9/10 I'm buying 2 copies day of release. A nice side build, and 4 excellent figures. I love the attachments, that the heavies do have backpacks after all, and that the heavies have, well, heavier weapons. The price continues to annoy me, but if you're gonna make $20 battle packs feel "worth it", new, desirable figs stuffed with accessories and a canon side build is a good way to do it. Slave 1 microfighter: 4/10 Jeez, they couldn't even give boba his antenna? I honestly think I've seen better MOCS of that microfighter. Heck, and I know how egotistical this'll sound, but I think MINE was better. The cockpit is weird, the wings are too small, the guns can't rotate, and it overall looks dumb. But when it comes down to it, it's a cheap way to get boba fett, and that's what'll matter for most people.

Temple of Doom (which received several sets and will be receiving a new one soon) has a man pull another man's still beating heart out of his chest. Not implied, shown. It's why the PG-13 rating exists in the US. BvS is pretty bad too, more consistently than most of the rest of the movies I listed (Meaning both darkness and quality. I love the Snyder Cut to death, but the films getting to it are rough), I'll just say that one of the original ideas for the film was to have batman (spoiler for just... it's not a spoiler for the movie, it's just kinda gross and something I wish I didn't know) and in the actual movie, he physically brands criminals with the bat-symbol, not to mention Jimmy Olsen's fate, the Jar of "peach tea" scene, etc. I totally agree with the wholesomeness point. There's a purity of message in LOTR that most modern movies don't have. I'd say the original SW trilogy and the first couple Harry Potters are the only major pop-culture examples I can think of with that sort of wholesomeness to them, which makes some sense as they all follow the hero's journey and aren't filled with profanity and explicit jokes.

I know it was real, but the comment is still funny. You'd think if they actually had source material for the mechs we could at least get some of the better designs from it. Is Goblin the only one to show up based on the theme? That BP mech would have been pretty cool to get, it actually has a fairly unique design.

Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Harry Potter, the MCU, the DCEU, etc all have had sets from movies just as dark, if not darker, than the LOTR trilogy. Are you going to say that LOTR isn't appropriate for 7+/8+, but Temple of Doom, Batman V Superman, Rogue One, Civil War/Infinity War, The Deathly Hallows/Half Blood Prince, etc are? (I didn't include Avatar because I haven't seen it, I think I've made my point with the other franchises. That said, I do think out of LOTR, Indy, and Avatar, they are being set up to compete. My guess is only one or two continue, and my money and hope is on Avatar losing that fight.)

January: 501st Battle pack (Based off battlefront 2017): 2x 501st heavies, 1x 501st specialist with new macrobinoculars part, 1x 501st officer. Build unknown IIRC. For some reason the boxart recognizes the 20th anniversary of Clone Wars 03 Slave 1 Microfighter ($9.99): TBOBF Boba TIE Bomber ($64.99): Vader, a Gonk, a TIE pilot, and an officer who may or may not be Rae Sloane. March: P2 Captain Rex helmet ($69.99) P1 Commander Cody helmet ($69.99) May: Jabba's Throne Diorama (Price $100, I think) Throne Room Duel Diorama ($99.99): Final Duel from EP VI Speeder bike chase diorama ($79.99) 1HY, date unknown: Pirate Snubfighter ($34.99): Mando S3 TIE Interceptor VS Fang Fighter ($89.99): Mando S3 I'm probably missing something or have one or two details wrong, but this is what we know.

Medics really does seem like the obvious choice for Pink, I just really like the washing machine joke. Maybe I'll have pinks be medics and just work a washing machine mishap into my space display. Adds another layer to the joke: The pilot is freaking out that he now has to go through medical school.

This is what puzzles me most. For the brown color being different, it could be about the fact that the characters have studded hair, and generic dark brown plates are rarer than reddish brown ones. (as opposed to slopes, which are pretty frequent. I also say this just off memory, I'm sure a quick bricklink search could well prove me mistaken.) But the hairline is just... what? It's such a strange design choice. I don't think that's necessarily true. HP is a theme largely devoid of conflict for many of the sets and earlier books. (I mean, they've made like 2 sets off the book with the most external conflict since the reboot), and while the books are aimed at kids as well, most merchandise I've seen of them seems to be trying to hit the nostalgia button for adults. I think Lord of the Rings sets, if well-done, could definately be a hit amongst kids. I know a lot of my friends bought the sets when I was younger, and I bought some of the hobbit ones without knowing about the films at the time. (Which, quite frankly, probably was better for that. I think I'd be less likely to buy them if my frame of reference was the films rather than the book. The Hobbit films were not great.)

Can't wait for the summer wave of 2024 where lego releases black boxes on shelves that contain the new sets. You have to wait until someone buys and reviews it to see the reveal.

Agreed. Groot and she hulk are good examples of ones for it to use. Characters that aren't as big as Hulk, but are noticeably larger than a standard human. It'd also be nice to get for Mr. Fantastic, though clearly it's not enough of a stretched limb to convey his powers excellently, so we'd need a 2017 Ms Marvel style figure as well. Actually, it'd be funny to get something like a hose piece with Mr Fantastic's head on the end, or him on a 2x6 printed tile. Just something small to give the extent of his ability. I don't know that a bigfig is $20/25, I'd say even $15 is pushing it. Though you are right that with how exorbitant the prices are getting (whether lego's own doing, inflation, or both), even what would have been $10 extra for a bigfig in 2021 would be a lot more in 2023. It's either a temporary pricing measure, or nothing at all and we're just overthinking it. For why hulk didn't show up, we would need two new molds for the new style (body and hair), which I suppose may have been a bit too much for marvel's budget with everything else this wave.

Gollum mold but they work a hinge into the body so he can stand up

The game the figures are based off is a weird spot in canon, but IIRC the campaign and all playable skins/classes are canon. So heavies and specialist snipers are canon, but we just don't know how they fit into the GAR army organization. Apparently just a rando, but the sets have to be revealed soon, right? I mean, they come out in under a month. We usually get images around Thanksgiving, so this is a fair bit later than normal.

I honestly never thought Arwen was all that iconic of a character, but the second I saw the brickheadz I instantly changed my mind. I think minifigures of her would be great. As someone who missed out on the LOTR sets (I had a couple hobbit ones as a kid, but I lost them somehow. Shame, too, as I had the Smaug set), I really just want a way to get the Fellowship cheap. The only characters I have right now are Golumm and Gandalf. Yes. That is 100% what they do, for some reason, as they've stated in interviews. (I know how absurd it sounds, so I don't blame your skeptecism.) And while you're correct that 3-D part files still exist, it's not the CAD design of a mold that's the expensive part, it's the actual physical molds themselves.

It's not bad. I personally am not a fan of massive parts on non-bionicle builds, but they work fairly well here. The face is especially good, as is the fire. Jeez, dude. I sincerely hope this is a joke. (Though IIRC you were the guy who wanted them to stop making lego harry potter for some reason, so perhaps it's not) If a picture with dust on someone's plastic toy offends you, you need to stay off the internet.

To be fair, the sting mold for a brickheadz would be hilariously small. They do use it sometimes, but, like... it's supposed to be a short sword for someone hobbit sized, and it'd look like a letter opener in his hand. No, your frodo is better. His hairline is weird in the official set. Your gandalf is better too IMO, but I feel like that's more subjective whereas your Frodo really does just feel actually better. My thoughts: Aragon and Arwen is by far the best, and probably the only one I'll get. They both look excellent and are recognizable despite not being the most iconic characters in the franchise, lego did a great job. Gandalf and the Balrog is odd. I maintain the Balrog is a weird choice, and he kinda looks messy (Though that might be the quality of the images making him look like a vague black blob). Gandalf is fine. nothing special, but nothing bad. Frodo and Golumm is rough. Golumm himself, like gandalf, is fine, but why does frodo have a receding hairline? His hair doesn't look curly or hobbit-like at all, and I think he should have been a 3x3 brickheadz size too, not a full sized one. He looks like a middle aged, balding man in a frodo costume.

Yeah, just the one wave, but they do show up in other sets post-january. Venom in 2020, Doc ock v spidey in 2021, goblin v spidey in 2022. Maybe we'll have a 2 pack this year, but I think the GR bike took it's place. We won't get young avengers until there's an MCU young avengers thing. I personally don't like the young avengers, (and I don't think I've ever met anyone IRL who does. it's the avengers but if they were a YA novel), so I'm personally fine with it. Not exactly super anxious to get Speed or Hulkling in the way I am for the X-men, Fantastic 4, etc.

I'm starting to think he might just be trolling. @cosmic, totally agree with pretty much all your thoughts on the sets. The ghost rider mech being $35 for one fig when there's a ninjago set with more figs AND A SIDE BUILD of the same thing annoys me, no way the marvel tax is that high. Though I will say Okoye doesn't interest me much personally, she's just not a character that interests me much. I kinda would have preferred M'Baku, if we're doing wakandans, though if any figure could replace her, I'd want Infinity War war machine or an updated Cap.

Yeah, I was pretty happy with that one. The Rocket boy from a CMF series comes with the torso, though you have to use different shades of gray for the helmet and tanks. Hence the rocketry thing. The rations officer is a good choice, I might have to swap someone to that. Maybe Pink is Medical and Purple is rations, though I really like the washing machine joke. -Actually, you know what, I'm keeping Pink as it is, the spacemen will have to wait for another color to stop cooking their own food. I'm living on Mac and Cheese, they can too.

You do understand the movie was moved up, right? If lego was planning on a may release, it's very possible that they weren't able to jump the set a full 5 months in development.

Hmm. Intelligence/cartographer/documentarian might be a good role for them. I mean, they're both jokes. One about pink being stereotypically a girl color, and the other about, y'know, when you'd put whites in with reds in old laundry. When it comes down to it it's plastic toy colors, it's not really a huge deal. That said, have I been overanalyzing spaceman colors just as much as you, and will continue to do so? 100%. Always good to see you around. Orange is a tough one for me since the double inspiration of book/rarity is tough. Totally agree we need new colors too, I think a people pack type set with 2 of each of the og 5 colors and 1 of all the new ones (plus 1 or two exclusives) would be nice. I think here's my new list, minor updates: White: Pilot Red: Engineering Blue: Security Yellow: Communications Black: Resource analysist/general scientist Orange: Command staff Green: Roboticist Pink: Pilot who accidentally put his clothes in the wash at the same time as red. I'm standing by this one. LBG: Treaded/ground vehicle driver... or maybe rocketry. Not sure. Purple: medical Brown: instructor/caretaker

I really don't know why they have the avengers logos as an option. It's not like they're on the actual ship in the movie, and unlike many of the other quinjets this one really seems to be striving for accuracy (looking at you, ultimate quinjet) Yeah, the cockpit is so small compared to the wings (which themselves are pretty big, and waaay to wide for lego to just use some plates) that I'm not sure how they're gonna make it for $100 without it either being super disproportionate or just tiny. I'd say even a 4 seat cockpit is wishful thinking, the 2018 benatar only had 2 seats.

No I meant they gave a reason in TROS and it was that it's like a one in a million chance that the Holdo Manuver would actually work, which... seems worse than the fanon explanations, because then it's just sacrificing your capital ship for a 1/1000000 chance at destroying the enemy ship. I think I'm not explaining my argument well. My point was that I generally agree with you, the holdo manuver is the exception. In that same comment I say it makes sense for R2's thing and for the kyber-powered ship. And my issue with the holdo manuver isn't that it worked, but that if it works, why isn't it constantly used?

Not according to TROS. To be fair, "R2's leg rockets stopped working at some point over the 20 year gap between eps3 and 4" makes a lot more sense than "you can suicide bomb a much larger ship by jumping to hyperspace, and no one's ever used it before, including against star destroyers, the executor and death star, because... we've decided the ship used to destroy the supremacy was special and had special shields, which is never mentioned in the film" Now granted, I don't think disney deserves all the blame, as stuff like RO and Andor is great and I maintain that at least 2/3 of the prequels are really awful. But TLJ's plot was nonsense. I thought it was hinting that the ship was powered by kyber crystals, which would explain why we don't see them often. We know luthen has them, this ship is clearly special, and those were lightsabers.