Accio Lego

Gecko is definitely on my list - it honestly seems perfect for lego since snot techniques could easily let them climb up walls. A tortoise would also be nice.

There’s a difference between ‘this small animal needs to be slightly bigger proportionally so it can fit on a stud’ and ‘lego isn’t realistic, so comparative sizes don’t matter’. The rat mold might be a bit larger in comparison to a human than they are in real life, but it’s still small enough for a minifigure to hold one in their hand, and it still looks smaller than the cat or owl (it’s natural predators). Thus, a dog that is supposed to be noticeably smaller than a wolf shouldn’t be the same size as one. And I’m still not sure why there’s any speculation about Padfoot using the wolf mold, since his facial and body structure aren’t the same at all.

I mean, neither the shepherd used in PoA or the deerhound used in OotP (movies) are quite as lanky an long necked as an Afghan hound, and none of that changes the fact that, large or not, Padfoot isn’t near the size of an actual wolf. It also doesn’t change the fact that one of his most notable scenes has him facing off against Moony the werewolf, where it’s obvious that 1) his face shape really is much more domestic dog instead of wolf, and more importantly 2) he’s significantly smaller than the werewolf, which is minifigure sized in lego form. It’s obviously tricky to tell from the pic we have, but the new wolf looks to be in a realistic scale with minifigs, which is to say that it should look roughly equal in size to one. That’s too big for Padfoot compared to Moony.

The space series was leaked with pictures from some special event where it was physically on display though wasn’t it? And then the D&D set leaked with what appeared to be the actual image file of the series checklist. Compared to those two, boxart like we’re seeing for series 27 is ‘normal’ as far as leaks go, but still rather early.

It’s still there, and @michael_bricks_f0rever also has the image on their account currently. It’s hard to tell exactly how well the new cat or wolf would work for Harry Potter characters currently, since the image is an out of focus group shot where most of those animals’ bodies are concealed - we wouldn’t even be talking about a new cat if it weren’t noticeable that the tail in the pic was thicker, the way things are place make it impossible to tell if the face shape is any different. That said, I wouldn’t get excited about Padfoot appearing in the wolf mold, he’s a big dog but ultimately still a domesticated dog, and the current mold used for him is actually the correct size, and scales well by being noticeably smaller than the minifigure werewolf, which I’m not sure the new wolf would. Crookshanks, on the other hand, probably would look better with the new cat mold. There have been two attempts at him (both since the reboot) and there were some pretty large changes between the two, suggesting that the designers were aware that shorthair Crookshanks didn’t look quite right. Now, none of the January sets could include him, but the Knight Bus being on that list means that the foot is in the door for more PoA sets in the summer wave. I’ve said before that a PoA based Quality Quidditch Supplies and Magical Menagerie would make a good installment in the DA playset series, and any PoA castle section in the new modular system could easily include a Gryffindor common room.

Some groups shots of series 19 included the French bulldog and some didn’t. None seem to have included the new poop piece. So yeah, there’s definitely a precedent of not cluttering up group shots with every single accessory. The animals that we do know are in this series look great though. The cockatoo is lovely, and has quite likely convinced me to get the quartermaster. The wolf and new cat also look good - from what we can see. Rather frustrating that most of their bodies are covered up in the group shot, I will remain irked until we get better pics.

Very cool to get a leak this early, although I suppose the D&D series was equally far ahead of its release date. I’m personally holding out full judgment until proper images come out, since what we’ve got right now is out of focus, partially obscured by a watermark, and a group shot (which are notorious for not being able to fit all details in). I will say that my impression is still overall favorable, and the main criticism I see cropping up here seems to be, once again, that the four characters based on contemporary hobbies are wearing ‘normal’ clothes, which has never really bothered me. I am excited about the three new animals we can see. And the pterodactyl costume fan looks right on par with the other two dino costumes, so the trio should look good together. The arm on the Astronomy kid is also interesting. It’s hard to say definitively because of the image quality, but I think they do indeed have a prosthetic arm – simply because I can’t see any reason why the character would be wearing gloves, let alone elbow length ones the same color as the Friends prosthetic part. And it certainly tracks with my belief that Lego would be adding a new partial arm mold to the minifigure line as well based on developments in the Jurassic World animated spinoff (it’s even the right arm!which is to say the left)

Yeah, and the versions without the diaper lean more towards the Roman god depiction by putting him in a toga or similar don’t they?

That’s probably also why when the did end up giving the spider a much needed update it remained unprinted, allowing it to still be used liberally in sets. I personally think the bat could pull off an update similar to the spider, with an improved sculpt but remaining unprinted, but I’m sure part of that is just that it constantly bothers me that the base antistud connector on the current bat severely limits where and how you can hang it upside down. I’d really love to see a new bat with a clip foot instead. And I’ve said before that the solution to wanting a more realistic frog but not getting rid of the classic mold which is used for so many different things is to just put out a slightly larger and printed amphibian and call it a toad instead. Lego’s had both a rabbit and hare out at the same time so it’s not like there isn’t precedent. One old animal that does need to officially ditch the unprinted version for a complete update is the parrot. With no current pirates theme, the parrot has barely been showing up at all, never mind multiple copies in a set justifying keeping the price down. That seems to be a semi-popular opinion though, since I’ve seen people speculating about whether the upcoming Quartermaster will have a parrot (personally, I think it’s also past time we got some sort of neck attachment that lets the parrot perch on a minifig’s shoulder too).

True enough, but it’s worth pointing out that leaning into the reptilian aspect on Medusa allowed them to do more interesting prints and parts that made the character distinct beyond just her hair piece (especially when you consider that the Roman Emperor in series 9 came out only a couple of years earlier). Her serpentine ‘leg’ piece is potentially useful for other mythical monsters. In contrast, both potential versions of Cupid would come with similar wings and archery equipment, the difference would be one wearing a toga (which we haven’t seen in awhile) that would be appealing on its own to various collectors, and the other being a distinctly non-infant minifig that’s naked except for a diaper - which is obviously less versatile.

I think the most compelling point in favor of Roman god vs. modern commercialism appearance is that the version of Cupid most often show in current valentines merchandise looks like a cherub with a diaper. And, personally, if I were a Lego designer I wouldn’t want to open the can of worms that putting out an adult diaper piece would create - most AFOLs who really want it are going to do questionable things with it. A classic Roman toga is a whole lot safer, and would probably have a lot more people buying multiples for historical builds.

I mean, there have only been four boxed series so far. Half of them were licensed withblego having little control of color choices, and of the other two, one was the space themed series where a darker color was a thematically appropriate choice. The last one is series 25, which had yellow boxes. Don’t really think there’s enough there to claim any sort of trend. Nah, too close to the red accents over black base on the D&D series. The most important thing about the color from a marketing perspective is making sure that potential customers will instantly recognize that a new series has been added to shelves – that means high contrast with the previous series that could still be on shelves. Add onto that, the spring series is apparently an F1 licensed one, and I just checked their logo - it’s red as well. Even if they put it on a white background Lego is going to want something in the bright blue or green range to contrast with those two red logos (yellow could also work, but series 25 is too recent).

I don’t think the red panda was introduced because of the jungle subtheme. Remember, it also featured heavily in this summer’s Dreamzzz wave as a new companion for Izzy. The Dreamzzz team seems pretty proactive about creating whatever new molds they fancy (say hello to the raven which was released in the same sets) so it would not shock me at all if they were the ones who created the mold and City just threw it in their lowest price point set because they knew they could sell a lot to people who just wanted the panda. (As someone who’s loved red pandas for years I can’t help but approve)

2 definitely ‘yes’s (with a high possibility of multiples for those two) and 5 maybes is pretty good considering that series 26 only had 2 recolored robot pets and the following F-1 series is guaranteed not to have any animals at all. (Come to think of it, series 25 was clearly designed around the idea that a space themed set would be next - with no sci-fi characters at all. Is it possible we’ll see something similar but opposite here? With the designers pulling out all the stops to make these minifigs unique because they know the next set will be very monotone to everyone outside of a niche group?)

Pterodactyl was my guess for the dino costume this series. The Ideas dinosaur skeletons set featured a T-rex, Triceratops, and Pterodactyl, and we’d already gotten the first two in costume form. If they continue I’d expect to see a Brachiosaurus since that’s what appeared in the Natural History Museum modular building.

Whoops, missed that one, or maybe I was just getting skaters and gamers mixed up, since we got multiple male gamers before the female e-sports champion in series 25.

The otter was not a new mold - it had previously appeared in a Harry Potter set (in glitter trans light blue as a patronus). There have been exceptions to the ‘no new molds in Ideas’ rule, but they’ve pretty much exclusively involved the execution of licensed characters (see Zero in the latest Nightmare Before Christmas set).

The S19 Dog Sitter isn’t simple by any stretch of the imagination. She has dual molded arms, dual molded legs with feet and side printing, a double sided head, and a dual molded hat/hair piece with printing. She’s one of the most detailed minifigs in the series even before you take into account that her 4 accessories include 2 new molds and a recolor. The only reason to describe her as ‘simple’ is the general trend for AFOLs to turn their noses up at most City compatible characters in CMFs, and that doesn’t change the budget that went into that figure. CMFs have only gotten more detailed since then, so I think a minifig with good prints, a standard weapon, a new animal mold, and a recolor of a preexisting animal is well with possibilities.

I don’t think your expectations need to be tempered too much – beastmaster and cat lover don’t leave much to interpretation after all (at least not when it comes to the presence of animals as accessories). I personally suspect the Cat Lover will be a counterpart to the series 19 Dog Park Attendant. That minifig introduced the dachshund, recolored the French bulldog, and included a shovel and introduced the poop piece on top of that (to say nothing of the amazing detail on the minifigure itself). So there’s precedent for us to potentially see a new sitting cat, a recolor/reprint of the existing cat mold, plus a bonus accessory like a cat toy alongside the Cat Lover. As for the beastmaster, being part of the Wolfpack faction makes a wolf the obvious choice (although I don’t see why it would have to be small - remember, the foal was introduced in a cmf so they’ve got the space to make it bigger than the shepherd dog like it would be in real life). And the use of the more ambiguous term ‘beast’ could mean that this character is the master of more than one species (something that’s just occurred to me: guess what new Lego animal hasn’t appeared in a realistic color yet and has a symbiotic relationship with wolves in real life?)

I was more speculating about potentially having a falcon (or other bird of prey) in addition to a wolf or some other animal. Simply because ‘beastmaster’ is a more ambiguous term that suggests mastery over more than one species. A guy commanding a wolf pack might more accurately be called a ‘wolf tamer’, but someone with a wolf and, say, a raven as well would be more likely to fit my idea of a ‘beast master’ (fun fact, wolves and ravens actually work together symbolically in real life!)

That is basically what was recently released as the life sized brick built Ideas set, so it would be very appropriate to recreate it in minifigure compatible form. Personally, I’d also love to see a cat with a pointed color scheme (what you get on Siamese, Burmese, etc.) or a calico/tortoiseshell.

The pumpkin ghost reminds me that I was planning on redecorating the new Great Hall since the presence of the troll in the bathroom means it should be decked out for Halloween. It’ll be easy to replace the candles since the jack-o’-lantern head cover and trans yellow minifig head are both currently available on bricks and pieces, but if anyone has recommendations for candy display builds to replace those boring salads I’d definitely appreciate it! (Looks like cauldrons full of lollipops feature heavily in the movie, does anyone know if any of the lollipop printed round tiles are currently available on B&P and under what number?)

That’s right! He was so long ago I forgot about him. He used the old spider mold that had been around for ages though, so there’s still no precedent for introducing a new (to system) animal alongside a costume cmf.

Woah! This could be pretty cool if true (as it should be to make up for the lame sounding ‘minifigure’ series reportedly coming in spring) 1. Wolfpack Beastmaster: sounds like this will be a historical/castle style character using the Wolfpack insignia. ‘Beast master’ teases that we’ll see a new animal, with a wolf being the obvious choice - although not guaranteed. I’m getting the impression of a more wild spin on a hounds master though (Lego probably wants to do that trope while avoiding any connection to modern blood sports, which is a good idea), so there’s probably still a good chance of an actual wolf, but I wouldn’t rule out this character pulling a ‘dog park attendant’ and also dabbling in falconry. An early strong contender for most popular in the series. 2. Pirate Quartermaster: not my cup of tea theme-wise, but a popular subject that promises to have some extra fun details. Hopefully we’ll see a new weapon and/or headgear for this one 3. Steampunk Inventor: Lego is frankly overdue to tackle the steampunk trope. There’s just so much fun stuff they could do with the genre. I could easily see this ballooning into something bigger the way the Monkey King from series 19 did. 4. Pterodactyl Costume Fan: this was literally on my guessing game list that I never got the chance to submit!!! Nicely rounds off a trio of costumes based on the dinos from the Ideas Dinosaur Skeletons set. A must have for me personally. 5. Bogeyman: a creepy mythical creature with a lot of leeway for the designers to go whatever direction they want. Should be interesting to see the result. 6. Jetpack Racer: I bet this will be making use of the new back appliance introduced for the series 26 EVA Astronaut. 7. Cat Lover: An even stronger contender to imitate the Dog Park Attendant - fingers crossed for a new longhaired or sitting cat mold and a new color for the current cat or kitten. Hopefully they’re wielding a cat toy instead of a litter box scoop this time. 8.Longboarder: literally wrote out an entire paragraph speculating about a surfing longboard before remembering that it’s also a type of skateboard. Given size constraints I’d guess it’s the latter. Hopefully this one’s a girl since previous skateboarders were all boys. 9. Astronomer Kid: could be boring, could be interesting. Hopefully will do something new a give the kid a reflecting telescope since Lego’s done the more traditional refraction telescope in a million different ways at this point. I’m curious about the potential prints a real life space fan. 10. Cupid: I wonder if they’ll go the traditional Roman god route or settle for the modern commercial Valentines Day corruption. Could be a good chance to get the firing bow and arrow parts in new colors 11. Hamster Costume Fan: sounds very cute, will probably be well received by kids. Less interesting for animal mold fans since I can’t recall any previous animal costumes that came with the actual animal as an accessory. 12. Plush Toy: very ambiguous description, but could be interesting. I wonder if it will make use of one of the many defunct Vidiyo heads. All and all sounds like a pretty promising series. I’m personally most excited about the beastmaster, cat lover, a pterodactyl costume.

For a one off like the ideas set it makes sense to reuse a Friends cat mold for Simba - it fits pretty well and the Friends animals are designed to have more elaborately printed faces than regular system animals. Oooo, where are you seeing the Wednesday sets? I might need several