Accio Lego

Ah, yes, I see what you mean. That capybara definitely wouldn’t fit in a Minifigure system. I certainly do hope we get a City version though. I think there’s definitely still a great big question mark over if we’ll get a singular jungle trip or a grab bag of locations from across the globe. On the bright side - the Minifigure system has the toucan mold that can be brought back which is also a Central and South American native, so there’s reason to hope.

It would be a waste of an adorable new mold if they didn’t. And if it shows up in Friends it will almost certainly be made available through PaB as well. This could suggest a South American based jungle for at least part of the subtheme. And for Friends especially it makes some sense since they already have a sloth as well. The question is whether all the sets across the subtheme will stick to the same continent or not.

I agree that a $200 Great Hall wouldn’t do well - which is why I imagine that the Great Hall/flagship set of the new castle system is the $140 76440. Chamber of Secrets currently retails at $150, so that makes a lot more sense. As for the $200 76435 - I’m surprised nobody has brought up the microscale Hogwarts Castle from last year (happy 2024 btw). The price per part ratio obviously doesn’t scream microscale, but the price tag does seem appropriate for a stand alone 18+ set.

Proper (Friends style) Capybara spotted in one of the new Encanto sets! It bothered me so much that the storybook style set from when the movie first released just used the Friends hamster mold to represent a capybara so it’s lovely to see a proper one. It’s in 43239 - the Maribel photo frame and keepsake box. With Friends apparently being roped in to the summer jungle explorer subtheme in the same style as the current Space sets, we’ll probably see this new mold getting used there too.

Very true, but if Lago does decide to do an extensive underground level like people are speculating, then Snape’s classroom and office can be paired thematically with plenty of different things spanning multiple movies - the Sorcerer’s Stone protections not so much.

True enough I guess. Especially since it won’t be paired with the Chamber of Secrets again - that should be different enough to sell while the old set is still on shelves (doubly so since the 2021 set uses the Chamber for its name and any upcoming one would probably be something like ‘Hogwarts Great Hall: [allusion to specific scene]’). Since it’s pretty likely we’ll see a Great Hall, I’m curious to know what scene everyone thinks will be represented? We’ve already seen the sorting in 2018 and a weak representation of the Dueling Club combined with breakfast in the 2021 version bundled with the Chamber of Secrets, and there are multiple reasons why I don’t see Lego repeating either configuration. Personally I think a Halloween theme could work - the whole “Troll in the dungeon!” bit from the first movie. And that would allow them to put challenges like the winged key room and chessboard underneath in the subterranean level we’re all hoping for.

Everyone’s speculating about a new Great Hall set, but so far I haven’t found anything suggesting that the Chamber of Secrets set will be retiring anytime soon. I realize that it’s kinda the grand centerpiece of and castle system, but would lego really overlap them like that? If they do, then there’s no way that the new Great Hall would have the Chamber under it as well.

Wasn’t 76433 supposedly a buildable mandrake? The rumors from a little while back said 576 pieces and a $64.99 price tag, but that’s close enough to this list that it might be accurate.

I think that bit at the back is the string that acts as a hatband. It doesn’t always show up on merchandise, but the Hallmark talking Sorting Hat ornament I have includes it. Based of the picture on the back of the box that shows the mouth, eyes, and top section moving back and forth without any marking around that piece at the back, so I think the movement is controlled by toggling the top of the hat – which makes some sense since it is the easiest thing to reach while interacting with the set face to face.

The hat often ponders a little bit before calling out its decision. Given that the word ‘combinations’ is used I’m guessing there are about six or seven options for what the hat can say before calling out the chosen house, plus Harry and Ron’s specific sortings and its speech to Harry in the headmaster’s office from CoS. Although I wouldn’t mind if they slipped a Sorting Hat song in there, although that seems like a long shot unless there’s an unused recording out there for Lego to take advantage of.

The rumors about a ‘sound brick’ accompanied the reveal of the set name several months ago, but I have to admit, 31 sound combinations was a lot more than I was expecting, and the phrasing suggests suggests a set of sound bites that are randomly mixed and matched. I’ll admit, I’m intrigued - especially since the build itself doesn’t look nearly as much like an off brand poo emoji as I feared it might.

I think there’s some decently nice stuff in this line up, although I’ll admit that I’m not familiar enough with the old space themes to have a strong opinion on the throwbacks. Turns out the ‘Orian’ figure res was the constellation Orion, and he turned out pretty cool. I’m waiting to make my final judgement until higher resolution pictures drop though - the typical potato leak quality doesn’t show enough detail for me to tell if that NASA astronaut passes muster or not.

I think the reason we’re not likely to get a Disney or Marvel series next year is because we just got both of those this year and Lego doesn’t really do the licenses back to back like that. Fortnite has been so popular for so long that I don’t think waiting a little under a year since the game drop would hurt sales of a hypothetical cmf. Especially since it would give players a chance to see all the skins in action a develop favorite designs that they’d then be eager to get in real life. That said, I wouldn’t discount a new theme coming out of left field or something like the muppets returning for a series 2. We just don’t have anything to go off yet other than ‘likely a licensed series’.

Looks like the French bulldog to me

That confused me too – I thought ‘Orian’ might be a character from an old theme that I wasn’t aware of but searching “lego Orian” on google just gives me hits for Orion - which still gives me space stuff but not anything that would involve translucent parts. Unless they’re doing a Minifigure representation of a constellation?

Haven’t seen anyone post it here yet but a rumored list for the Space CMF has shown up on Instagram, so I figured someone should put it here too. 1. Robot human suit for tiny aliens 2. Classic space robot 3. Retro Spacewoman (female counterpart to series 17 figure) 4. M-Tron Redux 5. Alien in UFO costume 6. Grey Alien tourist 7. Alien Insectoid 8. Modern Astronaut 9. Ice Planet Redux with Space Penguin 10. Mutated BlackTron 11. Orian with translucent parts 12. Space Nurse with pink Space Baby Personally, I’m really interested in what ‘modern astronaut’ means. I’m personally hoping for an at least semi realistic EVU suit with new molds to make it properly accurate.

Even beyond the desire to thoroughly establish a new system - the whole ‘mystery portraits’ thing rather requires interior walls to hang them up on - the three sets we’ve seen featuring them so far have incorporated places to hang the portraits into their designs. Incidentally, that also still leaves ample opportunity for the speculated Zonko’s/Hog’s Head Hogsmeade set - and now I’m wondering whether one of our unseen portraits could be Ariana Dumbledore.

Yeah, humans don’t have crayola yellow skin either, but we don’t mind that because it’s just how lego works. I’ve never seen an issue with handwaving too bright hair colors in the same way.

I’m not sure I’d take castle/pirates/historical themes entirely off the table when it comes to crossing over with other in house themes. Living history exhibits are a thing after all, and I’ve been in castles and aboard sailing ships that have featured docents in period costumes (to say nothing of ren fairs) - you’d really only need to add some information sign and amazed tourists to make something like that compatible with the current City and Friends lines. You might not be able to rope Technic in like they have with the current Space wave, but one of the Space branded Friends sets is a camping diorama with a night sky and telescope, so there’s already ample of wiggle room for how this multi-theme subtheme works.

Uh, the same thing same thing I’m doing with the current Marvel series – not buy any? Seriously, 2/3 of the CMFs for years have been licensed. What’s the difference between switching from 1 general series and 2 series for different licenses you may or may not like to 1 general series, 1 unlicensed themed series you may or may not like, and 1 licensed series you may or may not like?

Yeah, it’s kinda crazy when you realize that Gambon was Dumbledore 75% of the films but we’ve only gotten 2 minifigs of his Dumbledore wayyyyy back in 2018 and 2019. Hopefully lego will rectify that soon.

Honestly, I probably know just as much about the differences between the two technologies as you do – I’m not even sure how accurately you could show the difference at minifig scale. Good catch on spotting the short hair version in one of the Friends sets - I only knew about the one in the City Burger Truck set. That seems to confirm the idea that they’re adding these kinds of pieces to allow more accessibility and options over multiple themes.

That hair piece is great. I think it’s very interesting that after quite awhile of doing printed cochlear implants lego is now dropping two different versions dual molded into hair pieces, but this does open up a world of possibilities for Friends and other flesh toned themes as well as significantly expanding the facial options that deaf minifigs can have.

That’s very good news!

Yesssssss, the dog groomer’s hair is definitely something I want to see in the round!