Accio Lego

Dante maybe, but given how the Dalmatians are drawn I can’t see how one scaled and stylized to fit next to a Minifigure would look all that different from a regular lego dog.

Well if they go for an adult dog it has to be Pongo or Perdita. But if they decided on a puppy (possible considering they finally made that leap with the Police Dog Training set) there are several more options (my vote would be for Lucky but I’m horribly biased). Either way we’re probably looking at a new dog mold, which is exciting it itself.

Promobricks just dropped the Disney 100 cmf series lineup and there are several characters that come with animal companions as accessories! In addition to a couple of very small printed animals, we’re also supposed to see: - Princess Aurora with owl - Miguel with Dante the dog - Cruella DeVil with a Dalmatian The dogs especially seem to indicate new molds because none of the current ones really fit Dalmatians or a Xoloitzcuintli. The owl is also an interesting prospect. I can see the owl in Sleeping Beauty going either way in regards to whether it needs a new mold or just uses the current owl mold - his design is a bit squatter than the current owl so it’s hard to say for sure.

Yeah, the presence of just the evil queen kinda screams ‘Snow White is coming in a set’ I imagine they’re talking about his charging station. It’s red and if you asked someone to describe it without context l wouldn’t be surprised if they went with ‘hoverboard’. Definitely impressed with this line up. Pocahontas and Coco would never have been my fist guesses for 90s and Pixar representation, but between those Mulan and Princess and the Frog there’s actually a very decent amount of non-white representation in this series. Some of there I’ll have to see before deciding on, but 626 Stitch and Cruella (mainly for the Dalmatian accessory) are definite must haves for me.

Well yeah, we’ve known that a new version of Voldemort was coming for awhile because of the censored activity book covers that turned up. There’s been speculation about a summer Battle of Hogwarts set since then, simply because there aren’t many Voldemort variants and the activity books were clearly featuring something other than the black robed version from the Rise of Voldemort set. The recent Promobricks list just confirmed those suspicions and give us a fairly healthy price point to have high hopes for.

That’s what my bet is honestly. The price tag in Gringott’s screams DH2, and is more than large enough not to leave out anything from that sequence. It makes much more sense for a gwp vault to be something from Harry’s first visit in PS/SS, and the appropriate torso already exists and has been used more than once, so it would hardly be surprising to see it again.

I’ve seen a lot of people speculating about the Expecto Patronum set being based on this or that scene, so I feel the need to remind us all that 76414 is the set with a particularly high piece count for its price. We are very likely going to be seeing some sort of brick built patronus - whether it’s another kinetic sculpture somehow or Harry Potter is finally getting scene dioramas like Star Wars and Jurassic Park have (which admittedly is slightly overdue and something we’ve been skirting the line with Diagon Alley and the Collectors Edition Hogwarts Express). It’s also exciting to see both the Quidditch Trunk set and a Quidditch Practice polybag. We might finally have a way to amass complete Quidditch teams, although I suspect the polybag will feature a less useful Gryffindor player, probably Harry, but Ron and Ginny are real and more exciting possibilities. I know the possibility of a Quidditch Trunk following the same format as the Hogwarts Magical Trunk was brought up in a previous Harry Potter thread, and it looks like that what this is. Let’s hope that means that, like the Hogwarts Trunk, we’ll get one quidditch player from each house (with capes), a teacher (Madam Hooch, obviously), and a random fifth student (fingers crossed for Lee Jordan). The big question is whether lego will use the robed torsos or the quidditch jumper torsos introduced in the banner sets.

Honestly, if any part of a DH2 Gringott’s gets made separately, I’d expect it to be the underground portions. I could easily see Lego doing one set with the cart tracks and vaults (possibly with an articulated dragon), and then a separate set for the actual building that goes alongside Diagon Alley. Presuming they don’t just skip the vaults - as far as set appeal goes, the vaults would be ranked far lower than the actual Gringott’s building for most people. Regardless, I can’t see Lego ever doing the building and vaults together like you describe simply because it would make the set incompatible with any other Diagon Alley buildings.

I just think the new room of requirement is very lazy and lacklustre. There is absolutely nothing going on in the interior of that set at all, and given how this style of Hogwarts started out with decent interiors it makes even more disappointing. I understood to some extent that the Hogwarts sections from 2018-2020 were more about exterior than interior and that showed, but the new style exterior is nothing to write home about and now neither are the interiors, to be honest I've felt like that since the summer wave I’m not sure how this is a response to my comment about the upcoming DOTS sets? The 3 upcoming Harry Potter licensed DOTS sets releasing in March (which we haven’t seen yet) are entirely different from the 6 new sets coming to the Harry Potter theme in March (which have been officially revealed). I don’t see how your opinion on the RoR interior relates to that?

Current rumors suggest it’s still 12 unfortunately. I think the Lego Minifigures theme might have overextended themselves by doing all the expanded rosters for licensed series (the first Harry Potter series was all the way up at 22!), so now that their standard series has been bumped down to 12 slots they’ve decided there will be no exceptions. It’s probably less of a risk that way in case a series totally flops (*cough* TLBM series 2).

The catalog pics I’ve seen on Instagram advertise the Harry Potter DOTS sets as coming in March. That’s 1HY and we surprisingly haven’t seen them yet, so there’s at least that to look forward to. I realize not as many people are excited about those, but there is the promise of unique new prints.

I suppose we are missing any info attached to 76417, which is right in the middle of this year’s block of sequential set numbers. And if we haven’t heard anything yet it’s either a D2C or not one of this year’s sets at all. Fairly circumstantial though. Personally, I’d rather keep my theorizing to the sets we know about for sure. I’ve seen a lot of people getting pessimistic over a $160 2660 piece set not having the price per part ratio you’d expect from a minifig scale building like Gringotts, but I’d like to point out that if the bank came with the iconic dragon as a brick built sculpture on top of it (as seen in the theme park and many other marketed models of the bank), then the ppp ratio would look different than a straight building. Lego did Diagon Alley, featuring half a dozen full sized shops, for $400. Gringott’s might be somewhat bigger than the rest of the shops on the Alley, but it’s still just a single building - why wouldn’t it be a third of the price? Personally, I thought the people scrabbling to justify how lego could make Gringott’s for $250 or $500 the last couple couple of years we’re being far more unrealistic. $160 is well within the range I would have guessed if you’d asked me what price I’d expect for a separate Gringotts back when Diagon Alley came out.

While a fun concept, the piece count makes it unlikely this year’s polybag will be something minifigure scale. 55 pieces is on the high side, not as many as last year’s customizable micro castle, but considerably more than any of the previous bags featuring larger molded and printed pieces in addition to a minifigure. We’re probably looking at another microbuild of a building, vehicle, or creature.

No. Typically we don’t get much info on polybags until someone actually gets their hands on one (the few times I remember seeing a description of a polybag floating around it pretty much immediately preceded pictures dropping). Polybags also don’t typically get regular listings like sets do, so I’m guessing often very little in the way of anything written up on them before they’re already stocked in stores. For now we know it has 55 pieces and nothing else.

Given that the leaks describe the chimpanzee(s?) as the ship’s controller(s?) I can’t imagine we’ll be looking at the old, rather static, chimp mold. So either we’re looking at something new that’ll be very reminiscent of the old discontinued monkey, or something that uses minifigure parts. Frankly, I don’t think that the minifigure option would instantly discount the possibility for using the new chimp(s) as regular chimpanzees (assuming they use natural colors) - after all, if any animal can get away with using ‘human’ torsos and legs it’s got to be our closest biological ‘cousins’. Personally, I think short or medium legs paired with the extra long arms recently featured in the Avatar theme would nicely imitate the different proportions seen in apes.

That’s definitely been a somewhat unwelcome suspicion I’ve been trying to internally squash myself recently. CMFs are known for introducing new molds and it would feel like a tragic waste of the Disney 100 one had almost nothing but recolors of characters lego had already done. That said, I did have a thought upon seeing today’s news - the platinum branding isn’t just for the CMF, it’s for an entire wave of sets, which we’re still hearing about additions to. Seeing the actual logo made me think of the Harry Potter 20th anniversary sets from a couple years back and that made me think of the golden figures that came in most of that year’s Harry Potter wave. What if lego has something similar planned for the Disney 100 wave? Harry Potter proved that doing unique metallic figs didn’t prohibitively eat up the budget of a set, so it’s hardly impossible - especially since there’s 2 CMFs + several miscellaneous sets worth of unique molds for the most iconic characters that are ready and waiting to be reused. Just going through Jedi JAC Penguin’s 2023 list, it looks like we’re getting 6 or 7 minifigure sets with the Disney 100 branding. Theoretically, we could see platinum figures going like this: 43212 - {? Disney Birthday Train ?} (4+) - Might be skipped because it’s 4+ 43215 - {? TBA Classic Disney Animation ?} - Platinum Donald (based of his sailor hat in the teaser splash) 43217 - {? Carl's House ?} - Platinum Woody (based off the cowboy hat in the teaser splash, paired up with the only known Pixar set in the line since Woody is the first Pixar MC) 43220 - {? Peter Pan & Wendy's Storybook Adventures ?} - Platinum Tinkerbell (based off the wand in the official promo image, an anniversary bonus fig would be a perfect excuse to include a Tinkerbell minifig in the set despite being out of scale with the other characters) 43221 - {? TBA Classic Disney Animation ?} - Platinum Daisy ( based off flower in the teaser splash) 43225 - {? Castle ?} (18+) might not be Classic Animation, but it’s 18+ so I included it to be safe - Platinum Genie/Aladdin (based off lamp in the teaser splash) 43230 - {? TBA Classic Disney Animation ?} (18+) - Platinum Mickey, Minnie, and Goofy, possibly with Platinum Pluto as accessory (Harry Potter 20th D2C featured 3 anniversary minifigs, so I suspect a Disney one might do something similar. Minnie and Pluto hinted at with bow and bone in the teaser splash image. Park Mickey frequently dons a top hat during celebrations, so top hat in teaser splash could refer to him) Obviously it’s all just speculation with no actual evidence beyond teasers which might be purely thematic instead of referencing actual platinum pieces we’ll be seeing, but I do think the argument that doing a special anniversary figure of Tinkerbell as a bonus is the easiest way to fit her into a set she would otherwise be out of scale in is a compelling one. And having recolored characters as set bonuses instead of taking up spots in a CMF would definitely be a better allocation of resources

I think you’re vastly underestimating the lengths that many adult collectors are willing to go to get a full set of blind box figures from a licensed franchise. Have you ever seen how intense some people get over vinyl figurine blind boxes? And those pretty much can never be ‘army built’. Like it or not, that’s exactly why lego chose Marvel to kick of the switch to boxes - because that know there’s already a massive fanbase who will scream ‘take my money’ without giving a damn about the usefulness of the inevitable repeats like the normal consumer base for their unlicensed series does.

Yeah, that was the most obvious choice. Extremely popular, plenty of character options, popular with both kids and adults, and the Marvel fanboys are so rabid that they won’t care how many boxes they have to buy to get the ones they want. The real question is what kind of character spread we’ll be looking at. I can see popular characters from this year’s shows making the cut alongside next year’s stars, but that means being even more cramped in the lineup. I could definitely see some shows only getting a single character slot as a result. Personally, I wouldn’t expect to see any characters from upcoming shows that we don’t already know about - the biggest burns for Lego in the Marvel Disney+ stuff before were the inaccurate white Vision and Daughter of Thanos Gamora (the later of whom had her intro episode cut from What If season 1) and the entire What If set based on an episode that was moved from season one to season two (featuring Tony Stark on Skaar instead of Hulk). With that in mind, I imagine lego will want to focus on the characters that Marvel can’t yank out on them at the last minute - so headliners and already featured characters only. It’s also very dependent on what Marvel wants done in a cmf (who knows, so exec could say ‘Hawkeye will be nearly two years old when this comes out, skip it), and what, if any, show tie in sets we get (i.e. The Watcher would have been an obvious choice for series 1 as the overarching narrator and puppet master of What If, but lego decided to put him in the previously mentioned set based off an axed episode, so…). There are still several Superheroes sets whose names and specific licenses we don’t know, so that could effect a lot.

I think the mere fact that we’re having the discussion about whether or not Sonic is popular enough for a cmf calls into question whether or not it’s a popular enough license for this particular cmf. This is going the be the first cmf with the new boxes, Lego has to know a good chunk of their normal customers are super wary about this. They need to maximize the number of non-AFOLs and impulse buyers they get to actually ensure this series (and possibly even the future of the entire Minifigures theme) is successful. And the fact that this series will be licensed suggests that Lego’s strategy to achieve that is to produce a series of characters that they know will have widespread appeal and attract consumers from multiple age groups, including and especially children. Not to say that Sonic is impossible because of that, the recent movies did good at the box office and the theme had enough popularity to get an Ideas set, but it’s still a bit niche and if I was a Lego marketing executive I’d be wary of kicking off the boxes with a completely new theme. That’s why, in my personal opinion, Marvel and Harry Potter are the most likely as current themes that have had extremely well received CMFs in the past, with Indiana Jones and Lord of the Rings being runners up as highly demanded returning themes that have never had a chance to demonstrate how well a CMF would sell and aren’t necessarily as kid friendly as the first two.

Personally, I’d guess Sesame Street or Winnie the Pooh. Both have had a large 18+ Ideas set, so lego has their foot in the door on the licensing, but both themes are geared towards a much younger audience than the Ideas sets were made for. If the rumors about sparkles being an animated license is true I could easily see it being Winnie the Pooh.

Not sure if there are any production reasons, but canonically the brooms in the Room of Requirement are all old discarded brooms, so it could be a narrative reason

I would go absolutely bonkers for a Lego narwhal. I did a report on them back in kindergarten and the teacher wasn’t sure if I’d made them up or not - they’ve remained one of my favorite animals ever since. Perfect animal to be made into a toy all about imagination and creativity in my opinion :)

Oswald, Snow White, and Cruella are being featured as brickheadz (and make excellent candidates for an anniversary series) because the represent specific milestones for Disney Animation – the first shorts, the first feature length animation, and the introduction of a technology that revolutionized how Disney did animation. Interestingly, while Sorcerer Mickey is iconic enough to claim top slot all on his own, Fantasia can also claim the debut of audio technology that was the precursor to surround sound, another notable step forward. Taking into account significant milestones, previously done characters, popularity, and Lego’s previous preference for pairs of characters, I could see the anniversary series looking like this: 1. Sorcerer Mickey 2. Oswald the Lucky Rabbit 3. Snow White 4. Evil Queen 5. Cruella DeVille 6. Belle 7. The Beast 8. Sully* 9. Rapunzel 10. Merida Dunbroch 11. Mirabel Madrigal 12. Bruno Madrigal (I put Sully in to represent early Pixar, since Toy Story characters have largely been covered already and Disney wants us to forget about Bug’s Life. However, with both the wide skirt piece and extra long legs recently being pulled out of storage I won’t discount the possibility of getting classic Bo Peep and Woody, although I think the latter would need a custom head. If we got that pair I’d expect Sully and Merida or Rapunzel to get bumped off this list). Encanto doesn’t really represent a specific milestone for Disney Animation beyond being its most recent (and critically acclaimed) movie at the time the cmf would have been planned, so I see it being included because of that. EDIT: I could also easily see Rapunzel being replaced by Baymax as a representation of the 2010s, since he recently debuted is own Disney+ series.

The biggest problem with a Room of Hidden Things set was always going to be the density of junk and clutter. In a commercial set the priority for the budget has to go towards the actual structure, the play features, and the minifigures, with the piles of junk taking a major backseat. It’s no surprise that the designers were only able to include the bare minimum and the set looks best when configured into its smallest footprint so the piles of junk look as cluttered as they possibly can. Personally, I think the set will look better with more piles of stuff added, and plan to raid my stash of parts once I get my hands on it. Don’t feel bad about missing the Sirius head in the fireplace before - it wasn’t in the official renders at all. That’s the magic of lenticulars, shifting between multiple images to mimic movement and add depth. Lego just decided to only feature the regular fire in their marketing images for some reason. If you look closely at the different images you’ll also notice Gryffindor raising and lowering one of his arms and a hippogriff flying past in the small upper windows. I imagine this won’t be the only Easter egg hidden in the lenticular backdrops either - we’ve already seen the Niffler in the Hufflepuff banner that I’m sure pops in and out from behind his little curtain.

Just saw that the summer city sets are going to revisiting the attic explorer theme from 2018. Definitely some exciting possibilities there.