Accio Lego

If the designers are smart they’ll include Olivia Octavius. It’s a variation on the character that’s unlikely to show up in MCU projects anytime soon, and her transparent, organic looking tentacles are wildly different from the traditional Doc Oc arms – so she’d be a pretty unique character to offer. And Jessica Drew/Spider-Woman is a key character in Across the Spiderverse while also being pregnant – and I know that a belly torso/attachment like that has been on some people’s wish lists for quite awhile. This definitely seems like a safer place to introduce a part like that then trying to do ‘generic pregnant lady’ in an unlicensed CMF.

That’s an interesting choice considering there’s only so much variation in Spider-People costumes and the only thing stopping the Marvel Superheroes theme from being as Spider-Man focused as DC is Batman focused is the steady inundation of MCU movies that Disney presumably demands sets for. Still, I can see them doing something with it. Movie Spider-Ham’s head is different enough from the Lego version that I could see them doing a new mold. And the actual sets rarely if ever include alternate heads and hairpieces for the Spider-People, but zombie hunter Spider-Man from the first Marvel CMF provides a precedent for doing it here, and I can see getting custom faces for the characters behind the masks being appealing for fans and collectors.

Honestly, it’s like whoever finalized the details for the Great Hall was completely ignorant of which scenes they were supposed to be portraying. Not only are most of the pivotal scenes in the Great Hall set in the evening/nighttime – meaning different ceiling decorations – but the troll in the bathroom also specifically sets it at Halloween. But instead of giving us floating jack-o’-lanterns and cauldrons full of lollipops we instead get regular candles and everyone’s forced to eat salad for dinner. Rather disappointing honestly. At least those sort of minor cosmetic details are easy to change yourself – I’m currently waiting for a Bricks and Pieces order with parts to do over the Hall in Halloween decorations.

Let’s not get all doom and gloom yet. It’s worth remembering that Sonic started out as a Dimensions pack, only got a set through Ideas, and then after that did well got its own theme. So a large HTTYD set in the Icons theme could be Lego’s way of testing how well the property sells and hedging their bets if the live action movie bombs. And it’s also worth noting that LotR and Transformers have both had multiple sets come out under the Icons banner, so being an Icons set doesn’t automatically mean a one-off.

As far as metrics go, we have 3 new animals 10/12 figs with printed legs 5/12 figs with dual molded legs at least 9/12 figs with printed or dual molded arms 11/12 figs with at least one new mold 7/12figs with at least one printed accessory 6/12 figs with printed and/or dual molded headwear 2 historic figs, 2 sci-fi figs, 2 mythical beings, and 2 costumed figs Overall a pretty solid spread both as far as budget allocated to ‘extra’ features and representation over themes. Sure, there’s a slight favoritism towards ‘City’ characters, but given how persistent that has been, clearly Lego has data saying that type of archetype is popular no matter how much some AFOLs moan about ‘wasted spots’ (never mind that all 4 ‘City’ characters in this series feature new molds that could have made including them in a normal set too expensive, and 3/4 of them would require settings uncommon in City sets - Cat Lover and Plushie Collector are clearly dressed to be at home, with City sets rarely doing residential buildings, and Lego rarely makes sets that are explicitly set at night like Astronomy Kid would need).

I suspect as much as well. Because it’s also suspicious that the pile of minifigs in the same shot as the code-less and glue-less box has an extreme number of certain characters in it. I can count at least 8 each of the Steampunk Inventor and Hamster Costume Fan - which is definitely more than you’d find in a single box. Add in that only 8 out of the 12 characters are there, and 3 of them seem to have only one copy each, which is a really odd distribution when you’re claiming the boxes you found didn’t have codes. Definitely makes it look sketchy.

The raven is a new addition and wasn’t introduced in a CMF, so it really doesn’t affect this statistic.

Oh yeah, it’s definitely a much better fit for Crookshanks than the current shorthair mold. I also hope the inevitable update uses the color from the 2018 CMF – the bright orange they used in Grimmauld Place just didn’t work, especially since the face printing was much goofier looking as well.

It’s actually decently common for longhair breeds to have thicker fur around the neck and chest area. As far as specific breeds go (and most cats you meet aren’t), off the top of my head, I know Maine Coons typically have that style of coat. It’s not every individual, but google the breed and you’ll find several impressive examples that look like the new Lego mold pretty quickly. I’ve also known some longer haired barn cats who had slightly longer and more ruffled fur around the chest area too. So the new sculpt definitely feels realistic to me – all three new animals are amazing in that sense really.

I mean, I know it’s called a Boogyman but I always interpreted the ‘man’ part as a more general shorthand for human like you see in ‘mankind’. I mean, you can hardly assign gender the eldritch personification of fear of the dark, can you? And I still think the sweater colors on the Cat Lover were purposeful – of all the color combinations out there the designers just coincidentally chose the trans flag colors? Unlikely. That likely means they’re gender ambiguous on purpose. Taking that into account would put the ratio at 5:5:2

I think you’re only thinking of Crookshanks as stocky because of his floof and his facial proportions - get him sopping wet and he’d have the same body proportions as a regular cat. The new longhaired cat has flat sides in order to fit better in to the Lego system, but otherwise does a very good job of getting the fur placement right. Change the color and adjust the face print so he’s frowning and the eyes are slightly smaller and further apart and you’ve got the perfect Crookshanks.

More reactions now that a (reasonably) clear picture of the checklist sheet has been leaked: - the Cat Lover’s cat is indeed a new longhaired mold and it’s adorable - Steampunk Inventor doesn’t have a prosthetic leg but his prints are amazing and it looks like his invention might just be a steam powered automaton prosthetic for his right arm - Plushie Collector appears to be wearing one of those fluffy onesies with feet, good choice for a CMF since regular City prints should really favor being able to mix and match torsos and legs - Longboarder has some nice detailed prints to compensate for her basic concept, as well as some sort of neck attached back accessory - Quartermaster definitely has some sort of fabric hip piece, as well as some awesome prints in addition to her new cockatoo - Wolfpack guy is matching the Black Falcons Falconer that we got a couple years ago beat for beat (in other words, he’s really nice) - Boogeyman’s book hilariously says ‘BoOo’ on the cover with a nice spooky trees illustration, no sign of the inner print yet - Pterodactyl Costume Fan is out here living her best best life and I am here for it (I just really love her face prints, she’s enjoying herself so much)

The Astronomy Fan kid has a prosthetic arm. Since it’s presumably the same/extremely similar to the Friends one that already exists, that means it’s a separate part and the arm that’s actually part of the torso assembly is just a stump (like the minidoll one that already exists in the Friends theme). It’s also the left arm, same as Brooklyn in Chaos Theory, meaning Lego now has the specific mold they’d need to make an updated minifig of her.

You’ve left off other newly partnered IPs like Fortnite, Wicked, Wednesday, and Legend of Zelda. The first two do roughly follow the same format you’re suggesting, but Wednesday has fewer sets (skewed towards the higher price points), and Zelda only has the one D2C (suggesting Lego is confident that adult nostalgia alone can turn them a profit with that property). Not knocking your analysis, just adding data points to it and pointing out that lego seems to put a little more faith in properties that have been around longer and are known moneymakers.

Somebody has fully blocked the horrible 2006 movie adaptation from their mind I see. But fear not, for there has been announced a Disney+ series on the horizon.

The last Marvel one was also the first boxed series and the only boxed series that never got identifying codes, so Lego would be smart to account for that when deciding if depressed numbers are a problem with the IP. You’d probably be better off crunching the numbers on resellers buying full cases and aftermarket sales and trading rather than judging by how long it took the boxes to be cleared off the shelves of local stores. And one of the unsuccessful parts of that series was probably a massive amount of stock loss from boxes being ripped open – not good for sales but potentially suggests the IP is a good choice since clearly a significant group of people considered certain characters desirable enough to engage in illicit activities to find them.

Very tantalizing, but the same leaker who broke that news also confirmed Simpsons is coming back. So series 3 of that is also a distinct possibility. As much as I would love a HTTYD series – the thing that will be drawing people in a selling it are the dragons. You could easily put together a series of 12 human characters, but without any dragons, or even just the majority of characters not having dragons, it would probably disincentivize a lot of casual buyers. You might be able to include dragons with every/most characters if you did a Terrible Terror and recolored it multiple times, and maybe some dragon hatchings, but would it be worth the budget it would take? Maybe I’m biased, but possibly. When you think about it, if they’re going off the character designs we’re already familiar with… that’s a lot of new helmet+hair molds. There’s currently no short hair + Viking helmet mold, and unless Lego seriously dropped the ball on the Ideas Viking Village the long hair + helmet mold from Series 7 probably no longer exists. With a variety of hairstyles and many helmets having unique horns, that’s a daunting thing to budget for in a new theme, especially when you need new parts for dragons too. But when the Harry Potter theme was revived in 2018, they put out a wave of sets alongside a CMF and leveraged the combined budgets to make the reboot an instant bestseller. Admittedly, Lego hasn’t tried that strategy again (closest we’ve gotten is the D&D theme, which only had one set, so the CMF was more about providing variety than the budget to properly depict all the necessary characters and creatures), but they do have evidence that it works.

With any luck they’ll look back on their experiences with the Harry Potter/Fantastic Beasts franchise and the more recent live action Little Mermaid and favor the more established portion of the IP until they see how the new movie is actually received. Lego handled Fantastic Beasts okay, only doing a few sets and minifigs as a subtheme of Harry Potter that was easily dropped when it became clear the spinoff wasn’t selling merchandise like the original. And we all noticed how hard that D2C clamshell flopped. If they’re smart, they’ll only do one or two sets of the new movie that heavily feature Viking ships/buildings that they already know have a market outside the fandom, and then do a bunch of sets at a kid friendly price points featuring the animated dragons and riders. I’ll admit, I love the movies but I’ve never been into buying merch for this fandom before. However, a Lego Toothless and Hiccup set? I’d snap that up in a heartbeat.

I think you’re vastly underestimating how mainstream some previously niche DC characters have gotten in the last 30 years or so. I recognized all of the characters in the first comment you criticized, and I’m far from what anyone would consider a super fan. My main experience with these characters was watching Justice League (Unlimited) and a few other cartoons alongside catching a few of the recent movies and some early episodes of the CW shows. Never read any comics but I can still recognize several heroes. To be more specific, one of the characters I remember from that original post was Zatanna – I wouldn’t expect a non fan to know who she was in the 90s, but she had some solid cameos in Justice League Unlimited, was a major character in several seasons of the Young Justice cartoon, and is one of the main characters in the current iteration of the DC Superhero Girls cartoon. So the actual kids of today all the way up through millennials like me would recognize her pretty easily unless they’re actively avoiding consuming superhero media. Plus, her whole aesthetic is classic magician, so she’d have similar broader appeal like the Witch Queen from the current D&D series. That’s one specific example obviously, but despite Lego’s obsession with Batman, DC has been expanding the roster of characters that are immediately recognizable to the general public in recent years, and, beyond that, superheroes and villains just generally have fun designs that would appeal to kids in the same way the D&D series is probably drawing them in despite many of them not being familiar with the game.

I know there’s a lot of Looney Toons talk going on right now, but, frankly, on the subject of the immediate future, I don’t think there’s any chance of a series two. If Lego was going to do a series 2 of an IP that features a lot of molded heads and no corresponding sets, then Muppets is having their 70th anniversary next year and that would make far more sense. Even more likely are the options of the rumored Simpsons theme revival getting a series 3 or Disney negotiating a Marvel series 3 since they’ve got a large number of animation/television projects dropping next year. Of course, there’s also the possibility of a completely new IP, but that’s pretty unpredictable at this point. When did rumors about this September’s series start dropping last year anyway?

Yeah, as someone who lived with both as a kid, the chubby cheeks, non-folded ears, and pink paws are definitely a hamster. Hamsters are also more marketable (especially in Asian markets, I feel like I’ve seen a lot of Japanese hamster toys cross my feed because I check out blind boxes), and I imagine their name is a little more straightforward to translate into other languages.

Yeah, something tells me that green queen dress and the lego store employee torso are going to sell out fast.

Parts go out of PaB all the time, only to almost immediately show up again with a slightly different number or something.

Yeah, given the choice of sweater colors I’m pretty sure the androgynous look is 100% intentional. Shouldn’t there be a question mark next to the jet pack racer too? I’ve yet to see an image of the without the helmet yet, and that red visor doesn’t let you see much.

It just seems way too convenient that a CMF with the exact new arm mold an updated Brooklyn would need is releasing first thing in January.