Classic_Spaceman

Pryde of the X-Men Dazzler at 1:02 - I wonder if she was being considered for the Mansion at some point (and maybe replaced with Iceman or Bishop?), since she is a weird choice for a cameo and her design looks official.

That rumour was fake, but apparently we are getting a Night Trooper battle pack; the Minifig lineup has not been confirmed yet (personally hoping for 3x Night Troopers (at least two different designs) and 1x Night Death Trooper). We do not have a confirmed lineup for Plo’s JSF yet, but Plo Koon is essentially confirmed, along with one of the Astromechs that he used (depending on whether the set is a Delta-7 or a Delta-7B). A third Minifig would make sense for the set, however, given the general 2x Minifig and 1x droid pattern for JSF sets over the past few years (which continues with Ashoka’s JSF).

Ruled out for Series 28, yes, but we already knew that the series after S27 would be the little Drome racers. . . things. Pirates and Castle are still on the table for future years’ themed CMF series. At least this means that we are actually getting some pieces in these sets - I had worried that they would be closer to the Xalax racers’ three-piece cars. Still not Minifigs, unless there are a torso and legs included that the leaker could not see, but there might actually be a reason to buy a couple of these sets.

No problem! 👍 BTW, the dark tan scarf piece (from the Dune set but also available on PAB) would look good for Mara Jade if you find a hairpiece that can accommodate it; the dark tan cape from the same set would also look good, though I believe it is only available through BrickLink (not on PAB).

*Inhales hopium* I really want this to end up being Blacktron II, so that we can get some unmutated versions of the CMF (and maybe a fully-mutated one as well)! Also, I think that trans-bright green actually looks better for Blacktron II than trans-neon green (since it matches the lime accents better), so we have all of the colours necessary for a revival of the faction.

While I am very glad to be getting Night Troopers (hopefully at least two different designs!) and Enoch, the battle pack should have included a Night Death Trooper in place of Enoch; as it is, I will probably only pick up one or two (and maybe BrickLink a couple more Night Troopers). I am expecting two different designs, since battle packs usually follow the 2/1/1 or 3/1 format - 3/1 makes the Night Troopers look too uniform (and we already have one version already), so 2/1/1 with two of the new design, one of the Peridea set design, and Enoch would be my guess. A 1/1/1/1 breakdown, or a 2/1/1 with two new Night Trooper designs would be excellent, but unfortunately does not seem realistic. I could see a sort of 1/1/1/1 lineup, if one of the Night Troopers uses a combination of existing (Peridea) and new pieces - Maybe one entirely new, one reused Peridea-style, and one hybrid with parts from both?

No; ISB is a subdivision of COMPNOR. The ISB surveils everyone - They have different branches (Enforcement, Internal Affairs, etc) that handle military vs. civilians, however. COMPNOR is a broader initiative that ensures loyalty to the Empire via information control, propaganda, youth conditioning, etc, and the ISB is just one arm of the organisation. Mara Jade was the Emperor's Hand, not COMPNOR/ISB nor Imperial military; the closest Canon analogue to her would be the Inquisitors.

Do we know how many Minifigs there will be? Plo is obviously one, along with either R4-F5 or R7-D4 (depending on whether the JSF is a Delta-7 or Delta-7B).

Agreed! Also, if we get Wolffe in the JSF, we might get a Wolfpack battle pack as well!

True. One difference in the case of DnD, however, is that it has far more material to work with than other licenses (other properties rely primarily on named characters, while DnD can just be twelve generic [Species] [Class] ‘figs without feeling repetitive). Hopefully just a Minifig head and helmet is not enough for LEGO to consider them “Minifigures”! 🫤

More City Space lore incoming! Also, we are getting a green astronaut with a communications dish as the paper pack gift.

OK. 👍 Oh, nice!

I am not sure what the production timeline for CMFs is (sets are ~1.5 years), but IMO it is more likely that we will see DnD S2 in 2026 (or late 2025 at the earliest).

They are just Imperial Navy; no connection to any intel branches. That is odd wording on the part of Krennic’s entry; the Department of Advanced Weapons Research is a branch of Imperial Intelligence, but they cooperate with the ISB to keep classified intel safe (such as in the Citadel on Scarif, an ISB facility). Grand Moffs are governors, so “civilian” government > military. To use the United States as a framework for understanding the Imperial structure, consider Moffs/Grand Moffs to be state governors/POTUS, the ISB to be the FBI+CIA, and the military to be the military. Both state governors and the CIA can (to a degree) command military forces, but they are not part of the military command structure. Also, U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff == Imperial Joint Chiefs; high-ranking officers from each branch who work alongside intel agencies and answer to civilian government. Oh, good!! Can either of you confirm Plo Koon’s JSF?

Absolutely! Also, it means that the original leaker was just mistaken when they said that this line would be a CMF series, so we should be getting two more CMF series in 2025! At least one of these will be licensed, so what are we thinking? Marvel S3 will probably not happen until 2026 (given project release dates), DC is unlikely until the DCU ramps up and proves itself, and Harry Potter would just be a bunch of rehashes (I think the first two series covered everything that would be in a CMF, from my understanding). Disney is always possible, Fortnite would be an excellent choice (and my personal hope!), or maybe Sonic or Animal Crossing to expand the population of those respective sets. A DnD S2 would be amazing, but unless LEGO is sitting on a dozen ready-made ‘figs that they chose not to include in the first series, I doubt that we will see a second series until 2026.

Mech or robot? Also, can you say anything about the colour-scheme and Minifig in the set - Namely, whether they are in the 2024 style or in a new style for 2025?

Krennic is also not ISB; he is the director of Advanced Weapons Research, which is a branch of Imperial Intelligence and thus part of the Imperial military structure. Conversely, the ISB is a branch of COMPNOR, which is a “civilian” entity. We usually get at least one Clone pack each year, so I suspect that will hold true for 2025 as well (not judging based on a pattern, but on the fact that Clones sell!). While we are overdue for a 212th (with Airborne Trooper(s)) vs. Crab Droid pack, a Wolfpack one would fit well with Plo Koon’s JSF (especially if the set includes Wolffe). I feel like we would have a better chance of getting a Night Trooper pack, Enoch, etc, whenever Ahsoka S2 comes out.

Oh, interesting! I somehow missed that! That increases the chances of getting plain orange motorcycle helmets at some point, though I still think the tic-tac-toe set will have the updated CS helmets. I actually hope that we get plain orange motorcycle helmets at some point (if only just on PAB), since Neo-Classic Space builders deserve to be able to use the orange torsos in their builds as well!

I guarantee that they have the proper helmets; the motorcycle helmet has not been released in orange since 2010 (exclusive to a polybag!), and the visors on the Minifigs seem oddly-proportioned if they were using motorcycle helmets (however proportioned exactly as we would expect if they are wearing the updated CS helmet). The lack of airtanks is annoying to be sure, but orange is still on PAB and white is cheap on BrickLink.

He has a wife in FatWS, so I assume the kid is his. The DODC got the objects legally, as they are tasked with cleaning up the Avengers' messes; I suspect that they are selling things on the black market, though. Also, on a second viewing, the event seems to be in honour of the Battle of New York, where putting Loki's scepter on display makes absolutely no sense (regardless of whether it is functional or not without the Mind Stone, it is a dangerous piece of alien tech that needs to be kept safe - And it was one of the weapons used to incite the battle in the first place!); monuments to the fallen heroes and first responders would make more sense at a memorial gala, so I still think it is an auction. Calling it now: In an inversion of the TWS scene, Bucky is saving the team from the military (maybe sent by Val after they go rogue?). He first attacks multiple humvees before disabling the Thunderbolts' car, so I doubt that he is trying to harm them. Also, on rewatching the trailer, Yelena wears the same outfit for the lab scene, hallway fight, and building explosion, so these are definitely all part of the same sequence (again, I think that it is the opening). Potential Tasky spoiler (not that she dies, though I do worry about that!):

The Thunderbolts* trailer looks really good (the knife sequence was a fun bit of entirely-unintentional teamwork)! Yelena seems to be the main character, and we get to see at least one of her pre-team missions (the lab), possibly as the opening scene. I am a bit worried for Taskmaster, since she is barely in the trailer (just the trap and meeting with Val scenes) and has no lines, and since we see Ghost using her bow. Also, someone seems to be auctioning off powerful objects (Loki's scepter), so I wonder if DODC or Sharon (Power Broker) will appear. 🤔 We need 2-3 sets for this, since Yelena, Red Guardian, US Agent, Ghost, Taskmaster, Bucky, Bob, and (maybe) Val are too many characters for just one set!

Also worth noting is that people use reviews to get a better look at the Minifigs and decide which ones they want; in the case of the DnD series, all of the Minifigs are excellent and have obviously-useful pieces, so there is less of a need to look at reviews to see which are “worth getting”. Only four of the DnD CMFs are named characters, with the other eight being generic species and classes. I am not fully familiar with DnD’s named characters, but I do know that there are a lot of them! As for a Series 2, the bulk would likely be generic species/class ‘figs, and there are still many of both that we have not gotten! Tabaxi, Aasimar (reused Jarnathan wings), Gnome, and Orc/Half-Orc are easy PC choices, with Drow, Gnoll, and Kobold as good picks for enemies - This brings us to seven new ‘figs without having to reuse S1 species (though new colours of Elf, Tiefling, and Dragonborn would be quite welcome!). For classes, we are still missing (in CMF form) a Rogue, Cleric, Fighter, Monk, Wizard, and Artificer, and there is a lot of potential for variety even in remade S1 classes (an Oathbreaker Paladin, for example)!

CMFs (and other sets) still have components manufactured in China, but CMF production has been integrated with regular set production, so the prints and moulds are now available for use in normal sets; the pieces that you mention (saw, trays, Roman helmets) all came before the integration of CMF production.

While this being 4+ is annoying, 116 pieces for $20 is - for a 4+ set - actually not terrible! Also, Amazon will probably discount it to ~$13 before the end of 2025, so if it is good (beyond just the sheep), there is no need to pay full price.

My issue with reusing the Friends prosthetic hand piece is that it is designed to attach to a bar, which means that in order to attach the piece to a Minifig’s arm, the arm would need a bar protruding out of it. I would prefer the hand to have a bar, while the arm just has a stump with a hole; this not only allows Minifigs with limb differences to not always need to wear prosthetics, but also enables us to make cool cyborg attachments for the new arm piece! While I get what you mean, LEGO often puts new elements into CMFs that they want to include in regular sets, in order to absorb the cost of new moulds.