RichardGoring

Not that it's useful, but there is a new goat print in the 43015 Lionel Messi Soccer Legend set. It has blue patches and the number 10 on the side. https://www.instagram.com/p/DYM7Kn1Efg1/?img_index=8

I agree that this is the most likely candidate for an Edoras build.

I agree that this makes the best candidate for the most popular set to include them. It has broad appeal and gives them an easy way to make a 'lower budget' set.

Reddit has a rumor of a space themed pinball machine coming in July, which will feature a light blue classic space figure and a light blue space baby.

It's a licensed imaginary saddle, so it's actually contributed $15 to the cost of the set...

I expected they wouldn't, given the precedent of all the other LofR sets. Rivendell really did seem to push so much, in terms of design team collaboration, scale, moulds, characters. Everything since has been good, but not done with the same level of production. They're still very good, but Rivendell was something really very special.

I did the same thing. It helped that my children both desperately wanted the axolotls and the boat, and they had a great time building them a few weeks ago. Nice little sets actually!

I can imagine, especially if you're doing such amazing mansions each time! I'd love one of them to have come through.

Jay's Brick Blog has a designer video. They talk about how originally it was three levels, and they kept adding them until they got close enough to seven to just go ahead and do the full thing. It's also a little shallower than it should be so it didn't get too large.

There are so many designs in series 11. It feels like the quality isn't there from some of the previous ones though. I've voted for a total of 29 projects from 21 creators. I thought [Dinosaur Dig Site] [BrickLink] was very neat and I loved the outline of the fossil dig site being a dinosaur footprint! [THE COBBLER WORKSHOP] [BrickLink] is really fun and I think my children would love to play with it more than most castle-ish type buildings (but maybe a bit less than a full castle). And [The Elven Palace of Equestrian Myths] [BrickLink] is so majestic! The shaping with the curves, slopes, panels, and botanical pieces is excellent. Still love the [Lunar Horizons: The Artemis Era] [BrickLink] lunar map and while it's probably more elegant than the original submission, it doesn't come across as whimsical, I think [My Moon My Artemis] [BrickLink] is beautiful.

GROND is on Reddit. On the one hand it looks small and far less imposing than I might think, on the other hand, it's probably fine for minifigure scale and a GWP. There is a swinging mechanism that is quite neat. Two orcs, one olive green, one medium nougat, but only the head, as the body is covered in armor.

Deleted. Wrong thread.

I think that all of series 8 look good. But it's all very expensive. In taking a closer look at them, I noticed the very cool effect with the droid arms on the University of Science, but also wondered, is that an illegal technique? I know it doesn't go through the LEGO revision standards in full, but I thought that the later series were being more supervised. Either way, it looks great. And I think all of the models in series 8 feel really well thought through, visually balanced, nicely detailed, and generally excellent. That's probably why they're all so expensive.

Yes, they also have a Minifigure printing station, so maybe that's why. Also, as it's a LEGO Discovery Center, they may have additional elements they receive.

I went to my local LEGO Discovery Center today, and in the Build A Minifigure station they had loads of animals. Orange cat with side stripes, white kitten, grey kitten, red bird, tan puppy, tan bulldog, medium nougat dog with black face printing, medium nougat puppy, yellow rubber duck, orange fish. And... the orange bellied nuthatch. So many animals was very surprising. Such a new one doubly so. And because it's in America, they let me get just a box full of animals, which was great.