RichardGoring

Well, in the process of getting space ready for Minas Tirith, I have finally gone through a Craigslist pickup that has been stuffed into a tub for about four years now! I got it as it had the Temple of Airjitzu, which I really like, and although I have it, brittle brown and dark red, along with a few missing pieces mean it's good to have spares, and I always thought it would be good to make it into a modular alongside Ninjago City. It was going for a fairly low amount, so I got it, along with loads of other parts. As I've been sorting through and cleaning it all, I've discovered An Unexpected Gathering, the Black Gate, and the Council of Elrond are all in there (mostly, one or two figures missing and a few pieces missing or broken), which has been rather delightful!

The chocolate dragon does indeed look excellent on this! Might have to get another one to do exactly that!

Very curious choices, as always. The Universal Monsters might be a good way to boost the midnight valley sets and/or add some more characters to the valley, but the design as shown doesn't really seem appealing and feels fairly basic. It's better than I can do, but it doesn't really inspire, so will LEGO change it significantly and draw more ire for doing so? The Jumani and Kimonos sets look extremely well built and cleverly designed, but they don't interest me and I wonder what the broader appeal is. Nice that the Naruto: Ichiraku Ramen Shop has got a chance after so many attempts at that model (it feels like, anyway). Although very similar to the recent BDP program set. Ideas used to be my favourite theme, but far less so now. Of the 18 upcoming sets, only 4 appeal as ideas. And I really hope that Lunch Atop a Skyscraper makes it out of the parking lot. Of the 7 actual sets so far in 2026, only 1 really appeals, and of the 10 released in 2025, only 2-3. This is likely a combination of personal preference and the increased volume of sets, but it also feels a bit of a shame. At the same time, there are still a few sets per year that I like, and that should be enough. Maybe I'd be more frustrated if I really liked all of them. And they must sell well enough for LEGO to keep doing it.

And this is the problem with battle packs. I would like a couple, some will want loads, but many of LEGO's typical customers won't bother with them at all, so is it worth it to LEGO to fill up a product slot? I hope they go for it though.

There is a standard bat in the attic of the mayor's manor.

The lights look incredible! The whole scene is great.

Sigh. I was looking in the wrong place! The order was placed anyway, with the Brick Hunter extension doing a lot of the work. I placed a quick order last week for some discounted parts and then got an email a few days later saying it was with customer service, I suspect because at least some will be out of stock. No idea if any of it will come through, but it was worth a try.

Despite having Minas Tirith, sealed in the box beside my desk since it released and wanting to find time and space to build it, I placed a Pick a Brick order yesterday to get the Sea Serpent GWP and bought pieces for the Shire party base, lusher trees, and additional flora, all of which seem to me to give it the same level of detail as the other sets. So now, will I do the Shire and extras first or manage to get to Minas Tirith before the parts orders arrive?! Has anyone built any of the Rebelnili MOCs on Rebrickable? I used the trees upgrade for Rivendell and really liked them.

I like to keep all my modulars in a 1950s time period (I have the Downtown Diner and another 50s SEC and like the vintage car GWP which was 50s too), but I caved and got the City tourist bus as it scales pretty well and didn't seem horribly out of place. I like the City food trucks as the core is a 30s-50s style truck - same with the moving truck from Jazz Club and the hot dog van from NHM.

If it's been said once, it's been said a thousand times, they should release battle packs of orcs, Gondor soldiers, and anything else in future where a major element of LOTR is huge armies battling. Having figures only available in extremely expensive sets or hidden behind really niche and scarce small sets is not the way to do it. Let's hope that 2027 brings the battle packs we all want! In other news, the new Icons Jaguar E-type has leaked and it contains a load of dark tan feathers.

The Upload CSV button has gone from the Pick a Brick website, which is extremely frustrating given that I want to place an order. I can still download one from parts in the cart though.

Not sure about the baseplates. The motorized lighthouse used a baseplate. I suspect for the Italian Rivera the kids of baseplates was to better facilitate the angles. There have also mentioned before that baseplates cause greater packaging difficulties. But who knows? You could be right. And they change their 'rules' pretty frequently anyway.

I don't love it, but I also don't really care that much. The box designs look a bit more 'modern take on a classic LEGO style', but given the 18+ black boxes, I don't see why they would do this. The naming is an attempt to help people know when they will get their sets, but I suspect it will be very confusing when trying to buy the sets, when you're trying to buy something for 2028 in 2027. Bricklink has never really been that consistent though. They had the AFOL Designer Program, the Bricklink Designer Program Rounds 1-3, the current Bricklink Design Program Series 1-11, then Bricklink Designer Program Year Waves 1-3. The bigger question is why bother with the change? What was wrong with the old one and what makes the new one better? They claim that the logo is more scalable for some reason, but I don't really buy it.

I was thinking of doing exactly that. Although I still think that they should have had at least six, if not eight full soldiers in the set.

Oh, I had assumed that it was 50% off, but options 90%, so they were actually $5, hence the Bricklink price. I do recall the jaws being crazy expensive for such a small and simple piece when released, but I wondered if I was considering that with the total price of an orca. Oh well, one jawless orca coming my way and I'll figure something out eventually.