RichardGoring

Oh, yes. This won't be something that designers have any influence over, but the leadership of each department will be responsible for their financial contribution to the overall company, represented by their own profit & loss statement, so they'll be trying to maximize their own one. Or it could be that someone believes it will maximize profit overall to do this. But either way, it's a finance thing, agreed.

Agreed. But it's likely different P&L centres, so the Ideas team think their group can make more money by having the exclusive figures, while the PAB team want to maximize their revenue by getting access to as much as possible.

With a movie, I wonder if it puts additional pressure on rereleasing the Simpson's house as the primary location, or whether they'll expand into a different area. I haven't really watched it for a long time, and I probably missed a load of episodes leading up the movie. But some of the first ten seasons I know the way the dialogue is said just from a still image! We watched the original movie two months ago, with my children seeing it - indeed ANY Simpsons content - for the first time. They loved it, and it was reasonable. I hope they do a good job of the new movie. A CMF would be very easy for them to do, although at only 12 figures, likely frustrating about who would be included.

I have no particular interest in either (but the BvS Batmobile is a cool looking car), but I'm glad they're doing Batmobiles that haven't been done before, and ones which won't include Joker.

I wondered the same thing. LEGO tends to like tying things into movies. I wonder if they released the Krusty Burger with this knowledge in mind, leading up to a few years of merchandising for a movie, or if it's a coincidence. It's not as if there is a general lull of Simpsons merchandise, so they don't really need a movie as an excuse.

Did they say whether they have figured out a way to deal with tariffs, like sourcing everything from within the US, or is it just that they know understand the tariff process and can deliver with it in place? Interesting that LEGO didn't want to add the desirable figures to Pick a Brick. That's somewhat worrying when aligned with the trend of putting these things into large, expensive sets. Especially for things that lend themselves to army building. The 'armies' that I build only tend to be 8-10 figures, but even so, I wouldn't come close to achieving that with Bricklinking these figures if they only came from sets. And there would be others who want far more, pushing up the price even further. Thanks to the PaB team for fighting for us!

I suspect that LEGO would say they have 10228 Haunted House from Monster Fighters, 10273 Haunted House from Fairground Attractions, and 21341 Hocus Pocus Sanderson Sisters' Cottage from Ideas. And then while not a complete set out of the box, you have 31167 Haunted Mansion from 3in1 that you mentioned, and also 76453 Malfoy Manor from Harry Potter which could form the basis of a full modular, or work as smaller, more affordable entry points. Three of those are current sets, and one has only recently retired. If they did this in the official modular Icons line, then it will likely be a while so it doesn't compete with any of the current offerings.

A terrific kraken base for the Black Pearl by @hachiroku on Reddit. I may have to try this.

I suspect that the compromises to make each set also with as a standalone would mean either a lower quality design or higher overall cost or both.

Agreed. Minas Tirith has the grandeur to potentially compete with Rivendell as a final model. The opportunity for incredible builds are there too. The lack of colour range could ding it compared to Rivendell, but maybe the potential for some solid colour blocking could really make it 'pop'. But, I think it will be crazy expensive to make Minas Tirith compete with Rivendell if they try to capture anything more than just the seat and citadel. I hope I'm wrong on that though and they can pull it off.

I keep trying to forget!

There was a dinosaur head mould, but I don't recall seeing any other instruments. Could well be. We have another couple of years before the 'five-year rule' for retiring unused moulds, so if there are any more, there's a small chance they could come out.

I don't think so. They get newly available moulds, but not things specifically made for them. Of course, LEGO makes the rules and can change them at any time. Jazz club got a previously unreleased double bass, but that was made for Vidiyo and then never released. Edit: didn't see the next page of replies to this! Ha!

I have the opportunity to get Green Grocer for $300. How does it compare to most other modulars? Ignoring the average selling price now (and I've told the seller that it goes for $700-$1000), would you spend $300 for it? I've largely ignored it because it's so expensive. It's one of four that I don't have (Cafe Corner, Market Street, Town Hall) and of those I think it's the best. The exterior looks good, but it's too tall compared most others and feels like a slightly different scale. The interior either feels clunky or is non-existent. Is it just scarcity and people being completionist that drives up the cost, or is it really that good?

Very interested to see which direction they go for with Minas Tirith and how it turns out. Quite a few possibilities. Sauron's bust will be tempting, as I suspect it could look quite good, but the iron man one is almost comically small. This is 100 more pieces, but you probably need that for the detail, rather than a significant increase in scale.

Given how vague the leaks were last year, I won't get excited until we get pictures because it really could be anything.

I'm astonished that after the $40 Tumbler, $48 1989, $60 BTAS, and $60 Tumbler, that we can suddenly go back down to what only ever seemed to be a sensible price for a minifig scale Batmobile of $30 (which is what all of the higher priced sets should have cost). But having got a minifig scale version of the Tumbler, BTAS, 1989, and 1966, I'm not really sure I want to get any others, so it will be interesting to see how compelling the new ones are. One figure with each of the new ones, or more, do you think? The logo is an interesting prospect. It could be really simple like the Star Wars one, or perhaps they could have a scene built into the back of it like the Jurassic Park gate or Genesis/Mega Drive controller. Ha! At least the 1966 one has a splash of red in it. For everything else using the LEGO colour palette it's just black, dark grey, or very, very, very fingerprints. Something like that anyway.

I have my 50% or so off 76210 and some $20 Ransomfern instructions. I don't need another one. If it is another huge one, I really don't see why they'd do it so soon? Maybe they think there's demand, but few bought 76210 as the design was so poor so they're having another go? If it's a lot smaller and more accessible, then that's probably fine, to cater to the customer base churn. And means that a UCS slot can be taken by something more interesting.

I can see it now! The box would be HUGE! Mostly to accommodate the set name: The Dark Lord Sauron, mightiest Maia of the Vala Aulë the Smith, 's One Ring of Power Or longer. Who knows.

I think so. Ten different smaller sets will usually provide more variety, certainly of scenes, but also potentially building techniques, styles, colour palettes, part types. It's an opportunity to get different characters more easily, or multiple versions of different characters. And it's easier to find space to display them, has the potential for some to be more play-focused or give you different ways of using/interacting/displaying them. It might be less daunting for some in terms of taking on the build, and it will be easier for many to budget for - even though the total outlay is the same. And LEGO may increase sales as they will attract more people with an easily attainable $100 set. Alternatively though, you get a focus on only main characters, the value isn't as good in terms of 'volume of stuff' you get for the money, it doesn't have the breathtaking wow factor associated with LOTR and does get as much hype/publicity, and people won't buy all of them, so the market opportunity for LEGO is smaller, so they don't continue with LOTR. On a personal level, I would like more, smaller diorama sets. They give me most of what I value from the larger sets with the added bonus of more variety. But that shouldn't stop them from also doing a $500 monster set every year or three. Best of both worlds ideally.

Every so often I check to see if anyone is selling a second hand Rivendell (with or without figures) for cheap as I have dreams of making one of the double Rivendell MOCs - LEGO MOC 10316 Rivendell Extension by Fanpeixi | Rebrickable - Build with LEGO And then I realize, that the current set is huge, fits the shelf I have it on perfectly, and nearly doubling the size won't really bring me any more joy.

Oh. yes, I'd forgotten about the plain guitars. I replaced mine with the white/silver ones, so didn't think the difference was as big. The face is definitely a lot better, agreed. Absolutely. These are definitely the best of the set, and probably the only ones I'll get. My disappointment comes more from all the other, pretty dull figures.

But everything currently available from the US LEGO website comes from the same place in Illinois, doesn't it? So yes, LEGO items/sets and Bestseller Pick a Brick orders will arrive at the same time, although not necessarily in the same package, as some sets are delivered standalone in pre-prepared 'ready to ship' boxes that only contain that set. Typically the larger D2Cs.

They are, but also seem very similar to the two that were released maybe only two years ago? I'll still likely get one of each though, just for the variety.

I went to my local LEGO store yesterday and got the Halloween figures, along with a few black cats. This latest batch don't hold that much appeal. Anything new feels like it's a rework of something they've done in the last few years.