RichardGoring

The new Haunted House seems pretty expensive for both a Creator set and for what it is, but it has far more figures than you'd normally expect. In this case, the figures might be more sought after and most parts on PAB will probably be reasonable, but how much will LEGO charge for the wolf head and ghost? Given recent pricing, I'm half expecting the two pieces to come to $10, just to compel you to buy the whole set.

LEGO has been trying, but the kangaroos keep jumping out of the bags.

Galaxy Explorer was also available for a relatively short time - 17 months - and that included Walmart in the US overstocking them and selling a load off, mid-way through, for $50 and even $40. I wonder if it's a lack of popularity, or a lack of sales tail, with most people who are going to buy one getting it fairly soon after release, so there is no point taking up shelf space for it.

Genuinely curious as to how you see the popularity of other characters and whether it makes sense for LEGO to make them. I only know Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Robotnik (and metal sonic, although the silver one from Sonic 2), but clearly other characters are part of the more recent (last 25 years) of media. To a casual fan, what characters are missing that would be a draw to new sets, compared to sticking with the core set they have already introduced?

At first I was disappointed when looking through the entries as there were none that appealed in the first 50 or so, but then the quality really ramped up, which was great. There are a lot of repeated themes, and so I hope that voting veers towards the more unique end of past themes and maybe introduces one or two new ones. Depending on the final selection, this could be a better round than series 6 or 7 (saying this whilst also recognizing that I couldn't MOC something to the level of any of these entries, so great work by all).

The curious thing about a fantasy castle line is that it would probably be amazing, but sell poorly. Monkie Kid and Dreamzzz both generally have fabulous looking sets and wonderful builds, but they don't sell that well, as they're trying to carve out something new, and making a market is harder than catering to one that already exists. I love the idea of some really creative fantasy sets, but flanked by LOTR and D&D, they would either be too close to it, so you might as well use the market power that those licenses have, or do something really creatively different, at which point lots of people will complain that it's not classic castle, LOTR, or D&D. I would like it to happen to see the creativity, but I suspect it won't because of the numbers.

I thought it looked dual moulded too, which might make it really expensive on PAB. $5 pigeon, anyone?

For a long while Friends has been one of my favorite themes, and been going from strength to strength. I felt last year was lower quality on average than the previous year, but wow, they have jumped up again. Lovely looking sets, and great variety!

Pandas in the Friends Panda Sanctuary set 42648. One adult, one cub. They're pretty reasonable as minifigure pandas too. I can't see the eyes very clearly though, which is where it sometimes falls down.

Friends 42674 Comic Book and Game Shop has a new purple and gold Pegasus shield along with a cosplayer Elves figure! Another new faction on the horizon? Or the airborne division of the Horse Knights?

The pigeons look great!

Dark blue classic space helmet and air tanks are in the Dreamzzz 71499. A teal classic space helmet is in Friends 42674 Comic Book and Game Shop.

I noticed the same thing and figured it must have been LOTR. I wonder if that means it's the same design team. There were a lot of them that appeared for a single small set.

Those prices are slightly better than I was expecting. I hope they can maintain them in the US. This is my my favorite wave so far and the first of the new style series where I'm tempted to try and get all of them.

Nice! Not an animal, but is that a new pear mould in the Creative Houses AC set too? Something for the snail to eat.

Oh, and the Unicorn Castle is leaked too. It looks lovely, but I can imagine it feeling very small in-person. The alt builds of a house and boat also look great, but again I fear they will feel unsatisfyingly compact.

We've just started playing Wonder, so I was tickled to see this. Wario looks pretty terrific. In fact I think I like all of the sets from this wave. Completely agree, given what they've done with Wario.

The Marvel Spider-Man vs Doc Ock Subway Train Scene (76321) has leaked and it seems like a decent subway car. Not sure about any detail inside, but it's on proper wheels. 31167 Haunted Mansion from Creator 3 in 1 has a haunted train alt build, which is a nice attempt, but sadly looks pretty basic, and doesn't have wheels.

Agreed. I've not got Knuckles yet, but this may be the set to do it. The command truck just doesn't appeal. I don't know much after about Sonic 3, but is this in any of the games at all? It seems like a Sonic themed City set.

I don't really like Batman Forever, but that Batmobile looks terrific. But OMG! $100! It's also far too big. It's completely out of scale with the figure, and is it also significantly larger than the other recent movie/TV Batmobiles? Kind of a shame that they've not made it consistent, although it would likely be hard to get that car to be even remotely close to accurate at a smaller scale.

The Toy Story train looks great. My daughter has just had a great time building the Celebration Train, so I'm definitely up for getting this one. The new advent calendar has just leaked. I had hoped they'd focus on fewer movies which should make it better and be more focused, and they've done that making it all Frozen, but it's still microdolls, and few of the builds feel good, which is such a shame. Glad I picked up last years on clearance ready for this December. The new one just doesn't appeal at all.

A load of the Creator 3 in 1 sets have leaked. Horse Knights Castle - main build looks good and I like the creativity of the alt builds, although I don't think they're as good as the previous 3 in 1 Black Falcon's castle. Some great minifigures. Haunted Mansion - Definitely draws from the Monster Fighters Haunted House and looks good for the piece count. Excellent minifigures. It's more of a facade than a mansion though, which is a bit of a shame, although nice interior details where there is any space for it. The alt builds are a train and a boat, which are good attempts, but I don't see many choosing to build them sadly. Beautiful Horse , with it's bear and deer alt builds would probably be good, but when I compare them with some of the other recent animals, it's not something that draws me in. Tropical Toucan, with a butterfly and tropical fish alt builds however, are superb. It's tempting to buy three, one for each build, especially at only $15! Retro Phone is clever, as are the alt builds of an original mobile/cordless and then a pair of flip/slab mobiles, but I suspect there is nothing really clever in the build and the end results don't interest me enough to display them.

The primary build looks good, but the alternate builds don't seem as good as the Black Falcon's castle, although I like the variety and storytelling they offer. The figures are great and I look forward to getting a load of them from PAB.

These are some crazy prices.

OMG! The year of the snake costume head (6516506) from 80116 is $11.10! Or the entire 1295 piece set for $130. That's so crazy! Surprised that Tweety's eye print (6529382) is there.