The Stud

The music store and tram part sound very exciting and unique for the Winter Village collection. I have mixed feelings on another Toy Shop though. We’ve already gotten two (well, technically we got what was essentially the same exact one released twice) and if they were going to remake any of the older Winter Village buildings here, a post office or bakery would have been preferable for me. I’ve been clamoring for a hot chocolate shop for a while too. I can’t be too mad though because I don’t own either of the previous WV Toy Shops and I’m sure this one will still look great. I look forward to buying this along with The Office set in a few weeks.

Skywalker Saga DLC was revealed in the D23 gaming stream. Two of the characters shown off were the Reva and Cassian Andor figures we got recently but there was also a new Captain Rex figure. Now, normally, I don’t think characters in a Lego game mean anything most of the time but in this case? I already thought it was likely we’d get a new Rex figure next year after getting Cody, but this model in the game perfectly matches the post-2020 style of clone troopers and even has the new helmet mold introduced in the AT-TE. Chances are that this is what the next Rex figure will look like, though maybe without the arm printing.

I hardly buy City anymore, but I wish they didn’t stop doing those “Fun in the…” People Pack sets. I regret not buying the last three that they did in 2018 and 2019 as those sets were all just really awesome civilian packs. I can’t imagine that they sold poorly either so I wonder why stopped doing them?

That’s on my wishlist too. There are no rat tail hairpieces and there aren’t really any current hairpieces that satisfy me for Padawan Obi-Wan or Anakin.

I think we’ll see leaks or a reveal any day now. It’s kind of refreshing to be so close to the release of an anticipated Lego set without knowing anything!

Some ideas I’ve always wanted to see: -A full-on apartment building, kinda like the one from The Lego Movie. -Some sort of skyscraper like the Daily Bugle. -A hospital. -A large toy store. -A post office. -A play theatre. -Some sort of school or university. -An ice cream shop and an arcade as one. -A pizzeria. -Some sort of mall?

I doubt this will happen but since Series 23 was largely Thanksgiving/Christmas themed, I wonder if we might see a lot of late winter or spring-type figures in Series 24. Maybe some versions of Cupid, a Leprechaun and the Easter Bunny?

Honestly, the more I think about this change to boxes, the more I wonder how this is going to go over with the general public. Most of the AFOL/TFOL community obviously don’t like this, and also aren’t buying that environmental factors were the sole reason for this change, but I’m wondering about the casual parents/grandparents/other relatives and their kids. Nowadays, I don’t feel like it’s super uncommon to see people that aren’t hardcore collectors feeling for these packs at the store, or at least not as rare as it used to be. That option is officially off the table starting next September. And for those of us trying to collect all the series, I’m worried that we’re going to have to pay even more of a premium to buy full sets online at sites like minfiiguresplus or Bricklink since the sellers are likely going to have no choice but to open up the packs.

Hoping to go back to the Kohl’s I found a bunch at soon so I can get the other half of the series. Perhaps an obvious thought, but I can definitely imagine that this series will be an especially popular stocking stuffer with all the holiday themed figures.

They were never on the menu for this year. Lego has this kind of stuff designed year(s) out and none of the toy companies were able to get started on more spoilery No Way Home merch until after the film came out. Funko has only just started to reveal some of their POPs and Hasbro’s Tobey/Andrew/Tom action figure pack won’t come out until August 2023, which is probably about the earliest we cane expect Lego to do more NWH sets at this point. That being said, I’ve got the feeling that a lot of the leakers are almost as much in the dark as we are when it comes to these Marvel D2C leaks. And I think that’s partially because a lot of these have been shifted around so much with film delays and COVID. I think the Sanctum has been designed for a while and the designer said that work on this set started during the pandemic. The Hulkbuster rumors have been swirling for over a year at this point. That’s probably caused a lot of confusion. Ngl, that thought’s crossed my mind too. However, I might be playing devil’s advocate here, but I honestly think it’s a similar situation to NWH last year where they’re doing new toys based off the previous film to have new products out without spoiling plot points for the upcoming film. They’re clearly wanting to keep the identity of the new Black Panther a secret and they have to get new Black Panther toys out somehow. Black Panther’s also just a very iconic Marvel character now, and companies are going to want to keep making merchandise for the character even though the actor tragically passed away. Still, it’d make me feel a little better if they announced a portion of their profits from these new Black Panther toys are going to help treat cancer patients or something philanthropic like that. That would at least make the price of this Lego set far more reasonable imo. Speaking of this Lego set, I’ve got some thoughts. The set itself looks okay. No disrespect to the designer or anything (I’m sure they’re already dealing with a lot of negative comments that go past constructive criticism), but I don’t think it looks super impressive or innovative or anything. It’s another one of these 18+ sets where I question if it really needs to exist as a Lego set. I know they probably sell, but I feel that Lego is overflooding the market with 18+ sets in general, let alone these big, buildable and, in my opinion, boring objects or busts. I just did a quick Google search earlier and there’s a Black Panther bust on Amazon for $90 that’s doing the same pose and it looks a lot better in my opinion. Granted, it was probably a lot smaller and doesn’t have the novelty of being Lego, but you get my point. I just do not see where the $350 is in this set. I’m biased, as the set doesn’t interest me to begin with, but I could maybe see myself paying $209 max with the size and piece count here. With so many awesome sets at the $300-350 mark right now (like the Daily Bugle, Cantina or soon-to-be-retired Disney Castle), I just don’t see why anyone would choose this set over those ones, unless they’re just a super big Black Panther fan I guess. At risk of sounding like an armchair sales analyst, I simply do not think this set is going to sell well. Like at all. It’s just super niche and expensive. Most of the comments I’ve read here and on social media are either just negative or something along the lines of “it looks cool but it’s way too overpriced to even consider”. Brickset’s poll had like 80-90% of people saying no to getting this set last time I checked. Even the casual adult fans will probably scratch their heads and wonder why Lego didn’t just do a helmet like the Iron Man or Venom ones? Trying to restrain myself from going on a rant, but this is something I’ve had on my chest for a while. I’m sure I’m not along in feeling like Lego has been quickly losing a lot of their wholesomeness and charm the last few years. Sure, it’s always been an expensive toy and they’ve always made cash grab moves, but recently, those precedents have been far more frequent and things have just felt… different. A lot of the company’s recent moves have just felt like very cynical and corporate-style moves. Now more than ever. Some examples I can personally think of are: over-catering to the casual crowd with their bland 18+ sets, several egregiously overpriced sets across the board, the recent price increases, the Vidiyo debacle, relying too much on licenses (and this is coming from someone who has primarily liked collecting licensed themes in recent years), the upcoming change to boxes for CMFs, the way they treated Kevin Hinkle, etc. Don’t get me wrong, there’s still been a ton of fantastic sets, but they’ve just been releasing way too much way too fast. And I feel like sets like this one are examples of the general ideas that I’m talking about. It’s yet another one of these “18+” sets (that don’t really feel like Lego sets to me) that aren’t really targeted at us but the new casual adult crowd. I guess I can’t completely fault Lego for going after the $, but it still just kinda sucks, you know?

I also think it’s just because by the time this series releases, it will have been four years since Series 2 and so much has occurred since then that Lego might want a clean slate with the branding here. It also reduces the risk of newer fans wondering where they can get Series 1 or 2 at.

I feel the opposite. It might ease people into the change a bit better if they introduce the boxes with a highly requested licensed series, versus just a standard non-licensed one. People will buy the packs anyway if it were to be Marvel series 2 for example, but people might be less eager if it were just Series 25.

The Clone Command Station has been going in and out of stock all day but I managed to backorder three more. (Bringing my total of Clone Command Stations to six.) It’ll take a while to receive them though, the website said by the end of October…

Boba’s Throne Room is also just kind of a boring set aside from the figures, most of which probably aren’t super desirable by kids. It was a surprisingly enjoyable and quick build experience though. The good thing about it going on sale for $60 is that you can buy two copies of the set for a little over the retail price of one, and significantly expand and improve on it. That’s what I did the first time Costco had the set for 40% off, which was pretty soon after it first came out surprisingly.

I’ve seen Santa’s Sleigh at the Lego Store many times throughout this year, so you might still have a chance to get it. I’d love it if they did a town square set this year. Maybe a couple small buildings and a little park area in the middle.

BrickFanatics reports on a lot of retiring sets and they seem adamant that there aren’t going to be any Modular Buildings retiring this year. They’re somewhat reliable to my knowledge. I’m surprised that the Assembly Square will still be around for another year (a full six years as of 2023) and I’d expect that to retire before either the Book Shop or Police Station. Then again, I expected it to retire before the Diner too, as the Diner is part of the more modern Modular Building era while the AS is a remnant of the series’ more classic styling from the first ten years, but here we are. Fortunately I bought both during the pandemic as I wasn’t 100% sure which would retire first. Hopefully, I don’t miss out on either the BS or PS like I did with the Brick Bank, as I really like both of them and they’re the only other ones I’m missing from 2013 through now.

So essentially we’re finally getting Disney series 3, they’re just calling it something different. I’m hyped, especially since I’ve regained some of my Disney fandom after going back to WDW this past spring. I didn’t realize next year was the 100th anniversary of the company. I think we’ll get a lot of characters skipped over in previous series or ones that exist as mini-dolls but not as minifigures. I don’t expect any Marvel or Star Wars figures, and part of me isn’t really expecting Pixar either for whatever reason. We’re obligated to get a Mickey figure and I agree that it’ll probably be Sorcerer’s Apprentice Mickey. I also think this is our best chance at getting an Oswald the Lucky Rabbit figure as he was actually one of the early characters before Mickey. Fingers crossed. My pipe dream wish for the series is a Figment figure. Despite the current state of the Imagination Pavilion (it was super run down when I visited in March), he’s still a beloved character and his merch sells. Remember those Figment popcorn buckets from a while back? Still, even if he isn’t included here, we could always get Figment if Lego ever did a Spaceship Earth/EPCOT set. Like others have stated, I think the guess of a figure or two per decade is a pretty solid one. 20’s: Oswald, representing Disney’s very early years. 30’s: Snow White, representing the first feature-length animated movie. 40’s: Sorcerer Mickey, giving us a new Mickey in one of his most iconic appearances. 50’s: Either Cinderella or Sleeping Beauty, preferably the former as we have her Castle. 60’s: Mary Poppins or Baloo. 70’s: Robin Hood maybe? 80’s: Maybe Roger Rabbit or Figment? (Two Rabbit characters may be a bit overkill for this series.) 90’s: There’s a lot of characters they could do here (I’d like to see Mulan or Tarzan personally), but I could see them doing both Belle and the Beast for this decade. 2000’s: Princess Tiana. She’s from what is probably the most popular in-house Disney animated film from that decade, she brings some diversity to the series, and it ties-in with the upcoming Splash Mountain re-theme. 2010’s: Rapunzel. One of the most popular animated Disney movies from that decade and she’s a popular mini-doll character they didn’t do as a figure in previous series. 2020’s: An Encanto character, idk I haven’t seen the movie. Ideally though, we’d get more than 12 figures but I won’t get my hopes up. On one of the Discord servers that I’m in, Brick Clicker said that we can expect more sets to celebrate outside of this CMF. At the very least, more Brickheadz and probably a D2C to replace the Castle when that retires. I’m hoping for Mickey and Minnie Brickheadz that don’t cost $50 online and there’s a lot of things I’d like to see for the D2C. Either a Diagon Alley-esque Main Street USA, Spaceship Earth or Space Mountain would be my top picks.

I own the set that figure came out in and it had a little character bio. If I remember right, the joke was that GL was left behind by the JL at the start of the movie, like classic Aquaman. Obviously that didn’t end up in the final film, but it’s still interesting that we have a minifigure representing a cut story element from the movie. I think it’s absolutely bonkers that we’re getting a freakin’ $500 UCS Black Panther/Wakanda vehicle this year, on top of the Sanctum and rumored Hulkbuster, over another large Batmobile/Batvehicle, or just any DC D2C general.

Saw the Rogue One re-release yesterday (LOVED watching it on an IMAX screen) and I also really enjoyed the Andor preview. I even got a free poster and everything. Watching that footage makes me hope for more sets next year as there’s already plenty of stuff they can make from that trailer.

I mean, you don’t see the face unless you take the molded head off. It doesn’t really make a difference either way. Anyway, I went to Kohl’s yesterday afternoon and they had a ton of Series 23 packs. I probably could have bought the whole set today if it weren’t for the fact that I was a little short on time because I had to catch a bus and I’m trying to save some money for other Lego purchases. I just got six packs and they were really easy to feel up with all the big molded pieces with a lot of the figures. That might have been the quickest I checked through an entire line of CMFs. So far, I’ve gotten the Fairy Costume girl (love the candy cane accessory), the Wolf costume guy (kind of a random inclusion and I hate that the gray tail piece breaks up the blue overalls), Turkey costume (fun figure with some awesome molded feathers), Popcorn Suit Guy (which is a figure I like but the actual popcorn itself looks too much like regular corn for me), Reindeer girl (a really fun figure) and the Snowman (possibly my favorite of the series!) Despite my gripes with this series, I still really like all these figures! I look forward to getting the other half during September. Also, me and @Robert8 were talking about the eyes on the snowman figure in just2good’s opening video the other day and I definitely think there was a slight misprint on his figure’s eyes. They look a bit evil and slightly pointed at the top, while mine look round and normal. I wonder how common this error is.

As much as I like my standard non-licensed series, I’m very happy to finally be getting Disney “Series 3” next year, though they won’t be referring to it as such. The first series is one of my all time favorites and I really like the second one as well. I do kinda worry that this means that we won’t get Marvel Series 2 next year. Would Lego be willing to have a Disney and Marvel series back-to-back since they’re both under the same umbrella?

I’m personally glad that the sets are coming in March. It gives me more time to save up lol. I think we could get leaked set pictures by the end of the year, since these have probably been designed for a while before the film delays.

I think it’s a little odd too but maybe it’s kinda like how Lego released two versions of the Batman Tumbler at different scales last fall. No goddamn way Lego is making a Morbius figure! That’s hilarious and I’m sure that set’s going to sell super well because of the memes. I know I’m hyped. The Ghost Rider and Quinjet sets are coming at a perfect time for me. I’ve been wanting a Ghost Rider minifigure/vehicle ever since I watched the GR episodes of Agents of SHIELD somewhat recently. I was tempted to get one of the retired sets (preferrably the Robbie Reyes version as that’s the one from the show), but I’ll probably just get this. The inclusion of a mech makes me roll my eyes but hopefully the set will display well with my Bugle! As for the Quinjet, I was tempted to get the 2012 version from an antique store recently as I don’t own one (and also need that Iron Man Mark 7 suit) but I’ll get this instead. I hope it’s a Winter Soldier set like someone mentioned earlier. Getting new Cap, Black Widow, Falcon and Winter Soldier figures would be great. The mechs have nothing compelling for me and I’ll probably just Bricklink any new or interesting figures from the Hulkbuster. I just bought the previous IW version off Bricklink over a year ago. The GOTG sets are interesting to me. I regret not getting any of the sets from the previous films, as I wasn’t collecting Marvel at the time, so I’ll probably get all three as long as they continue that same level of quality. Also, I’m sure we’ll get at least one Ant Man set which I’ll probably buy.

They must not have revealed anything new I guess.

Never say never! We did just get that random Fighter Tank remake a few months ago. I could see us getting Pong Krell again eventually but I’m not sure about any named clones.