1980-Something-Space-Guy

The Spidey movie rights are in Sony's hands, though. I don't think Universal would be able to use him, even if it was just the Lego character. TV is different, which is why, I think, Lego has been able to use him on their short movies. Edit: nevermind, I see that was discussed above. Still, I would expect such a partnership to be unlikely. Universal hasn't played nice with Marvel either with the Hulk rights (hence why we haven't gotten a solo Hulk film since 2008).

The original source is reliable: https://www.stonewars.de/news/lego-vidiyo-wird-eingestellt/ Keep in mind they were cancelled, though. We won't ever see those Dino minifigs.

This all makes me think about how regular series compare against licensed series in terms of profitability, which one might assume guides Lego's choices. With licensed series, they have to pay licensing fees, but they don't have to worry as much about making people want the characters. I hope we keep seeing regular series for the rest of my Lego collecting years because I think they have contributed a considerable amount of interesting and superb minifigs that we wouldn't have gotten otherwise. It seems that, as of now, regular series still make sense for Lego financially, albeit at a slower pace than in the days of old.

I think that out of all of the sets, the one that hurts the most for me is the Dinosaur Skate Park. I would have really liked to see some Dinosaur minifigs. For the monster metal castle, I wonder what they had in mind, since we had already gotten so many metal monsters in the theme. Recolors, perhaps?

Yeah, he's gotten two nice homages over the last few years, but nothing that closely resembles his original design. I wouldn't expect to see him on S23. What I am wondering is how often they'll be doing an anniversary series. Next year will be the 45th anniversary of the minifig. Would that mean we'd get another special series that year? They have multiple anniversaries that they could celebrate (the company's, the minifig's, the beginning of CMFs, and series that are multiples of 5 or 10). On the bright side, S18 didn't really do as much to celebrate past figures, so that is still a possibility that they could explore with an anniversary series. I really hope we get to see that someday.

Ooooooh nice! I was not expecting this! Forgive me for being out of the loop, but are we getting 2 regular + 1 licensed series, or 2 regular + 2 licensed series this year? Are you a fan of the Lego racers game by any chance?

$21.99 in the US. Kind of expensive, I think, compared to previous books. Then again, inflation is a thing, and who knows if the book will actually be bigger. All I know is I will be patiently waiting for a discount.

Yay for another non-Batman DC fig! Sad that the state of affairs is such that this is something to celebrate, but I will happily take it. He looks great!

For anybody that looked at the leaked pictures (which I can't find anywhere), do the figures look like those in the mock-up made by Hoth Bricks? https://brickset.com/article/67917/second-christmas-gwp-cancelled

Great to hear! Thanks for the heads up.

Very interesting to see these images. Thanks. It is odd to see glitter in all of these transparent colors. Do glitter pieces actually exist in all of these colors in Lego? Also, can't wait to see the satin minifigs!

Oooooooh can't wait to see these!

All this talk about blind bags reminds me of this talk on CMFs from Hillel Cooperman. 10 years later, many of these frustrations still ring true...

Really glad I haven't shelled out for an overpriced Rex fig. So this would be included in a cheap battle pack? Perfect!

I am sure those people would much rather buy a custom chrome 3PO with updated printing, though. Surely, it must be collectors driving up the value. I can't say I have a better explanation for the price difference, though. Yes, 3PO is chrome in-universe, but Vader is one of the most iconic movie villains ever. What is even crazier is that the original Cloud City Boba Fett has far surpassed 3PO by now. I would expect there to be more than 10,000 of him. However, Boba Fett is extremely popular, and several of those figs are likely worn from playwear by now. Still, it is crazy how much he has surpassed the original Jango, which one would imagine would have a similar value. Suffice it to say, the market sometimes behaves in unexpected ways, which can make it hard to prioritize appropriately for collectors.

If Lego was so adamant about making it a lottery, they wouldn't allow their own employees to feel out bags in Lego stores, as many do. Still, it is a fair point that minifig pieces can get damaged by getting felt up. Blind bags or boxes are both somewhat objectionable to me. I wish Lego would at least give people the option of buying full sets of minifigs. Then, we could all either buy full sets and trade the rest, or try our luck with blind boxes/bags. It would be a fair middle ground in my mind, since I know some have argued that the blind bags are what allow the CMF team to take risks with minifigs that aren't sure hits.

This is just the way it used to be... They fixed something that wasn't broken.

I think you hit the nail right on the head, and this is what is very perplexing to me. Surely, the Ecto-1 could have sold better with the inclusion of minifigs, which a comparatively negligible increase in price and cost of development, I would think. I do agree with you that the most likely way we'll get a satisfactory minifig selection in the future will be minifig-scale models. The Hill Valley courthouse, train, minifig-scale DeLorean, and maybe even the cafe would be solid sets. So unless we get a small wave of minifig-scale sets for these movies, I don't think we will have the minifig selection of our dreams.

I'd just say, be careful about using your bargaining position. eBay, PayPal, credit cards, and banks tend to give buyers more leniency to protect buyers, with the unfortunate repercussion that some buyers do abuse these channels. Any of these can reverse the charge, not just eBay. Even if eBay's Money Back Guarantee does not apply, you could still get hit with an item not as described claim on PayPal. If I were you, I'd just try to resolve things as amicably as possible, and offer the partial refund or the full return. In the case of a return, the buyer might want to make you pay for shipping, and might make an item not as described claim that could force you to do it, which might make this option less appealing to you.

If the buyer is a long-time user, and has been polite, I'd give them the benefit of the doubt. If you feel uneasy sending the piece, you can offer a partial refund for the value of the piece based on the Bricklink average. If the buyer agrees and you subsequently provide the refund, I doubt they'd be able to get a full refund through eBay. Regarding a full return, I have heard horror stories, but I do know some sellers take a video of the unpacking of what they got back to cover themselves. Not sure if that helps.

I see what you did there...

I used to really enjoy Brickvault, mostly for their collection videos. These days they seem to focus on Lego news. This is a shame in my opinion, because I get those by following forums such as this one. DuckBricks is a solid suggestion, and I only recently found that channel. Beyond the Brick is another no-brainer, since they feature collections, museums, MOCs, and quite a bit of stuff that can keep you entertained for long. Also, for those of you into Super Heroes, MiniSuperHeroesToday is a great channel to subscribe to.

He is also incredibly detailed. Printing on the arms, sides of the legs, front of the legs and toes, and everywhere on the front of the hips. Somehow I hadn't noticed that before.

These new pictures make most of the figures grow on me (bar the foal girl). The moon warrior, in particular, has some interesting color combinations. The print on the birdwatcher's torso is a bit odd, and reminiscent of the more simplistic designs of the 90s, so it looks oddly out of place.

Aw man, those options you mention now make me feel even more disappointed about the figure we ended up getting!