strangely

Edit: Okay, just saw it. It's pretty good, easily the strongest set of the wave.

For me, it depends on whether or not the three will be distinct variations. For instance, if they give us regular Ellie, raincoat Ellie, and then battle damaged Ellie, I'm all for 3 Ellies. If it's 3 identical Ellies it will be a waste.

I mean, I can't say I'm totally surprised. Even without the racism you still have the child abuse/slavery/torture. This probably should have been 18+ set to begin with. I mean, this movie was part of the reason the PG-13 rating came into existence. It was pretty controversial even then.

I rewatched the Gray Lady scenes in Deathly Hallows pt2 and there doesn't seem to be anything like that in the corridor where Harry talks to her (I believe the upper floor of the set is supposed to represent this corridor in Ravenclaw Tower). I suspect that they didn't want to leave it empty so they decided to throw something random in. So my best guess is that it's perhaps a drinking fountain (that's the only thing that I can think of that might make sense in a corridor). As for the scroll, my theory is that it might be a reference to the Grey Lady's cameo in one of the earlier films where she's sitting in a classroom writing at a desk.

I put together the new Room of Requirement and I have a few thoughts: The bottom section, when filled with all the side builds, really captures the cluttered look of the room really well. The side builds are more satisfying than I thought they would be, I actually really love the parchment build on the top floor. The doorway into the room is also really well done and I hope to see the double doors used more often in these Hogwarts builds going forward (it's just too bad they're stickered rather than printed). I don't care for the upper floors of the set. It's so empty, and that sink is just ridiculous, it looks really bad in person. To make matters worse, they didn't put arches around the inside of that window above the sink like they did for the outside, so it makes the window look unfinished. The bit of tower that's built onto the side of this room is also only held on with one technic pin and then some hooks, so it hangs loosely and leans out, which ruins what's otherwise a good tower build. The tower hanging off the side makes it hard to put this next to any other tall Hogwarts modules. I feel like they either should have gone without a roof and lowered the price, or raised the price and actually put in a real room.

Yeah, he looks one stud shorter, though you're right it could just be perspective. We're still missing Belle. Hopefully they flesh out all the princess characters this year. I feel mixed about this series. I still dislike how Mickey and friends look, they work fine for park mascots, but I don't particularly want these as park mascots. Baymax also feels like filler to me, it's a very phoned in design. Robin Hood and Prince John look great, I just don't care for the movie that much. Pinocchio's nose is weird, but the design is good overall.

In the leaked photos for the Temple of Doom it looks like the regular baseball cap to me.

Interesting rumors. It makes me wonder if the park set is supposed to combine with the castle and train to create a Disneyland setup. If the builds are as good as Carl's House, minidolls or not I'll buy them. Carl's House is pretty impressive. I think they captured the look of it without breaking the bank, I definitely see myself picking it up. I like the Train set too, I think it's pretty solid for a 4+ set. I don't think I'll pick it up since there's not enough new characters, though I'll definitely Bricklink Moana and TInkerbells wings. My one gripe is that they used the cloth skirt piece for Minnie. When the set features a chair for her to sit in I understand using the cloth piece, but when she's just standing they should use the plastic skirt piece as it just looks better. The cloth version just doesn't hold it's shape and looks bad when the minifigure is just standing.

I think in this case, context matters. In both scenarios it's made pretty clear it's a cat toy, Naomi's even using it on the back of the box to play with a cat, I even assumed it was her toy since the one in Olly's room is a different color. I would also argue that Leo isn't actually performing a service for Olly, I think it's just something they're working on together.

It arrives on Friday (so long as Walmart doesn't cancel it on me). So I'll build it when I get it and see how it fits with the previous modules.

When I checked it all the sets were available. I bought the room of Requirement.

I'm starting to think it's real. It has white figures in the set, so it's probably a preliminary shot. It's possible that the weird distortions are the result of someone trying to get rid of a watermark.

The Fighter Plane Chase seems like a pretty decent set for the price. I do agree about the pith helmet, it was not the right choice, but I can live with it. Otherwise it's pretty perfect. The Lost Tomb I feel mixed on. I had the original and really loved the design of that one. The new one seems to be more accurate to how it appears to the movie and is more closer in scale, so that's a positive. However it does feel a bit empty and incomplete. I think the lack of ceiling beams like the original set makes it feel a bit more incomplete to me. It'll be interesting to see what's behind the wall this time around. This will be the main set I'm after at this point and will probably be a day one purchase for me. The Temple of Doom is a complete miss for me. The roller coaster parts just don't work for me, it makes it look less like minecarts and more like a ride at Disneyland. Too, the carts being solidly attached to the track kind of works against the scene it's trying to depict (where being derailed is part of the danger). Then the track just isn't that long, nor is it as tall as the original (the lack of height really undermines the design to me). The design of the shrine is not that great either. Credit where credit is due, the skull looks a lot better and is closer to the movie, they also managed to get a couple of the columns and some of the wall too, whereas the old set didn't bother attempting it at all. But the statue design is way off (not sure what's up with the coloring, the gold really doesn't make sense here). The platform is strange too. They depict the platform as just a flat area on top of a bunch of big rock pieces whereas the entire area was chiseled stone in the movie and overall it seems like they're still leaning into the cave aesthetic rather than the actual temple bits. It looks like the cage is missing again, which is made weirder by the fact that the hands that hold the chains in the movie are actually present this time around. More pictures might help improve my opinion on this set, especially since the shrine obscures a large section, but right now it's the weakest of the sets to me and I'll definitely wait for a sale. The minifigures all across the board are great and whether or not I get every set I'll definitely Bricklink the minifigures.

It'll be interesting to see which of these sets make it to shelves. The Snow White set (at least some version of it) feels like a given since the evil queen is in the CMF and Snow White appeared in the brickheadz line. Being the first feature length animated movie Disney made, it seems like it has to be part of the Disney 100 line. The Maleficient set feels likely too since Aurora is in the CMF. The statues feel a little less likely, or at least not something they're going to roll out right this minute. But I guess we'll see.

Minidolls with the castle would be a little disappointing, but I think I'd still buy it. The design of the Friends/Princess sets have really improved over the last few years, so I think there's a good chance the design will be good enough on its own to justify it. Time will tell.

I love the lineup for the train. I was expecting it to be a random assortment of characters, like a Disney parade, and it is! With Moana in the mix now I take that as a sign the other princesses will be included in the other sets.

It's a buckle, it's part of that mold.

I hope we get a set for Alice, but the top hat in the teaser could be for Jiminy Cricket or Facilier.

That's a pretty interesting list. Getting the Queen of Hearts is great, I'd love to get a set with the Mad Hatter and White Rabbit too, an updated Alice with medium legs would be nice too. I'm happy with the princess lineup so far. With the Evil Queen included that nearly confirms Snow White's inclusion. I'm just hoping we get Cinderella and Belle too.

That's true, but we did see more leg/skirt printing last year than previous, so I think the odds are better this time around. And it's possible Bellatrix could show up in the Battle of Hogwarts too, so I think that helps improve the odds of a decent printing update.

Very excited with the list for the summer sets. Here are my thoughts: Expecto Patronum: For that price I'm sort of expecting it's going to have some sort of mechanism to cast the spell, some sort of crank system that causes the stag to cross the lake and knock over the Dementors. The Battle of Hogwarts: I'm hoping that this is the entrance section of the great hall (designed so it could connect to a new version of the great hall and tower sometime in the future) with part of the courtyard. I would love to get a couple of knights, updated Malfoys (Narcissa especially), battle damaged Harry & Voldemort, Hermione and Ron. Quidditch Trunk: I'm really hoping this is going to be like last years trunk. I'm hoping it opens up to form a Quidditch pitch, interchangeable team banners, uniforms for all 4 teams, the new broom bristle piece in a variety of colors (maybe a new piece to represent the pointier looking brooms too) and Lee Jordon and Madame Hooch. D2C Gringotts: I'm so excited for this, I'm really looking forward to all the goblins and the cart system (I'm assuming they'll just use the existing roller coaster parts). Hopefully they take this chance to give us skirt printing for Bellatrix.

I actually like the brick built eggman, with the exception of his head. If they gave us a better head for him I wouldn't mind him remaining brick built. As for the bigfigs, I don't really think they've been discontinued (especially given that the big head is still in production), I just think Lego has scaled back and isn't spending money on them unless they have a reason to include them. We know they chew up a good chunk of budget when used, so when there isn't anything special (like a movie in theaters) to drive sales it's probably more profitable to release a cheaper minifigure version of that character (Thanos and Hulk are being used in the cheap sets this wave, so that couldn't have even included a bigfig at that price point anyway). And based on how phoned in the new version of Sandy is, I think they just wanted to cut costs on him.

I think this makes the most sense. The Visitor's Center is still under construction in the movie, so there's a lot of blank walls and windows, so large panel and window pieces making up most of the structure would make sense. I imagine the more complicated, part intensive, builds will be the fossils, rocks, stairs and railing. I'm thinking we'll just get the interior rotunda from the building with a plastic banner to drape across the front of it to recreate the final scene with the T-rex.

I could see them doing silvers versions of characters we've already gotten, but that's the only scenario I see that happening in. It seems pretty obvious people would be upset to get a weird event variation of a character without ever getting a regular version. The promo does seem to suggest a new Tinkerbell variation. Not a fan of the wand though, I don't think that style really fits the Disney wand look too well. The Brickheadz are pretty neat too, it definitely makes me think Snow White and Oswald will show up as minifigures. I just hope they go light on using Toy Story and Frozen characters (they feel overexposed to me at this point). I'm hoping to finally fill in some of the princess characters (Cinderella, Belle, Beast) and the villains (Lady Tremaine, Queen of Hearts). I'm excited to see what this theme brings!

I wouldn't be surprised if they're just trying to wittle through the existing stock of the old broom piece.