Graysmith

By the way, I wonder what'll become of that police helicopter that leaked some months ago. It's four-digit set number certainly doesn't fit anymore, and the style of it doesn't really look in line with the new police sets either. A set lost in time, never to be released? I get what they're supposed to look like, but it looks absolutely horrible nevertheless. They should've used those old vest accessories instead, or made up a new accessory similar to the life vests. Plus, as you point out, if only a motorcycle fireman would wear it, why are there minifigures in every other set with that torso? You wouldn't run into a burning house with a vest on.

I'm normally a big fan of the Fire sub-theme of City/Town, but I gotta say these are leaving me rather cold. For starters, it just feels like it's way too many sets. There's no reason at all for 60002 and 60003 to be separate sets. They should've put the (much better) fire engine from 60002 in with the building from 60003 and called it a day. Now there are three sets with ladder trucks (those two plus the one in the fire station set) and there's no point to have that many, especially when the vehicle designs are so lackluster (save for the one in 60002 which looks decent and something like a real fire truck). Also not a fan of the new firefighter minifigures. The dark red helmets (which look great with the yellow forest firefighters) don't look good at all with the black uniforms, and those torsos with the orange printing on them quite frankly look like misprints on the wrong colour torso. Why on earth would you put a print made to look like an orange jacket on a black torso? The other torsos (and the new head prints) look better, but still nowhere near as good as the previous non-forest firefighters. On the upside, I love that they're incorporating some kind of structure that is on fire (or cat in a tree) that needs rescuing. That's something that's always been lacking with firefighter sets (more or less) so that's a very positive development as a Fire sub-theme fan. I'm also thrilled to see them do a helicopter "from scratch" rather than resorting to those big pieces that every helicopter/airplane had for years and years. I'm actually more impressed by the police sets than the fire sets, and I don't really ever buy any police sets. The new catburglar thieves look fantastic, torsos and the heads, and the new police officers look pretty good too.

Just saw some set photos from the film shoot on /Film, and it's not hard to imagine it becoming a LEGO set.

Really? They sat on shelves unsold (even at 50% off) at a local toy shop for months and months where I live.

Six sets for one movie sounds a bit crazy though. Not even The Avengers got that many sets. A bit risky too doing that many sets since the movie might end up being a dud a la Prince of Persia.

I was really skeptical about LEGO doing a Minecraft set, but having recently started playing the game myself I actually have to say I think this is a pretty genius set. I can't imagine there'll ever be another CUUSOO project so suitable as this was. It really does capture look and feel of the game, and they managed to do it without it being extremely bloated as far as pieces and price goes. Yes, it could've been a bit cheaper since it only uses basic pieces, but it's still a very affordable collectible for fans of the game. Also, I saw some photos in Grogall's Brickshelf gallery of several of these Minecraft sets put together and customized. Hadn't seen that before and it looks really fantastic. Makes me want to buy a whole bunch of them, though I think I'll just settle for one.

So just rotate the faces inward.

Sounds like a Heroica board game to me. Waldurk Forest, Caverns of Nathuz, Legend of Chima..

It's a fantastic set, probably my favourite of these first LOTR sets. That said, if you feel you have the patience to wait, my recommendation would be to wait for a discount on Amazon (it's currently $53 there, 12% off) or a local sale.

Definitely liking this a lot more after seeing the Designer Video and the additional images. Still not completely sold on that blue colour for the house, but it's obviously a fantastic model. Nice to see that the empty back of the truck has a use too. Still, that price is making me hesitate. It's certainly not too much for what you get, but it's still a significant purchase compared to previous Winter Village sets. Hopefully it'll be available on sale after Christmas.

Lots of things to like about it, but quite a few to not like about it. To bring back the talk about the quality of the minifigure design, this one seems to have a kid wearing a scuba suit torso. So he's just been scuba diving in the middle of winter? Great logic, LEGO. Not a fan of the blue colour for the house. Looks weird and "unnatural" for a winter setting. It could certainly be customized to another colour though, but that'd probably cost a bit. Really like the overall design of the house otherwise though, so that's a shame. Not a big fan of the snow plow.. Feels a bit half finished. Anyway, I'm actually kind of glad I'm underwhelmed given the jacked up price for this.. Now I might actually skip it altogether which my wallet will appreciate.

I wonder if we'll ever get a minifigure of old Bilbo, with that hobbit hair piece in a light grey. I realize the odds of that happening are slim since they already did a Gandalf Arrives set there's probably no way they'll ever make a Bilbo's Birthday Party set. A bit of a shame they didn't include him with the Gandalf Arrives set..

If LEGO ever does another cheerleader, I want it to be a Zombie Cheerleader with tattered clothing and all that. It'd be epic.

Feels a bit too soon to be putting up a poll since only a few people have actually gotten ahold of these and they haven't even been formally announced yet. I'll even change my mind quite often by the time I actually have it in my hands. I didn't really think much of the Hippie from Series 7 for example but when I actually got the minifigure I changed my mind completely. Just sayin'.

I actually think the roofs are among the best things about these sets. I counted SEVEN different techniques to make roofs in the three sets they've released so far. That's just fantastic as far as inspiration goes and learning advanced building techniques. I'd even go so far to say that these Winter Village sets are far more interesting and fun to build than the rather monotone modulars. Even if I'm a bit disappointed that the next WV set will be so expensive, I fully expect it to be a fantastic build. Anyway, the Post Office will be back for sale for Christmas, no doubt. So will the Bakery, I believe, while the Toy Shop has been discontinued (unconfirmed, but most seem to believe it has been). So you'll surely get another opportunity to buy it.

His torso printing suggests he's wearing bib overalls so the pants should be orange to match, like so. Anyway, sorry to go off on a rant, I just think it's a shame that LEGO doesn't put in at least a minimum expected effort when doing the minifigures.

Why would that move the theme to an "entire different target audience"? Do you mean one that actually cares what minifigures look like (i.e. 95% of all AFOLs)? I'm not asking for the minifigures to be CMF style with new parts, all-new printing and whatnot, I'm merely asking LEGO to put a little effort into them. I can't think of any sets LEGO releases where so little care and thought are put into the minifigures. It wouldn't be difficult or expensive for LEGO to have used a green torso for this minifigure instead of the grey one (have you ever seen a grey jacket with a green hood?). Why should we settle for minifigures that look like they were put together by a blind person? Why use a pilot torso when they could've used the common black suit torso? Surely you can't argue that changing those would "drive up the price". They're not the worst minifigures ever, but there are a couple in each set that look pretty terrible and could've looked so much better just with existing/different color legs or torsos. None of that would do anything to drive up any price on these sets, and if LEGO are now going to be charging $100 for these sets they better put some effort into the minifigures.

Are you crazy?! The post office is the best one! The build is fantastic, it looks great and the gazebo and car are way better "accessories" than the tree and ice rink in the previous sets. In my opinion, of course. You should definitely consider buying it if/when it is on sale after Christmas. I will agree about the minifigures though. I never quite understood why LEGO didn't pay much of any attention to the minifigures in the Winter Village sets. Lots of plain and common torsos (like the female in the Toy Shop with the red space torso that looks completely out of place), strange combinations (like the guy in the Post Office with the grey torso and green hoodie). Most often they just seem like an afterthought which is a shame when the actual sets are so amazing and fun to build. I definitely hope this year's set will improve in that regard, especially with a $100 price tag.

That piece count and price is so disappointing. I may be alone on this, but I liked the smaller size for these buildings, the vintage small-town vibe of them. They were also affordable, unique collectables for those who don't want to or can't spend enormous amounts on the larger collectables (like the modulars). Now they're upping it into a bracket where it's a major purchase, not to mention that if it's just a single "cottage" with that many pieces it'll probably look completely out of scale next to the other ones.. I'll certainly reserve my final judgment for when we get to see some photos, I'm sure it'll be a great-looking set.. But I am disappointed in LEGO for ballooning the winter village series.

Regarding the Dragon Knight shields, you could always pretend they're brand new and haven't been faded by battle damage. Anyway.. Of course it's too bad that some of these minifigures aren't the same high quality as in the regular sets, but still, if you're looking for an army builder it's not going to get much better than this. I don't plan on buying it myself, but for that price I don't really have much to complain about.

One factor that people should also take into account is that LEGO wants to get as much bang for their buck when creating new molds and pieces. Take the winged arms for the vampire bat, for example. There's pretty much no other use for them other than this sort of character, and by reusing it for a CMF they'll get a far greater income for that mold than if it had only been used for one character in one theme. Same thing goes with the Alien Conquest headpiece that they'll get a bit of extra mileage out of by reusing it for a CMF character. It's easy for us to sit and complain about things being reused and whatnot, but it's smart of LEGO and quite frankly a necessity for them to try and reuse molds. With that in mind, I'm rooting for there to be a Zombie Cheerleader at some point. C'mon LEGO, reuse those pom-pom molds one more time!

In that case I'd highly recommend seeing James Cameron's film Aliens. Won't seem strange after that.

Glad to hear it'll have a white roof. That's the only thing I didn't like about the Post Office. It looks great, but paired with the other WV sets its green/melted snow roof looks strange.

It's hardly his fault that the dollar is weak/cheap.

To those who are disappointed, look on the bright side: You can save your money for other things/LEGO! I mean, seriously, imagine if every single thing LEGO released was a must-have. You'd end up poor and homeless!