Algernon

The Sith Interceptor is looking slick. I like the Desert Skiff a lot, too. I would love to get my hands on Jabba's Palace but unfortunately it will probably be too pricey for me. Some of the sets look pretty odd, though. I really can't understand the reasoning behind yet ANOTHER Jedi starfighter. It was never a compelling design to begin with, so why do we need eight different versions? I don't mind updates of more iconic ships, like the X-Wing, because it's great to see improved versions of such a recognizable design. But this? Why? I also don't really understand the KOTOR ships, either. Although I love the Sith Interceptor, the other two (including the exclusive) look like something out of Gradius rather than Star Wars. The figs are nice, but they just don't feel Star-Wars-y to me at all. At least the Interceptor bears resemblance to the Empire's aesthetics. The Sub is well designed for sure, but I don't really care for Episode I sets and I refuse to spend money on a Jar Jar Binks. Call me biased. As for the planet sets, they're decent, but the only reason to get them is for the figs. I hope we see the UCS B-Wing soon, I'm dying for that one. Thanks, Grogall, you wonderful man you.

Looking at that picture makes me wish that LEGO had gone with more of a Scooby-Doo vibe... and also makes me hope that LEGO makes that ghost ship! So much potential goodness in a set like that! I also notice the upcoming haunted house, looking pretty similar to the one we glimpsed in that promotional video. I guess that means that LEGO could very well be doing some of this. At least, it's a possibility!

Much as I would love a cryptozoology theme, I think it is a little thematically removed from Monster Fighters. Also, Medusa is more suited for a greek theme isn't it? I feel like LEGO would need to stick to the world of Universal monsters, unless a thematic change is what they want (which has happened before - Alpha Team, for example, got a new location every year).

News pics look great, I really hope LEGO makes a series out of this with some other WWI-era warplanes. Hopefully we'll start seeing this in stores in the next few months (before I blow my LEGO budget on other things...).

True, and besides, not everyone got their hands on the CMF monsters. Aren't they redesigns, as well?

I think it's a little bit different to use a "demon" character as a main villain in an official theme than it is to just use the name in a couple of (clearly not demonic) Racers sets. Remember, even if it doesn't really make any practical sense for LEGO to shy away from religious issues, from a P.R. standpoint that's irrelevant. LEGO is a kids toy. How disastrous would it be for them if people suddenly started a big morality ordeal over "demon-worshipping" children's toys? It's not worth the risk, and I'm pretty sure LEGO's marketing team would agree. That said, I do hope Monster Fighters continues for several waves. It's more worthy of being an "Evergreen" theme than Atlantis was imo.

I think it makes perfect sense to have a UCS B-Wing. We've had a Y-Wing, X-Wing and Snowspeeder, so this seems to follow. It may not be as iconic as some other ships, but it's always been a personal favorite of mine, and most AFOLs will know what it is. I'm excited to see it.

Yeah, exactly. Sure, there ARE more monsters to choose from, but not many of them have the brand equity of Frankenstein and Dracula. Although a headless horseman would be pretty cool. It's too early to be talking about the next wave anyway. Personally, I'm finding myself increasingly impressed by the mad scientist and werewolf set (previously my two least favorites!). I don't know exactly what they changed about them, but they look great! I have no idea how I'm going to budget for this AND Lord of the Rings... but crazier things have happened.

I don't really think the storyline here is any less cliche than previous LEGO storylines. LEGO doesn't usually bother coming up with an involved mythology with its original IPs (some exceptions... Bionicle and Ninjago, for example)and these yearly action themes follow a pretty typical pattern, even when they receive multiple waves. There's always some variety of crystal or other valuable for two factions to fight over. For example: Power Miners/Rock Raiders: Crystals, Atlantis: Portal keys, Bionicle: Masks, Adventurers/Pharaoh's Quest: Treasure, etc. The ONLY alternative to this storyline is when one faction is attempting to capture another. For example: Dino, Space Police, Agents, etc. Monster Fighters appears to be the former. LEGO seems to really go out of it's way to prevent a straight up "war" storyline - it's either a race to a valuable or intent to capture. I appreciate the effort, even if it is pretty much just a gesture at this point. That said, Monster Fighters is looking hot. My only hesitation is that I don't see where the theme could go from here. They're used up almost every monster already. Unless they're okay with re-issues, what's left? Witches and scarecrows maybe? I don't see much room for expansion. Still, these sets look great in their final form. I can't wait until we get some big pics to analyze. EDIT: You know, I just remembered the unintentional debut of that Haunted House set awhile back. Whatever happened to that? Is that tied to this theme at all? It looked great from what I remember.

I went ahead and filled it out. It's always good to see that LEGO values the opinions of us AFOLs.

You know, the purpose of LEGO Cuusoo is more than just turning your ideas into real sets. LEGO learns a lot from what people ask for on Cuusoo. The Winchester was rejected, but LEGO's coming out with the Monster Fighters theme which conveniently involves a set called "The Zombies". Even if the Western Town isn't well realized, LEGO might very well come out with a brand-new Western theme to capitalize on the interest. Remember that LEGO is a business, and I don't know of many businesses that listen to their diehard fanbase as closely as LEGO does. Lets show some gratitude.

I'm pretty surprised that some people have already managed to get their hands on these (especially the one set that we haven't really seen yet). I also agree that the Zombies set was probably inspired by the Winchester project, which was recently rejected. Personally, the set reminds me more of one of those zombie-killing videogames, since McHammer seems to be running them over with a giant plow. I'm also with Grogall that a handful of the sets are rather unimpressive though. Although I really like 3 or 4 of them, the rest are pretty mediocre. Particularly the mummy set. Do we have the price for the Zombies set yet? It looks like a $39.99-er to me.

Rationally, there really shouldn't be any race issues with the Witch Doctor, but bear in mind that LEGO can't assume people will react rationally to their products. They may want to just play it safe.

A warplane is a warplane. That said, the purpose of this particular set isn't a "war" theme, it's just a collectors item aimed at AFOLs. It's like LEGO collector trains. Can they kill cattle who stray onto the tracks? Yes, but that's not the purpose of the set.

I would buy that without a moment's delay.

This is clearly a silly debate, but what the heck! My rebuttal. That part actually has its uses, and I still see the large brown roll cage used in steam punk MOCs to this day. All LEGO parts are useful if you just use a little imagination. True, but the RR approach was much more realistic than the Power Miners approach. A lot of the PM mining tech seemed impractical, like the arm-swinging claw machine from the first wave (forgot the name). I'll give you the functionality point, though. PM had a lot of that. I have to say that I disagree. The rock monsters from Power Miners were more like annoying little gremlins. The RR baddies were gigantic, mysterious rock creatures that were more like rare encounters than the primary threat (only included in two sets, after all). Plus, I think their design is a lot more imposing, even if it's less detailed. Bear in mind that Power Miners is a more recent theme, when such construction techniques became more common. When RR was released, their level of detail was pretty standard. I don't know about that! The Lightup lasers are awesome pieces. But you're right, the Power Miners had some great functionality.

I'm also noticing a pretty strong Steampunk/Post-Apoc vibe with the hunters. I really wish they had realized it more fully, because it's awesome. As Oky pointed out, the truck is very post-Apoc-ish and I'm sure it's not an accident... perhaps their testing the appeal of Steampunk with kids? Who knows!

I think part of the problem is that a lot of the LEGO excitement this year is weighted towards the various Summer releases, with the upcoming Avengers, Lord of the Rings and even the Monster Fighters theme. LEGO is clearly putting a lot of effort into the success of their Summer releases, so yes, Dino is on the sidelines. On the other hand, I would be very surprised if Dino sales aren't what they expected; after all, it's not difficult to sell an action-packed Jurassic theme with trucks and helicopters to modern kids. The potential for this theme's return in the future is pretty high, I think. Just not this year.

I just noticed the semi-official debut of the Zombie set! For a change, one of the coolest parts of the set appears to be the Monster Fighter vehicle. I love that truck. The zombie figs are great, too. The graveyard is serviceable, if unremarkable. At the very least, it provides us with some attractively moody scenery, which is one of my favorite parts of this theme. Great stuff all-around. It seems like this theme is gearing up for release, which strikes me as a tad early given the clearly seasonal nature of the theme, but I'm not complaining. I want that Castle.

And? There's also a whole generation of kids growing up with Twilight, Justin Bieber, and Spongebob Squarepants. It doesn't make them any more or less good. Again. Your point? I am a fan of the original three movies, as I enjoyed them immensely and still watch them to this day. I like those movies and I don't like the new stuff - if that means I'm not a "fan", I can live with that. Being a Star Wars fan isn't some sort of badge of qualification to an exclusive club. And even if it is, I don't think I'd want to be in a club that advocates such mediocrity. Now you know why so many OT fans feel alienated by modern Star Wars. I'm not alone here. Cite your sources. Avatar was an animation landmark. Disney was an animation landmark. Everything I've seen from TCW falls very short of those marks. Do you really want to bring the critics into this? From Rotten Tomatoes: Episode IV: 94% critic approval rating Episode V: 97% Episode VI: 79% The Clone Wars (movie): 19% Episode I: 57% Episode II: 67% Episode III: 80% And what you have there is a decent reflection of how I feel about every Star Wars movie. There's a pretty clear quality divide there. And it's not just the opinion of one critic, it's accumulative. If you disagree with the critics, fine; more power to you. I often disagree with them myself. But in this case I agree completely; there are basic standards of quality in writing, acting, and cinematography that aren't well reflected in much of the PT. That's not to say I think the PT is worthless; Episode III was definitely the least offensive of the trilogy (although the acting left a lot to be desired) and on the whole it was still a decent summer flick. It just wasn't outstanding. The older movies, for me at least, have a certain magic that makes them stand out from other science fiction films, which is why I like them. I really couldn't care less if that makes me a "fan" or not... the term seems to be pretty ambiguous anyway. ALLOW ME TO REITERATE MY PREVIOUS POST: None of this is LEGO's fault. Some of the CW sets are quite well designed, and I like them. But I don't have the disposable income to be less than picky, and since I don't enjoy the new Star Wars universe very much, I share the OP's disinterest. That's my only point here. Please lets not let this devolve into a flame war.

That's definitely one of the coolest promotional videos I've seen from LEGO! I loved the style. Can't wait for this theme.

Maybe I'm old and stuck in my ways, but personally I think the PT is atrocious and a huge insult to everything that made Star Wars good. I don't even know what to think of the CW series, since it looks like the bastard child of a mediocre Japanese cartoon and the old Transformers show with lightsabers. All I know is, nothing about it registers as Star Wars to my eye, and I share the OP's aversion to the CW minifigs for the same reason. However, none of this is LEGO's fault. A lot of the CW sets are very well designed and hold up on their own merits... as LEGO sets. The problem is, I have no desire to collect them when the subject material is such dirge. But I'm not going to blame LEGO for it - their work is still as solid as ever.

If you've read (as I'm sure you have) LEGO's official comments on Cuusoo, I think your chances are better than you might expect. They seem to love the idea, but you still need 10,000 supporters. Get some attention behind it and maybe you can be the grandfather of the next official Space theme.

Those aliens look fantastic. If LEGO winds up doing this, I would happily snatch up all of them! I really hope you hit the 10,000 mark.

Ran into this on LEGO CUUSOO... http://lego.cuusoo.com/ideas/view/11619 EVE Online LEGO ships! Already over 8,000 supporters and apparently they caught the attention of the EVE Online officials... mean that this could actually happen. I strongly encourage everybody to support this!