Faefrost

Don't they actually have a specific Yeti mold somewhere? I thought one of the old Orient Expedition sets was a Yeti set? (Or there's always the more recent and much better looking SW Wampa)

I just got the Weathertop set. It makes a nice little desktop display.

We were spoiled by having that Minecraft set come up as the first real licensed set. What we tend to forget is Minecraft is basically sole proprietor owned, and he went into the game project with no real expectations of merchandising revenues. So he could easily grant a license on a whim, just for coolness factor. While CCP tacitly approves, I'm sure there are still licensing costs involved, that will have to be squared with TLG's expected or estimated sales numbers. So that's still going to involve the lawyers etc. CCP has investors. They will want a return on any licenses. Zelda and BTTF both have some huge licensing hurdles. They already have large working departments dedicated to licensing and merchandising. They in all likelihood have minimum licenses and require certain production amounts. Plus far more extensive veto power and creative control. Finally any licenses are subdivided by region. Are there any conflicting licenses in Japan? Europe? Etc. They said from early on the Western Town would probably just be the tavern to start. So that drops the shear size. It will probably be something of similar size to the new MF Haunted House. Which they may be watching to gauge interest and sales of, regarding this project. (figure they would be selling into a similar audience at a similar price.) Overall I take he long wait times on these as hopeful signs. It probably means that they passed the initial business case reviews, and are mainly hung on licensing or product design queues.

WooHoo! My local Lego Store (Atlanta, GA) has had some great offerings on the crushed box table lately. I just managed to find 9572 Weathertop for $49 US and 9500 Sith Fury for $74, bringing both sets down to a nice almost unlicensed price per piece ration, which makes me very happy. . (I don't keep the boxes anyway. So I lose nothing with a damaged box).

That doesn't sound like a bad price, but check Bricklink and see what it would cost to fill it out with the minifigs? That should give you a better idea. if he is a castle builder and is looking to use it to expand one he already has it sounds like a great deal. I have the Dog Show and the Dog house (The Wife shows dogs). It's not a bad set. Although I think the cafe looks a lot better. The dog show has a lot of interesting parts and colors, but really it's just a sort of dull stage. The most interesting part of it is the Dogs.

Oh believe me, we do feel for you guys. You always seem to be at the absolute end of just about any supply chain, and when it does get to you the prices are astronomical. (On the positive side the unavailability of consumer goods and over inflation of import prices seems to help drive more well tanned blondes with absolutely heart melting accents to our shores. So I'm not sure this is something we are in any rush to fix. )

Part of the problem is that we, the AFOLs will never find a Lego Dino theme that we are ever completely happy with. The first problem is that Dinosaurs are, and always have been, a form of crack for young males of a certain age. Roughly 6 ish. They are a Lego gateway drug. One of the best themes for this. But this means that any Dino sets have to be targeted at that audience. Which means they need certain types of play value, and they don't necessarily need to make a lot of sense in the way we older types rationalize them. Trucks + Dino's does not require a ton of thinking for a 6 year old. Trucks are great, Dino's are great. Trucks + Dino's = rapture. Just give them something to shoot. They haven't quite hit the age where you have to add Ninja's to everything yet either. And then there is the other issue that prevents a huge level of Dino love in the AFOLs. That whole cost / value debate. Because of those big elaborate and fairly unique Dino molds, the Dino sets are a worse value per piece then even licensed sets. They are real expensive. This doesn't matter to the kid. He doesn't worry about Dutch plastic vs Chinese plastic. Cost per piece means nothing to him. He would like an extra minifig, but doesn't care if it's got a T Rex! And attempting to turn the theme into something we would like, risks moving it upwards and above it's core target. ( Maybe we can compromise and get the to do a Classic Land of the Lost license? )

Right now this set is one of, if not THE, top contenders for "Best Set of the Year". It has all the hallmarks of a true classic, and it spans age groups better than Helms Deep or Jabba's Palace.

Ugh! I wanted to trim a bit of this for brevity, but here was too much in your wonderful post to leave out. Re; Religious Minifigs or subjects. I don't think the boundary is quite as well defined as we might think. They have clearly sworn off modern religious imagery. But much of the adventurers and history lines do feature some historical religious elements of various degrees. So while we will never see a modern nun rabbi or imam, and we certainly won't see something like a direct biblical reference such as Moses, I would not rule out something a little more generalized in a historical sense. A Medieval Monk or Friar (ie Friar Tuck) or a classic Eastern Monk would probably be within the realm of possibilities. Even if they gave them a more generic name like "Kung fu guy". Have they ever done specifically named people? I can see maybe Abraham Lincoln, if just because he had such a distinctive, yet easy to do look. Just call the fig President. Maybe do a "Queen" that is Victoria and a Roman Senator? I'm not sure how well you could sell political leaders. It might be worse than religion. I'm with you on how they like to compliment existing themes, especially evergreen themes. They also like to compliment existing CMF's. For Monstrs 1. Igor / Hunchback. A no brainier. Like the Vampire, the Werewolf, Frankenstein and the Mad Scientist, the Mummy, etc he has been done before in the Studios line. He is due for an updating. 2. Bride of Frankenstein. Would love to see one. But the fact that we haven't makes me wonder if there are licensing issues? The Bride is a unique Universal studios property still, unlike the others. 3. Headless Horseman, would be easy to do a great fig. But really needs the horse. One of the new LotR types. I predict this will be a smaller set if there is another MF wave and not a CMF. 4. Evil skeleton. I'm thinking something more than our standard skelly. Like Barbosa in the Isla de Muerta set. City sub themes Police 1. Bobby. Another no brainier. Timeless. No guns. Distinctive. 2. Canadian Mounty. See above. Visually striking and distinctive, yet uses Forrest police parts. 3. SWAT, sign, probably will never happen. No modern guns or military. 4. Judge. A great CMF option. Wig Gavel, robes. Fire 1. Classis "New Yorker" style fireman? Old school leather helmet, great coat? Yeah yeah I know it ain't happening, but I can dream. 2. Search and Rescue Specialist. Forrest gear, backpack, search dog (non police dog handler) Civilian types 1. Boy Scout, another no brainer. Forrest police hat. Bandit bandana, kid legs. Fire. Think of him as both a source and a solution to the Forrest fire sets. 2. Teacher. Female in skirt. Apple, pointer. Dull but obvious. Fantasy and Faerie Tale 1. Big Bad Wolf, compliments red 2. Grandma 3. Princess 4. Prince Charming 5. Fantasy Barbarian. Insanely muscled nearly naked guy with huge sword and horned helmet. 6. Fantasy Barbarian Female. Insanely muscled nearly naked woman with... With... Ummm... Let's be honest no one would be paying attention to what she came with? History, Adventure and Such plus other assorted weirdness 1. Zoro! A no brainer once you think about it. Musketeers recoloring. 2. Roman Senator, our long desired toga guy with laurel wreath. 3. Colonial/American Revolutionary era soldier. Just an excuse to use the tri cornered hat. 4. Daniel Boon type woodsman or pioneer. Coonskin cap etc. 5. Chinese Warrior 6. middle eastern trader or sailor 7.

Don't forget locking it into a modular row, or even securing it on a baseplate will interfere with your ability to access the charming interior. It splits open on a hinge, not as stacked floors like the modular's. So you will want to make some accommodation for that.

Is it a sign of my own dementia that my first thought was "Where's Krato's? Isn't he supposed to be running around twisting everyone's heads off, or disembowling the residents in creative and artistic ways? Well done! even without the buckets of blood and bowels

The Guy Gardner fig is brilliant! And that red bike is dead on perfect for Robin's most common ride in the early 2000's. Well done!

I'm betting 'Speedorz" will be part of the classic Racing trope. In this case probably some sort of Street Racing theme. Hot Rods, tricked out cars, etc. Which could be really cool. Either that or some sort of new mini racers, raceable cars line to compete with the competitions new Hot Wheels License.

With the UCS sets it is sometimes hard to judge. Most have a fairly short shelf life, but the Death Star has been around for ages. I think the Imperial Shuttle will probably be discontinued before the SSD, but it all depends on sales. The Pet Shop will be around to at least next year, it is fairly recent. The Grand Emporium is the one of all three that will probably disappear any month now. It's the oldest modular currently on the shelves.

Woot, found a few left at my local TRU. Managed to get 6. Overall I am very impressed. Minifigs that did nothing for me in the photos seem much more impressive in the flesh as it were. Old school diver - He is pretty much as expected. A good little fig, although I wish he had a less jovial expression. Cheerleader - OK I admit I was meh on this one from the pictures. But I really like the fig. The red outfit with the black hair just pops. She is getting a chainsaw and being added to the Monster Fighters scenes Faerie - Not as bad as I feared, and a lot of individualy really cool parts. The wings are great, the torso has lots of MOC possibilities, the wand is fantastic. The hair is useful. The skirt I could live without. female Skier - The last thing I wanted or needed was another skier. But the individual parts are fantastic for MOC's. The goggles face is great for lots of purposes. Great hair piece. Nice torso and the legs with the white boots America Football Player - meh Evil Robot - OK this fig has rocketed up to one of my most favorites. The bucket helm is not bad, but the head underneath it is fantastic. It almost feels like a Batman villain. The torso is even better. It's like an evil Iron Man. The whole thing could be used in so many ways. A nice Superhero of Agents foe. Something creepy from the Monsters Fighters lab. It's intended Space. lot's o fun to be had.

I am a Star Wars fan, but with that said I prefer the Grand Emporium and Pet Shop. They are just more of a fun set of models with lots of things going on. The SSD is an impressive display model if you have the space. (I think it would make a fantastic piece inside a glass topped coffee table.) But it is still mainly just a huge slab of bley plates. If you have a nearby Lego store it is worth paying them a visit, just because many of them have all three of those models built and on display.

The Sky-crane piece of it might meet your standards. That is an optional part of the project.

LOL! Going in the opposite direction get the LotR Frodo Polybag. It has a beer keg, a goblet a bottle and a suasage. Everything a Barvarian needs after a salty pretzel.

Medieval Market Village? Maybe the barn from the Mill Village Attack? On a smaller scale perhaps the horse and cart from Gandalf Arrives? Or combine him with the soon to be re-released series one Witch and the Harry Potter Hagrids Hut, maybe thrown in the series 7 Grandma Visitor to create a fairy tale scene?

My gut instinct is that Krell will use a well printed version of the Ninjago Garmadon's double arm piece. That is already a fairly new mold that they have so far only used once. I think the presence of the Krell fig is an indication that they would be trying to get more mileage out of that mold. So without that mold already in existence we would not see a Krell fig, sort of thing. Thousands? A new element mold runs into 6 figures USD. $200,000 is not outside the ballpark.

Zombies. Definitely Zombies. The Zombie wedding figs are classic, the graves/crypt is nicely detailed and the vehicle is more interesting. The only thing distinctive about the werewolf set is the werewolf himself. The main build is basically yet another tree. Not that far removed from the Ewok set or the Kings Carriage Ambush set. It's a nice tree and has some real unusual colors, but it's still just another tree. The car while cute, is the weakest of the main MF vehicles and you also get the Major minifig in the better (but more expensive) Crazy Scientist set.

I just got a notice from Amazon.com. They cancelled my pre-order for the Batman Visual Guide due to "lack of availability"? Apparently they will not be getting enough to meet current pre-orders? (and heck I put in my pre-order when it was announced in June). Has anyone else encountered this?

I kinda wish they would sort of merge it with some previous SciFii, History, Adventurers and Pirates materials and subjects, and just go full out Edgar Rice Burroughs on the subject. Give us The Lost World. Dino's, strange tribes, huge mammals, Victorian era Steampunk, it's got it all.

I'm more prone to think that it is an Action type theme designed to sort of slip into that anime/quasi eastern/exotic fantasy type setting that we see in so many cartoons video games and such, and is probably the Ninjago replacement. Something that is seeking to not so subtly play in similar territory as The Legend of Korra? I just don't see it as being a historical theme, except in the most remote sense. Right now Lego's shelf space that would otherwise be taken up by history themed sets are mainly filled by licensed properties, with the core spots being taken up by LotR and Hobbit stuff, which we know will be around for awhile yet. I think other than CMF's our best hope for new History themed stuff will be pop up exclusive sets such as the Kingdoms Joust or maybe an off chance of some Western stuff inspired by CuuSoo.

Lego has the rights to every character Marvel has ever created. The only things they do not have the rights to are some of the specific versions presented in non Marvel produced movies. So they can't make sets based on the specific scenes or costumes from Sony's Spiderman movies, or Fox's X Men, Fantastic Four or Daredevil and Electra movies. They do attempt to match their set set and minifig selection to synergistically leverage any current movie or tv properties as that is what kids want to buy at that time. ( case in point Avengers opening weekend the only Lego Super Hero set that could still be found anywhere was the Wolverine one.) so at a handful of Marvel and Dc sets each per wave we will probably continue to see things focused on what is in theaters or on tv.