Dorayaki

Great, I've been sick for days and unable to watch . Anyway, although I didn't expect to see a complete TV season treat for this new theme, I think this theme should have more stories to tell than Friends, the very ordinary modern life. It also reminds me that Atlantis made only one episode too, but I believe that one episode definitely can't make us get familiar with the main elves and pay for them. Just based on the fact that other companies (Mattel, Hasbro) do include evil characters for their girls-oriented theme, I don't see why LEGO Elves can't. Even for those girls who already buy other LEGO sets with evil minifigrues. How does one single new theme blind their eyes?In the case of LEGO Friends, which indeed had some "nasty" characters in their non-physical canon, this theme doesn't really allow to have any evil characters because they couldn't be as "evil" as those LEGO City criminals are. Elves, as the second original LEGO minidolls theme would have a better chance to include evil opponents in the future. Also, as discussed above, LEGO only made several sets with one promotional story so they would not be able to include yet another original evil character to this theme this year, I assume. The issue I (dis)agree with you is that we can still obtain the necessary fighting items for the Elves from other themes you mentioned. If LEGO can solve the minidoll-minifigure issue, it could have also allowed us to add some evil minifigures to be the Elves' opponents.

In a common view, Frankstein has a more clear public image while his female counterpart doesn't. If LEGO really do this character, they wouldn't base on that film and she could just end up like as another gender swap CMF (Lady Cyclops for example).Offtopic, I'd like to see a human groom before any ghost bride.

I wonder if LEGO could turn all classic themes into action themes versions with story concepts? Nnjago's actual predecessor was the Castle Ninja, and Elves could be a fairytale version of Castle in future waves. I would rather expected Pirate as a subtheme for Ninjago than the upcoming ghost series. Earlier classic themes had some occasional and intereseting story ideas behind the subthemes, but due to restrictions of technologies we couldn't see more. Princess Storm would be an interesting addition to the current Castle line. Of course, this might not satisfy all FOLs. Some just want a more classic or generic version of the themes, and after all there are still differences (lots of Ninjago tchnologies that didn't appear in Ninja, for example). It's also similiar with the license versus non-license debate. Unless we just buy them and modify into the MOCs we want. Friends is actually like a storywise version of City. As for City Police, the real LEGO City , I'm dissapointed with that Undercover doesn't become a concept for later sets.

I'm fine with Chima, although in general I think this theme isn't original enough, or is unable to pull it further like Chima could. As for Ninjago, personally I'm not sure about the another wave (story arc) coming in the latter 2015. I would expect to see LEGO make another new theme right in this year, not matter it's the replacement for Chima or a temperary filler. I love Ninjago but wouldn't like to see it occupy the whole action theme line. One story arc per year could better ensure its longterm place in LEGO lines, I assume. Suppose that Elves is successful enough to enter 2016, for now it seems like LEGO only planned one story arc for it this year, beginning with the tree house and ending up with the castle.

The artworks are pretty, but the different between these and figures turns me off alittle bit. The minidolls look pretty in their own way, but the details seem disjointed. The cartoon is closer to the artworks, though the expressions look more cartoonic.

I personally don't regard SW and Marvel as Disney's cooperation in any case, because this might be unfair to fans of mainstream Disney films. BH6 is branded as a cooperation of Disney and Marvel so it could be counted a different case.Not to be offtopic or discuss LEGO's decision on their regular licenses, in this topic, my point is that Wall*E may not be as profitable as these recent films, so the decision of LEGO and Disney would be strange. Of course, we may only compare all existed Ideas projects and currently there are no Maleficent or BH6 projects competing, so the comparison wouldn't be fair and accurate. The problem is that Ideas products need to base on the content of the original projects. Research Institute and Birds, which are combined trio sets, did include different models in their original article. Even if any of the first models are rejected, they can come up with plan B's immediately. Although Hidaka made two other different pianos, they belong to seperate projects so I think this is an obstacle.

I don't know, either. LEGO can still come up with some exclusive license each year so the capacity for which theme can't be predicted, actually. Well, like the Frozen castle case: not in theatrical time and not a complete wave.My assumption is that LEGO's cooperation with Disney is not as strong as it was this year. Sleeping Beauty (Maleficent) is already a part of Disney Princess, while BH6 also associates with Marvel, which means that both are very competent potential LEGO licenses. Like you said, LR's case might be one of the reasons that LEGO became more cautious. Based on the fact LEGO and Disney can't even reach the consensus of adevertising the more recent films, I can hardly imagine that Wall*E would pass the marketing chekbox. What is done is done, Wall*E is a mustbuy for me. Among all earlier Disney/Pixar films, I also believe that Incrediles is a good license despite no sequel announced. Well, there are many different scales of LEGO sets. The amount of pieces of Piano might be even more than the smallest City car, so who knows?As others mentioned, a piano would appear in the upcoming Heartlake set. I wish that Ideas could leave the project room for better improvement to be more like an independent Creator set. I expect to see its playability with figures so that children can be interested. Hidaka's pipe organ looks rather something we've never seen in LEGO history. I wish that passes too though the votes are still growing.

Wow, where? I agree that some projects do look too enormously huge, but the fact is there is no officially codified rule for members to follow, and your saying is clueless.Just like the SW UCS ship case mentioned, we can see that the sets do sell and there is no commercial problems, so it's just within Idea's review and choice. Scale does play a role in their decision, however, along with many other factors we've seen so far which don't let the scale decide evrything. Just IMO, I believe that these rejected houses could be redesigned into Modular scale that TLC could afford to produce.

To be honest, I’m happy for Dr Who fans, but in this case a LEGO DW set is definitely not a surprise at all, after that unfairly official “hint”. The thing we should notice is that two projects complete like the last time GB projects did. Unlike GB, even though there could be multiple versions/generations for the DW franchise, LEGO might still choose to make one only at once because of marketing risks. As for the rejected ones, I’m sad but not surprised to see SH mansions rejected. There is a chance for official ones if TLG already plan it now. Speaking of GB, the real problem, the office gets rejected and there is no second chance like existed LEGO licenses have. Also, it's the second time that another project of used Ideas licnses get rejected, after the train from BTTF. This could mean a misfortune for other growing DW projects who want to have the second place for LEGO DW set. I believe that LEGO should be able to redesign the office into a part of the Creator Modular series, which also pleases normal FOLs. No. If we’re discussing the timeline of LEGO’s cooperation with Disney, Wall-E is earlier than TS3 so it isn't like a feasible choice for LEGO to advertise. And speaking of Disney, I’m surprirsed too because LEGO neglect the two more popular film franchise this year (sorry Wall-E fans): Sleeping Beauty and BH6, so now Disney's decision seems to be very illogical. Neglecting that “Ideas-oriented licenses couldn’t get multiple sets” issue, I also wish to see several minifigure scale sets base on that film Of course. Eve should be in!!!!!! (Just an image, please neglect the difference between Mary and Olivia).

Uhmm.... technically you're not really using any house set of City/Creator to align with other Friends stores, but it's still a good case to show people how the combination works. Expect to see your future expansion!

Usually the face beneath the mask tells everything. I assume TLG would find out ways to make the mask more obvious to differentiate from actual animal molds, so to me it's not qualified as a mask. Of course, these are still prototypes so that wolf head could be changed anytime. Uhmmmmm.

I know it's somewhat related to the formula and problems of the original show, but in the view of LEGO's commercial strategy, I think it's not good to see all sets coming with Shaggy but other human members weirdly become exclusive or rare, something usually displease FOLs. It's interesting to see some variations of locations and monsters. A Hobbit beard is reused and a pumpking head finally comes (but not sure if it minuses a place for CMF series). It's the third time for us to see such kind of modern lighthouse, so hope that the playability is different.

Great essay! Also a good introduction to kids who just watched TLM but has no knowledge for Johnny at all. I'm not sure how the original story of TC pulled out, but the first chapter looks like the prototype for Clutch Powers too :p. It just came to mind that Elves seems to lack the "game spirit" for some reason. If regarding as another theme with cartoon story advertising, it has no action toys like spinners or speedorz, nor does it have any card/board game featuring the characters' power. I think strategy games should relate to girls more easily than action ones, and girls actually like to collect cards with beautiful portraits.

Not all animals from minidolls themes work with minifigures, but as for horses, I think they're fine.

This is very true, no matter it is an excuse for LEGO or not. Just based on this saying, the wolfman from the prototype leak has almost no alterations, while the guitarist monster was abit creepy. Just hope that LEGO make the final products work.And honestly some of those CMFs we had are also rehashings from regular themes. As long as some of them make regular returns in regular sets, CMF series doesn't really have to deal with specific needs. But still, it's not really the main topic for series 14. Rehashings also appear in regular series. My personal assumption for this themed normal series is that LEGO just want to try a different marketing strategy instead of running out of ideas. Agree, that's totally missing the mark. Unless LEGO officially declare that "no more divese regular series, only themed series from now on", we should know that regular series have been giving us the themes we want and themed series doesn't change this fact. I believe that time could make ideas better, so we don't have to force the CMF team to give us the golden egg at once.Oh, and I'm abit surprised that more people dislike this crazy scientist than I thought. I personally like him over the previous two CS (from series 4 and MF) which were not orignial enough to me.

We know it's not like Chima's fire versus ice, the subtheme isn't able to be that long as you wish. You may suggest that for Elves' future additions, though.The cartoon story might explain why the girls didn't stay too long. The main idea of jungle series was to introduce the camping spots and a wave was enough for that. However I would say LEGO could have add predators or poachers to make this wave more intense and meet FOLs' expectation for large animals. Even if City goes into the forest and swamp, they just provide more and more police spots . It does like that Friends is using the same schedule from Ctiy: first half of the year it makes regular sets, and the latter introduce a different subtheme. Technically, Friends is more about relationships in modern life in order to cast a light on real girls, so we can't ask too much. Of course, it's Friends' natural disadvantage since it may not have more obvious development like the storylines from other themes do. Well everyone has different tastes. I believe there are girls looking forward Scooby-Doo and CMF series 14.

Why? I think it doesn't work too much due to that the series might have to include some monsters which are not classic enough. Since LEGO has done with a regular theme, an additional CMF series may not help too much and might even conflict with regular series 14.

Looking at the badges..... so despite Farran is a team leader, his leaf power rank is the lowest? (but it could just be that leaf power represents the ground). And Skyra's color pretty resembles Aira so she's probably a wind elf too? The new hairpiece looks abit like Togrutas for unknown reason. Wait, she's more like..... About that Atlantis castle, the design is okay but abit childish to me. This kind of window representation reminds me of Heartlake Shopping Mall, which falls "flat" alittle bit. But again, this theme is still experimental so we can only expect more when this theme continues.

Wait, no discussion for the stage? It's not the first performance stage in Friends, but technically the very first outdoor live stage. And werdly it seems to be too late for LEGO since other competitors had done it in licensed themes before. I personally think the Barbie one was probabally the best out of their own catalogue, due to that it had two alternative buildings. The minimovie today also gave a hint for the plot. Looks like they would indeed meet the superidol and Andrea would have a guest appearance in her live.

I think the next wave of Friends could be pretty story-driven, which is a nice trick. Looks like the Friends bump into a pop star character who secretly stays in a hotel. And it could finally be Andrea's turn, who hasn't got her own story in the cartoon series. Anyway, the hotel is obviously what Paradisa FOLs have been waiting for decades!! It reprise the miss of Shopping Mall and it also looks just perfect as a new member of Creater Modular sets, some MOCs have made before: Additionally, Andrea's home was supposed to be an appartment, so if LEGO allow this kind of Friends building, her home would have a better chance in future waves too. The popstar also reuses another Disney member, Ariel hairpiece. So this almost proves that Disney Elsa and Cinderella's hairpiece could be reused in generic themes.

I'm more inclined to the saying of mixture. I think that skeleton guy is obviously a costume wear. We've seen many real skeletons in regular themes and this case is obviously different.If that Vampire Lady is true, I wonder what her bio is. Since Vampyre and Vampire were described to be two different characters, the new vampire should be a new inidvidual, too. IMO, despite i like some of the designs, if LEGO believe that they need special themes (licensed/storywise/themed) to turn the consumers' buds on, the answer should be more annual production. And if not, I just rather see these characters be randomly distributed to regular series.

I think we might really see a Ninjago series when a movie comes out, however that's the same case with TLM and the topic isn't talking about storywise concepts. And Castle doesn't work in this case, too. We've seen several classic Castle members already in previous two regular series, so LEGO would just have to do the same thing in later regular series. As for other cultures, we've also seen several cultural leaders so far and the chance isn't very big. I personally think we can hardly find out a special series idea that isn't storywise, licensed and doesn't have to do with any regular series. Since it's not necessary, I'm fine with TLG keep going with regular series.

Why would you nominate an official LEGO celebrity? If LEGO and Disney allow to extend the limit, other candidates like Sofia, Vanellope or Kairi needs this chance more. Of course, the members of official lineup first. And BTW, right now Frozen is still not officially listed as an Disney Princess franchise, which should be the reason why the boxart and most ads are additionally labelled "Frozen" the title unlike other sets do. I assume that LEGO missed the moneymaker too lately, and commercial reasons keep them from making a regular wave by now, which results in a single set under a collective theme unproperly.

I'm not really sure about this idea so far. It's against the expectations from some FOLs who expect pure diversity in a single series and some expected characters could not really appear in a idea-themed series. IMO, yes, LEGO can introduce original themes for CMF, but the ideas have to be very trival and specific because they couldn't individually appear in a normal series (well..... unless LEGO won't make normal series anymore). If a single normal CMF series only include the most representive idea, that means a very specific character couldn't make it to the series. For example, Oiwa might be the most trival idea for a Japanese character, she can live in a Japanese-themed series but not in a normal series. Some of the Halloween characters are qualified because they do have very specific concepts. City isn't a good one because we've seen individual City workers and personalities in previous series, also this may not appeal the targeted children. My persnoal vote is for Alexandre's fairytale characters. They're very specific and LEGO wouldn't really make Fairytale a regular theme with buildings.

Wow, I didn't even notice the leaks these days. Same opinion, it's a bipolar idea. It's very seasonal and could target at the market more precisely, but would keep FOLs waiting for the individual characters they really want. And this also means LEGO designers can hardly make more creative monsters in later series. We could immediately recall those complaints against the robots from TLM due to that the torsos can't be for MOCs. And this series is a bigger case. Though I never care about that too much. The Halloween theme mix up some cosplayers with really zombies, this is an idea I like. However not all of the ghost-career combinations are memorable enough. Zombie sea captain is hideous (PotC?) The new cheerleader works for me since she reminds me of school horrors films. There are inevitably rehashings, but both the Wolfman the Frankenstein are just lazest rehashings, while the new crazy scientist looks awesome. Furry Grandma might be a better idea than an ordinary wolfman, though I assume Toth is closer to his goal of a fairytale series. The new double pigtails looks like something girly FOLs have been waiting for, but I also expect the return of the classic town pigtails.