Clone OPatra

You have to remember, though, that PotC had only one wave, consisting of half Stranger Tides sets and half trilogy sets. LotR is getting a wave solely dedicated to the trilogy in the summer, so it's not unreasonable to think that the fall wave (since the second wave will be released in the fall) will be only The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey sets. This theme will undoubtedly last more than two waves, since the second Hobbit film is coming out just a year later. It is probably safe to assume a minimum of four waves: summer and fall 2012, and summer and fall 2013. I would guess that the summer 2013 wave will contain a mix of Trilogy and Hobbit: AUJ sets, while the fall 2013 wave may contain sets only from The Hobbit: There and Back Again.

Because they know the old stuff will sell anyway. At Christmas time, LEGO flies right off the shelves, where I am anyway. There don't need to be new sets for parents and children to gobble them right up. In January, there isn't as much of a reason to be buying new LEGO. But if a kid knows that all new sets just came out, won't he or she nag the parents to buy some of the new, just-released stuff?

It's certainly not an aspect that they chose to use in the Nolan films, but I didn't really see it in the previous live action films either. Keep in mind, though, that this topic is supposed to be just about the existing Batman Films, and there is a separate topic for Batman in general. It's easy to cross over, but it's good that there are two separate topics so that we can have a directed discussion of the films in this one.

Those great new house pieces will be so useful and time-saving for MOCs! I can't believe how stupid-looking this set is. As others have said, it isn't even to scale with its one figure! That's a pretty big fail. Kitty is cute and all, but really this product sucks.

Those weren't the Ghostbusters I was thinking of, but I still don't see much resemblance. A little bit more of a resemblance than the live action Ghostbusters, though.

Bricklink lists Episode III. It correctly lists the recent Emperor Palpatine's Shuttle, from 2010, in that category. LEGO hasn't even taken much of a hiatus on making EpIII sets. Now, EpII sets, on the other hand, would be a surprise (though I suspect we will see some when that is released in 3D).

They don't give me Ghost Busters vibes at all. They are guys in bowler hats and a girl with an arrow in her hair. That doesn't ring Ghost Busters to me.

Uh, no he's not. Clone Wars eyes are the large anime style with a long, ovoid-ish shape, large eyebrows, whites of the eye, and colored irises. The Anakin in the Interceptor (and Obi-Wan for that matter) have the normal black eyes with white dots, or for the Sith side of Anakin yellow circles. These are the non-CW style. The set is 100% Revenge of the Sith. Unlike the last two sets that could be argued about (ARC-170 and Swamp Speeder), this set actually includes a scene from the film by having the duel on Mustafar. There is no discussion.

Alright, that is very true and I can see that side of it. From that perspective, I can understand where those comments I was referring to were coming from. I, on the other hand, am not much of a MOCer at all, so if sets themselves look unappealing to me I will not buy them. These sets look great to me, which is why I am stoked for them.

This is a great MOD! You've displayed the best mentality about sets, here; if there's something wrong, make it better! Welcome to EB and…

I can't understand why a lot of people are looking straight to the minifigures, especially the monsters, and disregarding the rest. I am very into minifigures myself, but it's not the monsters that attracted me at all, especially not the swamp thing. What I love is the different motor vehicles and the castle. I love Adventurers style cars, as the car in the werewolf set looks to be. The '60s style hearse and car in the castle set look fantastic as well. Really, everything about the castle set looks great: the car and the castle itself. The gothic, classic horror movie look is wonderful and unlike any castle we have ever gotten before.

I couldn't agree with you more! I loved that Horror theme; I got every one of the sets. These look even better! Honestly, this is the first really exciting line for me for 2012. I couldn't care less about Dino hunting or Ninjago, and these definitely seem cooler than LotR. Just my personal taste. This theme shows that LEGO still does 'original' themes; Licenses aren't completely taking over. I loved the campiness of the idea behind Alien Conquest and the style of the saucers, but wasn't thrilled with the overall design. This theme is campy to the maximum, campy good guys and bad guys. I just love the idea of classic Brits in bowler hats fighting a slew of outlandish monsters. My favorites are the hearse and the castle; I guess Dracula gets the best digs. I hope that the collectible minifigures aren't being reused here, and I too think they won't be, but a lot about these pictures seems nearly completed. There are no missing moulds or other usual tell-tale signs of prelim stages. Even if the collectible figs are reused, that won't break this theme for me. It's too awesome. (I do hate the mad scientist figure, though)

While I agree with you that there should really be some Phase II CW sets, you're incorrect about TOR ending. It's an MMO, which means that if it's a hit, it will go on and on for some time.

The whole fighter looks a bit redesigned really. I don't think it looks anything like the actual starfighter though, but a new design is better than an accurate design after we've already had so many.

Now I know that these pictures are preliminary and what have you, but they basically confirm my fears about this line, which were already roused by the set names themselves. The problem I find is that LEGO is trying to make sets out of things that are just pieces of rock. LotR really is awesome, but most of the best set pieces are either rocky croppings/caves (Weathertop, Mines of Moria) or way too grand in scale to capture realistically in a LEGO set (the towers, Minas Tirith, heck, even Helms Deep really). There are plenty of locations that I can envision as reasonable for LEGO sets, but they haven't been made. Instead of Weathertop, they could've made the Prancing Pony. It could've had all of the same figures, but instead of some rock and tiny bits of detail, we would've gotten some amount of a building, which would have been better in my opinion. While the Mines of Moria is a location that should certainly be done, at the same time a cave doesn't really translate into a set that well. In the prelim it looks already like they've taken a good crack at it, but I wouldn't expect it to be amazingly awesome because it is, after all, basically just some rock. Hopefully Helm's Deep will have some good interior; if it doesn't, it will basically just be a grey wall. About the horse, I am pretty sure it is a new mould, seeing as it appears in two sets and in two colors. I am wondering where the Uruk-hai Army set is supposed to take place. Is it a Helm's Deep addition, or is it from Return of the King and the battle that takes place near the harbors by Minas Tirith (Osgiliath I think? I'm not that up on LotR)?

Those look legitimate to me. They look pretty good too. I am wondering a little bit why there are two Old Republic sets, but they are fairly cool ships and I am sure the minifigures will be fantastic and unlike most SW minifigures that we get in style. At first I thought it was odd to see the Malevolence so long after it was in the show, but on second thought it does make sense. LEGO seems to like to release capital ships every so often, and the Malevolence is a very distinct one. The thing that stood out to me the most was actually the Desert Skiff because it has the new, and awesome, Boba Fett in a cheap set, which is great. The minifigure selection in that set will be great, even if a desert skiff itself is a ho hum vehicle. If these sets are real, as they appear to be to me, I should hope that nobody complains about the selection in this line-up. We've got OT, PT, a few CW, and even some EU. It's got a smattering of everything really.

When was that ever confirmed? Just because one online retailer listed that date does not mean it is so. There is often an 'official' August release date for summer sets, and yet they still come out in July. Besides, what themes would be 'given a chance' by a February release date? The Superhero sets are already out now, as are almost all of the other lines, besides Friends which comes out the day after Christmas. All of the other lines mentioned don't come out until spring or summer, so a January SW release date would not be in the way of anything.

Yes, they attend several toy fairs each year, the most notable of which being the New York Toy Fair in February that allows pictures to be taken. FBTB for one always has extensive photo coverage of the NY Toy Fair. Typically, only sets that will be store exclusives in the US and other exclusives are not shown at the NY Toy Fair.

I can understand why the did the beard this way. If they used a seperate piece, it would've covered up the face and we wouldn't be able to really have the nose or mouth visible. They could've made a new beard piece with a nose moulded with it and a mouth printed on, but I'm sure nobody would've liked that either. Personally, I don't mind this solution. It gives us a workable head, and I don't think it ruins the torso either. It looks like is a has a fluffy bib on it.

I think this photo from the Businessweek article shows some good history: Clearly, as far back as 1979 LEGO felt like trying and manufacturing something specifically for girls, but that didn't work out so well (I've never heard of it at all before this). I've read numerous times that LEGO's target age group is boys. Perhaps it was not always this way, and the fact that they moved that way can be called into question, but that's the way it is. The other fact is that society creates gender stereotypes. I cannot believe that anybody would look to a toy company to try and work around or blast through stereotypes; in our hopes and dreams sure, but that is an unreasonably high standard for a toy company that wants to make a profit. That said, even within a stereotype of color palette this Friends theme, to me, is amazing. These sets are filled with actual bricks and actual building, they are entirely normal LEGO and have all the benefits associated with LEGO. Paradisa did that too to a certain extent, but Paradisa was limited to a beach vacation resort, whereas Friends is an entire town. People can complain that the figures are different, but honestly at least these figures are about the same size so the sets aren't filled with a plethora of big, building-less parts like Belville. I wouldn't bash LEGO for buying into the stereotypes; I would praise the company for working so well within them. These sets actually contain the core of LEGO, the building aspect, while still being marketed specifically towards girls.

They may be the ones from Fiery Legend, but due to the streaks visible I'm more inclined to think they are the ones from the QAR. Maybe Rook will tell us.

I don't think it would've said in the press release 'information about the sets and collectible minifigures from both collection…' if they were only referring to minifigures in the sets.

I don't think the ARF is really based on any one ARF from the show. If it was from Mercy Mission, it should have a lot more coloring on the helmet, since in the reference picture you provided that ARF has some color of paint (it looks grey) covering the entire portion under the black visor. That's a detail LEGO could've included, but it isn't there on the minifigure. As to the arms, I think you're overlooking the fact that LEGO either does entirely colored arms, or not, but it never really matches reference material. Commander Cody only has orange paint on his shoulders and elbows, but LEGO gave him fully orange arms (and honestly, it looks a lot more fun and colorful than white arms would've been, and a white arms with a patch of orange would be weird). The same is true for Gree and Rex.

This is an awesome MOC! Are those sails from the Queen Anne's Revenge? If so, I love how you have used all official parts and still done an amazing job on this complex starfighter.

The collectible minifigures part struck me too. I don't think they mean the battlepacks, since I don't ever recall them specifically mentioning those before. It's more likely that they will actually be doing randomized LotR minifigures, banking on the success of their regular collectible minifigures. It's probably not a problem for them to do so with LotR like it is for Star Wars, since minimates and normal action figures coexisted in the past.