Clone OPatra

The only theme I can recall that released sets based on older and new releasing instalments simultaneously was PotC. All the other themes to do both had a wave based on the older film(s) and then later the same year a wave based on the new ones. Starting way back with Star Wars, Indiana Jones and Lord of the Rings also followed that pattern. Not saying it means anything, but it would make enough sense to see a small wave based on the first film and then a wave based on the second closer to its release. That said, I don't really see how there's enough material for two full blown waves, especially as there will probably be considerable visual overlap between the first and the second. A set or two based on the first film could be a nice teaser if the theme to come.

He said the characters with moulded heads in Disney Series 1 didn't include accessories, not that no accessories were included at all. That's not really a trend though, since the Simpsons figures with moulded heads included accessories, as have figures in other series with moulded heads.

Yes! And now it has been (though I need to double check some of the prices) Because the first post of each discussion topic is intended to be a resource about the year's sets. Sure, in this theme most of the sets are now known and you could even see all of them on Lego.com besides that one, but in others not everyone might know to look at Promobricks or be able to keep up with the info.

Personally I think the way LEGO handled (or mishandled) the LotR/Hobbit line compared to the way they are handling Wizarding World is perfectly telling as to why they aren't taking any risks with material based on the new movies. In both franchises there is/was established, beloved and iconic material from the already existing books/films, and untested new material about which it's too soon to know what will stick. In both there are also massive amounts of characters in both the old and new films, but audiences have already had time to get to know all of the ones in the older films and also know who is and isn't important, whereas in the new films coming out it's too soon to tell what impact characters will have. Also, in both franchises the locations were better designed and shot in the older movies, while the new films either contain locations that are pulled from the old ones or are new but a bit of a mess and not very easy to see anyway. Look how LEGO really tanked the LotR/Hobbit line trying to focus on stuff from the Hobbit films that mostly didn't lend itself to sets, and taking a shot in the dark at what characters to produce and include, having no idea what characters were actually going to be important and resonate to audiences. Meanwhile they made bad and strange decisions within the LotR sets too, but if they'd had the idea to keep pumping out iconic LotR locations and creatures (Rohan, Minas Tirith, Witch-King and Fell East, Oliphants) rather than random ruins and walls for the Hobbit sets, I'm sure the line could've continued being successful. Most of the Hobbit builds each wave were random and uninteresting or at least not iconic, and thus far what I'm seeing in the FB films would largely be the same. Yes there are some creatures they could do, but otherwise there have been the various Ministries of Magic and standard early 20th century cities and that's it. Other themes like Jurassic and Star Wars are different. Jurassic always has Dinos and utility vehicles which seem to sell no matter what. Star Wars has new ships which people mostly like even if they don't like the new media, and the casts of characters aren't quite as huge or are easily defined with who is a main character and who isn't.

SET INFORMATIONNumber: 40517Name: VespaTheme: CreatorReleased: 2022Part Count: 117 (I counted them)Minifigures: 0Set Price (RRP): Probably $10 USD / $13 CAD / 9 GBP / 10 EUR / 15 AUDLinks: Brickset, Bricklink INTRODUCTIONAfter the Tuk Tuk and Yellow Taxi (and High Speed Train at a higher price point), next in LEGO's Creator non 3-in-1 transportation line is this red little Vespa, little compared to the big boy Creator Expert Vespa coming out anyway. It might not be in the most exciting of colour schemes, nor recreate the most exciting of subject matter, but let's see if 40517 is worthy of ornamenting your desk or supplementing your parts bin. Thank you LEGO for providing this set to Eurobricks for review. THE BOXI presume this is the same box size as those other little Creator vehicles. I have to presume, because I don't own either of them. The artwork looks lovely and pairs well with the Vespa, which feels at home in its native Italy. The shots of the model on the front and back look practically the same, but LEGO had to put something back there. A shiny, reflective sticker with the Vespa V logo adorns the side, letting you know this is an ultra authentic licensed model. Bellissimo. THE PARTSI hadn't really looked very closely at the pictures before opening the set up, so I was pleasantly surprised at how very 2022 this parts selection truly is. This set simply could not have existed in this form before last year because of all the parts it uses that were introduced in 2020 and 2021. As the set consists of predominantly red parts, I split the parts between red and "everything else". While red is a classic colour for both LEGO and Vespa, it isn't the most eye-catching because of how common it is. That said, this set includes some rare parts in red, such as the sloped rounded corner bricks (67810) which are exclusive to this set as far as I can tell, and the 1x3 concave "shoe" slopes that only come in one other 2022 set thus far. As for everything else, you get two of the 1x5 plate(!) in black, that very new dark grey wheel fork (77598), the technic pin 3L with no friction, those little bars with ridge... just to name a few of the 2021 parts without which this model would have to be quite different. Seeing the double flick-missile holder (85940) surprised me since it was so prevalent from 2009 through the first half of the 2010s, and I didn't know it was still hanging around, but so it is! THE BUILDSmall builds can rarely be called boring, because even the least inspired of them will be over quickly, but this set thankfully has lots going on to maintain your interest all the way through. It's fun simply seeing various slopes married together, and you have parts going in multiple directions and a bit of Technic keeping things together to boot. Here are shots of the various different components that get built and then attached together. It's especially fun to see how they attach the foot rests to be parallel to the ground at the end, while the rest of the model sits at an angle. THE MODEL - Sans StickersYou might have noticed in the build pics that I didn't apply stickers yet. There are only three stickers in the set and none of them are a pain, but if you prefer to leave your pieces unadorned, the Vespa looks perfectly good without them. Overall the model looks great, and instantly recognisable as what it is. All of the different slopes have been put to good use to try and make something as curvy as a real Vespa, and the slight angle achieved for the whole thing is also effective. If there's one area that looks a little worse than the rest, it'd unfortunately be the front: the whole column going up to the handlebars feels awfully flat, as it is just a couple of plates deep. The top of the handlebars behind the light also feels as if it has been abruptly cut off. Comparing it with pictures of real Vespas, it's obvious that even with all of these slopes, LEGO is still a bit boxy and wants to be rectangular. The curvy taper of the real deal would have been exceptionally difficult to achieve at this scale, though maybe something better could have been done to attach the handlebars in a way that doesn't leave the top so flat. In any case, it's a small set after all, so you can't expect as much accuracy as you might get in a large, Creator Export scaled one. THE MODEL - With StickersHere it is with the stickers applied: a little Vespa logo on the front, a bit of engine showing on one side, and a license plate with another logo on the back. If you're going for display, the stickers add that little bit of finishing touch, but certainly aren't essential. And in case you're wondering, here's how it scales with a Minifigure. Unfortunately I didn't have any of my old Technic figures at hand to try out - I think they might be close to a good match in scale for this model, unlike Ross! SUMMARY & CONCLUSIONWhat more is there to say? If you like red and you like slopes, it should be a good parts pack for you. The build is brisk and fun, and perhaps even inspiring to those of us (myself included) who aren't great at MOCing but are always looking to learn techniques of LEGO geometry. The end model would look perfectly nice on a desk, though again the front looks slightly too flat and awkward, and red isn't the sexiest colour. Still, the set exceeded my expectations. SCOREHow do I rate this set? 10 PIECESWonderful selection of contemporary parts, and a fine amount of them. 8 DESIGNThe back half, angle, and sturdiness of the whole thing are great, but I had to dock a little for the front column, despite knowing it'd be unrealistic to expect much better. 10 PRICEI'm rating this before knowing the price, but if it holds to the $10 USD and equivalent price points like the Tuk Tuk and Taxi, it's a perfectly agreeable price for what you get. 9.33 OVERALL - It's both a good parts pack and a good model, with a little bit of awkward flatness to the front that's not at all detrimental.

Nah.

My 11 Jan order also has been changed to "Shipped", but I haven't gotten an email yet.

I'm a bit disappointed that they aren't doing the Dwarves' Cottage as an Ideas set, but I'm also disappointed that they haven't done it as a regular Disney Princess set. There's still a lot of material from the Disney films that they have never mined for sets, from that cottage to Agrabah to any actual architecture whatsoever to go along with Mulan. They can do display-worthy sets within the confines of the regular line - just look at the Encanto house for instance - so there's no reason they couldn't do a very nice $80 Dwarves' Cottage, $100/$120 Agrabah Palace, or $100 Mulan Imperial City. Perhaps the latter would be too actiony for them, but if little girls and boys have seen Mulan than surely they don't only associate her with sitting around sipping tea all day.

Maybe nothing... because while Marcos said they find less to want to make from the later movies, he also never said categorically that they weren't going to make sets based on DH. But also if they were eyeing the Ministry, there are only a few memorable sequences set there, and really the DH sequence is the most whimsical and fun one.

The run on sentences with multiple "ands" make me somewhat skeptical of the authenticity of that description, though I haven't paid close attention to LEGO's copy writing of late to see if they have routinely sunk to that level. The subject matter and included figures sound plausible enough, though.

You did it! You managed to make a funny out of a car! This set (and all of the recent Speed Champions ones) looks great. LEGO blows my mind with how they achieve all the shapes in a way that is still stable enough to release in an official set. Also thanks for including that picture of the Porsche at the end. This set makes that one look practically like a 4+ model!

I think you misread all of the previous recent posts. We'd been discussing the details of the set and saying it looks nice because it had already leaked! Removed the leaked images though.

It looks nice to me and great to see that hair piece in white, which I think is a first for it. Here's hoping the hair and chimpanzees appear on B&P, and the face if we're lucky as with Emilia Earhart.

Plus the mould for that feathered Dino as well. Perhaps since Fallen Kingdom's budget was cannibalized by Harry Potter, this time around the JW team called in some favours for the big JW finale (for now) wave.

Yes, the new lighter brown colour from the Hogwarts trunk, which is similar but not quite the same as the medium brown they used in the Spider-Man 2 sets. The Monkie Kid staff wouldn't really have been a perfect fit either. Stormbreaker is literally an axe head on a semi curved stick, so if they aren't going to make a unique stick for it, the best would just be to use a plain bar like some customs have done.

It looks like the telescope to me. I'm not surprised but slightly disappointed that Valkyrie isn't in the new medium brown rather than nougat. I think the new medium brown is a better match for her, but it's going to take time for LEGO to roll it out I'm sure.

Do people know that this isn't what Gorr looks like in the movie, so it's inaccurate, or is it that people don't like the movie design?

Swords are normal. Valkyrie has the short sword introduced for LotR, and Gorr has the long one. I think the set looks great and is wonderful value. An exceptionally nice ship that can easily be converted into a normal Viking ship - just pop off the goats. The goats look silly and fun. The Minifigure selection is excellent with a couple of fantastic new parts and recolours. I don't care about Gorr personally so all I see is a grey guy in a mummy outfit, but that's fine with me.

I rarely buy anything from Marvel but I'm quite looking forward to these Goat Boat images. Thor and Mighty Thor look excellent (besides their reused faces...), and goats in LEGO are a rarity in any form. Bring it on!

That's a lighter brown though, and they weren't using brown for Cho. It doesn't match her at all either.

Since last year LEGO has been slowly moving away from doing characters strictly as they appear in the films. Younger Cho and Cedric variants in the Moments sets. Year 1 Luna in the CoS sets. It could well be a CoS Dumbledore's Office with Cho thrown in so that there's another set of Ravenclaw robes. Given she and Luna are the only prominent Ravenclaws, LEGO doesn't have much to work with if they're going for named characters, and Cho is one people recognise.

My bad. I conflated their appearance at the DH1 trials and the OotP trial. In any case, I'm still sceptical that it's really based on DH because Promobricks writes that it's OotP with certainty. Usually they make it known when they aren't sure. I'd much rather it be DH, but we'll see.

The only aspect of the current rumoured Ministry minifigure lineup that doesn't match a single scene is Ron and Hermione. Everything else matches Harry's visit to Ministry for his trial. If the set doesn't come with any aspect of the court room, though, that would be pretty weird. I am hoping that the descriptions are off, or it tries to encompass a number of scenes from both the beginning and end of OotP. But again to me personally the build and location sound cool enough that I almost don't even care what the Minifigures are.

Sounds like this wave covers a real smorgasbord of material, and I love that! Super excited by a large Ministry set, no matter what scenes it depicts or minifigures it includes. The thestral set sounds like a good choice for $20, and nice both for those that missed the earlier one and those wanting more. Shrieking Shack is another location for which we've been waiting a long time for a modern version, and the price point chosen should be appropriate. Nonplussed personally about the Hogwarts sets, and I'm not sure about the Dark Tower being necessary for a set at all, but Dumbledore's Office is definitely a good choice even if I can personally skip it. I do wonder how many last-act-of-PoA repeat Minifigures we're going to end up with this year, and there's a conspicuous lack of Slytherins (and Hufflepuffs of course). I would've liked a proper mid-years Draco to factor in somewhere, but oh well. Overall I'm quite excited to see the final pictures of these sets and peruse all the details.

I don't care for Dinos themselves so I'm mostly looking at the other components of these sets, and while the dinos are cool, the minifigures especially are... a bit weak. Owen and Clare are so overdone at this point, and Clare's face has never looked like her. Owen's is good, but how about some new expressions? That same villain dude in three sets. Sure two outfits at least, but there really weren't more characters to choose from? I guess it's good if he has a big part in the movie. He is a well done figure. So many figures with that over the shoulder hair. So silly with the hairpiece catalogue they have these days. Zia Rodriguez has got to be one of the biggest glow-DOWNs ever. She went from having an amazing minifigure for Fallen Kingdom with dual-moulded legs to this dull rubbish. I might still try to get the Blue set if I find it on a good sale. Good Minifigures, good dinos, good truck. Just somewhat lousy price.