Clone OPatra

Thanks for the explanation Jim, this makes a lot of sense. However, do you think that LEGO mandates that once a colour change is made for a specific set, designers should find any and all reason to put the recoloured part into other sets? Dragon Dance contains three elements in its base that were clearly recoloured for other 2019 sets. More common colours of those three parts would surely be available in the warehouse too - in fact, the 2x2 round already appears in this set in a different colour. Given other interviews I've read, it seems that designers do think about incorporating parts in available rare colours for the benefit of the fans. That's not to mention the parts that were recoloured and decorated just for this set, of which there are quite a good number, but those were to give the dragon its look.

Nice review WhiteFang! I count myself lucky as being able to have picked up this set, and I haven't been able to stop playing with it since. I've hooked it up to the Powered Up system from the App-Controlled Batmobile, so I could post a video if anybody is interested. It kind of feels like the model is going to explode at anything other than the lowest possible speed. This set is both a beautiful model, and also something that feels like it was designed specifically for AFOLs. It's just such a generous parts feast, exceeding what anyone could reasonably expect out of a set. For example, why did they use such new colours for parts in the base mechanism, such as 2x2 round tiles in the brand new bright coral colour that debuted in the Pop-Up Party Bus? There was no reason for it other than to make AFOLs happy. Yet, at the same time, the majority of AFOLs worldwide can't even get this set.

Thanks for your comprehensive and fun review, WhiteFang! I hope in a future interview someone will be able to ask what the heck is up with the manufacturing of this series, and why some has moved away from China. We assumed it was all about including Unikitty, but apparently she doesn't even come in one of those clear bags inside of the bag, and it looks to me that some of the other figures originate from Europe and not China also. Very odd, but also welcome. Your review doesn't leave me with any more to say than I've said before in the general discussion about this series, unfortunately. I'm just super disinterested in the majority of the figures here. I've always been an a la carte minifig buyer, with no particular focus, and with this series very few strike my fancy. I'll pick up the Wizard of Oz figures both for nostalgia's sake and because they're nicely done with good accessories too, and maybe just one or two others. Traditional and licensed series have always been good to me, but with this one and Disney 2 on the horizon, I'm now counting myself amongst those eagerly awaiting the next normal, varied series.

Michelle Pfeiffer wasn't in Aquaman - it's Nicole Kidman. Though yes, the parts are quite similar.

Here in Australia the release has been sporadic. Wherever they appear, be it at the semi official LEGOLAND stores, independent toy stores, or the big department stores, stock has been incredibly limited and sells out within a matter of hours. They still haven't been released at every branch of the two department stores said to be carrying them, but the store employees themselves can't say when they'll come. I have a friend in China, and they're readibly available there, albeit for suggested retail prices above any other Asia-Pacific country. All of this really confirms a report I read on an Aussie blog which said that LEGO truly made these just for China, then decided to offer them to other Asia-Pacific countries but didn't produce any extra stock. In China, anybody can get them. Everywhere else, AFOLs and/or scalpers snap them up in five seconds. Luckily I managed to get a Dragon Dance from an independent store near me. It was 30 AUD above retail price, but still worth it.

The word has always been that there won't be one.

They've done printed short legs on a number of occasions: in Disney CMF Series 1, CMF Series 18 had dual-moulded and printed short legs for both party kids, and that old Rocket polybag mentioned above. There has also been a figure with with a dual-moulded and printed leg alongside a peg leg: the zombie captain in series 14. All that said, I don't disagree that they might give Rocket plain legs. Perhaps they really will go all out with these figures though, or on the other hand the Quantum suit we've seen already is so detailed because they can use it multiple times.

I don't know about Melbourne Discovery Centre specifically, and that might be different because it's a certified store I believe, but BrickingAround's reporting on the retail catalogue is what tells me that the sets won't be out at regular Australian retailers for a while yet. However for a set like Benny's Space Squad, it'll be just as satisfying getting that whenever I can, even if people elsewhere have had it for two months!

No worries. I only bought two and made sure I was getting one sitting and one standing kitty, so there was no way they could be the same. I could've gone for a Puppercorn too by feeling his ears or tail, but none of those really suited my fancy. Benny's Squad sold out on LEGO's site in about one minute here in Australia and doesn't come out in retail until March. Just like with other hot LEGO commodities though, patience is a virtue. They'll catch up with demand eventuallly. One must only wait it out.

It was worth it to people like me who just wanted a couple and felt them to make sure there was no way I was getting two of the same one, since I chose one with a slope and one without. A bit off topic, but it's worth saying and even reminding myself that we shouldn't assume other people's buying habits.

They've definitely teased future sets on current sets before, such as showing silhouettes of upcoming Star Wars UCS ships on previous UCS sets (and teasing the Orient Expedition China sets on the Tibet/India ones, though that was many years ago now). On the subject of the CMF bags, I had no trouble whatsover feeling through the Unikitty bags, so it shouldn't be any issue. Weird and not environmentally friendly that LEGO has done this, but from a purchasing standpoint it makes no difference to me.

Interesting that LEGO has chosen to make this one completely out of scale, but if it's a popular character then it makes enough sense. The colour blocking and transformation feature look really good. Still, it would've been great to have a couple of out-of-scale Minifigures thrown in.

Thanks Oky! Seeing your picture, that doesn't look as good as I hoped. It's a bit too chunky on the sides. The official hairpiece isn't a good match either, but then again I hated the character design in the film itself. That, however, is getting off topic.

From a purely aesthetic standpoint, since I don't care for mechs, this is certainly my favourite of the Overwatch sets. The building has excellent style (at least from the front) and I love the truck with its cross between vintage style and futurism. The value of the set for the price is also pretty good. Still, I wish the building had a little more going on inside even if the interior would be purely made up by LEGO and not based on anything in the game. I've seen other people comment that Soldier 76's hairpiece would be a decent purist custom one for Grindelwald. Do you have a Grindelwald figure Oky, and if so could you take a picture of him with that hairpiece?

Thanks for the excellent review, Oky! Knowing nothing about Overwatch myself, I appreciated all of your insight and learned a lot while enjoying the LEGO aspects as well. I'm impressed by the amount of detail that LEGO put into all of the figures across the line, what with all the awesome new helmets and hair pieces. Still, it's frustrating that they can't get the printing right for light tones on black. Does LEGO just think that kids don't care? In theory everything is quality tested, so if all AFOLs notice every time that figures like Lady Iron Dragon and now Mercy look like sh*te, someone in LEGO would definitely know too and have consciously decided that it doesn't matter. That aside, this set looks pretty cool. One of the nicer rockets and rocket towers that LEGO has done recently. I wonder what the reception will be from Overwatch fans though, as they'd be paying a lot for something that is just a big backdrop in the game.

Were this actually true I would agree with the rest of your statement, but the previous Lego Movie CMF lines have proven this isn't truly the case with loads of characters with maybe a millisecond of screen time, who can hardly be called "characters from the movie". The first LEGO Movie CMF could have had all Bricksburg inhabitants if it had wanted to, but LEGO created a varied lineup that could appeal to quite a range of interests. LEGO Batman Movie CMF 1 & 2 were basically treated as LEGO's chance to make DC superheroes series, so while those obviously might not appeal to people who don't care for the license, they wouldn't just appeal to people interested in The LEGO Batman Movie. The Ninjago Movie CMF also included an interesting mix of figures and types, many of which barely appeared in the film and if they did at all, only in the background. Ultimately it's just plain weird that this series is so limited in scope, for lack of a better way of putting it. I wouldn't expect LEGO to include figures that have no tie to the movie at all, like say a mediaeval knight, but I'm still scratching my head as to why those colourful bandmembers take up four spots and why there are three costume figures after we just got a whole costume series. Of course I haven't seen the film so I don't know what else they could have chosen, but I'm still confident that plenty of the characters they did choose aren't all that essential to the movie.

No it isn't safe to say that actually. You can't deny the physical existence of an upcoming Lego product with myriad evidence across the internet. What's not official is the RRP and the release date. Otherwise, the set very officially exists whether Lego announces it or not, just like the lineup for the Lego Movie 2 CMF has been very much confirmed.

Shop.Lego.com for the US says coming soon on December 26 for all of the sets, so yes it's the same for North America.

In Australia it was reported that the big name retailers (Myer, David Jones etc) would carry them. Not sure about the countries in Asia.

Nope. This isn't the place for movie plot or spoiler talk, even of the speculative sort. Thanks

Personally I doubt it's the new legs on the giraffe guy, or at least there's no way to tell from the images out so far. I recall all the way back when the first images of Series 3 came out that everyone was sure the Gorrila suit guy had the long Toy Story arms and/or legs, which of course turned out not to be true. These rendered images of CMF are always a little misleading.

I completely agree with these three statements of yours that I've included in the quote. I'm also not seeing the diversity of characters in this series, when I feel like a line tying into the Lego Movie especially should have more of something for everyone. For some reason people seem to have not been so into the Ninjago Movie series, but that to me had way more interesting, useful and varied figures than this one does, with plenty that could be repurposed for standard city and other uses. Loud, brightly-coloured figures can be great, and I loved the one in the Ninjago series, but one was enough. Four is way too much for one series. The series for the first Lego Movie had much better variety: minifigs for modern city uses, historical figures, wild west, and one costume guy. That series did far better at offering a spectrum of universal parts and figures.

The new animal mould is the apocalypse cat (not counting the giraffe head, but that's not a full fledged animal). The only other animal is Toto who sensibly uses the same mould as the white dog from the CMF Dog Show Winner Guy.

Wow, the selection in this series really took me by surprise, and I have to say it strikes me as quite odd. I personally like the Wizard of Oz figures, but for argument's sake you could take those away and be left with a series of 16 that still doesn't make much sense. Four spots dedicated to the brightly coloured girl band and three to costume characters? That's crazy! I shudder to think about if there's going to be a one per box character again, and just hope it isn't a Wizard of Oz one.

Yep, reportedly AUD $90 for the dinner scene and $80 for the dragon dance, available 1st January. It was covered by several Australian LEGO blogs; I generally check BrickingAround for my Aussie LEGO news. Here is the link to their post about it.