Aanchir

Looking at the set numbers for the Mixels sets that have been revealed for the first wave, I'm actually starting to believe that I was wrong and Oky was right. They do seem to span across nine different set numbers, so if the set numbers get larger with each wave (as past sets have done since last year's switch to five-digit set numbers), then the first wave will apparently include nine sets. I wonder if they will all be the same size or if some might be slightly larger or smaller. The three we've seen are all at least 50 pieces. So they should probably cost between $4–6, assuming the pricing is reasonably equitable. $4 would be consistent with that listing we saw, and they list the non-blind-packaged LEGO Friends animal packs with a similar shared listing. But I find the idea that the sets could be just $4 almost too good to be true, even if they don't contain any minifigures.

My issue with female characters in action themes isn't that they're treated as "damsels in distress" so much as that there's rarely more than one "token female" in a predominantly male cast. It's true, Nya is an amazingly capable character, but treating her as "the girl" in the sets is still a disappointment considering how many minor characters the theme typically has to work with. The lack of any female villains is a huge disappointment for me — there were seventeen Serpentine characters in 2012, and not one of them was identified as female, even though it could have been as simple as just using female pronouns for one of the existing figure designs. After all, very few of the Serpentine designs were explicitly masculine. Legends of Chima broke away from that considerably, in that not only does it have four female characters in its first year, but two of those characters are villains. It's true, they're not all main characters. Crooler and Eris would definitely qualify as main characters, but Windra and G'Loona aren't nearly as central to most storylines. Still, the point is that there's variety. A girl (or boy) can choose to identify with any of those female characters depending on which one's personality they find most relatable. Even with dreadfully imbalanced gender ratios, there are options, and that makes a huge difference. Monster Fighters was also pretty good about this, since in addition to Ann Lee it had a female zombie as well as Vampyre's Bride. It also had a smaller cast of characters overall than Ninjago had in its first and second years, so even a single "token female" would not have been nearly so bad.

I wonder if this piece will be showing up in Hero Factory, Chima, or another theme entirely. It's the same as the saw blade used for Breez and XT4, but in Tr. Light Blue.

41035 is a juice bar. Certainly not a staple of every city but still a nice sort of establishment we haven't seen in LEGO Friends (or any LEGO theme, for that matter). Orange Julius is the only juice bar chain I know from my childhood — it mostly specializes in (really good) fruit-flavored smoothies and can be found in lots of shopping malls. Jamba Juice is a chain that has been gaining popularity in the United States in the past couple decades though. I've never been to one myself.

Apparently those headphones in the news van will be Medium Lilac (Dark Purple). Pretty cool if you ask me.

The colors in those prelims look terribly distorted on account of their being renders rather than photos. I can't tell what purple color that barn is exactly... I'm guessing Bright Reddish Violet (Magenta), which should look quite nice. Even the Bright Purple (Dark Pink) barn interior in the Newborn Foal set doesn't look bad, and really evokes a barn with the white accents, so Magenta should be even better. The Beach House looks like it'll be quite nice, as does the Juice Bar. I'm having a hard time getting a read on the News Van, but good to have another male character. The tractor looks decent, but not all that unique or impressive in its design. I can't tell what the structures in the background of that set are.

How are flick fires any more gimmicky than the previous year's plasma guns? If anything, I think it's a sign of innovation that instead of standardized, specialized launchers given to every hero, launcher features were only incorporated in the Brain Attack sets as character-specific gear with launchers built differently according to the specific characters. Believe me, I found most of the Breakout heroes a LOT more interesting than their Brain Attack counterparts, but the flick missiles have nothing to do with that judgement. I don't think Bulk's flick missile was very elegant, but it definitely made the drill more interesting than if it had just been the drill piece on its own (if the flick missile were to be removed, something else would certainly have to be put in its place). And Stormer's shoulder-mounted flick missiles were very clever, in my opinion. Even Surge's flick missiles added an extra level of visual and functional interest to his fold-out wing pack. The only flick missiles that I think were extremely underwhelming were the ones on Jet Rocka, since the jetpack would still be very well-armed without them and they don't add a whole lot to it visually. Flick missiles are also a remarkably useful building element for constraction models, so as a MOCist, having more is never a bad thing. Honestly, I was surprised that it took until this year's Chima constraction sets for them to be used in sets as an adapter between the 3.2mm holes in Hero Factory shells and Technic pin holes.

Each toe uses three parts: 4070 in Dark Stone Grey, 48729 in Black, and 54200 in Medium Stone Grey. Interestingly, the rear feet have no toes. EDIT: I just made another random observation... Nya's emblem is printed on the flag on Sensei Garmadon's buggy. That's very curious, and leads me to think maybe she will show up next year after all. Odd though that it appears on a vehicle that (in the sets, at least) she doesn't pilot. EDIT 2: I also realized that the generic nindroids without headgear also have a different torso print than the generic Nindroids with headgear. Neat! That means there's one more villainous minifigure than I had previously counted.

LEGO can only put out a certain number of sets each year or they'll oversaturate the market: there will be more sets produced than the LEGO-buying audience can afford. LEGO selects the number of sets to produce based on the number that stores are willing to provide shelf space for, which is in turn based on how well those LEGO themes have sold for those retailers in the past. Furthermore, designing models for a game like this is much less work than designing sets. In a game, the models basically just have to look good. In contrast, actual sets have to be tested with focus groups, tested for stability, designed for various specific price points to maximize sales, etc. In the case of licensed themes, they also will make much more money if they are designed to tie in with franchises that are going to be receiving a huge marketing push, specifically new movies and heavily-promoted cartoons. Also, some of the LEGO games have had far fewer "unique" minifigures and models that hadn't previously appeared as sets. The LEGO Super Heroes theme simply hasn't existed for long enough to include every character that Marvel fans would want to see in a video game. Not to mention that some characters command more of an audience than others, so the more obscure a character is, the less likely they are to appear in sets. A video game offers the freedom to indulge in the full freedom of the Marvel brand, without worrying about which characters sell better than others. The more characters, the wider the net it casts for fans of Marvel characters familiar and obscure. Whereas including more obscure characters in sets is tantamount to designing intentional shelfwarmers.

I guess Mia's supposed to stand on that stool...

Yeah. In terms of height, the roof level of the Parisian Restaurant is the same height the Café Corner (minus its tower): 28 bricks. That's a brick and two plates taller than the roof level of the Pet Shop. Overall, it's still considerably bigger than half-size buildings like the ones in Market Street and Pet Shop, each of which could have a volume of 588 studs maximum, not even considering space that has to be subtracted for stairwells and permanent fixtures.

I've learned a lot of things from old catalogs. A while back I went through a lot of the catalog scans on Peeron and Brickfactory to compare LEGO Space and Castle set names from different countries to see if I could pick up any valuable story/marketing tidbits. It was fascinating work. Nowadays, with so much of this stuff either not being printed in catalogs or not being scanned and uploaded online subsequently, it could be a lot harder to do this in the future. Of course, these days the story and marketing for themes is more homogenous, so there may not be so much to learn, but it'll still be a bit of a loss if this is not recorded (especially since so many online LEGO databases, even today, exclusively use the English set names).

Mia's Lemonade Stand is beautiful! I'd never have expected it to be so large, but I'm not disappointed at all. Printed cookies, a Bright Purple (Dark Pink) helmet, a beautiful sign, a tray of printed cookies, a juicer, a clever pitcher, bunches of lemons... it's a great set in general. Stephanie's Newborn Lamb is also way better than I'd have anticipated. Even if it's just a single wall, it gives the impression of a wonderfully cozy little barn. The little bed of straw, washbasin, and stool are great features. The lamb itself is adorable, if a bit too cutesy and detailed to work really well outside of LEGO Friends. The Lifeguard Stand is also elaborate, and I almost feel like a simple lifeguard chair might have been better. But it has a dolphin, and more importantly a pair of gold binoculars! I hope those appear in some sets in greater quantities — they'll be fantastic for steampunk builders! The mini-dolls in all three sets are fantastic. I sort of feel like Stephanie ought to have some more substantial shoes in a barn, but her blouse is a nice addition to the Friends wardrobe. Emma gets a little red lifeguard whistle printed on her torso, and Mia gets a cute sand green top. Can't wait to see what the other sets have to offer!

I wouldn't count on Dareth showing up in sets. He's an awesome character for certain, but he's very definitely a secondary character like Jay's parents, not a primary character like the Ninja, Wu, Nya, and Garmadon. Plus, even though Ninjago has a higher profile next year than it had for 2013, it remains considerably reduced in its scope compared to 2012, when there were 35 unique minifigures. Even in Ninjago's first wave it had seven foes for the Ninja (four Skeleton Warriors, Nuckal, Samukai, and Lord Garmadon), plus multiple costumes for some of the Ninja themselves. So far for this year, we've only seen four adversaries for the Ninja (Cyrus Borg, General Cryptor, Evil Wu, and a generic Nindroid), plus Sensei Garmadon, Pixal, and a single costume for each of the five Ninja. That makes eleven figs total — the same number as there were this year. Admittedly, none of those 2014 characters reuse a costume from a previous year, unlike this year's Sensei Wu minifigure. But the theme has experienced only the slightest expansion, just as it has only seen slight expansion in the number of sets per wave. I do not know which characters we are likely to see play a considerable role in the next season of the show, so it's hard to know who might be making an appearance in the sets. Misako and Dr. Julien are possible candidates, but I don't think Dareth is likely to play a big enough role to warrant a minifigure.

Well, I personally feel like the floor-cloning feature is important even in sets like the Palace Cinema where it reduces the floorspace. After all, just like Grand Emporium, where buying more sets allows you to include more departments, in the Palace Cinema buying more sets allows you to add more screens. I have never used the floor-cloning feature myself, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't if I were more interested in customizing my modular building display. I know the Grand Emporium was a popular set for AFOLs to buy multiples of specifically because people felt it was not quite as big as they preferred a department store to be.

Yes, it does follow that tradition. It's a great feature in this case as it means you can add more screens.

I'm impressed with these sets. All of them are very unique-looking. Interestingly, the NinjaCopter seems to be Zane's vehicle, based on what can only be assumed to be elemental ice patterns on it. It's a major upgrade after three years of always getting the smallest vehicle or dragon! The Nindroid hang-gliders in the NinjaCopter and MechDragon sets use the same new "A-frame" plate as Jay's Thunder Raider. The gold parts pointing back from the cannons (behind the spinner crowns) also look new. Also, a new female character? That's great news! Or at least, so-so news. If Nya doesn't reappear or another new female character doesn't show up, then it doesn't do anything for the gender ratios of the sets. The inclusion of Zane's falcon is also nice. It's just reusing the crow from The Lone Ranger and the CMFs, but along with the hair pieces, it demonstrates a dedication to replicating as many of the things people love from the TV show as possible. The Nindroid MechDragon is really something else! It reminds me of the year one Exo-Force robot battle machines with its grim, jagged aesthetic. It has lots of lovely building techniques to set its design apart from the earlier, more streamlined dragons. Sensei Garmadon's new costume is quite interesting, though I kind of miss the purple that defined the aethetic of his original costume in earlier TV show appearances. It helped set him apart from the other characters quite nicely. Evil Wu is certainly an enigma, isn't he? Looks like he does still have a yellow head, but as Zane proves, that doesn't mean he's not a Nindroid. I hope he is handled well in the show. The Hover Hunter is mundane, but unique nonetheless. As budget sets go, it's nowhere near as awesome as Kai's Fire Mech, but it's got some decent parts and techniques. Funny that the Nindroid in that set doesn't get a hood. Real sneaky how despite a lack of any unique minifigures, the designers apparently made it the only set to offer Cole's Techno-Blade. Unless, of course, the mysterious rumored 70726 has any say about it. Shame there are no more buildings or structures in these sets, but I wasn't totally expecting any. Maybe next wave. On a side note, also do observe that we can now see the reverse side of the box for 70721 Kai Fighter! VERY glad to finally get pics of all these sets! They have done nothing to crush my optimism!

Character and Creature Building System. And I (and apparently the Hero Factory designers, based on what was seen in that video of the workshop they had with ADVANCE) agree that using differently-sized ball joints would just hurt compatibility. As awesome as they are, it would destroy the simplicity of the HF building system, which would be a bad thing for novice builders.

I wouldn't be surprised if they're animated the same way they always have been in the TV episodes and commercials, the same way that the Toa Hordika in the CGI portions of the 2005 playset commercials were depicted like the constraction versions, with their minifigure-scale weapons and surroundings sized up accordingly. Overall, I doubt that they'll change the animation style for the characters considerably, since that would mean they couldn't rely on assets created for previous episodes. The civilians, for instance, would end up looking severely incompatible in their level of detail.

Well, color me surprised. I think this could be the most radical change we've ever seen in any character-driven theme to date. Unless you count LEGO Creator... Part of me is very worried about how this will turn out. Since 2011, Hero Factory has mostly done a good job of maintaining a relatively consistent scale with its sets, and basing everything around the same building system. This is definitely going to shake things up a great deal, and I'm not sure what it might mean for the theme or for constraction sets in general in the long term. Another part of me is optimistic, though. I've been yearning to see constraction parts being used more extensively for minifigure mecha and monsters, and while I wasn't anticipating that sort of thing coming about within the Hero Factory theme, this will be a great opportunity for the CCBS to break down some of the barriers between it and System building. If the figures are indeed close enough to minifigure size to be swapped out with regular minifigures, it could entice System builders to dabble in constraction themes even more effectively than the constraction series for Super Heroes and Legends of Chima, both of which were more or less independent of the minifigure-scale sets within those same themes. Shame that despite having minifigure-sized characters, there aren't any signs of location-based sets or side characters like Zib and Makuro, both of which could be much more feasible in playsets than as stand-alone sets of their own. But who knows? This is just the first wave. I certainly wouldn't mind seeing a Hero Factory playset. What has now been described (constraction-scale villains and mechs with minifigure-sized pilots, plus the "Invasion from Below" tagline) gives me a really strong "Pacific Rim" vibe, which is promising, since we know Ghost is working on animation for the TV special for next year. Guess what major theatrical film they recently worked on! The "Invasion from Below" tagline does make me worry that the setting might be Makuhero City again. I love the opportunity to see more of the Hero Factory's hometown, but keeping that same setting for two years is a little bit boring, especially after the Breakout series showed us just how expansive the Hero Factory universe is. And again, there's the potential for a Hero Factory playset, which could be promising. Regarding the minifigure structure, I hope that they are designed with mixing and matching of parts in mind, much like the BIONICLE minifigures from the 2006 and 2007 playsets. While the idea that they might use regular minifigure torsos is intriguing, I don't think I'd be too happy with worrying about the arm connection becoming weaker if I were to mix and match their arms.

The CMFs have the blind packages on their side. In fact, that's why they can afford to have the more "experimental" figs that might not be as popular with TLG's core audience: for the typical buyer, the product you wind up with is more or less random, so the figs can be expected to clear out at a rate similar to if all 16 were a single uniform product. With products that are clearly labeled as different products, you don't want to run the risk that some will be considerably more popular than the others, especially when they're packed in evenly-distributed cartons or sold to retailers in evenly-mixed lots (which is the case with the smaller HF sets: if you want to stock this year's 44006 Breez, you're going to have to order a mixed lot of 44006 Breez and 44004 Bulk). And in that case, retailers might not want to order the next set because they fear a sizable portion will end up as "shelfwarmers". They have a similar listing for the non-blind-packaged LEGO Friends series 3 animal packs, so it's possible they're just using the product number for a full "carton" with a generalized name for the contents of that carton. I doubt the regular Mixels sets will be $4. They're at least 50 pieces each I believe, and even polybag sets and LEGO Friends animal packs with even fewer pieces tend to sell for at least $5.

BIONICLE and HF do usually have a sizable number of sets per wave (up to twelve), but there's one trait of them that I do not think will apply to the Mixels: BIONICLE and HF sets are staggered into separate price points. There have only once been more than six BIONICLE sets at the same price point within a six-month period. And nowadays, Hero Factory never has more than four sets at a single price point within a single wave. Also, BIONICLE and HF only ever have a new wave every six months. That allows much more time for stores to clear out stock of sets from previous waves. From what we've seen and heard, most or all Mixels sets will be very around the same size. If you have nine sets out at a time at the same price point, you run the risk that they'll compete with each other. I guess it's possible that these concerns will be a little less pressing if it turns out there are some sets with multiple characters in them, like the Ninjago spinner arena sets that include two spinners each, or one spinner and additional accessories. That would mean fewer sets per wave as well as more varied price points.

Roofline is exactly 28 bricks high, not counting the chimneys. The roofline of the Pet Shop (both buildings) is 26 bricks and one plate high, not counting the little fence bits on top or chimneys. This is definitely not the smallest modular by height, and I can't for the life of me figure why people are so concerned about its size. EDIT: Same exact height as the main roof of the Café Corner, too, not counting the little fences, chimneys, or tower.

Nine sets per wave seems like an awful lot, especially since only three have been announced for the first wave. And in terms of contents, these seem a lot less like the blind-packaged CMFs and a lot more like the Ninjago booster packs and LEGO Friends animal packs, which tend to be three to a series. I'm not a business expert but the idea of nine unique sets appearing in a single three- or four-month wave seems dubious to me.

That's definitely an interesting theory, and not one I had considered. Overall, I doubt the sets will be smaller-scale figures. I wouldn't necessarily complain if they were, but it'd be tricky to pull it off. The medium-sized sets are now $15, not $13 like they've been since the theme began. Not that I mind — with the prices of the smaller sets now at $10, the price points' differences in complexity were shrinking, and besides, the Chima and Super Heroes constraction sets did a great job demonstrating how much potential there is for unique designs at a $15 price point. This also means the prices of the sets are a lot more friendly for calculating their relative value. Everything's basically in increments of $5. Overall, I'm feeling optimistic about this lineup. Can't wait to see pictures!