PavillionDweller

In one of the promo images (the close-up of Griphook with the sword of Gryffindor in the cart parked outside the lower most vault), you can see a goblet piece clipped to the wall so unless there's something not shown the "surprise" would be Hufflepuff's cup (singular).

So considering the NWH and Endgame sets cost the same, at least we know the equivalent value of a big fig and a horse is 106 pieces, including four extra minifigures. I'm not a fan though. With the NWH set: I'm not a fan that the head of the statue is just a recolored version of the Apocalypseburg one (which is 100% bias on my part due to already having that set and on display); knowing just how "too small" it's gonna feel once built (once again, I'm looking at that exact head); honestly, the inclusion of Ned, Strange and (debatably) MJ when neither Sandman or Lizard is properly represented, if at all; everything about GG outside of the head; the fact that Lego hasn't made a new piece that can be used for a better version of Doc Ock's arms; Green Goblin, again; STICKERS ON THE MACGUFFIN BOX, WHY. I do dig Electro, the three Spider-Men and the Doc Ock fig as well as the new display pieces (the "OooOOoooh, they're flyyyiing" pieces) included; really, a second set with Lizard, something like a Civil War Giant-Man version of Sandman and an alternate Holland would've made this more bearable. Like, don't get me wrong, it's fine, but I expected... A bit more I guess? But, and this is the big one: I would've absolutely loved this as a kid as a playset. It's absolutely perfect as a final battle set in that regard ('cause... it's not like the movie apart from the trailers properly represented Sandman and Lizard ) so I definitely recognize the inherent greatness of the set. The Endgame set, for the same price however: A pile of rubble and repeated minifigures, not even including all the characters lined up in that scene? Nebula, Mantis and Gamora I get excluding because in the planning phase they would've known that the GotG sets would have just dropped, but no Rescue? And that subject for a build as a "display piece"? Nah, just nah.

... After all the muddled faces and necklines on darker heads and torsos through the years, I can't stop staring at that Cap head; it's absolute witchcraft how clean that is.

Doubt they'd throw this much out there to begin with before they know how well it'd sell, but my semi-realistic perfect wave would be - varying in sizes with the biggest being a TARDIS console - a set each for the NuWho Doctors with a companion and specifc monster (9/Rose/Autons, 10/Donna/Daleks and Davros, 11/Amy and Rory/Silence, 12/Bill/Mondasian Cybermen in different stages of evolution and Missy, 13/Yaz/Weeping Angels to get them in there, and, of course, one set for Ncuti's Doctor) as well as a CMF of the first eight Doctors, War, a Master (would love a Delgado, but more realistically Saxon-Simm) with the last two slots being for army building (say, Sontaran and a unique Cyberman). That's thinking it'd be one wave and done, of course; I can't see Classic Who sets even beginning to come close to NuWho in profitability so a CMF would probably be the safest bet to get the first eight at the same time. Back in reality though: I can only preach to the choir in hoping that RTD2 brings about a new market demand for DW merch - there's a whooooole lot to pull from, even if it's just based on 2005 and forward.

That's probably the most frustrating thing: It comes so close with the legs and arms and then the whole torso makes it go completely off the rails proportion wise. It's just kinda baffling. As an +18, $550 set, it's probably meant to be a "come, non-devoted-customer adults, and look at this cool thing; wouldn't you like this cool thing in your home?" set and if so, why would the folks at Lego think someone who's willing to spend several hundred dollars on a Hulkbuster, any Hulkbuster, buy one that's so clearly inaccurate? At $550, we're talking premium product, bells and whistles, and if I was on the hunt for a Hulkbuster statue, I'd probably look further without giving this set a second thought. I'd like to echo: Happy for the people who like it and who're gonna buy it (seriously, the size alone should be insane), this is just me speculating about the non-Lego consuming market TLG's been trying to court.

Pulled up a reference image alongside the Hulkbuster leaks 'cause something felt off around the chest area: The whole torso is like a third longer than it should be. The whole area around the head is also way too high up, giving it a real linebacker look considering the pauldrons also aren't meant to connect to the body like that. I'm one of those who were never gonna get it 'cause of the price tag (even before the increase), but I could definitiely have imagined that an enormous, well designed Hulkbuster would be worth it as a statement piece. This to me looks like they were working from a high schooler's anatomy art assignment.

I honestly always thought all the one and a half baseplate MOCs were too big, but I apparently just never looked at the actual building itself 'cause that is one chonky boy. Having looked at all the official images now though, I agree; it looks a bit, if you know it, like a Minecraft chunk error, like the left and back sides have just been sliced off. I could maybe live with it if it was at the very least symmetrical to give a hint of its bigger shape, but it looks really off to me viewed from the side with how thin it ends up looking, not to mention the strange gap you'll now end up with if you put it next to another modular; alleys are fine, but it definitely eats into the interior too much here.

Might just be the barrage of 18+ sets this year going on my wanted list, but I am strangely... Whelmed. It looks absolutely amazing and as someone who's been wanting a modular Sanctum (but never took the time to MOC one up), it's exactly what I wanted. The only two nitpicks, the second of which is the pickiest of nits, I have are that it doesn't go all the way to the back which cramps the interior and the lack of texture in the front side medium nougat parts (which, yeah, probably just no room in the build for 2x1 brick-bricks). It's a cool build nonetheless and it's amazing how much they've managed to squeeze into the space detailwise! Nitpicks aside, the biggest negative for me is the minifigs. I get why they're all there - IM and SM helps to sell the set which is why you have a, frankly, subpar Maw to make an IW connection - and without going into a fig by fig "They totally should have had arm/leg printing!", couldn't they have made the set... More Strange? (... Puns) This is the set where they could've thrown in Kaecilius to tie it back to the first movie and make it all encompassing; the MoM branding obviously doesn't mean much since IM, SM or Maw *MASSIVE SPOILER* aren't in the movie. Add Christine Palmer to fill the civilian slot, the Ancient One tending the rooftop garden for an Endgame nod and you would've had the ultimate Strange set. Although by Lego's value count, that probably would've made this a $320 set instead so maybe that is too much of an ask. Also, Defender Strange looks like a zombie Gomez Addams and I can't unsee it. So yeah. I am whelmed by this good set, will definitely pick it up at some point.

Well, that ceratinly goes on the list of things I never thought I'd see in Lego form, right next to the scribbled over "Looney Tunes". Gotta say that I love this weird new variety in the licenced CMF series; never played Lego Dimensions, but I absolutely loved the packs for the sheer number of IPs and characters that never would've been made otherwise (B.A. Baracus, Finn and Jake, E.T., Cybermen; flippin' Beetlejuice?). Love the Muppets, maybe more their earlier iterations but still, so... Buying the full series, day 1, can only hope for more of them; give us the full Electric Mayhem, Lego, you cowards.

Still would've loved for the $500 set to be a modular Arkham Asylum, but oh well. Agree with the general consensus that it'll probably be Avengers Tower and inclined to agree with the guesses that it's based on The Avengers, or at least "inspired by". Which is... Fine, I guess? It'll probably look amazing, be tempting and such, but a $500 AT just screams "huge footprint" combined with a lot of height which is a straight up no-go for me. That's just a problem with display space when collecting Lego and not the potential set itself, of course. Probably doesn't help that the whole thing, however good, exudes big pandemic-energy: a lot of dialogue scenes cutting between shots of characters alone; Haden Church and Ifans spending the whole movie in their CGI-forms; the whole third act/final battle feeling very much like everyone were in separate corners of a blue screen soundstage that they then comped together digitally. Kudos to them (and especially the overworked VFX-teams; someone definitely had a nervous breakdown when they realized Strange is in it), can't have been an easy movie on any level to put together, but I agree that the CGI is... Overall suffering between the scope and the time constraints.

If the Raimi sets rumours are true, I'd personally love a remake of 4855 a.k.a. the train fight. That alone (like the original, subway car on a bit of track, almost vignette-like) I imagine would sell a lot, if only because... Well, trains.

... I pictured the Bugle set with the golden planet on top and now I can't not prefer that. I'm neither well-versed in the Superman mythos or a big fan of the design for the Bugle (minority, I know ), but that just makes more sense to me. Somehow. I went on a whole rant analysing what the early DCEU meant for Superman today here, but I'll just summarize it to spare you : There is an unholy amount of untapped potential for Lego DC sets and, based on recent years output from Lego, it sucks that the public interest likely isn't there for it. :/

Yeah, speculated further down that this would in that case be DC's D2C for 2022 and break that trend, if only because... How many more bat-vehicles can Lego make (note, that they picture mainstream consumers are willing to buy; I can definitely imagine a D2C Batboat just because)? To expand on my original thought though: If the Bugle will end up having a two year, introducing another tall Marvel building (most likely based on the MCU too) halfway into its lifespan has a possibility to hurt sales. It works for the Modular Building line where you might buy the latest one, love it, and go back to buy some of the older sets, but two of those doesn't even reach a $500 price tag, never mind $800. It depends whether or not Lego thought, some time prior to the Bugle if the timeline of 12-18 months for creating a set is correct, that the market is there for Marvel to become more like Star Wars D2C-wise. I think an AA would fit, as a possibility, if Lego however wants to move away from the yearly bat-vehicles. It's all just my own speculation picture things through the lens of capitalism though. Can't deny that there's some bias too;for years I've been wanting nothing more from the DC subtheme than a proper looking Arkham Asylum.

Like some have said, I'm more inclined to think the D2C is DC based due to the Bugle having just come out this year and the D2C Hulkbuster coming. With that though, wouldn't surprise me if Lego's going all in on Marvel at this point. There is that thought in the back of my head however: What would be a DC version of the Daily Bugle set, main hero with their variant team versus their big rogues gallery at an iconic, gorgeous building (that could easily be repurposed in a Lego city) designed to fit the modular buildstyle? The Bat Family versus Arkham Asylum. I think there are enough versions of it in different media for Lego designers to freestyle the design to fit whatever footprint they'd be working with, there's a low probability (like with the Bugle) the architectural style will show up in the modular building line, and if DC truly is little else but Batman in all but name now, it's the most likely candidate in my mind. The Batcave, I think, would be a definite contender if not for the fact that a lot of pieces would have to be reserved to make up an actual cave portion; Lego's move towards more "unified" display models/D2Cs in recent years makes me imagine that a D2C Batcave would be less separate modules and pieces a la the 1966 set and more one complete section. With an Arkham set, you could squeeze in villains we might not otherwise get (Mad Hatter, Zsasz and Hush off the top of my head), more than enough easter eggs (not just all of the movies and shows - include an enormous Scarecrow build and anyone who loved the Arkham games will look twice at it), and it would break the ongoing trend of D2C Batvehicles, being something more traditionally "Lego", while maintaing the bare minimum of the DC subtheme. You could even throw in the Flash just to include some of his rogues to capitalize on Flash movie hype. I wouldn't put any of it past the mad lads to be honest. Buuut, I can just as easily see it being the Avengers Tower, which would obviously make for a great statement piece. Not that I wouldn't want that, I'd buy it sooner or later, but I would definitely pick up a D2C Arkham earlier than I would that.

I'm probably just as cynical then. I'd guess it's based on a combo of Lego knowing what sells/what has sold well in the past (mechs, mechs and filling Spider-Man's garage), shelf life and what information Marvel gives out to the toy companies. Like, if a kid with no hero preferences wants a Lego Marvel set for their birthday, say, next July, are they more likely to ask for the colorful Iron Man mech that transforms into a race car or a set depicting a car chase five shows and six movies back? Considering the D+ side of the MCU just started this year, I figure they'd play it safe to begin with and if the demand is there (CMF should help there), they'll probably include some more D+ sets in the waves (A WandaVision set with two Bro Thor's New Asgard sized vignettes next to each other, one in color and one in B&W? It's gotta be on a list somewhere at Lego HQ). Well, maybe after we get the obvious missing Spider-rocket that is. And the Spider-yacht. And the Spider-snowmobile Aaand the Spider-sedan so that he can pick up the little Spiderlings from Spider-school, etc.