LEGO Dimensions Discussion

[Blondie-Wan]

What interests me most about these is the new moulds for The Doctor's sonic screwdriver and Chell's Portal gun. They both look fantastic! Sadly, unless they turn up in some of next year's sets, I won't be able to get them. They'll be £30 each in the UK, aftermarket prices will be ridiculous (if anybody even parts these out) and considering I'm not (or rather, I can't) shelling out £300 for a new console and £100 for the starter pack, it's not worth it

I'm sure there will indeed be people who part them out on Bricklink or whatever; they just won't do so cheaply.

Though I do have to wonder: is it possible that BTTF, Doctor Who, Portal and Wizard of Oz could get actual / more sets? It wouldn't make sense for those wonderful new moulds to just appear in one "pseudo-set" each (as I'm calling these Fun/Level/Team Packs, I don't regard them as true sets).

Well, it's certainly possible - Back to the Future already has a set, after all, and Doctor Who is getting at least one set through Ideas, and perhaps a whole theme. I half-suspect the reason they took extra time to announce the decision on the Doctor Who project is because they wanted to work out licensing with the BBC not just for that set, but also this pack for the game, and perhaps a whole theme of subsequent sets.

If Doctor Who does indeed become a full-blown theme, as I'm sure it will, I'm sure any and all molds developed for its LEGO Dimensions pack(s) will appear in more conventional sets. Portal, though, I could more easily see remaining a LEGO thing only through this game, and this Level Pack being the only official LEGO Portal thing ever released, so I'm less optimistic about ever seeing the portal gun element elsewhere (but you never know; they could always use it later as a structural element in something completely unrelated to Portal).

Edited May 11, 2015 by Blondie-Wan

[omegabob]

In my opinion an ongoing Doctor Who theme would work well for Lego. Since Doctor Who travels through time and space he could literally tie into any of their other main themes like City, Space, Castle and Pirates. The sets they could make are pretty endless and with 13 Doctors (counting the Time War "Grandpa Grumpy" version of the Doctor) you don't run into the issue of having an army of the main character from getting all the sets like other licensed themes.

[Numbuh1Nerd]

Flipping Chell! wow. I was a Portal fan back in the day...

If i see her in store, i'd probably pick her up without having the game, my only worry tho... how will Kids recognise her?

Portal 2 is still one of the best 360 games out there, and it was a big merchandising cash cow. Not to mention the memes. I'd be more worried about kids recognizing Back to the Future. I don't think these figures selling is going to hinge on kids recognizing the characters, though, because 1. if it looks cool, they'll still buy it and 2. lots of these are going to be more focused on the older nerds anyway. What better way to sell these things than by providing figures and levels for a wide range of nerdiness? Sure, kids are probably gonna be responsible for a lot of the Chima and Ninjago stuff selling, but now their parents and all the rest of us will buy the Doctor Who, Simpsons, and Back to the Future stuff and be just as hooked as the kids.

I don't think they'd make new molds for the Doctor and Chell without some intention of making Doctor Who and Portal sets, knowing Lego. We're definitely getting a Doctor Who set, thanks to Ideas, at least. Maybe Lego heard the fans who supported all those Portal projects during the Cuusoo days? Perhaps some of the other franchise-based projects that failed will see the light of day through dimensions? Could we see a Big Bang Theory team pack at some point?

In my opinion an ongoing Doctor Who theme would work well for Lego. Since Doctor Who travels through time and space he could literally tie into any of their other main themes like City, Space, Castle and Pirates. The sets they could make are pretty endless and with 13 Doctors (counting the Time War "Grandpa Grumpy" version of the Doctor) you don't run into the issue of having an army of the main character from getting all the sets like other licensed themes.

We could easily see the more recent Doctors show up in sets, and then maybe the older Doctors could make for good exclusives for pre-orders, online shopping, DVDs, and maybe even Comic-Con. I'd say the places they take the Tardis should probably stay within the realms of the show as opposed to just an Egypt set with the Doctor and a Cyberman thrown in there.

[The Brick Rat]

As others have pointed out, the box picture has the minifigs grouped into 4 waves with all the confirmed minifigs falling into the first two waves. Also of note is that the Level and Team packs are on the top row and the Fun packs are on the bottom row of the first two waves (which means waves 3 and 4 should follow the same pattern).

So what we have is this:

Wave 1

Level Packs

1. BTTF: Marty McFly

2.The Simpsons: Homer Simpson

3. Portal 2: Chell

Team Packs

4/5. Jurassic Park: Owen and ACU Trooper

6/7. Scooby Doo: Scooby and Shaggy

Fun Packs

19. DC Comics: Wonder Woman

20. DC Comics: Cyborg

21.The Simpsons: Bart Simpson

22. The LEGO Movie: Emmet

23. The LEGO Movie: Bad Cop

24. The LEGO Movie: Benny

25. Ninjago: Jay

26. Ninjago: Nya

27. Ninjago: Zane

28. LOTR: Gollum

29. LOTR: Legolas

30. LOTR: Gimli

31. Wizard of Oz: Wicked Witch

32. Chima: Laval

33. Chima: Cragger

Wave 2

Level Pack

8. Doctor Who: 12th Doctor

Team Pack

9/10. Cole and Kai

Fun Packs

34. The Simpsons: Krusty the Clown

35. The LEGO Movie: Unikitty

36. Chima: Eris

Wave 3

Level Pack

12. ?Ghostbuster? (a popular guess)

Team Pack

13/14. ?DC Comics: The Joker and Harley Quinn? (probable)

Fun Packs

37. ???

38. ???

39. ???

Wave 4

Level Pack

15. ???

Team Pack

16/17. ?DC Comics: Superman and Aquaman? (probable)

Fun Packs

40. ???

41. ???

42. ???

The top row of wave 4 is a bit confusing in that it has 4 minifigs shown. I think my guess of #15 being a Level Pack and 16/17 being a Team Pack is likely, but what about #18? Is it a second Level Pack or maybe a Fun Pack that was mistakenly put on the top row but belongs on the bottom row next to #40?

Edited May 11, 2015 by The Brick Rat

[Lancethecat]

Right now, the Disney Infinity Xbox 360 Starter Pack is 40% off on Amazon, and the 2.0 version is 70% off, so I think we can expect LEGO Dimensions to be steeply discounted if we wait another year or so. Then again, LEGO doesn't usually depreciate on the market as quickly as other products, but we can hope...

[kevkipo]

What i like about Dimensions is the fact that you can take the fig off,

I mean wouldn't it be nerve wrecking to know that you would have a Chell or the Doctor with a large circle beneath them that can't come off!

[Cheatster9000x]

I can perhaps see the portal gun mould being reused in an Atlas/P-Body twin-pack maybe next year?

[wideawakewesley]

If you're in the UK and would like to pre-order, 365 Games have reduced prices to under £80 for all platforms

http://www.365games.co.uk/page/lego-dimensions

[Richila]

I know we are getting the game, just have to decide the platform.

[AyliffeMakit]

Just noticed this rather interesting image from

...

You see that beige-ish flying saucer thing on the right of the screen? You recognize it? Well it seems to be a rather out-of-scale version of this...

Yep, it's one of the Daleks flying saucers from Doctor Who, which means that we're probably getting a ton more non-Capaldi Dr Who stuff within the game as well as that level pack.

Also how did nobody notice this for a whole month?

[8BrickMario]

Okay, a Dalek saucer beside the tower of Barad-dur...this game is just awesome!

[kevkipo]

Saucer? that sounds funny, can't help but think of a flying weiner

Anyway it does look cool! yay for the Whovians then!

[legofanatic12]

That guy in the trailer looks like Chris Pratt and also you will see Tor-An and the Black Zero Dropship from Battle of Smallville set.

[Master_Data]

That guy in the trailer looks like Chris Pratt and also you will see Tor-An and the Black Zero Dropship from Battle of Smallville set.

I made a whole list of references from that video a few pages back if you want a (relatively) full analysis.

[Deathleech]

Some of the sets for the Dimension game seem really un-appealing unless you are a completionist, or buying them specifically for use in the video game. The Chell and Doctor Who sets are great regardless because they have exclusive pieces or are the only way to get those characters/themes (at least right now), but for example the Lord of the Rings figures offer almost nothing new unless you missed the Legolas or Gollum minifigures. It's still really cheap and easy to find Gandalf and Gimli on BrickLink, or in sets on discount (Council of Elrond). Chima, Ninjago, The Lego Movie, etc. all seem like they could easily be passed up. I fear this will lead to some sets being super sought after and commanding a premium (beyond the already high price), while others flood shelves and collect dust.

At 30-40 cents PER PIECE, I think Lego should be offering a lot more new prints and molded pieces in these sets. Surely the game chips aren't that expensive and the high price easily covers the cost of new molds? Especially if Lego is smart and uses said molds in other sets?

In my opinion an ongoing Doctor Who theme would work well for Lego. Since Doctor Who travels through time and space he could literally tie into any of their other main themes like City, Space, Castle and Pirates.

The only issue I see with that is the Doctor Who minifigures are flesh colored and those themes all use yellow minifigures.

[Blondie-Wan]

At 30-40 cents PER PIECE, I think Lego should be offering a lot more new prints and molded pieces in these sets. Surely the game chips aren't that expensive and the high price easily covers the cost of new molds? Especially if Lego is smart and uses said molds in other sets? .

The price isn't as high as that just because of the pieces; that's not all you're getting. These packs all have game content, which itself costs money to develop, and we don't even know just how extensive it is yet.

Note how all the packs with new molds (that aren't also known to be coming out in other, regular sets, like the Scooby parts) are Level packs - those come with not just digital characters and vehicles, but also whole new areas in the game world; they're almost like mini-games unto themselves in how much they add. All the artists and programmers who work on these cost money too, you know. And that's not even counting audio expenses. Who's voicing these characters? We already know Elizabeth Banks is reprising the role of Wyldstyle, and she's a big star; her talent has to cost at least a few bucks. What about all the add-on characters? Might they actually have Peter Capaldi and Dan Castellenata voice their characters for these add-on packs? If so, how much do they cost? And we haven't even gotten to music licensing. Do the add-on packs add appropriate music for their franchises? If so, there are music licensing fees as well. And what if it's not even "just" theme music? Marty plays guitar in-game; what if he actually plays "real" songs, like "Earth Angel" or "Johnny B. Goode"? Those songs would have to be licensed as well.

I mean, probably not all of this stuff is actually in there, but even so, the point is that the prices aren't just for some bricks, even though we all know at least a few buyers will be getting the packs only for the parts, with no intention of ever actually playing the game. They can't price one of these packs as though it were just a couple of polybags, even though the physical brick content is equivalent. These packs are more than that, and they accordingly cost more to make, and so they're priced accordingly.

Edited May 14, 2015 by Blondie-Wan

[Deathleech]

I mean, probably not all of this stuff is actually in there, but even so, the point is that the prices aren't just for some bricks, even though we all know at least a few buyers will be getting the packs only for the parts, with no intention of ever actually playing the game. They can't price one of these packs as though it were just a couple of polybags, even though the physical brick content is equivalent. These packs are more than that, and they accordingly cost more to make, and so they're priced accordingly.

I am well aware of that, hence why I mentioned the game chips (and their accompanying game content). You figure that most game add-on expansions and DLC cost around $10-15 bucks though? That's for multiple levels and maybe one or two new playable characters. The Dimensions expansion packs offer one new character, a vehicle or two, and one game world. Hardly as much as your average DLC. Even so, if you take the $15 for the game content off the $30 expansion set price you are left with little more than a "normal" $15 set. With that in mind, most of these sets are still going to run you around 15-20 cents per bricks. The "fun packs" are even worse. Most of the time you can get character packs for under $5 in games, and single characters run you like 1-3 dollars. That means the Dimensions "fun packs" are costing you roughly 20 cents or more per brick...

My point with all of this? If Lego is going to be charging over 15 cents per brick, surely that off sets the cost of new molds and prints. I feel like we should be getting a lot more new stuff than we are. As someone who has no interest in the game, I am currently not interested in the Dimensions theme AT ALL. Now if Lego were to give us a Witch King or Eowyn minifigure, I would gladly pick them up even without owning the game.

Edited May 14, 2015 by Deathleech

[DraikNova]

"Costs of voice acting" are kind of a moot point for the Portal 2 pack, unless they bother to include GlaDOS and/or Wheatley in the levels. They might have to spend a bit on music, though.

[Blondie-Wan]

Well, as indicated I don't pretend to know those voice actor costs are there; I was just pointing out these have considerations we don't yet know about. Of course I'd rather have these more affordable myself; I want to get them, too.

I am well aware of that, hence why I mentioned the game chips (and their accompanying game content). You figure that most game add-on expansions and DLC cost around $10-15 bucks though. That's for multiple levels and maybe one or two new playable characters. The Dimensions expansion packs offer one new character, a vehicle or two, and one game world. Hardly as much as your average DLC. Even so, if you take the $15 for the game content off the $30 expansion set price and you are left with little a "normal" $15 set. With that in mind most of these sets are still going to run you around 15-20 cents per bricks. The "fun packs" are even worse. Most of the time you can get character packs for under $5 in games, and single characters run you like 1-3 dollars. That means the Dimensions "fun packs" are costing you roughly 20 cents or more per brick...

Smaller LEGO sets like polybags, "CMFs", etc. do tend to run more expensive on a price-per-piece basis anyway, though, and as far as DLC content for games goes goes, your average DLC doesn't come with actual, physical toys. The natural comparisons to make for these shouldn't be either other small LEGO sets or most other games' expansions, but add-on packs for other toys-to-life games like Skylanders and Disney Infinity. I really think by that comparison, these win out, since the toys here are actual LEGO, which easily trump the toys for those other games.

And yes, I do of course realize that's meaningless for someone who just doesn't intend to play the actual games anyway, but LEGO and WB can't just price these as though they were only LEGO sets with no DLC for the benefit of those people who want some but not all of the stuff in the packages. In that regard, we probably should treat them like other LEGO sets, in the sense that they have parts a lot of us will want without wanting the whole sets (or wanting to pay for it) - in this way, they're no different from other sets.

My point with all of this? If Lego is going to be charging over 15 cents per brick, surely that off sets the cost of new molds and prints. I feel like we should be getting a lot more new stuff than we are. As someone who has no interest in the game, I am currently not interested in the Dimensions theme AT ALL. Now if Lego were to give us a Witch King or Eowyn minifigure, I would gladly pick them up even without owning the game.

Well, that could still happen; I'm hoping for that myself. But we are indeed getting more than new molds and prints. We're getting the game data, too, and just because some of us don't want it doesn't mean it's not part of the cost of the package. And we're getting whole entire themes for this, too, and getting new characters accordingly - Chell and the Wicked Witch of the West, obviously. Those are the only two characters we know about who are wholly exclusive to the LEGO Dimensions "theme" so far, but I suspect there will be more.

As others have pointed out, the box picture has the minifigs grouped into 4 waves with all the confirmed minifigs falling into the first two waves. Also of note is that the Level and Team packs are on the top row and the Fun packs are on the bottom row of the first two waves (which means waves 3 and 4 should follow the same pattern).

So what we have is this:

Wave 1

Level Packs

1. BTTF: Marty McFly

2.The Simpsons: Homer Simpson

3. Portal 2: Chell

Team Packs

4/5. Jurassic Park: Owen and ACU Trooper

6/7. Scooby Doo: Scooby and Shaggy

Fun Packs

19. DC Comics: Wonder Woman

20. DC Comics: Cyborg

21.The Simpsons: Bart Simpson

22. The LEGO Movie: Emmet

23. The LEGO Movie: Bad Cop

24. The LEGO Movie: Benny

25. Ninjago: Jay

26. Ninjago: Nya

27. Ninjago: Zane

28. LOTR: Gollum

29. LOTR: Legolas

30. LOTR: Gimli

31. Wizard of Oz: Wicked Witch

32. Chima: Laval

33. Chima: Cragger

Wave 2

Level Pack

8. Doctor Who: 12th Doctor

Team Pack

9/10. Cole and Kai

Fun Packs

34. The Simpsons: Krusty the Clown

35. The LEGO Movie: Unikitty

36. Chima: Eris

Wave 3

Level Pack

12. ?Ghostbuster? (a popular guess)

Team Pack

13/14. ?DC Comics: The Joker and Harley Quinn? (probable)

Fun Packs

37. ???

38. ???

39. ???

Wave 4

Level Pack

15. ???

Team Pack

16/17. ?DC Comics: Superman and Aquaman? (probable)

Fun Packs

40. ???

41. ???

42. ???

The top row of wave 4 is a bit confusing in that it has 4 minifigs shown. I think my guess of #15 being a Level Pack and 16/17 being a Team Pack is likely, but what about #18? Is it a second Level Pack or maybe a Fun Pack that was mistakenly put on the top row but belongs on the bottom row next to #40?

Wow... I think you have it. I'd pretty much blown off trying to get any useful info from those blurs and smears, but I think that's right; nicely done.

For your Wave 4 conundrum, perhaps it's not a Superman / Aquaman Team Pack, but simply two Team Packs, one with Superman and someone else and the other with Aquaman and someone else.

[SuperGeniusCreator]

Just noticed this rather interesting image from

...

You see that beige-ish flying saucer thing on the right of the screen? You recognize it? Well it seems to be a rather out-of-scale version of this...

Yep, it's one of the Daleks flying saucers from Doctor Who, which means that we're probably getting a ton more non-Capaldi Dr Who stuff within the game as well as that level pack.

Also how did nobody notice this for a whole month?

HOW DID I NOT NOTICE THIS. We need to go back and watch the trailer again several times to see what else we missed.

[Robianco]

At 4.56 Two Face is riding the Mech that's chasing one of the Ninjago chaps. I like that Gandalf jumps off the Dalekian Saucer into the vortex while Batman watches on.

[PenPlays]

I am well aware of that, hence why I mentioned the game chips (and their accompanying game content). You figure that most game add-on expansions and DLC cost around $10-15 bucks though? That's for multiple levels and maybe one or two new playable characters. The Dimensions expansion packs offer one new character, a vehicle or two, and one game world. Hardly as much as your average DLC. Even so, if you take the $15 for the game content off the $30 expansion set price you are left with little more than a "normal" $15 set. With that in mind, most of these sets are still going to run you around 15-20 cents per bricks. The "fun packs" are even worse. Most of the time you can get character packs for under $5 in games, and single characters run you like 1-3 dollars. That means the Dimensions "fun packs" are costing you roughly 20 cents or more per brick...

My point with all of this? If Lego is going to be charging over 15 cents per brick, surely that off sets the cost of new molds and prints. I feel like we should be getting a lot more new stuff than we are. As someone who has no interest in the game, I am currently not interested in the Dimensions theme AT ALL. Now if Lego were to give us a Witch King or Eowyn minifigure, I would gladly pick them up even without owning the game.

Yes they will charge that much, as the cost for the NFC dimension pad is expensive. Also keep in mind that most Toys-2-life figures are in the $15 price range. Two packs nearly double that, and packs that contain harder to find characters as well as exclusive DLC run nearly another $40.

Currently Nintendo is the only one who goes above and beyond the value of an Amiibo ($13) to provide content, as nearly every Amiibo that has been manufactured is compatible with nearly every first party game that has been released on Wii U since Hyrule Warriors.

You also only need one version of each character. You only need to spend the $13 once for all access to that Amiibo character's bonuses/DLC. For example, there are now 4 different Mario Amiibo. They all contain the same NFC chip, so content-wise, if you have one, you have them all.

Most companies can't do anything similar, but say if Lego were to make a second "Dimensions" down the road, they'd be pretty stupid not to make the first Dimensions figures backwards-compatible.

Edited May 14, 2015 by Penkid11

[Deathleech]

Smaller LEGO sets like polybags, "CMFs", etc. do tend to run more expensive on a price-per-piece basis anyway, though, and as far as DLC content for games goes goes, your average DLC doesn't come with actual, physical toys. The natural comparisons to make for these shouldn't be either other small LEGO sets or most other games' expansions, but add-on packs for other toys-to-life games like Skylanders and Disney Infinity. I really think by that comparison, these win out, since the toys here are actual LEGO, which easily trump the toys for those other games.

I dunno. If the Lego Dimension sets are truly a better value than the other toy to life games then it seems the whole market is nothing more than a huge cash cow (unsurprisingly). I could buy the DLC for an existing Lego game (say the new Jurrasic World one) for like $10 bucks and a separate 100 piece Lego set for another $10-15 or so. I would be saving $5-10 dollars this way over buying a Dimensions "fun pack" where you are basically getting the same thing, except its all packaged together. Since they are bundled together in the Dimension sets Lego feels like they can sell them at a premium though?

Actually now that I am looking more into it, DLC is pretty cheap on it's own. I was just looking up prices and you can get 8 characters for around $1.99-2.99 in other Lego games. In a fun pack you get 1 character and 2 objects, plus the 100 piece set for $14.99. Take out a dollar for the character/DLC and you are left with a $13.99 Lego set that has 40 pieces. That's an astounding 35 cents per piece. Most polybags top out around 15-20 cents per piece and those are considered pricey. If anything shouldn't Lego be offering these Dimension packs at a discount over buying a Lego set and DLC separately? Not at a HUGE (300%) markup?

And yes, I do of course realize that's meaningless for someone who just doesn't intend to play the actual games anyway, but LEGO and WB can't just price these as though they were only LEGO sets with no DLC for the benefit of those people who want some but not all of the stuff in the packages. In that regard, we probably should treat them like other LEGO sets, in the sense that they have parts a lot of us will want without wanting the whole sets (or wanting to pay for it) - in this way, they're no different from other sets.

Well, that could still happen; I'm hoping for that myself. But we are indeed getting more than new molds and prints. We're getting the game data, too, and just because some of us don't want it doesn't mean it's not part of the cost of the package. And we're getting whole entire themes for this, too, and getting new characters accordingly - Chell and the Wicked Witch of the West, obviously. Those are the only two characters we know about who are wholly exclusive to the LEGO Dimensions "theme" so far, but I suspect there will be more.

I never said they should price them as Lego sets without the DLC. How they are doing it now though, they are pricing them with an astronomical mark up. I could buy a Lego set and a DLC for a game for significantly cheaper than I could a Dimensions pack. Since Lego is charging so much, I feel the least they could do is offer more new molds and prints. I never said Lego should price these as normal sets and give us the DLC "free", nor did I say that shouldn't be a contributing factor to the price. I am not really sure why you keep bringing up these moot points?

The higher set prices on the Dimensions sets (even higher than buying a Lego set + DLC combined) should offset the cost of the new molds and prints? The Chell and Docotor Who sets are perfect examples. As of right now, they offer an exclusive minifigure print, and one or two exclusive molds. Even if you are not a fan of the Dimensions game, these sets offer something of value to their respective Portal and Doctor Who fans that will make them want to pick them up regardless. Most of the other sets don't do this though. The LotR sets have 4 minifigures and they are all re-hashes of existing character printing. The Ninjago and Chima sets offer no new molds or printings from what I can tell. If you aren't a fan of the Dimensions game, there is no reason to buy these sets. Even if you are a fan, the appeal to buy them is limited unless you REALLY want those characters in game. This is my whole point. Lego should have the game aspect, but also be using the Dimension sets as a platform to give fans new molds and prints that would otherwise be unavailable to them. They are certainly priced high enough to cover the cost and it would give them much more appeal outside of just the game.

Edited May 14, 2015 by Deathleech

[Aanchir]

I dunno. If the Lego Dimension sets are truly a better value than the other toy to life games then it seems the whole market is nothing more than a huge cash cow (unsurprisingly). I could buy the DLC for an existing Lego game (say the new Jurrasic World one) for like $10 bucks and a separate 100 piece Lego set for another $10-15 or so. I would be saving $5-10 dollars this way over buying a Dimensions "fun pack" where you are basically getting the same thing, except its all packaged together. Since they are bundled together in the Dimension sets Lego feels like they can sell them at a premium though?

Actually now that I am looking more into it, DLC is pretty cheap on it's own. I was just looking up prices and you can get 8 characters for around $1.99-2.99 in other Lego games. In a fun pack you get 1 character and 2 objects, plus the 100 piece set for $14.99. Take out a dollar for the character/DLC and you are left with a $13.99 Lego set that has 40 pieces. That's an astounding 35 cents per piece. Most polybags top out around 15-20 cents per piece and those are considered pricey. If anything shouldn't Lego be offering these Dimension packs at a discount over buying a Lego set and DLC separately? Not at a HUGE (300%) markup?

Just to be clear (because you seem to be pretty puzzled about this), toys-to-life figures are not just a toy plus DLC. In most cases, the NFC data functions almost like a memory card that can store your character data even after it changes within the game, so you can use the character you trained in your game to help a friend out on his game, or even trade characters you've "trained" for a friend's characters. This is something that can't be done simply with DLC or unlock codes.

It's not entirely clear how LEGO Dimensions might implement this functionality. We still know very little about the actual gameplay, so it's hard to say for sure whether characters will be able to "level up" like in Skylanders or Disney Infinity. One thing my brother theorized is that maybe you will be able to rebuild your in-game vehicles into alternate models and store them back on the vehicle chips. I'm sure we'll find out more about the actual gameplay at E3 next month, and then it'll be a lot easier to evaluate how much value the whole "toys to life" platform really adds that ordinary toys and simple paid DLC would lack.

[Deathleech]

Just to be clear (because you seem to be pretty puzzled about this), toys-to-life figures are not just a toy plus DLC. In most cases, the NFC data functions almost like a memory card that can store your character data even after it changes within the game, so you can use the character you trained in your game to help a friend out on his game, or even trade characters you've "trained" for a friend's characters. This is something that can't be done simply with DLC or unlock codes.

I guess that is kind of cool, but I'm still not seeing justification for such a big price increase. With most DLC you can still level your character up and use them in the expansion or existing game. All these toy to life figures seem to add to that is that you can use them as portable memory cards? That hardly seems worth the extra $10 mark up over a normal Lego set + DLC if you bought them separate.

People seem to be fine with these prices because that's the standard set by other toy to life games? Just looking at the Disney Infinity pieces though, it looks like most of them are currently on sale for 30-50% off at Wal-Mart, Target, and Amazon. Heck, I wouldn't even mind the price so much if the Dimensions sets all had new prints or molds as I have mentioned several times now. You guys keep bringing up the other toy to life games, but you are failing to realize that those Disney and Nintendo figures are ONLY available in their respective game sets. You can't go buy an Elsa or Hulk figure like those in another set without the game chip for half the price. They have to make special figure molds along with the game content for every set they release. With the Dimensions sets, I can go buy a set that has Gollum, Bilbo, and 100 pieces for $5 less than the Gollum "fun pack". I could buy a character pack to the game for a few dollars. Lego is throwing in existing characters they already have molds for that were made before the game. We aren't paying for a new mold and game chip like with all the Disney Infinity pieces, with Dimensions we are paying for a game chip with new game content and re-hashed Lego pieces.

For most of these Dimension sets, it seems the ONLY appeal is the exclusive in game content. The physical brick component can be gotten else where for much cheaper for the vast majority of the sets. This is what bothers me. I feel like Lego could easily be offering more new prints and molds in their Dimension sets but they simply aren't. This makes the sets only appealing to those interested in the game. Lego COULD be appealing to Lego brick fans AND game fans if they made the minifigures more interesting. The exception of course being a few sets like the Portal 2 and Doctor Who sets.