On 7/5/2023 at 6:23 PM, doclord said:

The picture of the house is from Disney's video introducing the Multiplanar camera.

 

Yes, that's the picture I was thinking of.  I believe it's in the exhibit of the camera @ Disney World.  Tried googling it before but couldn't find it. 

This is easily my favourite set that they’ve done for the anniversary, it’s stunning in isolation as just a camera, and all of its specificities feel like a more than tasteful celebration of the company and Walt Disney’s legacy. It’s a very cleverly designed set. I can hardly believe the printed strip.

  On 7/5/2023 at 11:06 AM, JeanGreyForever said:

...

Bambi looks fine but Dumbo is very cartoony and barely looks like a Lego figure.

...

Duplo-ish. LOL

  On 7/5/2023 at 11:48 AM, JeanGreyForever said:

I get why Mickey and Minnie were included but they just seem like watered down versions of their previous figures in the CMF series 2 or the Steamboat Willie set. This was a missed opportunity to include a B&W Oswald.

...

Agree with you. I could see how Mickey + Oswald could have worked. Or perhaps Oswalds friends?

I think re-using B&W Mickey and Minnie saved them some minifig development costs.

  On 7/5/2023 at 1:18 PM, JohnTPT17 said:

Oh, wow, I did not have Dumbo or Bambi on my bingo card for characters that would be made this year! And they both look great! I can only imagine what the price to get them on the aftermarket will be though - I don't really want or need the camera, as well-designed as it is.

Looking at the camera reel, I think the scenes are (in reverse chronological order):

-2021: Encanto (Mirabel and Alma)

-2013: Frozen (Coronation Elsa/Let it Go)

-2009: The Princess and the Frog (Tiana on the balcony)

-1998: Mulan (Mulan and Mushu)

-1994: The Lion King (Simba, Timon, and Pumbaa on the bridge)

-1991: Beauty and the Beast

-1989: The Little Mermaid (Same image as in Villain Icons)

-1977: The Rescuers (on their leaf boat)

-1973: Robin Hood

-1967: The Jungle Book (Baloo and Mowgli)

-1963: The Sword in the Stone (Arthur pulling the sword)

-1959: Sleeping Beauty (Maleficent)

-1951: Alice in Wonderland

-1950: Cinderella (Cinderella and Fairy Godmother)

-1942: Bambi

-1941: Dumbo

-1940: Fantasia (Sorcerer Mickey) or Pinocchio 

-1937: Snow White and the Seven Dwarves?

-1928: Steamboat Willie

If any of those are teases for future characters, we still have some whopper sets in the pipeline!

Those bolded and underlined have yet to be represented by any minifig.

How many times has Sword in the Stone been referenced this year? This would be the third time? (100 yrs Icons, castle, then this). 

  On 7/5/2023 at 1:48 PM, Robert8 said:

Has the Hunchback of Notre Dame been even referenced at all by TLG?

I think its only of the few animated movies that hasnt apperead anywhere. Not even in this camera reel 

 

The concept of hunchback, I would think is against Disney's policy of being anti-controversial. Would love to get a set/ some minifigs though.

  On 7/5/2023 at 11:25 PM, VincentLord said:

This is easily my favourite set that they’ve done for the anniversary, it’s stunning in isolation as just a camera, and all of its specificities feel like a more than tasteful celebration of the company and Walt Disney’s legacy. It’s a very cleverly designed set. I can hardly believe the printed strip.

Is this strip the first time that Lego is releasing such a type of 'part'???

  On 7/6/2023 at 2:13 AM, hikouki said:

Duplo-ish. LOL

Agree with you. I could see how Mickey + Oswald could have worked. Or perhaps Oswalds friends?

I think re-using B&W Mickey and Minnie saved them some minifig development costs.

How many times has Sword in the Stone been referenced this year? This would be the third time? (100 yrs Icons, castle, then this). 

The concept of hunchback, I would think is against Disney's policy of being anti-controversial. Would love to get a set/ some minifigs though.

Duplo-ish is a good description. I wonder if there's a chance we could ever get Thumper and Flower to go with Bambi and Timothy Mouse to go with Dumbo. I'm not sure how they'd do Timothy though since a full-scale minifigure wouldn't work alongside Dumbo but anything too small would look weird next to full-scale minifigs like Jiminy Cricket or Chip 'n' Dale.

Oswald has a girlfriend, Ortensia, but I've never seen any merchandise of her. Pete might have been another good choice since he also appeared in Steamboat Willie and he's technically older than even Mickey. I'm still surprised there's been no Pete minifigs.

I'm surprised by all The Sword in the Stone references as well. It's the only Walt movie to not be a classic. It's pretty much ignored in Disney merchandise except for this year since it's the anniversary for the movie so there's a few things available for it, but usually it's nonexistent.

Hunchback is getting a live-action remake which is currently in production with Josh Gad so Disney's not completely against it. Disney seems to recognize that there's a market for Hunchback but it doesn't overlap with their family friendly Disney demographic (although they've more or less departed from their soccer mom demographic). The musical for it was a huge hit on Germany and it's no coincidence that Disney decided to launch their Hunchback musical in Europe rather than the US. Hunchback was also Michael Eisner's pet project so as long as he was part of Disney, you still saw it fairly well represented in the late 90s and early-mid 2000s. It's when Eisner left that merchandise for it became nonexistent and Esmeralda stopped being an official Disney Princess. Eisner even planned an ABC live-musical TV film for Hunchback in the early 2000s but it never came into fruition. In the last decade, Disney did create an American musical stage show for it but even then, they deliberately didn't market it with the Disney name so that families wouldn't feel tricked into watching a show that wasn't very family friendly. America is too puritanical for Hunchback but it's very popular in Latin America because of the shared Catholicism, Europe for obvious reasons, and even Japan where Esmeralda frequently gets merchandise. Hunchback is far more present in Japanese Disney merchandise than Hercules or Mulan which is completely nonexistent. The popularity of Disney movies can vary from country to country and Pocahontas is another one more popular in Europe and Asia.

 

Hunchback is my favorite Disney movie

Let's hope for a Judge Frollo minifigure :/

  On 7/6/2023 at 2:34 AM, JeanGreyForever said:

Duplo-ish is a good description. I wonder if there's a chance we could ever get Thumper and Flower to go with Bambi and Timothy Mouse to go with Dumbo. I'm not sure how they'd do Timothy though since a full-scale minifigure wouldn't work alongside Dumbo but anything too small would look weird next to full-scale minifigs like Jiminy Cricket or Chip 'n' Dale.

Oswald has a girlfriend, Ortensia, but I've never seen any merchandise of her. Pete might have been another good choice since he also appeared in Steamboat Willie and he's technically older than even Mickey. I'm still surprised there's been no Pete minifigs.

I'm surprised by all The Sword in the Stone references as well. It's the only Walt movie to not be a classic. It's pretty much ignored in Disney merchandise except for this year since it's the anniversary for the movie so there's a few things available for it, but usually it's nonexistent.

Hunchback is getting a live-action remake which is currently in production with Josh Gad so Disney's not completely against it. Disney seems to recognize that there's a market for Hunchback but it doesn't overlap with their family friendly Disney demographic (although they've more or less departed from their soccer mom demographic). The musical for it was a huge hit on Germany and it's no coincidence that Disney decided to launch their Hunchback musical in Europe rather than the US. Hunchback was also Michael Eisner's pet project so as long as he was part of Disney, you still saw it fairly well represented in the late 90s and early-mid 2000s. It's when Eisner left that merchandise for it became nonexistent and Esmeralda stopped being an official Disney Princess. Eisner even planned an ABC live-musical TV film for Hunchback in the early 2000s but it never came into fruition. In the last decade, Disney did create an American musical stage show for it but even then, they deliberately didn't market it with the Disney name so that families wouldn't feel tricked into watching a show that wasn't very family friendly. America is too puritanical for Hunchback but it's very popular in Latin America because of the shared Catholicism, Europe for obvious reasons, and even Japan where Esmeralda frequently gets merchandise. Hunchback is far more present in Japanese Disney merchandise than Hercules or Mulan which is completely nonexistent. The popularity of Disney movies can vary from country to country and Pocahontas is another one more popular in Europe and Asia.

 

Thumper and Flower? I would not be surprised if Lego takes an existing System or Friends animal mould, barely paints it, and calls it something. Take the tragic case of Sebastian in that clamshell. LOL

Honestly, the Friends/ Mini-doll line raccoon and pug are not bad to display as Meeko and Percy, for lack of better alternative. And they are way better than Sebastian's latest incarnation.

They could still do a small legs minifig Timothy mouse if they make a Dumbo Mech... I would not be surprised if Lego goes there with the Disney theme, thanks to all the YT influencers.

Sword in the Stone...I wonder if there might be conflicting copyrights with offering a full Lego set vs a simple reference?

 

Edited July 6, 20231 yr by hikouki

  On 7/6/2023 at 3:30 AM, hikouki said:

Thumper and Flower? I would not be surprised if Lego takes an existing System or Friends animal mould, barely paints it, and calls it something. Take the tragic case of Sebastian in that clamshell. LOL

Honestly, the Friends/ Mini-doll line raccoon and pug are not bad to display as Meeko and Percy, for lack of better alternative. And they are way better than Sebastian's latest incarnation.

They could still do a small legs minifig Timothy mouse if they make a Dumbo Mech... I would not be surprised if Lego goes there with the Disney theme, thanks to all the YT influencers.

Sword in the Stone...I wonder if there might be conflicting copyrights with offering a full Lego set vs a simple reference?

 

Disney at one point was trying to make a Disney Bunnies franchise for kids starring Thumper and his sisters but it never took off. A pity, otherwise we might have sets and sets with Thumper and his sisters lol.

You're right about the raccoon and pug. In fact, I felt that Meeko in the Disney Duos set looked really inaccurate and just like a random raccoon. Percy looked better but his color was off. He's always been more white or light gray than the cream color they used in the Duos set. Thankfully the real Sebastian exists in the early princess sets which is the one I use. Eric's dog, Max, also had a figure but he's way too cartoony to fit in with the minifigs.

After Dobby and his sock became a set in the Harry Potter line, I wouldn't put it past Lego to do something like that for Dumbo. 

There's no rights issue for The Sword in the Stone like there is for Tarzan. It's just not a very popular movie and its most iconic feature is the sword in the stone itself. The movie is so unpopular that in the documentary for the Sherman Brothers (the songwriters for most of Disney's hit songs from the 60s), they didn't even include The Sword in the Stone despite it being their first Disney animated movie.

  On 7/6/2023 at 3:06 AM, Robert8 said:

Hunchback is my favorite Disney movie

Let's hope for a Judge Frollo minifigure :/

It's mine as well. I'd love to see Frollo, Quasi, Esmeralda, as well as Phoebus and Clopin. And a little Djali. I can live without the gargoyles lol.

I think Sword in the Stone is one of those films where the parts are more than the whole. Disney uses Merlin a lot as their resident "wizard" character and he has been in many games, shows where crossovers happen between IPs and is probably the most popular of the films characters. Madam Mim has a small cult following and even got a face character spot in Disneyland's Halloween event last year which Disney wouldn't have done if there wasn't some sort of interest/demand for her. And as others have said, the sword in the stone itself is iconic Disney imagery but I think it is also the only moment from the film that would work as a set. There aren't any other scenes that lend themselves to a system style set outside of a potential Wizard's Duel but it would be an animal pack if anything.

  On 7/6/2023 at 2:13 AM, hikouki said:

Agree with you. I could see how Mickey + Oswald could have worked. Or perhaps Oswalds friends?

 

oswald and ortensia would have been amazing to get

 

  On 7/6/2023 at 2:13 AM, hikouki said:

Those bolded and underlined have yet to be represented by any minifig.

 

what about lion king?

  On 7/6/2023 at 3:30 AM, hikouki said:

Thumper and Flower? I would not be surprised if Lego takes an existing System or Friends animal mould, barely paints it, and calls it something. Take the tragic case of Sebastian in that clamshell. LOL

 

i plan on just using a friends bunny and the skunk piece until we hopefully get offical ones. and for sebastian i dont really blame lego for that as he is supposed to look like a real crab and thats their crab piece. the minidoll one works very well with figs tho

  On 7/6/2023 at 2:34 AM, JeanGreyForever said:

I'm not sure how they'd do Timothy though since a full-scale minifigure wouldn't work alongside Dumbo but anything too small would look weird next to full-scale minifigs like Jiminy Cricket or Chip 'n' Dale.

 

thats a good point. personally im displaying them each by movie so i would be fine with him just being a statuette, but i can see how that would be weird for ppl who display all the figs together. i would be ok with a minifigure like jiminy, better than nothing

Wart and Quasimodo would be perfect fits for a Heros Icons, where they wouldn't fit in other regular sets.

This may be a stupid question, but where do we see the finalists for the Lego Ideas contest? It's in crowd vote but I can't see which sets we can vote on

  On 7/6/2023 at 1:08 PM, OttoRiver said:

This may be a stupid question, but where do we see the finalists for the Lego Ideas contest? It's in crowd vote but I can't see which sets we can vote on

It's in a blog post.

The options are interesting. I feel like that Mickey Statue is the obvious winner. Honestly the other choices feel like the Ideas staff stacked the deck for it to win. I mean all the submissions look nice, but the other 4 are smaller, single subject with no minifigures. It just feels like an obvious choice for everyone to vote for the big one with the minifigures.

I also feel like the Beauty and the Beast ballroom not making the cut might have been because they have something similar in the pipeline already, though that could be wishful thinking on my part.

  On 7/6/2023 at 1:20 PM, strangely said:

I also feel like the Beauty and the Beast ballroom not making the cut might have been because they have something similar in the pipeline already, though that could be wishful thinking on my part.

I feel the same abt lion king, there were so many lion king ones. it was def the most represented movie in all the submissions, that has got to be a good sign

Being honest, I wouldn't have chosen any of those 5 ideas as finalists. Not that they are bad, but because there were many more interesting options in my opinion. I guess that the Beatuy and the Beast one wasn't chosen because they have something planned and maybe they want a bigger set with more pieces. I'm surprised they haven't picked a Sword in the Stone either.

I actually put my vote towards Tinkerbell. It's the only one I could see myself ending up buying. The Mickey set seems like the winner but the only appeal would be the minifigures which have already been released. I don't need a 3rd Stitch or a Pinocchio that just came out (feels like a Tiana in the Disney Castle case) and Belle would be the only new one. Given the ballroom wasn't picked I can only assume a Belle figure is coming in another set which means it would be a repeat showing up here.

Surprised by the choices, hope the lack of minifigure based sets points to more minifigure sets in the pipeline.

how much room is there for LEGO to tweak the winning design? I agree that it seems a bit biased to have the large sorcerer mickey be the winner, but curious if they’d be able to tweak the represented movies? I love the concept of the set but obviously would want other movies represented rather than repeats.

Still holding out hope for a large Pixar set. Something similar to the Villain Icons set would be perfect to represent the various movies yet to be represented in any way IMO. 

  On 7/6/2023 at 2:04 PM, OttoRiver said:

I actually put my vote towards Tinkerbell. It's the only one I could see myself ending up buying. The Mickey set seems like the winner but the only appeal would be the minifigures which have already been released. I don't need a 3rd Stitch or a Pinocchio that just came out (feels like a Tiana in the Disney Castle case) and Belle would be the only new one. Given the ballroom wasn't picked I can only assume a Belle figure is coming in another set which means it would be a repeat showing up here.

This is exactly how I feel. The Fantasia, Dumbo, and Bambi ones don't look bad, but I don't see any of them doing well as $80-100 retail sets to the general audience; that price range and "displayable object" niche are already covered by the camera and Villain Icons. The Sorcerer Mickey one doesn't even look that good to me - Mickey looks fine, and there are a few fun references, but then the rest is just badly photoshopped stock photos of previous Disney minifigs. It also looks like it would need some big stickers to have it work - as-is, it looks like Mickey's eyes go across multiple parts, which is already a no-no. The right side of the model doesn't even look like it would be stable if built in real life. If that model were selected, I doubt many (or even any) of those minifigs will be staying. In some ways, it's honestly my least favorite of the five.

Tinkerbelle, who would probably be closer to $20-30 in price range, feels like she compliments the Villain Icons/Camera sets in a way - a "display piece" that has some fun charm to it that appeals to both "Disney Adults" and AFOLS, but with a lower barrier to entry in both complexity and price than the other two. There were other ones in the general vote that would have been better, but out of these five, I think this one is the best.

  On 7/6/2023 at 12:40 PM, doclord said:

Wart and Quasimodo would be perfect fits for a Heros Icons, where they wouldn't fit in other regular sets.

The only issue with Quasimodo is that he would require a new mold to do him justice, and the Villain Icons didn't make any new molds. I don't know if that would be a "rule" or not, but it could potentially exclude him. That being said, I think he could probably fit in a "Heroes Icons" set, with a large bell being his representative object. If not there, then maybe a future CMF, with his accessory being a bird. I wouldn't say no to a full set with multiple characters, but I don't see that happening due to the "religious imagery."

Wart... Eh, not my favorite Disney character. I feel like Merlin might be more iconic. Then again, Genie Jafar got made, who probably isn't super iconic (in that form) either. I probably just have different tastes.

  On 7/6/2023 at 1:20 PM, strangely said:

I also feel like the Beauty and the Beast ballroom not making the cut might have been because they have something similar in the pipeline already, though that could be wishful thinking on my part.

I'll join you in your wishing! I could see that set potentially releasing sometime in December as a bit of a "Christmas release" for Disney. For the rest of the year, it might look like: nothing in August, camera/Peter Pan in September, Agrabah in October, Wish in November, and maybe the ballroom for December? That's all just speculation though.

The choices do feel very safely selected, to stick with display models rather than playsets. Based on the Duos, Villains Icons, and Camera sets, it does seem like Lego is leaning more towards display models.

The temptation would be to go with the Disney Magic set since that's the only one that features minifigures. Belle is the only new minifigure but by the time this set is officially in production, a potential set featuring Belle will likely already be out so she even won't be unique anymore. On top of that, even the Agrabah microscale set might be out by then so there's another portion of this set which will be more or less obsolete. I do think the appeal for general consumers will be in minifigures that haven't been available for years now like Aladdin, Ariel, Elsa, and Stitch (not as Experiment 626) all collected together. I think I'd be more interested in this set if instead of giving us the exact same identical minifigs as before, they were slightly different versions: Elsa in her Frozen II white dress, Aladdin as Prince Ali, Pinocchio with donkey ears and tail, Stitch in one of his many alternate outfits like his hula outfit, and even Belle in an alternate dress. Ariel is probably the only one that wouldn't work in a different look since she's depicted swimming but even then, they could use an alternate tail piece. I wonder if it might also be possible to include a Simba figure with the Pride Rock portion the way they included Dumbo and Bambi in the camera set. Or maybe a Figaro to go with Pinocchio instead of reusing Cleo again. The Cinderella coach, while not movie accurate in color, also seems close enough to minifigure scale that it could be useful.

I also noticed the emphasis on Walt-era sets between Fantasia, Dumbo, Bambi, and Tinker Bell which I appreciate. I do think the Bambi set would be nice for some Lego depictions of Thumper, Flower, and Friend Owl. I feel the Dumbo one might be very popular because of how iconic the park ride is and the function to flap his wings. I wasn't a fan of the Dumbo figure in the camera set, so if they threw in Timothy Mouse as a minifigure or a new Dumbo minifigure (he actually is a walkaround character in the parks), I'd be more inclined to pick that but that's probably wishful thinking on my part.

Overall, I know the Disney Magic set doesn't seem to be very popular here but it was always one of the ones that stood out to me the most in the submissions, and I always felt it did the best job of commemorating the most iconic and popular Disney movies. It would make a good display piece to have all these classic characters displayed together. I don't think it would work to alter the movies to new ones because outside of say Snow White, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, Sleeping Beauty, Winnie the Pooh, and the animal movies, there aren't really any iconic enough to represent Disney.

I doubt I would actually buy any of the five choices.  The Bambi one is decent but the brick built animals are still too roughly built in my opinion. Don't care for the Tinkerbell or Dumbo ones at all.  Sorcerers Apprentice is the most polished & pleasing to my eye but sadly lacks a needed Sorcerer Mickey in scale with the brooms.  The obvious front runner is a bit too all over the place with some questionable color choices like the pumpkin coach, which should be either white or gold.

  On 7/6/2023 at 12:12 PM, Surge said:

oswald and ortensia would have been amazing to get

 

what about lion king?

i plan on just using a friends bunny and the skunk piece until we hopefully get offical ones. and for sebastian i dont really blame lego for that as he is supposed to look like a real crab and thats their crab piece. the minidoll one works very well with figs tho

thats a good point. personally im displaying them each by movie so i would be fine with him just being a statuette, but i can see how that would be weird for ppl who display all the figs together. i would be ok with a minifigure like jiminy, better than nothing

Printed new trophy?

 

  On 7/6/2023 at 11:38 PM, Modeltrainman said:

Printed new trophy?

 

yea thats what i mean by statuette

  On 7/6/2023 at 3:41 PM, JohnTPT17 said:

...

The only issue with Quasimodo is that he would require a new mold to do him justice, and the Villain Icons didn't make any new molds. I don't know if that would be a "rule" or not, but it could potentially exclude him. That being said, I think he could probably fit in a "Heroes Icons" set, with a large bell being his representative object. If not there, then maybe a future CMF, with his accessory being a bird. I wouldn't say no to a full set with multiple characters, but I don't see that happening due to the "religious imagery."

Wart... Eh, not my favorite Disney character. I feel like Merlin might be more iconic. Then again, Genie Jafar got made, who probably isn't super iconic (in that form) either. I probably just have different tastes.

...

The argument for new minifig moulds would be relative...

SW gets all the good stuff because it sells. That Villain icons set looks like it sold pretty well: pre-order got closed quickly, the it went on backorder, then finally temporarily sold out. In other words, there is demand! Lego would be stupid to look the other way.

  On 7/6/2023 at 5:16 PM, JeanGreyForever said:

The choices do feel very safely selected, to stick with display models rather than playsets. Based on the Duos, Villains Icons, and Camera sets, it does seem like Lego is leaning more towards display models.

The temptation would be to go with the Disney Magic set since that's the only one that features minifigures. Belle is the only new minifigure but by the time this set is officially in production, a potential set featuring Belle will likely already be out so she even won't be unique anymore. On top of that, even the Agrabah microscale set might be out by then so there's another portion of this set which will be more or less obsolete. I do think the appeal for general consumers will be in minifigures that haven't been available for years now like Aladdin, Ariel, Elsa, and Stitch (not as Experiment 626) all collected together. I think I'd be more interested in this set if instead of giving us the exact same identical minifigs as before, they were slightly different versions: Elsa in her Frozen II white dress, Aladdin as Prince Ali, Pinocchio with donkey ears and tail, Stitch in one of his many alternate outfits like his hula outfit, and even Belle in an alternate dress. Ariel is probably the only one that wouldn't work in a different look since she's depicted swimming but even then, they could use an alternate tail piece. I wonder if it might also be possible to include a Simba figure with the Pride Rock portion the way they included Dumbo and Bambi in the camera set. Or maybe a Figaro to go with Pinocchio instead of reusing Cleo again. The Cinderella coach, while not movie accurate in color, also seems close enough to minifigure scale that it could be useful.

I also noticed the emphasis on Walt-era sets between Fantasia, Dumbo, Bambi, and Tinker Bell which I appreciate. I do think the Bambi set would be nice for some Lego depictions of Thumper, Flower, and Friend Owl. I feel the Dumbo one might be very popular because of how iconic the park ride is and the function to flap his wings. I wasn't a fan of the Dumbo figure in the camera set, so if they threw in Timothy Mouse as a minifigure or a new Dumbo minifigure (he actually is a walkaround character in the parks), I'd be more inclined to pick that but that's probably wishful thinking on my part.

Overall, I know the Disney Magic set doesn't seem to be very popular here but it was always one of the ones that stood out to me the most in the submissions, and I always felt it did the best job of commemorating the most iconic and popular Disney movies. It would make a good display piece to have all these classic characters displayed together. I don't think it would work to alter the movies to new ones because outside of say Snow White, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, Sleeping Beauty, Winnie the Pooh, and the animal movies, there aren't really any iconic enough to represent Disney.

Great observation about the display items vs playlets/ dioramas... why do you think that is so???

My guess is that Lego perhaps hasn't really fully realized the potential of Disney minifig sets. In other words, they are (still) protecting the Princess/ minidoll line.

  On 7/6/2023 at 5:34 PM, karrit said:

I doubt I would actually buy any of the five choices.  The Bambi one is decent but the brick built animals are still too roughly built in my opinion. Don't care for the Tinkerbell or Dumbo ones at all.  Sorcerers Apprentice is the most polished & pleasing to my eye but sadly lacks a needed Sorcerer Mickey in scale with the brooms.  The obvious front runner is a bit too all over the place with some questionable color choices like the pumpkin coach, which should be either white or gold.

Agree - kinda boring.

They could have done a Wizard Mickey minifig variant standing atop the mountain. Or perhaps Tinker Belle with her fairy friends! Or Bambi with a bunch of new animal moulds and recolors. Ambitious, I know. But don't you think those will sell better than mere display pieces?

  On 7/6/2023 at 12:12 PM, Surge said:

...

i plan on just using a friends bunny and the skunk piece until we hopefully get offical ones. and for sebastian i dont really blame lego for that as he is supposed to look like a real crab and thats their crab piece. the minidoll one works very well with figs tho

thats a good point. personally im displaying them each by movie so i would be fine with him just being a statuette, but i can see how that would be weird for ppl who display all the figs together. i would be ok with a minifigure like jiminy, better than nothing

Adding some color highlights or just eyes was the least Lego could have done. Just taking the crab piece as it is seems kinda lazy.

  On 7/6/2023 at 1:28 PM, Surge said:

I feel the same abt lion king, there were so many lion king ones. it was def the most represented movie in all the submissions, that has got to be a good sign

Well, don't they have a buildable fig set planned for next year?

  On 7/7/2023 at 2:30 AM, hikouki said:

Great observation about the display items vs playlets/ dioramas... why do you think that is so???

My guess is that Lego perhaps hasn't really fully realized the potential of Disney minifig sets. In other words, they are (still) protecting the Princess/ minidoll line.

They could have done a Wizard Mickey minifig variant standing atop the mountain. Or perhaps Tinker Belle with her fairy friends! Or Bambi with a bunch of new animal moulds and recolors. Ambitious, I know. But don't you think those will sell better than mere display pieces?

Maybe they think playsets appeal more to children and that Disney adults/collectors gravitate more towards the display pieces. Even though I think sets like Snow White's cottage, Geppetto's workshop, Mary Poppins on Cherry Tree Lane, Gusteau's Restaurant from Ratatouille, etc. would all appeal to adults the same way Winnie the Pooh's house and the Up house did.

There were a lot of Fantasia submissions featuring Sorcerer Mickey on a mountain peak, but I guess Lego wasn't interested in any of them for being minifigure playsets. Even the Disney Magic set is more of a display piece that happens to feature minifigures and I'm sure it didn't escape Lego's notice that all of the minifigures, save Belle, were existing ones they could easily repurpose.

  On 7/6/2023 at 12:12 PM, Surge said:

thats a good point. personally im displaying them each by movie so i would be fine with him just being a statuette, but i can see how that would be weird for ppl who display all the figs together. i would be ok with a minifigure like jiminy, better than nothing

I display them all together although I wouldn't mind if they made statuette/mini molds for the smaller characters like Chip 'n' Dale, Tinker Bell, and Jiminy Cricket along with the full-scale minifigs. The Dumbo set actually does feature a brown mouse which I didn't notice before so if that did get selected as the official set, I'm not sure if they would change that into a Timothy Mouse minifig or a microscale figure.

If Lego/Disney wanted to, they could potentially make a new "mouse head" mold with a hole for pin-in accessories, similar to how they made the Donald Duck head mold and used it for both him and Daisy. A similar mold for mice could potentially get reused for the Cinderella mice, Timothy, The Rescuers, and maybe even The Great Mouse Detective. It wouldn't be a perfect fit for all of them, but it might work...

 

I was finally able to crack open my Villain Icons set this evening, and it's been pretty fun to build! I've gotten up to the Maleficent VHS case. There have been a lot of building shapes and techniques that have really interesting, though I have come up with a few issues. One, I'm missing my Evil Queen head and had an extra red corner piece of the apple... I'll make sure all of my other parts are present then get a replacement from Lego. I also noticed that there have been some issues with some of the tiles on the edge of the VHS - sometimes, they leave a noticeable gap, so I have to shuffle around the pieces to have it looks more smooth. A bit annoying, but I can live with it. I also misplaced two of the stickers, but thankfully I was able to reapply them without too much damage besides some scrunched corners. My biggest issue, though, have been the minifigs - specifically, the printing on Gaston's legs. The prints don't go all the way to the edges of the legs, which looks really sloppy. I'm even starting to look around to see what other options there might be... But sadly, the only "black upper legs - dark brown lower legs" I could find were a part of Apocalypseburg Batman... I tried these legs, but they didn't look quite right... maybe Santa legs would look better? I also tried some plain black legs, but I feel like Gaston needs some boots. If anybody else has any ideas, I'll take them!

The Disney Camera is now on pre-order (USA)! Let's see how long before pre-orders sell out...