New LEGO Castle!

It has been rumored and now seems to be confirmed that LEGO will be releasing new Castle sets in August of next year (2013). The logo will be the same as the 2007 one, but packaging will be yellow.  I obtained the following list from Toys N Bricks:

• 70400 Forest Ambush
• 70401 Gold Getaway
• 70402 The Gatehouse Raid
• 70403 Dragon Mountain
• 70404 King’s Castle

A couple of things jump out at me with this list: 7946 was already called King's Castle so I hope this is not just a rehash of the previous version.  Second, the name "Dragon Mountain" suggests that  either it will have a dragon or the Dragon Knights will be making a comeback.  In my mind it would seem appropriate to make a large castle for the Dragon Knights since the Lion Knights already have one and put them somewhat on equal footing.  We shall see.

Since Castle is by far my favorite series, I am struggling to find an adjective for how excited I am.  I will be loading up on these as soon as they are released!

New Modular Building!

A picture of the newest modular set, called the Palace Cinema, was found on shop.lego.com.  I first learned about it from Brickset.  While I am a huge fan of the modular building series, I don't feel like this one will fit in with the rest of the town quite as well.  The color scheme and architecture have a very oriental feel to them which I'm sure is the effect they were going for; something akin to Mann's Chinese Theater.  However, combining this with the rest of the town I feel like is a little like taking a building from Chinatown and putting it in downtown Manhattan: clearly out of place.

Nevertheless, I will be buying it and trying to arrange my town in such a way that it doesn't stick out too much.  Because what other option do you have?

TNMT Sets on Shop@Home

The Teenage Ninja Mutant Turtle sets are now up and live at shop.LEGO.com. Right  now they are listed as coming on December 17th.

I was a huge fan of the TMNTs when I was younger, but the licensed themes are beginning to wear a bit thin.  I will probably pass on these sets.

Minifigures Series 9 Full Review

Official pictures for the upcoming 71000 LEGO Series 9 Minifigures are now available! If you are looking for a comprehensive review, Eurobricks has posted one including a breakdown of the minifigures in each case (shown below).

Image courtesy of The Lego Group

Town Hall now available!

As of today, the Town Hall is now available for order on shop.lego.com.  I will be making a trip to my local store to check it out very soon.  There are also some very cute Easter polybags out today.

Town Hall!

Brickset has a copy of the latest press release from Lego officially announcing the Town Hall.  I think I can now safely assume it didn't make it to the toy fair because it was being debuted a week later (the magic of hindsight).  There are several pictures now floating around the web and, I must say, it looks fantastic.  There was also a YouTube video but it has been taken down, possibly because it contained a few images of sets not yet officially announced.

I am really looking forward to this set although I'm disappointed that the retail is $200!  On the one hand, it is a large set.  It's got 2,766 pieces.  That's 414 more (or a 17.6% increase) than the next closest, the Green Grocer.  And as a comparison shows, it stands quite a bit taller than the Pet Shop and Grand Emporium.

On the other hand, I felt like $150 was expensive as it was.  Now they're adding another 33.3% for only a 17.6% increase in pieces.  I suppose it doesn't matter though, I'll still be buying one.

New York Toy Fair

FBTB is at the New York toy fair this week and has posted about 10,000 up close pictures of all the new sets along with retail pricing on many of them.  See them all here.

The Lord of the Rings sets look very well done, particularly all the characters.  They also have a whole slew of new Friends sets, including an advent calendar.  This is also the first time I've seen the new Creator house.  Unfortunately, that one's not going to be available till August.

I'm not sure how I feel about the new monster hunter series.  I was imagining more of a Dept. 56 type feel but in Lego.  Instead it seems a little less dark and scary and more Scooby Doo monsters.  I want to like it but I'm just not sure.  Also, while I want to be very excited about the new ghost minifigs, I just don't like them as much as the originals.  I like the rounded head and happy face better.

The only thing I didn't see in their massive collection of photos is the new Creator Town Hall which is supposedly due in March.  I can only assume that set did not make an appearance at the fair.

News

Finally received the email that my pick-a-brick order is on it's way.  It will probably still be like a week before I get it.  I hate waiting.

The Lego Duplo princess collection is also available starting today.

This is one of the few times I wish I had a daughter because this is pretty fantastic.

Lego LotR at German Toy Fair

Images have started to appear around the web of the Lego Lord of the Rings display at the German toy fair this week.  Since this is basically the replacement for the Castle series I am super excited.

From what I've read, it's set to be released in August of this year.