Toy Fair 2014: The LEGO Movie

[Hapori Tohu]

By popular demand, next up in our Toy Fair 2014 coverage we have The LEGO Movie! The film is still number one in the box office after two weekends and I'm sure that's helping the sets fly off the shelves. Of course, in my opinion, the coolest sets aren't even out yet! Read on to see what's coming later this year from this awesome theme.

 

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[Bfahome]

Gotta get all the kitties, gotta get all the kitties.

 

And the SPACESHIP.

[J46 Nui]

I want the Mech and the spaceship, but I'll probably have to skip on other sets I planned to get in order to purchase these.

[Aanchir]

Benny's Spaceship, Spaceship, SPACESHIP! is definitely going to be an incredibly popular set. It hits all the right notes, resulting in a set that should appeal to AFOLs and kids alike. The Classic Space versions of Unikitty and Wyldstyle are nice designs, and the Octan starfighter and pilot are cute, although they're a stylistic departure from the Micro-Managers and the black and white Super Secret Police vehicles. Tinfoil Emmet is indeed an odd choice for this set, but it does probably make more sense than the other summer sets they might have put him in.

 

Emmet's Constructo-Mech is also an amazing set, although it's kind of peculiar that it has so few figs and no Micro-Managers. I think even a single Micro-Manager might have helped it feel a lot more complete. But as you say, Angry Kitty is the REAL reason to get this set (it also offers an Emmet with two face prints that don't appear in any other sets — a determined, open-mouth grin and an angry scowl).

 

The Super Secret Police dropship is a neat model, though I doubt a lot of people will assemble a fleet of them the size you see in the movie. I agree that it appeals to me least out of the summer sets, since its design isn't as zany and playful. But it does have some great figs and play features. And it's a great army-builder for the Robo-SWAT minifigures (it has four of them if I'm not mistaken).

 

Johnny Thunder was indeed in the movie, in Cloud Cuckoo Land. Like many of the other minor characters, he even appears on the movie poster, and he was noticed in the background of some of the trailers long before the movie came out. But he is never name-dropped like the Green Ninja or various faces from the Collectible Minifigures. This Johnny Thunder's face is slightly modernized, like the Orient Expedition version but not as off-model. He also has back printing!

 

The Green Ninja minifigure's costume is about the same as the 2012 version of the character, but his face seems to be the new design from the 2014 sets.

[xccj]

So want that spaceship! I am also curious at how they molded Benny's cracked helmet. But that spaceship!

 

(And I did think I saw Johnny Thunder in one quick scene when those ships show up in the movie, but it doesn't seem like enough to earn him an appearance in a set. But it's hard to complain about him.)

 

[Vorahk1Panrahk2]

Man, that's a huge number of sets for a theme for one year- 17 regular sets not counting polybags or other special sets. I guess it makes sense considering it's probably easier to sell LEGO sets for a LEGO movie than for other licenses, but still. That's a lot.

 

Also Johnny Thunder! I'm much more excited about seeing him pop up than any of these other characters. Will have to buy the set just for him!

[fishers64]

If had unlimited money and display space...

 

The ships (both water and space) would be mine.

 

Alas no.

[Aanchir]

Man, that's a huge number of sets for a theme for one year- 17 regular sets not counting polybags or other special sets. I guess it makes sense considering it's probably easier to sell LEGO sets for a LEGO movie than for other licenses, but still. That's a lot.

 

Also Johnny Thunder! I'm much more excited about seeing him pop up than any of these other characters. Will have to buy the set just for him!

Is that really that unusual? BIONICLE had 19 regular retail sets its first year (six Toa, six Turaga, five Rahi, and two regional versions of the basic Kanohi pack), plus six promotional Matoran sets and the limited-release Power Pack. Later years (other than 2010) always had a minimum of 21 regular retail sets: twelve canister sets, six small sets, and three large sets.

 

Other themes like Star Wars, City, Legends of Chima, and Friends regularly surpass 17 retail sets per year. The LEGO Movie is this year's "big bang" theme — a theme with high expectations riding on it, which gets a huge initial wave and heavy emphasis in the year's marketing. It does break some ground — no previous theme has had its own blind-packaged Minifigures series, for example. But the number of sets per year is not really unprecedented.

[believe victims]

I'd imagine the reason for Batman not appearing in Metalbeard's Sea Cow is to keep the cost down. I'm pretty sure if Batman was in it theyd need to pay royalties for his inclusion.

[xccj]

 

Man, that's a huge number of sets for a theme for one year- 17 regular sets not counting polybags or other special sets. I guess it makes sense considering it's probably easier to sell LEGO sets for a LEGO movie than for other licenses, but still. That's a lot.

 

Also Johnny Thunder! I'm much more excited about seeing him pop up than any of these other characters. Will have to buy the set just for him!

Is that really that unusual? BIONICLE had 19 regular retail sets its first year (six Toa, six Turaga, five Rahi, and two regional versions of the basic Kanohi pack), plus six promotional Matoran sets and the limited-release Power Pack. Later years (other than 2010) always had a minimum of 21 regular retail sets: twelve canister sets, six small sets, and three large sets.

 

Other themes like Star Wars, City, Legends of Chima, and Friends regularly surpass 17 retail sets per year. The LEGO Movie is this year's "big bang" theme — a theme with high expectations riding on it, which gets a huge initial wave and heavy emphasis in the year's marketing. It does break some ground — no previous theme has had its own blind-packaged Minifigures series, for example. But the number of sets per year is not really unprecedented.

 

You'll want to calculate average cost into that. The early Bionicle sets were reletively cheap; besides the Rahi, most of the sets were below $10. Chima, Ninjago, and Friends also have a plethora of smaller sets in the $10 range (and I guess Star Wars has too recently) whereas none of the official Lego Movie sets were below $10, and seem to be more in the $30 range. So to have this many large sets in the theme is kind of unusual. Not completely unusual, but still against the norm. (And gee, this second wave is even more pricy!)

 

I suppose I could back this up with price calculations and numbers but too lazy to run em.

 

[CyclonatorZ]

Gotta get all the kitties, gotta get all the kitties.

 

And the SPACESHIP.

 

This theme might be the most insane ever as far as collectability goes. Literally every original figure in the entire movie is either in a set or polybag or is tied to some other exclusive offer. And all the summer sets are mega expensive.

[LQ1998]

All these sets are really, really, awesome.

 

The Sea Cow is an incredible pirate ship, possible the best one LEGO has ever done. Though the smaller version of metal beard disturbs me a bit. But that's a bit picky, you can get the full sized one I guess.

 

The Mech is cool, when I saw it in the movie I was hoping we'd get a set for it. The overall design doesn't disappoint.

 

The Secret police has to be my favorite, for pretty much one reason; Johnny Thunder!!!!!!!! I've always been a huge fan of him and it's nice to see him back in action after all these years (though he was in LU). The price is a bit high though, IMO.

 

Spaceship, spaceship, spaceship! (you know we're all going to have to do that forever now ) This set is brilliant, just brilliant. A modern spin on classic space. (now, if only it could become a theme)

[Ta-metru_defender]

Benny's Spaceship, Spaceship, SPACESHIP! is a clear win for me, and not just 'cuz of the nostalgia factor. Really digging the dropship too but, alas, money.

 

Ah well, these sets look great.

[dotcom]

I really want to get the Mech and the Spaceship, Spaceship, SPACESHIP. Primarily because of the Kitties, because come on, but also because they just looks like fantastic sets. However, the Sea Cow appeals to me much more and it's going to be what I focus my attention on getting. Maybe I'll go for the Spaceship on Christmas or something like that, it really is a great looking set. That ship, though.

 

The Dropship is a great set too, and it seems to have a crazy amount of cool features as well as some really neat minifigures. The lack of really important exclusive minifigures and the fact that it's the least imaginative looking of all these does set it lower than the others in the priority scale. Shame that it doesn't even include Bad Cop. He never rode one of those as far as I can remember, but considering that he only shows up in one set (ignoring the Collectible Minifigure), I think he would have fit in there nicely.

[Click]

When I first heard they had a Spaceship, Spaceship, SPACESHIP! set after I saw the movie, I just had to get it, but now that I see some better pictures of it...it's okay, I guess. It looks so 2D though, with not much inside (if anything), and an awkwardly long body. It's an okay set, but I'd rather get Benny in the Sea Cow (if I only had the money). Tin Foil Emmet is also pretty cool, as are the space suit Unikitty and Wyldstyle (the space logo looks great), but not enough to redeem the set in my eyes. Such a shame and a let down. More like SPACESHIP!, Spaceship!...spaceship?

 

The Sea Cow, on the other hand, exceeds my expectations. If I could only get one set of all the Lego Movie sets, this would be it (as it probably costs as much as all the other ones put together). It includes many of the key characters, including the exclusive mini Metalbeard (which I think looks great!), as well as a plethora of great pieces that I must have for Steampunk! The boats, cannons, and details like the gears above the wheel and all the gold piping just looks great. Lego, why do you have to make such great (and expensive) sets!?

 

The Constructo-Mech seems really impressive for a $60 set. It seems so much bigger (though not the same size as the movie version) that that price would normally have. The whole aesthetic is great and the designers did a great job of capturing the details on a much smaller scale. I'm sure this will be quite popular for the Angry kitty though. Even though I'm not someone who must have every Unikitty, I still want the set.

 

The Dropship seems pretty good and has a lot of great detailing, but it's so...boxy. I see what everyone means by the poor design. It would be a nice set to add to your minifigure collection or to get a fairly iconic bad guy ship, but meh. Could be better.