Eldervampire

Okay, being a Ninja purist, I have never been impressed with Ninjago in general. I do enjoy some of the elements like Sensei Wu's Gi and beard. The Shinto styled archways and the awesome torso provided for the female. Here is my take after a long study of the leaked photos. Ninjas in jets - If they were placing a modern ninja element ( Agents-like) I'd be okay with it. But, just like the first series of this theme, they are obviously in a feudal era Japanese setting. My Ninjas will stay on foot or riding an animal of some sort thanks. The various vehicles will provide a nice upgrade to my parts bin or interesting new parts for my Agents. Aside from the car, they look well done and even then, the car looks like it can be tweaked some. New Gi - Although I was happy when I found out that the Ninjas returned to the LU, I wasn't too happy about the Gi they got. Gold dragons are not my thing personally. However it looks like aside from the Kendo armor ( ? ) the Gi underneath looks to be almost a reverse of the "99" Ninja Gi so along with the reuse of the original headwrap found in the PoP and Indy lines, we may be able to increase the Clan's numbers affordably. Snakemen - Okay, some of you may disagree with my statments about the gold dragons on the gi from the previous sets, and I'm sure there will be some who dislike the Snakemen. I'm diggin on 'em. Why? The head pieces I won't comment on just yet, I'd like to handle them first, but the torsos and heads themselves I am really happy with. My Ninja setting doesn't revolve around Ninja VS this or that, I am more traditional about that with my clan wars. But the various enemies they have introduced seems to be well suited for the theme as it is presented and the youngsters will love the play value here. All-in-all, I'm looking forward to the release. I love the boat, kinda steampunk-ish Ninja. And if mine eyes don't play me false, we get a gold straw hat. The Snakemen temple looks to provide some interesting pieces as well and I love that the ninja have sai now as well. Nice job overall I think. Just my 2 cents. M

He looks great. I for one would kill to have some of the minifigures in the LU made along with more minis options for us in-game as well. I'd love to be able to use the Vampire head from the CMFs as my avatar in game. Keep it up !

I agree 200% about the flora and fauna, I remember prending my minis were all giants since they were a big as the trees I used to make a forest. More and/or better untensils would be a great thing. Things like hay bales, lanterns and coils of rope would be useful as well.

Updated for items traded and pending, as marked by slash and red for pending

I didn't make myself clear, sorry for that. My point wasn't that Lego made PoP sets based off of the video game. It was that the exposure of the PoP brand was video game based. Platform games have an appeal to a younger audience, even the ones rated above the average player's ESRB. So when a PoP movie hit it was a no-brainer formula. Video game + movie/cartoon based off of it = Lego set. Not that they are the only ones that get made into sets. But the License sets do follow a formula like that. I have watched kids play a video game for hours, kids of all ages for that matter. I have watched a 7yr old sit through a PoTc marathon. I have yet to see a kid sit through any of the current LotR movies, nor do they buy the toys.

No, PoP, just re-enforces my point. It started as a video game several years ago. It was and is first a video game License. I used to Run a Gamestop, I can tell you that Only a handful of early teens bought the LoTr games. And alot of Kids of every age group bought the Platform / Adventure type of games. Most of them were introduced to PoP, Tomb Raider and the like by older syblings or Peers who were. I am still waiting from my buddy to see if he has any info on the new Lego brand Games. Just to clarify, I am a Huge Fan of both the Hobbit and Lord of the rings. I read them both before I was ten. I own all five Middle earth books and all of the Various movies renditions cartoon, live action and even the wierd hybred they did of Return of the KIng. I'm not a hater.

Okay, I've played all of the D&D rules sets since the Gygax era. 3.5 is imho, the best combo of detail to flesh out you charecters and still not having to have the playboard type of set-up. I have built a dungeon, and set it up with Minis that were supposed to portray our paty memebrs but, we never used them for the game sessions. Everyone wanted to use the AD&D Standard minis, except for me of course. Take a look at the 3.5 rules, you may have a better time of understanding and enjoying the game. Mike

HAH ! Finally a topic I can help with. The B-E-S-T thing I have ever used on any type of plastic is the Dupli-Color brand paitn for plastics. I have used the dye an entire automobile interior, from a crappy bluish color to a stunning Black and white combo. I have even used it on leather and fabric seating areas and steering wheels. This stuff is amazing. To prove to a guy that this is the way he should go with his resto-mod 70 Chevelle, I had done my door panel and then scratched it with my keys and that area was still white underthe scratch. It comes in a spray can, but I have used a cup to spray into and then small brushes to do fine detail work. It goes on smooth and dries pretty quick. It all comes down to prepwork though. So educate yourself on model car painting and real auto painting as they will help here I am sure. Mike

Updated my list. It looks like I'm hooked now, I'm getting them all.

First, I don't have a dog in this fight. I don't collect or MOC Castles, and I dislike the direction Lego has taken with the Licensed themes. But this ain't gonna happen, and I'll tell you why. Number one, face facts, when a lot of us were kids we read books. No I-anything. Sure some of us had Atari or Nintendo. But true Fantasy has almost always been in the Books. They made Hobbit cartoons, but I haven't seen a single kid of the current generation watch them. But I don't pretend to know them all, so there may be a few. Secondly, do any of you remember the FLOOD of toys that happened when the LoTr came out? I do, and I also remember quite clearly the collector market vermin scooping up a varient this and a short packed that. I don't remember any kids screaming they weren't leaving TRU without a Legolas figure. They eventually ended up in the $1.99 bin next to the Robin Hood Prince of theives toys that still haunt the toy eisles. The fact remains, the demographic isn't there. However all of the other themes that have been mentioned here have a strong tie to the desired demographic, mostly us, the parent. I introduced my kid to SW, Indy and PoTc. And The Hobbit and Harry Potter and Lord of the rings. As a result, I have been dressed up as a Pirate, faught about being Han Solo, not Luke and have too many fossiles in my house and holes in my yard where they were planted and I don't ever want to here expelliarmus coming from behind me. But I have never been anywhere near Mount Doom. In the interest of fairness, however I will admit that Lego has not always made sound decisions in the Theme department, so I will check my sources. Yes I have sources, not in Lego, in the Video game industry. I will see if there is any truth to the roumor about the Lego game. But if I'm wrong, I'll eat the sorting hat.

Unbelievable. This is the most ambitious build I personally have ever seen. And what attention to detail, superb. As for what the building is for I think it looks more like a Tavern / lodge type thing. A friend of mine went to Romania a few years ago, and visited Vlad Dracul's castle. Because it's me, she had to take TONS of pictiures. Anyway, this looks sorta like a place that was a tavern or lodge, where they had picnic bench style tables out side and would serve through windows to the patrons out side. Just a thought. And again, WOW ! M

What about a sub-theme based on the Mongol hordes. They already have the wooly hats used in both HP and in the Orient Adventurers lines. There are plenty of hourses to choose from. Hey, Genghis Kahn is still the record holder as far as conquerors go, talk about a threat to the kingdom.

Hi All, I am considering incorperating a racetrack into one of the cities I am building. The Lego Racers game for the PlayStation is brought me out of my Dark ages. Anyway, I have seen many sets that Mini figure friendly, but I also saw some track pieces from sets that don not have any Minis in them. Are they a scale the other cars could move around on? I am in the mapping stages of the cities while I wait for my funds to catch up with my imagination.

Hey man, anyway you slice it, that is a great model. I looked at it for awhile and understood your balance issue, then realized what I think is the cause. If you look images of it, there are no dormer window in the roof. Those two windows are causing the asymetrical view. Try removing tham and see if that brings the rest of it into line. But again, it's a wonderful house.

First, Welcome to EB and welcome back to the hobby. That is a awesome start. You're right there is plenty of room for details on the first floor, and I hope you get the time to add them. Good luck on the new Job. Mike