Latest impact of other themes on historic themes

[Exetrius]

I know I've talked about HP Wizarding World already (candles, wands, square lattices, beasts, etc.), but since then the CMF series has been revealed, which brings us even more novelties:

• Articulated short legs! You may have been living under a rock if you haven't heard about them by now.  Useful for teens, young adults and possibly other (human) breeds.
• New leaf stem mould. To add some more biodiversity to your castle scenes. 
• Black magical (?) book. We've had brown and gold ones for a while, but black is very welcome!
• Barefoot fleshie short legs. Useful for making hobbits or adding a sense of poverty to a scene.
• Dumbledore's new beard mould. One can never have too many beards. 
• Invisibility cloak. Quite specific, but a wonderful fantasy item nonetheless!
• Multiple recolours of and ornate prints on the recent skirt piece.
• New colour of owl, new realistic snake mould.

 

In other news: after the Marvel/DC power blasts pack and Ninjago weapons pack (both amazing and deserving of more recolours!), here's another one! The spider web pack:

I'm rather liking this trend! Keep up the good work, design team! 

 

[cablefoxley]

Does anyone know of a feel guide to the new cmf series? Definitely some useful pieces especially as I prefer fleshie to yellow. 

[Lyichir]

Speaking of Harry Potter, how about that new Hogwarts Castle set that was revealed today?

Despite being microscale, it seems to offer some great parts, which include the new half-arches seen in the prototype Great Hall set shown at Toy Fair! It also includes full-scale figs of the four Hogwarts founders, who look like they'd offer great figure parts for all sorts of medieval characters.

[Aanchir]

Some of the microfigs from that set could also be used for "fair folk" in more fantasy-inspired settings. And there are some lovely new window panes that seem to fit in the 1x2x2 Castle window panels. Given how many of those there are and how they're all identical I suspect those are printed, although some of the more specific decorations in the set are definitely stickers.

[Aine]

On 7/17/2018 at 8:46 PM, Exetrius said:

• Articulated short legs! You may have been living under a rock if you haven't heard about them by now.  Useful for teens, young adults and possibly other (human) breeds.
• Barefoot fleshie short legs. Useful for making hobbits or adding a sense of poverty to a scene.

 

These are perfect! Many medieval people didn't wear boots, this is very, very useful for peasants and their children!

Edited July 25, 2018 by Aine

[anothergol]

On 7/6/2018 at 3:04 AM, AmperZand said:

I'm not a big fan of LEGO's mammoth. I saw one at a LEGO store last week and I think it's head is a funny shape and too far from its body

It's indeed not amazing, especially compared to this old brick-built MOC, the best ever made IMHO

[Aine]

That's one heck of a sick mammoth! 

[zoth33]

The Reinhardt helm is going to be quite useful for custom figs and possibly creating your own Sauron fig.  I can't wait to see the other characters from overwatch.  Widowmakers headpiece looks very good too.  

[zoth33]

There are certainly some great figs in the Overwatch sets.  Mercy's torso and legs look great, also her hair is interesting.  Honzo and Genji are definitely usable for fantasy and castle.  Reaper looks great.  Widowmaker is wonderful love the hair piece.  Reinhardts torso is going to be useful and of course his helm is great for customs.  Mcree looks good too.  Can't wait to get some of these.  

[Exetrius]

@zoth33 Thought of LotR as well when I saw Reinhardt. Mercy's hair is perfect for an angel, Hanzo and Genji appear to share the same hair ribbon piece, but in different colours, which could prove useful.

I don't see how Genji would fit into castle/fantasy, though.

[zoth33]

16 hours ago, Exetrius said:

@zoth33 Thought of LotR as well when I saw Reinhardt. Mercy's hair is perfect for an angel, Hanzo and Genji appear to share the same hair ribbon piece, but in different colours, which could prove useful.

I don't see how Genji would fit into castle/fantasy, though.

I have to see a better look at it but I thought I could us the torso and legs for some mercenaries or assassins.  

[Aanchir]

Lots of great fantasy parts in the next Ninjago wave. New versions of the Serpentine minifigures Pythor, Spitta, and Lasha, a new version of the Overlord minifigure with a VERY spooky face the "ectoplasm trail" legs in a blend of black and Tr. Bright Bluish Violet (Trans-Dark Purple), new versions of some of the Skulkins (skeleton warriors) including a version of the "giant skull" piece from the first year that's more headgear-friendly. There are also supposed to be new Stone Army figures (compare with the ones from 2013 Ninjago), but we haven't had a lot of leaked pics of those. My understanding is that at least one of the new parts they'll offer is the new, curvier type of coolie hat from the LEGO Ninjago Movie in red, as well as some different colors/patterns of the Stone Army painted faces (which could be great for army building).

There are also a new style of spinners that are much more authentically tornado-shaped and have more connection points for customization and/or MOCs (besides use as magic effects, Nya's water tornado might be useful as a whirlpool effect, hard to know till we see them from more angles). A lot of the new ninja costumes could also have a lot of versatility, since their main defining motif is some fairly generic gold dragon patterns rather than any highly distinctive logos.

As sets go a lot of them are re-releases of previous vehicle sets, typically the more sci-fi leaning ones, so outside of parts value they won't be too valuable for historic MOCs and layouts. But there is a gorgeous new version of Master Wu's monastery which like a lot of previous temple and dojo sets should offer lots of great parts and techniques for historical Japanese MOCs. There's going to be a new version of the Golden Dragon as well, but smaller than many other Ninjago dragons and seemingly with a new, smaller molded head piece. The pics that have leaked of it are really preliminary and shoddy quality so hard to judge what sort of historic builders might be most likely to appreciate it.

As other upcoming sets/themes go, there's also the two recently announced Chinese New Year sets, which will likewise have great parts and figures for layouts depicting historical or modern China. But those will apparently only be available in Asia. Also, in Super Heroes, there are going to be new versions of Sandman and Carnage which include some cool new elements like the Chima small tribal flame piece in Bright Red, the Nexo Knights spiral rock pillar legs in a combination of Brick Yellow (Tan) and Sand Yellow (Dark Tan). Of course there's also the new Spider Man accessory pack that comes in a bunch of the new Spider Man sets and includes all kinds of new spider web shapes that might be great for decorating spooky castles or giant spider nests. I haven't paid quite as much attention to non-Ninjago leaks though so there could also be other potentially useful parts for historic and fantasy MOCs that I'm forgetting.

[MAB]

18 hours ago, Aanchir said:

As other upcoming sets/themes go, there's also the two recently announced Chinese New Year sets, which will likewise have great parts and figures for layouts depicting historical or modern China. But those will apparently only be available in Asia.

 

While the sets are location specific, the majority of the parts should of course be worldwide. It will be interesting to see if the unique parts / prints in these sets become available worldwide in other sets or via replacement parts. For example, the round tile / printed door from the Year of the Snake set was available for a while through replacement parts.

[Swamp]

A new fireaxe mold leaked today, and I must say, I can really see it repurposed for a Castle minifigure should it ever be made just in grey without a part of it being painted red.

[BrickJagger]

13 hours ago, Swamp said:

A new fireaxe mold leaked today, and I must say, I can really see it repurposed for a Castle minifigure should it ever be made just in grey without a part of it being painted red.

I saw that too and thought the same thing. There's nothing wrong with the current one, but I wouldn't mind a new variant. I also think that the CMF Roman spear below should be integrated into the next Castle theme, because the most recent spear mod is entirely made of metal 

[x105Black]

It would be great to build up a list (with images) of all the new Castle-related pieces that have come out since the last Castle wave in 2013.  There have been new shield molds, new weapons, wands, candles, and lots of other awesome stuff.  Hopefully that will all be integrated into the next Castle theme.

[Aine]

I really hope for a new spear mold, but that's, I think, out of question. I like the CMF one, except for the soft and bulky tip. It'll be nice if they'd designed something in between the old spear and the new one, something with a narrow, hard head like the old spear, yet with a wooden shaft and metal spearhead like the CMF one.
But this won't happen coz they're busy designing and molding 364952 different variations of Star Wars blasters.

[Aanchir]

On 11/25/2018 at 3:10 AM, Aine said:

I really hope for a new spear mold, but that's, I think, out of question. I like the CMF one, except for the soft and bulky tip. It'll be nice if they'd designed something in between the old spear and the new one, something with a narrow, hard head like the old spear, yet with a wooden shaft and metal spearhead like the CMF one.
But this won't happen coz they're busy designing and molding 364952 different variations of Star Wars blasters.

I think the soft tip of the CMF spears is worthwhile in terms of allowing it to have a sharper point, which would not be practical with a harder plastic due to how easily such a narrow tip would break. A painted or co-injected version of the classic spear could certainly be interesting, though, and probably possible considering the new firefighting axe in LEGO City.

I also think it's a little unfair to act as though Star Wars is getting undue attention in terms of new weapon molds. Not only is it a much bigger theme, but it's had a loooooong time to accumulate all its molds. Plus, it's not as though there have even been that many Star Wars blaster molds, at least at minifig scale. BrickLink only lists four besides the more generic ones like stud shooters that are shared extensively by other themes, and one of those four is retired. Most other Star Wars weapons are brick-built from more common and less Star Wars specific elements, including ones like lightsaber hilts and blades that even medieval and fantasy builds have benefited mightily from!

Even in the Star Wars constraction sets, there's only been like one theme-specific blaster mold used for practically every type of blaster — by comparison, the Knights' Kingdom constraction sets introduced ten different medieval fantasy inspired shield molds and over a dozen medieval fantasy inspired weapon molds back when Star Wars blasters were pretty much all still repurposed video cameras and megaphones with transparent cones on the ends. Suffice to say, LEGO is a lot more cost-conscious across the board than they were back then!

And honestly, there have been plenty of medieval and medieval fantasy suited weapons introduced in just the past eight years:

• the trident, ringmaster whip, and aforementioned dual-molded spear in 2010
• the longbow, gladius/short sword, and Heroica weapon multipack in 2011
• the greatsword, elven polearm, Uruk-Hai sword, and Sting in 2012
• the cursed/fire sword in 2015
• the mace head/morningstar and Nexo Knights straight sword blade in 2016
• the machete in 2017
• the Nexo Knights vampire shield, Ninjago weapon multipack, dragon motif hilt, and dragonbone blade just this year
• various more specific (snake patterned, etc) weapons for Ninjago and Nexo Knights that could still have plenty of utility in medieval fantasy contexts

If it ever feels like new medieval weapon molds are scarce, that's probably less because LEGO doesn't care about those themes than because it's sometimes harder to justify new molds when you have decades of older ones that remain usable in those kinds of traditional fantasy contexts. In fact, part of how the LEGO Friends design team was able to make a case for having three or four different styles of backpack/handbag molds in that theme was by pointing out just how many different types of sword molds both old and new LEGO was still producing for their more boy-targeted themes, and how well kids responded to having different types of swords for different uses.

[Aine]

at SW blaster - that as a deliberate exaggeration on my part, I couldn't come up with any other example. The idea is that there are tens of thousands lego pieces, so why not another badge of castle/fantasy weapons? We're stuck with a few ones and old ones. (But LotR improved the situation.)
at spear - well, the original ones didn't tend to break. Maybe it's impossible to make a similar mold with the wood-iron structure due to some unknowns in molding (pressure, mixing, filling the form, w/e), but as it is now, the Elaborate Spear isn't aesthetically pleasing for me. It's better than the old one, but it could be brilliant.
at list of weapons/Friends - yeah, this is true, especially with LotR. But this just makes me more sad (for the lack of better word) that there's not a spear that I'd enjoy. First: this mold means that they won't make any other soon. Second: it wouldn't take much to make it much nicer. But now we're back to the above point: someone may find it pleasing, and there may be lots of reasons why it's molded like this.

Cheers!

Edited November 28, 2018 by Aine

[Aanchir]

On 11/28/2018 at 2:15 AM, Aine said:

at spear - well, the original ones didn't tend to break. Maybe it's impossible to make a similar mold with the wood-iron structure due to some unknowns in molding (pressure, mixing, filling the form, w/e), but as it is now, the Elaborate Spear isn't aesthetically pleasing for me. It's better than the old one, but it could be brilliant.

The reason that the old ones didn't break is because they didn't come to a sharp, narrow point — both the sides and the tip of the spear point were much thicker and more rounded. Compare with classic LEGO hair vs. Exo Force hair, or the tails of various LEGO snakes and dinosaurs vs. the snake tail piece from the Ninjago Serpentine generals and CMF Medusa, or the claw piece 16770 vs. 11089, or the slope pieces 3049 vs. 60416. Rubber is really the only option that's both sturdy enough and safe enough when parts come to a really thin, sharp point like that (although if the point's slightly thicker or more rounded off like many Ninjago weapons, then a soft plastic like is used for the classic LEGO bow and arrow will usually be sufficient).

Also, if you've ever done much work with an X-acto knife, you should have a good sense of how easy it is for such a pointy tip to break off even when it's made of metal… now imagine it in plastic! There's a reason I sometimes stifle a laugh when people talk about Bionicle weapons as if they are the worst LEGO pieces to step on — not only are they usually a softer than usual material that will bend if you put it under enough pressure, but they're generally nowhere near as sharp and vicious as they're meant to look. But turn one of these babies upside down so the sloped front surfaces is flat on the ground and step on THAT in the middle of the night… YIKES! Even if it's thick enough not to be super fragile that's still got a good chance of leaving a mark!

[zoth33]

On 11/27/2018 at 11:59 AM, Aanchir said:

I think the soft tip of the CMF spears is worthwhile in terms of allowing it to have a sharper point, which would not be practical with a harder plastic due to how easily such a narrow tip would break. A painted or co-injected version of the classic spear could certainly be interesting, though, and probably possible considering the new firefighting axe in LEGO City.

I also think it's a little unfair to act as though Star Wars is getting undue attention in terms of new weapon molds. Not only is it a much bigger theme, but it's had a loooooong time to accumulate all its molds. Plus, it's not as though there have even been that many Star Wars blaster molds, at least at minifig scale. BrickLink only lists four besides the more generic ones like stud shooters that are shared extensively by other themes, and one of those four is retired. Most other Star Wars weapons are brick-built from more common and less Star Wars specific elements, including ones like lightsaber hilts and blades that even medieval and fantasy builds have benefited mightily from!

Even in the Star Wars constraction sets, there's only been like one theme-specific blaster mold used for practically every type of blaster — by comparison, the Knights' Kingdom constraction sets introduced ten different medieval fantasy inspired shield molds and over a dozen medieval fantasy inspired weapon molds back when Star Wars blasters were pretty much all still repurposed video cameras and megaphones with transparent cones on the ends. Suffice to say, LEGO is a lot more cost-conscious across the board than they were back then!

And honestly, there have been plenty of medieval and medieval fantasy suited weapons introduced in just the past eight years:

• the trident, ringmaster whip, and aforementioned dual-molded spear in 2010
• the longbow, gladius/short sword, and Heroica weapon multipack in 2011
• the greatsword, elven polearm, Uruk-Hai sword, and Sting in 2012
• the cursed/fire sword in 2015
• the mace head/morningstar and Nexo Knights straight sword blade in 2016
• the machete in 2017
• the Nexo Knights vampire shield, Ninjago weapon multipack, dragon motif hilt, and dragonbone blade just this year
• various more specific (snake patterned, etc) weapons for Ninjago and Nexo Knights that could still have plenty of utility in medieval fantasy contexts

If it ever feels like new medieval weapon molds are scarce, that's probably less because LEGO doesn't care about those themes than because it's sometimes harder to justify new molds when you have decades of older ones that remain usable in those kinds of traditional fantasy contexts. In fact, part of how the LEGO Friends design team was able to make a case for having three or four different styles of backpack/handbag molds in that theme was by pointing out just how many different types of sword molds both old and new LEGO was still producing for their more boy-targeted themes, and how well kids responded to having different types of swords for different uses.

Don't forget the skull pirate swords from Ninjago those are pretty neat looking and go well for my pirates.  The last Nexo Knights wave also had the great great armor from the cyber biter villains and the helms were useful too.  The Elves line had a ton of pieces that could be used to fantasy castle stuff too.  I really love the new Ninjago blades, especially the bone blade and the dragon hilt are very useful.  I even like using the Chima and Nexo Knight blades for custom enchanted swords.  

[Aine]

Aanchir, you're right, of course, but I meant something little different: even the classic old spear/pike had much more appropriately shaped spearhead than the CMF one, and it didn't break, neither it was dangerous, although made of hard plastic. Did it turn blunt after years? Well... not really. I got spears form the eighties, and they are still very nice, and those were played with, not hidden in a collection.
But this is all futile, because tlc needs to address several points at once, like molding problems, gereral safety, enduance of material, cost effectivness, aesthetical appeal, plan for a new castle/fantasy theme, whatever else we may come with.
I may try the thrid-party products, I'm not into customization, and some of the stuff is either ugly, expensive, or both, but several outside-the-lego molds look pretty. I'm also kinda uneasy about the lego lance, but I get that a minifig with one axis of movement in its wrist simply cannot hold a real lance correctly.

And saddles. Christ they hurt. 

Edited December 1, 2018 by Aine

[Aanchir]

Anyway, now that more LEGO 2019 pics are coming in there's a lot more cool new parts to talk about!

• There's a new Warm Gold 3x3x2 curved fence/railing piece with the same ornamental wrought-iron pattern as Design ID 19121 in sets 41161 and 41162 from the Disney theme (also a really cool new build for the magic carpet using the wavy panel from Joker Manor and the tassels from LEGO Ninjago, but that's a little more Aladdin-specific).
• Also in those same two sets plus 70828 from The LEGO Movie 2 theme, there's a new 1x6x6 arch piece with 1x1x1 cutouts in the upper corners. Perhaps this might seem a bit overspecialized but I get the sense that it's more versatile than it might seem at first glance. Not only does its LEGO Movie 2 use take advantage of the corner cutouts to make it work as an interior support in a way a regular 1x6x2 semicircular arch couldn't, but in some of the Disney sets it looks as though it has the kind of notches in the tiled bottom portion that would allow it to be compatible with the same range of window and prison bar elements elements as Design ID 28327, Design ID 60596, etc.
• 70827 from The LEGO Movie 2 includes lots of delightful spiky bits recolored in Reddish Brown, including the sword/scythe blade parts with clips from Fantasy Era.
• And while very sci-fi leaning, 70834 and 70836 from The LEGO Movie 2 have lots of tasty nautical elements as well as metallic and earth tone elements, as we've come to expect of sets featuring Metalbeard. The latter also has another steampunk/post-apoc looking fellow with a neat new spiked single shoulder pad element in Titanium Metallic.
• Not strictly medieval-oriented, but just generally useful for more functional builds: the back-of-box pics for 70828 (same LEGO Movie 2 set mentioned above) and 70670 from LEGO Ninjago show off circular plates with gear teeth in 4x4, 6x6, and 8x8 sizes. As both sets demonstrate, this is a great way to add gear-driven turntable functions like revolving walls, rotating floors, etc without having to conceal bulkier Technic gear functions in the floors or ceilings. In 70828 the 8x8 version of these gears and several other parts are in the new color Vibrant Coral, which doesn't currently appear in any medieval-specific parts but could have some potential uses for creative MOCists.
• The Ninjago Spinjitzu sets have a new co-injected tornado piece as the main spinner element, but it is pretty basic and very System-compatible, with four handles around the upper perimeter and a 2x2 circular base. It could be useful as more general sorts of magical effects for use by wizards and monsters. The sets revealed so far include it in eight elemental color combinations:
  • Bright Red and Tr. Bright Orange (Fire)
  • Bright Blue and Tr. Flu. Green (Lightning)
  • White and Tr. Light Blue (Ice)
  • Bright Orange and Tr. Brown (Earth)
  • Dark Azur and Transparent w/ Glitter (Water)
  • Warm Gold and Transparent (Light/Creation)
  • Warm Gold and Tr. Bright Green (Energy)
  • Black and Tr. Bright Bluish Violet (Darkness/Destruction)
• Those spinner sets also generally have a way better price per piece than any past spinners or fliers, none of the pieces are highly specialized functional elements like propellers/launchers/ripcords/protective domes, and most of their accessories come in sets of four. So these could have much more value as parts packs for some of their more interesting weapon, and accessory pieces (ninja hoods, dragon-shaped sword hilts, snake heads, lightning bolts, katanas, Elves vine/magic pieces, teapots, flames, etc) even for people who don't ordinarily collect Ninjago sets or build Ninjago MOCs. Even the ninja minifigures have much more traditional looking ninja robes this time around with no highly conspicuous logos or fancy armor, just some tasteful gold dragon patterns.
• The Ninjago set 70680 has the Ninjago weapon pack introduced this summer, Design ID 37341, in a useful new color (Warm Gold). It also has a set of samurai armor for Nya and some training equipment and scenery in fairly subdued colors.
• The Ninjago set 70670 (mentioned above in reference to the new gear pieces) has a nice big monastery scene with all six ninja, Master Wu, a skeleton, more training equipment, and a really beautiful, traditional-looking Asian temple/monastery courtyard.
• Most of the other new Ninjago sets consist of more theme-specific vehicle or dragon builds that I know many historic builders don't care for, but I'm including a link for anyone who might want to look at the sorts of parts and minifigures they include, such as the redesigned Skulkin, Serpentine, Stone Army, and Overlord minifigures (ten total), which might be especially enticing for people who have built fantasy armies using parts from any of those factions' earlier appearances and want to add some more variety. The Skulkin and Stone Army minifigures also include two new molds: a new Skulkin General head, which is now a standardized design that can fit a wider range of minifigure headgear than even Wyplash's head from the original 2011 sets, and a new shoulder armor piece that's a little less over-the-top than previous examples and doesn't cover up the front or back of the torso (possibly making it easier to combine with other neck accessories).

[Exetrius]

@Aanchir I always appreciate your elaborate breakdowns of new stuff in this thread! Haven't spotted anything that you haven't mentioned.

Love the two new shoulder pads and the weapon pack in gold. Cool arch! It is certainly an improvement over the current one, since there is more space to use. As you say, the spinner sets are full of nice accessories and some of the tornados themselves are neat for magic builds. 

[Rogue Angel]

New BIRD in Aladdin set!