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Everything posted by TwistLaw
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As I have already said, this is the kind of mocs that I love the most to see. Stellar work, it really makes me want to build these guys myself and put them side by side with my 2001 sets.
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I guess it does. but to be more specific Galidor was a glaring example of the notion that poorly managed marketing = failure. Galidor's marketing was all over the place, counterintuitive, with the actual toy sold without even proper instructions. There's not much to redeem when so much money was spent in the wrong direction (even the pieces were manufactured in China, leading to extremely poor quality in a time when LEGO's first Chinese factory was still a decade away). A product with much more solid foundations, like BIONICLE G2, deserved a better thought marketing. And a stronger push in general, but LEGO itself had a long list of reasons not to push too much G2. Leading to the question "why did they reboot the theme in the first place?", but that belongs to another topic... A future constraction line needs more faith by LEGO, simple as that. They need to produce a theme that can stand on its own, not just something to fill a niche. But does today's LEGO, almost ten years after the end of G1, need a strong constraction theme? Or a constraction theme in general? The 2018 catalog speaks by itself.
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This is exactly the kind of mocs that I love to see. Quirky, designed with the same philosphy of an official set and with the inclusion of small, unique functions. Bravo!
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The truth behind the infamous Ninjago "constraction" blade
TwistLaw posted a topic in LEGO Action Figures
Some of you may remember that last fall there was some sort of dicussion concerning a blade piece, which at the time was going to debut in a 2018 Ninjago set. While it clearly looked like a piece designed with constraction in mind, it made its first appearance in a System set. Some of us, me included, thought it could be a hint that something was about to happen in the constraction departement. As we all know, it wasn't the case, but simply because we were looking in the wrong direction: it wasn't a hint about constraction's near future, but about its near past. Infact, once I got my hands on the piece thanks to Bricklink, I immediately noticed a tiny detail... (sorry for potato quality) As you can somewhat see, the piece was trademarked in 2016, and yet we get to see it only in 2018. But why? Because it was a piece designed for BIONICLE G2's third year. Since development of new sets usually happens at least 12 months before they hit stores, it's highly possibile that in late 2015 designers were already working on 2017 sets, and this blade piece was on of those that was fully designed before the decision to axe the line was made. Since it already was in their pool of "trademarked pieces", why not using it? And there we are. Sure, this is not a 100% foolproof theory, but because of the year printed on the blade and the fact we first saw it only in 2018, I don't think there are many other alternatives. Chances are that we might see more "unreleased pieces" in the near future, since it's safe to assume a huge chunk of G2's third year was already designed when the reboot was canned. -
We lost that train in 2010. But in general I don't see LEGO making ccbs themes out of other people's stuff. If they'll ever resurrect constraction, it will be with a in-house theme. They need to regain prestige at the eyes of the customers. If Star Wars didn't do, neither will Godzilla. They need a CCBS Ninjago, which would have been G2 in a better world.
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The truth behind the infamous Ninjago "constraction" blade
TwistLaw replied to TwistLaw's topic in LEGO Action Figures
They're smaller than they seem. Unless you do something really creative or use them as part of a bigger weapon, as a single piece they're a better fit for Protector sized mocs. Said that, the blade piece itself looks great in hand. Very sleek, a simple yet distinctive design, tons of possibilities for moccers. Alongside the dagger from the Praetorian Guard set, this is the single best constraction piece we got since the end of G2. -
The truth behind the infamous Ninjago "constraction" blade
TwistLaw replied to TwistLaw's topic in LEGO Action Figures
Thanks for sharing this, it's really cool to be able to interact with LEGO designers. I hope we'll be seeing more brand new constraction parts in Ninjago, that blade was gorgeous :D -
Nope, this is not gonna be one of those threads. This one has a tiny, spicy detail to point out. If you search on Google "Bionicle 2019", you'll be redirected to a Brickset page named "Bionicle-Reboot", next to the usual "X Theme Y Year" Brickset displays. Quite strange, since if you search any other future year, from 2020 onwards... ...you only get the generic (empty) page. This is an objectively strange occurrence that might (mind you, might) mean something more interesting. I'm the first one to be intrigued, since until few hours ago I was 100% sure LEGO just wanted to get rid of constraction. But now there's this old curse called hope that has struck me again... Take all of this with a grain of salt, of course. Some of us were sure a new CCBS theme would have come out this year, some others were sure Star Wars CCBS had a bright future. But this time, it looks like we have the right to be delusional.
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[RUMOR] Bionicle might be returning in 2019
TwistLaw replied to TwistLaw's topic in LEGO Action Figures
There's not much to understand or debate. A huge part of what made BIONICLE a hit was due its nature of being a buildable action figure toy, with all that came with it: masks, functions, mocing in a way it had never been possibile before (or before 1999 if you wanna be pedantic). You take away the buildable action figure part, you take away at least a good 50% of what made BIONICLE special and different. Full stop. While the fan project of BIONICLE with bricks is cute, it should remain just that: a fan project. There's really not much in those sets that would make this iteration of BIONICLE different from your average Ninjago or Chima, especially since LEGO would have no interest in realeasing such a similar theme to what they already produce (or have produced, in case this supposed Bio-brick would be replacing a declining Ninjago in the far-off future). To stay on topic, if this 2019 reboot is real -and it's not- it will be constraction-based. There's only one system that needs BIONICLE, and it's constraction: System does already have its own, and it's called Ninjago. -
[RUMOR] Bionicle might be returning in 2019
TwistLaw replied to TwistLaw's topic in LEGO Action Figures
I know about your project and I already had the chance to see some of the entries. While they look good and all, whenever I see them I think that... it's not Bionicle. I wouldn't play with it like I usually play with my sets and mocs, heck, I couldn't even make mocs like I'm used to! It would be just a different thing entirely. Another Chima, another Ninjago, something that may be successful, sure, but wouldn't need the Bionicle name. Let the "robots fighting in brick-built scenarios riding bikes and much-more-than-that (assuming that in the real world LEGO would be doing more than just bikes and mechas, of course)" be its own thing, and let Bionicle rest in peace. -
[RUMOR] Bionicle might be returning in 2019
TwistLaw replied to TwistLaw's topic in LEGO Action Figures
The foundations of something like BIONICLE can be both "spiritual" and "phisical". While you're right that "spiritually" the core of BIONICLE could be expressed with anything (even traditional action figures, let alone, yes, System), there's only one way to give life to BIONICLE, and that is through buildable action figures. Not because "it's always been like that", but because BIONICLE is constraction, and this has always been a fundamental part of its identity. Of the way it was sold, of the way it was perceived by customers, of the way it was played with. BIONICLE's success was a combination of ideas and executions nowhere else to be seen, in such a strong way one couldn't exist without the other one. You can't have the Bohrok with bricks, you can't have gear functions on your figures, you can't have masks working in the classic sense... you get the idea. You would have tons of playsets and bikes, sure, but that's not what BIONICLE has been known for. And this is a fundamental detail anybody dealing with BIONICLE on a semi-professional level should know. In short, there can be BIONICLE with bricks. But it wouldn't be BIONICLE anymore. -
[RUMOR] Bionicle might be returning in 2019
TwistLaw replied to TwistLaw's topic in LEGO Action Figures
Cry me a river, Ace. Nobody here cares about the discord. I think at this point there's no one on EB believing in any kind of reboot/other new theme erroneously labeled as Bionicle. In ten days we'll "find out" it was le ebin trole by Huw and that would be the end of it. If your jimmies are really that rustled, go to Maskposting. There are still some people believing this hoax down there, you'll be able to engage in a battle of wits far more suited to you. Bionicle but built with bricks wouldn't be Bionicle. It happened during G1 and more than 10 years later MISB sets are selling at a lower price than when they came out. The entire point of constraction would be defeated it its flagship theme became an exclusively System-based one, something hard to set apart from Ninjago or Chima. Not understanding this mean you don't understand the foundations of Bionicle. (looks like it didn't merge the posts, @VBBN I need your help here) -
[RUMOR] Bionicle might be returning in 2019
TwistLaw replied to TwistLaw's topic in LEGO Action Figures
You're missing the point. It's not the link itself, but the fact it appears if you google "Bionicle 2019". By now I'm pretty sure myself it's a hoax, but at least it was worth talking about. (ironically googling "Bionicle 2019" now also shows this very thread, or at least this is what's happening to me) -
Star Wars Constraction 2018 Discussion & Rumors
TwistLaw replied to VBBN's topic in LEGO Action Figures
Well, following my metaphore, it would be like having Dan Brown talk about his book in a McDonald's restaurant. Most people at NYCC didn't care about Bionicle and wouldn't even have been the target audience. To expand on what I was talking about few weeks ago, I found this old quote of yours: Well, you said it yourself. The only way to overcome constraction's inherent limit (building the same figure over and over again) would be introducing a huge amount of new moulds every year. If LEGO is not willing to do that anymore (because in this day and age they can create bigger hits much more economically), then there's no reason to keep constraction in their portfolio. -
[RUMOR] Bionicle might be returning in 2019
TwistLaw replied to TwistLaw's topic in LEGO Action Figures
Well, we're still pretty far from some random troll adding the page for his own amusement. There would be no concrete reason for anyone from Brickset's staff (especially if the "culprit" could be found amongst so few people) to add a page with such a specific title. That's not a placeholder, it specifically says "Bionicle REBOOT". And it says "2019". And only 11 people in the whole wolrd (counting Huw) could have done it. I have 2013 flashbacks, when that guy on Linkedin wrote he was working on a new CCBS theme. Holy hell. I want to die -
[RUMOR] Bionicle might be returning in 2019
TwistLaw replied to TwistLaw's topic in LEGO Action Figures
Are you telling me the only one who could have possibly added that "Bionicle Reboot" page is... Brickset's big boss himself? Are you telling me he MIGHT HAVE SPILLED THE BEANS? Or he just trolled the saddest LEGO community out there? -
Star Wars Constraction 2018 Discussion & Rumors
TwistLaw replied to VBBN's topic in LEGO Action Figures
You have to admit that's a pretty bold statement, though. David Robertson worked pretty closely with LEGO and the people behind the brand while writing Brick by Brick, so if he went out and said "There are those in LEGO who still believe it’s not an appropriate toy to carry the LEGO brand.", it's because he knew quite a few people in the company shared this belief. And, again, that's something pretty unheard of: it would be like someone saying "There are people in Hasbro who think My Little Pony is not an appropriate toy to carry the Hasbro brand" and so on. On top of that, Robertson made that statement in 2013: BIONICLE G2 was already in developement, making things a tad bit shadier. I'll make an example for clarity's sake. Let's just say you're a publisher. Like, a big publisher, one of the most renowned in the US. People have been buying books from you for years, and you're selling all the best american authors: Faulkner, Hemingway, Kerouac and so on. At one point things are going downhill, and it looks like you're about to be history. But then, all of sudden, you decide to give this young author a chance, since selling big names doesn't work anymore. His name is Dan Brown, and everybody loves him. He writes genre fiction, and you know deep down he's not even that good at that, but damn people are throwing money at you to read more of his works. You're back in business, you can't even believe it, and while you dislike this Dan Brown guy, he makes so much money you can tolerate him. That is, of course, until the day people begin to like Faulkner and Hemingway once again. It's like a renaissance, and all of this happens while Brown's success starts dwindling. It's your chance: you can get rid of thim with the promise of publishing his works again some time in the future. After a few years, you go back to him. You two talk about ideas for possible books, and after a while it happens: Dan Brown's great comeback. But you still dislike him. So what? You let few people know about him. Yeah, his hardcore readers are crowding book stores, but the general public doesn't even know if he's still alive or not. Ops! Sorry Dan, your new book bombed. No more of you, you'll live off your royalties, it doesn't sound that bad, does it? At last, it happens. You're reading your catalog, and they're all there: Burroughs, Fante, Hemingway. But Dan Brown is nowhere to be seen. And you're the happiest publisher on earth. -
Star Wars Constraction 2018 Discussion & Rumors
TwistLaw replied to VBBN's topic in LEGO Action Figures
Do I really have to say what I think about it? Guess I'd better don't, I'd sound like a broken record more than I already do. In other news, here's an interesting bit: However, in 2017 there "was a bit too much of Star Wars, not just in Lego, but everywhere", she says. After three years of successive marketing the market was slightly saturated, she says. Source So, even LEGO itself, when questioned about its recent decline, admits that "there was a bit too much of Star Wars everywhere". My theory is: Star Wars CCBS really never took off, being the low man on the totem pole, in a context where constraction in general was weak and LEGO had the best interest in making its System themes the most profitable. So what? First they kill the easiest one to shoot, that is their own BIONICLE G2, an undermarketed reboot that could also prove that "constraction is not anymore a thing of this decade". But the other one, Star Wars CCBS, is not as easy to get rid of: it doesn't belong to them, but it's part of a bigger deal with their most important partner (Disney, to be clear). Without BIONICLE G2 in the picture, though, and with the System sets keeping the Star Wars theme profitable as a whole, the buildable figures are an acceptable compromise while waiting for constraction's definite demise. What happens then? We got too much of Star Wars. Like, everywhere. So things can be sped up a bit: instead of having to wait until the new trilogy is completed, like it probably was decided back when they made the deal in 2013-4, Star Wars CCBS can be canned right here and right now, without anybody there to complain (unlike, ironically, when they axed G2). Constraction is gone for good, LEGO can save a bit of money in difficult times, everybody's happy anyway (more or less). Also, remember: LEGO really never liked BIONICLE. At least, the powers that be inside the company never did. As David Robertson, author of Brick by Brick, said: Bionicle was the toy that saved LEGO, even though it’s always been a controversial toy within the company. There are those in LEGO who still believe it’s not an appropriate toy to carry the LEGO brand. Wow, that sounds a little bit too harsh to say about the toy that allowed you to be there earning your paycheck, uh? Keeping this in mind, the death of constraction looks like corporate business at its finest. You create a situation where you can say "look, people don't like this product anymore!", your customers start to actually think that, the people who like that specific product do the same and... voilà! All you have to do is hiding the body. So, there it is. The dirty, ugly truth about the toy bought by millions and despised by the very same people who sold it. -
Star Wars Buildable Figures Wish List
TwistLaw replied to Vadermaul45623's topic in LEGO Action Figures
Well, looking at the latest news, it seems you're going to wait a pretty long time in order to have your wishes granted. To stay on topic, SW CCBS needed only one thing: droids, droids and even more droids. Of any kind, and the Star Wars universe isn't anywhere short of those. The fact we got literally one droid (and a biomechanical being) is probably the single most disappointing thing about the theme.- 21 replies
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Star Wars Constraction 2018 Discussion & Rumors
TwistLaw replied to VBBN's topic in LEGO Action Figures
Azani, my sweetheart, would you mind spending your time in a more constructive way, especially since Sir Von Lego has basically (as kids these days say) rekt you? Thanks. And in order to make my comeback from the dead more meaningful, I'll say that I'm not at all surprised by SW CCBS' death. Like, most of us are actually astonished the line survived for so long, but clearly it wasn't only LEGO that had an interest in not pulling the plug. Constraction died in July 2016 if you ask me, so I'm not bothered at all right now. I literally only bought one Star Wars set and it was on a 75% discount, while I bought each and every single G2 sets. I might be an extreme case, sure, but looking at every major forum on the internet you can't deny there was a clear trend where people bought and liked G2 sets while the Star Wars ones were, on most cases, the "I'll get the least generic one when prices drop" kind. So long constracion, and thanks for all the cool recolors. -
Star Wars Constraction 2018 Discussion & Rumors
TwistLaw replied to VBBN's topic in LEGO Action Figures
I'd love to be happy about these leaks but... it's just another round of mostly identical humanoids in dull colours. I'm glad piston add-ons made a comeback, somewhat BIONICLE feels still alive, and a couple of new molds don't hurt either. But it's not enough to convince me to buy any of these new sets, just like past SW Ultrabuilds: I'm either gonna bricklink the few interesting new pieces (whenever they bother to update their inventory...) or buy the less boring ones when they're at least on 50%+ discount. -
>bricks in my action figures No thanks. It would take away all the magic that constraction pieces create, when you have these tiny robots in your hands and the pieces are cleary meant to represent... a robot. I've never been a fan of bricks to begin with, and while Exo Force was nice, I didn't buy any set back in the day and I wouldn't do that today. Constraction or bust.
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I would write so much but a picture speaks louder than lame irony.
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Star Wars Constraction 2018 Discussion & Rumors
TwistLaw replied to VBBN's topic in LEGO Action Figures
So, let's wrap this up. -constraction fans dislike Star Wars CCBS because it's expensive and repetitive -LEGO Star Wars fans dislike it because it's constraction (they didn't even want this topic in their sub-forum, come on...) -generic Star Wars fans aren't crazy either about the theme since other brands produce more accurate and less uncanny figures (even though more expensive, sure) Well, that's not exactly a nice landscape we're staring at right here. My best bet is that these figures are part of a much broader deal between LEGO and Disney. Like "you make these figures until episode IX so we can see if it's more profitable for us to have our figures produced by you rather than Hasbro, if the answer is yes you get the exclusive right since the next trilogy" kind of thing. Of course, that's just a theory, but considering what we know it wouldn't be science fiction. -
Star Wars Constraction 2018 Discussion & Rumors
TwistLaw replied to VBBN's topic in LEGO Action Figures
So why are they still making them? Oh, the mouse, right... yes I'm one of those guys who think G2 was canned ALSO because of Disney