jemm13

THIS! This was beautiful! So many charming, graceful figures! (now to steal some of them for my fantasy layout in a few years! Ehehehehehehehe) But truly, lovely builds, it captures some of the best magic I've seen in lego!

Sup, OP here. Wow, this post is a year old! And I loved reading through all the conversation! Now, I was never a hater of dolls, I always understood their usefulness and appeal, I just felt that TLG was holding us high and dry for a new fantasy theme after I, the fantasy Nerd that I am, wanted more! I'm honestly looking at grabbing some when I get more space for a growing my collection, but a better, and more refined version of my original point is this: The doll sets, at least the non-friends lines (heck, prob. friends too) should feature the characters with minifigures as well, either by having sets in a line split with between using one or the other (probably the worse option) or by having them come with the set/have a minifig pack/blindbag. Why? So that the girls who come into LEGO through the line have a jumping off point for the minifig oriented lines; a connecting point between the characters in their sets and the characters in other themes. They would feel more confident buying/asking for the city theme because they know their favorite (or created) characters can exist as they appear in those sets (I wouldn even suggest a parallel pack/blindbag of other themes done as minidolls though that has a much smaller market to make work) and minifigure diehards could enjoy the minidoll themes with their minifigures to help integrate them into larger projects, like adding stuff from friends into LEGO city or elves into their fantasy landscapes... And their designs work so well for actual D&D elves like you wouldn't believe. They scream Eladrin and High Elf from the top of their lungs! We already got wood elves and more generic high elves covered! I also wish they put a wider breadth into the design of their villainous races since some just get their designs copy-pasted in the smaller sets AND larger sets as mooks instead of making the designs more varied (which would make minifig packs more palatable buys to get some of the designs from sets you didn't want to shell out for by making them more spread out). On the point of designing characters away from Minifigs, I would love to see Bionicle done as a constraction line with a new type of build that builds off from what TLG has learned from the original tries at that kind of set with what they learned with dolls. Or scrap that idea entirely and make all the figures built using bricks like the microscale mecha community where masks connect with studs and clips/bars. Though the mechanical figures would make awesome warforges closer to minifig scale let me tell you!... Did I mention D&D is my passion?

wow, you're way better at internet archeology than I am. I wish they continued the idea of the sets, or decided to do the sets first/come out at the same time, especially as a possible monetary life vest for the game (as mmos can take a while to become profitable). I think the problem was that they focused too much on the custom stuff first, ending up with them not being able to release anything physical at all. And I'm pretty sure the LDD part of Universe helped raise the cost to maintain the game by a LOT due to the content filters and admins needed to remove adult content. Maybe if they got a different studio to manage the game itself. Who know what could have prevented this from working or if it could work back then... What's funny is that all the faction stuff was already designed and would have been easier to implement into sets. That and the ships/cars as they had premade designs that could have been kits. And the locations had already been made.... Maybe a lack of communication was the issue with this part? Not keeping the game designers and set designers closer? Or maybe they already were and problems with the higher ups/lead designers kept getting the ideas pushed back. Or seeing as how stuff was just in the prototype stage, starting on the logistics of the sets earlier would have allowed more development time for the game? Implementing only finalized physical version for the game to avoid headaches from working around the lack of certain limits from the game design? Ah well.... 3D printing's now a casual thing for consumers....

Guess I never really looked into how popular and useful the dolls were for capturing that market! I understand why Elves would be super attractive for a more girl focused line, and it's not like it alienates boys from liking it! I guess my qualms are the fact that some of the molds used aren't that appealing to me, and I like the idea of making cute designs for that purpose, so it's more of how it was designed as to what was designed. I feel that they should have included or made polybags with minifigure versions of the characters so the fans that like Elves could transition to the rest of Lego's lines, but I understand why an expansion of them was needed. I'm just miffed that I can's see the great designs in minifigure form! They would be so great for fantasy builds (and my D&D characters)! Honestly I'm hoping that the new fantasy theme includes design elements from both philosophies. I like the grittiness of the last castle theme, but that can be really intense and alienating, which is why Kingdom did a return to form, but that wasn't my jam. I liked castle for the fantasy elements. I feel a theme with more nature and ruins with light grey buildings, old bridges, and forgotten castles could be mixed with fantastic forests and crystal caverns with the focus on more fantastical creatures and monsters, as well as questing adventurers, romantic castles, wondrous wizards, magic, and great heroes.... God I wish Hasbro didn't own D&D, their building line is so cheap and lacking in quality. Also, I feel doing so much techno-fantasy (neo-fantasy?) is a detriment for attracting fans who want a certain aesthetic that they haven't gotten in a while (with the ending of the Hobbit line), and I feel Nexo Knights didn't have the best design choices, and some sets felt too clunky or tied to a design concept that was either dead on arrival or not well implemented, those rock creatures were pretty bad (and an expansion on the demons would have been welcome form day 1 to maybe include either good-guy variations, or more regular parts, like hair with horns and pointy ears, more relaxed or human-like faces. Same with the rock guys). Having a more inventive variety of the enemies would be better for appealing to kids, and some of the sets had lackluster builds. And they STILL refuse to put knees on larger humanoid builds! What's up with that!? Exo-Force did it GREAT! And yeah, Star Wars sets have been really lackluster these past few years (it's almost like Disney's bloated corporate heads would have something to do with that, or something) and the superhero sets haven't been that great. Doesn't help that the licensing fees contribute to more inflated pricing than in previous years leading to rather empty feeling sets. Minecraft had the same problem for a cycle of sets this year, all being priced at $15usd and being rather sparse. (some of that has to do with the density of bricks, but the sets I'm talking about were pretty egregious by the line's own standards). I feel an original space theme with more focus on cool aliens (that aren't just bad guys) and a wider variety of ships and locals would be awesome. Space police would have been great if it span off into a space-city theme with hover bikes, industrial buildings, restaurants, robots. Part of me wonders if Lucasfilms or Disney is forcing LEGO to not create its own space theme as it would compete with Star Wars' and part of Marvel's market share. A proper adventure theme would be great too. Bring back Johnny! Bring back the 30s adventurer feel!

I believe he's referring to the dolls, which I understand wholeheartedly. Elves has been the first fully fantasy in-house theme for a while, and the use of dolls instead of minifigures brings down the customization and the applicability of the characters to mocs. Plus the molds they use for the sets aren't the best, kind of repetitive, and I bet not many like some or all of the designs for them. I can understand why some would be fans of the dolls, but I feel there's a lack of range to them. I feel that the character designs would have been great on minifigures, giving us more options to style our characters with, especially since many of the characters have rather unique designs. They could have even used flesh colored minifigures for the line to appeal to the style of a fully produced cartoon or used the regular yellow to expand on the range of minifigure themes available for people who like to moc in minifigure yellow as we have a serious lack of elf parts in the color (as the ears are super important). For cool, the idea of the elves theme in general is a great one, having a more colorful fantasy world for them that isn't just regular forests and more down-to-earth colors of lines like Castle. They have a more Sylvan/fey quality that's very appealing, and the sets give a great range of colors in great quantity. Plus more dragons are always neat, but I think some just don't like the direction they took with their design (usually the head mold). I'm also not a fan of the short guys, are they gremlins? It's just my personal preference, but I feel they could have been done better differently.

So, I've been pretty miffed about dolls since they came out. I actually was pretty interested in the friends set as a concept as there is a market for it, I just think the dolls were a misstep. Elves, on the otherhand, made dolls even more of a misstep, turning it into a tragedy. For background, I love fantasy, and I love Dungeons & Dragons, and Tolkien, you get the idea. For a while, we've been rather deprived of a proper fantasy setting, and I feel elves could have alleviated to downright fixing this problem. However, I feel that the potential of the theme was diminished when they decided that Dolls and the more 'cutesy' molds would be an integral part of the theme. I don't dislike, in fact I heavily approve of the color decisions, both from a moc perspective, and a theming one to depict a more fantastical and fey fantasy setting. Hell, I'll probably pick up these sets at some point when depicting my D&D groups going through the feywilds! The hair pieces they went with are perfect for stuff like Eldarin, Wood elves, and high elves, even more D&D style gnomes in their younger years (if you haven't picked up on it yet, I'm always hoping Hasbro sells of Wizards of the Coast so that LEGO has an excuse to pick up D&D as a theme!). But going back to the dolls themselves, they lack a great amount of customization (I'm pretty sure the forums have threads on this already), and I feel were a wasted opportunity for more minifigure designs: heads, torsos, legs, accessories, all muddled by introducing the dolls. At least the hair is compatible. I understand that LEGO is trying to vie for a share in the girl's toy market, but I feel that it's not the best way to go about it. For one, they isolate a lot of the LEGO market by using the dolls in the first place, as I know some AFOLs don't like using them as they have very little range of setting or look. Why did LEGO decided to place dolls in one corner of the market when they could have made a really appealing all-rounder simply by using regular minifigures and more interesting molds? Do the dolls have more fans than I give credit for? So, I guess the reason for posting this is, do you think LEGO will come out with a new fantasy set soon? I know Nexo Knights had a really small wave that probably marks its end (didn't keep up with news if it was cancelled or not), and how long is Elves lasting? Are they going to release more Tolkien universe sets with the new Netflix show? Are they ever going to make a new original IP or revive Castle in the near future? I'm not caught up in the current rumor mill or what's been revealed for next year, so I'm wondering if any of this has been addressed recently.

How come LEGO Universe never got a line of sets? Considering it had a story, the factions and the Nexus could have been the main focus, with spare pieces to use on customizing minifigures. Heck, when the game was out, I envisioned LEGO adding a line where you could buy packs of minifigures that featured different weapons, armor, clothes, and accessories that either fit into LU generally or where part of a faction, like a proto-Minifigure line. I forget if my idea was based around mystery bags or not, but another idea I had was a set that had a collection of minifigures and small builds with tons of weapons and armor from in-game like the boxed collections of minifigures. But childhood ramblings aside, why didn't they promote it like they did with the LEGO Movie with sets? At the very least they could have added onto the price like it was a licensed line and diverge the extra money to the game itself to pay for moderators and admins (maybe even give some free time in the game so kids could try out the wider game, and maybe give their characters a collection of pieces to add to their existing collection in the freebuild islands, cars, and rockets). I remember seeing all the cool gear you could get in-game and how cool the enemies looked, and wondered why they didn't at least make the pieces available in some smaller line so kids (i.e. me and my friends) could use them in their builds and allow them the feeling of making stuff in the game. Wouldn't you like making a mech while having official pieces that had your faction logo and had a 1-to-1 recreation of your actual character's appearance and high-level gear with his pet skunk co-piloting? The only reason I say this is because there were instances where elements would show up in LU and there wouldn't be any real life equivalent, either because the designers took liberties with the pieces and their connections (even though ironically some could have been made real easily as the pieces were just edits of existing ones) or because they designed stuff, like the faction and enemy pieces, that don't have a clean, official real life counterpart. I don't even care if LU can't come back as an MMO, considering how hard it is to run a family friendly one without the world's best team of mods, admins, and (because it's LEGO) software algorithms, but considering how popular it was in general, making the move to sets and another medium for story, like a single player/local multiplayer game, tv show, or full line of comics wouldn't be outside the realm of a possible success. And it wouldn't have even been a bad idea to release the full code (I wouldn't even care if I had to pay for it) for the game to more easily let its own community continue hosting the game by letting them set up their own servers a la Minecraft. I just feel that there was too much wasted when the game ended and TLG left it fully in the dust with little to nothing salvaged.

Sup! My name's Jemm (not really but also kinda), new here, not LEGO. I've been out of the game for too long. Still living with my parents while at university and unfortunately room layouts dictated that I haven't had a LEGO room for over 5 years now so I'm REALLY rusty on building (needing space for my MTG collection doesn't help matters either). Hopefully I can change that as time goes on (and I can use my disposable income on individual parts) but it's going to be a slow process. Of the little stuff I have made in the previous years have been either Bionicle or Sci-Fi, but I've been wanting to break into fantasy, especially around Dungeons and Dragons, Monster Hunter, and general knights, dragons, and wizardry. On the sci-fi end, I'd love to get into building mecha, starships, space-faring life, and cool vehicles/aliens/people. I'd love to find a way to get better at building, especially when it comes to figuring out more complex or subtle design processes (and learning to do digital art/logos to complement the designs). And lastly, trains have always had a place in my childhood and heart, so learning to build/design them would be amazing. If anyone can point me to resources on finding and buying pieces (especially how to master Bricklink, and about other trusted and affordable sources to buy from) I'd love some help! And lastly, if there are any good sized LEGO meetups in the West Texas/Southern New Mexico area that happen regularly, I'd love to attend as having some friends to learn from and with would really help (actually all of New Mexico is okay, as the drives are less arduous than getting to the rest of Texas from here, San Antonio is my absolute limit, and even then I don't trust my small Volkswagen enough to get me there)! And lastly, I can't seem to find the tutorial for reducing image sizes on the site guidelines as the link loops back to the host page (unless it's under the flickr tutorial, but I've spent too much time on this post as-is). Hope to see ya around!