Joebot

I am humming the theme song right now!! That is made of pure awesomeness. I loved that show. You are on the jazz, man! You need to make the mini-figs now. Hannibal, Face, and Murdoch should be pretty straightforward, but B.A. poses some interesting challenges ... How do you make a Lego mohawk?? Then, you can make a MOC where the figs get locked up in a warehouse that just happens to have an arc welder, a tractor, and a bunch of sheet metal!!

What Lego calls their "Play Themes" must be very successful because they keep churning out new ones, year after year. While it's impossible to judge the Atlantis theme based on the little we know so far, I can definitely say that I am bored to tears with these Play Themes. They've gotten really repetitive. Underwater sets, hunting for treasure, fighting sea creatures? Man, they JUST did this theme two years ago with Aquaraiders. Short-lived, vehicle-based, lots of "action elements" (read: flick-fire missiles). It's the same thing over and over again, just in different colors. It's funny, there's a lot of similar ranting going on over in the Town sub-forum because there's yet-another fire station coming out next year. Lego knows how to make money, and they know whaat will be successful. I can't knock them for their marketing strategy (which obviously must work). I can knock them for being boring and repetitive though. When I hear the name "Atlantis," I picture ancient ruins and mysterious creatures. Ah well. I had such high hopes for this ...

Like the tides or Halley's Comet, TLC's trinity of fire / police / emergency rescue themes is so easily predictable. Sigh. I understand the marketing decision behind it, but geez, is it boring from an AFOL point of view. It seems weird though, with the big, new Fire Brigade set coming out. It's like they're competing with themselves now. The list is pretty plausible. I'm excited to see a new Farm set! I could have easily seen TLC letting that sub-theme die. I can't wait to see what the pigs look like.

My first thought was that they're making the "O-face." I'm guessing the light brick goes inside the house rather than in the lamppost. I can't figure out how they would run the wires up the post itself. Putting the light inside the house makes this set even more reminiscent of those light-up Department 56 houses. I really hope this is the start of a new product line of holiday-themed sets, and not just a one-off type thing.

Thanks, guys. I hope to get started tonight on the conclusion to this story. In the next few weeks I'm going to be moving my entire Lego town from one room in the basement to another room, so that's going to put Fluxington out of commission for some period of time. I want to get the pictures taken for the next chapter before the big move, so I don't leave everyone on a cliffhanger for TOO long. Probably a wise idea. Reminds me of the old Simpsons episode where they go to New York City to get Homer's car back. Homer: What have you got to drink? Street Vendor: Crab juice and Mountain Dew. Homer: BLECH! Ugh ... I'll take a crab juice.

I just watched "Destroy Malevolence" last night! I agree with you -- it was a good concept, but poorly executed. The use of coincedence to move the plot along was downright lazy. They could have very easily thrown in some simple Jedi mumbo-jumbo about "I sense Padme nearby" and that would have been fine. The battle droids continue to be the worst part of the show. I guess we're just not the target audience here. For whatever it's worth, my son thinks they're hilarious. I did like the scene where three battle droids spotted Anakin and Obi-Wan, and two of them opened fire before the third could tell them to stop. The Jedis easily reflected the laser blasts back at destroyed the first two. The third one muttered something like, "I knew that was a bad idea." Okay, that was a decent gag. Not great, but not terrible. Totally agreed with this point. As a character, Anakin is dull, dull, dull. The prequel trilogy had the same problem -- we already KNOW his story arc, and we've known it for 30 years. Showing HOW he becomes Vader is simply not a compelling story. Well, it could have been interesting with a better writer, but under Lucas' direction, he's simply an arrogant, unlikable punk.

Fun topic, thanks for taking the time to do this! Well, since you asked ... I think you meant "groan-worthy." I've only just recently started watching the show (via iTunes with my son). We're only a couple of episodes in, but we're enjoying it so far. Well, except for those stupid *&%$-ing battle droids. Those things grate on my nerves. They remind me of the Genosis scene in "Attack of the Clones," when C3PO was making all those stupid puns and one-liners. My son is nine, and even he doesn't find them funny.

None of those events you mentioned was as catastrophic as the Great Bley Color Change. That was damn near apocalyptic. Go read the original Lugnet thread for some real fun. Ah, the memories ... I totally agree with your point though. While I personally have no use for the Toy Story figs, to decry them as "not real mini-figs" is kind of weird. Who gets to decide what's a "real" mini-fig and what isn't?

The next installment of my Lego superhero comic, the Unlikely Society, is finished! This chapter continues the battle against Killotron-X42, the evil robot-pirate from the future. His horrible plan is revealed, and he's trying to recruit Joebot into his genocidal battle against the humans. Will Joebot join his robot brothers in their revolution, or will he stand with his friends?? I also revamped the website a little bit. The way I had the chapters and story arcs arranged was starting to get unwieldy, so I created an "Archives" page which has links to every chapter, and a "Current Issue" page which will get you started on the latest issue. If you have any suggestions or feedback on the new format, please let me know. As always, thanks for reading!!

I think that oversimplifies it. As others have noted, the conflict or violence that is portrayed in Lego's various themes is firmly placed in a context of fantasy, mythology, and make-believe. Kids will latch onto that, and make up stories with good guys and bad guys, and act those stories out. And sure, there will be "violence" in their stories, as the two sides fight against each other, but that's harmless role-playing. It's also worth noting that in almost all of Lego's conflict-driven themes, the good guys are depicted as arresting and locking up the bad guys. The Space Police, city police, Wild West, Agents, Pirates, etc. all have JAILS. The good guys presumably capture and arrest the bad guys. You couldn't do that with a military theme. Unless you had an Abu Ghraib set, complete with water-boarding feature?? Again, it's all in the context. A military theme is really inappropriate for a children's toy because it glorifies and trvializes current or recent real-world events. The conflict that Lego has in their themes is probably necessary from a marketing point of view (to make it more action-oriented), but I think it's generally pretty harmless. It's a really tough line to walk, but I think TLC does a good job of it.

If they're going to do it, they need to get the official MLB license. Otherwise, I don't see the point. Personally, I think it's a terrific idea. Especially if they made well-known players, much like they did with the NBA mini-figs. I want an Albert Pujols mini-fig!!!

Agreed. It kinda devalues the whole list, doesn't it?

I have a very distinct memory of seeing the Blacktron Invader on the shelves at a KB Toys, and thinking "Whoa! What's THAT??" This must have been about '87 or '88 I guess. It felt game-changing. The whole concept of "factions" had never really been done before, at least not in the Space theme. And of course now, 20 years later, factions and sub-themes are a fixture across most of TLC's product lines. I have to wonder if the initial success of Blacktron isn't the reason for that. The Blacktron sets were so different, with the asymetrical ships and the badass mini-figs. That was groundbreaking stuff back then. Thanks for the fun review!!!

Those are really fun! Your photography is excellent. I especially like the fact that there's no dialogue. You let the pictures tell the whole story, which is no simple feat. Nicley done!

I loved that movie when I was in high school. I probably haven't seen it in 20 years though. Nice job on the MOC! I actually do remember that particular scene. WOLVERINES!!!!

It's a combination of C (plot hole) and E (coincidence). To be honest ... I actually never thought of that. Apathy Boy was the best writer's crutch ever -- he could instantly get me out of any corner, and resolve any plot problem. "Oh, Apathy Boy just snaps his fingers and fixes everything!!" The problem is, that sort of ending makes for a really lame story. Thanks for reading!

Thanks for the clarifications. It does sound pretty simple, maybe about equal in complexity with something like the boardgame Sorry. I have to admit, that's a little disappointing. Supposedly Renier Knizia, a very well-regarded German boardgame designer, had some part in the design of these games (his name is on the box for the Egyptian-themed game). I expected something a little more innovative and challenging with him involved. It cracks me up how most of us here on EB are studying and analyzing these games based solely on the parts, rather than the GAME. I guess it just goes to show that deep down, all AFOLs are parts-monkeys.

And I hope you still do! Thanks! There are definitely more coming. I've got the pictures all done for the next chapter, and I put together three pages last night.

This video from Gizmodo showing the building of the UCS Millenium Falcon is hands-down my favorite brickfilm ever. The animation might be kinda choppy, but man, is it funny.

Thanks for the review! I'm very excited about these new games. Boardgames are my second-favorite hobby, so combining Legos and boardgames is like mixing chocolate and peanut butter! Can you talk a little bit more about the game itself? I'm assuming you're trying to get your three dudes onto the approriately colored L-shaped piece in the center of the maze. What function does the minotaur perform? Can you move him around (maybe when you roll the solid black tile on the die)? And then what happens if you roll the grey tile? I'm guessing that lets you move one of the grey wall sections. It is just a boring roll-and-move game, or is there some actual decision-making?

I'd like to see some sloped roof bricks in some color OTHER than red and black. I'd love to get the full complement of roof pieces (convex and concave corners, peaks, that weird little triangle piece for making dormers, etc.) in dark grey, tan, brown, dark blue, etc.

Yay! What a great idea! And I'm deeply honored that a tiny piece of my work has been forever immortalized in the forum skin at the top of the page. [wipes away tears] Thanks for all your hard work setting this up. I see my posts have safely been transferred over, so thanks very much for that.

Dude, that is really, really amazing. Congratulations! It's such a strange and wonderful feeling to get paid for something that you love to do. As a fellow Chicagoan, I'm sorry to hear that you're headed west, but being a Master Builder is probably not a job you can do via telecommuting! I just hope that your online comics don't fall by the wayside! Good luck with the move, and the new job!

Wow, that's a lot of buildings! Those are all really nice. As impressed as I am when I see people build the super-detailed, ornate Cafe Corner-style structures, I still prefer the simple charm of "classic" City. You've hit the perfect sweet spot in between the two design approaches. Really terrific stuff.

I could be wrong, but I thought it's official name was: "10026 Special Edition Naboo Starfighter." You're right though, I think it did have the UCS branding on the box, so go figure. I guess my point is that at only 187 pieces, it didn't FEEL like a UCS set. It seemed like a weird, oddball scale that Lego never did anything else with. Hopefully they do more with this new "midi-scale" concept then just the Falcon.