Joebot

Thanks for the nice new pics, Skipper24! I hadn't noticed the boombox in 8401. It's cute, but ... seems a little "1980's," don't you think?? Are the mini-figs breakdancing?? I'd think a tile printed with an iPod would be a bit more up-to-date.

It's called Comic Life by Plasq. I highly recommend it for anyone making Lego comics. I'm still on my free 30-day demo, but when that expires, I'm definitely going to be purchasing the program. I'm using the Mac version, but they do have a Windows version too for all you poor saps still using Windows. Thanks! Yeah, I know, I need to get back to the close-to-monthly schedule. Unfortunately November isn't a great month. Every year I participate in the National Novel Writing Month program, which means I'm supposed to be writing 50,000 words of a novel throughout the month. That doesn't leave a lot of time for Lego comic-making. But, we'll see how it goes ... No need to apologize! I'm just glad you enjoyed it.

Yes, it's finally here -- the next chapter in my increasingly sporadic "monthly" superhero comic. My apologies for the delay on this one. I don't really even have a good excuse, like I was abducted by aliens, or I was mauled by wolves, or anything cool like that. On the bright side, I'm test-driving a new application for adding the word balloons, and it freakin' ROCKS. It drastically cuts down on the time it takes me to do the lettering. This application is my new best friend. So, please check it out, and let me know what you think! -Joebot

Amen, brother. All of these silly debates, like Star Trek vs. Star Wars, or Marvel vs. DC, or Mac vs. Windows or whatever, are sooooo tiresome. I've been a big Trek fans for many years, but Voyger, Enterprise, and the "Nemesis" movie pretty much killed my enthusiasm. I'm cautiously optimistic to see what JJ Abrams can do to reboot the franchise. There was a good article in Entertainment Weekly about it this week, and I must say, I'm intrigued to see what he does with it. Also, the actor playing Spock is an absolute dead-ringer for a young Leonard Nimoy. It's eerie. Nice bit of casting there. I love the idea of Trek Legos, but for the reasons mentioned previously, it probably won't ever happen. Also, I'm not sure if there's a lot of room for set ideas. Lego tends to target licenses with a lot of vehicle possibilities (SW, Speed Racer, Batman). There have of course been exceptions (Harry Potter most noticably), but as a general rule, TLC likes their vehicles. Aside from the huge starships in Trek (which would be wicked cool), I'm not sure what other set possibilities exist. There are no small fighters, no land vehicles, etc. But the mini-figs ... yeah, the mini-figs would be really cool.

Crossover! Yeah, that would be a blast, like that "JLA / Avengers" comic from a few years back. We definitely should try to do something like that. A comic writer's LUG? I'd say a "comic writer's mental hospital" would be more helpful. I was taking some pictures last night for my comic, and the stupid *&%$-ing mini-figs KEPT FALLING OVER, and I was ready to put my fist through a wall, and I had one of those moments where you sorta step back from yourself and take stock of the situation, and I realized ... I'm taking pictures of toys so that I can tell silly little stories with them. Why am I getting so angry??

In the U.S., it's been a common pattern for years now for the "beginning of the year" sets to be available in retail roughly around Thanksgiving weekend. TLC would be foolish to release a bunch of new products the week AFTER Christmas.

Indeed. I think you'll soon see entire college literature courses designed around analyzing the complex symbolism in "The Whacker and the Walrus," including a deconstruction of the author's fragile mental state. Hinckley -- I too have tried the "I'll release smaller segments of the story on a regular basis" approach to my Unlikely Society comics. Sigh. Didn't work. I'm now a month late for my so-called "monthly comic." I hope you're more disciplined than I am!! Oh, and the comic was great by the way. Casual swearing and slapstick comedy is pure GOLD.

Dang, I knew I should have looked that up before I posted. Math was never my thing.

This theme is roughly two years old, and they're already doing redesigns?? Sheest.

Thanks for the flashback to Brian Williams' Royal Train layout. I remember coming across that back in ye olde rec.toys.lego days, and being absolutely BLOWN AWAY by it. And it's not just the Lego sets ... the structure that he built to display the layout is pretty amazing in its own right. I've never seen anyone put that might effort and attention into the display case! Really nice issue overall.

Yep, as Sir Dillon noted, it's a Belville piece. My daughter has a bunch of them. This is the first time I can remember it being used with a mini-fig though. I'm curious to see how it's attached. The tiara has a pin on the bottom (the same size as the old plumes), so I assume there's a hole in the back of the hair, kinda like the old Native American hair piece, where you could plug in the feather. It looks nice with the tiara, but I wonder how it looks without it??

We had a few comments from TLC earlier this year on the upcoming train theme, but things have been very quiet lately. No one really knows what they're up to. Presumably some sort of RC function rather than electricity-conducting rails. That's about all we know for sure. I'm was REALLY hoping we'd get some pictures when the early '09 sets leaked onto the web, but there was nothing in there about trains. I guess they're coming later in the year. Fans like yourself are in a tough spot -- sit and wait, or try to invest in the remains of the 9V line. I don't know what's the best route to take.

Very nice so far! I like how you keep Batman off-screen. He's just this disembodied voice, which is very cool. One tiny suggestion ... make the text in the word balloons centered, rather than left-justified. Centered text will fit better in the oval balloons. Lettering is really hard. In my own comic, I probably spend more time on the word balloons than on anything else.

Great review with some beautiful pictures. Man, I loved the Divers theme. During the Dark Times of the late '90's, in the midst of all the "juniorization" garbage, Divers was the best theme TLC had going. Great ships, great mini-figs, and a really consistent look-and-feel across the whole line. TLC has done other underwater-based themes (the old Aquazone, Alpha Team, the recent Aquaraiders), but those other themes always had some sci-fi elements to them. Divers is the only realistic underwater theme that TLC has done. Also, Divers was great for adding scenery -- big underwater caves, rock formations, foliage, etc. TLC is so vehicle-centric these days. Divers was very unique in that regard. I still have most of my Divers stuff set up in my town (you can see a picture of it here). Thanks again for the great reviews!

That's kinda my reaction too. It's a nice set, but the City Advent calendars are starting to feel repetitive. Whats with the pizzas in this set? Why not use the pizza printed 2x2 round tile? The brick-built pizza looks weird. Thanks again for the review! I'm still on the fence about buying this one for my kids this year. They've enjoyed the calendars the past few years, but this one just feels like more of the same.

Mine's easy -- Marvel's upcoming "Avengers" movie in 2010. We'd get Iron Man, Captain America, Hulk, and Thor mini-figs, and whoever the villian ends up being. Of course it probably won't happen while TLC has a license with DC, but hey, the title of the thread is "Dream Licenses," so let a man dream!

Oh, I don't know. We're all (supposedly) grown-ups here on EB. I don't think anyone's going to be too offended. It's a very unique MOC with some great building techniques, and a good tongue-in-cheek (pun most definitely intended) sense of humor.

Yeah, it's not hard to see how that could happen. However, my wife IS getting her new master bedroom / bathroom, so everybody wins, right? A buddy of mine sent me a link to this story about the guy with the biggest Lego collection in England. It's interesting to read, because HE says, "My wife's cool with it," ... but SHE says, "He's obsessed and it's taking over the house!!" Little miscommunication there??

My wife and I started a new home improvement project -- a room addition. My wife thinks we're adding a master bedroom / bathroom suite, but little does she know, the REAL reason for the project is a new Lego Room! We're putting a full basement beneath the room addition, and that will eventually be the location for my Lego town, Fluxington. I thought it might be fun to post some ongoing pictures of the project. First, here's what Fluxington looks like right now. It's built on top of a 10-foot-square table made of plywood and two-by-fours, with a three-foot hole in the center. Here's the architectural drawings, showing the current location of Fluxington and it's eventual new location in the new room addition. Next was the big hole (and the corresponding giant pile of dirt in my front yard). In this next one, the forms are up for the foundation walls. And then here's what it looks like with the walls poured and forms removed. You can also see the doorway they cut in the existing foundation to tie into the rest of the basement. We're a long ways away, but it's pretty exciting to see it taking shape! I'll post more pictures as things progress. -Joebot

Dude, I wasn't trying to pick a fight! If I misrepresented or misinterpreted your point, I sincerely apologize for that. I was just trying to have a friendly debate. Sorry if I caused any hard feelings!! And I whole-heartedly agree that the grey/bley fiasco was a colossally dumb thing to do!

I guess I don't view the conversation here as "bitching." I've read all of the comments in this thread, both positive and negative. Everyone has been respectful and polite with their comments. I haven't read anything that says, "You're an idiot if you like these!" or anything to that effect. It's just been a big, rambling conversation discussing brand new Lego sets. Yeah, to me, that's fun. That's why I come to EB. I love reading everyone's opinions, and throwing my own opinion (as un-nuanced as it may be) into the fray. What typically happens when someone says anything negative about an upcoming Lego set is one of the following two responses: 1) They're designed for kids, not AFOLs, so shut up 2) They're just parts anyway; mod them into whatever you want, and shut up Both of those arguments are, of course, factually correct, but all they do is serve to cut off all debate and silence any critcism because there's really no response to them. TLC is not above critcism, either in their set designs or their business practices. Like any big company, they do some dumb things and some smart things. As fans and consumers, we're well within our rights to bust their chops when they do something we don't like. I don't like the Power Miners. I'm not going to buy them. But I certainly don't begrudge anyone who does like them.

I'm not a 7-12 year old, and thus I don't care what a 7-12 would think of this line. I'm an AFOL, and my AFOL views and opinions are that I don't like this theme. It doesn't appeal to me. I think the tacked-on storyline is drivel. I'm bored with TLC's endless variations on humans vs. monsters conflict. I think the colors are garish. There's nothing in any of these sets that I can borrow or utilize in my own Lego town. Now, of course you're absolutely right that I'm not the target audience, but does that invalidate my opinions? By that logic, no one these boards should ever say anything negative about any Lego set ever, because we are all presumably AFOLs, and thus should have nothing to say about any Lego products. That would make for a very boring message board!! Where's the fun in THAT??

They're both fun ideas, but probably not real plausible. Both franchises are pretty old, and neither has the long-term popularity of Indy or Star Wars (both of which are even older!). Besides, what would the sets be, besides the obvious Delorean and the Ghostbuster-mobile? Although ... the idea of a Bill Murray mini-fig makes me very happy. I'd mod mine into Carl Spackler, complete with plastic explosive squirrel and hunting rifle. "Freeze, gopher!" My absolute dream theme for TLC would be the upcoming Avengers movie. Unfortunately, I'm sure it will be PG-13, and TLC seems to have a pretty firm PG-or-under rule for acquiring movie licenses (except for "Revenge of the Sith" of course).

Agreed. At the time it was released, it was a marginal improvement over the complete crap that the City line had turned into. Compared to the amazing stuff we've been getting the past 2-3 years though, it's a pretty weak theme. I did like the mini-figs though.

The whole catalog is online at Lego's website, just like they do with all of their catalogs.