Joebot

Wow, lots of potentially interesting stuff in here. New construction sets aren't much of a surprise (it was either that or new police sets). The farm sets though ... man, all I can say is: What the #&*&@ took them so long?!?!? They've been making Duplo farm sets forever! Why no System farm sets? I can't wait to see pictures. I'm also intrigued by the "City Life" set. What could this be?? I'm hoping it's an "accessory set" with stuff like lightposts, mailboxes, street vendors, newspaper stands, etc. Just a small set of neat accessories that can add details to your city. But, we'll see ... I'm surprised that there's no info on the newly redesigned Train sets. Maybe that's coming later in the year.

Where did you read that the designers wanted to put guns in the Agents line? Can you send a link? I'd be curious to read about that. Also, I think stating that "the rule is and will be for a long time" is just wishful thinking. Neither your nor anyone else on this board has ANY idea when or why TLC will change their "rules." We saw with the dreaded grey/bley fiasco that TLC will "change the rules" with no advance warning, and no thought to the impact of their decision. TLC could decide tomorrow that they're not going to make yellow bricks because yellow plastic is too expensive, so therefore all mini-fig heads will be purple from now on. I think that's where a lot of frustration comes from in the fan community -- we have no visibility into how or why these decisions are made. To me, the fleshies are not more realistic. I personally don't know anyone with skin color that has that sickly, jaundiced look to it that the so-called "fleshies" have. It's simply not a realistic flesh tone for any human ethnicity. Why not just use the caucasian skin tones that they used for the NBA mini-figs? That would have been more realistic, if "realism" was in fact the intended goal.

True enough. The Harry Potter theme is a bit of an oddball in that regard. As an aside, I wish TLC had done more with the whole idea of linking together the smaller classrooms and sets into a larger, cohesive Hogwarts Castle. In that first wave, you could kinda do it, but it was a bit of a mess and didn't look very nice. And then later waves seemed to drop the concept altogether. HA! So, you're saying that Bill the pony will be the "Technic shooter" of the LOTR theme--that irritating, annoying element that they feel obligated to cram into every set? That's hilarious. Sounds like a great idea for a new vignette! Get working on that! I can't wait to see it.

Excellent! Thanks for pointing this out. I liked that City and Star Wars were specifically called out as the best-selling themes. This quote in particular caught my eye: I think this means that TLC finally gets it. They've settled on a solid formula mixing original themes and licensed themes. The licenses need to be chosen wisely (Indy = good; Speed Racer = oops), and can be wildly successful. But, the licenses can't come at the expense of the in-house, original stuff, like City, Castle, and Space. Hopefully we can look back at those dark days of the late '90's and early '00's as an aberration. <insert that tiresome argument> town sets, Time Twisters, etc. are buried and forgotten.

Seems like TLC has done a pretty accurate representation of the ship. The real fault for the ship's messy design has to go to Lucasfilm, not TLC. My guess is Lucasfilm is trying to recapture that "what a piece of junk!" magic of the Millennium Falcon. I guess we'll have to wait to see the movie to see if they succeeded or not. The idea of a "space mobile home" reminds me of the Winnebago from "Spaceballs." Great review!! Informative, entertaining, and opinionated. So many people shy away from stating an actual OPINION in their review for fear of offending anyone. What's the point of making a review if you don't state what you think about it???

It's all so smooth and tile-y! Very nice atmospheric pictures too.

Yes, that's what I was getting at. Thematically, "The Hobbit" is pretty simple. It's a straightforward adventure story -- find the dragon and steal the treasure. LOTR is much deeper and richer, with a complex narrative structure, and some pretty heavy themes regarding the nature of power and corruption. I think another reason for Lego NOT to make "Hobbit" sets is the simple question of what would the sets be??? TLC tends to go after licenses with lots of vehicle possibilities (Star Wars, Speed Racer, Batman). Heck, even most of the Indiana Jones sets feature vehicles. There are no vehicles in Middle-Earth, unless you count Bill the pony. The sets would have to recreate various scenes and locations, almost like playsets, which is not something that TLC tends to do much. That being said ... I would LOOOOVE to see a set with Smaug sitting on his treasure horde. Oooh, or a Mirkwood set with giant spiders!!

A license linked to the upcoming "Hobbit" movie seems potentially possible since it is a lighter, more kid-friendly story than the LOTR trilogy. They could conceivably mimic what they did with Indiana Jones -- make sets based on the new movie at the same time they make sets based on the older material. I'm skeptical though. The LOTR movies kicked off a wave of big budget adaptations of fantasy stories (Narnia, Spiderwick, Bridge to Terabitha, Eragon, Golden Compass, etc.), and none of them were all that popular (or all that good, for that matter). Is the trend starting to fade a bit now? Seems like jumping in on the tail end of a trend is not a really smart move. Do you have some data to back up that assertion? I'd be curious to see that.

I've got my Lego superhero comic, The Unlikely Society, which I've been making on and off for about five years now (yeesht, is that right?!?!). There are lots of other Lego comics, mostly in the fantasy and sci-fi genres. I've never come across any other superhero stories though, so I guess I'm still somewhat unique in that regard.

Not to derail the review (which was excellent, thanks!) ... but I've read comments like this lots of times on EB, and I don't get it. Why is only the first person to buy a set allowed to review it? There are now people putting "placeholder" threads up saying "I got the set and will review it soon so nobody else review it first!!" What a ridiculous thing to do! Is there room on EB for only one opinion on a set?? Does someone else putting their review up first somehow devalue everyone else's opinion?? Man, I'd love to see dozens of reviews for EVERY set. More pictures, more thoughts, more suggestions for improvement ... why limit it to just the first guy lucky enough to find it?? Doesn't make sense to me. Anyway, sorry for the tangent. Thanks again for the review! Those new clonetrooper accessories are very slick.

My daughter is 12, and she still plays with all her Belville stuff (mostly the fairy princess castle sets). If your daughter is anything like mine, you will definitely get your money's worth out of it. However ... as soon as my daughter says she's done with it, I plan on raiding the sets for all those great food and accessory bits. Patience .... Great review, by the way. The Belville sets are indeed overpriced, but they're probably Lego's best attempt at wooing the girl audience (I still hate the fact that TLC thinks they need separate "boy" themes and "girl" themes, but whatever). They're a very nice alternative to Barbie -- you get posable figures with realistic body proportions, plus some creativity and building aspects thrown in.

I had that problem too. Tin7, one thing to remember is that readers in the Western world are trained to scan a page starting from the top-left corner, then working right and down across the page. You have to organize your panels in a similar pattern, or else provide some other mechanism for directing the reader's attention (the arrows, as Dovchenko suggested, for example). Otherwise, cool stuff. I've seen the movie twice now, and loved it. I was exhausted by the end. That's the scariest portrayl of the Joker I've ever seen. It worked really well in the context of the movie's Batman "universe." I still don't like Christian Bale's Batman growl though. He sounds like he needs to clear his throat. No one will ever top Kevin Conroy from the animated Batman series ....

No kidding?? Dude, that's awesome! I probably won't make it to the store tonight, but next time I'm there, I will definitely check out the community window. That is very cool. Cardinal Brick -- oh yeah, double-stamp days are sooooo dangerous. I can talk myself into buying anything during double-stamp days.

The closest I've seen to what you're looking for is a "stamp card." For every $25 you spend at a Lego retail store, they stamp your card. After 8 stamps, you get a $10 gift card; after another 8 stamps, you get a $20 gift card. Then you start over with a fresh card. I have to say, these things are deviously effective. Everytime I go into the Lego store in Schaumburg, IL, I can't help myself. I HAVE to spend $25 in order to get that next stamp!! I'm currently only one stamp away from the $10 card. Hmm ... maybe I should stop in there after work tonight ...

I'm happy to join the petition, but I'm skeptical it'll have much effect. Seems like we're tilting at windmills here. HA! Get it?? Tilting at windmills?? And the set has a ... a windmill in it?? Hello? Anybody?? Is this thing on???

Oh sure, all the classic Town stuff is branded with Exxon (and Shell too!). If memory serves, TLC came out with the fake Octan brand shortly after the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska. I have no idea if the timing on that was just coincedence, but my theory was always that TLC realized having toys branded with a real-world oil company could have a very negative impact, so they came up with the fictional Octan company. I have no idea if that's really the case. I had this set when I was a kid. I eventually modded it to include an enclosed cab for the driver. This set was right in that awkward transition period of including mini-figs in sets ... but TLC hadn't quite figured out how to make mini-figs fit into vehicles.

I brought up this question over in the review thread for the underwater set, but I'll ask it here... do you think we'll even get more new Agents sets next year? Lego has done lots of one-year themes lately, like Dino Attack, Vikings, etc. When I first read about the Agents theme, it seemed for sure like it was going to be another one of those short-lived concepts. But maybe not, huh? The sets are much better than anticipated, and there's no end to the characters, vehicles, and locations they could do.

Oh man, this review takes me back! I got this set when I was 8 years old, and LOVED it. I remember modding it to remove the lab in the back, and I put in a giant laser cannon instead. 'Cause when you're 8 years old, everything needs a giant laser cannon. HA! Very true. The vehicle is built so low to the ground that the front end catches on everything.

Nice review, thanks! TLC is really going all-out with the Agents theme. I wonder if it will last longer than one year (unlike other recent one-and-done themes). My only real criticism of the theme is those freaking stickers. My god, look at the size of that DSS in this set!

[in my best Keanu Reeves voice] Whoa ..... Nice work! Looks great so far. There is no spoon!

First, my apologies on the somewhat misleading subject heading for this thread. I didn't mean to imply this was the final Unlikely Society chapter ever! No, just the final part of this particular story. I already have the next two story arcs (a much more reasonable three chapters each) written, so lots more Unlikey Society silliness to come. Hinckley -- don't worry about the "dangerous karma" of your criticisms. They were received in the same friendly spirit in which they were offered. And you're right. I know you're right. I knew it when I wrote that chapter many long months ago. But, to be perfectly honest, I was bored and tired of this story arc. I know that's not much consolation to you the reader who wants a big bang-up explosive ending, but from my perspective, I just wanted it to be over. So, yes, I got lazy. I at least tried to make it funny though!! And good luck with your final Housewives episode! Here's a little teaser for the next story. This is one of the new villians -- Violet Femme.

For those patient readers who have waiting all these long months for the conclusion to the alien invasion story arc, it's FINALLY posted. The townspeople have been turned into pop music-singing zombies, and it's up to the Unlikely Society to save them. Man, I feel like I've been working on this N-vasion story forever. I'm excited to be done with it, and to be able to move on with some new stories. For those of you new to the Unlikey Society, it's my Lego-based superhero comic. Please check it out, but you'll want to back up and start from chapter 1. Thanks for reading! -Joebot

I remember hearing that at the time, but it was never clear if that was just fan-based speculation. If anyone has any links to any statements by Hasbro or TLC on the subject, that would be cool.

What do I THINK we'll see, or what do I WANT to see? I'm guessing we'll get a new hospital. The last one was a couple of years ago, and was kinda lackluster compared to the recent fire station and police station. As for what I want to see, I'm hoping they expand upon the cargo and mail sets that came out this year -- a post office or a cargo center would be great. I'd also love to see a zoo. I can't figure out why they make Duplo zoos year after year, but we never get a System-scale zoo.

"These blast points are too accurate for sand people. Only Imperial Sheeptroopers are so precise." Great stuff, Hinckley. Terrific concept, perfectly executed.