Joebot

Dude, I hear ya. After reading through the thread, and seeing everyone raving and gushing over the new sets, I thought I was only one who was unimpressed. I think I have Star Wars Fatigue Syndrome too. I guess it's to be expected after close to a decade and hundreds of sets. I'm still interested whenever new mini-figs crop up, like the rebel troopers, but that's really it. I also have no interest in EU sets or Clone Wars sets. I think I'm just finally getting bored with the whole theme. Oh well, that leaves more money for Batman and City!

Thanks, guys! I appreciate the feedback! As for having more stories planned ... I've got about a dozen short stories finished that I currently have submitted to various different magazines. The rejections roll in, and I resend the story somewhere else. It's a long, tedious, discouraging process. This particular story is only the second one I've ever sold. The first one I sold to an online magazine last summer. Alas, the very next month after it was published, the magazine went under and stopped publishing. At least I got paid though!

Oh man, that video is freaking hilarious! This thing looks like a staggering drunk when it's walking!

I gotta be honest ... I read your post a couple of times, and I still don't understand what you're trying to say. Can you repeat that??

Hey everone, A couple of weeks ago, I sold one of my short stories to an online fiction magazine called Afterburn Speculative Fiction. The story was published yesterday, and if you're interested in reading it, you can find it at www.afterburnsf.com . In the center of the page is the section for the new September issue. Beneath the "Fantasy" section, click on the link for the story called "The White Devils." It's a fantasy adventure story, which I understand is not everyone's favorite genre. If you do read it, I'd love to hear what you think of it! Thanks! -Joebot

Hey everyone, I'm never sure if the Town forum is the proper place for my announcements, but since Eurobricks is sadly lacking a "Lego Superhero Comics" forum, I'll just go with Town. Anyway, I just finished redesigning our entire website from top to bottom, so please go check it out and let me know what you think. We've got all kinds of fancy stuff like movies and slideshows. Now, you might be asking, "Where the &%$# is the next Unlikely Society chapter you lazy &%$#s!!" And that would be a perfectly legitimate question. All I can tell you is ... soon. Very soon. It's almost done. Like, really, almost, very nearly close to be complete. Chapter 7 has a ton of speical effects, so it's taken longer than usual. But really, we're almost there. Thanks! -Joebot www.unlikelysociety.com

My only suggestion is to buy a Mac and use Apple's iMovie software. iMovie is so freakin' easy to use.

Sounds good to me. I'm all for more diversity in the City theme. I don't care if it's factories or strip malls, as long as it's not another &%$#-ing police theme, I'm cool with it.

That's a good list. Man, I'd love to see what they do with Ra's al Ghul. I'd also add the Ventriloquist, although I have no idea how they would make his mannequin. Batgirl and Commisioner Gordon are other glaring holes in Lego's lineup so far. I realize Lego has their sadly outdated "no girl mini-figs!" policy, but geez, we gotta have a Batgirl.

Very nice! But to be REALLY accurate, you need a line of about 100 surly, grumpy, impatient passengers waiting in line.

Yeah, I thought of that after I posted my message. I was hoping nobody else would. :) I see your point, but I don't think you can accurately compare the cultural impacts of Star Wars vs. Indiana Jones. Sure, they're both 20+ years old, but Star Wars has had a FAR larger, and longer-lived impact on pop culture. The prequels (sucky as they were) roped in a whole new generation of fans. Is the Indy 4 movie going to have the same effect? Ehhh .... maybe. But I kinda doubt it. My son is seven years old, so he's right in the prime Lego target audience. I told him the other day that Lego is making Indiana Jones sets. He looked at me with a blank stare and said, "What's that?" The Indy license seems targeted exclusively to AFOLs (which may or may not be a good thing, depending on your point of view). We're the only ones old enough to remember those movies!! They've been out of the public consciousness for a long time now. I'm not convinced that kids these days don't even know who Indy is. I own the Indy DVD box set, and I'm not sure I would let my kids even watch the movies. Definitely not "Temple of Doom" with the heart-ripping-out-of-his-chest scene. I saw "Raiders" when I was eight years old, and the scene at the end with the melting faces gave me nightmares for weeks. Don't get me wrong -- I hope the sets are awesome, and I love the Indy fig that we've seen. I just don't think the license is going to be a runaway monster sales success like SW has been.

My two-bit opinions on the subject: Star Wars -- the granddaddy of all Lego's licenses. This one has been a colossal success ... but I wonder if it's run its course. For the first time since the license began (way back in '97!), I find myself not really interested in the latest releases. New mini-figs still get my attention, but that's about it. Harry Potter -- seemed like a good idea at the beginning, but the sets have grown really repetitive. We're on, what, our THIRD Hogwarts now?? Ugh. Spongebob -- my kids have most of these, and they really like them. They are undoubtedly cute, but I don't see that this line has much longevity to it. I wouldn't be surprised if the Chum Bucket and the Boating School are the final two sets in the theme. Avatar -- never seen the show, never bought any of the sets. Batman -- a really smart license for Lego. Batman captures the two things that Lego licenses do well: lots of colorful, unique characters, and lots of interesting vehicles (Star Wars has these same two features as well). A good choice for Lego, and I love the sets so far. Indy -- the verdict is out until we see some pictures, but I'm a little leery of this one. The movies are 20 years old!! Yeah, there's a new movie coming out next year, but does anybody still care? I suppose there are die-hard Indy fans out there. I loved the old movies back in the day, but that was a long time ago. Bob the Builder -- my kids are older, so I've never got any of these Duplo sets, but it sure seems like a natural fit for Lego, and the sets look cute. Same goes for Thomas the Train. Some older defunct licenses: NBA -- what a trainwreck. Why would a toy company want to sign a deal with a sports league populated by some of the most unlikable athletes in any sport? Hey, why not make a set with a crooked ref who works for the mob!! Galidor -- Ha ha ha ha ha ha!! Disney (Winnie the Pooh, Mickey) -- this was surprisingly short-lived. I would have expected to see this line go on for a while. The Pooh Duplo (Poohplo?) sets were cute, but they needed more characters. The sets got really repetitive. Spider Man -- a cool theme with some terrific sets. Unfortunately, the license was hamstrung by being tied to the movies. That greatly limited the sets / characters that we got. I really wish this deal had been an open-ended license with Marvel, like the Batman deal with DC. I loved the sets that we got, but this one could have been much, much better with a broader license.

Man, those look nice. They did a great job of mimicing the style of Lego animals. This is why I love the AFOL community. Lego fans have been clamoring for mini-fig scale farm animals for years. If TLC isn't going to give us what we want, then screw them, we'll do it ourselves. That's awesome. Now ... how about some zoo animals? My town zoo is kinda pathetic right now (polar bears, monkeys, alligators, and an elephant).

Lego should do this with all their product releases. I would have never thought that looking at the piece inventories, then trying to imagine what the set looks like, would be this much fun. But this is really cool. But it's only fun for a while. Now make with the pictures already, huh? I'm totally on board the Death Star playset bandwagon. In my opinion, that's the second biggest "welll, duh" Star Wars set that Lego hasn't yet made (with the Tauntaun coming in at #1). A modular, multi-set Death Star series covering all the major scenes in "A New Hope" would rock.

That's totally cool, and I certainly appreciate your honesty. If your parents have a no-Simpsons rule, then what are you gonna do? I hope you do check out the show sometime when you're older. Back in it's prime, it was the funniest, smartest show on TV. To get this back to Lego (which was the original point of the thread!) ... I totally agree that it'll never happen. As I mentioned earlier up the thread, the Simpsons high point for creativity and popularity was ten years ago. Back then, it might have been a possibility, but that was before Lego started grabbing up licenses left and right. Now, I think the Simpsons fanbase has gotten too old.

Lego makes Advent calendars, and Advent is a Christian season. Now, obviously, Lego dances around that issue by making the calendar a countdown to Santa rather than a countdown to the baby Jesus. But still, the fact that they call it an "Advent calendar" is interesting.

Thanks, dude. You know, whole books have been written on The Simpsons and religion. Seriously, check out "The Gospel According to The Simpsons: The Spiritual Life of the World's Most Animated Family." From the Publisher's Weekly review of the book: "...many viewers have seen a fundamental affirmation of spirituality, family and community life that emerges in spite of the sarcasm and exaggerated situations." Bingo. But sadly, to actually WATCH the show and to become an educated, informed consumer is too much effort for most people. It's so much easier to bash stuff that you don't know anything about.

Let's think about this statement for a minute. The Simpsons is a show that depicts a suburban, middle-class family. The dad works a blue collar job, and the mom is a stay-at-home mom. They are shown eating dinner tonight every night as a family. They are shown going to church every Sunday. The parents are involved in the children's lives. Heck, the daughter Lisa is an honor-roll student! Wow. Pretty subversive stuff, huh? In all honesty ... have you ever actually watched the show? I have no problem with people expressing their opinions, as long as they're informed opinions.

What a fascinating article. What struck me most was the vast amount of marketing jibberish. Phrases like "standard playtheme assortment," "instant play value," "element portfolio," and "communication umbrella." Seriously, what the hell is a "communication umbrella?" At my job, I have to work with Marketing people all the time, and the conclusion that I've come to is that they're all soulless robots. It's the only possible explanation.

Sadly, I think the time for a Lego Simpsons theme was ten years ago. The Simpsons hit their peak, in terms of creativity and popularity, back in the mid-90's. The show is almost 20 years old, and it's been on a gradual, creative downslide for a few years now. Getting the license now would be too late. But that's the cold, logical part of my brain talking. The other shameless fanboy part of my brain says, "I want Kang and Kodos mini-figures right &%$-ing NOW!!!" "We must move forward, not backward. Upwards, not forwards. And always twirling, twirling, TWIRLING towards freedom!"

If it's in the movies, it's canon. If it's not in the movies, then it's Expanded Universe. Sure, we saw a few little snippets of the Clone Wars in "Revenge of the Sith." However, anything beyond those scenes, events, and characters depicted in the movie is technically "Expanded Universe." Of course this is all just silly semantics for the most part. And it's not always a hard-and-fast rule. For example, the Outrider ship was first introduced in a novel, "Shadows of the Empire," thus making it part of the EU. Ah, but then Lucas started meddling with the original trilogy, and you can now see the Outrider in a background shot of Mos Eisley in the special edition version of "A New Hope." So, does that mean the Outrider is now canon?? Who knows. And really, who cares? Besides, "Shadows of the Empire" was a crappy book.

Dude, I hear ya. I'm with you. I think it's because these EU sets like the TIE Crawler don't hit that same nostalgia button that an X-Wing or a snowspeeder does. This TIE Crawler may as well be a Mission to Mars set for all I care. Plus, this is now the SIXTH freakin' TIE configuration (fighter, bomber, advanced, interceptor, drone, crawler) that Lego has made. Stop it!!

Yeah, I saw those threads. I would have liked to see some age statistics attached to each person's vote. My hypothesis (completely unfounded) is that the differences in opinion are split down age lines. The younger fans (> 25) are going to prefer the newer styles, such as 6-wide cars. The older fans (< 26) are going to prefer the "classic" building styles and 4-wide cars. Like I said though, it's just a theory. It's like with Star Wars. Young fans like the prequels better because that's what they grew up with. Older fans think the prequels both suck AND blow, and prefer the original trilogy because that's what they grew up with. For the record, I'm okay with the new Cafe Corner style, but I am struggling a bit to integrate it into my town. And 6-wide cars are the work of the devil. 4-wide 4-ever! -Joebot