Joebot

Thanks for the really nice comments and feedback everyone. That balance between my own designs and Lego's Town sets is pretty much what I'm going after. I was lucky enough to grow up during the Golden Era of Town sets back in the late 80's and early 90's, so I love all those old designs. Almost all my buildings try to match that, but maybe at a slightly larger, slightly more detailed scale. But all my buildings are back-less, and there are never, ever any stairs. Lego buildings don't have stairs!! There are definitely Town MOCs out there are way more detailed and realistic, using all the greys and browns and tan, but I kinda like having a bright blue building next to bright red building, which is next to a bright yellow building. Incidentally, I got the Cafe Corner for my birthday last week, and I'm struggling with how to incorporate it into my town. It's just too dang big, and stylistically, it doesn't "fit." I may try to scale it down or something. It's a great-looking set, that's for sure. Oh, and as for the underwater area, yeah, my dad built that for me (actually he built the whole table). He does woodworking as a hobby. You can't really see it in the picture I posted, but there's Divers stuff down there, as well as my kids' Spongebob sets, a handful of Aquaraiders sets, and the big sea monster from the Vikings. -Joebot

Okay, I posted a bunch of new pictures on our website. I added a couple of links at the bottom of the "Fluxington" page that show some overall pictures of my whole town, as well as a few more closeups of the hotel. The town is always a little messy, mainly due to my seven-year-old son. So occasionally you'll see piles of Lego debris laying around. Just ignore those. -Joebot www.unlikelysociety.com

Thanks very much! I'll take some more pictures of the hotel, and try to get those posted tonight. My original plan was to take detailed pictures of each section of the town, but that's proving to be time-consuming. I can quickly take some wider shots of the whole town in the meantime. No, I hadn't read that in Brickjournal. That's awesome, thanks! As for Pharoah Phil ... I dunno. We may get back to him someday. We honestly got really bored with those old characters (except Hue Man, who needs his own spinoff comic someday). I just wish we could churn the comics out faster because I have so many ideas bouncing around in my head. The whole process seems to take forever. Plus stupid real life stuff gets in the way.

Do you think it's the fear of leaks? That's probably true, but it just makes no sense. The reason we always hear why Lego is so fanatical about leaks is that they don't want competitors to steal their ideas. But that's just stupid when it comes to the licensed products. Megbloks and Best-Lock CAN'T make Star Wars sets or Batman sets or Indy sets. So why all the secrecy?? Lego needs to learn how to build buzz -- have a big splashy press release months in advance, then dribble out some teaser pictures over the ensuing months to build fan interest and get people talking. Instead, because we never get any official word from Lego about anything, the pictures tend to leak out. When that happens, Lego has lost control. They no longer control the message or the timeline. Even when they DO make a rare press release, like with the Indy sets ... we already had tons of rumors prior to the announcement, so by the time they finally got around to the big announcement, it was met with shrugs. "Yawn. We already know about that." Lego is a lot like Apple in that regard. Apple is fanatical about their secrecy.

Hey everyone, I posted some new pictures of my Lego town, Fluxington. The new pictures show the harbor and surrounding areas. They can be found on my website under the "Fluxington" link. Check out the pictures of the baseball stadium and lighthouse while you're there! For all you slavering fanboys waiting anxiously for the next chapter of our Lego superhero comic, The Unlikely Society (all three of you) ... hang in there. This next chapter is a special-effects filled, action-packed, blockbuster extravaganza, so it's taking a little longer. We've got five of the seven pages done, so we're getting there. Thanks, and please let us know what you think! -Joebot www.unlikelysociety.com

So we got a set based on a background in a single panel of a 15-year-old comic book. And the ship was wrecked in the image. Wow. That's really freakin' obscure. I realize Lego has had this license for almost ten years now, but that is really scraping the bottom of the barrel. And yeah, Shadow Trooper sounds a heck of a lot better than Blackhole Trooper. Regardless of what they're called, they do look nice. The silver and black is very slick. Maybe they're Oakland Raider fans?

So, you've got 100,000 die-hard, comic-book-reading, toy-buying, sci-fi / fantasy nerds all crammed into the same building ... and Lego shows them a new poster. Unbelievable. Can Lego's marketing department really be that clueless?

I realize the TIE Crawler is from the Expanded Universe, but does anyone know specifically where it's from? Like from a novel, video game, comic, Lucasfilm-branded shampoo, etc.? I'm just curious. What a goofy looking ship. Those Imperial weapon designers seem fixated on the whole "central sphere with two symmetrical appendages" concept of ship design. Also, does anyone else giggle when they read the phrase "blackhole trooper?" It sounds kinda dirty. Is it just me? It's just me, isn't it?

Oh man, I used to have that toy when I was a kid! I loved that thing. It had buttons on the top that made different noises, like R2 beeping, or a stormtrooper saying, "There's one! Set for stun!" Oh yeah, that takes me back (great, now I sound like Grandpa Simpson).

Man, three years after the change, and this issue can STILL spur pages and pages of heated debate. I hate the color change as much as anyone, but maybe it's time we move on as a community. This is such a tired, worn-out topic. No one is going to change anyone else's mind, people are firmly set in their opinions, and Lego clearly isn't going to switch back. What's left to discuss?

Are you suggesting a different pricing model where anyone can post pictures for free ... but only paying members have the ability to view / search the pictures? That's an interesting idea. I guess it depends on what you see as Brickshelf's primary value. Is it: a) picture hosting, or b) the enrichment of the Lego online community. I don't think it's a) because there are other sites that do picture hosting better and cheaper. So if it's b), then maybe a different pricing model makes sense. Anybody can dump their pictures onto Brickshelf, but if you want to browse the pictures, see what everyone is up to, search for ideas or inspiration or whatever... well, you gotta fork over some cash.

For quite a bit less than $60/year, you can register your own domain and post as many pictures as you want. My domain hosting service gives me 100 gigs of space for about $30 / year. AND, I don't have to go through any kind of "moderation" process to post my stuff. Nothing against Brickshelf or Kevin ... but why would you pay that much money just to put pictures online? I dunno. I've never used Brickshelf, so maybe there's something here that I'm missing.

What about the cartoon??? Batman: The Animated Series will always be the definitive Batman to me. The two Tim Burton movies were okay (they haven't aged well though), and I really dig what Christopher Nolan is doing with the new movies. Christian Bale did a fine job in "Batman Begins" ... but when I watch the movie, I hear Kevin Conroy's voice in my head. The cartoon rocked. And as much as I enjoyed the Justice League Unlimited cartoon, my biggest complaint was always: more Batman please!!

When Lego got the Star Wars license, they entered a whole new market -- collectibles. Prior to that, Lego was rarely viewed as a collectible. Yeah, there were some hard-core AFOLs who would try to find old sets, but Lego is kinda weird in that regard. If I have all the pieces in my collection to build, say, the Galaxy Explorer ... does that mean I REALLY have the Galaxy Explorer?? It's almost a philosophical question. That all changed with the Star Wars license. I see all these marketing stunts with the gold C3PO and whatever else as Lego really embracing this collectible market. Collectibility is driven by exclusivity. The rarer something is, the more commotion there is around trying to acquire one. Of course Lego COULD make more gold C3POs. But by creating an artificial scarcity, they drive up demand and create more interest. It's the same thing Hasbro, DC Direct, Mattel, McFarlane, and every other toy company does. I understand your frustrations, but honestly, you just need to walk away from it. If you don't have the time / money to find a gold C3PO, then you just move on. Not everybody gets to drive a Porsche. If all you can afford is a Ford Escort, then so be it.

As a former Wal-Mart employee (my first job out of college -- yay for English degrees!), I don't think that the employees are incompetent. It's simply that they DON'T CARE. And why should they care? It's a horrible place to work. Wal-Mart pays slave wages. They also staff as few people as possible so there's never enough time and manpower to circulate inventory and keep the shelves stocked. I'll bet your Wal-Mart actually does have the Star Wars and Mission to Mars sets. They're most likely sitting in a box in the back somewhere. Here in Chicago, the city council tried to pass a law that would require higher wages for "big box stores" (Target, Wal-Mart, Best Buy, etc.). I haven't heard if the law passed, but it seemed like a good idea. Wal-Mart is a corporate vampire. They suck the life and soul out of a community.

Amen, brother. I refuse to step foot in a Wal-Mart store, just on general principles. I hate the company, I had their business practices and their labor policies. The world would be a far better place without Wal-Mart.

I think you're onto something. I'm guessing these Impulse sets are small polybags containing a mini-fig and a couple of pieces. Maybe they're going to try to sell these in grocery stores or that sort of thing. That's a pretty good idea, especially if the mini-figs are interesting and unique. As for the police station .... sigh. As inevitable as the tides, Lego comes out with a police station every two years. You can mark your calendar by it. My Lego town is already a facist police state, with an approximate ratio of one cop for every two civilians.

Agreed. Lego did a nice job of hiding all the walking mechanisms ... but still, the walking feature isn't all that compelling to me, especially since I have the first AT-AT. A bigger, and more interesting, group of mini-figs might have tempted me a bit. Another Luke?? Yawn.

"The Dark Knight Returns" Batmobile would be awesome. The new Bat-tank set seems somewhat reminiscent. I think a Batmobile set based on the old Adam West TV show would be hilarious. Totally agreed on Birds of Prey. That could make a pretty nifty set with those three ladies. Do you suppose a Black Canary or Zatanna mini-fig would have legs printed with fishnet hose? As much as I'd love to see more Lego DC characters ... I think the appeal is mainly the mini-figs. I'm not sure what they would do for actual sets. Batman was clearly the best character to use since he has lots of vehicles that lend themselves well to being Lego-ized. Batman also has the best (and probably the most famous) Rogue's Gallery. But what the heck would a Green Lantern Lego set look like?? Or Flash??

Totally agreed! I just saw it last night. Best movie I've seen this summer (Spidey 3, Shrek 3, and Fantastic Four 2 were all mild disappointments). Transformers totally delivered on what I wanted to see: giant robots fighting. The smoking hot Megan Fox was just the icing on the cake. Sure, the plot was dumb (a magic space cube?), and there was a long gap in the middle of the movie that suffered from a severe lack of giant robots fighting. But then, Optimus Prime showed up, and we got back to the giant robots fighting. The smartest thing they did was have Peter Cullen (from the old '80's cartoon) voice Prime again. Just hearing his voice made me feel like I was 12 years old again. I couldn't stop smiling everytime he had dialogue. Anyway! Back to the topic ... it's hard to imagine Hasbro licenseing one of their key franchises to a competitor. That would sorta be like Marvel letting DC publish Spiderman comics. Sure, it's a fun idea, but it's not gonna happen.

I'm just glad the theme is going to continue! I was disappointed this year to see Batman following what looked like the Viking pattern -- big splashy first year release, two sets the following year ... then nothing. I do agree with Brainbox about getting "classic" Batman sets unrelated to any specific movie. I think Lego should look to the Animated Series from the 90's for inspiration. That show had a terrific "timeless" style to it that is perfect for Lego sets. Although ... a Tumbler would be very cool. Especially if they did it at the same scale as the big Batmobile they came out with last year. Imagine a line of big, detailed Batmobiles from different eras and media. That would rock. Harley Quinn and Commissior Gordon are must-have figs, along with Batgirl. Seriously, they made frikkin' Nightwing before they made Batgirl?!?! Ugh. I'd love to see Ras al Ghul, and a Clayface (although I'm not sure how they would pull that off). That pretty much wraps up the A-list villains. After that are guys like Mad Hatter, Creeper, Ventriloquist, and Man-Bat. Would there be much of a demand for those more obscure characters? I know Lego's license is with DC, but does anybody know if the license encompasses the entire DC catalog? Or is it ONLY for the Batman family of characters??

I think it's sad how many different times Lego has tried to market to girls -- Paradisa, Scala, Belville, Clikits, etc. They keep trying and failing. Girls don't need or want separate themes that are so obviously and shamlessly pandering to stereotypical notions of what girls like. It's embarrassing how dense TLC is about this. Why not just add some more female mini-figs into the existing themes? When we do get female figs, we get outdated crap like the "damsel in distress" in the new Castle set. Ugh. What century is TLC living in?!?! Even in their licensed themes! Where are the Padme and Leia figs? Leia has only popped up a handful of times (usually in her slave bikini costume), and we haven't seen a Padme fig in about seven years. Where's the Batgirl fig? I remember being pleasantly surprised that Alpha Team had two female characters. That was cool. I didn't mean to derail the topic here, which was supposed to be about Paradisa. I've just always had a love / hate relationship with Paradisa.

The American release of Pullman's book was actually called "The Golden Compass." The British edition was called "Northern Lights," right? Sorta like how the first Harry Potter book had different names in the U.S. and the U.K. ("Sorceror's Stone" vs "Philosopher's Stone"). I guess since it's an American film company, they went with the American book name. Anyway, yeah, I love that book. The sequels are a bit of a letdown, and the third one in particular can really drag, but the first one is terrific. A Lego theme based on the movie could be awesome. Armored polar bears?? Yeah, baby!!

There was some great set design going on in those Paradisa sets, but I was always vaguely bothered by the gender stereotyping going on. The line was obviously intended to be marketed at girls, and look at the set contents -- beaches, ponies, swimming pools, restaurants. Why not just give the mini-figs a vacuum cleaner, a stove, and a time machine back to the '50s. Ugh. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to see current Town sets with stuff like beaches and restaurants. But why do we need "Girl Town" sets and "Boy Town" sets? It's absurd. Why no female cops, fire fighters, construction workers, or doctors? And TLC wonders why girls aren't as interested in their products. Gee, maybe it's because they're trying to enforce gender roles that are 50 years out of date. Reminds me of when McDonald's has "Boy Happy Meals" with a toy truck and "Girl Happy Meals" with a Barbie doll. That drives me nuts.