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Joebot

Eurobricks Knights
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Everything posted by Joebot

  1. Joebot
    It's a cool license, but man, those sets and figures are ugly. Agreed! Where's the Beholders and Mind Flayers and Owlbears?!?
  2. Joebot
    Agreed with that. Sometimes TLC's hands are tied by the source material of the license. There simply aren't a lot of female characters in TMNT, Star Wars, or especially in Lord of the Rings (total sausage-fest). But TLC is totally dropping the ball in the Super Hero theme. Both Marvel and DC have hundreds of female characters, both villains and heroes. There have admittedly been a few female mini-figs (Poison IVy, Black Cat, Harley Quinn, Wonder Woman, Black Widow, and FINALLY Batgirl off the top of my head), but almost as many have been the "girlfriend" role (Mary Jane Watson, Pepper Potts, Lois Lane). That's disappointing.
  3. Joebot
    In my opinion, the article is flawed because they cherry-picked a Friends set that met their preconceived agenda ("The Friends theme is sexist!") They failed to mention the sets that depict girls playing soccer, camping, riding horses, working at a vet, painting, playing music, building a robot, going to school, practicing karate, and singing. Are those activities sexist too?? Of course not. Thus, they're conveniently ignored by this author. Somebody mentioned this over in the Friends thread, and it bears repeating here: The marketing of a toy is not the same as the toy itself. TLC conforms to gender-coding stereotypes in the way they market the Friends line (lots of glittery purple / pink boxes). This is unfortunate, but probably a necessary evil in the current toy industry. TLC didn't create that problem; they just caved into it. But the toys themselves?? The actual sets?? That's a much more involved, complicated question, one that this author seems unwilling to engage with.
  4. Joebot
    I see this argument made over and over and over again on Eurobricks whenever somebody dares to criticize a Lego product.I think everybody understands that you can build whatever you want with Lego bricks. That's pretty common knowledge. You seem to be suggesting that we view Lego's official sets SOLELY as raw materials -- as nothing but piles of spare parts. I think there are some harcdore parts-monkeys that probably do this ("Oooh! Part 36827 in trans-dark-flame-magenta!! Awesome!!"). But most of us view official Lego sets as ... jumping off points. We're hobbyist / collectors, and we view official Lego sets through that lens. Is this set something new or interesting that I've never seen before? Can I build upon it in some way? Is it a neat display piece that will look good on my shelf? Will it allow me to expand my collection in a fun, creative new way?
  5. Joebot
    And after Arctic Police proves to be a huge hit for TLC, they'll revisit the old Divers theme, but rebrand it as "Undersea Police." And then the following year ... Time Twisters Police! [shudder] The Lego City Police Department is clearly the best-funded, best-equipped police department the world has ever seen, with enormous budgets for hardware and personnel. It only makes sense that they expand their jurisdiction beyond the city limits.
  6. Joebot
    The story I always heard was that the track molds were destroyed. And the monorail motor was manufactured by another company that has since gone out of business. Now ... why they couldn't make a NEW track mold, or find a NEW motor manufacturer ... who knows?
  7. Joebot
    Totally agreed! The Friends design team is doing an amazing job. I bought ONE City set in 2013 (the motorcycle transporter) .. but I bought about ten Friends sets. Everything in these sets is fantastic -- great parts and details, fun colors, and some welcome new designs and concepts. Until Lego City gets out of the police / fire rut, that theme is officially dead to me.
  8. Joebot
    Oh man, I had one of those! That is really great. I can still remember what the sound clips were. Nicely done!!
  9. Joebot
    See? Everybody wins! And your previous post elevated "internet trolling" into the realm of "performance art." Nicely done!!
  10. Joebot
    Do you really want to participate in a discussion forum that consists of: Eurobrick Member #1: The new sets are awesome! Eurobrick Member #2: They sure are! Eurobrick Member #1: I'm gonna buy all of them! Eurobrick Member #2: Me too! Eurobrick Member #1: Umm ... did I mention that the new sets are awesome! We're all supposed to be adults here, not mindless, fawning pre-teen fanboys (go read FBTB.net to see the difference). We all love the hobby. But as adults, we're a little more discerning and critical. We all want different things out of the hobby, and have different tastes and likes and interests. We come here to EB to talk about it. Sometimes that comes out as frustration and criticism. Sometimes it's gushing praise. That's what a "discussion" is. If you really want to forbid any negative criticism of the great and powerful Lego Company, than this website would quickly become a very boring place to visit.
  11. Joebot
    I think you might be on the wrong website??? Here's the thing about Eurobricks that you might be missing. We're fans (supposedly ADULT fans). We're looking at upcoming Lego sets from the perspective of: "Do I like this set? Will this set fit into my existing collection?"NOT, "Will kids like this set? Is Lego accurately addressing their core audience?" Quite simply, we don't care if Lego is addressing their core audience. I'm 40. I'm not a 3 1/2 year-old like your son. I've been collecting Lego Town/City for 35 years. I want to see something NEW out of Lego. I understand WHY they rehash the same things over and over. Doesn't mean I have to like it, or buy it. EB provides a forum for people to discuss these sorts of things. That's why we're here. Does that make us "whiney, obsessive, AFOLs," as you called us. I dunno, maybe. But "whiney" doesn't automatically mean "opinions different than yours." I've seen lots of articulate explanations for why people like or don't like these sets. That's not "whining." That's "discussion." Again, that's why we're here, to discuss this stuff. Sorry for derailing the thread. Just felt like that needed to get explained.
  12. Joebot
    Thanks for the picture of the police sets. I know where my money is going this year -- the Friends theme.
  13. Joebot
    I just noticed that too! That's way more exciting than another batch of oversized, repetitive vehicles. That camper in particular is very disappointing. Looks too similar to the white and lime green one from a few years back.
  14. Joebot
    These have way more charm and personality than the actual characters in the show! Nicely done! It's a shame the show itself is so relentlessly bland.
  15. Joebot
    Some really nice stuff here. The Friends designers are just crushing it. Whenever I get aggravated at the monotonous, repetitive sets in the Lego City line, I just pop over to the Friends theme. It's such a breath of fresh air -- fun sets, bright colors, new ideas. A lemonade stand? That's awesome! In 30+ years of Town/City, TLC had never made a lemonade stand before! Why the hell not?? My only tiny, tiny complaint is that crate of what I can only assume is supposed to be limes and lemons. I'm not sure that using the 1x1 cylinder was entirely successful. That would have been a great opportunity to introduce a new mold. Ah well. The printed cookies more than make up for it!!
  16. Joebot
    Ah, gotcha. That makes more sense. Turns out -- as predicted -- the answer to that particular question is: "No, you may not." I tried to use the coupon yesterday, and was denied. The clerk seemed as annoyed by it as I was! Ah well .... the Orthanc set is pretty freaking cool.
  17. Joebot
    "May?" What the heck does "may" mean? Is it optional? Does it depend on the store? On the manager? On the individual clerk who rings you up?? On the phase of the moon or the tides?? Well, I'm going to the Lego Store tonight to buy the Orthanc Tower, and I have the coupon in my pocket. We'll see what happens when I try to use it ...
  18. Joebot
    No way. I did NOT know this. I was all set -- coupon in hand!! -- to go to the Lego store tomorrow to buy the Orthanc Tower. That was gonna save me twenty bucks!! Ugh. Very disappointing. At least I found out now, and not tomorrow during check-out, thus sparing the always-friendly Lego store staff from my rage.
  19. Joebot
    Not to pile on with a "Yeah, I agree!" post, but ... yeah, I agree. I feel like the idea of Town as a "system" has been abandoned in the past 10 years or so. I'm not complaining about the designs of individual sets, which are generally good, and the vehicles are impressively detailed (although I do hate 6-wide vehicles). I just think that TLC has lost sight of what made Town so appealing to many of us back in ye olden days -- the idea that you could link all these different sets and buildings together with roads, and make your own town. Remember the old catalogs? They had big, sprawling scenes of all the available Town sets. It was addictive! Once you got a couple of sets, your brain started spinning. "Man, I could get two straight roads and extend this, and then with another T-intersection, I could hook on the gas station, and with two curves, I could put the Public Works over here ..." Now, the preponderance of vehicle-only sets, and the overpriced baseplates have made town-building really hard to do. When you look at the marketing materials for City, you see pictures of the vehicles against these big Lego buildings THAT YOU CAN'T BUY. They're not sets. They're just elaborate backdrops. I find that frustrating. Anyway, I hate to sound like a grumpy old man, lamenting about how it was better back when I was a kid, but ... GET OFF MY LAWN!
  20. Joebot
    Agreed -- they just renamed it to "Friends." A pet shop, vet, stable, school, hair salon, bakery, cafe ... and next year we're getting a farm and some beach sets. Friends has been consistently producing good, detailed buildings. You just have to deal with the fact that you don't get mini-figs.
  21. Joebot
    Hey Ratjag -- great post, lots of interesting points to digest. I agree with what you're saying, but I don't think it's as bad all that. TLC has definitely expanded into the "collectible" toy market in the last 15 years, but I don't think it's taken over their entire product line (yet).
  22. Joebot
    I've found that golf ball display cases work really well. I have two so far to display my Collectible Minifig collection, and they look great. The shelves are just tall enough to fit MOST of the mini-figs. Some of the exceptionally tall ones, like the Genie, don't quite fit, but I put him up on top of the shelf. There's a whole bunch of different styles and sizes, and they're relatively cheap. I just got one from Amazon for $25 that holds about 50 figures.
  23. Joebot
    I think this is going to be the first Winter Village set that I skip. As a standalone set, this will probably feel very empty once you build it. And if you're adding it to your existing Winter Village, it feels kind of redundant. Each of the previous sets already came with a bunch of little side-buildings and structures. Now here's a whole set with nothing BUT little slide-buildings and structures. I think it would have been better received if it was released as TWO sets -- one with the carousel and one with all the little stands. I've often thought that the Winter Village theme could steal a page from "Department 56" lighted villages, which often sell a big standalone building, then two or three small accessory sets designed to coordinate with the building. That's a pretty smart product marketing approach that I wish TLC would adapt with this theme.
  24. Joebot
    Agreed. The embiggening (hey, it's a perfectly cromulent word) of Lego City vehicles continues unabated. Blech. I like my old-school 4-wide airplanes.
  25. Joebot
    In my opinoin, this is much a bigger issue than whether the content of the show is appropriate or not. This seems like a marketing deal that's at least 10 years too late. As for the content -- that seems like an overblown concern to me. When the show does tackle more grown-up issues like sex or religion, it's usually done in the service of characterization, story, or satire. Compare that to something like Family Guy, which is all about shock value.
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