Joebot

Back when I used to make Lego comics, I used to constantly curse the mini-fig's lack of posability. There are only so many "exciting, dyanmic poses" the little fellows can make. In particular, I always wanted elbows and ball-joint shoulders so they could realistically hold a bow. But ... I think I agree with the general consensus here. They're intended as an abstraction of a human being, with unrealistic proprotions and limited posability, and they're just too damned adorable to mess with. And then when you think about the reaction would be in the fan community if they actually DID change the mini-fig ... yikes. It would be like the grey/bley color change, but a billion times worse.

I picked up a full set of Series 9 at the Lego Store in Schaumburg, Illinois yesterday. I think the chicken suit guy is my favorite. He's just so goofy and fun. As an aside, the employees at that Lego Store are the best. One employee hooked me up with a checklist and a marker so I could cross off the figures as I found them. He gave me a cup to store my figures in. AND, he grabbed a handful of bags and started feeling them as he was walking around the store helping other customers. Every once in a while, he'd shout out stuff like, "Found the knight. You got him yet?" Then when he got busy with a customer, one of the other employees stepped in and started feeling bags to help me find my last few remaining figures. THAT is good customer service!!

This is a concept that Lego has largely moved away from in recent years. For example, the old Castle themes used to have connectable pins, as did the first batch of Harry Potter sets. It's a really cool idea that I could see Lego using in other themes, like the Zoo that you mentioned. Imagine having 6 or 7 Zoo sets of varying sizes that could all be hooked together into a coherent whole. I don't know why Lego doesn't do more with that concept.

Maybe I've just been in this hobby for too long, but this theme feels like a boring retread of TLC's "vehicle-based conflict between humans and non-humans" theme that they've been churning out an assembly line for years now. There's nothing new here. It's sad and disheartening to see such an utter lack of imagination on TLC's part. Sure, the vehicles are as well-designed as always. But the theme itself is just a cynical checklist of marketing concepts.

This continues to be the most baffling gap in the long history of Lego Town. Duplo gets a new Zoo every other year, but apprently TLC thinks that once kids outgrow Duplo, they stop being interesting in animals. Makes no sense at all.

I can think of about four billion reasons why. I'm a little surprised at all the negativity and pessimism here on EB. I say let somebody else have a go at Star Wars. Lucas clearly hasn't cared about it in decades. Disney has done well by their Pixar and Marvel acquisitions. Besides, it's not like the franchise can get any WORSE, right? After the PT, the bar is pretty freaking low.

I'm just not sure I agree with that comment. Are kids these days really that different from when we were kids? I think Town/City has a very different appeal than stuff like Ninjago or even Castle or Space. Kids (and adults like me!) who are into Town are into it because they want to model what they see around them in real life, Yes, even post offices! It's more akin to a model train hobby. That's fundamentally different than the kids who are into the more action and conflict-driven themes. TLC is ignoring this fact, and is letting the "Play Theme" concept (vehicle-driven sets with built-in conflict) bleed over into Town. I think that's a mistake. Town is unique amongst all of TLC's themes, and should be designed and marketed to meet those unique needs. There are plenty of other action-based themes for those kids who are into that sort of thing. For the other types of kids (and adults) whose interests lie in modeling real life, it's discouraging to see TLC focus all its energies on action and conflict.

If it makes you feel better, when I participated in this event a few years ago, they shipped me a free Lego set as a thank you (I believe it was the "Fallingwater" set from the Architecture line). Unless they've changed the nature of this process, this is NOT a contest. There's no winner. If you've invited to participate, you submit however many ideas you want, as long as they conform to their strict guidelines around content, presentation, and format. They then thank you for your efforts, and give you that proverbial "pat on the back." That's it. There's no judging, no contest, and no indication that they liked or hated your ideas. The only way you'll ever know if they liked your idea is if something similar to it appears on the shelf in a toy store in about 2-3 years (TLC's typical development life cycle). In short, you get no feedback of any kind from Lego. I'm not trying to dissuade anyone from doing it. I had fun with it, although as I said earlier in this thread, trying to conform to TLC's strict rules was a bit frustrating.

I participated in this same thing with TLC a few years ago. It was interesting to get a little insight into their thought process. I found the restrictions and guidelines around their "play themes" to be very limiting and frustrating. I know they have decades of market research to back up their policies, but they seem so formulaic. Clear cut good guys and bad guys, vehicle-driven sets, some sort of mission or collectible -- repeat and repeat and repeat.

I really wish TLC would start using baseplates again. These "location" type sets feel so weirdly empty when there's no baseplate in which to ground the action and tie all the various bits together. They're just chunks of scenery floating in a white void.

TLC really should just rename "Lego City" to "Lego Fire and Police" and be done with it. It used to be, you could count on those themes getting recycled every three years or so. Now, it's every freaking year. Sure, they're nicely designed sets, no doubt about it. But for anybody who's been in this hobby for any period of time ... they're just so, so repetitive. Oh well, maybe the Friends theme will have some interesting new stuff for City fans.

Totally agreed with that. I find it ironic that the Friends theme generated so much controversy for its supposed "stereotypical" view of girls. And yet, I've never heard any criticism of Lego for its stereotypical view of boys. Not every boy wants to be a policeman or a fire fighter.

This one had promise ... until I read about the THREE vehicles. I'm going to guess that this set follows the all-too-common pattern these days -- super-detailed, enormous vehicles, and a really poor "facade" that does nothing but give the merest impression of an actual building. The buildings from Lego these days are more like theater props -- they're just a backdrop for the action. I would have much rather seen Lego pour some of this set's piece count into the structure, and cut it down to maybe one vehicle.

Thanks so much for the descriptions! I also read through your descriptions of the City sets, and was immediately so disappointed that I came over here to the Friends thread. Police? Fire? Tow trucks and cement mixers?? Ugh. I understand the marketing requirements that force Lego into rehashing the same three City themes (fire/police/construction) over and over again, but as a long-time collector myself, I am so bored with those three themes. But then Friends came along! Now I've got a cafe, a vet, a beauty salon, a horse stable, a tree house, and from what Klaus has described, an upcoming pet shop and a karate dojo. That's all stuff that Lego City has utterly ignored. I bought the Friends vet office last week, and it was the most fun I've had putting together a "city" set in years. Bright colors, GREAT details. Yeah, I'm amassing a pile of worthless mini-dolls, but at least the hair is usable on a mini-fig. Lego City is dead to me. Long live Friends!!

That is really, really great. "Avon Blocksdale," "Duplo Stanfield," etc. The Treme joke between Bunk and McNulty was my favorite. Great stuff! Sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeit.

I took my two boys up to Brickworld on Saturday (sooooo crowded!), and this display was my favorite from the whole show. I really loved the monkey island, with all the monkeys worshipping the huge banana.

I was quite shocked to discover that it's been a whopping SEVEN MONTHS since the previous installment of the Unlikely Society. Wow, sorry 'bout that. I honestly kinda got bored with the comic, and just needed some time to recharge my batteries. I'm back though, and hopefully new chapters will come along at a quicker pace. So, where the heck were we??? Well, Holy Frijoles had been trapped in another dimension. The Unlikely Society hired Dave, a younger speedster, to fill the empty slot on the team. The Benefactor is still out there, causing no end of trouble. And now, we start a new story arc called "Superior," which will shake up the team even more. As always, thanks for reading! And please let me know what you think!

I think Castle is generally regarded as one of TLC's "evergreen" themes, so I think they'll always have something fantasy-medieval-ish on the market. LOTR will hopefully run a couple of years, but after the second Hobbit movie in December 2013, I bet it fades out pretty quickly, given there won't be any new movies (unless Peter Jackson licenses The Silmarillion!). My guess would a final big LOTR wave in late 2013 / early 2014, and then TLC will shift back into a homegrown Castle theme. It's amazing to think that the Big Three Geek Licenses (Star Wars, superheroes, LOTR) are all going on simultaneously. Fun times to be a Lego fan!

No one is saying that City sets DON'T appeal to girls. Of course there are going to be girls who like them. Marketing is a numbers game though. A company has limited budget to spend on marketing, so they have to target the potential customers where they think they'll get the most "bang for their buck." If TLC's market research says that boys are the biggest buyer of the City theme (and I think it's safe to assume that's the case), then they're going to target boys in their marketing campaigns.

I don't have any issues with TLC using gender-coding to market their products. Presumably they have access to market research and analytics that we here on Eurobricks don't. Presumably they know who their customers are, and how best to reach them. I think the more troubling issue is whether that gender-based marketing promotes harmful or negative stereotypes. It's like that old Simpsons episode where Lisa gets a new talking Malibu Stacy doll that says "Math is hard!" and "Don't ask me, I'm just a girl!" I don't think TLC has crossed into Malibu Stacy territory with the Friends theme. Yeah, they've got sets that feature make-up, shopping, and cooking. BUT ... you also have veterinarians, a tree-house, and a science lab.

I popped into the Lego Store in Schaumburg, IL (Chicago suburb) yesterday, and asked the clerk when he was epxecting series 7. He said "That's not due out until this summer." I'm pretty sure that's not right, given that the figs are already showing up in the UK. There's no way TLC waits until summer to release them in the U.S. Apparently even Lego employees don't really know what's going on with this series.

It's not just road plates. Baseplates of any kind are almost an endangered species these days. Sets like the upcoming Mines of Moria would benefit greatly from the inclusion of a baseplate to bring together all the various little bits and pieces of the set, and to give it a sense of place. A lot of sets these days feel empty because they're collections of small structures floating in a void. As for the road plates, their disappearance wouldn't be so annoying if Lego still sold two of the same style in a package (two curves, two straights, etc.). When they switched to combined curve / T-intersection and a straight / crossroad packages, AND more than doubled the price ... well, I've never bought a new road plate since then.

I would like to make a formal request to the Eurobricks administrators that we ban all future usage of the word "<insert that tiresome argument>." It's such a lazy, boring, tired argument.

Thanks for the pictures! I think it's a nice-looking set. Even if it's really nothing more than pillars and platforms, hey, at least it's an actual BUILDING. Those are awfully hard to come by in Lego City these days ...

I like it, but I don't love it. The higher price tag, coupled with the relatively drab exterior (except for the front entrance, which is very nice), is going to make this the first Modular set that I'm skipping.