Nagyzee

I don't think that's how it works. In my opinion this chess set will be Chinese plastic. The very favourable price also indicates that. You are probably wrong. On both sides the knights in breastplates are the bishops. It would be even more awkward if the same type of figures were in different roles on the two sides.

I seem to remember that the Pirates Chess Set was Chinese plastic. Hopefully this won't be. Despite my reservations this is in the end a very fairly priced battle pack. At the US price at least. We'll see the rest. To be honest I don't really see the rationale though. Kingdoms has been effectively discontinued, and I don't see this set becoming a successful seller now that interest in Kingdoms has faded and LOTR is the hot topic. It feels like as if this set arrived quite a bit late.

That huge plastic piece it's built on is rather disappointing. It looks cheap. Also I can't help but think when I look at this chess set that whoa, Kingdoms had a rather lacklustre variety in minifigs. The Jester as Knight? And that done-to-death barmaid figure variety as black Queen? This might still be worth to pick up for army builders though, especially for those who like uniform armies. And for the printed breastplates and shields (especially the ovoid ones). If I ever buy this it will be for these two. Are chess sets made in China btw? I've acquired some battle pack minifigs and the colour difference is quite striking compared to the normal counterparts.

I'm here again. It seems my whole argument about companies taking into account common interpretations/recognition flew past your head. (Which is funny because that's exactly what's used against the Winchester. It was not the actual model that was the problem, but what it was associated with.) I don't know why you'd like to draw a picture of TLG as an ignorant company. On the other hand I'm sure they knew beforehand that many will take that figure as a geisha and they were okay with that. Seems like a lot more favourable view on TLG than yours, no? And I'm not one of those who thinks a geisha is inappropriate for Lego. You can keep repeating that it's Kimono Girl, you perverts, not a geisha. To me this line of thought sounds ridiculous but there's no way I'll convince you about that. I'll try to not ever open this topic again because I'm too weak to not answer otherwise. Going back to my cheese grater now...

*smashes head into the wall* Okay, I'll go and have a chat with Zuzu Petals instead.

I really didn't want to answer but this got me worked up a bit. It's not my interpretation. Have you ever bothered to do a Google search for 'Lego geisha'? I rest my case.

I know it's a bit low to resort to this but I'll have to pull an argumentum ad Hitlerum on you to most clearly show the weak point in your reasoning. By the same logic TLG could create a Hitler-lookalike minifigure and name it Onkel Horst and then it would be your fault for interpreting it as Hitler. I used the most ridiculous example on purpose so that maybe you realize the flaw in your argument but I could have used milder ones, too. You can't get around common perception/interpretation by "we named and intended it to be something else, silly you that you can't get your head around this". Companies have to and do take into account common perception that's probably one of the reasons why TLG judges its hugely popular licenses with a lighter hand than for example Firefly. Oh, I had a good enough education, I'm not an idiot. Still first I'd associate this figure with a geisha upon first look, and all the other interpretations would come afterwards. (They would, but they wouldn't be my first thought.) The non-acceptance of 'death, killing, blood...' is not linked to present warfare. And in their licensed lines they have already made several scenes into sets in which people are killed, seriously injured and deformed and so on. Just sayin'. Anyhow I'm out of this debate since we are going around in circles and to me your walls of text are a bit over the top / too pushy / whatever. Apologies.

I didn't call your opinion dumb. I said that you are playing dumb. And by that I mean that for the sake of your argument you deliberately and rather forcedly try to ignore that most everyone will associate the figure with a geisha and that TLG surely have taken that into account. They are not that ridiculously shortsighted to have missed that. So apparently they were okay with releasing a figure that to the average public looks like a geisha. It's simple logic really. (And my guess is that naming it Kimono Girl was not an attempt at making it a NON-geisha but stems simply from TLG favouring as generic names for their collectible minifigures as possible. See Grandma Visitor and Ocean King as recent examples.) And it's not racist. It's stereotypical. When you have only seen kimonos and white makeup on geishas in popular films (/books, etc.) then you'll associate that look with a geisha when you see it.

Okay, we can continue to play dumb here if you so wish. The reality however is that basically everyone (or at least lots of people) associates the Kimono Girl with a geisha. I'm sure TLG did take that into account when deciding to release the figure. And where did I say that it's inappropriate? According to TLG a geisha-looking figure is appropriate enough to be released otherwise they wouldn't have released the Kimono Girl.

You are arguing against yourself here. By the same logic Lego could do any totally inappropripate figure / theme / whatever by simply renaming them. I think if they thought that portraying a geisha didn't fit their brand image then they would have never done the Kimono Girl figure. Same with the Zombie, the vampires and so on.

I think it's a bit counterproductive to use the "6-11 years old core target audience" reasoning by Lego. It was somewhat appropriate in SotD's case but now we are talking about a PG-13 property. How many such licences does TLG have already? Also they'll alienate people who use CUUSOO with this pretty fast. It's not nice getting repeatedly shoved in the face that "hey, you are not our core target audience so you are only of secondary interest to us" (even if it's true). Especially on a special site that is aimed at teenagers and adults and which was set up with the purpose of producing niche products that TLG wouldn't release in their normal lines and through their main distribution channels. Maybe others think differently but I would have found a rejection along the lines of "sorry, we decided that making this set would not be financially viable for us, as it's based on a property that was a huge financial failure itself" a lot less controversial. And I'd be extremely surprised if it turned out that Lego hasn't ever made sets of any scenes in which someone is killed. Just think of all the poor elves, men and orcs that are killed in the Battle of Helm's Deep . It's a bloody massacre.

Yes, that, and also the arm of the catapult. The log brick makes it look as if the arm was made up of short trunks put together in the wrong direction.

Looking nice. My only problem with it is the log bricks used, both just looks extremely weird there. I'm sure you'll also understand why. Apologies for the criticism.

Well, my frustration is over, the R2-D2 poster + mini TIE-fighter have turned up on Hungarian S@H and in my cart a few minutes ago.

No, that means it works for you as intended.

Well, I've tried putting the UCS R2D2 in as well to no avail. Still no poster and mini fighter showing up. It's definitely not too early here, the TC-14 is already available and it's 2 am May 4th. Maybe they are sold out but the sale has just started (and I've been trying to check out right since the start) so it would be quite weird.

The free R2-D2 poster and Mini-TIE fighter won't show up in my cart no matter how much SW stuff I add even though the advertisement clearly lists that as part of the sale, too. There's even a line above my shopping cart, too: Purchase LEGO® Star Wars™ items and get a FREE exclusive R2-D2™ poster and Mini TIE Fighter™!* But inside the cart only the TC-14 is added. What gives?

On the evening the 7939 was a very affordable GBP 91. Now it's GBP 124 (a mere 5% off) while the passenger train has the same discount it had on the evening. Weird. Oh well, another opportunity missed.

Wow, that Treebeard is simply fantastic. And to top it off it would make a perfect official Lego set. The Dead Marshes set is also very nice though I don't think Lego would ever make a set based on that scene (not iconic / action-packed enough).

Thanks. As Hungary has no Lego Stores I would have never thought of looking at physical Lego Stores' newsletters for the info.

Where can I find the store calendar on the site? And thanks for the answer. That's exactly what I was fearing. Probably no Red Cargo Train for me then.

Does someone know how long this sale will last? I'm really on the fence on whether to buy the Red Cargo Train set or not. If we get free shipping during the May 4th promotion that might just push me to buy it but I fear it's a limited time sale which might end tomorrow (at the end of April).

Of course I could be wrong and maybe I was too harsh. But still several of the films they have turned into themes have content not really suitable for 6-11 years olds. And they still made sets out of them. And on the other hand the proposed product itself is absolutely content appropriate for their core audience, too. Or if it's not then the Monster Fighters theme and the S1 Zombie aren't either. I see their reasoning as somewhat incoherent. They claim the product must be content appropriate then in the next sentence they say the project was rejected because the base material wasn't content appropriate (and not the product itself). This isn't the same thing.

With which it would lose much of its charm and usefulness to be honest. Western Town really only makes sense as a theme or a giant set depicting a bigger part of a street.

The reasoning by Lego is quite bollocks. They shouldn't have used inappropriateness for 6-11 year olds as the main reason. Several of Lego's best selling themes are based on films inappropriate for 6-11 year olds yet the sets are still produced and sold and bought by parents for such young children. It's also ironic that this got rejected just when Lego is about to release a zombie graveyard set which is at least equally graphic and violent to Yatkuu's build. It's quite disappointing that they can't release this even as a S@H exclusive. @jonwil: Yeah, that's more like the reason. I find it disrespectful of Lego to use fake arguments to back up its decision. It's not like their core audience can watch PG-13 movies in cinemas either, or can they?