KotZ

Please no

I used to work at an LDC for awhile, as well as a Madame Tussauds. This definitely could be a good move for TLG. Some people I'm friends with from the LDC days seem a little confused/worried on FaceBook about this. Lego is like "Not just the Legolands, but the SeaLifes, and the Alton Towers, too! They're like investments, and I bought them like investments. I own them!"

Thanks for letting me play and turning me into a Newt!

Do you get two penalty votes tomorrow?

You're spot on here. Lepin products like that are blatant IP and copyright issues, and it's utterly insane that some of the larger companies like Disney have not gone after Lepin for their own properties being ripped off. Although I'm sure money and legal issues with China are some reasons why they might not.

Yes, I did not reach out to anyone, Bob specifically, as I was worried about possibly finding a godfather. I'm still worried about that. I was trying to lay low on Day 2, starting my first vote on Kylo Ren and later flipping to Tauriel. Gauging reactions, and it would confirm my worries of me being an insane flavor of investigator. I'm not going to announce that on Day 2, because then the scum would know I am an investigator, and I'm insane or paranoid. As I said yesterday, "Measure twice, cut once."

Well, wow. Ok. Fine. I'm a cop. I think I'm a cop. I might be insane. I investigated Hinckley on Night 1, I mean who wouldn't? It's Hinckley. I got scum. Well, megablocks, right? Megablocks in both yes and no. I mean how lucky is that that on my first action I get a scum? I never have that luck, in games or real life. But I'm still cautious, so that's why I voted for him yesterday when we were getting a lynch. He was acting scummy the past day, and we needed a lynch. What if he was godfather? If his death confirmed my fears, awesome. Besides, who would I tell on the second day? I can't announce myself, and I can't reach out to someone randomly, as I think that would lead to the protector protecting me (if there is one) and not a possible vig, or a blocker blocking me if they don't believe me when they could block a scum, or I'm reaching out to scum and giving away my role. On Night 2, I investigated Bob, and received a scum role. Same thing as Hinckely, who we then later found out was town. And Bob is playing town to me, based off his posts. So this is bringing me to the conclusion I'm insane. If all the people I investigate are the opposite, then why wouldn't I be insane? My results are flipped, I think, unless Bob is a godfather whose results would be scum to me if I was insane, right?, which would reveal his role, and I'm leaning towards him town based off my results from Tauriel and her reveal.

And which of today's votes have taken down a Townie? Last I checked, there isn't a majority on anyone, and the day isn't over.

Several? I've only voted in one that took down a townie. I missed voting on Day 1.

Did you have to link all those? Because now I'm wanting to buy them all. I know LEGO had been doing Technic, experimented with Slizers and all, but Bionicle really should not have had the success it did if we go by the metric that it's not "true LEGO" because it didn't fit in with older generations childhoods (that being said, Galidor is an abomination and should never be brought up again). Bionicle doesn't have your classic LEGO parts, but it's innovative designs and fantastic story sets it apart. I think you could even hold Bionicle responsible for the current CITY sets that people are bringing up (a supposed overload of police sets in different scenarios) and recognizing that kids love imagination and storytelling and good guys vs bad guys. That game was so fun! Exactly. If we go by pooda's metric of age, I'm guessing I'm only a bit older as I was born 1995, then should I be more annoyed with the diversification of City as well, even though I'm not? I still kinda remember the original Arctic and divers sets passed down from my cousin. Those parts and sets were awesome. Would they survive as their own theme now? Maybe. But it's way easier to add them to a City theme that's not just a metropolis city. City's have suburbs. They're in various places. Why not include some more exotic locales for the more exoctic cities? Also, those older themes seem to me to be more fantastical rather than City/realistic. I mean, one of my favorite lines as a kid was Exo-Force, and I look back now and it's kinda silly. But if they updated it? I'd be all over it. LEGO has evolved certainly, in many ways for the better. You hit the nail on the head. I'll go back to my film analogy from another post: movies repeat stories, franchises, adapt books, etc because they're an already baked in market. Filmmaking is seriously a risk averse business, sometimes to its own detriment. But they still continue to make moolah. LEGO does the same, but at least they're diversifying their subthemes.

I kind of hope this doesn't get made because my wallet will kill me and I have no more room in my apartment, as this will be a must buy for me.

I wouldn't exactly say minifigure scale, but probably as close as we'll get short of a UCS styled set. Although I know nothing about rockets so this could be minifigure scale.

I just went and reread that chain. I totally meant Raphael, got mixed up with Tracer. Don't cosplay mafia and work, friends.

I could see third-party, but not a jester. If so, Tracer is a terrible jester as nobody is voting for her. I mean, I'm not going to vote for myself, even if I do admit I've been sheepish the past day. Raphael, as I mentioned, is asking odd questions, like seemingly asking for the town PRs to out themselves in thread, or at least have someone do so in thread. Vote: Raphael (Sir Stig) And wow, as I was typing this there were like three replies to show. Damn I type slow. But what do you expect? I'm Newt Salamander.

Could he be a third-party?

Same. Because I felt like we needed a lynch, and I feel it was better to be honest today. 1. No 2. I don't trust Sandy at all, especially after seeing Tauriel turned up Town and them two going back and forth yesterday. 3. I don't trust you, because while you are asking for good questions, your earlier call for a blocker or protector to announce seemingly in thread worries the magic out of me. Bonus Answer: Blackcanary, as I mentioned earlier. but if I'm honest, that one's still kinda not as much. Black Canary seems more aggressive rather than scummy, looking back over the posts.

No keel, but the haul was a lynched townie. So in a sea of scummy, sheepish, people, I've been the most sheepish, I'll admit that. Scummy is definitely Sir Stig, Sandy, or blackcanary, in my opinion. I honestly cannot read Bob.

I've always wanted to play one of these but sadly won't have the time in the next few months.

I see them somewhere in the middle (me and my friends were both LEGO and Playmobil kids). As it stands, I'll buy a Playmobil set as an adult because it looks good, but I'll buy a LEGO set for it looking good, playability, everything else. While I played with Playmobil a lot when I was a kid, as I grew older it became more of a setpiece rather than a story, if that makes sense.

Coming at this from a film/tv perspective, Aanchir is absolutely correct. LEGO does massive research into what is marketable and what isn't. Even stepping back from that, look at what's on TV and film. Cops. Primetime TV shows are filled with Cops of all sorts, from Law and Order, to Hawaii 5-0, to NCIS. We also have a tone of medical/hospital shows like Grey's Anatomy, New Amsterdam, and so on. How many construction based shows on the networks are there? Zero. How many on cable? Pretty much only on HGTV and those networks, which some people don't get, and if they do, they might not watch. How many shows on farmers? We've got Dax Shepard's new show, but before that? I'm struggling to recall. What about firefighters? I seriously can't think of a show on primetime networks that had a show on firefighters in the past ten years. There's Tacoma FD on TruTV, but that is the same as HGTV in this case. Growing up in the States, kids get access to lots of ideas for jobs. Every kid wants to be a policeman=firefighter-athlete-builder-soldier-doctor hybrid when they're young. Those are people we tell them to look up to. Break that down into individual jobs and themes based on ease of LEGO's values. Police, easy to create sets. Firefighter, easy sets. Builder, easy sets. Soldier, never going to happen sets. Athlete, challenging sets due to not all sports having similar weight in various markets. The last time we had this was NBA with named people, as well as the NHL line. Now CMFs are generic sports people. We'll never get a full line in the near future. You can also look to the Dino Attack/2010 split for a similar thing, imo. Doctor, easy build. Now, look at it from LEGO's idea of story, something kids have always looked at. You can argue older castle and pirate factions had clear good guys and bad guys, but I think those are still very much grey areas due to who was portrayed in the media as virtuous at the time. Police, very much clearly good (you can argue whether some cops are good or bad but that's a discussion not for this forum) with clearly defined antagonists. Firefighter, while definitely good, who's the bad guy, an Arsonist? How do you depict that in a set? Builder, who's the enemy of a builder? Weather? Opposing company? Athlete, yeah you have the opposing team, but how do you sell that without expensive licensing? With an in-house theme, it will get messy. Doctor, who's the bad guy? Cancer? So police and its various offshoots of Forest Ranger, Coast guard, etc. are easy, safe, and guaranteed returns. LEGO will then experiment with stuff like Forest camping, arctic, etc. once they know they have a secure backing. Keep in mind, TLG nearly went under in the 1990s and were saved in part by licensing with Star Wars and their own in-house Bionicle, both themes that have clearly defined good guys and bad guys with a story. Police are easy to show who is good and bad. Doctors and construction, not so much. If we get multiple police and its subtheme sets to allow us to have what I guess would be loss leaders, I'm happy. You could even maybe say the modulars fit in with the them oif City, even though they're labeled something completely different. Kids grow up. This is why we have so many similar books, shows, and films throughout the years. Also, brand identity is key. I worked for Merlin Entertainment (the people who run Legoland, Legoland Discovery Centers, Madame Tussauds, etc) for awhile at an LDC and a non LEGO property. At the LDC, they were very much into market research. We built things and did events we figured people would like from some research from us, Merlin corporate, and LEGO itself. If you can't back up your idea with research (not just in LEGO, but any environment), you'll have a tough time getting your idea through.

Personally, my all time favorite theme is tied between Castle, Pirates, and Star Wars. Star Wars is starting to take a second place due to the sets (and the saga movies) not being as interesting to me, and I'm wanting to expand my own creativity with builds. That being said, I'll absolutely buy a SW set that piques my interest. I do miss Bionicle and Exo-Force as well. Of lines that are currently produced, easily the modulars (I fit the Old Fishing Store in here as well). They're so intricate, and there's clearly a lot of love in these sets from the designers. I never was a big City person when I was a kid, only had a few from the 2000s, etc. But these modulars make me want to build an expansive city and such. Now only if I could find a bigger apartment... Castle will certainly come back in some way, be it Nexo Knights-esque (which while really isn't castle, it has grown on me), fantasy-like, or straight up more historical without dragons and such. While it (and Pirates) are clearly not being made right now, people love those ideas. Fantasy books sell for a reason. LEGO would be stupid to not ever capitalize on that theme ever again. It'll come back, and I think with Amazon's LOTR show, and now a Wheel of Time (I admit, I've never read WoT), and rumors of an Eliza Dushku led Black Company series, etc, LEGO will go all in with either a new LOTR line or their own fantasy/historical theme to capitalize on it. Playmobil did historical stuff for years; LEGO can do the same. I always wanted the MCC, it looked so cool!

I think you hit the nail on the head. To me, it seems like people are arguing over naming and the idea of sub-theme vs full theme. It's essentially semantics at this point.

Absolutely. There's so much they could do, and they could easily tap into their older racing themes from the late 1990s and early 200s that were just bonkers now when you look at them. They could also easily use those old pullback motors to have hovercars with transparent 2x4 discs underneath to make it look like it's gliding with the two wheels hidden inside. Away from that idea, I'd love some spaceships with closed closed cockpits that look like sleeker Y-wings, etc. The ship Carol/Cheryl flies in Archer:1999 looks cool as well. There's also the possibility of adding stud shooters, rockets, etc. for the playability so racers can knock other vehicles out of the way.

I need that Benny.

Same. I mean, some stuff looks cool and fills that niche void that LEGO hasn't filled yet, or it's cheaper to equip soldiers for example of a Roman legion with BrickWarriors or whoever than official LEGO, but for me, that's the fun of the official parts, using what you have to make something new. It's the imagination aspect. Of course, I'd love more "realistic" looking equipment for historical figures/themes. Making your own stickers is something I am totally ok with, though, because LEGO already makes stickers for their own parts.