BFN

Well, for one, I think Robin's age would kind of complicate that a bit further...

That actually sounds like a very nice idea for a LEGO game, even if it doesn't happen for this one. :P

Heh, I haven't been able to see it as of yet. :P I guess I'll try looking again later.

Heh, putting the space suit next to three official variants (and one weird purple one...) seems to further indicate it being in a set next year. It even has a more noticeable neck brace for the wings to attach on with compared to the Tt images so far, something the render probably wouldn't have bothered with if not hinting at a set appearance.

Ah, yes, I did misunderstand. There was so much other talk about whether this game would inspire sets that I incorrectly grouped your comment with those. My bad.

Except that was almost surely LEGO making stuff that Tt games used, not the other way around. I mean, you could tell that some vehicles like the Hydra tank looked more like sets than, say, the X-Jet. If LEGO took inspiration from Tt games and not vice-versa, then all of the games' vehicles would be more similar in complexity. Maybe; I'm still fairly confident LEGO doesn't need Tt games to install the idea of sets based off prominent locations in their minds, though, and Super Heroes sets generally don't have a uniting storyline beyond "Look! It's your favourite Super Heroes!"

To everyone saying that the sets, whether Marvel or DC, are based off or may be based off the games... isn't it probably the other way around? :P I doubt Tt games has the superior designers.

Yeah, its Braniac. And the cover kind of bothers me too. If Green Lantern is that big of a character in the game, then his gameplay had better be more interesting than in LB2.

Not sure if anyone else has seen these, so I'll just post them here. The second link contains a lot more interesting information, but the first at least gives indication that guys like Arthur Parsons have taken some of the fan complaints/thoughts on LEGO Batman 2 and worked on them for this game. I wish we could see some of the gameplay mentioned in the latter...

I strongly disagree with both bananas and crackers. I don't really know any little kids who would go "Woah, cool, crackers!" and also can't really imagine them or bananas convincing anyone to buy the sets for parts. Aside from the possibility of treasure, I still think it may be possible to add a sort of "enchanted" element to the story. Magic seashells, perhaps, or something like that? It wouldn't require too many new moulds, yet could offer some neat new reprints/recolours. The unicorn horn in a pearly colour, Hadras's shell head without printing, printed round 1x1 tiles, etc.

Wouldn't the minifigures' skin colour make yellow look a bit weird?

I was thinking something similar a while back. That'd certainly be cool, though at this point, I'd be happy with any diversity in the Batman faces whatsoever.

Then people would read it, have some fun laughing over the (obviously unintentional/insignificant) connection, and quickly forget about it? Can you imagine a single parent ever going "Oh no, this ship shares a name with one involved in an inappropriate event that my child will never even find out about anyway until he's mature enough to read about that stuff, I must not buy it for him", or any independent LEGO fan getting outraged over the fact?

The orange looks best, I think. Not only does it look pleasant on a torso by itself, but I think it will work a bit better with the other colours likely to be present in a Pirates theme, while green may stand out too much.

I guess, since we can't introduce new moulds, ship pieces coloured gold could work. In one it could be a sword held by the figurehead, in another it could be the ship's wheel, in another it could be a flag, in another it could be an anchor...

Is there a limit to the number of suggestions we may make?

The Merchants For this faction, if there are fears of kids not finding it interesting, they can (along with the smugglers) have some hidden defenses and whatnot. LEGO enjoys the whole sort of "transforming models" thing and I'm sure kids would find that fun as well. So, maybe in a few sets, the merchants are just caught in the crossfire between the guards and smugglers or have a very small ship under attack needing defense from the guard (basically, all three factions appear to small extends in these sets), and then there is one set or two where the merchants actually have their own ship or fort with concealed defenses. As for the story, yeah, that cracker idea is... well... One idea is perhaps that the merchants have incorporated special "relics" into their ships that protect them from the dangers of the seas, and that the smugglers, in addition to being in competition with the merchants, want these relics. LEGO loves collectibles, and this would add a neat play feature, inserting the relics into various ships depending on who has stolen them. The Smugglers That flag idea Phes suggested sounds neat. And things like fold-out cannons or other dangerous secrets in the ship would be neat from a design perspective, so long as they are perhaps somewhat more menacing than the hidden defenses of the Merchants, so that the Guard still needs to intervene. Don't really have much else to say about this faction. Haven Guard Name sounds fine, to be honest... It's something that I wouldn't be surprised if LEGO happened to think of it themselves one day. Anyway, not much to say about this faction either.

After racing-suit Riddler, that variation would actually feel a step closer to the character. :P It's a cool design, for sure, but I find it hard to justify from an in-universe standpoint, and the classic goggles/clear helmet look is still the best in my opinion. I'd be thoroughly disappointed if LEGO did another Mr. Freeze without goggles; the original's head alone goes for far too much on Bricklink.

I'd have mixed feelings about that. :P Any Mr. Freeze minifigure sporting head printing like the 2006/08 one would be welcome, but I'm not sure how likely that would be mixed with that helmet, considering it'd possibly take inspiration from The Batman.

As has been pointed out to death, the alcohol has only been portrayed in historical settings. Anyway, I'm sure LEGO could demonstrate the creativity to make it alcohol-free if they wanted to, though considering that LEGO's target audience is younger kids, it'd be harder to market a lesser-known variation of such a location than something as iconic as the Simpsons' house.

It's a little ambitious, but if sets are limited where there's generally only two factions per set, and the factions are sort of evenly spread out (or, alternatively, one of the factions plays a smaller role), then it'd probably work. Castle's 2008 year had three to four factions spread out this way; even though they were generally allies, they often appeared separately in the sets from one another.

Wow, impressive! Any higher-res images depicting the various details?

Well, at least a fair mixture the two genders for some decent variety. I know a few LEGO Islanders fans who'd be absolutely crushed if what it offered wasn't true to the original subtheme. Anyway, I mostly agree with the points you brought up. The Merchants one seems like it would offer a neat new subtheme style and a large variety of ships, and the story could... possibly be modified to be a little more fun and adventure-oriented. It'd be my second choice behind the Lost City suggestion (which could also benefit from some modification, but I realize that, the description being tentative, there's not much cause to worry about it now). The other two, on the other hand... I can't possibly imagine Settlers fitting into LEGO's current standards, and I can't see the Treasure Fleet offering as much variety as the Lost City one, or even the Merchants, when both the factions are basically the same and... lack pirates.

I voted for the lost city. It has all the classic factions, and seems to be the one that LEGO could get behind most. While it still offers some opportunities for sorts of sets and conflicts that haven't been seen for a while, it also has that sense of familiarity. As for the preliminary synopsis, I love the half map idea, though I don't think all the islanders need to be female (less minifig variety ) and... why would the pirates ever exchange, for their commission, an entire city of gold?!!!!!

I don't think the name is very indicative of a very juniorizéd theme. A true juniorizéd theme would call it something like "Brownbeard's Ship" or even just "Pirate Ship". That being said, I agree that the chosen name isn't very creative, but it isn't surprising for an entry or a set name either. (Side note: interesting code for that... word. Took me a few edits to figure out the best way to get around it.)