gedren_y

The Midgard Serpent design (for representing the mythological creature) would have been better served with something like the dragon in 76177 Battle at the Ancient Village, but this is a Creator 3-in-1, so it needs to have parts that would work for other kinds of builds.

Bandai isn't likely ever to work with Lego. There are a few interesting parts that can be found in the sets made by Mega Brands, but the fact that they did like some of their doll sets in mixing age range size scales (think Friends or Marvel sets having Duplo parts) make the look of the sets ridiculous. Kre-O isn't worth anything. I've handled a few of the parts from one of those Transformers sets, and the plastic is worse than any I've encountered with Mega Brands. IIRC, the plates seemed to have a different thickness to Lego. I liked a number of the parts designs, and wished Lego could have reused some of them. The Spongebob body part would have been great as shaped bushes, and Patrick's head piece is good for some swamp plant life (don't know what the plant I'm thinking of is called). It's interesting, but I recall building the Chum Bucket set, and the Fire Nation ship from Avatar: The Last Airbender on the same day. Pity that the blue parts in the Chum Bucket set were the earlier formula that discolored easily.

Finally found the Viking ship image. Those "wings" appear to be the claw mold used in Monster Fighters, and for Wolverine.

For the higher price points, you are quite right, but for the low end of the price range (since at least the 2000s) Castle has had to have some sort of implied conflict where Elves could have completely daily life sets. It's in the sets that a child might conceivably buy themselves (with birthday, holiday, or chore money) where you see the play experience targeting more fully borne out. Now if Lego could be convinced that there is a target child demographic that a historic/fantasy version of City would appeal to, we could then get sets that have the range of types that the 80s and 90s lines received updated to the current design quality. That was basically what the abandoned Europa line would have been.

On the subject of anniversary sets, I think some of us have become spoiled of late. When I was growing up the only anniversary sets I saw were bulk bricks with a single gold, or silver, brick included. That's all that ever made it to the retail stores in my area then. When it comes to comparisons to Elves, you have to consider the differences in the intended play experience. This means that minidoll sets are more likely to include daily life builds, which is one of the first things that gets sacrificed to accommodate an active combat play mechanic in a theme like Castle.

I'm reading Avatar here, and forgetting I'm in the Sci-Fi Ongoing thread, am thinking The Last Airbender. (I bought the Fire Nation Ship set back then.) Anything based on James Cameron's vision would probably do more for Fantasy builders than the traditional Space builders, which I think is a good thing. Star Wars has eaten up the real estate that the traditional Space themes occupied for so long, that Lego needs a vehicle to get themselves into thinking about alien landscapes rather than spaceships. So that when the new Avatar runs its course, Lego can apply some of the set design, and play experience, elements to an in-house sci-fi theme.

One nitpick about the text at the top of this thread: aren't the Asian inspired nations in BOBS supposed to come from the far WEST of the continent?

@Capt Wolf, one of my ships was listed as damaged last MRCA. Do I need to do a build for her repair before she can sail again? If so, is there a form I need to use?

The biggest issue I have with minidolls is the limited range of poses they have. The original idea behind them was to finally break into the doll-buying market, which Lego had struggled to do for decades. They are basically a Lego version of Polly Pocket. Because of this the minidoll themes are unlikely to not be skewed towards the stereotypical girl aesthetic, and play concept. That's also why you get more everyday household design elements in their sets. A medieval minidolls theme would likely have satisfied some builders' desire for more civilian set designs, so that maybe in the future they could get reused in a minifig line, like what happens between Friends and City from time to time. Not probable, though, because the current thinking is that the established play concepts don't overlap as much, which is part of Lego's determination on what will succeed in any given theme.

Replace the trans-blue with trans-orange, make some of the white parts blue, and you've got an Ice Planet orbital station.

The Independent Traders of Eslandola actually have people who make an effort to appeal to the public at large.

Election season is upon Eslandola, and so the Crahaish neh Triuri backed representatives of the Independent Traders is seeking reelection . . . well, 2/3 of them are. Viscount Alexander Doblin has chosen to step down from his position to focus on his private financial matters. Into his place steps Royal Cousin Isobel la Reiy, who's longstanding support for the independent minded is well known. Since this change in delegation contenders needed to be announced, the group decided that an announcement in a public place was in order. Since these events were taking place in Salida Este, where the Crahaish neh Triuri were hoping to build something grand, Commodore Hammish Grei convinced Dearji the Windsong and Kali the Phlin to lend their singing voices to make it something of a ceremony. They chose a small park-like area containing some well maintained architectural ridiculousness for this event. Lady Valentia Cantoni is doing her best to harmonize with the much more talented priestesses. It took quite a while before the hopeful delegation began to garner some attention. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- There it is, my required campaigning build to retain some say in the Eslandola Colonial Council. This build is free to be licensed by Salida Este as a small Art and Culture property.

When it comes to TLoZ, I think quite a few fans of the original NES games might appreciate the original game map done as a wall mount.

I mentioned before about how the newer sets are making it so we can see the timeline progression of Lego City becoming the visions of it's future that were made in the past. This is a step towards just about all of them. I see a progression to Mars Mission, Life on Mars, Classic Space, Futuron, Exploriens, Ice Planet 2002, and even M:Tron and Spyrius with some color swaps.

That was TNG. I see plenty of potential in this series. Since I have no problem dismantling my minifigs, and use their parts in non-standard ways, the complete design of any minifig doesn't matter as much as if the parts can be used for multiple things.

With all the Witcher memes out there, Lego had to join in.

I doubt we'll see a license from actual Japanese anime/manga because the nudity, and gore, standards are quite different from what is acceptable in western countries. The closest recent licensed theme to historic anime was Disney's Raya and the Last Dragon, which only got three sets and a hard-to-find polybag (wasn't even on the US S@H). Monkie Kid seems to be underperforming its debut wave numbers, so it could be on the way out. There is room for something new, but anything they create would have to contend with Ninjago.

Historic Anime, no, but they did Exo-Force.

The way I see it, they are trying to create a timeline logic for the Lego world in which the modern style space suits of City Space become the various designs of the Future Space themes. The design for the Creator Space torsos are closer to the timeline point of Mars Mission, and the set builds fall somewhere between that and City Space. Think of it like progression of design aesthetic in Star Trek.

King Bob-omb looks like he is built with an old bead from a pen/keychain (parts that had slightly too small studs and anti-studs), I don't remember seeing a part matching that shape anywhere else. If someone has, let me know.

I'd hope they try to do Grendel attacking the Mead Hall from Beowulf.

On the subject of digital builds: the rotation tool should be the one you use most often. I spend hours just working out dynamic fig posing. Sometimes that work can give me story ideas that add to character development. Just a 22 degree turn of the head can set an eye line for the fig which creates a side tangent about where they are looking.

The key appears to be Pearl Light Gold, and the frog could be Flat Dark Gold or Reddish Gold. Metallic Gold isn't easy to mistake.

And probably some Spidey vs Morbius comic/cartoon sets to coincide with Sony's Morbius next year.

I've pointed it out before, but I'll do so again here. White Vision would be a good addition to an updated Unitron theme.