Gryphon Ink

9493 X-Wing Starfighter. I haven't bought any Star Wars sets in a couple of years, but I wanted this one because it's basically my childhood in a box. I'm glad I got it. It was fun to build and looks incredible.

EDITED POST: because now I've seen the prelims, and there isn't anything pink in the tractor set, so none of what I said in this post matters. As you were!

Wow, what a beautiful layout. I'm not even much of a Thomas fan, but that is gorgeous.

A PINK AND AZURE tractor?!? Way to completely kill the interest from the one adult male who was looking forward to this set, TLG. I think you found the solitary possible way you could have completely messed up this expansion of the Friends theme - Barbiefying the tractor. I could have rolled with just about any other Friends-approved color, but not pink. Well, at least they have those great $10 sets, and maybe the News Van. Any Friends set that has a male minidoll has an automatic leg up. The beach house sounds good, but is probably out of price range for me. Then again, I could be convinced otherwise if the house lives up to Olivia's House' legacy.

This is some weird art, but I'm glad to see the girls getting a little actiony, and really hope we'll see actual minidolls with those clothes. Andrea's top is especially great.

And Friends nails the $10 slot again. Those are some great sets. Stephanie's Lamb not as strong as the other two, but that lambkin is adorable and Steph has a nice new blouse. I may have to buy multiples of these for me and the daughters. Now where is my tractor?

I guess "Rapunzel's Tower of Creativity" is a little more marketable than "The Tower In Which Rapunzel Was Imprisoned As The Slave Of An Abusive Parent-Figure For 18 Years". This is what kills me about the Disney Princesses line - they'll take any story element and turn it into something fun and fluffy. It's not Rapunzel's prison, it's her Tower of Creativity!!! Woo-Hoo!!!!! Aside from that, though, I'm actually looking forward to this theme. The greatness of Lego is that you can buy the sets for the basic design and the elements you want, and discard the over-the-top saccharine stuff.

I love those "gingerbready" design elements, too. I'm really fond of older European and Euro-inspired architecture, and spent a lot of time looking up at examples of the real thing. Those white decorations add a special ambience to the set IMO. I really love this set. It's the first modular that I feel I have to buy despite uts high price.

Wow. Amazing work. I love the pumpkin carriage on tracks! And the lower train track with mine cars, really well done. What a wild build, fantastic in every meaning of the word.

Two things about this set: One, it is a restaurant just like a lot of the ones my wife has worked at (she's a chef), so maybe she will be convinced that the $160 will be well spent, as opposed to something like a train or a big castle. Two, yay for the scooter. OH, AND BTW, MOST INCREDIBLE LEGO SET EVER.

Great, now we can make Quadrophenia MOCs. Seriously, I love that scooter. Hope it comes out in multiple colors soon.

My Friends all want scooters now. I hope the official version is as cute as that Brickforge piece.

Okay, I'm really trying to respect ZCerberus' wish to keep this thread on topic and not add to the speculation conversation, but I have to say, guys, you've got to stop panicking every time some Joe says he heard the theme is dead. There is zero evidence for this. And unless the theme is selling ATROCIOUSLY - not just "not as hot as we expected", but really really badly - it does not make sense for them to abort the theme before the third Hobbit movie comes out. After that, yes, I totally agree that LOTR will be over.

I can't tell if the shaking is an earthquake, me having a heart attack, or JRR Tolkien rolling in his grave.

Nice work, especially on the saucer section. I've always liked your micro ships.

I think both lines are very cool. The 2008 orcs fit in better with minifigs from various other themes, and they have a sort of cuteness to them. The LOTR orcs are serious and grotesque, which is also cool. I'm still disappointed with the lack of variety in LOTR orcdom, but it's no worse than most Lego badguys get. I've got several of the "orc packs" and it's the only army-building I've ever done. The 2008 trolls, however, are just silly-looking. I don't like them at all. Not a huge fan of the LOTR trolls either, but they are better than the old ones by far.

Wicked recreation! So you're the other guy who bought that game, huh? That was one brutal game.

The more I see this set, the more I like it, especially after that Hispabrick review. The stalls could be more exciting, but they actually seem like solid little structures with more detail than usual. And the carousel-game stall combo is really excellent. I think this is one for the ages, even though I was initially not overwhelmed. And that is a lot of minifigs, even if they have reused some parts. Now my big dilemma is whether to get this or the Cottage when they are released. Neither of the WV sets lasted very long last year, and I hate to miss out on any more.

When I came to the front page, I could tell from the top three inches of the picture whose work this was. Another incredible creation, guys.

Translation: "I have no real knowledge of this subject, and since your historical evidence contradicts my strongly held opinion, I choose to ignore it." Also known as the No True Scotsman fallacy. And another "No True Scotsman" in the very same post! You do know that this is a thread about a new Girls' Theme, right? And while that subject may very well mean nothing to you, it's kind of a big deal for those of us who have female children. So why don't you let the discussion be about girls and their toys, NOT about what boys want? There are plenty of other threads out there for discussing what boys want.

I find it equally ridiculous that Lego should avoid making female pirates because Itaria No Shintaku thought they were a waste of plastic when he was eight years old, and his adult counterpart believes that Lego is a boys' toy. Nobody was saying anything like this until you came in and derailed the discussion with the old "TLG are female supremacists and this is why" song and dance. We were discussing the pros and cons of Disney Princesses, believe it or not. That's not why they should include more female heroes and leaders, and nobody ever said it was. It's because some children, only something like 50% of them, are not boys. And the ones who are not boys deserve some playtime with positive role models too. All of your points seem to revolve around the idea that boys shouldn't be forced to play with female toys. That's fine. Nobody said they should have to. If 8YO INS doesn't want to play with that poor lone female pirate minifig, he can chuck the thing in the trash. What is your random 8YO girl who likes Lego supposed to do if her new pirates set doesn't include one single female minifig? Is it totally okay for her to have to play with male toys? And somehow you missed the thousands of complaints, articles and negative reviews from many, many people, including disgusted parents, who were deeply unhappy with the way Megan Fox was sexualized in those movies, not to mention all the other inappropriate content that they featured. Well, since you didn't notice it, let me tell you, we did indeed complain about it every time. And for the most part, we were outvoted by millions of men who told us we needed to lighten up because it was just a harmless action movie and we were totally imagining the sexism and racism in the movies and we should stop trying to force our evil feminist, antiracist agenda on the entertainment world. Does this sound at all familiar? Actually, if it's all the same to you, this discussion was about Disney Princesses.

No, you really couldn't go on forever, because that's IT. That's all the examples you can give. As opposed to: 1) Every boss of every faction of every "non-girly" theme TLG ever produced (except for Chima, which has ONE female-led faction): MALE. 2) Every "hero figure", i.e. the main protagonist of every "non-girly" theme TLG ever produced: MALE. 3) Every chief of police, Mayor, Fire Chief, pilot and top medical personnel in every theme TLG ever produced: MALE. 4) Well over nine-tenths of all minifigs, and 3/4 of all CMFs: MALE. 5) Every person whose "job description" was to get into trouble and be rescued by the almost overwhelmingly male heroes in Lego themes: children or women.

Here we go again! Do you really think it makes any difference if they know what a gender role is? They are forced into those roles regardless of whether they're aware of the influence. Most preschoolers I know don't know what gravity is, but they still fall down and not up, and if the fall is hard enough it can hurt them badly. Gender roles can do the same thing. It just takes longer. And no, it doesn't matter in the slightest what kids LOVE. Kids generally love sugar and chocolate and hate vegetables of almost every kind. A parent who gives hir kids nothing but sugar and chocolate to eat because, hey, that's what the kid LOVES! is no kind of parent at all. Our job as parents is to give our kids what's good for them, not necessarily what they want. And it is our job to figure out how much "junk food", whether it's actual food or metaphorical food like TV or books or toys, it's good for them to have. I let my kids have some candy here and there, but they certainly don't need to have it all the time. I let them eat sweetened cereal for breakfast sometimes, but I'm not about to buy them Super Sweetness Honey Sugar Coco Rainbow Frosty Pops. Would my 5YO daughter like to have some SSHSCRFP instead of the mildly sweetened healthy cereal? You bet your buns she would. Are you going to try to tell me I'd be a better father if I gave her what she wanted? Likewise, I let her watch Disney movies sometimes, too. (I know; shock, horror, what a hypocrite!) That doesn't mean I'm going to sit back and watch Disney take over every aspect of her childhood without at least serving up a contrary opinion and a little bit of commentary. Yes, we make judgement calls. That's how parenting works. If you do not exercise your experience and your intellect to judge what is best for your children, you are not a parent. Sure, kids need to have some fun and they need room to grow. They do NOT need to be set loose on the world without protection and without boundaries and told "go do whatever you want, sweetie! It's all good!" Really, you're seeing a lot of gratuitous butts and boobs in children's movies? Can you tell me where exactly? I'll grant you the TV ads, and I'll give you a solution: turn the damn TV off and keep it off. Shazam, no more TV ads! Show me one person anywhere on this website who said "Bratz are OK". We are talking about Disney Princesses because that's speculated to be the subject of this theme. This discussion is not a quantitative listing of the world's most evil toys and most toxic entertainment franchises. It's a discussion of a certain franchise that happens to be rumored as the upcoming Lego girls' theme. WTF do Bratz have to do with it?

I have noticed this here and on a few other websites in the last few days, using the basic Android browser on a Galaxy S3.

They're not going to switch to minifigs anytime soon. Theyve just designed this whole new kind of Lego person and girls love them. Why would they want to mess that up? There are going to be male minidolls in this series, too, if that rumor list is correct. How do I know? Because one of the sets is Ariel's Magical Kiss. Pretty sure she won't be kissing Princess Jasmine. There's also Cinderella 's Castle Romance, which would seem to imply someone to get romantic with.