Lyichir

I can sort of give one reason why the torso might be reused. Ever since Lego almost went out of business in the early '00s, Lego has kept a strict limit on how many different element designs (constituting the mold, color, and print) can be in use at any given time. It's not so much a matter of costing more as prioritizing. A piece with a separate printed design means one printed or recolored element fewer used elsewhere. And while Lego graphic designers may be salaried, as TheBrickHitHouse said, any time spent crafting two similar torso decorations is still time that could otherwise be used on a more distinct or essential graphic for another figure or set. Ultimately, despite designing separate torsos for the previous Guardians of the Galaxy sets Lego considered the reused torso to be an acceptable sacrifice this time for freeing up resources they needed elsewhere, though there's obviously no telling what exactly that higher priority might have been in this specific case.

Not the only exception. Friends was technically a "Big Bang" theme and also became "evergreen". But in general, ANY theme (big bang or not) continuing without any real end in sight is largely exceptional. Most themes start with a three year plan at best and are either extended or cancelled based on a year-to-year evaluation of their performance.

Well, a Nintendo that was only focused on software for other consoles (instead of being in the hardware business in the first place) could hypothetically survive purely on software sales, just like any number of other third-party developers. But that would be a fundamentally different Nintendo, and the question becomes whether it would be better or worse. A lot of Nintendo fans (myself included) think that it would result in one that is worse, and that one of the main reasons why Nintendo's first-party games tend to be high-quality is because of their unique understanding of and familiarity with the consoles that they themselves designed (and vice-versa, since often their consoles are designed with their own game development principles in mind). But a person who views Nintendo's consoles as underpowered or gimmicky could easily see Nintendo's console development as a limiting factor that limits both the overall quality and the potential userbase of their games.

It's definitely a problem when this happens but Lego is limited in what they can do, in part because there aren't many options that could discourage looting without simultaneously inconveniencing legitimate buyers. There's even less that they can do about people returning looted sets to third-party retailers—if they accept returns without due diligence to ensure that the sets haven't been tampered with, the blame falls on them, not Lego. In this case I would recommend contacting the seller who you got the set from about your issue. It's possible that they could give you a full or partial refund, and maybe even identify the buyer who pilfered the figs in the first place so that they don't get away with doing so again in the future.

Lloyd doesn't really have a signature weapon. In some promotional material he tends to be shown wielding twin katanas, and in the TV show one of his primary fighting methods seems to be hadouken-style energy blasts, but beyond that he's never really been given any signature weapon that's been maintained from year to year.

Remember that New York Toy Fair's primary function is promoting toys to retailers, not to end consumers, and that most of those retailers would have had representatives at the event to see the sets in person. Just because pictures aren't allowed to be posted online doesn't mean that Lego didn't achieve their Toy Fair goals, and Lego still will have plenty of opportunities to create hype around the sets before they and the movie itself are released. It's frustrating for fans but ultimately it won't be any less exciting when the sets actually get released—in fact, it may be even more exciting if only because we won't have our attention divided by all the other sets that were revealed at Toy Fair.

That's what I first thought as well, but when I looked at my own copy I noticed that not only could I not see any "tabs" sticking into the minifigure arm holes. but in the case of the one I was looking at the torso piece was actually slightly crooked (rotated a tiny bit along the vertical axis, with no amount of effort working to straighten it out) something that I figure shouldn't happen if the part was designed with only a tight-fitting connection like that to keep it attached. I imagine the printing does extend into the torso a little bit, if only to keep gaps from showing if the print is slightly misaligned, but I wouldn't necessarily expect it to cover the whole torso. One other little tidbit I noticed—if you look inside the Technic holes where Axl's arms attach, you can actually see the "neck stud" of the smaller torso. It's most obvious on the version from the Battle Suit sets, since the Dark Stone Grey inner torso contrasts with the Flame Yellowish Orange outer torso.

I seriously doubt we'll see a continuation of the Harry Potter theme outside of rare occasions (such as the Dimensions tie-ins). Licensed themes generally don't sustain themselves without a continued influx of new media, and besides Fantastic Beasts and Cursed Child (both of which are not specifically aimed at kids and are mostly peripheral to the main Harry Potter story and characters), there's really not any major media releases associated with Harry Potter on the horizon.

Just2Good is the one who shared the news, but assuming it is true it'd be irresponsible of him to share his source (since chances are it'd be from an inside source from Lego or WB Games who is not permitted to divulge that information at this point).

Seriously, your entire comment smacks of the worst kind of AFOL elitism. Creating a toy that is beloved by a wider number of children isn't "pandering to the lowest common denominator"—it's just good design to try to make products that appeal to as many people as possible. Similarly, "flashy candy colors" are not necessarily a bad thing, and I personally much prefer them to the typically dull, drab colors of color-starved themes like Star Wars or Lord of the Rings. And for crying out loud, Nexo Knights sets do have "real quality"! They're intricately designed and generally have great shaping and functionality—frankly, it's insulting to the hard work of the designers in Billund to pretend as if their sets are worse by some objective measure that you and only you can judge. If you can't find anything to enjoy about today's sets, that's a darn shame. But blaming Lego for your own absurdly high standards is a cheap way to justify your own bitterness.

There's definitely a traditional torso piece in there but I don't know if there'd be any easy way to get it out. As best I can tell the smaller torso seems to be glued in to the larger one.

I mean, there definitely IS gay subtext to the movie (particularly Robin's unequivocated enthusiasm for having "two dads" and Batman's adversarial relationship with Joker being treated more like a romantic one). It's no surprise that the same old moral guardians who complain about pretty much any other kids' movie that shows the barest hint of a non-traditional family would get upset about this one. That said, they're on the losing side of the culture wars, and after decades of similar objections in the face of social progress those kinds of complaints are really starting to lose their punch.

I mean, it's not like they asked Lego for permission before they stole the actual set designs. It should be no surprise that they'd be perfectly willing to do the same to fan builders if they saw demand for it. Not that you're necessarily one of them, but I find it amusing how many AFOLs are willing to make excuses for the theft of Lego's own set designs by bootleggers but suddenly develop a moral objection to the same happening to them or their fellow builders.

I think that's overstating things a bit. Certainly SOME people might get nine, but I think most people would be content with one (especially considering how much space it'd take to display all nine of them at once). It's always worth remembering that the kinds of hardcore fans who get multiples of specific sets just to "army build" are a small minority of buyers. This is a great model but I do hope that if it gets produced as a set they find an effective way to do away with those STAMPs while still maintaining the look of the decorated surfaces.

Well, if that does turn out to be the case it could well be because toys-to-life as an overall genre seems to be on the wane. Infinity was cancelled, and Skylanders is not releasing a new installment this year for the first time since the original debuted. Compared to other video games, Toys to Life requires a much larger "buy-in" due to the need for not just game software and a gaming device but also physical toys and an expensive peripheral for them. And Lego Dimensions' $100 starter pack is one of the most expensive ones there is. Compare Lego Universe, which despite the popularity of Lego even then failed to succeed due to the challenges associated with MMOs as a business model. Just because Lego is in a golden age of popularity doesn't mean that every one of their endeavors will be successful, and the more experimental or groundbreaking ones are inherently going to be riskier.

Yeah, there's always going to be things that fall by the wayside, though for a common color like yellow I imagine it's only a matter of time before we get some of those other standard panel pieces in that color. I often see a lot of complaints from Technic fans when we get a new color that doesn't yet have a lot of part options instead of a more common color that is already highly usable due to the large variety of available parts. But personally, I like when rarer colors get used. After all, every color has to start somewhere, so a color debuting in Technic for the first time is an important step toward greater versatility. And new colors like Dark Azur or Bright Reddish Violet allow for dramatically different color schemes in a theme that otherwise can start to look a little samey with the repeated use of colors like standard reds, yellows, and blues.

Keep in mind that these battle packs are sometimes sort of eclectic—last year's Skybound pack included a "Tournament" version of Zane, which tied in with the other ninja's costumes from the earlier Tournament of Elements wave despite that storyline being a year old and Zane never canonically appearing in that form or costume. Of these figures, two of them appear pretty much as they did in the Tournament of Elements story arc but Skylor's design is her updated one from Skybound. I think they were probably chosen more for their desirability for fans than for any relevant context in the current story arc.

Great review! I had been curious as to how the wing-flapping function was constructed, and your picture answers a lot of my questions. It's even more intricate than I imagined—I never realized it would use gears to "lock" the function block in! The amulet doesn't seem to fit minifigures quite as well as, say, the gold medal piece from the CMFs, since it doesn't wrap around the minifigure's "neck" (the lower part of their head) and as such leaves an unseemly gap. I sort of get the impression that it's designed more so that a mini-doll can "hold" it (around the stud on the top of their hand) than for true minifig compatibility. Still, it's a great-looking piece on mini-dolls and will be much better for role-play than the previous printed amulet. All in all this looks like an excellent set and I can't wait to get it!

I can understand how you could be disappointed at the reuse of a common head for a new character, but I don't see how eye color even comes into the equation—almost all minifigures have black bead eyes unless their eye color is significantly abnormal or has plot significance (things like red eyes for Superman's heat vision or pale eyes for blind characters).

I think chances are that the other CCBS figures for the year will most likely be based on The Last Jedi, so I wouldn't necessarily expect a lot of legacy characters.

I found another video of the new sets, and this one shows the back side of the castle! One thing that excites me is that every single one of the knights (including Robin and Ava) gets their own bed!

New webisodes released today! "The Capture" seems to be a little buggy (skipping a fair amount) and seems to mostly be comprised of clips from the upcoming series, but still has some great details, INCLUDING THE FIRST APPEARANCE OF ALL FIVE SISTERS FROM THE LEGEND! The Lego Life app also has a cute introductory webisode called "Did you miss us?"(which for the time being seems to be exclusive to the app) that features Emily, Sophie, and the other Elves introducing themselves and summarizing the beginning of this year's story.

They bent the rules in a couple ways in this movie (such as using multiple cowl designs with different expressions when animating Batman). It doesn't break the stop-motion illusion, but does imply the existence of part variations that just don't exist. I'm not sure how I feel about that—obviously these aren't the first non-existent parts to be used in this movie (or even The Lego Movie), considering things like how many other minor characters use unique hairpieces or headgear, but nonetheless it still feels a little like cheating, especially for a Lego fan who can recognize that those alternate cowls or hairpieces just don't exist in real life.

I would LOVE if the story returned to the legend of the five sisters, considering that that felt like a plotline with a lot of potential but never even came into play in the second year's story. Of course, it's also possible that she's just a regular elf. Maybe someone who died? Perhaps the "evil portal" bridges Elvendale with some sort of "land of the dead"? Or perhaps she merely traveled to another realm like Emily's grandmother. Whoever she is, I think it's likely that she plays a key role in the Goblin King's motivation, given how prominent a detail the portrait is in the castle. EDIT: Seems like the new story may very well involve the legend of the five sisters. A new webisode was added to the Elves site, including the very first visual representation of all five of them—and based on their appearances, it would not be too far-fetched for the Goblin King (whose name was revealed to be Cronan) and Rosalyn to be related to the Earth and Water sisters, respectively.

It's a little bit of both, as far as I can tell. Frictionless pins (like the ones used on that part) are loose enough to allow for a little bit of "wobble", allowing a part that geometrically ought to collide when the pins are centered to not pose as much of a problem. But since LDD uses rigid geometries with all connection points centered by default, it doesn't allow for that kind of leeway. This issue has existed for a while and I generally get around it by "scaffolding" the parts above those sorts of connections slightly higher. The easiest way to do that is to use a 1x1 brick with a side stud attached to the side of a 1x1 brick with a Technic hole, which creates the exact offset you need to compensate for those sorts of connections. It can be a bit frustrating since it takes the build "out of system" and can complicate things higher up in a model as large as this, but considering the challenges fixing that issue might entail, it's probably the most practical solution in the long term.