Lyichir

I don't think so, no. Despite the plethora of awesome and often more effective launcher designs introduced in recent years, flick-fire missiles still have their merits. For one, they're easier to integrate functionally into a larger build with a dedicated trigger mechanism than many other launcher designs. For instance, the integrated missiles in 5982 Smash 'n' Grab would not work nearly as effectively with stud shooters or spring-missiles, since both of those are most easily triggered fairly close to the launcher's position rather than allowing for a custom trigger farther back (the 2x2 disc shooter does allow for custom triggers of this sort but has a very different profile and look). Secondly, the flick-fire missile allows for greater customization than most other launcher designs. Most parts can attach to the front of a flick-fire missile, allowing for unique ammo designs like on 70318 The Glob Lobber. The only comparable launcher as far as that versatility is concerned is the stud shooter, and not only is the anti-stud attachment for those much harder to add unique tips to, but because of the fairly standardized amount of force those launchers use their performance is generally affected more by the weight of the ammo than flick-fires. Besides all that, if the flick-fire missile part itself isn't going to be retired, why put an end to its use for missiles? It's true that in many applications other launcher designs can be more effective, but there'll always be exceptions where the classic flick-fire works better, so there's really no use ruling that option out arbitrarily.

Yup, for Nintendo DS and 3DS. I haven't actually played it myself, though. :/

This is why I almost never use standard mode. When it is both incomplete (missing parts that DO exist) and inaccurate (having parts that DON'T exist), the limited parts selection hardly offers any advantages. The one exception is that I occasionally switch over to standard mode to select printed parts. The tiny icons for prints in extended mode can be a nightmare, and in some cases (such as the multiple keyboard prints for 1x2 tiles) it's easier to select the correct print for the correct color in standard mode rather than having to remember which subtly different print goes on which color of part in extended mode.

I dunno. These are both solid MOCs—don't get me wrong—but I feel like your upgraded Ekimu suffers even more from a problem this summer's version does: there's just not enough about him that's genuinely new. And I don't just mean in terms of new parts, but rather that he is still basically Ekimu, but bigger. Contrast that with this year's Toa, who are still recognizable yet change up their armor styles, weapons, and color schemes dramatically. Among other things, I still wish the summer Ekimu featured the Vorox armor in gold. It would have been a wonderful way of tying him in with the new Toa (more than half of whom use that part), and added much more variety to his appearance than the reuse of the same sorts of Trans. Light Blue shells and gold Chima armor that defined Ekimu's 2015 look.

Incredible! I'm practically speechless.

My suggestion? Get Uxar. He's a great figure in his own right and even if you don't get any Toa, he pairs pretty well with Umarak. I personally don't think Lewa feels "incomplete" at all, either... but that's just me.

Preeeeetty sure that's not what it means by underworld. At least, I hope not—mostly because that'd come a little too close to Ninjago for my liking. I mean, "underworld" can also just refer to tunnels... and what's more Bionicle than the Toa going underground for a climactic battle?

I don't know how likely it would be to see Ninjago minifigures packaged with DVDs. The American DVDs seem to be somewhat low budget, with very little in the way of special features or even fancy packaging. Contrast the DVDs that have gotten exclusive minifigures, which are mostly movies (even the direct-to-DVD ones seem to have higher production values as far as packaging and extra content are concerned), and occasionally, Blu-Ray combo packs (Ninjago has yet to have a single Blu-Ray release, at least over here). I'd love for that to change. It'd be awesome if we got some fancy collectors' edition DVD or Blu-Ray sets, possibly including minifigures. Perhaps they might do something like that to tie in with the Ninjago movie next year, but even with that possibility in mind I'm not going to get my hopes up unless we actually get some evidence to support it.

Actually, there's one other piece of evidence that suggests that it takes place in the Americas. The Heartlake Grand Hotel set's sticker sheet includes three clocks displaying the time in Los Angeles, Tokyo, and Heartlake City. The time difference displayed suggests that Heartlake City uses Eastern Standard Time (UTC -5), which corresponds with the east coast of the U.S. along with some Canadian provinces and parts of South and Central America.

Sensei Wu is essentially the leader of the Ninja, though. That makes him more qualified to represent the theme as a whole than Nya, who up until she became a ninja wasn't truly on equal footing with the others. Believe me, as much as I would love to have gotten things Nya's season 3 outfit in one of those books or cubes (especially the Ninjago Visual Dictionary, which just included an ordinary Zane instead of an exclusive fig), I can almost guarantee that "high-tech white ninja" was chosen as a better representative of the theme than "non-uniformed girl character". I do hope that that will change now that she is a ninja, and while I still don't think the chances of getting that amazing Season 3 outfit are very high, it's possible that she could now get some "non-canon" older ninja uniforms like the Lloyd DX from the first minifigure cube. Heck, if the Ninjago movie sets are limited to the summer wave next year, maybe we'll even get Ninjago boxes with Nya on the header in the winter, considering after this summer's wave she'll be the only ninja not to have been represented. I'm sure if that happened it would greatly increase the chance of her showing up in promotional material like books and minifigure cubes.

Well, they could have maybe made one. But there's no current mold that could be used to attach an existing helmet like that to that connection point.

There are probably two reasons. The first, slightly sketchier reason is that she's a girl—sexism could well be at play, if only because Ninjago is targeted primarily at young boys. But the second reason is that up until now she has mostly been somewhat tangential to the main heroes of the theme, the ninja. Up until last year she was not even a ninja herself, and with "ninja" being a part of the theme's title, it's not unlikely that Lego prefers to have an actual ninja to represent the theme as a whole in things like the Character Encyclopedias and minifigure cubes. Since Nya is a ninja now that could very well start to change.

We don't have a name for it yet, but it uses the same mold as the hamsters from this year's Lego Friends sets.

The comparison to Pacific Rim is pretty vague. It could have been talking about mechs for the ninja, or monsters for the ninja to fight, or even things like the colors, lighting, or sense of scale. And on top of all that, we're still just talking about concept art. As such I wouldn't read too much into these descriptions, at least not until we've seen something a little more concrete.

Nope. Doesn't make any sense. Lego already uses orange for plenty of things outside of Technic, so it's not like they're having to spread out the use of a new or rare color or anything like that. The Volvo would not need to use orange parts since those parts are mostly common in other colors like yellow and black, suggesting that the orange handles are purely a stylistic choice (though it IS possible that as new recolors some of those parts might be shared with the Porsche). And in Gali's case, her only orange parts are the old Vorox shells and the large tooth pieces, both of which would surprise me greatly if they appeared in the Porsche (and the latter of which is not a new recolor in the first place).

Ah, that's right! Thanks!

Wait, it isn't? Weird... I could've sworn I'd seen that torso before this announcement, and I don't remember any leaks... where the heck did I see it, then?

It's already used on a villager in the smaller Iron Golem set, so it's not new or exclusive for this one. Might not be the best for a straitjacket for regular minifigures, though, considering it's taller than a normal torso. "Oh no, a set I don't like! Lego is ruined forever!" Relax. I'm not a huge fan of Lego Minecraft either, but just because it exists and is successful enough to support a large set like this doesn't mean there won't be other sets you might like more. Lego set design in other themes continues to be top notch (with many sets designed by designers who have worked for the company for years), so rest assured that the magic is still there.

That stinks. But I do have to say this topic has one of the best titles I've ever seen on this forum!

Luckily, Lego vehicles are all zero-emissions.

It sounds like you might be confusing some of the information from that article for being official Lego information. Unless there's more of that article that I'm not seeing, the only part that has anything to do with Lego's own treatment of Bionicle is the part with the frustratingly unsourced information about Hero Factory and Bionicle's growth over the past few years. The rest discusses only the aftermarket for Bionicle and does not imply anything about purposely shorter runs or pre-planned discounts. Remember, Blocks Magazine is not an official Lego publication, it is an AFOL fan magazine, and while they do sometimes have interviews with designers and similar exclusive content, this article seems to be written primarily from the perspective of a fan/collector and not someone who would have inside information about Lego's business practices.

I remember this from last year. Certainly caught me by surprise, and I too enjoyed Lego and MLP being in closer proximity than they'll probably ever get to be outside of the toy aisle.

The last two major TT Games Lego Games I've played were Lego City Undercover and Lego Dimensions, and both of those games feel VERY different. LCU has a huge open world broken up by smaller missions, with a ridiculous number of objectives and side-missions. It also has features designed specifically for the Wii U Gamepad and, in my opinion, the best vehicle-based gameplay of any Lego game, probably in part due to the game's single-player nature allowing for a more traditional driving perspective. Lego Dimensions is much different, with a wide-angle view meant to show a large number of characters on screen at once, more "arcade-y" and linear level design, and vehicles that handle more like ordinary characters. The idea that the games themselves aren't any different is a fairly superficial view. Yes, the fundamentals of each game are the same—simple attacks and platforming, building Lego objects to advance, etc.—but that's because that's a formula that works, just like how Mario games feature jump-based platforming or how Zelda games revolve around puzzle solving and swordplay. Beyond that, a lot of things are changed between games based on the needs of that particular franchise and new ideas the team wants to experiment with.

Good review! I built this set myself a little while ago and while it's less impressive than the Fortrex itself, it's still a decent set with some neat functionality. You didn't apply the stickers, but one nice thing about them is that they do in fact match those on the Fortrex, making the whole thing look very consistent when combined. The biggest flaw with this set, in my opinion, would obviously be the inability to actually shelve multiple books on the upper level rather than just one. I intend to try modding my own copy to do so at some point, but if that had been built into the set it would have made for a much more essential part of any Nexo Knights collection. Of course, it's still the only set with the adorably precocious Ava, so it's not exactly a set a dedicated fan could skip either way. Actually, Merlok himself doesn't appear in this set. In the Fortrex, where he doesn't appear, he actually ISN'T a sticker, which surprised me when I built it.

Given the subject matter of the Mines of Moria set, it doesn't surprise me that the cave troll was chosen. The fight with the Balrog is certainly dramatic, but the fight with the cave troll is much more dynamic and involves most of the members of the Fellowship, rather than mostly just Gandalf (who was already represented in the smallest set of 2012). Add in the fact that truly representing the Balrog fight would require a much greater emphasis on the setting (a colossal stone bridge which collapses at the climax of the fight, rather than a comparatively cramped tomb that can be represented effectively with just a few brick-built backdrops and setpieces), and the choice between the two seems obvious. Also, to be honest, it's probably better that way. The Balrog is a huge, somewhat ethereal mass of fire and darkness that can effectively be represented with a custom brick-built construction, even without a dedicated figure mold. The Cave Troll, on the other hand, is a huge and somewhat fleshy organic creature that would probably not look nearly as good as anything other than a bigfig. I imagine if we'd gotten a Balrog and NOT a cave troll, people would be just as upset by the omission, but it'd be that much harder for amazing MOCists to fill that niche with their own custom creations.