Lyichir

Like my brother, Ninjago, Bionicle and Elves seem like they'll be my big three. Nexo Knights is starting to win me over, too.

Maybe the queen's dress piece (which we've already seen on Macy in clips of the TV series), but otherwise I don't see a lot of new molds that would be that well suited to Nexo Knights.

I for one definitely prefer red axles to black in most scenarios, and Onua is no different. They're small enough that they don't adversely affect the color scheme, and in fact serve as a neat little mechanical accent that helps break up boring blocks of solid color. As for the HF parts, keep in mind that this MOC was technically done by Corvin Stichert, who may be both a set designer and a Bionicle fan but is not in fact a Bionicle designer (he's on the Lego City design team).

Okay, that one was WAY better than the first one! See, this is one of the things I hope for from the series—good character-driven humor. If the full series can deliver more of that, it may make a devoted fan out of me!

That's okay. On a set note, this has me wanting some sort of village set from the theme even more. Cattle! Farmer-bots! Peasants with Tron lines on their drab clothing!

Ooh! This had already been one of my favorites of the new Technic sets, but I hadn't realized it included the 3x11 Technic panels in Dark Stone Grey. I had previously thought that those were only in the much larger Fortrex from Nexo Knights. I really want some of those panels to use for decorative Technic columns in Bionicle displays, so their availability set that I was already keen on (and unstickered, at that) is much appreciated. And the fact that the set is comparatively affordable should help drive the Bricklink price down so I can get some more in bulk. The Kart also looks great in Bright Green, and Mario Kart fans could potentially put together some custom stickers to make a Luigi kart in that color!

Huh. So according to the latest Technic reviews, that 3M axle with end stop is Reddish Brown, not Dark Brown. Oh well. I had been a little worried about how much difference a Dark Brown axle would make in identifying parts anyway, since in a lot of lighting it's hard to distinguish from black.

I'm quite keen on the idea of the Elves activity book (and might buy it just for the bracelet), but I haven't seen it in stores to make a final decision yet! Do we know WHICH owl will be coming in the second activity book? Prelim pictures of some of next year's sets feature another owl in what looks like Aqua. Either one could be nice to get if you don't have them already, of course. Though I prefer the practical functionality of the bracelet to be honest.

I think most giveaways like that only require one of the sets that make up your total purchase to be from the theme in question. But U.S. sales and U.K. sales aren't always congruent—the giveaway may not even happen during the same month in all regions.

It is pretty much impossible to put an end date on Nexo Knights at this point, because its longevity depends entirely on its success and it isn't even available yet. I can pretty safely say that, as a "Big Bang" theme, it probably will shoot for at least three years. Chima was planned for three years, and while it enjoyed modest success, it did not meet initial expectations and ended promptly when those three years were up. Ninjago, on the other hand, was also planned for three years. It DID exceed expectations, and in fact even though Lego planned to end it three years in, the fan outcry was so tremendous (and the sales of the sets remained so strong) that the theme was brought back with only a half-year hiatus. It's been around five years now, and this year they announced that it is now being considered an "evergreen theme" alongside reliably successful themes like City, Friends, Creator, and Technic. My brother was just reviewing some of the earliest comments about Ninjago yesterday, and there were many AFOL predictions that the theme would be a flop or last just one or two years. In fact, many of the comments seemed almost identical to criticisms of Nexo Knights: "The sets look terrible." "A traditional Ninja theme would be much more successful." "Too kiddish." "Too many gimmicks." I'm not saying Nexo Knights will necessarily be as successful as Ninjago has been, but it does go to show that AFOLs often make assumptions that are wildly off-base, especially when it comes to themes that defy precedent.

For me... Best new theme: Elves and the Bionicle reboot, if that counts. Best new set: Temple of Airjitzu, Skyra's Mysterious Sky Castle, Final Flight of Destiny's Bounty, Ultra Agents Ocean HQ, Master Wu Dragon. Best new minifig: Azari, Anti-Matter, Ghoultar, Evil Green Ninja, CMF Skeleton Guy. And believe me, it was hard to narrow it down even that far! Worst new theme: Jurassic World. Fairly mediocre sets and inaccurate dinosaurs, without even the originality and appealing colors of the in-house Dino theme from 2012. Worst new set: 75110 Luke Skywalker. I don't hate his head mold as much as some people, but it is the least visually interesting of all the new Star Wars heads, and the same applies to his entire outfit. Worst new minifig: Breezor from Legends of Chima. Barely looked like a beaver at all.

Maybe, but it'd be even better if it had bottom connections like the current 1x2 jumper, so that it could be offset on both the top and the bottom. I've definitely been in situations where a part like this would be much more useful than a 1x2 jumper and 1x1 tile could be. Anyway... wasn't there a master topic for new part ideas/suggestions? I thought there had been, but I could be wrong...

They can only stick out but so much, considering most of us hadn't even noticed them! Dark Brown is a pretty subtle color, and in most situations where the part would be visible in the first place, you'll still be able to continue choosing between the type with the stud on the end and the new type (since the new type is only really necessary in situations where you need clearance for another part that would cover it up in some positions). Not to mention the fact that color coding is hugely important for this part. The 3M pin/axle category is CROWDED. You have 3M pins (Brick Yellow), 3M friction pins (Bright Blue) 1M pin/2M axle pin-axles (Black), 2M pin/1M axle pin-axles (Dark Stone Grey), 3M axles (Medium Stone Grey and as of next year, Bright Yellow as well) 3M pins with end stop and stud (Sand Yellow), and now these new 3M pins with end stop (Dark Brown). In a set that features a bunch of varieties of these (like a large Technic set), the color coding will be a huge boon to help ease confusion.

We not only don't have official word that they're ending, but in fact we have official word of the opposite—Marcos Bessa (designer of the GB Firehouse), when asked about it on Facebook, replied that the videos were being filmed this month. So maybe the videos were just delayed. Or maybe Lego has decided that it's not worth releasing them so far in advance. Either way, there's no risk that designer videos are a thing of the past.

I definitely think he WON'T remain exclusive to Fortrex and his Ultimate set. He may be a bigfig, but he's also a main character—and considering the sheer number of Nexo Knights sets due for this year, I'd be very surprised if his Ultimate set were the only other set to feature him. I expect a special version of him in his Ultimate set but I would also expect to see him in one or two other summer sets—possibly including one below the $50 price point, to make him slightly more accessible to fans in his standard armor.

To be honest, it'd be hilarious to see him on a hugely undersized horse. Or even better, a donkey or mule.

Some of the details of these mods are decent (particularly the addition of leg articulation and a few of the claw mods), but I just can't get behind the total removal of the Trans. Neon Orange on all of them. The orange accents on all the Skull Villains make their color schemes much more dynamic and help to unify them as a faction. Without it, Skull Scorpio in particular looks drab as heck. The tail mods also don't appeal much to me, since his original function is pretty much the best function of all of the Skull Villains when it comes to pulling off masks, yet the only version where that function is preserved seems to shrink the tail to the point where it would barely be able to reach in front of him.

And that is exactly why I want Kai to keep his scar. Take that away and you've basically taken away the only facial feature that makes him remotely distinctive. One of the great things about the Ninjago characters is that even in full headwraps, you could still readily identify the characters by their eyes and eyebrows alone... at least before this. Now the subtle chip in his brow and a subtle difference in his smirk (the latter of which is imperceptible when he has a scarf or headwrap) are the only real ways his face differs from Lloyd's...

That would be SO COOL. I think I'm going to try MOCing something like that on LDD!

In addition to what others have said, the current stock of a product in a particular store is a TERRIBLE way of gauging demand. Not only do you not know whether that store is representative of all areas (it usually isn't), but unless you're monitoring those stores vigilantly, you can't even be sure whether a product is actually languishing on shelves or whether it's being restocked regularly due to high demand (and consequently, high supply). Friends and Elves are HUGE sellers from what I've heard (not just from Lego but from other toy industry publications), and while occasionally one or two sets from a wave will experience lower demand (lasting longer on shelves and/or eventually being marked down for clearance), even that can often be chalked up to falling slightly short of huge initial expectations.

Are you absolutely sure it was a different type of plastic? I don't know one way or another for this part in particular, but not all changes in a part's look are due to the materials used. Often, the "sheen" of a part has more to do with its surface finish. This sort of thing is most obvious on heavily textured parts like roof slopes, but surface finish can make a much subtler difference on other parts. The effect on a specific part can even change without the mold itself changing—a mold near the end of its lifespan might lose some of the texture it once had. As for clips cracking, I haven't noticed old clips being any more durable—my older battle droid parts certainly aren't much more durable than the ones I currently have, and I'd reckon just as many have cracked. Changes in those qualities could also be due to mold revisions, and I know that there have been several changes to the design of plates with clips in the past two decades. In general, though, I get the impression the current varieties are more durable than the types that came before them, not less.

I think they might just dislike the specific color scheme of the set, not the part colors themselves. Personally, I kinda like it—it reminds me of Wyldstyle from The Lego Movie. I don't know if I'll get that one, though—of the currently revealed sets, the Go-Kart is the only one that really appeals greatly to me. I suppose that might change if the Drag Racer's functions end up being extremely impressive on video, since I have been won over based on functions alone in the past.

Yeah, I'd love to know too. Lego City crook hideouts often have neat interiors and I'd love to know what this one has in store (a better view of the apparent mechanism to launch the boat from the garage wouldn't hurt, either).

By "released into the wild" did you mean "stolen"? Because I don't remember seeing any of these shared that were obtained through any sort of legitimate means, and I've been following this topic fairly regularly. We were told that new designer videos would be filmed in November. We don't know when in November they were set to be filmed, and even after that they would still need to be cut and edited before publication. As such, while the lack of designer videos to this point may defy precedent, it's also perfectly consistent with what the designer has explicitly told us. So I don't see why people would assume that we weren't going to get one at all unless they thought Marcos was lying through his teeth.

I said "months" because people have been whining about the lack of a designer video since the set was revealed about a month ago. And a month is still plenty of time for them to release a video, especially if they want to share it closer to the set release. Considering we know that new designer videos were just filmed this month, I don't see why people are even raising the possibility that there won't be one. It's as irritating as having a kid on a long car trip whining that they'll never reach their destination just because the trip is taking longer than expected.