Lyichir

Helping out in the Lego aisle is one of the few chances I get as an AFOL to interact with Lego's actual primary audience, and I love being able to step in and lend a hand. Obviously it doesn't work every time, but sometimes even just a recommendation can go a long way. For instance, kids often subscribe to the idea that bigger is always better, but they could reconsider if you bring them a smaller set from a theme they like and tell them "This one's great. I've built it myself" (if it works, their parents are generally grateful). And of course, there's no better way to make a kid's day than helping them to feel for the Collectible Minifigure they want most!

My worry about that is that the texture is just too "extreme" compared to, say, the hair on Luke and Obi-Wan, which is very subtly textured. I doubt the Chima fur piece would be all that convincing at all. Of course, part of me worries that Chewbacca would just never get made in the first place. I mean, he's even bigger than Darth Vader, which forces his price point up, and to be honest I don't know if he's a popular enough character to justify a price point that high.

I mean, even if it is that piece, it's really easy to just swap it for hinge plates if you want to be able to change the angle.

"Should they bring back a dedicated Lego Space theme?" Yes, and I have no doubt that they will... eventually. But for now, I'm satisfied with the number of great sci-fi themes we're getting, whether or not they actually take place in space.

If you mean ALL Lego video games... the original Lego Island. Aw yiss. Kickin' it old school. If you're referring to the Traveller's Tales games, I had the original Lego Star Wars game for Game Boy Advance, which like many of the handheld titles was fairly mediocre, but the first game to really sell me on their work was Lego Star Wars II for the GameCube.

It also helped that that proposal was made back when the requirements for an Ideas proposal were more nebulous. IIRC, that project included a lot of examples of what a Minecraft set COULD be like, rather than a definitive proposal for a single set. Since then Lego has clarified the rules to try and cut down on vague and unpolished projects.

Very interesting. Though it makes me wonder why those letters were chosen to represent their respective ninja; presumably the first letters of their names would have made more sense... Since this topic is active again, I might as well share some of the work I've done on translating lately: The Temple of Airjitzu features a number of authentic Japanese translations. The signage on the smuggler's market reads "fish" and "food". The hanging scrolls around the temple (which I assume are meant to be warding charms of some sort) read "Balance/Equilibrium", "Justice/Righteousness", and "Honor". The Ninja DB-X features Japanese characters on the flags on the back. One of those translates to "Honor", like the scroll in the Temple of Airjitzu and one of the stickers for the Spinjitzu Dojo from 2011. The other one seems to translate to "High Speed". There are still a number of translations I've been unable to find. The most challenging is the stickered wall panel from the Temple of Light, which features a whopping 14 characters. But the window panes from the Temple of Light and the Dojo Showdown have also given me trouble, as have the tiny characters from Nya's car in the Nindroid MechDragon set.

I believe I remember hearing at some point that one of Lego's factories (perhaps the one in the Czech Republic?) was being renovated and would include, among other things, more of a "viewing area" for visitors to get a look at the production facility without actually having to go out onto the factory floor. Can't recall any specifics, though, and for all I know I might've imagined it completely.

I assume by "darker blue" you mean Bright Blue (known on Bricklink simply as "Blue"). Earth Blue is Metru Blue, and hasn't appeared in CCBS at all aside from the Skull Spiders this year.

I'd like to see your reference for that. Morro's symbol definitely means "evil", not "air", and the ninja's symbols don't seem to correspond to any Chinese or Japanese characters at all (Jay's ALMOST looks like the character for "sheep", but not only is it not a perfect match, but any connection between Jay or his element and sheep is tenuous at best).

Take a look at where the click hinges attach—they're attached to Technic bricks that seem to be able to hinge open, which in turn are attached via chains to a round brick on a turntable. It looks like by rotating that brick back and forth, you can alternate which of the "heads" is opening its mouth. Unfortunately, I don't think that function is driven by movement of the vehicle—I can't see any way that that round brick could be connected to any sort of wheels or the like on the underside.

The top four (tiles from the Airjitzu sets) and the one on Lloyd's hood in the bottom right are Asian-inspired calligraphic characters that seemingly are meant to identify the specific ninja who wear them (though they don't seem to have any real-world meaning). These originated on the 2013 ninja, who featured those characters on small buttons on their torsos, but they're most visible on the hoods of the "Zukin" robes, the torsos of the Airjitzu ninja, and the octagonal seals on the Deepstone armor. They even appear on this year's "tournament robes"—specifically, all four of the ninja from the tournament share the characters representing themselves and the other ninja on their team! The back of Morro's torso is the Chinese character for "evil", if I remember correctly. I don't know the meaning of the characters on Wu and Garmadon's torsos, unfortunately. The 2x4 tile appears on the dragons from the first year of sets, and reads "dragon god".

Well, I for one loved the Detective's Office and love the look of this new Brick Bank as well! I don't see why people assume that only kids like sets to have a story... I for one like my sets to be suited for both play AND display. And many non-FOLs whom I've shown my modular buildings seem to react similarly—they're typically less enthused by the static architectural detail of sets like the Green Grocer than they are by the detailed interiors and complex narratives of some of the past few modulars.

The Lost Temple seems to FINALLY include a new door piece made to fit that archway! I'd been waiting for that ever since I noticed the hinges on that set, but this seems to be the first set to actually make use of them.

As for whether it's a castle theme: Yes, definitely. But it also seems to be a space theme, along with being what Eurobricks would consider an "action theme". It doesn't fit in any one neat category. As for whether I like what I've seen: A big yes! From early rumors I had been intrigued, at best, but the actual set designs and character designs look fantastic, and the theme seems to push all the right buttons to appeal to my sensibilities. As for whether I'll get sets... it's still up in the air. My three favorite current themes (Bionicle, Ninjago and Elves) are all continuing next year, so collecting another whole theme might be out of the question. But I don't doubt that I'll end up with at least one or two Nexo Knights sets before the year is done. As for whether I like the current strategy of media-supported sets: YES! Back when I was a kid, I was passionately interested in the stories of Lego themes (from Adventurers to Life on Mars to Rock Raiders), but back in those days there was usually precious little of it to go on! That started to change with the Bionicle theme (the first theme to accompany its sets with an epic, ongoing story told through a wide variety of media), and ever since then my favorite themes have been the ones that don't just present great builds, but use them to create compelling characters and stories. Of course, that's not to say I love all Lego stories equally (while I've loved Ninjago from the get-go, Chima failed to impress me with the way it executed its strong story potential), and whether Nexo Knights' story and characters can win me over will make a big difference as to whether I fully invest myself in this new theme.

I know it's not a Technic set itself, but have any of you been paying attention to the Nexo Knights news? 70317 Fortrex seems to include a new piece (a sort of rubber 1/2 module pin) that attaches to the 5M Technic tread links to give them more grip, without being as bulky as the ones that have been available for Mindstorms. I figured y'all might be interested—even if you don't want to get Nexo Knights sets, I wouldn't be surprised if they appear in other Technic sets with treads in the future.

...Is it wrong that of the entire Chima year one, this set was one of the only ones I considered a must-have? I mean, I like the colors, and the framework-like build—they give it a ramshackle, patched-together look. I like the many vehicles (even the little claw bikes, which I thought were ingenious), and it reminded me of the classic Agents theme with how much it crammed into such a small space. A lot of the criticism seems to come from expecting the set to be something it's not (a mobile home/base), rather than appreciating it for what it is (a mobile command/battle station).

Yup, when I look at a bunch of smiley-face men in pajamas, "serious business" is the first thing on my mind. Contrast that with a story of a fantasy world filled with anthropomorphic creatures, where friends are divided against one another in a war for scarce resources. That's kiddy stuff. See? It's all a matter of perception.

I'm sure they categorize it as both a Castle theme AND a Space theme. Unlike AFOLs, Lego has no need to fit all their themes into neat little boxes, aside from in the most literal sense. I mean, it's not going to be categorized as "Castle" on the Lego shop or anything like that, but neither was Kingdoms—Lego has long since abandoned the idea of describing new themes as a "sub-theme" of a long-lived product line, even if those themes arguably fit in the same category as far as content is concerned. And besides that, I can't think of what sort of confirmation you would expect—it's not like Lego makes the way AFOLs categorize their products any of their business.

I don't remember where I learned it originally—I had even completely forgotten which Doctor he had been related to until I asked on Facebook and he reminded me. Still, pretty cool.

Apparently Samuel Johnson (a designer who has previously worked on City, Ninjago and Chima) is the designer who was tasked with turning the concept into a finished set. Kind of an appropriate choice, considering Paul McGann (the eighth Doctor) is actually his uncle!

Nothing's "replacing" Elves, least of all a licensed theme. Disney Princess... maybe. But let's not assume that Lego can only sustain two or three "girls themes" at a time. Considering how successful Friends and Elves have both been, it would follow that the market for minidolls is large enough to sustain a variety of different themes. Not that I think the Super Hero Girls will take a big bite out of the main Super Heroes theme, either. This is aimed at a different market, and as such I doubt Lego has any plan to sabotage one of their more traditionally successful themes just to launch it.

Your post is generally really, really good, but I thought I'd point out that of the considerations you mention, this probably isn't one of them—remember, Lego no longer uses pre-dyed granulate, and as such what colors they can produce depend more on dye colors (which they're unlikely to have any shortage of), and on what colors of parts they're already producing (since Lego puts a hard limit on the number of different elements they can have in production at a time, meaning a set that requires 50 brand-new recolors will be less likely to pass than one that only needs three, regardless of which specific color is needed).

It's possible, but to me it looks more like the classic antenna. On that note, I wonder... are we absolutely sure that these sets use Trans. Fluor. Reddish Orange for the knights? The teaser pic makes the "laser" weapons look far more yellowish than that color would, as if they're Trans. Bright Orange or even an opaque shade of yellow instead. I know this is a painted artwork rather than a picture of the actual sets, limiting how much we can glean from it, and I'd be happy whichever color it wound up being, but it's definitely something to consider.

Yes. He's a designer for Lego who designed the 2015 Gali set, among others. See also: http://www.coroflot.com/mbetteker/portfolio