Jump to content

Lyichir

Eurobricks Grand Dukes
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    6,768

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Everything posted by Lyichir

  1. Lyichir
    Make that 6: https://www.instagram.com/p/DTIoxgqEUKx/?img_index=2 ZX-style Nya definitely wasn't on my bingo card, but is certainly a cool addition to the lineup.
  2. Lyichir
    Eh... I don't know if making the Oni Titan set bigger would necessarily make it a more interesting build or anything. Compared to something like a mech or creature that has more defined features to focus on and enhance, the Oni Titan is mostly a big guy made of stone. I guess they could maybe make one that's impressively naturalistic looking (sort of like the nice rockwork in recent sets like the blacksmith and old town), but I'm still not sure it'd be the most interesting choice.
  3. Lyichir
    A Technic Tumbler, eh? It'd be interesting if they found a way to integrate the way the front wheels separate and fold out to become the Batpod (something every Lego version of it so far lacks). Don't know if that's particularly likely, though, even at a large Technic scale—mechanically it would be hard to do while also making the wheelbase sturdy enough and could interfere with other functionality they might want to include.
  4. Lyichir
    Don't know how likely it is but an updated Great Devourer could be very cool and iconic. Main issue is I don't know if any Serpentine parts are still around to go with it (but it's not impossible, given that they brought back the ice armor for one of the sets).
  5. Lyichir
    Instructions for most of the Dreamzzz sets are up online but the links to the Tiger Shark Tank ones seem to be broken. Bit of a shame, since I like looking at the instructions to these sets and building them digitally to get a better feel for both builds in each set. The Nightmare Scorpion Digger is a bit unusual for the theme in that the main build differs completely between the two builds—only Cooper's small mech and the crystal egg for the treasure creature are shared between the two builds.
  6. Lyichir
    Not really—been doing more of my shopping online recently, except when I make trips to my local Lego store (which rarely has issues with inventory regardless of theme). In terms of online discounts I haven't noticed too many deep discounts on Dreamzzz compared to other themes (usually discounts mostly on older sets, and mostly smaller discounts instead of larger ones that might suggest excessive inventory left over). The biggest exception I can think of was the Castle Nocturnia set, which saw 30-40% discounts near its retirement, possibly suggesting that as a much more expensive D2C set it might not have sold as much as forecast (which could also explain the cancellation of last year's planned D2C set for the theme, the very cool-looking Game Island Tower). But a theme perhaps not being able to sustain a $200 D2C set doesn't necessarily mean that the theme as a whole was unsuccessful.
  7. Lyichir
    I don't really have anecdotes about sales—and even if I did they'd be fairly irrelevant for Monkie Kid in particular, which was aimed primarily at success in the Chinese market with other regions secondary to that. Because of that particular positioning, it's hard to say whether there will be a direct replacement for Monkie Kid. I would not be surprised if there is a new theme to replace Dreamzzz though—possibly in the second half of 2026 or near the start of 2027. I certainly don't think Lego has lost faith in the idea of original themes, but "Big Bang" themes (themes like Ninjago, Chima, Nexo Knights, and Dreamzz designed with a major media and promotional push out of the gate) take time to develop and bring to market, so it's entirely possible that the next big thing isn't quite ready yet.
  8. Lyichir
    I don't know if I'd say that experienced designers make better modulars. I think it might sometimes be almost the opposite—that people are inherently more critical toward modulars when they're coming from a designer they haven't heard of, and are less willing to view differences between those new designs and the ones they're used to as anything but bad. Give people something easy to blame their initial reactions on, and it becomes easier for them to reinforce those reactions instead of approaching with a more open mind. Of course, designers don't get experienced except by getting to design sets in the first place—listening to fans it'd be easy to forget that the Café Corner was one of Jamie Berard's first set designs, and that he wouldn't have gotten to work on the later, better modulars of his career if he had not started there. And especially for a series as high-profile as the Modular Buildings series, newer designers don't get to be tasked with one unless their ideas are selected and approved by those more experienced senior designers. But of course, the backseat designers in the fan community like to think they know best, and cry out repeatedly for their favorite designers to do all the work themselves instead of trusting and fostering newer talent and letting their unique ideas and perspectives leave a mark on the series. None of these discussions are new. Ever since Jamie Berard stopped designing every single modular himself fans have been whining and complaining that the series is on the decline (heck, even before that, people were complaining about the Fire Brigade being the worst modular ever). But usually those discussions soften once people start to get the new set in hand and whiners who made a big stink about the set before even having it in hand become outnumbered by people who did get it and decided it's pretty cool, actually.
  9. Lyichir
    Other LAN sites like New Elementary, Brothers Brick, as well as several YouTubers have reviewed the set, so it's probably not a case where an embargo hasn't been reached. It's probably just a matter of time and scheduling. Not every site always has time to drop everything already in progress to prioritize an upcoming set, even a highly anticipated one like this.
  10. Lyichir
    As a fan of how the Mario theme has handled things I feel the opposite. I think "minifig-scale" would largely be a suboptimal approach to Pokémon, allowing for less detail and articulation for most Pokémon (excepting those big enough that they could be brick-built anyway). Even if a Pokémon theme does end up needing specialized molds for certain features those are still likely to be more versatile and useful for MOCing than something like a solid single-piece Pikachu would have been. This approach would also make it easier to build additional Pokémon or customize the ones that come in sets, instead of being constantly reliant on an inherently limited range of molded figures to add to your collection. Things like locations and human characters might sometimes work better with minifigures, but I don't know if that would be worth it if the buildability/playability of the Pokémon themselves suffer for it. Ultimately they're more of a draw and more of the focus of the franchise than locations or human trainers are.
  11. Lyichir
    1. Not sure whether there will be a Season 4... hopefully there will be but it's not uncommon for themes on the way out to get less media and promotion. 2. From what we've heard, yes. 3. I'm not quite sure what you mean by this... I think the Dreamzzz theme's variety and adaptability to different subject matter is a feature, not a bug. Being able to represent the childlike interests of different characters means the theme isn't limited to any sense of realism or any one aesthetic/style. 4. Agree to disagree, I love colorful transparent parts and I think the ones in this new wave are really used well in various color schemes. The trans pink on the villains is especially cool to me, adding vibrancy and energy to their otherwise dark color schemes. 5. This is gonna be a matter of individual taste but at least it seems like there aren't any issues where stickers are used in one build but not others (an issue with the Z-Blob mech last year). 6. Agreed, though I'm disappointed by the issue with the crystal egg piece described in the New Elementary review. That seemed like a really cool part but not being able to attach them back to back and connect them by the studs on top is a bummer.
  12. Lyichir
    Wow, great likeness! You've definitely captured the length and flatness of the hood with just enough subtle detail. When I was little in the 1990s my mom drove a white Crown Victoria and my dad would always half-joke that people would slow down around it because they were afraid it was an undercover police car.
  13. Lyichir
    Part of what I'm saying is I'm not sure there is an adequate resolution that satisfies all parties. If Lego wanted to make an "islander" fig in this day and age, the respectful and appropriate way to do that would be to authentically represent a specific real-life culture (such as indigenous Hawaiian or Samoan cultures), instead of relying on stereotypes alone. But real-life cultures don't necessarily have the hallmarks of the classic Islanders figs—King Kahuka's mask, for instance, is drawn more from "tiki" imagery that emerged in the 20th century as a stereotypical mishmash and exaggeration of various Pacific cultures, instead of resembling or being based on any sort of real cultural artifact or icon. So I don't think there's really a good way to both respectfully represent indigenous cultures AND have them function as a remake of those older, more stereotypical fig designs at the same time... and I think between the two options, representing real-world cultures authentically is a much more important concern than indulging nostalgia for those earlier depictions.
  14. Lyichir
    Personally I don't think the issue is an outright inability to represent those sorts of historical cultures respectfully, more the fact that those classic Islanders-era figs specifically were such a mishmash of cultural stereotypes that you probably couldn't make them into authentic/respectful depictions of specific foreign cultures without them ceasing to be recognizable as homages to the original figs.
  15. Lyichir
    Something that occurred to me recently when buying gifts for family is that, while Lego has gotten a little more into sets for adults, there's very little to speak of in their catalog that appeals broadly to teens in their edgy/angsty phases. There's a little bit in licensed fare (Wednesday's goth-adjacent aesthetic, Stranger Things' coming-of-age/horror blend), but less when you get into unlicensed stuff (which mostly either trends colorful and cartoony for kids or prestigious and stately for adults). I ended up getting my young cousin the Wednesday Black Dahlia set, but I can't help but wonder if there's a market for an original theme for that age—something slightly spooky, edgy, or countercultural, but one that doesn't have to lean on fandom for existing pop culture. I guess pseudo-horror themes like Monster Fighters and Hidden Side sort of filled that niche before they went away, and a theme in that vein could do so again in the future, but there's not much in the current catalog of themes that fits the bill.
  16. Lyichir
    I guess it's no more or less likely than any other possible outcome, I was talking about the specific possibility of a better falcon appearing in Ninjago at some point so I don't really know why the broad possibility of it appearing in a CMF series in the future is relevant.
  17. Lyichir
    I don't think that's particularly likely, there's rumors of a minifigure of Lloyd in that series but the falcon from Ninjago is more closely associated with Zane and his father.
  18. Lyichir
    I would not necessarily make the same assumption given that classic Islanders in general can come across as racial stereotypes. They may be classics but I would not bank on them coming across the same to modern audiences.
  19. Lyichir
    Just watched an interview with the designer behind the Ninjago Old Town set and he made clear that if he could have used the newer falcon mold he would have—the character he's with was decided late in the set design process and he couldn't arrange to put the newer falcon mold back into production in time to lock in the final design of the set. With that context I think it's a pretty fine compromise and hopefully if the falcon appears in a future Ninjago set they can use the proper mold.
  20. Lyichir
    Story-wise if you interpret it as being crafted from Izzie's Mr. Sharkyjaw plush (which is yellow-orangeish before being transformed into the Nightmare Shark Ship in season one) the colors also work as a more colorful, "uncorrupted" version of the character.
  21. Lyichir
    I mean, it is Bionicle's 25th anniversary this summer (which come to think of it, the fig might be a way of commemorating) but I doubt the whole series will be that. That said, if the fig design is good, it'd be nice if they followed it up with other Bionicle characters in the future (probably through assorted themes instead of overwhelming CMFs with them). After years of homages to '80s sets (which I've appreciated, don't get me wrong), it feels cool for more of the themes from my childhood to get a spotlight.
  22. Lyichir
    Actually, the lighter pink in it is a new color for next year—Warm Pink (don't know if it has a Bricklink name yet). You can also see it in the Japanese Cherry Blossom Landscape set, where it's sort of like a lighter shade of Vibrant Coral. Warm Pink is also used for the masonry bricks at the base of Liann's House, and for the big semicircles in the new Friends Club House set. There's also another new Bluish Violet color that was first spotted in the Botanicals Daisies set as sprigs of lavender (alongside the two existing lavender colors), and which is also used prominently in Liann's House for the door and roof tiles.
  23. Lyichir
    Hm... Tahu minifigure could be neat. It's always been a little sad that among the Bionicle minifigures (which were all varying levels of awkward), the original six Toa never got minifig-scale versions. Of course, my preference would've been for figs sort of like the Hero Factory Invasion From Below figs (which looked great and had good articulation and customizability while being more robotic looking than standard minifigures), and I don't expect that from a CMF (which as a rule tend to stick to the classic head-body-legs customization). But hopefully we'll still get a good-looking mask, weapon, and maybe a torso armor piece for some added texture.
  24. Lyichir
    My little brother is very excited for this one since he's been a fan of the real-life car since before it had won the IMSA championship. He even said he wished it could be at the even bigger, more premium scale like the biggest supercar sets. As less of a Technic-head myself I am interested in those headlight pieces...
  25. Lyichir
    I don't know if there's a single prescribed "story" to the set (instead just the elements to tell one with the various elements involved). The helicopter pilot can be trying to steal the car, the safe, or both, and free the inmate. But yeah, the female criminal in the helicopter seems to be the same one from the other set. Personally, rather than "factions" I interpreted it as various criminals working together to pull off the heist. Maybe even the imprisoned one on the train car tracking the train's movements from the inside. With the train's location known (and with it, the safe and impounded car that could be evidence from a previous case), the crooks make their move, using the helicopter to bust their comrade out, drop down a getway driver to escort him away in the impounded car, and airlift the safe away. By splitting up (with one group escaping by land and one by air) they hope to have a better chance of making a clean getaway!
×
×
  • Create New...