Lyichir

How have you felt about the recent Tournament arc, or the upcoming Possession storyline? Both have been far more traditional than the Rebooted arc, all things considered.

Interestingly, it also fits on a Technic axle, which caught me by surprise since while it's definitely a legal connection I don't think it's ever been used in sets that way. Speaking of which, part 4151 (8x8 Grid Plate) LACKS connectivity with Technic axles in the center hole. You can scaffold them into place, but they won't connect like they do to other plates with Technic hole. Additionally, if you do happen to get an axle through the center, part 6589 (the 12-tooth crown gear) will not fit underneath (with the center ring sliding into the anti-stud cavity) the way it can with other Technic plates. This prevents you from using a part like 6585 directly underneath the 8x8 grid plate to gear a vertical axle to turn.

Personally, I wonder if the Skull Masks are some of the masks designed by Makuta. The Legend video implied that the villagers of Okoto favored the masks made by Ekimu, and perhaps that's because Makuta's creations were generally more dark and macabre. In a way that would be similar to the creepier, more "evil" masks worn by the G1 Brotherhood of Makuta in 2008.

Very neat stuff! Considering that Lego Dimensions has yet to include minidolls, it's possible that if the minidoll is officially added to Worlds (and considering that Friends and Elves props are mentioned it very well might be), Lego Worlds might end up being the first Lego video game to feature standard minifigures and minidolls side by side. As a fan of both types of figure, I'd be very happy to see that.

I think this is spot-on. Even now that they're included in pretty much every larger set, I still see comments on Facebook and the like from parents who never knew a part like that existed. There's also the factor of effectiveness. A Lego fan who has never used a brick separator before might be skeptical of how much they actually NEED to buy a dedicated tool for separating hard-to-remove bricks, or how useful a simple plastic tool like that could even be. Putting them directly into sets allows people to see firsthand how much a part like that can enhance their building experience, allowing for greater customer satisfaction. Unfortunately, there's no way for Lego to distinguish between "fans who have never had a brick separator" and "longtime fans who have dozens"... but considering the high overturn rate in the toy market as younger kids grow into the product and most older kids age out of it, that's probably of minor concern to Lego.

A lot of them are good. My personal favorite is probably Airjitzu Cole, who looks great and has fantastic weapons, a versatile spinner color, and a fair number of new parts. But Wrayth and Morro have a huge number of parts in rare and interesting colors, and the other Airjitzu Ninja also look fantastic. I should have a review of the full range up on The New Elementary soon, in case that would help you make a decision.

Those would be Skull Scorpio's legs, which he didn't use on Skull Scorpio himself.

Pretty sure it's the latter. Dangit, you got my hopes up!

That... is not how the torso is built. It's pretty far from it, actually. Here's a better look at how it's actually constructed. It's quite elegant, really—the shoulders are not much further back than they would be with a normal gearbox (only a little over one module farther), and they rotate forward when the function is engaged. EDIT: Missed the fact that someone else had already shared a better one. Ah well. I'll leave this in case anyone wants further reference.

Anyone who wants more than one of that mask, for starters. Sure, most hardcore fans will get Mask Maker vs. Skull Grinder for its exclusive Mask of Creation... but if you had any sort of project that required more than one of that gold Protector mask, it'd be a heck of a lot easier to get multiples from a $9 activity book than from a $30 set. Beyond that, the mask is not being sold on its own—it's packed in as a little something extra for buyers of an activity book. Activity books like this are popular with the target audience for themes like Bionicle, and a mask like this is a great incentive to take the plunge and buy the book whether or not it appears elsewhere.

Found a new error, this time with part 87618. For some reason, it can't be attached to a Technic axle hole at 45 degrees. EDIT: Found two more "errors". Firstly, part 32187 should have stud connectivity on both the outside and the inside: Secondly (and less likely to be fixed), 3.2mm bars like part 87994 should technically be able to fit into the underside of part 43888, despite not being a connection as such. All of these errors were discovered while building set 70734 Master Wu Dragon, which as it turns out uses a fair share of bonkers, if legal, techniques. EDIT 2: Dang! Yet another error with part 43888. This time it's a boundary error—the top section doesn't seem to have a round collision box, which prevents parts from being attached next to it when it's rotated.

Not sure I'll have much use for bulk parts unless they have a large quantity of Medium Lavender... but I suppose it can't hurt to check.

Considering the sole "new piece" used in the blaster looks completely different from the MSPaint sketch, and the rumors failed to predict that the launcher itself would remain System-based... I don't think it lends any credence at all. It's easy to create a credible rumor by basing it on a direction people were already widely speculating blasters to go in, and apart from that and the obvious guess that the figures would use the already-revealed Star Wars parts, there's no meat to those rumors at all.

I love the recent sorts of designs, and many of my favorite themes (Exo-Force, Ninjago, Space Police, Power Miners, etc.) owe a lot to those sorts of designs. I think the next step in that design evolution should be greater integration with ball joint-based "constraction" building styles—I'd love to see the return of minifigure-scale Bionicle "playsets" that integrate the CCBS (Character and Creature Building System) with smaller, System-based structures.

It could easily be based on the franchise as a whole, but there's no way in hell we're ever going to get A n g r y B i r d s Transformers sets, considering that's a Hasbro property. Star Wars is possible but also unlikely.

It's true in the sense of the word, but not really. Yes, the collectible minifigures are made in China, and yes, the plastic from them is sourced from China instead of from Lego's main supplier. However, the reason for this is not because the plastic ITSELF is cheaper, but rather because Chinese manufacturing and import laws would make importing the raw materials from elsewhere prohibitively expensive. Early CMF series had some color consistency issues, but that was not due to lower quality dyes or plastic, but rather just imperfect color matching at the new facility. More recent figures and parts from the Chinese plant have been much more on-target. So yeah. There have been issues like that many times, involving many different manufacturing locations. And almost every time, the issues are quickly dealt with and cease to affect future parts. China is just an easy scapegoat for disgruntled AFOLs who lack perspective.

I know that. I was just mentioning it since I feel like a solid color would make more sense for a wider variety of models, and that's the only solid color sports ball that's currently available. Not like Lego couldn't do a new one, perhaps an unprinted white or something similar...

I have had a similar issue that occurs whenever I try to save a new file in LDD (including instructions, BOM, a new model, or "Save As" an existing model under a new name). Currently the only workaround I have is to allow myself to start new models—I simply copy an existing model, rename it to what I want my new model to be, and edit it from there. But I don't know if there's any workarounds for making instructions. Hopefully the coming update will fix these issues.

Now I want to see someone draw that. :P

Zamor Spheres are just harder to use in general, since while the soccer ball piece is slightly LESS than two modules wide (meaning that it can fit through a 2x2 hole easily), Zamor Spheres are slightly MORE than two modules wide (meaning that you need at least a 3x3 hole to accommodate them). There's a reason why soccer balls remain the GBC standard—Zamors add all sorts of complications regardless of how common they are. Of course, I have little doubt that Lego will just use a soccer ball (or perhaps more likely, the solid orange Lego Friends basketball) for this set. After all, unlike a GBC module, this really only needs a single ball to be played with, perhaps with one or two spares. So there's little reason for Lego to choose the larger, more expensive Zamor over the soccer ball, which is still in production and closer to the original proposal.

They're similar, but again, much smaller. The eagle wings are each practically as wide as the horse is long, making for a pretty absurd wingspan. The new wings are scaled to the horses more adequately.

THIS. I don't need it in every primary color or anything... but I could see a lot of use for it in, say, black, or red.

We're sure that they're not. They're much smaller.

The difference is that the Toa Mata's origins are not integral to their characterization. Even given a different origin, Tahu is still readily identifiable as hotheaded and heroic, Lewa as reckless and carefree, Onua as wise and steadfast. Besides that, their origin isn't THAT different from the 2001 origins, save for falling directly to the island instead of washing up inside canisters. Takanuva is a different case. He was often motivated by his friendships and experiences as a Matoran. More to the point, his story has already been told, and like Mata Nui, his name alone has too many ties to the old story. If a villager named Takua is introduced, it wouldn't take a genius to figure out that they'd become the seventh Toa. Finally, as progressive as it would appear, changing up a classic character's gender has the potential to distract from the purpose of bringing back characters in the first place—appealing to nostalgia. You can argue all day that a change like that shouldn't be a big deal, but for many fans, it WOULD be, and there's no point in risking the fan narrative being changed from "toy company brings back beloved character" to "toy company subverts childhood memories to be politically correct". Again, I can't emphasize how much I disagree that a change like that would be wrong—but the opinions of nostalgic fans are so rarely rational, and it'd be far easier for Lego to avoid that controversy altogether by treating them as a new character with a new name.

I would not want a female Takanuva, largely because I don't want Takanuva at all. As far as I'm concerned, Takanuva's personality and motivations are inextricably tied to his past identity as Takua. And I don't see any way to incorporate both forms of that character without essentially copying the Mask of Light story wholesale. However, I would love for a new "seventh Toa" to be female. And I have nothing against them being a Toa of Light, considering Light and Shadow are such primeval, fundamental, and universal symbols. Just give them a new origin story, and a new name to suit that story.