Lyichir

Good review. FYI, the piece you thought was new to this set isn't—it has appeared in white in loads of sets, mostly the Chima Legend Beasts and the Mixels, but even in yellow it's not necessarily new, coming in one set, 70124 Eagle Legend Beast. Still, that set only has one of them, so this set's eight are more than welcome. This is one of the Lego Movie sets I'm not sure whether I'll get. While I'd love to have Angry Kitty and Emmet's exclusive face from this set, the lack of functionality relative to this set's size (and the fact that this set's "exclusive characters" are available in other forms in other sets) might mean I'll want to allocate my budget elsewhere.

I thought about that, but the issue there is that the backs of the legs would be transparent (not to mention you'd be able to see all the way through the feet). The next best thing would be printing with the metallic blue ink used on some of the Ninjago NRG Ninja or the stickers to the Chima Eagle Legend Beast. But I don't know how much that'd look like glass...

Oh, that would be AWESOME. But is that really what it'll be? The description sounds more like some sort of character. I fear it may be a character who wasn't really in the movie, but I suppose we'll find out...

I think what Dorayaki is referring to is something actually based more on a fairytale, rather than just a traditional Castle princess who has been kidnapped. There are plenty of fairytales where the princess is more than just an object to be rescued. Perhaps this princess will come with a frog to kiss, a la the Frog Prince? Of course, the most distinctive fairytale princess I can think of is Cinderella, due to her magical ballgown and glass slippers, but I don't know whether to expect that for this fig—how exactly DO you depict glass slippers on a minifig?

Personally, I like the dark brown on this set. It gives the impression that the horns/spikes/whatever they are are ornamental, rather than being part of his actual body. As for my own impressions on the set, it may be my favorite of this year's Chima constraction sets. I had already liked the look of it, but this review made me notice even more details, like his exposed ribs. And unlike CHI Mungus, the broad shoulders really work for this guy.

Just to nitpick, not every brick in LDD is right-side up. Just as an example, the new Hero Factory minifig cockpit piece is displayed upside-down in the parts palette. I'm sure there are others that aren't coming to mind, but LDD is far from a reliable resource on part orientation.

The "DLC" explanation is possible. But it's also entirely possible that they're pricing them more according to demand. While I've seen a lot of people argue that the price increase will cause a loss in sales, frankly the CMFs have been such reliable sellers that I can't imagine it'll have too much of an impact. There are few other sets that I have to worry about missing out on completely if I don't buy them as soon as they come out, but the limited supply of CMFs coupled with the high demand means that from my experience, CMF displays are often empty (or left with only a few figs) for months before a new series comes around to replenish the stock. In this sort of situation I can imagine decreasing demand through price increases would actually be beneficial overall, since it would lengthen the amount of time that the sets are widely available on shelves and discourage hardcore AFOLs from buying as many at a time. That would mean more kids would have a shot at picking them up, including new customers, widening the customer base. So in this case I think what's bad for us AFOLs (or at least inconvenient) could be better for sales of the theme and for The Lego Group in general.

A great likeness! I'm not much of an Architecture builder, but I do commonly attempt to build unreleased sets on Lego Digital Designer to get a better feel for how they work. With those—often upcoming sets I'm interested in from themes like Ninjago, The Lego Movie, Legends of Chima, and other themes—doing so often gives me a better appreciation for how those sets are designed, and helps to inspire me to build my own creations. But in many of the themes I build in, I have the benefit of selecting from not just the official pics but also photos and video from events like Toy Fair (which rarely feature Architecture sets). Props to you for being able to discern so many details of this model!

As far as I can tell, the 2x2x3 slopes in the Haunted House and later sets are essentially the same as the ones in any older sets, save for having solid studs instead of hollow studs. I don't have the Haunted House open, but I do have Gorzan's Gorilla Striker, which has the same newer mold according to both Bricklink and Brickset, and comparing it to the older version I'm not seeing any difference in angle whatsoever.

Sets exclusive to Toys R Us, Target or Wal-Mart in the U.S. are almost always available through Lego directly, whether online or at a Lego brand store. The exclusivity simply means that other retailers, whether they're competing large chains or mom & pop stores, don't get the option of stocking those sets. I'm pretty sure that, at least in the past few years, Technic has been exclusive to Toys R Us.

I've tried to limit major spoilers, but what I have could still be considered a minor spoiler. Consider yourself warned...

I would think it would be more so that his outfit is closer to the typical Classic Space ship colors. It eliminates any ambiguity as to what theme he belongs to, which is useful since not all theatergoers are as knowledgeable about classic themes as we Lego fans are, so it helps to have a consistent visual language.

I don't think HF was the most popular theme even back then. Unless you mean the one you personally liked most?

Lovely! I imagine this model would be a hit at conventions, especially with kids. Have you tested to make sure that the tracks are balanced (that is to say, have similar probabilities of winning)?

As some commenters here have said, the set description states that she is trying to steal the crystal to complete her superweapon, so some are hoping for a set that features said superweapon (similarly to how all the first-wave Agents sets featured Dr. Inferno's henchmen stealing things to complete the giant laser in the Volcano Base set). If there were another unannounced set, and it featured a previously-seen villain, it wouldn't surprise me if it were Toxikita—after all, while she lacks the evil overlord persona of Dr. Inferno, she IS the only new villain to have her own henchman. At this point in the year if there are any sets we haven't yet seen, they'll probably be retailer-exclusives—unless the theme continues for another wave next year, which is entirely possible given this theme's strong multimedia focus as well as its open-ended nature.

Architecture is one of the most common subjects built in Lego, so this topic would quickly become overrun if everyone posted whatever neat MOCs they found in the theme discussion topic (especially minifig-scale MOCs like this that are hardly like the sets in the Architecture theme at all). I can see why the mods would want to keep the topic focused on the theme this topic pertains to. And as a regular in the Lego Movie sets topic, I think the mods do the same thing there, such as redirecting discussion of the movie itself to the Culture and Multimedia subforum. Just my two cents.

As a related question to the topic starter's, does anyone know a good rendering program that works on Mac? Neither POVray nor LDD2POVray work on my laptop, and I'd like to be able to polish some of my LDD models with custom decorations as well as higher-quality rendering. It's not an issue of power or rendering time for me; I just need something that works at all!

The Assault on Wayne Manor proposal is great and I wish it luck in review. It's actually inspired me to come up with my own idea for a Super Heroes proposal. Here's a question that's been on my mind for some time—could a proposal that falls under an existing Lego license be different enough from past or current sets in a licensed theme to pass review? I ask because certain types of models are different enough from typical licensed fare that they might never become sets, if not through Ideas. For instance, the bulk of Super Heroes sets focus on comics-based Batman models or sets based on current movies. Which are all well and good, but I'm considering creating a project based on one of the super hero brands of my childhood—specifically, a Titans Tower project based on the Teen Titans cartoon. Lego and DC are unlikely to make a set from a ten-year-old cartoon otherwise, so do you think a set based on a show like that (which probably has a big enough audience to reach 10,000 supports, and even has a spinoff on TV today) could find success on Ideas?

The first issue you mention comes from the fact that the fact that, purely geometrically, that WOULD be an illegal connection. Technic bricks have their pins/axle holes raised to a certain level to allow for studs to attach to the underside of the bricks. Normally, this only affects trying to attach things to Technic holes studs-first, since "studless" Technic beams are thin enough to fit under bricks without colliding (slightly thinner than one module). However, parts like 48989 are a full module thick due to the perpendicular Technic holes, meaning that it technically should collide in such a scenario. The reason why it doesn't in real-life is that a Technic pin connection like the one on 48989 is loose enough that the pin can sit slightly lower in the Technic axle hole and keep the parts from being stressed. You can't do this on LDD, but you CAN artificially raise the plates placed over this part by attaching a 1x1 Technic brick with hole on the level of the other Technic bricks, attaching a regular 1x1 brick with side stud to that, and attaching all the plates to that 1x1 with side stud, rather than actually attaching them to the Technic bricks. The second issue you mention appears to be a legitimate boundary error. It seems to be a problem with the very tip of the Technic panel, since bricks can attach atop points further away from the tip with no issue.

How do people keep misquoting that line? It wasn't "other worlds we don't talk about" but rather "a bunch of others we don't need to mention". It wasn't skipping over them because they're somehow unmentionable or worthy of scorn, but rather because if Wyldstyle listed every single Lego theme that single conversation would take ages! I wouldn't doubt that themes like Friends and Bionicle (or at least Hero Factory) could make an appearance in the sequel, but let's stop pretending that their split-second cameo in the movie was meant as an insult rather than as an easy way to pay tribute to some of Lego's less traditional themes.

Found another minor error! This one shouldn't need a picture. Part 98284 (Plate Round 2x2 w. vertical shaft) lacks connectivity with the top of 15395 (Dome 2x2, inverted w. one stud). It's not a huge issue since the part can be floated into place fairly easily, but there should be a registered connection.

I found an error when attempting to build the new Sandcrawler set. http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/Lyichir/LDDSets/LDDReference/LDDErrors/55013_error.png Unfortunately, it looks as though my issues with the screenshot tool made it so that the part in question doesn't appear in my screenshot, so I'll attempt to explain verbally. Do you see how the end stop of part 37083 (Cross Axle 4M with End Stop) in this picture is able to sink partway into the opening of the Technic axle hole? That's how it's supposed to work, but unfortunately part 55013 (Cross Axle 8M with End Stop) doesn't do the same thing, stopping with the end stop still outside the Technic axle hole.

I'm talking about bricks in such sizes as 4x12, 8x16, or 12x24. I realize that my terminology probably wasn't totally clear; I called them that since my primary experience with them was as the bases to '90s castle sets in themes like Fright Knights, Ninja, or the early Harry Potter sets. I wasn't talking about raised baseplates, which are still totally absent from LDD. The silly thing is that they're not even new to this version; I just thought they were since they weren't there the last time I needed them (which was probably more than three updates ago, when I still tended to build old sets on LDD for Eurobricks).

Bricklink generally lists spare parts in its set inventories.

While the latest update added a great deal of the parts I wanted, there are still some missing that would be very helpful to have. -All the Friends Minidoll parts (not going to list all of them since they're probably already mentioned in the topic) -97489—Spongebob's cape from one set, useful since it's designed to fit between Spongebob's torso and "head", meaning it should also fit between a torso and long hair better than other capes. -18386—Lord Business' legs, one of the few Lego Movie parts not added in the latest update. -16494—Lord Business' cape, similar to the Spongebob one and another Lego Movie part omitted from the latest update. -15357 and 15359—The new HF beast head segments, some of the only new HF parts left out of the latest update. -16360—The minifig torso with dual-colored arms from the Simpsons theme. This part would be massively useful to have, whether it's a new part or just a new recolorable surface on the standard torso. -16709—Same deal as previous, but with the short legs. So far this and the above have only shown up in the Simpsons theme but I imagine they're only going to get more common from here on out. These short legs in particular would not surprise me if they appear in the Hobbit theme later this year, perhaps finally giving the titular hobbit bare feet.