Lyichir

Personally, I think there's plenty of room in the future for both traditional "mixed" series and potential "themed" series. There's plenty of themes that could do well to have a Minifigures series: DC and Marvel Super Heroes are an obvious choice, as well as Star Wars if the licensing works out, and if the Ninjago movie that is being produced does pan out, I would not be surprised if we got a Minifigures series based on that theme (after all, the TV show has a lot of interesting characters already, not to mention whatever new characters could be introduced for the movie). Friends could do with a Minifigures series as well, to perhaps diversify the types of outfits and roles for the characters (maybe even getting into the sort of out-there roles Barbie has enjoyed like astronaut). I have doubts about whether lines with less of a media push will get series; as much as I'd like a Hero Factory series now that the sets are minifig scale, Hero Factory never has been and probably never will be the media behemoth Bionicle was in its heyday, let alone as big as Ninjago is now. The same applies to Chima, which from what I have read has failed to meet expectations, even if it has enjoyed moderate success. Not being a Simpsons fan, I have little interest in that theme's series, but I understand the reasoning behind it. The Simpsons has a long history and a massive cast of characters, and a Minifigures series is probably a better way to get many of them out of the way. From what I've heard, there will only be a few sets besides that series of figs, meaning that this could be the only practical way to sell side characters. Other themes could potentially benefit from this type of model as well. For instance, if Spongebob got a Minifigures series, it could help to diversify the cast of characters without relying as much as the existing sets have on endless redesigns of the same core cast. I don't think the era of diverse, theme-less series is over, though. If and when they come back, I honestly don't know how they will or won't be numbered, and it doesn't bother me that much. As a collector but not a completionist, I don't mind sitting out a few waves, and if a fig does appeal to me (as many of the Lego Movie figs surely will once I've seen the film), I'll get the ones I like and pass on the ones I don't.

I have to say, those shelter concepts do a much better job of conveying what the Minecraft line has to gain from being bumped up to Minifig scale than the figs did. The larger scale is better suited to the kinds of complex structures you can build in the game, although I still think the microscale sets do a great job of portraying the dynamic environments of the game.

He's a part designer for Lego. Even if he doesn't own the sets, I'm sure he can get access to the new parts. If you insist! Here it is. It's not the cleanest (the extra parts in the back are either parts that can't be added without parts that aren't there, or placeholders I used to get closer to the right part count, and I just noticed I failed to add a placeholder for the cockpit piece itself). There are some parts I'm unsure about (it's impossible to know what's inside the waist, for instance, and I'm still not totally convinced that the "T" liftarms are used in dark grey to attach the containment unit). But it should give you a good idea of how the set seems to go together.

I don't think there is or ever has been an overarching Lego canon. Lego Universe's canon never overlapped with other games or themes, and most magazine crossovers or the like operate on their own rules without regard to what has gone before. The Lego Movie continues this trend by inventing its own world where various themes coexist in a toy-like capacity. I do like to look at how various themes interact in various media (especially when they do so in the sets themselves, such as the Classic Space marble statue in Space Police III or Brains from Power Miners joining the Atlantis crew in the latter theme's second year). But if you're trying to reconcile the disparate canons Lego has established in the past, or trying to judge one story's canon as "more canon" than another, you're probably overthinking things.

So far so good, except for the gear on the back (which I think is actually supposed to be a gray version of the "weapon barrel" piece used on Brain Attack Surge in Trans. Fluorescent Green). Here's what I've got. The cockpit is attached to another XT-4 torso that attaches in front of what you've got on the top, and that attaches to another "T-beam" that attaches it to the front of the turntable. Then the back of the turntable is attached to more 5-module beams that link up with the top. The two shells on the front (below the cockpit) attach to the "shoulders" of the XT-4 torso via two three-module "A" bones. My model includes 182 parts so far, including off-screen parts that either can't attach without the cockpit (windscreen, levers, lasers), can't attach due to lack of flex (ammo belt with spare missiles), or are just placeholders for parts not yet on LDD (The minifig, the "hoppers", the containment unit). I'm pretty sure the remaining 11 parts are largely on the inside and back of the "gearbox", and possibly a few on the inside and rear of the torso, hidden by the cockpit. EDIT: Realized I'd missed the bracing on the back of the "knees". That adds six parts, bringing the number I'm missing down to five, which is only one part more than the minimum number it would take to properly fill out the axle that drives the gear function. I think it's pretty much as close to done as it's going to get until instructions, reviews, and new parts become available. EDIT 2: Aanchir noticed that his tally for Furno Jet Machine also had an extra part. We looked at past HF sets that had stickers, and found that the sticker sheet is always included in the piece count. So that brings the part tally for this set up to the correct amount.

Perhaps his good face got erased after he let Emmet go or something, but the Good Cop persona still exists, and he scribbles a replacement face in a time of need? I imagine it'll be something like that...

Don't know what you're building, but it looks to me like they may have just used the two as a substitute for 48172, and that they intended it to be rotated 90 degrees so that the click hinges rest on top of the tiles. Can you not infer what was intended by the subsequent steps?

It looks to me like Bright Reddish Violet (the same color as Lotso the bear from the Toy Story sets, among other applications). But I could be wrong.

Don't get too used to it. That's not a feature of the upcoming sets so much as the same regional distinction there's always been. We Americans have had part count printed on Lego set packaging since before my time (so, pre-1990s). Other countries don't necessarily get that privilege, and just because these pictures show packaging with part count doesn't mean it'll have that wherever you call home.

Actually, I would wager New Ninjago City is a new city built on the formerly-dark continent. Don't quote me on that, though; I don't have any sort of official source.

That's a joke, right? Because otherwise they've been "running out of ideas" since the 1980s.

What does that unwritten rule (which I doubt was an actual rule in the first place) have to do with Ninjago? Neither Ninjago nor Chima is licensed.

There's a larger treasure chest (from Belville) that is 4x6 at the base, but based on the pics we've seen of the sets I think I can say with certainty that that is not what is in these sets.

Okay, real talk. I hate reading comments like this. Not the Time Cruisers bit; that's an apt comparison, considering this is one of the first "blended" themes since Time Cruisers and Time Twisters. Rather, the "smart way to dump excess parts" bit. Seriously? I see a huge number of parts in these sets that have never shown up before in those colors. In fact, I'd wager that, including the series of Lego Movie Collectible Minifigs, the number of new parts in this theme might outweigh a number of other recent themes Lego's introduced. The logic that Lego would use what will surely be one of their most prominent themes for next year as a "dumping ground" for surplus parts is broken, especially considering that Lego just doesn't produce surplus parts the way they used to. I wish more people would just admit that a zany, eclectic theme like this isn't for them rather than try to make bogus excuses for the theme's existence.

You keep raising the issue of a small fanbase, but do keep in mind that the cumulative fanbase of The Legend of Zelda is likely more than the people who just got the last released game, just like the fanbase of Back to the Future includes people who might not have actually watched the movie in years. I think an ideal Zelda set would capture key elements of the series as a whole, and thus appeal not just to fans who still buy the latest Nintendo system and play the latest Zelda games, but also to adults who loved the older games in the series in their childhoods. I've noticed lately that Lego's competitors (Mega Bloks, K'nex, Kre-O, etc.) have been acquiring video game licenses left and right. Obviously they see some sales potential in brands like Mario and Halo. I fail to see how video game proposals are too niche for Lego to produce, especially if they work with the limited budget and low initial production volume Cuusoo allows for.

The lack of gray and white minifig hair is indeed a problem, but I think it is getting slightly better. Before 2011, there were zero Dark Stone Gray hairpieces, but plenty of figs with beards printed in that color. Now there are four; still not many, but enough to give those figs some hair options. Similarly, we've gotten a fair number of white hairpieces in recent years, although unfortunately many of them are specialized for fantasy or historical use. And while there hasn't been as much of a surge in Medium Stone Gray hair, there are already a fair number of relatively ordinary hairpieces in that color, including ones which work with various beard pieces..

That is most likely the case. The MBA kits already have massive instruction booklets when just printed in English; having to print them in many languages, as they would likely have to do for European distribution, could be a nightmare. I do hope other countries get these sets eventually; they really are amazing!

Friends is somewhat pioneering in its own right, as a building toy for girls that is fully equitable to the traditional "boys' options" (and it has been followed by other major building toy brands trying to get in on the girls' building toy action, with considerably less impressive results). I think Lego is going to play it somewhat safe, as far as new themes for girls are concerned. Lego has had unprecedented success in an untested market with the Lego Friends theme, but they won't want to risk oversaturating that market and potentially cannibalizing Lego Friends sales. But that isn't to say they won't make progress. I think before a girls' action theme happens, we'll see other, more time-tested girls' brands being converted to the building toy medium. There is a rumored Disney Princess theme for next year, which, while licensed, allows for more fantasy elements than the relatively grounded Friends theme. Perhaps in the future we'll see it break into more action-y territory; drawing perhaps from the Magical Girl or Superhero genres. As far as integrating more female characters into other themes is concerned, I think Lego is progressing, albeit more slowly. Legends of Chima in particular has four distinct female characters this year, the first "action theme" to have so many female characters in a single year's sets. Although I too would love to see more female representation in Ninjago, which, while maybe the best story theme Lego has done in some time, still fails to pass the Bechdel Test.

The Bionicle story is essentially over. Makuta is defeated, and Spherus Magna is restored. What loose ends remain are minor things, like characters trapped in alternate universes that have little to no bearing on the story as a whole. Is the potential there for further adventures? Sure; just like in most stories. But you have to end a story somewhere, and in Bionicle's case, the primary conflicts and mysteries of the universe have been more or less resolved. No matter how many years pass, Bionicle will never feel quite as "new" as a new theme would. It was largely a product of its time, with its complex terminology and lore, and Lego would have far more to gain by crafting a brand new story to appeal to the youth of the day rather than trying to squeeze more life out of a theme that had run its course years before.

If Lego had struggled at all since Bionicle's end, maybe that'd be a good plan. But as it is, Hero Factory seems to be a continuing success, and Lego's other themes have been successful enough to propel the company to the #2 position among toy manufacturers. So while the remnants of the Bionicle fandom might be happy to see Bionicle return, I don't think the Lego Group has anything to gain by bringing it back (at least, nothing that would be able to match what they could accomplish with a new theme instead).

One of the fun parts about microscale building is it can be more of a challenge. In large-scale models, or even with building in minifig-scale to some extent, parts can be more-or-less interchangeable. In microscale builds you have to take into account the natural shape and dimensions of parts to get the shape you want, which can necessitate the use of more obscure parts like minifig accessories, and more advanced techniques like SNOT. Of course, it's also a lot more economical to build many things in microscale. Large buildings (such as many of those in the Architecture theme) typically would take a massive quantity of bricks to build even in minifig scale. By choosing a smaller scale you can create a decent depiction of a chosen subject, and it will be cheaper and easier to transport than a large-scale model could ever be. The relative cheapness of microscale builds also makes them useful in terms of Lego set design, since for many subjects a truly "accurate" model would be well outside the price range of the majority of fans who might want a model of that subject. Consider the new Maersk Ship; while not traditional "microscale", it's a great deal smaller than true minifig scale, yet still is one of the more expensive Lego sets out there.

I don't know what to expect, or even what to hope for, with this new theme. On the one hand, the absolute best way to do a princess theme is to be accurate to each princess's respective movies. On the other, if it turns out pink and girly we may get a wider selection of new parts in some of the pastel colors that are still underused even in the Friends theme (such as standard Lavender, or Cool Yellow). As a side note, I wonder what sort of figure parts the princesses themselves will use. Minidoll parts would probably be ideal, but they'd have to do something for the more extravagant dresses (such as Belle's dress from the ballroom scene in Beauty and the Beast). So would they use a cloth dress around the hips of an existing skirt, or would they introduce a new dress element, that might not be able to bend at the waist? I have to say this is the theme I'm most anticipating pictures of out of all Lego themes we know for next year.

If that annoying myth is causing parents to forego buying their kids a 3DS, it doesn't matter if it's true or not. What matters is that there is a whole segment of potential 3DS gamers who are not buying a 3DS, and if the 2DS can help address that then that's a win for Nintendo.

Personally, I'd recommend Bruizer or Dragon Bolt. Those are by far the awesomest of the villain sets, with Bruizer having a cool stone motif and both of them having awesome functions. If you're more interested in adding a hero to your collection, I'd recommend Stormer or Surge.

If I had to guess, it would somehow involve separating the "ramps" of the Eagle's Castle and attaching them to this. So not connecting with it so much as being compatible with certain parts of it.