Lyichir

I don't see how that's on topic, but I don't mind because of how hilarious a 'shop that is.

Agreed. Another thing about the last episode I liked was the ninja once again using the Tornado of Creation. It's such a powerful and versatile technique (and one which more than any other highlights the LEGO-ness of the story) that I was beginning to get disappointed with the ninja relying mostly on their weapons for most of the fights we've seen. Mind you, they only used the Tornado of Creation because they didn't have their weapons, but it's the thought that counts. Also I so want to MOC that snake tour bus the Serpentine rode to the city of Ouroboros in.

Another problem I have with Kre-O is that it could've been so good. I'm not expecting LEGO quality, but with lines like Transformers there could've been some creative, functional designs. Instead the sets only "transform" by taking them apart and rebuilding them differently. And neither the robot or vehicle modes come out looking all that good, anyway.

A pic of it standing on its hind legs would be preferable, as that's what I'm unsure about. Bears are somewhat unique in how they alternate between standing on two or four legs, but I'm unsure whether this MOC could pull the two-legged pose off. It looks too long and lean, as opposed to the heavyset appearance of actual bears.

It's not just cold places. I've seen them up and down the U.S. East Coast. I never realized they were so unheard of in other countries; we've had them over here for decades. The town hall is smashing, and I particularly like the facade atop the columns. It reminds me of a lot of colonial architecture like I see in my hometown.

I doubt the ZX ninja are going to be replaced by the Kendo suits (if so, it'll only be temporary, as in-story it seems the Kendo suits only serve as training gear. I would not be surprised if we start seeing NRG ninja soon, though even these I see only as temporary transformations in the heat of battle, rather than replacing the ZX gear. Jay's plot to unmask Samurai X was the most hilarious (I doubt he'd have chosen such an embarrassing plan if he'd known who the Samurai really was ). The city's name is spelled Ouroboros (the name of a mythical serpent that bites its own tail).

I imagine the ears would be the painted part, like in the CMF elf. The hair is still unlikely to be regular yellow, of course: I reckon it's cool yellow as is often used for blond-haired figs. But that's probably better for you anyway, since you'd only need to recolor the ears (I've heard nail polish can be amazing for this purpose).

I'm not talking about 30 year old parts. I'm talking about parts like this one, which Kreo has an almost exact duplicate of. I can't even fathom why, as it's not a very standard or even useful part, except for sheer laziness on Hasbro's part. I don't believe that such brands pose any threat to LEGO, but it's disheartening to see a historically innovative toy company like Hasbro resorting to aping another company's designs.

Even if the original palm tree piece were still in use, I doubt it'd be used in this set. Creator typically has an emphasis on the brick-built, for instance including brick-built dogs and birds when specialized molds for these creatures exist. I personally think the custom palm tree is pretty cute.

Could you post pictures of it in different poses? It's hard to tell by the pose it's in, but I think the arms and legs might be too long. It looks as if it would have mostly human proportions if it stood up on its hind legs, whereas a real bear decidedly doesn't.

I don't know; in many cases misinformation starts as a lack of officially released information. This organization seems to have had trouble collecting the disparate sources that disprove them, but if that information is told directly to them from the heads of LEGO, they might come around. And as unlikely as it may be, if the organizers of the petition and spreader of much of this misinformation does a 180 and essentially says "we goofed", it could defuse a lot of the hysteria that has built up.

I actually hope they don't extend the theme if the only way to do it is to mimic what they did with Atlantis. Atlantis went from a cohesive theme, with the mostly-indentical treasure keys tying everything together, to a mish-mash of "collect everything marginally shiny you can find!" Admittedly Atlantis had the same treasure keys for two waves, but that worked largely because the main "lock" they opened was held until the second wave, unlike the case with Monster Fighters where the Vampire Castle provides what looks to be a stunning conclusion to the theme's story.

Could you rephrase that first statement? I'm having trouble understanding. Are you saying that there are different ways to attach the legs, or that the legs themselves are different from one-another? And out of curiosity, is Wyplash so hard to beat because of his weapons? Last year my brother and I tested a wide variety of weapons on spinners, mostly coming from the collectable minifigs which we had at college with us. In testing this, we found that part 88704, which comes with Wyplash, can be nigh-unbeatable. It has just enough length to snag a foe's weapon, but is flexy enough that it yields when another weapon entangles it. The only thing that's better, ironically enough, is to spin without a weapon, since it's hard for another fig's weapon to hit your character consistently enough to knock them off. Part of why weapon-wielding foes are easier to beat is because most of your hits will be on the weapon itself, so each hit propels the opposing fig in the same "direction", eventually loosening them enough to knock them off completely.

As I commented earlier in the topic, LEGO has nothing to fear in that respect seeing as the 1983 crash was caused primarily by the markets being flooded by third-party games of inferior quality. LEGO closely controls its output, and while LEGO is seemingly producing a greater quantity of sets than in the past, I haven't seen anything that is lesser in quality than the rest of LEGO's products. People who compare LEGO in 2012 to Atari in 1983 are blowing the non-issue of LEGO expanding and diversifying completely out of proportion.

There are some deeper issues at hand with Kre-O. Some of the molds are practically lifted wholecloth from LEGO, which, while not new for clone brands, reeks of hypocrisy on Hasbro's part considering how fervent they have been about litigating those who lift the molds of, say, their G.I. Joe toys. A close look at Kre-O parts reveals a long list of pirated parts, including specialized parts the likes of which more scrupulous clone-brand manufacturers such as Mega Brands avoid copying. It's a real shame that Hasbro has sunk so low in creating their own building-toy label, because LEGO fans, many of whom are toy lovers, would probably appreciate building toys based on Hasbro's propeties if the execution of that idea weren't such a cheap shot at LEGO. As it is I avoid Kre-O like the plague as a matter of principle.

I love the color scheme of the seaside house, but what attracts my eye even more than that is the unprinted Collectable Minifig surfboard on the side of it. That surfboard piece is so much better than the oversized sailboard, and since it appears in Friends too I'm excited to be seeing it in more sets.

Lime and gold has historically bugged me, but I think Speeda Demon pulls it off well by keeping the gold to a minimum. Purple and lime is always awesome, at least with the current purple color (Medium Lilac). And I love Nex's color scheme. It's so very Mars Mission. Aanchir, you were at Toy Fair. Can you enlighten us all about what Nex's torso pattern is supposed to resemble?

A cool idea, but I think you went and made his gun a bit too huge and complex. Compare it to the smaller arm-weapons of Alpha-1 team and it's too big, and compare it to the dual weapons of the rookie team (which, at that point, Rocka would fit under), and it's freakin' enormous. I don't know what to recommend for a replacement, but I know it needs to be smaller and simpler.

That is truly epic. I love the creative reuses customizers have had for the minidolls.

I love what I've seen of the NRG ninjas. They're obviously still prototypes, but the very idea of a sort of "Avatar state" for the ninjas is pretty sweet. Aanchir's my brother, BTW. And we both love Ninjago, though neither of us hold it on a pedestal where it can't be criticized. Some of my criticisms involve the new Garmadon: for one, his textured torso extension limits its versatility if they were to bring it back for other themes. The concept behind that is great, but in execution it falls short. Also, he uses the new helmet, which, combined with the extra-tall torso, makes him somewhat spindly-looking. I've had other criticisms of things in this theme, but ultimately they're minor things like these. And I'm extremely hesitant to layer on heavy criticism of prelim sets, because as has been seen in others on this very topic, better pictures or later prototypes can make a world of difference in regards to how a set is perceived.

Personally, I blame the fact that it is designed to open up for its ridiculous size. If it were a helmet that just went on and off like most helmets, you'd still get the Tony Stark face and probably cut down on the size a bit as well. The way I heard it, they specifically asked Samuel L. Jackson if they could use his likeness for the comics, and Jackson agreed on the condition that he'd get to play the movie version.

I disagree. While the alien molds look weird, they've always looked that way. The main difference is that now they're a heck of a lot less ugly. New Watto, for instance, looks slightly un-LEGO-ish, but old Watto was terrible, and looked more like a personality-less animal, rather than a character as developed as his human co-stars. I welcome the more detailed figs, compared to the soulless one-color molds of yesteryear.

I also imagine that if he actually had fingers he would be flashing gang signs.

Am I the only one who isn't put off by Nex's white torso and medium stone grey bones? He reminds me of the very best of Mars Mission. And I didn't like Mars Mission all that much, but DAYUM that color scheme was to die for.

This kind of mindset devalues the actual work LEGO puts into these one-wave themes. And many of your examples betray the faults in this logic. For instance, what more could have been done with Atlantis? It went from a cohesive first year, with the crew seeking out the iconic treasure rings, to seeking out... a bunch of disparate treasures that didn't even look good together. I loved some of the second-year Atlantis sets, particularly the drill submarine, but I can't deny that the theme was going downhill fast. Besides, it's not a case of LEGO "not giving themes a chance" so much as customers not giving them a chance. Based on what I've seen in stores, Alien Conquest didn't actually sell that well. If LEGO wanted to try to extend the theme, the lower sales would force them to cut corners and produce sets that would look, and probably sell, even worse. The talk in this topic reminds me of the discussion of BIONICLE on BIONICLE-centric forums. People there complain that the theme wasn't given a chance, and that theme lasted 9 years. But the net cause is the same; sales were down, and LEGO as a business can't afford to produce sets at a loss. Why can't we respect themes for what they were, rather than for what they probably never could have been?