Lyichir

I'm sorry, were you looking for this? We've already been discussing this there.

Unlikely. With Superheroes, there's really only two companies LEGO needs licensing with. On the other hand, I don't think characters from books have the same type of ownership as comic book characters. While DC Comics owns most of their main superheroes, I doubt if most publishers have the rights to the characters from books published by them; those rights would probably belong to the individual authors. That would mean a huge amount of legal wrangling for a theme that, let's face it, wouldn't be very cohesive. Most DC heroes occupy the same world, and crossovers are the name of the game in comics. But there's less freedom to mix and match characters with novels. The final nail in the coffin for such a theme is that unless there is a tie-in movie, merchandise based on novels alone will be abyssmal. One only needs look at the wares in Toys R Us to see that movie merchandise is far more common, and more successful, than toys based on books alone.

LEGO has said that the blind packaging is a means to produce figs that otherwise might not sell as well among the target age range. After all, if a kid gets a fig they didn't want specifically they're not going to flat-out reject it. I'm certain that if not for blind packaging we might not see figs like the Space Woman or the Cheerleader, who probably aren't as popular among the 5- to 12-year-old boys who make up LEGO's main market.

Hopefully it doesn't use the health power-ups from Creep Crushers. Hot dogs? Really?

I can see a use for these beyond basic minifig keychains, too. Having grown up with LEGO's own minifig keychains, I've learned that regular figs can't take much of the wear and tear of jangling on a backpack (not to mention bullies who are all too happy to tear off a regular fig's arms and legs). If these are like the key lights, however, they're a lot more durable (although even those have issues with weakening joints and printing wearing off). I'd certainly be willing to give these a go. Although the "sound bases" do seem a bit superfluous; I wonder what those "battle sounds" even sound like?

Honestly the collectible minifigs don't prove Kingdoms is continuing any more than the many cowboy and indian figs have heralded the return of Wild West. I do trust Mirandir's word that there will be no more Kingdoms sets in 2012, although that may or may not mean Lord of the Rings sets. And regardless of whether or not Lord of the Rings fills that gap, I doubt Lego is abandoning the Castle theme indefinitely. Space themes took a hiatus in the early naughts, and returned with a vengeance in the form of recent themes like Mars Mission, Space Police III, and Alien Conquest.

I hope you realize you're referring to two different things. Oky's referring to the four-eyed green snakeman general, illustrated at the end of each instruction booklet. Nihilus is referring to the green cobras, which indeed are available in the Venomari Shrine. People'll have to be more specific than just saying snakes, or no one will understand each-other.

Actually, movies provide a pretty good glimpse at what's popular at the time. In the mid-nineties (when the Pirates theme ended) the popularity of pirate movies declined significantly, after a few big-budget pirate movies opened as flops. There were virtually no serious pirate movies between then and Pirates of the Caribbean, which pretty much single-handedly revived the genre. Westerns have been unpopular, at least as far as family films go, for more than a decade. Notice which Lego theme hasn't been revived? The Western theme! Lord of the Rings may not be quite as influential in this respect: high fantasy never underwent quite the same decline in popularity as pirate movies or westerns did; but it certainly didn't hurt the genre and indeed, Lego's fantasy castle line drew heavily from conventions established in Tolkien's work.

This is both ridiculous and amazing. I love the cobblestones.

It's hard to get hard sales data, but PotC has been conspicuously missing from listings of next year's sets. It could be that it was a flop. Or it could be that it was successful enough to continue, but not until the next movie is on the horizon. It could even be that the theme was hugely successful, but the theme is skipping a wave in order to prevent oversaturation of the theme.

Very neat! Could you link the article? I'd certainly agree that the Fire Temple was this year's best sets!

I imagine the spikes aren't intended for impaling dinosaurs; they're meant as a deterrent, like barbed wire. Spikes on the front of the vehicles or the top of fences basically say "Dinos, don't even THINK about getting in my way/crossing this fence!" In fact, in the base the spikes are clearly meant as a last-ditch measure, for when the electric fences fail (as in the set, where the walls have conspicuously-clawed wiring on the exterior. As a bonus, the spikes will keep pesky birdosauruses from nesting on the gates!

The other problem with that idea is that a jet made entirely out of trans-clear bricks would probably look terrible. Its translucency would vary on different parts of the set based on how thick any section is. I sure wouldn't buy something advertised as invisible if it ended up looking like a frosted-glass shower door. There's a better way to do an invisible jet: make a set of the Hall of Justice and have one hangar with nothing in it, with decals indicating that said hangar is for the invisible jet. Voila! The jet is there, you just can't see it!

Technically, lions only lived in Africa too, and they were very common on heraldry. But I agree, it definitely looks more like a boar than a rhino.

The summary we've had of the TV series seems to confirm that he's a villain. It also mentions that the ninjas will ally with Garmadon to try to stop Lloyd and the Snakemen.

Did Power Miners do that? I don't think it did. Some sets were delayed until summer for the US release, but it was a regular line with three consecutive waves everywhere else. It's weird how it looks like both Castle and Space seem to be taking a hiatus next year; traditionally, those have been core lines. It doesn't bother me as much, since I haven't collected castle sets for years and am currently abstaining from space themes in favor of Ninjago. But it looks like action themes and licenses are going to be the name of the game, at least for early 2012.

Don't give up on that yet, either: even finalized renders aren't the be-all and end-all on part changes. For example, the City Harbor sets this year started using a new lifejacket mold, despite the final renders and boxart using the old mold. The chances are slim, but they're there.

That's not another version, it's the other side of the brick. Look at them in this set, and I'll see what I'm getting at. It's similar to the grill brick in that each side has a different pattern.

That doesn't preclude her being the green ninja. The way I see it, she'll disguise herself as "Samurai X" in order to fight alongside the ninjas, since Wu probably won't let her fight until she's had all the training that the four ninjas have. But these sort of secrets are hard to keep forever, so once she's proven her worth in battle, she'll be made a ninja like the others. That's if she is the green ninja. But the green ninja could also be Lloyd: perhaps he'll be trained under either the snake warriors or Garmadon, and becomes a ninja himself (but still a villain). If the green ninja is the same green as on the boxart, then the green ninja will match the snakemen's vehicles: perhaps this hints at the green ninja's allegiance?

Actually, the return happened this year in the Winter Village Post Office. Not that that makes these unwelcome! (Orient Expedition... I remember when that piece was new, in ARCTIC. Kids these days... )

I don't see how these are more "Megabloks" than the pallisade bricks we've had since Wild West? I think the new brick piece is well-designed, and the thieves hideout shows how much these can contribute to a model. What would previously be an unremarkable two-by-two column becomes a recognizable chimney. Both these sets and the Ninjago sets use these bricks sparsely and tastefully, unlike how Megabloks used similar elements to add "detail" to flat, boring castle walls. I can't wait to decide what else to use these new elements for: I'm already envisioning them in a SNOT brick walkway.

That's a bit of a stretch; the fig you posted has a full beard, while the red-headed dino hunter just has a tiny goatee, a full moustache and luscious, poofy sideburns. Plus, as is standard among modern figs, his hair is not printed on his forehead. He's still one of my favorite new faces in the theme.

That's not new, it's OLD. I recognize it from quite a few sets from the '90s.

They're not practical, at least for LEGO to mass-produce. If the polycarbonate parts didn't break when fitted together (minifig arm and leg connections are a great deal tighter than other LEGO connections, which is why even normal ones can break when being changed), they would generate a great deal of friction when moved, perhaps enough to break the piece. I can't vouch for those customs, but I would suspect they were not intended for the kind of heavy play production figs are made to withstand. And even if, once fitted together, they were durable, if LEGO had to discard enough as a result of breakage during assembly, the costs would outweigh the benefits enormously. So just because some very talented customizers are able to make transparent figs, don't expect them in actual sets any time soon.

Aww... you had me all excited. I was hoping for a MOC of a Skeleton-faced steam engine, but instead it's a fairly sub-par MOC posing as a set.