Lyichir

I think it's silly to point to the ants anyway because I wouldn't exactly consider a limited-use mold for a mediocre Indiana Jones movie an example of a good investment. And that's really what the deciding factor is as to whether Lego introduces a mold—not just how much use they plan to get out of it but also whether that investment pays off in the first place by motivating sales.

I don't think it's a "policy" so much as the desire to spread certain types of characters out between sets and waves, rather than going through it all in one go and leaving fewer directions to go from there. With the Koopalings in particular they've tended to have just one per set as "boss characters" until this upcoming airship set (much like how in the games you tend to face one Koopaling in each world rather than facing them all at once).

Oh, I love the figurehead!

Ah, you were thinking about minifigure accessories. I was thinking more about the larger wings on things like Ninjago dragons, where the potential for size and shape variety is more important and a "single-mold" solution would be much less versatile. My favorite use of vinyl wings is probably the Elves Queen Dragon set, which used curved tail pieces for the "frame" for a neat and organic look, and took advantage of the transparency of the material for a shimmery, magical effect. But I also liked the smaller Elves dragons that year which used the more standardized molded wings.

I don't see why they're worse than, say, fabric sails on pirate ships. It's still a Lego piece (and can still be used creatively), it's just flexible. The main advantage of foil wings over molded or brick-built wings is they allow for a wide range of possible shapes and sizes without sacrificing thinness or relying on a large, rigid mold that's constrained to a particular size. I can see the appeal of each.

I also think the walls are too simple. Not only are they both just basic vertical slabs (despite being angled), but they don't have any texture. It gives a general feeling of being unfinished.

I don't agree about the hair (I think it looks great) but yeah, the gap in the leg printing is a little odd. I don't think Lego can print below that line, but some figs with boots get around that by using dual-molded plastic combined with the printing at the toes and "knees" to give the impression of boots. These legs almost look like they were intended to be dual-molded with black but ended up not having the budget for that or somethin.

Neat little MOC! At first I thought the increase in the number of guns felt excessive but looking up the real-world armaments you based it on it actually feels pretty realistic! I like the way you've mounted them with clips attached in a SNOT orientation too. I think the addition of the very basic sand platform probably detracts from the impact of the MOC and should be either removed or enhanced with more detail. Using curved slopes for the edges of the sand would be one option, though if you did you'd probably want to add some sort of divot in the middle for the wheels to rest in so it wouldn't just slide off.

Love the improvements you've made to the sails from your original version! I do feel like at this scale it might have been possible to make a slightly curvier hull—I know the original didn't have one but I'm quite fond of the brick-built hulls in sets like the new Eldorado Fortress or the 2020 Creator 3-in-1 Pirate Ship.

Definitely looks a bit over the top for the piddly little set it's purportedly remaking. But on a purely aesthetic basis, I do love what you've done with the curtain of flowering ivy.

I'm curious what you were going for with the use of gold on the roofs? It's an interesting choice but without knowing what the intention behind it was, I'd sooner think a color like bright red might fit better with the other dark red shingles.

Wouldn't they? I wouldn't necessarily assume that because they haven't so far doesn't mean they ever will. A lot of sorts of parts have a certain period of exclusivity to a given theme only to later be allowed to be used more broadly.

Hey, I don't go here much so this speculation might be something others have observed as well. But I recently thought about trying to MOC some things from the Spider-Verse movies, and when I was looking at reference for Prowler's motorcycle from the first one, I noticed that Lego recently released a new fairing that looks to be a pretty close match, and has so far only appeared, unprinted, in a single set. I've seen fans of the movies say that Lego really missed the opportunity to do sets based on them (especially given the Lego Spider-Man scene in the latest one), but I wonder if maybe there are still plans to do so? Maybe to tie in with the third part of the trilogy next year? Anyway, it's just idle speculation, no insider knowledge or anything here. But that new motorcycle fairing only appearing in one set does seem a lil suspicious...

I sort of doubt they'll get around to making all of them but it's prime MOC material. I might give building the others ago once the instructions to these two are published and I can get a better idea of how they're built and how to adapt the others to a similar scale.

Generally when Lego designers have been asked this they've explained reasons why it's not likely to happen. One part of it is the lack of detail of older modulars, and retired parts in many of the oldest ones. But another factor is simply a smaller audience for rereleases—a rerelease would mostly appeal to people who had missed out on the original, whereas a new one would appeal to all the same people plus the people who already had the older modulars. Plus a rerelease would have to compete with the availability of the "original" on the aftermarket (especially since despite high prices for mint-in-box modulars, it's still possible to get a good deal on old modulars used if you're lucky enough to find somebody parting with their collection).

I still can't decide which of these sets I wanna get. Despite a lot of repeats of characters, it seems frustratingly hard to get all the different "heroes" of the theme (especially if I want to get Zoey with her cloak or Cooper with his helmet, since those only seem to come in one set each). If more of the characters in the stable set had all of their accessories it'd make it an easy choice, since I love that set's Elves-ish vibes. I do think I wanna get the Shark Ship, which has a neat build, good characters, and some fantastic parts (plus the adorable tiny lil Z-Blob). But beyond that I can't really decide how much I wanna invest in yet another theme. Maybe watching the show will help me decide what characters or sets I'm most interested in. I kinda wanted to hold off, though, in part because I tend to enjoy a lot of Lego series more if I can build a set while I watch (that way I can tune in or out depending on how strong or weak the story ends up being).

Ah, very nice! I remember that top piece being used for palm trees in the Vidiyo app (for some of the digital "backgrounds"), so it's good that that comes in brown now so that you can do that physically.

They couldn't use 2x2 circle tiles in these cannons, since they're smaller cannons made with Belville-style buckets (which don't have studs inside like the 3x3 cylinders used for the larger airship).

Just built the Heatwave dragon set. Really impressed with the simple transformation, but the dragon core launcher is a disappointment—does not seem to work very well at all. Had to build it, though, after ADORING Wyldfyre in the show (and her fig looks fantastic).

Very neat MOC! Great exterior, great interior. If I had one critique, it's that the lettering style you've used for the signage works a lot better horizontally than it does vertically. On the vertical sign the square tiles in the R, D, and Z connecting edge to edge makes the separation between those letters less effective than when the letters are lined up horizontally. You might be able to improve that by changing the colors of some of the letters so they no longer blend in to one another in either orientation.

I think a big factor in those mid-to-late 90s changes was the shift from overlapping subthemes (which built in crossover-ish lore to extend the appeal of older subthemes) to the more modern system of having more or less independent subthemes (driven by retailer pressure to cycle product more regularly and emphasize the newest releases). That said, the shift from those overarching Space and Castle "universes" in favor of more independent themes also made room for themes like Rock Raiders that are iconic in part because of their distinctiveness—unmoored from the shared universe of the earlier systems, themes could establish their own independent settings and lore. So it's a bit of a trade-off.

Ah, it's good that they're at least being honest about that. Many Netflix shows have split seasons into two numbered seasons while only paying/retaining staff for the equivalent of one.

Just finished watching Season 1 of Dragons Rising and building the Lloyd and Arin mech and lightning dragon! Really enjoyed it! The new characters are so much fun. The new sets were great too. I got some of the others but might try to save them for whenever "Season 2" (which, unfortunately, is most likely the rest of Season 1 as far as production is concerned) releases.

...Okay... back on topic, the Season 4 special is now on the HappyKids mobile app! Just watched it yesterday, and was very satisfied with it—I especially liked the characterization of Peng and Yellow-Tusk given that they got relatively little screentime previously. For anyone watching the episodes this way, be aware that they're currently listed out of order. The correct order is as follows: A Lifetime of Mistakes The Plan Man Rip and Tear Better Than We Found It

I feel like we're talking in circles. Obviously Lego can make molds of anything it wants to. My point the whole time has been that goats are a somewhat niche interest despite certain AFOL fervor for them, and that when Lego has had the choice between remaking a goat and using the budget in other ways, it has so far opted for the latter. It's not a matter of being "too poor", it's a matter of priorities, and unfortunately for some AFOLs their particular desires are not always as important or universal as they seem to think they are.