Lyichir

Yeah, my guess is that the Lego/Epic collab will be a new, "kid-safe" game (sort of like what Lego recently did with "social media" with the Lego Life app, or another attempt at what they tried to achieve with Lego Universe). I doubt putting things into Fortnite is the objective, given that having Lego characters pick up/use realistic/semi-realistic weaponry would feel a bit like a bridge too far. Though a new game property developed by Epic might certainly have "easter eggs" alluding to some of Epic's other properties/franchises. For me it varies. I love wildlife molds like the new kittens and squirrels or even larger ones like the elephants and bears City has had, and loved the molded animal characters in Elves. But for things like the Ninjago dragons, which are the core subjects of a large number of sets, I get a lot more out of the varied and interesting builds than I would out of getting a bunch of samey molded dragons year after year. For me it's largely a size thing—if an animal is big enough that you can achieve a high enough standard of detail and better articulation with a brick-built figure than you could with a molded creature, I tend to prefer brick-built. If an animal is so small that it'd look unnaturally blocky or lifeless if constructed out of bricks, I tend to prefer molded animals. And there's wiggle room in between, where for example a brick-built animal with a molded head (like the larger Elves dragons and creatures, or some Ninjago creatures) can capture the best of both worlds.

And Monkie Kid, which will in all likelihood be the very last to be revealed (since as a largely Lego-exclusive theme it tends not to "leak" from other retailers like other in-house themes often do). To be honest, I feel like May is when we typically start to get the bulk of new set reveals. So while I'm less of a fan of licensed themes (especially Harry Potter), the fact that some of them might get summer sets revealed already doesn't hugely bother me (as much as I'd love to see what themes like City, Ninjago, Dots, and Friends have in store).

I think those tiles are 1x3. Overall even beyond my general distaste for the franchise, I'm mostly uninspired by these. Maybe they'd have excited me more a decade or so ago. The most exciting thing, to me, is the new broom end piece that attaches to an antenna piece to finally replace the outdated and oddly shaped Fabuland broom. Being able to pair different colored handles and bristles is neat, and I bet it could be creatively used for things like plants and large tassels as well. I'm hoping it finds its way into other themes. There's also tan bats in the Grimmauld Place set. It's a mold that hasn't been used much recently and to be honest I think it could use an update, but it is a rare recolor. Two new cat prints for Crookshanks and Mrs. Norris as well. I wish a more vibrant and creative theme would make use of those Thestral wings at some point... stylistically they remind me of the wings for the Elves dragon but haven't appeared in any less dour colors yet.

And a set that's super-playable and encourages getting it down from the shelf can alternatively be positive ("swooshable", "functional", etc.) or negative ("gimmicky", a mere "playset", etc.). In that case the language used to praise/disparage is less consistent but once again ultimately tends to boil down more to the personal preference of whoever's commenting than to any consistent strengths or weaknesses of the design.

Yeah, a part of me was disappointed by the end of the Legacy subtheme since between that Fire Dragon head mold and the Golden Dragon head mold from the first year of Legacy, it certainly would have been possible to get "remasters" of all four of the original dragons. That said, even if Legacy had continued it'd be unrealistic to expect the majority of sets to ever be remade, so getting a "complete set" of dragons was probably a pipe dream.

I think part of the issue with making a couple molded body parts and reusing them (apart from losing a large portion of the core building experience of those kinds of sets) is that they'd get repetitive quite fast. One of the benefits of brick-built dragons is that even without new molds, it's exceptionally easy to vary the size, physique, details, and functionality of dragons so that each set with them feels wholly unique, rather than just feeling like a "reskin" of a previous dragon design. For example, the water dragon's lengthy physique and oscillating wing function would not be possible if it shared molds with the much smaller jungle dragon or last year's bipedal fire dragon.

To be honest, I don't crave molded dragons given that the builds are a large part of the appeal for me. Having molds for things like expressive heads is one thing, but simplifying the whole creature into something like the Jurassic World dinos? That's not for me. Heck, the only times I've been tempted to get a Jurassic set in the first place has been with the two Jurassic Park sets with T-Rex builds, simply because I don't really have any need for a single-purpose dinosaur in my collection.

This. For some themes like Galaxy Squad and Alien Conquest, we've even seen designer comments and preliminary pictures indicating that each of those had had a second year of sets in development that never got released. And themes like Atlantis and Power Miners did get extended on the strength of their first-year sales. For better or for worse, Lego has managed to find more reliable success for many of their themes (original and licensed alike) in recent years than they did in the early 2000s/2010s, which consequently tends to mean fewer opportunities for new themes to be introduced to take their place.

Okay, but similarly, that only applies to the 6+ dragons—Lloyd's Legendary Dragon is also there and is a beefy boi. I don't think we've seen the end of larger dragons any more than we have the end of larger mechs—we'll probably continue to see a mix of small and large sets for both types of subjects.

I wouldn't consider the dragons as a unit "downgraded" any more than I did with the 4+ ones in previous years, to be honest. Obviously the 6+ dragons are simpler and less detailed than some earlier, more complex dragons, but at the same time Lloyd's Legendary Dragon is remarkably complex and detailed (its torso is very well-shaped and personally I'd consider its head construction up there with Firstbourne as some of the best of the best). Part of Ninjago having such a massive appeal to different age ranges means you kind of have to accept that not all sets are going to be to the same "standard" of complexity and detail, and especially with iconic features of the theme like dragons and mechs, they're likely to range from simple sets for early builders to massive, complex sets at the upper price points. I don't remember if the thumbs in my instructions were identical, to be honest. I know that I did end up deviating from the instructions on some of the sticker placement—the instructions had the stickers for the "kneepads" oriented differently from one another so I reversed one to make them consistent.

This is so cute. Reminds me of one of my earliest sets, "Pizza To Go"... a lot more stylish, though!

Just finished the Ultra Combo Mech set today. WOW. I was impressed enough with the set concept on its own, but it really comes out looking good and VERY substantial when you've combined it all together. My only real gripe/complaint is that weapon storage would've been nice.

Cope. Especially in the absence of a full "space theme" I don't see the harm in discussing less "far-flung future" space content from other themes, especially since there's a lot of overlap between fans of sci-fi and fans of real-world scientific endeavors, and because parts from those sorts of sets could be useful for more otherworldly MOCs. Partswise, one of the things that sticks out to me most is the shuttle using the windscreen for the Creator Expert space shuttle, unprinted (I think for the first time). That could be useful in space MOCs, either wholly original ones or ones for a faction like Galaxy Squad that uses transparent windscreens. I know a lot of spacers prefer more colorful windscreens—for them, I suppose the trans purple window panels (not new but still distinctive) will have to suffice.

Not April Fools! Lego Friends Olivia’s Space Academy set pics! https://heartlaketimes.blogspot.com/2022/04/olivias-space-academy-41713.html I’m quite impressed with this—it’s everything I’d hoped for from a Lego Friends space set. Zero G training equipment, adorably bubbly space shuttle, and a quite impressive little mission control facility.

In fairness dinosaurs (even dubiously accurate ones like many in the Jurassic World series) are a lot more versatile than most Star Wars creatures that are really only are usable in Star Wars-themed MOCs, and often many of them are highly scene-specific (in terms of what movies they appear in or what planets they appear on). I think I've still got some molded Star Wars aliens collecting dust in my basement simply because even if I did MOC Star Wars (which I generally don't), there's really very few scenes in the series where a Kaadu would be appropriate. By contrast even though I also don't typically build Jurassic World or prehistoric-themed MOCs, there's few types of scenes that aren't improved/made more amusing by plunking a T-Rex there! Also, there are a few Jurassic Park sets (namely the D2C park gate and the new Ford Explorer diorama) that have opted for brick-built dinosaurs, which makes sense since for a larger set brick-built creatures not only offer a superior building experience, but can have a more dynamic range of motion and can therefore pull off more varied poses than a molded creature with typically single-piece limbs could. Obviously this can be dependent on scale (since smaller details can be harder to pull off with normal building elements than larger ones, making smaller creatures benefit more from dedicated molds), but I'll bet a large and detailed Star Wars creature like a Rancor could probably be similarly impressive in brick-built form.

As far as I'm aware the Brick Tales announcement didn't include anything about sets, which is why I'm confused what people were talking about in regards to set pictures.

What pictures of sets do you mean? I wasn't aware there were any sort of set pictures associated with that game.

Keep in mind it's generally quite rare these days for new Lego video games to get specific set tie-ins (unless, like Vidiyo, Nexo Knights, Hidden Side, or Dimensions, the game specifically revolves around interaction with the sets, something that this new game announcement does not mention). Especially considering this new game is from a smaller indie studio, I doubt physical sets are in the cards at least unless the game itself proves itself massively successful.

This makes sense. Australia is part of the same Asia-Pacific region for Lego as China, where the sets are also more widely available. Don't have any insight into when specific online storefronts like Amazon Australia will have the new sets, unfortunately. Hopefully you can find some answers somewhere!

The specifics of who the license is with doesn't override the mental associations people make. From a PR perspective, the fact that Lego's license is with Warner Bros. and not the author directly (even though WB of course pays the author in turn for the use of her IP and her continued collaboration) is pretty irrelevant. The other comparisons you make to historical scandals also miss a huge part of the reason the issue with Rowling is such an ongoing concern. Unlike Hugo Boss, Rowling is still alive and actively engaged in campaigning to roll back trans people's rights. She regularly makes fearmongering tweets and articles insinuating that trans women are a danger to cis women, is cited by politicians in the U.K. and abroad in efforts to roll back trans rights, and in all likelihood actively funds causes that seek to deny those rights with her abundant wealth. And the Harry Potter/"Wizarding World" brand in turn raises her profile not just by paying her dividends from WB's ongoing licensing of the franchise and each successive installment to it, but also merely by maintaining her celebrity status and raising her profile (and by extension, the reach of her platform) each time the Harry Potter brand makes the news. If Rowling were a long-dead author like Tolkien, and the impact of whatever views she held was confined to the past, this would be a very different conversation. Heck, if Rowling merely logged off of Twitter and stopped regularly encouraging harassment against trans people, that alone would probably make whatever reprehensible views she holds less of a pressing issue. But the fact of the matter is that the author of one of the most popular and successful book series of my lifetime has spun her success into a crusade against people like my sister, and as much as i love Lego their continued promotion of that series makes them complicit in that in their own small way. Even if Lego ending the Harry Potter theme wouldn't be enough to sink that media juggernaut, it would at least reassure me that Lego's commitment to LGBT rights was more than just platitudes.

I assume that the hoverboard was scaled to the car to be stowed in it as a prop just like the Plutonium storage (hence the lack of studs for Marty to attach to). The minifigures are nice to get but they're hardly the focus of the set, so I don't see the need for them to get scaled accessories.

In addition to my sister's reply above, I'd just like to mention that the newly released Harry Potter sets had nothing to do with me bringing this up—I was bringing it up because of a recent round of vile tweets by Rowling on International Women's Day. I am obviously a little disappointed with each round of new Harry Potter sets, but apart from looking up what new parts they include and hoping that the good ones find their way into other non-Potter sets eventually, I mostly tend to ignore the new sets and reviews/discussion of them.

The modern horses were introduced for Lord of the Rings in 2012, and armor/barding for them were introduced in the 2013 Castle theme (so post-Kingdoms). I don't believe either the head armor or barding were used after that theme, though. That said, because they were so rarely used they are unlikely to have been damaged through use (if any damage was done to them it would have had to have been from other factors like being damaged when put into storage). It would be nice to see the horse armor/barding return, but of course it would be far easier to simply include unarmored horses with the still-in-use saddle, so I wouldn't consider it a given for those parts to return.

I might've mentioned this here before but one unpopular opinion I hold that I feel is becoming more and more relevant is that Lego should end the Harry Potter/Wizarding World theme due to J.K. Rowling's increasing anti-transgender radicalization. When the creator of the series regularly associates with bigots and hate groups, targets critics with legal action as well as harassment from increasingly radical followers, and is cited by bigoted politicians internationally to give credibility to their goal of oppressing a vulnerable minority, a company like Lego continuing to license her work sends a message—and not a positive one. That's on top of the increasingly poor critical reception as well as box-office performance of Harry Potter-related movies, making the long-term sustainability of the franchise (and its associated merchandise) dubious. But personally, I'd really rather Lego take a stand sooner rather than waiting for the cash cow to run completely dry or for Rowling's increasingly volatile followers to get somebody killed in her name.

Honestly I've done less MOCing lately than I used to. Part of that is still being in a bit of a creative rut after college, part of it is my twin sister (and longtime collaborative partner) moving away, and part of it is the lack of pressure to do so given the pandemic making in-person conventions and events less advisable. But I still buy sets and enjoy them, and still fiddle around with MOC ideas on Stud.io or with less "intensive" physical creations like Dots patterns. I think people enjoying building and displaying "official" sets is a fine way to enjoy the hobby, and that larger, more challenging sets that suit builders like that are perfectly fine. People keeping particularly large and nice-looking sets and displaying them as-is isn't a new phenomenon—look at the modular buildings, which have been going for well over a decade and encourage collecting and connecting the "official" models even if you don't go the extra mile to come up with your own.