Lyichir

Kai's is the Legacy style hood. I figure they're probably trying to make them stand out from one another. They also, perhaps not coincidentally, correspond to seasons that revolved heavily around those particular ninja (Season 1 for Kai, MoM for Cole, Prime Empire for Jay, and (perhaps?) the new upcoming season for Lloyd). Hoping Zane and Nya also get this treatment, either in this upcoming wave or in the summer sets.

Are we just continuing this thread for 2021? There's a new droid in one of the Creator sets, with a new face print that reminds me a little of the classic Spyrius/Exploriens droids!

I expect that a molded tail for the Tanooki Suit, while it would be a visual improvement for sure, might cause some problems during gameplay since it'd change Mario's dimensions (dramatically so, if it stuck out straight behind him like in the game). For instance, it could make it so that he would no longer fit in the start pipe properly, or create issues where his center of gravity was different for balancing obstacles like the Piranha Plant Power Slide set.

I disagree. Part of the issue with making a smaller model of the Colosseum is that the detail is so fine—the structure, composed of a large number of arches and narrow columns, can only be reduced in size so much before you start to lose the detail that makes it recognizable. As it is I doubt you could effectively reduce the size of this set much more before you lose the fidelity of features like the three types of columns, among other key elements of the design. That's not to say there couldn't potentially be a smaller, more compromised version of this, but then again, this doesn't prevent such a thing either. Lego has created smaller versions of Big Ben and the Sydney Opera House in the Architecture theme, after all. There's no reason to assume this will be the last and only Colosseum set Lego will ever make.

Nice overview! I've definitely experimented with a number of these, like the pyramids and ingots... though I tend to favor more "varied" designs like the ones you can do with curved tiles in the DOTS sets themselves over "classier" but more repetitive designs (especially since, when using a variety of different parts instead of multiples of the same ones, it's easier to "fidget" with your bracelet and rearrange it during lulls in activity). Plenty of other parts can work effectively if you're willing to go higher than one plate or wider than two... though of course, the more a part sticks out, the greater the risk of parts coming loose. Your flag ideas are smart and I'd also mention that LGBT pride flags are another easy and effective type of design you can achieve with these, considering that most of them adhere to a standard striped pattern. Like your country flag ideas, those have a lot of potential when it comes to finding support or community on a crowded convention floor. Though the lack of conventions overall this year has prevented me from seeing those kinds of ideas take off in a physical space...

Oh, absolutely. I didn't mean for it to sound like an irredeemable flaw or anything. For a lot of people (including myself), it probably doesn't matter that much that the containers are packed tight when they're closed up and you can't see the contents anyway. I guess I was more trying to get at the difference between merely "storing" the minifigures and "seating" them as co-pilots or passengers. People who are hoping for the latter might not be 100% satisfied with the former.

Perhaps, though one of the drawbacks of the containers in the quadcopter is that compared to the larger, dollhouse-style ones in the Ocean HQ (which retain a logical interior layout whether closed or opened), these new ones have interiors that only really function practically as living spaces in an open position. When closed, the bunk beds in the container with Tang's study would be upside-down, while the other container's contents would be quite cramped due to the fold-out video screen ending up wedged between the arcade machine and container wall. For storage alone, you could probably fit Mei and Tang into their respective seats in those containers just fine and have them already in place when the containers were opened up again, but it'd probably not be a comfy ride to say the least.

This is... incredible. Sorry, I usually have more to say than that, but I'm just awestruck.

Hadn't really commented much on these because my attention was monopolized by the new Monkie Kid set, but these are also lovely. Looking forward to getting them.

I don't feel like uploading the model when it's still so incomplete, but I made a Twitter thread of my observations about the set. Here's the tweet where I zoom in and highlight the turbines in question:

I've been trying to build more of this set on Stud.io and downloaded the large version of the set image from the Lego.com press release, and it's amazing that I keep discovering new things about it. Firstly, the containers attach not to the bottom but to the sides—that's probably part of why the sides of the quadcopter seem a little bare. They clip onto the two 1x2 plates with handlebars on either side. Secondly, the cockpit seems like it might detach to function as a sort of escape pod of sorts? That's a bit of an assumption but there are turbines on either side of the cockpit that seem like they could fold back with hinges if the cockpit were detached from the main vehicle. Thirdly, there seems to be functionality whereby you can rotate the turret and fire spring shooters from it all while holding the quadcopter by the handle at the back. Being able to do all that one-handed is a nice touch that makes the set feel like it'll be extremely swooshable. I've seen a lot of mixed responses about the value for money for this but for me personally, it feels like a fair value. This thing looks big—in terms of the sheer space it takes up, it easily feels like it'd be comparable to a large vehicle set like a Destiny's Bounty or similar set. And on top of the size of the vehicle and containers, it contains a pretty substantial number of figs. I know oversized vehicles like this certainly aren't for everyone but it doesn't feel to me like it's light on value for what it will presumably cost.

Ah, I see! Photos of the function would've definitely helped—I mistakenly assumed that the function was no longer there due to how solidly built the base seemed to be! If you've managed to recreate that functionality here after all that's quite a feat indeed.

I mean, nothing about the connection itself is "illegal". However, in an actual set design it would probably be considered too weak unless the parts on top were also reinforced in some other way. There are plenty of ways that "legal" connection methods can still prove insufficient when it comes to making a sturdy and resilient model.

While this is a neat MOC, I can't help but be a little disappointed that it sacrifices the key action feature of the original Fire Temple set—splitting in two to reveal the dragon. One of the most exciting things about the Legacy sets for me has been how they not only retain but improve upon the action features of the original sets, in addition to updating their aesthetics. As such, a "Legacy" Fire Temple that sacrifices one of the key aspects of the original (that sets it apart from other, later scenes like the temple in Battle for Ninjago City) feels a bit like a missed opportunity.

It's possible the "tech minion" you describe designed the stuff himself, but yeah, the baddies working together is more likely. Which could make for some interesting possibilities in the other sets as well, if characters like Princess Iron Fan, DBK, and the Gold and Silver Horned Demons also reappear (plus the White Bone Spirit, who has appeared in the show but not yet in the sets). Speaking of which, I appreciate that in this set all the characters (except, understandably, Sandy and Mo) get redesigns, even the Spider Queen who had only previously appeared in a single set. If those other villains show up it would be cool to see them get updates as well.

The new set looks incredible! One of the ideas I had had for a set or part of a set was a shipping container hideou for Mei, so seeing this with not one but two such containers, one for her and one for Tang (who finally appears!) is amazing. It looks like the quadcopter can carry the two containers underneath it maybe? The quadcopter itself looks great too. As usual I love the angular shapes of MK's vehicles, and this feels quite fresh as far as vehicles go (actually, the closest comparison I can think of structurally isn't a flying vehicle at all but the Striking Venom from Exo-Force). I love the gunning platform for Sandy up top as well as Mo's little flying cat carrier! On the villain side, it looks like the Spider Queen found herself some minions. All three of them have great new designs. Her little outpost also seems to fold into a container, and I love the use of the old ribbed radar dish which both works for its intended purpose and, when closed, seems to evoke the appearance of a spiderweb! Red Son also gets a new look. Out of curiosity, is this the first use of the "energy burst" prepacks outside the Super Heroes theme? Both this set and one of the Chinese New Year sets use it, which surprised me a bit. I still hope there might be some smaller sets in this next wave, but as far as a large "flagship" for year two, you could do a lot worse than this.

A little off-topic, but I don't know if I'd agree with your example... Castle of the Forsaken Emperor felt plenty big to me, and I'm not honestly sure how much bigger it could be while preserving the core functionality of the castle dramatically splitting in two (I guess a second standalone tower could have been included, but otherwise it seems like it'd have to be a fundamentally different type of set to be expanded). As far as Monkie Kid goes, for the city itself, I also don't think the buildings would have to be that large in the first place. One of the benefits of the modular system the sets so far use is that, unlike a massive set like Ninjago City that demands a similar scale for any expansions, Monkie Kid buildings are generally smaller and thus a large set including them could easily include three or four separate building modules (some with multiple stories) as opposed to having to focus on one larger structure. That's not to say I would be opposed to a larger structure-based set, especially outside the more modular city setting... I'd love to get a set based on Mei's castle-like estate or Monkey King's hut and waterfall cave on Flower Fruit Mountain. As far as vehicles are concerned, despite the large scale of some vehicles in the theme, there have been examples of smaller vehicles as well, such as the small bull mech in the Monkey King Warrior Mech set, the delivery tuktuk in Red Son's Inferno Truck, and the various hoverboards MK uses in some of the sets with larger vehicles. For a building-focused set it'd be easy enough to include several vehicles of a comparative scale to those for conflict and dynamic role-play without having to focus on them to the detriment of the buildings themselves.

To be honest, I don't know how well a smaller set with buildings would work... while both smaller sets and more buildings are things the theme could benefit from, I think there's only so much smaller the buildings themselves could get without feeling insubstantial—and maximizing playability at a smaller price point is one of the things that vehicles are generally really good for. That's not to say a set like Ninjago City Chase from the Lego Ninjago Movie couldn't work (with a vehicle and a small structure like a newsstand or market stall at a low price point), but all in all I don't think that would go very far in terms of adding square footage to scenes that complement the other larger sets. What I'd really like is a larger set focused primarily on buildings, perhaps with a small vehicle or two for play... sort of akin to the various "city square" type sets we get one of every year or so in the City theme. That would allow city builders to get a set more catered to their interests as well as help to add more variety to the street scenes included in larger sets.

A thing about comics characters especially but many cross-media characters more generally is that how "kid appropriate" they are or aren't is highly flexible. Characters like Carnage and Deadpool can and have shown up in "all-ages" media like comics and cartoons aimed at kids without issue. Adult viewers will get the reference to the character's wider body of work, while for kids, their entire reference pool for the character can be based on a much more limited sample (which usually avoid the graphic sexuality or violence those characters are more commonly known for). In comics the amount of crossovers and varying authorial takes on characters makes this particularly common—you need look no farther than the Joker, one of the most well-known comics villain, who ranges from a kid-friendly clown-themed crook to a mass murderer depending on not just the era of the comic in question but also the particular audience a depiction is geared toward. But TV and film aren't immune either, especially with the concept of a "gritty reboot" of a former kid or family franchise that is sexed up or made more dark and violent to target the original audience after they've aged into an older demographic.

I don't see anybody who has mentioned this but I wanted to point out that in an early interview about the new 18+ branding (I forget which specific site had it), one of the reasons they mentioned for the change was that in testing not only did sets branded as 18+ make it clearer to adults which sets were aimed more at them, but it also increased demand for those sets from 14- to 16-year-olds (who previously occupied the two highest age brackets Lego sets were marked with. Despite seeming perhaps a bit counterintuitive, this is a common phenomenon in media and marketing—for kids and teens, an age bracket slightly above that of their actual age feels aspirational compared to something that is marked "for" them specifically. And since the 18+ mark, unlike the 2+ mark for Duplo or the 4+ mark for early-age Lego sets, has more to do with the level of complexity than with any necessary safety regulations, there's little barring younger age groups from buying a set marked for older builders. Some parents or gift-givers might avoid it but in those cases it likely stems from either a genuine concern that they haven't reached an adequate building level, or just as an excuse for not purchasing a high-dollar set, for which there would already be plenty regardless of the age mark on the boxes.

Monkie Kid doesn't have that many more new molds than Hidden Side did. Hidden Side launched with 9 new figure molds, Monkie Kid launched with 10 (12 if you count the second wave of sets, though if you do that you might have to up Hidden Side's count as well to factor in the second wave's additional molds). Also, I might get hate for this, but there's another possibility for why they usually opted for possessed figs rather than physical ghosts—that they generally believed possessed figs were a better fit for the theme. One of the most central conceits of the Hidden Side theme is locations that can be displayed in "normal" or "haunted" configurations. The possessed figures are a natural fit for that, having the potential to be displayed as either ordinary townspeople in the "normal" scene or as possessed, zombie-like figures in the "haunted" versions. Actual ghost figures are comparatively more limited—they don't really "fit" into the non-haunted versions of Hidden Side's scenes in any natural way. I can't think of many of the sets for which the addition of a ghost figure would've vastly improved the quality of the product as a whole, so even though it might have been sort of nice to get another set or two similar to "Welcome to the Hidden Side", I feel like the theme as a whole has tended to be remarkably solid for what it is, with a strong selection of figures and a solid play experience offered in just about every set.

Since nobody's mentioned it here yet... the Lego Super Mario app recently updated, with a Halloween-themed firmware update for Lego Mario: https://ramblingbrick.com/2020/10/17/lego-super-mario-halloween-haunting/ The new update allows you to play a different "game mode" by scanning a ghost figure like Boo, King Boo, and Peepa directly before scanning the start tile. The new mode functions sort of like the playground game "red light, green light", with a Boo appearing on-screen that will occasionally reveal its face and look at the player. If Mario moves while the Boo is watching, he gets penalized by not being able to collect coins temporarily, but if you keep him still until Boo turns away again he gets a coin bonus. While this is the first mode to utilize the phone screen while playing, you don't have to watch the screen—when Boo turns to face you Mario's music stops, his face displays a concerned expression, and an exclamation point appears on his chest. It's a neat little change of pace from the regular gameplay, and I kind of hope the "shy-faced Boo" from the app screen appears in a set at some point! It also raises the possibility of similar seasonally-themed updates being released in the future.

A different dye color and a different plastic type are two different things. The wing piece is not designed to be cast in a hard, inflexible plastic type like Polycarbonate. It's too thin, with parts that stick out in such a way that they'd most likely pose a legitimate safety hazard if cast in a material that would snap rather than flex under pressure. Considering that the wing mold is not new for this year I find it hard to believe that it could have been cast in the wrong material entirely when its properties were already well-established by its usage the previous year. Conversely, a rendering error of this type is remarkably common. Even Lego's customer service database has been known to incorrectly render blended parts or parts in materials with different visual properties than the typical opaque ABS or transparent Polycarbonate. It's not hard to imagine the same taking place here, with the render correctly taking the color (Transparent Light Blue) into account but not the physical material that makes that color express itself differently than usual.

It's just a rendering error. The "glassy" look of the render is how most Polycarbonate transparent parts look, whereas the wings are a softer material that's more translucent. It's unlikely that any of that wing piece was actually produced in a different material.

Very good review! I'm not much of a programmer so my initial impressions of this were limited mostly to aspects like the color scheme and physical form factor of the parts (both of which impressed me, especially as a fan of Technic during the Cyber-Slam/Competition era). So it's great to see some insight about the practical elements of coding and operating robots built using this system. It is interesting how many elements of the Spike Prime starter set have been omitted here. I recently picked up the Monkie Kid's Cloud Roadster set so was able to get my first hands-on experience with both the small and large Spike Prime wheels, so it's a shame that those larger wheels aren't included here. The lack of a force sensor is also a bit of a bummer. Perhaps "expansions" for this set could be released in the future (like the various ones released during the RCX era), with the potential to include additional sensors, motors, and functional elements that this starter set lacks. I'm not sure whether I'll ever end up getting this. On the one hand, I bought an EV3 set at a discount several years ago and never actually ended up getting the most use out of it. On the other, this seems like it might be more "accessible" to a novice programmer, and the improved form factor of the motors and hub might make them easier to integrate into other types of builds. I guess I'll see as time goes on whether space opens up in my budget or I come up with a MOC idea that this kind of thing would facilitate better than my current collection.