pranas

Spoiler about the 2nd movie and how it may or may not effect possible future sets below:

Sad about the lack of Spidey variations. I mean, Batman gets a new suit every set, why not Spidey? If you are going to over-flood the market with Spider-Man sets, at least give us SOME variety. Iron Spider, Black Suit, classic Ditko style, heck, just make up an electric suit for him to wear to fight Electro. I actually vaguely remember him having something like that from a comic I had in the late 90s. That being said, I'm for sure picking up the Cap set. I skipped on the Avengers one because I didn't care about the alien figures or build, and it looks like my waiting payed off! And bonus, he looks more like his comic version too! I'm really hoping it's a $20 set. As fun as Spider-Man and the Avengers are, I am getting a little tired waiting for (non-Wolverine) X-Men and Fantastic Four sets. If LEGO started making those, I might just have to give them all my money. I mean, just give me my Sentinel, X-Mansion/Danger Room, and Fantasticar sets already, LEGO!

Personally I'm liking what I'm seeing so far. But to those saying how horrible these are looking: I think the actual Simpsons family (Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, Maggie) look weird in ALL toys and products that have ever been made of them. Action figures, PEZ dispensers, fast food kid's meal toys, and now LEGO. The designs just don't lend themselves to be easily translated from the 2D cartoon world to the 3D physical one. Marge's hair has always had those weird lumps, the spikes on Bart's head are never quite right, and no one has ever come up with a perfect way to create Lisa and Maggie's hair in the real world. So it's not LEGO's fault, they did as well as any other company who've made Simpsons toys in the past. The family just has weird designs that work better on the screen then in plastic. And that's an ok thing! I think when we see more of the supporting characters more of us will be impressed. Most of them have designs that will easily translate into toys, mainly because they have more conventionally shaped hair. Just by looking at Ned's design, I think the supporting characters in this line are going to blow us away and it is going to be awesome!

Here's my entry! Every Life Day, C-3PHOHOHO hops in his REIN2-DEER2 pulled space-sleigh, travels to every planet in the galaxy, and gives presents to all the good little droids. Happy holidays everyone, and good luck!

Wowie wow! These are all so amazing! I really love your Sy Snootles! Pure genius!

Was visiting my parents a few weeks back and headed on over to the Woodbridge LEGO Store. Picked up: 75001 Republic Troopers vs. Sith Troopers, was on clearance for under $10, probably wouldn't have picked it up otherwise 75000 Clone Troopers vs. Droidekas, wasn't on clearance but rang up as $9.99 anyways, I'm not complaining 75017 Duel on Geonosis, a new non-Clone Wars Yoda was too much to pass up And snagged myself a free Clone Trooper Lieutenant! Sadly probably the last LEGO sets I'll be getting until my birthday and/or Christmas because I have to spend my money on stupid adult things like rent and food. Sigh...

The package design for the Star Wars Rebels action figure line, coming out next year, has been revealed. I wonder if this packaging design will carry over to the LEGO packaging like it has in previous years? http://www.rebelscum.com/story/front/Hasbro_Unveils_The_Packaging_Treatment_For_Star_Wars_Rebels_154634.asp

Without a doubt my favorite Star Wars set is the Battle of Endor set from 2009. Not only is it a great set (and it still holds up after all these years), I also love it for sentimental reasons. It was a gift from my girlfriend and it was the set that brought me out of my dark ages.

That article said the Simpsons minifigure line would be to celebrate the show's 20th anniversary, but it premiered in 1989 so it would actually be the 25th anniversary, not 20th. As an obsessed Simpsons nut I just wanted to get the facts right. Also, realizing that the show has been on the air for 25 years just made me feel really, really old. Dang.

Yeah, it's really weird that they are doing Sherri and Terri in this first and most likely only wave (if this list is even true) over more fan favorite characters. I mean, I don't think you'll find any Simpsons fans who's favorite character is Sherri and/or Terri. Here's a thought, what if the person who saw this list got confused and we are actually getting the OTHER twins from Springfield: Patty and Selma? I mean, as far as fan favorite characters go I'd think Patty and Selma would be way higher up the list then Sherri and Terri.

Wow, IF that list is true, it is really weird that all five family members would come in one set, even if it the the most expensive one. Also weird that we'd get that many figures period in a set at that price. I mean, as a consumer I welcome that, but it doesn't seem to fit in with the way LEGO usually does things (as Legocrazy81 pointed out above). And at that price I'm wondering if we'll be getting the whole finished house (very doubtful) or just a few rooms and maybe the car. I really can't see them doing the whole house justice at that price. I don't even know if we'd get an exterior of the house at that price. My guess is we'll get a few separate rooms that you can maybe connect with technic pins (the TV room with couch, kitchen, a bedroom or two). And I really think the car would come with the house, since if it didn't you'd really expect it to be it's own set. I mean, it's the most iconic Simpsons vehicle, so it's got to be in the wave somewhere and the house set is the only logical place for it.

Last weekend after a bit of a dry spell in LEGO buying, I picked up the 9490 Droid Escape set. Kind of a lame set, but hey, it was cheap and I really wanted the new 3PO and Sandtrooper figures.

Great job! I love the idea of making a MOC with ONLY pieces from one set. This is making me want to tear down some of my display sets and go to town on some one-set MOCs of my own.

AGGGGHHHHHH! (Homer's scream) LEGO keeps trying to take my money! I was just a Star Wars guy, but then they brought back Harry Potter. Then DC/Marvel superheroes. Then LOTR/Hobbit. Then TMNT. And now...THE SIMPSONS! I just can't win! My guess is that we'll be seeing a lot of small sets. Probably things like the Simpsons' car and small location-based sets like the KwikiMart and Simpson living room with couch. Sure there are large sets they could make (a huge Simpsons house, the Power Plant, even the Monorail), but I think if they are just testing the waters/focusing on just adults they won't do that. I feel their target audience is going to be adult Simpson fans who will buy a small set or two to put on their desk at work. I wonder if they are going to pull a TMNT or LOTR where you have to buy a majority/all of the sets if you want all five members of the Simpson family. I'm torn on if I want to see standard minifig heads or molded Toy Story-like heads. Either way, this is going to require a LOT of brand new molds for LEGO. If they do molded heads, a new mold for every character. If they do standard heads, they still have to make new molds for the hairpeices for Lisa/Maggie, Marge, Bart, and most of the cast. I hope those new molds don't inflate the price tag. Gulp! Man, I'm excited for this!

Bleh, that's one ugly set! No fault to LEGO though, they actually did a good job capturing it. The vehicle design itself is ugly, and that's all Lucasfilm's fault. $70 seems really steep for this, so it's an easy pass. But I really want that Wookiee warrior fig! Maybe we'll get a Wookiee warrior battle pack this winter? Whenever LEGO makes a new mold like this, they seem to love using it as much as possible, so fingers crossed. Battle packs do happen in winter waves, right? As much as I'm not digging this one set, I'm happy that it looks like LEGO is going ahead with their Episode III set plans, despite the fact the 3D version got canned. If they are, I'm just hoping they try to give us some stuff that hasn't been covered in the Clone Wars line.

Huh. Didn't think the back of Yoda's head/hair would be printed like that, was expecting something molded like they did with the Clone Wars Yoda. I think I like the printed look though. Makes it look a lot less cartoony. Wonder if it's going to be made of that rubbery stuff or a harder plastic. I'm hoping for a hard plastic head since I'm not a huge fan of the rubber heads.

Wahoo! My figures came in the mail today! What a great way to celebrate the first day of Spring (even if it IS well below freezing here today). Once again, thanks a million, CopMike!

I won't lie, I'm a little bummed the 3D releases got cancelled, and this is coming from someone who hates 3D films (they hurt my eyes) and thinks Episode II was the worst of the bunch. It was just nice having Star Wars in theaters again and being in the public eye. It was nice walking around town and seeing giant billboards and bus stop ads for Episode I. Even if it was one of the weaker films, seeing Star Wars Episode I on the big screen made me feel like a kid again and I was looking forward to feeling that again five more times. Aw well. I am a little surprised that Disney is doing this though since, in theory, the 3D conversions of Episodes 2 and 3 are already done, and were probably already started for the OT, and for a studio the size of Disney re-releasing a film in theaters like that probably costs them next to nothing. Also, you'd think they'd want to get all fist six episodes shown in theaters again in the lead up to Episode 7 in 2015. I do feel bad for all the toy/collectable makers who have to plan and make all their products waaaaaay in advance. And they clearly did not know this was coming, since I think it was at the London Toy Fair just last week a toy company listed the schedule of when the remaining episodes would be coming out in 3D. But they are all now stuck with a bunch of Episode II and III themed product that most likely will not sell as well without a theatrical release to go along with it. Maybe it won't be as bad as it could be since Episode II and the Clone Wars cartoon overlap a little as far as vehicles, Jedi, and clones go, and they can market their Episode II products that way. But still, overall it's gotta stink for them. Not sure how this will all effect LEGO, since I don't know how far ahead they have to have to have their product line-up set in stone, but I'm going to guess that if the winter 2014 sets were going to be AOTC and/or ROTS themed, they are going to stay that way since it's probably too late to change them at this point. But any plans they had after that are probably being re-shuffled as we speak. That also means we now probably won't be getting any ANH, ESB, or ROTJ themed waves for when those movies would have been re-released. I'm sure a lot of us OT fans on here will be bummed out about that one. And those OT waves would have probably been our last good chance to get OT sets, since after 2015 all LEGO sets are most likely going to shift focus to the new movies for a long while. But hey, one good thing that did come out of these 3D releases, LEGO-wise, is that we got a bunch of Episode I LEGO sets we never would have gotten otherwise. So that's something, I guess. Say what you will about Jar Jar (he's a horrible, horrible character), he does make for one awesome minifig!

Huh. I figured they'd do either Vader or Grievous for the Episode III themed packaging in 2014. And Vader makes more sense since he can cover both PT and OT stuff. I kind of like it but don't like it at the same time. Maybe when we get to see it on other packages/products I'll be 100% sold on it.

I do feel bad for the AFOL army builders, since TLG's current battle pack strategy works against them. But as a non-army builder myself, I kind of like the two sides in one box idea. Also a plus to the "battle in a box" format is that you get more battles to pick from each year. Let's say we are back in the year 2009 and you love all things OT but hate all things Clone Wars (I personally like CW, just using it as an example) and you hate the 8014 Clone Walker Battle Pack and 8015 Assassin Droids Battle Pack. But those are the only two battle packs that will be released for that whole year, and since you can't see the future you don't know that there will be two OT battle packs (8083 and 8084) coming out the following year. So for 2009 you get no Battle Packs. Same is true for someone who loves the CW but doesn't care for the OT, for them 2009 was a great year and 2010 wasn't. So for many collectors we went back and forth between years we loved the battle packs and years we hated them (and to be fair, many of us loved and bought ALL the battle packs that came out). But under the new system we still get two battle packs every year but now they are from different trilogies, or shows, or in the case of this year, video games. I think the battle packs from 2012 were great because it appeased both the Clone Wars and Original Trilogy fans, and if you like both, awesome, you can buy both. I do personally wish that this year we saw that Clone Wars/PT and OT balance again instead of throwing The Old Republic in to the mix, but at least I still have options of battle packs to chose from if I wanted. And hey, doing battle packs the current way is probably the ONLY way an Old Republic battle pack would ever have been done, so Old Republic fans have to be happy about that one at least. And like many have said above, TLG's target is kids and kids (as far as I can tell) are not army builders. Or at least not to the extent that some of us here are. And in a world of $30, $50, $80, $120 sets, battle packs are something a kid can actually save up their allowance for and buy with their own money. It is a little unfair to expect a kid to save up $24 bucks to get a complete battle when LEGO could give them that complete battle in one box for $12. I remember when I was a kid and how special it felt to be able to buy something that I've been saving up for, even if it was something that today I would consider tiny and cheap. So it's nice that TLG is keeping that in mind with their new battle pack strategy.

Ok, that clearer picture helps sell me more on the Black Gate set. I still wish it came with a Gondorian solider or two, but the set itself is looking pretty nice. So maybe I'll go ahead and put it on my wish list for next Christmas. Never too early to start planning, right? Also, the stand-in preliminary figure for Gandalf is cracking me up. Is this Mid-Life Crisis Gandalf, where he dyes his hair blonde to feel young again? Or maybe Gandalf the Blonde? But seriously though, the final minifigures in the little box on the bottom left look amazing and will probably be things of beauty when seen in person. I'm excited!

As nice as a UCS or minifig scale X-Wing may sound to some, I really, really, really doubt there is any truth to this rumor. I mean, why would LEGO release another model of a ship that is still on the shelves (9493)? Sure, if it's a UCS, it's geared towards adult collectors who would probably eat it up, but still, from a business standpoint it just doesn't make sense. Why compete with your own products or create consumer confusion? It would be like if in the next wave LEGO released a System B-Wing while the just released UCS B-Wing is still sitting on the shelves. I really don't think we'll see a UCS X-Wing until the current System set has been retired for a few years. Also, I REALLY doubt that this rumored set is the current X-Wing model with a fancy hanger and more minifigs tacked on. Could you imagine how upset the AFOLs/kids/parents who bought 9493 would be if LEGO did that?

Christmas was very, very, very good to me this year. As far as LotR/Hobbit sets that I found under the tree, I got Riddles for the Ring, Gandalf Arrives, Uruk-Hai Army, An Unexpected Gathering, and the Mines of Moria. I'm mainly a LEGO Star Wars guy, but by the looks of the lackluster line up of next year's Star Wars sets and the continuing quality of the LotR/Hobbit sets, the LotR/Hobbit line is slowly becoming my favorite theme. Hope it will last for longer then the movies and that I'll keep finding LotR/Hobbit sets under my tree for many Christmas to come!

Wow I JUST noticed that there is an eagle in the Black Gate set. I'm an idiot. :P I was pretty bleh on this set at first, but now that I know there is an eagle in it, I think I like it more. Makes it feel like more of an actual battle.

Feeling a little meh about this line up. I feel there aren't enough "iconic" scenes. The only one that feels that way is the Wizard Duel and maaaaaybe Riverdale. Maybe. I know they can't do ALL iconic scenes in the first few waves if they want this line to last a while, but it really seems like these sets are out of left field. I figured they'd eventually get to the ship, but didn't think they'd get to it as early as the second wave. Maybe I'm also being thrown off by the fact there are only four sets so it doesn't feel like a full wave. It also makes me a little worried that LEGO maybe didnt give it a full wave because it doesn't have enough faith that the LotR line will do that well. Maybe there are still some exclusives in this wave yet to be revealed! Fingers crossed for a Treebeard! I really, really, really want a Treebeard someday...