leafan

But I thought that was the September release?

I know somebody already mentioned about new releases in May, but after having looked at the leak from a Polish(?) Youtuber, Google translated this for me: "the new series available in May will surely surprise you" (translated from: "nowa seria dostepna juz w maju na pewno cie zaskoczy"). That wording is given in the silhouette of a Minifigure, so does that mean that a second series of the Lego Movie 2 minifigures is coming, or just new sets?

Welcome to Eurobricks, Andres! Always good to see new members and I'm sure all of us look forward to seeing your mocs.

Slimy and unethical is your opinion, but thieving - really? Lego as we know it came from doing the same thing as what is happening here. Also, I'm pretty sure Lego wasn't the first company to do bling bag figures. BTW I welcome your discussion, but you came across as condescending which is why you got an arsey reply. I consider this the end to that. In the end I think Lego are doing this because win or lose, it may just stop them selling the products over the Christmas period, which would deliver a win whatever the result in court. Afterwards, Lego can decimate their sales by releasing the Lego Movie 2 collectible minifigures range.

Welcome to Eurobricks!

I'm not really sure what you're saying here. Clearly I was saying that I can see it from both sides. Lego *may* have a legal obligation to protect it's brand (whether this falls under that is arguable), but that does not make it morally right. If any of you play Blizzard games and remember them shutting down private server Nostalrious, you'll know where I'm coming from - but they did that to protect their brand. Was it morally right though?

Not really, I agree that the Zuru stuff looks like crap, I just didn't see the humour in what you said because it wasn't funny. Personally, I think morally it's wrong to bully smaller companies out of the market like this, especially since, as others have noted, there are bigger players doing it. As a counter to that, I remember something about companies weakening their claim on copyrights if they don't sue (win or lose); but I'm no expert in the subject.

Ah you see...your humour didn't come across when reading your post. I guess lead could be in Lego too then. Shit.

I'm not sure about America, but here in the UK lead is banned to be used in consumer products for 99% of things, being as it's poisonous. I really doubt that any toy figure ready for release in stores contains any sort of lead.

Bloomberg have an interesting article about Lego taking legal action against a competing brand from Zuru called Max Build More. Original Article Here. "Lego A/S wants to make sure any plastic toy figurine unwrapped in an American home during the holidays isn’t what the toymaker calls a copycat of its own products. The Danish toymaker is asking a federal judge in Connecticut to prevent Zuru Toys Inc. from selling some of its Max Build More and Mayka lines of construction toys at Walmart Inc. stores. In a lawsuit filed on Thursday, Lego claims the Zuru products copy the distinctive look of Lego Minifigures, and would confuse consumers into thinking they were Lego toys. “While the Lego Group welcomes fair competition, Zuru’s nationwide launch” of the Max Build More products at Walmart’s retail and online stores in October “was anything but fair play,” Lego said in a filing with the court. Lego, like many toymakers, is known for being aggressive in protecting its brand, which includes popular movies, theme parks and sets based on the Star Wars and Harry Potter brands. The main patents on its iconic connecting blocks have expired, so it relies instead on patented designs, and the copyrighted and trademarked looks of the figurines -- from Luke Skywalker to Batman. Unless it’s stopped, Lego said, “Zuru will continue to exploit the actual and inevitable consumer confusion caused by its inferior infringing products during this prime holiday buying season, while causing irreparable harm to the Lego Group’s goodwill and reputation.” Lego has filed a request for an emergency restraining order to halt Zuru’s sales of the figures, and said the Max Build More products should be kept off the market until the infringement lawsuit is completed. A hearing has been scheduled for Friday afternoon in New Haven, Connecticut. Europe’s biggest toymaker was founded by a carpenter Ole Kirk Kristiansen, who started making wooden toys in the 1930s and named his company after the Danish phrase for “play well.” The company has remained in the family and is now run by Kristiansen’s grandson. Zuru has an origin story that’s similar to Lego’s, albeit having taken place almost a century later. The Hong Kong-based company was founded by New Zealand siblings about 15 years ago and started with the eldest brother Mat Mowbray’s school science fair idea for a hot air balloon kit set. It’s turned the Mowbrays into celebrities in their home country. Zuru sells a range of products, including fidget spinners with images of the Marvel Avengers characters, but is best known for its Bunch O Balloons, which lets you fill multiple water balloons at once, and was the subject of patent litigation when Zuru sued a competitor over what it claimed were knockoffs. The World’s Biggest Toymakers Aren’t Having Much Fun Thomas Dunlap, a lawyer with Dunlap, Bennett & Ludwig in Leesburg, Virginia, who’s represented Zuru in the Bunch O Balloons and other intellectual property cases, said the company is reviewing the new Lego complaint. Zuru advertises on its packaging that the Max Build More products are “Lego Blocks Compatible.” It bills the figurines as “mini figures” while Lego’s are called Minifigures. The case is Lego A/S v Zuru Inc., 18-2045, U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut (New Haven). (Updates with hearing scheduled in sixth paragraph.)" For those interested, here is what Max Build More figures look like. Thoughts/Comments?

Welcome to Eurobricks, Marina! Your moc is very impressive. The lack of colour in your moc really makes the colours pop where used.

Welcome to Eurobricks! I like your cow avatar.

Welcome to the Eurobricks forums.

Honestly, I'd advise caution when getting hyped for a Lego Batman Movie 2. The director has said they're working on it but we have no idea at what stage of development it's at; it could be just a script for all we know. Lots of movies are being worked on and a small minority get released. I'd say it's release greatly depends on how well The Lego Movie 2 does when it hits cinemas. I hope it does get released though, but I feel it will be of limited appeal. The original was released right around the time of the last Batman movie and I think that really helped it's success.

How do you all rate the released movies? For me it's as follows: 1) The Lego Movie 2) The Lego Ninjago Movie 3) The Lego Batman Movie Batman is last for me because out of all of them, it feels like the most childish. It felt like a tv movie to me rather than a cinematic film, but I know it did better at the box office than Ninjago so I'm in the minority here. The Ninjago Movie by contrast felt really epic, especially during those Garmaddon city invasion parts.

Bienvenue come2me, Make yourself at home here at Eurobricks.

We're not disagreeing here. As I stated, Lego are targetting adults, but I feel that they could be doing more. The fact that so many here keep yearning for long dead Castle, Pirates and Vikings tells me that this could be an adult theme in the style of Game of Thrones. You may not think there's a large enough market, but we'll have to agree to disagree on that because both sides of that are only opinions after all. I happen to think that a Lego Winterfell would sell like hotcakes, but maybe that's just me aye? As for what adults may or may not want, well that's for Lego to test the market with. There's o reason they couldn't release 1 set direct to consumer in a often sought after theme to test the waters. Anyway, this thread has gotten somewhat off-topic.

Right this second... Cliff Richard - Wired For Sound: Thank me later. If you don't sing along and tap your foot, you're not human lol

For me, I hope they go further; and I think they will with signs like this and the new Forma range specifically targetted at adults. I see no reason why Lego cannot serve both markets without detriment.

Croeso, Placidsheep. Glad to see more Brits on the boards.

This interesting article on Forbes gives some good insight into how Lego Overwatch came to be: https://www.forbes.com/sites/hnewman/2018/12/03/how-blizzard-entertainments-new-overwatch-lego-models-snapped-together/amp/ For me, the most interesting tidbit was the Warcraft mention: "Newman: If things go well, that you can see pursuing LEGO products with other IP? Beecher: It needs to be the right time and place for both parties. I mean, we would definitely be interested in discussing that. With World of Warcraft, there’s a hundred million-plus people that have touched that experience at some point in their life, so there’s a very broad and diverse audience around the world that supports World Of Warcraft. But it obviously would be a mutual decision. We need make sure there’s enough indicators pointing to that it would be a great idea. [Ed. note: LEGO spokesmen declined to comment on the possibility of WoW products.]" Another interesting note is the aim to target an older audience than normal: "Chee: I think with Overwatch being a very new IP to the LEGO group, and also we’re hitting a different age group than we’re usually targeting, a little bit higher age mark, we spent quite a fair bit of time trying to strike a balance between a set that has play features, versus a cool model that they can just display. With older children, they might not want to play with the model that much, but they find it cool and they might want to build it and display it. Newman: And with some very adult children. Beecher: Kidults." P.S. - Posted here rather than the Licensed forum because I think this article has broader appeal to gain understanding of how Lego work with IP holders to come to product fruition.

Welcome to Eurobricks, Cooper87. I think you're moc is coming along nicely.

Well if you're ever stuck on how to say something, feel free to ask here; I'd be happy to help.

Welkom bij Eurobricks! I'm very pleased to see another new member sign up. Please pop into the forums that interest you and ask any questions you may have. There's something for everyone.

Herzlich willkommen, Steinbeisserheld. Please make yourself at home and enjoy your stay. I hope to see you posting in the Technic forum