Weil

I agree, I see it as a replacement. It must come from a new mould though which TLG has for some reason decided to make. I can also say the print quality of my set appears to be excellent. Very happy.

Glad it wasn't just me who hadn't seen them before. I think LEGO making a new mould for this sword is interesting when it isn't immediately obvious that we would see them used again beyond this set in the near future. Does it mean we can expect to see them in LOTR/Hobbit?

I just received a Kingdoms Lego Chess Set 853373 that I bought from Lego S@H. I haven't opened it properly and built it up yet, I'm saving that for another day but I took the lid off to have a quick peek. To my surprise I found the swords in the Lion Knight Pawns bag were a new mould. All of the box art, the instructions and the card showing you how to set-up the board show the old standard castle sword mould but all four of the swords in the bag are this new mould. Has anyone else got these sword moulds? Had a quick look on bricklink and didn't see them listed. Here are some photos, they're with the parts still inside the bag but I pieced together one of the figures inside the bag so you can see the sword with a minifigure.

Has anyone got either a pirate captain or a santa that doesn't suffer from the pinkish discolouration of the white parts?

Ah cheers for the correction.

According to the Historical Forum LEGO will be releasing a new licensed western theme in 2013 featuring Indians which might make Islanders unlikely. Link: http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=74142

Would always have preferred a non-licensed Western Theme but perhaps this will throw up some interesting new parts. We will at least probably get many more of the new horse mould currently in the LOTR range and increased availability of some of the old western parts as well as any new ones.

They might just be generally depicting Licensed, Action, City and Historical themes.

Perhaps some new interesting parts but not a new theme I'll be particularly interested in (had a few sceptical hopes of a new historical theme). Yes this should probably be moved.

If they made a Panzer Tank equivalent of the Sopwith Camel then I would think Panzer was a perfectly reasonable name.

I disagree, that's a very simplistic view. Some historical people are clear to attribute to being good or bad but most are not. The first part I agree on as I have said, I'm not saying it is all about the Nazis. What I said was that someone having the mental image of Nazis being created by the phrase WWII seems perfectly reasonable to me and that they played a large role in WWII and would be expected to feature in a WWII theme and I stand by that. If someone mentioned WWII Soviet Russia, British Fighter Pilots, US landing crafts, whatever I would also think these perfectly valid too! I was just surprised at the extent to which you shot down people talking about the Nazis and then in your previous post to affirm that you deny they played a large role. As I've said a generic 20th Century War theme would be more acceptable to me than a WWI or WWII theme. Personally I still think it's not quite right for LEGO though for the reasons I've previously listed. I would find a 20th Century War theme unusual for LEGO but if LEGO wants to do that then I wouldn't be blown away by it. I would be completely shocked to see a WWII theme or anything strongly indicative of one though.

Then I'm afraid I cannot understand your view point what-so-ever. Nazis were definitely not the only part of WWII but they certainly played a large role. Since this is moving away from LEGO though I will just have to agree to disagree. Entirely true, but the potential to have had some small impact is surely less strong than the absolute impossibility of having any impact on events prior to their existence. It was a minor point though and again off-topic, I just thought it curious. If you're implying communist states took part in the Cold War but not WWII then needless to say you're wrong. (I'm not sure if you are) That said, again while I am fully aware there was more to WWII than The Nazis I can't understand anyone saying The Nazis didn't have a large role in it.

Well I wasn't offended before, I had a grievance with you referring to the worlds population of people over ~80 as 'basically nobody' but really I just thought you a bit misinformed and possessing a different opinion to myself and most others. Your tone and response here is beginning to 'annoy' though. You seem to have failed to delve into many of the points and reasons people have mentioned and instead make sweeping statements about how we must all be people who grew up rolled up in cotton wool and mockingly though never the less rudely refer us to psychiatrists and pastors. I would entirely agree as would most of the world that it is important to study, educate and acknowledge the events of WWII. Making toys isn't exactly a form of historical discovery or debate though is it. But having being old enough to experience WWII they're not exactly in LEGO's target audience are they so this point is pretty invalid! LEGO is a worldwide brand and we live in a fully networked world. LEGO deciding to make WWII sets but not sell them to some of the most affected countries would probably be even more controversial than if they sold them everywhere because it would be as if they're trying to hide them from people! LEGO was in some financial trouble several years back ~2003/4 but made a decisive recovery and in recent years look as strong as ever with consistent growth year on year. Also the 'huge raft of military fans' when it comes to WWII recreation is, I would imagine, much more prevalent with adults than kids. UCS has the wrong implications, a huge set full of mini figures that portrays historical pain and misery is not the answer. What would be different as people have said is if the sets were construction based and focused on iconic machines or buildings then this would be a lot more acceptable. Nobody is saying it didn't happen we just don't think it should be a child's play thing! Yes kids should be educated about WWII but encouraging recreational role-play games about the events of WWII is entirely different! As for these 'Helicopter Parents', no parents cannot prevent kids being exposed to it if toy stores are displaying the sets and school friends have them to play with. These are induced positive by-products of WWII but whether WWII had any positive implications on the world is not what we're discussing! Agreed if they're more featured on technology and construction rather than role play of WWII events then this makes it much more acceptable as many people have stated. What are you saying? By your logic LEGO should deliberately make dangerous sharp LEGO parts capable of severe injury so that kids learn to avoid stabbing themselves, that LEGO should release some sets that are just empty boxes so that kids learn to deal with disappointment. Don't be so silly, LEGO is a recreational product to be enjoyed, a toy, a play thing, if it teaches kids some principles of construction or brings out creative talents through role-play that's a bonus but it's not responsible for the well rounded education and upbringing of children! And yes parents are responsible for their own children's upbringing but that's beside the point. LEGO is responsible for it's brand image and is therefore fully able to pick it's own moral stance as well as sensibly avoiding something that would have a negative impact on it's brand image, a brand image that many parents are currently highly in favour of. I don't think you would deny The Nazis were a pretty big part of WWII. I think Nazis (among others) is a completely normal mental image conjured up by the phrase WWII. As a little aside I'm a bit confused why you add the stronger statement that Nazis 'definitely' weren't involved in the Cold War in comparison to just weren't involved in WWI. Surely it would be more normal to just say Nazis weren't involved in WWI or the Cold War. If anything since WWI is pre Nazi Party and Cold War is post Nazi Party then it would be easier to argue that Nazis had more of an effect on the Cold War than WWI. This is a key part of the point. LEGO could not portray a Nazi faction as possible good guys in a specific WWII theme. I think we would all agree Nazis should not be envisaged as potential child heroes. Whether a child makes cowboys, indians or cavalry the heroes is far less problematic! To sum up, when do I think it is the right time to make a specific WWII theme? Never. Just as it is never time to specifically make a Napoleonic War theme with British and French armies, but a theme inspired by that historical period is ok in my opinion. When is it time to make a theme inspired by the historical period covering WWII? In my opinion when contemporary warfare no longer still resembles it so closely, whenever that may be.

I think you'll find unless I'm mistaken that, that forum is for customisation of LEGO minifigures using non-LEGO materials or techniques. Here all the parts are LEGO and there is no distorting of the parts.

Nice Work. I think I prefer the Highland Battler Legs and the imperial guard or kings officer torsos though. (Just not a fan of the cloth leg accessories, LEGO never seem to quite pull it off without it seeming tacky to me). The brickbeard torsos do work quite well though. Here's a picture of what I'm talking about below. I've also done it with the Royal Guard hat, head and/or torso and I think that works nicely but I don't have any to hand. I think the highland battler legs with the brickbeard torso might work well.

First off, it is completely untrue to say 'There is basically nobody left who has any real first hand knowledge of the period'. The worlds population of people over say 80 is not what I would describe as 'basically nobody'. I don't think that is really what's important though, the reason LEGO won't make WWII sets is because there are real people who will be designated goodies and baddies. The German and Axis powers will be the baddies and the Alliance powers will be the goodies. For kids the distinction between goodies and baddies is pretty clear cut which means for the sets to appeal to children every German soldier must be a baddie which is clearly a poor ideology to adopt. While I like just about everyone else will clearly have no problem saying The Nazis were a force for bad I, like I hope most other people, would never make the claim that every German soldier from WWII was evil. LEGO has no business telling children who the goodies and baddies of history are. Furthermore the history of WWII would be expected to be the role playing stories of the sets. This pushes children into playing out stories full of violence and misery. For comparison lets look at the Castle and Pirate lines. Firstly they did happen considerably further in the past and their history spans many more years. That put aside LEGO do not have the factions portraying real nations or groups of people. In the Castle line there is no British and French, no Crusaders, no Holy Roman Empire. So LEGO is completely at will to decide the Dragon Knights are the baddies because they represent no particular group of people. The next point is, is that children are not pushed into playing out any famous battles or atrocities that occurred because the period is so vast, they can do whatever they want without thinking it stupid. In the Pirates line there are Soldiers and Pirates but none represent a particular nation, it is also not even clear who the goodies and baddies are - the children can decide who they want to win without worrying about history or ethics. Finally all kids know that Pirates and Knights don't exist anymore so are never put under concern. Children aren't seriously worried about a Knight charging them down on the way to school or a Pirate coming and stealing their lunch. The armies of WWII hold too much similarity to the armies of today (tanks, guns, planes) to make them aware and possibly fearful of events in the world today. To a child (who may have relatives or family friends in the armed forces) WWII sets would be a much stronger reminder of the consequences of war. As for sets like the Sopwith Camel yes construction sets for older kids without strong role playing elements are starting to sneak in from more modern history. This is a possibility that may develop. Where as I can never in my lifetime envisage a WWII theme I could see LEGO making a large construction set of a tank without minifigures and not strongly geared towards role play aimed at 14+ years. In fact we have already seen some sort of tank in the Alien Invasion Line (Though different enough to real tanks and not fighting against humans). LEGO may even in time make a theme based around say red soldiers against blue soldiers in tanks, helicopters etc but the soldiers and vehicles would have a fantasy or futuristic spin to differentiate from the real world. As a closing point while I don't think there will ever be a WWII theme I don't see any point to close this thread. After all, the reasons for not shutting down free speech when it offers no real harm is something you would hope the world learned in part as a result of WWII.

I'm not an expert but I'll give you my take on it. Both the ruff and the pirate torso could come from the same period, however the printed ruff on the pirate is what you would expect to see with a shirt and jacket like that rather than the ruff from the actor. Furthermore if you combine them both ruffs will be seen as being worn at once and that is rather weird.

5. ZCerberus - 3 points 4. cdaimers - 1 point 7. Hammerstein NWC - 1 point

Really good review. As well as being a really nice set after reading the review I've been surprised at how great this is just for the parts. This set isn't what I normally go for but I do like it and the nice selection of green and tan for use in MOCs might just persuade me!

I like it but I think the arms are positioned too high. I don't think it's possible for humans to even rotate their arms straight back that much! I would rotate them so the hands are behind them at a height just below the shoulders.

Looks really cool! I want one too! It would be awesome to have a photo with lots of regular sized bluecoat or pirate minifigures fighting him hehe. A few climbing on his arms and hat etc with some down below trying to avoid being crushed and fire some cannons at him.

Rather unneccessary attempt at a joke. I'd say GB are doing pretty well and it's realistic enough. Certainly beating France, where you appear to come from and I'm willing to bet it stays that way.

Think you might have got unlucky, looking at my swimmer the printing looks better quality.

I don't really agree with those saying that the aliens body could be used as a dress such as for a witch. The big metallic thing round the neck means the torso wouldn't work as that if you ask me, so at most you could just use the bottom half. (Repost of pic for people to see) I'm excited to see what the conquistador's torso looks like under the armour.

Good series. I would have much preferred the conquistador with silver/grey armour but it's definitely a great minifig. I like the pirate torso but not a fan of the hat. The Shakespearean guy is a really nice surprise. Diver is nice and I actually quite like the businessman/trader even though it's a bit 'boring'. Evil robot doesn't do it for me, not nearly as nice as the previous two CMF robots in my opinion.