Captain Nemo

Oooo! Very nice prizes! Thanks again for hosting this CopMike. I'm excited--I hope the Lego Gods grant me Prize F so I don't have to buy that set! Gosh that set is horrible...

Come on guys, these are going to show up in stores at some point this month. It's not the end of the world... This same thing happened last year, and at some point--just like last year--there will be shelves full of these at Target. I even remember uploading a picture of all the cubes to my Flickr at one point (don't have the picture anymore though). Don't know when, but it will happen. Anywho, it's just a waiting game now.

This is really just hearsay, and a whole lot of wishful thinking on our part. For that I'm going to lock this thread for now; and reopen it later if/when this turns out to be true. Until that time, please direct discussion of Who sets to the Ideas set discussion and the Who wish list thread.

So far looking good. It really has the feel and look of The Winter Soldier--which is a good thing. I was concerned that this would just become Avengers 2.1, and all the focus would be stolen from what's supposed to be Captain America 3. It thankfully doesn't look that way though, so I hope the Captain America crew clearly stays in focus as the main characters and other folks (Scarlet Witch, Vision, War Machine, Ant-Man, etc.) tend to stay in the background.

No luck finding any at my Target. Although I'm not worried (or enthusiastic about getting one anyways, but that's beside the point!); I remember last year the stores had shelves of them. It's just a waiting game.

Happy Ha Ha Holidays from the Licensed Forum!

I thought Face the Raven was ok. There were strong emotional scenes from/between Clara and the Doctor, but all the other stuff was just...stupid really. Not interesting at all. Just background noise to fill episode space before Clara's death. I'm a sad to see Clara go, but I personally don't think companions should hang around too long to begin with, so I think it's good that she left. I do like that she died too--because death is something that should happen to more companions but it doesn't--always with the red shirts but never with the companions. And companions often make foolish mistakes just as much as the background characters do. That being said, I did find her death unfortunately anticlimactic. It may have been because I was expecting it for months (what with the reports of her leaving and all), but also the manner of death was frankly rather bland. It should have been more shocking (not necessarily more violent, but...); and this would have helped if they didn't show how the first Raven victim died (instead just hearing him scream or something). All that aside I thought the thing that brought the episode down was actually Me (or the Mayor, as she went by this episode). I love Maisie Williams, and she's amazing on Game of Thrones, but the writers won't let her commit to anything on Dr. Who. This is the third time we've seen her, and the second time where she acts as a proto-villain and then 'goes good' just at the end. Me should be more bitter about her situation, more cold, more angry at the Doctor. Instead, she sets up elaborate plans to mess with him and then chickens out at the end and gets teary-eyed guilty--every time. I wish they would just let Maisie commit to being full on evil. I really feel the Doctor needs to go up against more threatening villains--there's never the sense of actual danger, or that the villain even has a chance of winning. On the plus side, across the board, I'm really warming up to Capaldi as the Doctor. He has really been impressing me lately, and I'm far more interested in him as the Doctor, than I was at his start.

Frankly I'd take the TRU markup any day over aftermarket prices.

Exactly. We would only then have to watch out for people edging out an extra stud just to be classified as a battleship instead of a dinghy! Incidentally, everyone please excuse my poor language at the end of my last post. Sometimes me be not be paying attention to me writing...

Interesting thread--and I'm excited to see we are sailing closer to BoBs starting. I'll mention here that I do know of one successful sailing game which may be of use to BoBs, because it appears from comments that may be were the game is generally headed. I was obsessed with this a few years ago: WizKids Pirates Constructible Strategy game. It was essentially a card game where you built small ships from pieces of the plastic cards, sailed them around, collected gold, and attacked other ships. There were abilities, crew, etc. They don't make the game anymore, but it's concepts could be very useful to us (incidentally background stories too, which were included for all the hundreds of ships and named crew--I know I'll be plundering that for inspiration!). The relevance here is the simple system that was devised for dealing with differences between ship's sizes and types. Like what Blackdeather suggested, this game too relied on dice rolls*. A ship's masts represented not only size--but the amount of cannons and the ship's health. So any three masted ship had three cannons, and four points of health (which included masts + the hull itself). Each mast had a dice amount allotted to it--whenever that ship fired on another ship, the owner would roll a dice: if the amount matched or exceeded the roll of the mast firing the shot was successful (any roll of 1 was a miss-fire). Likewise when a ship was hit, it lost a mast (health) and a cannon (attack) in the same process. To sink a three masted ship would require four hits--three for the masts and one for the hull. The game was far more elaborate than that, and there were tons of exceptions, but in general I think some system like this one would be more beneficial than trying to label all the ships and determine their abilities. In Pirates, specific ship types were less important because there was more emphasis on the amount of masts and the "type" of cannons (obviously the best cannons were the ones with the lowest dice rating, because they had the highest likelihood of successfully hitting)--plus the abilities, speed, and cargo of the ship which did not often "match" what one would expect (For instance a considered "broken" card was a one mast ship with the speed of lightning and a cargo hold deeper than hell--that stuff was all over the place). However, that being said, ship types were sometimes described, but rather as abilities often associated with maneuvering--such as Schooner, Junk, Galley etc. I think it would make more sense to follow a path such as this one rather than trying to make predetermined labels for potential ship types--because there's simply no way to make enough. Considering people will be building with all different styles and sizes (and apparently buying--what I'm assuming are fictitious ships for like a navy--as well), this would be an easier way to 'play' the game. In short, more generalization is what we need; I don't think records of specific tonnage or origin (considering we are not using real-life places) are essential. Here's some links to the rules. They're from the most recent expansion however (I couldn't find the simplest original rules, but I could PDF them in a few days), so there's a lot more...less relevant stuff included. Rules Front Side Rules Back Side *On Dice Rolls: Incidentally, BoBs could talk to Hinckley. Eurobricks is working on a Youtube channel, it might be interesting to get a third party/BoBs to roll dice for attacking player's ships real-time using video. It would be better than a just message of "oh, you just rolled a two, sorry". situations. I like this general set up--at least cannon wise, I like that's its a more determinate amount, not just ships having imaginary two dozen cannons somewhere. I think hull size should maybe go off of stud length though, because people may not be always be using prefab hulls. It would be more inclusive in that regard.

Seems like a very nice set to me. There's an awful lot of interesting things going on inside, and I think it improves the overall set. I wasn't sold on it from just the exterior (which like the source building itself, is unfortunately rather plain; can't do anything about that), but the interior makes it worth the price. I don't mind the stickers one bit; they greatly enhance the build. It's ridiculous to expect Lego to have printed every single image in the set--it's just not cost effective whatsoever--I wish that complaint would die (it never will though, not for any set that uses stickers). Best of all, it includes Marcos' signature fire extinguisher--man knows the importance of fire safety!

Bee Girl is rather pricey (she's also you know, the one furry I don't own...figures!). Just a couple weeks ago I was at Brickworld Fort Wayne and I was walking with Hinckley around the vendors--we were searching out CMFs--and she was by far the priciest one we found. Most CMFs topped out at around $25 (even Spartans), but we were astonished to see the Bee Girl commanding $40! Granted convention vendors often price-hike their stuff, but still... I only own one or so each of those other rare figures listed; although I think I manged to get five Hot Dog men somehow. Hopefully in the future I can sell them for a car or a house or something.

None of this inaccurate quoting is relevant. Please keep the discussion on the sets. Incidentally, while I'm at it, let's also avoid discussion on those "official" figures until there's more information about them.

No dinosaurs? Wow that's terrible. There's only a few on mine (for PS3). Some Brontosaurus, Raptors, and some Ankylosaurus--who are surprisingly incredibly aggressive and they will attack you. Indominus is there, but she just walks around her cage, and does nothing. Won't even attack you. So far that's all I've seen. It's really surprising, considering TT could have basically copy and pasted the dinos from the Jurassic World game. Didn't realize Hire a Hero increased in price after use. Still, I just snagged the 2x extra, so that would help out. Anything to avoid buying Aquaman.

Yes Unikitty is a must, because of her unique abilities. I've been trying to figure out the most efficient way to do the most, without owning the most--it's tough but for the most part it works. Don't forget, vehicles can be upgraded in game too, and they give many abilities that other characters have. I picked up the Dr. Who set and Jurassic World this past weekend from Toys R Us (I took advantage of a buy one, get one 40% off too, so while Who was about $2 more from the markup, I got JW for $15). And I have Scooby, Portal, and Wizard of Oz. So far these are giving me abilities to do most things. Still, I do see all the time abilities I don't have--namely water (Aquaman) and rainbow Unikitty. And Ghost. I have to say it's particularly annoying to constantly see these things and not be able to do anything about it. Although from the update, Dimensions added a "Hire a Hero" ability (activated after punching the gold question/answer boxes that pop up) that allow you to purchase (at a cost of $50,000 studs) temporarily a wave one character you don't have and need to solve a puzzle. I haven't tried it yet, but it seems like an expensive-stud wise solution... --- On Dr. Who, I think the set as a whole is spectacular. The physical bricks are great, as are the abilities in game. It's simply amazing to fly around in the Tardis. I find it a very useful vehicle, since anyone can enter and fly it, allowing air transportation to anyone in need. The Doctor is a great character too--although to be honest, I'm upset that the character doesn't use more ranged weapons officially--because he's always getting exterminated before he can run up and smack a Dalek with his screwdriver. I though the Level was ok, but it paled in comparison to the Dr. Who Level already included in Dimensions honestly. It was mostly Dalek rehash. There were some Weeping Angels, but they were not nearly as interesting because the lights were not getting cut out. It also felt a bit strange because there was no companion for the doctor. I do like the Tardis feature of traveling through time/space however, as it made the level interesting, and it adds small mini levels to the other main ones--if you can find the stand that allow it in level. Like others have noted, you can travel to the Flintstones (I think from the Simpsons level). I've also found Dinosaurs in Space, but nothing else yet. There appears to be some 10-15 other "hidden" Dr. Who levels. The Dr. Who Free-World is very good, and it encompasses many locations and characters. Of course now I really want a Missy figure! It could be possible, she doesn't use any new molds or anything, but that could just be wishful thinking. Incidentally, the JW world is pretty boring. There's barely any dinosaurs running around, and they don't do anything. I've yet to see a T-Rex, so that's a fail. The JW character's abilities are useful however so it wasn't a wasted purchase. Also of note, with the Wave 2 update, I think my Dimensions game is far more buggy than it was before. I was experiencing some weird lag when flying around Middle Earth in a Tardis, and this past weekend my game crashed twice. So that's something...

I'd like to point out this counter argument that I always lean on with this common complaint (And one that I recently noted on Brickset, as there was a large debate over the HQ on there a few days ago) that being: Lego owes the designer nothing if said designer does not hold the rights to their idea. It's a simple as that. Ghostbusters HQ, Helicarrier, Portal. The designers who submitted these hold no claim to the idea itself--Lego later on making that set does not mean they should give royalties to that designer. You can argue that morally yes, but legally no. The main argument on Brickset was about the HQ and whether or not the designer should have received credit (for the record, after complaining to Lego, the designer was offered a free set when it comes out)--personally, I think he's lucky even for that because he doesn't own any of the rights to begin with. Really the issue just stems from the fact that designers are not offering new ideas, but rather previously existing ideas. Coupled with the fact the designs themselves are often outrageously over sized--they get rejected. That doesn't mean Lego ignores that the idea/theme received 10,000 votes. That also does not mean that Lego is now somehow beholden to the designer forever for supplying them with an idea they do not own for a set that does not conceivably work.

Set looks terrible to me. I'm really only interested in Wonder Woman, and the set is not worth it for her alone. The other figures--another Batman, Superman is fine, and a lazy Lex and Lane (I hate that Lego reuses Bruce Wayne's face for everything). I'm not a fan of the new Batwing design (granted, Lego did the best they could with the weird design, and it does look accurate), but that helicopter is an abomination. And that says a whole lot considering the many terrible helecopters that come from the Superhero theme already...

Brick Heroes have taken some pictures of the upcoming Wonder Woman and Cosmic Boy minifigures:

Some in individual bags, but mostly in large group bags. Nope nothing. Stored in a drawer, so no sunlight. And I hate paying for heating so it's rather cold in my apartment. It's just sporadic cracking--even on figures that I never used, never placed things in their hands, never placed on bikes. Just cracking. There is no way to prevent that.

I've had notorious luck with my Superhero figures cracking. Although at this point I don't consider it bad luck really--rather slipping quality of Lego, because come on: Three of my Iron Man 3 figures all have horribly cracked torsos, my Juniors Green Goblin cracked his torso and one arm, my Scarlet Witch and Black Manta both cracked torsos too. And then there's numerous other cracked torsos I cannot even recount off the top of my head. The issue is (at least in regards to my listed superheroes), I did nothing to them. They came out of the box fine, they were stored neatly in a bag (or on display) with the rest of my figures, and then one day they have a huge fatal gash on their side. Never popped out arms or anything. Just random tears. Either it's weak plastic or there's some minifigure serial killer on the loose. So now I have to spend a lot of money getting replacements, and it's rather annoying. I find that there's no way to prevent future cracks on the figures--and although some people claim it's random ("you just got a bad figure"; yeah ok, must have bought an entire bad wave ), in my opinion it's becoming too common place--Lego quality is slipping. So now everyday I live in fear that more of my superhero figures will get maimed while I sleep! Oh! And my original Penguin minifigure too, very recently. Literally just in a display stand with the other original Batman figures and wham!: his torso ripped in half; and after owning him for two+ years, with never an incident. I think it may be time for a quarantine...

Thanks for the pictures Wardancer! Smaug really looks stupendous in size compared to the Armored Green and Horntail dragons. On the Ninjago dragons, am I'm very impressed with the recent ones. I felt the previous Ninjago dragons were very robotic and unnatural. These latest ones however, specifically the Morro in my opinion, look amazing. It seems Lego is finally reaching the balance between play-ability/pose-ability and aesthetics. The recent review of the Morro by Exetrius may have sold that dragon for me, because I was very impressed with forms being used throughout, and it wasn't until I looked at the in depth pictures that I realized this (I previously just passed it up at a glance). These latest dragons, like the molded ones, seems to have personality which really shines through to make them successful overall.

Love the new banner Hink! Anything that includes robots with makeup is a win in my book! Now just work your banner magic on the Licensed thread maybe? ;)

Rather a connection to Superboy. Cosmic Boy, Lightning Lad, and Superboy were/are all members of the Legion of Superheroes--a superhero team from the 30th and 31st centuries. Basically the poor mans JLA. Granted I'd be utterly shocked if we see sets based off them--clearly someone at Lego likes the Legion and is getting the 'special' figures based off them. I highly doubt there's enough public interest (or even knowledge) of the characters to warrant a full retail set however, at all. As evident by the whole "who is this figure" quest on Brickset when Cosmic Boy images surfaced.

I'll still hold out that they are fake. Because they look awful, custom or not.