Captain Nemo

The black head is just there to be placed in the helmet(s) allowing the minifigures to hold it in their hands. Lego has done this before in other sets.

I meant failures on the level of Galidor; failures that are actually terrible for the business as a whole. Lego has been on the up ever since it changed things around and started Star Wars sets. Yeah, Lone Ranger and PoP were bad--TNMT was successful, it had multiple TV based waves and ended with a movie wave. Sets do go on clearance. It's not surprising that over a year out, the Lego Movie sets are finally being phased off the shelves. But are you counting misses as individual sets or whole themes? You can say Star Wars missed a few sets, but you'd be flat out wrong to say the Star Wars theme itself was a 'miss'. As for successful Disney themes? Marvel--that's evergreen now, total success. Elves is obviously doing something, they're getting a second wave--and there's been Disney Princess sets coming out for a while now too. I don't understand your intense pessimism towards Lego licensed lines: Scooby-Doo or the past Monster Fighters theme (which was successful, I say this all the time). Not necessarily. I do think that Lego expected it to be the next Ninjago (equal to or greater than)--but rather it seems people just want Ninjago more, hence it's continued return. No doubt Ninjago will jump into overdrive when the movie comes on the horizon.

I'm not sure I can judge the selling of the sets in my area--as it seems the main stores around me (Toys R Us, Walmart, Target) have been rather laxed about getting new sets. Toys R Us is really the only one that actually puts out anything new, the other two, practically nothing. And even then, on a side note--I was there a few days ago looking for the Biplane set, and the Toys R Us almost seems to have removed all of the sets they just put out--all the new DC and Marvel were missing, same with Scooby-Doo (although I managed to find the Biplane in the Superhero section, because Toys R Us stockers are terrible at their jobs ); and all of the old sets were pushed over to fill the void. The stores in my area are weird. That being said, I do feel like this wave is doing well. Lego.com has sold out of every single set--which I don't think is an indication that they didn't expect the wave to sell (so they made less) rather I take it as an indication that Lego themselves didn't make enough for the high demand. The sets are hard to find in stores, and they've sold out online. I feel this is an indication that the theme is doing well. Plus I will note, how often is it that Lego actually has a miss? This isn't the 90's; Lego rarely has failures, and even their "failures" like Chima (which doesn't seem to have lived up to expectations compared to Ninjago, although it's successful in itself) lasted multiple waves. Granted, sales may not be an indication we are getting a second wave anyways. This could just be a one wave theme. I don't think however that would be the worst thing ever. Considering how other ended licensed themes often leave out important characters or scenes--clearly evident in LotR, Indiana Jones, Harry Potter, etc.--we got essentially everything we needed out of the Scooby-Doo theme. We have the major characters and their iconic vehicle; so I personally feel that anything after that is a bonus. For a second wave we would really just be getting more monsters and hopefully a Velma face print without glasses, but all of those can be chalked up as happy additions rather than necessities.

Racers? Meh...at least that'll be an easy pass for a while, until they throw new characters. Although...Oky is not going to be happy about them stealing his idea...

I tend to feel that if you have something to say, just say it. If you cannot say something,such as info about upcoming sets, for obvious reasons, then don't--at all. There's no point to dropping little hints just to fill up the forum with more wishlists (which are not discussions--this thread is for actual set discussions, not imaginary sets or wants--on an added note I hate how Rumors is in the title, because it facilitates off-topic conversation). Because we don't need more of those. There's numerous "wishlist" threads scattered in this forum that no one ever uses. It gets very annoying when we are being led on by "maybes" and "I don't knows, wink winks". I realize this post sounds harsh, but as someone who frequents the licensed themes--well frequently--I know how fast this forum can go off-track and out of control. That seems to be where it's headed with this "discussion."

Those $10 'battle packs' sound good, but they seem almost too good to be true for me actually. I just get the feeling that Lego would rather continue on making larger sets, giving a few new characters a year, instead of cannibalizing their successful larger set sales by pumping out a dozen new characters in one wave. They are already wildly successful at forcing us to wait three years for Green Lantern; so I don't know why they would suddenly switch to giving us tons of characters we always wanted. I'm not against new characters, although I am against the kind of builds we'd surely get from a $10 set. Granted, we don't really know what'll be in these sets, so it's all just rampant speculation. On a side note, this is easily, already, becoming a wishlist thread. Can we just not...just not rattle off wishlists here. Listing random characters based off hope that they'll show up in these sets does nothing but spread rumors.

And more Johnny Thunder subliminal messaging! All these appearances--he has to be making a comeback!

Oh but I'm not going Minifig scale next year! I'm going bigger! But yes, the curtains they just seem in the way to me--but who knows, I've not been there in person so it might not be that much of a big deal.

Thanks for the pictures! I'm really considering attending BFVA next year, so any images of what it's like is helpful. Although I do have to ask--what up with the giant red curtains? I've only been to Brickworld Chicago, and they don't have any large view barriers like that!

Ruh Roh! A Scooby-Doo Creation Oh dear God! What have you done! I didn’t see him! He just jumped out the bushes! I swear! Zoinks! Like man what are we going to do! Roof Roof Roof Roof Roof Roof! Shut up Scoob--Oh God! I’m too pretty for prison; I’ll never make it! Let’s split up! This is your fault Fred—you can’t keep your eyes on the road?! Jinkies! I’ve got it—Fed, Shaggy; get the shovel out of the back—Daphne, help me move him off the--Crap! There’s a car coming! Quick, Quick—get ‘im in the van, we’ll dump ‘im in Crystal Lake; it’s only a mile away! -- Enjoy! ~Nemo

These are selling spectacularly well for sure. I went back to my Toys R Us again, and there'll already almost all gone. I hope it doesn't get too hard to find all of these in stores too.

Although not a minifigure combination, over on my Flickr I have created a brick-built, minifigure scale, Man-Bat figure. Like many others, I found Lego's official Man-Bat to be severely lacking, so I just had to build my own.

Great build and story! But what I love most is the figure combinations, all of which are superb. That drunkard is particularity good, but I think the best combo is actually that skeleton stag with the tradesman! The parts usage and even the trade materials the stag is carrying is just perfect. Great job!

Although I don't have the funds for such a collection (and I feel any army after so many figures just constitutes 'a lot' and makes no difference whatsoever; but that's beside the point)--I am mostly interested in why you want to sell it in the first place; other than just to see how much it is worth. Why would a huge Lego LotR fan like yourself would be selling off a chunk of his Orc army? I cannot imagine selling off my precious superheroes! Just wondering.

I voted for B, the 'simple' rules. I felt the description of the suggested rules already seemed a bit out there--both in terms of difficulty and emphasis. What I mean is, when I think of BoBS, I imagine it as essentially a ship version of the Guilds--where there would be far more emphasis on sea vessels rather than island/city/colony building--which seemed to take far more emphasis on the rules with phrases like "squatting"; which feels more like colonial political bickering rather than high states pirate life. I always knew that there would be some portion of colony building, but I think those rules, at least from what I see now, focus on that too much--and it seems like ships are taking second fiddle. I mean, in a pirate world, why would you spend a year opening a textile factory when you could just get on a boat and make a lifetime worth of profit by sacking a few galleons in a month? I do have to voice concerns I have about additional non-contest general gold gathering. I'm just throwing out the question on how we would implement that? By adding additional methods to gain gold/points, outside of official challenges, I wonder how the additional gold would be regulated in a way to ensure it's fair and properly recorded. Would there be a member/mod/one person who dictates extra builds are worth however much gold? Really, I think there would need to be a system to regulate how extra gold/points would be given out in a manner that would avoid having to rely on everyone individually (which would be really hard for mods to regulate and record) or forcing loads of expectations on one person to keep track of everything. I'm admittedly not a very active member of the Guilds (at the moment), but I do recognize the struggles of regulation on a number of issues (especially points and freebuilds, which is slowly getting fixed), so I think we need to make sure the BoBS from the start has answers to these potential issues.

I picked up the Mystery Machine and Mansion today! They're both spectacular. In terms of getting a hold of the sets, you better act fast for the Machine! I picked up both sets from Toys R Us, and while all the other sets had 4+ other boxes, I snagged the last Mystery Machine there! It's already flying off the shelves! I had concerns about the stickers on the van, but they were actually easier to put on than the Mansion ones--because the former stickers were solid backed, so you don't have to worry about finger prints like the Mansion clear backed stickers. The Machine is larger in person than I expected, but it doesn't look out of place with just the figures inside. It only looks massive when you place a standing minifigure literally right next to it--it's then you see that it is actually the height of two minifigures on top of each other. All the figures are spectacular! They're just so fun. I do feel that Daphne's hair is a bit large, but everyone else is perfect. The only real surprise was with the Black Knight, who actually had a torso print; one that depicts dark plate armor over a business suit. I don't have any ideas what it could be used for, but it was a nice surprise instead of the predictable blank torso.

I've been gathering up my castle bricks and have started working on my new characters and builds. I'm ready to show off my main new Sig-Fig character (center)--a cloaked lich known only as the Amber King; who inhabits the North Western forests of Nocturnus, along with his wolf brood. His origins are mysterious, and are not clarified by the fact that he rarely speaks aloud. He is a master sorcerer, who specializes in transformation and telepathy. For an "extended" description of the character, view the 'spoiler' tag below the image. Don't say I didn't warn you! In addition, I've started building his army; a hoard, potentially the entire population worth, of rare Lycanthrope werewolves, called Ash Wolves. As far as I can tell, this is the first time black Chima wolf headpieces have been used in Historica (Although I wouldn't mind not getting called on it! ), so I took the great opportunity to create a new werewolf subspecies in the process. I may have gotten carried away with their story. There's only five shown here, but I'll expect a total of thirty soon--at least as soon as I can pick up ten or so more torsos. I have a build ready too, and a lengthy biological description and analysis of the Ash Wolves to boot (that will explain everything about them, such as why they appear blind)--but I'm not liking the close up pictures... ...so I may just post it with the one good picture and walls of text. But that doesn't make a good story. Feedback please!

Spectacular castle! I love the simple design that's not overblown (as castles sometimes can be), and the foliage as everyone else has said looks perfect. What I really think is great about this though, is the fact that no matter the angle of the shot, it feels like you're looking at the best side of the castle--all sides look equally interesting and feel like the best part. Great job!

Well of course we both have to rise again! If we don't do it periodically, we'll never get that '10th Risen' for free! And yes, mini-challenges. They're super fun!

Wowsa! Spectacular looking figures Ecclesiastes! They really look ready to take down some snow monsters!

These look mostly good. I'm not a fan of Bigfoot or the Specter, but everyone else is great. For Bigfoot, they should have given him the new two molded legs--so that his flesh bottom half, with their printing, would look like giant feet. On the Specter, the thing that kills it for me is the face. It's just awful; it looks like a parody, and worst of all it reminds me of those horrible contorted face meme drawings. I do however think all of his individual parts are good, it's just the combination that doesn't work.

For me it would be better to just start over. Plus I have a lot nicer figure designs now! Thanks! I'm so excited to get back into this--especially since I know I'll have the parts and time to actually commit! I've already finished my new Sig-Fig/Character, but I'm still working on the backstory, and now waiting for many henchmen parts to arrive via Bricklink. Witches need wolves of course!

I'm really happy with the change. The old design was seriously old--to the point of embarrassment. I'm using Bricklink more and more, and I think this new look will help keep it relevant, what with competitors showing up.

So Historica is between books/chapters right now? I'm very interested in getting back into Historica and Nocturnus again, especially since I now have a much larger collection and actual time...granted I must say this every year, or six months at the least...so would now be the opportune moment to rejoin the struggle (for whatever)? There does seem to be a lull between two storms right now. Plus this will give me an opportunity to throw out those boring characters I made--oh, wow, two years ago apparently--for some fresh new ones! Well as fresh as Nocturnus folks can get.

Should be cool. But the potential exclusive figure would be some variation on Iron Man...because we totally need more of those...