Lego David

That is probably correct for everything that came out pre-1978, but after that, it gets a bit harder for me to believe that. Looking at all those 80's and 90's themes, I really get the vibe that the designers were really trying to convey some sort of story through their sets, even if they didn't have a whole lot of tie-in media for them.

During the 1980's period, the toy industry was booming, because pretty much every major toy line at the time had a fully fledged TV cartoon series to back it up. Transformers, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, G.I. Joe, He-Man, you name it, were all very popular due to their respective TV cartoons being very good advertisements. Meanwhile, LEGO was going through a big growth period, but none of the themes they had at the time were experiencing any sort of mega popularity. Fast forward to late 90's, when LEGO finally realized that the charm of the bricks alone wasn't enough to keep them afloat, they started branching out from their Classic themes, and trying out new things. One of them was Bionicle, LEGO's first proper attempt at a story-driven theme. Although it didn't have any sort of TV Cartoon, it still had numerous other tie-in media, such as comic books, direct to DVD movies and video games. And guess what? Although still a little bit late in the story-driven toys market, Bionicle became a groundbreaking success for TLG, such as they had never experienced before at that point. Shortly after Bionicle ended in 2010, LEGO launched their next big story-driven theme, Ninjago. Although not exactly LEGO's first attempt at a TV Show (Galidor was the first in 2002, but failed to take off) Ninjago quickly became LEGO's most popular theme of all time, still going strong to this day, due to LEGO finally coming up with a proper TV Cartoon to promote their toys, 30 years after the rest of the toy industry had already adapted to that sort of market. So that leads me to the question... Why did it take so long to step into the TV Cartoon business? The intention to tell a stories though their themes was clearly there, as evidenced by the various comic book tie-ins they did throughout the late 80's and early 90's. But why didn't they attempt a fully fledged TV Series back then? If they would have had that back then, we can only imagine at what stage they would have been today. This is a question that I keep thinking about. @Aanchir Perhaps you could shine some light about this question, as you seem to know quite a lot about this sort of stuff.

I am not very familiar with those Jim Spaceborn comics... could you please share a link to it? I would really like to take a look at those comics.

Technically speaking, nobody is forced to follow the pre-existing storyline. The story is more of a "guideline" than anything else. Kids can enjoy the TV Series, but there's nothing stopping them from creating their own stories within the context of a pre-existing world or with pre-existing characters. On top of that, not all the kids who got the sets have necessarily also seen the TV Series (I've come across several kids who told me this). And let's be fair here, even back in the day LEGO themes weren't entirely "anti-story" either, as several lines from the late 80's and 90's still had some sort of storyline more or less. Pirates, for example, had a story told through a full 36-page comic book.

As much as I still appreciate minifigures for what they are, I do agree that they are kind of overhyped. I am baffled when I see how much money people are willing to pay just to get an exclusive figure of their favorite character. In terms of functionality, the Technic Figs are objectively superior, as they have a complete range of articulation, unlike minifigures. However, I do have to give credit to the minifigures for being customizable, I think that is by far their biggest strength.

You do have a point there... I never looked at it from that perspective, but now that you bring it up, it does make a lot of sense. However, although their use does make technical sense, it was one of the reasons many Pirate fans were disappointed with the 2015 wave, as it made the sets look a lot more "childish" (I don't have anything against that personally, but it might have been a big turn away factor for some people).

Both Marvin and Road Runner have no printing on the torso whatsoever.

This series kind of sucks to be honest. For whatever reason, two of the characters have no torso printing (It baffles me that LEGO is still doing this), Most of those characters don't really translate well into minifigure form (Road Runner is probably the worst offender), and all those parts look way too character-specific to be used anywhere else. At least with Simpsons, we got some nice minifigure accessories, but it seems like they didn't bother with that here. In my humble opinion, LEGO is going a bit too overboard with their "Adult Nostalgia" products, and they don't even bother making them actually look good. This series is an easy pass from me.

I think by far the most atrocious use of them was in the 2015 Pirates wave. Like, what were they thinking? Those stud shooters just make no sense within the context of a Pirate theme!

When Stud Shooters first came out, I loved them. As a kid, I always wished my minifigures had guns that can actually be fired, and when Stud Shooters were introduced, it was almost as a dream come true. However, since then, they have been quite overused, so I do understand why so many people don't like them.

For me personally, "older LEGO" means everything that isn't currently available directly from TLG. Personally, I never had any problem with used sets, so I tend to buy a lot of used LEGO from the aftermarket. Whether that would be sets from the past decade that I never got, or sets that came out before I was even born, It doesn't matter to me. If I find a LEGO set cool, there is a high chance I will eventually get it, even if I don't have any nostalgic connection to it. I always keep an eye open on eBay and Bricklink for any good LEGO deals, and I encourage other people to do the same.

I don't really have that much money to spend on LEGO at the moment, so I'd probably only be aiming for The Iron Bull Tank or (maybe) Sandy's Speedboat. I am not too thrilled by either of those two sets outside of the figures, but I wanna purchase at least one Monkie Kid set before the line retires and becomes impossible to afford on the aftermarket.

I wanted to buy the Iron Bull Tank set (currently on a 20% discount at my current LEGO store) because its the cheapest way to get the Sandy Bigfig, but apparently a local seller is selling it individually for just 12$. Do you guys think I should buy the full set for 40$ or just the purchase the Sandy Bigfg individually?

I'm not so sure about that... The Castle shown in the video looks way too good for a Creator set, with some pretty advanced building techniques that look way ahead of what Creator 3 in 1 usually offers. On top of that, that Castle also clearly used one of those pre-fab Castle walls, which there is no way they'd use that sort of piece in a Creator set, and on top of that, the mold hasn't been used in almost a decade, so it may well be discontinued by now. I'd say the Castle showcased in that video was probably just a MOC the designers made, and not a glimpse at the upcoming Creator set.

Are digital entries allowed?

Very nice MOC, I love the integration of the Bionicle parts!

I'll never understand why LEGO keeps getting rid of so many perfectly useable molds after barely using them once or twice. It feels like a complete waste of time and money to me.

The Prince Kalmaar figure looks pretty cool, I like the head mold. But I don't understand why didn't they simply re-use the Atlantis octopus legs for this guy, and instead opted to create a new mold, which in my option doesn't work as well as the previous one.

There was already a Baba Yaga project that got 10k supporters... It even made headline news as the currently fastest project to reach the threshold. Not sure what the point would be to submit another project based on the same subject matter.

Very cute build!

I certainly wouldn't go as far as those people did (seriously, how those people hated those themes so much during a time when "traditional" themes were still active is beyond me) but love them or hate them, you have to admit that the amount of vehicle-based sets has increased significantly since Ninjago came to the scene. For instance, just look at the amount of vehicle based sets (from my generalization) that have appeared last year alone: You can clearly start to see a pattern here. Some of those vehicles are have more interesting designs than others, but they still feel like they convey the exact same general idea. That makes them feel quite samey, and repetitive. I don't have anything against LEGO vehicle sets as a concept, but the fact we're getting so many of them nowdays really bothers me personally.

Those aren't what I would traditionally classify as vehicles. In my view, "vehicles" are the more modern, Sci-Fi stuff like Bikes, Mechs, Jets, and Cars we get in themes like Ninjago or Monkie Kid. Those Elves sets you showed don't fall into that category at all. Monkie Kid was made specifically for China, and originally it wasn't even supposed to release worldwide at all. The reason it got a worldwide release in LEGO stores was because of the commitment not to do anymore regional exclusive sets after the Chinese New Year controversy.

I wouldn't say the kids market is too crowded. The only original action-adventure theme we currently have is Ninjago (I am not counting Monkie Kid, because it was made exclusively for China). I think there is still room for at least one new original theme to run alongside Ninjago right now.

Very nice, thank you for those scans!

I would highly recommend watching Ben Cossy's Bionicle Inspiration Series on YouTube. He consistently publishes new episodes every single Saturday, and his videos come with all the tips and tricks a new Bionicle builder might need.