Lego David

My bad, a friend messaged me about that and then sent me the article link afterwards. Sorry about that...

I haven't kept up with this thread, so pardon me if this has already been discussed, but an interview with the Medieval Blacksmith designers was recently published: https://jaysbrickblog.com/news/forging-the-medieval-blacksmith-interview-with-lego-designers-wes-talbott-and-austin-carlson/ In the interview, the designers stated that the reason why the Goat was not included was because the mold for it was destroyed long ago... despite their efforts to include it in the set. .

Ice Planet 2002 came out in 1993, actually. The reason it uses "2002" in the title is probably just to imply that the theme is set in future or something.

You've got my support! Nice work.

To me, they look like a clear upgrade from the 2015 versions, much like the 2001 Toa Mata VS 2002 Toa Nuva. But from my understanding, people dislike the Toa Nuva too? I don't understand why. It's nice to have variety between each versions of the toa in my opinion.

Am I the only one who actually quite liked the second wave of G2?

If I recall correctly, at NYTF in 2014, where G2 was first announced, they promised that G2 would have a run of at least three years, and they didn’t respect that promise, with the line being abruptly cancelled after barely completing its second year. That’s why so many people in the community think G2 failed, because otherwise, it should have lasted for at least another year.

Besides both of them being about articulated figures, those two themes have pretty much nothing to do with each other, and they appealed to completely opposite markets. Bionicle got a deep lore with often dark elements (especially for a LEGO theme), while Mixels got a silly kids cartoon show on Cartoon Network. The closest thing we ever got to a Bionicle successor was Hero Factory, but that got canned in favor of the Bionicle reboot.

Uhm... I actually wouldn't have gotten into Bionicle in the first place if it weren't for G2. When I first got into LEGO in 2010, Bionicle was just ending, so I couldn't properly get into it, so I became invested in Hero Factory instead. When G2 was first announced, I was like "Oh cool, Bionicle is back" and bought several of the G2 sets, while also looking back at what came before, and thus I also got into G1. If it weren't for G2, I probably wouldn't have been a Bionicle fan in the first place, so at the very least, I have to give it credit for that. Given the recent stream of approved projects (out of the 35 projects in the last review, only one passed), I don't trust LEGO Ideas at all anymore. It seems like all they're looking to do with that platform is either just a vessel to get more licenses, or get more sets "aimed at adults". Even if the Bionicle community managed to get a Bionicle project to 10k each time a review stage comes around, I still don't think LEGO would care at all either way (for instance, just look at the ridiculous amount of Legend of Zelda projects that constantly get denied, despite the obvious demand for a Zelda set). I have far more trust in the newer LEGO World Builder platform than in LEGO Ideas at this point, but maybe that's just me. It would still be unique among LEGO 18+ lineup of sets though. A large articulated figure doesn't seem like the typical thing we would usually get from an 18+ set.

The stand outs for me are The Flower Fruit Mountain and the Arachnoid Base. The rest, while addmitedly well designed, are just more redundant vehicles, so I don't care about them that much. The Lion Guardian is a huge letdown for me, it looks like a complete mess. I am glad we are getting more cheaper sets, but still, 25$ for the cheapest set in the wave is still a bit expensive. I might end up buying it just in order to get a taste of the line, but still, I am not very thrilled with the value.

That's the main reason most Bionicle fans voted for Bionicle in the poll. A lot of them seriously doubt that LEGO would choose it in order to represent then for their 90th anniversary, but they do hope that if it does well in the poll, than it will get LEGO's attention and potentially generate more sets outside the 90th anniversary occasion.

From what I have seen, LEGO molds usually get destroyed if they aren't used for more than a few years (in a lot of cases, they are just one and done). But there are a few exceptions, that for some reason are kept around without being destroyed. They tend to get rid of the more specialized parts rather fast (despite the potential of re-using them later on), and only keep the generic piece molds. By that assumption, I assume they still have some of the generic CCBS molds around (like the bones and shells) but not the more specialized ones such as masks. They were just as popular (Hero Factory, at the very least, certainly was). Yes, Bionicle started out as a Technic subtheme, but that quickly changed as the line became it's own thing, becoming more and more independent from Technic.

Some of the parts from the more sought after CCBS sets are expensive, but most of them are still normally priced (a lot of them underpriced, even). So I don't think that's really an issue. And if if Bricklink is too expensive for you, you can always just got to eBay and buy random parts in bulks for pretty good deals.

Pirates also got a full wave of 7 sets in 2015, at the same time the Bionicle reboot came out. And the Benny's Space Squad minifigure pack actually came out in 2019, not 2018.

I think the big final battle will be between Bionicle and Castle, honestly. There is no way either Classic Space or Pirates are gonna win the vote now, to be honest.

I am very glad they admitted their mistake and included Castle. It seems like everyone has a fair chance at winning now.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't that comic exclusive to Europe only? I don't think it showed up in any North American catalogs.

Uhm.. What's up with that comment about Chima flashbacks? What's so bad about that? Someone I know said he already got some free pre-release sets for review from LEGO themselves, so it could be any day from now. I really hope they won't wait until last minute to reveal them, like they did last year.

That comic book was an oddity at best. It wasn't advertised anywhere, and I assume most people who grew up with LEGO Pirates didn't even know about the existence of that comic book at the time. That's what kind of perplexes me... There seem to be plenty of free spots in LEGO's catalog currently, but it seems like LEGO is foolishly filling them up with random one-off licenses that nobody cares for, like Trolls and Minions. That's a thing that really bothers me about LEGO's current marketing strategy.

In fact, I'd even argue that the current kid interest in any of those genres doesn't matter at all when it comes to a LEGO theme. Ninjas weren't a particularly popular genre when Ninjago came out, yet the line defined all expectations and become one of LEGO's most popular themes. Why? The answer is simple. It had a good story. Bionicle was an outstanding hit that saved the company because it had a good story. Ninjago also became an outstanding success that still goes strong to this day because it has a good story told through a TV show. If LEGO were to try out doing a Castle or a Pirate theme with a good TV Show, I can almost guarantee that kids are gonna be into it. Chima and Nexo Knights also had TV Shows, but the quality of those TV Shows was significantly worse than what Ninjago got. And thus, those lines may have been successful for a short time, but couldn't match the popularity of Ninjago. So, if LEGO were to reboot Castle or Pirates with a good TV Show (keep in mind, the TV show must be of quality), I see no reason why those themes couldn't be successful. Ninjago kind of got lucky with it's TV Show because it got actual good writers (Kevin and Dan Hagemen, acclaimed children's TV writers), but Chima and Nexo Knights greatly suffered from not having the same level of writing quality. As a fan who's been following the series ever since it first premiered, I can't even say it's the best TV Show ever, but it's still good. And just with a TV show that is "good" look how far they've gotten. Just imagine what they could accomplish they created a genuinely great TV Show, like for instance, something in the veins of Avatar: The Last Airbender. The potential for more decade-long LEGO hits is certainly there, as long as there is genuine love and passion put into the product.

The submission was shared around the Russian version of Reddit, Pikabu. And since Russia is a pretty big market that LEGO has never really properly tapped into, of course it gathered support so fast. While the original Folktale's dark themes may make LEGO reluctant to produce a Baba Yaga set, I still think it would still encourage LEGO to keep an eye out at the Russian market, and perhaps try to tap more into it, like they did with the Monkey Kid line in China.

The hair and crown are supposed to be dual-molded into one single piece. Having it be removable would be really cool, but I don't know how LEGO would realistically pull that off.

It's from the book Brick by Brick, by David C. Robertson. According to that book, Bionicle was making 40% of the total sales in 2003, and 100% of the profits. In other words, while other licensed brands like Star Wars and Harry Potter were also selling well, those themes were not really making any profits because of the expensive license fee LEGO had to pay in order to maintain those IPs. Bionicle, on the other hand, because it was an in-house LEGO theme, it was much cheaper to maintain, and thus it was the only LEGO line that was actually profitable at the time. Because of that, Bionicle takes full credit for keeping The LEGO Group afloat during their worst financial period. A lot of AFOLs seem to be completely unaware of that, but it's true. Without Bionicle, there wouldn't have been any LEGO Group 90th anniversary.

Regarding the debate about Native American portray in LEGO Western, Nick on Planet Ripple had a few things to say about it this video:

I read somewhere that TLG's focus test groups determined that older kids thought of Castle and Pirates as being "childish", and thus LEGO decided to market all the modern Castle and Pirates themes to a much younger audience. Which is super ironic, since Castle and Pirates are themes that pretty much most of the AFOLs seem to be obsessed with. I think that goes to explain why there haven't been that many large Caste or Pirate themed sets aimed at an older audience, and why in general, Castle and Pirate themes have been pretty much dead for the past few years. The more I read about TLG's internal stuff, the more I am convinced that they don't understand their fan community at all, and even when they try to get close to us by purchasing Bricklink or doing the 90th anniversary LEGO poll, they just end up making things even worse.