Lego David

Dang, what's taking them so long for just one set? The Poll was held all the way back in February of last year. Assuming the set choice was made immediately after the poll closed, I don't see what could have possibly taken then so long to design the set. The thought that it will probably be revealed only In May at the earliest and most likely even later than that is just mind boggling to me.

For the record, we just recently had the Baracuda Bay set, which is basically the best Pirates Anniversary Tribute set you could ask for. I think making another super big set for that would be kind of redundant, unless they make it an Imperials-focused set instead (which I am not sure Imperials is a popular enough subtheme for them to consider it). My guess would be something more like: 40% Castle 30% Space 20% Bionicle 10% Pirates

I really like the use of the Bionicle Skull Spider mask as a shoulder pad for the Big Orc!

Apparently, once a world gets selected for development, it get publically removed from the site so it can be developed more "secretly", I guess. But as someone who kept up with the platform, I can say that the original submission was titled "The Missing Piece: A LEGO Christmas", barely had any presentation images, and got a whomping 7 likes . I think that tells you everything you need to know about this platform and what they select from it... If you are dead serious about bringing "Timequake" too life (sounds like a really cool title btw!), I would suggest writing a book of sorts based on it instead. I know it doesn't sound as exciting as a Movie or TV Show, but hey, we all gotta work within our limitations.

This one turned out to be the winner (out of 20 projects that qualified for the pitch fest): Personally, this feels like a big missed opportunity to me... Out of all the ideas that were submitted, this one was honestly one of the least interesting ones. I honestly don't know what prompted then to select this one over all the others...

I mean... obviously, but why not just straight up release it now in early 2022?

We are already passed the 1 year anniversary of the poll, and we still have no clue about what set are we getting... Why is LEGO waiting so long to reveal the thing? I do not believe producing a set takes that long, and neither have they focused their resources on building up hype for the set. I feel like it might just get revealed at a completely random date and promptly forgotten about as soon as it hits the shelves (especially if turns out to be a disappointing choice).

Thank you for still being interested in my idea! So what basically happened was that I tried to pitch my idea to LEGO, but I got turned down simply because I was "under 18", which also resulted in my World Builder account getting taken down. I was very disappointed with that, but I still held out hope that I could pitch it again this year... But after seeing which projects had ended up being selected from the the pitch fest my world was part of, I lost all my hope in the platform. From 20+ incredible original ideas, they only approved a single one, and it was honestly the lamest possible choice they could have went with. So honestly, I don't really have that much hope left in the platform, so I decided to take the matter into my own hands and write my own fantasy novel based on the idea. I wrote about eight chapters thus far, and hope to publish the book before the end of this year. I don't think a novel based on my idea would have been nearly as successful as, say, TLG turning it into a LEGO theme, but hey, at least I'll have full creative control to do whatever I want. So yeah, if you are still interested in the idea, and appreciate more serious storytelling like I do, I feel like you might want to check out my novel whenever I get around to publishing it. Do note, however, that the novel will be its own thing, not related to LEGO in any way.

I am very skeptical about the whole "LEGO wants both boys and girls to play with mini dolls" idea. For the record, we only got that announcement like a few months ago, and it seems to me like they just kind of rushed out in order to get a new theme with that idea. And will the theme feature bright "girlish" colors, or will it be like a normal theme, but with mini dolls? I have never been particularly a minidoll "hater" myself but this rumor strikes me like a weird experiment that has the potential to fail miserably. The prices for those sets also look unusually high for an original theme, which also could be a big turn away point for many people. But hey, don't judge a book by its cover I guess. If this rumor is true, than I'll wait until we get actual pictures to pass my final judgement.

You know, now that I think about it, a special CMF series based on Classic themes would honestly be amazing, and would more or less please everybody. Why not just remake classic characters with a more modern design? They already did that with a few Minifigures such as Johnny Thunder already, why couldn't they make an entire series of Minifigures like that? And while we're at it, throw in a special "chase" minifigure like Mr. Gold for good measure. A special gold edition Classic Spacemen, perhaps?

Last year LEGO held a poll where fans could vote for their favorite vintage theme to be made into a special 90th anniversary LEGO tribute set. They didn't say anything about there being any new Mr. Gold type figure. If there was, it would probably be end up being included in the set that we will get, but not as a part of any upcoming CMF series.

Honestly Pirates is the only theme I wouldn't be okay with winning. We just got the huge Baracuda Bay set, and getting another Pirate tribute set so soon would be kind of redundant IMO. Also, would it be realistic that LEGO would include a retro-style minifigure in a set like this? Not even Baracuda Bay did that. I can see them maybe going with the classic smiley faces (which they still used for the recent classic spacemen figures) but honestly all the 90s printed faces are super outdated and would look super weird in a modern set.

Well, just to play devil's advocate, Bionicle is after all, one of the main reasons why we still have LEGO around as an independent company today in the first place. I do agree with the notion that it doesn't represent what people traditionally think as "LEGO" but at the same time, I think it is worth acknowledging the theme that enabled them to survive and became what they are today, which is something they have never done before. But to be fair, I think the main reason they won't pick Bionicle would have more to do with them not really being sure what kind of set to produce and not having any of the old Bionicle molds available anymore. They could theoretically make a System-based Tahu set, but even that would require at the very least bringing back one of the old mask molds or creating a new one. For the record, would LEGO be willing to bring back any older molds or create new ones for a set like this? This applies to all the potential winning themes. I'm sure Castle fans would like to see the return of the older pre-fab Castle walls, or Space fans would maybe like one of those older cockpit pieces and so on... Back when the poll was first being held, everyone would have said "no" because it is a D2C set, but things have changed quite a lot in the area of D2C sets in the past year, so...

That's what we've all been doing for the past decade or so, lol.

Excellent analogy! This is exactly what I've been trying to say all long, but didn't quite know how exactly to put it. Thank you!

They try to appeal to as many people outside of LEGO as possible, while mostly ignoring all the dedicated fans who have consistently been passionate about the hobby for years. Star Wars fans get more sets than they could collect in a lifetime, while other fanbases are constantly outright begging LEGO to give them back the theme they are a fan of. And whenever the opportunity comes for one theme to get a tribute sets, like in the case of the 90th Anniversary Poll, a literal culture war starts, with everyone trying to get their theme to win just to get that one set. I think this speaks volumes about the current state of LEGO. They try to appeal to much to people who aren't even that passionate about LEGO in general other than because LEGO represents an IP they like, while the loyal old-timers who have been patiently waiting for another Castle line for almost a decade get next to nothing. I mean, that may be so, but frankly, I see far more creativity around the Castle, Pirate, Space and Bionicle circles than SW and other licensed themes like that. If you go to those theme's respective sub-forums, MOCs is kind of the only thing you'll see over there. Not a whole lot of discussing about sets that came out decades ago, but just people simply being creative and actually doing something with the pieces from their childhood. Meanwhile, if you look in the Star Wats and Licensed sections, those forums are overblown with people discussing the latest sets and speculating about what might come out next. There are a few MOCs, sure, but like other people in this thread have pointed out, those tend to be swept under the rug rather quickly by the sheer amount of discussions about the sets and nothing else.

I can definitely relate to this... My younger brother used to be obsessed with LEGO just like me, and he just recently grew out of it. Now, he is incredibly passionate about creating Roblox maps, and LEGO doesn't mean anything to him anymore other than the sets on his shelf. He even thought about selling all of them, which came as a shock to me when I first heard it.

So recently, there has been an intriguing discussion here on EB about why most of the MOCs posted on the site don't get nearly as much appreciation then they should. So this got me thinking... Would it be possible to introduce some sort of system where each new thread has a "Like" button that can be pressed, so that the creator of the MOC can see how many people appreciate his MOC? Not that many people actually bother to comment on MOCs, not even very well made ones, but just pressing a like button is something anyone should be able to do. And so, the creator of the MOC can look at the number of likes he has and take that as a sign of how appreciated his MOC is. I know this site is a bit old and hasn't see major updates in years, but would it be possible to introduce this? I know of several sites that use the exact same operating system as this one, such as BZPower.com, that have still managed to incorporate a "Like" button.

I think the epitemy of this newish trend are all the Sitcom sets. I remember seeing on Twitter several posts sounding something like "I am 27 and I just bought my first LEGO set, the Friends Center Perk!" This to me kind of goes against the entire point of LEGO, which is creativity. Those people would probably just buy one or two LEGO sets at most because it represents the IP they love, and not care whatsoever about LEGO otherwise. I don't know what LEGO thinks, but this to me does not seem like a viable long-term strategy. In the past, the strategy used to be completely about making as big an impact on kids as possible, kids that will end up growing up into dedicated LEGO fans, and therefore, buyers. Just look at Ninjago: most of the fan base is almost entirely made up of nostalgic 2011 kids that still enjoy the show and characters to this day despite having grown up, more so because of nostalgia rather than because Ninjago is a genuinely good show. Are you really going to get that from continually bombarding the market with one-off sets aimed at collectors, hoping that would draw them in to become long-term customers? I don't really think so. I know appealing to kids can be a lot harder those days with continually changing trends and electronics, but if you manage to define someone's childhood, you basically got yourself a loyal customer for life.

I don't think they "hate" having non-licensed per say, though I do agree that they wouldn't hesitate to sacrifice any part of their brand as long as something else proves to be more easily profitable. That's the problem when you are a giant megacorporation that almost rivals Disney... you no longer care about pursing your own unique concepts and ideas as much as you do about just pandering to the latest trends (even though they have all the power and resources to be trend setters instead of just trend followers, ironically enough). Meanwhile, other toy companies like Hasbro and Mattel, which took their original IPs seriously, have managed to create icons of the toy industry that everybody knows about even if they haven't owned a single toy from them, while all the general public associates with LEGO is just "Bricks" and not much else.

Incredible scenery! Not only is this incredibly detailed on the outside, but on the inside too! I think the various rooms in the castle are probably my favorite parts.

I mean, you would hardly see anyone here on Eurobricks just stack a bunch of bricks on top of each other and call it a "MOC". Some MOCs may be more complex, visually appealing, bigger, etc, but I think anyone above the age of 12 has the capability to build something respectable, even if it it doesn't meet the standards of more experienced builders. Not everyone who holds a brush is a "painter" but I can certainly say that everyone who holds a brush can become a painter. I agree that some people just have natural talents towards certain things, but most of the time, it is just 20% talent and 80% practice. Not even Leonardo Da Vinci himself was born with the talent to paint Mona Lisa. He might have been good at painting from a young age, but it took him a while to get to the point where he made all the masterpieces we remember him for. That's why I personally believe any aspiring painter, MOCer, sculptor, artist whatever should be encouraged in what he is doing right from the start, even if his first few creations are perceived by others as "not good". Believe me, as someone who has been involved in the Bionicle MOCing community for quite a while, most of the people in there held the exact same mentality on you, and that has had a devastating effect on less experienced builders (myself included, in many cases, that's why I haven't been as active in there for a while). I mean, fair enough, I am not saying buying a large set and enjoying the building experience once in a while is bad per say, though if you keep spending insane amounts of money just to get that brief few hours of relaxation, it kind of has a similar effect to drugs, in my opinion. I know this probably isn't a good comparison, but if your lifestyle involves taking a weekly trip to the LEGO store and buying 500$ worth of LEGO every time just to get that relaxation, you might have to stop for a minute and consider whether this really is helpful for you and your finances or not.

Honestly, from my point of view purchasing sets just to get the building experience and then do nothing else with the set but leaving it on display to gather dust feels a bit too much like mindless consumerism to me. That's why I believe MOC making is far more productive and beneficial than just purchasing everything LEGO throws at the market. I have noticed how in the past few years, there has come this weird sentiment that "only some people are good at MOCing". For instance, if someone makes a MOC and it doesn't get appreciated, they would just revert back to building official sets because "they're not good at it". For the record, I think this mindset has been a huge block to creativity around the community. Because of this, a lot of people tend to just admire more experienced builders and think about how they'll never be as good, when in reality how "good" some of those MOCs are is merely a perception... Everyone can develop their own unique building style, and shouldn't look up to others as their reference point. I also think people around here should give MOCs more appreciation. Most of the MOC topics barely get any replies, which can be very discouraging for the creators of those MOCs, and in turn would result in them not making anymore MOCs. So please people, let's go ahead and encourage any type of creativity whenever possible.

They already did exactly that for the 60th anniversary of the Brick, with the set 40290, lol...

When can we expect to finally get the results of which theme is getting the set? It has already been close to a year since the poll wrapped up. Can we expect the results on the 1 year anniversary of the poll, or perhaps later? I really don't like how silent LEGO has stayed about this. I know they wanted to make it more of a "surprise" but by the time the set finally comes out, the hype would have probably long died down, especially if the set turns out to be a disappointing choice after we've waited for it a full year.