obsidianheart

Lord Business, being a villain, would of course be on his phone in the theater during the movie. I hope we get that hair piece!

Wrinkles. I think he's supposed to be bald under his hat?

I'd like to see it, as it sounds like the ending will be more faithful to the book than the DePalma version from when I was a kid, but I don't get out to see movies anymore, so maybe when it hits video.

Classic Space Logo on one. Is that a trademark?

As far as LEGO's propensity for casting the female in the "damsel in distress" role: I admit that that is often the case, and can see an argument for not propagating the stereotype. I still think it is unfair to single them out, or pin a large amount of hope on them to reverse the trend, when more often their fiction is secondary to their products, instead of vice-versa with larger companies like Disney or Warner. Most of their ladies will probably take a short turn in that role, because of the idealization by the boys they are primarily marketed to of "saving the girl". And then Ann Lee came along, and she doesn't even have a "scared" face (just a scarred one).

Looks like there's a black technic-pin neck bracket in the ninjacopter set on the hang glider dude. I'll probably use that to attach Cyrus Borg's arms to his back, instead of the chair.

Once upon a time, I bought quite a few Flat Silver spearguns off of a Bricklink seller that specialized in Off-Color parts. They weren't expensive, but more than I would have payed for spearguns if I didn't have a specific use in mind for them. The seller had hundreds of them in stock, too! Two years latter they became pretty common in the second wave of Atlantis. Moral of the story is that sometimes the rare stuff might not be rare forever, I think?

Rock. Thanks for that.

Nobody's going to explain why the Falcon's a big deal, are they?

The bad guys in the NinjaCopter set appear to be generic Nindroids, but the barely-visible box top seems to label the masked one as something different. Can anyone with sharper eyes than mine read that? Also, I kinda don't get the fuss over the falcon. Looks like a Lone Ranger crow to me. Is there some tv-show significance to it, or something?

I think it is the paw piece with 1x1 clip tiles attached to headlight bricks attached to cheese slopes.

Zoomed-in picture of Pixal is interesting. Lots of purple circuit patters on her face.

They have to stay in buisness, and what you're lamenting the absence of would be a huge gamble, so in that regard, yes, I suppose they do follow the market at all times. However, that's only if you're willing to overlook all of their other innovations in favor of gender-bias in marketing and minifig inclusion.

*Shrug* He's a robot. He can do his noble sacrifice thing and then they can just rebuild him or something. I still really want to see the rest of the sets, though. I'm actually excited, and I don't even regularly pick up Ninjago sets!

So, if he's supposed to be a good guy this year, will he still have 4 arms in whatever set he's included with?

Garfield Madon. Yeah. Seriously, though, I don't watch the show, but aren't he and the sensei brothers? So does that make the other guy Wu Garmadon? Or maybe Wu, Garmadon, and a handful of others only have one name, like Cher.

It goes back much, much farther than just Hollywood, I'm afraid. Look at comics, pulp adventure novels, or even traditional legends. Always a group of guys hanging out, vanquishing evil, making merry, what have you. Maybe there's a girl, maybe there isn't. If there is, she's usually either someone's love interest, or in trouble, or both. There are, of course, exceptions (Mulan, Joan of Arc, ect.) but usually it is pretty formulaic.

I'm pretty sure these are finalized just from the fact that one of the figs leaked.

I suppose I am also at a loss for what exactly is being asked or discussed here? Are you critiquing LEGO's decision to skew action themes to the male gender? Because while I can see that point, and am at a disadvantage when discussing any kind of discrimination in marketing since I am a member of the most often-targeted demographic combo, I don't know what you're asking for. An all-girls or girl-heavy action theme could very well lead to a poor sales situation for the company because a lot of boys wouldn't buy it out of fear of being teased mercilessly by their peers for playing with "girl toys". Another thing to consider is the potential for less-reputable media outlets to seize that opportunity to write up scathing reviews of a girl-centric action theme for "promoting violence against women". Girl action themes are a risk for any company, because if they don't outright sink sales-wise, you can also get all sorts of creepy fandoms popping up and making things uncomfortable for a lot of the legitimate fans. On the plus side, LEGO is first and foremost a building toy. You're not required to "stick to the script" with the themes, and can build your own legion of female Power Miners (I suggest using Jet from Rock raiders as one, just for theme-synch) or a gaggle of apprentices for Ann Lee to go slaying with, or even a Nya-led rival gang of spinjitsu masters. When I was a kid, they all had the exact same head, so they could be whatever gender.

Bad deal. Sadness. I use Bricklink all the time, but this makes me feel like their throwing their weight at the new guys a little too hard.

Guess I'm buying Ninjago next year, for once.

I'm not really ever holding my breath for a new Agents iteration. It was only mildly popular at the time it was out, and most people don't have a long-lived fondness of it. But it was really got me all the way out of my Dark Ages, finishing a job Exo-Force and Fantasy Era castle started lackadaisically. Themes come and go, and while some of them pique my interest, I'm usually much more excited about what can be built that what's pictured on the box. The themes are diverse enough that they will capture the imaginations of at least some of the fan base, and the real success is if there are MOCs of that theme that make you say, "COOL!" Besides, as far as I'm concerned, Agents was Alpha Team 4.0!

THIS.

Reminds me of the scorpion from the Xevoz toyline.

I'd actually like the Yeti and Jun-Chi's legs for stuff I'm working on, but I have the parts in real life, so I've used the measurements to build crude place-holders.