Ardelon

It could be the Wolverine yellow-orange (yellorange?), which would be a bit better, but yeah, I agree.

This is a good point. Who will define the poll options, and how? Orange, Dark Orange, Green and Black seem to be the ones most talked about. Lime Green, Olive Green, Dark Green, Dark Turquoise, Blue, Dark Blue, Dark Red and and White have been suggested (the last one only by me). These could go onder the option "other", though by definition I guess lumping them into an "other" category already created a strong bias against them. The name poses a similar problem. There are several permutations based on what peeple here suggested: Haven/Revenue/Company/Rpyal/Imperial/etc Guard/Fleet/etc. Will only specific mentions be put up for a vote or also their permutations? This is only based on a quick skimming of this thread, I didnt actually count the color/name mentions and alternatives.

Maybe a dual mold of trans-clear plastic (for the "feet") and ABS (for the legs), similar to Bart's Sleeves? As speculative as this issue is ATM. Good thinking on the frog accessory, though. Maybe in a new color like lime or olive green?

All true, though Artemis/Diana was quite the fighter. And the names arent official, so we dont know how accurate they are. But yes, an Athena lookalike would suit the "battle goddess" image much better. I assume a Greek-style battle goddess is more likely than a valkyrie, as that slot is more or less filled by "the" Valkyrie of series 7.

Thanks for bringing up Alexandre Boudons concepts. Looking at them now, my attention was drawn to the "Artemis/Diana" minifig, below the statue of liberty in the lower right corner (at least thats how I identify her based on the crescent moon she wears). Could it be the inspiration for the Battle Goddess?

Blackcoats could work, but they would need a bright secondary color like red or white (or orange!) for trimming, pants and the like; all black seems too dark. I might be more merited if the Guard were implicitly the "lawful evil" guys. Green with gold or red (like the CMF revolutionary, but green or dark green instead of dark blue) could also look good. Maybe have a poll about this issue as well?

Does that mean the tabloids kick up a storm whenever a film version of the mutiny on the Bounty is broadcast on TV, or whenever a book about the mutiny is published? The incident is ten years old, and if it hasn't been brought up until now, especially with the BBB of 2009, TLG has nothing to worry about. Even if someone made a stink, it's just more publicity for TLG, and it's the accuser that would get the flak for being a sensationalist.

This would actually be a brilliant idea, if not for the fact, as The_Cook mentioned, that it would only work in English. I would keep away from alcohol, and probably have treasure as the smuggled goods. Maybe the merchants (with the help of the Guard) want to gather all the gold or jewels for themselves, so the smugglers are trying to slip some gold under the merchants' noses? Though this scenario might call for some villagers/islanders/clients the smugglers are actually smuggling the goods to? I'd be unhappy too if I thought the name was HEAVEN Guard rather than HAVEN Guard. Seriously, a poll determine the faction names might be the best way to settle this. While orange is indeed a color associated with the Dutch, I see several problems with it: 1) IMO the LEGO orange color is rather garish and I dare say "clownish", and doesn't convey the importance and gravitas of an official uniformed military force. 2) I'm not aware that the Dutch actually wore orange uniforms? At most, I recall they wore orange sashes in the 17th century. 3) Dark Orange would seem like a more sombre and distinguished choice of color, but I'm afraid that would be too similar with the proposed earth tones of the smugglers (one of the few things people in this thread generally agree on). My proposed primary color for the Haven Guard is either: 1) green (so what if it's been used for one Armada torso 17 years ago) 2) white, with an appropriate secondary color around the buttons and for the pants, since all-white figs would look bland 3) dark blue (without the red highlights seen on the CMF revolutionary soldier, in this case the secondary color could be white or gold) - the safe choice of an immediatly recognizable naval force Another option would be to make the faction aesthetic set more in the 17th century, without the rigid uniforms, but IMO that would make it harder to distinguish them from the other factions. One uniformed faction seems like a good way to go for immediate recognition. Not necesarily, the consensus seems to be for earth tones for the smugglers and gaudy colors for the merchants. My idea is this: - ragged cothes and earth tones for the smugglers, browns, tans, bleys, and black for their ships and buildings - no gaudy decoration - a primary color and another secondary color for the Guard, their ships and buildings would use these colors as highlights - vibrant and gaudy colors for the merchants: purple, orange, any color not used by the Guard

Maybe the jester will have a more colorful version of the CMF S10 sad clown conical hat. It would make sense to reuse that part.

The fishtail top would look weird for a Hun, IMO. Though the Huns did use whatever equipment they laid their hands on... Not that Id be against it, its a great piece, and it probably wont get used elsewhere. Well, we have several female musicians, and you could intepret the "Kimono Girl" as a Geisha or female entertainer. Though it did occur to me that we might see a female clown someday. (And an evil clown after that!). I really like this list; I sure hope it's true. I dunno whether this series sounds that good on its own merit, of if it's just because it's good to finally look forward to a normal CMF series after such a long gap.

So, who could be the fifth female? Assuming all the gender specific terms are correctly translated ("man", "guy", "wizard"), I'd guess it's between the Dino Tracker and the swashbluckler/adventurer. I don't think the Rock Star or lifeguard is likely, as we've gotten female versions of those. Space miner or Prospector are possibilities, though these aren't stereotypical female roles; and if they happen to be mistranslated more generic characters, well, we've gotten a generic female astronaut and a cowgirl before as well.

Points taken. But what are the two military factions? Redcoats and Bluecoats? After all, Pirate themes are independent of one another (or at least the 2009 was independent from the previous ones, of which the 1996-97 armada subtheme was independent from the one before - there's not enough longevity to have much of a precedent). So anything from those themes (such as the previous aforementioned military factions) shouldn't really impact this one, unless there will be some heavy name-dropping, call backs or easter eggs to tie this theme together with the previous ones. And on a mostly unrelated but already-mentioned-above note, everybody assumes the redcoats are expys of the British, but the Danish army also wore red coats, and seeing how TLG is a Danish company, the inspiration might have come from that. Of course, the reason was probably simply to reboot the subtheme from the bluecoats, and redcoats seemed like a sufficiently different take on the faction without actually being based on a specific nation.

Not sure how much this project is supposed to stray from familiar territory and offer "something new". The tried and tested approach would be to have a conflict between two main factions, with a possible minor third faction caught in the middle. In this spirit, the safe approach would be to focus on the main conflict between smugglers and the Haven Guard (I like the name, btw), and tone down the merchant presence. I don't think the merchants should be a main faction, since that would put the Guard into the minor/third position, which I don't think would work, as they should logically be the most heavily armed faction. Furthermore, if, as a main faction the merchants were armed heavily enough to be an even match for the smugglers, what's the point of a specialized Guard? And a final reason, having the uniformed Guard (I assume they will wear uniforms) as one of two major factions makes them easier to army build, which should be taken into account. So I would limit the Merchants to one trading ship (I assume that's the reason everyone (including me) wants merchants), then maybe a small dock/pier with cargo (this is really just throwing out a random idea), and otherwise just some minifigs here and there - a hostage/captive of the smugglers, and 1-2 merchants in the largest land-based set which would be more of a Haven Guard base (ITP style). Like the ITP, this base could have another (small) merchant vessel, but priority should be given to a smuggler vessel, for a more dynamic conflict. Moving on, I find the idea of smuggler flags amusing - the point of a smuggler is to operate in secrecy, not to openly advertise oneself with fearsome flags. That's veering into classic Pirate shtick. To quote Ser Davos Seaworth of the Game of Thrones TV series, when asked about the difference between pirates and smugglers: "If you're a famous smuggler, you're not doing it right." Now I'd like to be constructive, but I'm not sure what alternatives I can suggest. Maybe no flags, but black sails so they can approach unseen at night? But those sails would be a dead giveaway in daytime. Maybe torn sails and broken down ships, indicating they are reusing old and outdated equipment? A ragged look can be what differentiates the smugglers from the merchants. If the smugglers are some sort of Mafia-like secret society, than some sort of insignia might be in order. Then it's a question of making it both recognizable to the kids and inconspicuous enough to seem believable in-universe. Of course, I might be overthinking this. Playthemes are built more on stereotypical cliches and the rule of cool, rather than internal consistency and logic.

Yeah, it occurred to me as well and it would be cool too, I'd just like to see Bofur's hat/hair in more colors. This is the fig Im most excited about (along with the swashbuckler/adventurer and battle goddess).

Great to see more tips! I especially like the mimic as well. I assume you're asking about thís BrickForge piece: http://www.brickforge.com/store/home.php?cat=462

The historical figs sound promising, and the town figs sound fun. I wonder if the Hun will wear Bofur's hat, or a recolor of it.

I'm among those disappointed with not having a molded reindeer. But I admit, the brick-built offering is clever and cute, and adds to the building experience. Even so, I wonder whether they wouldn't look a bit more accurate with eyes on the sides rather than on the top/front of the head. I think a generic deer mold isn't that unlikely. From there it's a much smaller step to recolor the mold as a reindeer. Deer could appear in City sets (some kind of outdoors/hiking subtheme, or conservation/environmentalism, or a zoo), Castle, or even Wild West. A reindeer recolor could appear in a future Castle or Arctic subtheme, and then be reused in Winter Village sets. And that's only non-licensed sets. Back to the set, I don't find it very interesting from the one pic so far. A back view might change my mind. The minifigs aren't much to look at either, with the glowing exception of Mrs. Claus (especially the hair) - the others look like an attempt to use up surplus parts.

Saw it online, and it was OK, though I thought it was overhyped. Had no problem with the heads; as stated in the LEGO Simpsons thread, it gave the figs amore LEGOish look, as well as being simpler to animate. I think Lisa could have squeezed both events into her day, thus nullifying the conflict(I hope that was vague enough to not need spoiler tags). I wonder if what consequences there will be for TLG, whether in sales or other crossovers.

I like mixing grays for stonework, it makes for an authentic feel, as others said above. Contrary to some opinions I've read on this site, I think the older, slightly yellowish (dark) gray was better for rocks, as rocks in real life are more of a dusty or tan gray. The current more bluish gray seems more metallic. Anyway, the more authentic look from mixing grays is the one silver lining about the switch to bley, IMO.

This is more of an academic than a practical question, but why limit the theme to the Caribbean and exclude the South Seas, Spice Islands, Tahiti and Oceania in general? Even the Original Islanders took some inspiration from there. I guess it doesn't really matter since we're talking about a fictional universe, I was just surprised this rather classical piratey region is a no-go.

I would simply find it weird if there was no LotR. Does TLG plan their sets in advance? If so, why would they pick up the license knowing they would leave out such a crucial part as Gondor? If not, wouldn't they commit to a license only after thorough research that they would be able to keep it profitable long enough to produce enough of a balanced variety of sets? If it was just a filler line between the Hobbit releases, wouldn't they produce a more balanced assortment of sets in the two existing waves? In any case, I can't believe the other possibility that the designers couldn't come up with great Gondor sets that would fit all the product requirements of price, playability, etc. I guess there is a certain precedent in PotC, where TLG didn't produce any sets based on the EITC or the 3rd film. Maybe Gondor isn't as crucial as we think it is...

Really well done! I especially like how youve managed to get the shape of France so accurately.

Hmm, I had this set as a kid (well, still do, for the most part), and I wasnt too impressed by it, since to me it didnt have much play value on its own. And even back then I was bugged by the absemnce of a real cockpit. Over time, it grew on me because for a long time it was the only representative of Octan in my collection, and of course, for nostalgic reasons. I agree on the playability, but I guess nostalgia is the only reason I would rate this set highly. I went to check my veteran Octan pilot and hes stil there, complete with dented and fading torso... Seems I played with it rather more than I remember. I guess for a little kid this set is enough on its own. Thanks for digging up this little set.

Night indeed looks more special. Not sure about a moon (especially if it was to be non-LEGO, it might look jarring compared to the LEGO work), and it might detract from the light effects.

Well, they could have made an army builder set of Lake Town guards. Braga with special printing and three grunts with different weapons. The antagonists could have been either the Orcs (not canonical to the film, but neither was the MEA set), or even Bard and Bain with the black arrow, or some of the Dwarves stealing weapons. The designer scould have put Alfrid or another character in the LTC set instead of the one guard. I think this would have been a better way to build up your Lake Town forces than one guard per medium sized set and one per limited availability polybag. Not that I think the current mix of sets and figs is bad, but since you asked... I suddenly have this image of the designers releasing the MEA set with Azog as per the trailer, and later on facepalming themselves on another "Yazneg in the wrong set" situation.