Ash

I had a good time too. Lot's of great displays... my favourite was the big Modulars plus Superheroes... I couldn't see a name on it. Anyone know if they are a Eurobricks poster? Managed to have a few words with Mark Stafford, all his stuff was just amazing. Was really impressed by the Mindstorms stuff. Nothing I've ever paid any attention before, but it was pretty damn cool. Saw a few Mods I recognised from here. A lot of them look so much more impressive up close. Great venue, really well organised.... and I will be back tomorrow, but with a 4 year old who is a bit young for most of it and is likely to be overwhelmed by the crowd and not that interested in displays he can't touch and/or take apart (his favourite Lego thing is a brick seperator). Hah, I got a few pics of that classic space set as well. Almost bought a nostalgic tear to my eye.

Just got back from "The Lego Show" (well I had several hours ago when I started to type this post) where they had all the sets on display and I have to admit that I was a little underwhelmed in some ways. Part of that was the display itself. A bit cramped and static and at ankle height. Actually a big part of it is just the colour scheme, compared to every thing going on around it the light gray is just so bland and doesn't really stand out. On the plus side the minifigures are fantastic. Probably the best I've seen. The level of detail and personality across the board was just really fantastic. The white hand orcs of the orc forge where the real stand out to me. The set looked fairly interesting as well. Weathertop was tiny, suprisingly so. But I think it's more that it's solid and opens up which makes it cool, where as at the show it was just closed and you couldn't really see any of the features or detail. Had a great couple of hours at the show and am going back with my kid tomorrow.

Nice! Unfortunately the one £50+ set I want isn't available at the Lego Store (Earth Defence HQ) any more. Grr.

They also do double VIP points promotions fairly regularly.

Patrol car isn't discounted any more... but speaking of dinky the Lego delivery truck is down to £14 (53%) off. I think the prices on this and the power boat truck tend to be over inflate because everyone has them on special so often. But this one has those cute little Lego boxes. I'll pass though. Nice tip on those cashabck things. I'll keep them in mind if I'm gearing up for a big Lego shop purchase.

And for those of us without the budget or room for a Super Star Destroyer... Amazon has a dinky little police cruiser set for half price. Only £4 bucks for a couple of figures a car and some kind of bear crossing thing (but sadly no bear). Picking it up for my kid as we're going to the Lego Discovery Center today to try out the new Forest Police ride. Might try and check out our TK Maxx on the way home.

I really, really like those. Both the builds and the overall aesthetic are really good. Love the first lime-green one, captures that whole retro feeling so well.

My first guess was Torchwood because that chap has a bit of a Captain Jack smirk. But no trenchcoat and the red hair doesn't really fit. So instead my guess is.... Although I was thinking that X-files isn't really "scene" based and would be hard to Moc, but I guess either Mulder's Office/Basement or some kind of Alien Conquest encounter might work!

Great stuff again. Loving Treebeard. I've never been able to picture in my head what I think a Lego Ent should look like, but that's spot-on.

I think the same way and my thinking behind it is: Almost all the links and calls to action for Cuusoo I've seen on these forums are "click here and support this on Cussoo" not "Click here if you think you would buy this if it ever got made". So it's what I do. I click to support projects I like and find pleasing. Most of them are things I couldn't afford, or don't have space for or whatever and have no intention of buying. I'm just clicking to support them.The Cuusoo site itself gives me the same impression. It's just support. In theory if one I really liked got made I might buy it, but the critirea by which I would decide to purchase is different to that which I vote baded on.

This may be the first review I've seen where the review has more pictures than the set has pieces I'll probably be getting a couple of these spinner things soon as my kid really wants some. They're crazy expensive though.

Great review. I got the campervan at Christmas and think I prefer it and will probably pass on this one. Although whenver I see the male figures torso all I can think of is Ned Flanders.

If they thought they "needed" an adult sub-brand then they'd release one. I suspect they don't because it would (a) weaken the brand and (b) their current adult oreintated stuff is doing just fine. AFOLs are pretty well catered for and I'd guess they're happy with the direction that's going in now. I think, with regards to the Winchester thing, a lot of people are confusing what they want, with what Lego needs. TLG is only ever going to act in what it percieves as their best interests. If they thought this was in their best interests... they'd be doing it already. I think one thing to keep in mind is that Duplo isn't a "sub-brand" like you're talking about here so much as It's a different product released by the same company.

I don't think this is anything to worry about at all. The voting is only the beginning of process. After that TLG takes over and I don't think it's going out on a limb to suggest they have a bit of experience at making decisions with regards to this kind of stuff. The issues you are rasing are not things that they are oblivious to and they almost certainly have more insight into these issues than you or I. That's not to say it's not possible for them to make mistakes, but as with any company they can just adapt the approval process as neccesary to compensate for them. The votes just sets a baseline for what will be considered rather than what will be made and they're in a far better position than anyone voting to make that decision. That said I'm expecting the Minecraft set to sell really well! The Minecraft community may be a niche but it's a seriously big niche and Lego is a perfect it fit for the game. I don't mind that there's stuff in Cussoo with no chance of ever being made. It's fun to see the designs and what people are voting for. Maybe they should just be a bit clearer about the approval process after that so people are more aware that 10000 votes means "We'll have a think and get back to you" rather than it means they are somehow commited to make it and any reason they choose not to is just an excuse, which is how a lot of people seem to react to the SotD news. Having a look at the site just now there was very little information about this process. Even a disclaimer along the lines "basing your entry on a licensed property means it is a lot less likely to be made" or something. It's kind of stating the obvious though. That's actually a really good point and I'd never thought of it that way before. Lego already has a lot of channels through which the communicate with AFOLs and I think they have a pretty good handle on what they do or do not want at any given time.

Almost identical to mine. I was a big fan as a kid, especially of classic space, up until my early teens. Probably somethwere between 82 and 83. And got back into it round the same time. A couple of things got me back into it. One, having a kid who is just hitting Lego age and the second being at the same venue as last years Lego show (the UK one) for a different reason when it was on and being jealous of everyone who looked like they were having a blast. Oh and the thing that sealed the deal was the announcement of the Lord of the Rings license. My biggest issue is space (followed shortly by money). I don't have the luxury of a dedicated Lego room or basement.

Cursed Cobra Statue is half price and amazon.co.uk and they have (at the time of typing) 7 left. It's not the best set, even if you like the Pharoah's Quest line (which I do) but OK for £12 or so. I guess the best thing about it is the female Minifig as this is the only set Helena is in and it's a nice figure, she also has a dinky little stachel. Then again the Sphinx set is still 30% or so off and is much better value and a much better set so get that instead :)

You've lost me there. SotD has a scene where a man is ripped apart, his stomach is torn open and his entrails pulled out while he's still alive. "Quite tame" is relative, but it's far far more graphic then any other license. I don't even see how that can possibly be up for debate. I had no idea Minecraft's demographic was that young though. Is that something they've actually released or are you just plucking it out of thin air? I know loads of adults who love it. Never played it myself though.

But will you believe them when they say that's the reason I joke. I think some people are annoyed because they really wanted the set to be made. I think there were a lot of factors that probably stood in it's way and it unfortunately fell at the first hurdle because of a judgement call that a lot of people don't agree with. But at the end of the day it's going to be down to TLG's judgement not anyone elses. I just don't see any reason to believe there's more to it than what they told us.

That would probably have come later in the process as it has an inherent expense (LAWYERS!) that they'd probably want to avoid unless they were fairly certain it was going ahead. They'd just say the couldn't secure the license. That doesn't damage anyone. Isn't the far simpler explanation that the reason Lego rejected the set is actually the reason they said that they rejected it? You're free to disagree with that reason, many obviously do, but doing so doesn't require a completely unescessary subtefuge on Lego's part. Disagreeing with it doesn't mean there has to be a "real" secret reason that they're not telling us. Don't forget they can reject sets for this reason. From what I've read so far the whole process seems very rigorous and proposals are treated as products not competition winners. I think that might be part of what I'm missing in my previous post. People seem to have an expectation that if a set gets the votes it should be made and anything else is a hyperbolic "slap in the face". If they think it will be a failure they're not going to make it. Businesses don't work that way. EVE might surprise you though. While it has a small player base they are crazy fanatical about it.

Why wouldn't they just have said that instead? I feel like I'm missing something here! What do they have to gain by lying about stuff like this? They've been upfront since the beginning that the age thing was an issue, so it's not like it's totally out of left field or anything. And they're not saying that there wouldn't have been other issues if they had decided that a set based on an R rated movie was OK. I understand that people disagree with their reasoning, I just don't get why this means Lego must be lying about it.

From a branding (ie Lego's) point of view it is the same thing though. The content of the set is tied to the source material even if the set itself isn't R rated. I mean they can choose to ignore this fact if they want, and the blog post suggests they did give it some thought rather than dismiss it out of hand. This is a marketing/business rather than a creative decision and it is a shame, but they come across as being pretty open about it. Which, as other's have mentioned, is one of the good things about Lego as a company in general.

Yes they can. I think it's going out on a limb to accuse The Lego Group of being disrespectful based on nothing but speculation on your part. Even if you think that it's a "fake" reason (which is kind of odd in itself because what would they gain from intentionally misleading people?) it might simply be a case that you're wrong rather than any malfeasance on their part. Awesome. I hadn't heard that.

Yeah, your post pretty much sums up my thinking as well. This was never going to happen. I think the license itself was probably as big an obstacle as the R rating as well. For a mass market line of products sure, but for a one off niche thing I can't see it happening. Minecraft and (potentially) EVE are different cases as they are owned by very small companies who have a very close relationship with their fanatical fanbase. I get the feeling their license negotiations are more along the lines of "we want to make Lego based on your thing", "awesome, go for it" ;) I also have doubts based on the size and potential cost and suspect this may be the downfall of the western town if it gets the votes. I'd love to be wrong on that one though. I still like checking this stuff out and I'll vote for the ones I want to support but I agree that a lot of stuff, even popular stuff, on there stands very little chance of getting made.

It's not confirmed yet so no one actually knows. Given that there will be a second hobbit film after this one and the license will cover both of them I'd be really suprised if we didn't see another wave of LOTR next summer followed by a second Hobbit wave (SMAUG!) for the second film at the least. Beyond that your guess is as good as mine. Unrelated to this I was just thinking about the Hobbit game that's been announced and it occured to me they should do a Lord of the Rings version of some kind of Heroica system.

And actually in stock at Argos... well there's a first time for everything I guess! I kid, but I don't think I've ever heard about a good deal at Argos then checked it and it's been in stock for delivery or to collect anywhere near me.