Faefrost

What they mean by that is Bick a Brick and build a minifig will never include parts that are specific to licensed IP or characters. So you will never find Darth Caders Helmet or torso there, or you will never find cockpits in Star Wars printed patterns, etc. Now the masonry bricks are not a licensed specific part. They have been used in a very broad range of sets from LotR's to Ninjago to Friends etc. but they are a more recent part. I think it often takes some time (years) for new parts to trickle down to PAB. They are probably using the masonry bricks almost as fast as they can make them, in sets, and have not built up a sufficient surplus stock.

Normally 3 days to invoice is the expectation of BL. But I think 10 days is the point BL will allow canceling the order. I wouldn't be too concerned over an extra day or two this week. It's Christmas week and many people are traveling or out of the office. The seller may have simply failed to put up a notice.

If it helps you rationalize this. Troops assigned to a fixed fortification, such as a gate house or castle wall, would often not be wearing a quiver. Instead they would be pulling ammo from a prepared stash near the firing position.

One interesting rumor kicking around AICN and other sites. It looks like Marvel / Disney is seeking to cast another villain for Avengers 2.

I think part of it is that they have long had a dedicated merchant partner in at least Japan, that has well fulfilled that business role. As such they have not felt the need to push into what might be viewed as that partners territory. I'm sure they have plans for China, but the rash of counterfit Apple stores may make them take it slow. Really the main candidates would be Japan, south Korea, and certain parts of Chine. Beijing, Hong Kong, Maybe Singapore and maybe Taipei. Malaysia is probably not in the economic target zone just yet. But in a few years who knows?

The packaging and inclusion rate is probably fairly negligable excepting a very few specialized sets, such as Architecture or the largest of the UCS sets. The packaging and documentation will maintain a fairly constant ratio across most sets. It may increase the calculated price per gram slightly. But the increase will be consistent across the spread. So the ratios of pricing between sets will remain. Basically there is probably a fairly constant link between weight of plastic in box vs weight of the materials. As plastic goes up the manual needs more pages and more box.

True, but I still don't think that was Paul's issue. In those cases he would have been contacted by CuuSoo, or his CuuSoo projects would have been taken down. CuuSoo only has standing with regard to their own site. I don't believe they can enforce a copyright claim on E-Bay or another third party.

I don't know that I have ever had what I would describe as a definitely failed MOC. They don't have a clear point of failure where I throw up my hands and abandon the idea. Rather they tend to get shuffled aside as I try and think of a fix or get bored with them, and then eventually eroded by the need for parts and workspace until they sort of dissolve into the jungle like an ancient ruin. Since I never actually concede failure I never really document it. At best I might have taken a picture or two before wandering away.

I think Captain Pete is an NPC, which I suspect means it will be unlikely for him to be a CMF fig. I get the impression that the MMO related CMF's are designed to be sort of like a low tech Skylanders. Each will probably come with a code that will unlock that fig as a playable character. So no NPC's.

They do seem to be trying to break up the City one a bit more this year. The past few years were very sub theme focused. Last year was concentrated on Fire, the year before on Police. This year there does seem to be a broad mix. You have a Fire lady, a Cop, a crook, an Astronaut an Octan racer (there's a small sub theme this year) a regular kid and the Dalmatian. Definitely an improvement. I think however Lego has kind of put themselves into a corner with the Advent Calendars. My suspicion is that their research only finds the business case as supporting 3 calendar types per year. But the wild success of SW, and City pretty much permanently locked them in place leaving just one other slot. And that slot has now been permanent grabbed by the successful and market growing Friends theme, which allows them to offer something for everyone. A new Pirate or Castle calendar, or a Ninjago or LotR or Space one would probably have to bump one of those. Which I don't see happening given they all seem to have sold out this year.

This! At best we may see a "store exclusive" (not D2C like Arkham) DC set that includes A GL minifig of some flavor, like. Batman or Superman type set. but they will not do a full dedicated GL set and certainly not a D2C set. The round of GL toys from 2 years ago were much loathed shelf warmers. They still populate discount bins. No matter how you slice it that data will be real hard to overcome. (It is also likely that part of the reason we did not see a Thor or Thor2 specific set is that the Thor specific toy lines more or less flopped, while IM and Captain America sold well.)

It's not missing. It's teasing a final Hobbit wave instead. Which is in many ways more worrying. Now it may simply be that our expected third LotR and Hobbit waves are actually reversed, as the last Hobbit movie was originally supposed to be a summer release? But it may also be a more foreboding sign that they will shut it all down with the end of the movies.

I think that's only true with the licensed stuff if it is a license specific piece. Something that is tied to the licenses IP such as a unique character headpiece. For example Darth Vaders helmet is license specific. Whereas the LR has several new Western style hats and headpieces plus the new revolvers, but most would not be viewed as unique to the LR IP. So normal part usage patterns and amortization apply. A good example of this is the now ubiquitous Dastan's hair piece.

Sadly there does not appear to be a Michelangelo tightly whitey fig looming. Which oddly is just about the only costume variant that we have seen in the show.

Electro's clear head is kind of cool, so long as they don't overuse the effect. (Granted they have had trans clear heads forever.) the arms really don't do all that much for me in terms of detail or effect. Heck I think arm printing ends up looking better. The softer somewhat milky trans clear used for the arms just isn't that exciting. They can probably also do trans clear legs, although they would be more prone to cracking than Iron Mans. Hips and Torso probably remain totally out of the question for polycarbonate.

Exactly. The Mars Rover wasn't proposed or sold as "bring back Lego real Space" or whatever they called the sub theme. It was a simple single subject project that arrived at its subject through a bit of a human interest story. The set designer was a NASA Engineer who worked on the rover and built the original Lego model to explain to friends and family what his work project was going to be. The next CuuSoo set, the Exo Suit is similar. It isn't a call to bring back Classic Space (although its creator has sort of a whole newly published book encouraging that) or bring back ExoForce. It's just a nice set drawing inspiration and styling from the old themes. Now that Apollo 11 set in the top 10 might run into a bit of trouble as it is close to a set they have made before?

That doesn't look too far removed from Gimli's Lego helmet. I wouldn't be surprised if we just see a recolor of that.

A rideable Stag for the Elves? We see Thranduil mounted in TUJ, maybe BoFA has Elf Cavalry? I doubt anyone would complain about that? Or we could see an armored horse. Isn't Radagast mentioned in FotR? I thought there was some indication that Gandalf met with him before heading to Orthanc? I don't think Gandalf is using Radagasts staff in FotR. The two are similar, but I think it just reflects their owners more laid back make it up as we go tendencies of just using any old gnarled tree branch. The staves are a visual cue to tell you the nature of the Wizard you are looking at. "Is he a great Wizard? Or more like you?" Sort of thing. And yeah DGB is quite clearly a combo use of the setting. Mixing up TUJ's visit by Radagast and Gandalf's later capture. Lego does this all the time and honestly I have no problem with it. I think being able to recreate multiple scenes with a set makes for great play value.

In one of the DK books, I think the Yoda Chronicles one, there is a full page picture of what looks suspiciously like a set or sketch model of a set of the Yoda Palpatine Duel. It looks like a smaller 2 fig set. Yoda, Palpatine and a Senate Pod.

This. Heck you can just call it Sherwood Forrest or something. You can put a project up that draws inspiration from an old theme, "I loved the Forrestmen as a kid so I was inspired to create this "Merry Band's Hideout" set in order to channel that feeling". Is fine. So long as it is a tight single set. Heck we even know the Forrestmen molds are current as they have been used recently in CMF lines. The only point you would run into a problem is if it conflicts with Lego's upcoming plans. (Ie a new Castle Forrest line, or a Robin Hood theme, etc)

Woot for Napoleanic SciFi, and a beautifully executed Vanship. I love it.

A Middle Earth Advent Calender would be great. Or if they want to stay in house, how about Ninjago?

It was a safe choice. But Lego has done well with real space subjects, and this one still sparks some interest. Wasn't there a story from it just last week? I think it found proof that Mars once had free flowing water. And potential conditions for life. It's not the most colorful of subjects, but it still makes a nice little scene on its base. (Now if only they had made the sky hook or whatever it was called? )

Gandalf Arrives is a vehicle set. And it was the first set with the cool new horse. Not all play features are "Gollum Flingers". Now Riddles of the Ring? Talk about zero play value.

Can that actually be assembled in the physical world?