Faefrost

Nothing odd about it. Figure these are hitting the streets in about 6 weeks or so (for US Black Friday), so all needed finalized info is already in retailer hands. K Mart just screwed up... Again!

"The last time I was in New York... I broke Harlem"

That normally seems to happen when they hit 10k. The system auto locks down the project page when they hit 10k, until an admin can move it to under review status. It should re appear in a few days.

I'm not sure what the question is? Most of the more recent action themes include at least one well defined named female protagonist and one similarly names major female antagonist. The weakest of the more recent offerings is probably Ninjago (which honestly is dialed in to be crystal meth for 7-9 yo boys) . But Monster Fighters, decent female protagonist, awesome female villainess. Agents had 2 named female leads and I think 3 villains. PQ had a female hero. Chima has a good mix of female characters. (Granted each tribe just has one.) Atlantis had one (heck she was the main character in the movie). And speaking of movies, next years Lego movie theme looks to have plenty of well refined female minifig action.

Look heavily at the Hobbit Dwarves for some really useful ornate Pirate Lord type parts. For Teague mix Balin's or Gloins Torso with the beard from the castle Evil Wizard. Sumbaggee could be the PoP merchant. Has Dwalin's beard been made in grey or white? A good starting place for Ammand might be Thorin's face on Kili's torso.

I thought his name was "General Cryptor" which seems to imply that he is the main or a main antagonist. Especially since he can be seen reflected in Zane's left eye in the teaser poster.

I think I saw these shows as available on Netflix streaming, for anyone curious.

The show sets the classic Sherlock Holmes in modern era London. The guy who played Khan in the recent Star Trek movie is Sherlock, the guy who played Bilbo Baggins in the Hobbit is Watson. It is a very psychologically dark crime drama ( yet oh so good). Stuff like Sherlock is essentially a high functioning sociopath. Watson is a PTSD suffering wounded Afghanistan vet. The stories themselves get very much into dark crime and serial killer territories. Phenomenal stories, but in all liklihood a little too dark for Lego. They might do a classic Victorian Era Sherlock set. But a modern take, I'm doubtful.

Congrats to the Sherlock folks. That was a fast sprint to 10k. I think it might run into similar brand fit issues as the Firefly and Sean of the Dead projects sadly. Just a little too adult in nature. (Lego tends to shy away from tales of murder, at least in a modern setting.)

Whoops, sorry about that. Just a quirk of posting from the iPad. I didn't mean to link anything thre.

Part of the problem is that TLG like most modern production businesses, is compartmentalized. A CuuSoo project does not exist in a pool of the entirety of Legos overall profits. It sits in a risk pool that comprises the budget and expectations of the CuuSoo project group. So CuuSoo projects need to succeed in terms of their subgroups budget. Each subgroups must show their own positive results using the resources they are allocated. While it may seem that a risk of 1/30000 of the TLG budget or profits is minimal. It may in truth be risking 20 - 40% of the CuuSoo groups production budget or required annualsales returns. This tends to naturally focus the CuuSoo team on working towards the sets that are most likely to generate substantial positive returns.

We don't actually count Shinkai, as it was a much smaller production run sold only in Japan, and voted exclusively there, as part of CuuSoos beginnings. Whereas Hayabusa while an interesting space and science kit, has a principle niche as Japan's farthest reaching spacecraft. And a source of national pride. But the interest from that pride doesn't translate as well elsewhere outside of a small dedicated niche of hard core space nuts. And that will be a similar issue with the Japanese Buildings. Unless you are already familiar with the concept of a Japanese bath house or classic house design, it will be unfamiliar to most of the target audience. Even those that love ninja. (Granted I am one that would buy multiples of such a set, I hope and wish it passes review. But my business sense says its unlikely.)

Weirdly the situation has somewhat reversed. TAmiya makes some stunning (and overly expensive) super detailed models. Revell is middle of the road (Revell Germany being much better with newer tooling and detailing, Revell US still depending more on classic molds.) and Airfix as more of an affordable every man type kit. Good inexpensive kits good for starting modelers or can be made acceptable with a little love and skill. As someone who is both an AFOL and a scale modeler, these kits are both disturbing and oddly intriguing. I hate the dedicated single use parts. But I love the idea of combining Lego type builds with Snap Fit starter type model kits. And I am almost ashamed to admit this. I will order a few of these just for those stands. We have been begging for those for Lego for years.

You are greatly underestimating the importance of the business case in the review process. You are way too optimistic that a specific reason must be found to justify not making a set, such as a license conflict. CuuSoo works in the opposite manner. 10k votes gives the opportunity to present why a set should or could be made. But contrary to many AFOL's belief the default position once it hits 10k is not "make it unless we can prove a case not to." The numbers matter. Big time. They have to be able to clearly and unequivocally justify the costs and the pricing and see a clear and determinable target market for the price offered. As an example, you seem positive that the Japanese Old Style Architecture will pass review with flying colors. I'm not so sure. It's a great project. But even if trimmed down to one building it would still be pricey. And it is playing in a niche that might not have particularly strong cross cultural or international sales. Their data for a small run Japanese specific subject has been somewhat mixed. Case in point. Hayabusa, which seems to be something of a shelf warmer when compared to the #3 and #4 CuuSoo projects. How much did it sell where? After the multiple sell out runs of Minecraft and BttF, I am doubtful that the CuuSoo review team will be anxious to swing back around to a geographically limited niche subject. As far as what the risk is. The risk is not in whether Lego can afford to absorb a retail run of sets. The risk is in Lego's obligation to use their limited production capacity in the best way possible. And to generate a certain reasonable roi. This is almost doubly true for CuuSoo. They remain an experimental program. Sets that more than hit their target numbers and are booming successes help the CuuSoo program justify its existence to their bosses. Whereas risky niche projects have a greater chance of limiting or decreasing the range of the CuuSoo program. At least at this time.

I'm not saying it's impossible. Just highly highly improbable. Note that the official CuuSoo Blog specifically took the effort to point out highlight and endorse Dralcax's point #6 and call attention to it in their posting. I think that is about as clear an official indication of the typical CuuSoo pricing inclinations as we are probably going to see. Will they go higher for something that they absolutely fall in love with? Maybe? But it has to pass the Business Case. And the Business case involves a lot more than simply how excited some people may be over the core idea. I am sure we will not see that price threshold crossed by something completely new. They would be more inclined to take that business risk with something they have clear data on. so once again, Large Technic sets, Star Wars UCS, Modular building, Train set and possibly large Pirate Ship. They know exactly how many regular purchasers they have for these type sets. In some cases they have so much detailed info that they probably have the home address and e-mail for each one.

Oh dear. If Lego will now be doing full blown fully brick Disney Princess sets then we might see a Capt Hook set under that theme with a Tinkerbell minifig.

I think the third Advent Calendar slot has been taken up by Friends for last year and this year.

I agree that we probably will not see a full Edoras set. The main reason is the structure while gorgeous contributes very little to the story, and hence very little to play value. The conflict and play in Meduseld is that confrontation in the throne room between Gandalf and Wormtongue. . It's a very narrow tight scene. The overall room, Walsh and building contribute little to it. Lego could just as easily capture the scene and the play with a smaller interior bits and bobs type set ala Mines of Moria or If larger is wanted Goblin King. Of the sets where we have seen more full structures there is normally a bit more play elements or conflict built in. Helm's Deep because the structure is the conflict and play. Weathertop because it is being attacked, and Bag End just in order to reinforce all of the scenes tat happen there, from the round door, to the unexpected party etc. the structure is very built into the scenes.

http://blog.lego.cuusoo.com/2012/06/26/141364880/ Pay particular attention to their endorsement of "CuuSoo user Dralcax" suggestions and how Lego highlights number 6. Also see item #3 http://blog.lego.cuusoo.com/2012/05/29/cheat-sheet-how-to-pass-the-lego-review-with/ And we do not say that there is a hard limit of $50-60 on a CuuSoo set. We say that they will not go above such a limit unless they have very very clear market data on the viability of such a project. Ie a large technic, UCS Star Wars or Modular building project. They will almost certainly not price something that has no underlying product history or third party IP tie in above $100. Do they explicitly say his? No, but they do make enough comments about things like project size and scale that you can see it rather clearly if you apply some common sense. And yes it is extremely doubtful that they would price your historical projects anywhere near $100. They have no positive or affirmative data in support of such a project priced that high. At best they have research data from a few years ago when they were considering the Europa theme, which would lead them to aim lower. The misconception with the MWT is that they would have made it as it looks in the picture. TLG had already clearly said that they were evaluating the Saloon only. Which probably would have put the set at $99 or below.

Because they sit as shelf warmers in all of the major US retailers. Walmart, Target and TRU. Chances are they want no more of the things.

I think we are arguing around the same thing. They can mothball all the projects they want. They can gear up to release new stuff the day a license ends. But while the license is in effect they cannot advertise or announce a competing product. The underlying assumption is it says "don't buy what we have now wait x amount of time and we'll have something better". The problem is CuuSoo is not structured for mothballing projects once they hit review. It is a public review so either the project fails review and is formally declared to not be a product, or any other answer unintentionally becomes a defacto potential product announcement. CuuSoo has more recently changed the system so that they can mothball products before the review stage in order to avoid license conflicts. They basically say licensing prevents us from even entertaining the idea at this time so we can't look at it. That satisfies all parties (well except the dude who's project just got killed.) MWT ran into a one in a million conflict. It hit review before the conflicting license was publicly announced. Lego could not mothball it because that would announce the LR license before they were allowed to. The MWT was an unfortunate sacrifice to the license timing of the LR theme.

No really, knowledge of upcoming products do have a very heavy impact on sales of current products. This is not a myth. It is not a misconception. This is precisely why companies such as TLG fight so hard to control the release of new product information and limit product announcements to specific dates and schedules. Or why Apple will only show off a new model iPad or iPhone 30 or 60 days before the product hits the streets. This is why TLG cares that pics of their next Star Wars wave have been leaked from confidential catalogs. CuuSoo may be an obscure forum, but it is still a public forum. And one that does get a surprising amount of spread on the internet. It does not matter if the plan would be to produce the set well after the license. TLG would be completely blocked from saying so or even implying that such production might occur while the license is in effect. It is very basic in a licensed contract. The no compete clauses include that the licencor cannot release or announce a directly competing product (with directly competing being defined in the contract, and often giving the license holder a review or veto option in the event of something borderline.) A promise of a product in the future will cost you sales of a similar product today. And there is no logic to it. If the public knows that you might even be simply be working on a new product they will start ignoring your current ones. This has driven some major manufacturers of consumer goods under in the past. In this case it is the public crowdsourced element of CuuSoo that causes the conflict. As you say a license does not preclude them from doing development on another future product. But it can preclude them from talking about such, at all. CuuSoo by its nature does an end run around that, and puts potentially developing products in the public eye in ways that none of the TLG or Licencor's lawyers would have been expecting. And really it isn't something that needs a lot of deep debate. From TLG's point of view the no compete says no competing products no competing product announcements. Everyone in business knows exactly what that means and it is something they honor without question. Either TLG's contract lawyers or the licencor Disney said no. We've discussed earlier in this thread why they can't simply mothball a project for use later. Just trying to do that would kill CuuSoo and open Lego up to too much exposure going forward.

It's pretty definite. We have heard it from a number of sources.

Very sad about this one. While I can kind of understand why they did this, it still hurts the Lego budget.

Just gorgeous. It looks like it could be sitting in mid town Manhattan at any point over the last 50 or 60 years. I love the colors and the clean architectural details. So simple but they really pop.