Faefrost

While I normally try and refrain from cross posting or pointing out CuuSoo projects on these boards, This one caught my eye and I just wanted to use it as what I think is a great example of a well done presentation of a non licensed project. It seems to hit all the right notes. I have no idea if it will get anywhere near 10k. But I think jwnm69 did a fabulous job is how he put together his project presentation. http://lego.cuusoo.com/ideas/view/24273 - It seems to be just the right size for a mid to large set. Big enough to be a full scaled playset, but not so huge as to push it into overpriced or adult only. - It's built in the actual brick, and then photographed well. - The colors and design pop out at you - That #1 picture captures the feel of the whole set in one eye grabbing photo. You know what this is the moment you see it. No clutter, no confusion. - It is a set, not a theme, yet it compliments the CMF's perfectly. And would be perfectly at home alongside several existing themes. - While being a classic subject that would display well on an AFOL's shelf, it also has a ton of play value with animals and minifigs and activities. In short it is a living set, not simply a display piece. - It is simple yet classic. Something that has broad age and theme appeal. - It leverages existing parts and materials, and then takes the further step to limit the sources used for those. Well done jwnm69! Regardless of whether you love or hate the actual subject. This is a great object lesson in how to present a non licensed subject for CuuSoo.

There is no patern. There never is or has been a patern beyond "what the designers think is cool" combined with "what is the target cost I have to hit with this set"? Maybe a mild element of "what is the secret ingredient that the licensers insist be baked into this wave"? From our perspective the only patern is the price points. We typically know that we will see about 7 sets in a theme spaced between $12 at the bottom and $130 at the top. Yeah, we can sometimes guess things like how many minifigs at each price point. But there is no real patern to what color or what subjects, etc.

I think the greatest thing that would help drive the projects would be the simple mechanism of breaking down the proposals by category or theme. I don't mean simply adding a keyword. I mean using a basic theme category list, not unlike we have here at EB. Space goes in space, licensed goes in licensed, etc. make it easy to find stuff that interests you. Show the top 10 in each category. Just some basic changes to the website and database structure that could radically improve the presentation and the overall application of the site.

It's because love it or hate it, City is still ground zero for Lego's classic toys for boys, which at heart means "what do you want to be when you grow up?" The "fun" answers still remain the jobs that have a certain element of adventure. Police, Fire Fighters, getting to drive a really really big truck! Quite frankly it's kind of appalling how few 7 year olds state that they want to spend most of heir lives in a small 2 meter cube bathed in the rays of fluorescent lighting while listening to disturbingly innofensive music and trying to breath through microwave popcorn fumes. I think we need to better educate the young regarding such career paths. We really do need a Lego "office cubicle" set. Possibly as an second wave of the Monster Fighters line?

Well if nothing else that pretty well confirms what we suspected. That "Speedorz" is not a theme, it is part of LoC. just like the Ninjago Spinners.

Yes, but you can normally tell the legit leaks that they want. The sticker book cover leak is the deliberate one. It teases a little without giving it ll away, and still looks professional. Most of these others are such low quality or unflattering that it is unlikely that they are planned or intended. Especially given they show preliminary or unfinished box art and sets. When looking at anything like this a key question is "could this pic raise outrage if the set changes in any small way?" if yes, then no it is not a marketing leak typically. (unless it is marked with the preliminary disclaimer like we see at shows.)

From what little you can see through the blur, the White Tiger monster truck looks pretty interesting. It looks like the classis spring firing missiles factor in as well. I'm not sure how I feel on that. While they certainly work better than the ffm's, they are always so ugly, and much harder to simply rip off he model.

Actually I was thinking of the Space Police Central. Other than mobility its play features really did have a lot in common with the Agents MHQ. They were both large elaborate bases that featured a place to imprison the bad guy, detailed mission briefing and research facilities, team ready areas with aside assortment of gear, small sub vehicles to deploy as part of the play function, and a mechanism for the bad guys to stage a jailbreak using their own small sized vehicle. Once you get past the shape and color, the actual play elements and story behind the two sets is really astonishingly close. Not a complaint mind you as these are two of the finest sets Lego ever produced. I am really hopeful about what we will be seeing with Galaxy Squad. I am thinking that our absolute best possibility is that we see a theme not unlike Monster Fighters, that semi spawned off of the CMF offerings. If that's the case it would be great to see sets based around variants of the Galaxy Patrol marine, Galaxy Girl, Black Tron (evil space cyborg), Spyrius ( Evil Robot), updated classic space (s1 robot) etc. something that sort of ties some of the classic themes together into a more action or story based line.

I'm wondering if it was planned or spaced to have a neck connector in place for a backpack? That would force the cowl to sit just a tad higher.

Figure the hazmat suit will join the Galaxy Patrol Armor in Galaxy Squad sets (it was first seen in the Alien Conquest wave 2 concept art.) The Sombrero, the various native American headdresses, the cowgirl hat and probably the hippie hair (long hair with headband) are all appropriate to western themes, so will probably show up in forthcoming Lone Ranger sets. Although a full Mariachi band would be nice. The surgeons cap and toolbox are very generic. They can easily be reused as what they are in a city set. Sadly I am not sure how we would ever see a reuse of some of the animal costumes? Not unless they do something like a studios theme again. Although I so want an astronaut in an ape head.

The problem is each Sith Warrioris unique. They are the individual "Darth"'s. Just like each Jedi is a unique named character with a distinct individual appearence. sticking one in an army building battle pack sort of wastes an army builder fig. It would be great to get a few more Sith. I just don't think we will see them in a battle pack. I'm kind of surprised they didn't have some sort of Darth Maul return set in this group. Or a young Boba Fett Bounty Hunter set? Or how about a pair of Trandosian and Wookie Battle Packs? I realize the allure that the OT has in all things. But what could possibly be new or exciting in another A Wing set at this point? This will be version 4 or 5? For something that was on screen for 12 seconds and wasn't a hero ship? The same could be said of the ATRT.

I can understand the love or fondness for classic space. I'll confess to being a little confused and honestly curious regarding the difference in views between Agents and Space Police III. Outside of the presence of wheels, they really were playing in some very similar territories, and obviously came from the same design team. Each set was essentially a crime in progress, with vehicles of the more solid colored law enforcement team paired against a colorful super villain type in their more exotic rig. Both series were particularly noteworthy for the shear personalities and distinct looks of their villains, and some real stand out sets. but really the only thing separating the Agents Mobile Command Center from the SP HQ was really the wheels on one.

Depending on how accurate you are looking to get, the Fire Brigade is already a pretty close stand in for the Ghostbusters Firehouse. It essentially is a north east US classic Firehouse. the simple way is just replace the flag with a GB sign. The more complex project might be to narrow it to remove the right hand windows. I think the house used in the movie was a very narrow single bay. Sadly no place for a basement containment unit? I am mixed between the two sets. I love he Fire Brigade and suspect it will be gone first. But there is just something so compelling about the Joust. I'd lose sleep over that choice. That is going to be tough to call as the two sets appeal to radically different AFOL's. Personally I would go Death Star. But I am an old school nerdling. I like the 24 minifigs and the way it seems like the classic Kenner Death Star play set amped up to 11. It's like the ultimate dollhouse for geeks. The Tower Bridge is more for the architecture lovers. It's the most spectacular of those type sets save the Eifel Tower. Your wife may also not be as reticent to display it, as opposed to the Death Star. If you are just using the Tower Bridge as a parts patch, try and check out the Lego stores. The one by me typically has damaged box sets deeply discounted, and they always seem to have a few damaged TB's.

thunder? . . . Thunder?? . . . THUNDERCATS HOOOooooOOOOOO!!! Too soon?

I can forgive the thicker cardboard spacer. The Batman fig is thicker front to rear than Han, Luke and Harry Potter. It's the cowl. The rest of the content is mixed. On the positive side it's great finally seeing some good pics of the early sets. Probably the closest I will ever come to them given aftermarket prices. On the negative side, there is a lot of filler like the comic style pages. The fig is cool. The printing is great. I just wish there was a way to add the back pack.

I love the use of the old and new greys to create that worn grungy look and feel.

It's using an automated bot to randomly perform the task. Downloading and running these type of applications takes very little skill. Just guide it through the steps the first time and it will repeat them using a new random name each time. This is why many websites require e-mail verification to create an account and use those annoying Captchas. (Oh look CuuSoo will be down for maintenance tomorrow. Probably to install a mechanism to prevent this sort of thing.) Just from what little we saw I would suspect that it was a fairly crude specimen of bot. As far as who or why would someone do this? Probably a well meaning but ethically challenged fan of Mr. Sawaya's art. It seems sort of too specific to be a random bot test, but at the same time not the sort of thing that the average Internet fan boy would target. Certainly not something the project creator would do or benefit from. He would get a better return just hanging a sign out at a museum display.

I managed to grab 2 yesterday. But by all reports the stores have been stripped pretty bare of them. I think I saw Brickshow reporting that Lego themselves were sold out of the Lloyd ZX set as of a few days ago, with it being the fastest selling Lego set ever.

The CuuSoo admins said it. They had a message posted about it over the weekend, warning people to expect changes in the vote totals. They said outright that they were aware account manipulation was going on. The vote total for the project was reduced by around 500 and the admin messages disappeared. They did not say if the bogus voting was just limited to that project or had spread to others. They flagged on it because of the sudden and unexpected surge in the weekly vote totals.

Excellent MOC. Do you know what sort of time period you are thinking of for it? It looks to be fairly modern. The roof for that would be pretty simple. Just a metal roof supported by 6 or 8 pillars. The roof would be fairly flat with open sides. Just a modern roof only machinery shed.

The key point is Lego has repeatedly stated they have no interest in doing such a thing. While they understand and accept the nature of "conflict and weapons" and how it figures into particularly the development of young boys (go back and re read that statement from a few pages back. The Wisdom in it really is fantastic.) They have said that they are not a company that makes "War Toys". Or at least not what can be construed as Modern War toys. Nothing that can be equated to modern lifestyles. A good determinant is to think "Was Grandma in that War? Was someone that raised me effected by it?" If the answer is frequently yes, then it will be viewed as a Modern enough event to cause issues. WW2 in particular has a few other bits of baggage attached. This was a war that raged over and around the people that founded the company. The company's stand on it was factored by that simple fact. Those that made that decision lived through it. They chose not to memorialize what they lived through in all of its horrors and heroism. Lego's primary home is Europe. In Europe you cannot ever separate WW2 from the Nazi's. Sorry I hate to tell you, but that is how it works. Just look at what is being said in the Greek or Italian press about German's these days. This is above and beyond the more obvious horrors of the war such as the concentration camps. Really do you want to put a Panzer tank on the toy store shelves in Poland? How do you think that would go over? Which brings up one of the other kind of creepy and often unmentioned bits of baggage in this whole equation. Let's be upfront about this. For most of WW2 the Nazi's had the way cooler toys. Really. They had striking and disturbingly effective tanks and planes. Everything about them just radiates cool. Unless you can put into perspective exactly who and what is driving them and what they are driving them to do. This is not something really appropriate for a child. Children will grab the Panzers and Tigers over the dumpy looking Shermans. heck an overly large amount of Western democracy loving adults have some sort of truly creepy fascination with Nazi hardware. Just go to any plastic model show or competition. It's the Sith/Imperial Stormtrooper principle taken into the real world in really disturbing ways. The end point of all of it, is there is No benefit, no compelling reason for Lego to even consider changing their stance on this. Their current stand serves them well. It is morally justified, and it is in line with a successful business process.

There is an actual episode of the show that should serve as some inspiration. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQSnTB3zDCE "Pirates vs Ninja". It shows the CGI version of the ship in its sailing vessel Pirate ship form, and its original Pirate minifig crew. Captain Soto is basically the CMF Pirate Captain minifig, and I soooo want a "No Eyed Pete" minifig. The set itself? I'm not sure? It depends on how much you can let your imagination run a bit? The front half is probably fantastic to turn into an awesome and distinct Pirate vessel. The back will probably need to be reworked more than a bit. But it can probably be turned into a neat fantasy theme Chinese Junk pirate. As far as the rest of the line? The main useful stuff is the Ninja minifigs, Nya, Sensei Wu minifigs and the vast assortment of weapons and minifig accesories. (Sensei Wu's hat in particular). Proably the only other set that would adapt well would be the 2507 Fire Temple.

Thanks klaus-Dieter! Most of those sound great. I am so looking forward to the Fire Dalmation I am still trying to wrap my head around the concept of the "Fire Motorcycle". I think somewhere along the line there was a failure to communicate exactly what it is that the Fire Service does and how they do it. Call me picky. I can only remember ever seeing or reading about 1 "Fire Motorcycle", and it was kind of infamous. It was a 1930's era Indian and it had a sidecar with a flashing red light and a siren. It was used in the 1930's and 40's by New York's colorful Mayor Fiorello La Guardia to respond to (meddle with) fire scenes, much to the dismay of the Fire Chiefs. The Motorcycle was driven by a New York City Police Officer ( mainly then rookie cop Patrick Vechio, who went on to be one of Long Islands most powerful politicians for almost 50 years). Mayor La Guardia normally wore a typical long fire coat and a white Chief style leather fire helmet with a "mayor" badge on the front, when riding around in it. It was a common scene in the 30's to see the Mayor zipping around the city recklessly, siren screaming and pedestrians scattering, as he tried to beat the actual Fire Chiefs to any reported fire, and take command himself. Now that I think on it, it would probably make a pretty cool MOC.

That Florist really is a neat real life building to try and model.

Am I being too hopeful or reading too much into this? I just saw my local Target had moved and define their Lego aisle. As part of it they have this big new Lego display sign. The sign ffeatures minifigs from a bunch of current subjects. Batman from the recent sets. The MF Frankenstein, a City police man... And the Lion Knights King. Is there hope we may see a new Castle set soon?