Faefrost

I love how it looks, you really captured the structure. To spice it up I would suggest adding the truck and the transfer crate. This way you can re-enact the whole scene, and it reduces that grey bunker like feel to the set.

Did anyone get a good look at that new part? I'm trying to think what it might be good for?

I think he Sandcrawler is one of those classic SW vehicles, moreso than the MTT. Remember the Sandcrawler was a major plot point and included 2-3 scenes involving principle characters. Including the scene where we first meet the main protagonist, Luke. Whereas the MTT while an impressive vehicle, really was more of a background special effect. I'm thinking it has been a long time since we last saw a Sandcrawler, so we're due.

Ross in an IM movie makes sense. We have already seen on screen the Stark and Ross know each other reasonably well. Rulk? I'm betting that would be the plot of a new Hulk movie built around Ruffalo. Not a real good fit for IM.

Wow! Fantastic show. So much good stuff. (well except for when they started talking about heir newest, greatest nd most expensiv3 project ever... Lego Universe.... Ummmm? Yeah.... ) It was amazing seeing the factory and the actual molds, and understanding why a new mold costs tens to hundreds of thousands of euros/dollars.

Which would be an interesting approach... Coming from the worlds largest plastics factory?

My theory is more like this. We fans of the project know what we want. We want Space Marines! We also know that since this is a CuuSoo project they will not be producing themes, and it is highly unlikely that they will be doing multiple sets. So that being the case, what do we the fans need in order to make Space Marine MOC's and sets and all sorts of fun things. We need the actual Space Marines. Those are the only piece we cannot produce ourselves via commonly shared LDD files. So the thing that serves us best is some sort of Army Builder set. Something with a small common vehicle that it doesn't matter if we have multiples of, and 4 Marines. (say 3 Marines and a Sargent?) The Drop pod is almost perfect for this, as a scene could understandably use several. This scenario also works for HJM and Lego as such an Army builder set could easily sell multiples to the same custimer. Something that CuuSoo really has not gone after. I'd happily buy 4 or 5 $30'ish Army builder sets. Whereas a red tank with 2 figs? Not so much. My point is if we can get them to make the figs in quantity, then it really doesn't matter if they create a theme or multiple sets. It's a constructing toy. We can construct our own theme around said figs. Normally I would want a more specific and substantial vehicle (I may have even suggested that earlier in this thread), but the more I think on it. The more I think long term value would be best served for all with a smaller Army Building arrangement. Low cost to make, low price to buy, maybe 2 fig variants and some specific already in existence red pieces. That way you don't have to sell a theme to the review people. You don't have to get multiple sets through the review process. The business case arguments become very simple. Am I making any sense?

In the Lego stores they have a kiosk for minifigs similar to pick a brick. They have bins of random minifig parts, and you can build 3 for $9.99. The bins are often stocked with parts from common series 1 and 2 minifig parts. So lots of clowns, cheerleaders, witches, vampires etc to be made (no capes!). There are often parts to assemble a few forrestmen as well. (or to customize on the spot to make yourself some forrestwomen). The selection isn't always the greates, varried wildly from store to store, and anything really rare or good is typically farmed out early and often. But it is a real good way to flesh out some themes for MOCs and such. I'm surprised at the ops pics though. At my local store you get three figs. So head, torso, legs, hair, and 1 accessories per fig. They won't let you stock up on just hair or heads.

I'm still rofl over that MOC. Just amazing. Every inch is some new incredible and often hilarious little scene. I almost feel guilty pointing out the one fatal flaw in you premise... Sand! Darth Vader really really hates sand. 'cause it just gets into everything, everywhere. Sand! He really hates it. Or is that just a line he uses to pick up women?

Honestly some of it with the newer fleshies isn't just the change in head color, but the over detailing on the face, from trying to recreate a specific person, rather than the more traditional cartoony approach. It can sometimes be off putting. I think TLG has achieved their best looking heads and faces ever in their more current (2009 forward) non licensed lemonheads. The licensed ones are still sort of hit or miss, with the less detailed ones (or the ones that say more with fewer lines, such as Han Solo) looking better than some of the overly exaggerated cheek lines on others (Black Widow being a prime example of face detail overkill.) As far as increased three dimensional detail? They have tried it 3 or 4 times at least now. And we have absolutely loathed it every time. Just look at the current hatred of the Friends Dolls. Jack Stone and Technics figures weren't well received either. And do we even want to think about Galidor? I am really hoping TLG has gotten that message.

So from this we can conclude that the typical AFOL has horrible eating habits, is probably carrying a few pounds more than is generally recommended, and is more allergic to fresh air and sunshine than Lord Vampyre?

This is going to sound weird, but I'm gonna argue that the Podracer bucket wasn't the absolute worst. Yeah it was ugly. But it was an interesting experiment, targeted not so much at folks like us, as at the younger construction builders. Old school, where you use Lego to build your imagination, and not just a set. As such it was an interesting throw back idea. One that I wish they would explore a little more. Now the Ultimate Lightsaber Duel? That was just awful in every conceivable way.

Alpha Team. I don't think Agents ever did anything arctic, except maybe one tiny snowmobile.

I still think that they will be saving the B Wing for the Comic Con nerd crowd. For Brickfiesta they will give us something more traditional... like the new Friends Vetinary Gynocologist Beachfront Tofu Bar set.

Wow! No hate yet for the more recent abominations? (Often flagged under the TRU Exclusive banner). How could we miss this one? 7869 Battle for Geonosis or 8091 Republic Swamp Speeder And possibly the set with the fewest redeeming features of the modern era 7252 Droid Tri Fighter I mean not even an attempt at a minifig? Just droids? Bah!

Is the book with the Batman fig out? Amazon says not until Sept 3?

CuuSoo does desperately need some better search and presentation tools. I think we can all agree on that. Users need to be able to more easily browse through projects and select projects of differing themes and types. Right now it is 220+ flat pages of projects. And honestly if you aren't in the first 4 or 5 pages, the only time you will be seen is the day or two you are in the what's new top page. Yeah there are keyword tags. But that still requires an active search. The site needs a leisurely browse feature.

I would go with a small, inexpensive army builder set. Have them make that drop pod and four marines set. This gets the marines out there in a quantity that the collectors, MOC'ers and army builders need. With 4,8,12,16 how ever many marines, even if no further sets are produced, the purchaser still has enough to begin. The subject is space marines. Don't clutter it up too much with complex backstory or massive vehicles ( yet). Just get the marines in AFOL hands and they will moc the rest. My 2c

Sadly we can't search on username or creator name on CuuSoo. If you could link to one of yours I'll gladly support what I can. As far as the impression of what it takes to succeed on CuuSoo, I understand your frustration. But I don't think it is quite as bad as some seem to feel. Look at CuuSoo today as a slice. Of the top 10 currently supported projects, Yes 3 are pop culture movie related ( one Star Wars, one Batman and one anime subject), One is a video game subject ( Portal 2, not "Portals" and yeah I'll give the rabid fan base this, it is some thing special, and it also perfectly blends with the mental geometry of an AFOL. That one being there is not simply a pop culture invasion. ) of the remaining 6, 2 are wholly original creator owned Sci Fi subjects. The Space Marines and the Exosuit. One is a gorgeous Technics Land Rover, And the remaining three are highly unusual and most certainly non licensed subjects. An architecture set of a grand piano, a Japanese castle and an Apple Store. The next 10 are even more esoteric. 3 pop culture related items, another BttF set, another Zelda set and a Star Wars ship, but the other 7 are off the wall different. Birds! The Marble Maze, Mountain Biking, some sort of optical illusion. There really is a good spread of subject matter. Yeah, some (operative word some) licensed properties may be able to surge quickly. But ultimately the stuff that stands out will get support. And part of the secret to that is to reduce the clutter on the site, so the good stuff can be found. Lightning, one trick you might want to try is to reduce your volume of projects on CuuSoo. You say you have 25 projects currently up there. You are diluting yourself. Pick the best one. Your MOC that you absolutely love. The one where you think you got everything right. The one that tells a story, simply and succinctly. having seen your Manuum (sp?) stuff I can tell you lean towards city designs. Great! That is something different for CuuSoo. But for it to get attention it needs to talk to people and not simply be a building. So pick one, the one that literally sings. Put it and only it up there on CuuSoo. And then start telling people about it. Let it be seen. Not "please vote for my project" threads. Just show off your work. Show what you did, etc. (your hardware store thread is a great example of this. also see the space marines thread in the space forum.) And just as a side note regarding that "game" project that is rocketing up. Go check out the Portal MOC thread in the Space forums. You might be astonished. That portal project had been killed by CuuSoo before anyone ever saw it. TLG thought it was based on a first person shooter game and flagged it for inappropriate content. The builder then simply posted his MOC here. Not on gamer sites, not all over the place. Here at EB. All he wanted to do was share his MOC with us. We here, he Lego fans saw an amazing MOC, and that support from here, in the Lego community is what broughheist attention to TLG that they had made a mistake when they turned it down. That same support from within the AFOL community was the primary surge of support. As far as the gamer sites? They just found out about it yesterday. The project was already over 5k in a matter of days just from we "big bang" type AFOLs. Simply because the builder shared his MOC with us. Something to think about?

Actually according to them it sorta does to some degree. While sets will be targeted at different age groups, including AFOLs, any set bearing the Lego logo must at least be of subject matter or based on source material that would be ok for 6 to 12 year olds. If you wouldn't take your 10 year old to the movie, don't expect a Lego set of it. They formalized this policy a great deal recently regarding CuuSoo and the Sean of the Dead Winchester and the Firefly Serenity.

Galactus and Silver Surfer!

Agreed. I strongly suspect that TLG is going to dance very carefully around the new DK movie. Really as we saw with the last one, the Nolan material is getting a bit outside what they would normally consider age appropriate. We might get another Tumbler at some point. But it would still be dressed up more comic book, animated series or Burton era characters and themes. But I suspect that they will simply push the current sets in conjunction with the movie rather than directly tie in with it. ("see we got a Bane set, a Catwoman set" etc).

Right now at least Nintendo are not only notcompetitirs, they are in collaborators. Nintendo is counting on the popularity of the Lego games to help drive sales of their new console. The great looking upcoming Lego Undrcover will be a Wii U exclusive, and looks to be one of the best of the so far announced release titles.

I always assumed that it is the least expensive small parts that have the greatest chance of getting lost? Or maybe there is something in the factory mechanism that only spits out things like cheese slops studs and antenna's and technic pins in pairs?

To add more fuel to the fire of the "rabid fanbases vs CuuSoo" debate. It looks like news of this project has hit a few of the Gaming sites such as The Escapist today. So expect a nice bump in support. (not that it is needed. This garnered 5k in what? A week? Bravo!!!)