Faefrost

I could see them adding more as. Summer 2013 wave. Maybe. Figure the current offerings will still be around for a minimum of 12 to 18 months anyway. So we might see something more. But then that raises he question of what more they could do? Either way I think Monsters will become another Evergreen theme that pops up periodically, like Dinosaurs.

Nicely done with the friends theme. While at the same time I kinda hope it's a short summer (I appreciate the Friends highlight. The colors less so). Can we maybe get a Canibal Zombie Appocalypse Fall theme... Please?

I don't think they can make a DC or Marvel Superheroes themed Battlepack. even if it is just a pack of clowns and mimes. The "Construction set" vs "Action Figure" license applies. As soon as they call it a Superheroes set they run into the problem. Now if they made a "Circus" set My prediction is we will see the Robin Jetcopter vs the Jokers super speed boat, as seen in the first chapter of the game. It just seems like a nice mix, with a good 2 vehicle build.

And there is what would be needed for a Falcon minifig for captain Americaand the Avengers

I can actually almost see them doing a Spaceballs set as a laugh. It's not like there is any real adult content in it beyond fart jokes. ( ok maybe the schwarz length discussion in the duel?) If they actually make the BTTF CuuSoo sets, then we need to push for a Megamaid with minifigs.

I am betting that the evil female alien will be an evil or Blacktron type counterpart to Galaxy Girl. Something to go with the evil space cyborg guy. I agree with everyone, we can't rush to judgement. Sometimes the dullest sounding figs are fantastic (ie Grandma Visitor).

Wow! Just wow! The is nothing in that scene that isn't mind blowing. The streetlights. The CARS! And that roof. How does it curve like that while still seeming sturdy? That's just incredible.

Hmmm? I know there have been some mutterings involving pirates. Either as part of the next Ninjago series or as a replacement. The more I think on it, the more it makes sense. Not simply the classic Pirates line, or more PotC stuff. But something more targeted towards a theme like One Piece anime and manga. Named characters. Distinctive cartoony ships and settings. Individual battling. Quests and collectables. Pile that on top of Lego's decades of experience with pirate themes and it seems to meet the " it is something we will wonder why they didn't do a long time ago" type comments when they announced That something would be coming after Ninjago. It may even be some sort of Ninjago spinoff. ( Pirates vs Ninjas!)

Agreed for the most part. Here is what I see as the pro/cons with each LotR's Pro's - Backed by well known IP with multi generational fanbase Spawns off of a well established and popular Castle line 2 more movies coming Con's- It is fully tied to the IP, if the IP goes down so goes the line It will be a sales surge type line. When movies release it will sell well. Initial releases will sell well. But it also isn't that eye grabbing. It's mainly dark greys and earth tones. Grey castle walls in all the scenes. Not a lot that pops. In this regard the old Castle line has an advantage. When the IP does dip it is easy enough to change the line back to Castle. LotR is sort of heavier material that has an age expectation at the upper ends of Lego's normal target groups. You don't see a lot of 6 or 7 year old LotR fans. Friends Pro's- It seems to finally be a good desired building product for girls. It's flying off the shelves at a steady rate. Not surges. It seems to even be attracting AFOL's in large part because of the interesting pices and colors If they can keep a steady momentum it stands to fall into a similar niche to their City line or Duplo, which are their steadiest earners long term. Con's - The Dolls. Those grotesque little things. Girl Toys can be a fickle market They've tried this several times (Belvue anyone? Paradisa?) Honestly it all depends on if they can get Friends to click as a lasting fixture in the marketplace. Can they leverage their position as the big dog in the toy business to carve out a more permanent bit of shelf space over in the land of pink Barbie dolls. If Friends makes it to 4 waves I think they will have done it, and long term Friends will be the better profit point. The best expectations for LoTR will probably put it in a similar place to Harry Potter. A good strong multi year license. Peaks and valleys of sales but all profitable. And a definitive end point. (and let's be honest with ourselves. Yeah we all know that LotR is supposedly replacing Castle for now. But really it is the on shelf replacement for the Harry Potter line. That is the target niche of customers they are really working with with it.)

You would think. But Star Wars is technically only 6 movies, and they are on their second 10 year licensing deal with them, and it's still their best selling line. While I don't think LotR will do quite hat well, I think it will have some legs to it. Also it is three movies now, but 5 total. They also have the license for he two Hobbit ones. I think LotR will do better I the mid term. I think Friends will outsell it in the short term, and if worked well as a line, has the potential to be a stronger long term seller ( 10+ years). In the 5 year range LotR will outsell it, but will be more subject to peaks and valleys subject to movie releases etc. Now if New Line figures out how to turn the Silmarilion into a comprehensible trilogy of movies, all bets are off.

Ok add to the list of in game vehicles that I want to build. The Kryptonite Truck. That huge articulated 3 section 12 wide truck would look just perfect parked alongside the Agents mobile HQ ant the Earth Defense Force HQ. I just wish I could figure out what color it is supposed to be? It seems like a more bluish blue grey then we actually get?

I like it. It reminds me a bit of the Halo, and a bit of Lex Luthors VTOL thingy from the new Lego Batman game.

924 Galaxy Explorer (Classic Space) 6954 Renegade (Blacktron) 7644 MX81 Hypersonic Operations Aircraft (Mars Mission) 5974 Galactic Enforcer (Space Police III) 7066 Earth Defense HQ Alien Conquest. I know I know its not technically a ship, but it is the earth "flagship" set) I would also consider 6987 Galactic Mediator (Space Police 2) 5984 Lunar Limo 6975 Alien Avenger as being interesting entries.

I don't have pictures of it yet. But this has been mentioned in some reviews of the Jetski polybag set. It has the newer style cowl, but it was apparently still using the older head print. As a result the eye holes sit a hair low and you can see the pink skin at the bottom of the eyes. The regular box sets such as the Batmobile Two Face one have the new cowl, but the correct head. At least the ones that I have do not have any alignment issues. The blue cowled Batman from the Catwoman cycle set uses the older head print, so it lines up properly with the blue older cowl. If you put one of the newer black cowls on the blue guys head you see the same issue with the eyes riding low. The main difference between the new and old head prints seems to be that the white stripe / headband is a hair wider on the new ones. (so a new head can take a new or old cowl without any alignment issues) There are some pics of the issue and discussion of it in friedchickenfaeries review of the polybag set here. http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=71139 Is this making any sense?

Ah! Australia! That would explain the cavelier attitude towards roofing Seriously, does it EVER rain down there? That's actually kind of a neat roof technique. I'll have to remember that.

I'm not sure on the funhouse set. The black cowl in the new 6864 Batmobile set is the newer style, but with a correctly matching head, so it doesn't have the alignment issues of the Jetski one. The blue cowl from the 6858 Catwoman cycle set is the older style with the flatter ears.

Let me plays Devil's Advocate here. We seem to be confusing "questionable quality" with advancing technology and production refinement. The original question asked in this thread was "What would it take for you to stop purchasing Lego". Well for 99% of us, the magic answer to that question is not what happens when we shine a powerful light through them. It's not even if there is a change to the wall thickness or a slight color shift. It's price. Plain and simple. In order to keep price within a realm where we do keep purchasing Lego, they constantly evolve their designs and methods in order to increase production efficiencies, lower material costs, while at the same time either improving the product or simply trying to avoid any noticeable decrease in quality. This is good. It is a sign of a healthy business that is continuing to advance. Is it not always 100% what we expect? No, sometimes new plastics or new dyes are not quite what the most rabid of traditional AFOL's consider 100% perfect. But the trade off is the sets stay affordable. We get new things like new colors. Or that new opaque white glow in the dark plastic. Or the softer, lower temperature plastics that they can now cheaply and easily make more unique custom hair and headpieces out of. It's all part and parcel of the same thing. Yeah we may occasionally see color shifts as they alternate source dyes. Or they change formulas to be more environmentally friendly, or use a newer more durable or less expensive plastic. They refine individual parts so a production run can achieve the same size and clutch power with a couple of pounds less raw plastic. This is more often then not a legitimate production efficiency that benefits us far more than it hurts us. I accept that my hobby is supplied by a business. I trust that they will more often than not insure that their refinements either improve the product or maintain the quality that I require. While at the same time I keep my expectations of them reasonable. Bitching about backlit blue bricks is not within the realm of reasonable. really it isn't.

I'm not quite sure if this question belongs here or down in the other media and culture forum. In starting to play the new "Batman 2" game from Lego/Tt games, I notice that there are a few really cool vehicles, that seem buildable, but that I don't think we have ever seen in any actual real world sets. They might be worthwhile as MOC projects? The most noticeable, and the one that I am drooling over the most is Robin's Jetcopter. Am I correct in thinking that this appears to be a minor rework and recolor of the Batcopter from the (oh so expensive these days) 7786 Chase for the Scarecrow set? And if so, is there someplace where we can legally find a copy of the directions from that set in order to facilitate re-engineering and bricklinking it in red yellow and green? Jokers speedboat also looks like it would be an easy and interesting MOC. This is the first one of these games that I have played. Do they actually build the in game vehicles using the same basic build rules that they use in LDD?

We should be celebrating. For the first time in what, 35+years both licenses are finally once again held by the same toy maker who can finally make superheroes and playsets that are cross compatible. We haven't seen that since the classic days of the late lamented Mego company. (we were so truly lucky growing up in the 70's , well ok except for the whole "way that our parents dressed us back then" thing see http://www.plaidstallions.com/ for examples of both our wonderful toys and our hideous fashion. be warned it is scary.) You never know. I think some of the folks at Disney and Warner may finally be warming up to the idea of some sorts of cross license media deals. I think they may have finally after the better part of a century, started to grasp that their products are actually synergistic, and not actually competing rivals in the way that they have been practicing business since the 40's. The people spending the money don't make a choice of Batman or Spiderman. They want to buy both and play with them together. Just like the people that buy and read comics don't maintain quite the same rigid brand loyalty. If they read one, more often then not they read the other. The trick is to get more to read them both. Lego and Tt games may actually the best hope of seeing such a crossover game, as they don't seem to run afoul of some of the other licenses, such as Capcom or Rocksteady.

I like that! very cool little ship. The only thing its missing is a lightbar. Can't pull over the speeders without a lightbar

Really really great MOC and model of what is other wise a really really awful ship design. Like others I grew up on the books and the old cheesy BC quality TV series. The Heart of Gold in that always seemed perfect. That new eyeball one just never worked for me.

Good point. They may save the B Wing reveal for Comic con as it is the more Star Wars'y audience. Imagine the horror at Brickfiesta when everyone rushes over to see the B Wing and finds the new "Heartlake City OB GYN office" instead.

Ooooo! I hadn't realized that store was finally opening. I'll have to go check it out Saturday. That store isn't that much farther than Discover Mills for me.

Oh man! Now I know what that Galaxy Patrol chest piece reminds me of. Frank Millers The Dark Knight Falls. I like it!

I'm sure they are planning a Lego Avengers game. I just hope they aren't rushing it. Tt games just shipped Batman 2 this week and has the LotR game and Lego Undercover already in the pipe. Most game studios don't really do much more than 2 1/2 projects at a time well before quality starts to slip.