Faefrost

Congrats. What did the price on the BLinked GG work out to if you don't mind my asking? Also believe it or not the Bricklinking gets easier if instead of doing it for the retired sets you opt for something like third part instructions such as those from Brickcitydepot Depot or our own Krystal. I particularly like the Pharmacy that the BCD guys published in their Lego Neighborhood Book. Of Krystal's stuff it does not get much better than her Tan Townhouse. You will find you are not hunting down quite so many rare and expensive parts.

Yes and no. The problem is the time lag it takes to design sets. So the first waves of a new series tend to be based on very early episodes only and preliminary info. So when Lego designed what they have released from Rebels they had art design from maybe the first 3-6 episodes tops. TCW was the same way. We had a fairly large initial wave, but it was all based on stuff seen very early on. It then took 2-3 release cycles before Lego can catch up and start pulling from the deeper episode pool. I am sure we will see more.mby all accounts Rebels toy merchandise seems to seek well. Heck Hasbro is having issues actually getting the stuff out there fast enough. (As opposed to the rather horrid Star Wars Command stuff which nobody wants). The retailer exclusives tend to not show up until very late. Remember we did not know about things like the Azure Angel or Palpatines Arrest until much later than everything else. Retailer exclusives are not shown at toy fairs. Just from eyeballing it I would say the Ghost has sold well at retail. Not so much the Phantom. The other Rebels sets seem to disappear from shelves quickly by me. Especially the Imperial stuff. The Tie Advance is hard to find.

I mentioned the Battle for Ninjago City set also because it is one that features Nya as Samurai X. Who is a nice strong (if sadly underused in the TV series) female hero.

I was always surprised that either SB or Avatar got any Lego sets. They were clearly experiments as they lack one of the core elements that Lego seems to focus on when licensing television properties. Multigenerational. Spongebob just barely hits that these days where it may be noted that current SB viewers were not yet born when the first seasons aired.

There is rumored to be a new "Fantasy Era" style Castle line out in the next Winter wave. In the meantime it looks to be some very strong Super Hero waves. Or there are a few specific other sets that play into a bit of a fantasy feel. The Ninjago Battle for Ninjago City is a nice Temple/Castle. The Star Wars Ewok Village. The Brick Bounty Pirate Ship etc.

We generally have more info then CS reps. All they can see is what is in the system. All it means is LotR is still active in the system. Which we know because there is still a category for it at S@H.

Did anyone catch this in the most recent Rebels Episode? Is this the first time we have actually seen the Stormtrooper Transport on screen and officially in cannon? And if so does it presage a new version of http://brickset.com/...l-Landing-Craft I know we keep hearing about some new Stormtrooper transport? I wonder if it might not be quite what we are expecting?

I can't escape the feeling that Kree-O is dying. Maybe Hasbro is gearing up to replace it with something? I don't think Target or Walmart actively stock it anymore, and TRU seems to be clearencing out anything they have. Something tells me Hasbro is falling back to basics. The upcoming Star Wars and Marvel movies, plus their snaking the Disney Princess and Frozen license out from under Mattel give them a strong position to grow their core area of expertise. Whereas Kree-O always felt as awkwards as Lego's attempts at traditional dolls and action figures.

In this specific case I would judge the bent lever is a non issue. Some pictures show it bent, others show it as a normal straight lever piece, which looks more than acceptable. The bent lever is not an integral component of the design, and was just a cosmetic bit on probably an early build. The project does not require a modified part, nor is it really falsely presenting itself.

Not to be contrarian, but where does this legend of UCS=Studless originate. 2 UCS sets have been fairly Studless. Slave 1 and the Imperial Shuttle. All the rest generally have more exposed studs than their system scale counterparts. I could swear they have said in the past that they like maintaining some studded look on the UCS sets as it keeps them resembling creations made of Lego rather than simply models.

It looks like that gorgeous Douglas DC-3 is nearing the home stretch with about 500 votes to go https://ideas.lego.com/projects/17534 Also we are 68 days out from the great purge. It looks like a couple of interesting projects will make it a race.

Sadly yes. so it likely goes into the Ideas bin alongside the Helicarrier, The Tumbler, etc. Not to mention all the astonishing Star Wars Episode VII sets that people keep proposing as Ideas projects... because they saw the ships in the trailer... and somehow miss the point that "Lego already has those in the works and ready for distribution".

Hmmm? What else might be lurking in there as yet unseen? Dark Elder God Cthullu. Normally I would say this one as a gag. But look at the Alien Troopers head. Invisible Man still seems like one missing from that old sketch sheet. The Fly. A bug head on the fig? Phantom of the Opera? Hunchback? Sea Witch? Using the legs from the AC Emperor and Atlantis squid guy?

It was rumored for many years that the Lucasfilm's toy license had specific non competes that excluded certain other licenses such as Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica and Buck Rogers. Supposedly that stance has softened in recent years as the license holders have come to figure out that they gain more from cross brand synergies than they lose via competition. It is likely that the Star Trek exclusion was dropped in the last SW license renewal. But it is also likely that after so many years of being a competing property Lego's license people are really not looking too heavily at it. Besides ST has always been an erratic toy license. Mego did great with it back in the day with the classic stuff. But the movie stuff bombed. Playmates thrived on TNG stuff for years, but the new movie stuff went straight to discount bins.

Actually from the way the MB Star Trek announcement is written it sounds like they are going more for adult focused limited edition "collectors edition" type sets. So I am hoping for something between their CoD and Signature level stuff. Which while not Lego is probably the closest to UCS Star Trek that we will ever see.

For those that missed it Megabloks unveiled their Terminator sets at Toyfair and also announced they just picked up the Star Trek license. So assume those two will be on the verboten list for a bit.

True, although it's perfect for an Avengers Tigra MOC. Especially if you swap to the Fire Elf's hair from Elves.

Gross weight is still probably a better price indicator than piece count.

I think that assumption mostly comes from the PT Palpatines Shuttle set. But we forget most of those technic bits were that unwieldy mechanism to helmet Vader.

The pro's were always that the elevated the model and gave it more pop and gravitas. It's easy to see how well that works. Just look at the current Battle for Ninjago City set to see how elevating the structure on a raised base improves its look. But the baseplates have a lot of downsides. They are made of vacuform styrene, so they don't age and wear as well as the rest of the parts. They are bulky to package, store, etc. they tend to be more fragile in play. The disparate plastics mean they have less than ideal clutch over time. And once a raised baseplate breaks the set is basically toast. They can essentially accomplish the same thing in a more durable manner using the much maligned BURPs today.

I would recommend that you don't write off teh Sandcrawler and experience it if your budget allows. It really is a fascinating build, with far more interesting angles and connections that I ever expected. And it actually is a fairly impressive display piece that catches the eye, and yet is pretty conservative of shelf space. I like this new Tie. I just don't love it. Maybe once I see the interior it will grow on me. I am already starting to become more fond of the shaping on the ball. I do find it weird and fascinating that they put the stand in the only place or facing that the studio model did NOT have a mounting hardpoint. For those not aware most studio models are constructed in such a way that at the very center or balance point of the model there is a steel joint. Basically a few pieces of welded pipe that can face in up to 6 directions that looks like a childs "jack" of a caltrop. Many of what we think of greeblies hide the access hatches where they stick a rod in to mount the model for filming. The tie has a 5 point armature with hard points facing forward, aft and up (so on the studio model the canopy, that rear "engine" detail and the top hatch) plus left and right (those detail hexagons in the center of the wings). If I remember correctly the X-Wing only had three hardpoints. One on the bottom, pretty much where the UCS stand is, One straight to the rear that whole hex shaped rear detail panel popped off. And the Astromech Droid was the top port. Once you learn what they look like it is very very easy to spot them in a number of non Star Wars ILM designs, such as Classic Battlestar Galactica ships such as the Viper and Raider. But coming back to the Tie Fighter I can't help but nerd chuckle at the stand being the one spot that they did not have a mounting point. Yeah! I;m a nerd.

Look, I'm not saying rah rah competitors and clone brands are "better", "perfect" or are even "good". But some of them do occasionally have a good idea. And I don't so much mean "Lego should make this SNOT piece". I mean just a good concept idea that is not in any way copy protected and results in something positive. Here are my two examples Megabloks (the horror!) Call of Duty theme - Care Packages. In short above and beyond the basic idea from the game of weapons caches you find, MB put them in their sets as these nice roughly 1" x 1" x 2" storage boxes to hold all your minifig accesories. They stack with studs on top and tubes on bottom. So it is very very easy to keep all your sets minifig accesories together and avoid losing them. Rather than the will they wont they give you a place to store your lightsabers, blasters and frying pans in the build, they give you a little box to store the stuff in. BRILLIANT! Megabloks - Signature Series - Handles on the Boxes! Yeah a oh so simple idea that I wish Lego would steal for the UCS line. The MB Signature series. (Their UCS line if you will) boxes are all "suitcase" style boxes with a sturdy plastic handle to carry them. After dragging a Sandcrawler through the mall one day I fell in love with this concept. Make the product easy to buy and just as easy to take home. Standard Lego packaging is superior in every way to MB except for this one little feature.

Also worth noting for Space MOC'ers. While no trans yellow, pay close attention to some of the 2015 and 2016 non space sets. There are some really interesting trans colored parts coming back into rotation. Some nice red and neon green canopies. Some real nice neon green tail fins. Etc.

I thought the Shako's became pretty common with the Europen Royalty starting mid to late 18th century up to WW I in some cases? Wasn't Arch Duke Ferdinand always pictured in one? There are some fairly strong rumors of a summer 2016 Castle wave, and Castle and Purates tend to alternate somewhat?

Sooo... Bilbo Baggins... In a giant hamster ball... Fleeing from poison spitting Dino thingy?