Faefrost

I absolutely adore it. :wub: I love the color choices (no most real cities are not pure earthtones. You do get some painted buildings breaking up the landscape. This strikes the right balance, not being too colorful like the Creator ones. I love the touches of weathering and age on the buildings. The use of highly unusual pieces for architectural details is mindblowing. The Unikitty tail. The Bionacle fists. The new mini ball joints! As far as those complaining that this is "too American" or "New York". It's a little more than that. It reminds me more of the generic city streets that you find at actual Hollywood studios, such as Universal Studios. As such it has a subtle tie to or blending with the PC. Is this a city street? Or the studio set of a Detective Movie?

Well yes, but what they lack in broad selection of main characters, they make up for in shear volume of funny imperial Stormtrooper hats and helmets. (Heck I think Ezra's helmet collection on display in his tower is almost the creators poking fun at us.) Gotta catch em all!

This is true, although you can make some educated guesses just from using available data and past behaviors. 1. Big Bang Theory does not prove us all wrong. It is an outlier and probably relied heavily on certain factors that were not readily apparent to we here on the outside. We never considered the unplanned and rather organic synergistic relationship between Lego and the current top rated TV show, and how such a set would be an unexpected marketing boon for both. It's a rare set of converging circumstances. 2. Size of Ideas sets. I go round and round trying to explain this one, but I am not sure folks understand. Size matters, but not always in the ways folks think. Size matters for a lot of reasons. A larger size = greater risk with the product. More financial exposure if it fails. Plus size equates to desired price point, so depending on where and who the set is targeted at the desired price will limit the size. But the key thing in all of this is not actually size. It is risk. The actual size of the set is less important than the calculated risk.(within reason, the Helicarrier as big as a car is not gonna fly for many reasons including the law of gravity). When looking at it from a risk perspective the Modular Museum is less of a risk than Wayne Manor or the X Mansion. Substantially less. Lego has a decades worth of data on Modular sales. They know very particularly who the consumer base is, that they are adults and that they spend $150-$200 on an large annual released D2C set. That is the sweet price point for this well established customer base. Whereas the Super Heroe sets, while they have a much broader appeal, and thrive at retail, are largely more in the hands of a younger audience. They fly off the shelves at the sub $99 price point. But there is not as much good data on how they do in the more specialized higher price AFOL target group. A smattering of data from Arkham, the new Tumbler and maybe the Simpsons set. The point being while an X Mansion has the possibility to sell well, the Museum has virtually no risk, because they have such a well established pattern of customer behavior regarding those sets. They know exactly who will buy a Modular. No guesswork involved. That counts for a lot in a business case review. And this is why when they do decide to go for a higher price point Ideas set, it will be something that they have good data from similar or related products. Modulars, Trains, Technic, SW UCS will be the likely candidates. 3. Size Matters part 2. All of the above is true, with certain understandings that common sense must apply. Size is more a factor of matching the price point to the expected market segment. Ideas is never going to take a stab at something unknown or new with a high price point. You will not see the largest set ever from Lego as an Ideas set. If the designed set exceeds the weight capacity of a Mini Cooper it's not gonna happen. Figure 2000-3000 pieces is the effective practical threshold or $150-250 the highest price point they will likely take a shot at. They don't have a ton of good predictive data for stuff above that. And they will not go for anything even that big until or unless they have very very good data indicating that the risk is minimal. So if your idea is unlike anything Lego has ever done before... Keep it small. Your best bet for large is stuff they have sorta kinda done before, but really haven't. And yes it can be confusing.

There used to be a moderately decent "British Pub" in Old Norcross. It still had some restaurant seating and food, but at least it had a real bar and a dart board. If you want a decent pool table design hunt down the online instructions for Yatkuu's Sean of the Dead Winchester.

They kept that set in review for 2 extra periods. The impression I got was there were some technical issues. The Landrover had an extremely complex transmission and gearing that was probably pushing things a bit. And the set was probably a bit too large. We can probably get a $200 technic set past them. Something in the realm of 41999. But the Landrover was easily 2+ x that size. It just may not have been deliverable. I took the extended review to indicate that they did not lightly fail or dismiss it, but rather sought to find a viable working product design and could not while staying true to the proposed project. I think this one is just pure luck that landed on them and they were bright enough to grab it. Doing it themselves would have been sketchy. But it's a set the fans designed and voted for. Cud is to the marketing people who stepped up and said "don't ask questions Just Make It!"

Honestly, I know the more rabid Tolkien fans around here hate the Pirate ship simply because it wasn't Minas Tirith, but it is actually a really good Lego set. Great figs (ok ok yet another Gimli) cool play value etc. fantastic display piece. Some amazing parts like the printed shields. the Goblin King set has a cool bigfig, some set unique dwarves and goblins, but the build is crap. As someone said just little disjointed piles of rock. They don't even connect. The throne by itself makes a nice display piece, but not at that price. The set has zero play value, almost no display value and has little even in the way of interesting parts. If you want to build an interesting pile of rocks hunt down the Lone Ranger Silver Mine. The Goblin King set is one of the worst of the Middle Earth line. Only redeemed by its figs.

Nah! More and more I think raw size has less to do with it than predictable and solid market data. They will set the price to be the best point based on how solid and predictable the audience is. So some types of large sets will have a better time in review than others. Like I talked about over in the Town forums, Modular Buildings and Technic will probably have little problem justifying a $200 2000+ piece set. Lego knows precisely how well those will sell and to who. They have even done limited edition fan designed sets under both. Trains are dancing on this border. I think Ideas would have no issue with a $100-$180 train set. That is a predictable market. I just don't think the BttF train is a good enough fit for such a set. Think of it this way, the DeLorean was the star of all 3 movies. It was the centerpiece. The most recognizable thing from the series. As soon as you lay eyes on it you can hear the music in your head. The Jules Verne train is a lot less familiar. It was only on screen for a few seconds at the very end of the third movie. There was only one real beauty shot of it. And it was kind of busy and hard to wrap your head around. It's a great Hollywood moment, just not one that tugs at the broader fan base the way the DeLorean does. Heck I think a fully motorized 2-6-0 pushing a DeLorean around a loop of track to stage the movies climax would make a better set (although rather close to the LR set. )

I sat and thought through the TBBT set a little more, and I think I have worked out why it surprised us and passed. What the key benefit to the set is. It's synergistic marketing. Perfect product placement. BBT's use of Lego sets and the concept of AFOL's in the show is much to good an opportunity for Lego not to feed it a bit if you will. Creating a Lego set about the show, that shows off Lego fans and normalizes the product as a somewhat nerdy but acceptable hobby is better than any ad campaign they could ever dream up. By making the set they both draw attention to the show and themselves gain more attention from the show. It is unbelievably cost effective mass marketing, and extremely effective on many levels. And even better, the fans asked for it. Heck part of the reason for them springing for 2 sets in one review / manufacturing period could be that they are quietly getting the Marketing department to kick in. It will not even matter how the set sells. It makes up its costs in other ways. From a business sense it is strikingly brilliant, and my hat is off to them.

9493 is one of the best X-Wings Lego has to data made. Good solid (if slightly chunky) design and absolutely fantastic figs. Porkins!

I would be willing to bet that something like 70-80% of the Modular buildings are sold via the Lego D2C market channels (excepting certain markets where such channels do not exist.) And pretty much everyone buying a Modular is almost always a VIP member. Enough that they get some very very good data back regarding Modular buyers habits. What existing theme? Modulars is not really an existing theme? It is more a standard and a type of set. It's not like Ninjago or Castle where things are color matched with an embedded story. It is more like Trains where the only common thread is Train Related and interoperability. Technically beyond the connection points each Modular set is a stand alone Creator Expert set. Further lets not forget that Market Street was derived from CuuSoo's precursor and is in fact a fan designed set. I'm not saying that the Natural History Museum has a good chance of passing review. It is still a huge expensive set with a lot of things that may fail it at review. But it has a better chance than any other large set we have seen to date, in review. Simply because Lego has so much data to work with. If they are going to take a risk on any large very expensive Ideas set a Modular has a better chance of being what they will approve.

They have said that when 2 extremely similar projects end up in the same review they will not make both. It came out of the GB mess. Figure it might also apply to the Wayne Manor and X Mansion. While not the same they are similar enough that they will likely only make one or the other.

Nah. It is a matter of context and nuance. They (and most media and pop culture companies) tend to be a little more forgiving of minor adult content in comedies and particularly sitcoms. They judge dramas and more serious shows and subjects by a higher standard. This is not limited to Lego, look at when shows go into Syndication. TBBT is a great example. It is syndicated widely into prime children viewing hours around the world. As have many other shows over the years. Cheers? Fraiser? MASH? Married With Children? And of course the big one, the prime example of all The Simpsons. So why would they do a TBBT set while turning down the Serenity for being too adult and not a good brand fit? Two words. "Space Hooker". Personally I don't think TBBT is a great choice. I suspect it is more of an experiment in fan market. (The Birds set is the safe traditional Lego type project). But TBBT still remains an interesting decision for them. One worth digging into and watching a bit.

They rejected the Western Town because of a conflict with a not yet publicly announced license. Not on size. If ever they are going to do a large $100-200 Ideas set, good money says it will either be a Modular Building or a Technique vehicle. The simple reason they have fantastic business data on such. They have made exclusive D2C fan designed sets in those lines, and they sold well. Well enough to satisfy the similar production and retail niche of Ideas. A Modular building would be a spectacularly low risk for such a pricey Ideas set. They know exactly who the audience is. Literally, they have our home addresses. They know what we spend. And that each building in the series is mainly trending up in sales. Slipping an unofficial Ideas on in between the normal rotation would not measurably disrupt the normal fan enthusiasm.

In a word? Yes! They are legendarily difficult for an outside partner to deal with. Particularly a non British partner. Heck have you ever wondered why Dr. Who was so difficult to find on US television in the 70's through the 90's? It wasn't lack of fan interest. It was typically one of the highest rated shows on The American PBS systems when they could get it. Based on the American ratings alone the show should not have been cancelled when it was. But the BBC isn't a business. It is a government beuracracy. They have few if any actual profit motives (being supported by British television licensing taxes) they are not subject to natural market forces, and as a result they tend to be very very bad at assigning actual reasonable value to their products or drawing reasonable return from them. They are a nightmare for outside for profit licensors to deal with. Have you ever wondered why dVD's of BBC programming cost 5x as much per minute as any other shows? This is why. Remember Ideas is designed for a one shot limited edition sets, which use very limited licensing. Dr. Who is just coming off a full blown retail license. The licensor may wish to reserve the license for a similar sized usage. Or Lego may have looked at the data from Character Builders use of the license and made the determination that there just was not enough of a market there at this time. The channel is still saturated with leftover CB product. Fans do not always equate to toy sales. Especially adult fans. Etc. there are a host of reasons that Lego may or may not got with Dr. Who. The business case of a product is never as simple as "fans want it". And weirdly a relatively new and untried product such as BBT probably has a much simpler business case to get through than Dr. Who. For BBT the lack of pre existing data helps vs Dr. Who where they have much more to critically analyze. At the end of the day I still suspect that any Dr. Who decision comes down to difficulties in working with the BBC. It will be interesting to see how that plays out.

Still a much better and more interesting title than "The Phantom Menace".

Does anyone know if there is an actual usable parts list anywhere for the Drug Store project that the book has instructions for? ideally maybe a Bricklink compatible parts list? The downloadable parts list from the site is just a picture of the parts ala back of lego instructions, and doesn't have any usable part numbers etc. EDIT; Nevermind I found them. For those that need them, ignore the URL in the book that just leads to NoStarchPress and the PDF's. The actual useful XML files are over at https://www.brickcitydepot.com/books

The old finger hinges were some of the most fragile and breakable parts Lego ever produced. Almost on par with the classic space helmets.

It's not so much a one in a billion thing. In fact I would guess the chances of it happening are probably somewhat better than a LotR third wave. Children of Hurrin will happen eventually. Just not until after Chris Tolkien dies and the surviving family comes to the realization that they really really like gobs of money and movies generate gobs of money.

I took it as an interesting use for the new blaster as a swivel gun.

I think this is probably fairly close to what we will be seeing. Remember at this early stage we tend to get some rather funky translations. also do not assume 5 females. The number can probably vary some. Also remember that many CMF's tie into past or recent past lines. So Galaxy Trooper probably has some aesthetics from Galaxy Squad. Alien Trooper may be using unused or leftover GS bug alien parts or AC parts. The Samurai may be a misread on a Chinese warrior. (Wasn't there a rumor of a tera cota warrior fig at some point?)

FB was available the longest because it went back to have more produced the most. And it kept going back for more because it sold well. It was the gateway drug for Modulars. The bridge point between City and AFOL. It bridged Lego market targets. The only other set quite like it is the Death Star.

I think the overall pattern is the modular sales have been steadily increasing year to year as they build a fan base. I think the all time best seller was FB, but other than that obvious outlier each has steadily increased the sales and performance curve.

It's a little worse than that. Without Spider-man the conditions are not in place for there to be a Civil War. There are currently no Vigilantes in the MCU. Every character in play is in some way either a government or government sponsored actor, or a clear super villain. Spider-man is the basis for the Grayer heroes in the Marvel Comics. He is the public hero outside the law. From his example come all of the others. But in the MCU they are all Shield affiliated. At best it would be a faction war between groups of government sponsored super thugs. The pure civilian hero fighting crime has not been introduced to the MCU.

No that's Ultron, but it's just the mo cap stand in for the actors to play against. The final design will look something like that head and chest plate, but be fully animated and articulated. Those are just simplified versions used as placeholders to build the CGI around and give lighting info etc. Remember Andy Sirkis was on set consulting and helping the actors with MoCap acting? This is one of the things he was probably doing.

Woot! My Wife just got me the new Laketown Attack and Dol Guldur sets. She found them newly shelved at Target today. The sad thing is looking at them, at least the Laketown set (combined with the last one) will end up in her Winter Village display. They have that nice quaint Alpine look to them with the snow covered roofs and all. Winter Village Orc Masacre! What a Christmas display. I assume I am not the only one who's Hobbity things will be repurposed come Christmas? Actually this new Laketown set combined with the old would look to be among the most flexible of the Middle Earth sets that can be spread to other themes. The general fishing village theme works well with regular Lego Castle or Pirates. They would make for a nice home port for a ship. Maybe a North Carolina in Winter for the QAR? (and the orcs blend in well enough for QAR crew.)