Faefrost

Kids prefer minifig collecting. Individual named figs with their own stories. Yeah some will army build. But it has to be something that really kind of resonates with them. Storm Troopers and Clone Troopers do that really well. Whereas for LotR the kid appeal is less in the vast battles and in particular orcs, than it is the individual character fights. Yeah the big battles like Gondor are awe inspiring. But it's not something kids will attempt to build en mass. And even if a small number of AZfOls are buying 10-20 apiece, it still doesn't come close to touching the potential of the kid market. And this reflects some of the other problems in the line. Why did we not get a nice Gondor set? Why the Pirate Ship? Well one reason is quite frankly, because Helms Deep was not a great seller. It's a fantastic set, but let's be honest with ourselves. Show of hands who here bought it at deep discount? Do you understand why? They chose to do the Pirate ship because the big "Castle Wall battle" didn't go over well, and it was probably hoped that the Ship would attract a broader audience. Cross pollinating some with the pirates fans and such.

Lego did not get beaten by a clone company. A clone company in this instance is not simply stealing from Lego, but several other vendors. There is a reason why Lego cannot make this. It is rather blatantly what is commonly referred to as an "action figure". Lego does not have an action figure license. Hasbro has that. Yeah it's easier to make cool stuff when you ignore any and all IP law and simply steal what you want.

Oooo! I think we can safely predict that we might be seeing a nice Ralph McQuarrie style X-Wing in a light blue motif.

The safe bet for the gems probably goes like this... Loki's staff = the Mind Gem. It's the only thing in the MCU shown to be able to effect or control someone. Remember according to Coulson no psychics. Also of note, Tony Stark's Arc reactor could block it. Hmmmm? The Cube = the space gem. Velocity, travel, and energies related to such. An immense power source. Shield had this one for many years. In particular Howard Stark was studying it for decades. The secret clues to left for Tony in IM2, that let him make the new chest piece. He is probably powered by cube tech. The Cube also explains how Thor gets to and from Earth or Asgard now. The Aether - the Power Gem. Not much else to say other than it seems to imbue individuals. Possible pathway to Ms. Marvel? (There are rumors she may be teased in GotG. ) Of the others; The Soul Gem - show of hands, can anyone picture this one NOT being Dr. Strange's Eye of Agomotto? The MCU seems to be going to great pains to limit and define the rare artifacts of great power, and to connect them. The Reality Gem - is normally associated with the gauntlet itself. And traditionally doesn't do much until the others are in place. Safe guess is Thanos already has this one. The Time Gem - this is probably the orb seen in GotG. And it would make sense if they ever want to add Vance Astro etc to the company. Watch where this little bauble lands at the end of all of this. Chances are that will be our first big clue to Phase IV or V. There is one major Avengers foe that has not been seen yet. And time and time travel is his specialty. Kang the Conqueror. And by extension Kang would probably mean introducing Mantis to the team. I think otherwise they will dance very very carefully around time travel in the MCU. To quote Robert Downey Jr. "There are no coincidences in Kevin Feige's MCU. Everything is there precisely for a reason. (Save one or two Easter Eggs from the earliest movies before he had total editorial control)." In short the MCU has something that both Marvel and DC comics have sadly lacked since the 90's. A strong editor with an overall vision.

GotG might not be able to use Annihilus, which becomes an issue obviously as Annihilus is tied to the FF License which Fox currently has. Part of the bad blood between the head of Marvel and the head of Fox stem from Marvel's offer to extend Fox's contracts for Daredevil, Electra, Punisher and Ghost Rider, which were expiring. In return they wanted a block of FF villains returned to Marvel for use with Avengers. Galactus, Silver Surfer, Annihilus and the Skrulls. Fox did not simply say no, rather the head of Fox studios apparently went insane on hearing this request. Prompting the current state of affairs.

Ooooo! A few major spoilers about several MCU movies are creeping out ahead of SDCC, and if true some are awesome and some are just ummm strange? And a few do tie together in a way that seemingly leads GotG much more directly to Avengers 3 than we ever imagined. By way of another huge fan favorite story.

Do you remember when your parents broke it to you about Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny? Yeah, this is probably another one of those little life moments...

Marvel UCS? Heli carriers are the obvious ones (2 types now) Dr. Stranges mansion would be perfection as a Modular Xavier's School for the gifted UCS Milano from GotG UCS Warbird from same UCS Nova cruiser UCS new Quinjett from Avengers 2 Avengers Tower Classic Avengers Mansion Classic Fantasticar UCS X Men Blackbird (ie a real Blackbird, not an "X jet") Red Ronin (ok I'm just hallucinating on that one... But a Lego UCS Mecha the size of the old Shogan Warriors toys would be soooo cool) UCS Asgard Given that GotG 2 has already been green lit, and James Gunn given the go ahead to direct, and that Avengers 3 seems to be heading towards a cosmic storyline, I'm betting Marvel will quickly open up the possibilities for some really gorgeous ships and vehicles. Joker's original characterization was as a brutal thug. Possibly only surpassed by Batman himself. Who beat 7 kinds of Megabloks out of him, tied him up, then literally kicked him out of a speeding car, into traffic, in front of the police station. The jokey gag stuff came later. As did Batman's more classical, less "Miller'esque" personality. Oh heck NO! The recent Red 5 X Wing comes complete with what are possibly the most heinous stickers Lego has ever made. The dreaded X Wing Canopy stickers. They actually included an extra set in the box... Because they knew you would screw them up.

$50-$75 each, easy. 2 highly desired figs that are unique to a $200 set? And it's not like there is a huge market for individual black bricks (outside of maybe classic Blacktron fans?) to offset the costs of parting it out. Typically when Bricklink vendors but sets to part out, the combined price of the figs is where they make back their purchase price. This one will be painful.

The numbers indicate which mold was used for the part, and since it is a mold that makes multiples of that part in each pass or cycle, which mold cavity the part comes from. So one part is from the 9 th cavity of the third mold of that type. The other is from the 30 th cavity of the same mold.

The Red uniform Rocket Raccoon might not be an exclusive figure, per se. It is a figure in an exclusive set. The actual figure might show up elsewhere. He strikes me as a good candidate for a Lego Store promotional giveaway like Flashback Shredder. One of those exclusive sets comes with a regular fig of Chopper, the other Batmobile, we have not seen the fig for yet. The actual exclusive figures are the 4 designated as such. The Collector, Unikitty, Blue jacket Bard the Bowman, and the as yet unrevealed 4th.

It seems that the typical planned lifespan is roughly 2 years. With a new building released each year, so they typically have 3 out. However some things may cause this expected lifespan to expand or shrink. When Lego produces these they do them in large production runs, which then sit in the warehouse until sold. They don't continually make them. If a set is a top seller and has continued high demand, they may go back and do additional production runs, which will often extend its life. (I think GE received 1 extra production run, FB had at least 2.). However, it's possible for a set to sell out before the 2 year mark and TLG to elect not to do another run. (Winter Village Cottage is a great example). They might have a replacement almost ready for release, or they just might not have the factory time available, or while popular they may feel there is not enough remaining interest to justify a full run.

Neat. I wonder what if any legalities there would be for Lego to release a set based on that Imperial Troop Transport? Given that it is clearly based on the old Kenner toy.

TLG has long been experimenting with newer materials, and looking for a renewable source plastic. But that is a decades long research project. We might see some new materials somewhere between 2030 and 2040.

To put a non Lego spin on this. My best friend is one of the few female professional Fire Captains in the US. She is the only female ranking officer in her state to my knowledge. She has been a firefighter for 20 years. Plus an ICU/CCU/ ER head nurse. She has twice the qualifications, certifications and education of her peers. She is an instructor at the State Fire Academy and she and her husband manage and teach the EMT and Paramedic programs at the State University. ( as you might guess she is a hyperactive little bunny who rarely stops or sleeps.) And with all of this, last month for the third time she had to file a formal legal complaint against the city and the department. Because for the third time they awarded the city uniform contract to a company that does not offer women's uniforms or sizes. It infuriates her and the female police officers stuck in the same situation. They don't want to look or dress like the men. They want properly fitting uniforms. Tailored to reflect or at least acknowledge that there is a difference between their hips and waist. To them "unisex" uniforms simply continue to tell them that they do not belong doing the jobs they do quite well. (Funny how the unisex outfits always seem well tailored to the men.) This whole controversy reminds me of her.

No! There were 4 true exclusive figures that you had to enter the raffle each day for. Azog was something purely random that Lego employees were handing out to convention goers. He was never one of the specific SDCC exclusives. He was closer to the "build a bilbo" fig. We might see the Rocket Racoon or whatever fig comes in the Batmobile in a set. For them the mini build vehicle is the "exclusive". But for the 4 specific con exclusive figs? Yeah we will not see those in a set. So no Collector, no Blue Bard, no Unikitty.

My theory is Mars Mission was powered by green Martian jelly squeezin's. You collect some Martians, boil them and render them down to soup stock. Octan for the win!

New tooling, ie new molds are not made for exclusive sets. Cut cloth can show up anywhere. It's as cheap and easy as printing. And it isn't that new parts will never show up in a trade show fig. It's that those parts would not be exclusive. They may just show up there first. The good news for comic fans is the damage seems to be at least limited this year. Of the four exclusives we now know, one is The Collector, one is the blue coated Bard from Hobbit, one is Unikitty. The safe bet is the last is a DC fig. Here's hoping for Ambush Bug or something similarly worthless and undesirable.

Minifig Hulk. Plus Iron Patriot was a game pre order exclusive. This is a common misperception. Most kids are quite familiar with Bizarro at least. He showed up prominently in several of the animated series. In particular in the younger targeted stuff such as Krypto the Superdog and I believe Teen Titans Go. As far as Shazzam? They know the name and magic word. Plus we forget he had a Saturday Morning Live action TV show for 2 or 3 seasons in the 70's. So the older fan base knows him.

So after 35 years Lego finally prints a female police officer. One that actually reflects what a woman looks like. One that says to young girl fans specifically "this is a job you can and do do"... And we complain because it's not generic enough for the rare breed of select few customizes to use in whatever generic unisex situation they wish? Really? That's the point we have reached in this whole looping gender representation argument? Kids should play with blank featureless unisex dolls that in no way represent anything specific? Maybe go back to the days of the original Fisher Price Little People where they were just blank wooden pegs? Between this and the nice lady scientist complaining about the research institute set because "real scientists don't wear lipstick and make up" I think we as a community have officially jumped the shark. Please Lego employees, if you happen to read these forums STOP LISTENING TO US! WE ACTUALLY ARE INSANE!

They are most likely discontinued from the factory. CMF series normally only last about 3 months. But there are still plenty to find in the retail channels.

If they release anything at SDCC it will be Hobbit figs. There would be no marketing value or purpose to give away limited exclusive figs from a line that has effectively ended.

Hmmm? Rhodes in the movie. Ultron being a very dark gun metal silver and black coloring with glowing red eyes and highlights. Hmmm? PS love Caps new suit. Hate Thor's.

"The shape of her helmet reflects her continued enslavement to the male patriarchy!"

And once again, it's a small number of "scientists" who failed to do any research. Or ask or determine what the target audience. The small children, in particular little girls, actually look for or prefer in their toys. Which amazingly is something that Lego does research intensively. The "scientist" in this article just assumes her opinion is correct, without any thought, any reflection or any actual data. Kind of telling that, no?