Faefrost

The Lego Movie line is technically a licensed line and in theory may use a broader color pallet. Note Batman is pink skinned. So traditional rules do not apply.

It's a little more complex than that. In this case they are using the Lego Trademarked Product to state the message or endorse the political position. It implies advocacy where there is none, and is a huge nono. Those creating political messages are well aware that they cannot do this sort of thing. Political advertising generally has to be very very careful to scrub the set of any clearly recognizable retail or commercial products. It can at times be a subtle thing. For example you can show the political candidate getting out of a Buick. But you can't have the Buick being the thing delivering the message. This one was way over the line and whoever made this should have known better.

Clone and bootleg figures don't come partially assembled. So the arms and hands etc will be separate. Things like that. Plus the people making these rip offs are not exactly known for their ability to count or their tendency to follow truth in advertising laws. Those aren't "different" they aren't even "suspicious" they are 100% criminally counterfeit. Bela is a Chinese counterfeiter. They have no connection to Lego beyond stealing their designs and art from them.

The only place you would see an explicitly black female would be in a licensed figure. Of those sadly no, no regular non alien or mutant black female characters to date. In the non licensed they are all yellow. Choose a brunette.

Keep in mind that this game is still reasonably early in development, and we have no idea what sort of battles or setting we may see from the ST. Ep VII and beyond. Figure it's expected release will in some ways coincide with the next movie, so I would not be surprised to see it included. But of course they cannot show us anything from that as of yet.

There have been rumors and reports that what is out there is it, and that it is expected to be gone by the end of the summer for months now. I'll be sad to see it go. This one ranks up there with things like the Death Star as one of the all time best Lego sets ever.

We may yet get lucky. But most of this will depend on data that we will never really know. Such as how long and what the costs are for the licenses. But here is the bad part to consider. Movie licenses make huge money when they have a corresponding movie. When there is a tie in in effect and current they literally do an order of magnitude better than unlicensed stuff playing in a similar theme. But without the tie in movie or media the two types of property will tend to equalize. Without something external like a movie giving a push to Middle Earth and LotR it will typically sell about as well as an unlicensed Castle line. The only exceptions that we know of are Star Wars and Super Heroes. Both of which are more ingrained in the pop culture. And both of which do do a lot worse when there is not a corresponding media property backing them. So the question becomes, after the last Middle Earth movies is done, is there a greater benefit or cost to Lego to release another LotR wave? Have they already paid for the license so may as well use it? Or does the license have a price per piece that would make simply releasing a new Castle line more attractive? Is there some other literary fantasy property waiting in the wings that they may be ramping up as a replacement? (Ok I'm betting we can rule out Game of Thrones and Walking Dead).

Actually no they didn't. TLG's production schedules and plans for Licenses often take 24 months. So 2 years from when it enters the chain to when it spits out. The problem is the last Hobbit movie has changed a few times within their production window. First from the unexpected third movie. Then the shifting of its original release date from Summer to Winter. The initial splitting of the movies and the planned summer release of the third were probably enough to knock a third LotR wave off the schedule in favor of back to back Hobbit waves. But when the Hobbit shifted it was probably a combination of not enough time to go back and ramp up a summer LotR wave, and honestly TLG being more than fed up with New Line and Jackson over all of the on the fly and last minute changes that they simply pushed back the Hobbit wave and left it at that. Heck after the recent last minute title change I am amazed that TLG's director of licensing didn't hunt down PJ and kill him with his bare hands. Keep in mind that at the point the title change was announced Lego probably already had a warehouse packed with product or at least packaging materials labeled for "There and Back Again". There are always risks and complications when dealing with licenses from still in production not yet released movies. See Iron Man 3 as the best example. But PJ and the Middle Earth team are an order of magnitude worse for this sort of thing. I will not be surprised if TLG quietly ends the license just because at the end of the day all the back end problems are just not worth it. I'm sure what frustrates them even more is normally how good a partner WB is for this sort of thing. Case in point look how good or at least well matched to the movie the Man of Steel sets were?

I get the impression that Dice's BF 3 will be much more focused on grunts and soldiers than Jedi/Sith. They are basically using the Battlefield engine in the Star Wars universe. And so far the only images we have seen have been OT. That doesn't necessarily mean anything however. SWBF games traditionally run the gamut of settings. The prior 2 games were a bit more PT focused so I could easily see this one being much more OT or beyond focused.

Ventriss was originally conceived for Ep II. The replacement for Darth Maul. For whatever reason the concept got dropped but the character art remained and has been added to the animated series. Within the animated series George Lucas's daughter Katie took on Ventriss and gave her some deliciously complex and conflicting emotions and drives and goals and started to build some real character arcs. And through it all she remained a very compelling character. I could see her making the jump to big screen. Others have done the same for less. Ayala Secura was a cover of a Dark Horse Comic that Lucas liked the look of, hence she appeared in the PT.

The plastic Megablocks uses is closer in nature (or in many cases virtually the same as) that used in plastic injection molded scale model kits. The stuff from Revel, Tamiya etc. It is good plastic. It is a reasonable compromise between precision and price. It takes sharp crisp molding well. And it can be manufactured at moderately lower temperatures and pressure. Allowing for somewhat less expensive tooling. MB bricks can take paint something that ABS does not do well. MB bricks can also be chemically fused using common solvent glues (the same stuff you use to fuse PVC pipe together) as opposed to being simply glued together using CA glues (super glues like the Kragle which do not alter or fuse the plastic) . The Downside to IP styrene is it is softer than PVC, is more subject to warping from temperature issues both during production and long term over its life, and it is a bit more brittle. Lego, KreO and Coby use ABS. Megablocks, Best Loc and a host of other clone brands use Polystyrenes. Megabloks figures are a solid Vinyl or PVC based. We're not assuming anything, work with different plastics a bit either through job or hobby and you quickly learn to tell the difference. One isn't necessarily better than the other. It all depends on the application it is intended for. Plastic modelers hate ABS since it is hard to cut well and is extremely chemical resistant making it difficult to paint and glue. Whereas polystyrene is a dream to work with in those applications. For building bricks it flips around. The more impervious plastic works better and holds its precision better over long term use. Outside of Lego and similar brands ABS is fairly rare for toys to be made from. Most toys are either Polystyrene or some sort of Vinyl. (Action figures are often Vinyl).

It would be neat to see Ventriss in live action. It could also make sense as to why TCW was retained as cannon. Yes Lucas did touch and directly approve it unlike the books, etc. but the recent purge would have allowed them to jettison everything but the movies, but they didn't. They kept the movies AND TCW. Ventriss might in part explain this. Plus let's not forget that following the pilot movie much of the writing voice behind Ventriss was George's daughter Katie. Who seemed to take her on almost as a personal POV character. (Which gets weirder when you realize that Katie Lucas herself was a character in the PT and TCW). And yeah if true it does seem weird at first glance that they would be choosing someone who is quite possibly the darkest skinned A list actress in Hollywood today to play the chalk white Ventriss. But her features and face are just so perfect for the character. The other possibility is strange, but makes some potential sense if you watch TCW. They mention the othe possibility for her is Obi Wan Kenobi's granddaughter. If that is the case, and if TCW is in fact cannon, then there may be two possible paths to that buried within its episodes. One is she is the daughter of Korki Kyrze, Duke of Mandalore and "nephew" of the Duchess Satine. Korki's age is about right for Obi Wan and Satine's relationship. And the only other member of the family we have ever met is Bo Katan who is closer to Korki in age than she is to Satine. So Obi Wan might have an undeclared family or family line on Mandalore. The other possibility is more speculative. Look at the interplay of Obi Wan and Ventress throughout the series. Particularly the Darth Maul story arc. There is something going on there. What would Obi Wan have done when his world and his life crumbled around him? How did he take the fall of the Jedi? Who would he have turned to in his loss and despair? Could he have gotten together with Ventriss? (Granted she is more batting for the other team, in every possible context, but who knows). Is it possible that Nyongo could be both "Ventriss" and the granddaughter of Obi Wan and Asajj Ventriss?

Yellow suit, globe helmet, darkened head. It might be Mano, a member of the Fatal Five. http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Mano

I think it gets vague. Marvel has the rights to the original Human Torch character. In fact he appeared in Captain America First Avenger, albeit as a static cameo in a jar. But I think Fox has the rights to the name Human Torch. So they would have to call the Jim Hammond character something else if they were to use him. Oh one bit of cross platform cleverness that I have to give the overall MCU producers, that is really really subtle. So subtle it took a few viewings of Agents of SHIELD to pick up. But once you see it you realize it was an amazing trick of hiding the plot not just of AoS but also Cap 2 and the overall MCU in plain sight. Go look at Captain America the First Avenger. Take note of the Hydra Sub and the Hydra Bomb fighters. Note the distinctive design cues. The shape, the cockpits etc. Like most movie models and designs they are meant to be visually recognizable as "faction ships". "The bad guys stuff looks like this". Now look at Agent Garett's Supersonic Jet in Agents of SHIELD that appears on an off in the second half of the season. Look at the lines of it. The cockpit. The engines, etc. It's a Hydra plane. Cool, no? Now imagine what else might be buried in there somewhere?

My local Lego store had the bright idea of displaying the mixer motorized and putting the PF motor kit on the table and shelves next to the Mixers.

It really really depends on the part and how versatile and functional it is. And sometimes the constraints of the parts can add a bit to the fun and creativity. "How to do what I want within this space" sort of thing. I love the pirate hull pieces. I like the larger floating hulls. I am not a fan of the smaller floating boat hulls however. And the zodiac boat hulls are just horribly overused. The planes will depend. I like the fuselage pieces for the most part, except the tail sections. The wings and in most cases the specialized noses. Just no way to use them for anything else.

I think top left is a prototype, either Orc Forge or Goblin King.

Have you ever gotten any third party deals that just seemed to be too good to be true, on currently available sets? Anything that might have possibly been a drop ship scam, that might have gotten your address flagged in Lego's system?

Just finished mine last night. Have been swooshing it ever since. Is it just me or does anyone else get a bit of a Gerry Anderson / Derrick Meddings vibe off of this? Keep in mind that the parts prevalent in classic space that were retired were retired for a reason. Often things like Mold failure and not worth replacing. or the version of the part was too prone to breaking and was replaced with something else (finger hinges anyone?), dependence on other parts that were eliminated. Or a host of other reasons. The point being if they are gone, they are gone for a reason, and the hundreds of thousands of $ costs to bring them each back would not make sense in most cases. The same thing in colors. The entire color system and technology has changed. Trying to go back to color match the old stuff would be difficult if not impossible, for little reward, and would never make us happy anyway. I doubt if we will ever see a new pack of 80's spacemen outside of some sort of bonus item, such as the TRU vintage packs. But a pack of classic colored and styled spacemen using newer parts, gear and expressions would sell like hot cakes.

It depends on what the builder is going for. The Lego version is a bit of a hybrid. By lengthening it and adding some wing and lifting surfaces, without widening the fuselage, it ends up looking a lot more like an 80 - 90s comics X Jet. Not the traditional SR71, but one of its later replacements in the comics. The 16 stud extension while probably more accurate to how the plane was or is drawn, does seem a bit too long in the actual Lego. Most likely because you are limited in how much you can uncompressed the wings. 8-12 studs would probably be a better visual compromise.

The other big news regarding Ant-Man is the report that they got Adam McKay to rewrite the whole thing. The term apparently being used by those that have read the existing script or scripts is "un salvageable". Harsh given how long this thing has been cooking.

Yeah I can understand a lot of hesitation with TTM and HH. The villain vehicles in this line are not always attention grabbing. Toxitas Helicopter thingy is odd, and the HH copter mech is a love it or hate it thing. Which is a shame because both sets have some fantastic figs. Did anyone honestly think we would ever see the hazmat suit again? In a new color no less? After all of the horror stories about what it took to produce those CMF's I figured they would not go back there ever again. But gloriously they did.

Mattel may be able to bring Mega up to compete with Lego. But it's not going to happen soon, and will require some massive recapitalization. Above and beyond the core thing that matters to us, product quality, they have three huge hurdles to overcome. And these will take years. 1. Product distribution and retailer penetration. Let's be honest Megabrands has been pretty awful at this. They don't manage their product well on store shelves. They have no feedback loops in place out to the retail level. Many major retailers are getting more than a bit sick of the products. They announce stuff that stores will never see. Non moving stuff sits forever. They have almost no penetration outside a North America. This is the problem that Mattel is best positioned to help solve, by leveraging their existing networks. But at this stage they may need to be burning a lot of Barbie goodwill. Of course this will be pointless if they cannot resolve the other two problems. 2. Corporate Culture. Let's be frank. mB's corporate culture is a bit lax and slipshod. I don't mean in the relaxed vaguely Apple/hippy way that Lego operates. I mean they are a mid sized set in their ways company with an entrenched workforce and leadership. While it is by all accounts a nice place to work, they aren't exactly on the cutting edge of competition. Mattel is going to hit them like a Tsunami. I hate to say it, but by the time it's all done I don't see any way that Mattel avoids all but gutting them wholesale. See above about product distribution and retailer relations. When those old methods hit Mattel there is no way that they or the staff practicing them survive. Which means Mattels first task will be basically rebuilding and relearning everything from the ground up. This alone will cripple them for a few years. 3. Factory capabilities and production. The biggest issue with MB, the thing that causes us to turn up our noses at them at times, and rail on about quality comes down to one thing. The plastic that they use. It is not the same as Lego's ABS. It is a more styrene based plastic common in other forms of injection molded products. (And yeah it is. Don't believe me, get a jar of Plastiweld. It can bond Megabloks but not Lego or KreO.) the thing is that Plastic choice now runs throughout MB's entire operation touching it on every level. The benefit is pricing. Ever wonder why MB is half the price of Lego? This plastic is why. Ever wonder why the sets don't stay together as well. They seem to slowly flex and warp? Same reason. But all of MB's machinery is designed around this plastic. (Which is not unusual. They set out as a common Injection Molded toy company. That is the common material to use. ) but to switch to ABS will probably take a total refit and recapitalization of their production capacity. At best we may start seeing some lines switched to ABS and their production sourced to some overseas factory. (More bad news for the Montreal crew.) but once again 3-5 years before we see any improvements there. Assuming Mattel simply throws money at the problem.

Yeah. As much as I would love to see Cumberbatch as a Marvel regular, I'm just not seeing him as Strange. Now he would be phenomenal as the Avengers Black Knight, would he not?

Do we have any indication yet what stores the Icebreaker and Arctic Plane will be exclusive to?