Faefrost

The Dark Knight was an amazing movie. A great piece of cinema. But to be honest it was really only a so so Batman movie. (My appologies if I don't seem to be making sense.) as someone else said Goyer tries to hard to hide from or be embarrassed by the source material. It might work on an individual case or two, but in the end it cripples any hope of actual world building and franchises. Marvel embraced their source material and got billion dollar movies out of it. WB's TV division saw the writing on the wall and quickly re aimed their Arrow series straight at the comics, and in return got one of the better shows on TV, with a rabid fan base. Goyer just comes off as a pretentious twit with no passion for or love of the materials he is working with. His Martian Manhunter comments particularly bother me. You have an Alien police officer, sucked through time and space and trapped on earth. He is a shape shifter and a telepath. A true alien lost in our world but able to walk among us. You can safely discard his classic Silver Age Superman like powers. Just keep him with those two core abilities and maybe some strength. How would a writer seeking to bring these properties to screen not want to use him? Just the contrasts you could bring out between him and Superman. The child raised among humans vs the true alien among us? Heck just imagine the TV show you could build around him? Now remind me why Goyer is getting paid for this and we aren't? Zachary Snyder is perhaps the worlds best Second Team Director. He has this incredible eye for visuals, provided you can get him to hold the camera still. But his story and character work is iffy at best. If it is anything longer or more dramatic than a sound bite he kinda loses the mark.

Sprite was Kitty Pride's original code name, before she settled on Shadowcat. Her outfit's for it were an original X-Men/New Mutants style school uniform, and then briefly a green outfit with blue trim (almost never seen.) The chances of a Thunderbird or Warpath fig went up by an order of magnitude. He appears prominently in the new DOFP movie. If Lego were to do a fig of him I suspect they would use the classic Red and Blue outfit that was worn by both John and James. As for the rest of your list, I think most are more than reasonable.

I managed to get the Croc boat and the Lion Temple on deep discount the other day.

Nah! That's perfectly normal in developing TV shows. It sounds like Sony gave him a shot with the big budget a Sinister Six movie. No one involved will begrudge him jumping at that.

Yeah I built this one tonight. It looks great. Not as great as the one in the movie, but still looks good. But it has so little articulation as to be more of a statue than a mech. A pivot at the waist would have greatly improved this one.

I think the expression on yours is much better than the official fig. And agree on wishing they made more. Or at a minimum I wish the Fire Nation ship was less expensive aftermarket.

The organic feel to the building just blows my mind. As others have said I have no idea how you pull that off, but well done.

Yeah, Ant Man has always kind of been the potential weak link in the chain. A virtually unknown character. A well liked director who is known more for his quirkiness than for big budget extravaganzas. Has photography started on it yet? Normally the term "creative differences" comes down to one or more of three things. The studio is not liking the story being presented ( common in pre production, look at Joss Wheedon leaving Wonder Woman. Boy did WB go wrong there.) the studio and director are at odds over final cut (typically happens later in production), or more commonly at this stage, budget conflicts. The director does not feel he can deliver what us needed at the price demanded. Which is a strong possibility in this case. Ant-Man has two opposed forces acting on it. He is a virtually unknown character outside of comic fandom. So the studio is going to be hesitant to commit a huge budget. But the only way for an Ant Man film to work is to be an expensive effects laden extravaganza. Think Honey I Shrunk the Kids dialed up to 11. (Weirdly GotG probably dodged this whole fight and just got handed a big bag o money because it is an even less known property, but it isn't considered a "comic book superhero" one. It is "Space Opera" which has a much much better track record.)

4-Lom and Zuckuss are two characters I am sure we will see at some point. I don't have a lot of expectations of seeing them match any animated shorts or TV shows however. Just as I don't think we will see a Kashyyck trooper in Wookie disguise.

It would be interesting to know if the increase in price for the non licensed CMF's is to in part basically bundle in a $.99 "paid character DLC" for the new Online game?

So I built 70165 Mobile Command Center last night and have it sitting side by side on my desk with the classic 8635 Set of the same name. So how do the two compare? Well the new one acquits itself well, and is probably one of the best sets at that price point you can get this year. While it does offer some improvements over the original, it does not quite surpass it in terms of shear awe inspiring coolness and play. (And yes I know I need to take some side by side pictures). Looking at the two, the new one is slightly smaller, about 3" shorter in the trailer, and only having 4 axels total instead of 5. The Cab; This section is a near toss up. With maybe a very slight edge to the old. The basic shaping of the two is very very similar. The new scores major points here for its cool styling, the wonderful way the new spring missiles are incorporated as front lights, and the fantastic way it connects and releases from the trailer. However the old gets the edge for having actual seating for two and having the third axel on the tractor. The lack of the extra wheel set really kills the news aesthetic. The Trailer; Positives for the new; structurally very sound. The new technic panel walls feel a lot sturdier than the olds large wall panels. The opening mechanism feels a bit less wobbly. Opening it does not have an overhead height requirement. Opening rear doors. Better and more truck like proportions than the old. Negatives for the new; The whole wheel assembly on the trailer just feels like it is missing something. Too open, not enough connecting side to side. It isn't flimsy but it looks flimsy. The way the front stand rocks out of the way when the cab is connected is a neat play feature, but is aesthetically kind of out of place just dangling oddly. No locking mechanism when the stand is down makes it feel a little wobbly when the sides aren't folded open. The six separate Independently hinged roof panels don't really have a lot of support. Especially when pushing down on them such as to stand a minifig on. Where the old really stands out; shear density of stuff. The new one by comparison has some issues with space. Because the left side wall folds down to become part of the play space, with things like the buggy and prison cell attached to it, space for these items must be maintained for when the wall is folded up. The result is the actual floor space of the trailer feels much more sparse. Whereas is old one is possibly the most dense play set Lego has ever made. Virtually ever stud of the old is littered with details and play items and cabinets and stuff. All without sacrificing useable floor space for Minifigs. You can have 10 Minifigs working (or jailed) in the old trailer, and still close it up and drive off. You can only have 2 in the new. 3 if one rides sideways in the jail cell. Even weirder some floor space in the new seems to be used in the same way as the old for no real reason. Case in point, the crane and striped off area. In the old the crane and striping was to lift the 4x4 buggy into its parking space/ service bay. But on the new the buggy is attached to the wall? So why the crane? To hold the jet pack? But if you leave the jet pack attached you can't close the trailer? Small Vehicles; no question the old wins this subject hands down. The old hides 5 smaller Agent vehicles in all of its nooks and cranies. The new? 2 the micro jet on the cab and the sideways slung ATV. Granted the new does win on villain vehicle. The Terabyte mech is great. Although the originals Inferno hover jet is an amazing lesson in unusual build and part use. minifig; slight edge will go to the new on this one. It has the far better individual Minifigs. With Terabyte being the true stand out. Each is wonderfully unique. The only downside to the new, it really needs another bad guy as a flagship set, and with 4 Agents one of them has to ride on the roof. Not cool dudes. The original had a perfect mix of 4 Agents and 3 villains. And the set still has room to fit in the other three agents not included in this set. Overall 70165 does not quite hit the legendary status of its predecessor. But it comes damned close, is an amazingly fun build and one you will be playing and fiddling and driving around for years to come regardless of age.

I thought the movie was green lit back at the beginning of the year, after the uproar of Ninjago being retired. And then it got kicked into overdrive and given a big theatrical budget when TLM hit it big?

I would agree with your estimates between the cottage and the market. Really these sets are selling into the "Christmas Village" market, mainly for use as holiday decorations. Much the same as some of the classic ceramic sets like the Dickens Village stuff. But as something the whole family can touch, help build and play with. (As opposed to trying to play with Mom's ceramic houses, which will get you sold for science experiments.) Given that very specific target market, the Winter Village Cottage was probably the most "Christmasy" if you will. It fit everyone's perceptions of what should be in that setting. Whereas the Winter Village Market? Honestly that is a much more regional or European setting. In North America they don't really associate Carnival rides and booths with Christmas. That sort of thing tends to be more a Spring / Summer sort of setting. Plus the Market suffered a bit from Lego's high priced play set syndrome. Expensive sets with a lot of little bits and pieces don't seem to be held as having as much perceived value as an expensive set with a clear large central build. The buyers will gravitate towards the big central house over the smaller Merry go round surrounded by small booths, at the same price point. Even if they have the same part count. You see this in other lines as well.

I just built the Helicrane. It's actually one of the most stable and solid Lego Helicopters I have ever seen or laid hands on. You would not think so to look at the pictures, but I think you could drop it and not lose any parts. The more pictures I see the more I am drooling over the Icebreaker. I just redid my office for the Summer to have a whole long shelf of all of my ships, and I left a space especially for the Icebreaker. Has anyone confirmed, does that lab module that comes with the Icebreaker attach to the base camp? It looks like it might connect to the living quarters and give the Basecamp and actual entrance with steps?

I never would have imagined there was a "proper" way to use them? I always assumed they were meant to work either way to allow for some variations and textures.

Generally we start hearing rumors around August and get actual info around September- October for retail themes. d2C stuff they can keep much closer to the vest and we often will not hear about until a month before release. (Case in point The Mixer)

I think it is more that there is greater crossover between what used to be considered "internal only D2C" product and "retail product" these days. TRU Walmart and TRget are all carrying what used to be D2C stuff via their web sites, etc. the designation slowly became meaningless. A lot of the newer sets such as the Simpsons seem to exist in a Grayer area. We have also observed a few hints that the 10xxx series of numbering may have been used not simply for D2C, but for other "internal customer set designs" such as statues and display pieces. Stuff that is not for customers, and not for sale, but exists in their catalog of designs for internal use. So they may have eaten up more of the 10xxx range than we would be aware of.

I'm not sure that describing it as "not a part of their core values" is quite accurate. Lego is privately owned and operated by a family of reasonably devout Christians. Faith certainly was a part of their core values from early on. When they were selling into a less global market and had a more homogenous work force they did offer Church models and a common Christmas gift to employees was a Lego made cross. As they have grown and expanded they have opted not to portray or offer play that involves real world conflict. They also recognize that they are selling into a broad mix of faiths. As such they neither use their business to proselytize for their faith nor risk offense of others. Feeling that child's play should be as inclusive as possible. (Understandable these days. Just look at all the fun they had surrounding Jabba's Palace ). The religious restrictions are not quite on the same level of the much deeper true core value of "no war toys".

Wonderful little set, and possibly the one that brought me out of my dark ages. The lack of Threepio and R2 are pretty well covered by what was at the time a nice little inexpensive set. 9490 Droid Escape. That will give you the full Episode IV primary cast, plus a couple of Sandtroopers. I keep being tempted to get one more of these before they disappear (which I think is happening now. It's finally starting to vanish from shelves.)

It is and it isn't. Like you don't really expect a lot of play gimmicks to sets like PR. But it is nice to have at least one set that lights up the eyes of the entire family while it is still on the shelf. The Fire Brigade really filled that roll. It attracted a much broader range than just AFOL's being a bigger and better take on the classic and always present City Fire Stations. The roll up door, Fire engine and firemans pole added a little extra zing to the set that let it act as a gateway bridge between Lego's classic younger toy builders and AFOLs. Which they have made a large number of. I think I have 4 or 5 Blacksmith shops in my collection. MMV, Kingdoms, Ninjago, etc. I do agree that a Library or Post Office might not seem quite timely. Kind of like sitting a rotary phone down in front of a modern child. Of the two the Post Office is probably the more recognizable. I've long thought a classic corner Pharmacy and Soda Fountain, ala the classic US Rexall drugs chain would make a really nice Modular. With a Doctor or Dentists office above it would make a great little Medical scene for the town without having to shoehorn a Hospital into a 32x32 space.

Rather slim in the short term I would think. They plan the CMF's and similar impulse type stuff a long time in advance. So much so that it seems to be dificult for them to react when the small stuff sells faster than expected. By the time the sales results of the Simpsons CMF's are being seen they are probably 2-3 waves ahead in CMF planning and development. And once they get that far ahead it is unlikely they will go back and revisit a license like this, unless they had planned for subsequent releases initially.

Full disclosure should report that this particular part of Groot's biography was relayed to readers by way of the character "Maximus the Mad", who is himself quite well named. It may be viewed as somewhat unclear if Maximus was in fact talking with Groot, or simply the voices in his own head. Although based on his interactions with the two regular Guardians characters that can communicate with him, Rocket Raccoon and Mantis (Who is not in the movie since more than one green chick gets confusing for we mortals, outside of some of James T Kirk's naughtier moments.) it can be safely implied that Groot is quite intelligent, if not one of the more intelligent members of GotG. Granted that is not a particularly high bar to leap.

That probably preserved a few points of your IQ. Let's see how were they stupid, let me count the ways? (Note this is hard to do because virtually every line of human dialogue is worse than something out of an old Saturday morning Cartoon. And I don't mean the classic ones. We're talking Jabberjaw level bad here.) The main character His parents Every interaction between the main character and his parents culminating in the "masturbation discussion" (yeah no joke that happened. John Tuturo, every word out of his mouth as the worlds least secret secret agent. Culminating in a transformer peeing on his head. The Blonde Australian chick "they're hacking Air Force one" and "only one hacker is good enough to solve this" The fat black hip hop hacker arguing with his mom. Bonus points for the donuts scene. The constant flow of Michael Bay'ism style military cliches shouted out from the Army guys, ie "bring the thunder" And that's just off the top of my head from the first movie. Generally viewed as the deeper and more intelligent of the trio, before they dialed up the full on stupid. The basic impression is Michael Bay watched a couple of old episodes of Married with Children and said "that's what we need for Teansformers! Just with more offensive stereotypes!"

The ages don't really line up. Star Lord would have had to become a father around 13 or so. While not impossible, unlikely in a Marvel Disney product.

The trailer just writes itself. batman! "V"! superman! See these two heroes go against each other in their greatest battle ever! CIVIL COURT PROCEEDINGS!