Dorayaki

I didn't say that WhiteFang actually made a custom print on these products, did I?

The bots look very sophiscated. But for prints, no one had opinion against the others like Cyclops or Witch . Perhaps we're not familiar with the characters yet so we don't accept their individuality. And we don't know how the bots make appearance in the movie. If they had human disguises (with double face prints, one is the human version like WhiteFang showed), the problem is solved. Or Emmet has to feel free to let a bot waitress serve him. Perhaps TLC don't do it for the bots but they will do for Zane.

If only the hair can be used on other minifigures .

Sorry, but I don't agree with you on this. Let's not think about minidolls and minifigures, in my mind Friends is more about "lifestyle", and City is about "public" and "career", while both are parts of a modern city life. There is an advantage to seperate the two themes because Friends won't be like some of the subthemes of City (Farm, Construction.... etc) who ended without a sound, until the theme ends by itself. It proves that the lifestyle side of City is a musthave for many AFOL/KFOLs and we won't see Friends stop in a short while. Also, while Friends targets at girls, it can provide a independent line of feminine building styles and light brick colors. It would be confusing when a police station or a public building appears under the brand of Friends. I think City can add some lifestyle things, but it would be more for boys' tastes or realistic world style like the Marina or Town Plan. A simple conclusion: every theme that features a distinctive style can give us more choices. If a Winter village police station is nothing different from a City police station, nobody wants it, definitely. Coming to the figures, as I mentioned in the OP, the problem we have now should be that TLC still focus on minifigures and leave little room for minidolls and its themes. Saying that minidolls would replace minidolls is just thinking too much. Lego's minidolls are nice, but don't forget that other competitors can design different types of small figures while minifigures are classic and exclusive to Lego, and they're still very popular for now. I've never heard that Ninjago is so popluar that the Ninjago fans begin to ask for Ninjago minidolls (interesting, but not in demand).

Gail could simply be one of Emmet's companion in his work place, and Mrs. Scratchen-Post could be described as a weird neighbor. In the worst situation, the two and Larry would only appear in the opening (which describes Emmet's typical day), and those Master Builders have no more thing to do in later storyline. Excluding the bots, Queen Marsha has some chances to be important if the protagonists have a mission under the sea. If we regard this movie as an action theme, though Wyldstyle is pretty cool, she is still a very typical leading heroine with brave and capable personality. Uni-kitty is a different move for TLC but could it be a cute guy? I'd like to see more villainess and female sidekicks, while the main cast isn't as colorful as what the CMF series are to me. Two bot ladies obviosly disturb many people. If one of them was human or other creature as Mr. Business' secretary or agent, the diversity would be perfect.

I don't have opinions against "theater theory". There might be some people who expect "real things" and don't like the idea (from other existed films or cartoon, much like "all things happened were merely a dream"), though we can still decide to like the "story" which is created by the minifigures(dolls?). There can also be a story within a story where the actual Lord Business sponsor this "movie" to execute his evil plan, but I don't think it would actually happen.

I think it's smart if the purpose is to motivate consumers to keep buying instead of being tired of regular series. But it doesn't seem smart if regular series just end or disappear for a long time, which isn't doing with the "freshness" thing. After all it's the designer who can make a series novel and cool, or even special series could be tedious in the same way. For now I don't think the so-called and rumored "MMORPG" is kind of special theme. If it doesn't include any specific protagonists from the storyline of the game, it could be very simiar with normal series. I'm sad to agree with these. That's pretty true, but that means CMF is probably losing its market and it could end if TLC don't do anything. Even though there are still some problems with special themes, just hope that TLC would try to find the best business solution. In my personal view, TLC has been trying to introduce new parts and designs though still with some rehashings. But if its market is declining, it's more about how they market than how cool the minifigures are.

Please ask The Lego Movie first . I believe that CMFs should only include exclusive characters from both original designs and licensed themes, unless they are discontinued. It's rather more debatable if the CMFs we get have already made appearances in regular sets.

I'd be upset if the rumored Simpsons CMF comes soon after the Lego Movie CMF without an interval of normal series. However I believe TLC won't stop making normal series. My concern is actually different from the questions above. I'm more worried about special themed CMF since we're not sure if TLC would continue this project in order to complete other existed licensed themes. If they just favor Simpsons and themselves, it'd be pretty unfair. However, the conflict between original series and special series could only be solved by adding more production by year. About number rumor, I believe most old fans stick to the old way. I personally don't see that need to change the numbering mechanism for now if it doesn't bring any good. Excuse me, I don't think you can understand once you don't accept this theme, even when it's just about regular sets. It's the conflict between all original series and special series, not which license TLC decide to import. Unless you find some resaonable thoughts like room for army building.

Masterchef, Next Top Model.... etc. Directly speaking, it's like Speed Racer and Cars which are aimed at racing car collectors. Top Gear is a good license that allows TLC to market and design based on their show format (well, Sugar Racing isn't in their heart). The previous World Racers also looks like a show concept but perhaps it didn't work as much as expectation. So put those joking aside, other types of reality show don't correspond to TLC's strategies. Maybe Survivor and The Amazing Race work if TLC want to introduce wild scene playsets. In the concept picture, it feels like that the minifigures of regular cast would remain flesh while other crew and contestants are yellow, like 8186 showed.

So that's the topic. Modding or intergration isn't that difficult if kids just put these sets together without expert MOC techniques. The problem lies in TLC more than consumers or kids. Friends was something City needed, but TLC decided to make it a seperate theme with a new figure. If TLC don't serve as a model themselves, like the OP showed, City would remain "imcomplete" and Friends would remain "isolated". Or what TLC can do is to make the City theme more comprehensive while still not related to any Friends set (solution 1).

I don't watch this show, but I'm shocked to see it's not a drama license which is a totally different targeted market. Would there be other weird reality show licenses? If TLC believe that it sells, I'm happy to see more TV program licensed themes and the BBC Sherlock project have a bigger chance. Doctor Who had given license to Character company, but they also make Minecraft toys. Unless they don't mind to have a competitor.

TLC is still progressing, though not very fast or impressive. There are some nice little buildings like abandoned houses, mine and "museum" (though it's often blamed for the size). It can be better if they keep on this way (eg, a warehouse for a harbour, or a mansion that theives want to invade). Now friends become one of the major source that allow AFOLs to find MOC house materials, or allow general consumers to get buildings for minidolls or minifigures. The others are Creator series, modular building series, and winter village series. However all of the themes have own different purposes and features, while City buildings don't show a clear position in Lego world. My answer is, City should represent a "macro view" (much like SimCity to the Sims). that determines which buildings are indispensable to a capital. Police and fire stations are two of them, but not all of them. The others that had once been in City/Town are train stations, gas stations and hospitals. But we seldom see other buildings being remade and TLC seldom try to come up with a totally new City building every year, and as result those bulidnigs who could had been in City end up as Friends and Modular ones. In my opinion, the big sets such as Town Square or Transport Station can have instructions about how to combine the bricks with roads and plates in order to decide its scale. AFOLs can try MOCs, but not for young builders or general consumers who don't know it very well.

Have you ever heard of Toy Story? But that's not a good example either, because what it showed (if there isn't going to be another sequel in these years) is that the other licensed characters (ex, the Potatoes and Barbie couples) didn't show up in any set. I'm actually curious if Barbie got to be a Lego minifigure/doll in this chance before MegaBloks. For Wreck-it Ralph sets, it could be easier because the licensed characters are not doing with the main storyline. The three games involved in this story are all parodies created by Disney. I don't think Zangief or Q Bert have to appear here even though I love them and I want to see them. Disney imported licensed characters into the two films mostly because they have to make it look like the real world, while only putting original characters would be less convincing. But it creates some problems for the toy companies who are competitor of each other and they can hardly make toys based on the whole theme. I don't think that's a case. Both Toy Story and the upcoming Lego Movie prove that mixing targeted markets in a theme works. Those who love the stoy would buy all, and each subtheme is also able to attract different fans at the same time.

I guess action minidolls can target at teenagers between 8~14 year olds who want to see more mature and sophiscated desgins like those from comic books (but as said, it needs more sizes of figures). It looks like the difference between Exo-Force and Ninjago, which have similar characters but target at different ages of consumers. For Avatar, since it is an existed theme it would be weird to change it into minidolls. Before asking TLC to design an action theme with good gender balance, adding some licesed themes of successful stories seems like a better way to test the market and know how many consumers are happy with female protagonists in Lego. I also like The Hunger Games, but it's not suitable for the targeted consumers of Lego and can only appear in Mattel Barbie. For now, the existed licensed action themes haven't really provided outstanding female protagonists. Star Wars is okay but most troopers are guys, and there is Harry Potter though it isn't noted as an action film. Super "Heroines" are still very few in its line so far. There is Merida from Brave, but we don't know if TLC would give her sets based on fight scenes in future waves. TLC is still progressing, but somewhat slowly. The major issue is they're trying to utilize the power of media (from TV shows to movie) and create stories to appeal KFOLs, but the signals behind the stories could possibly bring an opposite effect to gender balance. Uh.... Venus...

Yes, that's one of the method to change the story setting, but it would be difficult to determine which stories are based on the same canon. I personally think they could do more than it in order to market minidolls / Friends. Except that there should be a Friend representive in the Hall of Fame, they can also introduce a new minidoll character to join the main cast. (eg, Evageline, a rebellious and runaway minidoll girl that hates eveything of her hometown Heartlake City. She finds a parttime print-ad model job in Octan and wants to gain favor with the president in order to become supermodel.) What is done is done, I'd focus on the story before the commercial parts. I'd be happy if all existed themes can have a scene.

So far most Lego licenses are animaton or action, unless the Sherlock Holmes of BBC project get passed. I'm happy to see those non-action themes but they still have to be well-playable sets. Many movie licenses are adaptions to existed novels, and Prince Of Persia is also a game licensed owned by Ubisoft. But the authorization could be different between the original owners. Muppets could be regarded as an idependent license along with Marvel and Star Wars. I don't think it's difficut to make if TLC, who have made lots of newly-molded heads for othere themes, is also willing to do it for the muppets. I think The Good Dinosaur has potential in both System and Duplo. I'm not sure why there are no System Planes so far. Maybe the films themesleves don't target at older film lovers like Cars did, or maybe TLC would do it later.

Skirts are inevitable for girls' thems, however both minifigures in skirts and minidolls in trousers can't sit on studs. Perhaps it's better than none for them. Skin color is also a problem for dark skin characters. It happens sometimes in minifigures (licensed characters or robots from the Movie), but their hands and arms can be disassembled, though not in a playable way. Honestly I wished to see that the bodies of minidolls and minifigures are exchangeable. If they can, it would give a new skirt design for minifigs and we can mix up the two figures more easily. However the minidolls would become flat and fat. #29~33 is mostly the answer. Friends is still ongoing. New products have shown more diversity than City, but I think it can only make more people / targeted consumers notice that there is a product worth buying, not necessarily means they would regard it as a member of typical "Lego".

My previous three solutions focus on how to build a bridge between tradtional themes and Friends, or the market of younger girls. Since minidolls are not well-recognized yet, more themes for minidolls would only be choices for the targeted customers. TLC can introduce new kinds of minidolls that can also interest AFOLs and other consumers at the same time (eg, a cool burly samurai minidoll), though it seems more seperate from the world of minifigures. Well, we can hardly change the image or fact that minifigures represent "classic" of Lego universe. One thing I have in mind is, it's about not only a new type of figure, but a new theme for System line which represents an independent and specific market need. If TLC or some AFOLs consider that need as a niche rather than a new family member to Lego universe, it's pretty a shame.

Compare with normal minifigrues, the head of rumored Simpson figure actually share the same size of neck stud. We're just used to see normal licensed minifigures whose heads are "shorter" than the Smpsons. If we're not happy with it, we can only "press" the heads. But rather than size of head, I still hope that there would be removable headgears.

I'm afraid minidolls could be somewhat off-topic and you may discuss in the Lego Town thread. As other replies said, since it's about an action theme story, it's not doing with minidolls until TLC actually plan to create an action theme using minidolls. For now Friends is kind of a subtheme of Town/City. Perhaps there could be a competitive minidoll action theme if TLC can create more kinds of "naturalistic" figures with cool designs that can interest boys at the same time. Maybe boys could even fall in love with a burly and masculine trooper/samurai/monster minidoll. But here's another question: would the targeted consumers of Friends (younger girls) who weren't interested in tradtional themes become attracted to action themes?.

I really hope that all elements of major themes can make appearances. Some other themes with totally different scales (Duplo, Scala and BIONICLE) have difficulties being in this movie. Since the story has to concentrate on original stories and characters, I don't see they'll gather some protagonists from the old stories (Clutch Powers, for example) to influence the storyline. I also worry about the Friends. The most possible result is the movie only exists in its own universe, and so for any other Lego franchise. For example, the mayor of Lego City from Undercover is Ms. Gleeson, but perhaps there would be a totally different mayor in this movie, Ninjago or MMORPG. Well, TLC have rights to change things in order to make that story more interesting, but it would lead to no recognizable offical canon.When more and more themes locate in the same Lego City (except some like Heartlake City), it would become another New York city from DC Universe, where heros can only meet in crossovers but not their own story. If not, TLC would just choose some old characters that fit in this movie, while the others (Laval, Olivia, Clutch.. etc) never exist in this canon. It can also be a Toy Story canon, at least I'd like to see a real sense of storyline. But the kids are really lucky to be the first to own these new sets.

Licenses based on "film series" indeed have a better chance due to market potential and usable elements, but to me there are two cencerns: 1), if TLC only release one wave with a limited amount of sets, the used scenes and characters could be relatively fewer than other single film licesnes (eg, Harry Potter); 2), if sequels are made "after" Lego licenses, would TLC make renewals? (eg, Avatar). I'm very willing to see sequels to certain films like Wreck It Ralph and Brave, who all have potentials and room for more stories, but still we have to get the sequels first in order to prove this saying . For the existed Lego licenses, the Cars sets are okay to me, but I don't think the Toy story sets had completely contained the major elements of the trilogy, especially 1~2. Suppose that TLC is going to make Toy Story 4 sets, it's hard to believe that TLC would make up for the lost parts. For the Disney Princess, which is a license of multiple stories, not to judge whether the sets are good or not, we're not sure how this series trend and whether it is able to embody all elements of the stories. If there are more than four sets for each story, at least there should be more than fourty sets in this theme while it's still lasting. I think most Disney films correspond with the range that TLC want to target at, while the violent or political things that Lego would definitely not include mostly appear in other studios. It still depends on their suitability for Lego sets. As you said, the stories starring too many non-human characters have difficulties in being Lego sets.

Yes, they're different, though I think both are good ways to judge the products. It's ironic to see that a family house or a school from Friends look more complex and detailed than a "castle". The age limits seem like a requirement for System players rather than specific products. However, if TLC want to appeal even younger kids, it's strange because we already have Duplo Disney products for them. What I think is, not only the targeted consumers (young girls), but there is a wide range of consumers who are willing to buy a Lego Disney Castle. The product design looks too simplified for both of them. Perhaps the castle should have been: Ironically, the Duplo version of the Cinderella's carriage looks better than the System one. I guess TLC tried to make the carriage "buildable" as a single set, but it doesn't work. There should be more new parts.

Uh...., as said, the co-operative licenses should be independent, or we can only get Star Wars and Marvel sets in the upcoming 2014. Even though some themes based on a film series would have more chances and scenes, so far there are also several themes based on a single movie (though not all of them work). I guess it still depends on the movie's suitability for a Lego product.