MAB

In a way, it still is. For example, Monster Fighters was mean to be the monsters trying to get the moonstones so that they help Lord Vampyre unleash his evil monster army, and the humans were there to stop them. But for me, I preferred it with the monsters being the good guys and the evil humans were attacking them.

Imagine the complaints if the setting for the next Minions movie was some sort of huge, elaborate castle with printed heraldry... Minions keeping Classic Castle off the shelves.

Aren't they split between bags so that it is harder to steal all the minifigures by removing one bag and return to the store saying a bag is missing. Spreading them out means all bags have to be opened to remove all the figures, making it more obvious if a return has had the figures stolen from it.

It did with the Hobbit - the sets came out at similar times to the movies. And presumably the studios or LEGO thought that it would be a good idea to do LOTR as well - there were loads of LOTR MOCs at the time and I imagine LEGO was aware of this. IJ and POTC (at least for me) have much more longevity as a series than, for example, Despicable Me. In the same way as Star Wars is THE classic Space Opera, they are essentially THE historical action man and THE pirate franchise. People still buy merchandise for both franchises, and it is aimed at slightly older audiences. LEGO went all in to do them. Whereas with Trolls and Minions, I imagine they are just going for the short-lived movie tie-in and that's it. A lot of minions products got treated as essentially line clearance after the movies. If they do Gru and half a dozen minions connected with the new movie, I'm not sure what of the back catalogue they'd really want to do to make even more sales.

It certainly is a bit mix and match. Wearing chain mail as armour to protect the chest but just wearing a loin-cloth is probably not a very smart idea. Similarly, the fur jacket on the torso suggests that it is cold, but the loin-cloth that it is hot. They are decent parts for making other historical figures though. I use the torso for Rohan soldiers for LOTR, with no yellow print on it you can replace the arms with brown and hands with flesh.

It depends on the perspective of who is telling the story anyway. Robin Hood is a thieving outlaw if you are one of the law abiding citizens of Nottingham. Prince John was the usurping brother of King Richard from one point of view, or just taking on a role that his brother didn't fulfill as he was more interested in fighting in other countries and living in France if you are a follower of John.

It is a sad day if a 25, 35, 45, 55, 65 ... year old isn't allowed to laugh at a fart joke.

Sets based on current movie already have advertising by default due to the movies, so it makes sense to concentrate on them. Also the Studios like LEGO to do current movies, as it helps to co-promote the movie. If a kid sees toys based on the new Minions movie, or stuff based on Despicable Me (1), what is likely to be popular? The DM stuff will appear like old stock, years out of date.

Minifigures at extremes are rarely to scale.

Yes, it is pure speculation. He doesn't like LEGO jewellery, he doesn't think it would sell well and so that is why it is "cancelled". I would imagine LEGO put some thought into whether a product would sell well before designing it, planning it, having it in retailer catalogues, producing parts, etc. It is unlikely for them to do all that then think, this won't sell well so we'll can it. Much more likely that there has been some problems with the performance rather than projected sales - now my speculation - given it is a slap bracelet, I wonder if there has been issues with parts falling off when slapped around the wrist or when it is straightened again, or failing testing in that it hurts too much when slapped or possibilities of children doing it around a neck causing injuries. Of course, all things that should have been ironed out earlier in the process but clearly something has gone wrong.

People get upset with too much Star Wars. Others get upset with not enough. People get upset with no Castle, but they also get upset when LEGO do Castle and it isn't what they want. People get upset with the lack of LEGO Space, btuagain LEGO never do the Space people want, so there are complaints. People get upset that there are too many minifigures in Creator sets, but others get upset that there are not enough. People get upset. I don't think Minions is too immature at all. I recall quite a few people building Minion sculptures like the Porg at the time of Despicable Me and with these new sets, aimed at somewhere between 4-10 year olds, they are going to hit the right age group for core sales. I'd like to see a few sets, plus a CMF line to flesh out the characters but I am guessing it will just be sets. I also imagine that we will see them on sale at a discount, and they will sit on shelves towards the end. And not because they aren't popular, but because of over-production. The movie will come, sets will be bought, the movie will go and sets will remain - over production more than underselling.

I imagine they are already planned to be discontinued, in 2020.

They do look good, but where you are making copies of LEGO designs, you should really put your name or something on them to identify them as not lego. Especially if you are going to sell them, otherwise they could get into the secondary market as "genuine" lego parts.

They must do them molded like Mega did. Minifigure parts versions would look awful. Gru would be OK as a minifig, but needs a molded head. Plus, I hope they do a buildable model like the porg from SW.

Separators. I have too many, but I always buy them on BL to add to an order if they are cheap.

That's brilliant. And with the price of GBC-standard balls these days, it's quite apt that Scrooge McDuck has a vault full of them.

Many modern warfare models, kits, toys, etc are sold in toy stores. I doubt that kid cares much about the branding. Is a LEGO Hawker Harrier any worse than an Airfix Hawker Harrier?

Yah, I do not understand that change at all. I don't see what the problem was keeping these pieces as extras. Just because they were originally on a sprue with another pat that was used in the set, they are now classed as being a required part of the set even though they are not used.

Fun at the slaughterhouse. We'd get animals and some interesting minifigure parts, as well as nice bits for butchers' shops.

It is possible to open up a 40 year old sealed set and still get yellowed parts. I believe that heat is more important than light for yellowing.

That is a really effective way of doing the rice paddies. The torso - is that the one from the goblin, with the green skin? If so, that's a nice way of covering up the green bit!

I can understand the original being popular to see, the form itself is something you'd normally associate with "art" (whatever that is) but made from a kids building block. But after a few sculptures, they get a bit same-y. But the mini one, it doesn't really look like the original in the sense that it has lost its detail. More importantly, it has lost its originality. You have to know what the original is to appreciate this one. If you don't know what the original is, this looks really crap. It is like printing a low res copy of a painting that you downloaded from the internet on your wall. Plus, how will people feel when they are dropping in that 60th 2x1 yellow brick that LEGO have just charged them 10c for. Worse still, if you want to move it or dust it. At least the others have the option of being decent parts packs if they don't sell.

No it cannot. Each time it gets more brittle and eventually they will crack.

Maybe they only have one slot. I wonder if it is a real vote or if they have already chosen the winner, as it is a secret ballot so they could announce anything and nobody would be any the wiser.

I'm not a fan of the cheesy pop in most LEGO movies, so I'll go with the soft rock of Chima: Day of Glory