MAB

Now for the exciting bit ... the reveal of the prizes. Are we getting a sneak preview again first, before the whole thing?

What is the girl with the pink hat and green ears meant to be. Did they just make too many Green Goblin parts and need to get rid of them?

My ideal snow ... my eldest son after a snowball fight (it's usually the other way around).

Shouldn't the US parts have been released after Germany, France and Britain? :-)

Beautiful model. I need to get some of those new tassles.

I'd like to see three grades: New Used - very good to excellent (looks like only used by an AFOL, not scratched, heavily used, been in a bucket for years ...) Used - scratched or cracked (for old kids' lego) I tend not to buy second hand / used at BL as I have found quality can be hugely variable. Some sellers so only very good quality used parts, but others will sell for example cracked torsos as used without noting the damage. But BL is so very conservative, it'll take years to happen.

Lovely model. I'm not sure about it being the most important year though. The same could be said for 43, 843 (for those north of the border), 1066 (most English people would probably say then), 1215, 1485, 1588, 1659, 1707, 1815, 1918, 1945, 2016, ...

Betrayed? Not at all. Great building parts, great minifigure parts. And kids love it too. Is it vintage castle? No. But then I don't think it is any less "real" than vintage castle. That would really tie them down to the licensed material only, no new ideas about storylines and characters, and they would not be able to produce all of the other media that they are doing with Nexo Knights.

Has anyone bought one of the white Statue of Liberty figures (not the copied Lady Liberty CMF) It seems to have an interesting skirt piece, somewhere in between the regular roof slope and a minidoll skirt. I almost wish it had a regular roof slope for the skirt, it would be ideal for Roman citizens.

Very nice. I especially like the statue and the spears in the sand idea. It looks like you have placed quite a big brickwarriors order. I love their helmets and shields. And I'm glad to see I'm not the only one that uses women's skirts to kit out ancient Greeks. I guess at least Achilles get's a man's skirt!

I imagine the only route to getting Forestmen type sets these days is if there is a popular kids' movie that comes out based on Robin Hood or similar, and LEGO picks up the license for it. Forest-space-robots action theme on the other hand, maybe their next in-house line.

In that thread a mod is selling EN stickers (since the ban came in), so presumably the ban only applies to companies doing knock offs, but individuals can continue to make and sell fakes for profit / the good of the community*. *delete as appropriate. There is a fine line between what is a company for profit and what is a person doing it as a favour but a little money. I guess the line might be different in different sub forums depending on the mods.

Yes, but only to black with RIT dye. It looks black from a distance. But if you hold it to light it is a very deep red translucent colour. I tried some other colour dyes on clear parts and they all remained transparent (which was what I wanted).

I'm not sure what the adjective pure is referring to in this sentence. The theme it self is not pure, and that seems to be the problem many people have with it. It is impure in that it derives from two distinct themes; castle (historical) and space (future). Senseless? Not really, it has a perfectly good purpose like other themes. Brainless? It seems to have a well defined storyline, way better than other kids' TV series and this is thus projected onto the sets. Horrible? Only in the eye of the beholder. Action, I agree. So "It's action stuff".

That is (possibly) what the court case is about (Lego haven't actually said what they are contesting yet), and the second part (criminal offense to purchase) will depend on where you live once the decision is made. Does that extend to other bootlegs / knock-offs / fakes too, such as 3D printed versions LEGO parts that are no longer sold at retail - although genuine parts are available at BL, eBay and similar marketplaces?

$100 a pound? No chance.

Looks awful to me, a big black box with wings. I'm also in the camp of "no way".

I was just thinking about that. If it is a knock-off but the same shape as the official one and you are going to paint it anyway, then would they know it is a knock-off? When I customise I also tend to do it with knock-offs due to cost. Why damage a real part when you can damage a fake?

Could you clarify these two: What if they are doing alternative versions of minifigures that TLG do make? So, for example, Batman or Joker in a different costume. What if they are doing characters from an IP that TLG has but doesn't make the minifigures? So, for example, Fantastic Four when they do have Marvel. Obviously neither being exact copies of TLG products.

It is the bricks that are clones, not the sets. And of course, everyone calling any building brick a "lego" or refering to all building bricks as lego(s) is exactly what lego don't want and they say as much in their fair play brochure. They don't want the term to become a generic one for fear of losing it. Although of course I am also breaking the guidelines, by writing lego instead of LEGO and not adding a noun afterwards.

Another complication - what if lego lose the court case? Or win, but it turns out that what they were objecting to was the use of their artwork and not the design of the sets? In that case, lepin would then be a clone not an (illegal) knock-off.

Theoden in his armour has to be my favourite. Perfect level of detail without going to far and looking non-lego like.

The ones in the first picture of just customs. For example, one of them has the Harry Potter Lucius Malfoy / Death Eater head, SW torso, etc. Also the Royal Guard headgear seems to have been painted. It is way too shiny. Most figures are recognizable if you know the source. I don't find any of the ninjago ones recognizable as I don't watch the TV series or play with the sets. I know they are ninjago, but I couldn't tell you who they are. The same will be true of SW. If someone doesn't follow the franchise, they are unlikely to know who minor characters are but might know key characters as they enter popular culture. For example, Darth Vader might be highly recognizable even if you have never seen the films, but General Veers less so.

I guess it depends what you want to show and who you want the tribute to be aimed at. If you google Lego Twin Towers you will see architecture style builds of the Twin Towers, as well as models of the moment they were hit. Or you could go for a minifig scale vignette and focus on the firefighters for example if you want to aim the tribute at them.

If I remember correctly 20 or so years ago, they came in the same sets as the correct colour ones. Unless someone opens a new set and proves it to BL, they will never add it as an alternate figure to the inventory.