Crownie

Love the comic, Echo. Hilarious!

Wait. You're already deciding what to buy and what not to buy based on this one lousy promotional shot from a retailer's catalog? Talk about putting the cart before the horse. As far as the Forest Ambush set, I can't imagine anyone can make out much of anything. We get hints of shapes and some colors. Not enough to 'paint' a very good picture at this point. I'd say 'wait' is indeed the word.

I still remember how excited I was when I saw the first screenshots for Rollercoaster Tycoon in 1999. I never did become a theme park designer, but I still love this game to pieces. That you married it to LEGO is fantastic; and these are quite recognizable, too! Great job! The swinging ship especially excites me - it's not something I would've thought could translate well into LEGO, but you really nailed it. It's both totally awesome and adorable. Thank you so much for sharing!

And the poo flinging has begun.

This has to be the most awesomely thoughtful Christmas present ever. These turned out incredibly well; when I first read the title of the thread, I was like "What the Hell?" - then I read your name and thought "Well if anyone could pull it off..." And you did! Man, I could just live in the 80's sometimes. Seeing your customs always brings a grin to my face; thank you so much for sharing!

I think these TMNT sets look great, but my gut instinct seems to coincide with what Hobbestimus alluded to. It's hard for me to compare it to anything else, but I'm still getting a "one-and-done" vibe from this theme. I guess you could say it's disappointing, but then I never really expected otherwise so I'm not as annoyed as I otherwise might be. (That sounded better in my head. But then, most of my thoughts do, lol.) Here's hoping TLG proves me wrong!

I'm a bit new to a lot of this, but I really want to tell you how amazed I am by your work, Mark. I mean, seriously, I love everything I've seen you do. It's incredible! I find a lot of the MOCs I see to be overstimulating - just too much going on for my eye to settle anywhere comfortably. Yours tend to be a bit more concise and to-the-point. That probably sounds weird, but I'm not sure how else to describe it at the moment. Just my initial rambling impression, lol. As for your castle above, I think my favorite part is the winding path up from the surf to the tower. It reminds me a bit of the board game Fireball Island which I loved the heck out of as a kid. If you're unfamiliar with it, you should look it up - 3D gameboards were all the rage! That, and I really like the smaller island or rocky section in the corner. While it doesn't seem to contribute directly, and isn't something most people would think of, it really balances out the composition of the overall piece. Wonderful.

I'm certainly counting my blessings. I feel for you Pirate Fans. And Faefrost, you got it I think. At first I thought releasing a new Fantasy-based castle line next to LOTR and The Hobbit was odd, but they really are for 2 different age groups. The children too young for Middle Earth will most likely still want 'their own version' - something similar but more appropriate. (In Mom and Dad's eyes, anyway.) And also, for those of us that grew up on Classic Castle, the recommended age group was 6-12 then as well. As far as the 'simplicity' of the pieces, I think today's lines are still far more complex. As a CC fan myself, I certainly don't feel I can complain too much at all. Besides, we could be 'in the boat' with the Pirates fans. (See above, and sorry for the nautical pun - I couldn't resist.) More castle is more castle. And that is a very good thing.

Well, I do think it's definitely part of the set, whatever it it is. It crosses in front of the LOTR banner, which is something that seems to be reserved for set parts only. I've never seen part of a background or something not included in the set cross over graphic banners before. So bird or reptile, it's pretty exciting! (I can see the eagle now that I stare at it more. Or maybe that means I've been staring too long, lol. It's like a magic eye painting... *stares more* Is that my aunt Mary? )

I did kind of get the DUPLO vibe, myself. However, I see a lot of great pieces and ideas being used so I'm still looking forward to purchasing the line. I've got to support LEGO castle any way that I can, and prevent it from going the way of LEGO pirates...

I've told myself that I wasn't going to get into Superhero LEGO, but the possibilities for this set... It could fit into so many other themes, and the parts - SO many awesome parts. I don't think I'll make up my mind just yet. There's so many other 2013 sets I've got to get first, but I can't entirely rule this one out any more. It really does look impressive. Thanks for another incredible review; you make my lunchtime reading awesome!

The March date was one of the first rumored way back when. The word around here for the past couple of months has been summer 2013, so I'm certainly not surprised. Fits right in with my 2013 LEGO budget plan, lol. So about that giant dragon-looking creature in the background of the black Gate set... Part of the CGI background or a new creature design for LEGO? I'm surprised no-one's said anything yet - that's the first thing I saw. It does seem to remind me of Smaug more than a Fell Beast, though. Funny.

Exciting! I see rearing horses with barding and helmets....and the revised Dragon looks pretty cool from what I can tell. I'm surprised they went in a fantasy direction with LOTR and The Hobbit currently running. Oddly, I'm not sure I like the design direction the large Castle is heading in, however. It does remind me a bit of Knight's Kingdom. I'm going to try not to form much of an opinion yet; we'll get a much better series of pics come Toy Fair, I imagine. I'm definitely excited for the return of castle, whatever the form!

Thanks for the review! I had initially stuck this set on my list just for the figures, and it looks like that reason is going to stand for the time being. I don't have any interest in the vehicles from this line; the real challenge will be finding out different uses for some of the more specialized parts. The minifigures really are the selling point of this line for me. Thankfully, I've got more than enough other purchases to buy in 2013 to get too carried away worrying about Chima... It's definitely good to see Crawley's Claw Ripper 'in the flesh', sort of speak. Thanks again!

Wow, thanks! It worked really well. Any plans on using Chima to develop some Thundercats MOCs? I'm really loving the work I'm seeing on your Flickr page. The world could use some more 80's goodness, that's for sure!

This turned out wonderfully. The modularity really works well, and I can easily see the finished product as an official 'deluxe version', if such a thing were ever produced. Splinter's dojo is a vast improvement and really reminds me of some of the new shows' environments. Loving the Living Room complete with Space Heroes as well. (And now that I'm looking at it, where did you get those stickered pieces for the dojo floor? They're really cool.) Awesome job!

Wow, this artist is fantastic. Thank you so much for linking to his Deviantart page. I'd definitely be willing to help support him as an illustrator, amazing LEGO creations aside. Heck, he even makes Starfox LEGO look appealing, lol. As far as this Cuusoo mess goes, I think this is the first and last post I'll be making in any of these related message threads. I find the lack of maturity and forethought rather grating, and I've had to stop reading several times. I realize that not everyone can either be or act like a mature, reasonable adult, but its still amazing just how much senselessness is being flung around. I suppose it's just a bit too easy to rant and complain on the internet. To both come full circle and end on a positive note, I do want to thank you Aanchir, for posting your thoughts in a constructive, thoughtful manner whenever possible. People like you make frequenting fan message boards a much more pleasant experience. (And I've managed to learn quite a bit as well.) Thanks!

I saw what you did there. (Even if it wasn't intentional, it still made me chuckle.)

Your reviews are always fantastic, and this one is no exception. You make me want to run out and buy sets for themes I don't even follow. I never considered myself much of a 'car person', but that hover-car is completely awesome. And it transforms! I'm already swooshing it around in my head, lol.

Oh man, I was banking on these not being good at all. Now I've got an entire additional line to add to my 2013 list. I'm both excited and horrified at the same time, lol.

Aw, I loved that. Thanks for embedding!

I like that dream. In reality though, I fear that the Falcon's appearance in Kingdom's Joust was the set equivalent of a cameo, nothing more. I really hope LEGO proves me wrong. *crosses fingers*

Hmm. Because the Hobbit was initially supposed to be two movies - not three - and we got 6 sets for the first wave, I'm kind of going on the assumption that TLG has (or had) about 6 more sets assigned to the Hobbit film(s). All of which would take place after the barrel escape. The extra 6 months and extra film really does throw a wrench into things. If LEGO generally spends a year developing and producing each set, how much leeway do they have to make adjustments this late in the game? Do we expect more than 6 additional sets? Or even that many? Realistically, you'd think some of this depends on the popularity of the films and LEGO sets, though with that year of lead time, I'm sure TLG has a certain amount already invested. It will be interesting to see if they go backwards chronologically to cover material they've missed, though I'm certainly not expecting it.

As iconic as the Troll scene is to the story, I could never see it making it's way into a LEGO set. The three trolls are too similar in appearance to create entirely different figures - most likely they'd all have the same body with different heads. Can you imagine what the cost of something like that would be? Not only for LEGO, but for the consumer. I don't think most kids (or parents for that matter) would appreciate blowing their entire Christmas/Birthday/Gift fund on one medium LEGO set only to find it contained three nearly identical figures. The other option would be to just have one Troll, but then that'd be weird too. I mean, where are the other ones? How can you only have one troll from a scene so heavily built on a trio? It's a bit sad, but I'm not sure there's a way LEGO could win this one. It's probably best they left it alone; people would complain either way.

These are fantastic pictures. I feel a bit odd saying this, but I've always wanted to own my own retail displays, or to display my LEGO sets just like some of the ones in these pictures. There's something so appealing about them - the orderly way they display the sets and the accompanying graphic displays of information. This might be a bit off topic, but is your DVD/Download still available? And can you refer me to where I might find information on it? You've certainly done your homework.