Clone OPatra

Thanks for these lovely pictures. As I tend to write overly lengthy reviews myself, I would never have found myself saying that one could have too many pictures, but I think this almost qualifies Regardless, this is a great set and showcases perfectly what I love about LEGO's (generally one-off) movie licensed themes - these themes give LEGO an opportunity to make unusual stuff unlike what they do in all of the vehicle-based or iconic-license themes (LotR, HP, etc.). Prince of Persia and now Lone Ranger have given us a lot of sets that look uniquely great, aren't too specific to anything, and make superb parts packs as well. Since these films don't have iconic imagery, the sets really have a broad reach.

What exactly is wrong with the Friends house? I think it's a lovely modern model, and it's mostly tan anyhow with just some pink/purple/other color accents. Regardless, the Simpsons house won't look like that because it doesn't. It's a fairly average and boring looking (plus monochrome) house. I can see LEGO doing it in a muted orange color, since that would pretty much match the show.

Looks very nice and stylized. I only wish you had a smaller version uploaded so that you could deeplink it in your post (max of 800x600). Alternatively you could consider uploading to Flickr, which automatically gives you size options no matter how large your original image is.

The comic book store is definitely a possibility, but I don't think it's quite recurring enough to warrant a set yet. Nor do enough characters interact with it. A Kwik-E-Mart set would be much more likely because it features so prominently, and could involve any of the family plus Apu, Flanders, Snake, and many more. A scientist lab with Frink seems like a good set possibility because it could involve a cool contraption or two for the meat of the set. While, like the comic shop, Frink's lab doesn't show up that often, it just has a lot more potential for a cool set than a comic store, IMO.

Awesome MOC. The water effect especially is really cool, and a superb way to represent deep to shallow waters. The sheer scale is also fantastic. One element that stood out to me as looking a little odd is the nose. The rounded parts at the bottom of the shark are great, but the transition from 2Dish to the 3D nose doesn't work quite as well, perhaps made especially prominent by the overhang. Have you tried it with a less 3D nose?

Well, only two Lone Ranger sets have the horse, which seems low given that the horse plays a prominent part in the film. I agree that not every set needs Silver, but perhaps one more would have been nice. Plus, are repeat horses ever a problem? When it comes to horses, my attitude tends to be -

It's not really waiting 30 years. LEGO didn't start doing licensed themes at all until Star Wars, but I don't see them having the capability ten or even five years ago to do something like the Simpsons. LEGO is so much of a bigger brand now that they can do something geared toward a slightly older demographic. Maybe little kids aren't so into The Simpsons, but plenty of college-aged and older people are. It'll all come down to how the minifigs look for this one, so I for one am eagerly awaiting pictures.

These Clone jokes are just 2 Fast 2 Furious. Now why aren't there Licensed sets for that franchise? Shame.

This wave is an interesting, mainly EpIII mish-mash. The one thing that really sticks out to me is the lack of new Jedi. After the EpII summer wave, where LEGO stuck new Jedi in absolutely everything, now they've done a full switch! I guess it's good for army-building purposes that the Battle of Saleumaci doesn't have Adi Galia, but really that set seems so bare without her. It's just another (this time extremely ugly) BARC and a bunch of battle droids, plus one great clone. Not feeling that. The Kashyyyk BP is the star in my mind of what we've seen. Those clones are ridiculously awesome. They were the coolest looking design in the movie, and LEGO has nailed them. Even with that horrid Phase II helmet mould, in the pictures at least they look great. It looks like there is some strange new mouth-piece mould? The art for the DS Gunners seems to show that, and the other characters with mouthpieces also look like they have a 3D piece and not just a printing. If it works with hair and hat pieces, that would be really neat. Looking forward to seeing the rest of the wave.

Because the 'Big 3' aren't the main characters? We know that the main characters will be young(ish) people, so naturally it will be interesting to see what actors will be cast.

Reviews aren't a given; they get made when/if people feel like making them, so either some of the more regular reviewers haven't been interested in the sets, or they haven't found the time or desire to make reviews.

Wow, that's really an incredible story! Great job digging into this. It's always so much fun hearing about things 'behind the scene,' but especially of a whacky concept like this! I also find it very interesting that it seems the video game company designed the theme, and not LEGO? I would have assumed that LEGO designed things and then commissioned a video game for their theme, but it doesn't appear so in this case. That makes me wonder about other video games at the time, like Rock Raiders. That was surely a theme first, wasn't it? (Although LEGO Island was a game before it became a very strange theme.) Honestly, I think they went the right route turning it into a cohesive Spy Theme. Given LEGO's general design capabilities at the time, I think a theme based on the original concept would not have translated very well, and would've just seemed like a bit of a mess. Ironically, there now will be a theme with different types of stuff based on The LEGO Movie, but that's a whole different story because LEGO has grown so much since the days of Alpha Team, and being a movie tie-in also helps it work. I can't say I really loved all of the Alpha Team sets (nor do I own many of them, since I didn't care for many at the time), but I appreciate the theme nonetheless. I really like how LEGO used to take characters and then put them in completely different situations from wave to wave. I suppose Johnny Thunder and Alpha Team are the only true examples of that, but Ninjago comes close too. Other themes where every wave just adds on but doesn't change things (Space Police III, Power Miners, Galaxy Squad and Chima so far) have great stuff too, but putting characters in a whole different setting really has a higher level of charm.

If you change everything post 1973 - how does that not undo 1 and 2? Last Stand takes place maybe a year tops after 2; how can you erase just that?

That article says nothing. It's all the interviewer hinting at things and making assumptions, but Singer doesn't say anything. 'Fixing things' could be to have Professor X not be dead, or maybe to have Colossus be an actual character (instead of be a main X-Man but only have 3 lines). I really didn't get the sense that it would create an alternate timeline, even if the interviewer wanted to suggest that. Since Trask doesn't actually factor into the X-Men trilogy or The Wolverine (I know he's in Last Stand for a second played by a different actor), it is possible to have a whole story that changes Trasks's timeline but leaves everybody else's mostly alone. Or when Wolverine comes back to his present body, some things have changed, but that doesn't exactly erase all of the previous things that happen. That'd be stickier, though. As to what can or can't be erased - Origins can't really (maybe parts, but who really cares). But Last Stand can't be erased alone. There's no way to erase just Last Stand without also undoing all four - X1 through The Wolverine.

On the subject of X-Men things, I'm very confused as to how Days of Future Past is going to work. The 'present-day' appears to be set in the same continuity as the X-Men trilogy of films and The Wolverine. The past picks up from First Class. In the comics, the 'future' is just some alternate thing, and they keep it from really happening in the past. But, if Wolverine goes back and stops things from happening, that will create an alternate timeline from the three X-Films and The Wolverine. Is that the intention? I just feel like that'd be super-weird, to semi-erase four movies. Maybe somehow they won't be erased, but I just can't fathom how. It makes me even more excited to see the movie when it comes out.

Those aren't official: see here, 'fan made.' I thought that Wolverine poster was fan-made just by the fact that 'present-day' Wolverine won't be old and gray looking. It's pretty common knowledge that there's a teaser for DofP on The Wolverine, and it's not spoiling anything to say that Wolverine looks just as he always did. So, cool fan art, but not representative of the film.

You could also display the figure with the motorcycle but not on it. Positioned right, that could look good and then you could easily see the deail on the figure, since if you want it on the cycle the view is almost certainly going to be limited or obstructed.

Even though future sets will (most likely) be based on the movie, and even if the movie is usual overblown Bay crap, that's no cause to think that the sets will be bad. We'd definitely be in for some cool minifigures, and potentially more differently-styled Turtle/villain vehicles that could be better than the current ones. The best thing about the current wave is, by far, the minifigures. The sets really aren't so appealing as sets (parts packs might be a different story). The Turtles especially are stars, and LEGO will likely re-use the excellent head mould even if the figures have a different printing style. More turtles, maybe even in a different shade of green (if they look darker in the movie), will be cool no matter what.

The name of the set does include 'Chase,' but I'm not sure what chase is going on in the current picture.

That is definitely a much lower quality, more strangely lit render than the other two (DC and LEGO Movie), but I still wouldn't be surprised if it's real. We've seen some off-looking LEGO photos before that turned out to be real - anybody else remember that picture of the Venator that hadn't yet had the background taken out to white? This set looks pretty boring. The AT-AP is an ugly vehicle to begin with, and I don't think it translates too well. The Phase II helmet introduced for the Clone Wars is just plain awful; the proportions are so out of whack (I thought it looked that way from the pictures but I actually own one too, so my opinion is based on something). That just makes Gree less exciting, since he appears to use it. I can't believe I'd actually say LEGO should've made another tree, but really a Kashyyyk tree with command center, Gree, a Kashyyyk trooper, a wookiee, and some battle droids would've been so much better (could've thrown in Yoda too for more mileage out of that new PT Yoda).

That's the schedule for panels; he was talking about booth reveals I believe. Today the new Minecraft stuff was revealed, so if it's really only one theme reveal per day Superheroes will be coming later in the week.

The amount of whining and complaining both last year and this year about these exclusive figures is simply astounding. LEGO doesn't owe anybody anything, and making Comic-Con exclusive figures isn't a snub to anybody. If you don't want to pay for the figures, you can treat them as if they didn't exist, because that's how it is. These are just some extra goodies for people at the convention, and like anything special nowadays, they then end up on the secondary market for lots of money because they are rare. But that doesn't mean anybody is entitled to have them. The line of thinking that if LEGO makes a figure, they must make it widely available to everyone is just ridiculous. Complaining about the Iron Patriot figure makes a lot more sense, given that he should have actually been in the sets. Most of the SDCC figures were never going to be in sets, and some of them still can be - this Green Arrow has a completely different print style than the non-Man of Steel DC line anyway.

It's still a great figure for its parts or for people who don't care about the canon of the show.

Would you actually want an exclusive Robin in a (likely) hard-to-come-by polybag? I think that would get a lot of people moaning, and rightfully so. It's about time LEGO released a different Robin variant or Nightwing (honestly, they should've done so in Arkham), but they should stick it in a regular set, not a polybag.

I heartily agree with KingofZempk, it's animated to look more 'realistic.' Obviously in action shots the LEGO figures are still bending out of a proportion a little, but it's animated to look a lot closer to real-life LEGO than the video games. Personally, I think that looks absolutely awesome! The previous shorts and things are nice for what they are, but the animation style in this movie looks much more unique and interesting. I believe the point of the film is to be about actual LEGO toys in the real world, so the animation style here is perfect for that. I didn't know what to expect from this movie, but this trailer anyway shows itself to be paying plenty of fan service while still just being funny overall. I can't wait to see where this goes now.