dviddy

I have made copyrigth claims against other flickr users before, as I've had several MOC images stolen by users who re-upload and claim it as their own. Flickr/Yahoo's IP department is incredibly frustrating to deal with, and it took me days after the initial report and dozens of back-and-forth emails with flickr/yahoo support to get the images removed. If you do not have valid proof of ownership, flickr will refuse to remove them.

Previous retail catalogue leaks are actually leaks, no need for the conspiratorial quotes. Those coming out prior to controlled finalized images are bad for business, as they allow competitors time to mimic or complete bootlegs and competing products.

They didn't botch anything- they are purposefully charging higher prices in Europe than in the US. In many zones, LEGO is considered a premium product, so they price accordingly. Market dictates price. Europe and Australia pay those prices because both zones expect LEGO to be a higher rated you experience, whereas Americans are used to lower price points for toys since only recently has the idea of a high-end premium toy for not just kids become mainstream.

This is my favourite of all of these, as far as judging from photos goes. Also, your photos of this one are top-notch. Better than any that will show up on BZP this round, too. I should really not have fallen behind on my reviews so I could have gotten some too, haha.

Definitely my least favorite looking of the entire wave. When I get around to it, I don't think I'll be importing this one.

Going from talking about a US release to the phrase about living in "the north" just tends to imply Canada, not Nirthern Europe, from my US-centric life experience.

Well in context that makes far less sense than Canada.

If by north you mean Canada, you will probably also be our of luck, as LEGO US and LEGO Canada share distribution channels almost entirely, they are grouped together under "North America" by TLG. 99.9% of the time, if it isn't in the US it also won't be in Canada. If, of course, these get an actual release, and then if they aren't released in America.

We heard from TLGs CEE team today after these showed up- they are sticking with the canceled route regardless of Amazon's pre-orders. I am hoping this might end up as European exclusives, if just because importing is pretty easy.

Evolution comment is absolutely untrue, discussion of such on BZP is absolutely allowed. Our news source is a LEGO employee whose job is communicating between fans and TLG, who was not named at Andrew's discretion. Mostly to stop him from getting blasted with useless emails. I certainly hope these get released, the lack if solicitations for them in retailers catalogs s still suspicious.

I don't think you know what rumour means. The fact remains that we have an official remark from a TLG rep saying they have been canceled, they have been left out of all retailer catalogs and were not at Toyfair in NYC, and one from a designer saying that no 2014 sets have been canceled, which does not guarantee anything, considering the source frequently posts opposite of things that are true. The BZP source is legit, that is not a rumour. It was clearly established as fact, at that time, with a caveat. Just because the caveat may prove true does not make it a rumour. Front's comment doesn't confirm much, considering his history here and the fact that he is not on the team officially sanctioned to interact with fans online.

Does it say that clear as day? Maybe he is implying they aren't a 2014 release? :P

The word from the LEGO employee was not that he was probably wrong- the line has been canceled, that is official word from TLG as passed to an ambassador. It is not just a rumour.

I usually link them with ball-and-socket connections. Sometimes with pneumatic-t's. You know, whatever works. ;)

Well seeing as most HF parts have been removed from at least the US PaB, maybe never.

As I said- a subpar community. I don't know when that was built, but it is stuck in the style the rest of the greater community moved on from in 2007. That's probably harsher than I really intend, but the conversation on DA's place in the BIONICLE/Constraction figure MOCing world (last place) isn't really relevant to the conversation here. As for Technic distribution, small technic sets have been sold under the creator umbrella for a few years now to get around the TRU deal, though I've definitely found the smaller technic sets with "technic" labeled on them. Distribution has a lot of factors behind it, but the number one factor isn't on TLG's end- it is on the retailer end.

Is this what being raised in the DA fandom does? You are not friendly and you should not be surprised people are responding to you harshly. I am glad I skipped that segment of the fandom- clearly home to less polite discourse and the mocing community is subpar. LEGO does have a vendor stock shelves at TRU, but set availability and stock amounts are directed by TRU. Big city and high-volume stores get more product, and the rest get spread out based on sales forecasts. You are right about the special arrangement, though small technic sets are available at all retail stores at their own discretion. Often stores just order one case assortment which comes with just a few of the sets available in a line. (By the way, I worked three years for a Target where I worked split shifts between back room and Starbucks,)

"Some of us are going to continue being unreasonable because we don't like the news or the newssource because it wasn't on DA or something and are throwing a hissy fit". Yes, says I, because I asked Andrew about it. You can continue treating it as a rumour, but you are factually wrong. And the refusal to believe an official source and keep dragging the "it is JUST A RUMOUR" nonsense into everything muddies the conversation and doesn't allow for clarity. In a fandom that already lacks clarity and tends to believe that TLG is responsible from everything from distribution of sets at an individual store to which characters appear in a licensed set, when an official channel speaks, that should finally be the end of it, and we should all be glad to hear something concrete. It isn't vague, it came from a TLG employee, who passed it on to an official LEGO mouthpiece. The "it's not final and may change" line does not make it a rumour- it means TLG is hedging their bets in case they change their mind. It means that, as of now, they are officially cancelled. None of those definitions fit this news except through your distorting the facts.

The only reason the article is written vaguely is to protect the employee's identity and protect them from potential blowback. It comes from an official LEGO employee, whether you like the news or not, that is not a rumour.

Retailers order sets from LEGO, LEGO doesn't send them unsolicited. They have to order them. If your TRU doesn't have certain sets, that is the fault of that store's distribution center- not LEGO.

The Chima sets being canceled isn't a rumour, it comes directly from LEGO. The idea that BIONICLE could be coming back is entirely baseless speculation. LEGO puts sets into production six months before release. Though that information came from an employee talk at a convention, so...

The context was Andrew has been sending emails to LEGO regarding the Chima constraction sets since he found out about the German toyfair, and has been awaiting a reply since then, and then got one. It was in a personal email exchange with Andrew and a LEGO employee (most likely am email chain ending with a CEE team member). He didn't say it was a vauge source he won't disclose (which is perfectly acceptable in journalism, by the way, as someone who took journalism classes), he said he heard it from LEGO, which is as official as you should need. It's not conjecture, it is a concrete answer saying the line has been scrapped, as of now, and that while this may change, this is the official response. The only reason we even know that much is because Andrew went out of his way to get in touch with someone at LEGO to answer the "but why weren't they on display at NY and not in the brochure or lineup mentions?" Ambassadors are the only reason we knew Breez and the mosquito dude had been pushed back during the Breakout wave too. TLG is more than content to just not say anything about these sort of things (especially with little-to-no official announcments of the sets even existing to begin with), but Andrew has been emailing and trying to figure it out so he can share his findings with everyone. The issue is that you're being petulant and obstinate for no reason, complaining of no official sources or a first-hand source when you have both according to the way TLG does communication with fans. TLG does a lot for their fans and the community, and as we are all aware, much of it is stuff they could stop at any moment and be justified as a company doing so. Because this isn't "news" for TLG to post? The cancellation of a future product lineup that has yet to be officially announced to the public? Why would you even mention it? TLG sends out press releases for new products just like any other company, this isn't press a company sends out. "Oh hey we canceled that lineup you weren't supposed to see anyway" is not something a company wants to put out. There are lots of things in life to maybe be cynical and dubious of- TLG sending info to ambassadors is not one of them.

It is a rumor. The word to Andrew, BZP's official Ambassador, is that the lineup is currently canceled globally, but that this could change. An ambassador -is-a firsthand source, that is the entire point of the program. The send out news from TLG that is community oriented that is not worth a press release, so exactly this situation. This is the team doing their job and following official channels. You are not going to get an official lego employee to comment most likely, because most employees are not allowed to post on places like this, because of international child safety laws. There are reasons Front says little at all about things until they have been released. The CEE team's main purpose is official community support, so they send LUGs care packages, they help popular fan sites with media and promotions, they interact as an in-between for global systems and fans, etc. they are not publicity- they cannot send out press releases, they can just send out notices to ambassadors or speak to official fan events like cons. Other things are not their jobs, and as friends with several of those team members, the idea that they have time to help YOU when they have ALREADY sent out an answer via official channels is just irritating. The Ambassador program exists for scenarios like this, specifically so you DO get answers. You got one from a firsthand source- an ambassador. As far as TLG's communications are concerned, that is firsthand sourcing. It is not just hearsay- Andrew could lose LEGO support for both our LUG and BZP by making things up and saying it came from LEGO. If you really want firsthand conversations, join a LUG or go to a convention. Otherwise you need to resign yourself to the channels we have.

Might as well post this here too. | | | For a contest on BZPower, where members were asked to build a video game character. I chose Samus immediately. However, a few days in, I realized that her classic suit was out, because there was no way I could build it and keep the contest-required technic to system ratio intact, so I defaulted to her Phazon Suit from Metroid Prime (which I like better anyway). I took a few liberties with the colours here and there, but it was almost entirely due to parts constraints, although I took a few design liberties as well, such as the bigger helmet, because I wanted to both convey emotion better, and also because I needed to get that visor shape correct, etc. There are some areas when standing "at rest" where she looks kind of odd, but the MOC was designed to be put into those classic Metroid poses, not to be static, and as such the design flows best in poses, and less so in a static environment.

Because the CEE team talking at a convention IS an official and direct channel? Because Ambassadors are an official and direct channel? When I talk about things I have heard at a convention, it is with names unless I'm not allowed to give them (some TLG employees I know attend conventions and are not open with their employment with TLG because they want to participate in the community as a fan still). The CEE team's job involves community relations, and a primary channel is through convention talks. The CEE blog exists to keep fans updated on what the CEE team does, not what TLG is doing. That is not their job. You are being weirdly obstinate, because this news did come from an official channel- it came from a LEGO ambassador for the premeir constraction site in the world. As has been mentioned, the AFOL world makes up less than 5% of TLG's sales. You should feel glad that there are any channels at all from which we get information. The general public is both not aware of these sets and will not care if they never show up. Why put out a press release for something a statistical outlier alone cares about? That would be stupid.