Zarkan

I'd take the Animated line over the Movie line any day. The former maintained a consistent level of show accuracy, poseability, and variety in its products, while the latter varries wildly in accuracy (even in the same waves) and is constantly being hindered by lame gimmicks such as Mech tech weapons. More importantly, as far as I'm concerned, the Bay style is TOO robotic, which I suppose fits well with the film's equally robotic "personalities." Transformers Prime's astethics are essentially a more personable version of Bayformers, and also vastly superior IMO. Now, if only the rest of the show could have the same quality....

Providing I was actually a fan of the games, I'd probably be going: who cares? They did a great job with their Halo line as far as I'm concerned, and this looks great as well. As much as I love lego's Exo-Force, I would have killed for a mech that looked as good as that prototype.

Topic's been inactive for over a month, but I felt I had to share something. I'm not really a Transformers fan, but just as I was incredibly impressed with the Animated toy line, I'm finding myself amazed by how good the Transformrs Prime toy line is. I'm no fan of the show, but I do love the art style, and its incredible how well they've translated it into toy form. Apart from a couple of the early Delexues (Starscream and Prime), they all look fantastic in both forums, and it also seems like their poseability is going to be really good. Best of all, they're not loaded with silly Mechtech weapons like the entire Dark of the Moon movie line, but instead feature simple, character fitting gear. I dunno if I'll actually end up buying any of them, but let me say, it's hard not for even a guy like me to want to pick at least a few up. Do any of you hardcore Transformers fans agree with me?

I'm calling it: the chest piece used on the Hulk kit wasn't actually designed specifically for it, and will also make an apperance in the 2012 Hero Factory line. All of the other heroes use a unique piece that features printing, and has a slightly different design asthetic - but not this one. Additionally, unless it was being used for something else, I can't see a reason why they would mold those intakes onto the mold instead of making it look more like an organic chest piece. I'm not betting anything on this, though.

I'm sorry, but these figures are so bad, they're absolutely hilarious. The Hero Factory building style does not work well with human superheroes, that's for sure, and I can only imagine how ridiculous the Joker is going to look. Ah well, at least the parts are good.

Well, I have to say, with one exception, these look great! And that exception would be Iron man, who has a head sculpt about twice as big as it actually needs to be. I hope to gosh that they size it down in the final version, otherwise they'll have ruined what could have been a potentially awesome figure.

I'm curious as to why. It's the two biggest comic book franchises licensed by the company we all love. Unless you're not a fan of either Marvel, DC, or lego licenses, what's not to like?

Same here. This really is the best of both worlds, and we can expect that Lego's sales are going to skyrocket even further next year.

That would indeed be awesome, but since Alien Conquest is likely going to go on for at least another year, I doubt that we'll see a replacement Sci-Fi theme so soon. If released, this hypothetical ice theme would probably be tailored to replace Atlantis, which will almost certainly be discontinued next year and will leave a gap in TLC's "action themes." I imagine that it would feature lots of vehicles and some ice-related creatures to fight - either Yetis or frozen fossils come to live, or something else along those lines. Depending on what the villian is, they could set it either at one of the poles or in the mountains of some made-up country. Either way, I'd expect that we'd get great minifigs and at least somewhat outlandish vehicle designs, much like what we have gotten in themes like Atlantis, Ninjago, and Agents.

I think you are making far too big a deal of something that is not really a problem. The fact of the matter is, I have seen many people directly refer to the 1997-2004 timeframe as "the dark ages of Lego," and I personally picked up the term years ago. If it bothers you that it is used this way, that's perfectly fine, but please don't accuse me of diluting or misusing it. Anyway, I think its a good idea we get back to the actual subject of this thread, okay? I agree that looking at your stats, there doesn't seem to be a real trend in prices, but the old catalog prices seem to indicate that they were in fact significantly worse in at least a few of the "dark age" years than they are now.

I'm going to go out on a limb and make a prediction: 2012 will see the introduction of some ice-related theme. The reasoning for this is that, as of 2011, the only significant setting introduced during the "dark ages" of lego that has not seen a sucessor in the current age is the Arctic theme. Practically every other major non-licensed theme (Rock Raiders, Ninjas, Divers, Alpha Team, Adventurers, UFO) has returned in some form in the last five or six years, sometimes more than once. Still, this is really just a wild guess more than anything, so I'm not particularly betting on it.

I realize that, but for a while many people have also used that term to describe the era where set quality reached an all-time low, usually thought to be between 1997 and 2004.

It's no secret that lego prices have been going up again, with 2011 featuring noticeably lower piece per dollar ratios than the previous few years. This, along with the fact that I'm going off to tech school pretty soon and am running out of room, has disuaded me from buying any brand new lego this year, and I'm sure it has made many an older fan turn down a set here and there in favor of other, cheaper sources of parts and minifigures. However, after pulling out my old Insectoid kits spured me to look online at a 1998 Shop at Home catalog, I was shocked to find that we actually have it pretty good today pricewise, at least compared to the begining of the dark ages. Just look at some of the set listings: Wild West Rapid River Village: $73.00 for 343 pieces Town Jr Cargo Center: $52.00 for 228 pieces Aquazone Hydro Crystalization Station: $99.00 for 422 pieces(!) UFO Interstellar Starfighter: $88.00 dollars for 289 pieces(!!!!!) In fact, it's hard to find a kit in that catalog that wasn't significantly below the magic "10 pieces for a dollar" ratio that many long for, and in many cases the piece counts and prices were much worse than what we deal with today. Combined with the gradual decline of set quality, and it's hard to wonder why we call that era the "dark ages." But I think a lot of people mistakenly assume that the main problem early on was in design, when prices were also rapidly degrading in fairness. So, the next time you find yourself frustrated over the price of a modern kit, just take a look over at Peeron's catalog archives around the begining of the dark ages, and I'm sure you won't be feeling quite as bad.

If I may speculate, I think the biggest reason why Jack Stone is hated while Fabuland is loved has to do with how much each of them innovated. Fabuland was unlike anything TLC had ever done before, or has ever done again - combining a rather interesting gimmick of animal themed characters with sets that were incredibly bright, colorful, and non-violent. Jack Stone, on the other hand, was basically a more simplistic version of TLC's City Center theme, taking the juniorzation in post 1997 Town sets to an incredibly ridiculous level. Jack stone's unique figures are the most blatant example of this, combining one piece, non-customizable molds with an asthetic that many probably saw as far less charming than standard minifigures. Fabuland figures had the benefit of being totally unique with their animal heads, and unlike Jack Stone figures were customizable to a certain degree. When you really look at it, it is kind of hard to compare the two themes, which really share nothing in common apart from lying outisde the System banner. Personally, I would rather TLC release a girl-centric theme that still features traditional minifigures, but until pictures come out of this new theme, there's no reason for me to assume that this decision will be a bad thing. If the figures are in any ways compatible with System figures, while providing a different scale of parts, then this might actually be a good thing in the long run. This goes doubly for the possibility that this theme introduces some great new molds. There's a reason why AFOLS have sometimes bought Belvile or Scala sets even though they usually despise the maxi-figures - because the kits themselves are often loaded with unique acessories and rare colors.

Another great review, Brickthing. Raw Jaw is easily the most unique creature design in this wave, and despite what some people have said, I think he looks executed really well.

Great, informative review, Brickthing. I may not be much of a fan of Hero Factory, but this latest wave is giving us some of the best constraction figure animals since the original Rahi.

This is easily the best MOC I've seen in weeks. The detailing, the colors, the scenery - all perfect. My favorite detail has to be the way you did the various stain-glass windows, but the stone road is a close second. Keep it up.

It's kind of hard to when the only significant Bionicle forum on the internet has been down for repairs for months. Although, it is curious that BZP hasn't mentioned this, since the staff has still been doing regular news updates.

I've said this elsewhere, but the Transformers movies should really be called "The Adventures of Sam Wickity and his Robotic Friends," as the reality is that the Transformers are expensive CGI extras in a series absolutely loaded with humans and human-related plots. In Bay's eyes, the humans - and especially the United States military - are the real stars, while most of the robots are simply there to play role of alien invasion fodder. That's why we see Megatron, Starscream, Blackout, etc. get killed by humans, flipping DEVASTATOR get nailed by the US Navy's Deux ex Machinagun, tons of sections devoted to Sam's job, love life, and wacko parents, and a host of potentially cool scenes between Autobots and Decepticons cut short for the purpose of focusing on what the humans are doing. As far as I'm concerned, these movies are Transformers-in-name-only, more so than almost anything else that has ever carried the label.

Ruined Forever? Hardly. As long as Transformers remains popular, there will always be a chance for the franchise to redeem itself. Sadly, the reality is that its far more likely for a Transformers' related production to stink than it is for it to be awesome. Bay's "movies" are an excellent illustration of this. You'd be wrong, cause I didn't really even watch cartoons when I was young. I'm not really a hardcore Transformers fan either, as I don't buy the toys and only really like the two shows I mentioned. However, as I've stated before, I see that there's so much potential in this franchise, and for the most part its been wasted in legions of lame cartoons, bad movies, and less than stellar video games.

I have only one thing to say: Okay, two things: please, for the love of Primus, somebody give us a transformers movie that reaches the quality of the Beast Wars or Animated cartoons, or maybe even War For Cybertron. I've had enough of Bay and his TINO (Transformers-In-Name-Only) explosion fests. He should never be allowed to touch the franchise again.

Well, I liked the conclusion, and honestly, I don't care that Telluris died. With how little room Greg has to continue the Bionicle storyline, the chance that Telluris would be featured again in any sigficant role was next to nothing. Was it necessary? Perhaps not, but I'm not shedding any tears over it either. Now, if Sahmad had died, I would have been mad, but that wasn't the case. I doubt we'll hear from him again either, but at least he was given a pretty good sendoff, what with him finally getting revenge upon the being who killed his people. It's rather simple, actually. Sahmad only dreamed that the dreams beings had at night disappeared, as those were the kind Annona fed on. I don't believe he ever dreamed away the kind that beings had in their heart, as there was no reason to.

The ingenius back design makes this MOC. TLC seriously needs to implement something like that if they continue to use the Hero 2.0 build. Great job.

Great, because prostitution and drug trafficking are just what the Star Wars universe needs to recapture its former glory. *end sarcasm* Remind me why this show needs to exist, again?

The problem with Lego Star Wars: TCS is that the motion control was entirely one-dimensional, merely replacing the press of a buttion with swinging the remote. The way you moved the controler made no difference, and thus it was a completely unecessary addition. Hence why Traveler's Tales hasn't used it in any of their Wii games since.