Blondie-Wan

According to the official blog, the results of the next review are coming in late summer / early fall. That's the batch with the two Doctor Who projects, along with the Back to the Future "Jules Verne" train, The Big Bang Theory, the Apple Store, and the life-sized birds sculpture. I'm seriously hoping for Doctor Who, too (though I'd really be happy with some of the others, as well). Fortunately I do think Doctor Who has an excellent shot - not only have not one but two projects garnered the necessary votes in the same period, but both of them did it very quickly - they're both among the fastest projects ever to get 10,000 votes, actually. And unlike many other license proposals, Doctor Who is already known to be a possibility (at least in the sense of the rights being available and so on). I'll frankly be very surprised if neither of those Doctor Who passes review and gets chosen as the next CUUSOO / Ideas set.

Oh? I hadn't heard that before (about The Hobbit / The Lord of the Rings requiring more substantial builds). When / how did that info come out (and if it's the case, then what about Gandalf Arrives, Riddles for the Ring and The Wizard Battle)?

"Zodiac boat hulls?"

While they've had a few failures in those areas, most of the video games have been successful, and I believe the parks are as well. I know I for one am certainly grateful to have them (games, parks and clothing alike).

I think it's a bit much to expect kids in LEGO's target audience to use Bricklink, and there are also some folks who just prefer getting new sets. It's nice that it's there, though. This set has a lot more than just brown and dark tan slopes and plates, of course. What? No main heroes? What do you call Artoo and Leia? Yes, it's true the previous one had more, but two does not equal zero. Leia may appear to be "just sitting there," but she's the one who takes out Jabba himself, remember? How is having those two characters in a set together at all not representing conflict, for that matter?

Yeppers! It has a total of four ways to watch the movie, plus the commentary on both the DVD and the 2d Blu-ray, plus a bunch of other supplements on the 2d Blu-ray. I've already watched the DVD twice now, first "straight" and then with the commentary (which is quite entertaining itself). Target offers the 2-disc DVD edition in a vendor exclusive that has a children's activity book.

I think this sounds great, and I'm excited. Of course, I also thought LEGO Universe was terrific and it didn't last, so what do I know... Will there actually be a different version of the app for each specific set, though, or just one app that works with all four? If the latter, that indicates it will likely at least recognize a larger variety of bricks that is found in any one of the four, since presumably each set will have a few pieces found in none of the others (this in addition to those basic bricks that might not necessarily be in the sets, but that are really common and, well, basic)...

The commentary should be on all the editions (well, except for downloads and streams). Every disc with a 2d version of the movie (Blu-ray and DVD alike) has the commentary. The 3d disc in the Everything is Awesome! release doesn't, but since that one also comes with both the 2d Blu-ray and the DVD, the total package still includes the commentary (twice, in fact). It's actually currently $35.99 at Target (in the US), but they also have a couple of the sets, 70804 Ice Cream Machine and 70805 Trash Chomper, on sale for $25 each ($4.99 off the regular price), and if you buy either of them with any Blu-Ray edition of the movie (including the Everything Is Awesome edition), you save an additional $10 - so, both together for $50.99 + tax, which I think isn't bad at all. That's the one I went for - I don't even have a Blu-ray player yet, but I've been planning to get one for a while, and in the meantime I can still watch the DVD, and of course I got the Vitruvius minifigure and the other goodies this way as well. I still don't have most of the sets yet either, but I just picked up Trash Chomper along with the EIA edition of the movie, so I took advantage of the sale. It's like getting the set at its normal price, and the EIA movie release for $21 alongside it.

Exactly my point - I don't think they used the different color scheme for the zombie in the Halloween / Monster Fighters minifigure set because they cared about preserving the exclusivity of the original Series 1 Zombie, but because they wanted to make the new zombie (and by extension the rest of the set it was in) more desirable.

If you say so, but to me it so clearly and obviously goes with the Dino theme, whereas the Hunger Games thing didn't even occur to me until others mentioned it. It's not as though her outfit or anything really resembles that of Katniss; really, the only connection is that it's a woman in some vaguely sci-fi adventure milieu carrying a bow. But the figure design does quite clearly fit with the design aesthetic of the Dino line, in the same way the Minifigures line has had a couple different alien figures that fit just peachily into Alien Conquest, even though neither of those figures was out at the same time as that theme.

I went to the TRU promo at my local TRU, and they had already sorted the parts into little baggies, with each baggie containing apparently all the parts that were intended. Not only was I able to get a complete "set" for myself, but they also let me take a whole second bag for my fiancée, who wan't with me on this particular visit.

I don't think they changed the colors to protect the exclusivity (at least, not of the original zombie - though maybe of the new one, since that's the one they were then selling). I think they did it to present a variation that would be desirable even if one already had the original (since many of us like to army-build zombies, but don't necessarily want to do it using a bunch of copies of the same exact zombie, but instead want some variation). What are these?

It's also possible another toy company's rights to the series encompass construction toys, even if they're not actually making any. Perhaps it's just a matter of the rights being sewn up already. Or the "no new molds" thing might be an issue. It's possible the show's owner / maker would expect / demand character-specific molds to get the looks of the characters right, and of course LEGO doesn't want to do new molds for CUUSOO / Ideas projects.

Well, indeed, they already are, right? Isn't Mixels the result of a partnership between LEGO and CN?

I am quite sure LEGO counts the hips / legs assembly as one piece, the torso assembly (w/ arms & hands) as another piece, the head as one more piece, and so on, and I don't see a good reason for it to be otherwise. Peculiarly, in older sets it was common for LEGO sets to come with minifigure heads already attached to the torsos, even in sets in which other parts (capes, backpacks, etc.) were meant to be put on the neck posts between the torsos and the heads. I'm not sure whether they counted the head and torso assembly as two pieces or just one at the time (the piece counts always seem slightly off anyway, what with the spare parts and all).

I think the number of people working on those scientific projects is only important insamuch as it does at least provide a base of potential voters, and perhaps improves the chances of those projects reaching 10,000 votes. Presumably such a core base was instrumental in something like the ATLAS mini model getting its shot before LEGO's review team. I think Real Indy's statement about what sort of projects will become sets has much truth, just not because of what LEGO will or won't approve so much as because of what will make it to the review stage in the first place. As the site becomes larger and more well-known, ever-increasing numbers of members of various entertainment franchise fandoms will be drawn to the site to propose and vote on projects based on the movies and shows they love, while the support for non-licensed projects will still be more made up of fans of LEGO itself (and various geeky pursuits such as all those scientific endeavors). I think the ratio of licensed to non-licensed stuff there will increase, at least slightly, and the non-licensed will also have to fight harder for recognition and votes above the general clamor, while franchise fans will always go straight to those projects. But I could be wrong. I certainly don't wish to say, as Real Indy did, that the only things that make it through will be licensed ones; I think non-licensed will always continue to be represented, but just outnumbered by the licensed ones (just look at the contents of the review batch that just got put together, or the one that's filling up now). But I do certainly think there's still plenty of room and opportunity for both (and I certainly hope so, speaking as someone who intends to submit projects of both types myself).

The Desert Skiff was also on sale, but sold out quickly (less than half an hour after the sale began).

I hope it's Zuckuss, 4-LOM, or Garindan.

Aaaannnnd... ... I just received these today. Woohoo! Initial thoughts: wow, the poster is larger than I'd expected. It looks great! Even the new Luke face somehow looks better in the rendering on the poster than it does in the official set photos of the new Sandcrawler. It's just too bad the poster comes only folded, not rolled, although with the intentional "age" and "wear" markings the folds work, I think. It's going to look great on the wall. Regarding Darth Revan: What gunm said. Oh, I'd certainly be more thrilled with a character from the OT, but I'm not one to complain about any free LEGO Star Wars item. I'll find some use for it. As for the Sail Barge, now that I finally have all four of the recent sets depicting the Tatooine material from Star Wars - Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, I'm going to try to find a chunk of time when I can build all four at once, back-to-back, possibly with other Tatooine sets. I'm looking forward to it!

I think the Back to the Future train and the Apple Store are both indeed unlikely, but not for those reasons. With the Back to the Future train, the existing set's license should be an issue only if they've already internally committed to a full theme, and we've seen no indication of that. It happened with Minecraft because it was such a huge, quick seller, and that obviated / preempted more CUUSOO sets, but it hasn't happened yet with Back to the Future, while at the same time it appears popular enough for TLG do be willing to do more sets even if they don't initiate them. I think the biggest obstacle for the Back to the Future train will be simply that it's a train, and therefore a larger, more expensive set candidate than anything that's made it through so far. And the Apple Store isn't just some logo or mascot, but a whole business building - something that would fit right in to the City and/or Modulars line(s), that merely happens to be branded. LEGO does still do sets pertaining entirely to other companies' businesses and products - heck, Maersk and VW are practically their own themes; they just don't do sets that are nothing but logos or mascots, which a store is not. The sticking point I see is that Apple itself probably won't go for it - they've really gotten away from the kind of brand licensing they used to do in the '80s and '90s, and I think it's unlikely they'd want to let LEGO make a set of one of their stores. I do think you're right about the others, with the additional note that The Big Bang Theory likely wouldn't pass on brand fit - it has an awful lot of adult content for LEGO, I think.

Okay, I'm on the site now, logged in on a Windows laptop, and... I still don't see "Projects of Interest." Huh.

It really is a lovely set. Kudos to Brent / WetWired, and to Marcos Bessa. I enjoyed your video. Nice to see you've got a buddy who's as into Ghostbusters as yourself! The "1980-something" theming for your series (?) is great for something launched in the year of The LEGO Movie and Benny the Spaceman, but of course also works perfectly with this set being the initial topic. Congrats!

True, but I think they're just meant to be for fun. It's not as though they're fundamentally different from all the other badges, ranks, etc. one might garner for one's online presences and avatars in innumerable other online venues, like gaming sites, etc., including Eurobricks. We don't really have "uses" per se for all those badges and whatnot below our avatars here, but that doesn't keep us from enjoying having them, does it? Moreover, aside from the possibility of being used for something specific in the future (a contest, for example), I think they might have one purpose now - they could act to encourage more active participation on the site. So many of the other changes, while they're sure to improve the overall quality of submissions and competition, might discourage some people from bothering to be active on the site at all. The Clutch Power points might help to give folks a little more incentive to put in quality effort. I don't know if that's the thinking behind them, or whether it will work if so, but it could be something else they're just trying, just to see. If nothing.else, I do think the CP will be, well... fun. :)

Classic Space! But I did have other sets of the era, including at least one of the old Universal Building Sets, at least one train from the "blue rails" era, some old Town sets with the "proto-minifigures," the Homemaker-scale Lunar Landing set, and two or three of the early Model Team sets. But Classic Space held my heart, and even though I have essentially none now, the theme holds my heart still, now and forever.

Hey, extremely cool! Congrats on the official recognition!