Blondie-Wan

There is indeed an official LEGO CUUSOO blog. The next two sets to be released are the Exo-suit, which passed review back in October of last year, and Ghostbusters, which passed review in January of this year. One would normally expect them to therefore be released in that order, but they're actually coming out the other way around - at least partly to get the Ghostbusters set out in June, right on time for the movie's 30th anniversary, and perhaps partly because it required much less development than the Exo-suit did to turn it into a viable commercial set. Ghostbusters will be out in June, and the Exo-suit in August, I think. The review batch featuring the aforementioned Ghostbusters is the latest one for which we have results. The Female Minifigure Set from that same batch is still under consideration, while the other projects from that batch have all been declined. The batch after that features these projects: Sherlock Macross VF-1 Valkyrie +Fast Pack / Armored Parts Legend of Zelda: Iron Knuckle Encounter Japanese Old Style Architecture Adventure Time Back to the Future UCS DeLorean Time Machine The results of this review period are set to be announced in "late spring," so we could find out at any time now.

I'm a bit taken aback that people regard Boba Fett as the "star" minifigure of this set. Yes, the version here is exclusive, but it's still very similar to the other Boba Fett minifigures from the first several years of the theme, and they're just different variations of the same basic costume, the standard Boba "look," which is effectively the same throughout all his scenes in the OT (yes, I'm aware there are actually some minor variations to his costume between the two movies, but for practical intents and purposes it's the same - certainly nowhere nearly as different as the totally different outfits worn by most of the other major human characters). Lando Calrissian is here in his introductory outfit, the "definitive" Lando, and there's no other set that features even a variation on this costume - only his skiff guard disguise for infiltrating Jabba's retinue and his general's uniform from the raid on Death Star II. Princess Leia Organa is also here in her Bespin gown, and again this is the only set with a minifigure of the character in this outfit (albeit in the now-outdated yellow-skinned look). Yet Boba Fett is somehow the big draw, for merely having a different interpretation of the same look he's had in every OT-era set in which he appears. Though that's technically true for all of them including Luke, his torso does appear elsewhere in a set or two, and can be readily combined with a Luke head, hair, etc. from other sets to recreate this figure. All that said, though, this is indeed a great review of a great set.

I wonder how Indiana Jones things will fare, if and when any make it to 10,000 votes. OTOH it's an existing LEGO licensed theme, licensed from a partner with whom TLG already has a long-running partnership, but at the same time it's not currently active, though it was actively fairly recently and TLG may still technically hold the rights even now, even if they're not using them. I've voted for some Indy projects, just in case...

Ok, I've thrown in my own support. Good luck!

Coolness! But how do we put them in our signatures, and how do we modify them (to add duplicates of a car, for example, if we have multiples of a set)?

It might be that they started with that thought, but abandoned it as the line went on. Note there were sets which combined red- and white-suited spacefolk, apparently on the same team (as crewmembers of a single vessel, for example). For that matter, why would they all have the same emblem if they were from different competing factions? Of course, kids were free to play with them however they wanted, and I'm sure there were many many other children back in the day who did internally conceptualize them as adversaries. However, I for one always thought of them as teammates, and mine all worked together in peaceful exploration of the lunar / Martian / whatever surface.

This isn't actually a US / Europe thing; both styles of boxes can be found in the US - even for the same set - and I believe the same is true of other areas. I don't know why; it may have something to do with different production lines and factories that serve the same markets. I remember specific sets I've seen on store shelves in the US with different box styles, and not just the two you describe here. Up until a number of years ago, another common box style was a two-piece version that had a thinner cardboard outer box, with flaps that tucked in, that fit like a sleeve over a sturdier, tray-like inner box (so that you'd open up the flap and slide out the tray). I can remember specific sets from at least as recently as 2002 that came in both this style and one of the still-current styles, and for which I might sometimes see both boxes for the same set together on store shelves. The labeling, though, is indeed a regional thing. One other thing I've noticed about that is that at least once, when ordering here in the US from Shop at Home, they sent me a couple copies of a set (7235 Police Motorcyle) in not the US-style box, with the piece count, recommended age range, etc., but the European-style box, with just the set number, but across the bottom of the box front there was a sticker stuck to the outside of the box, bearing the standardized "Choking Hazard" warning about small parts, apparently to comply with US toy safety product labeling requirements. When I ordered another copy of the set some time later (perhaps a year or so), it came in a US-style box.

Apologies if I'm missing / overlooking something obvious somewhere, but, er... what's this for? Is this just something being done for fun purely by the Pirates forum people here on EB, or is this something the Ambassadors will submit to TLG and which might actually become an actual subtheme of real, commercial sets in stores, or what? Edit: Nevermind; I just found the relevant thread. I don't know how I'd overlooked it before, but there it is. Got it!

It really is a charming and amusing show (as is so much else at the park). I've seen it a few times now (my fiancee and I are annual passholders) and enjoyed it each time.

I could see Justin Hammer getting a figure, actually, if he reappears in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. We might well have gotten him already if LEGO had been already doing Marvel Superheroes sets by 2010, when Iron Man 2 came out.

I don't know whether this model would make it through review, given everything we know and don't know about LEGO's Lucasfilm licensing and the previous Star Wars project to hit the 10k vote mark, but I've supported this one just in case (a while ago, actually, before you posted this thread). Nice to see you're doing variations for the revamped version of the attraction. Nice MOC, and good luck!

Ooh, thanks for that! I used to frequent FBTB all the time, but EB eventually replaced it as my primary go-to LEGO site, though I think about going back to spending more time there. I really like all the August sets, except for the needless figure revision. It makes it incredibly frustrating to army-build any kind of uniformed troops. But I do like the set selection and contents otherwise, and this OT fan even finds himself wanting the non-OT stuff. I seriously want every one of those sets.

Keep in mind that the height of DUPLO studs is greater than that of "regular" LEGO studs, so if you want to put them under a plate you'll need some bricks as an intermediary, since a plate isn't deep enough to accommodate the full height of a DUPLO stud inside it.

The later sets in that old line (ones released in 2003) actually did have a printed mask, with printing on the eyes and teeth; it was just the first one (from 2002) that didn't. That said, I myself would love a "classic" Green Goblin.

Well, this contest gave me the kick in the pants I apparently needed to finally start a ReBrick account of my own, and I've just done so and entered the contest. I must say, some others have submitted some really terrific names.

So... I went to TRU's encore presentation of their The LEGO Movie event today, and got my own set of parts for Emmet's car / spaceplane-thingy (I believe that's the technical term :p ). It's quite nice, given that it's remarkably close to being a full-blown copy of the 4177 Small Car minus a driver, yet it's completely free. I'm very glad to have gotten it.

Oh, no! I'm sorry to hear - er, read it. :( You may want to repost this as a cautionary tale in one of the threads about cleaning LEGO over in the General forum, to save others from this.

Holy smokes, that's awesome! I hope they have the contest run everywhere...

Huh. That's interesting and peculiar. Perhaps they have plans for them around the time of the video release...

How does "hypocrites" apply? They're not saying people should do one thing and then doing another themselves; they're just picking and choosing what they will and won't do. Hypocrisy has nothing to do with it. I think a better term for what you mean would be "arbitrary," but even that isn't quite a perfect fit. They do sets with violent or (tangentially) alcohol-related elements, but there are lines they won't cross, and that's their right. They're not telling others what to do or what not to do (and then doing it themselves); they're just saying what they won't do, and then not doing it. That's not hypocrisy.

The key here, as I see it, is that even though those portrayals may be mutually exclusive of one another (i.e., the Nolan movies represent one continuity, the Burton / Schumacher movies represent another, the animated series and movies another, the comics another, the current new movie universe beginning with Man of Steel still another, etc.), they all feed into a shared overall Batman / DC mythology, and LEGO draws upon all of that as one big body, without worrying too much about being dedicated to just this incarnation or just that one. Everything in it is fair game (as long as it falls under WB's ownership), and LEGO itself does indeed draw upon it all together. Therefore, the character minifigures can be seen - not necessarily "are" or "have to be," but can be - as representing any and/or all of those varying interpretations. In large part, it's up to the individual user to pick and choose just which bits of source canon are being portrayed, since it's LEGO and all (and that's fundamentally a part of the LEGO experience), and I personally choose to go with this interpretation. Of course, to be really "official," none of the minifigures represent actors at all - just characters. There isn't an official LEGO minifigure in any line of Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Cate Blanchett or any of those others, just ones of the characters they portray (although one could argue there are minifigures that officially represent cast / crew members who worked on the first couple Spider-Man and Jurassic Park movies, since those had sets in the LEGO Studios line, but that's a whole other thing...). Oh, and BTW... Thanks for the heads-up on your Willow project; I haven't seen it yet, and I'd like one myself - I'm kind of a "holistic" Lucas / Lucasfilm fan, not one of just Star Wars and/or Indiana Jones, but really the whole shebang - I'd even love to have sets based on THX 1138, American Graffiti and The Secret of Monkey Island and such (not that I'd ever in a million years expect them to happen, of course). I'd occasionally even considered doing a Willow project myself, but I haven't gotten very far in planning, so I won't bother unless I come up with a totally different idea from your own. I'm going to CUUSOO now to find your project and vote for it. (I am submitting a different licensed project that will directly compete with someone else's version of the same thing, though, but that's a specific thing I'd been planning for months, and the person who submitted the other project has specifically recommended I go ahead and post my own version, even promising to vote for it, as I already have for his/hers.) Frank Oz is more than a voice actor, of course, having physically portrayed Yoda, Fozzie, Miss Piggy and so on.

Well, I would draw a distinction between Butch Cavendish in The Lone Ranger and the Joker in Batman / the DC Universe. LEGO's Lone Ranger line is entirely, specifically based upon the 2013 movie from Disney, so it would indeed not count as a Christopher Lloyd character(ization), since that early '80s movie and last year's are totally different entities. However, LEGO's Batman and DC lines aren't based specifically upon one incarnation or another, but rather upon the overall Batman / DC Universe "mythos," as it were, and draw upon a variety of sources for inspiration, including the original comics, the recent Chris Nolan / Christian Bale trilogy, Man of Steel and its forthcoming sequel, and other sources, including the animated series. The fact that there may not be one particular set or another that is specifically, directly based upon the animated series and solely upon it doesn't mean it's not based on it at all (indeed, LEGO's line includes characters who actually originated with the animated series - Harley Quinn was created for it, and only subsequently migrated to the comics and other media). I would therefore count LEGO's Jokers as being representative of any / all versions of the Joker, with the exception of any who are specifically excluded from the line - that is, the '60s live-action TV show and movie, since Warner doesn't have the rights, and therefore LEGO doesn't get to use them. I would therefore consider none of LEGO's Jokers to represent the Cesar Romero Joker, at least not officially, but they could be argued to be at least tangentially representative of others, including Mark Hamill's, Heath Ledger's, and Jack Nicholson's.

If we include promo minifigures like the recent Martian Manhunter, though, and the SDCC exclusives, I think it's possible nearly any figure could get a release. They might shy away from doing a regular retail set built around the Punisher, say, but I could totally see them doing just the Punisher himself as a Shop at Home giveaway or an SDCC exclusive.

Hmm... actually, possibly the ones I see most are the standard minifigure elements (hip/leg assembly, torso, head).

I see it remaining headquartered in Billund, Denmark. Oh, okay, seriously. I see it continuing to experiment with various sorts of digital experiences, as both of you have said - perhaps with RFID-embedded bricks that enable new kinds of functionality, for example. LDD may become more powerful and / or simpler to use. LEGO will continue to try (albeit cautiously) more in the way of videogames, interactive digital building experiences, etc., and eventually try again something as ambitious as, say, LEGO Universe, possibly incorporating elements from that. I see the licensing partnership with Disney and its major subsidiaries Marvel and Lucasfilm continuing, with Star Wars in particular remaining a LEGO mainstay throughout the sequel trilogy era and beyond. I see additional licensing with other rightsholders also becoming an increasingly important part of their overall market strategy. I see CUUSOO developing further, perhaps ramping up to more review periods and production slots each year, and probably approving a greater variety of projects than before. At some point they may approve a proposal very very similar to one they've rejected in the past. The site will come out of beta and see various refinements, such as improved organizing / indexing / searching, and perhaps might add functionality, like some sort of LDD integration. I see Friends (or minidoll themes generally) expanding beyond its current milieu as essentially a town / city variant, branching out into more adventurous play themes (it appears to be doing this already with the imminent wave of jungle-themed sets), and the Friends characters perhaps getting "grown-up" personas with full-blown careers in exciting fields. I see the Minifigures line settling in at one or two new numbered series releases a year, alternating with more special / "one-off" releases like The LEGO Movie and The Simpsons. I see various advances in manufacturing technology and practices allowing for greater flexibility, including more specialty-oriented production, allowing for more in the way of special elements with limited production runs (allowing for things like CUUSOO sets going through that wouldn't have before, or more in the way of other special limited releases like the Team GB Minifigures).