Blondie-Wan

No worries - it turns out I've been given the all-clear already. Before I posted here I commented on the other person's project and noted my dilemma, but also expressed my honest appreciation of the fact there were other fans of this material on the site, and also went ahead and voted for that project. The other builder thanked me and graciously encouraged me to submit my own version, so all should be good.

I have a CUUSOO conundrum. I've been planning a number of submissions for months, but haven't yet been quite ready to post any. Now, someone has just gone ahead and posted a project very similar to one of mine - not in the sense of ripping off my design or anything like that (no one can, as mine isn't yet publicly viewable anywhere, or even finished), but in the sense of being based upon the same specific subject matter (a la the two Ghostbusters projects both based around the Ectomobile and the team members, that competed and wound up each hitting the 10,000 vote mark for the same review batch). I'm well aware the CUUSOO guidelines specifically allow for two or more competing projects based upon the same specific subject matter, but that's not the same as submitting a project when one specifically knows about existing projects treating the same subject. If I submitted my own, knowing full well of the existence of this other one, would I be a jerk for doing so? I will note it's not just about credit and money - while the other project is nicely done, I think some of the things I've been planning for my own would be significant improvements - the other builder's project lacks several features I plan to have in mine that I think would make a better set if included in any final commercial release, if it gets to that. However, our shared subject matter, while it does have a following (one I honestly think is substantial enough to be able to sell out at least a small production run), is not anywhere nearly as popular as something like Ghostbusters or Back to the Future, and at the end of the day I really just want to give it the best shot it can get of becoming a set, whether as my project or someone else's, and I really don't know whether my competing project would help or hinder that goal. Perhaps it would split the vote, and perhaps there are enough people out there who'd want this to vote it up to the 10k mark if there's just one, but if there are two then many voters would choose only one or the other, and perhaps neither would get the votes when just one might. OTOH, if mine really is more compelling (and I know it might be conceited of me to think so, but I'm just going on my planned inclusion of features I as a fan would want to see in the set regardless of where it originated), perhaps it would entice more people to vote who otherwise would not. And if either or both projects were to garner the votes, they'd still need to pass review; would one project be more likely to do so (from the business case perspective) if there were multiple projects of the same material, each with their own votes (thus demonstrating greater overall demand)? The business case is the aspect of this particular CUUSOO wish I think is most likely to trip it up, so I want to do anything I can to help shore up the business case for it, whether it's ultimately my project or someone else's. What do you guys think?

That might be part of it, but I think they still don't look that way to most eyes, unless you put the old and new grays right next to each other. Similarly, even back in 2003 when the new gray was introduced, it made the old gray look that way by comparison, even if the old gray was from a still-new set released just before the new grays came out.

Why not try asking the CUUSOO team directly?

Yikes. From the POV of someone whose LEGO interests lie mostly away from the "constraction" lines, coming to this forum and seeing this thread is pretty unnerving, seriously challenging one's notions about LEGO quality. But then I remember how the quality thread in the General forum looks, and how it's not necessarily representative of the vast majority of LEGO elements... Are Bionicle / HF parts in general really so vulnerable? I've had a ("System," brick-based) project simmering in the back of my mind for a few years now that requires hinging multiple sections of a large, heavy build together, and for a while I was thinking some Technicky ball-and-socket parts from constraction figure sets might be a good, solid way of doing it, but perhaps not, if they're going to actually be weaker, rather than stronger, than an alternative solution...

Edit: Never mind.

Chewie's family also appears in an old kids' book, The Wookiee Storybook, and there are fleeting references to things from the Holiday Special (Ackmena, Life Day, etc.) here and there in other works. I think the made-for-TV Ewoks movies are unlikely to be obviated by new material, because they're simply self-contained to a point at which I think the people now in charge would have to go out of their way in order to contradict them; there's probably very little in them that would get in the way of any story they'd like to tell in new movies (at least using the current official chronology that puts them between Empire and Jedi - I personally put them after Jedi, but I know that's not in line with the official canon and hasn't been for years, though if they'd ask me...).

I'm still getting caught up on my "must have" sets from years ago, but I'm getting there. Today I finally picked up 9516 Jabba's Palace.

That's possible (though of course we don't really know exactly how well the line might or might not have done for CB), but I think it's entirely within the realm of possibility a given idea might do much, much better as a LEGO theme than as a theme for some competing maker of construction toys. LEGO obviously has by far the largest fanbase of any of the construction toy brands, and it overlaps with the fanbases for lots of entertainment franchises. For pretty much any series we can imagine, there are probably a lot more fans who would be interested in buying official LEGO sets based upon them than there are fans interested in buying other companies' brick-based construction sets based off of them - for example, I love Star Trek, but I can't bring myself to buy any of Hasbro's official KRE-O Star Trek sets. There are plenty of fans who do buy them, I'm sure, but I'd bet dollars to donuts they're nothing compared to the number of people who are both FOLs and Trekkers, and who'd buy official LEGO Star Trek sets, if only they were available.

Oh, so you didn't write it? I actually was thinking you appreciated the character more fully than most, based on your creation, and I thought the story was yours, too. It's still well-done, all the same. Where is the contest?

That's pretty much the same boat I'm in, actually. I seem to have developed a tendency to acquire media for various platforms before I have the hardware to play them on - I had my first videotapes before I actually owned a VCR of my own (Ok, so I was young at the time and using my family's VCRs, but still), I got my first few laserdiscs before I got a laserdisc player, I got my first few DVDs before I got a DVD player, I got NES game cartridges before I got an actual NES, I got Super NES games before a Super NES, Mac and PC games before I got a Mac or PC, and even now I have a few Blu-rays already though I don't have a Blu-ray player myself... yet. For me, picking up the swankiest Blu-ray edition of The LEGO Movie even though I don't have a BD player yet will just be par for the course - better than that, actually, since at least that edition will also be a DVD edition, and I can at least watch those now. Well, at least this one isn't as bad as getting different minifigures with the videogame depending upon what store you buy it at and/or what platform it's on. I know that one must have been terribly frustrating for a lot of people. I was lucky in that I was able to get the two freebies that were offered at theaters, and one of those (the Radio DJ Robot) was one of the two offered with the game from one of the vendors, but for people who don't live near that particular theater chain, they're out of luck (not to mention there just not being enough of any of these to go around for everyone who wants one to begin with).

Indeed, it's actually tatooed on his arm:

Right, but according to the linked source, that pack will include a DVD, along with both 2d and 3d Blu-rays (plus a digital copy - of course Blu-ray and DVD are themselves digital, but you know what I mean). AyliffeMakit was lamenting that (s)he didn't have a Blu-ray player, so "it would be pretty pointless for me to buy it." I was pointing out that since that top-of-the-line Blu-ray release also includes a DVD, AyliffeMakit could still use it; (s)he would just have a couple extra discs (I am of course assuming Ayliffe does at least have a DVD player).

I'd certainly love some more Classic Spacey goodness myself. I haven't seen that model before (though it has plenty of WOW factor for me, even if just because it's, well, Classic Space), but I'm sure the CUUSOO set referred to is this one, the upcoming Exo Suit, for which the final design hasn't been revealed yet: Note the (mostly) Classic-style operator. While the final model will obviously differ from the one in the proposal, it's hoped it will retain some connection to Classic Space.

Wow, that's quite cool, I must say. Nicely done.

Well, the teddy bear's arm is essentially a standard-diameter LEGO rod / dowel / pin / whatever. It might not be able to clip onto a "handle" element, but other pieces can clip onto it, or slide onto it with an open stud-type connection. Perhaps Itchy could be given such little arms and then come with, say, a 1x1 plate with clip, a 1x1 round plate with open stud, or some other element that would connect him to some brick-built instrument of malice. Even if not, at any rate, if he were included alongside Scratchy, he'd effectively be technically an "accessory" rather than a minifigure in his own right, in which case they might not even worry about making him able to hold weapons. That's not to mention the fact that if he's included, TLG probably wouldn't throw in a whole slew of additional parts on top of two whole figures in one packet, anyway - they might put in one small additional item, like the banana included with the Minifigures Series 5 Zookeeper and her chimpanzee, or the cellphone-printed 1x2 tile included with the Series 10 Trendsetter and her chihuaha, but they probably wouldn't have a baggie that included two whole characters (even if one is a single-piece, non-articulated figure), plus accessories for both.

Well, it also has the DVD, right?

No, but it does look quite possible, if only they can get a script that pleases the principal players. This topic is just about sets we think TLG should have done, though, without regard to what they might do if another movie comes along.

Indy is 58 in the fourth movie (though Harrison was in his mid-60s when it was shot), and the character has already been shown at age 93: As we also see from that image, he's been through a considerable amount of adventure in the years between 1958 and 1992, and I for one would like to know more about it. (Not to mention another movie would surely mean more LEGO sets! )

That's always been the case with LEGO minifigures, though. Women, men, small children, elderly, bodybuilders, fat people, etc. all use the same trapezoidal torso, all the same size. If TLG were going to do specific molds for one of those body types, why not all? But then you could have a situation where there'd be dozens or even hundreds of different molds for different torsos, and everything would be vastly more specialized and less usable for other things. I don't think that would be good at all.

I, too, wish the Pirates one had been released in the US. At least everything released since then (all the calendars from 2010 on) have been released here, though.

That's true, but it didn't stop them from doing DUPLO Cars sets pretty much immediately after Mega Bloks did their own DUPLO-esque sets for that license.

They didn't confirm Doctor Who; they just said it was now acceptable material for consideration, whereas previously it hadn't been. They still might decide not to make official Doctor Who sets; they just wanted to let us know that Doctor Who submissions would no longer be automatically rejected, the way they do any other licensed property whose rights are currently held by a competitor (Jurassic Park, for example). The project still has to pass review. That said, I do think there's an excellent chance of it happening. I'm sure it hasn't escaped their notice that as soon as they announced DW projects were acceptable, a bunch of DW projects went up, and one of them hit 10k votes in just two weeks. All that gives them as clear an indication as they could hope for that there's enough of a market for a LEGO Doctor Who set, and the property is reasonably family-friendly (it was originally conceived as a kids' show, even if it is rife with scary monsters), and it doesn't really cover the same ground as anything else they're doing, and it doesn't really require new molds even if it could benefit from them, so... I don't see any grounds for it being declined, really. I feel pretty comfortable in saying Doctor Who will be the next licensed property to get an official LEGO treatment thanks to CUUSOO (yay!).

I started to respond to this post a few days ago, but had a browser glitch just after I'd finished typing a bunch of stuff and lost it all, and I didn't feel like coming back to it right away. Oh, well. This is a great-looking set, and I must have it. It's a little vexing that it's only the second set ever to include Jawas in the entire fifteen years of the theme, and this set and its predecessor combined have just seven Jawas between them (when they're both large, expensive sets of the Sandcrawler), but since I do indeed have that previous Sandcrawler at least I'll be able to combine the ones from that with the ones from this and have seven. I also look forward to eventually combining the two sets to MOC my own, but this is a sufficiently nice-looking set that I think I'll be happy to just keep it together for a while. That sounds nifty. So the manuals will be something like the ones for Architecture and CUUSOO sets? That should be pretty sweet. Argh, welcome to my world. I still don't have the Death Star, never mind many of the other sets from the last couple years (my current priorities are the Death Star, Jabba's Palace, the Battle of Hoth, and the last wave of Planets, if I can get them).

This is a pretty general question for the Star Wars forum, don't you think? A couple years ago I moved from my tiny old apartment to a house I share with my fiancee. I still don't really have enough space, but it ameliorated the problem considerably.