Blondie-Wan

If the later movies are sequels to or spinoffs from the earlier movies, I think it's fair to consider them a universe. Then again, each of us is entitled to an opinion, and in the grand scheme of things it probably doesn't really matter what the exact relationship various LEGO movies bear to one another. That said, I wouldn't be entirely surprised if The LEGO Movie 2 or whatever it winds up being called settles the matter with allusions to events from prior movies, but we'll see.

I think it's at least partly because the size and piece count of the Ship in a Bottle project was not as central a part of the concept as that of the Addams Family house. They also didn't downsize the Ship in a Bottle from project to set nearly as drastically as the difference between the earlier and current Addams Family house projects - the final Ship in a Bottle set may be a bit smaller than the submitted project, but it's not less than half the piece count of the original, as is the case with the two Addams Family projects.

Ah, okay!

Well, huh. Is there anyone here who plays it on multiple platforms?

Perhaps, but I did point out things that you or others might not have realized (and had you not found it a "tldr" post, you might have realized it wasn't a rant, just a set of observations). That said, looking back I do see my post was much longer than it needed to be. Perhaps I'll go back and pare it down later.

It's not exactly the same project (nor is either project merely a mod of the Haunted House). It is a very similar project, and one by the same submitter - essentially a pared-down version of the earlier submission - but a critical difference is that the version (s)he originally submitted had over 7,000 pieces, while the current one has fewer than 3,000, in accord with the new rules. It is entirely reasonable to think that a version of the famous house with under 3000 pieces might be approved when one with over 7000 was not. The size / piece count of the original submission was clearly a factor in its rejection, and obviously a different take on the same subject matter that uses far fewer parts has a much better chance - no guarantee, of course, but better than before. There is no rule against submitting projects of the same subject matter as previous projects that have been reviewed and declined. Different projects can receive different evaluations, even they share the same subject matter. Different piece counts are just one reason a project might possibly be approved when a previous model of the same subject was declined; another might be the time of review. For example, consider the Lone Ranger issue Faefrost mentioned above in his response to Digger of Bricks. A while back, when LEGO still let us know why projects were declined, there was a lovely Modular Western Town project that was declined because it unfortunately conflicted with the terms of LEGO's license for their then-upcoming Lone Ranger theme (though of course the project submitter didn't know that at the time of submission). From what we understand, their license prevented them from offering any other Western sets or themes at the same time they'd be offering the Lone Ranger sets, meaning not just that particular project (which was also unrealistically large anyway), but any other "old West"-style project that had the misfortune to enter review at that time would be automatically declined on those grounds even before being evaluated on other factors - but since their Lone Ranger license is no longer active, the same thing wouldn't happen now, and other Western projects submitted now might have a chance when they wouldn't have then. They might even permit the exact same Modular Western Town project to be resubmitted (if it weren't so big that they'd now reject it right off the bat for being over 3000 pieces). In other words, just because an Addams Family house project was reviewed and rejected once doesn't mean there's zero chance they'll ever approve one in the future, and it certainly doesn't mean no one can ever submit a project of that subject matter again. (Though it's not exactly the same situation, it is worth noting that they have in fact at least once approved a project based on a particular licensed property even after declining a previous project based on the same property. Some years ago they reviewed and rejected an Adventure Time project, and then the year before last they approved a different, later one. It's true that the two projects were quite different - the first was for a build of an iconic structure seen in the show, at either minifigure scale or a smaller, Architecture-like scale, while the second one that got approved was for a set of larger-than-minifigures brick-built figures, similar to Miniland figures. But it does illustrate that a project based on a licensed theme can have a chance even when they've previously rejected projects based on that theme.)

Thanks for the info! I guess this game is a space hog both on the hard drive and on the shelf. _________________________________________ I picked up a few more packs the other day, including my first Story Pack (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them). I now have all but fifteen packs (2 Story, 2 Level, 3 Team, and 8 Fun), and have nearly completed a set of all of Year One - the Lloyd Fun Pack is the only one I still need from the first year. I'm kind of amazed by it, but I think I'm actually going to get a complete collection of this particular LEGO theme (not counting all the different platforms' versions of the Starter Pack, just at least one of each figure and build).

This is very much me. I was going there daily, or close to daily, for a long time, but I've been mostly inactive on Ideas for a while now. There's a number of websites I frequent at various times, but it seems like I have the energy to regularly keep up with only some of them in any one given period, so I go through phases where I visit a particular site regularly, followed by periods where I leave it alone for months, and I cycle various sites into and out of my daily habits. Then I start to return to them months later, while temporarily abandoning others. In the case of LEGO Ideas, it means my user history shows I was going there constantly for a while, supporting projects, leaving comments, etc., but then just kind of fell away from it, and have gone back only sporadically since. But I do plan to become a regular participant again, especially since I plan to submit my own projects eventually. And yeah, I'm really looking forward to seeing the TRON and Voltron projects.

How large is a full install of the game with all Story, Level, etc. Packs on the PS4?

At long last, after amassing dozens of add-on packs, I've finally acquired the actual game itself - a PS4 Starter Pack, complete with Supergirl promo. I also have picked up a few other packs recently, and now have all the Year One stuff except the Sensei Wu and Lloyd Fun Packs (well, those and the Starters for the other four platforms ), plus the Supergirl and Green Arrow promos, the Mission: Impossible Level Pack, the Gremlins Team Pack, and the LEGO City Undercover and The LEGO Batman Movie Fun Packs. Now I just need 21 more packs (and a PS4)...

The Green Arrow promo arrived today. Huzzah! "Just" 28 packs to go, now, including the Supergirl promo and a Starter Pack (counting them as two packs, though of course I hope/plan to get them together in one purchase).

I don't have any of the "regular" Scooby-Doo! sets. I'd like to have them, but unfortunately my limited funds just don't cover everything I'd like, and they're lower priorities than sets from many other themes (as well as various non-LEGO concerns). Good to know! Perhaps there are tricks and tweaks one can do to minimize glitchiness and maximize performance.

Quite possibly. They do reject the majority of projects that reach review, after all. However, we don't know exactly why they declined the Red Arrows BAE Hawk. The association with contemporary military stuff is certainly a possibility, but they've done similar planes before; indeed, it's possible it was declined for being too much like stuff they've already done (or are doing), rather than being something they absolutely don't do.

BTW, I know the first packs were released over two years ago now (and in fact, it's now nearly three years since we got our first look at them), but incredibly, I don't think anyone has mentioned yet (not in this thread, anyway) that in the box artwork for the Benny Fun Pack, the Classic Space emblem on his chest is backwards (!). Presumably the actual original art is right, and just got flipped for the packaging and no one in the marketing graphics department caught the error that flip introduced. I think the fact he's floating upside-down kept people from noticing it right away, but I can't believe no one noticed it for over two years...

I have certainly gotten that impression. I think that unfortunately, the Wii U just doesn't handle more than the Starter Pack and a handful of additional levels, Adventure Worlds and Battle Arenas very well. My guess (with the caveat that I haven't played the Wii U and don't personally have any knowledge of its limitations) is that Wii U players are fine with the Starter Pack and packs for a few additional franchises beyond DC, The LEGO Movie, and The Lord of the Rings (and can go to town getting all the characters they want for that small handful of themes), but any time they add anything that actually adds to the total game environment to run around in, it tends to cause a few more problems, and the issues multiply rapidly as one adds more and more new worlds. Apparently (again, this is me guessing based on what I've read, but I admit I'm the farthest thing from an expert), Wii U players should just pick whatever handful of themes they like most, and then use packs for only those themes. I think that's probably what most average gamers do anyway, but of course some of us would like to get everything (both for gameplay and for the physical LEGO) and 100% the game, and unfortunately the Wii U is just not a good system to do that on.

Ugh, sorry to hear it. What platform are you playing on? Sorry to hear that, too. I didn't realize what country you were in when I posted, and I don't know what pack availability is like in other countries (or even in other parts of the US, for that matter). I hope you can still snag the Scooby Team. I'm in the opposite boat from you - I have the Scooby-Doo Team Pack for LEGO Dimensions, but none of the other, "regular" sets for Scooby-Doo, and now they're tough to find, alas. Of the four Team Packs from Year One, the Jurassic World one is the most plentiful in the areas I've been able to shop in, then the Scooby-Doo! one, then the DC one - that one's pretty rare around here, now, but not quite impossible to find yet - and then finally the Ninjago one, which I haven't seen anywhere in quite a while. Online searching revealed there's at least one copy at a GameStop a bit more than an hour's drive away from me; fortunately it appears they'll ship it to a GameStop closer to me, where I can pick it up. Also, while (hopefully) taking care of that Ninjago Team Pack today, I also finally acquired the Ghostbusters Stay-Puft Fun Pack and the Gremlins Team Pack. This brings the number of character figures I have - not counting ones I'm waiting on, just ones I now have in hand - to 38, just over half of the total 75. I'm getting there!

FWIW, of the four Team Packs from Year One, those are the two I still see most widely available at lots of stores. If you're interested in getting them, I think you shouldn't have too much trouble right now, though I don't think that'll be the case much longer. Target and Best Buy had all expansion packs on sale for half off the week before Christmas. I really wish now I'd picked some up then, but I was trying to avoid spending on myself and instead just shop for other people.

I finally picked up Zane - 32 down, 31 to go (including a Starter Pack and both polybag promos, though one of the latter is supposed to be coming soon). I think I might make it. It currently looks as though the two remaining packs that I'm going to have the most trouble getting are not the two polybag promos - I won Green Arrow in a Facebook contest and am supposed to receive him shortly, while I plan to get Supergirl with the PS4 Starter - but the Ninjago Team Pack and the Lloyd Fun Pack. As long as I can get them, I should be okay for getting everything. It looks like I've been alone in this thread for the last couple months, though. Might I assume everyone else interested in the game has done everything they're going to do with it?

I finally saw the TRU-exclusive Starter Pack bundles that come with the Aquaman Fun Pack. Like the Target bundles with the Lloyd Fun Pack, they appear to be limited to the Starters for the two highest-end platforms (PS4 and XBox One). I had thought the Target one might use Lloyd as almost a promotional tie-in with The LEGO Ninjago Movie, but I don't know what the reasoning behind the Aquaman bundle would be. I mean, I'm sure he's a fine character, but so are tons of others in the game, and I'm not sure why they opted for a bundle with him over all others. I do also think that if I weren't trying to just get everything and we're going to get a Starter Pack bundle with someone other than Supergirl, I'd prefer the Target Lloyd bundle over the TRU Aquaman one, since that would give you not just a fourth character with new powers, but access to a whole new Adventure World right out of the box, whereas Aquaman just gives you the same Adventure World that Batman already does (and so does Supergirl, for that matter). Also, TRU is currently running a promo that gets you a free Adventure Time DVD with any LEGO Dimensions purchase (though two different TRUs I visited yesterday were already out of the DVD, despite the promo having started just days ago and being supposed to run for more than three more weeks). FWIW. I'm finding it hard to find most of the Ninjago packs now, BTW. I think those are the ones we most need to scramble on if we want them and don't have them already.

Got it. That said, even had I realized you were being facetious (I freely acknowledge I had not), I would probably have responded much the same way, since the fact only a minute percentage of the total pool of Ideas users is responsible for all the projects on the site is one I find interesting, and not really discussed all that often. Your post provided an excellent opportunity to bring it up.

Having decided to attempt to get a complete set of all packs for the game, I've been trying lately to get caught up and get all the remaining packs while I still can. I still don't even have a console that can run the game yet, but I do now have 31 packs, mostly from Year One. I've been scooping them up whenever I can get a good deal on them - and yes, I know that folks like me who buy them only on sale are part of the reason the game was ended after Year Two. But it's really the only way I can afford to do it (and I think I could be argued to be supporting the game more than one might expect of me, considering I can't even run it yet). I do plan to eventually get a PS4 - not just for this game, of course, but hopefully that means I'll also be able to get the Supergirl promo without too much trouble. I apparently won a Facebook giveaway for the Green Arrow promo, so I should be getting that as well, though part of me thinks I shouldn't count my chickens before they're hatched (i.e., before I have Green Arrow in hand). At the moment I have 28 Year One packs - most of them, so it's easier to list those I don't have than those I do. I still need a Starter Pack, the Midway Arcade Level Pack, the Ghostbusters Stay-Puft Fun Pack, the DC Superman and Aquaman Fun Packs, and all the Ninjago packs except Nya. For Year Two I currently have the Mission: Impossible Level Pack and the Chase McCain and Excalibur Batman Fun Packs, and am awaiting the Green Arrow promo. That gives me 34 playable figures (35 including Green Arrow, once he arrives) from 16 different themes / franchises. Right now my two biggest concerns (as far as this game goes) are getting a PS4 Starter Pack with Supergirl while I still can, and finding the Ninjago packs I still need - they seem to have disappeared from most stores now. I still have a few options, though, so I'm feeling cautiously optimistic.

I didn't check out this poll until after the most recent results were announced. I tried to vote for my predictions for the next review, but it wouldn't let me cast a vote in just that poll and not the other one. Obviously I know what the results were, and I could easily go ahead and vote for "none", but I didn't want to look like I cheated by waiting until the announcement when in reality I'm only voting in that poll so I can vote in the following one, so even though I already know nothing was approved in the Second 2017 Review, I went ahead and voted for everything. For the Third 2017 Review, I'm picking the Pop-Up Book and the Jaguar. I think the Pop-Up Book is the likeliest, and probably the one that's already been approved. While I think it's a fantastic project, and one I supported myself, I'm rather irked at my procrastination, since one of the many, many projects I've been contemplating for years is a LEGO pop-up book of my own, and I've never gotten around to building and submitting it. If it happens, it will actually be the second time someone else gets a set made from an idea I had earlier but never got around to submitting (the first being the Beatles' Yellow Submarine). It's a problem I've had for a long time that I'm struggling to overcome. But I can't begrudge Jason Alleman any success that comes his way, especially since he's created tons of other amazing projects over the years that haven't garnered as much success as they've deserved. If anything, JK Brickworks is overdue for a second approved Ideas project. I just need to get to work on my remaining projects.

I'm sure such folks account for a huge portion of the total Ideas user base. And a bunch more also surely come from fans of the various subjects of Ideas projects - people who may or may not be fans of LEGO but who are car enthusiasts, fans of a TV show, etc. who see Ideas projects pertaining to their interests on social media and support them. I believe that's a normal and expected aspect of the Ideas process, as is the situation you describe (people signing up to support their friends' and family members' projects). It does mean that a huge number of Ideas users are folks who sign up just to support those specific projects, and many of them likely never do much else on the site once they've done that (and that's okay). At the same time, I know there are others like the folks described by Elysiumfountain here: I know I for one have supported a huge number of projects of all sorts (2459, according to the site! ) - sometimes because the subject matter particularly interests me, other times because I think the project creators did a really great job on something that may or may not interest me in and of itself. For a while I checked out the site more or less daily, and looked at every new project to consider supporting it. Life has pulled me away from such regular visits lately, but I do plan to become more active on it again (and eventually submit projects of my own, something I've yet to do but have been meaning to do for years now).

I doubt it, partly because I don't think all the stuff gets cited in that thread is submitted in jest, but mostly because not even 5% of those accounts have submitted stuff at all - all the stuff on Ideas, from the most hopeless projects that languish with three votes to those select few that have made it all the way to review, then approval, and become actual sets, have been submitted by closer to 2% or 3%. More than 97% of those 892891 accounts have never posted any projects; they've only voted for other people's stuff, made comments, and so on, or even just lurked without any actual activity. Given that the number of total projects - not just currently active ones gathering support, but all projects, including expired ones, archived ones, ones that have been approved and turned into sets, etc. is probably around 25,000, and surely no more than 26,000 (the actual total shown is a bit less than 25k, but that doesn't include archived ones; however, I don't think there are more than a thousand of those, so we can assume the total total is fewer than 26,000), or in other words only about 1/35th the number of active members, or less than 3%. And since a great many of those who do submit projects actually submit several, it's possible - if not indeed likely - that all the projects on Ideas, of all levels of merit, actually come from fewer than 1% of all active accounts. The vast, overwhelming majority of account holders (at least more than 97%, and possibly even more than 99%) never submit anything... unless the LEGO Ideas team actually does weed out an awful lot more projects than we think.

There's a new image of the Ship in a Bottle on the LEGO Ideas Facebook wall today! Seriously! I actually posted separately about the Voltron set in the Licensed forum back when it was first announced, and some mod actually moved my post here and merged it with this thread (!!!), even though my post served a purpose over there and just duplicated info here.