Blondie-Wan

The same reason(s) they make anything else? The same reason(s) LEGO or any other toy companies make any sets of anything?

I don't see a torch passing; I'd rather have it be a final adventure for Indy, one perhaps explaining how he lost his eye. There doesn't need to be anyone "taking his place"; it can (and should, IMO) be simply the last major piece of Indy's screen biography.

The Faun and Farmer described here don't sound like "issues" at all, unless the extra accessories were in place of other parts. They might also be trouble for some other buyer, though, if it means they got figures that were just flat-out missing parts because these two copies had extras.

That's actually not much of a problem for me, though in my case it's because I'm a huge, obsessed Indiana Jones fan, so I have no trouble simply remembering what figures are in what sets, how many I have of each, etc.

They did originally give explanations, but stopped a while ago, though it was after they began batch-reviewing projects.

They did give feedback on that, after the previous review (the one where they approved nothing, despite having the largest review batch to date); they just weren't specific about which reasons applied to which projects. The problem is that they can't give all the reasons, at least not for the licensed projects. Sometimes terms of an existing legal agreement prevent them from disclosing anything. Other times, there may not even be an agreement in place, but they may feel it prudent not to disclose any information that would make it hard to work with a company in the future. And if they can't do that, it's hard to justify releasing any information, even on non-licensed projects, since having partial info available on why a non-licensed project was declined might allow people to make inferences about the reason a licensed project in the same batch was declined.

I used to use Peeron to keep track of my collection, but the last several years it's been insufficiently updated for keeping track of newer sets and parts, it seems, and I find it less and less useful as time goes on. Oh, well. For those whose collections consist entirely of older material, though, if should still be an excellent resource.

Thanks for the review! I think this is a great set, and I'd love to have one. The price is a little much for me right now, but I can't fault it; it appears to have full value for the money. I'd like to note this is the first Ideas set to include a baseplate, I believe. Also, 32x32 baseplates in this grey are even rarer than plain orange soccer balls, I think; the only other set that appears to have one is the Parisian Restaurant. Finally, this is of course the first "abstract" Ideas set, as well.

LEGO's license for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles expired, and Mega Bloks picked up the rights, so there won't be any more TMNT from LEGO for a while. For a franchise to appear in LEGO Dimensions, it presumably isn't enough for it to not appear in a competing toys-to-life game; it undoubtedly also has to have the construction toy rights available to TLG.

I withhold or apply stickers on a case-by-case basis, weighing such considerations as how much of a difference in the model's appearance the stickers will make, how useful the stickered parts will be in other creations, whether the parts are common in that color, etc.

2015? I thought they released theirs in 2012. Their site certainly doesn't indicate anything about it still being available.

They were willing to accept (or at least entertain the idea of) a lot of things then that they no longer do now, such as new part proposals, projects without actual builds (just pictures of real-world non-LEGO objects), etc. It took time for them to discover the limits of the program, what was feasible and what wasn't, etc. In the case of the MWT, the Lone Ranger license turned out to flat-out preclude them from doing a big non-licensed Western-themed set, so once they determined that was the case, they didn't need to continue evaluating the project; it was the initial point of failure. That doesn't mean everything else about the idea would have flown if not for the license. It's still quite possible (I'd guess even likely) that they'd have declined the project on size grounds if it hadn't had a more concrete legal case against it. But it's true we just can't be sure, of course. Is it? I know it was, but their site no longer shows it as available. And LEGO itself has already had licenses end that began more recently than K'Nex's Beatles / Yellow Submarine license (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, for example). I believe it is indeed, though in the way that things like Porsche, Volkswagen, etc. are licensed, rather than coming from a character- / narrative-based entertainment property property, if you're asking why the set is being discussed here rather than in Licensed. My (likely flawed) understanding is that most such brand-based sets and themes are discussed here in Special Themes (or Technic / Model Team, Trains, etc., as the case may be), and the Licensed forum is generally for stuff based on movies, comics, TV, videogames, etc... although it's gotten more haphazard lately.

By that logic, no one should ever audition for movie roles or try out for the Olympics or conduct research on cures for cancer, since the odds are so small. People do submit projects with the intention of soliciting votes and maybe, just maybe, getting them approved to become official sets. Oh, perhaps some don't, but many surely do - and after all, a few do in fact make it all the way through. Right now, there are a little over 16,000 projects on Ideas - that's all the ones ever submitted, from the CUUSOO days to the present, including everything currently gathering support, expired, support achieved, etc... including fifteen projects (so far) that have been approved to become official sets, plus several more that have achieved support and are either currently under review or awaiting review. In other words, currently the odds of a project becoming a set are a little worse than one in a thousand. Those are pretty long odds, true, but actually a bit better than a lot of people seem to think.

For any fans of The Little Prince wondering why TLG didn't approve what looks like a marvelous project based on a truly classic work, some more unfortunate and inexplicable news: Paramount (which was to have been the US distributor for the new movie adaptation that has been doing well overseas) has suddenly dropped all support for the movie and pulled it from their schedule, a mere week before release, with no explanation as to why (!!!). Though obviously we can't know for sure, and it's certainly possible it's just an unfortunate coincidence, I can't help but wonder whether TLG declined the Ideas project because of some sort of weird behind-the-scenes turmoil with the property. Even if it does turn out to be completely unrelated, the mere possibility should serve as a reminder that licensed projects in particular can face any number of additional complications which we might have no knowledge of and which are completely outside TLG's control.

I'm sure it will happen eventually, as well; note that after a few years of CUUSOO / ideas topping out at $50 (USD), they had three $60 sets in a row last year, and now we're about to get a $70 one, so they're apprently pushing their ceiling on these just a bit higher every so often. But it'll be a while before they start approving really huge things, I think. Well... YMMV, of course. I personally would love the Beatles' Yellow Submarine.

Maybe if Middle-Earth fans would occasionally support sets with fewer than fifty thousand pieces including eight hundred minifigures, they might have a better chance of getting a project through review. Anyway, the sets that do get chosen obviously do appeal to lots of people, even if not to you specifically. Car models have long been a mainstay of LEGO, and Adventure Time is a terrific show with a big following that spans generations, but is particularly popular with people right in LEGO's core audience.

$70 isn't typical, at least for Ideas sets - the Maze is the first and only set in the line at that price, so far. But based on the apparent size and complexity, I do think this Caterham set will at least match that price, if not exceed it.

I cannot believe you just posted that the Beatles have "too small of a fan base" (!!!). They've historically had one of the biggest fan bases for anything on the entire planet. I think the problem with the ISS and Hubble projects was simply that they were so large. A more reasonably-sized project along similar lines could still pass.

I notice Mike says in the video that LEGO's people are working on these for release in late 2016 and early 2017. After back-to-back years with four CUUSOO / Ideas sets apiece, we're apparently dropping down to just two this year. I'm guessing that's partly the result of the previous review having nothing approved, and partly the result of the Maze and, perhaps, Caterham being so large (I'm guessing the latter will be a large set, anyway). But I do hope they go back to more frequent releases next year (even though I have a hard enough time keeping up with them as it is).

Probably not every single one, but certainly the most prominent, important characters, along others who are particularly noteworthy, fan-favorite, and/or especially visually distinctive (though of course that last part describes most characters from the show). Obviously Jake and Finn will be the two biggies, and I think we can also count on Princess Bubblegum, Lady Rainicorn, Ice King, Gunter, and Marceline.

I am so jazzed for Adventure Time. Um... yes? You two sound surprised...

Given the distinctive look of Adventure Time, brick-built honestly serves the characters and the franchise well. Of course special molds would also do well, too, and I'm sure the handful of characters we'll get in dedicated figure form via LEGO Dimensions will be mathematical, but there's no way they'd ever give as many characters that way as they can this way, since practically every character could use or even require at least one new mold, if not more.

Those are wonderful. Your video deserves more views.

It's just artwork (and not simply Photoshopped, from a photo of the actual minifigures, but done using digital renders of them that allow for greater flexibility than actual figures). They do this all the time. There won't be anything different or unusual about the head / neck connection on the actual figure.

I hope she survives as well, but I think next year is still the proper time to do the set, as it won't be just the year Star Wars - Episode VIII comes out; it'll also be the 40th anniversary of the entire franchise. Note that the original UCS Millennium Falcon, still the largest Star Wars set and one of the most desirable, was released for the 30th anniversary. Of course, if they're planning any such thing for next year, development on it should be well under way already...