Blondie-Wan

I know I'm not the one you were talking to, but I'm not really thinking about it; I have a bunch of the original Buzz minifigures from various sets from the 2010 theme, and I'm perfectly happy with all of them, molded head and all. And yet I'm going to get one of these as well, anyway. Curse this darn completist drive...

And now for a thread from the archives... I've had three of these sets still in the box for several years now, and only a couple hours ago did I finally get around to opening one of them up and putting it together - I have a huge backlog of over a hundred unopened sets from over the last fifteen years or so. Though I love Star Wars in general, the prequel movies aren't exactly my favorite part of it, and a lot of sets from them have been on the back burner, as it were. Today I just felt like putting together something new, and decided to finally break the seals on one of these. I was delighted to find that decorated element on the front was actually a printed brick rather than a stickered one - who knew?! Well, okay, I guess lots of you have known for over a decade now, but I didn't! Though 2005 doesn't feel all that long ago, the set definitely felt like a blast from the past in things like having package / instructions photos of alternate models, as well as coming with the minifigure head already placed on the torso. The set doesn't really feel dated to me, though, except perhaps for equipping our clone with a megaphone blaster. Design- and build-wise, I think it holds up fairly well to current sets, though more leg posability would be nice. But it's no worse in that regard than the AT-ST that came two years later at twice the price, so no biggie. I'm very glad I wound up getting three of these. I don't even recall exactly how or why for sure, but I think I found two of them clearanced, and was given the third for a birthday present. But it's a fine little set, and fully deserved greater attention than Ive given it before now, even if I'll always be much more interested in the OT era than anything outside it. (Nice review, valentin!)

I'm sure they could bring back the dome if they wanted to, but I do think the magnet issue is a likely obstacle.

A world of fools who need pitying.

I would vote if I could choose more than one.

That's true of any piece, of course. Those parts are likely still available, as they were introduced only in 2012, I believe, and still produced into the following year. I know they got rid of a lot of old specialized molds in the early/mid-2000s, but I don't know about any big mold purge in the last three years.

My initial thought was that they'd allow one to use more than one toy pad / portal, for having more than seven characters / vehicles / creatures / gadgets, and/or allow more than two people to play at once. I don't think that's likely, though, but it would be cool. (What does happen if one connects more than one Toy Pad to one's console? That's already physically possible to do, right? Can the game recognize more than one?)

Well... wow. I'm guessing from the way CM4Sci bolder "Mr T" that it actually is indeed Mr. T, the person. Utterly bizarre, but he has appeared as a character in his own entertainment franchise, so there you go. I am provisionally assuming that the playable characters appearing in that pack and the Sonic one are indeed Mr. T and Sonic, naturally enough. I am also leaning towards these mysterious "Connectables" being a new, fifth type of pack (after Starter, Level, Team, and Fun), though I guess we'll see soon enough. Once again, then, here's the current list of all known packs, color-coded for easy distinction of Starter, Level, Team and Fun Packs, plus the new Connectables, with known characters (or assumed ones, like Sonic and Mr. T): 71170 - Starter Pack: PS3 (Wyldstyle, Gandalf & Batman) 71171 - Starter Pack: PS4 (Wyldstyle, Gandalf & Batman) 71172 - Starter Pack: XBox One (Wyldstyle, Gandalf & Batman) 71173 - Starter Pack: XBox 360 (Wyldstyle, Gandalf & Batman) 71174 - Starter Pack: Wii U (Wyldstyle, Gandalf & Batman) 71201 - Level Pack: Back to the Future (Marty McFly) 71202 - Level Pack: The Simpsons (Homer Simpson) 71203 - Level Pack: Portal 2 (Chell) 71204 - Level Pack: Doctor Who (the Doctor) 71205 - Team Pack: Jurassic World (Owen Grady & ACU Trooper) 71206 - Team Pack: Scooby-Doo! (Scooby-Doo & Shaggy) 71207 - Team Pack: NinjaGo (Cole & Kai) 71208 - ? 71209 - Fun Pack: DC Comics (Wonder Woman) 71210 - Fun Pack: DC Comics (Cyborg) 71211 - Fun Pack: The Simpsons (Bart Simpson) 71212 - Fun Pack: The LEGO Movie (Emmet Brickowski) 71213 - Fun Pack: The LEGO Movie (Bad Cop) 71214 - Fun Pack: The LEGO Movie (Benny) 71215 - Fun Pack: NinjaGo (Jay) 71216 - Fun Pack: NinjaGo (Nya) 71217 - Fun Pack: NinjaGo (Zane) 71218 - Fun Pack: The Lord of the Rings (Gollum) 71219 - Fun Pack: The Lord of the Rings (Legolas) 71220 - Fun Pack: The Lord of the Rings (Gimli) 71221 - Fun Pack: The Wizard of Oz (Wicked Witch) 71222 - Fun Pack: Legends of Chima (Laval) 71223 - Fun Pack: Legends of Chima (Cragger) 71224 - ? 71225 - ? 71226 - ? 71227 - Fun Pack: The Simpsons (Krusty the Clown) 71228 - Level Pack: Ghostbusters (Peter Venkman) 71229 - Team Pack: DC Comics (The Joker & Harley Quinn) 71230 - Fun Pack: Back to the Future (Doc Brown) 71231 - Fun Pack: The LEGO Movie (Unikitty) 71232 - Fun Pack: Legends of Chima (Eris) 71233 - Fun Pack: Ghostbusters (Mr. Stay Puft) 71234 - Fun Pack: NinjaGo (Sensei Wu) 71235 - Level Pack: Midway Arcade (gamer) 71236 - Fun Pack: DC Comics (Superman) 71237 - Fun Pack: DC Comics (Aquaman) 71238 - Fun Pack: Doctor Who (Cyberman) 71239 - Fun Pack: NinjaGo (Lloyd) 71240 - Fun Pack: DC Comics (Bane) 71241 - Fun Pack: Ghostbusters (Slimer) 71242 - ? Pack: Ghostbusters (?) 71243 - ? Pack: Harry Potter (?) 71244 - ? Pack: Sonic the Hedgehog (Sonic the Hedgehog) 71245 - ? Pack: Adventure Time (?) 71246 - ? Pack: Adventure Time (?) 71247 - ? Pack: Harry Potter (?) 71248 - ? Pack: "MI" 71249 - ? Pack: Adventure Time (?) 71250 - ? Pack: Ghostbusters (?) 71251 - ? Pack: Mr. T (Mr. T) 71252 - ? Pack: "KR" 71253 - ? Pack: Fantastic Beasts (and Where to Find Them) (?) 71254 - ? Pack: Teen Titans GO! (?) 71255 - ? Pack: Teen Titans GO! (?) 71256 - ? Pack: "GR" 71257 - ? Pack: Fantastic Beasts (and Where to Find Them) (?) 71258 - ? Pack: "ET" 71259 - Connectable 1 71260 - Connectable 2 71261 - Connectable 3 71262 - Connectable 4 71263 - Connectable 5 Thanks (again!) to CM4Sci, we also know Jillian Holtzmann is in one of the new Ghostbusters packs, and I'm going out on a limb and assuming one of the Harry Potter packs does in fact contain Harry Potter. Since there are multiple packs listed for both, though, I'm not assigning those characters to specific packs just yet, though it seems to me Harry would likely be in the first pack for his franchise. Still plenty of gaps in the numbering!

What are you going to do about the early 2000s Jurassic Park and Spider-Man sets from LEGO Studios? Those sets depicted stunt performers.

A couple weeks after you do, I would have thought...

Huh, that's peculiar. Can you post a photo to illustrate (ideally one of the torsos with these hands next to a "normal" one)?

Oh, indeed. This was one of four licensed franchises featuring human characters that TLG developed sets and themes around using traditional yellow-"skinned" minifigures, before adopting realistic fleshtones in 2003/2004; the other three were Star Wars, Harry Potter, and Spider-Man (based on the first couple movies in the Raimi / Maguire Spidey trilogy), and all three of them continued right from yellow minifigures in 2003 to "fleshies" the following year. Jurassic Park, unlike the other three, was already gone by '03/'04, so until last year's revival with Jurassic World, it was unique among licensed themes with human minifigures in having exclusively yellow people. As of some months ago, of course, that's no longer the case.

Yes, as a tiny part of their overall business. They've been offering the blind-bagged minifigures only since 2010, but they've been making sets of bricks that work with them for decades longer. The minifigures are just an aspect of their overall construction toy system that has become especially popular.

FWIW, there actually were a couple, way back in the early 2000s. They were less sophisticated design-wise than we might expect now, of course, and they were also a subtheme of the LEGO Studios line, meaning they didn't directly depict scenes from the movies, but rather the making of those scenes (with film crewmembers and all). Also, there just aren't many of them. But they do exist, at least.

I thought that was part of the point - that in addition to characters such as these, we could also have further new variants of the core family members (or other prominent characters) to fill out the assortment. For example, if we took just the eighteen characters in ndawgg's post and divided them in half (to split between two series), we'd get two groups of nine. If we then add six more to each group (meaning fresh variations of the core family members and another character or two), we have two more full series of sixteen, very easily. _____________________ That said, I can see why they wouldn't. Given that they produce (just) three full sets of Minifigures for worldwide distribution each year, they have to pick and choose from a number of different options for each series, such as typical collections in the main numbered series, themed entries in that series like the recent Halloween assortment, tie-ins to the LEGO movies, and licensed series such as the two for The Simpsons and the upcoming all-Disney one, all while also occasionally doing more limited things like the two sports series when they're able and have reason to. While I think another series or two of The Simpsons could certainly do well, they surely want to use their finite production capacity for blind-bagged Minifigures for whatever will sell best, and I think they'd rather do a mix of more regular numbered series plus fresh new licenses than tying up a third of their Minifigures series each year for the foreseeable future on just characters from The Simpsons. There are tons of other licenses I think they'd do one or two series of before a third or fourth or fifth from this one theme, and I can also see them being more interested in doing ongoing Disney series than Simpsons ones, as it's more diverse (being really a whole bunch of different movies and TV franchises than just one huge one), as well as arguably a better brand fit. And there are numerous other licensed themes - some currently active, others dormant but likely to return, and still others we might reasonably expect in the future - that they haven't done at all yet. I could easily see them wanting to do a Doctor Who series at some point, and/or an Indiana Jones series whenever the next movie rolls around (assuming it's not precluded by by a Hasbro action figure license like its bigger sibling in the Lucasfilm family), or any of a number of other such things. With them likely doing a series for each forthcoming sequel or spinoff of The LEGO Movie (with the possible exception of the LEGO Batman movie), plus presumably at least one more Disney series, I just don't see when they'd squeeze in another Simpsons series with everything else they want to do.

I seem to recall much discussion of custom board layouts, and the suggestion of an EB contest. Is that going to happen?

Other characters who have appeared more than once (and whose character-specific molds have been reused accordingly): Ned Flanders Apu Nahasapeemapetilon Chief Clancy Wiggum Krusty the Clown

I'm not sure if it's better or not as I've not used the alcohol method but if you rub too hard with Brasso then it can take the surface shine off that area so you need to be careful. In the UK at least , Brasso can be sold as a tin with a fabric that is impregnated with the polish and you need to be firm to get the desired effect... I now use the liquid stuff so I can be a little more gentle but thorough and the finish has been better. I'm a purist who personally finds the thought of modding my official parts abhorrent, so I won't be doing any of this myself. That said, if it helps you guys out, FWIW I've read the easiest way to remove printing from minifigure heads (and other smooth-faced parts - not so sure about textures such as those on slope bricks, for obvious reasons) is to just simply erase it - like, with a regular ol' pencil eraser. You might want to try that. Edit: Oops. That'll teach me to reply to individual posts before I've finished their whole threads.

Compared to the NASA / JPL MARS Science Laboratory Curiosity Rover? Or the Research Institute? it's been out literally dozens of times as long as their entire windows of availability (in the U.S., at least). But yeah, I'd forgotten that it didn't become available until August. Fair enough. Assuming it wasn't discounted in January, it's been available at full price for a little over six months - the lower end of the scale for licensed Ideas sets, true, but the upper end for non-licensed ones, it seems. It's pretty much right in the middle, actually (and it's been out for a period comparable to what the Exo Suit was). I have no doubt it hasn't sold as well as the DeLorean time machine, the Ectomobile, the TARDIS, the Minecraft Micro-world, etc., but I imagine it's done okay. I suspect it's done better than Birds, which is a set I think might have been more admired than actually purchased (I'm very sorry to say I haven't gotten it myself yet, and I know it's sold out from LEGO, though I'm hopeful I may be able to pick it up elsewhere). I'm mulling over The Big Bang Theory now myself. If I liked the show more, the set would be a clear must-have, but my feelings about the show are a bit mixed. I think the set is lovely, though, and I'd like to have it for the parts selection at the very least, if not for itself. As it is, it currently has the distinction of being the only minifigures-including CUUSOO / Ideas set that I haven't gotten, so far.

Interesting that so many people are going with lists of 18 characters for a wishlist, the implication being that they want not just those characters in future series at all, but a specific full series containing those characters. Is there a reason why those characters should all be in the same series? Also, how do we know future Disney series won't revert back to the usual 16 for most "CMF" series?

"Goose"? I don't know. The trailer's not totally convincing, but I've seen Paul Feig and Melissa McCarthy yield hilarious stuff, and everything I don't like about the trailer has to do with how it's cut together and the music cut in, which shouldn't reflect the movie itself. I'm still cautiously optimistic. That said, I think if we were going to get more LEGO sets beyond the one we know about (and what appear to possibly be LEGO Dimensions packs based on this version), we'd probably have heard about them by now. (Do we know yet whether those "GB" releases on the list of post-Wave 5 LEGO Dimensions packs are in fact additional Ghostbusters packs at all, and if they are, whether they're for the reboot or originals?)

Well, it has also been around for a while. I imagine it's done all right for most of that time.

I think he has them.

769 pieces, making it the largest Ideas set by piece count. Some of that is for 2-in-1 design allowing one to build it with either the expected plain vanilla maze or a microscale Castle-themed one - nice! Four plain orange soccer balls. Now we know! I like it. I hope it does well, and I hope I can get one myself. Also, if I'm not mistaken, this is the first Ideas set to include a baseplate. Another first!

I've begun using Ikea's Trofast drawers, though I have a long way to go before I have everything organized in them.