Blondie-Wan

I think that was obvious to most of us here, looking at these more from the LEGO side than the game side, but I've seen a number of commenters who seem to come at it more from the gaming angle worry that the figures were permanently attached. It's nice to have the confirmation otherwise. (If they were permanently attached and fixed to the bases, of course, the tradional LEGO piece counts shown on the packaging would be wrong.)

I must say, I think they've done a great job of tweaking and evolving the platform since the earliest days of LEGO CUUSOO - virtually every change, large or small, has been something I'd consider an overall improvement (and the only exception, about no longer taking new part proposals, while unfortunate, is surely just a necessary concession to feasibility). I'm probably biased by my love for LEGO, but I'm thoroughly impressed by how they've run things. Yesterday's announcement also mentions a minor update to the Terms of Service about the addition of language concerning tax obligations of LEGO and creators of approved projects. It looks like pretty much what one might expect, and I'd have thought it was in there earlier, but apparently not, and if so it's good that it's there now. Well, I think it just got that new source of votes, in a sense, anyway. Under these new terms, it should now get a whole additional year. It almost certainly will need at least some of that time, though, and won't go into the same review batch as the one that got so much crazy attention. That might diminish the chances of either one being approved, from whatever they would have been if more than one had gotten through in the same batch. One thing I can see happening with this new rule is a lot more projects making it into each review batch. Combine that with how CUUSOO / Ideas has grown in general, and we might suddenly start seeing much larger review batches. Already the current batch getting ready to close is going to have at least eleven projects, which is two more than the previous record holder, and now good projects that already demonstrate potential will have a little more time to make their vote goals; I wonder whether we might start seeing huge review batches, with 20, 30 or more projects at a time...

I very much doubt any huge model from this franchise, such as that Minas Tirith project, is going to pass review (though I vote for these things anyway). But you never know. I suspect the best chance of something like s large Minas Tirith project passing review would be if multiple such projects (two or three or more Minas Tiriths) all not only got 10000 votes, but did so in the same batch.

Oh, that - isn't that just a stickered tile on top of a 1x2 plate with clicky hinge on the long side?

If they intend to be able to release additional Level Packs well into the future, one would think there'd at least be some appreciable amount of data in the packs, since otherwise they'd have to develop all the additional levels and such now, years before they plan to release them. I would think they'd like to be able to keep the options open, perhaps for licenses and themes that haven't even been thought of yet. Or that.

The bases and hoverboard are completely new parts outright. There appear the be several new prints and new colors for existing elements, as you note, but I'm not sure what part you mean with the thing Wyldstyle is holding. Which thing is that?

Hey, there are projects that have actually *been made sets* that took more than a year to accrue their votes. I don't think two years - a conditional two years, at that - is too long. There really are some great projects that haven't gotten noticed in a year that are deserving of more.

Apparently this one works with some sort of game.

At the moment, we can figure it out by looking at how much support a project currently has and when it was posted. And soon they'll update the "Time remaining" shown on projects. Of course, if there are projects we want to see make it, the best thing we can do remains supporting them ourselves and promoting them to others.

Oooh, a major new update: There are more details at the blog post.

It's a flag of a former nation more or less defined by slavery, and while probably few equate it with hatred quite so strongly as the swastika, it definitely carries significant racial baggage. source Like it or not, it is a controversial symbol today, and one deeply offensive to a sizable number of people. I don't think they'd even allow it on Ideas at all, let alone approve it as a set.

I don't think they want to have any portrayal of a Confederate flag appear in an official LEGO set, whether it's a sticker or a printed element, and if not, I can't say I blame them.

Well... That would be WB's aim, anyway, since they publish the game. TLG is a toy company, first and foremost, and they definitely want to sell this game, but they also want to sell real, physical sets. Now, they might decide that selling game-themed sets like the ones I described isn't the best way to go about that, and thus opt to just keep on selling sets in single, individual themes, but they do want to sell sets. Really, every LEGO video game can be seen at least in some small part as a means of promoting the brand and selling sets.

I can't help but wonder whether there might be sets released to go along with this - not just the add-on packs for actual gameplay, but full-blown sets that might or might not come with their own RFID elements for use with the game. We could conceivably get sets that mix and match various themes, even licensed ones, like the sets for The LEGO Movie, only taken even farther. I mean, you could have a set with Wyldstyle, Dr. Peter Venkmann and Homer Simpson fighting oliphaunt-riding orcs outside the gates of the Emerald City, for example, or another version of the DeLorean time machine that comes with Wonder Woman and Sensei Wu.

I think all the LEGO Middle-Earth fans here who aren't already following the separate LEGO Dimensions thread over in Culture & Multimedia (a terrible place for it, I know) might do well to do so. This new image just turned up over there: Wow, huh? Orcs, trolls and oliphaunts, plus Nindroids, robo-SWATs, Micro-managers and flying monkeys, all rolled into one big army o' LEGO bad guys. Of course a bunch will undoubtedly remain digital-only, but given the sheer weight of the presence of Middle-Earth material in the game, I can't help but wonder whether it might provide a little more physical material for the theme, beyond the three add-ons we know about and Gandalf in the base game.

Thanks for that image, P!

I hope the discounts apply to some large sets. I'm thinking of buying my largest sets ever this year. I'm also looking forward to the poster. As I understand it, they're giving away "LEGO-ized" versions of Drew Struzan's movie posters, one for each of the six episodes (LEGO versions of his 1997 20th anniversary / special edition posters for the OT movies, plus the subsequent release 1-sheets for the PT). Apparently all six will be given away at Star Wars Celebration this week in Anaheim, and from LEGO Stores following that starting with May the Fourth, but as far as I can determine, they're doing just one of them; I don't know for sure, but I think they might give away a different one each month, for the next six months, so that we get them in sequence (and if so, that would mean we'd get the last one in October... by which time the poster art for Episode VII would surely be ready; might there then also be a new poster given away in November?). Does anyone here know if this is how it's going to work?

I'm not altogether convinced a Golden Girls set would sell badly, actually. Oh, sure, it'd sell poorly to LEGO's core target consumers of young kids, but they're not the primary market for Ideas sets anyway. It could sell well to certain people who don't normally buy LEGO for themselves, though, as well as LEGO fans who just want it for parts. And there must be some people who are outright fans of both LEGO and the show, for there to be (at least!) three different Golden Girls projects on Ideas. And really, how well would it have to sell, considering the limited runs of Ideas sets? If they did a run of only 20k units or so, I think they'd have no trouble moving them all.

In-game, anyway! And oliphaunts from Middle-Earth. Hmmm... I wonder whether there might be sets based on this game, aside from the actual game add-on packs...

I think you're right about the four main elves being likely. Emily could be one as well; it's possible her pendant could be treated as giving her her own unique powers in the game. This writer for Forbes certainly seems to consider Elves a strong contender for inclusion in LEGO Dimensions, specifically citing it right in the second sentence of a three-page article, and later discussing its story concepts (with the key collecting and all) as a natural fit for the game, but doesn't appear to have any concrete confirming information.

I like this theme, and I'd like to collect it. Unfortunately with my finances and my enthusiasm for so many other themes (not to mention occasional non-LEGO stuff), I doubt I'll be able to, but I did make sure to pick up Aira's Creative Workshop last month, thus also getting me Azari's Magic Fire. Has there been news of any further polybags or other promos? It took me long enough, but I finally got around to watching the special on the site. I like it! I'm really taken with the lush scoring. And jeez, Ashleigh Ball is all over it, isn't she? Aanchir, I checked out you list, and saw you'd mentioned some things like a downloadable MP3 that I can't find. Have they been removed? I hope not! If not, where are they? _____________________________________ Peppermint_M, I trust you won't mind a little LEGO Dimensions discussion here if it pertains specifically to Elves: Well, actually not - the Middle-Earth themes are from 2012, and The LEGO Movie is from just last year. Moreover, we also know lots of stuff will be included that hasn't been announced yet; while most discussion of this focuses on various licensed properties, we also know at least some of the game involves LEGO's homegrown themes, like NinjaGo. I think Elves is quite likely one of the strongest candidates for inclusion, out of all original LEGO themes. A minidoll-based theme would add visual diversity to the lineup of mostly minifigure-based themes; more importantly, any of the minidoll themes would be an obvious way to address the gender representation disparity that characterizes... well, pretty much everything, including so much of LEGO, videogames, and LEGO videogames. And of the three minidoll themes currently extant, Elves is the most obvious choice, with its fantasy adventure theme - heck, it's already about traveling through portals to otherworldly realms and having adventures, which is very much in line with what LEGO Dimensions is about. Friends, by comparison, while already now a well-established, "classic" LEGO theme with a huge following, doesn't have "adventure" so close to its core as Elves (though since it is so big now I could see it being integrated alongside Elves and all the other themes; I just don't see LD entirely ignoring Elves if it's going to have Friends). And Disney Princess is surely right out, for the same reason as Marvel, Star Wars, etc. Just using the handful of characters already present in this one brand-new theme, Elves could double the number of female characters available to players, from the five we know about. That could potentially significantly expand the game's appeal to a large swath of gamers, and I think LEGO and Warner will want to take advantage of that opportunity. I'm going to go ahead and predict we'll get at least two or three Elves-based Fun Packs for LEGO Dimensions. Anyone care to place bets on which characters are likeliest?

I think Minas Tirith is something you'll have to MOC, and I think this would be the case even if they were still releasing as much now as in 2012. But you never know...

Probably - almost certainly, even. But you never know... (Hey, a week ago, did you expect a Golden Girls project to amass several thousand votes in one day, attaining the 10k votes a mere three weeks or so after it was posted?)

That's one I've been thinking is possible. AFAIK, the rights are still controlled by WB, at least for the movie, and I don't think anyone else is doing anything with the franchise in either construction toys or toys-to-life games, so I imagine it's at least a possibility. I also wonder whether Avatar: The Last Airbender / The Legend of Korra is a possibility. I'm aware LEGO's ongoing relationship with Nickelodeon is inactive, and that the last Nick-controlled franchises that were once LEGO themes have just recently migrated to other construction toy makers. As far as I'm aware, though, Nickelodeon's properties are licensed separately, and for varying lengths of time; remember, when LEGO's Nickelodeon partnership began, they were doing DUPLO sets for Dora the Explorer. They had that license only a short while before Mega Bloks picked it up, but while MB went off and did their own Dora the Explorer sets, LEGO kept on with Spongebob Squarepants and, briefly, Avatar, so Nick must not just assign all their licenses to a single partner under a blanket agreement (or at least, they didn't then). And I don't think any other construction toy companies are doing anything with Avatar / Korra right now.

Well, we've been told Doctor Who will be part of this, so I'd guess a version of the Doctor would be here, and perhaps an appropriate companion as well, though which companion we would get would probably depend upon which incarnation of the Doctor we'd get. While I don't profess to know who is likely, I will just add that I'd personally love it if some more LEGO-original characters appeared - Johnny Thunder, say, or Olivia, or Clutch Powers. Here is one of the relatively few articles I've found so far with information beyond the press release basics we've seen everywhere. It confirms those are indeed Troy Baker, Tom Kane and Elizabeth Banks as Batman, Gandalf and Wyldstyle (yay!) - I think we all figured Baker and Banks were there, but it's nice to have confirmation, and I had no idea about Gandalf before (though now that I know I can't help but remember his Star Wars: The Clone Wars work as I listen to him here). Also with regard to Batman, there's this intriguing little tidbit: (bolding added)Batman meets Batman?!