AndyC

Part of the problem with that is that it still can make things difficult for gift givers, is something marked 12+ going to appeal to a 15/16 year old? If you don't really know, you're possibly more likely to err on the side of caution and buy them something non-Lego instead, which is obviously not what TLG want. I'm not saying I agree entirely with the thinking, especially since teen years can be such an amazingly fickle period, but I can sort of see the logic behind it. And, of course, you're free to completely ignore any sort of suggested age range if it's what you really want. :-)

The barge looks really disappointing, although I'm hoping that's just a very early prelim - it wouldn't be the first time. Thankfully I do have the old barge so if worst comes to worst, I guess I can just transplant the newer figs onto the old one. I do really like the Z95 Headhunter though, always was one of my favourite not-entirely-canon ships, so nice to see it making a real appearance. EU authors make mistakes?

Interesting video, big thank to L@go for making it understandable too.

The spiral staircase part is unfortunately not in LDD at the moment. I did a (very rough) replacement for some of the Paradisa sets in the Official Sets in LDD topic, you could swipe the copied part out of one of them, such as Poolside Paradise: https://dl.dropbox.com/s/8fwh8yiojvd2d6i/6416%20Poolside%20Paradise.lxf?dl=1

I don't think the review process is intended to be a head-to-head competition (indeed the Cuusoo team stated in the past that if two sets passed review they would simply be queued up and produced in subsequent quarters). However at the same time, I'm not sure they ever quite expected so many sets to hit the target consistently. Obviously it's not really going to work out if you endlessly queue up projects, because sooner or later you'll have a queue spanning several years of production. Now that may lead to them raising the bar for passing review, so they can look at something like the Zelda project (which was pretty much all about unique figures) and decide that rather than compromise heavily on the original idea, it's better to throw it back out there until another, more acceptable, Zelda project passes through to the review stage instead.

It's probably worth googling a bit for images of Miniland scale, that's 1:20 so not quite exact for your GI Joe figures but also not too far off.

I don't see them so much anymore, I think the introduction of a few parts, in particular the 2x4 tile, have eliminated the need in most cases - which is definitely a good thing. Normally I just don't apply them, although I did on Jabba's Sail Barge because it just looked unfinished without them. Given that's one of my favourite ever models and thus unlikely to come apart ever, I'm less bothered about it though.

Very nice. Although you're right about those snowman eyes, a little on the creepy side.

Nice idea, a great marriage of Technic and Trains. Have you considered building a technic compressor and hiding it in a boxcar or something, rather than having to manually pump it?

It's a bit of a different situation than with MWT, because that would potentially compete with a licensed theme, whereas Galaxy Squad is entirely in-house so there is no issue with third party licenses prohibiting competing sets (theoretically I suppose Star Wars might have something similar, but the existence of Galaxy Squad actually means that's less likely, since Lucasarts clearly had no problem with that - and in any case I think Lego Star Wars is now strong enough as a brand in it's own right that neither party would have concerns). I think if it were to get rejected, it would be the number of new molds potentially needed, the large number of figures present and the fact it's more of a play theme rather than the stand-alone set arrangement that Cuusoo is typically oriented around. Finger crossed it might happen, but I'm erring on the cautious side because I think it just might fall a little on the too ambitious side.

I honestly think a lot of people complaining would do well to re-read the guidelines specifically pointed out by the Cuusoo team a long way back. It's a great blog post for anyone thinking about suggesting an idea to Cuusoo and goes a long way towards explaining why ideas like playthemes (such as MWT) or that require any kind of new mold (such as Zelda) are probably going to be fighting a losing battle. The reasons behind pretty much every rejected set so far can be found described in plain English right there. 1. A good LEGO model helps, but it’s not required. 2. Your model can actually be too good for CUUSOO. 3. Consider your model size and potential cost. 4. Models should not depend on new LEGO element molds. 5. Go wide. Projects that feature new ideas and new categories have greater potential. 6. Think in terms of individual sets, since playthemes are planned well in advance. 7. Keep your concept kid-appropriate. 8. Suggesting a new license introduces factors outside of our control.

Yeah, ownership wouldn't really come into it at all. However what might is Lucasart's overall strategy for Star Wars licensing over the next year or so. If they don't feel a Sandcrawler model fits into the areas they're pushing currently, then they almost certainly have some scope for vetoing the idea. It's not a coincidence that Star Wars toys at any given time mostly fall into similar categories, even across different manufacturers. It's a similar situation with the MWT and LR licensing, TLG don't necessarily have the ability to simply add it to the LR sets on a whim, the licensor of any major property always has significant say on what is and isn't produced under their license.

Falling water is a gorgeous model and a good build too. Definitely one of the, if not the, best of the Architecture line. Get it, you won't regret it.

Whilst everyone immediately tends to jump to the "It's all about keeping paedophiles out" assumption, there is another: Only allowing in adults with kids makes for a more kid-friendly environment. As much as we might all be happy to visit even if the place was packed with geeky AFOLs, kids will have a better time if the place is mostly filled up with other kids as it makes for a more comfortable place for them.

So, in case anyone hadn't already seen, there is apparently going to be a video announcement of the review phase tomorrow. Which I guess either means they've got a reasonably big announcement on one of the licensed properties or they're hoping a video can somehow convey better than text why they all ended up rejected. I guess we all just cross our fingers and hope for the best!

A big hurrah to all the admins and their efforts to get everything back and running asap. Let's hope going forwards that EB can return to a rather more reliable state than it has been of late.

I'd actually say that's much more likely to happen than a re-issue of an existing set as is. The only thing against it is really that the slow rate of UCS releases means there are a lot of iconic ships that have never been done, so the desire to revisit those that has is lower. When they finally do reach that point, a UCS X-Wing revamped for the modern part selection would be the most likely.

I seem to recall it being mentioned that the LDD team had to essentially build that list manually, because there wasn't an easy way to translate between what PAB used and what LDD required. Although that might just as well have been because the team also had to model parts in the list if they didn't already have them.

Is there a good source of images of aforementioned "alternate" models? It would help in determining how possible it was. The one difficulty I can imagine is that those sets are liable to have older parts that don't appear in LDD and making substitutions is even more difficult when you don't really know what parts are supposed to be there. It might be easier in LDraw, which typically has more older parts, although that depends on how easy you find making stuff in LDraw (I've always found it a little too cumbersome to be enjoyable).

Even if such "dates" were published, they'd be pretty meaningless. A slow selling set could sit on the shelves of local retailers for months after the set officially "retires" (my local toy store still has a few Atlantis sets!) whereas a hot seller could be gone almost instantly.

Another beautiful set of minifigs, all of which are must haves. Although I'm surprised that nobody has pointed out how much the Forest Maiden's hair looks like Leia's on Endor from Return of the Jedi (when she has it down). Surely a sign of an Ewok village playset at some point in the future?

I don't imagine that's a particularly insurmountable problem. They'd have to discuss with the university any IP issues anyway and those sort of negotiations would probably include the Uni stocking some in it's stores. University merchandising is often surprisingly popular amongst students and alumni (as evidenced by the fact they obtained so many supporters so quickly) and selling in the kinds of quantities Cuusoo is looking at isn't unreasonable by any stretch of the imagination.

I used to love trying to build the alternate models, just from the picture on the box, although I wasn't always successful. I never once imagined there was any reason to complain about not having instructions, though with friends we often wondered if they existed somewhere. I could well believe that other people may have asked and, less tolerant children/parents might have been upset by it.

Nice review, it's nice to get a fair and balanced viewpoint. I can certainly understand some of the omissions in terms of older technic info, it just makes more sense in a modern book to focus on what is current. Definitely sounds like there will be some worthwhile stuff to read within those covers. Oh and Technic for the win!

Hmm, I'm finding them a bit 'meh', think this is a theme I might pass on. The figs aren't even nearly as lovely as the Alien Conquest ones.