The Real Indiana Jones

Hey, just today, the blog The New Elementary released some official behind the scenes info about the Cuusoo Exo-Suit... Just looking at the logo, you can see that they are styling it as a teaser for a possible re-boot of a full Classic Space theme, and everyone seems excited... Also, considering the fact that they have already green-lit a second (and a third?) sequel to The Lego Movie, it seems pretty clear that they will be designing another new mold for the Classic Space helmet (this time with a solidly intact chin-strap). It seems pretty obvious that the sequels will feature more Mid-1980-something space men (and that most of them will have a normal intact helmet strap, and an un-scuffed chest logo, the joke being that Benny was in a crash, and that is why he is so scatter-brained). In fact, you'll see that one of the pieces of concept artwork for the Cuusoo set shown in the article above shows a sketch of the front of a Classic Space helmet, with those familiar perfectly vertical sides and the relatively narrow chin-strap, fully-intact, which does not cover the mouth at all. It is essentially just like Benny's, but not broken. If they are re-molding the helmet for the Lego Movies and also including it in the Cuusoo Exo-Suit set, with the intention of revisiting Classic Space, then I bet that is "the image that made them all squee!" Is "The Return/Reboot of the Classic Space Theme" officially on its way? (a few years sooner than we might have expected with the future Lego Movies!) I think it is!

.....And to add to that list, GlenBricker's Doctor Who project is already over 6,400 votes after just 4 days! It has already earned a demonstrated profit for a competing block company, so it is another guaranteed hit for Cuusoo, presuming that the license is available now. Once again, "Everything is Awesome!"

Ah, so I am guessing that the big grey unlabeled territory near the bottom of the map is the land of the Ninjas. 1) There must be a Ninja territory somewhere. 2) It is generally shaped like Japan. 3) It is big enough to do justice to a popular theme like Ninjas. And they may have left it unlabeled because they weren't sure if they were going to give it a generic name, or specifically call it "Ninjago" on the map. I guess it depends on whether the Ninjago movie is taking place in the same world, and if it uses the same stop-motion physics for the minifigs' movements.

Thanks for the info. It seems funny that they didn't put the Vikings up next to Middle Zealand and Vladek's Realm! And are those last two southern territories labelled? Or maybe they are keeping those labels a secret for now...

Thanks! If they follow the rule of the Star Wars Original Trilogy, then they will take us to three realms per movie. The first was Bricksburg/Octan, Wild West, and Cloud Cuckoo Land... So the next two should show us more of Middle Zealand, Pirate's Cove, Dino Island, Ancient Egypt, Atlantis, and Cape Space... Perhaps with tie-ins to Lord of the Rings and Star Wars. P.S. - Does anyone know what that dark-red realm in the far south is? It is called [something] Landing, but the subtitles are blocking it out. Or how about the big grey one just north of that, or the big light-blue one just east of that?

Hey, does anybody have an image of the giant map of "The Lego Movie World" that was shown briefly on-screen when they were explaining all of the different Lego realms outside of Brickburg? Of course I remember the City of "Bricksburg" and "The Old West", which is called "Flatbush Gulch" in the video game... And I remember that "Cloud Cuckoo Land" is on the rainbow right above the Castle realm of "Middle Zealand". Does anyone have an image of the full map? Does it appear in a cut-scene in the video game? Or does anyone with a fast eye remember any other realms that were shown or named? Can someone grab a cell phone snapshot or a video clip in the theater next time you go?

Wow! Well if you are doing a very large model, then you don't need to render the bevels at all, because they would just be too small to see. Each bevel line would be much smaller than a pixel, so it won't make any visible difference.

It looks like we are good from here on out... With just the normal amount of acceleration that sets always get on the home stretch, it looks like BrickSauria, Wall-E, and Buffalo Airways will be among all the various sets that pass during this year, and I think that all three of those are solid approvals, plus hopefully a few more too. Plus they have the Female Minifigs waiting on standby, and there will be more great sets passing in 2015. From here on out, I don't think they will ever be stuck without at least one good set to approve. In fact, at a certain point, they will have the opposite situation... As soon as we have a situation where a popular runner-up set might be delayed, everyone will start begging for them to open up more production slots and, and begging them to approve more sets per cycle! "Everything is Awesome"... Go Cuusoo! =D

Yes, that is still up in the air... They obviously want to do at least one winner per cycle to keep people happy, but they do not necessarily have to. And yes, if they have two good winners, they can take the option of doing them both, or they can hold one of them over just like you said so it can pop up later during a weaker cycle. Essentially, they are keeping all their options open. I think that fairly soon they will be at the point where they will have enough good sets in each review, plus a few good ones held over, so they will have the option of doing multiple winners. And I have a feeling they will want to expand it eventually, because it increases the chance that there will be "something for everybody" and that everybody will like at least one set per review. Plus, once the site goes fully live, there will be so many new entries and so many fast winners that it will make people angry if it is limited to just one winner per cycle! =D

Japan-themed sets have always been popular, in fact Ninjago is an entire theme focused on Japan, with its own TV show. The only question is if they feel like they have reached a certain saturation point for the moment, and if they feel like they have enough Japanese sets out on the shelves for now. Even so, they might just do it to help promote Cuusoo.

And looking at Glenbricker's "Days to 10,000" Chart, there are actually a lot of sets which are a bit lower down right now, but they are moving ahead significantly faster than the rest, and so they are scheduled to reach 10,000 even sooner than a lot of the sets that are currently on page 1... The rankings actually fluctuate surprisingly quickly every day, so it's hard to predict! BrickSauria: It's still on page 3 for the moment, but it's moving very fast, and so it's actually fourth-in-line to reach 10,000. I think it's a guaranteed winner! Goonies: Fifth-in-line to finish... Will they do more '80s movies? DiscWorld: Sixth-in-line to finish... This is at the top of page 2 right now, and it will hit page 1 soon, and then reach 10,000 in a short time. A wonderful set! Wall-E: Seventh-in-line to finish... Currently on Page 3, and moving ahead fast. I think they will definitely do it. Technic-built Snowspeeder: On page 5, but zooming ahead... This is a unique Technic-built version, so they might do it. Micro Minas Tirith: Just arrived on page 2... This is a unique micro-scale version, so they might do this one too. Iron Man Hulkbuster: There have been a lot of people wanting this idea, so it is moving fast. '80s Era Batmobile: A distinctly different version, so maybe they will do it. Daft Punk: They are on page 3 now, but robot-rockin' to the top! So they are actually fifteenth-in-line to reach the finish line. This would be awesome! =D

Logically, I would have to guess that it is... If so, then you can take it off like any Chima head, and then there would be a normal minifig head underneath, which can probably also be swiveled and removed from a neck-post... That would be an excellent design move, and it would allow you to make various giant bigfigs with any kind of head. It is also the same general concept as the Troll from the Harry Potter set in 2002, except more muscular. In fact, here is concept art by Alexandre Boudon, showing the general gist of it. The bigfig Mammoth should be like the "Chaos Lord" seen here, but with a Chima Mammoth head instead of a helmet.

When we are talking about Cuusoo's rationale, it is always based on educated guesswork. Just do a search for "MWT Saloon" here on EuroBricks, and you will find many pages. So I guess we will have to wait for the announcement on the Japanese Architecture set to get any real official info regarding how large a Cuusoo set they will do. In the meantime, I think that all of the winners so far have been disappointingly small... If I am waiting for years, I want something bigger!! =D

Do you remember the Modular Western Town Saloon? Everyone was excited for it, but then it just got pre-empted by the conflict with The Lone Ranger movie license. But if not for that random event, they would have definitely made the modular saloon building, and it would have been the first Cuusoo set to top $100 or maybe even $150. And I think the reason the motorized Land Rover got rejected is simply because it had a lot of complex internal gearing that was susceptible to cracking the plastic gears, and nothing to do with its size per se... So I think the everyone is being too pessimistic to say they won't do a larger building or a larger set. And yes, I am hoping that Japanese Architecture will help to answer the debate on "how big a set are they willing to make?"! I think they will shrink it to $80-$120.

Hmmm, Another thing just occurred to me... I think the head on the Mammoth bigfig is the exact same piece as the head on the Mammoth minifigs... Therefore, you must be able to remove the bigfig Mammoth's head just like any other Chima minifig, and then you would have a generic giant with a standard minifig head, exactly like a lot of people have been asking for! Then you could make a giant with a Spider head, or Scorpion head, or almost any other head that will fit! Am I the first person to notice that? =)

It looks like you are right, the Lionesses, Tigers, and Leopards all use the same new head. The Sabretooths are different. So the Panthers will probably use the Leopard head mold too, hopefully in black... Mystery solved (?) Panthers and Jaguars are very similar to Leopards. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panthera

There was only a very limited number apparently, but you can see on the right side of this page that they were "sold in stores" at Toys R Us... http://www.toysrus.c...rentPage=search It was probably a very small number, maybe just 1,000 boxes put on the shelves as a test. And the ones put in the stores probably sold out almost immediately. So that means the experiment was a success, and so they'll probably try it again with a similar or larger number next time. It makes sense that if they are investing in making new printed pieces, etc, then they would certainly want to get those sets in front of customer's eyeballs every way they can!

Yes, at the 1:55 mark in the video, she says specifically that the set will be the four minifigs and the vehicle... The price for the car and figs would be about $40 max, and then adding in the fire-hall would be a huge jump, bringing the total price up to $200 or more, a quintupling! And they just made a modular fire-house set a few years ago, so they probably did not want to do another one so similar so soon. As far as price-points go, most of the ideas that have passed the 10,000 mark so far have been presented as small-to-medium sized sets, but I am sure a larger set can win too. If the Japanese Architecture set is made, then it will be interesting to see what price-point they assign to it for the re-design. They could easily shrink it down. The only real "line in the sand" is the $130 price-point... If they go above that, then it would be too big to sell on the shelf at a normal store, and so it could only be sold online or in The Lego Stores at the bigger malls. I know that they were selling the Back to the Future set on the shelf at Toys R Us for a while, so that is probably part of their overall long-term plan...!

Ah, you are probably right... Well I am still keeping the wishful thinking alive that they will make them look cool and not goofy. Here's to hoping! therealindy

Ah, interesting. Well we will see them in a few months... The clothes might look goofy on a live-action turtle, but then they might look cool in Lego minifig form. Similar to the way the newest versions of the TV Turtles minifigs have unique outfits. We'll see what they do.

Ah, well that image is by far the most POPULAR image of what the internet WANTS them to look like... I think a lot of people assumed it was official. Pretty much 99% like we might have expected, just muscular, textured, darker, tough-looking versions of their graphic novel incarnations. And since they have the ability to easily change the CGI modeling that wraps around the 3-D motion-capture, even during the final stages of post-production, they probably haven't even committed 100% on a final look. But whatever the internet wants, then that is what they'll do in the end. (And NOT that horrible Halloween costume of Michelangelo that looks like Shrek without his antennae!) The first painting was featured on ComicBookMovie.com, and this CGI comes from MovieScramble.com. Essentially, they match 99%, so I have a feeling this will be "the look" they go with... Pretty straightforward. If I were Lego, I would just go ahead and start molding the plastic heads to look like this! Also, here is the new van. Looks official.

Ah, so only three movie sets? Are they being cautious, or are they simply saying that 7 total Turtle sets is enough? Or will they do a few more last-minute set announcements if the buzz about the movie is good as more info gets out?

Hmmm... So are those three remaining un-revealed sets going to be from the TV show, or from the new live-action movie? $100 Turtle Lair Invasion (They just did a $50 "lair attack" set from the TV show, so maybe this is from the movie?) $70 Big Rig Snow Getaway (This one could be from either one... perhaps the fifth set in the Fall TV show wave?) $40 Turtle Van Takedown (Again, they just did a $60 "van" from the TV show, so maybe this is from the movie?) If so, it might make me glad I didn't get the original versions of those sets yet, although I totally love the show! Also, for reference, here is an image featured on ComicBookMovie.com. The newer Lego minifigs will be olive and dark green.

Yes, excellent point... If they are doing research in the Arctic (climate research?), then they can do similar research on the Savanna and Jungle habitats too. I have a hunch that the Arctic team from Lego City will be modeled after a real world climate research team. The 2000 version was all research vehicles too.

If you look at all the international and historical minifigs in the Collectable Minifigures line, you'll see that they have essentially solved that problem. They just give everyone a nice bright yellow face and a nice bright smile, and if they are from a particular country, then they show that by giving them an iconic traditional costume! Their faces are all perfectly equal.