Jump to content

Something_Awesome

Eurobricks Citizen
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    310

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Everything posted by Something_Awesome

  1. Something_Awesome
    Probably not. But still useful to know that the Mexico factory has more QC issues than the European ones.
  2. Something_Awesome
    It is important to note that that set did include 1 extra plume (for a total of 3). I would love for them to throw in two spares. I don't need like a hundred plumes. 12 plumes tops. It was the first thing I noticed when they revealed the set, and when I saw it, I flipped! LOL
  3. Something_Awesome
    You guys may think I am crazy, but the one part I am most hyped for with this new $400 castle set is.... The Black Plume included in the set. Hopefully they provide a spare, as they typically do for plumes. The black plume was only ever offered once in a set more than 10 years ago. The set came with 3 black plumes, one was extra.
  4. Something_Awesome
    People get upset when I say this, but the factory in Mexico is the culprit. Jang on YouTube consistently says in his reviews how he never gets proper printing on the dome heads of his astromech droids. This is not the case with astromech droids that come from the European factories. I pointed this out to him and he said he was aware that this is nowhere near as big an issue with prints from Europe. If you want to see for yourself, watch early reviews of Star Wars sets (before release). The American reviewers are typically reviewing a set sourced from Europe (check the box art on the review to be sure it's European). If it's a European set, the astromech droid will have properly aligned printing. Then watch reviews post release where the set is from Mexico. The astromech's printing will be quite crooked. This phenomenon is no different with Toyota. My Toyota was built in Japan. Compare it to a Toyota built in Mexico. Huge difference in QC.
  5. Something_Awesome
    Anyone have any info on when the Forestmen Hideout gift with purchase is going to be available in August? I have concern the set won't become available until August 8th (the official launch of the castle). However, by then, the castle may sell out during its "early release" to VIP's. I mean, if I have to choose between getting the Castle early or getting the forestmen set, I'm going forestmen. But, it's possible the forestmen set will be a gift exclusive to the castle set this time around. In which case an August 3rd availability for the Forestmen set will probably happen.
  6. Something_Awesome
    The Wolfpack is coming back. It's hinted at in the instruction manual. I am guessing that is who the "bad guys" are supposed to be. LEGO wouldn't drop a tease like that without intent. I'm guessing it got a lot of votes. But Falcons and Lion Knights are not considered enemies anymore. So Wolfpack it is?
  7. Something_Awesome
    Yes, I can confirm the shield is in the castle set, as I have seen it. I fully expect this shield to be purchasable from the online pick-a-brick site (or whatever it is called). My concern though isn't the moc builders, it will be the Bricklink stores that buy them all up to see on their stores. There are two possible reasons this would happen (1) to increase traffic to the stores which will definitely make them buy up the stores inventory of other items, (2) to sell at grossly inflated prices. I'd imagine reason 1 to be the main reason though.
  8. Something_Awesome
    My unpopular opinion: The demise of LEGO (assuming it stays the course) will be a result of there being far too many specialized pieces in the parts catalog. LEGO used to be a building toy where you could build things that were suggestive of their realistic counterparts. Nowadays, there are so many specialized parts that it not only makes it easier to build anything, but to also make hyper realistic representations in LEGO. I mean, look at the sets available now and what all these specialized parts are able to achieve. Furthermore, it feels like if a designer want's to make something cool, LEGO could always just make a specialized part whenever needed. It feels like cheating. Can't achieve a certain angle? Well, if the set's budget is big enough, LEGO will just make a specialized part for it to achieve the angle. With that said, there are exceptions. I am totally OK with specialized canopy pieces. Recolors are no problem either. However, I prefer a black 4L bar representing the Dark Saber in Star Wars. But everyone is still pushing for a specialized weapon. I think some brick built weapons and accessories have lots of charm to them. LEGO is going to slowly lose its charm if it does not dial back making new molds. It should be more about imagination than hyper realistic models.
  9. Something_Awesome
    Could not disagree more. It's probably the best castle that has been made up until this point. The problem with the set is that, because it is not part of a castle theme, it does not have the minifig count and animals that a real castle set would have. Perhaps the dragon would have been a mold as well. But, all the figs, animals, dragons aside. It is an amazing set. I find LEGO has the most charm with a playset over something that is meant to be a replica.
  10. Something_Awesome
    I am saying that the other packs may be out of stock also because of halted production. Regarding the clone packs, my two LEGO stores said they have not gotten any in in a while. I also know to call them Thursday evening because they can see the inventory they get in on Fridays the evening before. Lastly, I highly doubt that LEGO's margin on the Medieval Blacksmith is $15. Imagine the 90th Anniversary set; should be higher. There is no way the $15 pack would provide better margins. And then there are licensing/royalties to consider. The cost per ounce of plastic to produce the $15 pack is probably much higher than it is for a $200 set. Keep in mind, the extent of the cost is not just the plastic. This is a phenomenon I also observe with all of my clients that manufacture in the United States. With all this said, I am only speculating that the clone pack's production was silently halted. We still don't know what went on with the 501st pack in Australia.
  11. Something_Awesome
    I do not agree because margins are clearly higher for other sets. When supply chains are strained, you go for the greatest amount of yield, not volume. And your argument regarding the other blister packs I do not feel are a counter argument but an argument in favor of what I am claiming. If this was 2019, then a lot of what you're saying would be true. But it's not 2019. The point about the insatiable desire for some of these packs is that it makes manufacturing them for even goodwill, futile.
  12. Something_Awesome
    I look online all the time and the set is out of stock. I have two physical stores near me (I am in Los Angeles), and they never have this pack in stock. My speculation is that the set will retire by the end of the year and that LEGO has silently ended production of this pack some time ago. I do not think that at $14.99 (USD) that LEGO considers this pack a viable source of income for them given the current economic situation with inflation. This is a pack that there is almost an insatiable desire for. There is almost no amount of this pack that they can manufacture that will completely appease fans. It makes ZERO sense for them to allocate so much plastic and production to this pack when they can spread it around to other sets that have much higher margins and that they have been able to provide a market adjustment (price hike) for. If no amount of production will make fans happy, then they might as well halt production now (if they have not already). One solution to this problem would be to hike the price on the pack to maybe 17.99 (USD). However, this would piss a lot of people off to be sure. The juice just isn't worth the squeeze. It appears to me that the best option for LEGO, money-wise, is to silently sunset the pack. This is all speculation. But for any of you wondering if you should try overpaying for these in the aftermarket, know that they may get more expensive. Another option that have is to release a phase 1 battle pack and charge $20, or perhaps a $30 variant of sorts. But I do not think this will happen because of the backlash, so a silent retirement is what we will get. This is the problem with excessively grilling companies; you ending up with situations like this where you get nothing. It's like they have developed a type of PTSD or feel like they have to walk on egg shells with fans.
  13. Something_Awesome
    No. It does not help anyone. That is bogus. My family and I are refugees from the Soviet Union (non Jewish escapees essentially). We fled to the US. Literally every movie I have grown up with shows the Russians as the "bad guys." You seriously think it hurt my development and that I grew up thinking why my people are bad and hated? Or why I am hated just for being Russian? No, of course now. Even funnier is that all the Russian characters were played by Westerners. Do you actually think any Russian thought that they were some how marginalized or attacked because they gave "Russian" roles to non-Russians for these movies? This is the most ridiculous notion in the history of notions. And I am not whining about the set. It's perfect. I will buy two. I will also swap out the heads of some of them, sure. And btw, there is a knighted Queen and three other knights IIRC, and they're all female. It looks ridiculous. It's shoe-horning. My baby sister had set 7094 (King's Castle Siege) and did not feel excluded even though there wasn't a single female in the set. And it was one of her favorite sets. You are manufacturing victimhood from lack of representation and projecting it on to others. If this topic of "woke-ism" in this set never came up, I never would have started it. I had no interest in bringing this subject up. I am only chiming in since the discussion was being had because I thought people on both sides were missing some points. This shoehorning is laughable. Obviously, it is not as funny as a man giving birth, but still funny. I am not offended by the minifigures. EDIT: And by the way, kids are not asking for this representation. Insecure parents are because they love to project on their children.
  14. Something_Awesome
    For the record, my position is not one that the female knights violate historical accuracy. I am OK with fantastical liberties. I am OK with the Queen also being a skilled fighter with a glorious set of armor. But the suspension of disbelief needed to buy in to the idea that the Lion Knights' have all female knights is eye-roll inducing. This was done intentionally, to make a statement.
  15. Something_Awesome
    Does not need to be a knight. She was a hero. She was Exceptional. An exception. There are plenty of works depicting her as a big time butt kicker, and nobody has an issue with it. If she had an army of 3,000 and they were all women, people would roll their eyes.
  16. Something_Awesome
    No. It's not believable. For a female to be a knight above all males she would need to be truly exceptional. Think Joan of Arc. Such exceptions are obviously uncommon. The more exceptional things are, the more rare they are. Yes, we can say the Queen is exceptional. But all the other nights also female? Do you follow Tennis? Understand that Serena Williams is maybe the best female Tennis player ever. And Tennis is considered a sport where the chasm between mean and women isn't as large. She herself said she would get smashed in a match against even the 20th ranked male player. At some point society needs to do away with this fetish of equalizing male and female physical ability. It's not even just strength, but size and speed also matters in the context of a Knight as well. That all the knights of a faction is female is utterly ridiculous. I am only arguing this from a philosophical perspective. I actually do not mind that the knights we made female. I actually laugh at it as if LEGO is creating a meme or a parody of male/female. EDIT: As far as training goes, not everyone can be trained to do everything. People have a propensity to things. You can train to be better. Training will NEVER make you as good as Wayne Gretzky. Training will NEVER make you as good as Michael Jordan. Sorry.
  17. Something_Awesome
    All fake/fictional works still have rules that are followed. Breaking of them makes it harder and harder to suspend disbelief. You can suspend disbelief of dragons and wizards, but not all the knights of the Lion Knights being all female. The "fundamental" (for lack of a better word) rules need to be kept intact or the work becomes a joke. Like, imagine Game of Thrones. Everyone can suspend their disbelief for dragons and magic. It makes sense in that universe. But fire making you cold would make zero sense even in a world as fantastical as the one that Game of Thrones takes place in. especially if no explanation was provided. Just imagine that whenever a character approached fire, they got cold. The people who watched the show or read the books would think this to be more ridiculous than dragons or sorcery. I am OK with swapping out the heads. This is a non-issue for me. I am just giving an explanation as to why people are laughing at this set and accusing LEGO of being "woke."
  18. Something_Awesome
    Agree, but it's harder to suspend belief when it's all women. You sort of want to use your imagination, but as things that provide a fantasatical touch to something "historic" become increasingly unrealistic, the suspension of disbelief becomes harder. It's like having a WW2 video game where half the army is women. Yeah, sprinkle some women in there, but my grandparents fought for the Soviet Union against the Germans. There weren't any women. Yeah, it's a video. And yeah you can make it more "women-centric." But you're branding it as WW2. Even if women were as capable as being knights skill-wise, there are other reasons why women did not make viable knights. I will not get in to the technicality of the armor and wielding of a shield etc here. But yes. man-strength mattered. Moreover, the marketing of the knights being all women does not even seem like an artistic take. It appears shoe-horned. Agendas do not provide cultivation to creativity. With all that said. I had zero problems with the main knight/queen (the one with armor and white legs) being a female. It's sort of like the LEGO Joan of Arc. I had literally ZERO problems with this. You could even call her the LEGO "Brienne of Tarth." But then I realized there were no male knights. My knee-jerk response was "LMAO." I was literally laughing at the preposterousness of it. At this point, I will use the queen head parts and just make a custom queen and use the body parts and armor to make a male knight, which can be her body guard or something. I was going to leave the fig as is, but with no male knights, I gotta do something.
  19. Something_Awesome
    Just chiming in regarding whether the shields in this big castle have prints or not. For anyone that saw the LEGO Con reveal, you can clearly see that they were prints and the shield edges looked nothing like the shield edges in the pics posted a couple pages ago. It means that the images we saw were a prototype. Nothing to lose sleep on here, people. The shields are definitely printed.
  20. Something_Awesome
    I've been hearing it will be revealed, as well as a couple other sets. One of them being the big Marvel building. Also, you don't need an official leak to know the castle set is being revealed. It's mid June. It's Lego con. It's a 90 year anniversary set. Of course they're revealing. How is this not obvious? They are trying to cultivate LEGO Con in to a hyped event. You need reveals. They should have learned this before the first LEGO con. They learned it now at least.
  21. Something_Awesome
    You don’t need to worry about thresholds if you’re getting the 90th anniversary castle set in August.
  22. Something_Awesome
    Reminds me of Dark Souls 2
  23. Something_Awesome
    I feel extremely confident that this promo will return in August. So if you don't get it in June, you will have another opportunity.
  24. Something_Awesome
    How do we get these figures? Are they still available?
  25. Something_Awesome
    Calling it now. This GwP’s lowest point will be $50; probably higher. Why? Because there are going to be a lot of people that actually keep this one. I always sell my GwP’s. Going to get two of these on June 15. Won’t be selling mine.
×
×
  • Create New...