rodiziorobs

I would prefer not to have color-coded heroes. That's kind of TLG's MO--Ninjago, Nexo Knights, Knights Kingdom, Elves, and Bionicle (and others, I'm sure) have all used a distinct color scheme for each hero. While this kind of setup has its positive points, it feels cliche and overused. Since color differentiation is important, though, give each faction its own color scheme/branding, like Ice Planet/Space Police/M-Tron, or Terran/Zerg/Protoss, or EB's own Andromeda's Gates. There are enough easy ways to make the characters identifiable that don't involve a Red Ranger trope.

I see this quite regularly, as I have seen parts for the leprechaun, bobby, Egyptian queen, pizza delivery boy, etc. I have even seen parts for very recent series, like the babysitter hair from s16 (I saw this a couple months ago). I think J4ck is right about the rationale behind it, its a way to clear out excess stock from either sets or CMFs. I also think its a way for them to dump some less-than-perfect stock, since I seem to see tons of misprints there, everything from pies to cats (every single cat) to smudged faces...I like to get parts from there when it's worth it, but you have to scrutinize every piece. Edit: here is a post I made in another thread with pictures of everything they had at the time.

I personally prefer the Blacktron II livery as I feel the white and black contrast shows off a ship better than a just a giant mass of black, but I realize not everyone feels the same. Eh. But the thruster manoeuvre is a cool concept. I imagine in a dogfight it would start spiraling as if out of control, making its pursuer believe it had been hit, when really it's a ruse so it can escape cleverly. Nice touch.

It actually appears to be 1/2 stud too low, which has me puzzling over its construction now. Thanks for pointing this out.

Those are technically not action figures, since they have a significant enough building aspect, and the branding across the front says loud and clear "Buildable Figures". They did some Technic versions of Marvel and DC heroes with the same loophole, but those didn't sell very well. I was surprised they tried again with SW but apparently those are selling. My bet is on HP/FB, for these reasons: (1) it is still wildly popular, and growing,(2) there is no license dispute over Lego's ability to produce HP action figures; if Hasbro or anyone else ever did have them they've probably expired, (3) there are characters to support three series if they really wanted to, and (4) WB has been struggling to launch another movie franchise since HP and LOTR finished up; they've got DC but that's about it. Now that they've gone back to the HP well they're going to promote it like crazy where they can. Lastly, (5), whereas the Simpsons and Disney series applied to their respective universes at large, every other licensed theme so far has been based off a single movie (each)--every one of which was a WB release. A new series to coincide with the specific movie release of FB2 (and may happen to include some legacy HP characters) seems fitting. p.s. I have no inside info, just calling it as I see it.

I would totally be on board with a Friends space camp sub-theme, so long as the builds (and particularly the minidolls) were sci-fi enough. I think I would prefer a flat-out sci-fi minidoll theme, though, similar to what Elves brings to fantasy. With DC Super Hero girls being a thing now, and Lucasfilm starting to market the women of SW (see this link in the Culture and Multimedia forum), I suppose it's not to farfetched an idea that we could see a minidolls SW theme in the future. I'm not sure how I would feel about that, since SW is kind of done to death already, and I don't know how much 'dolls would add to it, but it wouldn't surprise me. this cracked me up, thanks!

Not sure about Bionicle signage, as I'm not familiar enough with it. Someone else will have to weigh in there. I didn't see the two symbols you were referencing at first, so I thought you meant the neon green sign in the lower left, by the squid. Turns out sign says "Rice + Shine" in Ninjagoese. I find it amusing that someone came up with a bad pun and then hid it away behind their alphabet.

Sorry, I must have missed your reply! There's been so much to read on EB lately, it's hard to all keep track of. I have been following some of the wishlisting about themed Creator boxes, and I suppose that if we ever did see anything steampunk, that's probably where it would be, if those themed boxes ever happen. I loved Aquazone as a kid and would be thrilled to see it return, especially with more of a whimsical aspect.

Oh man, that would be great, but unfortunately, it looks like a little impossible; over in the Historic Themes forum there was a discussion about the future of some certain themes where this came up. Long story short, Lego designer Mark Stafford (who goes by Nabii here on EB) chimed in and in an off-hand kind of way, mentioned that steampunk really hasn't tested well as a theme (I linked his post below). It's not very encouraging that we'll ever see much in the way of steampunk, let alone a whole theme.

If we're talking minidolls, I would love a Friends in Space kind of theme. There could be alien races similar to the Elves goblins, or even blue-skinned minidolls or something. Not that I expect it to ever happen...

Not sure about the Agents theme connection, but the faux-kanji script at the bottom says "HOME" (thanks @makoy for decoding the script).

You could also use the spoon for a Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves MOC.

I suppose the Batman girl with Spectrespecs is from the Gotham Institute of Technology? Either that or it's a off-handed Red Dwarf reference... but then it would also need a mention of the Society for Minifig Equality of Gotham. Sorry, that went way out there, didn't it?

I'll take it one further and ask for double-sided headlight brick. Or double-sided inverse headlight (with anti-studs on its sides). Put hollow studs on top and it'd be even better.

The steampunk battleship is pretty cool, and something I would wish I could buy. At 4900 pieces, though--he mentions it in the comments--it would be out of my league. My biggest complaint is the sea of brown. I think it would look more refined with some dark colors (blue, green, or red) or white. I love steampunk in both its posh Victorian trappings as well as the cobbled-together scrapheap look, but while the scrap aesthetic is a little more forgiving of excess brown, something like this really needs some bold colors to make it more high-class and elegant. This kind of thing is an issue in Lego steampunk at large (heck, I'm guilty of it), but with a model this good it would be cool to see.

Wow...that's an amazing set. At a decent price, too, even though a lot of the piece count seems swallowed up in 1x2 trans-light-blue tiles. Problem is, it's still a very high price, which makes it a no-go for me. Also, it looks like the Ronan poster (the dark red thing in the lower left) has a Lego logo at the top; how perfectly meta.

Ah, that makes more sense, I can see where you're going with that: the bigger I build my enemy, the more I can destroy them! I don't know how you would implement that fairly though, but that's why we have excellent game-runners like @Bob De Quatre and @narbilu, to figure stuff like that out (if this kind of thing makes the final cut).

I agree with the whole post except for the bolded part, but maybe that's because I don't quite understand. Are you saying that the damage done to MANTIS if Octan pirates them should depend on how much presence MANTIS already has? Because that doesn't make sense. Whether or not MANTIS has a lot of builds on a planet or not, the amount of damage should only be judged based on the quality of the piracy build. This also leaves freedom for builders to create their own story. If you are an Octan pirate and want to raid a MANTIS awesomnium refinery--but MANTIS hasn't built one yet--then go ahead and build one yourself!...and then pirate it . Part of the fun of AG1 was building things that "belonged to" the other corp just to destroy/infiltrate them; I don't think the ability to do that should depend on whether or not that corp has actually built it or not, nor should the judging/reward.

I describe a dark age as a a time when Lego is no longer part of your life. You might still have a lot in storage, or you play with your kids or something on occasion, but you don't really keep up with it as a hobby. You would frequent EB less and less, not spend hours scouting your store or ebay for deals, and probably not buy much. But the biggest aspect for me is that all of that would be natural; someone could stop buying or building or contributing to the forum because of a lack of time or money, but still have that anxiety that they would like to, or wish they could, but maybe realize now (in life) is not the time. In a true dark age, you probably wouldn't even notice that Lego had slipped out of your life, or if you did, it wouldn't bother you at all.

I saw the same deal but chose not to buy it, and I haven't really regretted it. I love new/useful parts, but felt like the only really special pieces in it were the printed astral fans/disks, the rest seemed fairly generic. As for figs, only two of the three looked good (the Tilda Swinton one is bad), so I decided even at that discount it wasn't worth it for me. YMMV, of course.

I think my heart just broke a little; not that I am surprised, especially with the reasons Nabii explained, but bad news is bad news even when you expect it.

I love the castle! It looks like it was cobbled together with whatever bits these steam adventurers could make stick! I also find the whimsical geometry very charming--the tremendous height, the narrow base and walkways, and the girl smiling in the impossibly inaccessble tower!--it's great.

While I love the idea of themed Creator sets, I realize that they are more like the sets your mom would buy for your kids, rather than your kids wanting for themselves. I mean, sure they would like it fine (any Lego is good Lego), but they would have wished for the sets with Jay and Kai or Clay and Aaron and character X from that new show they love. Creator sets may sell decently, but Big Bang themes with the apps and shows and characters engender brand loyalty, and living the brand. When we AFOLs played with Lego as kids, we played Castle and Space and what-have-you. When we weren't playing with Lego (when our parents sent us outside) we were doing other things. Kids now play Lego with Zane and Cole. When their parents send them outside they act out Zane and Cole defending their fort or attacking the bad guys. Then they come inside, watch Ninjago on TV and play it on their iPads. They wear Ninjago shirts, they write in Ninjago notebooks that they bring home from school in their Ninjago backpacks. They sleep in Ninjago sheets. Even when they aren't playing with Lego, they are involved--even immersed--in the brand. That's why those Big Bangs--Ninjago, Nexo, Chima--are pushed so hard. The third party products aren't TLG's main gig, but they keep the actual toy and all that it stands for--fun and imagination--in the front of kids' and parents' minds around the clock, not just when their toys are out. That kind of pervasive brand presence simply isn't possible with a themed generic set, and that's why they are not produced as much. It's not just about the building experience, but about the brand experience. Imagine if Ninja Turtles (my childhood Big Bang) hadn't had cool characters like Raph and Leo, opting instead for generic mutant turtle heroes. It would never have survived. As far as branding? The wackier the better. The more distinct and unique, the better. Anyone can do generic castle factions battling it out, but Future Knights with downloadable powers? That's something you can trademark. AFOLs, meet the Big Bang themes; they are here to stay.

Ah, the joys of mobile browsing--I didn't even know you had a project! Back in the CUUSOO days I posted a handful of things, then quickly realized that even an actual LEGO designer would never get 10k unless they took to social media all the time, and I decided it wasn't worth it. Good luck to you both.

I am not a lawyer, but I enjoy studying IP cases and it seems to me that your rights have been violated. The work in question was your own creation. Based off of a third-party IP, yes, but not an explicit reproduction of a protected work--their IP has been sufficiently transformed into a separate piece of work which they do not own. These kinds of artistic transformations are generally allowed under fair use doctrine (which is not law, and varies from country to country, but generally covers the same kinds of work)--you made what you made for your own sake and then posted an image of it online. Additionally the image and the model from which it is derived are primarily artistic in nature (as opposed to commercial), meaning that a snapshot of it online is completely fair, and within your rights. Now, if you were distributing the work in any way besides posting a photo online--say, selling prints of the picture, or models or digital instructions (or even giving them out)--then that becomes a commercial/distribution issue and fair use does not apply. In that situation a case could be made for infringement, depending on a lot of nuance and circumstance, and decided by a judge. However, since you never responded to peoples' request to distribute the work, that rules that out. However, here lies the problem: in cases of IP infringement, you are found guilty until proven innocent. A judge may very well find that you have committed no crime, and that your pictures have every right to be posted online. But until a judge decides that, you cannot, because the IP holder has complained. You have two options: defer and comply, or resist and repost. This of course puts you at risk of being the target of a lawsuit against a huge ruthless corporation with deep pockets, just to hold on to a right that is already yours. At the very least, if Universal complains agan, Flickr will kick you out. Speaking of that, Flickr/Yahoo!/Verizon for sure aren't going to back you up; that's clear in their TOS, to indemnify themselves and make sure you know that you are posting copyrighted material at your own risk (even if, as in your case, the material is in fact your own). In this harsh world, you don't really have much of a choice unless you have money and a good lawyer. Edit: a counter notification sounds like a good idea, you have nothing to lose that way. But I am not sure what kind of service you'll get from Yahoo's new mobile provider overlords.