vexorian

Whatever story has been explained to bionicle fans, bionicle vs. other themes is not the same as space vs. star wars. Do not forget that the first time space was scrapped coincided with the beginning of star wars... My greatest fear would be that SP3 was just a homage for the 30 year aniversary, I really hope space continues. (Not to say petitions are relevant - They never work)

I would only settle for an "Ice planet vs. Spyrius" revamp theme. :) Edit: Though do I REALLY want that? If that ever happened I would just not be able to avoid spending all my money on LEGO sets.

Most people think there won't be one. Also from bloggers at toy fairs it seems that LEGO has actually said something about using this year to focus on Atlantis instead of space police and power miners.

I don't mind ben 10 and kingdoms over there. But why not put a slizer considering even those themes got a position in the banner?

And that's the problem. The barcodes ruin the whole game. Getting a complete set SHOULD be difficult. In order to get a set you should either have to spend a fortune, be VERY lucky or be capable at trading your duplicates (Which is a game of social and financial skill) or to the least have a super human sense tact or psychic powers. Nope, spaceman + robot would take 22.5 on average :) That's the reason this theme is not for you. You better spend on something else when series 3 comes out. I do want specifically the robot and the spaceman and these will probably cost 3 dollars when they arrive to my store if they do. I don't plan buying a smart phone and looking ridiculous scanning the packages using it (plus it is a small store so it ain't happening) so the series WILL be random for me. I'll have to live with it. The thing is, that chances are I am not going to manage to get my robot or my space man. But it will still be fun and I'll get many figs anyway. There's always use for minifigs. This system is not meant for you guys to just go get the fig you want easily. It is meant to be difficult. It is meant to cost. That's what makes the collectibles more valuable to people. And as afraid of "frustration" as you would be - It is exactly the frustration of not getting the fig you want after many tries which makes getting it feel very good. There is also the aspect of finding out that the fig you got and didn't want is actually good and you are glad you got it. That's how it works. It is of course not for everyone, but chances are that series 3 figs will appear in bricklink for top 3x the cost (which is still less expensive than buying tons of bags until you get it). So, it is not a big deal... If you consider you have better uses for your money, then go ahead and buy those other sets/products. That's the point :/ Well, then you should really just get the "Undercover Cruiser" 2011 equivalent instead of series 3 when it comes. ^^

BTW: The current distribution makes it so you'll need 58.1549 bags on average to complete a set (without "cheating" (please notice the quotes) ) whereas if all minifigs were equally available the average number of purchases required would be 54.0917

I just wonder if by November (the time of the year new LEGO things ship to my local toy store) there would actually be any series 1 box left at all. Really need to think of a way to get some bags early just in case the guys at the store decide not to bring them :( Some of the minifigs are rarer than the others , I don't remember well but I think the spaceman and other two figs are the rarest. Hopefully, this will get fixed as well. It does not really work too well though.

Well, the thing is that these minifigs are meant to be collectibles with blind packaging. With these things, If you want to know what you are buying, then the way to do it is buying them from some person, paying more. Yes, it is not exactly the perfect way if you just want a specific fig, but such was the way they designed this set. It is meant to be a game. You try some luck and since the objective is to complete the whole set, you go and trade with people. That's how these games are supposed to work. That's the reason there are question marks in the packaging. If you don't like blind packaging. LEGO already sells figs without any blind packaging in those collector series and magnet sets, you can just buy those. But some of us (actually most of the people that bought them since not everybody knew about the bar codes or was actually able to feel the contents of the bags) do enjoy this game. I don't want to think anybody in this forum actually used the bar codes heavily with any ill intent. But it did cause some asymmetry.

I know, and I can't either. But the only way for me to purchase these figs will probably make me unable to use bar codes at all even if I wanted. That's asymmetry. Anyway, the whole point of these figs is to be random and so that it is difficult for you to complete it. That's the whole point. If you do not like it, you can just buy something else. If you get duplicates, you can always go and try trading. In series 1 the differences in odds were not extreme and before the bar codes were known, people were able to get all the minifigs. It is very hard to assume the success of series one was at all related to the bar codes, we all know that only a small minority know about them. Predicting this will cause series 3 to sell worse is quite adventurous, for what I know it will force AFOLs to buy more packs ... I will probably get about 10 of series 1, hoping I get a robot, will not be able to complete the series and will probably have plenty of duplicates. It still sounds fun and it is still a minifig so I guess that even the scuba diver has a use for an AFOL :)

That's ... exactly my point.

Yeah, it is selling better than they expected, what a disaster for LEGO ...

I just wish bar codes were never added into them in the first place. I agree with the removal of them in series 3. There has been enough bar code abuse in series 1 already and it has not even finished being released yet :/

imho beyond the original mistake which I guess is probably fixed since people are reporting to get different figs, this is probably good news. It means that they intentionally check the bar codes. I think it is likely that buying 5 figs from S@H will always give you 5 different figs. This increases chances to complete a set when you have few options of purchase and S@H is the main one. This would also explain the 5 units limit.

I was hoping vapor was going to be something more than another "canister" villain :(

Well, I despise the theme with a passion. But I think that the plan was not to have a summer release since before the first sets were up. Actually about a month ago was the first time my region actually had LEGO Ben 10 ads on cable. I think they are just taking it slowly and it is still early to know how of a success or failure it is.

1. Haven't bought any (not available easily for a Bolivian...) I would buy the Taj Mahal for the set itself if I could. I think there probably less expensive ways to get parts packs than these architecture sets. 2. Specific due for individual appeal. I would love a Taj Mahal but I am not very interested in the others. 3. Hmnn. Roman Coliseum. Machu Picchu, Great Sphinx of Giza. Ston henge. Christ the Redeemer. This fellow: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tiwanaku1.jpg 4. I'd like ultimate futuristic sets (space) that were not licensed (No starwards, etc). 5. Hmnn.

Artificial scarcity is the core of selling collectibles.

It has only been availalable at S@H for less than 24 hours, so you are likely going to be of the first people to find out, please do tell...

I don't really care about the license but those sets are just ...wrong, they seem like they would put a smurfs playmobil sets on a stud plate...

They were removable :/ They were just hard to remove, I just hope LEGO is not taking the "making new series again" stuff too seriously and would begin making such mistakes again... So I am guessing it will be easier to remove than that...

Bigger pic: http://www.brickset.com/detail/?Set=1789-1 Looks nice, too bad unitron was US-only although maybe it is for the best cause I wouldn't have gotten the chance to get all spyrius and Ice planet sets if I also had to get unitron stuff. Hmnn...

I hate that game ^^. Though you captured its essence really well.

Those teeth-less axel pieces have been for a while at least in bionicle, but never in yellow, that's very cool. I wonder if the yellow is part of the set's design or they changed the color of all those pieces to yellow for reasons similar to blue pins (that would be lame). I dunno, when I see pics of the ship outside of cgi or the box, it looks like the previous villain ship (low rider instead of limo) was cooler. I would still feel compelled to get this set due to the figs and the parts though (large supply of gold and purple).

Hmnn, popularity could actually make prices lower as there would be many toy distributors selling it and since there is plenty of demand, you can maximize the amount of transported boxes. Where is LEGO more popular? In Poland or in Germany?

This would be something TLG would avoid doing intentionally It is fairy possible they would do something that is similar to a MoC without being aware of it though.