Aanchir

I love the little character spotlight sets. Olivia's new lab is especially fun — looks like she's built an entire family for Zobo! And they each have their own little bed/charging station! Not sure what the baby bottle for the little one is for though. XD I also love that the new set featuring Stephanie is designed to match her new house. They did something similar this year with Emma's Creative Workshop being designed to match her house from last year. It's fantastic continuity and I really appreciate it. Speaking of continuity, I'm also glad to see that Stephanie's family of bunnies is acknowleged in both sets (sorry for not remembering the Friends pet names)! I'm not nearly so fond of the puppy show sets. The colors are fairly garish IMO, rather than harmonious like most Friends color palettes. And most of the play features are ones we've seen before. It's nice to see more dog breeds, but aside from the parade car (which is adorable and hilarious), this category fails to impress me. But what do I know — I'm not the target audience, and maybe young girls are just as enthusiastic about dog show sets as young boys are about fire engines! The Pizzeria and Sports Center are both packed with play value. The Sports Center in particular features some really exciting and intense workout equipment, including a rock wall, punching bag, and… that thing… with the rings… you know the one. As you can see these Friends are a lot more athletic than I am. XD Stephanie's House continues the tradition of giving each major character's house a distinct style of architecture. In this case, I get some wealthy southern suburbanite vibes, what with the bay window, porch swing, balcony, and non-functional shutters. The pool is much nicer looking than I expected from prelims. I love the pool toys, aquarium, hot tub, shower, and bathroom. The new slide elements should prove useful for making water park layouts! The set definitely avoids feeling like a rehash of Heartlake City Pool.

Stone Armor Cole is free at US Toys 'R' Us stores this week with a $30 LEGO purchase. Ninjago, Elves, and Speed Champions are also 20% off this week. I'm probably gonna take advantage of this opportunity by getting the Samurai X Cave Chaos set sometime in the next few days. Still wondering whether there's any chance of a Target minifigure gift set this year… the past two years' cubes have had pretty great Ninjago minifigures, and while all five Stone Warrior ninja costumes are available now, there are plenty of other cool costumes in the show that still haven't appeared physically, like Skylor's new costume!

If anybody's interested, LEGO has launched a new site for the Ninjago Dark Island Trilogy!

Ninjago is an extraordinary case. It was not originally intended to go on and on — it was planned as just a two or three year theme, like other "Big Bang" themes (Exo-Force, Power Miners, Atlantis, and Chima). But it became incredibly popular in a very short time and then held onto that momentum, leading to it being renewed in 2014 and then made evergreen in 2015. I do not anticipate the same thing happening with LEGO Nexo Knights, and I doubt the LEGO Group expects that either. Most likely, they have a three-year plan for it, just as they did for Legends of Chima. I have seen no press releases or news stories that would indicate the same kind of mind-blowing performance from Nexo Knights as Ninjago experienced in its first two years. I have a hard time seeing Nexo Knights as any kind of betrayal, not only because I enjoy the theme but also because pretty much ALL of the classic themes have gone on hiatus before. There were no new non-licensed Space sets between 2002 and 2006, and no new non-4+ Pirates sets between 2003 and 2008. So sure, it's been three years since the last iteration of LEGO Castle, and it might be two more years until the next one, but this is something that happens sometimes. And putting a classic theme on hiatus to try something genuinely new and original is a lot more respectable IMO than putting a classic theme on hold just to avoid competing with a licensed theme, as happened with Space. In the meantime, even if you don't accept Nexo Knights as a true Castle theme, there's been a veritable glut of LEGO castles lately! 21127, 41062, 41063, 41067, 41068, 41078, 41180, 70323, 71040, and 75826, just to name ones from the past two years. And that's not even touching on the many other sets that provide great resources for Castle builders, like the many amazing LEGO dragons from themes like Creator, Elves, and Ninjago, or the many collectible minifigures geared towards medieval fantasy builders. Now, chances are that not all of these are exactly the kind of sets you want in your collections. Maybe none of them are. But as the cliche goes, "beggars can't be choosers". There are certainly way more resources out there for Castle fans today than there were for Pirates fans during that theme's longest hiatus. As Brickset's CapnRex101 says in his article about Bricks issue 16, "We have seen everything from pink sparkling homes for princesses to haunted vampire retreats, classic fortresses and even futuristic castles mounted on caterpillar tracks. We have been spoilt for choice, with every taste catered for." As AFOLs, we have to accept that most sets are not designed for us. That applies just as much to somebody who DOES enjoy current themes as somebody who does not — one of my favorite themes right now is LEGO Elves, but I have to accept that my enjoyment of it is just a convenient overlap between what its ACTUAL target market (girls ages 7 to 14) enjoy and what I enjoy, not the sets being consciously designed with buyers like me in mind. So with that said, I don't think we're in any place to cry "betrayal" when LEGO retires kid-oriented themes that appeal to us, or introduces new ones that disappoint us. Either way, those sets were not meant for us in the first place. Better to just appreciate when new sets happen to appeal to us and find a way to make do when they don't.

Most Creator sets don't use generic smiley faces — that's pretty much just the Modular Buildings. I don't think the idea of Space-themed Creator sets is outrageous. Creator has had plenty of robots so they're clearly not afraid of sci-fi subject matter. But Classic Space specifically? Hard to say. The basic unmanned rockets, arrowhead-shaped space cruisers, and boxy moonbases that are iconic to the Classic Space era don't really line up with popular visions of the future the way they once did. LEGO Space, moreso than many other themes, tends to be a product of its time. I almost think that the Classic Space aesthetic might be more fitting for Juniors sets than Creator sets. Juniors sets certainly would not deliver the kind of building experience AFOLs crave, but four-year-olds don't tend to demand the same level of sheer novelty in design that seven-year-olds do. And existing Juniors parts like wall panels would be a good fit for bases in the style of 926, 6901, and 6927.

A modular wouldn't really serve the same purpose at all, since City is aimed at ages six to twelve and the modulars are aimed at adults and older teens. The younger audience is the one that keeps demanding police stations year after year. Also, while LEGO could conceivably produce one police station design and sell it for three to five years, retailers generally prefer stocking new sets nobody's seen before to old sets that a lot of people have already bought. New police stations each year keep buyers AND retailers happy. Anyway, as generic "metro police" waves go, I'm fairly impressed with this one. The mobile HQ is maybe the most impressive yet. Previous mobile police HQs had the trailer built on a train base that sat above the wheels and trailer hitch, while this one has a considerably more complex shape with the floor lowered between the cab and back wheels. I also like the hood/bonnet, which sets it apart from the previous more European-style cabs. The police cars and the "bad guy" cars all are nice and sleek, and there are some very rugged-looking truck designs as well. The bank building in the bulldozer set is really classy. The police staton is nothing extraordinary, and to be honest the roof slopes make it look sort of old-fashioned compared to 7498 and 60047. But it includes some nice vehicles and the station itself seems to cover all the most essential features. It's neat how most of the crooks wear work clothes over their prison stripes and drive work vehicles. It gives this wave a sort of a "theme" in spite of the police themselves being fairly generic. I look forward to seeing what some of the other (non-police) sets have to offer, because as builds go there's a lot to like so far.

Shouldn't this go in the 2015 topic? It's really debatable what qualifies as "purely brick-built". The Ultra Dragon from 9450 may use specialized head molds, but a lot more building goes into its wings than the Morro Dragon's, which use specially-cut cloth pieces for the wing membrane. Defining "biggest" is tricky as well. Morro Dragon is probably the longest LEGO dragon, but I think the Ultra Dragon probably beats it in terms of weight and volume, despite a smaller piece count. Elandra the Queen Dragon has a higher piece count than either (485 pieces, compared to Morro Dragon's 462 and the Ultra Dragon's 415), despite being shorter and having a narrower wingspan. But 4894 Mythical Creatures's primary model has perhaps the largest piece count (527) and the widest wingspan of any LEGO dragon — Morro Dragon's wingspan is around 16 inches, while 4894's wingspan is closer to 30 inches.

Twice? I'm not sure what the second time you're thinking of is. It was originally supposed to end after the 2013 wave, but after LEGO decided to continue it in 2014, there haven't been any other plans or attempts to cancel it. And I definitely agree, Chima was nowhere near the phenomenon that Ninjago was. I certainly never anticipate it getting a direct continuation like Ninjago got. But I wouldn't rule out the possibility of a reboot or re-imagining in the distant future. There may not be precedent for a reboot of a theme that only lasted three years, but considering Chima was one of the first TV-driven IPs (after Galidor and Ninjago), I don't know if it's really entirely comparable to the more general theme categories like underwater, mining, secret agents, etc.

Fantastic work! The color scheme is very original, and I love the various details like its "mane", whiskers, and toes!

Is that so? First of all, Chima ended last year. In fact, technically speaking, Chima's final wave of sets wasn't retired until this January — it hasn't even been a full year since the theme wrapped up. So your comment about how sets are priced "years and years after the theme ended" can't possibly apply to Chima. But moreover, do you know what's also cheaper than MSRP on Amazon years and years after it came out? The Ninjago set 9450 Epic Dragon Battle. A set that came out before Chima even BEGAN. Either Ninjago — which, mind you, was still one of the LEGO Group's five top-selling themes as of last year — was itself a failure… or your definitions for success and failure are fundamentally flawed. Also bear in mind that a brand starting strong and getting weaker over time isn't some kind of disaster. That's what's expected. Nobody here is pretending that Chima in 2015 still had the momentum it had in 2013 — if it had, it would surely still be continuing this year. But if the LEGO Group made more money from the theme than they lost by the end of it, then it can't rightly be called a failure.

Here's the BrickLink entry for that specific part: http://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=48394base Originally from this set: http://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?S=7921-1

That's not true at all, no matter how many AFOLs want to believe it. Chima was successful, even if it wasn't as massive a hit as the LEGO Group originally forecast. It was a bigger contributor to sales growth in 2013 (its launch year) than any other boy-oriented theme. And not only did it get a full three years of sets, just as originally planned for it, but in its final year it got thirteen sets. The LEGO Group doesn't continue to make that kind of investment year after year in failing themes. Chima didn't last as long as Ninjago has, but even Ninjago was neither expected nor intended to last as long as it has. It was originally forecast for just two and a half years and two seasons — the only reason it continued beyond those initial plans was because it massively exceeded expectations. If Ninjago's performance were the benchmark for a successful theme, then there are hardly any themes that could rightly be called successful. I don't know when/if the time might ever be right for Chima to get another shot, but Tommy Andreasen (one of its creators, as well as one of the creators of LEGO Ninjago and LEGO Nexo Knights) says he'd love to revisit it one day.

Neat minifigures! As far as non-leaked 2017 news goes, LEGO seems to have accidentally used a pic of "Hands of Time" Cole instead of "Day of the Departed" Cole on their homepage: https://mi-od-live-s.legocdn.com/r/www/r/portals/-/media/images/home/layout/take-overs/ninjago-2016/lnj_october_takeover_characters_336x448_0000_cole.png Incidentally, I'm now noticing that these are the first ninja minifigures with toe printing. Not the first Ninjago figs with toe printing, though, since Chen's minions had printed toes, as did Ronin and many of the Sky Pirates.

Kingdoms, Monster Fighters, The LEGO Movie, and Technic have all had D2C sets in just the past five years. It's debatable whether The LEGO Movie counts as non-licensed, but the other three certainly do. Ninjago may have a stronger following among AFOLs and TFOLs than Friends, but that's in part because it's been around a year longer and was aimed at older kids to begin with. So in a few years Friends might get its shot at a D2C set.

Sadly I don't really have an extensive display space, so usually after displaying them on my dresser for a while, the built sets eventually end up slightly broken down and put back in their boxes.

It's actually from the December 2016 LEGO Store Calendar, so nothing confidential.

There was a siege tower/battering ram in 7037 from 2008, so it hasn't quite been a decade without any. Although I understand that you are not a fan of Fantasy Era so perhaps these wouldn't qualify as a "decent" battering ram and siege tower in your mind. It is kind of surprising that there haven't been any siege towers in more recent Castle sets. I do wonder whether we'll ever see an uptick in farm-related sets in City or Castle again. There hasn't been much in either theme since the 2009 City Farm range or the 2011 Mill Village Raid. And there wasn't much farming-related subject matter in either theme BEFORE those sets, either. But we continue to see farm equipment in the Technic theme, and Friends had some farm-related sets in 2012 and 2014, so it doesn't seem like today's kids are averse to the idea of farming. In Castle, at least, it mostly just seems to be a matter of the most recent Castle theme being too small to accommodate more than the strictest essentials of a Castle theme. I'm not sure what City's excuse is. It's really tough to gauge how well Forestmen might do in the modern day. Even in the 80s and 90s, Forestmen seemed sorta "niche" — from 1987 to 1990 they only appeared in two or three sets per year, with far more sets dedicated to the knight factions. The "Dark Forest" revival in 1996 was likewise just three sets, plus was only released in North America. If LEGO did create new Forestmen sets, though, I know they'd probably be very impressive. LEGO has gotten a lot better at building trees since the 90s.

Jestro's Volcano Lair is definitely a fantastic set. However, if you're not into Nexo Knights, then getting it may not be urgent. It's a $120 set with normal retail availability, and similar-sized Ninjago and Legends of Chima sets in the past have often ended up considerably marked down if you wait long enough.

Those preview clips of the new songs sound excellent to me. If the full songs are as good as these samples, then they might be among my favorites!

Why don't you use the PDF versions from LEGO.com? Book 1 Book 2

Brilliant MOC! I love how you built the roofs! It would be awesome to see this technique in a future Ninjago or Architecture set. The color scheme (red, brown, black, and gold) is also quite lovely!

It struck me earlier that with Morro coming to Wu ahead of the other villains to warn him that they'd be returning, he plays a somewhat analogous role in this to Marley's ghost in "A Christmas Carol".

Lovely! It reminds me a lot of the monastery from "Tintin in Tibet". You did a good job packing it with lots of amazing details. The red and brown details do a great job to help it feel like a warm sanctuary nestled atop an icy mountain. The one thing I regret is that in your photos it feels sort of abandoned. It would seem a lot more inviting if areas like the courtyard were populated by minifigure monks.

While I agree that Nexo Knights is anything but brainless, I wouldn't call its storyline "way better than other kids' TV series", because from my experience, there are a LOT of good cartoons out there these days. The standards for kids' entertainment are a lot higher than they were in the 80s when the earliest merchandise-driven shows were first hitting the airwaves, most of them characterized by weak storytelling and meager production values. I saw a clip of the He-Man & She-Ra Christmas special just yesterday, and it was laughable just how BAD it was by today's standards. Zany mashup themes like Ninjago or Nexo Knights may not be to everybody's liking, but I'm bothered when people use that as an excuse to disparage today's youth for having poor taste. A big part of why there is so much great kids' entertainment today (including movies, cartoons, video games, and LEGO sets) is that the people making it have learned to respect their audience's intelligence and take their tastes seriously. To assume kids are dumb, tasteless saps who will lap up anything that's put in front of them is to revert to a kind of decades-old ignorance that toy and media companies have learned they can no longer afford in today's market.

It could be something non-brick-based, like a poster.