Aanchir

It bothers me too. I think it may be something more technical than that, because they've also been hesitant to add other parts that might require new connection styles (like the 2015 Bionicle heads and masks). Even so, it's annoying to have to use placeholder parts when trying to build anything to scale with mini-dolls.

LEGO Elves sets are 20% off at Toys 'R' Us in the US right now, so my brother and I took the opportunity to pick up some of the sets we were missing. We just built 41177 The Precious Crystal Mine, which looks way nicer than I thought it would… the angle of the box art doesn't really show that both the base and the grass up top is nicely rounded, just like in many of the other Elves sets. It's also interesting in that it serves as a sort of checkpoint between the "good" areas and the "evil" areas, with the warm pink crystals on one side and the creepy green crystals on the other (although, which side is which seems reversed from the sign pointing the way to the Shadow Castle). I'm a little disappointed that the mouse jeweler doesn't have a name, but I love that he has more of a story than many of the animals, with a portrait above his bed showing that he's the brother of the mouse who's imprisoned in the tower from 41179 Queen Dragon's Rescue. He also seems to have a nice little business going. The size of his living space made me comment that his "mousehole" is more of a mouse mansion, and that he must be some sort of wealthy crystal baron. :tongue: The minecart function works very smoothly, with the switch to launch the minecart discreetly disguised as a tree branch. I also noticed, amusingly, that a mini-doll fits maybe a little too nicely in the gap in the tracks, inspiring me to set up a LEGO Elves trolley problem for fun. Overall, I had been prepared to skip this set and just get Floria and a second mouse off of BrickLink or at a convention. However, now that I have it I'm quite happy I picked it up. It's attractive, playable, and very unique in its subject matter. I also pulled Elandra the Queen Dragon back out of her box a few days ago to get a better idea of how big she is compared to other LEGO dragons. Turns out, she's pretty impressive! With her neck stretched forward, she measures 50 studs/15.75 inches/40 centimeters/ in both length and wingspan, and about 11.25 bricks/4.25 inches/10.8 centimeters tall. This is slightly smaller than Smaug, but she makes up for it by being much more "built" (both literally and figuratively) — while Smaug weighs about 140 grams according to BrickLink, Elandra weighs around 10 ounces/284 grams. What's more, unlike many Ninjago or Creator dragons, her finished design, like that of a molded LEGO dragon, has a good balance of studs and angles, and is mostly studless (just 21 exposed studs on the entire build). Truly she's one of the most majestic LEGO dragons we've ever had, and redefines what is possible with a brick-built LEGO creature.

Actually, Ultimate Beast Master also has a different leg print than standard Beast Master (with globlin-shaped kneepads and silver claws). I got the Chaos Chariot for the chariot itself (which is hilarious and lots of fun), Beast Master, and Macy's hover-horse. I'm not decided yet on whether to get Ultimate Beast Master, though. My brother and I have gotten all the Ultimate knights, but so far none of the Ultimate villains/monsters.

The green vehicle is from http://brickset.com/sets/7626-1/Jungle-Cutter The Technic hockey player seems to be from http://brickset.com/sets/10127-1/NHL-All-Teams-Set The decorated tiles are from all sorts of sets; they do not all come assembled like that in any set.

Paradisa sets were OK for their time, and I'll admit I was a fan as a kid. That said, I'd hardly call them the "gold standard". Their extremely pastel color schemes looked washed-out compared to the other, more brightly-colored Town sets of the time. The builds were alright in terms of looks, but often had large pieces and small piece counts compared to similarly-priced Town sets from the same period. And the overall subject matter focused pretty strictly on leisure/vacation scenarios, unlike Friends which covers a much wider range of scenarios and interests. The minifigures were… alright by early 90s standards, but certainly not great. None of the characters felt as fashionable or had as much personality as Friends or Elves character designs. It may be true that this was in accordance with the design standards for all themes at that time… there were, after all, very few faces, outfits, and hair pieces to choose from in most early 90s themes. That said, that's part of what made the mini-doll so successful — it didn't just settle for the design standards of boy-oriented themes, instead establishing new standards based on what many girls actually preferred to see in a play figure.

Not sure what you mean about "The Bus" being an excellent build. The interior features are nice, but the exterior is pretty awkward and boxy. It's not even a very good likeness of the vehicle from the show, which has very different shaping and proportions and a conspicuous windscreen and SHIELD insignia on the top. It's certainly not a particularly authentic rendition of the vehicle in question. Also, even with it being license-based, it doesn't seem like it would have a strong market due to its sheer size. It's around the same size as the Helicarrier set, yet based on a subject that's nowhere near as iconic. It's easy to say "just reduce the size" or "just reduce the number of minifigures", but who knows how many of its supporters supported it because of its size or the number of minifigures? The more features of a LEGO Ideas project have to be eliminated, the greater the risk of alienating the very people who supported it in the first place. Furthermore, while the LEGO Ideas team does definitely care about original ideas, those are not coming at the expense of pop culture licenses. Around half of all LEGO Ideas sets to date have been pop culture based, and I've seen no sign of that changing. I understand that you're a fan of Agents of Shield. I also understand that you might not be a fan of all the other licenses obtained through LEGO Ideas. But basing all your future emotional investment in LEGO Ideas on the success or failure of one project, despite LEGO Ideas having already provided you with other sets and licenses you've loved, seems like overkill.

Most Ideas sets are aimed at a 10+ audience (an older audience than most play themes), and this one is no exception. Though, I can see why at least some kids might enjoy this. I never watched the movie Yellow Submarine as a kid (at least, as far as I can remember), but I had Beatles cassettes courtesy of my parents, and I loved the sillier songs like "Yellow Submarine" and "Octopus's Garden". Obviously I'm many years older than today's kids, but I think there are probably still plenty of kids and teens who are familiar with the song Yellow Submarine, if not the movie.

http://brickset.com/parts/design-48723

I'll be there! I'll be bringing the same MOCs I had at BrickFair Virginia this year (mostly Bionicle with a little bit of Space, Mecha, Sculpture, and Watercraft).

Searching "sleeve*" on BrickLink brings up a pretty useful list of dual-molded arms: http://www.bricklink.com/catalogList.asp?catID=20&catXrefLevel=0&catType=P&q=sleeve*&catLike=W There's no easy way to look for dual-molded legs, on the other hand. They're generally not inventoried on BrickLink individually, and as assemblies they use the same terms like "boots" or "shorts" that are used for many printed legs assemblies. But searching for "boots" or "shorts" might at least help narrow things down. Unprinted dual-molded legs can be seen here. But printed ones have different design IDs for each print, so can't be browsed as easily in the Brickset database.

Which "weird parts that look a bit like Duplo" are you talking about? Because the way I see it it's mostly pretty basic slope, curved slope, and dome pieces. The same sorts of parts you might find in an Elves, Star Wars or Ninjago set. Anyway, I'm not as nostalgic for the Beatles as many people, but this is a great set with a charming design and some fantastic building techniques to achieve its quirky shape!

Well, this topic seems to be specifically about "how can I keep MOCs I publish from being stolen and monetized by others?" I think that's an issue that sort of transcends the topic of clone brands, since even a person selling genuine LEGO parts could hypothetically try and take credit for your MOCs the same way these clone brands do. But perhaps even that would be a better fit for the Community forum? In any case you're right that it's ultimately up to the mods.

Being able to see what you're buying would definitely make things easier for AFOLs, but my worry in that case is that LEGO might then have less incentive to have figs that aren't "kid favorites". The blind packaging means that LEGO can include figs that might have more niche appeal (including more AFOL-oriented figs) without worrying about those figs lingering on shelves. And one of the great things about the collectible minifigures is their ability to feature more niche figs, rather than just the sorts of figs that are already popular enough to support their own themes. This isn't strictly CMF-related, but what are people's thoughts on Excalibur Batman? The torso and headgear are obviously Batman-specific, but the shoulder armor and legs could potentially work for historic themes. Even the sword, unrealistic as it may be, might work better for medieval fantasy settings than its dual-colored Nexo Knights equivalent. I'm not too much of a Super Heroes fan myself, so I'm as interested as anyone to see whether the LEGO Batman Movie CMFs and other LEGO Batman Movie sets might offer any other fig parts that would be suited to use in other themes.

Were you able to get the Hall of Villainy exhibit to load? I've been trying to open the page all day, but it gets stuck on the "Preparing the exhibit" loading screen on both Firefox and Chrome. I intend to report on it for BZPower once I can get it to work.

Great MOC! I love Asterix, and the minifigures and the scene alike are extremely recognizable!

Aw man, "Future Wild West" could be the best thing since Nexo Knights! :P Kidding of course; I know what you really meant. I agree with Lyi that the possibility is out there but right now the time doesn't seem right… Even in the United States, cowboys as a concept are not as popular with kids as they once were, and the Lone Ranger movie failed to reinvigorate the Western genre for kids. I am glad that judging from the various Western-themed Collectible Minifigures, a new Western theme would probably have much better designed figures than the original one from the 90s. LEGO was first breaking into more varied figure designs in the 90s and hadn't quite settled on really consistent standards. As such, the Indians and even one of the bandits had features like prominent noses that made them feel like unfortunate racial caricatures. The Tribal Hunter, Tribal Chief, Tribal Woman, and Tomahawk Warrior minifigures have much better designs that better adhere to the design standards of a modern minifigure. A part of me does wonder what the chances are of seeing a theme that's more like "Western with a twist", like how Ninjago and Nexo Knights are Ninja and Castle themes with a twist. Incorporating sci-fi elements to create an American-style steampunk theme could be interesting, although some designers have said they've had a hard time selling the idea of steampunk to kids. Mystical elements would be harder to incorporate into a Western theme without running afoul of "magical Native American" stereotypes, since cowboys with supernatural powers might be a hard sell.

This is fantastic! Great work! I love all the details like the orrery above the telescope. You also did a great job integrating key LEGO Elves design motifs like the arches, peaked roofs, and the whole thing being integrated seamlessly with its environment. The "crystal cave" is especially beautiful. On the outside, I somewhat feel like the model could benefit from more cool colors instead of quite so many warm "earth tones". The autumn leaves are the biggest thing giving me pause in this case. Green might look nicer, but using that as the main leaf color might look a bit too "real life" for Elvendale. It would be great if the leaves came in some shade of blue… maybe next year!

You could try using two of 24201. I just tried it on LDD and it seems like it'd fit AND fill the space without rubbing against the tire. I didn't realize this would work myself until I tried it out! This could be a great new tool for car builders!

I absolutely agree with this. However, the LEGO Group generally doesn't have a say in those kinds of "initial rumors" because they generally try not to publicly reveal anything until the theme is properly announced, and certainly not a full year in advance like with the earliest Nexo Knights rumors. This also wasn't the first time that early rumors led to a misconception about a theme's concept. The first rumors about LEGO Ninjago had people expecting a new traditional ninja theme. When the name Legends of Chima first surfaced, some people thought it might have to do with a South American Indian tribe. When a trademark was registered for the term "Speedorz", some people expected a new theme similar to Racers. When rumors came out about LEGO Elves, people automatically assumed it to be yellow-skinned minifigure elves like the CMF one. And let's not forget this rumor which ultimately just resulted in all kinds of confusion. Most recently the rumors of the Nexo Knights "Action" sets had some people in the constraction community expecting CCBS Nexo Knights, when the final sets ended up being System power-suits. I don't think anybody can fully prevent rumors like that from getting out of control and resulting in misplaced expectations.

Well, that switch was only a significant change of course in the Star Wars theme. The Pirates theme has had realistic muskets, cannons, and flintlock pistols since 1989, and the Western theme had realistic revolvers and rifles since 1996. Part of me thinks the lack of dedicated blaster molds in the early days of LEGO Star Wars might have been a matter of budget as much as anything else — in the early years, LEGO might have wanted to focus their new parts budget for Star Wars on building elements that could be shared with other themes as well as more iconic, "irreplaceable" Star Wars elements like helmets, lightsabers, and droid parts. To me watching Star Wars as a kid, I was never struck by the uniqueness of the blasters — they were basically just guns as far as I was concerned. So I can see why authentic-looking blasters were not a big concern in the early years. But once the budget allowed for it I don't feel like there was any compelling reason for LEGO not to introduce more authentic-looking weapons like the ones they already had in other themes.

LEGO definitely has plenty of parts that they refer to as weapons. They have no objection to the concept of weapons. They used to have to hide their intent in themes like Classic Space where laser guns would be described as "sensors" or "radar arrays", but that changed a long time ago. And even back then they weren't opposed to including weapons like swords and spears in the Castle theme. Yes and no. The LEGO Group's policy regarding violence and conflict isn't broken down by theme so much as by context. Violent conflicts in fantasy, historical, or sci-fi contexts are A-OK, because the LEGO Group has faith in kids' ability to distinguish between fantasy and reality and recognizes that many kids are drawn to good-vs-evil fantasy play as a part of growing up. Violent conflicts in realistic, modern-day contexts, or contexts that could be confused for the real, modern world, are strictly prohibited. Note that themes like Agents and Super Heroes occupy a sort of a gray area. While many of their stories are set in a sort of fictionalized modern day, they include enough fantasy and sci-fi subject matter to make it clear that they exist in a sort of fantasy world, rather than a LEGO version of OUR world like the City and Creator themes often depict.

I have no problem with the idea of having a poll here in this forum, even knowing that it would be biased. The ridiculous thing is to create a poll seeking answers only from one specific perspective. It's basically engineering the poll to get an answer you agree with by willfully shutting out perspectives you don't expect to agree with you. If you engineer the poll to get the outcome you want, then the outcome is meaningless. It neither proves anything, teaches anyone anything, nor convinces anyone of anything. It would be like if the poll in the Action Themes forum read "Do you like Nexo Knights? (Only answer if you're an action themes fan)". Plus, as I said, it raises the question of what a "traditional castle perspective" even is.

Slight correction: many D2C sets are rated lower than 16+. Minecraft's The Village is rated 8+ and it's still D2C. But otherwise you're right on the money. UCS can largely be defined as "Star Wars D2C", at least since 2014 when UCS sets first got a consistent definition and branding. The only reason 75159 Death Star is considered UCS while 70751 Temple of Airjitzu, 70810 Metalbeard's Sea Cow, and 76042 The SHIELD Helicarrier is that the latter three sets are not Star Wars sets.

The sword on the right is Flat Silver, then (probably 315 Silver Metallic in official LEGO terms), and the two on the left are Pearl Light Gray (131 Silver). Your confusion is understandable. The primary cause of the confusion is that LEGO color 131 Silver was notoriously inconsistent. That's part of why so many BrickLink inventories that include parts in Pearl Light Gray also list Flat Silver as an alternate — originally, the two were basically different fan nicknames for the same color, depending on whether it came out of the mold looking light and streaky or dark and smooth. Between 2010 and 2011 LEGO finally permanently replaced 131 Silver with 315 Silver Metallic, which tends to be much smoother and more consistent in color. BrickLink is pretty good about identifying all 315 Silver Metallic parts as Flat Silver.

But wouldn't a poll seeking answers from one specific perspective be even more biased than the previous one, which just asked in general whether people liked the theme? There's a whole debate over whether Nexo Knights qualifies as a castle theme, and I'm not going to open that can of worms again, but I think even people who do consider it Castle would never consider it traditional Castle. It also raises questions of what it means to have a "traditional perspective". I loved the Dragon Masters, Royal Knights, and Fright Knights as a kid, even though I prefer themes like Ninjago and Nexo Knights today. And some of the actual Nexo Knights designers like Mark Stafford and Samuel Johnson are older than me and arguably have even more of a "traditional Castle perspective". Years before I became an AFOL, Mark was already an active member of Classic-Castle.com! On another note, I can't see because I already voted in the poll, but is the original poll still open? Because if it is, it would probably make more sense to try and direct traditional Castle fans over there than to create a new, separate poll here asking the same questions.