Aanchir

I disagree about this. LEGO did a LOT of things to promote Bionicle G2: making it the sole focus of their NYCC 2014 presence, giving it its own official Facebook page (and cross-promoting a lot of Bionicle content on the main LEGO Facebook page), filming lots of designer videos, making a Bionicle mask one of their highly publicized SDCC exclusives, running TV spots for both the first three waves of sets AND the year one webisodes on channels like Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network, giving it its own insert in the January 2016 LEGO Club magazine, putting highly conspicuous Bionicle displays in stores like Target and Toys 'R' Us, creating two free mobile apps, publishing chapter books, graphic novels, and an activity book, giving it its own Netflix miniseries, sending a Bionicle designer to BrickFair New Jersey, and as you mention, running various contests. Maybe these things might not have been as effective as LEGO hoped they'd be, but no sensible person could reasonably suggest LEGO didn't spend any money or go to any effort to advertise or promote the theme. Chances are they didn't. The Masks of Ultimate Power we saw were painted, so they could have just been made in a rapid prototyping machine.

I particularly liked that Nexo Power video since to me Ava sending a Nexo Power herself sort of reinforces that her future might be as an apprentice to Merlok. :)

Huh, I would have expected at least one wave next year. Kind of a shame two years is all it got. The LEGO Group certainly made a valiant effort to recreate what made Bionicle such a hit early on, and I think in many ways they achieved that goal. I applaud all the designers, writers, and artists who put their heart and soul into making Bionicle G2 the best that it could be. But I guess the market just isn't the same as it was back then. The big mystery now is what this means for constraction going forward. It's too early by far for them to have a new independent, in-house constraction theme ready to go. The Star Wars constraction sets have been popular, but it's questionable whether twelve sets a year is enough to really keep the CCBS sustainable. And yet, Jorgen Vig Knudstorp stated just earlier this year in an interview that one of the things the LEGO Group will continue to explore going forward is the future of the CCBS, so he evidently doesn't think it's entirely run its course. Maybe LEGO will experiment with spin-offs of other themes like Nexo Knights until they think it's time again for an independent constraction IP? Gonna be hard engaging with many parts of the Bionicle community these next few days, if this news is received anything like it was in 2010. Honestly that's what I'm most dreading. I'm not afraid to see a story I love come to an end, but the fallout within the community after the end of any beloved franchise can be pretty severe.

I haven't seen them on sale a lot in Virginia, and considering how both the range of sets and the media profile have gotten a lot bigger over the past year, it doesn't seem to me like this would be its last year. If it were to be replaced, I don't see DC Super Hero Girls being what it's replaced with.

Agents was my favorite of the three secret agent themes so far (Alpha Team, Agents, and Ultra Agents), but I don't like "bring back" campaigns like this a whole lot. A revival of the 2008 Agents theme could be cool, but at the same time, so could an all-new Agents theme with new characters and a new look. Just because Ultra Agents didn't have everything Agents fans wanted in a spy theme doesn't mean no new spy theme could. When LEGO sees a market for a new spy theme then LEGO will introduce a new spy theme, but it would take a HUGE outcry for LEGO to set aside whatever other plans they might have in favor of instead reviving an older theme. That said, there's nothing wrong with asking — just don't get your hopes too high.

I honestly think we HAVE seen some of the design principles from The Lord of the Rings start to filter into other themes, even themes for much younger audiences, in small ways. When last year's Pirates range was revealed one thing I was struck by that most people seemed pretty much indifferent to was the rocky foundations in 70411 and 70410, or the brick-built walls of 70410 and 70412. These things were not extraordinary building techniques compared to what MOCists were doing. But those rocky shores were far more detailed than the blocky beach of Rocky Reef (a Pirates set from MY childhood) or the giant landscaping brick of Loot Island. The buildings were far less simplistic in their construction than the buildings of Sabre Island and the (admittedly much bigger) Soldier's Fort. These techniques were unprecedented for Pirates sets. But not for The Lord of the Rings sets, and that's in fact what they reminded me of when I first saw them: the uneven edges of sets like The Orc Forge and the uneven brick-built wall construction of sets like Uruk-Hai Army. I found it odd that these details didn't make more of an impression on more dedicated Pirates fans — but that's perhaps because they were used to MOCs that had implemented those sorts of techniques years before LEGO sets started taking advantage of them. I think the next time Castle comes around it'll be able to take advantage of more of those same sorts of techniques. We already saw a bit of that in Dragon Mountain, which despite the small size of the black tower itself, still had a delightful "ruggedness" to it, suggesting it was built atop the ruins of a much older castle. I always think it's awesome when the details of a set sort of tell a story of their own, beyond just how kids are expected to play with it. I hope the next Castle theme is able to do that.

I don't think LEGO has ever cared about whether people's models are purist or not, except in contests where they basically have to for the sake of fairness. There have been plenty of things in LEGO magazines and books over the years that have advertised ways of using other kinds of craft supplies like string, paper, and balloons to create new ways of playing with LEGO bricks. One of the demo videos from the LEGO Studios Movie Maker Set used a baseball together with LEGO bricks and minifigures to recreate the boulder scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark, and The LEGO Movie made the non-LEGO "relics" an integral part of its story. I don't see how brand loyalty has anything to do with it, either, because I don't think anybody's so insanely devoted to LEGO that they wouldn't be willing to use any other brand of products. And LEGO isn't likely to see drone manufacturers, balloon manufacturers, or laser pointer manufacturers as "competition". So why should they be afraid of promoting things you can do with those products alongside their own toys? Purism is a concept that pretty much only pertains to the activities of the fan community. It is not something that the LEGO Group cares one way or another about as long as you are buying and enjoying their products.

It's not too surprising to me since it's a vehicle they already have, even though it hasn't been seen since Season 2 or mentioned since Season 3. And I figure a throwaway line like that is really all that would be needed to explain that it's been modified since the last time we last saw it. It wouldn't be the first time Nya's upgraded it in her spare time. Remember, in its first appearance in "Day of the Great Devourer", Nya hadn't yet installed the ability for it to split into two vehicles; that ability wouldn't be seen until "The Ninjaball Run".

Ha, clever reference there! :P

Yes, but there's no reason a holiday special can't exist at the beginning, middle, or end of a regular TV season. After all, the Legends of Chima series finale was basically a Christmas special, as bizarre as that sounds.

For elbows something else to keep in mind is that a joint like the ones you used will have less friction than a joint like the knees of the Future Flyer or the knees and left arm of The King's Mech. This is not due to any differences in the dimensions of the ball or ball cup, but rather due to the direction the ball cup has to rotate. When the ball cup wraps around the ball horizontally, it is easier for the ball to slip vertically (and thus, for the elbow to flex or straighten based on forces like gravity or inertia). But when the ball cup wraps around the ball vertically (i.e. in the same direction the piece is expected to rotate for typical elbow movement), every point of contact is working to its fullest potential to prevent slippage. This is why B-type CCBS beams exist even though A-type CCBS beams allow a lot more free movement. Of course, I understand that the way you've constructed the elbows offers a lot more free movement than a joint like on the knees of the Future Flyer. But sometimes friction has to come at the expense of free movement. Also, there are other ways you can compensate for this, such as changing the construction of the shoulders so that they can rotate in front of the body a bit like real human shoulders would if, say, you try to hug yourself. But of course, since this is a robot creation, full human-like movement might not even be the best objective to work towards. Taking this a bit further: since a joint construction like the legs of the Future Flyer or King's Mech basically does limit the joint to the one axis of rotation where the friction is strongest, then at that point you could even potentially create more friction by doubling up the ball joint, like in the knees of Black Phantom or Takanuva. Of course, this is generally easier to do in a Technic-based MOC than a more System-based MOC. Hope these tips help and that the way I phrased them isn't too confusing! I don't really have an engineering background so I don't always know the words to describe why something works how it does.

The title and air date of Day of the Departed lead me to think that it is in fact a HALLOWEEN SPECIAL! Last year it took ten days for the full video of the SDCC Ninjago panel to show up on YouTube, so I'm gonna be patient but still keep my eyes peeled.

The summer Ninjago sets are definitely available online in the UK, so I'm kinda surprised they're not in stores there yet. They also came out in June throughout most of Europe, but I'm not sure if that was both in stores and online or just online. LEGOLAND Deutschland and Billund did get early releases for several of them in late May, not sure about LEGOLAND Windsor though.

I'll be there, as I have been for the past five years! I'll probably be spending a lot of time with the BZPower crowd at the Bionicle tables, but I'll also be around to check out all the other MOCs and hopefully some of the games and seminars. Most of my MOCs I'll be displaying will be Bionicle MOCs, and unfortunately I only have one so far that I haven't previously displayed at BrickFair Virginia. :( This has unfortunately not been a very creative year for me. But I'm still looking forward to spending time with friends and meeting new people! It's great that so many other Eurobrickers will be in attendance! Another tip to anybody who hasn't been to BrickFair Virginia before: wear comfortable shoes. The event space is bigger than ever this year, and the floors are very hard without any sort of carpeting or cushioning. EDIT 7/28: Finished my new design for my brick badge a couple days ago, this time with an Elvendale theme! That's probably the best way to identify me if you want to flag me down and introduce yourself! I'll be changing the colors of a few of the engraved bricks once I get there, but you should still be able to recognize it. :)

Exactly. That's why I said "set" and not "theme". It DID actually happen to town — not for as long as with the other themes I listed, but it happened. The only Town sets in 2001 and 2002 were road plates, promos, and LEGO Legends re-releases (the last of which were D2C and couldn't be bought in regular stores). Otherwise, Jack Stone took the place of Town in those years, which as far as I can tell is a big part of why Jack Stone is so much more widely hated than similarly simplistic preschool themes like Fabuland which didn't really take the place of anything. It wasn't until 2003 that the World City theme was launched, followed by City in 2005. If such a pitiful selection of sets that only marginally qualify as new Town sets amount to the theme still being active in 2001 and 2002, then arguably Castle's hardly been gone for any time at all. After all, there were two battle packs and the Juniors Knights' Castle and LEGO Movie Castle Cavalry in 2014, and the Classic Knights Set this year. But for me (and I think for most of the other people in this thread), it takes more than promos, accessory packs, and D2C re-releases for a theme to really qualify as "active". Currently, with Pirates and Space back on hiatus, there are definitely some people who are a little touchy about what's become of those themes, but overall, I've been impressed with those communities' patience. There haven't been nearly so many Space fans derailing other themes' discussion topics or creating topic after topic in the Sci-Fi forum to complain about current original and licensed themes not being true Space or Sci-Fi. Nor have there been a lot of Pirates fans derailing the Ninjago topic or creating topics in the Pirates forum to complain about the Ninjago Skybound series not being a real Pirates theme. They certainly haven't seemed so offended at the prospect of non-Space and non-Pirates sets and minifigures appearing in the instructions of the Classic Spaceman Minifigure set or Classic Pirate Minifigure set. I think for the most part, the fans of these themes have been looking at the state of things from a somewhat healthier perspective that "this too shall pass", and even a somewhat enthusiastic perspective of "what's next?" And it seems like some Castle fans ALSO want to look at things from that perspective, but discussions to that effect keeps getting derailed with Nexo-bashing or doom-and-gloom assumptions that LEGO simply doesn't care about their fans, or worse, enjoys going out of their way to spite them.

Neat! It's interesting to see how many LEGO themes have their roots in the days before the advent of the minifigure. For example, Western sets using brick-built or "Homemaker"-style figures predate the actual Western/Wild West theme by decades, and that theme's "Fort Legoredo" clearly alludes to the much older "LEGOREDO Town" area of LEGOLAND Billund. Looking at that doll set, the "Oriental Man" and "Oriental Lady" figures arguably wouldn't see any sort of minifigure equivalent until the Orient Expedition theme, since the Ninja theme did not include civilian characters. What's more, the "Oriental Lady" most directly calls to mind the "Kimono Girl" minifigure from Minifigures Series 4 in 2011. And there are both male and female Ballet Dancers — it wasn't until this year that we saw a minifigure ballerina, and still no boy ballet dancer minifigure! Many aspects of this set seem extremely dated, like the only dark-skinned character being a "Native Girl", but overall it's interesting how varied the figures suggested in this set were, particularly in a set and an era where the selection of shapes and colors was so limited.

Yeah, I hope we at least get Knightonia Castle at some point. Maybe if Nexo Knights does well enough then a few years from now it might even get a D2C set like the Temple of Airjitzu, Medieval Market Village, or Kingdoms Joust. That could be a good opportunity for a nice, big, detailed set that's not focused so much on the battlefield. But a set with a more civilian-oriented town setting could also be possible even as a smaller retail set, like Mill Village Raid from the Kingdoms theme. I know I'd love to see some cyber-windmills and farmer-bots!

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying people should like Nexo Knights. But when a set comes out that is effectively a love letter to Castle fans, and yet those same fans still find a way to interpret it as a slap in the face simply for acknowledging that Nexo Knights traces its heritage to classic castle, shades of "unpleasable fanbase" start to creep in. It's leaping from an honest assessment that "LEGO is letting us down" to frenzied conjecture that "LEGO takes pleasure in tormenting us". And I don't mean to imply that Castle fans are any more prone to doing this than any other LEGO fans. Do you know how often I've heard my fellow Bionicle fans interpreting anything short of hailing Bionicle as the best and most important LEGO theme as a slap in the face? "Bionicle only got a split-second cameo in The LEGO Movie! LEGO clearly hates Bionicle fans!" Never mind that in the very same breath Ninjago and Friends, two of the LEGO Group's biggest successes of teh past decade, were acknowledged in the same context. Or how many things my fellow Ninjago fans take umbrage at? "LEGO is running ads for a new theme/show called Nexo Knights! They're clearly trying to kill Ninjago!" Never mind that Ninjago is one of their most successful themes, and was recently declared evergreen. After a while all these overblown complaints start to sound a little trite. And mind you — these complaints about Bionicle and Ninjago have often been from kids and teenagers. Maybe it's unrealistic of me, but I'd like to think that adults won't see every inconvenience as a personal attack. Considering that several actual LEGO designers are fans of things like steampunk, which has never gotten a full theme to itself, or monorails, which haven't appeared in a LEGO set in over twenty years, I don't think any argument can be made that a few years without a Castle theme prove that LEGO hates Castle fans. But sometimes a certain theme has to take a back seat for a while. It happened to Pirates. It happened to Space. It happened to Town. It happened to Bionicle. Right now it appears to be Castle's turn. I guarantee LEGO doesn't harbor any ill will towards any of us based on what themes we enjoy, and as I see it, it's only a matter of time before Castle fans get their day in the sun again.

Charming project, no licensing agreement required, and a subject LEGO hasn't really had in sets before (a full-scale observatory)! These things all help its chances. The original concept is way more complex and parts-intensive than it needs to be, as is the revised (close to 2500 pieces) version, but the parts count could easily be GREATLY reduced by removing the textured surface on the two flat sides on the mountain. I can't imagine anybody shedding any tears over that. Using larger bricks for the flat walls of the observatory could also help, since smaller bricks are often just complexity for complexity's sake rather than really enhancing the look of the model. Speaking optimistically, I think it could be reduced to a $100 or $120 set without hurting its design, which is big but not outrageously so.

Since the movie comes out in September 2017, it's probably more realistic to expect big announcements about the Ninjago movie at next year's SDCC rather than this year's. It'll be the first LEGO movie to be released in the second half of the year rather than the first, though, so teasers and things will probably start to surface well before next summer.

Yeah, I don't mind the script of The Journey to One as much as some people, but the voice acting has not been especially strong. I think Gali and Umarak's voice actors had some of the best delivery in the first two episodes. But compared to the webisodes last year, where one voice actor was able to give the characters a lot of personality, I feel like having multiple voice actors in The Journey to One has not really measured up to people's expectations. I wouldn't necessarily assume the actors are to blame for this, though. They are a lot less experienced than the voice actors we're used to from, say, the Hero Factory cartoons or G1 Bionicle movies, but a good voice director can also play a role in the strength of a show's voice acting by advising the actors on how to deliver their lines, deciding how many different takes to record, and deciding which takes are used. Same as how the performance of an actor in a live-action film depends in part on the judgment of their director.

Generally one of the things I find cool about LEGO Dimensions is how with the video game franchises they've included (Portal, Midway Arcade, and now Sonic), they've tried in some way to stay true to not only the motifs of those games, but also the EXPERIENCE of them. Midway Arcade is probably the most lackluster of the three, just plunking the Midway Arcade titles into a Dimensions game level as minigames, but the other two seem to do a much better job combining the normal LEGO gameplay style and LEGO Dimensions game mechanics with the gameplay experience of the franchises that inspired them. If LEGO did ever do Minecraft packs, it'd be neat to see how they combine Minecraft gameplay with Dimensions gameplay. I was kind of unsure what the chances of that might be, since Minecraft is owned by Microsoft. Then again, unlike Nintendo franchises and characters, Minecraft and Minecraft: Story Mode are themselves multi-platform, so the possibility of them appearing on a multi-platform LEGO game is not so far-fetched. I sort of have to wonder "if they were going to do that, why haven't they done it already, with LEGO Minecraft being as big a hit as it is?" But maybe I might've answered my own question — it could be that Minecraft expansions require extra development time specifically to grapple with the question of how to combine Minecraft and LEGO Dimensions gameplay in a way that feels seamless and natural. Something I'm curious about that hasn't been announced yet: will there be any Dimensions tie-in with the LEGO Ninjago Movie? If there is one, it would probably not be until Season 3 (Fall 2017 to Spring 2018), since the LEGO Ninjago Movie comes out in September of next year. So that would explain why we haven't heard anything about it. While all seven of the Ninjago main characters are already represented in LEGO Dimensions, the LEGO Ninjago Movie appears to be its own discrete universe, and I can't picture LEGO passing up on that promotional opportunity. And while LEGO Dimensions hasn't previously had two playable versions of the same characters, it's probably safe to assume that the LEGO Batman Movie version of Batman will be playable in the LEGO Batman Movie story pack, so that barrier will already be broken by the time Season 3 rolls around. If a LEGO Ninjago Movie story pack were released, I imagine that to cut down on redundancy, LEGO would do as they've done with the Ghostbuster Story Pack and make it so that one toy character allows you to play as the entire ninja team.

I don't know, magical instant costume changes aren't unheard of in fantasy/superhero stories (Green Lantern, Miraculous Ladybug, Power Rangers, Sailor Moon, etc). I think you could make an argument that the NRG and Airjitzu ninja could be considered both special magical forms AND special magical costumes, since the costume appears to transform along with the ninja wearing it. Particularly in the case of the Airjitzu designs, there's a decidedly layered appearance to the minifigure as a whole, instead of their body and costume all appearing to be one material like in the NRG version. In the show, of course, the NRG forms just have the ninja in whatever they were wearing before but made to look like the ninja and costume alike have been converted into semi-transparent elemental energy, and the ninja don't get special forms or costumes at all when they do Airjitzu. Which is honestly kind of disappointing for me, since the NRG and Airjitzu minifigures are some of the coolest versions of the ninja, IMO, and you don't get to see so much of that in the show.

I dunno. Story-wise the execution might not be up to snuff, but set-wise, for every sub-par set like that one you pictured, there's a great set like Laval's Fire Lion, Gorzan's Gorilla Striker, Lennox's Lion Attack, Eris's Eagle Interceptor, Worriz's Combat Lair, King Crominus's Rescue, or basically any of the Legend Beasts or tribe packs. There aren't a lot of themes that consist of all hits and no misses — of current themes, Ghostbusters and Elves are some of the only ones I can think of that have been consistently strong, and they're both fairly small and new themes compared to Chima. While Chima never really lived up to its full potential, I think it did alright for itself.

Maybe? But the past couple years LEGO has focused their NYCC booth on a single new theme (the Bionicle reboot in 2014, Nexo Knights in 2015), not on a returning theme or a mix of themes. Since there's a Nexo Knights panel at SDCC this Sunday and there will be designers present, we might get some hints at what to expect very soon, but I get a feeling the panel will focus more on the next season of the TV show and the existing range of sets rather than on future sets.