Aanchir

Oh wow, those two set mods look amazing! You really added a lot to them, but managed to keep the additions from feeling tacked-on, cluttered, or out-of-place. The pegasus chariot is also pretty cute, though if there were some wings on the side of the chariot it might feel a bit more flightworthy — as it is, it doesn't feel very aerodynamic, unlike the sleigh which has a lot more curves.

I'm not quite sure what you mean about the neck being too long. It's about as short as it could realistically be. If I moved the shoulder connection one stud upward then her shoulder line would be about level with her chin, which seems unrealistic to me. And yes, I know some classic Bionicle figures had shoulders that were much higher, but I wanted to aim for a more realistic physique with this one. It might be that the neck just seems long because of how the mask doesn't quite reach down to the chin? I did just make the shoulders a bit more sloped by removing one half-bushing from the torso, thereby lowering the chest plate a tad and revealing the natural slope of the paw piece used on her back. This was also in response to criticism on another site that the chest seemed to be pushed up too high. It definitely looks better now, though I might wait to see if there are any other changes I'd like to make before taking new pictures. The idea of having them in the back was not just for the curvature but also because moving them to the sides doesn't really make the gap in the front any smaller. And attempts I made to have them on the sides that DID fill in the gap in the front more also greatly inhibited the posability of the legs. In a future MOC I might see about using different techniques to try and minimize that gap. I did contemplate putting something on the front to try and diminish that groove. The crystal add-on from the 2016 Toa would fit the contours nicely, fill in that groove, and add even more volume, but I couldn't find a way to make it work for this MOC. A MOC that used that technique might need slightly longer legs. Yep! I mostly added some of my recent MOCs there just as an experiment to see what the community is like, and I'm actually quite impressed with the amount of constructive feedback I've gotten. I'm not sure what's so comical about the rump. I thought it was in good proportion with the rest of the model and fit the streamlined design I was going for. Originally I did use those pieces on the hips instead, but as I mentioned above, I couldn't make it work, and once I moved them to the back of the model, that was when the whole MOC really began to come together, IMO. Regarding the technique with the claw pieces on the torso and legs, that's what this MOC started with. I will bear these criticisms in mind for future MOCs though and possibly find better ways of using that technique (like with the new crystal add-on, as I mentioned above).

Oh my gosh, reading about these sets just makes them seem that much more amazing and magical! The innkeeper's name is Sira Copperbranch the Sky Captain, and the dragon trainer's name is Tidus Stormsurfer. Great names in general, certainly a far cry from "Johnny Baker"! Also, the Secret Market Place is literally run by animals, and the post owl's name is Owlyver! One thing that surprised me is that the contraption on the balcony of the Starlight Inn is a spyglass and not a periscope. I had assumed it would be a periscope like in 60048 since it connects to the inside of the inn, but it turns out that all it connects are is a ladder and key. A spyglass probably makes more sense for a business that isn't likely to be doing anything illicit, but it does make me wonder why it and the ladder have to be linked. I love the luggage rack underneath the bed! The moss beds in the Fire Dragon's Lava Cave are a nice feature too, and make it really feel like a proper campsite. I always love details like this that make a place (even a cave) feel livable. The art on the back of the boxes featuring the dragons in flight looks incredible! As always, getting new pics and descriptions makes me want to build some LEGO Elves MOCs!

I'm going to take a third option and go with Final Flight of Destiny's Bounty. I've always been a sucker for brick-built ship hulls! Plus, it flies!

A graceful Bionicle swordfighter I built this week. I haven't really come up with a story for her. She mostly just evolved out of an assortment of building techniques I'd been fiddling around with. ___ ______ ______ Flickr album Please feel free to share any comments, criticisms, or questions you might have!

I ought to mention — yesterday my brother and I went to Toys 'R' Us and they had some pretty great deals on LEGO Dimensions. He was able to buy five fun packs for $36 or so. This was the first time we'd bought any new packs since he got the game, so now he's got a whole bunch more characters and vehicles to use.

Today's episode was maybe my favorite so far! Whiparella is a very amusing villain, and it was neat getting to learn all the knights' fears. I wonder how long we'll keep getting a new magic book in each episode. If there's one for EVERY episode (as there has been so far) then there will surely be more in the show than in the sets!

I think it's quite possible that Ekimu and Makuta are just more powerful Okoto islanders rather than a separate species or race. I mean, there are plenty of human characters in fiction and mythology who are immortal, magical, or super-powered, but still biologically human. Physically, the Mask Makers look extremely similar to other non-Mask-Maker characters like Narmoto, and the myths of Okoto generally seem to treat them as people (albeit highly-revered people) rather than deities or spirits. In general, I'm kind of glad that Bionicle G2 has refrained from referring to its characters in terms of "species". It just seems like a very technical way to refer to characters, not really befitting of the mythic tone that Bionicle G2 has assumed.

According to what I read on the latest LEGO Club Ninjago mission, the full Wu-Cru site will launch in February. I think what's there now is merely a teaser.

The scurriers, you mean? I think their arms attach the same way as regular minifigure arms or Power Miners rock monster arms. I could be wrong, though.

Depends on the set. Larger sets almost always use photographs (there have been some rare exceptions over the years, like the Aqua Raiders sets and the "Ultimate Build" Cars sets, which were rendered regardless of size). But smaller sets like Bionicle figures, Mixels, and Nexo Knights "Ultimate" figures tend to use renders pretty much as a rule.

I think it probably will. When Hero Factory was launched, it was basically given three years to prove itself, after which LEGO would decide what would happen to it in the future. In 2012 LEGO started developing the Bionicle reboot to take its place, but Hero Factory still got two more years of sets in the intervening time. Their plans for Bionicle seem about the same: three years for it to show how much life it's got in it, and then its fate after that will depend on what those three years have shown. LEGO can't develop a successful constraction range overnight, and if they still see enough potential in the constraction category to even bother developing something to take Bionicle's place, then there's no way they'd waste that potential by going without an in-house constraction theme until the next one's ready.

As I understand it, the light in LEGO Ninjago lives on not through him being immortal but through the descendents of the First Spinjitzu Master and his followers. I think the series as a whole has made it clear that the First Spinjitzu Master has passed away. The ninja even visited his tomb in the latest story arc. But Wu, Lloyd, and the other ninja carry on his legacy.

I think they're mostly tweaked to be shorter, above all else. After all, Onua's snoring is still mentioned in his product description, so it's not like LEGO is trying to downplay that part of his characterization. To be honest, I kind of dislike a lot of the changes on the updated site. Between the shortened Toa bios and the removal of the separate Story and Okoto sections in favor of a much less detailed "Explore" section, it feels like the amount of actual information on the site has decreased considerably.

I believe all those magazines are published by a company called Blue Ocean: http://www.blue-ocean-ag.de/licensing

I really enjoyed this past week's Steven Bomb! Five fantastic new episodes of Steven Universe, including a fair bit of tension and drama but also no shortage of adorable, funny, and downright awesome character moments. I'm looking forward to the next episode, whenever that might be!

Counterpoint: TMNT might not have come out the same year as Ninjago, but it did come out the same year as Legends of Chima, which it was arguably just as similar to (anthropomorphized animal characters in animal-inspired vehicles). I don't think the LEGO Group is terribly afraid of launching a licensed theme the same year as a tenuously related "big bang" property. But with all that said, yeah, I'm pretty sure Mega Bloks still has the Warcraft license.

Just freckles. :) Kind of like this classic face.

It's probably safe to assume that Ultimate Axl would use Transparent Yellow, simply by virtue of that being the color of the yellow Nexo Power shields. All the other Ultimate knights have used the color of armor that matches the set's primary Nexo Power. Likewise, Ultimate Lance would probably use plain ol' Transparent. Obviously, I would never argue that Merlok 2.0, the Book of Monsters, or the Globlins are minifigures. But the Squirebots are at least as much "real minifigures" as, say, LEGO skeletons, considering they have as many pieces and as much posability as a standard minifigure and are not far removed from a hobbit/dwarf/child minifigure in terms of proportions. And I think Axl is just as much a "real minifigure" as a figure like Queen Halbert who uses a dress slope instead of standard legs. The Scurriers are sort of borderline, but I'd consider them minifigures. As far as LEGO is concerned, scurriers, squirebots, Ava, Robin, Queen Halbert, and Axl all qualify as minifigures. Globlins, Merlok 2.0, the Book of Monsters, and buildable monsters like Sparkks and Infernox do not. I think that's a pretty fair evaluation. Overall, I think the Nexo Knights sets have a pretty fair number of minifigures for their price. Minifigures aren't the be-all and end-all of a set's value, and I think those sets that have fewer minifigures than usual for their price point make up for it in other aspects of the design, like large buildable monsters. Perhaps more importantly, I think pretty much all the sets include enough minifigures to create a sufficient number of play scenarios. There aren't a whole lot of sets where I'm left thinking "this set really doesn't feel complete without another figure".

I thought it had been clear for a while that Moltor and Mouldron are different names for the same character. But yes, it is frustrating that we can't get a definitive answer on Flama's gender.

I don't think silver is that outrageous for representing a monkey with shiny grey fur (it's not like the monkey has printed bolts or laser eyes or anything like that which would make it look strictly robotic), but even if you can't find use for it as a living creature, I could see it making a good figurine or idol for pirates to try and steal from some island village. Plus, the fact that LEGO introduced a new mold now makes me think they're quite likely to use it again in other colors and other themes (after all, the Ninjago sky pirate arc probably won't continue for more than half a year). A lot of islands have both monkeys and volcanoes, so maybe the new LEGO City volcano research sets in the summer might use the new monkey. *shrug*

I just like the idea of having options. In Ninjago, for instance, it's really rare to get alternate expressions for the main characters, even though there have been like twelve different versions of most of them. Plus, in the Elves story, some of the characters ARE pretty bubbly like Aira and Azari, so while it's nice to have a more neutral expression for each of them, it wouldn't be so nice to be limited to that sort of expression. Friends could benefit from a wider range of facial expressions for its characters too, but maybe the reason they have just stuck with "one face per character" is because the Friends characters' outfits change so much more from set to set (and even their hairstyles change occasionally when they wear, say, a riding helmet or visor). By contrast, even though all the Elves main characters are getting new outfits this year, they all still stick to the same hairstyle and the same signature style of skirt/trousers they had last year.

I could see a larger, enclosed hot dog stand like this becoming a $30 set, especially if it also included a vehicle and some outdoor tables to eat at.

I don't see why such a set would have to be large to combine with Temple of Airjitzu. In fact, I'd almost be prepared to say the smaller, the better — If it's too big then it could be hard to integrate without distracting from the "main attraction". After all, the Temple of Airjitzu already depicts a fairly complete-looking scene. I'm expecting some nice scenery, a bit of conflict (since it's a regular retail set and not an exclusive like the Temple), and yes, maybe a function or two. It'd be cool if it could integrate an Airjitzu launcher but that might be too much to hope for, especially now that Airjitzu is no longer quite so relevant as a gimmick.

MathematicPony is easily one of my favorite brony musicians who emerged within the past year or so, and this is one of her latest new songs, inspired by the Season 5 finale of My Little Pony Friendship is Magic!