Aanchir

Aww, shucks. That's not promising. At least we know we're getting an episode next year (and by Advance and Ghost, it ought to be good). Still, I hope that this doesn't mean that Hero Factory's media presence will be diminishing on a larger scale.

Not really. It also adds an element of surprise, which for kids can be a selling point in and of itself. There's something thrilling about opening something and not knowing beforehand what's inside; sort of the same reason we love unwrapping birthday and Christmas presents. As adults we tend to want to know what we're getting, but that's partly because we have a firmer understanding of the cost that results from buying set after set, and also because many of us are just that much more used to being able to take the contents of a set for granted. Kids today, on the other hand, grow up with collectible trading cards and many other blind-packaged novelties. I collected Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh cards when I was a kid, and it never once occurred to me that the publishers might be swindling me by not telling me what's inside the packages. There was always at least a bit of certainty attached — for instance, every pack would have a set number of cards and at least one of those would be "rare". Any uncertainty that was left was just a part of the collecting game. I kept my cards sorted in three-ring binders but I never obsessed over completion. If I had a good number of the cards I wanted from a certain series, then I'd accept that it was "good enough" and I'd move on to a series that had lots of desirable cards that I had yet to obtain. CMFs are a similar deal. No matter whether you know what you're getting, you're guaranteed one minifigure out of a selection of 16 with every pack you buy. And none of the minifigures are "worthless" unless you're exceedingly selective about what LEGO themes you value. From my experience, kids tend to be less selective about this kind of thing than adults, again, because they don't fully understand the cost of LEGO collecting. They might have a favorite theme that they'll gravitate towards in stores, but they won't hesitate as much as an adult might if they find themselves drawn to a set or minifigure outside the themes they normally collect.

Good review. Surge is a cool set but I can't help but think his back would have looked better if instead of that Technic T-piece, it had used this piece. It'd make the back seem a little less gappy. Same goes for Stormer, really — I think a full-module gap between the back armor and the back surface of the torso beam is just too much in most cases, particularly with no other elements filling that empty space. His weapon and wings are cool. The flick missiles are well-integrated even with such a simple construction. To be honest, I don't mind the fact that the wings are asymmetrical, but the way they're asymmetrical bothers me a great deal. Since only one surface of that shield piece tapers, they end up looking less than aerodynamic. If it had just been the "H" emblem or other textural details on them that didn't match on both sides I wouldn't have minded one bit. The fact that the overall shape of the part is asymmetrical presents more of a problem. The wings' color doesn't bother me since the wings are more of an accessory than a part of the armor, just as that part was on Stormer or Furno XL. Surge's helmet looks cool and I don't mind the eyes sticking out past the edges of the visor much. Though if his visor really doesn't close all the way (which is what it sounds like you're describing with the "visible gap"; correct me if I'm wrong), that's a somewhat disappointing aspect of its design. I love Surge's color scheme and he's very well-armored, as I'd expect at this price point. The transparent armor on his arms is a curious design decision but not one that I think hurts his design. It gives him a nice energetic feel, kind of like the heavy use of lime did on last year's version.

A new outfit for Nya could be cool, though to be honest the only problem I really have with her current default outfit is that it lacks back printing in the physical version (the version that appears in the TV episodes doesn't have this issue). Technically, she DID get another outfit as Samurai X; she just doesn't really use it without the full Samurai armor in any media. Anyway, the TV episodes seem to have a hard time justifying new default costumes for secondary characters. Look at Sensei Wu. Besides his black robes which he wore only in the two-minute short "Battle Between Brothers", he's been in his white robes from 2011 since he first appeared in the series. And he actually got a new costume design in the 2012 sets, which has still never appeared in the series proper!

That has a number of differences, though. For one, it's based on a very exact studio model from an external IP. And it was designed to fit with the Ultimate Collector Series of sets which TLG created in the first place. That means that dmac really has no ownership of the concept. As for using certain combinations of parts... that's where things get a bit puzzling. I know that with some subsequent UCS models that draw inspiration from AFOL MOCs, such as the UCS Jedi Starfighter, the designers have specifically asked the MOCists if they may use those combinations of parts. If TLG they did release a big western modular as a non-Cuusoo set, then they wouldn't have to give Marshall Banana any credit unless they specifically used his model as inspiration. And why would they feel obligated to do that when there is a wealth of inspiration to be found in the many Western towns in popular culture and the real world? He does not own the concept of a modular Western town by any stretch of the imagination, and it's not like the average buyer would be that much more likely to buy a western modular just because it was inspired by a very particular MOC. Most people would buy the model based on its own merits: the parts, the complexity of the build, and the look of the final model. Plus, for a non-Cuusoo set, TLG would be conducting their own market research anyway just to gauge demand. So even the negligible amount of information they'd have from seeing the Modular Western Town reach 10,000 supporters on LEGO Cuusoo would be practically worthless. All it would have told TLG was that there was at least a small audience for western sets, and the fact that they obtained the Lone Ranger license indicates that they already knew that much without needing any help from Cuusoo. The idea that LEGO Cuusoo gives TLG a wealth of free information that they can then sneakily put to their own use after rejecting the project in question is simply misguided — if LEGO Cuusoo gave TLG that much information on the market for a set, then they would be able to gauge demand for Cuusoo sets without producing the sets in such small initial batches.

Cuusoo started as a crowdsourcing platform not connected with the LEGO brand at all (see Cuusoo.com). LEGO Cuusoo was a LEGO-sponsored offshoot of that. I don't know for sure whether the LEGO Cuusoo moderators are in the employ of Cuusoo or the LEGO Group, to be perfectly honest. But I imagine it's probably the former.

I'd say my favorite Brain Attack set has got to be Dragon Bolt. That flapping-wings function is expertly integrated and it's nice to have such a substantial non-humanoid model. He's also got quite excellent parts in not-so-common colors like Bright Blue. I'm also comfortable recommending Breez, because her helmet is perhaps my favorite Hero Factory helmet design of all time. It's remarkably feminine, and because it's in a neutral color it's also quite versatile. Breez doesn't have too many other parts that make her a must-buy though, so she's definitely not as great a parts pack as Ogrum.

Yeah, there are a lot of factors in whether a set can be made that we fans really have no way of predicting. That's why I think a good policy is "when in doubt, support the projects you like and let TLG take care of the rest". It does nobody any good to give armchair assessments of what can or can't work as a set. It just discourages Cuusoo activity in my opinion, and that can make the platform as a whole less efficient. Better to just support the projects you would legitimately pay money for, regardless of whether there are potential complications, and then wait for the LEGO Cuusoo staff to speak up if there is some particular complication they alert project creators to.

Yeah, it's been found in sets actually! Caperberry analyzed it in this post on his blog "The New Elementary". Nabii made this comment explaining the justification and admitting he was part of the group that made the call to change it, so that's another thing AFOLs can hold against him along with the death of teal.

1 point Flora Strike 1 point Stringer the Stinger 1 point Marshall Boyle

2 points Ryan Korsten 1 point Bonnie Crusher

2 points Gorroz Spider 1 point Felix Gorroz Spider's "Before" form is possibly the most impressive "Before" MOC in this contest and its "After" form isn't shabby either, even if there's quite a jarring difference between those two forms. The "Before" form is about as innocent as a spider that size can be made to look, while the "After" form is decidedly more aggressive. Felix seems a bit unloved in this contest. The "Before" form is a little bit bland without any bright accent colors and a face that's kind of blocky-looking, but the "After" form looks remarkably like a Brain Attacked creature, and a clever non-humanoid one at that. It's also quite clear how one becomes the other.

I haven't been a real completionist for the Collectible Minifigures at any point. Typically on any one shopping trip I'll just get a handful of Collectible Minifigures my two siblings and I like, and we divide them up when we get home. My earlier CMF series are more complete than my more recent ones, but that's less about CMF fatigue and more about my brother and I not going on as many shopping trips lately, or having other things we're more concerned with finding on said shopping trips. Feeling the bags for figs I like has always been my policy with the CMFs, and that takes a certain amount of time and concentration. So if I'm on a shopping trip and have not yet found everything I wanted to find on that trip, I don't exactly have time to burn. For the first few CMF series, I was at college in Vermont and most of my shopping trips were via my college's shuttle service. This meant that after checking what's available at the few stores in my immediate vicinity I would often have plenty of time to burn before catching the return shuttle. My twin brother and I also had a very powerful motivation to buy CMFs at that time: our younger brother was at boarding school, so we'd regularly ship him a third of the CMFs we bought so he wouldn't feel bored or lonely. When my brother and I went to college in Boston last year, we didn't end up getting CMFs as often, partly because there are so few places to buy LEGO near the school where we were at (and the ones that sold CMFs were often one or two series behind schedule at any given time), and partly because we often had much more important things to buy like groceries and school supplies. And when I'm at home, as I am currently, I probably get the CMFs least often of all. I don't drive yet so I have to either join my mom on shopping trips or catch the local transit buses, and the main places around here where I can go to buy LEGO are much less pedestrian-friendly than the places I'd buy LEGO in New England. So I spend more time hopping from store to store than sitting in one store feeling bags. I also feel a little more self-conscious about any kind of "impulse spending" when I'm at home because I'm having a hard time finding a job and I want to be able to show my parents that I'm fiscally responsible. Just another reason I miss my time in Vermont, I suppose. It felt like I had so much less to worry about up there on a number of levels, and I was able to enjoy myself a lot during that time as a result.

Hmm, but I wonder how "illegal" it actually would be in that set. Even if the parts can't snap together fully, I can't imagine that construction would put any real stress on the bricks without any weight or pressure being applied.

It's amazingly depressing how many people's first impression was to compare these to the not-even-remotely-similar Ben 10 and Galidor themes. So many AFOLs willing to dismiss a fun, imaginative System theme as dead-on-arrival before they even know exactly what it's about. Hopefully the line will prove successful and the early detractors will find they don't actually mind the taste of crow. Though of course I guarantee many of those early detractors will never get over their irrational hatred of the theme... I saw some disgusting comments about BIONICLE earlier today that remind me just why I put off joining Brickset for so long. The AFOL community has managed to disappoint me so many times and in so many ways over the past week. I desperately need a newer, less depressing hobby. On a lighter note, yay! Adorable models with goofy cartoon eyes and tiny ball joints! These are a wonderful expression of the LEGO Group's brilliant imagination. Very much like some of the X-Pod sets. Definitely hoping to pick some of these up. No idea what the Cartoon Network co-promotion might entail...

I'm not saying that TLG shouldn't be cautious. Obviously bigger fandoms have more members in general, and TLG should hold EVERY business case to a high standard rather than arbitrarily lowering their standards for niche projects. I wasn't arguing against that at all. I'm just saying that I think it's awfully pretentious of AFOLs to assume that just because a project is based on some niche fandom, the people supporting it are just giving a meaningless show of approval and aren't legitimately interested in buying such a product. What ground do we have to assume that "mainstream" projects' supporters are sincere about their willingness to buy the set and "niche" products' supporters are not? Sure, there are some Cuusoo "supporters" who probably aren't committed to buying the sets they support, but that applies for any project based on any fandom, including the LEGO fandom. This is an issue I have with the community, not with TLG or with LEGO Cuusoo as a platform. It's fine to feel like a LEGO Cuusoo project is too niche to really be viable. However, it's NOT fine to assume that just because a project seems awfully niche, the supports it did receive are less legitimate than the supports given to any other project.

I see this assumption all the time, and I'd like to remind people that we heard the very same comments about the Minecraft set at one point. Many AFOLs had never heard of Minecraft, or didn't understand its appeal. Some argued that because Minecraft was a video game, it was likely to be "just a fad" and that it'd be soon be forgotten in favor of "the next big thing". It's gone on to be one of the most successful Cuusoo products to date, to the extent that it's being expanded into a larger product line. Some AFOLs have also said that the audience for the Back to the Future project is too small, and that it's not current or mainstream enough to become a successful LEGO Cuusoo product. We'll see how that pans out. Obviously, FTL does not have as huge an audience as Minecraft, and I'm not trying to suggest it does. Nor does its audience necessarily have such a significant overlap with the audience for the LEGO brand. But even if it doesn't end up being a strong enough business case to pass review, I really think we should stop being so cynical about the sincerity of the people supporting these kinds of projects. Reading up on FTL, a portion of its development and release was funded through Kickstarter. Those supporters certainly weren't unwilling to make a financial commitment to the game, even before they were able to play the full game! So why do we even begin to assume that such a niche audience can't be as sincere as fans of LEGO or more "mainstream" non-LEGO franchises?

I recently went to a comic store in New Bern, North Carolina. I was primarily looking for My Little Pony back issues (particularly the three micro-series comics I'm missing: Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Applejack). Apparently someone had been through just recently and cleared out most of their stock of that comic, but I did find Avatar: The Last Airbender - The Search, Part 2. It didn't disappoint. Many wonderful flashbacks, as well as some great spirit world shenanigans. Can't wait for the third part of that one. I also picked up the third Hellboy graphic novel. I'm slowly but surely getting through those; they're mostly what I ask for at comic shops when they don't have everything else I want. It was good, as is typical of that franchise. Lots of wonderful references to mythology and folklore.

I'm very excited! My brother and I recently got Book 1 on DVD and watched it from beginning to end with our mom over the course of the past two weeks. We also got the Book 1 soundtrack on Amazon. Did you know that if you buy a physical CD on Amazon and they have the music on it available digitally as well, you get to download a DRM-free copy of that music as soon as you finish making your order? I didn't until last night, and it was quite a treat since I was thinking buying a physical copy would mean I would have to wait to listen to it. We pre-ordered the Book 1 art book in the same transaction and I look forward to getting to read that. The Book 2 trailer is pretty incredible, and it looks like it's going to have a VERY different feel from Book 1 in a lot of ways. Book 1 felt very grounded in many respects, whereas Book 2 seems like it's going to be much more fantastic and mysterious. It is neat to have a book that will involve the Spirit World to such a great extent since in Avatar: The Last Airbender we only got to see it in short stretches, and very rarely at that. I'm excited to hear about My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic at Comic-Con as well. Sadly Ninjago doesn't seem to have much of a presence there this year, so I'm not sure when we'll get a trailer or release date for the next season, but it's supposed to be premiering towards the end of this year.

Hmmm, that's an interesting observation. I wonder if perhaps there aren't any LEGO Lord of the Rings books because the book rights for the Lord of the Rings belong to a publisher the LEGO Group doesn't have ties with (most LEGO books to my knowledge are published by Scholastic, Dorling Kindersley, AMEET, Ladybird, or Nelson). Anyway, since that's just an activity book it probably won't be an exclusive minifigure or anything. Just one of the figs appearing in the LEGO Movie sets.

It's around 400 pieces. I think $35 is a more than reasonable price for the parts alone, regardless of your opinions on the build or the finished model. Personally, though, I think it's an amazing build with lots of beautiful and advanced building techniques that give it a remarkable sculptural quality without sacrificing playability. I've realized that if you swapped the 4x8 plate built into the hood for a black one, it'd correct the issue that has been bothering me most, that being the interrupted black stripe on the side. I wonder why TLG didn't do this themselves. It seemingly does no harm to the interior or exterior appearance of the vehicle, and presumably wouldn't add to the cost considerably. Regardless, that's a simple modification and I might do that with my copy of the set, unless for some bizarre reason I fall in love with the look the gray plate gives it after having built it myself.

Well, in the case of the old LEGO cat, part of the reason for it not having studs is that it was originally a Belville part. Of course, in that theme, it was simply used as a kitten, and there was a <a href="https://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=6175">separate piece</a> for a full-grown cat. Meanwhile, most minifigure animals below a certain size lack studs. Parrots, owls, crows, frogs, spiders, ants, mice, rats, baby tyrannosaurs, baby dragons, the chimpanzee from Series 5, and the chihuahua from Series 10. Some larger animals, like sharks, rays, and dolphins, also lack studs. Even the LEGO monkey's only studs are the minifigure hands used for its hands and feet. Regardless, the cat is a nice new LEGO animal in terms of size and shaping.

I wouldn't be so sure. Generally "misprints" are more valuable in markets where there's precedent for them selling for high prices. But that doesn't tend to happen too much with LEGO as far as I'm aware. Misprinted LEGO parts are generally just considered "defective", though there are examples like the old "flame-colored" bricks that did become collectors' items. With a LEGO Cuusoo set, there is somewhat of an advantage. The smaller size of a LEGO Cuusoo production run means that a misprinted part will be that much rarer and more exclusive than it would have been in a regular-issue set. But overall I don't think people would be paying high prices for such parts unless they could find abundant examples of misprint parts selling for high prices in the past.

I don't see how the issue of illegal connections and whatnot in Cuusoo proposals is a problem at all. It is not fans' job to know exactly what would or wouldn't be able to be produced and marketed as a set. That's why Cuusoo projects are redesigned at all. No matter how much expertise a MOCist is, chances are they have no idea about certain factors that have to go into set design. Perhaps using a blatantly illegal connection in a model generates false hope, but in general I don't think that will have any impact whatsoever on whether a project is viable. It's entirely possible the LEGO designers responsible for making projects a reality will find a solution that is legal but visually equal or superior to the earlier, "illegal" solution. I'd argue that they did so with the Back to the Future Time Machine, which was somewhat crude and boxy in its original form and gained a lot more sculptural nuance in the final product. Remember that "disappointment in the final product" doesn't even matter for buyers who never saw the original proposal, and those probably make up a significant chunk of the audience for any Cuusoo product that is truly viable in the long term. A project that can't get any buyers besides those who have followed news on the project itself is almost certainly doomed to fail. The support threshold is based on the idea that the 10,000 supporters required to reach the threshold are a representative sample of a much larger but less vocal mainstream audience. Overall, illegal connections are just ONE reason why some Cuusoo projects might inevitably have to be changed to become finalized products. Others include the use of parts and colors that are out-of-production, failure to meet a price point that the supporters have expressed willingness to pay, and structural flaws unrelated to illegal connections or brick stress. And most of these factors are impossible for the average fan to be fully aware of in advance. Regular LEGO fans don't regularly conduct "heat tests" on their models, nor do they have access to a full list of LEGO parts that are currently in production, nor do they know the actual cost any particular part will add to the production cost of a set. They don't have the experience it takes to know what kinds of building techniques are suited to different age groups, or access to the demographic information their project's supporters are providing, or even complete knowledge of what connections are and aren't illegal (the layman's test of "can you stick a piece of paper between the two pieces?" is not entirely reliable, as some connections like ball-and-socket joints are designed with high friction in mind). So in general I think it'd be extremely pretentious on the part of the LEGO Cuusoo staff to reject projects based on knowledge so esoteric. Chances are, LEGO Cuusoo's moderators don't even know for certain whether certain connections are illegal or not, and even some LEGO designers might not know for certain how viable a model is until they've had the opportunity to build it themselves. Furthermore, LEGO Cuusoo is about concepts, not models. Although LEGO tries to be faithful to the original model in cases where its design was a major part of its appeal, cases like the Minecraft project show that the LEGO Group isn't asking project creators to perfectly anticipate how a concept should best be realized. They just want something that the project creator has, in one way or another, been able to visualize and present to others.

I apologize for getting so angry. Frankly, Eurobricks is one of the sites where I feel most comfortable most of the time, though I have heard things to call that into question. I suppose I let my guard down and then reacted angrily when as a result certain comments I was not anticipating were able to hurt me. I apologize wholeheartedly. I should not have gone so far as to insult your character. However, I still think the opinions you expressed are outdated and not relevant to society on a large scale. They overemphasize the biological nature of gender roles. Just because once these ideas were once considered crucial to the continued existence of the human race does not mean that they are ingrained in the human psyche. The most remarkable thing about humans as a species is their capacity to learn, and as such, much less of our behavior is instinctual than with many other species. Much of our behavior is passed down through tradition and through the society we create for our offspring, hence why many aspects of human society are so very different in many parts of the world or across various points in time. Furthermore, it is wrong to suggest that because something is traditional and was once essential to society it cannot be questioned on a moral level. There are many, many traditions humankind has had over the years which are now, quite rightly, made illegal or at least frowned upon. For instance, it was once accepted for people to challenge each other to duels to the death over perceived injuries or insults. Needless to say this doesn't happen today, and when it does such events are not simply disregarded as "crimes of passion" or anything of the sort. The persons in question are considered murderers, plain and simple. That isn't even getting into the many traditions that were once codified in laws which we have since rejected, such as many historical punishments which are today recognized as excessively harsh. Back then, some of them performed a function; some might even argue it was a necessary function for survival. This does not, however, mean that these kinds of choices are biologically ingrained in us, and even if they were it would not be immoral for individuals or groups to question or defy them. Needless to say, I understand that these kinds of attitudes are probably a lot more widespread than I would like to believe, and certainly not limited to the AFOL community. But I have a feeling that any well-meaning feminists reading these kinds of attitudes on a LEGO forum would not be so forgiving. And yes, the majority of feminists do mean well. There is a minority that wants women to have superior roles to men in society, rather than just equality, and there are some who think the only way to reach equality is to eradicate feminine stereotypes and notions like "chivalry" altogether. However, most feminists are just seeing a very real imbalance in opportunities for boys and girls and are looking for ways to correct it. Too often, girls' toys and media express a very generic, homogenous definition of "girliness", while boys' toys present more diverse roles and archetypes for boys to aspire to. I don't think that LEGO is under any obligation to perform any role of social betterment. But working to create a better society is a goal the company has claimed for itself, and so expecting them to work towards that goal, even if very slowly and gradually, should not be unreasonable. I do not expect LEGO to even out gender ratios in sets if it will hurt sales, so naturally I don't expect the gender ratios in Hero Factory to rise above one-sixth anytime soon. But in the long term I think issue of gender imbalance should be addressed, because currently gender ratios in LEGO are not an accurate portrayal of reality, and the few roles female characters are afforded in sets often do a disservice to the female fans of those sets and themes. I expect LEGO to do their part, through storytelling, marketing, and set design, to slowly create a society where boys will not avoid buying a set if female characters are included, and where girls and parents of girls will not avoid buying a set because it is not designed specifically "for girls". In other words, I simply expect them to keep pace with changes in society as a whole, and perhaps take the first step in that direction if an opportunity presents itself.