Aanchir

It's a bit ridiculous to think that it would change now. The confirmation that it would be only 5000 in production was less than three months ago, and the set is going to be released in the next two months. And yes, it would be one of the rarest minifigures in existence; certainly one of the rarest minifigure released in regular-issue sets (the only one I know which is rarer is the 14-karat gold C-3PO, of which only five were released). That's the reason it exists in the first place. It's meant to be an extremely rare "bonus" figure to celebrate the tenth series of the Collectible Minifigures, not an item that will be available for the average collector. And of course there are plenty of incredibly rare figures released through more limited channels-- for instance, Toy Fair and Comic-Con exclusive figures. Of course, it's far from the rarest LEGO item released in regular sets-- in 2003, there was a BIONICLE promotion where 5,000 white metal "Krana-Kal" mask/brain pieces were randomly inserted into Bohrok-Kal sets, and furthermore 75 sterling silver Krana-Kal were randomly inserted into sets from the same series. I think its rarity is a pretty wise choice, because there seems to be an odd strain of minifigure collectors who think that anything short of a complete collection is insufficient. The scarcity of this fig should be a pretty strong clue to these collectors that it shouldn't be thought of as an essential part of a typical collection, whereas if there were one per box I guarantee a lot of people wouldn't be willing to consider their collections complete without it.

D'oh! I can't believe I didn't make that connection. Let me revise my original statement: I have a real fondness for names that are simpler and more iconic because I'm too dull to figure them out otherwise! Scarox's design definitely has more spider than beetle in it, both in his set design and his pre-mutation form as shown in the Brain Attack episode. But overall scarab seems like it would be the most likely derivation of his name. It wouldn't be the first time a name's real-world inspiration was a bit of a leap away from the model's direct inspiration.

Well, actually, the part of the structure depicted by this set (the central lobby wing) is still standing; it has just been relocated (or rather, disassembled and rebuilt in a new location). Frank Lloyd Wright's original Imperial Hotel was much bigger than this, with wings on either side, but was demolished and replaced with a high-rise hotel to make more efficient use of land.

Yeah, "tablescrap" just seems to be the term I usually see on sites like Flickr for small, quick, MOCs that are meant more to illustrate a concept than to stand as fully-developed creations of their own (Click for examples). While I'm quite happy with how a lot of these MOCs turned out, they're not particularly ambitious in their scope, and pretty much all of them could be improved significantly with further experimentation. Most of these were just assembled in short building breaks meant to take my mind off the pressures of schoolwork. I'm glad to see many people seem to like these concepts. I hope to continue experimenting with some of these concepts, hopefully to the extent that I can create something I'd consider a finished, well-developed MOC. But I'd rather sell myself short and call these tablescraps than treat each of these as a finished MOC and set a low standard for myself and my capacity as a Hero Factory MOCist.

Eh, personally, I like names like this. While I can agree some names like Pyrox are pretty cool, I really loved how very approachable the names of early Hero Factory sets were, and Frost Beast is a lot like those. Think about it: you have heroes with real first names and last names with obvious connotations. You have villains with real words that quite clearly describe them used as names. Even the early 2011 villains tended to follow this same principle, with names like Drilldozer, Fire Lord, Jetbug, and Nitroblast. But in mid-2011 some of the names started to shift towards a more BIONICLE-like naming scheme. You had a few basic, iconic names like Raw-Jaw, Scorpio, and Witch Doctor, but then you also had villain names like Waspix or Fangz that just seemed to use weird spellings to seem "unique", and the new hero Rocka whose name had no obvious connection to his theme or role. And since then there's been a fairly consistent blend of the two. Now, on one hand, the Hero Factory universe definitely has room for names that are less self-evident in their meanings/derivation: just look at Zib and Quadal. But on the other hand, one thing I've always liked about Hero Factory is that it's more approachable in many respects than BIONICLE was. The names are one part of that. I've read one review of a 2002 BIONICLE comic that criticized how the names "sounded like they came out of a KGB hitlist" and my dad never stopped getting a kick out of making fun of the ludicrous names in the theme (for instance, who can forget the seventh Toa "Taco Nuevo"?). Perhaps TLG thinks kids will enjoy having interests that their parents won't get — it's been used as a marketing technique in the past — but as an adult fan of LEGO I prefer when my interests are a little bit more self-explanatory. I'll admit this year's HF names tend to be rather tame compared to, say, Thornraxx. Pyrox's name has an obvious derivation. So does Aquagon's. Scarox's is pretty simple as well, though it relates to the character in a much more abstract way (OK, spiders are scary, I guess that makes sense…), and Bruizer's name is one of the best of the bunch since it's spelled differently enough to be unique, but doesn't look ridiculous written out and is pronounced like a real word. But on the whole, I still have a real fondness for names that are simpler and more iconic. I guarantee you that if I made a Hero Factory self-MOC, I wouldn't be naming him Aanchir, or even something more meaningful like Aurik. Chances are I'd aim for something a little more straightforward.

I've never had parts stolen from my MOCs at Brickfair Virginia. Overall, the risk of theft is somewhat minimal as long as you have someone at the table keeping an eye on the MOCs, which Brickfair seems to do a good job with. Since I usually go with my family, it's never even difficult to have someone to watch the MOCs, since family members often need to take a break and get off their feet after a certain amount of time wandering the show floor and during that time they can "chaperone" the MOCs. And even if you don't have family with you, chances are some of the registered attendees will have family with THEM or will be willing to watch the MOCs themselves. Parts most likely to get stolen are probably minifigures. Brickfair sets up stanchions to keep the public a certain distance from the tables where MOCs are displayed, and the amount of reported theft has gone down significantly at the Virginia event over the past few years. But if you are displaying a highly-desirable minifigure close to the edge of the table, you're taking a risk. If a minifigure is well-integrated into the display it will be a lot harder for it to "wander off". Damage to MOCs can occur, but if you bring the MOCs to the event in person that greatly reduces the risk of that kind of thing happening. The most significant damage would be liable to happen during the MOC setup/tear-down periods, but even then it shouldn't be a huge risk. So overall, there's no huge risk of theft or damage to MOCs as long as you're not recklessly flaunting highly-desirable parts or minifigures. Glancing at your MOC topics, you seem to be good about making your MOCs sturdy, so I think you should have nothing to worry about.

Faefrost seems to have a pretty good summary in the post above mine, so read that. In short, even a project with a new mold in the proposal can succeed if it doesn't depend on the mold being made for that project. If, for instance, you used a new mold in the proposal because you couldn't think of a solution using existing parts, but the LEGO designers making the sketch model come up with a solution that didn't occur to you (or wasn't available to you, in the case of unreleased parts), then the concept is still viable without the new mold and can be allowed to proceed. Well, there are a number of problems with that. First of all, as Faefrost says, new molds in a project don't necessarily mean the project can't succeed without new molds. Second, the LEGO Cuusoo staff are NOT experts on what molds exist or don't exist. Most of the LEGO sites I'm on have a "help identifying pieces" topic, meaning even some dedicated LEGO fans aren't experts on what is an official part and what is not, so why should anything different be expected of the LEGO Cuusoo staff? And finally, it's a bit unfair to automatically dismiss any project including new molds because it could sway votes, because there are several other "impossible" things that could be incorporated into a project that could sway votes just as much. And dismissing things based on any of these factors would essentially be demanding that not only the Cuusoo staff, but also every project creator, have complete knowledge of ins and outs of the LEGO Group's internal design processes. It's just flat-out unreasonable. The reason these kind of things aren't dismissed before review is because except in the case of certain factors like the LEGO brand standards, only the LEGO designers who are performing the review have any authority to say what can or can't be done in a set based on any particular project. Dismissing projects on the grounds that they might not be viable is a surefire way to stifle creativity. The best the LEGO Cuusoo staff can do is offer a warning to project creators if they notice new molds in a project, which is what they already do when projects seemingly dependent on new molds reach certain milestones.

Yes, this pic from one of the Toy Fairs.

In addition to Kit Martello, I've built a number of smaller Hero Factory MOCs over the past several months. I figure it's about time I shared some of them. None are quite as impressive or well-refined as Kit, but I chose to photograph these because they use some clever techniques and I'm quite proud of them. The first two MOCs are digital, the rest made with physical bricks. Alternate views of most of the MOCs in this topic can be viewed in the Flickr gallery. All images below link to larger versions. Brimstone I built Brimstone with LEGO Digital Designer last semester as an experiment in certain armor combinations, particularly the Super Heroes chest piece and the 1.0 Hero Factory torso beam. She is supposed to be female, although that may not be apparent due to her generic mask and wide shoulders. All the parts are in colors that they are available for purchase in, though I've had some fun experimenting with alternate color palettes and layering. Hero Factory Canine Buddy This was another digital experiment I started last semester, this time in creating a "police dog" companion to scale with a small or medium hero figure. He uses 25 pieces and is the sort of figure I'd love to see as a set at a "Matoran-like" size and price point, if that were to be reintroduced. In fact, even throwing him in with a small Hero set and pushing the set up to a price point of $12.99 wouldn't bother me. Natalie Breez After building the MOC that would become Kit Martello, I wanted to attempt a smaller, more basic figure. The head doesn't suit this helmet or the MOC's color scheme, but several of my Glatorian heads broke as I was packing my sets up for storage last semester and as such I have been trying to use the new, less fragile head piece whenever possible. Cyril Starlight Having built an couple decent female MOCs, I wanted to experiment with some of the parts and techniques that were ill-suited to female characters, such as Drilldozer's torso/shoulder shell or the two 2.0 torso shells used back-to-back. Cyril was the result. His shield technically uses illegal connections, since the Technic angle connectors do not add up to 360º and thus are in compression. Still, I felt it fit together nicely. Poison Dart The torso design I used for Poison Dart is actually one I came up with last semester but didn't end up posting at that time. XT4's 5x6 torso beam is attached to a more basic 7x9 torso beam, creating an assortment of connection points. What I love best about this torso design is that it allows both the upper body and the lower body to be well-armored. I figured Poison Dart's waspish figure was best-suited to a villain rather than a hero or civilian, and I chose to use Toxic Reapa's head as it was ambiguously-gendered but unambiguously villainous (also, I was out of 2013 head pieces and wanted to continue avoiding Glatorian heads). Bogwaddle Finally we come to the 41-piece Bogwaddle, one of my favorite tablescraps from this semester. He started out with me simply wanting to use some of the Earth Green parts from Ogrum, but as soon as I saw how goofy and playful Ogrum's mask looked when flipped upside-down, I knew I wanted it to be the basis of my MOC. What makes Bogwaddle so appealing to me is not only his small size but also his articulation. His waist is articulated (though you can't see it very well in these pictures) so it can rock side-to-side, and his shoulders can swing back and forth. This, coupled with his light and well-distributed weight, makes it very easy and fun to put him in amusing poses. Comments, criticisms, and suggestions are all welcome! Hope there's something in this topic you like!

Personally, the foot piece I most want to see is one somewhat like the 2.0 foot piece or Toa Mata foot piece in proportion (i.e. a heel that only sticks out one module, and a 5-6 module overall length), but with the ankle joint placed one module lower. This would reduce posability slightly (since the leg wouldn't be able to angle down as far before hitting the front of the foot) and would require eliminating the connection points on the sides. But on the plus side, it would be a more compact piece better-suited to use as a detail element (think Toa Metru feet, but more proportionate when used as an actual foot), and more importantly, it could be used with a friction joint without making the ankles look unnatural as in the case of Furno XL. More connection points could easily be added to replace those which have been removed. My reason for wanting a foot like this is that currently it is near-impossible to make a foot with the distance from ground to ankle proportioned in this way, even using basic Technic elements. The primary option currently is to use a Y-joint in a position similar to the Toa Hordika foot (ball cup facing back towards the heel) and a Technic construction for the base of the foot (any currently-available foot pieces are too large to be proportionate on a figure scaled to this ankle). These foot proportions could be used for figures of any scale (except those significantly larger than the typical XL Hero), whereas the 2.0 foot looks a bit oversized even on a small or medium Hero set, is completely infeasible for a figure based around XT4's torso with more Matoran-like proportions, and begins to look ludicrous when used with a friction joint as would be ideal for XL builds.

OK, if you're going to be snippy about it, how about giving this model a glance? It's purely sculptural, just like pretty much every Cuusoo set so far, and demands no new molds as far as I can tell. Plus it's a very iconic representation of the franchise. It's perhaps not the most detailed it could possibly be, but TLG's designers could easily give a redesign a swing (no pun intended), and even left as-is it'd make a gorgeous display piece.

That doesn't kill ANY Zelda project. To be honest, a Zelda project doesn't need to be minifigure-based. A lot of people's licensed proposals are constraining themselves to the kind of design typical of licensed themes, rather than the sculptural sorts of designs we've seen in previous Cuusoo products. Consider this Master Sword & Pedestal, which is a quite well-realized concept. And if sculptures aren't your thing, one of the Zelda projects I'm supporting is a brilliant concept that doesn't use any new molds whatsoever: The Legend of Zelda Heroica! Truly the Heroica style of gameplay gameplay is a perfect fit for The Legend of Zelda's traditional dungeon-crawler gameplay. It would need specialized printing, but TLG has demonstrated they're capable of that with the Minecraft set. Overall, I think anyone who gives up on an entire franchise because they feel it depends on new molds isn't thinking outside the box. It's entirely possible that if one of these projects does make it, TLG will reject it on the grounds of it being a poor business case or the company not being able to secure a license, and then it might be time to call it quits on Zelda proposals. But otherwise, there's still plenty of potential ideas floating around that could sidestep LEGO Cuusoo's "no new molds" stipulation.

I don't know if anyone ever shared it, but here's the one-minute Brain Attack trailer in HD. Uploaded to Vimeo last week, and I can't seem to find the same trailer on YouTube in this quality, so I'm guessing it's new in that sense. Seems like a great source for high-quality screenshots. Some of those billboard ads at 0:32 seem amazing. Hopefully there's a clearer view of them in the full episode, or perhaps in some of the other media for this year.

Umm, Friends has next to nothing to do with Belville other than occasional similarities in subject matter, and it even stands out from Paradisa a great deal (in particular, downtown Heartlake City has a very distinctive style of architecture that is a huge departure from Paradisa's less colorful, differently-shaped "resort buildings"). LEGO Friends is also heavily character-driven compared to Paradisa, which had no named characters. You could easily call Galaxy Squad a rehash of Mars Mission with this kind of argument-- after all, it's human astronauts in futuristic spaceships versus organically-styled alien spacecraft piloted by little green men. LEGO Friends obviously took inspiration from some of the same sources as Paradisa and Belville, but that doesn't make it unoriginal, any more than it makes LEGO Atlantis unoriginal for drawing inspiration from similar sources to Aqua Raiders and earlier underwater themes. Variations on a theme can still be considered original if they're designed from the ground up rather than simply a modification to a previous theme.

Well said. Another thing I often feel is that there's some benefit towards fostering (i.e. supporting and improving) projects even if they don't stand much chance of being produced, because I see Cuusoo's beta phase as an experiment. We're more or less involved in "debugging" the LEGO Cuusoo platform, and as such it is entirely within our interest to push the boundaries a little. As long as a project isn't expressly against LEGO Cuusoo's rules, then even if it gets rejected it will serve as valuable precedent and possibly even a foundation for new rules and guidelines. An example of a project I supported that didn't have much chance of success is the LEGO Star Wars Ultrabuilds project. LEGO has a license for producing LEGO Star Wars building sets, but not articulated figures. Hero Factory style buildable figures cut awfully close to that latter category-- but I still think it was a worthwhile cause to push the LEGO Group to give a straight yes or no regarding whether it would violate licensing agreements with Hasbro. It turns out that it did, and now we know something about the breadth of TLG's Star Wars license that we previously couldn't know for sure. Other projects that have been rejected also serve as valuable precedent. The Legend of Zelda project, for instance, gave us the insight that Cuusoo couldn't support a variety of new molds. And this is something for creators of licensed projects to keep in mind for the future. I have seen at least one Legend of Zelda project that did not require any new molds-- a Heroica-style dungeon crawler based on classic Legend of Zelda dungeons.

I think that would be redundant, personally. Why not introduce brand-new plot elements instead of revisiting old ones? Ninjago has a lot of potential even without keeping the Overlord as a main villain. Also, bringing the Overlord back for the very next story arc, even if there was a significant time skip, would sort of undermine the impact of the Ninja defeating him in the first place. Also, of all the characters in Ninjago, the Ninja have always been central to the toyline and the story. I think introducing a new team would be a risky move, even if Kai, Zane, Jay, Cole, and Lloyd were kept in the story, because there's the risk that the theme would lose a lot of what makes people hopeful for the theme's return. This isn't to say TLG might not do it, but frankly I don't think that would be the best direction for the theme to take if TLG wishes for it to remain successful. Just because people learned over time to accept a piece of fridge logic like that in BIONICLE doesn't mean that using a similar idea would be worth the confusion it might cause. More characters learning Spinjitzu could indeed be an interesting direction for the story to take, though.

Just to comment on a misconception I see a lot, particularly in this topic: transparent LEGO parts aren't acrylic; they're polycarbonate. From the sound of it your tips still apply to polycarbonate, but thought it'd be best to clear that up.

I, for one, disagree. I think the Cuusoo products so far have been quite innovative, and from what I've heard the Minecraft set has been fairly successful (at least successful enough to necessitate additional production runs). Also, allowing LEGO fans input into what will be produced as a set is the entire point of Cuusoo. If TLG were just interested in generating ideas, they can do that just fine without fan input of any kind. They can even take inspiration from MOCs they see-- directly copying a MOC without the original builder's permission would be a no-no, as would copying a very specific MOC concept, but designers do keep close tabs on what's trending in the AFOL community, just as MOCists tend to draw inspiration for subject matter from other MOCists. Mark Stafford has designed two Vic Viper models in sets and acknowledged that he was inspired by the MOCing community. The point of Cuusoo is largely to act as a filter for the various ideas in the community, selecting a handful of ideas that a lot of people agree would make good sets and then passing them to TLG to review whether these ideas they might never have thought of really have what it takes to go into production. Think about it: Would LEGO designers have thought of LEGO Minecraft being very successful on their own? Perhaps not. Some would consider the very concept redundant, others would consider an online game like Minecraft too niche an interest to appeal to a lot of people, and still others might not be able to visualize any kind of Minecraft set that would properly blend LEGO-style building with the Minecraft experience. Cuusoo, then, is a two-step process: the first step can be considered a "jury of peers", in a sense, while the second step is the review stage that all sets have to go through-- a step that these sorts of ideas might never reach if it weren't for this platform. TLG doesn't have time to wade through all the brilliant MOCs posted online and review all the considerations that decide whether they'd be viable sets. Especially because all that time spent on any one potential set would go to waste if it turned out the creator and TLG couldn't come to an agreement on permission or royalties. Whether LEGO Cuusoo can prove profitable in the long term is not something I can predict, but I laugh at the notion that TLG could achieve the same ends more effectively just by cherry-picking ideas from the community arbitrarily and going through the exact same review stage to see if they're viable and compatible with brand standards. Cutting out the support stage would simply mean doing more market research that could become out of date just as quickly, and having to filter through even more fan ideas without any kind of measurable community input on issues like pricing and reasons for liking a model.

Great selection here. I can't find a single fig here I don't like. Of course, that doesn't mean I'm going to try and get all of them. In particular, I have no need for the golden figure; he's more or less a "bonus" for certain lucky buyers, much like exclusive BIONICLE parts like stering silver/white metal Krana-Kal and 14k gold Kanoka disks before him. His scarcity is salt in the wound for completionists if they happen to consider him essential to having a complete set, but that's the risk inherent to that kind of collecting. It's a bit disappointing that he can be felt for, but at the same time, it's still more or less a complete enigma whether a store near you even has one of the golden figures, so there's no way that being good at feeling for the figure guarantees you'll get one.

It's true, a lot of HF weapons are fairly specialized. The shapes are sometimes more versatile, but they have very few connection points, making customization a bit of a hassle. Still, you can accomplish a lot with either theme's weapon pieces as long as you're paying close attention to how well they suit the weapon you're trying to build. The best weapon pieces to use are often the ones that are shared by several sets since those won't stand out as belonging to any particular official character.

Lovely MOC from what I can see, but I wish I could see it better. The black base it's photographed on makes it difficult to make out some of the details in the main (overview) pic. I tend to use a sheet of newsprint as a base and backdrop for my MOCs. It's not the cleanest-looking solution, but it creates good contrast and eliminates distractions that just using my floor and walls as a backdrop might create.

I love the BIONICLE parts' textures from an artistic perspective, and they provide an interesting challenge from a MOCing perspective, but overall I like the simpler, smoother textures of Hero Factory parts. For one, Hero Factory shells and beams end up feeling a lot more consistent with basic System and Technic elements than most BIONICLE parts did. And on another note, one thing that was important to me even in BIONICLE was the idea of stylistic consistency. I had a strong dislike for sets and MOCs that used inconsistent textures willy-nilly, without any kind of internal logic regarding what each texture was meant to represent. And in my BIONICLE drawings (including my human BIONICLE stuff) I would take great pains to emphasize the textures that were repeated across any set's design while minimizing the emphasis on mismatched textures. So overall, BIONICLE parts' textures added a great deal of visual interest, but as for the usefulness to the building system, I much prefer Hero Factory's tendency to use largely consistent textures across many of its pieces. And while I don't mind more specialized texture elements like those in the Chima constraction sets or even many varieties of torso shell, I'm always a bit uneasy about the prospect of textures becoming too complex and diverse.

I'd place the count for the new castle at 18-20, myself... there are four panels on the gatehouse, three on the front wall, four on each of the side walls, and I imagine at least three on the back wall. Plus there are twelve corner panels, a variety that wasn't available in the days of 6080, so the difference in overall number of panels is negligible. Of course, the overall piece count of the new one is higher, partly because the standard of detail has increased since the castle sets of the 80s and partly since it seems to be a genuinely larger set.

I'd say the Super Hero figs have far MORE aftermarket appeal than the CMFs, since they can appeal to both FOLs and non-FOL fans of the characters who appreciate the figures for their novelty. Part of the reason licensed figs are distributed at Comic-Con is because they are more likely to appeal to the average attendee than, say, a minifigure of Johnny Thunder, Pepper Roni, or Lloyd Garmadon, or even an unnamed minifigure. On the whole, AFOLs are not the only target of these figures; their intent is to generate interest in LEGO among people who otherwise might think of it only as a kids' toy or novelty. A golden minifigure will not have nearly this same appeal to non-FOLs, any more than the exclusive BIONICLE masks appealed to AFOLs who weren't fans of BIONICLE. And thus I fully anticipate demand for them being lower than the Comic-Con figs.

TLG's color names can indeed be confusing. A "dark color" to AFOLs is often a lot darker than one in TLG's terms. For example, the Bricklink colors Dark Green and Dark Blue are actually called Earth Green and Earth Blue (much like an earlier color, Earth Orange, also known as classic brown, not to be confused with the AFOL color Earth Orange which is officially called the cumbersome Light Orange Brown). Classic LEGO green is officially called Dark Green... in other words, one shade darker than Bright Green, and one shade lighter than Earth Green. Dark Orange and Dark Red are examples of colors that have the same name both officially and in the AFOL community. All things considered, I think people can probably agree that Dark Orange is a much lighter color than Earth Blue and Earth Green. I built a visual representation of this concept on LDD, which you can see here. More recent colors, like Dark and Medium Azur or Medium Lilac, don't fit this chart nearly so neatly, nor do some older colors like Light Orange Brown, but it goes to show that a lot of LEGO colors do have a certain internal logic to them.