Aanchir

Well, I'd contest that a bit. TLG has avoided stickers in several kid-oriented applications (for instance, many sets from the Cars and Toy Story themes), so I don't think it's fair to say that they feel kids in general like stickers. It should also be considered that historically, many of TLG's sets with stickers have been sets with greater technical intricacy. LEGO Technic sets have had stickers for decades, and likewise LEGO Exo-Force sets, while aimed at kids, often had enough stickers to be comparable to Beyblades or Gundam model kits (albeit thankfully not usually as fiddly as the stickers in Beyblades could be to apply, speaking from experience). I think when determining whether to use stickers or printing, the audience is still a major factor for TLG, but I think they're usually looking at the capability of the audience rather than just preferences. So products that are expected to appeal greatly to younger kids might avoid stickers whenever possible, in order to ensure that kids don't become frustrated with the assembly. Those stickers they have will likely be relatively easy to apply, rather than small and fiddly.

http://www.polygon.c...daptations-from 3 titles: LEGO Legends of Chima: Speedorz, which is by TT Games and 4T2 and will be online and in the iOS app store tomorrow. Racing/battle themed. LEGO Legends of Chima: Laval's Journey, which will be released for PS Vita and Nintendo 3DS in the summer and Nintendo DS in the fall. LEGO Legends of Chima Online, a free-to-play online game by WB Games Montreal. I guess Legends of Chima video games were a bit of a foregone conclusion, but it's still a surprise to see just how many games are planned. Not sure what to expect of the third title, but as far as the first two are concerned, TT Games and 4T2 have offered up quality LEGO gaming in the past, so I expect great things.

The cheese slopes and the tip of the tail should all be 119 Bright Yellowish Green, which is lighter than either 28 Dark Green (the classic green you used) or 37 Bright Green (the color from the Lizard Man). In the future, if you're uncertain about the color of a part, you can either check the Brickset inventory (which is all sourced directly from service.LEGO.com, so it should usually be correct) or plug the seven-digit part number from the back of the building instructions into this page's URL. This is the actual page for the parts in the LEGO Customer Service database, and as such it will work even for parts that are missing from the Brickset/Customer Service part inventories because they lack images.

1) Technically, this is an illegal connection. LEGO set designers are advised not to attach any piece to a Technic beam by more than one stud, as it becomes difficult to remove (Technic pin holes are slightly smaller than the diameter of a typical anti-stud). However, the way of prohibiting this on LDD (making it so that only one-stud pieces can attach to Technic pin holes at all) is somewhat restrictive, as there's nothing illegal about connecting a larger piece to a Technic pin hole as long as it's only connected by a single stud. 2) Attaching a 1x1 round brick to Technic pins of this sort is indeed an illegal connection. It forces the flared end of the pin into compression, and thus over time will weaken the connection the pin would have with an actual Technic pin hole.

"All the sets" don't have to have towers now. We've had several sets with towers and several without. The Pet Shop, for instance, didn't have any towers. Neither did the Grand Emporium. In the case of the Fire Brigade, it had a tower because being an old-fashioned fire station the designers wanted it to have a bell. In the case of the Town Hall, the designers wanted it to look tall and stately compared to other buildings on the block (and to give it a clock tower, which would make it a centerpiece of the community like many real-life town halls). In the case of this, the tower is likely a reference to the source material, Grauman's Chinese Theater. There's no conspiracy to put towers on every building; it's just that some of the recent and less-recent ones have had them.

People have been claiming Hero Factory is on its last legs since it began, using even the flimsiest evidence to justify that claim. I wouldn't take any of it too seriously. If it does end, I'll get over it, but I haven't seen any compelling evidence to suggest it's not sticking around. As for the whole Nex/Breez thing, let me just say that it's a ship I do not put much stock in. Breez was established in 2010 not to have any romantic interest in her teammates (in fact, she quite detests being a shipping magnet just by virtue of being a female Hero), and while romance is messy and prone to change, I have to say Nex's interest in her seems decidedly one-sided (let's not forget that he was already been established as a real flirt as early as his first appearance in Ordeal of Fire, in which you could see him flirting with Daniela Capricorn during the press conference).

While I agree the Breakout body plate is awesome, I don't know how well it'd work for the more organic-looking Chima constraction sets. It's got some very robotic-looking textures. And while it could perhaps act as armor for a sci-fi series, I think it'd be a poor fit for Chima's science-fantasy aesthetic.

There are of course also other factors-- opaque stickers, for instance, can't blend in seamlessly on a transparent part such as a windscreen. On the other hand, I don't believe transparent stickers can be printed with a mirrored finish. Furthermore, as I've often noticed myself, opaque stickers don't show fingerprints the way transparent ones do, which is why I tend to prefer opaque stickers. As such they can also be removed and re-applied without damaging their appearance, whereas removing transparent-backed stickers will cause a change in apparent texture due to the stretching of the glue. Also, if an opaque-backed sticker should lose its "stickiness", additional glue can be added to reapply it to a piece. I think this would be more challenging with transparent-backed stickers. Transparent stickers, on the other hand, can have more varied unintended uses, since they can be used on any color of part, whereas opaque-backed stickers are often designed to match the color of the part they are meant to be applied to in the set. I know that some Sci-Fi builders have gotten a lot of use out of the transparent-backed stickers from the first year of LEGO Exo-Force. There is also apparently a problem with opaque-backed stickers peeling over time. I have not experienced this myself, which leads me to think it might have to do with humidity or some other factor that varies from builder to builder. I think you're probably right in that the color a sticker is being applied to will make a big difference as far as TLG is concerned, but from an AFOL perspective the pros and cons of either type of sticker are numerous.

Rocka... has always been skinny... Unless you're talking about Rocka XL, the only time he's had significantly more bulk than his teammates. Otherwise, he's used the narrower-shouldered torso in every one of his forms and has never had a whole lot of bulk to his armor. Anyway, good review. This guy's one of my favorites of this wave. The back is underwhelming, but frankly I don't think it's meant to act as back armor in any way-- more of a way to free one of his hands. It definitely calls for something more compact and elaborate, though (which I agree, probably couldn't be done at this price point). Love how the brain looks clinging to his back there.

Just because the set list we have currently is confirmed, there's no reason to assume that it is 100% complete. There is still a slim chance of store exclusive sets that didn't appear in whatever catalog those names were pulled from. As it stands, though, it seems unlikely that we'll get Nex and Stringer this year. Hopefully they'll appear again in 2014, with a helmet style that is compatible with the Brain Attack visors so we can make our own Brain Attack variants. Also, way to go Gatanui, finding new set pics in the most unexpected places!

I dunno, perhaps mine weren't as bent as yours. But the offset in, say, Bfahome's post doesn't look like it should be a problem to bend into place.

No, I always am upset when I hear that. Frankly, BIONICLE did a lot for TLG (for one, showing them how story-driven sets could pave the way for greater relevance to kids, the effects of which we continue to see today), but claims that BIONICLE was TLG's saving grace ignore that the company continued to suffer for years after BIONICLE was released, and that production changes, changes to the company structure, changes to the brand image, and the introduction of licensed themes also played a huge role in the company's turnaround in the mid-naughts. Frankly, it's easy to assume BIONICLE was the keystone in restoring TLG to its former glory, in part because a lot of press releases around that time made that same assumption. But in truth, I feel this is as narrow-minded as the assumption many others have made that LEGO Star Wars saved the company. Really, there was no silver bullet, and the company's recent turnaround can't be narrowed down to one keystone decision. I don't think that either the LEGO Super Heroes constraction sets or the Chima constraction sets are in any way symptomatic of a suffering action figure lineup. If anything, they show that TLG is aiming to expand their action figure themes to new audiences. I definitely don't see what you're talking about when you suggest Breakout suffered as a result of the Super Heroes sets, since we got nearly as many large sets in that series as we had in 2011 (Stormer XL, Speeda Demon, and Black Phantom versus Fire Lord, Scorpio, Rocka XL, and Witch Doctor-- only one "large set" fewer). Expecting a huge wave of titan-sized sets in Hero Factory is a mistake no matter what situation the theme is in, because frankly the larger price points of BIONICLE always performed more poorly in terms of sales than smaller "canister set" price points.

Well, I can understand your plight a bit even if I almost never venture into the Technic subforums here. Truth be told, even if Eurobricks is a great forum, it's not the best for all things by any means. My advice? Join a bunch of forums. Try them out for size. Find ones where you can get things you can't get as easily on Eurobricks. Personally, I have loved splitting my time between Eurobricks and BZPower forums (a former BIONICLE site, now covering general LEGO with a focus on action figure sets and story themes). There are definite differences between the communities there. I'm also a member of the Brickset forums, which are similarly a much different community than here on Eurobricks (and I was so worried about the differences in the community there that it took me a long time to break down and join). Just know that no matter how many sites you join, you'll never find one that offers everything, and you'll never find one without whining. BZPower in particular has kinds of whining that some AFOLs would never dream of. Speaking of which, despite its heritage as a BIONICLE site and BIONICLE's heritage as a Technic fan site, I wouldn't recommend that one for Technic discussion. Rarely do I see much interest in general Technic there. I don't think you'll ever find a LEGO site without overblown nostalgia. Similarly, I don't think you'll ever find a LEGO site without die-hard LEGO fans who believe LEGO has done nothing but improve over the years. And you won't find a site ANYWHERE on the Internet without arguments. That's the nature of a community. But certainly you'll be doing Eurobricks no service if you leave just because you're finding that consensus seems to be against your own feelings. All you're doing then is leaving a bunch of people to feed each other's consensus and eliminating a voice that could be reminding them that there are other viewpoints out there worth considering, if not worth agreeing with.

Something that should also not be ignored is that the audience for the most successful video games doesn't necessarily have an enormous overlap with the audience for building toys. Would the average gamer enjoy the kind of play and building characterized by a LEGO building set more than they would enjoy spending the same amount of money on video games, a passion which already appeals to them? Probably not in the cases of many franchises. But there are exceptions. Years ago, LEGO had its first video-game-based set (or at least, first not based on an in-house video game), 7672 Rogue Shadow from the video game Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. They've recently followed that up with sets based on Star Wars: The Old Republic. These sets are aimed at TLG's already established audience for LEGO Star Wars sets, and the familiar Star Wars branding makes them likely to resonate even with those who have never heard of the video games they originated in. Also recently, LEGO has released another major video-game-based set, "LEGO Minecraft Micro-World". The overlapping appeal of Minecraft, a game based around building, and LEGO, a building toy, had been noted long before LEGO Cuusoo made this sort of model possible. That means that more sets based on video games aren't out of the question. LEGO just needs to see strong evidence that there's money to be made off of them, and not just from collectors of video game merchandise. LEGO Cuusoo is currently one of the most viable outlets for that, outside of The LEGO Group's established licensing partners.

Well I think TLG stands to make more money off of a set based on the part of the building that still exists. As far as I can tell, the complete building doesn't even exist in color photographs. Certainly not as iconic to the average buyer as the still-standing facade would be.

Yeah, there's absolutely no reason to think Monster Fighters sets will "disappear" as soon as they stop being new. The typical shelf life for sets is a year or so, and Monster Fighters sets have only been around for a half a year. Furthermore, it's not like TLG will stop selling them when they still have plenty in stock. Wait for them to be discounted-- THEN you know to worry about them disappearing, because it means TLG is trying to clear out old stock. But even then it could be weeks or months before they disappear entirely.

Not likely. As far as I know, most molding machines are designed to release parts into bins automatically. Anything else would slow down production.

Ummm, no, that's not true at all. They began to appear at the same time as the summer set lists for other themes, many of which have since been verified. So while they could be fake, there's no need for arbitrary skepticism (though there's no reason to dismiss the possibility of changes between now and summer either). And yeah, from my experience action figure sets have almost always been the last pics to get leaked within the AFOL community. Frankly, action figure themes are in many ways still treated with the same level of seriousness as Duplo sets by many AFOLs (perhaps less, since at least Duplo's target audience has an excuse not to play with what the average AFOL considers "real LEGO").

I think the reason for the blue lights on service trucks like this one in LEGO is for an obvious reason: so the color will stand out from the trucks' color schemes. Orange lights would blend in. Reality has NEVER been the sole factor in the design of LEGO City vehicles, and while it certainly plays a role (a purple fire engine would never fly), kids probably won't be as worried about the accuracy of the light colors as they will be about how attractive the vehicles look. In that sense, using a complementary blue is the natural conclusion for a fleet of bright orange service trucks.

OK, here's a question: What would you have done for a Cinema that wouldn't ruin the whole "Creator" idea? Because printing isn't any better than stickers in that regard-- you're still using decorations provided to you ready-made by the designers. And I'd certainly have a hard time turning a brick mosaic of any kind into a recognizable movie poster. Meanwhile, I don't see how this fails to fit into a street layout with the others. Sure, it'll stick out like a sore thumb, but it's a movie theater. The reason it has this kind of architecture in the first place is so that it'll stand out on a street. You don't design a fancy cinema like this in hopes that it'll blend in unassumingly.

Well, there's what I have a problem with right there. I think equating simplicity with laziness is a mistake to begin with. While certainly there's something to be said for high-detail castle walls, I think the simpler look here is a stylistic decision, not a way of cutting corners. It's what's often called "economy of design"-- removing non-essential flourishes to cut to the heart of what the design is intended to evoke. In this case, the resulting castle feels sturdy and substantial to me, unlike KK1, KK2, and even Fantasy-Era castles which felt bare-bones and skeletal. Could this same sturdy look have been achieved without the use of so many prefabricated wall segments? Probably, at a higher price point. But everything comes at a cost, and I quite like getting a castle that feels so different structurally than past offerings even if it comes at the expense of some previous castles' detail. You say "bland", I say "orderly"-- certainly better than the downright chaotic look of the Castle of Morcia. I see no real resemblance between this and the Trio castle besides the rectilinear forms both tend to favor versus more irregular wall shapes. The Trio castle, as it happens, has a gate that is every bit as thin and flimsy-looking as the walls, whereas this new castle has a sturdy-looking gatehouse, which I consider the most definitive aspect of the new castle's design. On a side note, reading about gatehouses on Wikipedia (since I am utterly clueless about castle construction terminology and often find myself having to consult Wikipedia just to know what the names for the different parts are), I read that some gatehouses took on the functions of a keep. If this is the case here, then that negates my earlier criticism of this new castle in that it lacks an obvious keep or throne room. I personally don't see this as a step backward by any means. "Backward", for me, would suggest skeletal-looking castles like those of KKI and KKII, not sturdy-looking castles like this upcoming King's Castle. Now, I can't say the rest of the theme fills me with the same amount of optimism-- the Dragon Mountain and Gatehouse Raid sets are still a bit of an enigma, since their pics are smaller and they seem far less three-dimensional than the King's Castle. But the King's Castle, for me, is not a step backward or forward but rather, if you'll excuse the stretching of the metaphor, to the side. Instead of advancing the style of construction seen in Kingdoms or going back to the style of construction in KKII, it is exploring new ground with a castle largely unlike any we've seen previously.

Transparent LEGO parts are polycarbonate, not acrylic. With that said, you do make a good point about some of the issues that might come up printing parts with this level of detail. But as far as I know, molding ABS parts that currently only exist in PC probably causes a lot fewer complications than molding PC parts that currently only exist in ABS. Huh, on closer inspection you seem to be correct. My mistake. Now that I realize the pic is a photo, stickers for the movie posters do seem a lot more likely than printing. Not totally sure about the marquee, though.

It's a bit of a problem, but at the same time it's fairly easy to bend them straight, and doesn't even leave any marks the way bending a piece of that material sometimes does. Overall, I don't know if it's a genuine problem with the molds or an issue with the parts warping slightly at some later part of the process (perhaps while cooling). I'd be willing to bet the latter, since having the mold itself misaligned would be a hard mistake not to catch before production.

Keep in mind that this image is CGI. Thus, the brightness of the colors is not really an indication of whether these are stickers or printing (unless you're referring to the NUMBER of colors per poster, though both stickers and printing typically aim to be somewhat conservative in the number of colors they use).

It's regular Bright Blue (classic blue).