Aanchir

Personally, I wouldn't care a bit if the movie posters are stickers. With that said, there's no reason to automatically assume they are-- it just seems a bit wasteful to print so many unique parts that will probably only be used in this one set. I see at least three unique movie posters here. Of course, I guess if it's the same three posters on the right side of the entrance then it won't be a total waste. Frankly, though, I think it's silly to act as though printed movie posters will be any better than stickered ones. Rectangular stickers that go on smooth rectangular surfaces are perhaps some of the easiest to apply IMO, and it's not like printing the parts makes them more versatile than if they're stickered, if there are indeed the same number of unique decorated parts either way. The main reason the lack of stickers on previous modulars was great is that for the most part, instead of using stickers they'd cleverly re-use existing printed parts in new ways, or alternatively use advanced techniques like brick lettering. Since neither of these things seems to be the case here, I don't see how it makes any difference where the patterns on the movie posters and marquee come from. The marquee is what I really end up wondering about. If that's printed, then what piece exactly is it printed on? And if it's stickered, is it a dreaded STAMP? On second glance, though, I see a conspicuous gap in the center of the presumably 8-stud-wide marquee's pattern. This suggests that it will be made of two 2x4 tiles-- and if the Horizon Express is any indication, there's no reason to think they won't be printed. Chances are stickerphobes will have nothing to worry about with this set.

Wow, he looks even better without the visor than I expected. It helps that his nose has some texture rather than being totally flat as the many front-view official images suggested. Overall, I imagine his new helmet was one of the more difficult ones to design for this wave, and with that in mind I think the designers did admirably at capturing his personality and the look of his previous helmet the best they could.

I doubt Brickset would be putting the names up if they weren't from a reputable source. Chances are they were provided to Brickset along with other summer set names from retailers' catalogs which have since been confirmed through preliminary images. Does that mean the names are finalized? No, but there's a big difference between "preliminary" and "fake". Also, I hear that putting the Brain Attack game on Android so early was an error, but still it makes me hopeful that it might be on iOS before long.

I disagree about it being unattractive compared to 7946 and 7094. I think the smooth front columns on either side of the gate give it a nice, refined look, plus their width makes the whole thing look very substantial rather than having thinner columns like 7946 (which isn't to say 7946's gate didn't look gorgeous in its own way; I just like the sturdier look here). "Overuse of big pieces" is an overstatement IMO. Castle sets have almost ALWAYS used large wall segments, at least in my lifetime. And this set, IMO, uses them well, relying primarily on basic wall segments rather than more specialized ones like KKII tended to use. The designs here (particularly on the King's Castle) are also not nearly as gappy as KKI, KKII, and even Fantasy Era castles tended to be. There's certainly no way I would consider this design weaker than 7094, which had a tremendously gappy and unrealistic keep as well as sloppy-looking, irregular shaping on its columns and similarly irregular wall segments. This looks much more like a realistic castle than 7094 at any rate.

True, but despite there being a historical figure named Leonidas who was a king, there are dozens of other people who were not royalty who held that name. It'd be like having a series with a character named David and assuming he's royalty on account of the biblical King David. There is apparently a king of the lions, whose name has not yet been revealed. He has a gray mane and beard. Laval is the prince of the lion tribe and presumably the main character.

The reason they have two layers to their heads is that a) having two layers allows for more print colors, since otherwise TLG would need more machines to print multiple colors on each new head piece (this has been officially stated by Nabii, I think) and b) this way, they can have multiple expressions, unlike, say, the Serpentine from Ninjago. There are no gorilla sets in the first half of the year as far as has been revealed. There will be at least one in the summer. An article in Toy News Magazine confirmed the existence of a gorilla tribe, as have some other media, and a gorilla character has appeared in a teaser for the TV show. It's really no different than the Anacondrai tribe of Serpentine from LEGO Ninjago, which was mentioned almost nowhere besides the TV show prior to the release of the summer 2012 sets and the sole member of the Anacondrai tribe, Pythor. Presumably the tires of the Speedorz are big enough and have enough traction to go up the ramps without difficulty.

Made me laugh as well. The game has been released on Android, but doesn't seem to be on iOS yet, so it may be a while before I try it out for myself.

Nope, Laval is going to be the leading good guy. Not sure where you got the idea that Leonidas would be the lead good guy-- before it was confirmed as Laval, I thought it'd be Lennox (who appears in the most sets in the first wave, including the starter set).

I have absolutely no idea where all these comparisons to KK2 are coming from. Granted, I stopped buying minifig-scale KK2 sets in 2005 (read: when they actually started to get decent). But compared to the admittedly awful castle designs of 2004 KK2, these castle designs look simply glorious. For that matter, the new King's Castle looks even better than Vladek's Dark Fortress, and IMHO, perhaps even better than the King's Castle from Kingdoms. Look at that wonderfully sturdy-looking gate! The less eye-searing color scheme than Kingdoms! No obvious keep, but that's better than the bizarre wide-open throne room of the Kingdoms equivalent. I heard one person criticize the "giant, one-piece catapults". From what I see, there is exactly one of those, in the Dragon Mountain set. In contrast, the King's Castle set has two brick-built catapults, albeit not as realistic as the one-piece catapults are (rather, there's one on the siege engine in the peculiar style of the Avatar: The Last Airbender sets, and one on the castle itself using one of these). Overall, I'm having a hard time understanding why fans of historic themes aren't celebrating the castles of this theme. There are some echoes of KK1, such as the brightly-colored, large-wheeled siege engines (though if you recall, those were not absent from Kingdoms by any stretch of the imagination, any more than the one-piece catapults were). In the very least, this theme is scarcely any worse than Kingdoms was, and I have a hard time understanding how people got their expectations so high when recent precedent would naturally point toward a theme not unlike this one.

The difference is that Cuusoo is more or less aimed at creating products with niche appeal. That's not the case with play themes. I think we can assume the Grundel will not appear in a set since it does not remotely resemble anything based on a set or sketch model, unlike the Skeleton Army vehicles which have tons of recognizable LEGO elements decorating them. Another point against Ed & Edna's jalopy is just that while it fits the show's aesthetic, it is not at all consistent with any established Ninjago aesthetics. The sets follow much stricter visual direction than the show does. Look at how almost every "good guy" structure in 2011 Ninjago had a mostly consistent color scheme of red, black, and tan; or how all the 2012 structures had consistent color schemes of black, dark stone grey, and dark tan; or how the Skeleton Army, Serpentine, and Stone Army vehicles all have consistent aesthetics. All things considered, unless there are summer 2013 sets that establish an entirely new aesthetic that the wave follows consistently, then any summer 2013 sets will more likely than not follow the same visual direction as the already revealed 2013 sets.

True, but if Jet Rocka is a vehicle set it might not be expected to play by the same rules as the other sets when it comes to combination models. Might have an alternate model instead. On that note, what if it's a Rocka with specialized equipment that can be rebuilt into Rocka in a vehicle, much like Millennium Slizer/Millennia?

Interesting! It's quite a surprise to see that sketch models were created for all the sets that made it to review. I think that's a pretty good indication that contrary to popular belief, the Modular Western Town would not have been dismissed within a week with AFOLs left in the dark for months. Could TLG have dismissed the Modular Western Town right off the bat due to licensing complications? Probably, but then again they have a history of "pushing the envelope" when it comes to licensing complications, so it doesn't surprise me that they might have struggled to find a work-around for the MWT (or at least hoped to approve it and delay the release until after The Lone Ranger). The dismissal then could mean that either they discovered their work-around wasn't gonna fly by Disney, or that it was decided that waiting for The Lone Ranger sets to end would be a poor choice that would involve betting against a franchise the company had a significant stake in.

Not a phenomenal review, but you did a good job for a first attempt at reviewing, and I definitely appreciate that you went to the effort to showcase a set nobody has reviewed yet. I agree that the Transparent Fluorescent Reddish Orange and the Bright Orange don't work together as well as they should. Transparent Bright Orange would have been better, but would have required more parts in new colors, which might have been more than could be budgeted for this set. Overall, I like how Bulk's design pays homage to his character-- a drill is a weapon that really suits him, though I feel it should have been made a bit more solid-looking rather than just a giant drill head on a flimsy handle. His helmet design is nice and his colors, while not totally cohesive, at least echo his past color schemes. However, there is definitely a lot of room for improvement and I can't help feeling he's the least impressive of the early 2013 hero sets.

I'll be disappointed if we don't see Stringer and Nex. With that said, yeah, best to wait for pictures (frustrating how action figure theme pictures are consistently the last ones to appear online), though I'm not totally optimistic. Sure, names could be wrong, but I can't see why preliminary names for Nex and Stringer would be anything other than Nex and Stringer. Rocka being featured again is a bizarre choice. The name "Jet Rocka" is also puzzling. Best case scenario, it's a vehicle set of some kind, but I'm anticipating just Rocka in alternate equipment.

Personally, it kind of surprises me that so many people are upset at Leonidas having a dopey-looking face. Personally, I appreciate the shift, since in Ninjago, characters who were played for comic relief were almost invariably the bad guys. By having more heroes portrayed as silly or clumsy, we could potentially see more villains with actual characterization.

A number of ponies in this latest batch: A Christmas card for my uncle, who's not a brony but is a Whovian and a major comic book collector. My twin brother and I got him My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic issue #1 with the variant cover by Jill Thompson, an artist he really likes for her work on various other series. Since the gift was pony-related and I wanted to work in Doctor Whooves somewhere, I was struck with the idea of parodying the poster for this year's Doctor Who Holiday Special. Sketchy, but it was fun working with colored pencil. Opal Koboi from the Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer. I drew this last summer shortly after reading Artemis Fowl: The Last Guardian, the final book in the series. Her hands don't look quite right and I may have turned up the sex appeal a tad too high for the impression I was trying to give. But I was able to give her a heart-shaped curl in her bangs, something I have been hoping to work into a drawing for a while and which really suits Opal's vanity. My submission for this week's Artist Training Grounds on Equestria Daily. This is my first time participating in an Artist Training Grounds, and for a one-day doodle mostly done while on the road I think I did fairly well (besides some perspective errors and Nya's mane looking awfully helmet-like). I first drew Ninjago characters as ponies over a year ago, and the idea of using Spitfire in a Ninjago/pony crossover has been with me since I learned that she and Nya share a voice actress. Her cutie mark is even a stylized phoenix, not unlike Nya's emblem! Next year I really ought to post a lot of the work I've done in my Drawing and Design classes at college this past semester. I'm quite proud of some of them but haven't yet posted any of them online, and they're currently in storage in Boston.

Olive Green, same as the vehicle.

Wow, the review really made this set look even more awesome. I suppose part of that is from seeing how solid-looking it is even from angles other than front view. The lack of back armor is an issue, but a minor one IMO (and one that shouldn't be too difficult to remedy). The brain slug looks incredible, as does the mask. The only major fault I see in this set is that only one of his hands has "fingers"-- fingers on the other one would have made the Y-joint holding the mace stand out a lot less. Overall, it says a lot that despite his lack of a function this remains one of the best-looking villain sets this wave. While I'm sure many people will be happy with the re-introduction of functions, the way it detracts from Scarox's build is extremely unfortunate, and shows that set design is always a balance between what you want to incorporate in a set and what has to be cut out to keep it from bumping up the price point.

Brutaka is actually one of my favorite titan sets. His build is magnificently streamlined, unlike Axxon's which has a lot of blocky sections and parts that don't quite mesh together. My favorite set overall? Hard to say. I have never been good at picking favorites. I really love Rockoh T3 (both the vehicle itself and the Pohatu figure). But as far as sculptural brilliance is concerned, I think Roodaka, Brutaka, and the 2008 Takanuva are all contenders.

I like the way you added extra joints and spikes to the legs. It makes him look much more imposing. However, I personally liked the weapon on the set better than the staff you've given him. I dunno, maybe it's just my bias as a BIONICLE fan, but I think staffs are kind of cliche. Also, the red blade on it breaks up its symmetry in a way I don't really like, and makes the flame pieces look a bit less impressive since it's comparable to them in size.

When it comes to licensing complications, the situation varies depending on the particular license. Maybe the licensing agreements for LotR/The Hobbit are less strict, whether because TLG would not agree to stricter terms (whereas with Western they might not disagree with stricter terms since Western is not a staple of the LEGO brand) or because the rightsholders for those films knew better than to ask for them. Alternatively, maybe the LotR/Hobbit licensing agreement might expressly prohibit medieval fantasy ("swords and sorcery") themes, in which case the upcoming non-licensed castle theme could simply avoid fantasy elements just as Kingdoms did and still be compatible with those licensing terms.

This one from the first link uses a pair of handcuffs from the old LEGO Batman sets as the axle, clipped around a pair of Technic pins and with a Technic half-bushing as the wheel. I'm not sure how much you'd have to stress the handcuffs for this to work; needless to say none of these connections are intended in the design of the handcuffs. This example uses two signal paddles, stud to stud, as an axle. I cannot tell if it even has a wheel or just a tire. The paddles, if you can't tell, are attached to the wheelbarrow via Technic half-pins and minifigure neck brackets. I can't tell how the wheelbarrow in your second link is built. The one in the third link uses this hockey puck as a front wheel (lovely piece), and a cut piece of Technic flex cable as an axle. The axle is connected to the wheelbarrow using two of these, which are in turn connected to two 1x1 plates with clips. Very simple construction, really, although some might prefer not using cut flex tubing if possible. I've got no specific solutions to your problem-- truth be told I encountered a similar problem one time when trying to build Teo's three-wheeled wheelchair from Avatar: The Last Airbender-- but hopefully I've at least answered your questions about how the examples you provided are built.

Just wanted to share that some of the great Ninjago fanartists on deviantART are holding a Ninjago winter contest over there. I've always been happy with how inspiring the Ninjago TV series has been for artists, and so I thought I should share this here in case any artists here on Eurobricks were interested in entering. Entries in the contest can include drawings, MOCs, fan fiction-- whatever you please. I'm not yet sure what sort of entry I should produce, but with a deadline in mid-March I have no excuse not to put together something.

Love the Speedorz concept. Sure, they're more expensive than Ninjago spinners, but it also has some undeniable advantages. Each set offers unique gameplay, unlike Ninjago spinner sets which were all more or less identical in terms of gameplay. Also, Speedorz can be played with independently, rather than needing a friend to compete with, adding more straight-from-the-package appeal. Like Ninjago spinners, though, it has many advantages, like that it can be enjoyed with or without the complex gameplay rules (there's a certain inherent kinetic appeal which spinners and Speedorz alike seem to share). This set is not the best-- I prefer "Nest Jump" and "Target Practice"-- but it still shows how much of a difference a bit of scenery makes in giving a set unique character. One correction I should make-- although it doesn't appear on the box (or at least, not on this variant), the actual title of this set is "Chi Waterfall".

STAMPs are one of the few instances where I am vehemently opposed to stickers. With that said, my solution for them is the same as yours-- to apply them then cut them apart with an X-Acto knife. This has been the case since my childhood, when my dad handled anything involving stickers-- for example, the classic "Pizza to Go". In some cases it's easy to see why STAMPs are used-- for instance, on the Maerdk train, the company probably didn't want their logo mutilated by being split across multiple stickers. But in most cases they should ideally be eliminated.