Aanchir

You are correct in that they are rare in recent sets. I distinctly remember once reading that yellow hips are no longer produced by TLG since they were officially declared to represent nudity, but I can't for the life of me find where I originally read this. I think it was during a discussion of the Grand Emporium, but I could be wrong...

The official photo in question shows many signs of being obviously preliminary. The mohawk appears to be the pink version but painted, while in the pic at the very top of your post, the female rocker doesn't even have the correct hair piece. Preliminary versions of a set do sometimes sneak into official images, but rarely is it so obvious as in this set-- perhaps because in most cases, the preliminary bricks aren't on minifigures, and aren't in a set where the minifigures are the main focus. Overall, this looks pretty nice. Not totally brilliant in terms of the brick-built components, especially in the case of the guitar which pales in comparison to the collectible minifigures version, but it's still nice to see three unique minifigures in a creative brick-built vignette.

There is a "decorations tool" in LDD Extended Mode as a sub-category of the Paint Bucket tool. To use it, you click on a printable surface on a part, and if it has decorations available they will show up-- or at least, that's how it's supposed to work. In reality, each part's decoration palettes in LDD Extended Mode have to be inputted item-by-item by the LDD team, and they have not updated this in a while (if they did, for example, the minifigure head decorations would surely stretch off the screen on most monitors). Thus, many decorated parts are only accesssible via the basic LDD mode's Paint Bucket tool (or directly from the brick tray), and as far as I know these newest decorations aren't even available from there (they have to be copied and pasted into a file, or generated in an LXFML file by inserting the five- or six-digit Decoration IDs into the appropriate fields for the appropriate bricks).

Speaking of LDD's widescreen palette issues, something that's not really a bug but rather an inconvenience: if you create a custom brick palette, then LDD mode's "Filter Bricks By Colors" button will always have the colors of bricks in that palette listed, whether or not you have the palette in question open. And because the bricks in your custom palette aren't available unless you use the "Filter Bricks By Boxes" tool, the colors that aren't on the default LDD mode color palette include no bricks at all. It just makes the already-large color palette take up more space and potentially stretch off the screen.

I feel that way about a lot of LEGO apparel. Fortunately I'm thin enough that I can easily fit into a kids' XL t-shirt, but unfortunately I have doubts that the same would be true about a hoodie.

I've updated my complete color chart and decorations chart in the LDD Reference topic, but if you wanted to see only the newest decorated parts available, here they are: Download LXF File I already posted a file with the Hero Factory torso shells, hamburger bun, and X-Wing windscreen. These are all decorations that were in LDD in the previous version, but which did not have decoration surfaces mapped out. The actual new decorations are three LEGO City Mining torsos (with front and back decoration), a LEGO City Mining head (with front decoration only), a LEGO Friends milk carton brick, and a classic torso featured prominently in the Paradisa and Town themes. Nice parts to have!

Just was browsing Amazon and found something awesome. I wish LEGO made more clothing like this. Though who knows; maybe they do and I've just never seen before now! EDIT: Turns out they do!

Good question, but keep in mind that this element is way newer than the classic Technic brick, and thus perhaps molding techniques had advanced enough by that time that thinner walls were a possibility. It should also be noted that the lower Technic hole falls between two anti-studs, unlike the 1x1 Technic brick which has it directly above the anti-stud. It's possible that TLG could relocate the Technic hole on most Technic bricks but has chosen not to because they couldn't do the same with the 1x1 Technic brick, which is a widely-used part and in fact one of the parts most frequently used for the connection such a change would be meant to "legalize".

Not an expert on all LEGO fonts, but I know a few. Hero Factory mostly uses TradeMarker Light I believe. BIONICLE used a custom font called Voya Nui GF for many of its 2006-2010 promotional materials. The BIONICLE logo itself is a font called Goudy Trajan. Obviously not the ones you were looking for, but Certain LEGO fonts are embedded in the sets' PDF building instructions, so you can find them that way. Not sure whether you can find the specific ones you want that way.

The next Ninjago DVD has been announced for release on November 27. It covers the first seven episodes of this season of the show. Also, the news story says "LEGO Ninjago Masters of Spinjitzu: Rise of the Green Ninja is timed to release as the series comes to a close on Cartoon Network". So we may still need to wait a while for the series to resume, but not too long. And here's the real gem hidden in the article: "The complete second season and complete series of LEGO Ninjago Masters of Spinjitzu are scheduled for release on DVD and Blu-Ray in early 2013." Kinda makes me feel rotten about getting the first two DVDs when HD Ninjago may be in my future, but still this is extremely promising since as far as I'm aware, modern-day children's television shows don't get Blu-Ray releases too often.

That's arguable. A lot of tremendously successful toy lines have story-driven components, and in the case of most non-creative toys, the story is the one thing that gives a toy lasting value for many adult fans. As long as the significance of the toys to the story they inhabit isn't taking the place of quality toy design, and as long as there is effort put into making the story enjoyable rather than just a shallow advertisement for the toys themselves, then having a story is generally more of an asset than a liability. Basically, think of it this way. What really separates a toy based on an existing story (like a superhero action figure) from a toy with a story crafted around it? One might argue that crafting a story around a toy costs more for the manufacturer than taking an existing brand, and that additional cost would cut into the budget for increasing the toy's play quality, but in this day and age the most desirable intellectual properties can be quite expensive to obtain licensing for, so it's hard to say whether designing a story based on the toy really ends up more expensive. It should be noted that BIONICLE, The LEGO Group's longest-running theme with a continuous story, originally emerged partly in response to the success of LEGO Star Wars. Kids and adults alike loved LEGO Star Wars, but TLG didn't want this kind of story-driven success to be totally dependent on another company's IP, so they created their own. And another thing to keep in mind-- most of the stories kids create with LEGO themes of any kind will fit into some kind of established universe. In the case of LEGO City or LEGO Castle, this universe is real life, more or less, with some creative liberties taken in its portrayal. In fantasy and sci-fi themes, the universe is invented, but unless it's a heavily story-driven theme then the invented universe is based more on archetypes kids will already be familiar with than on a truly unique combination of ideas. In the case of a licensed theme, the universe in question is based on a story imagined by another author. And in the case of a story theme, the universe is based on a universe crafted by the manufacturer. But any of these universes can be just as constraining to kids' imaginations if they are inclined to limit their thinking according to the universe presented to them. A kid who is only inclined to re-create aspects of the story being told to them by a toy company would probably also be inclined to re-create aspects of the world around them or of the stories their knowledge of fantasy archetypes are grounded in, with the same level of persnickety detail. Getting this discussion back to Chima, consider this: would a theme like this really be possible without some kind of invented story? Blatantly animal-inspired vehicles of the kind we're expecting in this theme don't exist frequently in real life, nor do they exist as a commonly-understood archetype. Thus unless the theme were being based on an external license with similar attributes, the premise would likely have to be dismissed entirely in favor of something kids will be able to understand without a story as background. This doesn't mean that a story as deep as Ninjago's has to exist, but there needs to be a story of some kind in any invented universe. Consider Exo-Force: if your premise is humans fighting robots (an archetype that kids can understand without much difficulty), there has to be at least the barest semblance of a story to explain what they are fighting over. Likewise in Aquazone, it's clear that the Aquanauts and Aquasharks are fighting over the theme's "treasure" (silver crystals), but there has to be a rudimentary story to explain why that treasure is important to both factions (besides, of course, that it is shiny). Once you get to that point, any story you have exists merely to increase kids' involvement with the brand. Exo-Force's character bios and comics are not in any way essential to creative play with the toys-- all you need to understand is that human-hero-characters led by wise-human-leader-character are fighting robot-invader-characters led by gold-robot-leader-character to protect their home. But having a deeper story helps the brand stand out to its fans, building brand loyalty.

OK, cool. I missed those! (also SOMEBODY told me that they probably wouldn't be available in the palette in the next update, although that was back before we knew the next update wouldn't be till September ).

But what's different about a theme like Dino and a theme like Aquazone? Really, they are both very shallow when it comes to story. (Dino has character names and brief bios, but so did Aquazone in the LEGO Mania Magazines). Unless you know of some Dino character bios that I've never seen-- I just know the Base section of the site which lists their names, favorite foods, least favorite dinos (i.e. what sets they come in), vehicles, and most dinos caught in a day. That's hardly much of a backstory-- and, as I said, about the same thing themes like Aquazone have almost always had in LEGO Magazine features. The only change with modern themes is that the story is more accessible and (usually) is consistent in worldwide media. Similarly, I don't exactly understand how BIONICLE "established a universe" and Ninjago didn't, besides that Ninjago was not around for long enough to expand its universe as much as BIONICLE did in its nine-year run. In my opinion, BIONICLE almost left less to the imagination than Ninjago did in some respects, since almost every creature that featured in a visual medium for the first three years was designed with a very specific build in mind, which doesn't apply to most creatures in Ninjago's bestiary. Perhaps the one asset BIONICLE has over Ninjago in terms of creativity is that it was based on a building system that inherently promoted creativity. I'm not talking the styles of connection that people use to define BIONICLE's building system versus, say, Hero Factory's, but rather that since both stories are heavily character-driven, BIONICLE has a slight advantage in how much creative freedom can be put into custom character designs. Truly the same could be said for most action figure themes, though to a lesser extent with Galidor. And in fact, this infinite room for expansion was just as present in Exo-Force. The only thing it had that themes like Aquazone or Exploriens never did is story media that told a mostly linear story. And this doesn't mean that builders within this theme were forced to build things they saw in this story-- in fact, I've hardly ever seen any MOCs of Exo-Force battle machines that made cameo roles in the comics, perhaps because there were so few of them and because builders would rather make completely unique battle machines whether there's a story connected to them or not. I think it's downright preposterous to think that LEGO providing a story framework and showing the actions of one set of characters within that framework puts limits on anyone's creative freedom.

You have to input the Material IDs (329 and 330) into the brick definitions in an LXFML file (the filetype you get when you unzip an LXF file). You can then copy the parts into any LXF you want and use the eyedropper tool and paint bucket tool in LDD Extended mode to paint other parts those colors. They do not appear in the default color palette of any mode of LDD.

I'm still curious to see how this story might be broken down for kids, though. Faction vs. faction stories are common in LEGO, of course, but if this is going to be a big multimedia theme like Ninjago then it should ideally have a small cast of main characters to tie things together, as well as plenty of mythology and universe-building. I don't see what's so offensive about the idea of giving kids a story to jump-start their creative process. Just look at the amount of fanart on the internet and you'll quickly see how inspiring a story-- any story-- can be to people who might otherwise have difficulty finding creative inspiration. I'm not saying all themes should be story themes, but it's not like drawing inspiration from a story TLG creates themselves is any different than drawing inspiration from real life (LEGO City) or from stories other people have written (LEGO licensed themes). Personally, I have always had a fondness for LEGO's story themes simply because they give me an opportunity to think in terms I might never have thought in before. In my childhood, I was an avid collector of the Space theme (starting about with Spyrius) and the Aquazone theme. While there wasn't much in the way of media to add depth to those themes' stories, they all were still completely invented scenarios. Sci-fi divers harvesting and fighting over oxygen crystals! Spacemen exploring a distant planet hoping to find evidence of alien life (generally in the form of fossils)! These sorts of things were great jumping-points for creativity. Since then, I've become deeply invested in many of the story themes like BIONICLE, Exo-Force, and Ninjago. Naturally, I still occasionally build things based on real life, history, etc, but I get the most pleasure from taking an invented universe and trying to learn from and build on the story that's been provided. I'm sure a lot of kids feel the same way. Sure, there are kids who can express their creativity brilliantly without a story to start them off. But it wouldn't be fair at all to say that only these kids are worthy of getting a full spectrum of enjoyment out of LEGO toys.

For those who really enjoy the music of the LEGO Ninjago TV series, Jay Vincent and Mike Kramer have added several tracks from the show to their YouTube channel, including some tracks that aren't on Jay Vincent's site. One of my favorites is "Zane Returns", but I also like "Meet Lloyd Garmadon". Also related to the music, shortly before I came up to college my younger brother Meiko and I had a phone conversation with Jay Vincent about the music, and he shared some neat insights. For instance, there is a sort of "musical language" in the show-- generally, strings indicate villainous characters and woodwinds indicate heroes. The Falcon's theme, which was written primarily by Mike Kramer, uses both strings and woodwinds to keep it ambiguous whether the Falcon could be trusted.

When it comes to techniques that seem to stress parts, something that should be considered is that parts are designed to undergo a certain amount of stress-- that is to say, they have built-in tolerances. It sounds like what you're describing in the Unimog goes beyond those tolerances, but I am not a Technic builder so I don't know the exact situation. While LEGO does care about whether building techniques stress their parts enough to damage them (since parts damaged from prescribed building and play hurt the company's brand image), it should also be considered that illegal building techniques sneak into sets on a semi-regular basis. The reason is probably that unless parts become visibly warped or separated during quality control tests like the heat test, an illegal connection used accidentally (or sneakily, if the designer realized that it might cause problems) might never be noticed throughout the rest of the design process. The reason for the height difference is that the space for the stud underneath the Technic brick necessarily pushes the hole upward-- when a stud is inserted into the bottom of the brick, there is very little clearance, unlike bricks with side studs which don't reduce the interior space of the brick at all. The difference could be eliminated if the walls of the Technic hole were thinner, but that might be problematic for other reasons (perhaps it could cause mold defects where the inner wall is too thin, or perhaps it might lessen the clutch power these bricks have on Technic friction pins). The reason bricks with side studs don't have their studs moved up to match the Technic ones is that a part attached to those side studs would then have its own walls rise above the "ceiling" of the brick with side stud. I hope this description makes sense to you. Thankfully, Technic beams are designed with this difference in mind, so a Technic element like a beam attached to the side of a Technic brick will generally not create illegal connections. The same, unfortunately, can't be said for System elements attached to the sides of these bricks.

Pretty good-- I don't see any obvious omissions from previous updates--but there are a few others that have been added with this update that I need to generate and add to the list (mostly LEGO City mining decorations). I'll try to get to that very shortly. EDIT: Complete color chart and decorations chart both updated to LDD 4.3.5!

OK, gotcha. The way you phrased it it sounded like you were complaining about older faces being removed. Most of the faces on LDD are indeed complex, with the exception of the classic minifigure face and classic skull. Still, this is generally fine by me since I've grown to love the modern-day standards of eye sparkles, eyebrows, and varied expressions. Most of my favorite faces to use on LDD are minor variants on this theme like this one (brown eyebrows and classic smile), this one (stubble/dual expression), this one (full beard), this one (faint lipstick, eyelashes), this one (the same with red lipstick), and this one (the same with dual expression). With these faces you can keep to a certain look but vary it based on age and how the character grooms him- or herself.

I don't think a "violence begets violence" resolution for a story involving Core Hunter would really be appropriate to the character. I think a villain as twisted as him needs a psychological punishment of some kind, not just a violent one, and I think this story does that nicely. Not as nicely as the way Dream breaks up the serial killers' convention in Neil Gaiman's The Sandman, but still to the point that he is thoroughly humiliated by the very end. Also, rest assured that while Core Hunter's MO is not what drives the plot in this story (only one "good guy" dies in this story), the horrendousness of what Core Hunter does is frequently alluded to and not taken lightly.

Yeah, the Character Encyclopedia's cover says that the figure inside is exclusive, and the covers have never lied to us before (all the Star Wars and Harry Potter exclusive figs have indeed remained exclusive to their respective books). Speaking of which, even if Ninjago does end after the next wave, I hope that Legends of Chima and other themes continue to follow the trend it established, whereby books and merchandise for non-licensed themes show up about as frequently as those for licensed themes. For years I've struggled to find LEGO T-shirts that weren't based on LEGO Star Wars or LEGO Batman (at least, after they stopped stocking non-licensed LEGO t-shirts and merchandise in most of the LEGO stores near me ). Nowadays, LEGO Ninjago T-shirts show up frequently in major department stores here in the United States. While a lot of these seem kind of childish and tacky (with generic marketing slogans and catch phrases like "Jump, Kick, & Spin!" plastered on them, or non-matching character art sloppily arranged on the front), it does my heart well to know that this merchandise exists, because it's evidence that the LEGO brand can match the merchandise-moving potential of other cartoon and video game brands.

Wow. I'm amazed to see this particular statistic: "At the end of 2011 only nine per cent of LEGO sets purchased in the US were for girls. Now, 27 per cent of sets are purchased for girls." It really does show that LEGO Friends is doing its job! The article is definitely a bit biased in that it seems to suggest that gender-neutral products and advertising are the way to go, not realizing that this could potentially damage the sales that result from TLG's boy-oriented products and marketing. A seven-year-old boy might be less likely to play with a LEGO Ninjago set if the ads show a girl playing with the toys, or if 50% of the characters are female, because they're likely still in the "girls are icky" phase. I agree it would be great to have a full spectrum of product design and advertising, varying between boy-oriented products and ads, gender-neutral products and ads, and girl-oriented products and ads. I don't, however, think the proper solution to get to that point is to cut off both those more specific ends and squeeze the whole product line into that middle segment. Rather, I think TLG is going about this the right way by creating a polar opposite to the boy-oriented product design and marketing that has been the standard for so many years. At least, they're going about this the right way provided that they follow up on the success of the Friends theme by working to fill in that middle ground a bit more, which they seem to be moving towards with the increase in female minifigures across several themes.

The multicolor option tends to be somewhat haphazard, but usually newer parts have a greater tendency to have it than older parts, perhaps because it's easier to program that sort of thing from the ground up than to apply it to an already-existing render. Also, it should be noted that the multicolor surfaces usually take the place of decoration surfaces. Since the stormtrooper helmet's mouth and eyes are probably printed all in one go, that means that if the multicolor option were available then it would likely only paint the whole front of the face black, and nobody wants that. Also, not sure what you mean about abandoning classic minifig faces and decals. Many classic faces are still available on LDD extended mode with the decoration tool (unless you're clicking on the wrong side of the minifigure head), as well as in the basic LDD mode (which is usually more reliable, since you can pick them directly from the scrollable parts palette rather than limiting the options to what can fit in the non-scrollable decoration palette). As far as I know, no minifigure faces were removed in this latest update. The 2x2 inverse tile is in the modified plate category (the one labeled with a 1x1 plate with clip). Its Design ID is 11203 and it only appears in LDD Extended mode. The 3x3 plate was in the basic plate category, but it has since been removed.

It's not that schools or shops are "girly" by any means. But based on what TLG has observed, girls tend to prefer role-playing "as themselves", putting characters in situations they're familiar with and identifying with the characters on a personal level. On the other hand, boys tend to want to play larger-than-life hero characters, whether those are the policemen and firefighters who serve as icons in real life or the fantasy and sci-fi heroes more common in the action themes. Even though I don't collect the LEGO City theme, I understand that it'd be nice to have more civilian-oriented sets. I think an Octan corporate office would be a great set, even though in today's climate it's hard to avoid political overtones when dealing with energy companies. Likewise I'd love to see a yellow school bus, or even a small schoolhouse. With that said, I also understand completely why the emergency services and other careers involving awesome uniforms, awesome vehicles, and often high stakes appeal to kids more. It's just common sense. Could TLG perhaps cut down on that sort of content? Perhaps, but then you're taking a gamble by putting out something that has had middling success in the past rather than something that's flown off the shelves every time it's been released (fire engine, fire station, police car, etc). If non-fire, non-police themes were the ones that had the most reliable success, then they'd be the ones we'd see being repeated year after year. On a side note, back when I was a kid I had a "play mat" (really a patterned rug) that had lots of roads and buildings including a police station, a fire station, an airport, a couple shops, a couple houses, a hospital, etc. But you can imagine that the police station, the fire station, and the hospital are the ones that I incorporated into my play the most often. And OK, maybe also the parking lots/garages (because with so many toy cars I had to give them some kind of hub to operate from).