Aanchir

Shortcut to Part One: Hero Factory Shortcut to Part Two: Ninjago Shortcut to Part Three: City Shortcut to Part Four: Monster Fighters and Dino Shortcut to Part Five: Super Heroes Shortcut to Part Six: Friends Shortcut to Part Seven: Creator, Racers, & Games Shortcut to Part Eight: Star Wars Shortcut to Part Nine: The Lord of the Rings Shortcut to Part Ten: Bricks & More, Minifigures, and non-licensed Duplo Shortcut to Part Eleven: Spongebob SquarePants, Cars, and Disney Princesses This year, I was able to go to the New York International Toy Fair for the first time as a representative of the BIONICLE wiki BIONICLEsector01 and its sister site HEROsector01. Together with fellow BS01/HS01 staff member Chols, who took most of the photos, I attended the LEGO Collectors Preview where representatives of LEGO fansites can view and photograph the new sets for an extended two-hour timeframe (our invitations unfortunately did not cover admission to the full three-day Toy Fair event, so externally-produced LEGO products like clocks and watches were not among the things we saw). Since our sites' normal coverage doesn't extend outside the constraction themes, we reached an agreement with Eurobricks to share with them our coverage of the LEGO Collectors Preview and all the sets and themes on display. Our coverage concludes with part twelve: the 2012 lineup of LEGO Technic. All of the sets on display came out in January, but hopefully since not all of them have been reviewed here on Eurobricks the coverage will still prove useful to some people. 9390 Mini Tow Truck 138 Pieces USD $11.99 CAD $14.99 Other currencies from Brickset B Model It's hard to ignore the resemblance between this set and last year's Unimog U400. Action features include a winch and working steering. This set can be rebuilt into a Formula 1 race car. 9391 Tracked Crane 218 Pieces USD $19.99 CAD $24.99 Other currencies from Brickset B Model This set's action features include a rotating superstructure, adjustable boom, and winch. It can be rebuilt into a bulldozer with a lowering blade and ripper. 9392 Quad Bike 199 Pieces USD $24.99 CAD $29.99 Other currencies from Brickset B Model This set is loaded with action features like spring-based suspension, a chain-driven engine (unfortunately, the model is too small to actually motorize using Power Functions), and working steering. The alternate model is a race buggy boasting similar features (except the chain-driven engine). 9394 Jet Plane 499 Pieces USD $49.99 CAD $64.99 Other currencies from Brickset B Model This sleek design features working landing gear and ailerons, sweeping wings, and an opening cockpit. It's the first set of its kind since this style of panel came into vogue, and it uses them well to create streamlined wings and air intakes. Its B model is an aerobatic plane. 9395 Pick-Up Tow Truck 954 Pieces USD $69.99 CAD $89.99 Other currencies from Brickset B Model This set advertises a winch, folding tow lift, working steering, opening doors, and opening hood/bonnet that reveals a working piston engine. And yes, this one is Power Functions-compatible. It can be rebuilt into a truck with lift. Sadly, that wraps it up for the sets on display at Toy Fair. I'm not entirely sure why the Technic sets for this summer were kept under wraps unlike the majority of other themes. In any event, let me wrap up this last piece of coverage with a thank-you to all the people who helped me out with bringing this coverage to Eurobricks. This was my first time covering Toy Fair, and coordinating the coverage between two sites (three, if you count the Flickr account used to host the photos) was quite difficult, but having so many people's support was invaluable. First, let me thank Swert. As owner of BIONICLEsector01 and HEROsector01, he was responsible for getting me admitted to the LEGO Collectors Preview in the first place, so none of this could have happened without him. I'd also like to thank Chols, who accompanied me at the event and brought with him valuable experience covering Toy Fair in the past. Chols was responsible for a great majority of the photos used in our coverage, and hosted all the photos on his Flickr account, sorted by theme. On the Eurobricks side of things, Brickthing is the member who first approached me about sharing our sites' coverage with Eurobricks, and who gave me some guidelines about what to include in the Toy Fair coverage. He also is responsible for all the front-page news articles advertising the various Toy Fair coverage topics. Finally, I'd like to thank the Eurobricks community for having patience with the often-slow process of covering the various themes on display. Hopefully next year if I return to Toy Fair I will be able to make plans further in advance and thus avoid some of the stumbling blocks that caught me off guard during this first attempt. Until next year, this concludes the HS01/Eurobricks coverage of New York International Toy Fair! Thanks for reading!

It's neither of those, I can guarantee you that. As far as I was able to tell at Toy Fair it's a standard 9x9 torso beam. Not so positive about it being bley, though. Could just be the lighting is misleading. Not that I'd mind if it were bley.

Yes, but remember that that was from an official press release, not a random-site-with-user-generated-content. And it was just a general story summary with no specifics. I have no doubt that some of the info might have real sources, such as perhaps the Season 3 episode titles. But I also have no doubt that some people have just taken those tidbits and run with them to generate a bunch of hype based on false premises. The individual episode summaries, needless to say, sound like bunk to me. We'll see what's real and what's not when we get closer to 2013, but I see no point in even considering a lot of that IMDB/Wikipedia information in our speculation until we see a more reliable source turn up. Otherwise we're just setting ourselves up for disappointment if it turns out to be false.

Well, in terms of adult-oriented products, I figure part of the reason the Winchester didn't get made is because it would be hard to market without tarnishing the LEGO Group's family-friendly image. LEGO products are hard enough to market towards adults already, since that is a much smaller market for LEGO than the 6-11 core audience. But can you imagine how much harder it would be to market adult-oriented products if they were decidedly not child-appropriate and thus couldn't be featured in the same catalogs as the kid-oriented products? So in general I don't think this would be all that beneficial. There are plenty of family-friendly ways of pandering to LEGO's adult fanbase that don't involve alienating their core audience.

Most of the older parts I've seen in Build-A-Mini stations were Chinese-made parts from the Vintage Minifigure Collections. If they had actual classic minifigure parts, I'm extremely surprised, simply because I wouldn't expect TLG to have those in any meaningful quantity of those for sending out shipments. I don't see why Chinese parts at the Build-A-Mini stations would be a problem, though, since unlike parts that come in a set you can actually see if there are any real quality issues in the Build-A-Mini parts before you buy them. I've had plenty of Chinese-made minifigure parts that were wonderful quality, such as the torso of my Minifigures Series 3 Hula Dancer. So unless you're averse to Chinese-made parts for some ethical/ideological reason rather than just a quality-related reason, the Build-A-Mini stations are a great opportunity to get the lovely Chinese-made part designs without the risk inherent in, say, the Collectible Minifigures.

Is Cuusoo too easily taken over by rabid fandoms? If so, good. That means it's doing its job. The point of LEGO Cuusoo is to identify potential products for which there's a lot of demand, and if you have a fandom that's truly passionate about a potential product then that's a great deal of security for that product's eventual launch. Plus, chances are those people who liked the idea will feel even more enthusiastic about buying the real product if they feel they played a role in its creation. Is it possible that people will support the idea who wouldn't actually buy the product? Yes, but there's no reason that should be important. If TLG wanted to know the real demand for a product with 100% accuracy, they'd have to survey every potential buyer in the world, not just set a threshold of 10,000 supporters. But what Cuusoo does is creates a sample to demonstrate the popularity of an idea. And by asking supporters to describe how much they'd pay for it, they get a good idea of how much the idea is worth to the average fan, even if not every fan of the idea has stepped up to give their support. Another thing to keep in mind about Cuusoo is that from what's been seen so far, it's focused on creating niche products. The Shinkai and Hayabusa sets seem like they'd appeal mainly to people interested in very specific fields, just as the Minecraft set would appeal to a very specific fandom. And in fact licensed proposals might stand more of a chance of success than those previous two proposals, because a lot of licensed proposals are based on properties that have already been heavily-marketed to create the sort of demand those products will need.

It's not a matter of the toy itself being inappropriate for younger buyers. It's about the license it's based on as a whole. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom was pretty grim and violent in parts, but it wasn't enough to merit it an R rating. Not so with Shaun of the Dead, which also has other things besides gore/violence contributing to that rating. If in your opinion there aren't any enough interesting projects, why aren't you proposing some? Are you worried that other people might consider different things "interesting" than you do? If so, you're probably right, given that so many have supported ideas that you consider laughable. But the Cuusoo program never came with any guarantees, and so far it's only rejected one proposal. If that one proposal was one of the only things you considered worthwhile, that's hardly TLG's fault. As far as I'm concerned, plenty of the most-supported proposals would make awesome products. And it's silly to say that Cuusoo is a waste of time for AFOLs just because products made through it are supposed to be child-appropriate. The LEGO Group has a reputation to uphold as a family-friendly brand. If TLG were to make a Cuusoo product based on a non-family-friendly brand, how exactly are they supposed to market it? They can't exactly throw it in a catalog with all their kid-oriented toys. Cuusoo is still perfectly worthwhile for AFOLs to suggest ideas regardless of whether they interest kids or seem like products kids would enjoy. But there's a difference between ideas that don't interest kids and ideas that parents might not want their kids exposed to at all. Cuusoo's about advancing ideas TLG might not think of on their own, not about advancing ideas that would go against TLG's company values and common sense. And Cuusoo is still a magnificent opportunity for AFOLs even if TLG knows better than to just make sets based on whatever people want.

Done! My, this was a thorough one. I hope I answered them all accurately enough.

Shortcut to Part One: Hero Factory Shortcut to Part Two: Ninjago Shortcut to Part Three: City Shortcut to Part Four: Monster Fighters and Dino Shortcut to Part Five: Super Heroes Shortcut to Part Six: Friends Shortcut to Part Seven: Creator, Racers, & Games Shortcut to Part Eight: Star Wars Shortcut to Part Nine: The Lord of the Rings Shortcut to Part Ten: Bricks & More, Minifigures, and non-licensed Duplo This year, I was able to go to the New York International Toy Fair for the first time as a representative of the BIONICLE wiki BIONICLEsector01 and its sister site HEROsector01. Together with fellow BS01/HS01 staff member Chols, who took most of the photos, I attended the LEGO Collectors Preview where representatives of LEGO fansites can view and photograph the new sets for an extended two-hour timeframe (our invitations unfortunately did not cover admission to the full three-day Toy Fair event, so externally-produced LEGO products like clocks and watches were not among the things we saw). Since our sites' normal coverage doesn't extend outside the constraction themes, we reached an agreement with Eurobricks to share with them our coverage of the LEGO Collectors Preview and all the sets and themes on display. Part eleven of our coverage is miscellaneous licenses: the System licenses SpongeBob Squarepants and Cars and the Duplo licenses Disney Princesses and Cars. Most of these sets are now available, but they will be covered for the sake of comprehensiveness. Who knows; perhaps you'll learn something new! Spongebob Squarepants The SpongeBob Squarepants theme isn't as big a theme as some of The LEGO Group's other multi-year licenses. But with iconic characters and a successful merchandise wing, it's no surprise this Nickelodeon-based theme has stuck around. There were two sets this year, both released in January: 3817 The Flying Dutchman 241 pieces USD $24.99 CAD $29.99 Other currencies from Brickset A lot of AFOLs were disappointed to learn that this set focused on the ghostly SpongeBob Squarepants character rather than the formidable vessel from the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. The vessel in this set is fairly mediocre, but the little island is quite tasteful. SpongeBob fans will appreciate the minifigures of the Flying Dutchman and pirate-garbed SpongeBob Squarepants and Patrick Star. 3818 Bikini Bottom Undersea Party 471 pieces USD $49.99 CAD $64.99 Other currencies from Brickset This is the third model of SpongeBob's house and the second of Squidward's. But they're both great likenesses and now have a festive theme to differentiate them from previous attempts. Minifigures include SpongeBob, Patrick, Squidward Tentacles, and Mrs. Puff, all in party attire, as well as Gary the snail. Cars The Cars theme returns after its debut last year, unsurprising considering its strength as a merchandising powerhouse. All eight sets were released in January: 9478 Francesco Bernoulli 49 pieces USD $6.99 CAD $9.99 Other currencies from Brickset Formula 1 race car Francesco appeared in a few sets last year, but this impulse set of him features new mouth, eye, and rear bumper prints. 9479 Ivan Mater 52 pieces USD $6.99 CAD $9.99 Other currencies from Brickset This set depicts Mater in his disguise from the casino scene in Cars 2. Kind of an obscure scene to make an impulse set from, IMO, but I'm sure the sales for any main character variant will have a certain advantage over the majority of side characters. 9480 Finn McMissile 52 pieces USD $6.99 CAD $9.99 Other currencies from Brickset Spy car Finn McMissile was also in multiple sets last year and even multiple sets this year. This one has new face prints and a printed missile launcher in one of his headlights. The flick fire seems a bit unnecessary, but probably gives him more playability than the other impulse sets. 9481 Jeff Gorvette 54 pieces USD $6.99 CAD $9.99 Other currencies from Brickset Here's a somewhat obscure character to non-US audiences. Jeff Gorvette plays a minor role in Cars 2, but is voiced by American Nascar racer Jeff Gordon. The set is nicely-printed and features a new hood/bonnet piece for this year. 9483 Agent Mater's Escape 144 pieces USD $14.99 CAD $17.99 Other currencies from Brickset Another set based on the casino scene in Cars 2. Mater's chute and engines and new eye print make him unique. Petrov Trunkov and the ever-important video camera round out this set. I feel Cars sets must be great for Brickfilms what with all these alternate expressions! 9484 Red's Water Rescue 199 pieces USD $19.99 CAD $24.99 Other currencies from Brickset Red didn't appear in last year's lineup, so it's nice to see him here with the evil lemon Acer. I can't say the flick-fire missile works too well for Red's water gun, though. 9485 Ultimate Race Set 280 pieces USD $29.99 CAD $39.99 Other currencies from Brickset Raoul ÇaRoule, Lightning McQueen, and Max Schnell compete in this very play-oriented set. Raoul and Max are two racers who play an analogous role to America's Jeff Gorvette in the French and German releases of Cars 2, respectively. It's a shame there are only enough "slammers" for a two-way race. 9486 Oil Rig Escape 422 pieces USD $49.99 CAD $64.99 Other currencies from Brickset This set is based on Cars 2's opening scene, although greatly compressed. Characters include Finn McMissile, Professor Z, Grem (featured in red in 2011 sets but now in an orange color scheme that better matches the film), Leland Turbo (compressed into a metal cube), and an unnamed crane. Play features include a winch, a spinning flame, and a storage container. Duplo Disney Princesses The Disney Princesses franchise is based on the many fairy-tale films The Walt Disney Company has released over the years. These four sets were released in March: 6151 Sleeping Beauty's Room 16 pieces USD $12.99 CAD $14.99 Other currencies from Brickset This set is a little bare-bones, and the printed fairy godmother brick appears quite out-of-place next to Sleeping Beauty, but such is the nature of Duplo. I can't see using its bricks for much besides possibly expanding the two Cinderella sets. At least the figure is cute. 6152 Snow White's Cottage 28 pieces USD $14.99 CAD $17.99 Other currencies from Brickset This has some of the boldest colors in the Disney Princesses line. Here the printed bird brick doesn't look out-of-place with the molded rabbit, and there is plenty of content to play with between the tree, table, and cottage. Don't eat those apples, Snow White! 6153 Cinderella's Carriage 20 pieces USD $24.99 CAD $29.99 Other currencies from Brickset The carriage in this set is nice, but it and the horse surely drive up the price! This has great parts for expanding Cinderella's Castle (below), and the printed clock (a few minutes before midnight) and glass slipper are nice details. 6154 Cinderella's Castle 77 pieces USD $39.99 CAD $49.99 Other currencies from Brickset My does this place look cozy! It's not as formidable as the castles from 2004-2008 Duplo, but it has much more fairy-tale charm. Details include a gold trunk, a mirror, a chandelier, a fireplace, another clock, a tray of cakes, and a royal bedroom (two beds, of course-- this is a kids' toy ). I'm surprised there's no ballroom, though. Still, it's certainly more impressive than some of the Duplo sets I grew up with. Duplo Cars The first Cars sets were Duplo sets appearing two years ago, and that line continues this year with three sets due for an August release: 6132 Red 13 pieces USD $14.99 CAD $17.99 This set is only slightly less basic than the Fire Chief set from the non-licensed Duplo lineup I covered in a previous post, but the printed statue of Stanley (Radiator Springs' founder) is a nice detail. 6133 Race Day 26 pieces USD $24.99 CAD $29.99 Jeff Gorvette and Lightning McQueen are the main incentive to get this set which also features a nondescript pit stop and finish line. At least the pit stop features several cute accessories like a wrench, a barrel of oil (perhaps the famous Allinol?), and a fuel pump. 6134 Siddeley Saves the Day 34 pieces USD $34.99 CAD $44.99 Even more bare-bones is this set featuring Siddeley, Mater, his spy partner Holley Shiftwell, and the spy plane Siddeley. Besides the characters, the only content is a rather unconvincing brick-built air control tower, but at least Siddeley himself involves some construction. That's it for the licensed themes on display at Toy Fair! In our last section, we'll wrap things up with this year's Technic sets. Stay tuned!

Shortcut to Part One: Hero Factory Shortcut to Part Two: Ninjago Shortcut to Part Three: City Shortcut to Part Four: Monster Fighters and Dino Shortcut to Part Five: Super Heroes Shortcut to Part Six: Friends Shortcut to Part Seven: Creator, Racers, & Games Shortcut to Part Eight: Star Wars Shortcut to Part Nine: The Lord of the Rings This year, I was able to go to the New York International Toy Fair for the first time as a representative of the BIONICLE wiki BIONICLEsector01 and its sister site HEROsector01. Together with fellow BS01/HS01 staff member Chols, who took most of the photos, I attended the LEGO Collectors Preview where representatives of LEGO fansites can view and photograph the new sets for an extended two-hour timeframe (our invitations unfortunately did not cover admission to the full three-day Toy Fair event, so externally-produced LEGO products like clocks and watches were not among the things we saw). Since our sites' normal coverage doesn't extend outside the constraction themes, we reached an agreement with Eurobricks to share with them our coverage of the LEGO Collectors Preview and all the sets and themes on display. Part ten of our coverage is the Minifigures and Bricks & More sets as well as non-licensed Duplo sets. Most of these sets are already released, and few had any details on display that would greatly interest AFOLs, but we're covering them for the sake of comprehensiveness. Bricks & More All the sets from LEGO's most basic theme were released in January: 4625 LEGO Pink Brick Box 224 pieces USD $14.99 CAD $17.99 Other currencies from Brickset While this set has a lot of great pastel (read: "girly") colors that any AFOL can appreciate, I won't lie: in a set like this where they form the core colors with few less vibrant colors to tone them down, they can be quite garish. One new female minifigure is included. 4626 LEGO Brick Box 232 pieces USD $14.99 CAD $17.99 Other currencies from Brickset This brick box, featuring more traditional LEGO colors, is farm-themed, but of course that's no limitation since it is a basic brick box and the farm-inspired models are only suggestions. One male minifigure is included. 4635 Fun with Vehicles 525 pieces USD $29.99 CAD $39.99 Other currencies from Brickset This set is larger even than the brick boxes on display, and features some great curved slopes, arches, and other vehicle parts. The LEGO Group has certainly been all about their orange tow trucks since last year's Unimog! Two mechanic minifigures are included. 4636 Police Building Set 130 pieces USD $9.99 CAD $12.99 Other currencies from Brickset This more specialized Bricks & More set still sticks to mostly basic parts, with the exception of the minifigures, printed "POLICE" tile, and jail door. Not much is included in enough quantity to generate demand among AFOLs—it's pretty clearly aimed at beginners. Figures include a cop and a crook. 4637 Safari Building Set 152 pieces USD $9.99 CAD $12.99 Other currencies from Brickset Again, this set is a small and specialized set aimed toward beginners, but this one has some non-traditional LEGO colors to its credit. This set includes one male and one female minifigure, both sharply dressed for adventure. Minifigures This much-celebrated theme was careful not to let any huge details slip: 8827, 8831, and 8833 Minifigures Series 6–8 USD $2.99 (per figure) CAD $3.49 (per figure) Obviously with only placeholder packages, there wasn't much to conclude about these sets. Series 6 was a January release and Series 7 an April release, although both started appearing before then. Series 8 is due for release in September, and since the packaging colors for the previous two Series turned out to be reliable, I think we can assume the black packaging of Series 8 will also be authentic. Perhaps the best news revealed at Toy Fair is that at least in the U.S. and Canada, the price per package will remain the same for all three series. Duplo Finally, we have non-licensed Duplo sets, starting with those released in January: 4623 LEGO Duplo Pink Brick Box and 4624 LEGO Duplo Brick Box 30 pieces/31 pieces USD $14.99 CAD $17.99 Other currencies from Brickset Other than colors, it's nice to see that the contents of these sets are similar. Each has two animals, a door/window frame, a flower or two, a fence, and several basic bricks. TLG clearly understands that gender identity is not a big deal to Duplo-age kids. 4631 My First Build 59 pieces USD $24.99 CAD $29.99 Other currencies from Brickset There are so many more colors in Duplo than when I was a kid! But sets like this show that some of the most basic parts and colors never get old. The 2-D "instruction cards" are a neat concept that I'm sure very young kids could understand well. 6141 My First Farm 62 pieces USD $24.99 CAD $29.99 Other currencies from Brickset Cute set with a blend of basic parts and more specialized ones. I can easily imagine myself as a toddler making good use of those barn pieces, or at least trying to. Duplo in my heyday tended toward prefab roofs, so this is arguably an improvement. 6169 Fire Chief 6 pieces USD $9.99 CAD $12.99 Other currencies from Brickset This set seems about as boring as it comes in terms of building, but I guess with the absurd price-per-piece needed for Duplo it's hard to make an impulse set with both building and role-play value. 6784 Creative Sorter 23 pieces USD $19.99 CAD $24.99 Other currencies from Brickset Shape-sorter toys for preschoolers are everywhere, but I like the building-toy concept here that shows kids the parts they need for a model and how they go together, instead of just challenging them to put blocks in a container. 6785 Creative Cakes 55 pieces USD $24.99 CAD $29.99 Other currencies from Brickset This set is very non-traditional, and its parts are somewhat specialized. But it is the same building level as many other Duplo sets. As a bonus, this is so far the only set to include the new color Spring Yellowish Green (Bricklink's Yellowish Green). Then there are three Duplo "storybook" sets due for release in June: 6758 Grow Caterpillar Grow! 17 pieces USD $12.99 CAD $15.99 The "storybook" sets come with resealable containers for parts and a board book, and as such it seems they were specially designed for kids to take with them on car trips or other family outings. 6759 Busy Farm 15 pieces USD $12.99 CAD $15.99 I had a Duplo storybook when I was young. It mostly had basic bricks used for making bridges, stairs, etc. to progress in the story, like if Dora the Explorer were actually interactive and not just pretending. I think kids might prefer this setup where the book tells them to make familiar models they can proudly show their parents. 6760 Let's Go! Vroom! 12 pieces USD $12.99 CAD $15.99 These little Duplo brick people are cute, aren't they? Certainly a bit less uncanny-valley than some of the LEGO brick people from last year's Bricks & More! It's funny seeing that blocky chassis piece that was around even when I was Duplo-age! And finally, there is one Duplo set due for release in August: 6171 My First Gas Station 45 pieces USD $29.99 CAD $39.99 This set is quite substantial even with its open-front shop. I'm sure some City fans wouldn't mind a gas station set like this! That concludes the coverage of these three categories! We're really winding down now. The next section will be focused on miscellaneous licenses: Spongebob Squarepants, Cars, and licensed Duplo sets. Before I sign off, I'd like to apologize for the pace of these updates. This is my first time doing this, and obviously I was not prepared for the work it would entail! I understand that demand for Toy Fair coverage has waned in the two months since the event itself, but I hope that with some of these themes not yet fully reviewed here on Eurobricks, somebody will find these last few parts useful. If not, at least I will have some valuable experience for the future. Just bear with us a little bit longer!

True indeed! Of course, it has to be remembered that some sets from that time period were good for their time, just starting to break away from rigid design rules. For instance, the Visorak had color schemes and builds that adhered to a pattern, but it was less strict than previous sets, using a wide variety of joint pieces that lent them different-length legs and color schemes far different from those established in earlier series. The Piraka briefly went back to more standardized builds but continued to use never-before-seen color schemes. The Toa Inika, as alike as they were, had a great deal of variety-- different lower arms, never-before-seen color schemes, and color schemes that didn't adhere to any consistent pattern between all six. The very next year the Barraki and Toa Mahri broke free of these sorts of rigid patterns almost entirely, besides some minor ones like all the Barraki having lots of blended parts. While some sets continued to feel repetitive to some people due to reused torso pieces and the like, after 2007 there was never again a series of six BIONICLE canister sets with rigid and consistent build and color scheme rules. This isn't to say I didn't like rules like this that helped teams feel consistent. But still, the beginning of Hero Factory felt a bit like a step backward with their strict design rules (rookies have identical builds and dual two-colored weapons, Alpha 1 Team heroes each have unique torso shells and molded weapon-arms). Now we are seeing the same trend as we saw in BIONICLE. The 2.0 heroes kept rigid color scheme rules but started varying armor placement a bit more. The 3.0 heroes had looser color scheme rules and build rules. The Breakout sets break almost entirely from rigid patterns, much like the Barraki and Toa Mahri. And yet I appreciate that not all patterns have been eliminated-- decorated chest plates are now standard for hero sets, all three of the original rookies have the same style of ankle shells, and there is "standard equipment" for all nine heroes such as the Hero Cuffs, Hero Cores, and plasma guns. Sorry for rambling a bit, but it's interesting to compare BIONICLE's progression to Hero Factory's. It's not a reliable way of determining what future changes to anticipate, of course-- I don't think we'll ever see a series like the Glatorian where there are no strict patterns differentiating heroes from villains. But it's still interesting that a series in which the sets have become so different from BIONICLE's continues to follow in that theme's footsteps as far as diversification is concerned. It makes me wonder if this sort of diversification is just an essential part of making any theme that is intended to last for multiple years.

Since it appears on the part on LDD, I'm certain it was intentional and not any kind of mold disparity. The look it gives him makes it look almost like he had a scar on his chin that had to be stapled back together, so it could just be a part of his rough-and-tumble villainous image.

To quote a person who sent me a message through another site after trying to register here: I've found that it's hard to find information on who to contact about these sorts of things. Normally on sites the policy is to e-mail a staff member for help with registration and other site-related issues, but I have no idea which staff here specialize in that kind of thing (kind of sad after being here for years... ). I tried giving said member a link to where they could find Hinckley's contact info at Brickzone.net, but he hasn't gotten any response via e-mail. If anyone can help Gatanui solve his particular problem, I'm sure he'd appreciate it greatly (he can probably be contacted most easily through e-mail or Flickr if you give me a name/address I can pass onto him). But also I think the registration form should make it easier to find who to contact if you're having difficulty with registration. It's possible that the answer to the problem has been in front of both of us this whole time, but I haven't seen any obvious solutions. Thanks in advance for any help on this issue.

Well I'm happy as long as a decent number get approved before a huge influx of new sets begin to reach that threshold. I'm somewhat worried that if proposals that are unlikely to get approval keep reaching the threshold and getting turned down, they will discourage many non-AFOLs from trusting the system, and thus fewer non-AFOLs will vote. Of course, I'm not letting that affect which projects I put my support behind. I don't think Cuusoo would have much usefulness at all if fans "played it safe" and only supported projects they were confident would become real sets. If a project makes it clear what sort of product it intends to create, and I like the idea, then I'll gladly support it and leave the difficult decision-making to TLG (as well as any other rightsholders they have to negotiate with).

This is much more cohesive-looking, and unique-looking, than your previous attempt! Love the head design. I kind of feel that more angular-looking shoulders would have more consistency with the torso design, but I can't think of any design quite as simple and cohesive-looking. The spherical shells probably help establish this as a female character anyway, more so than more angular parts would. The shells on the upper legs being applied sideways makes them look a little frail compared to the lower legs and torso. But having them attached from the front might make the legs look too simple in design. I have no easy solutions there either. But in general, these are minor complaints, and the overall design is very neat. Great work!

It's there on mine, which is the same version. If you're having trouble finding a part, it's always worth trying to type its number into the search box at the top of your parts tray (in this case, the number is 98563). In cases where you don't know the official part number, Superkalle (EB's LDD moderator) has a downloadable resource called LDD Manager that lets you search parts by Bricklink part number. It should be noted also that the sequence of parts in LDD is pretty much according to size, so it won't appear near the other launcher pieces. However, it is in the same category (the category marked with a 5M Hero Factory shell). Probably a better question to ask via personal message in the future, or in an appropriate topic in the LDD and Other Digital Tools subforum here on Eurobricks. But hope these tips help you with what you're building!

All this year's sets, at least the $8.99 and $12.99 sets, are produced in Denmark, Hungary, Mexico, and the Czech Republic. China was not involved in production at all. It's a stereotype to assume that all Chinese parts are low quality, but it takes a special kind of ignorance to assume all low-quality parts are Chinese. Ironically, people made this assumption about BIONICLE parts during 2007's broken-joint problems, years before Chinese production of LEGO sets began, so this sort of ignorance is by no means new. Still, congratulations for being the first in this topic to embarrass yourself with such a baseless assumption! I don't think it's a matter of breakability, since they're made of a soft plastic which would probably bend rather than break in most cases. Is it a matter of color quality? I don't own any helmets from both 2012 and 2010 to make a comparison with, but all of my 2012 helmets look high-quality, so it's probably just a matter of slight variation rather than consistently lower quality.

No, that version should have most of the new parts including the new torso shell, shoulder sphere detail, plasma launcher top and bottom, Hero cuffs, Breez's sword piece, Rocka's shield piece, Rocka's ammo belt, and all the Hero masks for the current wave. From what you describe, you're using the basic LEGO Digital Designer mode. Several of these parts aren't yet in that mode, but they are in LDD Extended Mode, which is now available by default unlike previous versions of LDD where it had to be unlocked with a text string in the preferences file. To open LDD Extended Mode, click the black LDD Extended tab on the welcome screen. To switch an already-created file to LDD Extended Mode, click View>New Themes>LDD Extended on the toolbar at the top of the screen. Files will open in whatever mode you save them in, so if you save them in LDD Extended Mode, you will not have to switch to it every time you open the files. The disadvantage of LDD Extended Mode is that parts aren't colored in for you, but this is a small price to pay for a wider parts palette with unlimited part and color combinations. And since the basic LDD mode doesn't adhere strictly to existing part and color combinations, it offers few real advantages. I will offer some warnings: the Hero Cuffs cannot be hinged properly due to a glitch that, oddly enough, causes the parts to shrink, and the plasma launcher bottom half is a preliminary version that never appeared in any sets. Hopefully these will be fixed in a future update. ----- Anyway, I realized I've never actually commented on this review itself! These are very good pictures and Breez is still my most-wanted set for this year. The reason the red on her torso looks darker than her other red parts is just that it is printed on a contrasting color (lime green) and thus takes on a darker brownish tint. A second coat of red printing might have solved this, or perhaps not. The fact that her shield doesn't match her eyes is not a problem for me, as the glowiness of her Transparent Fluorescent Reddish-Orange head is preferable for eyes IMO to the glassier look of the Transparent Red shield. There was, at one time, a color called Transparent Fluorescent Red, used for Tahu's eyes in 2001 and 2002-- this was discontinued shortly thereafter, and most sites don't recognize a difference between it and the still-available Transparent Medium Reddish Violet. I can't say I'd prefer her shield or eyes in that color anyway. I do like her color scheme, but I am not a complete fan of how it is organized-- I would have preferred a black and grey skeleton, possibly with white bones on the lower arms if they didn't have shells covering them, because it is odd having red used for the skeleton of the model as well as on exterior details like the shield, sword, launcher, and ankle-jets. I'd also prefer her legs and arms to be one or two modules shorter... while I don't mind differences in the sizes of the various heroes, it bothers me that her legs are longer and her torso is not. It looks a bit out-of-proportion to me. My modded version of Breez (on LDD) can be seen here. I find it ironic that while this year's sets are some of the most appealing to me so far, they're also the ones I feel inclined to modify most heavily. I suppose this is in part because unlike the fairly standardized designs and color schemes of the 2011 sets, the Breakout heroes show a great amount of diversity, and can thus be modded more heavily while looking as consistent or more so than the "official" versions. The early 2011 heroes were rigidly consistent in terms of piece count, color schemes, and color layering, with the summer 2011 sets breaking slightly from that pattern, but this year's sets have great differences from one another while still looking like a fairly cohesive team.

In the CGI pics, it looks pink, but in the first pic (a photo) it looks metallic red. Since I've never before seen parts with metallic red printing, it could be that that pink color is just a poor attempt at replicating it in CGI (or, alternatively, a placeholder that never got corrected). The CGI used for official set images is usually very good these days, but that doesn't mean it's flawless.

That's the only one I've seen on Amazon or on U.S. sites in general. I did look today for new pages on LEGO.com and found that all of the "June" spinners and booster packs are available on shop.LEGO.com in some countries including Germany, Austria, and Switzerland! Check out the images of NRG Cole!

Regarding Amon,

This is a brilliant concept. I'm not sure if HF would actually do something like this, but I wouldn't be too sad if they did! This is also a well-refined enough design to work as a Cuusoo proposal. Although it wouldn't be all that impressive as a single set unless it also included, like, a horse or something. I've tried building a Hero Factory horse, and it's surprisingly difficult! Mainly because horses are such bulky animals and so would likely require a custom-built skeleton, which at least on LDD is hard for me to manage. Or perhaps it's just because I'm not a very good MOCist. The colors of this work very well, and that "box art" mock-up is brilliant-looking. Great job!

Toy Fair said the next wave of spinners and booster packs will be released in June. So I imagine they'll start showing up in LEGO stores and/or on LEGO.com in mid- to late May.

I can beat that. As of today, 9591 Tool Pack/Weapon Pack is available on Amazon in the U.S. Lots of large images of this set, which includes NRG Kai and Chokun. For those like myself who dislike the high price of spinner sets but still like the spinner concept, this is a pretty good deal. Essentially you're getting the equivalent of two spinner sets and two booster packs (sans the booster pack figures and cards) for the price of two regular spinner sets. And one of those figures, NRG Kai, does not appear in any other sets to date.

My favorite episode from season 2 of MLP:FiM was either Sisterhooves Social, because I really can relate to sibling difficulties and it was a very heartfelt episode through-and-through, or Ponyville Confidential, because it's nice to see an episode related to media ethics, and it was one of the best CMC episodes in my opinion. Most BIONICLE fans recognized Shining Armor as Jaller from the movie BIONICLE: Mask of Light, and another prominent character in the episode as Roodaka from BIONICLE 3: Web of Shadows. This blog on BZPower includes a hilarious audio mashup of quotes from Jaller and Shining Armor, along with a list of MLP voice actors who were in the BIONICLE movies.