Aanchir

Well to be fair, we as a community have gotten by OK without the piece for so many years, so I'm sure the case is no different for TLG's designers. They were probably more than willing to design sets where such a piece would be useful either using a larger piece, a smaller piece, or a combination of smaller pieces that added up to the desired size.

Proposing it on Cuusoo would be great for those people who want an imperial fort, but I get the idea that the final design settled on by TLG (after revisions) would lose some of the charm of this model. I'm sure it would still look excellent and cohesive, but part of what makes this model so amazing is that it was a collaborative effort between lots of Eurobricks builders, each with their own creative vision. It would be an awful shame if, for instance, a section that was one builder's pride and joy got eliminated or changed into something that failed to match their vision just to reduce costs. If it were to become a Cuusoo proposal, also, the builders would probably have to come to a consensus on whose name the proposal would be in. Normally Cuusoo only allows the originator of an idea (and any outside rightsholders) to receive royalties for it. I'm sure many of the builders for this RCB could agree to some arrangement, such as perhaps having the royalties go directly to Eurobricks to fund some future project agreed upon in advance. But no matter what arrangement occurred, it would have to take place before making the proposal, and every builder would have to be well-aware of the fact that a product based on this RCB might not have the same "community" touches as the original concept. But I don't mean to rain on anyone's parade. Finishing this magnificent RCB is an accomplishment in and of itself! Congratulations to all the builders who made this possible. I greatly enjoyed watching it grow from a simple rocky island into a formidable fortress packed with detail inside and out. And I hope that all of the builders involved gained some valuable experience working with LEGO Digital Designer, its freedoms, and its constraints. Hopefully we might see some of that experience put to good use in future RCBs!

Yes, most of them are! Only a few villain heads and the new friction joints are absent, along with some of the heads from the Savage Planet wave. There might be a few other things I'm forgetting, but in general you can build any of the early 2012 Heroes unless there are collision errors with the parts.

The My Little Pony project just got posted on Equestria Daily, an extremely prominent My Little Pony blog. Needless to say, its supporters are now going up pretty much every time I refresh the page. On one hand, I'd love this proposal to make it to the consideration threshold, even if it doesn't get made. On the other hand, I wonder how LEGO Cuusoo will respond to a second consecutive proposal that doesn't make it through, if talks with Hasbro don't work out. The Shaun of the Dead proposal probably won't make it through due to the film's rating, but in this case to consider the proposal, TLG will have to go into talks with a major competitor. And if/when the talks fall through, TLG's own crowdsourcing platform that is Cuusoo will have essentially handed some quite significant market research to their own competitors. The question is, how could they make a rule to prevent this sort of thing? It's not a huge risk, since few of TLG's competitors have products with such a huge adult fanbase as My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. But really, expecting the proposer of a new project to check who holds the rights to a license could be absurd, and TLG probably wouldn't want to turn licenses away entirely since those are getting Cuusoo a lot of media recognition. I think the best thing for them to do would be to perhaps make a rule that they can go into talks about licensed proposals before they reach the 10,000 vote threshold, and a warning that if those talks go badly the proposal may be nipped in the bud. People would still leave feeling sore, but at least it wouldn't generate the same level of false hope as proposals like this getting to 10,000 votes and then getting axed. But perhaps I'm just overthinking this. Perhaps not much harm will be done by turning away proposals, and it's just a dose of reality that needs to be injected into the Cuusoo platform. In the meantime, the MLP proposal has gone up by 81 supporters since I started typing this. It really makes me as an AFOL feel insignificant to see the way supporters multiply like this when projects are plugged through a popular medium. LEGO has a significant adult fanbase, but we don't rally behind unified causes with nearly this much speed. Of course, AFOLs mostly arose through LEGO fans growing older, not through LEGO products actively attracting adults in droves, so I guess AFOLs and bronies aren't quite comparable. EDIT: And up by 33 more by the time my post was saved.

Anyway, that summer spinner commercial is awesome and puts into perspective just how awesome the NRG Ninja look.

Recently Equestria Daily (a My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic blog) linked to this news column, which despite the title is largely about the LEGO Friends controversy, or rather about the larger toys-and-gender debate it's a part of. I think it's a really well-rounded perspective. On one hand, it is willing to acknowledge the huge imbalance in marketing techniques between girl-oriented and boy-oriented products and the "girliness" of LEGO Friends in particular, but on the other hand it recognizes the differences in male and female play patterns (if oversimplified a bit) and the role of parents in both creating and resisting the toy market's gender segregation. It has lots of references including the "word cloud" that demonstrates the language gap between boy-oriented and girl-oriented marketing, the "liberate LEGO" petition, and the famous little-girl-in-toy-store video. The end result comes off as very pro-toy-industry, which some people might disagree with-- goodness knows the toy industry, including The LEGO Group, could do more to create diverse offerings for girls rather than stereotyping them so heavily. TLG definitely has been "playing it safe" with the Friends theme, making it very similar to themes like City that have had a lot of success with girls in the past. The stereotypes in the set designs aren't unhealthy in my opinion, but besides being a quality building toy, there isn't much making the theme as unique as some boy-oriented or gender-neutral LEGO themes like Ninjago or BIONICLE. And that puts it at risk if TLG's competitors respond with girl-oriented building toys of their own. Still, I think LEGO Friends is a meaningful stepping-stone, and I hope TLG has plans in place to keep moving towards gender equality in their product lines and fanbase.

Well, if you read the book, he did make it clear that he doesn't by any means consider his MOCs up to the same level as some of the other AFOLs he's interacted with. So there's no guarantee he has a strong web presence or a strong presence at conventions (since exhibiting MOCs tends to be the main event at least at American LEGO conventions). Additionally, the book concludes with what might be the answer to your question: the birth of his kid. If there's any "real life" event that could drag a person away from the LEGO community, that'd be a prime example. Perhaps he simply has no time for LEGO between taking care of his child and writing professionally to bring in the necessary income. In any event, I don't think it's reasonable to think that he simply lost interest in LEGO. More likely he still has a strong interest, but the community aspect of it-- the aspect which was most prominent for him, as far as I could tell from reading the book-- is just too much for him to maintain given the other important things in his life.

My mistake. Let me correct this. Thank you guys for keeping me honest!

It's definitely interesting seeing what passes for a Hero Factory polybag set, and truth be told those are useful detail pieces. But I'm still hoping that at some point a smaller-scale Hero Factory set might show up that actually forms a complete model. So far that's one place the Hero Factory building system has been lacking-- it is somewhat difficult to create an extremely small model using it, as opposed to BIONICLE which had models like the Fikou spider polybag, the 2001 Turaga, and the 2001 Matoran. I think we might be moving towards a solution with some parts like the joint piece that makes up Thornraxx's torso or the new torso piece used for XT4, but we haven't seen signs that TLG hopes to use either piece for that purpose. The closest thing we've seen to a small-scale model like this has been Black Phantom's Arachnix, and truth be told it's very impressive for its size. I wouldn't mind seeing more models like that as polybag sets, or perhaps in other hero and villain sets kind of like Toa Mahri Jaller's Hahnah crab. But as neat as it is, it doesn't take great advantage of the new building system itself.

I gave that one my support a long time ago! I agree that it needs much more support. It's an excellent model that I certainly wouldn't mind buying!

It would be cool IMO if it were re-released, but I don't expect it would see much more success. The staying power of a licensed theme depends not only on how good the subject matter looks, how great the set designs are, or even how many fans the franchise has. It also depends on how good the franchise is at selling merchandise. TLG's successful multi-year licensed themes tend to have one thing in common: They sell a lot of toys and other merchandise. Movie-based license themes often fade away when there is no new movie immediately over the horizon, as is the case with all movie-based toys. Unlike TLG's in-house themes, the marketing of the source material often plays a heavy role in the success of the theme, so TLG often can't control whether the theme lasts more than a year. I'm no expert on the success of the A:TLA toyline, but I'm sure that as brilliant as the source material is, it's nowhere near the sort of merchandising behemoth epitomized by Star Wars, Spongebob Squarepants, Cars, or Marvel and DC Super Heroes. Now, it's possible a Legend of Korra theme could show up within the next year, but my hopes aren't too high for it unless it can prove that it's really good at selling toys and not just at telling stories. On a side note, LEGO Cuusoo seems like it's really good at getting more "niche" products made which can't necessarily sustain a full theme. So if an A:TLA or LoK proposal I liked were put through it, I'd definitely throw my support behind it.

This is a pretty decent likeness. A bit bustier than she is in the show, but obviously feminine curves are a hard thing to render in LEGO whether you're working in System or BIONICLE/HF. Anyway, the torso and head show a lot of attention to detail, but I'm not as fond of the legs and arms. Obviously this is partly a matter of scale-- it's hard to straddle that line between bulky (like the legs) and spindly (like the arms). I think the choice to use the 2.0 building system for the legs might not have been the wisest--a more technic-based build could have given you more control over the width of the upper and lower legs. Not sure what could have been done with the arms, as its the shoulder joint in particular that looks flimsier than it should, and while there are more substantial joint pieces than that, they are not necessarily on LDD. But anyway, as I said, the torso and head which were almost entirely custom-built are where this MOC really shines. I love the eyes behind her transparent visor, as well as her hair. It's a shame some of Hero Factory's side characters will probably never appear as sets.

Well, I'm not sure if you've factored this into your decision, but as of right now the Fangpyre tribe is the easiest to collect-- it's the only one for which all four tribe members are already available. I actually finished collecting the Fangpyre tribe yesterday when I opened the Rattlecopter set I got for my birthday. But which of these is easiest to collect depends on what kind of sets you prefer to get. If you want the option that requires the fewest sets, it's obviously Anacondrai (9449), since Pythor's the only member, followed by Constrictai (9448+9450). If you prefer to get building sets over spinner sets and booster packs whenever possible, then the Anacondrai tribe, Fangpyre tribe and Constrictai tribe are easiest to collect since you can get all members of each without any spinners or booster packs. If you want to spend as little money as possible regardless of content, then the Hypnobrai tribe is easiest to collect (9441+9446+9555+9573), with the Fangpyre tribe only one cent costlier in the US (9445+9564+9567). If you want the option with the lowest overall price per piece, then Fangpyre is still easiest (9442+9443+9445), followed by Constrictai (9448+9450) Hypnobrai (9441+9446+9555), then Anacondrai (9449). If you want the option that gets you the most minifigures overall (not counting duplicates), it's the Venomari tribe (9449+9450+9557+9562, netting you 10 unique non-Venomari minifigures including Wu, Garmadon, Pythor, and all five ZX Ninja). But obviously comes with the highest cost. So overall "easiest to collect" depends on what types of sets you consider most convenient/inconvenient. And obviously this is all out the window if a store exclusive set shows up that creates new options for collecting the tribes. But it was an interesting thing to think about.

Actually, Core Hunter is a medium-sized set (US $12.99), and as such he's the largest villain of the 2012 wave not yet featured in the show (XT4 and Thornraxx are both US $8.99). Granted, it's entirely possible that they could bring back an already-captured villain if there's another episode for 2012. And in fact I would have a hard time imagining even a single 22-minute episode with only three heroes and three villains, just based on precedent. If there were one, though, I'm sure it'd be a great opportunity to feature the characters in the same depth the 44-minute Breakout episode allowed. Personally, from what we've heard about him I prefer to think of Core Hunter as a villain who acts alone, with his own agenda of hunting down individual heroes. So having him as the "mastermind" would conflict with that. But at the same time, he's certainly fearsome enough to fulfill that role from a stylistic perspective.

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 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 nine of our coverage is a much-anticipated new licensed theme, The Lord of the Rings (as well as a few brief tidbits regarding the as-of-yet unrevealed sets based on The Hobbit). All seven of these sets are due for a June release: 9469 Gandalf Arrives 83 pieces USD $12.99 CAD $15.99 This set features a simple but stylish horse cart filled with assorted fireworks. The horse is a new design with articulated legs and slightly more detailed contours. Minifigures in this set include Frodo Baggins and Gandalf the Grey. 9470 Shelob Attacks 227 pieces USD $19.99 CAD $24.99 This is possibly the best giant spider in any LEGO set to date, with eight articulated legs, two body segments, and an internal winch so it can hang from a string of "silk". Minifigures include Frodo Baggins, Samwise Gamgee, and Gollum. 9471 Uruk-hai Army 257 pieces USD $29.99 CAD $39.99 This set looks like it will be a great army builder. The castle wall is substantial as well, and could easily be used to expand Helm's Deep (which will be covered further down). Minifigures include Eomer, a Rohan soldier, and four Uruk-hai. 9472 Attack on Weathertop 430 pieces USD $59.99 CAD $74.99 This is a good likeness of the location as it appears in the film (microfigures make great statues), and the flick-fire function on the hill is at least inconspicuous, if totally unnecessary. Minifigures include Aragorn, Frodo, Merry, and two Ringwraiths on their evil, red-eyed steeds. 9473 The Mines of Moria 776 pieces USD $79.99 CAD $99.99 This set depicts the battle with the cave troll in Balin's Tomb. Figures include the Cave Troll, Pippin, Boromir, Gimli, Legolas, two Moria orcs, and two skeletons. The many details include the tomb itself, the large and small doors to the chamber, the well, and the book of records the Fellowship consults. 9474 The Battle of Helm's Deep 1,368 pieces USD $129.99 CAD $169.99 The flagship set of this theme's first wave is definitely a sight to behold, and perhaps one of the most substantial LEGO castles in decades. The outer and inner walls are two separate sections, and one of the auxiliary walls can be toppled by the berserker Uruk-hai's bomb. Minifigures include Aragorn, Gimli, Haldir, King Théoden, and four Uruk-hai including a berserker Uruk-hai. A single horse is also included. 9476 The Orc Forge 366 pieces USD $39.99 CAD $49.99 This set will be exclusive to Target stores in the United States, and as such it was not included in our press kit. It is perhaps the most literal example of an "army builder" to date, since this is where the orcs are outfitted with weapons and armor. Figures include an Uruk-hai, three Mordor orcs, and the Uruk-Hai commander Lurtz. Additionally, sets based on The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey are due for release sometime this fall (Spring for LEGO fans in the southern hemisphere). We have no other information on these sets, except that there will at some point be a LEGO Game based on the same property. More information on that here. That concludes our coverage of this exciting new theme! Next up we will be covering the Minifigures, Bricks & More, and non-licensed Duplo sets that were on display at the event. Stay tuned!

Having seen the new horse at Toy Fair, I have to say I appreciate it greatly. First of all, I appreciate some of the changes. The horse's lack of posability has bothered me for a long time. Additionally, while the new one is not too much more complex in its contours than the old one, it does feel a bit more consistent now with the less blocky designs of smaller LEGO animals, including recent ones but also classics like the parrot or dog/wolf. Printing on the front of the face, not just the sides, is another welcome change. But furthermore, I appreciate what has been kept the same. The proportions are largely identical, so army builders with a huge collection of horses can probably use the old ones alongside the new ones without any obvious inconsistencies. Sure, they'll look slightly different, but so do real horses, especially ones from different breeds. I am a bit disappointed that the old head accessories no longer will work on this horse, but hopefully when they do release new ones they might be "backwards-compatible" so they can work on either style. The fact that old horse bardings will work is definitely a plus. Overall, I see the new horse as a largely positive change. The new horse's design is more consistent in terms of posability with the classic minifigure, which is a long overdue change. I think people are overreacting if they consider this a "slippery slope" of any kind. It's apparent at least to me that TLG's designers really understood the value of the classic horse design when retooling it for this newer version. I can't wait to see what other themes the horse appears in after it makes its debut in Lord of the Rings.

No, that just means that in the US you can only get it in Target stores or LEGO stores. In other countries it should still be available, but either as an exclusive for a retailer in that country or as a regular release set. Sorry for my confusing phrasing.

We do know that there will be a third season, it was confirmed on jayvincentmusic.com and this blog entry. Speaking of which, I recommend both of those sites for anyone wanting to listen to the music of the series or see concept art for the series.

The crystal is almost certainly Warm Gold (Bricklink's Pearl Gold), not any type of copper. Although Warm Gold is very similar in color to Reddish Gold, a color used between 2003 and 2006 which is very similar to Warm Gold but is sometimes called Copper. Metallic colors are one reason I dislike many LEGO naming schemes. One name (copper) can easily refer to three or four different colors on Bricklink. But in any event, this crystal is the same color gold used in Pharaoh's Quest and most of the other mining sets.

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 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 eight of our coverage is the LEGO Group's oldest movie-based license, LEGO Star Wars! Although I personally stopped buying Star Wars sets in 2005, the past few years have tempted me to get certain sets re-imagined from my childhood, and this year's sets continue that trend with some stunning Prequel Trilogy and Original Trilogy sets. Nine of the sets on display were released in January, including three "Planet" sets: 9488 Elite Clone Trooper & Commando Droid Pack 98 pieces USD 12.99 CAD 15.99 Other currencies from Brickset Battle packs this year have been altered to depict two factions instead of just one. The artillery cannon in this set features a flick-fire missile. Figures include an ARC trooper, and ARF trooper, and two commando droids. 9489 Endor Rebel Trooper & Imperial Trooper Pack 77 pieces USD 12.99 CAD 15.99 Other currencies from Brickset Link to high-resolution image from cache.LEGO.com This pack's minifigures include a new Stormtrooper design, a scout trooper, and two Rebel troopers with two styles of uniform. Other contents include a tree, a flick-fire missile launcher, and a speeder bike in the style introduced in last year's Echo Base. 9490 Droid Escape 137 pieces USD 19.99 CAD 24.99 Other currencies from Brickset Some people think about 9490 and 9491 as "expanded battle packs". This set literally and figuratively leaves the escape pod design from 7106 in the dust. Figures include R2-D2, a new C-3PO design, and two new sandtroopers. 9491 Geonosian Cannon 132 pieces USD 19.99 CAD 24.99 Other currencies from Brickset This set introduces a new Clone Wars design for Barriss Offee, along with clone commander Gree, a winged Geonosian soldier, and a winged "zombie" Geonosian. Yes, it includes flick-fire missiles, but they are inconspicuous. 9492 TIE Fighter 413 pieces USD 54.99 CAD 69.99 Other currencies from Brickset This TIE Fighter design puts 7146 and 7263 to shame. Flick-fire missiles are included, but are no more conspicuous than the bulblike lasers of previous TIE Fighter designs. Figures include a TIE Fighter pilot, Death Star trooper, Imperial officer, and the Astromech Droid R5-J2. 9493 X-wing Starfighter 560 pieces USD 59.99 CAD 74.99 Other currencies from Brickset The X-wing Starfighter has been represented in LEGO more times than I care to mention, but this design makes vast improvements on many of those that came before. It has the parts and stickers to be decorated as Red 5 or Red 6, and as such features Luke Skywalker and R2-D2 as well as Jek Porkins and R5-D8. And yes, there's a gear function for the wings. 9674 Naboo Starfighter & Naboo 56 pieces USD 9.99 CAD 12.99 Other currencies from Brickset The Planet sets, new this year, include a container decorated to resemble a familiar Star Wars planet along with a minifigure, mini-model, and nameplate. This one is a decent likeness, although it would have been more exciting with some type of metallic details other than the "droid". 9675 Sebulba's Podracer & Tatooine 80 pieces USD 9.99 CAD 12.99 Other currencies from Brickset The planet Tatooine's hemispheres match up much better than Naboo's in all the pictures I've seen. None of the series 1 Planets have new minifigures, but Sebulba's still a great design. And the mini-Podracer has great detail. 9676 TIE Interceptor & Death Star 65 pieces USD 9.99 CAD 12.99 Other currencies from Brickset OK, I lied. This set's minifigure is somewhat new, featuring the patterned head of all this year's Stormtroopers. The Death Star is also unique among Planet sets since it has two uniquely-textured planet molds rather than identical, smooth, printed ones. Eleven of the sets on display are planned for an August release, including one limited release set and three "Planet" sets: 9496 Desert Skiff 213 pieces USD 24.99 CAD 29.99 The Sarlacc in this set is quite imposing, and the skiff itself is nice and streamlined. Minifigures include Boba Fett (now with Olive Green rather than Reddish Brown cape), Lando Calrissian, Luke Skywalker, and Kithaba. 9497 Republic Striker-class Starfighter 376 pieces USD 44.99 CAD 49.99 I'm not really familiar with this ship (or any Old Republic era ships) and am not finding anything about it through research, but still its fold-out wings look decent and the minifigures look excellent. Figures include Satele Shan, a Republic Trooper, and the Astromech Droid T7-O1. 9498 Saesee Tiin's Jedi Starfighter 244 pieces USD 29.99 CAD 39.99 Some people, including Clone Wars fans, have gotten quite tired of Jedi Starfighters, or at least those based on the Delta-7B. But this one's brick-built patterns are nice, and one can never have too much Earth Green (Bricklink's Dark Green). Minifigures include Saesee Tiin, Even Piell, and the Astromech Droid R3-D5. 9499 Gungan Sub 465 pieces USD 69.99 CAD 89.99 Like last year's Podracers, this Gungan Sub is almost exactly the same size as its previous depiction in 1999, but is much more accurate and streamlined. Minifigures include Obi-Wan Kenobi (with a new torso print showing off his Padawan braid), Qui-Gon Jinn, Jar-Jar Binks, and the Queen Amidala minifigure we've been anticipating since she appeared on the LEGO Star Wars logo in 1999. 9500 Sith Fury-class Interceptor 748 pieces USD 89.99 CAD 119.99 This set's wings are amazingly-constructed to resemble its Old-Republic-era inspiration, and yes, they fold open. This set's minifigures, including Darth Malgus and two Sith Troopers, are extremely detailed. Stickers seem to be used sparingly on the wings, and flick-fire missiles remain inconspicuous. 9515 The Malevolence 1,101 pieces USD 119.99 CAD 149.99 This set's price per piece isn't especially outrageous, and it's definitely an imposing vessel despite the interior being scaled up to accommodate minifigures. Interior details include sleds to resemble the "rail system" on the interior of the actual vessel, and an unprecedented flick-fire missile function allows six to be rotated into place and fired in quick succession. Minifigures include Clone Wars versions of Anakin Skywalker, Count Dooku, Padme Amidala, and General Grievous as well as a Battle Droid Commander and a standard Battle Droid. 9516 Jabba's Palace 717 pieces USD 119.99 CAD 149.99 Obviously this will be seen as the year's flagship set to Original Trilogy fans, although its price-per-piece is ridiculous compared to the identically-priced Malevolence with its much larger inventory. The functions are numerous and include the trapdoor and moving pedestal in the Throne Room, a rotating platform on which Han Solo is frozen in carbonite, an easy-to-remove flick-fire missile function on the main roof, and of course the opening gate with extending eyeball from the tower. This is also pretty unique among location-based sets in that it resembles its subject almost as well from outside as from within. Obviously part of the price subsidizes this set's many unique minifigures, which include Princess Leia (disguised as Boushh), Han Solo (with awake and drowsy face prints), Jabba (now with an articulated waist), Oola, Salacious Crumb, Bib Fortuna, and a printed Gammorrean Guard. Less unique figs include Chewbacca and a B'omarr Monk. 9525 Pre Vizsla's Mandalorian Fighter USD 39.99 CAD 49.99 Some details on this set like its piece count and minifigures are uncertain since it's exclusive to Target stores in the U.S. and so wasn't in our press kit. But it seemingly includes two "Death Watch" Mandalorians, including Pre Viszla with his darksaber, as well as Obi-Wan Kenobi. Its wings can fold down and then rotate like last year's T-6 Jedi Shuttle. 9677 X-Wing Starfighter & Yavin 4 77 pieces USD 9.99 CAD 12.99 The Series 2 Planets tend to have unique minifigures. This one's Rebel Pilot is the least unique of the three, but if finalized like those in the other two planets, he wears the blue-patterned helmet which hasn't been seen in quite a few years. The mini X-Wing is mostly-identical to a 2010 polybag, but still nice for those who don't have that set. 9678 Twin-Pod Cloud Car & Bespin 78 pieces USD 9.99 CAD 12.99 The mini Twin-Pod Cloud Car model does a good job mimicking the bubbly shape of its subject. Hard to say whether Bright Orange is a better match for the vehicle's reddish-orange color than Bright Red, though. The new Lobot figure probably makes this a must-buy for some minifigure collectors. 9679 AT-ST & Endor 65 pieces USD 9.99 CAD 12.99 The body of this is similar to previous mini AT-ST models, although this one's feet are different and arguably less accurate than radar-dish-based feet of previous versions so that it can grip the display stand. The AT-ST driver figure is new, with slightly more detail than the 2007 version. The planet Endor in this set seems to be finalized, other than the other two series 2 Planets. Finally, there was one set planned for a September release: 9509 Star Wars Advent Calendar 234 pieces USD 39.99 CAD 49.99 A lot of the mini models this time around are based on Episode 1. OT die-hards might dislike this but for others it might be a nice change-of-pace. Figures include a security battle droid, Gungan soldier, Super Battle Droid, Hoth Rebel trooper, Rebel scout trooper, Gonk Droid, armored Imperial officer, snowtrooper, Astromech snowdroid, and the fearsomely-festive Santa Maul. That concludes our coverage of the Star Wars sets at Toy Fair! Next up will be our coverage of the new Lord of the Rings theme!

Since many of the parts in the basic LDD mode are colors that appear in actual sets, I wouldn't be surprised if the non-existent colors are ones that were perhaps created as test runs but never mass-produced for inclusion in sets. That would seem to be a likely scenario in my opinion. But no, LDD no longer has any connection to Design byME, Pick-A-Brick, or any other custom-ordering service offered by TLG. So obtaining the parts that haven't appeared in sets is not possible.

Regarding the last two episodes of the Ninjago TV series (don't worry this is still about sets)...

As mentioned here, the press kit from Toy Fair described the Dino theme as "an evergreen in construction". "Evergreen themes" refer to those like City, Pirates, Castle, and Space that may fade out for a while but never go away entirely. Obviously this year hasn't been an especially good one for evergreen themes, with no non-licensed Castle, Pirates, or Space themes, but nevertheless if TLG is already thinking of Dino as a potential evergreen theme then I wouldn't be surprised if we see a second wave sometime next year, unless its sales turn out far below expectations. Even though I haven't bought any Dino sets, this has me very excited since it means there may be more dinosaur designs in the future that are visually compatible with these ones. The one area in which this dino theme suffers compared to some previous ones is variety of dinos, but a second or third wave could easily amend that.

I actually liked the Breakout episode a great deal, far more so than Savage Planet. The pacing was still iffy and there were shades of the mediocrity seen in previous episodes, but overall there weren't any parts as painful to watch as some of the banter in Savage Planet. I think the voices and characterization tended to be spot-on in most cases. Most importantly, in my opinion, each Hero and each villain got a fair amount of time in the spotlight, meaning we didn't have any characters marginalized like Surge, Breez, Bulk, and Stringer were in Rise of the Rookies. The animation and character models were wonderful, and the plot was definitely more complex than previous episodes-- that's obvious even from the fact that it hints at future threats rather than following the strict "Heroes receive mission/Heroes get upgrade/Heroes complete mission" formula we'd seen only slight variations on before.

Well, obviously the demand for Toy Fair coverage is waning, but I had started writing the coverage for this theme quite a while ago. Anyway, I had agreed to provide Toy Fair coverage for Eurobricks, so I might as well keep up my end of the bargain. Hopefully if I end up going to next year's Toy Fair I'll be able to keep to a better schedule. Coordinating things with both Eurobricks and my BS01 staff partner Chols who is hosting the photos on his Flickr has been a challenge in and of itself, but I'm certainly not blame-free for the slowness of our coverage. In the meantime, there are still some surprises in the Friends coverage and Creator, Racers, and Games coverage, if any of those themes interest you.