Aanchir

Something to keep in mind is that even if only some of the people who voted for it are going to buy it, there are going to be plenty of people who didn't vote for it who might buy it anyway. From my experience at college, I'm more likely to run into a Minecraft fan in my day-to-day life than a LEGO fan. And unlike LEGO, where adult fans are a severe minority, Minecraft fans cover a broad swath of ages and interests. I'm not sure if it's a celebrated cultural icon in Japan, but I know that until I saw the set I'd never heard of the Shinkai 6500. But evidently it did well enough that sets continued to be released through LEGO Cuusoo. I think it's extremely likely that Minecraft has a stronger presence in the public consciousness than the Shinkai 6500, or the Hayabusa. So I see no reason to think it will sell more poorly than either of those.

As I see it, he has no hand on that arm, and instead has an arm-mounted laser gun. I can't fathom how it even remotely resembles a lightsaber except by virtue of being long, transparent, and glowy. The same goes for XT4, who has it mounted between two claws on his hand, rather than holding it. Speaking of which, I just noticed what pieces he uses for that claw-- mighty clever!

The Ninjago News videos are really silly, but they give us our first really good look at how the new spinners work. As for the designer videos, the Fangpyre Truck Ambush video and Jay's Storm Fighter videos are both hilarious, and star our good friend Nabii. The video of Kai's Blade Cycle and Cole's Tread Assault is also nice, as is the Destiny's Bounty video which shows off the set's functions quite well. I love how TLG is making these designer videos these days, because it really adds a very human component to the way we perceive the new set designs. I also noticed that the Card Dictionary seems to have added back the 2011 play cards. However, this evidently causes some problems, as the numbering starts fresh in the 2012 series of cards, and the card dictionary is laid out so that the card pages are identified by number. What this means is that you'll see Wyplash's card details whether you click on his card or Lasha's, since both are number 11. I hope they can find a way to fix this that doesn't require taking down the 2011 cards again. Also regarding apparent bugs, the "Explore the World of Ninjago" section has had a lot of locations removed, and replaced with blank pages.

Just learned that the whole Derpy ruckus Fracas! ...That the whole Derpy Fracas seems to be coming to an end. This post suggests that Derpy's name will not be changed, WeLoveFine has returned all the original names to their Derpy merchandise, and the Hub put the original Derpy clip on their website unedited. So it seems like it was probably an instance of Hasbro's various underlings playing it safe while waiting on official approval in light of the controversy, but that the official word has turned up in favor of the name Derpy after all.

Sand Green actually wasn't the last remaining sand color. Sand Green and Sand Blue are still on the palette-- Sand Green appears quite prominently in the Minifigures Series 6 Statue of Liberty (and in Boba Fett's helmet), and Sand Blue appears on this year's Bruce Wayne minifigure and last year's Medical Droid and Captain Panaka figures. Both Sand Green and Sand Blue were used in Pirates of the Caribbean last year as well. Even if both went away we'd still have an additional "sand" color: Sand Yellow, more commonly known to AFOLs as Dark Tan. Anyway, Jabba's Palace is brilliant. A lot of people complain about location sets being framework-like and not very substantial, but Jabba's Palace is anything but! I kind of wish the outer wall of the "throne room" were more round, but understandably they probably couldn't do much better without making it all one piece, which I'm sure not many people would have preferred. The Desert Skiff also looks amazing and makes great use of that curved helicopter slope piece on the front. The Gungan Sub, likewise, is epic, even though I have a fondness for the old one that I'm desperate to rid myself of. (for crying out loud, it was terribly blocky and there's no reason it should separate into three sections!) The new windscreen in it looks useful. Finally, I notice the Obi-Wan Kenobi figure from the Gungan Sub has his Padawan braid printed on the torso! It's a nice touch since I believe that was absent from the version in last year's Sith Infiltrator set.

I saw episode 5, "Can of Worms", yesterday, and greatly enjoyed it. The pace is really picking up. Zane's clothing getting colored pink seemed like it would have been a pretty dumb joke, but in the actual episode it was mainly used for visual humor and not made into as big a deal as I expected.

No, I'm talking about the connection point in the center of the torso bone (where the torso armor would attach on a Hero Factory set). The Batman, Green Lantern, and Iron Man sets all make use of this for attaching back armor, as seen here and here. On Hulk, however, it seems to go unused, probably because a sufficiently-sized shell in addition to his already-massive torso would push him above the price point of the other Super Hero sets. You can't actually see this connection point in the picture The Dor linked, but you can see that if he does have back armor, it still leaves his back relatively bare based on the large gaps still present in his torso.

Imaginative MOC! My one major criticism is that the torso is very gappy (the direct side view shows this best). It can be hard to fill gaps like this on LDD, but it would make the overall model much more impressive.

It's true, it's a somewhat rough and unpolished design to be seen as a guitar, and I've seen far better in MOCs. But allowing for the simplification that is necessary in a set Stringer's size to keep it at a viable price point and relatively simple building level, I think the resemblance to a guitar is too strong to have been a coincidence. Besides, what else would it be? It doesn't make the gun itself look much more formidable, unlike Evo's "tank arm". Anyway, Stormer XL certainly seems to be divisive. Personally, I like many aspects of the design, but like a lot of the Breakout heroes I feel there's room for improvement. I think the torso shells on his leg armor would be better off facing forward, like they are in the TV episode clips we've seen. It looks as though the blue armor pieces on his shoulders are regular blue, which will disappoint some people who were hoping for transparent blue parts of some sort (myself included). Watching the video in HD, I realized some of the parts holding up his shoulders are a new bone piece-- a "C" bone (ball cup on each end) that's only 3M with no center ball. This will surely be very useful for a number of purposes. On the subject of new building elements, I also notice that XT4's hips are just 3M wide, meaning that either he uses a torso with a custom Technic structure and the standard "Toa Mata chest" ball joint pieces, or we are getting another new torso beam piece. The small size of his torso makes me think that if he does have a new torso beam piece, it could be useful for everything from smaller-scale characters (think Matoran) to animal companions. Really warming up to Nex, although even in the high-resolution video I have difficulty telling what his chest pattern is supposed to resemble. Just realized that Bulk's giant shoulder weapon, in addition to its two missiles, has two Transparent Fluorescent Green (Bricklink's Trans-Neon Green) lasers. Not sure how fond I am of those since they sort of clash with his color scheme-- I'd have preferred some type of transparent orange or even a less vibrant color like transparent blue, transparent red, or transparent light blue. Or perhaps none at all. Someone asked for a pic that shows Core Hunter's face in better detail. Will this do? On watching the video a second time (this time in HD), I can say with certainty that he looks awesome. He also has back armor, which I'm sure many will appreciate. As with the first wave of Breakout heroes, I'm impressed with these overall, although I feel tempted to mod some of them ever so slightly to better suit my tastes.

In the TV episode clips we've seen, Stormer has back armor in the form of a basic 2.0 torso shell, but of course that's not all that reliable since the TV episodes tend to add back armor to everyone. Overall I think the likelihood of Stormer having back armor is higher than the likelihood of the Hulk having back armor, since Stormer is at a higher price point. Then again the Super Heroes sets in general have been quite generous when it comes to back armor, and since Hulk's design like most of the Super Hero designs has two torso beams, there is definitely a connection point where back armor could be attached if TLG so chose (and could afford it without bumping up the price). Unfortunately I don't see any back armor making use of that connection point in the image that The Dor linked to.

Stormer XL looks pretty excellent, besides his legs and feet, which are a bit weird. He's not brilliant, but what I do like is that he has large, cohesive armor pieces, so he feels far less pieced-together than some larger sets of the past. What I'm really trying to say is that he fits in OK with the smaller Hero sets. Also, his printed armor (on his left leg and torso) is to die for. Speeda Demon is... OK. The bike isn't totally original, but it is somewhat stylish, and it's great for parts. He himself, again, is a pretty basic build, but very stylish and with a cohesive color scheme. The combi model of Stormer XL and Speeda Demon is really weird (as combi models often are). It's not nearly the work of art that some BIONICLE combi models were, but that's to be expected since it's the first one of its size using the new building system. It does show some imaginative ideas, like the tail, the engine/propellor on the back, and the multiple arms. But the sheer number of weapons and features built onto it, and the lack of cohesiveness between the various parts, makes it feel a bit amateur. XT4 is an enigma for me. Perhaps, if posed better, he could look decent, but he's not my favorite despite his imaginative build. Nex is pretty cool. I get the idea he'll look decent, but he's not one I'm holding out for. Still can't make out the detail of his chest pattern, but I guess that's to be expected. Until high-res pics of Evo were out, I thought his chest pattern was a concrete texture, and it turned out to be a circuit board texture. Bulk is still amazing. His chest pattern is several overlaid gears with their axis lined up with his Hero Core, from what I can tell. Which is, frankly, amazing. His weapons and armor are great. Core Hunter is pretty cool, and has a good deal of personality. Color scheme is nice. Layering is OK. And dang if he ain't intimidating. Voltix still looks cool. Nothing much new to say about him. And Stringer looks cool. It looks like his torso is in fact regular transparent blue (Bricklink's Trans-Dark Blue). Still cool I guess. Overall I look forward to seeing these in person on Sunday. I'll try to take clear photos of their chest patterns so we can see in full detail.

I think those who dislike Greg's writing need to keep in mind that he brought us all of the comics from the very beginning, many of which were very well-loved, and had wonderful gems such as the last page of the issue where the Bahrag were introduced. Some might think Greg's writing deteriorated over time, but I personally think it stayed pretty good in many important areas, like the 2007 serials and 2008 books. Now, if it did decrease, it was probably a result of his role in the theme's story team expanding greatly over time. But guess what? As far as we can tell, he hasn't had a very strong role on the Hero Factory story team-- and people have hated that anyway. So maybe Greg's the lesser of two evils.

Hero Hero pieces? Anyway, I'm also certain it attaches by that connection, but at the same time I wouldn't be surprised if it has more attachment points on the back than just those two bars, since it covers so much area.

I think he means in terms of preference (he likes Pythor best and Skales worst). Personally, I like Skales a bit more than Fangtom. In general I like the swirly eyes of the Hypnobrai (the blue Serpentine), whereas the eyes of the Fangpyre (the red ones) almost look more sleep-deprived than scary. Of course, I'm gradually warming up to them. In general, one thing that I've been a bit iffy about with all the Serpentine is their eyes. None of them are very traditional minifigure-like eyes, unlike the Skeleton Warriors who had very traditional "dot with white sparkle" eyes, albeit in a glowing red rather than the typical black. I tolerate it with the Serpentine because, as the show demonstrates, they still look awesome next to regular minifigures, plus the Serpentine minifigure designs are just so cool!

The former was more my intention, but it's not as though I can tell people how to use the image.

This doesn't mean the meaning of feminism has changed, just that the old scars from when women WERE extremely discriminated against are still sore in many feminists. The knife has been pulled away but the wounds remain. Meanwhile, to assume that the sexes are equal in this day and age is laughable. Just as some people still carry the wounds of past discrimination, some people still carry the biases that inflicted those wounds, and while nowadays they know better than to act on them consciously, old habits die hard. There are still a lot of jobs where, subconsciously, employers will have a bias towards men when hiring. There are still a lot of biases about women that haven't gone away in the slightest-- drivers, for instance, are still stereotyped by their sex here in America. And of course there are biases like the one that necessitated LEGO Friends in the first place, in which parents tend to think of building toys like LEGO as a boys-only interest. There are radical feminists who go too far, and those are an extremely vocal subset of the feminist movement today, but that doesn't mean that feminism itself is inherently biased. Again, old habits die hard, and once a person is used to having to fight for equal treatment, it's not their fault if they have a hard time adjusting to a world where they don't have to fight as hard. And many gender-related statistics show that not having to fight as hard doesn't mean the fight feminists have worked so hard on is completely over.

Wow, that shell looks gorgeous on a torso. This guy has a lot of personality. The giant glowing eye and antenna on his back definitely help with this.

Apologies if I'm late with this information, but Jay Vincent has updated his site with more Ninjago music from Season 2. The new tracks are titled "True Potential", "Awakening the Devourer," "Remembering Father", "Zane Battles the Guardian", "Return of the Dragons", and "Garmadon Bites Back". Haven't listened to them yet, but I've downloaded them for my iPod and expect good things!

I'm extremely surprised, given how well HRT seemed to sell (it was usually pretty high in the top 25 highest-selling items on shop.LEGO.com, far above Design byME). I guess it was probably more a matter of the production and packing costs being too high even with a good number of sales. I hope the online Pick-A-Brick doesn't go the same direction...

Just like the Thornaxburger meme on BZPower. Although, to be fair, I had wanted that to be a one-time joke and not a meme, and we all saw where that led.

It should be fairly swooshable because it has a handle, which incidentally is part of its "playability"-- the wings fold out when you hold it by the handle, apparently. Anyway, a lot of people dislike this dragon, but it's looking a lot better to me than it did when we first saw leaked pictures in a YouTube video. Those pictures made it look awkward and chunky, whereas here it seems to have a substantial body design. I look forward to better pics in the weeks and months to come!

Atlantis sold fairly well, actually-- at least well enough to ensure it a second year, which is nothing to sneeze at. Unfortunately this theme evidently hasn't even been designed to be as big a hit as Atlantis, given the minimal marketing it's received compared to that theme. It's a shame, but I hope in the very least that when another Dinosaur theme comes around at some point in the future it will reuse these designs along with new, compatible designs for other dinosaurs.

It's usually partly so that the parts you need are easier to find in a pile, and partly so that the parts stand out more in the instructions. Anyway, great review! I'm not too keen on getting this set but I really like it, especially how well the new wheel wells work with those inverted slopes. Of course, it doesn't fit my image of an "ideal" LEGO vehicle since it doesn't have opening doors. Then again my ideal LEGO vehicle at this scale would also have both a driver's seat and a passenger's seat, which TLG has never really done in a vehicle this size unless they were using the Adventurers seat piece, so I guess my hopes may be a bit high.

I love the feet, legs, and torso of this model, but I'm not too fond of the arms. Partly because they're sort of awkwardly-angled as DV said, and partly because stylistically they're far simpler than the rest of the model (albeit with an intricate BIONICLE shoulder armor piece that I don't feel suits this MOC especially well).

New York Toy Fair is February 12 (this Sunday). Speaking of which... I will be attending the LEGO Collectors Preview, reporting on behalf of BIONICLEsector01 and HEROsector01. The admission badge arrived in the mail yesterday, and to say the very least I am pleased by these new upgrades.