Aanchir

You do realize that one of the main advantages of this packaging is that it can be flattened down entirely, thus taking up almost zero space? And that even when the parts for the set are inside, it should be flexible enough to fit in pretty much any space the older HF canisters could?

Keep in mind those Bricklink numbers you list are LEGO numbers. In some cases, Bricklink makes up its own part numbers for things, so any part number containing a letter is unofficial. But numerical four- or five-digit part numbers tend to be official. For all people reporting parts they want added to LDD, this is a good page to bookmark. This is the service.LEGO.com summary for a Technic friction pin, but since it was updated to include the Design ID, color, and Element ID, it basically allows you access to a good portion of LEGO's parts database. Replace the Element ID (4121715) in the address with any other Element ID (the seven-digit numbers that appear in the backs of post-2006 instruction booklets) and you will be able to find the Design IDs for those parts. One warning I'll give involves printed or otherwise decorated parts. If you insert the Element ID for a decorated part, the resulting Design ID still specifies the decorated version of the part, not the non-decorated version. It's the same way a Bricklink item number for a decorated part will be different from the item number for a non-decorated part, except that unlike Bricklink you can't just delete the "extra" numbers from the end to find the non-decorated version.

As is mentioned in the first post, the updated LDD will generate parts lists along with its HTML building guides. But frankly, LDD manager is mostly a resource for AFOLs, particularly AFOLs who use Bricklink. Chances are that an official LDD update will be more geared towards buying via Pick-A-Brick. Anyway, just because LDD has been updated yearly for two or three years doesn't mean we can assume that this release schedule is set in stone. I imagine that the ending of LEGO Universe and Design byME has changed things a bit, but it may not be the only reason that no LDD 5.0 is immediately over the horizon. Remember that part of the reason Design byME is being cancelled is that it was difficult for kids to understand. And if the LDD interface has anything to do with that then naturally the LDD team might be interested in taking some additional time to make sure their next full version update makes things better and not worse.

Not in Denmark? That's a bit surprising. Usually a lot of more complex parts like BIONICLE and Hero Factory parts are manufactured there. Not that I really care where the parts are made as long as they're high quality-- and yes, that includes many of the Chinese-made parts I've owned.

I was mostly concerned with how it would work with bulkier Hero Factory helmets like Fire Lord's myself, so that's cool to hear.

Great review! Before reading it, I felt that Green Lantern was the best of the Super Heroes action figure sets, but now I feel Batman might be a competitor for that position. Part of his appeal is his simplicity. It works to his advantage, making him appear more human and less robotic than either of the other two figures. There's also obviously an advantage in that Batman has been known to wear lots of alternate costumes including "power armor", so even if he did have a semi-robotic appearance it wouldn't look quite as out-of-place as on the Joker figure. Of course, the alternate versions on the back of the canisters all seem very ugly besides Green Lantern's. The Batman/Green Lantern combi model is gorgeous-looking, though, so that helps salvage the back of the box. The new friction elements are very neat and could prove extremely useful. Incidentally, do they work with older joints like the Glatorian head piece used on this year's Hero Factory sets? I'm particularly interested because if they do it could allow for HF figures with larger bodies but lacking the "giraffe-neck" that afflicts Fire Lord a bit if you don't have his head hunched forward at all.

He's talking about the pin/axle used to connect the head of the "morning star" construct to the handle part, which is a separate piece. The head piece can actually be doubled up to make a full mace, as is done in the 2012 Hero Factory set Black Phantom.

Probably just because it isn't pictured, same as with the Magician's hair piece in Series 1. The video I just linked pretty much confirms that the actual fig will in fact have the pot of gold.

Toysrus.com now has more Ninjago sets in stock, including all three booster packs, the Fangpyre Truck Ambush, and the Destiny's Bounty. Can't wait to see the first reviews of the Destiny's Bounty start to show up!

View Article LEGO Community Team Dude Kevin Hinkle passed on word to the Ambassadors from the LDD design team: "LDD will be updated on Jan 17th, to reflect the closure of DbM [Design byMe] and LU [LEGO Universe]. Since we are not constrained by the bricks available in either the picking location for DbM and the game for LU, we can broaden the amount of bricks available. People will still have the same possibility to document and share their LEGO models; we will substitute the DbM and LU themes with 2 LDD specific themes working in the same way, just with more bricks. Since the users can no longer order the model through DbM, we will add a list of bricks in a given model to the generated HTML building guide; that way people can use the list to find the bricks they need to build the model physically."

I personally think it looks more like he's wearing white tights and red boots! Although that might also bother some people. William Furno, the Boy Wonder!

Thanks! I'm sure some Hero Factory and BIONICLE fans will be disappointed, since that color's never appeared in either theme until the 2012 sets, and I'm sure people were hoping for more green that would match the green used for Nex 2.0, Nex 3.0, and BIONICLE sets like Lewa. At the same time, Bright Green is being used more often in a lot of themes, and I'm a big fan of it, so I say bring it on! No problem. Waspix is the only 2011 set that uses it, so it's a very rare piece. I don't even have one yet, which is a shame because I think it would be useful for making smaller-scale animals for HF. I'm very glad that the 2012 sets are using it more often-- I believe Thornraxx has two!

Speaking of Braveheart references, recently surfaced on YouTube. It's hard to say if it's a genuine leak or some sneaky viral marketing, since it was liked by LEGO Club TV and is the only video by this uploader ("Brikileaks"). But either way it's hilarious!

The shield effect reminds me of the wings from the BIONICLE set Gorast, but even more intense and lenticular. This also seems to confirm that his shield and launcher are Transparent Bright Green rather than Transparent Fluorescent Green. I'm not especially surprised, but it was a bit ambiguous in official pics (as is often the case with transparent colors). I would guess his head will be the same color, and will be the new color that Front told us to expect for the Glatorian head.

Great review! Incidentally, are this guy's green pieces regular green or bright green? I could ask the same about Green Lantern. In pics they look closer to Bright Green, which I notice LEGO's using a lot more in sets these days. This guy does indeed have some great pieces, including his Medium Lilac parts but also the dual-snap pieces used to attach things to his back. You can never have two many of those in either style. Also, the new ball-joint piece you list with the new pieces is in fact not new. It debuted in Waspix, and was used to attach his middle set of limbs.

I don't see any gunmetal in any of the pictures in this review. The current gunmetal color, 316 Titanium Metallic, is way darker than 315 Silver Metallic (Flat Silver) or even the older gunmetal color (148 Metallic Dark Grey). You should be able to recognize the current gunmetal color, as it appears extensively in the Batman set you also reviewed. Additionally, there's another part in a new color which you failed to acknowledge. The Y-joints in the new style are new in Bright Red. Anyway, this review was very enlightening! I feel Jawblade is a very creative set design. It's amazing how a model with the default torso can be given such a unique anatomy! He also has lots of great pieces. I'm not sure how I like his magma blades, though. They don't feel as energy-packed as the ones used for Fire Lord and Furno, even though I appreciate that they matched them to Jawblade's color scheme rather than just using a mis-matched transparent bright orange.

That Savage Planet shell piece is not, in fact, in a new color-- it was in the same color (315 Silver Metallic) in Nex 3.0. Anyway, great review! Furno's nicely-designed, though not my favorite of the new heroes. I don't understand the transparent fluorescent reddish orange cladding. While it matches Bright Red to an extent, it seems a bit inexplicable to me why they used this color and not a color already present in his color scheme.

For me, it's the mech's cleverly-designed hip joint area and its well-sculpted snake head (which actually fills in the top cavity, something other snake-headed vehicles do not do).

What do you mean "Sell it separately"? The Ninjago Brickmaster book is an actual LEGO licensed product. Unless I misunderstand your post. Also, I'm pretty sure the Barraki eye in that picture is regualr Transparent Blue (Bricklink's Trans-Dark Blue). It may look different if it was on a white background and then shopped onto the background of the calendar, but note that it is about the same color as the cheese wedges on another weapon in the pic, which also don't seem to match their background. The snake mech is gorgeously-designed. Nice to know that this, too, had Mark Stafford's input. Can't wait until the sets are all out and he can tell us more.

Wait, where did you see this?

True, but renders are used for many of LEGO's themes these days, and yet stickers are still recognizable. The only themes where I know TLG tends to have their renders deviate strongly from the actual sets are BIONICLE and Hero Factory, in which the high-res images tend to have "battle damage". The earlier BIONICLE sets also would have certain pieces "hinge" along points that are solid plastic in the real thing. Of course, sometimes without a high-res image you can't tell the difference between stickers and printing. For instance, if you view this image at full size, you can tell that his eyes are printed and most of his other parts are stickered (the edges of the stickers are visible). But when viewed at only 20% of its size (which my browser scales it to unless you click to zoom in), it's almost impossible to tell whether the flag is printed or stickered, and the same for his eyes.

It's not really with the dragon head per se, but it is more ornate. It's made using a 6M bar (the same type as Sensei Wu's staff), a 1x1 plate with clip, and one of the new blade pieces that are used as the teeth of the Rattlecopter or as spinner additions in the Jay ZX booster pack, only this time in Warm Gold.

Lovely colors and layout! Of course, I feel it could maybe be improved with more people and animals, depending on what's within your budget. Somehow positioning a star above the entire scene could also be a nice touch if the structure supporting it isn't too obtrusive.

Well, there will be a gold handle in one of next year's Ninjago sets (clipped to a samurai helmet as a pair of stylized horns). I think a gold handle would work well on either a brown or black pot. I do hope we get a black pot in the future; it would work wonderfully for many applications!

I checked the alternate image at amazon.co.jp, but it doesn't tell us much about that other weapon besides that it has a spike on the end. Incidentally, here are some slightly larger pictures: 9455 box 9455 9456 box 9456 The mech's snake head uses the same lovely technique as the snake head on Nabii's Viper Viper I linked a few posts back, closing up the gap in the forehead using the 8x2 spike piece that debuted in 2008 Exo-Force sets. However, the mech uses it in a new color (earth green blended with bright yellowish green, rather than entirely bright yellowish green). The out-of-box pic IMO makes the set look much more appealing, in part because you can see that it's actually snake-shaped. I also have to say, as much as I love the "snake vs. dragon" motif in the arena set, I can't bring myself to warm up to that dragon. It just doesn't look especially dragon-like from what I can tell. But again, the out-of-box pic makes it look slightly better. I'll have to see a larger, clearer pic before I can make an educated decision, although I love the concept.