Aanchir

One problem with this logic is that the same sort of studies would have been used for LEGO's other more ambitious undertakings-- for instance, BIONICLE. Replace "Girls" with "Boys" and replace "dolls" with "action figures", and the first paragraph could easily be seen as an anti-BIONICLE rant. Claiming that TLG has no idea how to conduct market research ignores that market research has gone into most of their big undertakings, both good and bad. So if these studies were to be disregarded entirely, then TLG would never have released anything more unorthodox or ambitious than their classic bricks. No BIONICLE, no Star Wars, no Mindstorms, etc. I'm sure a lot of AFOLs would have been happy if this were the case, but as I see it that sort of attitude-- "market research is sometimes misleading so we must never trust any market research"-- would have led to the death of the company very quickly. Frankly, if we can't trust TLG's market research, what can we trust? Your cynicism about this is not only unjustified, it's a completely infeasible way of looking at the situation.

Finally opened Raw-Jaw last night. He's every bit as awesome as I expected. Posability is a little awkward, but he can easily be put in all of the typical gorillaphant poses I can think of (hunched on all fours, beating chest wildly, etc.)-- some of the awkwardness just comes from the fact that he's not a humanoid build and thus certain poses are prohibited. I just used all of his pieces to make an alternate build, a minotaur-like humanoid with massive horns. He really gives me a good sampling of the new parts, so I've been able to test out many alternate uses of them. His hands, as I've seen mentioned in reviews, make great shoulder armor, and I used them as such in my alternate build. They can also be used as chest armor on the narrower-shouldered torso for a somewhat feminine look, even though it's hard to find an armor solution for the rest of the torso when you do this. The alternate paw pieces he uses on his wrist are less versatile, partly because of fewer attachment points and partly because of wider, less closely-fitting geometry. It'd be a great part for a tail on a lobster-like MOC. I remember I used to make lobsters with BIONICLE parts all the time, but I haven't tried with Hero Factory parts yet. His face piece is cool, but somewhat awkward. It does allow you to see into one eye hole and straight out the other, although not as badly as Witch Doctor's. The fact that it doesn't fit on a Hero head really doesn't make much of a difference in the long run because it's far too large for that anyway. What does disappoint me is that it doesn't work well on the shoulders, since the large canines impede posability. The Ben 10 feet are hard to use as anything but feet-- they don't even fit well on the center ball joints of most arm pieces. But aesthetically, they work well for this set, and their versatile color helps make up for a rather limited-use design. Overall I'm very impressed with this set and am glad it was one of my first 3.0 Hero Factory sets. My little brother has built Waspix, Witch Doctor, and Rocka XL as well, but so far Raw-Jaw impresses me most out of these sets for his unconventional yet simple design. In some ways, he could use improvement, but he gets many points for originality and has an excellent selection of parts to boot.

I'll be wandering around a bit today, and maybe spending some time by my MOC (Rise of the Dread Colossus) in the Other category. I'll be wearing my BIONICLE hat and a LEGO polo shirt. I'll also see about spending some time with my BZPeeps, even though it's been a long time since I've been in contact with many of them.

I was at the Potomac Mills LEGO store yesterday, and the PAB walls had no shortage of parts. Unfortunately most of the parts were extremely basic bricks, and not in particularly interesting colors. No idea on the situation at the Tyson's Corner store. Interestingly, there wasn't much evidence of an AFOL presence at the Potomac Mills store. I guess a lot more people were going to the Tyson's Corner store on the first day of discounts. Most sets were stocked in a good quantity, and my brother managed to find all the Ninjago sets he wanted but one: the Lightning Dragon Battle, which they had expected to have in stock when he called in advance, but which they didn't get in time due to some problem in manufacturing or packaging or something. They let him buy another $80 set instead, which he will be able to trade in once they have the Lightning Dragon Battle in stock. I was kind of disappointed at the lack of cool LEGO clothing and gear there. There were umbrellas and some other neat things, but the only t-shirts were LEGO Star Wars themed. I guess this gives me a chance to see if there's any cool LEGO gear being sold by Brickfair's vendors, though.

My family's headed to the Potomac Mills store this evening. Thanks for the advance warning. Hopefully the sets that my family's interested in perhaps getting (my twin brother's intent on getting a bunch of Ninjago, whereas I don't have any particular sets laid down that I want to get here and now) won't be too hard to come by.

I'd love more podracers, but at the same time I don't really foresee it happening. I don't follow much of the Star Wars fan community outside of LEGO, but I think the fact that you don't see other toy manufacturers selling some of the more obscure podracers is very telling. I've tried designing some podracers on LDD, specifically updated versions of ones like those two that have existed as sets before. But I haven't really come up with any completed concepts because I'm probably being too strict with myself. I'd like Gasgano's and Mawhonic's engines to be lime rather than regular green, and to use current pieces rather than older hinges, for instance. On my LDD concepts, I prefer to stick to what I could get from Bricklink if I wanted to make the models in real life. It's a real shame that there aren't likely any more podracer sets in the near future since TLG wouldn't have to limit themselves to existing parts, and could theoretically release the necessary hinge pieces and so forth in new colors if they so desired. But I think that's a bit of a pipe dream, considering that the two podracers with "starring roles" have already been done and I can't picture TLG releasing a set as obscure as "Watto's Junkyard" featuring such minor characters in this day and age.

I personally love that the sweater and skateboard use the traditional LEGO skull rather than a more recent style, or the stylized ones that appear on pirate flags and other decorated parts. Skulls are a traditional punk/goth symbol, and so I think the sweater and skateboard look like things skateboarders in a city might actually wear or ride. And the use of the classic skull gives the graphics a retro feel. Main thing that bothers me about the skateboarder is that the skateboard's white color seems at odds with the rest of the skateboarder's hardcore persona. The graphics also feel a bit pasted on-- applying them at more irregular angles and sizes might have made them feel more like actual skateboard decorations. Her black jeans look like they could be very useful indeed. I only wish the belt were a little less girly so that those pocket decorations could be put on a male figure without switching the legs and hips around-- I always dislike doing that since it weakens the connection between the pieces.

It's abundantly clear that when somebody other than the set's designer demonstrates the set in these videos, it's not nearly as natural-feeling. Which is a shame, because I'm sure there are many things the designer could have told us. At the same time, the person demonstrating the set's features (I believe a different designer) did bring a lot of nice things to our attention-- for instance, the parka seems to be Bright Green rather than regular green, and the part used for the claw in the Toy Story "Trash Compactor Escape" set is at the core of the pavilion's hinged roof holding it together. Overall, I can't wait until this set gets a review here so we can get a closer, longer look at some of the features. At the same time, it's a real treat even getting this video so early.

Great tutorial! I'm sure it would be helpful to many people! One thing I'd like to point out that might be worth adding is that the way to get an LXF link is different in different browsers. In Firefox, the correct item on the drop-down menu is "Copy Link Location" rather than "Copy Shortcut". Firefox users should be careful to click "Copy Link Location" and not "Copy Image Location", or the link will just go to the text document thumbnail.

I personally love the pink for the space woman. While it may be a bit stereotypical, I think it's a beautiful and bright color. Of course, red would have been more traditional. It is a bit bothersome that pink is so frequently used for female figs in the collectible series. However, as my twin brother observed, the best way to avoid gender stereotypes in future series wouldn't necessarily be to have less pink for female figs-- putting more pink on male figs would work just as well. I disagree-- Superman's hair is fairly traditional male hair, only with a curl on his forehead. Rather than pointing down on his forehead, the mechanic's hair is a luscious pompadour.

The Comic-Con display used what looked to be preliminary mock-up figs, so that's understandable. Frankly, convention appearances don't always have the most up-to-date versions of sets-- some people had already obtained the Battle of Naboo set this year before the Nuremburg Toy Fair, and I believe it still used a preliminary version for display purposes.

Not impossible, but it would be a major surprise. The only "green" color we're currently anticipating is Spring Yellowish Green, which is more of a "Bright Light Lime" than anything else (and I wouldn't put it past Bricklink to call it that-- it'd at least be compatible with some of their other color names). It's the last color shown here (via LDD), and doesn't really resemble the Statue of Liberty's color at all. A new color we haven't heard of would still be possible, but at this stage I'd put money on the final color for the Statue of Liberty fig being Sand Green.

It seemed to match the arms of a Giant Troll from the Castle theme I happened to have next to me almost exactly when I was making a comparison, so I doubt there's any huge discrepancy. More likely just a factor of Sand Green parts looking different under different light (particularly depending on what other colors they're next to). So I think the quality of the photo's more likely to blame than any translucency issues (which would presumably make the color look less vibrant than it should be, not more so). Alternatively, could just be your screen. When I look at the fig on my LCD laptop screen from an extreme angle, it does look much darker than it should, but from a more direct angle it's an obvious sand green.

Their card at ToyFair said September, so they'll probably start showing up here in the States sometime this month if they haven't already. Sets usually start appearing at least a little before their stated release date.

From Mirandir's description, I expect these ones to have more building involved than the ones in 2000. In other words, they'll be actual building toys, not just four-piece minifigures with a one-piece base and a trading card attached. It's the same way TLG hasn't gotten in any trouble that forces them to end the battle packs, since they put speeders and so forth into them so they're not simply minifigure packs.

Personally, I don't expect the mini sets to float my boat really (the few Star Wars sets I'm still attracted to these days tend to be the larger and more impressive ones with a variety of minifigures). But assuming that there is some considerable building involved to avoid conflict with Hasbro, it sounds like it could be a much cooler product than the minifigure packs from various themes in 2000 that simply came with information cards and fairly useless display bases. Mirandir, can you tell us whether these "minifigure sets" are going to include character figs or army-building figs? I'm expecting character figs, so as not to conflict with the battle packs, but I have nothing to go on besides your description. These packages could be the source of that Amidala minifigure that's been spotted. And personally, I wouldn't mind that-- I'm kinda skeptical about how well a Theed Palace set could be done, and while it might be possible to impress me it certainly might be rejected by the AFOLs who actually buy Star Wars sets. And, of course, their opinions matter way more than mine.

We don't have a list of sets. Most of the information we have, including the list of minifigures, can be seen in the two press releases from LEGO.com: Marvel press release DC press release There are 13 minifigures confirmed for each license, for a grand total of 26 confirmed minifigures. In addition, there are 4 buildable action figures for each license-- more about them can be seen in the Action Figures subforum (there are two, Captain America and Joker, who have not been seen).

They're LEGO versions of this poster and this one, just like the ones the LEGO Harry Potter website has in its downloads section for the previous six films. No idea where these two were released, but I think it's so cool that TLG is making these posters... I believe LEGO Indiana Jones is the first theme they did them for, but I'd love to see them for all movie-based licensed themes.

Yes, it does. Frankly, I can't tell you how many times I've been in stores where the kids and parents are in the LEGO aisle looking for sets, and the parents insist that the kids get "something small". Never mind that there's often more play value, a better price per piece, and cooler contents in the larger sets. Never mind that the kids will likely be begging for new sets every time they're in the store. Small, low-priced products cater to that market, hence why small products like trading cards, action figures, and the collectible minifigures are so incredibly successful. There's a reason small, low-priced sets are called "impulses", you know. A person often won't think twice about grabbing a small set rather than saving up for a larger set with a better value. The higher the price tag, the more hesitation. And furthermore, the more customers TLG has, the more are likely to become repeat customers. It's a lot easier convincing yourself to buy a big, expensive set from any theme if you've already "tested the waters" with smaller sets from the same theme.

I, for one, welcome our multi-faction-battlepacks-and-collectible-vignette overlords. Of course, I'm not a buyer of Star Wars sets so my opinion probably doesn't count for much. But some of this year's sets (particularly the Episode I sets) have brought me close to collecting this theme again, so here's hoping that next year's sets are just as impressive. Really, the multi-faction battle packs sound like they make a lot of sense. Including multiple factions in sets is something TLG has done-- successfully, I might add-- in almost all of their recent themes. Even licensed themes: look at 7569, 4191, and 4865. These are all similarly-priced to the Star Wars battle packs, with similar contents. And thankfully, Star Wars seems to be keeping the inherent concept of battle packs the same. Rather than including familiar characters like the battle-pack-sized sets in these other themes, the Star Wars ones still sound like they include stock characters for army building. I can't see how including multiple factions in battle packs will make people in general buy fewer sets. True, it's good when a set can be augmented by other sets to create a richer play experience-- this is the sort of thing that makes for repeat customers. However, small sets like these are often the sets most accessible to children. And if the kid's first set bores them, with little room for role-play, then their first impulse won't necessarily be to buy more sets from the same brand they found boring. A small set has to leave a good first impression, and having multiple factions for straight-from-the-box role play helps with this, as sales have evidently demonstrated in other themes. It'll still be easy to army-build characters in multi-faction battle packs. Of course, the Endor battle pack as it has been described would lead to a serious imbalance between rebel and imperial forces, but aren't the rebels supposed to be at a disadvantage in terms of troop numbers?

Unfortunately, it doesn't exist as an official piece. Maybe in the future it might be released in a set, but that's just me being hopeful. Given how thin some of his standing sprigs of hair are, it would probably have to be made of rubber if it were put in an official set. It'd be awesome if the 2012 Ninjago line started including hairpieces for all the ninjas. Again, though, that's just me being hopeful, and we have no reason to expect that to happen unless TLG foresees a decision like that being hugely popular.

Minifigures.LEGO.com has been updated with the Series 5 figs. Their official names are as follows: Boxer Cave Woman Egyptian Queen Small Clown Evil Dwarf Ice Fisherman Fitness Instructor Gangster Graduate Lizard Man Lumberjack Royal Guard Detective Snowboarder Guy Zookeeper None of the names are all that surprising-- in fact, the biggest surprise for me was how few surprises there were! I guess we're getting used to the naming system at this point. One interesting note is the name Snowboarder Guy, which I believe is the first time a male qualifier has been added to an existing female fig's name to differentiate the two. I suppose it's just a matter of sequence (the female snowboarder came first) rather than any type of progressive attitudes by TLG, but it's certainly of interest to me. As always, the bios are hilarious. As always, there are some great LEGO references. One that got me to laugh out loud was the Gangster's bio: "The problem with being a no-good criminal in LEGO CITY is that the place is just chock full of police stations." Ain't that the truth! Although from a realistic perspective, in LEGO City he shouldn't have much trouble keeping out of jail when he's the most heavily-armed guy around. Another epic bio: "You may have heard of some of the Detective’s most famous cases. He’s the one who single-handedly solved the Brickster’s Baffling Brick-Napping, the Sam Sinister Switcheroo, and the Mystery of Timmy’s Nose. Why, he even tracked down a missing pet from the Racing Drome…and robot monkeys don’t leave footprints!" Pretty incredible cramming that many inside references into one paragraph. And it's true, Timmy's nose really is mysterious... the mystery, of course, being, "why, why, why?" It disappoints me that there haven't been any videos since Series 1, but still the web team has done a good job of keeping the collectible minifigures fun and exciting!

Something to keep in mind is that "Limited Edition" and "Special Edition" are just how TLG identifies store exclusives. Thus, the point of the packaging is to help people who see the sets on store shelves that these sets will be harder to find elsewhere, since they're exclusive to one chain of stores. The LEGO Shop website in fact uses the "Hard to Find" designation for these same sets a lot of the time.

Probably similarly to how they did the Jabba's Palace set. It'll mostly be a playset of interior features, possibly with a "roof" or at least a facade that suggests (but doesn't too strongly resemble) the exterior shape. Alternatively, it could be a purely interior playset representing the throne room, or a purely exterior playset representing that scene where the Jedi are escorting the Queen out of the palace and fighting battle droids. If the Darth Maul duel were to be included, then I imagine the overall set design would resemble the Cloud City set or the Home One set, with multiple scenes joined together but with strong differences in subject matter and appearance. It would be hard to do similarly to Echo Base, since the scenes don't have a strong physical resemblance (whereas Echo Base's scenes in general tended to have the same icy aesthetic).

I can't figure out why everyone's questioning the Statue of Liberty's color so much. On my computer's screen, it's an obvious sand green, and my computer doesn't display any of the other colors at all strangely. The leprechaun's hat seems a considerably deeper green color. For comparison purposes, here's a Sand Green brick on Brickshelf, and here's the Statue of Liberty fig. On my computer screen, there's not much difference. There's considerably more contrast with a green or bright green brick.