Aanchir

Again, where are you getting the idea that there's a durability problem with Chinese-made parts and minifigures? That's one quality issue I've never heard of with collectible minifigures, or with any other "Made in China" parts. The problems reported so far have in general been purely aesthetic ones, and even those aren't nearly as severe as some of the quality issues LEGO parts had prior to Chinese production. As for girl figures and "girl colors", there is a rumor that next year will include a girl-oriented minifigure-scale theme, although people in general are unsure what sort of contents it might include. I do expect it to include other "girl colors" though, given that these six colors are all due to be released soon. Incidentally, and pulling this conversation back on-topic, color 325 Lavender will be making its debut this year in Series 5, as the color of the dancer/fitness trainer's boom box. Others of these colors have been spotted in the Alien Conquest and Cars themes, as well as an extended-line female minifigure clock in casual clothing, possibly foreshadowing next year's theme. The collectible minifigures also tend to go a significant distance towards amending the rarity of female minifigures. Although there are never as many as male minifigures, the collectible series have some of the greatest diversity of female figs of any theme, and a greater gender balance than pretty much any theme besides possibly City.

Another thing I should point out about the oversize boxes-- an advantage they had was that in general, at least one of the pictures on the box (whether on the front or the back) could show the set at approximately actual size (obviously with some variation based on what was in the background or foreground). I first observed this in the BIONICLE theme and soon enough discovered it applied to other themes too. Needless to say, this would not be possible if, for instance, Jetbug is in a box the size of the hero canisters (even if the box art ends up seeming a bit cramped, Jetbug is frankly just too large to fit on that size box). Not having an actual-size pic of the whole set may make it harder to sell sets, since it will seem like people are getting a smaller product for the same cost. In general, I do not like the "shrinking boxes" phenomenon. I may warm up to it eventually, but in general it just seems to have a lot of disadvantages with only minor advantages I can expect to benefit from.

Great review! I'm glad to know that the lower part of the capture pod stays in place rather than flopping around! Still, the capture pod strikes me as one of the weakest parts of this set. First of all, it's Transparent Bright Green rather than Transparent Fluorescent Green, so it fails to match the color scheme of the other alien vehicles. Second, it's a little hard to figure out functionally. I like one person's interpretation that the Alien Pet "mind-controls" the man to enter the pod of his own volition, because otherwise there's no easy way for the vehicle to force him into the pod. Then again, I suppose this applies to most sets with capture pods. The main difference here is that with the capture pod on huge stilts willing suspension of disbelief is tested a bit more thoroughly. The civilian is great, as is the Alien Soldier. A little less decisive about the pet... I don't especially like white-eyes-with-black-pupils in LEGO, preferring the minifigure's black-eyes-with-white-sparkles. Overall, the vehicle is stunning. I love the tall, spindly appearance as well as the engines on the back of the detachable flyer. In general the vehicle is thin and oddly-proportioned, but doesn't seem the least bit frail.

I think that visually it's awesome. So "not worth displaying" doesn't strike me as an adequate reason for its failure to take off. The lack of awesome features to fill that space seems to be its biggest weakness. The spinning outer ring is kind of cool, but the crane is about as boring as it comes. Also, for its size it comes with very few minifigures (even if those minifigures, besides the Alien Pet, are unique). While I'm not one of the people who insists that smaller ships be able to dock with it (in this context, I think "mothership" is meant more with the implication of "flagship"), that kind of functionality would have definitely improved the playability of this set.

The online LEGO Pick-A-Brick has those turntables for 45 cents apiece (US). That's better than any of the Bricklink prices!

Paint? What kind of 32x32 baseplates are you discussing? Are you sure you're not confusing problems with the actual plastic with paint problems? Anyway, I think TLG used to outsource their baseplate production to another company (the company that also used to make BIONICLE canisters). But I may have read that incorrectly. Something to that effect was mentioned in the "Press Room" on LEGO.com, but it's no longer there, so I can't verify.

Copypasted from the Action Figures forum because it's late and I should probably be in bed: It's a bold claim, and I'm sure BIONICLE fans will be miffed to hear a zany anime-like adventure story compared to LEGO's epic sci-fi saga, but one has to admit that with a full TV cartoon series in the works, this may not be mere grandstanding-- Ninjago is definitely experiencing the rapid growth that TLG hoped for it to experience. Looking that up on the Borders website, I also came across this gem: a Ninjago graphic novel written by our good pal Greg Farshtey. Although Greg is often blamed for perceived problems in the later years of the BIONICLE story, people generally agree that the BIONICLE comics (which he wrote since the beginning) had some great writing behind them, so LEGO fans who find themselves in a Borders in November or December might want to check if this book is in stock and maybe flip through the pages. For those who don't know Greg Farshtey, he's not only the writer of the BIONICLE comics and one of BIONICLE's chief writers, he's also an important writer for LEGO in general. He's the editor-in-chief for LEGO Club and LEGO Brickmaster magazines, and some people might remember his role as the Amazing Redini, a mystical minifig head who answered fan questions on the LEGO website in 2002 (and probably other years, but I remember Redini from 2002).

See, I'm a bit different. I preferred the oversized boxes so I had a place to store my larger sets if I got them while at college or otherwise away from home. Preferably I loved the really oversized boxes because I could store multiple fully-built sets in one box and potentially compress the rest. Once the boxes were home I'd cut them up or compress them anyway so the large sizes never caused me any serious problems. On a side note which may upset/amuse BIONICLE fans, I was at Borders recently and checked the summary listed for the upcoming "LEGO Ninjago Official Guide". Read for yourself: It's a bold claim, and I'm sure BIONICLE fans will be miffed to hear a zany anime-like adventure story compared to LEGO's epic sci-fi saga, but one has to admit that with a full TV cartoon series in the works, this may not be mere grandstanding-- Ninjago is definitely experiencing the rapid growth that TLG hoped for it to experience. Looking that up on the Borders website, I also came across this gem: a Ninjago graphic novel written by our good pal Greg Farshtey. Although Greg is often blamed for perceived problems in the later years of the BIONICLE story, people generally agree that the BIONICLE comics (which he wrote since the beginning) had some great writing behind them, so LEGO fans who find themselves in a Borders in November or December might want to check if this book is in stock and maybe flip through the pages.

Three shades of grey at a time. There are also BL's Very Light Gray and Very Light Bluish Gray, both of which are far rarer. Using LEGO's color naming system, the colors are: 103 Light Grey (BL's Very Light Gray) 2 Grey (BL's Light Gray) 27 Dark Grey (BL's Dark Gray) 208 Light Stone Grey (BL's Very Light Bluish Gray) 194 Medium Stone Grey (BL's Light Bluish Gray) 199 Dark Stone Grey (BL's Dark Bluish Gray) The first three were all from pre-2004 sets, while the last three are from 2004 or later. There may have been some flukes, and probably were since the date when a set is first released isn't the only date it's produced, so some 2003 sets may have had one or more production cycles after the switch. There are also reports on Bricklink of some of the pre-2004 colors being used later, but I'm not sure how much of this might just be members slow to learn that there were, in fact, new grey colors. In any event, the cutoff point between the two greys was between 2003 and 2004, along with many other color changes like the change from 25 Earth Orange (old brown) to 192 Reddish Brown (new brown). Anyway, this is neat, although I'd love if the headgear were shuffled around a bit to give the orange minifigure an actual TLG headgear piece. Having a third-party piece can be misleading as some people may think that only third-party headgear exists in orange, when in fact the newer version of the baseball cap exists in orange (along with many hair pieces). I've never built a swatch like this (probably don't even own all the pieces I'd need), although I do have a chart on LDD showing all the minifigure skin tones and hair colors that have been used.

I doubt we'll ever see a realistic crusades theme. The crusades are a period of time many people aren't proud of, marked by religious and racial bigotry as well as many extremely distasteful acts (like destruction of many cultural treasures, whether Christian, Islamic, or Jewish) which people were low enough to justify with their religions. A theme where you actually have two factions defined by being of separate human races or religions is frankly out of the question, and for good reason. Also, product lifespans vary by store. I can guarantee you not a single store I've been to in the past year has had sets from 2006 or earlier.

How could the windshield piece be used to create a 2x3 windshield? As I see it, this new windshield on Mater is brilliant specifically because it could function as an actual windshield in future sets, and fills a role that no previous windshield filled (that of an odd-width windscreen). As for the faces of other cars, true, they probably could have used other pieces. This would have prevented them from being done well using prints or stickers-- they'd have to rely on STAMPS (Stickers Across Multiple Pieces), something even I object to. In general, most of the new molds in Cars are about as versatile as any smaller pieces that could have been used to build them, and yet give a much more attractive and streamlined look to the vehicles. When you consider that most of these new parts are basically this theme's "minifigure accessories", its parts are no more specialized that most molds specific to the Star Wars or Batman themes. More versatile, in fact, because in general they replicate shapes that aren't specific to any particular franchise, can be used for actual structural building rather than just as minifigure parts and greebles, and can be used easily in other non-licensed themes.

Understandable. I just wanted to make sure I knew what you were talking about, since most of the time people use Bricklink or TLG names. In some cases, people who don't strictly follow these naming systems will assign names based strictly on appearance, so "dark reddish brown" might have referred not to a separate color from Reddish Brown but rather to a variation within that color. It is, after all, one of the colors most well-known for inconsistencies (along with Dark Red). If it takes looking at the label of something you already own to tell that there's quality problems, then how do you know there are quality problems? Your reaction to Chinese plastic may be well-founded, but the way you describe it it just sounds paranoid. There are a lot of valid reasons to be opposed to "made in China" products. For instance, you may dislike what outsourcing does to local businesses, you may have ethical issues with Chinese laborers being underpaid, or you may have political reasons for disliking China and not wanting companies you trust to be contributing to the nation's economic success. But disliking Chinese-made products on principle just because some have had quality issues is silly beyond words. Anyway, the differences between the chemical makeup of the ABS in Chinese-made minifigures and the ABS in Danish-, Hungarian-, Czech-, or Mexican-made minifigures is slight. TLG isn't just using an arbitrary plastic for making minifigures at the Chinese production plant-- they specifically chose the one that's closest to what they use in their other facilities. So there shouldn't be any serious differences in durability or functionality between Chinese-made minifigures and others, and any that exist are more likely a consequence of mold differences rather than type of plastic. Well, in the magnet packs, Series 1, and even Series 2 there were widespread reports of poorer-quality minifigure parts, and even today in Series 4 there are visible differences in some of the Chinese-made minifigure parts from those in other sets (there is a slight translucency issue in the legs, even though I can't think of a single situation in which it would make any difference to the appearance of a MOC). Overall, though, the quality seems to have improved significantly, and many of the remaining complaints about Chinese plastic are based more in paranoia regarding the older defects than in actual experience of serious defects in today's minifigures. As for ABS being the plastic used for all LEGO, keep in mind that LEGO does use other plastics besides ABS, but that they vary by part rather than by production facility. For instance, polycarbonate is used for transparent pieces in almost all cases, while polypropylene (I think) is used for the more translucent weapon pieces sometimes encountered in BIONICLE. There is also a rubbery material used at various times in various themes (and despite what some people think, it is not cheaper than ABS but rather much more expensive), and various other obvious differences in matierial among minifigure accessories. In general, though, TLG does a lot of chemical experimentation with all materials they use to ensure that they are safe, color-fast, and durable, and they tweak their formulas on a regular basis to make periodic improvements in various aspects.

Now, to be fair I liked that one-piece monstrosity. It was a well-designed part for its function even if its function (a weapon largely only usable for a single arm of a single figure) was questionable, and I loved the details like how one finger was bent as if over a trigger. Yeah, the original Bulk's helmet is on LDD, and it actually looks pretty cool on this MOC (although for the purpose of this MOC, a 2.0 helmet is more appropriate). Here's an image. Well, as SpiderSpaceman said, you can use LDD Extended mode to use these parts in different colors than those they exist in in real life. But actually, I built this MOC largely before I knew about LDD Extended mode, and did it primarily by clicking View>New Themes>LEGO Universe to switch the model built in DesignByMe mode into LEGO Universe mode where I could recolor things, and clicking View>New Themes>LEGO DesignByMe to switch back anytime I needed to add a new Hero Factory part. The pipes attached to the weapons are actually something I'd rather keep, partly because their function is to make the weapons more unique overall. I wanted to limit him to using six pieces at most for his weapons (the maximum used by any other 2.0 Hero set), and wanted him to use those gun-barrel pieces. There's not very many parts from 2.0 sets that can be added to those gun barrel pieces to make them look cooler and at the same time not rip off Surge 2.0's magnificent weapon design, so I decided some sort of tubing would make the weapons feel the most unique while echoing Bulk's parts from the Bulk & Vapour set. The only thing I regret is that there's no better way to mount them on the weapons without relying heavily on Technic parts (something else I wanted to avoid).

I'm a bit disappointed that the cat has a new print rather than just using the print from Mrs. Norris from last year's Hogwarts Castle. It seems slightly less adorable now that it has more lozenge-shaped, cat-like eyes as opposed to regular black bead eyes like minifigures. The dog, on the other hand, is amazing, and it's nice to see TLG throwing a brand-new print on him the same year he makes his debut as a police dog. It shows that they're not going to limit his use to places where a German Shepherd or similar dog seems appropriate. They still need a dog with larger, floppier ears who can work as a dalmatian, but I'm willing to wait for that since to be honest expecting new molds in a modular set would be just silly. I can't quite decide whether I like blendy parrots... I've had doubts about them for a long time, which became an actual animosity after my January trip to Costa Rica when I came to appreciate the old parrot's resemblance to an actual Scarlet Macaw. But I recently saw pictures on Flickr that really demonstrated how realistic the feathered look is on these co-injected versions. And since the main thing I prefer printed animals for is their eyes (which are hollow on the parrot whether it's printed or not), I can't say whether the 2009 co-injected parrot is truly a bad thing. I can say with certainty that I feel the PotC theme ought to have brought us an alternate two-color blend for Cotton's parrot. The new toilet is simply amazing and fills a role I've been trying to fill on LDD for months-- a simple residential toilet design. Unfortunately, to build it in real life requires the white pot, which I do not have (I can picture that becoming a much-demanded Bricklink part), and it doesn't work on LDD (where a 3.2mm bar cannot fit through the underside of the headlight brick). The paint roller and tray are both amazing, again especially after my trip to Costa Rica (it was a service learning project, so I did a lot of painting). One thing that bothers me about the actual architecture of the Pet Shop and townhouse is that some parts are hard to see when it's fully constructed. The toilet, for instance, is in a tiny bathroom/WC. EDIT: Another thing that bothers me about the bathroom is the inexplicable window on that interior door-- with the glass door released in an opaque color for the first time in this year's police sets that shouldn't be necessary. I don't especially like that the high-res pics in Grogall's Brickshelf folder often have to have parts of the building disassembled to see those floors in full detail (the lowest floor of the Pet Shop is the most egregious offender in the official photos, although the moving staircase in the video should have been able to solve that problem). The interior architecture of most of the rooms is amazing, with the creative stairs and floors in both the townhouse and the pet shop. The items on the shelf on the pet shop's bottom floor are rather interesting. There's a birdhouse, as well as a yellow frog. Since the frog isn't any sort of enclosure, my brother suggested that he might not be an actual frog but rather some kind of chew toy! The furniture in the town house is also all ingenious. That little girl should not be riding that bike! Her feet can't reach the pedals!

As always, the 1x1 vertical clips in current sets would be 60897 rather than 4085, but of course you know that and it doesn't affect the model whether you go by LDD appearance (as you have done) or by part number. Anyway, Bricklink lists it as 4085c, which if that's really the type in this set would be 4085 (although I'm extremely skeptical, and almost certain it would be 4085d instead). The 1x1 horizontal clips have the same deal. Modern sets will use 61252, and on LDD the two bricks are pretty much identical so there shouldn't be any problem. But again, Bricklink lists the older version, and again, I'm not too confident in the assessment of whoever inventoried this set. Metallic Silver parts should be 298 Cool Silver Drum Lacquered rather than 309 Metalized Silver. 309 Metalized Silver is chrome silver, btw, if it helps you on future MOCs (to my knowledge it and 310 Chrome Gold may be the only two chrome colors to have material IDs at all). Good job getting the correct color on the fish; this is yet another set where Bricklink chose a completely illogical color for it. But then again, Bricklink also says the 2x2 corner slopes are 3x3 corner slopes, so here you are and there you go. Generally. 4085b should also be 60897 in any recent sets (as in, any sets in the last decade). My bad. I make mistakes too. Your model includes 4 12M axles. According to Bricklink there should be 3 12M axles and 1 10M axle. But I can't be totally sure Bricklink is correct in this case. Better to double-check. You have one of brick 64644 in black which is not in the Bricklink inventory. Since you're using those as substitutes for the transparent brown bottle piece 95228, I'm guessing you may have colored it incorrectly? The cook's waist should be 308 Dark Brown rather than 5 Brick Yellow. Bricklink suggests that the cannon 84943 should be all one color, but it's hard to tell if it's accurate on this. Again the thing with part 4085-- BL says it should be 4085, while I'm pretty confident it should be 60897. Go by your own judgment. Same with 6019, which I believe would really be 61252. You have two of brick 48729 in 199Dark Stone Grey and 3 in 194 Medium Stone Grey. Bricklink says all of them should be 194 Medium Stone Grey. Great job on all these sets!

I'm pretty sure the zookeeper's hair is Reddish Brown. By "Dark Reddish Brown", are you referring to the Dark Brown used for Indiana Jones's jacket and the hull of the Imperial Flagship? That's typically called "Dark Brown"-- it's one of the few color names that TLG and Bricklink agree on. The Cavewoman's hair is almost certainly Dark Orange. The only other current colors that resemble it are Medium Nougat (BL's Medium Dark Flesh) and Bright Orange (BL's Orange). Neither of those seems especially likely.

I love how the news article includes a picture of a Pick-A-Brick wall in a news article about complete sets being stolen from a Target store. You'd think they could have done a little more research and found a picture more pertinent to the article. Anyway, it's sad that people are so willing to take advantage of our demand for LEGO sets in order to turn a profit on stolen goods. I wonder where he was planning to resell the sets. eBay? Bricklink? Craigslist? Or a website with less publicity where he might more easily get away with this without suspicion?

I'm not thinking specifically about the collectible minifigures. I'm thinking more about just the monkey piece in general and how its contours and lack of printing are largely inconsistent with regular minifigures or most current minifig animals. I'd have much preferred the next monkey/ape mold to have been more advanced, even if it had to be in a mainstream theme. Now, if TLG wants to release a new monkey in a mainstream theme, this chimp would look inferior among LEGO primates, and a new chimp simply isn't going to happen too soon after the first one. As for the lifeguard and dancer, LEGO has never had the capacity to print the top of a minifigure torso. They could add it, but due to the curved shape of the top edge of the torso there'd be a very visible seam. Meanwhile the outfit would look like it's falling apart at the sides. I personally don't see how this is a problem when it can be so easily ignored. The lifeguard is still one of my favorite female collectible figs.

Very nice bright reddish violet (BL's magenta) parts! This set really doesn't appeal to me, but those magenta parts knock my socks off!

Here in the United States, I've seen varying things. One independent toy store that also has a sort of a focus on collectibles shelves the figs near the register, so it's hard for people not to notice them. But they still last a surprisingly long time, possibly because LEGO buyers prefer to do their shopping at familiar chains. At Walmart and Target stores, I rarely see people looking specifically for the figs, but I have observed that they disappear more quickly a lot of the time, and that parents who come in with kids often try to encourage the kids to make small purchases, not large ones. So bypassing these for the medium-to-large sets may not be as frequent in those stores. On a side note, yes, when I see this happening, I always point out sets to these kids that have really appealing contents. For instance, for a kid who seems intent on getting an expensive LEGO City Police set, I'll point out the Police Minifigures collection which has a decent vehicle, several useful minifigures and a dog.

Nice review! I was kind of surprised that his face/windshield piece, if done in transparent, could actually function as a windshield! I expected it to be more like a 2x2x2 slope brick, rather than hollow underneath and in the back. It's a pleasant surprise without question. I kind of see what Clone O'Patra means about it seeming elongated in the back, but still I think this is a well-designed set for its size and certainly a stunning rendition of a main character from the films! I really take issue with a lot of complaints that parts in this theme are "<insert that tiresome argument>". As my brother points out, a lot of these people may be the same people cheering when these parts come out without prints and prove to be extremely useful for building four-wide vehicles.

Are those pieces available as arm armor on Hero Recon Team? I think they're only available as torso armor, but I could be wrong.

Interesting! The boxer, lumberjack, sleuth, and graduate are some of my favorites here. But I also love the Snowboarder's jacket, and am growing fonder of the new chimp. Still would have preferred a more posable monkey or chimp somewhere between the old monkey and this guy, though. This is the first time the gladiator's face has been visible. Pretty fearsome! Also, we can now see clearly that the dragon suit guy or whatever you want to call him has both a helmet and a neck accessory that includes his tail, meaning he can turn his head-- something I'm very grateful for. Also, something I want to point out that my brother noticed recently-- many Collectible Minifigure outfits, including Series 5 ones, are available as costumes in the LEGO Ninjago iPhone app. The Cleopatra fig is called "Egyptian Royal" there, but no idea if that'll end up being the finalized name. I can't remember other names at the moment, but he can remind me next time I see him.

I think the dog in the third model is a poodle, actually. Anyway, I like this set but I find it's not quite as artistically-designed as some of the older Creator houses. I've built a lot of them on LDD, and I have to say I love the diversity of models that can be built with one set's pieces. The second model in this set is definitely the most outstanding of the three, with the rooftop patio and classy hot tub. The third is also creative, but not especially attractive. Anyway, the reason the minifigure is so generic is because the main reason for minifigures in Creator houses is because a lot of buyers might not have generic minifigures in their collections. From the LEGO Club website's interview: On a side note, I for one don't mind the roaring kid. He's ridiculous, but in my eyes hilariously so. The pages for those polls used to be drab and boring, but nowadays my brother and I have a good chuckle every time we see our pal the roaring kid in an instruction booklet. Of course he's not quite as fun as the "HEY!" guy from City box art, who changes with every sub-theme.

I like that you've got the official LEGO color names for this. That will certainly make it easier to order the parts you need off of Pick-A-Brick. And it looks like the program also allows you to select which colors you use, which makes it a lot easier to limit yourself to PaB parts or parts from your own collection if you so chose. Nevertheless, I'm sure there are some people who would rather use Bricklink color names, especially for older, more obscure colors that they're not likely to find in huge quantities in their own collections or able to order from PaB. Perhaps if you had an option to switch between different naming systems (TLG/Bricklink/Peeron)? For all I know, you might already have this, but I'm just throwing that receommendation out there. The problem with that idea would be that certain Bricklink colors correspond to more than one LEGO color (I'm sure the same problem exists with Peeron and other databases, of course). Thankfully, this mostly applies to metallic colors which people aren't likely to be using in mosaics (and most of which don't exist as 1x1 plates even). But nevertheless, know in advance that a 1:1 color conversion table isn't going to be totally reliable for this sort of thing as long as there are colors like 221 Bright Purple and 22 Medium Reddish Violet (both of which Bricklink identifies as Dark Pink). Overall, though, I'm very impressed with your ambitions for this software, and I hope you continue to find solutions for the problems that remain!