Aanchir

Wonderful! They look just like how I remember those characters. Where's the decoration for RR's helmet, though? Didn't he have one?

It should be noted that there are a lot of skin tones that have been used for minifigures (ignoring unusual skin tones used for non-human minifigures like aliens, monsters, and robots). 24 Bright Yellow (BL's Yellow): The traditional minifigure color. This has been used in all non-licensed themes as well as all licensed themes prior to 2002. The switch to realistic skin tones occured in all licensed themes between 2003 and 2004. LEGO's official standpoint on this skintone is that it has no connotations of race, something that is supported by their use of the color for multiracial characters in the Wild West/Western, Islanders, and Ninja themes, along with the more recent Collectible Minifigures. Many people dislike mixing yellow-skinned figures and more realistic darker-skinned minifigures in the same display. LEGO did this in only one set, the 2003 Star Wars set 10123 Cloud City, a decision they seem to regret and rarely acknowledge. But even within yellow-skinned minifigures, not all minifigure face designs are perfectly consistent-- there are varying levels of detail that one might prefer to keep separate (for instance, as a habit I never mix minifigures with a white "eye sparkle" with those that lack the sparkle). List of Bright Yellow minifigure heads 18 Nougat (BL's Flesh): The first realistic skin tone for LEGO figures, it was used for white/Caucasian characters in LEGO offshoots like Duplo, Belville, and Galidor. It first appeared on minifigures in the NBA-licensed Basketball subtheme of LEGO Sports. However, as of the switch to realistic skin tones as the default for licensed sets, it is no longer the default "white" skintone, and appears primarily on characters who are expected to have slightly darker or tanned skin. For instance, it appears on certain Middle-Eastern characters in the Indiana Jones theme. List of Nougat minifigure heads 25 Earth Orange (BL's Brown): Earth Orange (not to be confused with the Bricklink color of the same name) is a common color from LEGO's history, used for pretty much anything that needed to be a brown color for many years. It was notably used for black-skinned minifigures in the Basketball sets in 2002 and later in the Cloud City set of 2003. However, in 2004 this color was discontinued. It should be noted that many heads in this color (specifically those from the Basketball sets) are dreadfully inconsistent with the regular minifigure aesthetic, having caricatured facial features and eyes with whites. List of Earth Orange minifigure heads 283 Light Nougat (BL's Light Flesh): This color debuted during the 2003-2004 switch to realistic skin tones for all licensed themes, representing white/Caucasian characters. Like 18 Nougat it is noteworthy for having never appeared as anything other than a skintone. List of Light Nougat minifigure heads 192 Reddish Brown: This color is one of two that replaced Earth Orange in 2004. It is the more frequent of the two colors that replaced Earth Orange, and is still on LEGO's color palette today. Like Earth Orange, it is primarily used for characters with black skin. As with Light Nougat and Bright Yellow, there is some inconsistency within this color depending on whether or not faces include the now-standard "eye sparkle". List of Reddish Brown minifigure heads 217 Brown (BL's Dark Flesh): Brown first appeared in 2004 as a replacement for Earth Orange, primarily in minifigure faces and BIONICLE parts rather than basic bricks. It was discontinued after 2006. List of Brown minifigure heads 38 Dark Orange: Although not a recent color, this is a rarer color that made its first and only appearance in 2008 as a mid-range minifigure skin tone from the Indiana Jones theme. List of Dark Orange minifigure heads (currently includes only one example) 312 Medium Nougat (BL's Medium Dark Flesh): Medium Nougat debuted in April 2010 in the Prince of Persia line, used primarily for architectural details. It also appeared in many hair pieces and minifigure accessories in the Collectible Minifigures, but this year's Pirates of the Caribbean sets mark its first use as a minifigure skin color. It will also be used for Captain Panaka in one of this year's Star Wars Episode I sets, but regrettably it is still a very rare skin color-- in fact, minifigure hands in this color have not yet been spotted in sets. List of Medium Nougat minifigure heads (currently empty, but that will change when this minifigure is inventoried) Personally, I don't tend to like mixing of realistically-colored minifigure heads with yellow minifigure heads, but it's purely a matter of preference. I hope you find plenty of minifigure heads that suit your needs!

This is a really great review of what looks to be a really great set. Ultimately, the minifigures and parts are what amaze me here. I like that the "minifigure analysis" computer screen slope is compatible with other computer screen prints. I also am amazed with the construction of the main alien guy-- it should be noted that rather than being a commander, ToyFair preliminary box art labeled him as "Alien Pirate". The commander, in contrast, is the one in the mothership set with the tentacle-legs and a uniform like a military dictator. The ADU minifigures are amazing as well, and you can tell by his unique uniform that Captain 'Stache is in charge of the unit. The main HQ vehicle impresses me a bit less than the Agents Mobile Command Center, which by its very nature felt huge and packed with fun features. In contrast, this vehicle feels smaller and more compressed, almost to the point of seeming cramped. Still, I love its chunky sci-fi military design, with huge tires and a tanklike body. The Vic Viper space-plane on top is also a victory for this entire theme. Ultimately, I haven't decided whether I'm going to collect this theme. As trendy as it is, I'm going to want to save my money for other investments, and if I were to buy any sets in this theme I'd probably want to collect several of them (if not all of them). Still, I'm sure the temptation will only grow as summer draws nearer...

Oh, there were plenty of complaints about the repeat skateboarder, just as with the repeat surfer. I don't understand why it is that to many people, an idea LEGO has used before is forever taboo. If it's really too similar, there's no obligation to get the set. But in most cases the new minifigure, even if it fills a similar role to an older fig, is fairly unique. We had never had a female minifigure wetsuit before, after all.

And following up on that: http://shop.lego.com/ByTheme/Product.aspx?p=4659018&cn=245 Overall, I'm very impressed with this offer. The fact that it's structured like this (first kit is by itself, subscription comes later) also makes it easier to "test the waters" and see if it's really worth the full subscription.

Well, DesignByMe/Factory sets as you mentioned have custom building instructions and packaging. This accounts for the ten-dollar price difference. As for the individual differences in the price per piece, you are right, these can be significant. Element 4593555 (part 90609 in black) costs $.24 on Pick-A-Brick and $.30 through DesignByMe, meaning the DesignByMe price is 25% more expensive (not including the $10 price difference). I imagine the cost difference is one of efficiency-- Pick-A-Brick orders tend to be bulk orders of particular pieces, whereas DesignByMe orders have parts in hugely variable quantities. To compensate for the expected difference in efficiency, TLG may have resorted to having a higher flat rate for each piece ordered in DesignByMe-- even if someone orders a model made of just one type of piece through DesignByMe, or if they order hundreds of individual elements on Pick-A-Brick. It's also possible that the higher price for DesignByMe mode helps pay for continued improvements and developments to the LEGO Digital Designer interface. Since LEGO Digital Designer is free software, it can't pay for itself. Of course, this doesn't explain much since TLG could just as easily charge the same amount and just distribute their profits differently, but I'm just brainstorming possible explanations right now. EDIT: Here's another idea. It's possible the increased price is a way of compensating for the larger packaging that a higher piece count necessitates. After all, the packaging for a five-pound monstrosity of a set would have to be larger (and consequently more expensive) than the packaging for a purchase consisting of a single minifigure. True, the same applies to Pick-A-Brick, but since Pick-A-Brick packaging doesn't need to be custom-printed for each individual order, it could be significantly less costly. Something to keep in mind is that the "on-demand" nature of PaB and DesignByMe alike raises their cost higher than a mass-produced set with the same parts. But this also means that individual facets of that cost, such as the cost of packing the set or printing the packaging, will also be inflated beyond what it would be for a mass-produced set.

Well, here's the problem: one of your hinges is at an angle of 29.35 degrees rather than 30 degrees. Once it's changed to 30 degrees, the circle closes without any problems. Always nice when a problem isn't any trouble to solve!

Actually, Bricklink prefers to give old part numbers to what they consider "new versions" of older parts in a lot of cases. A better question would be why TLG will sometimes give new part numbers to these new versions (for instance, assigning #60897 to part 4085b) and other times re-use part numbers on a radically different mold (keeping the same part number for the newer 4085d). But yeah; I'm just sharing which one is the part number actually listed on the piece, which these days tends to be the one I go by regardless of appearance. It's your choice which you'd rather have on your sets, since it's a fairly subjective issue.

I'd love a collectible minifig pirate! The only problem with that concept, though, is that I have no idea how LEGO could design a pirate with more detail and charm than the pirates of the 2009 Pirates theme. I suppose, though, that there's limitless possibilities of what a pirate can look like, so they should have no problem designing a unique-looking pirate minifigure if they should choose to do so. Maybe bring back the printed parrot when they do so? I suppose that might be a great demand, but in general I like my LEGO animals printed. Plus, after my trip to Costa Rica in January I have a special fondness to the Scarlet Macaw pattern of the classic parrot. A firefighter could also be a cool fig. It could possibly have a more realistically-colored uniform (Sand Yellow, perhaps). And TLG already demonstrated that they're not afraid to create explicitly City-themed figs when they made a Traffic Cop with a LEGO City police badge. In any event, you bring up a good point-- there are plenty of options available in recent themes, so any concerns that there will be no more fresh ideas in future series amount to folly.

Skeleton Barbossa's shoulder accessory should be 26 Black rather than 140 Earth Blue. Skeleton Barbossa's torso should be part 93060, not 60115. The 1x1 plate with clip should probably be part 60897 (BL's 4085b and 4085d) rather than 4085-- I don't trust Bricklink on this, since 4085d is the current version and the one all my 2011 sets use. However, you're welcome to continue using 4085 if you prefer to go by Bricklink's assessment. In this case, you definitely ought to use 60897 instead of 4085. 60897 may not look correct, but it is the actual part number molded onto Bricklink's part 4085d. Other than that, no problems with this one. Great work!

Some of the more specialized parts are definitely printed... you can see this in the designer videos on the website (and you couldn't possibly have stickers on some of the parts' contours, anyway). Others are stickered-- in Grogall's high-res images of Flo's V8 Cafe you can tell this about some of the 2x4 tiles on the cafe itself, as well as in Ultimate Build Lightning McQueen as mentioned by jonwil.

Here's a link to my deviantART gallery. Needless to say, I haven't uploaded much to it. I haven't been nearly as active as an artist since my days in the BIONICLE fan community, and even much of my art from that time period is pathetic stuff I'm not comfortable sharing (you could conceivably get to some of it through my Brickshelf or Majhost account, but I don't encourage you to do so and don't want to be associated with any old shames you might find there). I liked to consider myself an artist back then, but I don't know if I ever had what it took. Occasionally today I come up with something I can be proud of like my Artemis Fowl fanart from late last year. But I've given up on pursuing art as an academic goal, and that may be part of why I drifted away from the BIONICLE fan community when the theme waned-- unlike some people, I just didn't have the talent to perpetuate my involvement there.

I myself had a large tub of K'nex parts during my own childhood, and when I was younger I played with them about as often as I did with my LEGO collection. These were the days when my dad had an ambition of setting up a children's museum in our hometown. To promote his idea to the community, he created exhibits that toured local schools. One such exhibit, an architecture-themed one, included tubs of K'nex and tips on replicating common bridge designs. Likewise, his space-themed exhibit featured LEGO Launch Command sets. Looking back down memory lane, there were points at which with a little outside pressure I could have just as easily become an Adult Fan of K'nex as an AFOL. A possible reason that life didn't take me in that direction is that I wasn't very creative with K'nex. Being more technically-demanding than LEGO, I had difficulty turning ideas in my head into K'Nex models. And that could be part of the reason they've adopted a brick-based building system-- it's a lot easier for children's minds to comprehend, and it serves as an introductory step towards the more advanced products like roller-coasters, carousels, and Ferris wheels. Still, I wish they could have found a solution that didn't require copying the LEGO brick's design and simplifying the products to the point where you don't even get enough parts to make more complex models.

Well, for starters, here in the United States I've never heard of most of these brands. It wasn't until joining this site that I learned about them. The United States is a big market, and it could be that over here buyers are more insistent on intercompatibility. In K'nex's case, it would be especially advantageous to gain the appeal of the U.S. market because K'nex is produced in the U.S. It could also have something to do with LEGO's success. Remember that LEGO sales were suffering during the 90s, and thus it wouldn't necessarily be the best idea for their competitors to follow their model. Turn the page to today, when LEGO is phenomenally successful and well-known. Suddenly, companies have more difficulty competing with LEGO, and take up the maxim "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em." By offering similar products to LEGO at a lower price, companies can ensure that they remain on toy store shelves despite not having a huge advantage over their main competitor. The unfortunate side effect of this is that the more building toy companies become "clone brands", the harder it is for non-clones to survive. If everyone has intercompatibility at their disposal, then those companies that don't will be at a distinct disadvantage.

13/Attack on the Nile - 3 points 19/Spinjitzu Training Temple - 2 points 37/Temple Assault - 1 point 38/Colosseum of Atlantis - 1 point Overall, I found myself surprised with what my votes fell to. Most of the stuff was stuff I had already observed to be fantastic entries. However, I narrowed my choices down by choosing things that had: Stunning visuals A unique concept A feeling of completeness-- specifically, it should be something that can stand alone and make someone want to shell out the cost of its parts. Adherence to the aesthetic of their respective themes Complex building techniques or ideas Attack on the Nile was, needless to say, my favorite in most of these respects. Spinjitzu Training Temple fell behind in a lot of respects (its visuals aren't too amazing, and its concept was already explored in the trap-filled Spinjitzu Dojo), but it picked up some of the slack with its amazing playability that lends it a sense of completeness. Colosseum of Atlantis almost got dropped from my voting roster because the sharks pulling the chariot drew away from its sense of uniqueness-- however, the uniqueness of the overall structure and its beautiful adherence to the Atlantis aesthetic won me over. Temple Assault, meanwhile, outdid most of the other temple-style Pharaohs Quest entries with its simple but detailed design (and the fact that it resembles genuine ancient Egyptian architecture didn't hurt its chances either). Entries that were on my list of favorites but which I ultimately didn't vote for included Atlantis Seafood (a brilliant idea, but a bit out-of-place and lacking in unique building techniques) and Kraken's Treasure (brilliant action features, but the overall set design isn't visually stunning and the "mech mode" of the Kraken feels a bit odd). Overall, based on how the votes have been falling, it doesn't look like my entry's doing too well. Sometime I'll inquire in the topic asking why people did/didn't like it as much as the other entries. I'm sure the large parts in it might have something to do with that. But in any event, it was a fun entry to make and I'm so glad I went to the effort to participate in this contest! I feel this contest brought out the best in everyone, and needless to say I never expected my best to match up with the best of this site's more experienced builders. May the best entry win!

I'm a bit confused about it, too, but we know from earlier information that there will be levels 3 and 4, so at least we know that you have the option of continuing it through more than one year of sets. But no idea whether other people would start out at those levels or whatnot. In any event I doubt it will end up going through to a level as high as 10. Chances are that after completing a certain number of levels, you "graduate" Master Builder Academy. After all, the program seems geared toward kids, and they probably don't expect the majority of kids to remain LEGO fans their whole lives. If they continued it to a high level like that, then the number of people who would reach that level would dwindle, and the profitability of producing sets for that level would go down with it. In any event, though, I'm not interested in it for the whole "achievement" aspect of it. I'm drawn to the sets and the additional content (building tips, etc.) that comes with them. But who knows? Perhaps I might improve my creativity at the same time. I certainly wouldn't frown on such an opportunity!

Personally, I think that the Master Builder Academy offer is looking very prominent. I think it's a terrible generalization to assume a talented design has to be on-par with an AFOL MOC. In fact, most of the MOCs I design are made to look as much like official sets as possible-- that means no covering up studs where there's no point in doing so. I think anything more than that can amount to overkill and can eliminate a good deal of the "LEGO-ness" of the model. Furthermore, I personally like bright colors more than earth tones. This probably comes as a surprise to nobody since I was a fan of BIONICLE for a full nine years, a happy collector of Power Miners and Atlantis, and since this year a "born-again" Hero Factory fan. Furthermore, some of these colors are slightly obscure, and having multiple kits that provide you with a similar color palette is a grand opportunity to collect useful bright yellowish green or medium lilac parts. I couldn't be more thrilled about this! Of course, I guess this means I have to start saving money if I want this to last!

Those parts aren't new. They're from various airplane/helicopter sets from last year. I also take issue with them being called <insert that tiresome argument> (which tends to mean overspecialized). If the use of helicopter parts for a speedboat isn't proof of their versatility, I don't know what is. Furthermore, they're not that much larger than this piece, which was used in similarly-sized speedboats during my childhood. My main disappointment with this set, though, is that despite using fairly large pieces for its hull it doesn't look like it can float. If TLG had just found a way to seal up those holes in the underside they'd have given this an unquestionable advantage over similarly-sized speedboats of the 90s. Great review of this awesome set.

Ummm... there have hardly ever been brick-built boats of this size. Most boats besides smaller speedboats have used so-called "<insert that tiresome argument>" pieces since near the beginning, and for a reason that persists to this day: a brick-built boat simply is not seaworthy. The reason for "<insert that tiresome argument>" hull pieces isn't to make the build easier, but to make it so the set can actually float. Consider this set from 1973, one of the earliest sets a search for "boat" brings up on a Brickset search. Sure enough, it relies on "<insert that tiresome argument>" hull pieces. The only one older is indeed brick-built (besides this ridiculously over-specialized baseplate used for its hull), but I find it hard to imagine that you find this set from 1968 the ideal boat set. Overall, I find this set spectacular especially since my brother and I each had a copy of set 4011 back when we were kids. Our dad made name stickers for us with a label-printer he had.

That's a bit of a dismal view of today's youth. Personally, I think the design of that set is fine, but I'm sure there are kids who don't agree with me and who won't buy the set. It's not as though kids have no sense of design quality whatsoever, and it always bothered me as a kid when people accused me of having poor taste in LEGO sets, movies, or what-have-you (it still bothers me to this day, seeing as I still get these accusations).

Even if there are repeats, I'm sure they'll be at least as original as the ones we've had so far. Yes, there's been a robot before, and he was designed in one of up to a million ways a robot can be designed. There's no reason LEGO should never touch the idea again. That's just one example of where LEGO could easily touch upon an idea from a previous fig and still come up with a fig that's completely original.

I really look forward to a bunch of amazing Burj Khalifa MOCs in the near future, since everyone seems to agree on how easy it would be to design a better model than the official set. C'mon, folks! It shouldn't be any trouble at all, the way I'm hearing it!

Keep in mind I've also built a number of Tiny Turbos on LDD, so I'm not coming from a background of only knowing the Brickmaster ones. Interesting to hear that this same technique was used, though-- I guess I didn't notice it for the same reason it took me so long to figure out Lightning McQueen used the same technique!

It actually doesn't take much to check for PaB/DbM compatibility. Just click the "Check whether the model can be purchased" button in your tools palette. All parts that can be purchased will become transparent (in this case, none of the parts). You can then click the first option (Switch all non-buyable bricks with bricks that can be bought) to color-correct your model. Alas, it doesn't solve the problem in this case-- angle connector #3 (part 32016) simply isn't available on DesignByMe mode or Pick-A-Brick in any color. If you want the parts buildable in real life using parts from sets or from Bricklink, it's a lot easier. Only a few parts are in colors here that they haven't appeared in in actual sets: The bright blue friction pins (2780) obviously need to be changed to black. The bright green angle connectors (32013) need to be changed to another color. To maintain the vivid color-coding, I'd recommend bright blue (incidentally one of the most common options, and probably one of the cheapest for this quantity), dark green (BL's Green), or bright yellowish green (BL's Lime). The bright orange Technic bricks (32000) also need to be changed to another color. To keep them just as vivid as they are here, bright blue, dark green, and bright yellowish green are again feasible options-- whichever one you didn't use for the angle connectors. Of these colors, bright blue and dark green are also colors which the boat plate (2654) and 2x2 tile (3068) could be colored. Another option, not as colorful but equally vivid, is white. I can't say I have any more patience with the hinge tool than you do, so I won't be finishing this up for you. It might actually be easier to calculate specific hinge angles that will work and then rebuild the thing from scratch using numerical angle input. Whatever you end up doing, though, great work on this model, and I'd love to see it finished!

Guys, I wasn't trying to bash the Tiny Turbos. I have several of them due to my long-time Brickmaster subscription, and they are generally pretty amazing and creative for their size. But I've never seen this sort of technique used on them (using side-mounted jumper plates to attach the central anti-studs on a larger plate or tile). To be fair, that's probably in part because the 2x4 tile didn't exist for most of the time the Tiny Turbos were being released. But overall, I find this technique pretty unique to the Cars sets.