LEGO!

[Ran]

Well, I was considering that Prowl Kre-o set. I guess I won't bother now.

My wife put together that Lighthouse set. It's pretty nice. A few weeks ago I got the sea plane and the gas tanker truck on clearance at Target. My oldest daughter is getting the Lego big-rig for her birthday tomorrow. She said it was the one she wanted. We bought it during one of the TRU BOGO sales (along with the lighthouse).

My kids have been into Legos lately. Usually they are more into girly stuff. I'm going to my parents house next month because my brother is getting married. My mom still has a box of Legos that belonged to me and my brothers in her garage. I'm going to try bringing them home with me.

[Slicker]

I picked up my first SW set in a looooong time yesterday. I bought the Ani/Sebulba Podracers set. I think it goes without saying that it's a vast improvement over the original from 99'. My only "gripe" would be that the pods are almost exactly the same length even though Sebulba's should be a LOT bigger. All in all though they're pretty sweet. The price was $89.99 at WM and it had 801 pieces so that's a bit steep (I've found that each piece runs about $.10).

[Ran]

There is a new line of Legos for 2012 that are aimed at girls. My kids are excited. I'll wager Newsbot is too.
http://www.bricktuts.com/2011/09/inside ... ful-theme/

[anarky]

In the video game, the characters were 5 girls with different likes and hobbies; there is an animal-lover, a smart-girl, a beautician, a singer and a social-girl. And it seems as if TLG will continue with this story-line.

Nice. Don't they realize girls like plain old fucking Legos?

[Ran]

When we were at TRU today, there was a "Belville" equestrian set. It is one of the few sets I've seen aimed at girls. It consisted of a girl, a horse, a wall for the horse to jump over, and a small trophy table. It says it was for ages 5-10, but I'd say it was too easy for my 6 year old.

[Rollo Tomassi]

When we were at TRU today, there was a "Belville" equestrian set. It is one of the few sets I've seen aimed at girls. It consisted of a girl, a horse, a wall for the horse to jump over, and a small trophy table. It says it was for ages 5-10, but I'd say it was too easy for my 6 year old.

That reminds me of a Lego subtheme they had in the late 90s that was aimed at girls. It had kinda a seaside resort slant to the theme. My little sister had a few of them. I was trying to dig through all her stuff in the basement a few months ago to find them. But they had stables as one the sets.

[Ran]

http://www.brickset.com/detail/?Set=7587-1

This is the set I saw. The figure has to be 2 or 3 times the size of a normal mini-figure.

Speaking of mini-figures, here is a picture of Series 6.
http://www.bricktuts.com/2011/09/hq-ima ... nifigures/

[Rollo Tomassi]

You know what would be a really cool LEGO subtheme?

Lego Amusement Park.

The big tentpole set could be a roller coaster.
Mid size sets could be a ferris wheel, and other rides like that swinging pirate ship.
A Bumper Car arena.
And smaller sets could include food concessions and stuff.
But the amount of different rides you could do is staggering.




Also, I don't know if Lego has a policy to not do military toys, but I'd love to see WWII era planes and tanks and jeeps and stuff. As it's a European company, I can see them not being enthusiastic about making little German soldier figures in abundance.

[Diabolical]

I don't usually read this thread, but I happened to click it.

Both ideas sound really cool Vyn.

The smaller Amusement Park sets could also include stuff like carnival-type games and souvenir vendors.

As for the WWII sets, why not do them geared toward older collectors? Sure, the price would be higher, but so would the quality and detail (plus they could take a few dollars from the model builders and such). The don't necessarily need German/Nazi mini figs that way.
A lil Lego Hitler would be hilarious though.

[Rollo Tomassi]

Both ideas sound really cool Vyn.

If Vyn wasn't such a cool cat, I might be insulted by that.

The smaller Amusement Park sets could also include stuff like carnival-type games and souvenir vendors.

Yes indeed. A little trolley that runs around the Park. A Merry Go Round. One of those rotating things that goes way up in the sky.

As for the WWII sets, why not do them geared toward older collectors? Sure, the price would be higher, but so would the quality and detail (plus they could take a few dollars from the model builders and such). The don't necessarily need German/Nazi mini figs that way.
A lil Lego Hitler would be hilarious though.

While you and I might appreciate the irony of a Lego Hitler, I'm not sure most people would. Especially the Lego company.

[anarky]

They had to call the Nazis "Enemy Soldiers" in the Lego Indiana Jones videogames. Not sure if that was to get the E10 rating or because of the Lego company's request.

[Rollo Tomassi]

I think there's a stigma attached to Nazis in toylines, that even having them or mentioning them as part of your line is somehow celebrating and endorsing them. It's like toy companies are afraid to let children know history is full of fuckheads. Adult-themed lines, like those GIJoe scale WWII era lines excluded of course.

[anarky]

Do any of the Captain America toys (movie or Marvel Universe) make mention of the Red Skull being a Nazi?

Personally, I think kids today would like to imagine beating the shit out of Hitler the same way every previous generation (since 1940) has done.

I suspect the history is a bit toned-down. My niece (who, admittedly, is not a rocket scientist) was visiting about six years ago, when she would've been in 6th or 7th grade. We watched Raiders of the Lost Ark. She didn't know what Nazis were. She thought I was bullshitting the whole "insane guy conquers almost all of Europe and kills about six million people, mostly Jewish people, because he didn't like who they were," simply because, well, if you don't know it happened, it sounds like the plot of a shitty Jean-Claude Van Damme movie. She'd never heard of Anne Frank or Oskar Schindler. However, she was vaguely aware that World War II had happened and we beat the Germans and then dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese.

I remember playing "whoever the good guy is this time vs Nazi assholes" in third grade and everyone being familiar with the basics from class. No graphic images of Holocaust victims necessary, just "a bunch of racist pricks led by a lunatic killed a shit ton of people." That was plenty to decide that Nazis were as bad as Commies, Decepticons, or the Empire. (We erroneously thought Cobra was communist, and weren't quite sure why the Oktober Guard also fought them.)

[Rollo Tomassi]

I remember reading that a recent poll of High School students thought that WWII was the U.S. vs the Russians.

[Diabolical]

Both ideas sound really cool Vyn.

If Vyn wasn't such a cool cat, I might be insulted by that.

Well, I'll be damned. I could've sworn you were him.

And what the hell is up with kids these days* - Not knowing about WWII?
Hollywood makes at least one high profile WWII flick every year or two.






*Or should I say our horribly underfunded education system? [/micro-rant]