Aanchir

And the prize for most unnecessary theme goes toooo...

Out of curiosity's sake, what defines a "necessary theme"?

These sets look well designed, and I still don't get the amount of hatred they've gotten. Every discussion of this theme I've seen, even those involving otherwise reasonable people, ends up with LEGO fans sounding like a bunch of grumpy old men complaining about these newfangled "cratoons" and "vidya games" are just shallow fads that rot kids' brains and have no cultural merit.

Sure, the Angry Birds franchise peaked in popularity three to five years ago. But I don't remember LEGO fans (on BZPower or elsewhere) complaining nearly as much about Scooby-Doo, a franchise that was many years past its prime when it was announced as a LEGO theme. Or about Jurassic World, built on a franchise that had its last commercially successful outing in 2001, and which invited a lukewarm response from critics in every installment except its first. Or even about The Lone Ranger, a series that hadn't really been relevant within most of our lifetimes.

Angry Birds is a franchise that emerged onto the cultural scene less than five years ago and made a big splash, appearing in lots of merchandise, advertising, and video games. In many ways it is to today's kids what Super Mario Bros. was to the kids of the late 1980s and Pokémon was to kids of the 2000s. There have been three Angry Birds television series, so this movie won't be the series' first appearance in a non-gaming capacity.

All in all, I really struggle to understand why everyone's so cynical and dismissive about this? So much of the criticism just seems to boil down to "it's new, so it sucks". We'll see how the movie does and how the kids like it, but I don't think it's done anything to invite the level of cynicism I've seen.

 

[...] With less sets I referred for example like in the previous years, where there were about at least 30 sets each year; the reboot has only a little less than 20 each year. [...]

 

That number... doesn't seem right to me.

 

2001: 6 Toa + 6 Turaga + 5 Rahi = 17 sets (23 if you count the 6 McDonalds Matoran)

2002: 6 Bohrok +6 Bohrok Va + 6 Toa Nuva + 3 Titans + 1 Fikou = 22 sets

2003: 6 Bohrok Kal + 6 Rahkshi + 6 Kohlii Matoran + 4 Titans = 22 sets

2004: 6 Toa Metru + 6 Vahki + 6 Matoran + 4 Titans = 22 sets

2005: 6 Rahaga + 6 Visorak + 6 Toa Hordika + 2 Toa Hagah + 3 Titans = 23 sets (27 if you count the 4 system playsets)

2006: 6 Piraka + 6 Matoran + 6 Toa Inika + 4 Titans = 22 sets (26 if you count the 4 system playsets) (TOO MANY if you count all the good guy/bad guy variations)

2007: 6 Barraki + 6 Toa Mahri + 4 Matoran/Hydruka + 6 Titans = 22 sets (25 if you count the 3 system playsets)

2008: 6 Phantoka + 6 Mistika + 6 Matoran + 3 Titans + 5 Vehicles + 1 Klakk = 27 sets

2009: 6 Agori + 6 Gatorian + 6 Glatorian Legends + 3 Titans + 5 Vehicles + 1 Click = 27 sets

2010: 6 Stars

 

2015: 6 Protectors + 6 Toa + 4 Skull Villains + 2 Titans = 18 sets

2016: 6 Toa + 6 Creatures + 4 Beasts + 3 Titans = 19 sets [EDIT: Kopaka and Melum are one set, meaning 2016 only has 18 sets. Whoops!]

 

So yes, while the reboot currently has less average sets per year than G1, at 18.5 vs. 22.6 (excluding Stars), G1 did not generally have anywhere close to 30 sets per year.

Actually 2016 has only 3 beasts, so 17 sets. Also, you didn't count things like mask packs for the G1 years.

I do appreciate some good number crunching, though, especially when I don't have to do it all myself. It's kinda interesting how the number of non-promo, non-playset sets hovered pretty consistently around 23 sets for so many years despite so many other things changing. I guess it makes sense though since it was generally three sets of six plus however-many large box sets.

My impression. Nice to see dragons of any stripe, but feel a bit short changed here.  Ninjago has had at least brick built dragons every year. We have about 2 dozen Lego dragons of varying designs and parts. I wouldn't mind a return of some of those designs.  It looks like all the dragons are put together the same way with minor various (an extra set of wings, different accessories for the tail)

It might not be totally clear in the BZPower pictures, but the Elves dragons are built very differently. They have very different proportions for their legs and bodies. The Water Dragon is the smallest and thinnest, the Earth Dragon is similar in overall size but much stockier, and the Dragon Queen is enormous, from its head to its feet. The only two dragons that are really alike in build from what I can see are the Wind and Fire Dragons, which are both large and muscular and mostly alike in build except for the Wind Dragon's tail and second set of wings. They're not as different as the Ninjago dragons, but their differences are more than just minor variations.

Nice coverage! Last year's LEGO Elves range was spectacular and this year's has managed to impress me all over again.

I love that there are dragon eggs, baby dragons, and adult dragons corresponding to the elements of all five main characters. It's really cool that the baby dragons have transparent wings, spines, and tummies. The adult dragons have very diverse and intricate builds without feeling inconsistent with the beautiful design language of the Elves creatures, characters, and world. They also have great articulation, far more than the typical LEGO Castle dragon. And all without looking as robotic as the dragons from the Vikings theme ten years ago (wow, how time flies)! The new medium-sized wing mold, appearing on the Earth, Water, and Wind dragons and looking very much like a smaller version of the LEGO Castle/Vikings dragon wing used on the Fire and Wind dragons, is a great new piece, as is the new 1x2x2/3 inverted "baby bow" slope that appears on the back of some of the dragons' legs. Note: the Queen Dragon's wings are attached to the wrong sides here.

Even with all the focus on dragons, though, there's plenty here that also expands the world of the Elves. For instance, the Secret Market Place brings in a lot of essential fantasy-world businesses (like a post office, a blacksmith, and a library), and charmingly, the entire marketplace is run by animals. And the Starlight Inn gives the elves a place to stay, save their game, refresh their hit points, and possibly take part in an important cutscene. There are lots of great details in both sets, like how the market place has a flyer posted for the Starlight Inn.

The Precious Crystal Mine is one of the sets that surprised me the most. I had thought of the possibility of a mine being a great setting to represent the Earth element, but I wasn't sure how well a mine would fit in with the way the elves live in harmony with their environment, since mining is often not the most environmentally friendly. Not to mention that Elvendale seems to have plenty of crystals even at surface level — they literally grow on trees! But I think the designers managed to make it work. The little rodent living in the mine (same mold as this year's new hamsters from LEGO Friends, I think) is less colorful than most Elves creatures but suits the gloomier setting.

The Shadowlands are a great new setting that brings the LEGO Elves theme into much darker and spookier territory. The Shadow Fountain appearing in the Fire Dragon's Lava Cave set was our first glimpse at this darker design language, but it really comes into its own in the prison tower from Queen Dragon's Rescue and Ragana's Magic Shadow Castle. It still features some of the "girly" colors the theme tends to dabble in, such as lavender stonework and Bright Purple (Dark Pink) foliage, but it still feels quite creepy. I am impressed with the detailed furnishing of the Shadow Castle, which includes a foyer, bedroom, washroom, throne room, and dungeon. There are some great functions on display in these sets as well, like the elevator and extending stepping stone functions in Queen Dragon's Rescue and the opening double door function in the Shadow Castle.

The Spring Yellowish Green fox from the Queen Dragon's Rescue set seems to be corrupted by the Shadow Fountain much like the elf witch Ragana, and the way it's aiming that crossbow it doesn't look like it's keen on letting the Elves free the Queen Dragon without a fight! Ragana's cat is cute but still spooky, with ornately patterned fur and a feisty look in its eyes.

The new costumes for the main characters look great, staying true to their signature styles from last year but with new colors and patterns. The patterns on the Elves' shoulders have changed shape and color (the new patterns are metallic), so that pretty much confirms that they are body paint rather than tattoos or birthmarks. Emily is as fashionably modern as ever with her brightly-colored sneakers and patterned top. The new characters Sira Copperbranch the Sky Captain and Tidus Stormsurfer the Dragon Trainer are both awesome and look like they have plenty of stories to tell. The cloaks and hoods in the Shadowlands sets are quite nice, though it's disappointing that Farran once again doesn't get a cloak or a hood.

There are plenty of cool new accessories, such as a new map, a new enchanted hourglass mold, and the new book piece. The book is in several sets with the same cover, but it'd be cool if it came with a different tile for its pages in each set. The Market Place version has the Earth Dragon printed inside, so pages on the other dragons could be fun to collect.

Overall, I am thoroughly impressed with the new sets! The prices are generally very good, with only the Precious Crystal Mine rising above the ten-cents-per-piece sweet spot AFOLs tend to use as the threshold for a good value. And the designs are as phenomenal as ever. The only one I'm considering not getting is the Dragon School of Elvendale, since its characters and accessories all appear in other sets. But it's inexpensive enough that if I see a good sale or deal I might end up getting it anyway.

One thing that I think would be cool for Nexo Knights constraction sets is if the knights used the Nexo Power shield tiles as the emblems on their chests. Seems like it'd be scaled about right. The proportions of the emblems themselves would be slightly altered, but so would the proportions of the figures as a whole.

But I do agree with Lyi that it's uncertain how LEGO would handle minifigure characters as constraction sets. More realistic proportions are not unthinkable, but the faces are my biggest concern. Just scaling up the cylindrical, noseless, bright yellow minifigure faces could look strange, but if you gave them more human-like faces it could be seen as inconsistent with the theme's overall branding.

What is with the "FPO" things everywhere?

FPO means "For Placement Only" and it basically means they're placeholder graphics.

I'm thrilled that we're getting Ultimate versions, vehicles, hover-horses, and squirebots for the knights who didn't get them in the first wave. Aaron's Aero-Striker V2 is a fantastic design that I absolutely love. I also am really pleased with all the interior details of Jestro's Volcano Lair, such as a bedroom, bathroom, and kitchen. Boy-oriented themes often lack these kinds of "creature comforts" that make a space really feel livable, so it's ironic to get so many of them in a terrifying evil lair — but it fits with Jestro's characterization as a sensitive person who deep down just wants to be happy, and only embraced the Book of Monsters' evil schemes as a means to that end.

My brother and I already have four Nexo Knights sets: Ultimate Clay, Ultimate Macy, Ultimate Aaron, and the King's Mech. We plan on getting a lot more but because of their cost we're waiting on good sales and deals to take a bit of the bite out of the expense. The new Ultimate sets coming out look like a lot of fun and fit their respective characters' personalities pretty nicely. It's interesting how many unique parts/prints Ultimate General Magmar and Ultimate Flama have since Ultimate Lavaria and Ultimate Beast Master each had only one unique printed part (Lavaria's upper body and Beast Master's lower body), with the other parts shared with the non-ultimate versions.

The new monsters like Flama, General Magmar, and Burnzie look great. It's also cool that there's a Scurrier with a black and orange color scheme like Moltor. Kinda disappointed that we haven't gotten any spider-Globlins.

This is my first time hearing about The Black Knight Mech. It's probably safe to assume it'll come with Whiparella since she hasn't been released in any other sets. Should be pretty cool. I wonder how much black it'll use, though. It'd be kinda confusing if it used a whole lot since black is mainly being used for the bad guys this year, and blue for the good guys. It'd be cool if it used a lot of titanium metallic since that IS used as the color of the good guy vehicles' wheels, and it's a really fun color IMO.

Nice coverage. Kind of a shame three sets weren't shown. I guess they'll be store exclusives. Titanium Ninja Tumbler was shown at Nuremberg Toy Fair, but the others weren't so no idea what they'll look like.

Of the March sets I'm most excited for Tiger Widow Island, and of the August sets I'm most excited for Ultra Stealth Raider, but really there are a lot of stellar set designs this year. Ultra Stealth Raider is a great evolution of the Ultra Sonic Raider, still seating all four ninja but now splitting into four vehicles instead of two. Also, it comes with the Anacondrai version of Eyezor (albeit without his mohawk) and Chen's special chair, some of the main things missing from last year's March wave! Meanwhile, Tiger Widow Island has our first female bigfig, Nya in her new Skybound costume, Ghost Cole, and some beautiful landscaping and architecture.

One of the biggest surprises is that the summer wave is divided between three new sets related to season 6 (Skybound), marked with a pirate flag on the boxes, and season 7, marked with a dragon-patterned lantern on the box. This is the first time a single wave has been divided between two story arcs. Speaking of that lantern, the ghost of Sensei Yang carries it in the Ultra Stealth Raider set, so I'll bet he's the main villain for that story arc.

There are some disappointments. In the summer sets, all the ninja are released in "throwback" outfits that reference their previous costumes... except for Nya, who only appears in her Skybound costume (even in the Salvage M.E.C. set that is based on the new story arc). Hopefully she will get a new costume in one of the three sets we haven't seen yet. We do know what her "throwback" costume would look like since they're the same costumes used in the "Realm of Shadows" stage show at LEGOLAND Malaysia. Lloyd doesn't appear in his "throwback" costume in these sets, but it was confirmed in a minifigure turnaround at Nuremberg Toy Fair, so he must be in one of the sets that wasn't shown.

Also, while Nadakhan's sky pirate crew has the most balanced gender ratios of any Ninjago enemy faction to date (two female characters out of nine sky pirates, Monkey Wretch included), the sets for the summer story arc don't appear to include any female villains. Kind of a bummer, especially since many of the villains from classic factions ARE new designs.

I do like that the Rock Roader has a Ninjago trading card tile, just like the Temple of Airjitzu and City of Stiix sets last year! Those are always a fun reference to the Ninjago theme's origins.

If you're interested, go for it! I have read plenty of reviews of the new sets but I certainly wouldn't mind reading more, especially from a dedicated Ninjago fan who can really compare and contrast the sets with what we've seen before. Most of the reviews I've seen so far are from people who have only a passing interest in Ninjago and so don't really care about things like the characters too much outside of their MOCing potential.

Umarak is awesome but kinda wish he was a $30 set to make a true titan set like the days of old.

What about him makes him not a "true titan set"? I mean, let's be real here. He's a $25 set with 195 pieces. He's got custom-built lower legs, a custom-built upper body, custom-built lower arms and hands, and stands considerably taller than any other set this year. So I struggle to see how he's any less of a titan than Umbra, Hydraxon, Nocturn, or Icarax.

We'll never get a "true titan set" if people keep moving the goalposts so it gets harder and harder for a set to qualify as one. I know the definition of "titan set" is tough to pin down in an era where "canister sets" no longer exist and Toa sets are bigger and more complex than ever, and it could certainly be argued that the term's usefulness is fading. But Umarak the Destroyer should still qualify as a "titan set" by any reasonable definition.

Star Wars Episode VII is a very different type of reboot than Bionicle Generation 2. Star Wars Episode 7 is really just continuing the Star Wars series from where it left off. In fact, by the definition used on Wikipedia, it doesn't even qualify as a reboot any more than the prequels did. It's just a sequel to Return of the Jedi. Some film critics and filmmakers obfuscate the issue by using the term "reboot" to refer to any revival of a series that has been on hiatus for more than a couple years.

Bionicle Generation 2 is a true continuity reboot which discards all but the series' core elements and starts it up again with a clean slate. A reboot can still include nods and references to elements of the original story (such as with the Nuva Symbols being used to identify the Toa this year), but does not share a continuity with the original story.

 

One nitpick: the Glatorian necks in Dark Orange were new for this year's Pohatu, so they're not new for Lava Beast.

Brickset, you have failed me.

 

Brickset gets their parts lists from LEGO Customer Service, and the LEGO Customer Service inventories currently don't include a lot of new parts that came out this year. I'm hoping they update them soon.

Judging this on the new Brick Show video of the summers sets:

 

Lava beast's head looks so awkward gappy and weird. Only thing good about him is his hands. Storm beasts articulation is absolutely terrible (seriously, no elbows?), only one thats grown on me is quake beast, he's not very gappy, and has an interesting build (Sideways gearbox? Whaaat?) but he still looks super messy compared to the rest. Can't really say for sure that I'll get any of the beast. Can't say much for umarak since he's posed like ######, ekimu still looks okay but has way too much trans blue.

People keep saying Storm Beast has no elbows but given the length of the "hand" section, it's really more like he has no wrists. Which, frankly, on a beast character with articulated fingers, I'm willing to live with. Stomr Beast is by far my favorite of the new sets, on account of his extremely creative new function and generally purposeful design.

Quake Beast is honestly the one set of the summer wave I cannot bring myself to like. It's clear the designer was trying to go with the same kind of unbalanced asymmetry as Bruizer, but despite Quake Beast having more articulation, it doesn't work anywhere near as well due to the gappy, awkward construction of the right arm and shoulder. Bruizer's look is brutish and powerful, while Quake Beast just looks jumbled and ungainly.

So rather than continuing The Clone Wars, Disney decided to make... this.

The two things have nothing to do with one another. Rebels took the place of The Clone Wars, and the various LEGO TV series and specials didn't take the place of either. Even before The Clone Wars ended it coexisted with LEGO Star Wars specials like The Padawan Menace and The Empire Strikes Out, the same as how Rebels coexists with The New Yoda Chronicles, Droid Tales, The Resistance Rises, and The Freemaker Adventures.

One nitpick: the Glatorian necks in Dark Orange were new for this year's Pohatu, so they're not new for Lava Beast.

Opinions (mostly copied and pasted from a post I made on Eurobricks shortly before I saw this news story):

Went ahead and built Storm Beast on LDD to get a better feel for how it's constructed. All in all that's the beast I'm most impressed with. A brilliant new function that, despite its unconventional use of Technic, feels very effective, much like Skull Basher's. The claw design is also quite nice even if it means no real wrists. The exposed ball joints on the forearms are a non-issue, but I do wish that the designer had attached some ball joints and some blade or lightning pieces pieces to the open ball cups on the forearms just so there'd be one less thing for people to complain about that keeps them from appreciating the rest of the set. It's an easy mod, though.

Lava Beast is a bit of a mixed bag. The functions are not extremely exciting but they do seem fairly effective, and the claw construction is alright. The color scheme is also quite nice. However, the back feels rather bare, and the Shadow Trap half on the back of the neck still feels odd to me. Overall it's a pretty solid design, just not as intensely surprising or innovative as Storm Beast.

Quake Beast is the one I just can't bring myself to like. The designers were definitely aiming for an asymmetrical look and function much like Bruizer, but I don't think it feels nearly as effective or coherent as that set, despite being more articulated. The elemental blades feel about as superfluous as Ketar's are on Pohatu's Unity Mode. Pics and videos of this set are going to have to work a little harder to prove its effectiveness. As it stands, it's hard to see the set as much more than a parts pack.

Umarak the Destroyer looks great, as expected. Very beastly proportions. I like that he uses the Titanium Metallic ribcage piece on his back and the Tr. Flu. Green one on the front, as they work together very well. The claw function is great. I do, however, feel like the amount of Technic used to attach his neck is, in the very least, a missed opportunity. It seems to me that an additional function (maybe something like the Bohrok lunging function) could have been worked in there to both fill in the space better and add even more playability. Having seen this video, the jaw construction for the beasts and Umarak works a lot better than I'd thought it would just from photos. There's not a particularly long underbite, for the beasts at least. Harder to tell with Umarak since he appears to be shown with his mouth open wider than Storm Beast or Lava Beast (possibly due to the weight of his horns).

And finally, Ekimu looks much better than expected. The back armor completes him nicely and his shoulders feel nicely filled in. Giving him a 2015 gearbox AND a 2016 waist gear was a good call. Just as the 2015 gearbox made that year's Ekimu stand out from the Protectors, it makes this year's Ekimu stand out from the Toa. My main disappointment with him design-wise are his weapons. They're not badly constructed, and they are true to the character, but they also both have less functionality than they had in the 2015 version. The hammer no longer has a shooter, and the shield no longer has a gear to spin the saw blade. Bit of a downgrade there. His mask looks better in Tr. Light Blue than I'd have thought. Most of all though the feeling the set fills me with is still curiosity. I want to know the story significance of this transformation so I can better gauge its effectiveness.

Great coverage overall! I'm much more excited for these sets than I was before New York Toy Fair.

Totally agreed. Helps differentiate BIONICLE from HF, and for future, larger sets, they'll almost certainly have to use technic. Umarak the Destroyer is already using a lot of technic by the looks of things. 

 

And I thought people wanted more technic integration with CCBS... and now they don't? I think that's kind of impossible, considering that it would seem very difficult for CCBS to exist as it is without many technic pieces.

I don't get the bit about "differentiating Bionicle from Hero Factory", since even Hero Factory had its fair share of Technic integration. Not in the same way Umarak does it, but Fire Lord, Rocka XL, Witch Doctor, and Dragon Bolt all used basic Technic fairly extensively, as did several of the later "Invasion from Below" sets.

CCBS was definitely designed from the get-go with Technic integration in mind. There'd have been little point having so many Technic connection points otherwise. However, how it's used makes a big difference for a model's aesthetics, and this was just as true with classic Bionicle. Aesthetically, there's a big difference between a model like Nidhiki that has a lot of exposed basic beams and a model like Brutaka that uses dedicated constraction armor and detailing pieces more extensively to create a streamlined look. Some people prefer one style over the other, and are very particular about how they think the two styles should be integrated.

Personally, I think Umarak's legs (both versions) look alright. But I can understand how some people might feel like the raw, mechanical look of his lower leg construction clashes with the more streamlined shaping that otherwise dominates his legs and arms.

 

I hope to see better pics for Bionicle, Ninjago, and Nexo Knights, so that's my vote.

 

Anyway, I rememberes in December that there is going to be this event (http://www.bzpower.com/board/topic/21211-lego-and-nickelodeon-present-play-fair-new-york-2016/?do=findComment&comment=1032385 ), so are both Toy Fair and this one going together at the same time?

Yes, Toy Fair and Play Fair are both happening this weekend.

 

In the same facility, even. The only difference is that Toy Fair is for retailers and the press, while Play Fair is for public guests of all ages. It seems like Play Fair was envisioned by the Toy Industry Association as a way of letting ordinary people be a part of the Toy Fair festivities.

Woah, I didn't know that Lego has a parent company. [:S]

Kirkbi A/S is basically just a holding company belonging to the LEGO Group's founding family, the Kirk Kristiansens. Even though they are technically the LEGO Group's parent company on account of owning 75% of the company, LEGO is older than Kirkbi, and the overall ownership is still in the hands of the Kirk Kristiansen family.

Although Minecraft is still hugely popular for some reason (Twitch profits?) and the connection with Lego is obvious...and Ninjago strikes me as a theme that is on its way out, so I guess it shouldn't be.

If you think Ninjago is on its way out then you haven't been paying very good attention. Ninjago just continues to grow and grow. In 2015, overall search interest in LEGO Ninjago was stronger than for LEGO City and LEGO Star Wars combined. Reportedly, the LEGO Ninjago stage show at LEGOLAND Malaysia is the single most popular attraction there. The TV show has concluded its sixth season in some countries and is preparing for a seventh. And that's before the feature-length theatrical movie coming out in 2017. Ninjago has even expanded its audience recently with its first TFOL/AFOL-oriented Direct to Consumer set (a set that one AFOL site declared, based on a popular vote, the best product of 2015) and two upcoming Juniors sets which expand the theme's audience to include kids as young as four years old.

Even setting aside all that, we've already had it confirmed as of last year (in both the employee magazine and a LEGO press release) that Ninjago is now considered "an evergreen product on par with LEGO City" and that plans for it extend at least ten years. Hard to look at that and still call it a theme that's on its way out!

Not surprised to see Star Wars up there, but it's interesting to see that Bionicle isn't one of the top five. The times are changing, I suppose.

Interesting, but not all that surprising. Not to discredit Bionicle's success in the early years, but back when Bionicle was the LEGO Group's top theme (around 2002 to 2005), it was partly that way because they had so few other successful themes. Nowadays they're putting out hit after hit. So it's tough for a theme in a niche category like constraction to stand out like it did back when most of the LEGO Group's core products were failing.

What really surprises me (but probably shouldn't) is that Minecraft made the top five for the United States. I knew its sales were crazy good, but the fact that it surpassed Ninjago when Ninjago had such a huge and impressive showing that year caught me off guard. I mean, with Minecraft we're talking a theme that had about ten sets on shelves at maximum, and only four of those were new for 2015. So clearly LEGO hit upon something big there.

This makes me quite happy. Always nice to see a brand you like doing good.

Great way to make Lego look like a good company.

I'm sure their reasons for doing this are as much about business as they are about doing good or getting good PR. This isn't a non-profit or charity they're investing in, after all, so I'm sure they're counting on getting a return on that investment. Even with oil and natural gas prices down as low as they are currently, renewable energy is big business, and it will probably become a more and more important part of the world's energy infrastructure as the years go on.

That doesn't mean the global responsibility and public relations aspects of this deal are inconsequential, of course. But they're only part of the equation!

I'm sure pretty much everybody's going to want to see Bionicle pics. If you could get pics of the back of some of the sets that'd be great, since a lot of other LEGO news sites don't bother with that, and it'd make it easier to figure out what kinds of functions they have. My brother and I appreciated the pics of the back of Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader buildable figures last year.

Personally, what I'm most interested in seeing are detailed pics of the LEGO Ninjago and LEGO Elves sets, especially the ones coming out in the summer. Pics of the summer LEGO Nexo Knights sets would also be much appreciated. Those action/adventure themes are my jam!

If they show any Star Wars buildable figures besides the ones that are already out then those'd be good to see, but I'm not necessarily counting on it (LEGO and Disney both tend to be kinda secretive when it comes to the LEGO Star Wars theme).

 

 

 

 

 

All Zamor colors from 2006 (other than the metallic ones from the Zamor Spheres pack) were semi-random blends of two colors. Some would basically be all one color, some would basically be all another, and some would be a mix of the two. I don't know what the exact colors used in the blends from the 2006 sets were. If I had to guess from examples I've seen, I'd say the Piraka Zamor spheres are probably a blend of 49 Transparent Fluorescent Green (Trans-Neon Green) and 28 Dark Green (Mata Green).

 

A lot of the Zamor spheres that appear in more recent sets are still blended, but it tends to be a much more even half-and-half "swirl", so I don't think it's as common to get one that looks all one color. These ones and these ones from Chima and Nexo Knights sets are a blend of 182 Transparent Bright Orange and 24 Bright Yellow. These ones from the Hero Factory Fire Villains and the Ninjago Fire Temple are a blend of 21 Bright Red (Mata Red) and 191 Flame Yellowish Orange (Keetorange). And these ones from Chima and Super Heroes are a blend of 42 Transparent Light Blue and 1 White.

 

But what about Jaller Inika's Zamors? I'm not sure if i recognize the color used for his spheres or if it's not so used anymore after 10 years of absense

 

The color of Toa Inika Jaller and Hahli's Zamors has always been the hardest for me to figure out. One of the colors was probably Dark Green, like the Piraka Zamors, since I believe I've seen some that were almost entirely that color. But I'm not sure what the other (sort of seafoam green) color was. For all I know it might've been a rare color like Transparent Light Green, which would have been in use in Clikits around that time but was discontinued soon after.

 

I just went over the transparent colors in available in LDD and my conclusion is that they might have used a unique combination of nr 244 phosphorus green and 40 transparent green together, that would explain the swirled variations in their zamor balls included with jaller and hahli.

 

It couldn't have been phosphorescent green or they'd have glowed in the dark. 294 Phosphorescent Green was the color of glow-in-the-dark parts from 2006, when it replaced 50 Phosphorescent White, to 2012, when it was replaced with 329 White Glow.

 

 

I said like i saw it was listed in the program but why would it be listed as a transparent color, was it actually transparent as well?  If s it migh be a mistake on my end but I'll provide a screenshot, i also marked the colors with red in the palette options. The ball on the left hast the color trans phosphorous green . The other other is the darker simply named 40. Tr.Green which you called "Transparent Llight Green"

 

Screenshot

 

Yes, 294 Phosphorescent Green was transparent (except for parts like dinosaur tails that are molded in polypropylene, a softer material that doesn't allow for real transparency).

40 Transparent Green on the LDD color palette is not the same as 285 Transparent Light Green. 285 Transparent Light Green is not available on LDD. There is a Material 285 on LDD, but it is not named, does not render correctly, and does not appear in the paint tool color palette. LDD color rendering is not perfect, especially for transparent colors (notice how 49 Tr. Fluore. Green and 44 Tr. Yellow on LDD are nearly identical). So looking at how colors render on LDD is not a very reliable way of figuring out what color a part is in real life.

For Ekimu, I was almost thinking less "force ghost" and more "giant spirit form" (like in the Legend of Korra season two finale). However, if that were the case, it's unclear whether it'd be a permanent or temporary transformation. I'd probably make it temporary, because I'd kind of prefer that Ekimu continue to play the role of a mentor to the Toa rather than their physical equal, but permanent might make more sense so that if Ekimu continues to appear in the 2017 story he won't be represented by a two-year-old set (Mask Maker vs. Skull Grinder).

I don't know what the red and black hunter mask in the new Ekimu set represents, but I very strongly doubt that Ekimu wears it.

For Umarak, I was thinking the power of the Mask of Control simply overwhelms him and causes him to transform into Umarak the Destroyer. That seems to make the most sense since Umarak the Destroyer seems to be wearing a new, more bestial form of the Mask of Control.

 

 

 

All Zamor colors from 2006 (other than the metallic ones from the Zamor Spheres pack) were semi-random blends of two colors. Some would basically be all one color, some would basically be all another, and some would be a mix of the two. I don't know what the exact colors used in the blends from the 2006 sets were. If I had to guess from examples I've seen, I'd say the Piraka Zamor spheres are probably a blend of 49 Transparent Fluorescent Green (Trans-Neon Green) and 28 Dark Green (Mata Green).

 

A lot of the Zamor spheres that appear in more recent sets are still blended, but it tends to be a much more even half-and-half "swirl", so I don't think it's as common to get one that looks all one color. These ones and these ones from Chima and Nexo Knights sets are a blend of 182 Transparent Bright Orange and 24 Bright Yellow. These ones from the Hero Factory Fire Villains and the Ninjago Fire Temple are a blend of 21 Bright Red (Mata Red) and 191 Flame Yellowish Orange (Keetorange). And these ones from Chima and Super Heroes are a blend of 42 Transparent Light Blue and 1 White.

 

But what about Jaller Inika's Zamors? I'm not sure if i recognize the color used for his spheres or if it's not so used anymore after 10 years of absense

 

The color of Toa Inika Jaller and Hahli's Zamors has always been the hardest for me to figure out. One of the colors was probably Dark Green, like the Piraka Zamors, since I believe I've seen some that were almost entirely that color. But I'm not sure what the other (sort of seafoam green) color was. For all I know it might've been a rare color like Transparent Light Green, which would have been in use in Clikits around that time but was discontinued soon after.

 

I just went over the transparent colors in available in LDD and my conclusion is that they might have used a unique combination of nr 244 phosphorus green and 40 transparent green together, that would explain the swirled variations in their zamor balls included with jaller and hahli.

 

It couldn't have been phosphorescent green or they'd have glowed in the dark. 294 Phosphorescent Green was the color of glow-in-the-dark parts from 2006, when it replaced 50 Phosphorescent White, to 2012, when it was replaced with 329 White Glow.

Sounds cool that we will have some real conflict, but I think it will get resolved similar to how last year's got resolved. Girl franchises for that age don't like killing, it's messy.

I think franchises for that age in general (for boys and girls alike) don't like killing, and oftentimes are better for it. This is still TV-Y7 territory we're talking about. While shows for this age range aren't afraid to broach the subject of death (as Elves technically did in its premiere episode, what with the loss of Emily's grandmother), presenting killing as a viable solution to the heroes' problems tends to push things in a decidedly more PG direction. That's not a strict rule by any means (at least, not as far as I'm aware), but it is the tendency I've seen.

Having read the book, though, I can assure you that it doesn't end the same way as the first TV special.