Sorry Eva - no Exo Force on display. As a matter of fact, according to the press material whatever was due in January looks to be it for the foreseeable future.
Bionicle, on the other hand, appears to be getting a big boost. There are tons of new figures to be had.
Bionicle is also adding vehicles to the line, speeder bike looking vehicles that are huge. Figures stand about 7 to 8 inches tall, these are bikes that look like a cross between a speeder bike and a pod racer. I was very impressed and I am really looking forward to these hitting stores.
Speed Racer is on many retailers plate and Lego is getting in on the fun. It seems like a perfect match really, 5 to 8-year-old boys love Lego’s and usually love cars. This should do well this year.
Star Wars: The Clone Wars is the major theme with everyone who has a Star Wars license; Lego was no exception with not only a bunch of smaller items but several enormous vehicle/playsets. I am very interested in getting my hands on the gunship personally.
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is the upcoming game from Lucas Arts and several toy lines are popping up for it, Lego is adding this Rouge Shadow that appears in the game.
Batman was shown with a few very nice pieces that reminded me of a mix of movies and comic book. I particularly liked the tumbler.
Sponge Bob was shown for “Bikini Bottom Express” – I’m not really sure what that means but I am sure Josh will enlighten me….
Indiana Jones is new to Lego this year and they had a nice mix of playsets and vehicles from the classic movies as well as the new film.
The Star Wars Lego games are some serious fun in a box and it looks like their new Indy Lego Game will be no different. We did not get to play the game but we did get to watch it being demoed on a nice HD screen. It looks like all the fun and humor of the previous Lego games is intact.
The fun thing about being invited to these special collector nights is the photo opportunities. My scrapbook is getting interesting.
Lego has always done some fun cool stuff and this year looks particularly good and I think they may indeed get some of my hard-earned money this year.
Comments
4 comments postedYay for minifig Josh and minifig Atom!
Ya know- that is kinda interesting- though not surprising- that Exo-Force wasn't included, but a good share of those sets shown in the video are. But- mwa-ha-ha-ha-ha!- I'm covering them all for ya anyways right here on CDX so expect reviews for the final three- Dark Panther, Storm Lasher, and Hybrid Rescue Tank -in the upcoming weeks.
That is not the Bionicle I came to know and love...! It has strayed from its path, sadly. -__-;
This year's theme is flight whereas last year's was all underwater. So those probably are podracers! Grrr...
Love "Indiana Jones", but most likely I won't get any of those sets. I don't think they're bad, I just don't want any of them. (If they release a set of the cargo flying wing from "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and do it well, I might consider it; same with the big-ass tank from "...Last Crusade".)
(BTW, I'm no big fan of snakes either, Josh, but even today I can't watch the scene right after Indy knocks the Anubis statue over in "Raiders...".)
O.o! So they did finally make the Tumbler from "Batman Begins"/"The Dark Knight"! ...I'm gonna be all over that when it comes out! (Well, it depends on what it can do, but still-!) Got a price for it?
As with the previous Batman offerings, none of the minifigs or vehicles directly resemble film, animated, or comic counterparts; they're all designed from scratch based on the mythos only. So that's why the Joker doesn't resemble the '60s TV show actor Cesar Romero, Jack Nicholson, or the late Heath Ledger. (Perhaps a parallel could be drawn to "Batman: The Animated Series" in the '90s for the inspiration of the line's style used here, but that's not concrete. Mark Hamill is also a favored Joker among many fans.) Besides, would you really think that Lego would put out a dark Joker like the one in the upcoming "The Dark Knight"???
The Clone Wars Gunship and AT-TE are pretty close to the originals released in 2005 for "Ep.III", but they've been updated here a bit (brand-new nose art, extended rack of missiles, longer cannon barrels, etc.) to no-doubt match the ones from the upcoming film/series (including those wing gunner seats as pointed out in the video). I missed the AT-TE the first time; I won't this time!
That new V-19 Torrent looks awesome! (Kinda like the predecessor to the B-wing, eh?) I saw a preview of it from the English ToyFail-equivalent a few weeks ago- the wings fold down 135-degrees to either side, and then that tall tail actually flips down backwards 180-degrees to rest under the fighter (you can see the third engine mid-tail is pointed forward when on the ground).
The Guard Droid minifigs and their weapons included in that Magna Guard Starfighter are brand new. Kinda looks like a buffed-up version of General Grevious' ship from "Ep.III" which Obi-Wan commandeered, doesn't it?
Oh, BTW, while the new AT-AP may look cool, it's actually an inarticulate lump of Lego bricks. Only access doors, the top gun turret, and the third stabilizer leg move; the two main legs only have a single knee joint and that's it! Very disappointing, that. Most likely any Lego joints would be inadequate to handle the weight of the body, but still-! (Guess I'm getting spoiled by Exo-Force, huh...?)
I'm gonna give that big black & gray "The Force Unleashed" vessel a wide berth- too asymmetrical for my tastes. But the smaller black & blue Clone Dropship looks kinda interesting.
SpongeBob Squarepants... (*sighs, ashamed*) I do apologize for that.
As I've said elsewhere, I'm gonna hold judgment on the new Speed Racer line until after I've seen the up-coming movie. Not a big racing fan, but some of them look interesting. We'll see...
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CollectionDX Staff
according to Lego boards, the line is ending this year. Many weren't into the anime styling and thought it was too "toyish". I think you might agree that a kid is either into Legos or toys, not both, at least when it comes to having a lot of one or the other. Lego guys buy sets to build their own MOCs or just to have the Lego representation of a particular thing.
I had exactly 3 lego sets growing up in the 70s-80s. I was too busy getting Transformers, GI Joe, MOTU, and the inevitable robot line from import shops. Other kids I knew were big into Lego and built up crazy stuff from different sets, but only had a few toys.
I don't know of any that were big into both. They kind of represent the mindset of a child and whether they like to create their own things instead of playing with premade toys.
You guys may want to check out www.brickshelf.com and look up some crazy anime-inspired Legos. I've seen some crazy super robot stuff that could make you want to pick some Legos up and try it yourself.
O.o!
Nooooooooo--! Come on- the anime-style is what makes it unique! I mean- giant robots made out of Legos! Oh sure, they missed the mark a few times (*cough*DarkPanther*cough*), but with American kids going through "Yu-Gi-Oh", "Pokemon", "Naruto" and all those others, how could this line not be at least profitable if not highly successful like Star Wars and Bionicle??? Well... they tried it with Avatar- The Last Airbender and that fizzled out pretty fast (i.e. I haven't seen new sets or more of the series lately), but aren't, like, giant robots supposed to be, like, fun!?
On the other hand, I can see the comparison you make between kids who like to create when they play, and kids who mess around with pre-made stuff. I was the former, but kinda gained a bit of the latter. I rarely now mish-mash up sets or try my hand at MOCs (My Own Creation) unless it's an official alternate model. (BTW, I've been to Brickshelf a number of times, so I know you're right- some of the MOCs in there are absolutely insane!)
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CollectionDX Staff
I, like, just put together the V-19 Torrent (Set #7674, $54.99 MSRP) from "The Clone Wars". Took me the better part of 2hrs to make it too!
Even though I haven't seen the movie yet, this is one of those ships that grabs you right away without seeing it being used in whatever media it's in.
But this set is frickin' awesome! It's like a cross between the X-wing and B-wing Fighter(s). Review to come in the next few days! (I'm hoping I can also shoot a short video to go with, but that's no guarantee...)
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CollectionDX Staff