jamesster

Nice write-up. Here's some info you might find interesting... The Alpha Team theme was based on the game (which came out a year before the sets), and the characters, locations, etc were all designed by the game developers (and they changed quite a lot throughout the game's development): http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=85196 Also, Time Cruisers started as a character named Max Timebuster who appeared in various commercials, catalogs, etc in 1993-94. A Time Cruisers comic series was launched in 1994 as well, about a character named Tim Timebuster traveling between various time periods/themes. The Time Cruisers sets didn't appear until 1996, and the theme was discontinued in 1997... But the comic it was based on continued into 2000! http://www.rockraidersunited.com/topic/4820-lego-time-cruisers-comics/

The skeleton guy looks quite a bit like the Bone Suit from LEGO Universe: I don't think I'll be buying any of these, I don't have a use for them. Eh, maybe the skeleton guy, as a novelty.

TT was considering it as a possible angle for the game that eventually became LEGO City Undercover: http://multiplayerbl...d-chicken-guns/ There's also LEGO Creator and LEGO Loco from 1998, but they're more about free building than simulation. And of course, a LEGO city builder could be much more advanced today than in 1998.

It might be worth noting that LEGO has released games exclusively in Japan before, but they've mostly gone unnoticed: http://www.rockraidersunited.com/topic/6290-was-lego-island-really-the-first-lego-game-aka-i-found-a-1995-lego-game/ http://www.rockraidersunited.com/topic/6070-kids-station-lego-no-sekai/ (Though I'd imagine this one would get a release in other regions eventually...)

... nd other themes. http://www.gamasutra.com/view/pressreleases/234366/Nexon_to_Develop_Mobile_Game_for_iOS_and_Android_Based_onSuccessful_LEGOreg_Franchise.php

http://www.lego.com/en-us/pirates/characters Only one new named character so far, Governor Hacienda. The captain is indeed Redbeard, and while Rummy's name isn't given directly, it's in the file names for his pictures: http://cache.lego.com/r/www/r/pirates/-/media/franchises/pirates%202014/characters/mugshot/mugshot_pirate_rummy.png?l.r=1723381808 http://cache.lego.com/r/www/r/pirates/-/media/franchises/pirates%202014/characters/beauty%20shots/pirate_rummy_beauty.jpg?l.r=930048681 The website seems a bit sloppy... Redbeard is just called "Pirate Captain" on the main characters page, but called by name everywhere else. As said, Rummy's name isn't given anywhere except the image file names. And Governor Hacienda's name isn't given on the main page or even his own bio, it's just mentioned in the bios for other characters. I'd bet that there's more names for these characters that the website is missing, hopefully we'll get them from other sources like magazines...

This seems to have gone mostly under the radar... I don't see any proper press releases, just brief mentions in a couple of recent articles. http://events.newegg...ake-you-a-star/ http://www.mediamark...-realsense.html Ran through Google Translate it reads: http://www.fastcompa...licks-it-clicks

Oh, that reminds me, Ultra Agents takes place 20 years after Galaxy Squad (at least, that's what Pigbrick, a graphic designer, was told): http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=90203&st=950#entry1995395

Aren't the two cloaked figures that escaped with Mallock characters from SP3? Granted, their identity was never directly revealed, but it seemed fairly clear they were two of the aliens (though I'm going from memory, haven't watched it in years). Also, do we really need spoiler tags for Clutch Powers of all things?

There's no more info coming from that, the pictures show everything. The scans would just be higher quality. Hm, got a link to those?

Thanks for the translation! Lots of interesting stuff. I didn't find it myself, Tazakk/Pereki saw it on eBay, I bought it and got the pictures though (and Tazakk bought and scanned the Prinzen comic that TalonCard linked to). I'll get some proper scans of it next chance I get. Hah!

If you haven't seen it already on RRU: http://www.brickshel...ry.cgi?f=551138 It seems that it goes with , Zotax is the green planet, and the lava/castle planet seems to be called Vulcox (though I haven't properly translated it yet, so I may be missing something).

Aw yes.

Looks quite nice! I use SketchUp a lot for 3D LEGO stuff too, it works really well for it. Looking forward to whatever else you post.

Just glancing through this topic... Got nothing to really say about this supposed list. Seems a bit odd. This is a somewhat older post, but I thought I'd mention that there are already many minifigures in the MMO that are both NPCs and playable characters. At least five of the minifigures in series 12 are NPCs (and of course they're also playable and can be unlocked via the codes in their bags), plus quite a few from older series both appear as NPCs and player characters. For example, the Heroic Knight and Chicken Suit Guy are both playable, but the Heroic Knight is also used for a lot of medieval world NPCs (sometimes with color/printing variations), and the Chicken Suit Guy appears as an NPC in some odd situations (like being trapped in a cage, captured by series 11 Tiki Islander NPCs). Here's a screenshot of me, playing as the Video Game Guy, with the NPC Video Game Guy slightly behind me:

Oh dang, that's really nice. Time to re-visit Mecabricks!

The minifigs take the cake. And my money.

The codes are all for Galaxy Patrol, but AFAIK each code is unique per magazine sent out.

It's been a while, but I recall people complaining about Castle 2013 using too many wall panels, when the first pics came out... Now we get a more kid-oriented Pirates that uses bricks instead of wall panels, and among the first complaints are "I miss the wall panels". Ooookay then.

Hey, Imperial Soldiers (bluecoats). Neat. Minifigures are obviously just placeholders with existing parts, but they're definitely representing new bluecoats.

Soldier's Fort? As in, some sort of new Imperial-ish fort? I'm interested in that one especially.

@zux, I probably will some time. @Bioslayer, wow, interesting. Thanks for sharing. Why on Earth would something like that be produced and sent to stores...?

Not sure if this would go here or somewhere else... Feel free to move if needed. Anyway, I've sort of turned more towards collecting minifigures over the past few years, and I noticed that there's some variations on elements that Bricklink doesn't separate, and as I rely on Bricklink's catalog quite a bit, it makes me wonder what else is out there that they haven't noticed and cataloged. For example, LEGO recently replaced the old skull print with a slightly revised version. I don't actually have the new version in my collection yet, but LDD has both, here's a comparison: However, Bricklink doesn't seem to know the difference between the two, so I'm not sure how to buy some individually and get the kind I want (the new kind). Similarly, Bricklink doesn't distinguish between the two old solid stud head molds. It's a bit hard to capture in a photo, but the first minifigure heads weren't as rounded on the top and bottom. Some time after the release of Pirates they rounded the top and bottom a bit more, then some time later switched to hollow studs. And of course, more recently, they got rid of the vents in the hollow studs. Here's some comparison pictures of the four types I took a while back, showing two heads of each type: http://www.brickshel...er/img_0011.jpg http://www.brickshel...er/img_0008.jpg http://www.brickshel...er/img_0013.jpg <- It's a bit easier to notice on the pirate heads, as the beard makes the difference in curvature more apparent. So when exactly did this change take place? Are there more variations of these things I don't know of yet because online catalogs have some gaps? I've seen other discussions here on Eurobricks about part variations, often in the context of LEGO history or "duplicates" in LDD, but I'm mainly interested in minifigures and such. Bricklink cataloged some minor variations in classic Ninja torsos, and even some misprints from Adventurers, Pirates, and Western if I remember right, but seeing as they've also missed the ones posted here I'm left wondering what else is as of yet uncataloged. Basically, I'd be interesting in hearing any more information you might have on these sorts of things. Edit: Oh yeah, this is pretty common knowledge, but the collectible minifigures and other china-produced minifigures use different molds, plastic, and printing methods, including accessories and whatever else is produced there. Some examples: http://www.brickshel...ry.cgi?f=401807 http://www.brickshel...ry.cgi?f=401814

That was just way too clever.