Questions and Concerns for TLG

[XimenaPaulina]

I cant speak for TLG but I have noticed that the rubbery plastic is often used these days for parts that would otherwise have sharp points or small parts that could snap off if molded in hard ABS.

In fact, I have heard this articulated by others in relation to things like swords, spears, tridents and other "pointy" minifig accessories.

I think aside from that, play safety is another consideration for the choice of rubbery materials for 'pointy' parts. As a world-class international company, I assume TLG gives high priority on the safety of its customers, particularly the primary users of its products - the kids.

Let's take the new spear piece (right below) for example. Just imagine if the tip of the new spear were made of hard ABS - it poses a hazard and there's a risk of eye injury in kids if it's not used properly. I know the old spear piece still exists, but I guess the new spear piece is a step towards the right direction for TLG to ensure the safety of its kid customers.

Image from bricklink

[Lyichir]

I think aside from that, play safety is another consideration for the choice of rubbery materials for 'pointy' parts. As a world-class international company, I assume TLG gives high priority on the safety of its customers, particularly the primary users of its products - the kids.

Let's take the new spear piece (right below) for example. Just imagine if the tip of the new spear were made of hard ABS - it poses a hazard and there's a risk of eye injury in kids if it's not used properly. I know the old spear piece still exists, but I guess the new spear piece is a step towards the right direction for TLG to ensure the safety of its kid customers.

Image from bricklink

I think it's sometimes a mix between safety, aesthetics, and stability. In the case of the newer spear, the rubber end not only makes it safer, but allows for sharper angles and a sharper point (both without posing a hazard and without being too fragile to produce efficiently). Safety does play a more important role in some parts, though. In particular, the old spear was remolded completely in the rubbery plastic in Hero Factory two years ago, which makes sense to me remembering how my little brother played with Bionicle many, many years back (specifically, crashing them haphazardly together to simulate battle). The old spear may not be that sharp, but could still cause injury if jabbed into flesh with enough force.

[Faefrost]

Let's take the new spear piece (right below) for example. Just imagine if the tip of the new spear were made of hard ABS - it poses a hazard and there's a risk of eye injury in kids if it's not used properly. I know the old spear piece still exists, but I guess the new spear piece is a step towards the right direction for TLG to ensure the safety of its kid customers.

I'm sure there are a lot of factors. In the case of the spear part of it might be that a change in materials is what allowed the dual color injection molding to be possible.

[Good Cragger Fan]

I really hope that I don't have to wait until the summer to see the rest of the Legends of Chima TV series, as I want to find out what will happen to Cragger, such as will he ever break away from the influence of the evil orchid that is hipnotising him into doing Cooler's bidding, stop attacking the Lions and their allies, and be friends again with Laval. I'm saying this for four reasons: one, I think that it is very sad to have two best friends to become sworn enemies; two, sooner or later Worriz the wolf prince (or leader) is very crafty and evil like Crooler is and will eventually betray Cragger anyway (Worriz hates Laval, and since Laval and Cragger were best friends, Worriz historically didn't care for Cragger either); third, the second episode ended on a very bad cliffhanger with no resolution of any kind unlike the ending of the second episode of Ninjago, and we have to wat five or six months to find find out what happens next; and four, the most imortant one of all, I can't stop thinking about Legends of Chima in regards to Laval and Cragger's friendship (I even have dreams about Laval and Cragger and other character in the Legends of Chima TV series). Therefore, I am really mad and upset in how Cartoon Network, Will Films and LEGO have handled this. I really like half-human, half-reptile characters in cartoons and like to cheer them on in a battle or war, but I want the good characters to win in the end, so I really want either of two things to happen: one Cragger turns good again before to long, or LEGO comes up with a brand new repitle tribe like Dragons or Alligators who one the side of good and are heros, like Laval is now.

This is why Alligators would be THE ideal canidate for a heroic underwater reptile tribe, rather than any of the Crocodile tribe members fighting against other members of the Crocodile tribe, to couterpart the ENTIRE so-called and/or supposed "evil/bad" Crocodile tribe -- although I read somewhere online (I think it was at the Numburg Toy Fair) that someone who works for LEGO said that when they did focus test groups (they might be done in Germany, but i'm not sure about that) that involved children, said that Crocodiles are awesome, but Alligators are not awesome (why would the children think and say that, since I think that they are both equally awesome, even when I was a child?), which is a REAL shame and a MAJOR letdown (in my opinon), since this means that we may never get an Alligator tribe in the Lagends of Chima story. Also, as for having the Gorillas, Rhinoceroses, Bears and Beavers/Hedghogs in having counterparts as enimies: the Gorillas could have monkeys, chimpanzees, or more likely, Orangatangs as their couterparts; the Bears could have Pandas as their couterparts, since Pandas are technically not bears but look a lot like them; the Rhinoceroses could use Triceratopses as the 'Dinosaur' tribe that are enemies with the Rhinoceroses (though LEGO might not go for only ONE example of a dinosaur that represents ALL dinosaurs in the world of Chima, since there are so many different kinds of dinosaurs in real life (ableit millions of years ago into the past), them including but not limited to, meat-eating and plant-eating dinosaurs); but I'm not sure about Beavers/Hedgehogs -- especially if they really are hedgehogs, which they look like to me in the preview of the LEGOLAND California 4D film -- since I can't think of a real world or even mythical animal that is similar to a hedgehog but is considered a different animal. Plus, we MUST have at least ONE underwater tribe that is on the good side of the war, otherwise, it would be extremely difficult for ANY of the good tribes -- never mind Laval and the other Lions -- to even hope in succeeding in sneaking into the Crocodiles lair unnoticed to confront Cragger (and especially Crooler), if not downright impossible to do so.

CM4S, I would like to say thanks for this information, as I won't have to wait nearly as long for the next episode (or two or three episodes) to be aired on TV (and hopefully uploaded to Youtube or something similar to it, as I live in Canada and don't even get the Canadian version of Cartoon Network, never mind the US version -- and I don't know when these episodes will be aired on Teletoon, so does anyone know when they will be shown on Teletoon in Canada?). However, a LEGO Brand Store Manager told me this when I visted the store last night, and he told me that the rest of the episodes after the ones that will be shown in late March won't be shown until the Summer.

This is why I think that LEGO cares less about morality in terms of racism and figuratively paint all of a certain thing with the same brush, so to speak, than they used to, say back in the 1980's. (You can just look at the uproar that the German (or Austrian) Turkish community had of Jabba's Palace in protraying all Muslims and/or Middle Easterners as criminals and/or terrorists). Therefore, I think that the LEGO Group is not as accountable to their customers and fans as they used to be in this aspect (among other things that I won't go into here) -- not for me to mention that we (or children, for that matter) cannot use any of the Crocodlie tribe minifigures as heros/herolines as they are now or even swapping parts around to make them look not evil in character, especially the heads and masks without them looking fake and/or stuipid in how they look there.

I could not agree with you more here on all of your points. Crominus has the golden Crocodile crown helmet only because he is the leader of the Crocodile tribe, and when Cragger becomes the new king of the Crocodile tribe, he started wearing the golden Crocodile helmet crown (after Crooler handed it to him, but how she got it from Crominus, we don't know yet). However, why doesn't Crominus nor Cragger wear a cape in the show, while in the sets (and other forms of media and advertisments) they both wear a cape?

This is why the Croc Lair Hideout set should have been released first, in the first wave of this year and the Cragger's Command ship set in the second wave of this year, even as a retail store exclusive set like the Croc Lair Hideout set is (orwill be) now (or in the next few months), since in that way Crominus would not have to be in that set and LEGO can replace it with another Crocodlie, such as Cranvil, which we haven't seen in minifigure form yet, which could be the exclusive minifigure in which a lot of retail store exclusive sets tend to have there. I'm saying this because the Croc Lair Hideout set, as far as we know here, will not reveal to much of the plot of the TV show, it depending on what minifigures will actually be included in it. This may be the case, whereas the Cragger's Command Ship reveals that somehow and/or for some reason Crominus thinks evil thoughts, it being based on the part of the box art where all of the minifigures are shown lined up and that Crominus' minifigure has a red background that is behind it -- just like Cragger, Crooler and Rawzom also have a red background that are benind those minifigures that symbolises that they are the bad characters, where Longtooth and Lennox have a blue background that symbolises that they are the good characters -- which is a abomination in my opinion. This is because since Crominus does not think evil thoughts in the show so far and I really don't think he will think evil thoughts in future episodes unless he gets hipnotised by Crooler or loses his memory somehow, the Cragger's Command Ship set should not have him in it unless he shown in helping the Lions in fighting against Cragger (while he is hipnotised by Crooler via the orchid) Crooler and the other crocodlies, other than Crunket of course, and with a blue background that is behind the picture of the minifigure of Crominus.

I would really, really like to see the following tribes in the world of Chima:

1. Lions -- good (done)

2. Tigers -- bad

3. Crocodiles -- bad (unless Cragger, Crominus, Crunket and some of the other Crocodiles turn good before too many episodes have passed ) (done)

And either:

4.a. Alligators (only if all of the Crocodiles remain bad through most or all of the TV series, them including Cragger, Crominus and Crunket , otherwise this tribe would not be necessary for LEGO to release) -- good (We badly need more than just one reptilian tribe ; we badly need more than just one underwater tribe , and I'll figuratively very much die happy here if LEGO made this animal tribe, as a good reptilian tribe to counterpart the Crocodile tribe , should all of the Crocodiles remain bad through most or all of the TV series! )

Or:

4.b. Snakes (only if at least some of the Crocodiles, especially Crominus, Crunket and Cragger, if not most or even all of them (though I seriously doubt that Crooler will ever turn good ( ) in character in any of the episodes of the TV series and will probably remain bad right through the end of the very last episode of the TV series) turn good in character way, way before the end of the TV series of Legends of Chima ; otherwise this tribe would not be necessary for LEGO to release, but the Alligators, as the good characters to counterpart the bad Crocodiles, would need to be released by LEGO instead ) -- bad

5. Eagles -- good (done)

6. Ravens -- bad (done)

7. Wolves -- bad (done)

8. Foxes -- good (nearly confirmed by me in a different post in another thread!) (done)

9. Gorillas -- good (done)

10. Monkeys -- bad

11. Rhinoceroses -- probably bad but I am not sure about this, so only time will tell us? (done)

12. Elephants -- (?) (done? ) (only if the Rhinoceroses are good, otherwise good if the Rhinoceroses are bad)

13. Bears -- probably bad but I am not sure about this? (done)

14. Pandas -- good (only if the Bears are bad, otherwise bad if the Bears are good)

15. Skunks -- good (nearly confired by me in a different post in another thread!) (done)

16. ? -- good (only if the Skunks are bad, otherwise bad if the Skunks are good)

17. Sharks -- bad (We badly need more than just one underwater tribe!)

18. Whales -- good (We badly need more than just one underwater tribe! )

19. Beavers/Porcupines -- good (? ) (done? )

20. Hedgehogs -- bad (only if the Beavers/Porcupines are good, otherwise good if the Beavers/Porcupines are bad)

21. Bees -- good (We need at least one or two insect tribes! )

22. Wasps -- bad (We need at least one or two insect tribes! )

And either:

23.a. Dragons (with wings) -- good (or neutral ) (We badly need more than just one reptilian tribe , and I would figuratively very much die happy here, if LEGO releases this animal

tribe! )

24.a. Bats -- bad (as a counter part to the good Dragons), or Owls -- neutral (if the Dragons are neutral)

Or:

23.b. East Asian (think Chinese (Lung)) Dragon -- good (We badly need more than just one reptilian tribe, and I would figuratively very much die happy here, if LEGO were to release this animal tribe! )

24.b. Western (think European) Dragon -- bad (We badly need more than just one reptilian tribe, and I would figuratively very much die happy here, if LEGO were to release this animal tribe! ).

Thus, there's 24 tribes in total!

There is a major edit: I added a lot more emotion face symbols and corrected some information on the Fox, Bear, Skunk and Rhinoceros tribes in terms of whether they are good or bad in character, as well as some grammer, formating and sentence structure correctons.

I've carefully examined the Legends of Chima set and Speedorz pictures on www.toyark.com that are from the New York Toy Fair, and I've noticed that both Skinnet's and Flurty's weapons have a transparent blue piece on each of them, so this means that they are both good characters (and probably most, if not all of their respective tribe members are on the Lion's side in the war). (A transparent red piece, on the other figurative hand, that is on a characters' weapon reveals that the character (and the tribe in which he or she belongs to there in the world of Chima) is a bad character.) This can mean that both the Bears and the Rhinoceroses are probably on the Crocodiles' side and thus are bad characters. In regarding the Rhinoceroses, I'm not happy about this, as I like animals with snouts, because they look more attractive to me, hence it is why I like reptiles so much, since they usually have snouts on the heads. Therefore, this is a major letdown on my part, since LEGO has the only two animal tribes that have snouts on the bad side of the war!!!! (To me, animals (and their half-human, half-animal versions) that do not have snouts (other than Lions and maybe Gorillas) look vey, very flat to me, and thus they look unattractive to me (sometimes even ugly, if they have beaks like birds do in real life and in the world of Chima, and thus I'm not a fan of birds). As a result, it is more important then ever before now for the LEGO Group to have at least one reptile tribe who are on the good side of the war!! Are you reading this LEGO???

I thank you for the trailer, "Meiko"! It appears that Cartoon Network in the US (and Teletoon in Canada) will only show one new episode and the other two will be repeats of what has already been aired back in mid-January.

These bloopers are so funny to me! I thank you for sharing these!

"Kai NRG", you should keep in mind that Crug and Crawley are probably villains by choice, since they were not hipnotised by Crooler at any time (only Cragger was hipnotised there) and they also laughed evilly (or at least Crawley did there) on at least one occasion while they were under no hipnosis there (Cragger only laughed evilly once while he was hipnotised by Crooler's orchid).

"Wall E2624", I could live with Cragger being evil the entire TV series, so long as Crominus and Crunket escape the cave and join the Lions' side against their son and daughter, Cragger and Crooler, respectively, before too many episodes have aired there. (If this happens in reality, I'll be changing my username on here from "Good Cragger Fan" to "Crominus Fan", when and if the moderators will let me do so, since I would no longer be a fan of Cragger, if he stays evil forever on the TV series (which would be a real shame! ).)

"Meiko", a man versus his internal stuggle concept would be a good thing for Cragger (and the storytelling of the Legends of Chima TV series), for the episodes that transition him from him being a villain to a hero (or even an anti-hero and/or an anti-viilain), as long as it doesn't persist for half or the better part of a season or, god forbid, the majority of the TV series.

"Lyichir", it would be great if LEGO had introduced a few evil, outcasted (ex-)members of the Lion tribe, like the (hypothetical) evil sister of Laval and two or three (hypothetical) evil Lion animal warriors (as Laval's evil sister's henchlions), who were the first animal warriors of any tribe in the land of Chima (them including the Crocodiles) to steal Chi orbs from the sacred pool of Chi before episode 1 of the TV series had even began then, which could really help explain why Crominus and Crunket (falsely) accused the Lions (Laval, to be more specific here) of talking Cragger into sneaking into the Lion Temple to steal some Chi before Cragger (and Laval) were old enough to handle it, whereas as, in fact, it was Laval's (hypothetical) evil sister and her henchlions, and Crooler, Crug and Crawley (as-of-then Cooler's (hypothetical henchcrocodiles) who talked Cragger into taking himself and Laval to the Lion Temple to look at the Chi pool and steal some Chi, so Crominus and Crunket accused the wrong Lion animal warrior in addition to them not knowing that Crooler had also a lot to do with it. Therefore, we would have two factions that are within both the Lion tribe and the Crocodile tribe (some Lion aimal warriors and Crocodile animal warriors would be heros and herolines, and some Lion animal warriors and Crocodile animal warriors would be villains and villainesses). Now that would be epic story telling on LEGO's and Wil2Films' part; therefore, the story would not have a premature ending, as both sides would be too evenly matched there, and thus the story could last for many years!

I'm sorry for double posting here (it seems that I can't edit a post by adding additional quotes and then replying to them, so what is up with that?), but I believe the reason in why that they said that Episode 4 is the last episode is because they were referring to the last episode of the pilot season (as I would personally call "Season 0"), so I really, really, really wished that Cartoon Network (in the US) and Teletoon (in Canada) showed all four episodes back in mid-January of this year or wait until all four of them are ready for telecasting in the English Language Markets in North America, since, as of right now, LEGO, M2Fims, Cartoon Network and Teletoon are really holding us mentally hostage here (especially me!) , as we have to wait so long between episodes 2 and 3 (and betewen episodes 3 and 4, but I'm not too sure about that, so only time will tell us ) to find out what will happen there, especially with Cragger, Crooler and their parents! However, I'm pretty sure that there will be more episodes in the summer of this year [unless it really is the end of the TV series and they are going to redo the TV series, with at least some of the Crocodiles in being heroes and/or with a brand new, never before seen or hear of here (or anywhere else, it aside from people who have inside knowledge of LEGO's future plans for the Legends of Chima TV series) reptilian tribe, who are on the good side of the war (my personal first choice), as two possible examples]. Also, about Laval and Eris in being in a supposed romantic relationship -- I wonder if Laval's father would approve of that (me never mind the other Lion tribe members and Ewald and the other Eagle tribe members (other than Eris, of course!)), and how can a Lion and any other animal (other than another Lion), even in the land of Chima, possibly produce children? -- so can anyone tell the answer (or answers) to me about these two things?

Can an ambassador please forward these concerns and ideas of mine to the LEGO Group, as I have a huge, huge problem in how The LEGO Group is treating the Crocodile tribe proorly there? I'm referring to more specfically in them stereotyping all of the Crocodile tribe members as villains in the set box art and other media such as books and the official LEGO website, whereas, in fact (at least in the TV series), only Crooler, Crug, Crawley and Cragger (but only when he is hipnotised by Crooler's orchid (flower)) are villains, while Crominus, Crunket and sometimes Cragger are not villains. This is especially bad when the Crocodile tribe in the only reptile tribe that is in existance (at the moment), and in LEGO protraying all of the Crocodiles as villains (and thus all reptiles in general) promotes racism in the land of Chima, which teaches children who watch the TV show and/or play with the toys that racial profiling, which is a hate crime in real life, by the way in many parts of the world, is okay there when, in reality, it is not okay there. Therefore, I really strongly thing a change is in order, such as LEGO introducing a brand new reptilian tribe that is on the good side! I'm hoping for a response from LEGO on this matter. I thank you.

[Siegfried]

Can an ambassador please forward these concerns and ideas of mine to the LEGO Group, as I have a huge, huge problem in how The LEGO Group is treating the Crocodile tribe proorly there? I'm referring to more specfically in them stereotyping all of the Crocodile tribe members as villains in the set box art and other media such as books and the official LEGO website, whereas, in fact (at least in the TV series), only Crooler, Crug, Crawley and Cragger (but only when he is hipnotised by Crooler's orchid (flower)) are villains, while Crominus, Crunket and sometimes Cragger are not villains. This is especially bad when the Crocodile tribe in the only reptile tribe that is in existance (at the moment), and in LEGO protraying all of the Crocodiles as villains (and thus all reptiles in general) promotes racism in the land of Chima, which teaches children who watch the TV show and/or play with the toys that racial profiling, which is a hate crime in real life, by the way in many parts of the world, is okay there when, in reality, it is not okay there. Therefore, I really strongly thing a change is in order, such as LEGO introducing a brand new reptilian tribe that is on the good side! I'm hoping for a response from LEGO on this matter. I thank you.

I can tell you that TLG doesn't write the stories; they just make the sets. To my knowledge (heard from a designer) they try to make the occasional set upon request but for the most part there is little to-and-fro-ing between the design and animation team.

[Peppermint_M]

Also, I can really go to great depths on why people have ascribed "villany" to Crocodiles. From Sobek right up to Croc the CocoPop stealer...

[gratefulnat]

*snip*

After reading all of that my initial two thoughts were

1/ April fools

or

2/ If not 1, time to call a doctor...

[Alasdair Ryan]

After reading all of that my initial two thoughts were

1/ April fools

or

2/ If not 1, time to call a doctor...

I just laughed,I hope this is given to the lego group.....

[Lyichir]

I can tell you that TLG doesn't write the stories; they just make the sets. To my knowledge (heard from a designer) they try to make the occasional set upon request but for the most part there is little to-and-fro-ing between the design and animation team.

Actually, Lego does write the core of the story (with the TV writers only determining what goes into individual episodes). As the producers of story themes, Lego decides what the main events of each year of story will be, as well as basic character traits of the minifigures they design, as well as designing all the "props" that are needed for the sets. And I have no doubt that storylines from their TV shows have to be cleared by Lego before they air.

Not that sending them this laundry list of grievances would be likely to do any good. Good Cragger Fan, I'm going to put this as lightly as possible: you're better off letting them tell the story they want to tell. The show hasn't even started in full yet, and you're already calling for the main antagonists to be neutralized, which would be a storytelling disaster. If Cragger and the Crocodile Tribe are going to turn good, it'll take time for it to be pulled off in a convincing way, and your complaining isn't going to make it happen any faster. If, in a worst case scenario, the story doesn't unfold how you like, write your own story! Pretty much every fandom has space for fanfiction, and it's incredibly easy to come up with your own stories with a creative toy like Lego!

[A2L]

Now that I have read some concerns about Polycarbonate in LEGO sets being posted on some sites' comments and a few forums, is TLG looking at Tritan (Trade Mark of Eastman) or similar copolyester manufactured by other companies, which seemingly do not have BPA related problems and are better substitutes of polycarbonates?

[Bricknblue]

Don't eat the LEGO bricks would be a good way to solve BPA issues.

I'd like to know why LEGO changed from have three complete sets of CMF in a box to two. It's really annoying and makes me buy less, and parents I have talked to seem pissed off too.

Also why doesn't the Avengers boxes have Black Widow, the only female character from the movie?

Edited April 2, 2013 by Bricknblue

[A2L]

Don't eat the LEGO bricks would be a good way to solve BPA issues.

I'd be more worried about dermal absorption. But hey I'm an AFOL, and I don't suck bricks. I separated my child's Polycarbonate Duplo pieces as soon as they came. But my excitement lies elsewhere - in the property of Tritan. I have already started dreaming of the infinite clear LEGO brick designs. If I am allowed to post a link, that too regarding non-LEGO stuff, check this out http://www.eastman.c...hallenge.aspx I have no association with Eastman or any manufacturer and will not be able to tell one plastic from another without seeing the number!

Edited April 2, 2013 by A2L

[Aanchir]

Don't eat the LEGO bricks would be a good way to solve BPA issues.

I'd like to know why LEGO changed from have three complete sets of CMF in a box to two. It's really annoying and makes me buy less, and parents I have talked to seem pissed off too.

The reason for the change in CMFs is that they introduced a new, 30-figure box around the time of Series 9, and wanted the distribution to be the same between the two box sizes. Thus, there's no way there could be an odd number of complete sets in a 60-figure box. And since four sets of 16 couldn't fit in a box of 60, instead it's pushed down to two.

The distribution could still be evened out a bit more, in that currently the number of figs per box ranges from two to six, when there could be just a range of two to four. But there are various reasons TLG might justify keeping distribution uneven.

[Siegfried]

Actually, Lego does write the core of the story (with the TV writers only determining what goes into individual episodes).

Who told you that? I was told otherwise by Mark Stafford, but I don't rule out remembering wrong.

[Lyichir]

Who told you that? I was told otherwise by Mark Stafford, but I don't rule out remembering wrong.

Hmm, if Mark Stafford told you otherwise that's more reliable. Part of what I was saying was assumption based on how Lego treated past story themes like Bionicle, as well as how most other companies handle merchandise-driven TV shows. It's typically very much a two way street, but the toy company (if not the designers themselves) has a lot of input. For instance, I have little doubt that it was someone at Lego who decided "Okay, last year the Ninja were fighting skeletons. This year they'll be fighting snakes, because we've looked at market research and kids really like snakes". Then I imagine that idea would go to the show writers, who would come up with storylines, then that would go back to the set designers, who make sets based on some of the writers' ideas. Essentially, the core concept would probably fall to Lego. And if that's the case, Lego would likely be the one to decide if the crocs could become good guys--since that's highly dependent on whether toy-buying fans of the series could see the crocs as good guys, and whether they could come up with a reasonably threatening "bad guy" to replace them in the conflict. The only exception I can imagine would be if the toyline were going to end anyway; in that case, I figure the show writers would have more freedom to end the show as they saw fit, since that year's sets would probably already be out and what would be left would be to advertise them while wrapping up loose ends.

I feel like I'm just starting to ramble, and certainly a lot of this is based on assumptions. If Mark Stafford has indeed said that Lego (and not just their set designers) are not very involved in the story, then all that's out the window. But from my experience observing other shows similar to Chima or Ninjago, I can't picture Lego handing off the entire story process to the TV writers, especially since the show exists to support the sets and not vice-versa.

[Good Cragger Fan]

I can tell you that TLG doesn't write the stories; they just make the sets. To my knowledge (heard from a designer) they try to make the occasional set upon request but for the most part there is little to-and-fro-ing between the design and animation team.

If that is the case, who does the story and character development of LEGO themes such as Legends of Chima, as I would like to hear a response from them (via the ambassodors here, of course!)?

Also, I can really go to great depths on why people have ascribed "villany" to Crocodiles. From Sobek right up to Croc the CocoPop stealer...

I looked on the internet recently about different cultures' protrayal of crocodiles (both present and past), and in the case of the ancient Egyptian culture, Sobek -- the half-human, half-crocodile diety -- was a god, not a demon in some parts of ancient Egypt where he was worshiped (and was given offerings) way back then, to keep the real world crocodiles from attacking humans in, near and along the Nile River. (I think that there may still be some shines in which some modern-day Egyptians worship Sobek in a few places in Egypt that are along the Nile River.) Also, in parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, there is (or was) a crocodile spirit in which many people in that part of Africa believed in and worshipped there.

Here is an edit:

Another example of a good half-human, half-crocodile is the video game character that is known as K. Lumsey in Donkey Kong 64 for the Nintendo 64 video game console. [He was imprisoned in a cage by King K. Rool (the final boss in that game, who happens to be an evil half-human, half-crocodile) because he refused to harm monkeys and apes, especially Donkey Kong and his friends -- because he is a gentle, benevolent crocodile and doesn't believe in harming monkeys and apes (among other animals) -- and helps Donkey Kong each time in which Donkey Kong unlocks one of the locks on his cage (via the video game player, when he or she beats so many levels and/or worlds).]

Edited April 23, 2013 by Good Cragger Fan

[Timoonn]

I want to talk to the ambassadors about the parts quality , with a very long first message, is it better to make a dedicated topic?

[Gatekeeper]

I looked on the internet recently about different cultures' protrayal of crocodiles (both present and past), and in the case of the ancient Egyptian culture, Sobek -- the half-human, half-crocodile diety -- was a god, not a demon in some parts of ancient Egypt where he was worshiped (and was given offerings) way back then, to keep the real world crocodiles from attacking humans in, near and along the Nile River. (I think that there may still be some shines in which some modern-day Egyptians worship Sobek in a few places in Egypt that are along the Nile River.) Also, in parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, there is (or was) a crocodile spirit in which many people in that part of Africa believed in and worshipped there.

I read this and I just had to comment, maybe I'm poking the hornet's nest but being interested in mythology I have to note that like many of the ancient religions "gods and demons" are essentially one in the same. The Titans from Norse mythology, Hades in Greece, Pluto from Rome, Shiva the Destroyer of India, Seth from Egytpian writings and so on. Many of the ancients don't seem to see good and evil in such black and white terms. They tended to believe that each god had postive and negative aspects and as such rarely had truly "good" or "evil" even those that are typically considered good have some darker aspects.

As for the crocodile from Chima, I just shrug, I'm not really into Chima and it matters little to me. Though I could see uses for them as some type of lizard race for my fantasy builds....

[fred67]

I'd like to know why LEGO changed from have three complete sets of CMF in a box to two. It's really annoying and makes me buy less, and parents I have talked to seem pissed off too.

Yes, me too... discussion below Aanchir's post.

Also why doesn't the Avengers boxes have Black Widow, the only female character from the movie?

I have been collecting some superhero figures, but not really paying that much attention; this doesn't really concern me, but I think it's a great question, especially with all the hyper-sensitivity to having more female minifigures.

The reason for the change in CMFs is that they introduced a new, 30-figure box around the time of Series 9, and wanted the distribution to be the same between the two box sizes. Thus, there's no way there could be an odd number of complete sets in a 60-figure box. And since four sets of 16 couldn't fit in a box of 60, instead it's pushed down to two.

I'm not satisfied with that answer. I know you're just going by what LEGO does, I'm here to argue with you, but that reason is not good enough. Why don't they just do boxes with 32 and 64? Who came up with boxes of 60 for a series of 16 figures, anyway? That's ALWAYS been annoying, and they started screwing us (*) with the very first series - by having 5 of some and only 3 of others in the boxes - how do they explain that?

At the same time, it seems (as I've gathered in other threads), that the 120 boxes have a pretty much completely RANDOM distribution, not exactly double the 60... so the argument that the 30 needs to be exactly half of the 60 makes little sense from my standpoint.

(*) Yes, it's not really "screwing" us, I know - it's not like we need to buy them at all. But really, you'd think they'd WANT us to be enthusiastic about buying.

EDIT: since I'm here, I'll throw in a little bit... I noticed that, at present, duplo trains are actually getting a lot of track accessories that regular LEGO is not. Now, you can argue that there are more duplo trains being sold - but I really don't think you can argue that there is more demand for switches and crossovers for duplo that there is for regular trains - I cannot picture a 3 year old complaining that they need more track variety.

Edited May 20, 2013 by fred67

[Carrera124]

I really appreciate the service that TLG offers instructions as free downloadable PDF files.

But I would like to ask TLG why the graphics qualitiy is so poor ?

Maybe it is intended to prevent non-autohorized reprints ?

Sometimes, it is really hard and painful to use them, the pictures are rough pixelated, dark/black parts look like a dab of paint without shape.

At least for older/discontinued sets, it would be great to get PDF instructions with reasonable quality.

[Aanchir]

I really appreciate the service that TLG offers instructions as free downloadable PDF files.

But I would like to ask TLG why the graphics qualitiy is so poor ?

Maybe it is intended to prevent non-autohorized reprints ?

Sometimes, it is really hard and painful to use them, the pictures are rough pixelated, dark/black parts look like a dab of paint without shape.

At least for older/discontinued sets, it would be great to get PDF instructions with reasonable quality.

The graphics quality actually varies depending on when the instruction booklet is from and when it was uploaded. If you look at the instructions of a handful of 90s sets on the LEGO server, they are phenomenal quality. All the pictorial directions are vectors so they can be blown up to quite a large size without losing quality. Other sets, on the other hand, use highly-compressed image files for the directions, making certain parts of the build practically illegible.

Preventing unauthorized reprints may be one incentive for lower-quality digital instructions, but I think a bigger factor is probably to keep the filesize down so that loading times are not too long even with a weak internet connection. After all, TLG is a global company and there are many places around the world where access to high-speed internet is either non-existent or prohibitively expensive. I remember back when I was on a dial-up internet connection and loading times for even the most basic web pages could be ridiculous.

[Carrera124]

I can't believe that this is a valid reason... they could offer both a lo-res and hi-res version...

[Aanchir]

I can't believe that this is a valid reason... they could offer both a lo-res and hi-res version...

Yeah, that's a good point. In fact, that's what they used to do for videos and mini-movies on the LEGO site: offer a "highband" and "lowband" version. But I think this is at least one of the motivations.

Another motivation is of course that smaller filesizes would also make web hosting a lot cheaper and reduce the amount being downloaded from the LEGO site on a regular basis. A lot of large downloads could potentially slow down loading times for other users visiting the LEGO site. But I don't know all that much about the LEGO site architecture or how much it costs to host so much content (I've only taken one year of introductory web design and am nowhere near as knowledgable about it as my younger brother), so this is largely guesswork.

[merman]

I really like building from my iPad, but these low res instructions hurt my eyes! (And why is 10240 X-Wing still not up?)

[Brickadeer]

I have a question regarding how accessory is attached to minifigures. My focus are Star Wars minifigures, and accessories that are attached to the neck.

The usual way (I think since Classic Space) is 1) to attach the accessory to the neck and 2) to attach the head to the neck. The trade-off is that minifigs wearing accessory are a bit taller than minifigs not wearing accessory.

My question is if anyone ever thought of making the hole in the accessory a bit bigger in order 1) to attach the accessory to the head and than 2) to attach the head to the neck.