20 replies to this topic

[Hapori Tohu]

After months of planning, support, and loads of repetitive, horrible Galaxy Squad jokes, Nick Royer's Space Marines project has finally achieved its goal of ten thousand supporters! The results for the Summer review are still pending and the Autumn line has just recently been put into review, so it will be quite a while before we hear the results against Purdue Pete. In the meantime, why not head over and congratulate him? Just make sure to keep Galaxy Squad jokes out of your comments. It's just in poor taste at this point.

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[Chro]

Fantastic news! It was inevitable. But unfortunately I feel like this will either

- not get approved due to similarity to Galaxy Squad, or

- be radically changed.

I hope neither happens, though, of course.

[KlakWest]

Aww yeah! We made it!

[xccj]

I have hope for this one.  The whole Cuusoo process is slow enough and there are plenty of sets up ahead of this one that it might not come out for a while.  And when/if it does, the current Galaxy Squad theme may be old enough that there'd be more interest in a one-off space theme like this.

 

[Damaracx 7.0]

The sets look awesome!  Especially the suits!  However, weren't space marines part of a video game?  I'm pretty sure I've heard that name in a video game before...

[Chro]

The sets look awesome!  Especially the suits!  However, weren't space marines part of a video game?  I'm pretty sure I've heard that name in a video game before...

You have. The concept and phrase 'space marines' are pretty common in games and other media, borderline cliche.

[Lyichir]

 

The sets look awesome! Especially the suits! However, weren't space marines part of a video game? I'm pretty sure I've heard that name in a video game before...

You have. The concept and phrase 'space marines' are pretty common in games and other media, borderline cliche.

 

Some might say cliche. Some might say archetypal. Many amazing Lego themes are based on common tropes, such as Alien Conquest (which was filled with motifs from classic sci-fi, like flying saucers and tripods) or Agents (which featured all sorts of elements from spy movies, from the cool car with concealed weapons and an ejector seat to the main villain's generic doomsday plot involving a giant laser). The Space Marine trope has really only been portrayed in Lego in the Galaxy Patrol fig from the Collectible Minifigures, but it has the potential to spawn an entire theme. Just because it draws inspiration from well-known media like Halo and Gears of War doesn't mean it's not completely original in the context of Lego.

I would also worry about this theme's success in the face of the Galaxy Squad sets, but based on the current pace of the final approval process, that theme could very well be over and done with by the time this project would even have a chance at being produced. As a result, my only real worry is that Cuusoo just isn't equipped to release a full theme yet, but of course there's a first for everything. Good luck to the creator of this project! It definitely deserved all the support it got!

[Electric Turahk]

I always thought this was a very cool theme. It's just a shame that Galaxy Squad was revealed since the project was submitted.

However, I also don't think Cuusoo is quite ready to release a full theme either. Still, this is one suggestion I am looking forward to learning more about and there's plenty of time for things to change.

~|ET|~

[Meiko]

About time! It feels like its been in the 9000s forever. Congratulations to the creators of this project. Good luck in LEGO's review stage!

[CHTrilogy]

Galaxy Squad jokes? I don't think I've heard any of those.

[Toa Smoke Monster]

Looks interesting. I really would like to see this approved.

[Cratak]

Looks like it's *inhales dramatically* over 9000!!!

I'm really hoping they do this, but I'm not sure it will be much different from the Galaxy Squad line. Their policy is obviously against human-human conflict, so they would have to make an alien race so different from us that it would be reasonable. Something like a re-hash of Alien Conquest or Ninjago species.

Yes, I know the guy suggested some alien minigigs, but they look a little to difficult to play with.

 

Yeeeaaaah.

[Chro]

Their policy is obviously against human-human conflict, so they would have to make an alien race so different from us that it would be reasonable.

Well luckily, the proposed Space Marine sets don't have human vs. human conflict at all.

[Lyichir]

 

Their policy is obviously against human-human conflict, so they would have to make an alien race so different from us that it would be reasonable.

Well luckily, the proposed Space Marine sets don't have human vs. human conflict at all.

 

I don't think there's any explicit rule against human vs. human conflict. After all, it shows up all the time in non-space themes: Kingdoms, City, World Racers, Agents, etc. What's important is that there are clear "good guys" and "bad guys". It just so happens that making one faction aliens generally works as a way of differentiating them, and kids typically identify with humans by default. But if you had one faction of heroic looking human space soldiers and one faction of devious, grizzled-looking human space mercenaries, it'd probably work just as well.

 

Back to the subject at hand. The Space Marines proposal clearly has alien bad guys (although it also has at least one alien marine as well). The alien faction is likely to change if the theme is released, though, since they use a bizarre new piece so as to have four legs, whereas their head is simply lifted from Space Police. Lego figs typically work the other way around, with traditional bodies and new head molds, probably due to the fact that the head is the part kids will pay attention to, so the "newness" is most valuable there. They may still use the same head mold, of course, since Cuusoo releases have not yet featured any new molds. I'm sure that the alien marine will probably change, too, due to the challenge of creating a two-headed fig with standard minifig heads (and again, because Cuusoo releases have not yet featured new molds).

[Chro]

 

If I'm not mistaken, Lyi, I believe there are multiple alien marines. The tan and pink one with antennae, the two-headed one... and maybe another that I've forgotten.

 

 

 

 

Now the formatting's all wonky. What the...?

Edited by Chro, Dec 05 2012 - 03:41 PM.

[Damaracx 7.0]

 

The sets look awesome!  Especially the suits!  However, weren't space marines part of a video game?  I'm pretty sure I've heard that name in a video game before...

You have. The concept and phrase 'space marines' are pretty common in games and other media, borderline cliche.

 

Oh!  I didn't know that.

 

-HDXC2000 5.0

[Meiko]

 

 

The sets look awesome!  Especially the suits!  However, weren't space marines part of a video game?  I'm pretty sure I've heard that name in a video game before...

You have. The concept and phrase 'space marines' are pretty common in games and other media, borderline cliche.

 

Oh!  I didn't know that.

 

-HDXC2000 5.0

 

Things like Warhammer 40K and Halo would be some prominent examples.

[Lyichir]

 

 

 

The sets look awesome!  Especially the suits!  However, weren't space marines part of a video game?  I'm pretty sure I've heard that name in a video game before...

You have. The concept and phrase 'space marines' are pretty common in games and other media, borderline cliche.

 

Oh!  I didn't know that.

 

-HDXC2000 5.0

 

Things like Warhammer 40K and Halo would be some prominent examples.

 

Fun fact I learned yesterday: the first occurrence of the Space Marine archetype in fiction was in 1932! The marines in the short story "Captain Brink of the Space Marines" even featured many elements from modern day depictions of space marines, including powered armor. So this staple of modern science fiction actually goes back 80 years!

[Chro]

As a matter of fact, I learned that yesterday as well.

 

This is slightly off-topic, but Nick has previewed another theme that he'll be launching on CUUSOO on December 25th. Seems very steampunk. Can't wait, it looks awesome!

[Lyichir]

As a matter of fact, I learned that yesterday as well.

 

This is slightly off-topic, but Nick has previewed another theme that he'll be launching on CUUSOO on December 25th. Seems very steampunk. Can't wait, it looks awesome!

It looks good. But personally, if I were him, I'd wait to see how the Space Marines project did before starting another full theme proposal. Cuusoo has never resulted in anything more than a single set in the past, and Lego has stated that the system is designed to result only in individual products, or SKUs. The Space Marines proposal is the first real test of whether theme proposals can have any real results.

Then again, judging by how long the last review has taken, getting out of the gate this early may be beneficial, even if it's later rendered meaningless if the Space Marines project fails.

[Aanchir: Rachira of Time]

As a matter of fact, I learned that yesterday as well.
 
This is slightly off-topic, but Nick has previewed another theme that he'll be launching on CUUSOO on December 25th. Seems very steampunk. Can't wait, it looks awesome!

It looks good. But personally, if I were him, I'd wait to see how the Space Marines project did before starting another full theme proposal. Cuusoo has never resulted in anything more than a single set in the past, and Lego has stated that the system is designed to result only in individual products, or SKUs. The Space Marines proposal is the first real test of whether theme proposals can have any real results.

Then again, judging by how long the last review has taken, getting out of the gate this early may be beneficial, even if it's later rendered meaningless if the Space Marines project fails.
 

I think a theme proposal, if handled right, could probably be condensed into one or two sets. Consider how the LEGO Space fan-theme "3vil" was mimicked by the LEGO Factory set "Space Skulls". It was a fairly pricey set, sure, but it was able to effectively depict the theme's core design elements without even any need for new parts. To be honest, I think a lot of Cuusoo projects could survive a lot better in review if they aimed for design styles like that, which brought really iconic concepts to life without any need for license acquisitions or new molds/prints.