I'm gonna assume that this entry is like a post in the topic "Destroying our favorite heroes?"

Yes. And so far I have seen no replies to my question.

-Ikk

I blame the lego factory.

Its probably the over-used inika/piraka armor that gives it away. I guess their idea was to make it new and not change the name?

We certainly wont find out for sure until the Feb toyfair.

I didn't see this entry -- check out ToM's blog. We're discussing this right now in his "Why" entry comments. My replies to some of Smeag's recent comments will be especially useful. As well as what we're talking about in your most recent entry, of course.

bones, you need a Mask of Summarization. I have skimmed your posts in ToM's blog and (obviously) read the ones here, but my brain went on strike afterwards.

-Ikk

Fine, fine. Basically, the parts about the Nuva, Takanuva, Hagah, Lhikan, Mahri and Newva -- they're all following in a longstanding tradition of re-using the basic build from one to two years previous. I.e. nothing new about this. Pun not intended. That would be why the Newva look more like the Inika/Mahri than like the Nuva, aside from the move to the new style too.

Attabones!

That's a good point to make, but it still leaves the question of whether doing it differently would be a wise move for LEGO. An upcoming blog entry will likely provide some of my suggestions for how to build a differently constructed humanoid with roughly the same amount of pieces, so that may be relevant...

Another thing is that the Newva reuse the construction of two past years' canister heroes (and in one case villains), as opposed to the Mata & Metru builds which neither were featured so excessively.

-Ikk

That's a good point to make, but it still leaves the question of whether doing it differently would be a wise move for LEGO.

Arguments can certainly be made pro and con, but I think it comes down to just remembering the budget balancing that has to go on every year, and asking ourselves this -- if we support new builds each year, are we willing to accept the cuts in other areas for every year?

Of course, what you mentioned you'll have a blog entry on would help. Looking forward to that.

Personally, I really don't care either way, as long as the end product is cool and the team of six isn't cloned, etc. Of course, my definition of "cool" is pretty involved too, so yeah...

Blog entry may have to be postponed a bit due to schoolwork and social matters, but I won't forget it. It'll be pushed forward in the queue of blog entries if nothing else.

I ran across a curious and insightful thing the other day, actually -- while a lot of the new sets look immensely cool in style, color, and such, I find them somewhat lacking due to the function-less and (in some places) repetitive build. Take the Barraki, for instance; actual cool look, great colors, look like the characters they represent, nifty features, and so on. Still, part of the excitement a good set gives me comes not only from the challenges it provides, but also from a highly inventive construction. Something that inspires me and looks both coolified (whatever definition you're using!) and features clever build!

(All that IMT )

So I think that's a good guess at why a heap of the newer stuff fails to get me excited (and also a reason why I'm very excited about those bigger-than-Titans sets this year!). I actually do think the Newva sets do a nice job of staying true to their characters, while adding new interesting features; yet their overused construction will probably keep me from buying them.

Probably where we differ most, I say. Ah well, at least I now know why -- it ain't style (mostly) but build versus looks.

-Ikk

Yep, and I'm glad you figured that out, 'cuz that does seem to be the main idea with a lot of others that I differ from on the newer sets.