danny316p

The DUPLO train was actually much more interesting - I really wish we could have gotten a demo of it. They're billing it as "programmable", and it can be controlled from either the tablet app or from pieces that fit on the track. The details are a little different (and more train-like IMHO) but it's basically a 15-years-of-improvement version of the Intelligent Train series - see set 3335.

A spokesperson for Hasbro promised to send us information about their latest releases after the show. Mattel invited us to breakfast in their booth on Monday, but we're leaving Toy Fair Sunday evening. They will send us a full press fact sheet tomorrow. Regretfully, our schedule also means we'll miss LEGO's Global Head for Product Safety & Compliance speaking on Monday.

Maybe he has connections there that could get us on the list. FWIW, I've done some searching around to see if I could get us an appointment to visit Mattel for Mega Construx. I haven't been successful. Black Six has tried getting us an appointment at the LEGO booth unsuccessfully in the past too. I think the heavy hitters just don't need us to give them publicity. Even if we decided to get extremely excited about a Hasbro KREO series or a Mattel Mega Construx line, it wouldn't register as a blip on their bottom line (and it's pretty unlikely that we'd embrace a clone brand much anyway). The limited preview thing we've had with LEGO is more like a favor that LEGO's marketing department does for the LEGO community team for a select few recognized LEGO Fan Media outlets.

We definitely need to tighten things up and not drag it out all year. I've made some technical improvements that will speed the process up this year, so we'll see how that goes. My attempt at covering the Lionel booth last year flopped because my photos were too blurry. I'd like to see about getting a better look at them this year...

I snuck in a reference story last year...and also heard that people were surprised to see it. I'm sure there are more interesting things to refer back to that we haven't covered yet.

I've seen this Monty Python bit before. We're definitely not dead yet. We could afford some new blood around here, but we're not going away.

Wasn't it scheduled to end there anyway? What's new here?

I'm going to try to make it again...I did 2013-2015. I feel like I haven't found the right approach to the travel logistics yet.

Every once in a while, I'll mention this to someone and be shocked to hear that they haven't seen it before. It's an oldie but a goodie, and the experience really does change with time. I think I was around number 13 when I first read this. I've now burned through the entire list. The reason I looked it up this week was because I had tried to explain to someone the other day why Rubbermaid containers are better than Sterilite. ...I'm pretty sure I thought that last part was a joke the first time I saw this.

We're not that strict about being Bionicle-related on the circuit...I know Space has had a strong showing too, and I think Ninjago's not that much of a stretch... Nice work on the mosaic. My only gripe is that the photo has glare.

Going back to 2009, there's always been something new on sale on the 26th in the US. They don't always advertise it, and sometimes none of the items are actually in stock online, but there's always been something. Thinking back, when I got to a store on 1/1/2017, they only had polybags (mostly Mixels) on sale, and the rude salesperson tried to convince me there wasn't a sale...but my giant stash of 50% off Mixels said otherwise. Still, even that was something. I'm curious to know if anyone's made it to a store since Christmas and found anything marked down.

Did anyone catch anything new? I couldn't spot a single new sale item online.

A movie based on Time Twisters would be interesting (but may seem too much like other time-travel series). You need a simple enough backstory to explain to viewers who don't care, while still being able to squeeze in the existing lore of the LEGO series. It's hard to think of something that would lend itself well to a theatrical release, and they've been veering closer to generic kiddie movie territory (seemingly instead of a shared universe) ever since they kicked this thing off. Ignoring those considerations, I'd like to see them put together epics covering the classic evergreen themes. Pirates, Castle, and Space could each be covered in a way that showed different factions rising over time. Or maybe not, since the good/evil dichotomy of most kiddie films would be ruined by Castle's morally ambiguous factions, which frequently had someone from the previous series in a prison cell. Still, the idea of a modern kid's tale based around older (but still existing) series could be fun. While I'm dreaming, how about a faux documentary about deforestation and gentrification in LEGOLAND? The cypress tree went extinct when the small Town got paved over to become a World City...and due to poor zoning laws, some neighborhoods had nothing but police stations and fire stations for years.

You're in the clear, although the shop owner likely violated some agreement with LEGO by selling it to you. LEGO would prefer that these things don't get out, but they're unlikely to do anything about you selling it. The biggest reason for non-commercial items to not be sold is that they're not designed to meet the same regulations or quality standards as things designed to be sold. I'd be surprised if there was a serious reason for LEGO to worry about that with a store display, but they have been known to mold parts for the LEGOLAND parks out of plastics that would be considered too brittle for use by a child (clear jumper plates being the usual example). Similarly, you'll see food manufacturers label things "not for individual retail sale" because they'd be subject to different laws regarding labeling on the packaging. LEGO actually held back some AFOL support in the US one year for the same reason because a new law required every bag to have a particular choking hazard warning on it. Where you're talking about a cloth flag, material quality concerns and health concerns aren't really a factor here...LEGO's biggest concern would be if it showed up somewhere inappropriate and made LEGO look bad.

Isn't this a topic we're talking about it in? Or are we debating spoilers? I, for one, am surprised that there doesn't seem to be an exclusive minifigure for this yet.

<silliness> I feel a need to refer to this as TOA ASH, MASTER of SMOKE. I imagine Ash would either be friends with Tahu, or someone who had to clean up after him. Cut to a sunny family sitcom, where Tahu is an unruly child that Ash tends to... </silliness>

Wasn't that the concept behind the pop star sets with Livi?

These dates are from our affiliate program. We appear to have not been told about other offers that overlapped with this.

We had to resolve the technical difficulty on BZP's end. It's all set now.

I don't remember what these smelt like. We basically covered this brand because they happened to be at Toy Fair, but my understanding is that there are other brands that are made of specific woods. Those other brands tend to be geared towards adults, very expensive, and 2x4s only. There is a parameterized CNC design for that...check out Bitbeam: https://bitbeam.org/

This story has been updated to indicate that we still have plenty of these.

I'll need a 2XL.

Clearly my memory has failed me. Or is it just that everything after the 2012 apocalypse doesn't count?

I wasn't sure if it was appropriate to mention on the front page, but I believe that Brickset's thoroughness in providing a reference on all LEGO sets these days (Bionicle included) is part of why BZPower hasn't built up more of a Bionicle G2 reference section. In any case, it's a useful resource to refer to... ...and we definitely need to see more tags used on the front page. The flood of red "News" tags gets repetitive. As long as I'm writing for the front page, I'll try to change it up when I can.

It's OK, most people who were young back then try to convince us that "they didn't have Technic when I was your age". Some people... (I wanted a head-shaking smiley but will settle for violence and profanity).