LEGO (Ultra) Agents 2014

rancorbait

I came across some Agents news on Hoth Bricks this morning showing the new Agents logo:



(Note: this is translated from French, so its a bit rough)

"2014 will mark the arrival of the range Ultra LEGO Agents , which kockamania.hu has unveiled the logo above on his facebook page .
Brought up to the day of the outing 2008/2009 Agents range? New Action / espionage oriented concept? Want trampling flowerbeds Playmobil whose series Top Agents and Top Agents 2.0 are marketed since 2010 and are probably themselves inspired LEGO products Agents?
If I believe the first descriptions of sets 2014 published on Eurobricks , there is a similar content to that proposed by LEGO in 2008/2009: An impressive truck type Command Center , the mechs , planes, etc ...
Color side Black and Lime apparently coast on these new sets, two colors that are also found on some sets of Top Agents range from 2.0 Playmobil.
However, keep in mind that the visuals that are described are from the catalog retailer and are therefore not the final sets that will be marketed versions:
70160 Riverside Raid - 88 pieces
70161 Tremor Track Infiltration - 241 pieces
70162 Infearno Interception - 313 pieces
70163 Toxikita's Toxic Meltdown - 429 pieces
70164 Hurricane Heist - 589 pieces
70165 Ultra Agent Mission HQ - 1048 pieces"

Bumblepants

Toxikita sounds like an awesome female villain name. I hope she has green hair.

RomanticWarrior

La Femme Toxikita?

cheshirecat

A mix of excitement and concern that I might be disappointed. Agents 1 was so good part of me thinks that new agents won't be able to match it. Seriously there wasn't a bad set in that lot (i haven't got the submarine one, so perhaps that one) and at least 4 were spectacular.

rancorbait

Is the Agents logo pic working for anyone? It isn't for me.

LostInTranslation

Oh, @rancorbait *sigh*. You knew I would be drawn in to this thread and then you go and wound me with a bad translation :'-(

I've tried to tidy it up a bit:

"2014 will mark the arrival of the LEGO Ultra Agents range, and kockamania.hu has just unveiled the logo for this range on its Facebook page. Is it a revival of the 2008/2009 Agents range? Is it a new action / espionage based concept? Is it an attempt to cash in on Playmobil’s Top Agents and Top Agents 2.0 series, which have been on the market since 2010 and are probably themselves inspired by LEGO Agents products? If I believe the first descriptions of the 2014 sets published on Eurobricks, the content is similar to that offered by LEGO in 2008/2009: An impressive truck-type Command Center, mechs, planes, etc ... As for the colours, black and lime seem to have been chosen for these new sets, two colours that are also found in some sets from Playmobil’s Top Agents 2.0 range. However, keep in mind that the visuals that are described are from the retailer catalogue and are therefore not the final versions of the sets that will be sold”

rancorbait

@LostInTranslation I just used Google translate, I apologize for the nonsensical paragraph!

Good thing you didn't get lost in translation! ;o)

LostInTranslation

rancorbait said:

@LostInTranslation I just used Google translate

That much was evident :-/

I'm the same as Cheshirecat, I want these to be epic but I too loved the old Agents sets and can't help worrying that they'll be a disappointment...

rancorbait

That's the problem with theme comebacks, one gets attached to the old sets and then has high expectations for the new ones/expects them to be just like the older ones when they rarely ever are.

But the least they could do is keep the color scheme (dark blue, yellow, and silver) as it is a huge part of what makes the set awesome to me. Particularly the silver! ;o)

LostInTranslation

^ We **must** have more silver! And I love the dark blue too.

RomanticWarrior

Looking forward to this a lot. I didn't get any of the 08-09 sets, but looking back, I wish I had. The Mobile Command Center was epic! Until a couple of years ago, I was only into Star Wars LEGO. I'm branching out more and really appreciating LEGO's short and sweet action/adventure themes (Monster Fighters, Pharaoh Quest, Agents, etc.) Can't wait.

cheshirecat

Yep the silver and dark blue are both lovely and go so nicely together. As do the orange and black.

I've somehow eaccidentally ended up with a second volcano, not sure if I should just make one big one or pass it on...

LostInTranslation

@cheshirecat: lol I have two (well one and 3/4) of a volcano base too. I haven't built one yet but once I've built the set maybe I'll expand to a bigger lair too. You and I should join forces and make a huuuuge one! ;-)

legomatt

Too many things coming out, already behind... Nooooooo. Desperate times equals desperate measures...

Dear Universe, pleeeeease PAY me (handsomely) to do something (easy and stress-free).

*shrugs*

Ah well, something tells me the universe isn't listening, its long overdue with that totally awesome and stunningly hot galpal I asked for in my teens...

:oP

scrumper

legomatt said:

Ah well, something tells me the universe isn't listening, its long overdue with that totally awesome and stunningly hot galpal I asked for in my teens...

:oP

Sorry, totally awesome and stunningly hot galpal is currently unavailable from Universe. We have removed this item from your basket.

CCC

cheshirecat said:

Yep the silver and dark blue are both lovely and go so nicely together. As do the orange and black.

I've somehow eaccidentally ended up with a second volcano, not sure if I should just make one big one or pass it on...

Answer is easy - one big one. You'll always be wondering what it would have looked like otherwise.

cheshirecat

^^ Thats what happens when people break the limit of one stunningly hot galpal per customer.

andhe

I want trampling flowerbeds. These new baddies sound vicious.

tamamahm

Speaking of galpals... I am desperately hoping this line has at least two different female minifigs. I figure my chances are minimal, but fingers crossed.

LostInTranslation

@tamamahm: the previous Agents range had 2 female agents and 2 female villains (though only really Dyna-Mite had a lot of personality IMHO) so fingers crossed that trend continues.
I'd actually settle for only one female agent and one female villain as long as they have defined, interesting personalities.

rancorbait

Ah come on guys, the only reason you want more female agents and villains is for this piece! ;oP

On a more serious note, I'm hoping they will make some sick cyborg baddies again, those guys were awesome!

Stryfe

I was in my dark ages during the time when Agents was on the shelves so I'm really looking forward to this!

tamamahm

@LostInTranslation
That would be so wonderful to have that many females. My girls are really into the HIVE books, so agents has the potential to appeal to all of my kids.

ACWWGal2011

ARGH! lego REALLY knows how to torture a person!!! I'm trying to get my lego buying under control and they keep announcing all these epic sounding sets.

tamamahm

What I have told my 7 year old is that I highly recommend waiting until summer before buying anything, that we he can fully see the line-up and THEN decide. I made that recommendation because most lines he would have interest in will be in the second half, and this way he does not simply buy items during the first half, which may not be on his top list once he sees sets like Agents, Arctic and minecraft (whenever that comes out.).

dougts

^ yeah, as usual second half looks about 100 times better than the first half.

legodude

News from Toy Fair:

Ultra Agents 2nd half, 2014 Spy storyline where the overlord is a clandestine figure. Every box you get a different mission with an online comic. Works with augmented reality to create your own comics. Agents Blaize, Phoenix, Bolt, Burns. Enemies Terror set are:70165 Mission HQ. Optimus Prime-esque. £79.99, 70164 Hurricane Heist £49.99, 70163 Toxikita’s Toxic Meltdown £34.99 (green hairpiece), 70160 Riverside Raid £9.99, 70161 Tremor Track Infiltration £17.99, 70162 Inferno Interception £24.99 (Inferno has a fire-based Lego hairpiece)

drdavewatford

A few of us got to see the sets today at the London Toy Fair - @Huw will post details in due course.

The interaction with the custom app mentioned above is intriguing; it reminded me a bit of the LEGO Digital Box (seen in brand stores) when you point your tablet camera at the completed models and 'stuff happens'.

rancorbait

@Bumblepants Looks like you'll be getting that green hair! :o)

margot

From @Huw's London toy fair review.

Ultra Agents

70160 Riverside Raid £9.99
70161 Tremor Track Infiltration £17.99
70162 Inferno Interception £24.99
70163 Toxikita's Toxic Meltdown £34.99
70164 Hurricane Heist £49.99
70165 Ultra Agents Mission HQ £79.99

The return of the popular and, it seems, successful, Agents theme. However I was very disappointed with them. There was no coherent design or colour scheme that made the previous theme appealing, they were just a mish-mash of odd-designed vehicles in strange colours. The big selling point seems to be not the contents of the sets but an 'augmented reality' mission based app that is activated using codes in the boxes.

dougts

so if the big selling point is some online tie-in, then to me that is a major failure. I've got a million things in my life that are "connected". Can't my LEGOs just be little plastic bits that connect together to provide endless amounts of creative fun? That's one of the qualities I find most charming and timeless. I guess I wouldn't mind the online stuff as an "option" if I didn't get the sense that any money invested in that aspect was resulting in a sacrifice to the actual hands-on models. I suppose I should reserve judgement on that aspect.

Bumblepants

^Yeah I agree. It would be super weird to spend all day online looking at and talking about Lego instead of building. Oh wait...

(Joking aside, I do agree and I also don't want my kids to spend their childhoods staring at screens instead of running around outside or building Lego)

tamamahm

The connection can be a huge piece depending upon how it is done, and a comic book connection lends creativity.
What we generally see with our kids is that play and electronics can be incorporated together in interesting ways, and with it as a continued toy trend it makes sense that they are trying it.

The question to me, though, is if the sets are just blah vehicles. The largest set might have some interest for my son, but it will really all come down to what specials features the set has. For my girls it is going to come down to if they tied anyone male minifigs in,a and if they can use the line as a backdrop for the HIVE books.

drdavewatford

It's hard to comment definitively as I don't know whether the designs we saw are final or even near final; the picture on the box of the Command HQ was different to the model, for instance.

I'd have to agree with Huw's comment in his round up that the sets were a bit of a mish-mash. For me the biggest disappointment was the seeming lack of any strong design DNA running thorugh the sets - as others have stated, the dark blue and silver 'identity' of the original sets was great, and the sets we saw yesterday seemed to lack a similar focus.

Of the models, the Command HQ was the highlight I think - big and menacing with a trailer that completely opened up and a clever unhitching mechanism - although whether what I saw will be the production design is anybody's guess.

Some nice touches in the other sets, but as a whole, nothing that really grabbed me.

LegoFanTexas

This strikes me as the generic replacement to GS, the one and done theme of the year.

We had Space Police III, then Alien Conquest, then Galaxy Squad, now this...

It seems they just toss out some random sets at various price points each year without much thought.

Did I miss something?

binaryeye

^ Monster Fighters, between AC and GS.

Personally, I like the one-off themes simply because they're something different. The longer-term themes like Chima, Ninjago, and to some extent Star Wars, get tiring because it's more of the same.

CCC

Monster Fighters was not just random sets. They were great. Very well thought out theme.

rancorbait

@CCC ^ That depends on who you ask.

Many people seemed to like it, but I was never a fan :o)

tamamahm

I will agree with CCC on this. If one looks at Monster fighters it had a few females, and it took elements of HP... A castle, a train, etc. it had a bit more than basic vehicles. It seemed less of a throw away theme and was really the last main non-friends theme I know of that had a larger appeal to girls.

For Agents right now, I am preparing to be disappointed based on the set names. The headquarters has some promise.

CurvedRoadPlate

The one off themes seem to not sell as well. I've found a lot of Alien Conquest, Monster Fighters, and Galaxy Squad on clearance. Great, imaginative sets that don't seem to sell as well as Star Wars, Friends or Ninjago.

ninjagolightly

PQ and Atlantis before that. Most of my favorite sets come out of the "transient" themes, and I get most of them at steep discounts too!

legomatt

^ & ^^

I think there's a certain degree of cannibalising of their own sales across these themes. A consumers budget doesn't increase in line with TLG output, so a new one-and-done theme is always the most likely to suffer the most, especially as the number of ongoing themes grows, which will account for much of the resident lego-fan's budget/allowance.

Right now we have Star Wars, Super Heroes, Hobbit, Ninjago, Chima, Turtles, Friends, etc. Not to mention seasonal winter village, modulars, trains.

If you're a fan of several or more of these, your budget for the new one-and-done themes is limited (if not already wiped out completely, in a productive year), and as a person is unlikely to suddenly abandon an existing collection, the difficult decision is usually 'I like it, but i'm going have to skip it'.

In short, it's in TLG's interest to get people better paid jobs! Cos' we'd all spend even more of that income on more Lego! :oD

CCC

CurvedRoadPlate said:

The one off themes seem to not sell as well. I've found a lot of Alien Conquest, Monster Fighters, and Galaxy Squad on clearance. Great, imaginative sets that don't seem to sell as well as Star Wars, Friends or Ninjago.

I've also had significant (40% or more) discounts off Star Wars, Friends, Ninjago, Chima, LOTR, Hobbit, TLR, ...

binaryeye

CCC said:

Monster Fighters was not just random sets. They were great. Very well thought out theme.

Sorry I wasn't more clear. My response was to LFT's "Did I miss something?" regarding one-wave themes. I wasn't implying that Monster Fighters (nor any of the other recent themes; AC, GS, etc.) was a bunch of random sets designed with no thought.

rancorbait

I saw prelim pics of #70160 and #70163, #70160 was not much, just an Agents quad bike chasing a villain with a green head and one green arm, it also had a little container of sort which was very blurry. #70163 had a decent sized helicopter and a small wall/building type thing. couldn't see which minifigs were included. Also, the inclusion of the new stud shooting guns is evident in both sets.

andhe

^I'll be interested to see what the app adds to the builds/play value.

Agents is always good for some more interesting minifig pieces.

andhe

Found this article on yahoo.
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/toy-fair-2014-five-great-gadget-toys-watch-170626845.html?vp=1#wAs4Ak7

The quote is in reference to the LEGO Ultra Agents theme and accompanying app:

"Lego announced a number of exciting products on its stand at Toy Fair 2014, one of which was a new refreshed Ultra Agents collection.

The collection comes with a range of new minifigs, along with a truck that expands into a HQ and features other vehicles within it.

There is also an app that uses augmented reality to bring the minifigs to life and give you missions to complete. Build the product, download the free app and follow the commands to complete the mission and find out who the bad guy is."

prevere

^A truck turning into a mobile HQ is great. Hey, agents on always on the move, right?

If only they'd do that with more Agents sets, giving it a M.A.S.K. appeal. That would be sweet. A 1957 Chevy-to-Tank combo ... yes, please.

Thanos75

MASK was one of my favorite toys as a kid. That line is prime for a reboot.

jadedanc

I loved MASK growing up lol

rancorbait

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=tHzhDtaq9bw