London Toy Fair 2015

Aanchir · January 2015

Dedgecko said:

binaryeye said:

Dedgecko said:
No new Pirates? That strikes me as odd... What am I missing?
The recent Castle theme was one wave. It's not surprising that Pirates would follow.

Well suck. Perhaps I should just hold off until a better version comes out that isn't so Juniorized.

It baffles me how the meaning of "juniorized" in the LEGO community seems to have shifted over the years. Back in the day, "juniorized" tended to refer to sets that were assembled from large, specialized pieces, like the ones that were all over the place in the late 90s (when I was growing up). But the new Pirates sets are the opposite — built almost entirely from small, versatile parts.

In the new sets, we have brick-built piers and rock foundations of a similar level of detail to what we see in the Lord of the Rings theme. Outposts and forts that used to be built from large 1x5x6 or 1x4x5 panels with printing for the exposed brick are now built from smaller bricks, with the exposed brick actually built into the wall by hand. There are only two BURPs in one set, and they are of the smaller 2x4x6 variety rather than the 3x8x7 and 4x10x6 varieties I grew up with in sets like #6254 and #6248. The palm trees are built from basic Technic and System rather than specialized palm tree elements. The sandy coastlines are built from plates rather than bricks or large printed baseplates. Even the cell doors and door frames are smaller than the cell doors and door frames in sets like #6267 and #6276, which literally came from a preschool theme.

The most "juniorized" parts in the new Pirates sets are the ship hulls and masts, parts that have ALWAYS been "juniorized" in every generation of the Pirates theme. And the designers certainly weren't phoning in these designs. The non-ship sets may be small, but they have creative structures and footprints, and are designed to join together into larger fortifications.

It's completely understandable if you think the new Pirates theme is "too small" or "too boring" or "too repetitive". I myself am disappointed that there aren't any new sets for the summer, and that all the evergreen themes but City, Creator, and Technic seem to be getting the shaft lately. The designers wouldn't NEED to resort to a "back to basics" approach every single wave if we didn't consistently have such a huge hiatus between new waves. But terms like "lazy" or "juniorized" seem to completely misidentify the problem.

playwell · January 2015

^ A fair point but looking at the last wave of castle it was more about the colors and design that made it feel younger rather than the parts although the castle did have larger panels. The new pirates range does look younger than some of the older ones.

Shib · January 2015

Dedgecko said:

Well suck. Perhaps I should just hold off until a better version comes out that isn't so Juniorized.

If anything I'd say people holding out will reduce the likelihood of any more Pirates sets this time. If you want the theme to continue you have to support it in some way.

Gooker1 · January 2015

So after looking at all the reports, there hasn't been a sign of TMNT anywhere...does that mean the line is dead?

cheshirecat · January 2015

Probably - replaced by Scooby Doo?

CapnRex101 · January 2015

By the way, I can't believe I forgot to mention this before as it was one of things I was most excited about - there is an actual Green Goblin minifigure (who looks like the comic book version) in one of the Juniors sets!

I think he even had a pumpkin bomb and flyer, so that will be a must buy for me.

Concerning Pirates, I am just looking forward to the dark red masonry bricks. I would agree that earlier Pirates themes have looked better than this one, but I will still buy the ship and the soldier's fort at least to keep up my collection, and I like the minifigures in all the sets.

Shib · January 2015

Was expectin green goblin with that CMF goblin hat. It was just too perfect for him.

CapnRex101 · January 2015

^ I meant to say that he did indeed have the Goblin hat piece, unsurprisingly. His appearance made up for the lack of a Killer Croc figure I think.

playwell · January 2015

CapnRex101 said:
By the way, I can't believe I forgot to mention this before as it was one of things I was most excited about - there is an actual Green Goblin minifigure in one of the Juniors sets!

I think he even had a pumpkin bomb and flyer, so that will be a must buy for me.
.

How big was this Junior set and who was in it, did DC get one too?

bendybadger · January 2015

Oh no another Juniors set that I have to buy for the minifigs. I hate having to buy juniors sets

playwell · January 2015

^ Is it bad that I kind of liked making the last junior set I got.

BooTheMightyHamster · January 2015

Yes.
Very bad.

LostInTranslation · January 2015

Any info on more Juniors sets in general @CapnRex101 and @Huw?
We usually get a nice "girly" set in that theme too, though we do have the cool supermarket (giant cereal box!) and beach trip (return of the chihuahua!) sets in this wave I suppose.

bendybadger · January 2015

SMC said:
^ Is it bad that I kind of liked making the last junior set I got.

If I am honest I enjoyed it a little too much too :)

CapnRex101 · January 2015

@SMC - I wouldn't have thought it would be more than a £25 set as it certainly wasn't nearly as large as the Batcave from last year. I can't honestly remember what was in it other than Green Goblin and his flyer, but it seemed fairly small. I didn't see one for DC.

@LostInTranslation‌ - I only noted two things from the Juniors sets. One was the existence of a Green Goblin minifigure and the other was a nice looking supermarket set. It was only when I got to the LEGO Store later that I realised the supermarket was already out! There were quite a few 2H sets there though so one was bound to be geared towards girls.

The first area you reach when going into the stand was Duplo and I coincidentally mentioned to @drdavewatford‌ how irritating it was that Duplo had a comic book Green Goblin but not System. Seconds later we walked over to Juniors and there it was :)

playwell · January 2015

Thanks @CapnRex101 smaller is better for these Junior sets as I don't want to be paying for too many large parts, hope its £20 or less but its odd that DC didn't get one as last time they came out together.

Plell · January 2015

So there's a Duplo Spider-Man set? Was there a new DC set as well? I remember seeing a Duplo Wonder Woman on Taobao; I assume she's coming out in the summer wave.

ccjwprongs · January 2015

There's a Duplo DC summer set with Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman. I don't remember anything about the set itself though.

matticus_bricks · January 2015

Shib said:
Was expectin green goblin with that CMF goblin hat. It was just too perfect for him.

I believe I called this one back when the series 13 pics leaked in the fall (kidding, I have no proof that I was the first to predict this). But I'm actually thrilled to see that my prediction is coming true!

Daragh · January 2015

waynegg said:
Digging for a leaked picture of Jokerland I came across an article saying it has a Ferris wheel. Is it like the theme park from LEGO Batman 2? Does it have other rides like the bumper cars and/or arcades? I also came across a woderfully ironic photo of a 4' tall meccano robot with its creator posing beside it and with a very prominent 'no photography' sign in the background :)

The robot you referred to is from Mecanno, I wonder if it will be any competition for EV3. http://www.breakingnews.ie/business/meet-meccanoid-the-robot-you-can-build-yourself-658891.html

Dedgecko · January 2015

Shib said:

Dedgecko said:

Well suck. Perhaps I should just hold off until a better version comes out that isn't so Juniorized.

If anything I'd say people holding out will reduce the likelihood of any more Pirates sets this time. If you want the theme to continue you have to support it in some way.

I said "perhaps"

Nothing is final, and up until my original comment, I was planning on purchasing the full line, day one. But the only pirate sets I ever had were those from the 90's, and they seem more mature than what I see being released, and appear to pale In comparison to those released in 2009 (I think--dark ages and all).

London Toy Fair 2015

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