The Lego Movie

[big F]

I've gone through and un-modified and verified completeness of all but one of my Star Wars sets, so will be putting them up for sale soon. (need money to fund buying blue parts on Bricklink---I swear, it's like LEGO tried to avoid making blue parts this year---they're almost non-existent except for Benny's ship)

I looked at blue bricks too a while ago, I agree it's like they don't want you to have any. I remember back in the 80's you could buy assortment boxes of one colour brick. I always ment to buy a box or two of light Gary and Blue, I just never got round to it.

Edited March 11, 2014 by big F

[David Hingtgen]

I got a bag of old light grey bricks just before they went away. Also got old grey plates and blue plates. Really wish LEGO still offered them----VERY useful, wish I'd bought more when I had the chance.

5 bucks for bags like THIS:

http://peeron.com/inv/sets/10061-1

http://peeron.com/inv/sets/10011-1

http://peeron.com/inv/sets/10145-1

http://peeron.com/inv/sets/10148-1

Anyone who tries to build anything, quickly realizes that you need more PLATES and not more bricks, and the bricks you do need are one-wides, not two-wides like LEGO loves to give in their "standard buckets of bricks".

[M'Kyuun]

I also noticed the rarity of blue in current sets. I'm working on a project in Classic Space colors, and I've been Bricklinking blue like crazy. But it does seem scarce, and expensive. That being said, I hope sales of Benny's Spaceship! will far exceed LEGO's expectations, as well as generating massive positive buzz in social media within LEGO's target demographic. If relevance and sales both spike, perhaps LEGO will do a revival, hopefully not straying too far away from the original look of the sets. I liked Space Police 3, but there was nothing, beyond the name, in common with the old SP sets, and I fear the same fate if a new Classic Space-based line is released. Many of the current designers grew up in the 70's & 80's, and love the classic stuff like most AFOLs, so I believe the awareness, at least at their level, is alive and well; I would guess Marketing probably don't feel that those sets would appeal to today's kids. So Benny's ship may be a litmus test to gauge interest.

[David Hingtgen]

I find it surprising that LEGO simply didn't have enough product on the shelves to support the movie. The hype won't last forever. And having the most-desired item come out last isn't very good either. (If there's one thing that could have helped boost LEGO in the long run, it'd be a retro-classic set to bring people out of their dark age-----but Benny's ship can't do that if it's not on the shelves! And it's not going to do it half a year after the movie came out, either, when everyone's moved on to the next retro-movie/game). What a wasted opportunity.

[Chronocidal]

I'd guess the big sets are probably due out around the time it hits dvd/bluray release. Probably won't work quite as well, but it does have the potential of reaching the audience that wouldn't want to bother with going to a theater, or the kids whose parents might not want to drag along to a full length movie.

Edited March 15, 2014 by Chronocidal

[hutch]

Saw it last night. Great movie. Laughed harder than I've laughed at any movie in recent memory. And OF COURSE "everything is awesome" is totally stuck in my head.

[Kelsain]

I catch my little monster singing it to herself while she plays. I don't think I've played for her on YouTube for a while, but it's easy to remember.

[M'Kyuun]

My wife and I went and saw it again yesterday. I enjoyed it even more the second time. I think this is the first movie I've seen more than once since SW: Phantom Menace came out. I thought it sucked even then, but it had some pretty visuals, and that awesome fight with Obi-Wan and Maul. The LEGO Movie rocked both times, and it has me wondering what they're going to do as a follow-up.

I'm also thinking that Benny's Spaceship will probably coincide with the DVD release. But I think you're right, David; LEGO missed an opportunity here to get a big set on shelves while the movie is still in theatres and kids are snapping up the sets. By July or August, the "next big thing" will be foremost in their malleable little minds, and it may not enjoy the sales rate it would have had it been out right now. But I think the damnable scalpers will hoover this set up with future big dollar signs in their eyes, and so, numbers-wise, it will look like a good seller to the big box stores. It'll probably be a limited item on Shop-at-Home, so that'll be an avenue to get one. I plan on getting two copies. After seeing the movie again, and playing the game, I'm hoping even more fervently that LEGO releases the Batplane. If they do, it will be...Awesome!

[David Hingtgen]

From reports of the guy making a copy of the movie Batwing, it's HUGE and actually uses "1x5" pieces as-designed---which don't exist.

[big F]

What's the chance they bring it out with a 1x5 part added to the Lego range.

[Chronocidal]

Given how many times I seem to see creations that require an astounding amount of 1x3 or 2x3 pieces to form a design with a single row of studs down the middle, I wouldn't mind more odd-numbered pieces. They'd become extremely useful in a lot of situations.

[M'Kyuun]

Those and a whole host of other parts that are sorely lacking from the palette. For every part, I wish they'd make it's inverted twin. That would solve a heap of building challenges. My parts wishlist is extraordinarily long, and it's a bit frustrating when Megablocks or Kreo or any other "works with LEGO" brand makes these parts that LEGO seemingly has no interest in producing. I did ask Kevin Hinkle, the LEGO Community Rep about plates with studs on top and bottom. He said that in test groups, kids didn't know what to do with them. I question from whence their polling their test kids or the IQs thereof, but I digress. I can only hope they get a group of prodigies at some point, and a whole host of new and much sought-after parts will find their way into the active palette.

[Chronocidal]

Well, technically there are ways to fudge double sided plates, but it takes more space than a single plate would. That giant B-wing is a great example, because it's actually built double sided. The entire main wing is a sandwich of two opposite halves, with all the studs facing outward, and plugged into the main assembly with some connecting rods and pins.

The wing itself is held together by something I wish they had had long ago.. essentially a 2x2 plate with a 90-degree bend in the middle. We've long had plates that are like two 2x2s or a 1x2 attached to a bent down 2x2.. but these little things are amazing. They're only slightly too tall to completely press the two halves of the wing together.

Edited March 20, 2014 by Chronocidal

[David Hingtgen]

More inverted slopes and tiles would be a god-send. There are SO many LEGO models, where you finish it---then you flip it upside down and it's nothing but flat plates underneath, usually with open holes to the interior. If you get the reference, they're a lot like waterline model ships. It just "stops" below a certain point. And you need a ton of parts to "finish" the bottom half. And you usually need a whole lot more inverted slopes in that color than you own...

[Graham]

I want the Batmobile from the movie.

Yesterday, I just bought the set with the orange Akira style bike and the cool looking SWAT car for my son. It was the only one of the movie sets that had been sold out since release, but stores here finally restocked

Graham

[big F]

The superstore near me had most everything, and now they have removed it and are re-ranging for something else ??

Go figure every time I went in there someone was buying movie Lego.

[M'Kyuun]

Wildstyle's bike with the Super Secret Police truck is an excellent set. That and Bad Cop's flying car were the first two sets I bought. Love 'em both.

As for double sided building, the brackets are useful to an extent. I also use bricks with studs on two sides as well as 4595 http://www.bricklink.com/catalogList.asp?catType=P&catID=7&itemYear=&searchName=Y&searchNo=Y&q=&catLike=W. The plates with fully enclosed clips are pretty handy, too. But there are times when space is at a premium, and a plate with studs top and bottom would be the best option, instead of fudging a solution.

[David Hingtgen]

There's a new piece which is useful for "inverting" things-----technically a round 2x2 tile, with a hole in the middle. Nicknamed "donut".

http://www.brickowl.com/catalog/lego-tile-2-x-2-round-with-hole-in-center-15535

Stick a 1x1 anything, upside down in the middle, and you can do a lot.

[M'Kyuun]

I have that piece in a couple recent sets. Definitely useful. There are also 1x1 round plates with a hole in the stud that should prove most useful as well.

[David Hingtgen]

"Everything is Batman!"

[Dobber]

You know...that would have worked really well as an Easter egg after the credits!

Chris

[areaseven]

Review in Haiku Rating: Good

[David Hingtgen]

Detailed review of Benny's Spaceship, Spaceship, SPACESHIP!

http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=95637

[Chronocidal]

Awesome. Still don't care for the little ships on the wingtips, but great thing is, it's really easy to change them. I'll probably grab two of them, just so i have an even number of those engine pieces.

[Kelsain]

Love it, with all the little compartments and retro callbacks.

Makes me wanna build!

[anime52k8]

disapointed by the sticker sheet, REALLy wish they would actually bring back the old tampo printed console pieces.

[M'Kyuun]

Control panels and things of that nature, which have wide usability, I wish they'd print. I also wish they'd print clear parts...if you screw up a sticker, then you end up with crease lines, dust, bubbles, adhesive lines, etc, which shows through and ruins the look. The more specialized prints I can understand as stickers.

I am happy that we get 4 Classic Space stickers with Benny's ship; I'll be scanning them and reproducing them at will.

Rufus did a good review over on Eurobricks. I can't wait to get mine.

[David Hingtgen]

Another review: http://www.newelementary.com/2014/05/bennys-neo-classic-space-ship.html?m=1

Also, it's shown up at multiple TRU stores in the US now, and they aren't gouging the price.

[Axelay]

I want that SPACESHIP! so badly that it is just eating me up. I wonder if Target will get this? I was just given a very nice gift card recently...

[David Hingtgen]

Target certainly will, it's just that TRU almost always gets new Lego stuff ahead of the other stores, in the US at least. (and they're also about the only place that sells Technic)

[ErikElvis]

Picked up Benny's spaceship at the lego store tonight

[M'Kyuun]

Awesome. Good for you! I wish we had a LEGO store here in Spokane. They have two over in Seattle. Anyway, I made the trip to my local TRU on Monday; they had most of the new summer sets, but no Benny's Spaceship. One of the saleswomen even checked the computer for me. I 'm going back this weekend; hopefully they'll have it.

[big F]

I read a review of Benny's Spaceship, it said it was going o be around $100, I'm guessing they'll just change the currency sign to a £ so they can clean out the U.K pockets.

We will probably end up with the situation of being able to buy one in the U.S and ship it to the U.K for less than you can buy it here.

[M'Kyuun]

Finally got a copy, and it is beautiful. I agree with everything that's already been said in the reviews.

I wish they'd eschewed the extending wings in favor of a cargo compartment with ramp. The aft section has a 10 stud wide interior...lots of room to store whatever, if it was to be modded. My only other gripe is that the Octan and CS logo decals are not shaped like the tail planes, so eyeballing them to make them match takes some time and patience. On such a prevalent piece of Spaceship anatomy, skewed stickers will be noticeable, and I imagine once this is retired, finding a set of Benny's tails with straight stickers will be like discovering gold.

I wish the tails had been printed, and the CS and Octan logo decals had been included as extras, since these are probably going to become highly sought and expensive on Bricklink. I'm looking forward to a flurry of CS MOCs using those stickers as livery. I'll probably use them myself on something, once I get a second copy.

[Chronocidal]

I've got a fairly large modification plan already in place for this thing, starting with replacing the outer wing pod-ships entirely with something a little more substantial, and with better mounting. I'm going to grab two of those sets off the bat when they become available online, and probably mix and match parts to change a few things.

Right now though, I'm considering building up the UCS Imperial Shuttle set, and mentally redesigning the nose section before I start.