The Gimme LEGO Awards 2014
Posted by Huw,
As the year draws to a close, our very own DrDaveWatford has taken a look at the highs and lows of the year's releases and themes in his annual Gimme LEGO Awards.
I encourage you to have a read of his interesting commentary and to vote in the Gimme LEGO Reader's Choice Award (in the page sidebar), which last year was won by 10236 Ewok Village. Which set was your favourite this year?
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I agree with a lot of this, besides one. I definitely believe that the most welcomed announcement is the Avengers Helicarrrier. And I believe he may have not mentioned it because of the lack of its official press release, but people have wanted this for years! And honestly, they already made at least five versions of the Slave I, counting the polybags, official sets, and Comic Con set.
I agree the Spider-Trike vs. Electro was pretty bad, but Electro was really nice in that set. (I've got bot versions and I preferred him over the Virginia exclusive one) Anyway, all of Spidey's "methods of transportation" are pretty bad though. Like the spider helicopter for instance. No such thing! But all in all, the minifigures were rather nice in that set.
Can't wait to see what the best set turns out to be. Great job DrDaveWatford, and well done for all the effort put in!
Parisian Restaurant is a good one
Another great selection Dr Dave, it is always nice to hear the opinions of other fans on what has been a superb year for LEGO. My personal choices would be:
Best Theme:
LEGO Movie - I couldn't agree more with this one. I suspected the sets would just be poor recreations of what was bound to be a weak movie but they have been some of the most creative of the entire year!
Most Disappointing Theme:
DC Comics Super Heroes - I surprise myself with this award. I like the Super Heroes theme but there is a great deal of unrealised potential in my opinion, which is gradually being rectified judging by news of 2015 sets.
The 'Medieval Market Village' Award for Best Unlicensed Set:
10232 Parisian Restaurant - The field this year has been pretty strong but you can't argue with the amazing level of detail on the Parisian Restaurant.
Best Licensed Set:
76021 The Milano Spaceship Rescue - There have been some excellent larger licensed sets this year but none have been as much fun as the Milano in my opinion. I love the film and this is pretty much the perfect set to represent it.
'The Phantom Menace' Award for Most Disappointing Set:
21110 Research Institute - I realise that this set is significant for what it represents, but on the merits of the models themselves it is poor in my opinion. I rarely regret buying a set but this one went back into the box due to its poor design (the original submission was far better).
Best Minifigure:
Snowtrooper - I love the Battle of Hoth and was delighted to see the redesigned Snowtroopers which I think are about as good as they can be. Honourable mentions must go to Ronan the Accuser, the Homer Simpson CMF and Ralph Wiggum.
The 'Better than Expected' Award:
The LEGO Movie - Once again I entirely agree with Dr Dave here. I expected the film to be awful but it is actually among my favourites of the year. I suspect it would be even if I were not interested in the toys themselves.
Most Welcome LEGO Related Announcement:
UCS Avengers Helicarrier - This (and a UCS AT-AT) have been my dream sets for a couple of years now, so news that we are getting a Helicarrier which will presumably be of impressive size was a real treat!
I thinks most of the selection here is great, but there were a couple of things I disagreed with. Here's my picks for what I disagreed on.
Best Minifigure: Lord Business. He's probably the fig that I enjoyed the most all year.
Best Lego Related Announcement: Bionicle's return. The reason for this is because I was a huge fan of Bionicle back in the day, so I was glad to see it was coming back.
That cat in the 31021 Furry Creatures is the scariest thing ever happened in the History of Human Kind. Seriously!
I started to write my list as CapnRex has done ... then I deleted the whole lot. The reason for this is that I realised that I agree with DrDaveWatford on ALL of it !! I am usually extremely biased towards the Star Wars theme, but that has been poor this year. I would, however, give honourable mentions to the new Darth Vader and Ten Numb minifigs.
On Christmas Day and the day after, I built 70810 Metalbeard's Sea Cow. This set has received quite some criticism for being not realistic etcetera but for me it was the best build so far. Gorgeous details, 2741 parts, lots of SNOT-building, steampunk design, ingenious use of Technic fairings for sails and a very impressive scale. For me this set is the holy grail of LEGO!!
@ Yooha I agree about the cat XD
Nice list indeed, although it was rather TLM centered. It's justified though! The only thing I don't agree on is the minifigure award. I like the Simpsons but they look horrible in lego form. Moulded heads just don't look right on what is normally a simple styled cartoon. IMO lego bit of more than they can chew with the Simpsons minifigures.
I couldn't disagree with you more Binnekamp. I think the minifigs that came with the house look ridiculous, because of the weird eyes issue. But I think most of the Collectible Minifigures look fantastic...and I LOVE how Itchy and Scratchy came out, they look like they could start bashing each other at any moment. That's just my opinion of course...to each their own, right?
@RaginSpartan86: I also agree that Bionicle's return is, if not the biggest announcement of the year, then worthy of an honorable mention. It is the theme that (along with Star Wars) ended Lego's financial troubles and it is the theme that inspired so many story-driven themes today (like Ninjago, Chima, etc.). To see it being brought back bigger and better than ever before is one of the biggest things to look forward too in 2015. The issue is, however, that so many AFOLs detest Bionicle and marginalize the sets, story, and fans; GimmeLego's choices represent the fan community as a whole and I imagine that he did not include Bionicle because of the prejudice against it in the wider community.
@TheDesuComplex
The thing about AFOLs and Bionicle is, it's all well and good to say "just let each group of fans be and enjoy their own" until different wings start to infect each other.
Which led to, in my opinion, the biggest disappointment of this year - when constraction infected the Exo-Suit. What could have been the biggest love letter to AFOLs EVER (seriously, EVER.) was turned into the proverbial MegaBlocks when you just wanted Lego for your birthday.
"Ohhhh.... Thaaaaanks Grandma...."
People complain about Bionicle because we feared that exactly this would happen one day. And then it happened.
What is with all the superheroes hate? Not all the models are crap to call the sets rubbish is absolute bull. I am sick of hearing this I hope you consider maybe just having the best sets of 2015 next year. To sit there and criticize those sets on the internet is the equivalent of trolling. I found that aspect very unprofessional and very immature. Otherwise it was good read and a good article.
@DanRSL The constraction parts in the Exo-Suit (which count 12 out of the 321 piece total) are there to make the model more stable while keeping poseability and playability. There are plenty of AFOLs who love the poseability of the Exo-Suit and have no complaint about it, and there are also plenty of AFOLs who love constraction. The issue isn't in the parts or in the people who like it; it's in people who, like I said, treat fans/parts like the scum of the earth. Lego is about being fun, open, and creative; not hateful and spiteful.
I wonder if you are going to protest the Detective's Office because it uses Constraction hands on the roof for detail.
I'm highly surprised that the announcement of Bionicle 2015 isn't the "Most Welcome LEGO-Related Announcement," or not even mentioned at all.
@TheDesuComplex
Wow, that's a really aggressive way to disagree with someone. "Protest"? I gave you a legitimate worry that actually came to fruition and your response is that it's not something worthy of attention and that Bionicle haters are just inconsolable boogeymen.
See, the thing with the 12 measly constraction pieces out of a whopping 321 is that the majority of them make up the legs, visually about 1/3 of the entire model, and are a far cry from the original submission (the thing we all told Lego we wanted). All of the greebles are literally added on just to hide this fact, and look nothing like the submission nor are the parts integrated in any way, just laying on top.
Yes, we all know why they decided to change it, but playability and flexibility were not a part of the original submission. And that IS the issue, despite it being easier for you to strawman a fictitious Bionicle hater. Some of us don't want constraction to take over perfectly fine brick-built designs. Lego focusing more effort on the constraction wing can and has led to it being included at the detriment of other models.