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22 July 2013

Mixels make a splash (page)

Posted by Admin
Man, I really never intended to post as often as I have been these last few days! Nor did I intend to behave like a news site. So when this dropped a couple of hours ago, I told myself to hold back.

I can't. This is too interesting. We have some jaw-dropping new elements coming in March 2014 as part of a kooky new intellectual property (IP) called LEGO® Mixels.

© 2013 The LEGO Group© 2013 The LEGO Group© 2013 The LEGO Group


The grey chappie is called Seismo and his eye is part 14769 White Flat Tile 2X2 Round presumably with a print rather than sticker. This will be a great pairing with existing eye tile, element 6029156 White Flat Tile 1X1 - Round "No. 8", to create things like pairings of big and small creatures. Next, look at the ball joints he is articulated with. This is the classic "towball" connection but the male and female couplings seem to have 1x2 plates with hollow studs. Gamechanging news for mini mecha!

Pic taken by leanalynn

The Red [BL] / Bright Red [TLG] thingy in the centre is called Flain, and what a cute little guy with that SNOTty head. Facebook follower Andrew Barnick suggested to me the eyes must be part 32474 Voodoo Ball Ø10,2, more commonly (and relatively drearily) known as the Technic ball joint. Here it is sporting what must surely be a print, as a sticker would come off sharpish. That's such an amazing eye piece! Are we buzzing with silly ideas yet? For Flain the leg joints seem to use existing towball elements or perhaps new versions with smaller plates, but never mind all that, have you spotted the feet? Another Facebook follower Scott Barnick (I'm guessing that Scott might be a relation of Andrew's!) pointed them out to me. Teeth stuck on a 1X2 piece. Is it all one part? I think so... a new tooth part that you could just stick on a stud would be fantastic if the clutch were OK, but these teeth look too narrow to cover a stud.

Finally, the Yellow [BL] / Bright Yellow [TLG] coloured Volectro who seems to be channeling the Yeti from Monsters Inc. Most noticeable is of course the hair, which is part 6064 Bush in Bright Light Orange [BL] / Flame Yellowish Orange [TLG]. And note the recent part 11477 Plate W. Bow 1X2X2/3 (which I nicknamed the baby bow) used on his hands and his...erm, what is that, an upper lip? Odd they used two 1X2 bows there instead of one 1X4, my guess is that it was cheaper to include two of a part already in the inventory.

Anyone for anything else? How can so much excitement come out of one solitary splash page image and a blurry Instagram?

The name Mixels is obviously a play on the work pixels, which suggests a strong online element. Furthermore, Brickset user Brickarmor suggested the 'eye' dot above the I in the Mixels logo could additionally refer to a webcam icon. Twitter user TikiGal, who presumably tweeted from SDCC, tantalisingly described them as "mix n match sets". So perhaps interchangeability is at the heart of what the character are, which makes sense given what LEGO is all about!

As the copyright below the official pic states, Mixels is a trademark of TLG. And there's nothing on the web yet from Cartoon Network about a Mixels TV show, although as Brickset user Paperballpark thought to look up, Time Warner (of which Cartoon Network is a subsidiary) have bought the mixels.com domain. So what's the story with this IP? Is this a co-production with Cartoon Network, or in a reversal of the traditional situation, have Cartoon Network secured the TV rights to a LEGO IP? My (wholly unscientific but mildly educated) guess is that TLG have learnt from Ninjago's success and rather than just being some 'TV tie-in', the Mixels IP will exist on TV, online and in reality via LEGO sets like these, so that kids can 'consume' the product in any or all of these ways. It's the feutchaaa.

But enough pontificating from me. I'm sure we'll find out very soon.

17 comments:

  1. Hay, goldninja101 here, and whoa! I won't know which one to get when they're released! Maybe Volectro for the baby bow in that vivid color, or maybe Flain for the new snot-teeth piece. P.S. I sure don't mind all of these posts, Tim. And I'm sure all the other people who regularly visit your blog appreciate all of the content you're giving them. Thank for keeping me posted! -goldninja101

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  2. I'm with TikiGal with the mix n match idea, they all seem to have compatible arm and leg joints.

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    1. my thought exacly! the legs are always ball and the hips are sockets, always distanced 4 stud apart. Arms are clippy and shoulders are bars. The only thing i noticed, is that shoulders are sometimes horizontal, sometimes vertical. Putting Yellow's arms on Gray will look a little strange, wouldn't it?

      Anyway, i love them! I don't get all the hate they're gathering.. the modularity is great for plenty of ideas! And the new pieces....

      Keep the content coming, i love this blog, it's always a pleasure to have new articles!!

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  3. Cute. Like X-Pods, but with a few interesting elements this time. I especially like the new joints.

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    1. Actually, the more I think about it, the more excited I am about those joints. I think they will likely turn out to be some of the most important pieces in my palette going forward. I can hardly wait!

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    2. I agree. They are a strong early contender for best new parts of 2014! I'm keeping my eyes peeled for more info as it comes.

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    3. Of course, I will want them in obscene quantities, and will likely be frustrated in that regard for a while.

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    4. True, may be pricey in bulk at first, but I hope price and availability will be reasonable soon after they are released. My gut feeling is that these parts will feature in every Mixel, so it won't be like other new elements that appear in only one set in minute quantities. Like the 1X1 round tile now out in Orange [BL name] - it's only in Dolphin Cruiser so far which uses just one of them, with the usual spare present. They're going for 20p each on BL right now!

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    5. Re: "They're going for 20p each on BL right now!"

      New in the US, they're virtually nonexistent, and 1/3 of a buck each, to boot -- and probably worse after those few copies sell out! Dippy little part from a standard mold, priced like some gnarly constraction doohickie. It's just nuts!

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  4. Volectro's eye is actually from the Wooden Duck tribute set that came out in 2011. At the time, it was the only unique part in that set, but it has since shown up in large quantities in two bulk part sets this year:

    http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=98138pb007

    Nice to see that they're finally putting it to some real use, but that Flain eye looks like it could inspire a bunch of current and former Henson-IP MOCs.

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    1. Ah you are right Purple Dave. I did initially assume it was, but looked it up and thought it was a different print - but no. I'll fix the post, cheers.

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  5. A 'little bird' showed me the new ball and socket joints when I was in Billund recently (same time as you, actually :-) ) IIRC they are on 1x2 plates and I think there are 2 variations, with ball/socket on the end and also on the side.

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    1. I've never been so intrigued as to the identity of one of my Anonymouses :O) Were you on the LIT?

      What colours were you shown? I see both light and dark stone grey in pics but uncertain if any one element has been produced in both. TLG tend not to make a part in both shades for a while but it will be especially irritating on mechs to have a mix of both greys in 'limbs'.

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  6. Not sure if this is an unintentional "release" of one of the new ball-jointed parts, but the most recent update to LEGO Digital Designer featured part 15456, a 2x2 plate with ball joint, but with a hole in the centre of the plate:

    https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/59864198/LEGO%20Digital%20Designer/15456.png

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    1. Looks like you're right, Threepio... I'm being told this is the new mould! Great spot and thanks for alerting us. Looks like I need to add LDD to my growing list of resources for hunting new parts... <:-s

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  7. Hay!, goldninja101 here! Speaking of new themes, I just got word from brickset that Lego is indeed going to produse LEGO Simpsons. (How Sad) We will see those weird Yellow dudes sometime next year. I'm more looking forward to the release of NinjaGo wave 2 (Not official name) in 2014. In my oppinion Lego has made a TERRIBLE mistake for making the Simpsons. If Lego had to make yet another new theme, they should have done a different, and MUCH more popular theme: Leagend of Zelda.

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