Joebot

Eurobricks Knights
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About Joebot

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    Get off my lawn!

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    Elves

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    http://www.unlikelysociety.com

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    Chicago, IL

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  1. Joebot

    Counterfeit minifigs (allegedly) on Bricklink?

    Lego owns Bricklink, so presumably they were involved to some degree. It's a strange situation. I've been a Bricklink member for a long, long time, and this is the first time I can ever recall getting an email from them, so they must have thought it was important. The message is partly informational, to warn buyers and sellers, which makes sense. But it's also partly a threat to sellers who might be engaging in this behavior. What I'm wondering though -- as a seller, what is my obligation here? I've certainly never knowingly sold a counterfeit mini-figure. But what if I buy some bulk Lego collection off Cragislist, then sell the figures, and and later get accused by a buyer that a figure was counterfeit? I'm just not sure what I'm supposed to do, if anything, about this situation.
  2. I was at Brickworld on Saturday, and I can say that this display was truly jaw-dropping. Easily one of my favorite things I saw there. The pictures don't do it justice. They fail to capture the sheet SCALE of the thing, especially the cliffs. So many tan bricks. Just so many. It was hard to take it all in, so I appreciate these close-up pictures showing some of the details I didn't notice. Really incredible work!
  3. Joebot

    How to lighten up Modular Houses best?

    Brick Loot also sells individual lighting kits designed for Modulars and other sets. I got this one for Christmas, and it's very cool. https://www.amazon.com/Brick-Loot-Fishing-Lighting-Included/dp/B07FXTNH4N/ref=sr_1_12?keywords=loot+bricks+lighting+kit&qid=1578067854&sr=8-12 It's expensive, for sure, but very high quality parts and a clever design.
  4. Joebot

    LEGO City 2020 - Rumors, Speculation, and Discussion

    Dang. That Service Station felt like a $30 set. At 354 pieces, it probably SHOULD be a $30 set. But instead it's $50. Yeesht. That was honestly the only City set I was even a tiny bit interested in, but not at that price. Oh well.
  5. Joebot

    LEGO City 2020 - Rumors, Speculation, and Discussion

    This is true. In my experience, Eurobricks is unique in this regard, both within the Lego hobby, and across any other hobby I've ever participated in. This is a weird place. I've never seen a hobby message board where I'm so frequently told that I can't have what I want, what I want is wrong, I'm participating in the hobby in the wrong way, and that we should all just shut up and be happy with what our benevolent Corporate Masters at The Lego Company deign to offer us. As I said ... this is a weird place.
  6. Joebot

    TLG acquires Bricklink

    It certainly does. I'm trying to reserve judgement until we have more information, but ... this could be quite dire. Bricklink plays such a unique and vital role in the AFOL community. I could see TLG deciding that the secondary market is too much of a competitive threat, so they bought Bricklink with the intent of either jacking up seller fees so TLG gets their cut, or they shut it down altogether. Obviously other secondary markets exist, but Bricklink is THE main one. With this one move, TLG now controls a vast share of the secondary market, and that makes me very uneasy. I simply don't trust their motives.
  7. Joebot

    LEGO City 2020 - Rumors, Speculation, and Discussion

    Agreed. The non fire/police stuff is pretty solid. The mail plane reminds me a lot of 6687 - Turbo Prop 1. Anybody feeling frustrated with City in 2020 should go check out the upcoming Marvel sets for 2020. Wow, what a total shitshow. Suddenly, City doesn't look so bad.
  8. Joebot

    LEGO City 2020 - Rumors, Speculation, and Discussion

    I'm not a child psychologist, but ... I think it's different. The City named characters are now based on an IP in a different media (Lego City Adventures TV show). By using named characters from that show, Lego is, consciously or not, encouraging kids to act out the stories from that show, rather than make up their own. Just like kids do when they play with Luke Skywalker or Superman or Bilbo Baggins. Instead of a blank slate, Lego is filling in the details for the child. That undermines the unique storytelling position Lego City / Town used to have.
  9. Joebot

    LEGO City 2020 - Rumors, Speculation, and Discussion

    Yep. I see that happening as well, and I think that's a mistake. The City/Town theme always occupied a pretty unique space in Lego's product lineup. It's based on real-world locations, which allows you to recreate what you see around you. It's not based on some IP, and it's not character-driven. In my opinion, City/Town allows kids to create a generic backdrop for their own stories and adventures. When I was a kid, I was obsessed with the mini-series "V" about an alien invasion (I'm aging myself here, but so be it). After watching that show, I would plop my Galaxy Explorer ship down onto my Main Street set, and the red-suited space guys would pour out, and it was game on. Sure, I had a fire station and a police station (6382 and 6384 respectively), but I also had Main Street, the Public Works Center, an Exxon gas station, an auto repair, and a paramedic unit. And all those sets were connected with ROAD PLATES (one of Lego's dumbest decisions in the past 15 years is to phase out their use of road plates in City sets), which created a cohesiveness to my town. Everything fit together into a system. Those Town sets provided context for me to create and act out my own stories set in a realistic-ish world. THAT'S the unique and fundamental appeal of City/Town. Lego has essentially turned City into just another generic conflict-driven Action theme, no different from Power Miners or Galaxy Squad or Agents.
  10. Joebot

    LEGO City 2020 - Rumors, Speculation, and Discussion

    It's odd to me to see named characters within City. I know it's been done in the past (that Chase policeman from a few years' back), but to date, it's been quite rare. I think Lego has fully embraced the fact that mini-figure CHARACTERS can drive purchases. I shudder to think of how many shoddy Superhero sets I've purchased, only to get some unique, cool superhero figure. I think this same approach in City is misguided though. I sometimes think Lego has forgotten what makes City appealing to fans in the first place (hint: it's not endless police chases, and it's not collecting named characters).
  11. Joebot

    LEGO City 2020 - Rumors, Speculation, and Discussion

    We know. These are kids' toys, they're designed for kids, etc., etc. ... we know. Does that mean that we shouldn't come here to Eurobricks and TALK about them? I've been as critical of Lego City as anyone in the past few years, but even I could admit that the City sets were very well designed (even if they weren't anything I was interested in buying). But these?? Ooof. I can't even make that argument this year. Two questions: 1) Why is every bad guy car red? 2) What is the deal with Lego's fetish for "trucks hauling another vehicle?" I've never seen a helicopter being carried by a semi truck ever in my life, and yet Lego has been churning these things out for 25 years. I know everyone always makes fun of the way Lego shoehorns in catapults and helicopters, but for my money, the "trucks hauling another vehicle" sub-theme is even more bizarre.
  12. Joebot

    LEGO City 2020 - Rumors, Speculation, and Discussion

    I don't know about "trashy." I think "snarky" would be more accurate. My enduring frustration with Eurobricks, and the reason that I almost never post here anymore, is that most criticisms of the Lego product line are met with one of the following: 1) Legos are for kids! 2) If you don't like it, don't buy it! 3) If you don't like it, change it! That's what Lego is all about! We know. Everybody knows. We got it. Rehashing these same three rebuttals over and over again is reductive and insultingly obvious ... but even worse, it's BORING. It makes for boring discussion because there's no way to refute any of those items. They're right. Of course they're right. But those rebuttals are designed to shut down the conversation, which seems a strange thing to do on a message board that lives and dies by the level of its conversation. Would EB be better served if every discussion in every theme went like this; EB Member A: I really like all the new Lego sets! EB Member B: Me too! I think they're awesome. EB Member A: Yep, so awesome. EB Member: Yep! .... Is that really what you want? Criticism of Lego's product line is not a criticism of the people who like it. That's the key point that so often seems missed.
  13. Joebot

    LEGO City 2020 - Rumors, Speculation, and Discussion

    At this point, any criticism of Lego police sets is just screaming into the void. All criticisms of Lego here on Eurobricks will be met by the armies of the Lego Apologist Corp, who will swiftly swoop in to bravely defend the company from all attacks. Lego themselves are going to keep pumping the police sets out because presumably they sell well. Nothing ever changes.
  14. Joebot

    [PRESS RELEASE] 10267 - Gingerbread House

    The building is fine, especially the interior (although what's up with that exterior-facing fireplace?). However, I find the mini-figs very off-putting with their flat heads, dead eyes, and creepy smiles. That's less "Christmas cheer" and more "nightmare fuel."
  15. Joebot

    LEGO Elves 2018

    Even if it IS a fake list (which seems likely), I gotta hand it to whoever came up with those names. "Nature Mech" gave me a good laugh. If I were going to create a list of fake Elves sets, I'd go with something more plausible, like: - Elvendale Police Station - Farran's Helicopter Transport - Azari's Catapult Battle We all know there's nothing Lego likes more than police sets, helicopters, vehicles that transport other vehicles, and catapults.