iangreig

Back when Warren first announced AFOLCON/'The Lego Show', I took a wild stab in the dark & as well as requesting an area for my own models, I thought I'd put a request in for a area for a collaborative display of 'micro'/'nano'-scale space ships. Now with the event is only a month away, it's time to throw the doors open ... Details at www.mocslug.com/fly-in2014/ MICRO-/NANO-SPACE FLY-IN 2014 AFOLCON / BRICK 2014, ExCel London 26th-30th November 2014 Interested in Micro-/Nano-Space scale models? Registered as an Exhibitor at AFOLCON 2014? If ‘yes’ to both, you’re invited to ‘fly-in’ to the collaborative Micro/Nano-Space display at AFOLCON/BRICK 2014! Contribute to the rag-tag fleet of space-based Refugees, Imperiums, Federations, Independents, Raiders, Pirates,Aliens, Ancients & More ... Also check out the Flickr group here - www.flickr.com/groups/microspace2014/ Or email me directly - afol.flyin.2014@gmail.com

Both the Westfield & St.David's stores are having a 'soft opening'; both of the 'Grand Opening' events will be in the New Year. I'd take any information from new employees with a huge pinch of salt; there's absolutely no chance of 6 new stores in the UK next year. I can believe 6 new stores across Europe in 2011, maybe two of which will be in the UK.

I've seen (& touched) red & blue ones too ... they were beautiful :-) AFAIK the orange ones have never been available in publicly released sets; I got mine from a German Bricklink seller. http://www.flickr.com/photos/blue-moose/2828142503/ Ian

They come in some very interesting colours too ... http://www.flickr.com/photos/10279741@N00/2798419968/ ... but are fairly rare. You can find light orange ones on Bricklink if you look, but they are expensive. I've seen red & blue ones too ... anyone know of any other colours ? (other than the light & dark greys & the green one). Ian

My pleasure :-) I'm pretty enthusiastic about what we've seen so far of the 2010 Space Police sets; can't wait to see what else we'll be getting. It's obvious there's a lot of effort & love going into these sets from the design team in Billund. Ian

Those are from the Brickset.com image database; I did the old "zoom/Print Screen/past together in Photoshop" dance on Amazon.com to create them :-) Ian

Galactic Enforcer. Yup; he's going to be the rare/expensive fig from these sets, currently only available in the most expensive set. Ian

The Milton Keynes store had all 8 of the initial sets yesterday, including the two you mention. I assume the other two UK stores have the same. You can see the figs from the sets here, on my flickr-stream - http://www.flickr.com/photos/blue-moose/3567238801/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/blue-moose/3567922340/ Ian

This news makes me happy. However, LEGO need to fire their marketing people in the UK, as a the current lot obviously don't have a clue ... Ian

Me. I was simply reporting the facts of what LEGO were saying at UK Toy Fair. LEGO's people were telling all visitors to their stand at UK Toy Fair this week that SP3 was not being released outside of North America. That *is* what happened. They claimed that 'SP3' was a an experiment, to see if there was demand for such a theme; if it was a success then they would think about releasing it elsewhere, but not until at least 2010. But no commitments. That *is* what they were saying. There are plenty of precedents for LEGO having regional releases, even fairly recently - Vikings was originally announced as a Europe-only release. I have since been told, by several people claiming inside knowledge, that what was being said by LEGO's people at UK Toy Fair wasn't *entirely* correct. Not that they were lying, they were just expressing something that might be true from a certain point of view. Hence my caveat about it maybe coming to S@H/Brand Stores. Ian EDIT - SP3 is apparently in the Swedish trade catalogue for the 2nd half of the year. It isn't in the UK equivalent catalogue

Well, I've given you my thoughts on that. Something to think about, I hope. The Eurobricks mention remains, as there isn't really any ill-will from there to here. FBTB is a different place from Eurobricks, with a generally younger crowd; the rules over there have mostly come from bitter experience in the past. And it doesn't suit everyone, and that's fine, but it upsets me to see such vitriol against the place. Ian.

It's surprising how many FBTB members are also members here. Nice attitude BTW. I always thought this site prided itself in it's friendliness & openess. Oh well, live & learn. Good news on the release date. Thanks Sam. Ian (Yes, the same one)

Pure speculation, but maybe they let the "no hotmail" rule slide in your case out of professional courtesy to the admin of another site ? Ian.

The Lego store in Milton Keynes, UK, has got the new City & Designer sets in now, excluding the new X-Pods. I picked up a couple of the sets today, including the new Police Station, the one with one of the new light-up figures. I've posted a desciption & some photos of the fig over at the temporary FBTB site ... http://repoort.proboards43.com/index.cgi?b...&num=1105222682 Ian.

Is that Coke of Dr Pepper he's drinking ? Ian.

You can with a bit of effort; only problem with it is, what are you going to replace it with ? Because it's not compatible with standard heads ... Ian.

Almost looks like he's in fetish-wear ... all those straps & hoses ... shudder :-D Ian.

Trees bend, absorb the force & bounce back. Buildings are rigid - if they bend, they break. That's why. Oh, and please don't stop giving money. The relief agencies are managing the funds going into the affected areas; they aren't just dumping all the cash & walking off. It really is being properly managed - the priority was to get enough food, water, medical supplies & shelter into to the area to keep people alive for the first two weeks. They've done that now & are going back around making sure that everyone has got what they need to keep them alive for another 6 weeks on top of that. In the meantime, they are arranging construction materials, equipment, & people to start rebuilding the infrastructure - roads, electricity, clean mains water, sewerage systems, etc. - so that can start, giving folk the chance to survive in the longer term and perhaps even start to rebuild their lives. If you donate more money now to one of the main aid organisations (Red Cross, etc.), you can be assured that it will be used wisely when it is needed. Ian.

There is a large semi-active volcano on one of the Canary Islands in the Atlantic. There is a large crack in the side of the volcano from when it last erupted in 1949 - if it erupts again, there is a small chance that the whole side of the volcano will collapse into the sea (technically it's called a 'slump'). This may cause an enormous tsunami (known as a mega-tsunami) which could swamp Atlantic coastal areas of North America, North Africa & Europe. It has been estimated that this mega tsunami wave could be several hundred feet tall & penetrate up to 20km inland. There was a TV prog about it a couple of years ago, part of 'Horizon' & I believe it's been shown in the US on Discovery or Learning Channel or somewhere, and it was based on research from a number of different universities. http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid...910241&from=rss Note that there are lots of "if"s, "small chance"s, "may"s, "estimated"s in there - no one knows for sure if it will ever happen, or what exactly the outcome will be. Many scientists believe the threat is so small it can be ignored (i.e. the chances of the slump happening are very remote, and even if it does happen, the chances of the tsumani doing any real damage are remote) The reality probably sits somewhere in-between, but there are a couple of things to remember - the chances of it happening in your lifetime are vanishingly small (you're much more likely to get run down crossing the street !), and there's nothing you can do about it if it does happen ! Don't worry & be happy ! Ian.

Always happy to share ! There are a couple of ways to open him up using force - I haven't quite got myself into the frame of mind to do that yet ! The arms look to be exactly the same length; I think it might be the lack of the narrower 'wrist' that makes the new one look longer.

I haven't built it yet, and may not get around to doing it for a couple of weeks, sorry ! I only picked it up today to take advantage of the "double rewards" offer that the Lego stores in the UK are running at the moment as part of their loyalty card cheme - the offer finishes next weekend (back to

No, I agree with you. In fact, I think your scores were generous; in absolute terms, "7/10" is a good score - think about it, there is a lot more scope for it to be worse than there is for it to be better ! So make that a minority of two. :P Ian.

iangreig, do you live in Orlando or just visiting? Just visiting, for work, but I do seem to spend a lot of time in Orlando (7 weeks between dec 2003 & dec 2004). Just lucky I guess ... but all those trans-atlantic flights get really tiresome, real quick :( Ian.

The new X-Pods were in TRU in Orlando (Florida Mall) at the beginning of December. Ian

This is in the first scene of the film.. when the stormtroopers and forcing their way into the Tantive V. You have to look closely though, I am not quite sure when it happens.. I think it is after vadar enter. Jon. IIRC it's when the Stormtroopers rush into the control room where the droids have been hiding out while Luke+Han+Chewie are off rescuing Leia ... Ian.