Zeya

I think there's something more significant here than the chess set itself. The release of that set seems to be proof that Lego has not given up the ability to release castle sets during the LotR run. I thought that Lego might have agreed to a clause in their contract with the LotR intellectual property people that they would not release competing products such as this. So I'm hopeful that we may see future Kingdoms products as well. There might be more beyond the chess set and the exclusive joust set.

Well, I would comb through photos of all the currently available Ninjago sets, particularly the Destiny's Bounty. You'll probably want to grab those sails for any ship you build. There will also be other Ninjago elements for buildings for your land-based MOCs. If you're willing, you could also track down the older asian-based Lego themes. I don't know much about them since it was during my dark age, but it's a lot like Ninjago, except minus all the... zaniness. I would recommend doing some internet searches to find some inspirational artwork, maybe of period ships and forts, to get an idea of what to make.

Good job! Very entertaining. I like how they all have one shoe, that made me laugh.

I must say she looks pretty good. I'm curious about the bodice extending onto the legs, though. That's a departure from older female figs, like below. I think the torso might look okay with different legs, but using the legs with some other torso might look strange. I think it does serve to make her look longer in the torso and more human-proportioned than most older minifigs. All in all, these figs look great. I think I might end up getting all the sets as well. Previously, I was thinking maybe just the zombie set and the castle. I'm a castle/pirate fan, but I'm more excited about this theme than LotR!

6) Toxic Cleanup (Build by Darth Yogi) - 2 points 2) The ski jump in Holmenkollen in Oslo (Build by Cecile) - 1 point

31) The Nightmare (watersnap) - 2 points 42) Minotaur Entry (Mr. Brickman) - 1 point

I think you're right. He looks like a New Orleans-style voodoo guy, given the top hat and colorful vest. (Hey that top hat has a curved brim, I think! Wow!) Plus it seems most of the "villains" are monsters, with a possible exception of the mad scientist fig.

Compare to some other images... From a Lego magazine scan: From Whitefang's review: Yeah, Whitefang's version looks like yours too. So I guess your knights aren't a fluke really. It seems the boar got darker and more brownish.

Can you take a photo for us and post it here, please?

I don't know what we're considering freebies here. But the PotC sets had large posters and collectible cards in them - the sets associated with the newest movie had them. And then the mini modulate exclusive comes with a new brick separator. This is in the US.

If it's just dust, you might not have to use a toothbrush. You could just swish them around in plain water, maybe. I've also heard people mention that they use a paintbrush or something with very soft bristles to dust old MOCs or sets that have been on display for a while.

I would suggest having her post on your existing blog. You wouldn't have to go set up a new one, and you already have an established base of readers there.

It's totally fake. The photo doesn't even have proper lighting. The Lego logo is on there twice. The copyright says 200. The photo itself is very fishy. The mockup of the box seems photoshopped, and I think it says "series 9" in the top-left corner there (that would be a bizarre series). Yeah, I'm just not buying it. It's someone just having a good time. I think they missed their April 1st deadline.

Sure, no problem. I actually cleaned a whole bunch more over the weekend; I'll try and take another photo soon for you all. So far I've only done some of these small lots of minifigs. If I was faced with a large lot of multiple lbs/kgs of bricks, I would probably use a different method. But for figs and specialty bricks, I just use a toothbrush and dish soap. Dump all the bricks in the soapy water, brush each with a toothbrush, and then put them in another bowl to soak some more (why not?). Then to rinse, I used a colander/strainer in the kitchen sink and the sink's spray gun attachment. For drying, a combination of air drying and a microfiber cloth. I also used Q-Tips to dry the inside of heads, torsos, and legs. Also, I used the microfiber towel to buff some gouges and ink stains in some cases. I just folded the microfiber towel a couple times on the surface of the desk, one hand to hold the towel taut, and another with a piece to swipe it back and forth over the towel and buff it. I'm talking about old beat of Lego here of course, but it works pretty well with relatively soft Lego plastic ("ABS").

Awesome, thanks. I'll make sure to remove it before I list it for sale.

Yes, the spacemen are all "well loved". The white horse is nothing special, and in fact it's the most scratched up piece here; no use to me. Also, you can usually find white horses on the PAB wall (for how much longer remains to be seen, what with the new horses coming out soon). Thanks for taking a look for me.

I got around to combing through a couple eBay lots I got. (Cleaning takes a long time!) I have a couple questions. This part, I'm pretty sure is not Lego. I looked pretty closely and couldn't find any markings on it. I apologize for the bad photos. But if you can make it out, the part that would go around a fig neck is quite wide. Also these clips on the side aren't wide enough to fit a gauge of something like a sword handle or an antenna pole (anything that fits in a minifig hand, basically). I just wanted to run this by other people because it intrigued me at any rate. And before I go and sell this unwanted stuff on eBay, I thought I would check and ask if anyone could spot anything particularly interesting or valuable in here. Anything you think an average AFOL would regret selling off?

It's back up now.

I like the new swiveling legs. I'm a little bummed that they changed the head so that the old stuff won't fit anymore. Although, I admit that the new head shape looks nicer, much like the newer dog and cow heads. Luckily I don't have very many horse head pieces in my collection anyway : the benefits of being a newishFOL. Does anyone know if the legs move independently of the one on the other side? That is, are the hind legs connected by a solid axle (same with front two legs)?

Wow, nicely done, october. Kudos for opening it and everything. So shiny and new!

The equestrian rider will be the easiest to identify. Just feel for the horse! (Joking.)

I got around to cleaning a group of figs I got in eBay a couple months ago. I used a toothbrush and dish soap, and they really cleaned up nicely. I'm pretty sure the female is the "reissue" from earlier this decade (er, last decade!). Also the CMF forest man in the back there. But the other guys look older and even have a solid stud on top of the head (whereas BL says its hollow - mistake?) I was happy with the accessories too, especially the cool shields.

I finally got around to cleaning a group of figs I got on eBay a couple months ago. (Ironhook was from BL but the rest from eBay). Here's a photo I took: I looked on BL for a complete fig as they list it there. Only the female is missing legs (easy enough to get). The bluecoats are in pretty good shape. Even have a backpack for the one on the right.

Whew, I just got done making a spreadsheet of my "haul" for the first time. This is my second PAB cup ever, and the first time I "knew better" and stacked/packed the cup. I went during a promotion this week for "large PAB cup for the price of a small cup". The cost of the cup was $6.04 before tax because I also used a 10% off coupon. (I'm kicking myself for not doing 2 or more cups now that I know the savings here!) I'm really hoping they run this type of promotion again, by the way. If/when they do it again, I'll be sure to go on the first day of the promo, in the morning, because on the second day when I went, they had run out of a lot of "good stuff" - I was after one-wide plates in earth tones, because I want to be able to do landscapes with ease. Anyway, here's the eye candy: So my total savings over BL was roughly $36 and savings over S@H was $105.

+1 to all of this. I'm wondering why LegoPohm wants to keep the themes separate. I can understand keeping whole sets separated for storage, if you want to be able to more quickly put a particular set together. But if you're grouping actual parts by theme, I don't quite understand that. There's so much crossover with parts, especially standard bricks, plates, and slopes. I sort by part type, and I'm quite happy with it. (Although I'm getting to the point of thinking about storing some things by color, maybe for common colors and just for bricks/plates/slopes). Like mrklaw says, it's all about what you want to accomplish. For me, it's about being able to find any particular part in a reasonable amount of time - sorting by part type makes that very easy. I even break down minifigs into separate parts, even the fleshies. (I do keep hands/arms/torsos together as an assembly, same with legs.) I guess I don't have the same mental stumbling block, and I'm a little perplexed at why you would keep them separate. They yearn to be together! Something that serves as a droid appendage from SW can easily be used for pirate ship rigging. It just doesn't make sense to me. If you are dead-set on keeping minifigs together for some reason, I can see keeping those sorted. But otherwise I'm just confused. Can you elaborate on what your concerns are? Maybe we can offer a solution for you.