Multiverse

There's one set that's all the rage right now, and I'm sure there's a lot of people out there who are in doubt about whether to buy it. To help them out, I figured it was time for a proper Eurobricks review of the thing. So here comes the first part of my commented building session with set #10232 Palace Cinema! NOTE: My computer has broken down, and everything on it - including the photographs and the almost-finished text of this review - has been lost. Before reading, please note that you should expect only half a review. I got as far as to the end of the ground floor. Price: 1099 DKK/ 120 GBP / 150 USD Number of Pieces: 2196 On Brickset: Brickset.com/detail/?set=10232-1 I strongly suspect I’m not the only Eurobrick member who recieved one of these big, brown packages in the mail during the last couple of days. After all, it is just only a week since Lego made the latest model in the modular line available to VIP members, and adding to the deal that this modular is a good deal cheaper than any of the previous installments (not counting Market Street) and comes, just for this month, with the option of free shipping, it ends up quite the attractive offer to a fan of the series. It certainly was to me, anyway, and that’s how I’ve ended up the happy owner of one of these packages. Sweet dreams form the shades inside it; let’s have a peak at them! If you live in Europe, you’ll also have received a polybag with a police helicopter in it. I like that Lego does this, because I’m too scatterbrained to keep track of what they offer at the moment, so it’s a pleasant surprise whenever they place an unexpected polybag in my shopping basket. The S9 minifig wasn’t free, unfortunately, and really not related to the rest of the lot at all. I’ll try to keep it out of the review. I have two modulars already: the Fire Brigade and the Grand Emporium. I got both of those relatively recently, so this is the first time I can afford the extravaganza of buying a modular on its day of release. I’m thrilled! At first I was a bit puzzled as to why they would put the oldest of these sets in the middle – in the past, these setups on the backs of the boxes have always been ordered chronologically. But as I realise now, looking through the photos, it’s rather obvious: If you put the smallest modular (once again, rudely disregarding Market Street) behind the ginormous Town Hall, you might as well just exclude it from the photograph altogether. The picture also serves to remind us that the Pet Shop was released two years ago. That’s right, in 2011. I feel just a little bit older after realising that. We open the box, and out pours, not unexpectedly, a large number of plastic bags with bricks in them, a few large plates, a plastic bag with the instructions and a 32x32 baseplate in what I believe is a recolour: regular bright red. I usually buy my sets for parts, and so, while I’m certainly no fan of it, I’m often not personally bothered by the infamous DSS. This is a modular, though, and I’d trusted Lego to know enough about the general AFOL aversion to stickers to keep them out of the line where, as a general guideline, AFOLS get their will. Yet here they are, and the more brilliant the designs on them are, the sadder I get thinking about them having to be exposed to my imperfect sticker-adding abilities. But more on that, come their actual appliance. Also included is the 2013 version of the brick separator. I wonder whether this particular recolour wasn’t inspired by the poster for The Brick Separator above. At this point, I should probably add that these pictures were taken over the course of two afternoons and two evenings, and that consequentially, some of them are taken with a natural light source (that would be the sun; off the top of my head, I can’t think of any other natural light sources that are available to me), while some of them are not. THE BUILD: PART ONE As is the case with most big sets recently, the instruction booklet is split into three sections; one for each floor of the building. The first one, conveniently, is the ground floor. Let’s see what in those bags! Wow. That’s a lot of parts. I personally base a lot of my Lego shopping list on the Eurobricks reviews. More precisely, I base them off the part squares that people photograph for the reviews, and so I’m always happy to see that someone has put in the effort of arranging them just so strangers on the internet could benefit. But up until now, I didn’t realise just how much effort that was when we’re talking about a large set. A lot of effort. Or time, I guess. Either way, I hope you’re happy. Included is a virtual infinity of regular 1xY bricks in dark tan, quite a lot in light grey (’bley’), and a not insignificant amount in dark grey. There’s huge amounts of tiles, as well, mainly in 2x2 and 1xY formats, although a couple of black 2x4 tiles appear as well. The rest of the pieces are a fair assortment, ranging from arches through window panes to technic pins. And of course, there’s the new pieces. ’New pieces’ is a phrase which here means ’Pieces I don’t already have’. The trans-clear 1x1 round tile (or the ’studless stud’, as it has cleverly been named) has already been in 14 readily available sets throughout 2012 and 2013, as well as many sets of secondary availability, like polybags and store-exclusives. The brick star tile is the only exclusive print in the set. In fact it’s the only exclusive part in it at all, and the Palace Cinema includes eight of it. It’s very decorative, and I predict that it’ll have a high price rate on Bricklink, both because of its rarity and its versatility. The 1x2x5 trans-clear brick has only appeared in 2011’s 5770 Lighthouse Island, which has four of it. This set has two, so they’re still pretty neat to have. ’But wait,’ I imagine you commenting, ’didn’t you say that you already had two Modulars? Then surely, you already have the lamppost which PaB calls a Fabuland Standard’. Well, yes. Yes, I do. But that’s not this one. It appears that TLC has, simply for the sake of effing the ineffable itself, decided to make a new, almost completely similar mould for this iconic piece. With my limited photography skills and the bad lighting, it can be hard to tell, but if you look close enough, you’ll see that the new version (on the left) has deeper dents; it’s more obvious at the bottom of the piece. It also has only four indentations instead of the usual six. It’s probably for stability, though the Fabuland lamppost is already one of the most reliably stable pieces I can think of. There are four minifigures included in the bags labelled with the title of the only Beatles album in my house. The first of these is, as declared by the designer herself in the pre-release design video, the Minnie Figure who is mentioned on the sign above the front doors. I don’t personally think it’s a very interesting figure, though I’m always glad to see the classic minifig face. Next up is her driver. This guy apparently runs the movie theatre all by himself. That must be quite a lot of work. His torso is taken from a random fish in a Spongebob set, and I was surprised to see that it was originally yellow, as it is here (fortunately; anything else would’ve thrown the whole figure off), since I thought all the background fish in Lego Spongebob were a default lime green. I guess you learn some new, oddly specific fact every day. Oh, and then there's reporter! My personal favourite of the bunch. I like pretty much every part involved, and they go together just fine. Specifically the use of the Indy fedora as a the kind of hat you’d keep a press card tied to is a nice idea. I posted a photograph of him a little longer up the page, so I'll try to keep this as uncluttered as possible and not post the same picture twice. What do you say we start the build now? I’ll just go ahead and start building, and take a photo for you whenever I have a comment I think you’ll care reading. Step One. The instructions tell me to begin with the car, so I’ll do that. Step Two (don’t worry, I’m not going to stop at every step). Already, we’ve used a 6x6 plate and that peculiar half-tile half-plate thing, both of which I’d specifically presumed were for the building itself. That’ll teach me to stop presuming, I guess. This is where the trademark D2C quality starts showing. The front of the black limousine is built using two of these new SNOT pieces facing in different directions. The completed limousine. I personally think this beats the firetruck from Fire Brigade, though I’m still a bit bothered by it breaking conventions – the Modulars are traditionally easy to store, since they’re all confined to a simple square areal. When a vehicle is included with nowhere to put it, storage becomes a tiny bit less simple. But enough about that. The vehicle is a nice model in its own right, and I strongly disagree with those who say that it appears to be a last-minute addition. It does use a couple of methods that even I, who am by no means an authority on cars, Lego or otherwise, recognise from other sets, but it seems pretty thoroughly designed, and is very sleek on the whole. It does come off as slightly bulky towards the front, but that’s a slight, slight detail from my point of view. Besides, as I just said, I know nothing about cars, so who am I to presume that cars from back when cars looked like this didn’t actually look like this? Remember that I mentioned not having any trans-clear 1x1 round plates before now? Those with sharp eyes will have noticed that I lost one of them, and thus the car is lacking a side mirror. The best thing about the car, of course, is how easy it is to ride. So easy, according to the instructions, that even a child could do it. (From the back seat, no less). ...AND we’re going! Did I mention that I’m two degrees of Kevin Bacon away from the designer of this set? I am. It’s designed by the designer Astrid, who was also the leading designer of last year’s Town Hall. The obsessive-compulsive part of me likes this arrangement. Initially, I would’ve placed the brick-star tiles facing towards the corner, since people would then be queueing in the same direction as the stars. I guess it makes sense to have them facing the opposite direction (as the instructions say), though, since the set is supposed to be seen from the corner. Step Thirteen. All of a sudden, the instructions tells us to throw in all but two of the light blue pieces, and true enough, it does notably brighten up the interior of the building. Don’t hang me up on this, but didn’t I read somewhere that Astrid was one of the lead designers of Friends? I can imagine so, judging from this set; one of the strengths of Friends is the way its buildings are made with basic bricks in calm colours, reserving the new moulds and eye-catching colours for the decorations. That’s what the designers did here, too, by covering the desk in light blue, a colour that’s always been a bit of a fan favourite. One of my favourites, anyway. Step Fourteen. What is this, I wonder? Step Fifteen. Oh, it’s steps. Very neatly made, too. Step Twenty-three. I just wanted to say that I appreciate the ornamental use of perfectly regular pieces. It feels somewhat classic. At step twenty-six, we’re supposed to add the first stickers. As mentioned before, this bothers me. But I’m pleasantly surprised: The fact that the stickers are applied on glass panes means that a bit of light shines through, adding a cozy ambience for the moviegoers to enjoy. I suppose I’m not giving you the best view of the movie posters here, but have a look anyway. The three movies being advertised are Forever Sorting (a romantic movie featuring Dianne Plate and Clark Brixter), Mystery on the Monorail (I think Eurobricks have a great part of the responsibility for that movie ending up here) and The Brick Separator (a horror/monster movie). There’s a great detail on the latter: Two of the designers have signed the set by printing Lego-fied versions of their names on it. The poster credits Astrid Greybrick and Jordan Montelegone. Step 28 and 29 each adds one of these doors, which are, to be honest, slightly astonishing. Not only do they fit the corner Modular format, they make it look easy – which I’m pretty sure you’ll agree it’s not; personally I think it’s a mathematical challenge of about the same difficulty as, say, dividing something by π in your head. Chances are that someone on the internet has already thought of this solution, but I still thank the design team for giving us this new way to build corner doors. Another little bit of brilliance. You can probably guess what’s supposed to be attached here, but even so, it’s not something I’d have thought of, and certainly not something you’d see in just any set. Step Thirty-nine, the penultimate step of the ground floor (the last step adds the lamppost). A lesser set would use normal bars of some kind here, I suppose. Naturally, a real D2C goes for the more creative alternative, which in this case turns out to be harpoon guns. It seems to me that as well as beatifully detailed conversation pieces, every Modular is also a sequence of small, amusing engineering ideas. We’ve finished the first floor! It looks absolutely acceptable, don’t it? There’s a bunch of built-in ingeniousities, about enough bright colours to make it interesting, and details on the pavement to make it appear less blend. The top of the building appears a little empty, but if you’ve even looked at the box, you already know that that’s going to change during the next few phases of the build. EDIT: Due to unforeseen circumstances, I've lost the photographs which I was building the narrative around. I'm sorry, but I have no way to finish the review. =(

I'm sorry - it's just 1x1 plates. I'd have loved tiles as well. =(

I love seeing TLC diving into this more 'conceptual' type of sets, which in my opinion is great for underlining the point of Lego. I'll wait and see the price of the thing over here before deciding whether to get it, but if it's anywhere near reasonable, I think I will.

Can you tell me the prices in DKK? I can't seem to find them anywhere. =\

I don't mind the different lamppost designs - I've started to think of them as a mark of the series, much as the simpler, but uniform lampposts are in the modulars. I think it underlines the theme's status as a less 'orderly', more charm-of-the-differences alternative to the modulars. In fact, I would probably be a little disappointed if they settled on a single lamppost design for future sets, since this would appear to me as akin to making a new lamppost for the next modular.

Ditto that! He's one of my favourite writers! As for what I'm currently reading - The Island of Doctor Moreau by H. G. Wells.

Thanks for the information, GRogall! Having missed both CC and GG, a restaurant is just about what my modular street needs. And I'm a fan of the general Parisian style as well (really, how can you not be?). A Palace Cinema-esque price tag is a nice thing to know, too. I wonder who's been leading the design team on this one. =)

Just a heads-up - I went to the Copenhagen store today, and was positively astonished by their PaB selection. Most notably, it included the 2x2 Jumper Plate (White), the 1x1 Brick (Dark Green), the 1x1 Omnidirectional SNOT Brick (Black), the 1x2 Tile (Purple), the 2x2 Column Brick and the Cheese Slope (Olive Green). Overall good conditions if you're scheming to reach the 400DKK limit (free polybag) through the PaB wall. =)

Title: The Zombies Serial Number: 9465 Pieces: 447 Price: 350 DKK, €40, £35 or $40 Hi there! I'm new to this whole reviewing business, and I haven't gone to the Reviewers' Academy. However, I recently acquired an exclusive set which I believe we're a bunch who've been rather hyped about – so why don't you sit down with me as we'll go through the experience that makes set #9465 The Zombies? The Box Featuring the beautiful bat-and-moon graphics that appear on every set in the Monster Fighters line, this one has the added details of gravestones in the dark and gloomy background. All in all, this makes for a very pleasant view, even if the scene it describes is a rather creepy one (which, frankly, I'd have expected to be beyond what TLG would allow themselves – I suspect this might be one of the reasons why this is marketed as an exclusive set, which tends to be the primary target of AFOLs). The back tells us many useful things about the set, showcasing the five play features - though among those are flickfire missiles and a GitD spider, so many reasonable people would only consider that three. Still, three is a lot for a set this size, and I'm particularly looking forward to turning the moonstone to release the dead from their allegedly eternal sleep. There's a little comic, too – this one is featured on the back of every Monster Fighters set, with only the second panel altered.. The moonstone in question changes colour on panel three, too. As you can see, the first panel tells us that disappointingly, 9468 (the Vampyre Castle, as I'm sure you've already guessed) is not included. I, for one, was looking very much forward to finding this very large set inside the box of a medium-size set, and find this piece of news very disappointing. I have to address this strip of graphic, too. It's a beautiful picture which they could've done without, but put in the little extra effort it took not to. I think it's great. Four minifigures are included. That's the real reason you bought this, of course. As Kai is here to tell (and show) us, the 1:1 size comparison picture is, indeed, size 1:1. Oh, and one more little thing: Apparently, this set is really called Zombie Bride, Zombie Groom & Zombie Driver. It's no wonder they've wanted to shorten it down to The Zombies. This line reminds me of Orient Expedition in many ways. Both have this sort of stunning graphics, both are pretty much a renaissance for Steampunk Lego parts, and both have taken me by my collectors' gene and refused to let me go. Buth what Orient Expedition had which this is lacking is something I see a lot of people complaining about in other lines: redundancy. One of the beautiful things about Orient Expedition was that even though I was too young to plan for it, I ended up getting a huge amounts of top hats, guns, crystal pieces, Johnny Thunder hats, etc. If you buy every set in this line, you'll still only have two of each Monster Fighter (and one extra Rodney Rathbone). I realise that the variety of figures would be at cost if they were to include more of each individual figure, but I'd still have liked to have so many bowler hats I'd never need them again. I guess I can't have my cake and eat it. The Contents You know, I first saw this set on the shelves of the Lego Store in Berlin. This was back in, what, May? When it first started being sighted around the world, and I would have bought it right there if the very helpful, but unfortunately wrongly informed, personnel of the store hadn't told me that it would not be an exclusive (as I thought it would), and that I could safely expect it to be included in the sale where I buy most of my Lego. Yet it wasn't, so I had to wait for my return to the Berlin Lego Store two days ago to pick this up. The moral being that you know more about Lego than their salespeople do. Okay, let's open the set and throw the box away (I have; as much as I admire their effort, I can't have empty cardboard boxes lying around)! What´s inside? No comments about the unfortunate child having a fit because his parents won't buy him the Lego he wants. We're used to seeing him at the back of our manuals by now. The instruction manual features the same art as the box. No big surprise there. A random page. Hurry up, take the code from here and use it to unlock scary content (if you dare)! What, you've already opened bag one while I was gawking at the manual? And what's that you're toying with now? Oh, the minifigs! Well, let's have a look at them, shall we? Jack Mchammer is familiar from one of the other Monster Fighters sets, The Vampyre Castle (the one that's not included in this set, remember?). His cyborg arm has been seen before, but is still a nice touch to add to the steampunk vibe that's given by this whole theme so far. Jack Mchammer is part of a gang who've teamed up to prevent anything non-human from ever returning from the world of insufferable terrors they've been banished to. Guess who's my third favourite Monster Fighter? We should all know the Zombie driver by now, since he also appears in the Vampyre Hearse (which is already abundant with cool minifigures), a polybag and next month's Lego Store Exclusive. Still, any zombie, even one as specific as this, is a pretty good armybuilder to me. I don't mind having two. The Zombie groom has unique face and torso prints, and they're very nice, too. Wearing a smug expression and a torn and rotten wedding tuxedo, it looks like he's ready to continue right where he left off. Features a delicious backprint. The Zombie Bride is a definite star. I don't believe we've had this hair in this particular colour before. I personally think it's a rather dull colour, but it fits the theme, and indeed the minifig, perfectly on this wonderful occasion. Also included is unique face (sporting a creepy, satisfied expression), torso and wedding gown prints – in fact, every single piece of this minifig is made especially for this set (unless I'm wrong about the hair)! The soon-to-be Mrs. Zombie has an alternate, disappointed face, for when Jack storms down the aisle to interrupt her wedding. ...and the backprint you've all been waiting for (as a zombie, she has no problem posing for this). I wouldn't worry too much if I were him; Zombies are notoriously slow. You were probably waiting for this: The Zombie ensemble. The Monster Fighters zombies vary from the Collectible version in that they have hollow eyes rather than bloody ones (except for the bride, who has one of each), and that the teeth they have left are more yellowed. But they're the same colour, and perfectly compatible with each other. Now, let's have a look at the rest of the parts. The contents of bag one, minus the minifigures. Even without knowing what set it is, it wouldn't be a mystery what kind of model these pieces will make. I've noticed a trend in bags numbered 2 to contain the rather dreary, boring parts that are necessary to complete the build. At first, this may seem to follow the trend, but if you'll just look again, there's a bunch of SNOT pieces, a number of round 1X1 tiles and a small selection of plates. In this case, I'd rather have an extra Bag 2 than an extra Bag 1. Bag 3 provides us with a small number of more or less blend parts, yet parts that are generally useful and always nice to have, anyway. Bag 4 is what builds up the main visible part of the building (the mausoleum). Therefore, it includes the mood-setting parts, the decorative elements that are often of particular interest to AFOLS. All the parts. Excuse me for a minute while I remove all the parts I don't find very interesting. I'm sorry, Technic fans. I personally think Technic is a wonderful system that's just as ingenious as System Lego is, but after a decade of collecting Bionicle, I've grown satisfied. So I'm not really very excited by that kind of pieces anymore. That is to say, I've given up Technic, but I'd recommend nobody to follow my example. Pieces of interest to me. I've included three pieces that aren't particularly new, because you can't get too many cheese slopes, SNOT pieces or simple, regular bricks. Pieces of interest to the general public. I'm not sure whether the 2x1 cheese slope modification piece-thingamajig has been released before in black, though I suspect it has. There's a few new and useful SNOT plates included in light bley, as well as a handful of 1x1 round tiles in light bley and pearl gold. The brick brick is still new enough to be interesting to me (this set includes four), and the metallic silver 1X4 motor brick thingie might be new, since I'm not into Racers. The GitD spider will probably be interesting to anyone who doesn't already have the Mad Professor And His Monster or the Vampyre Castle (there's our friend again; this one has a lot in common with that set). The pink moonstone is exclusive to this set, not even included in the Vampyre Castle, and introduces new rules to the game: Now the evil Graaf Von Krolock (the evil vampire) can safely lose one of the evil moonstones, and he will still have enough to open his evil gate through the evil moon. Supposedly, the moonstone is also needed to activate a play feature in this set, as we'll soon see. That being said, let's get into the build! The Set And we're started! As much as two pages into the build, we have the base for two wheels. I'm decidedly fond of how sleek the engine looks at this point, while not even ceasing to be a block! Well done! A nice technique is used here. The hammer. You have to build two of these for the car, and I personally think they could've been done better; the Technic rod goes all the way through, and I would think it better, both in terms of parts and aestethics, to round of with an inverted 2x2 plate (as in the Samurai Robot of Ninjago) and a regular 2x2 plate, as opposed to the round versions. If you have the pieces, it's an easy modification to make. What are we building now? Well, it's a grave, and the beginning of a mechanism. The foundation of the mausoleum. Lego's designers know which side of the brick brick is the interesting one, and they make sure always to put that on the outside. Almost finished! I've tried the mechanism that makes the pot fly out, and learned that it has to be restocked every time you use it. This can be particularly difficult for someone as clumsy as me, especially in such tight space. What's that? Up already? Unfortunately, the bride doesn't fit in the graves, so it'll have to be her waking up her groom and their driver. I'm ever so slightly disappointed in this, since I figured I'd have the bride and the groom lying in adjacent plots. But alas, it was not to be. These are the leftover pieces, of which there are surprisingly many. I think my commentary has been sufficiently detailed so far, so I'll let the finished set speak for itself... ...and finally pop that afterlife-changing question we've all been waiting to hear: “Will you bury me?”

I'm really sorry to disappoint you all like this, but I'll have to end the review here. The computer I was keeping the photographs on has broken down. Again, I'm so sorry. =(

I only noticed that after I'd uploaded the review, but I guess you're right - it's a bit odd. It hasn't damaged the content in any way, though, so it's fine with me. =) I'm glad to hear it's not just me. =) I'm afraid the next update is going to have to wait a few days - at least until thursday, and possibly even as long as saturday, seeing how I'm awfully busy for the next week's time. I'm sorry about that. =(

Thanks for the comments! It's great to hear that you like the review. =) I thought I'd just post to notify whomever might be interested that the original post has been updated with a bit more of it. =)

Sdrnet: 1 Legolegolegolego: 2 Priovit70: 2

I would definitely go for the Fire Temple. It's a great display set, has brilliant play features and techniques, is relatively interesting to build, and is good as a parts/minifigures pack. And that said, it's likely going to be available for a few months longer than the other two. =)

It looks like TLC's spoiling us with these amounts of new prints - those few (were there even more than two?) from Town Hall were a great treat, but these custom movie posters and star tiles and all takes the whole thing up a notch. I understand it pefectly if that means a slightly scarce interior. I love the roof, both sections. I would've loved it even more if the middle part hadn't been open on the back, but you can't have everything. That half-studded, half-studless look of it gives it that perfect professional shine. Oh, and a red baseplate! That even beats the tan one from Grand Emporium, even if I can't think of any specific ues for it right now. The doors are awesome, and make brilliantly use of a few recent recolours. And 'Three Clicks And A Snap'? That's absolutely brilliant. I personally can't wait to get this one and show those details off to everyone (that is, once I've caught up with the Pet Shop and Town Hall). =) On the downside, I'm lost as to what I'm going to do with the limousine. The fire engine from Fire Brigade can be conveniently placed inside the building, but this one seems more problematic to have on a restricted space. My overall preliminary verdict on this (because you have to give one, don't you?) is that while it's not a peak for the line like Grand Emporium or Town Hall, it's still a great set and a definite must-have for, well, me. =)

This christmas we had my grandparents over (we had a nice christmas, thank you for asking), and they brought with them something they'd asked whether I wanted - a box of my dad's old Lego. I realise that many members on this site might just be around the age of my dad, so I thought I'd take a few photos to hear whether anyone knew of the pieces in there, and perhaps if anyone had something interesting to say about them. (Photo links to set on Flickr). Thanks for reading. =)

Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency.

Oh, sorry. I guess I overlooked the an 'it' somewhere. =J About the super markets - I never saw the WV sets anywhere else than the Brand stores and S@H. It's interesting to hear that they've got different availability elsewhere. Thanks a lot. I'm glad to hear you enjoyed it. =) (I think I'll be writing more reviews, but it's a bit of a problem - I buy most of my sets on sales, so buy the time I get a set, most other people who're interested in it hae had it for a long while. And by then, doing a review would seem pretty much pointless). I agree about vehicles in general, although I personally quite liked this one. But I never really MOC any vehicles myself, so the part range is of less use to me than the rest of the sets. My thoughts exactly about the vehicle. =) I didn't have any problems with fitting the groom in there. The bride, though, is a different story. And that's a great suggestion about the Moria modification; I'd probably try that if I still had my set together.

I don't think it's going to return. I believe it met its EOL last year, as the Bakery probably will this year, and the Post Office next year. I don't see how this relates to the Zombies set, though. For questions/remarks about this, I would go to the Town subforum. =) It's sad that TLC wouldn't restock on a brilliant set like this. Perhaps it's because of the themes involved; perhaps they're having cold feet?

If you have the budget for it (I personally don't, but I choose to leave out Star Wars rather than the rest), I can only applaud and recommend that! And it is an excellent set to begin with, if you can find it. =)

That's absolutely brilliant! I love to hear when more people join the hobby! So, are you also planning to get the LotR sets? =) Indeed! I always thought it was a shame to spend a minifig on an actor who didn't appreciate it; and as a fan already of Martin Freeman (immortalised to me as Dr. Watson), I'm joyed to hear of his joy of being Lego. =)

At least in Europe (and I think in America, too), this sort of exclusives are generally also available through S@H - and anyway, this has been for certain, so I find it puzzling as well that it's taken off the online shelves... it can't already have met its EoL, can it?

I love how the MM microfigs each have a different symbol hanging around their neck. No doubt this is a coincidence, but have you noticed that the symbol of the blue figure is (not completely, but almost) similar to that of Gali Nuva from Bionicle (who, incidentally, was also a blue character)?

My guess would be that <0,5% of the Danish population would have any associations whatsoever to OKC's name. Steve Jobs, though, would be a definite >35%. As others have said, and I'd just like to reinforce, Danish media aren't hugely affected by Lego's presence. Every once in a while, the news have a feature or story about TLG, but even then it's mostly a business thing with numbers and statistics and not a word about what it actually is they're doing. But you're still going to see Lego everywhere: any self-respecting toy- or grocery store has a decent selection of sets, and even most bookstores have lately been having a minimum selection of either Ninjago or the Games lineup. TV ads are rare (though that's possibly just my impression from mostly watching British tv). I think that in this aspect, the Danish society is pretty much similar to what the American would be with a 40% mark-up in prices.