robuko

Halloween prank? drunkduck says no comic here any more...

As always tin7, your customs are fantastic! Especially Hermione and Draco. Great stuff Robuko

very rare, get it back immediately!

That would be awesome! A Lion hat that could be used as a minifig head would rock! Or Lee Jordan as commentator.

Yes, definitely strong ¥ makes it attractive to buy in the US, especially if you have a friend who can store it for you like my excellent brother-in-law

How awful. R.I.P Dan. You were a genius who changed all our lives for the good. Our thoughts are with you and your family.

What a lot of amazing stories! It sent shivers down my spine to read some of them. I used to have this thing from the age of about 17 to 25 where street lights would suddenly turn on or off as I walked past. This happened at the bottom of the Regent Road in Salford for a year and by the top lake in Surrey Quays for about 4 years. I know there are some scientific explanations for this like daylight sensors, and I can`t know about the ones I didn`t walk past, but the regularity of which bulbs would switch exactly as I passed was very probably more than coincidence. I used to wonder if it was something to do with the electrical fields of my body. The only other possibly supernatural story is that when I was a child of 5 or 6 I was sure that one night I was transported to the 16th century. I was in my bedroom, but decorated with tapestries and woodcarvings. We lived in a late 20th century house so it is unlikely to be about the history of where I was. That one could well have been a vivid dream but it really didn`t seem like it. Those of us who have precognition of conversations in dreams, I would guess this is perfectly normal working of the brain during sleep, when we subconciously plan. Deja vu is very common too as normal brain working. I live in Japan now, my wife takes the existence of ghosts as a matter of fact here, she says most are friendly.

東京からこんにちは welcome to the site.　　Lego is so expensive in Japan, isn`t it? I find that legokei (link) is a really good news site for lego in japan Rob

love it. Poor Tannen. Did you use an actual time-space vortex? Is Officer Tannen one of the BTTF Tannens too?

But...how...? brilliant as always

I thought you might like to see the result from my chop and snip on the keychain. There is no gap, I left the base of the ring on. I think it looks not too bad. I am so happy I managed to deeplink a picture!

Welcome Zoya! have a look on brickset, choose the themes you like, and collect away. Old themes are often as good as new ones, and cheaper too. There is a very deep and liquid market in old lego on eBay and bricklink. Robuko

Great Poll Oky! Generally the new sets score very highly with me for the minifigs. The new castle looks great, it's not obvious to me that the other new sets are any better than the old ones, being very close in design. This is a missed opportunity. Hogwarts - they are all fantastic, I have the first 3 and Christmas is coming! For me, 4757 is the best because of the amazing clockwork clock and portcullis. 4709 is awesome for its design, play features, and semi-modularity with early HP sets, let down only by the cardboard roof. 4842 looks brilliant for the minifigs especially McGonagall, Flitwick, Filch. 5378 was very underappreciated on launch but would come last on my list, though the Umbridge and Death Earter figs were great. I gather it was not a big seller, I hope this range does much better. It would have been sweet to have the Hogwarts sets as modular buildings to expand the castle with common rooms, dormitories, kitchens and so on. Train - 10132 rules. Motorised with station. I have only 4708. The new one has the top class Luna minifig but the rest of the set is just a cynical remake to make us pay up for Luna. Bricklink. Hagrid - 4754 is the only set with the time turner Hermione and that makes it a must own. The new one looks very similar but with nice mushrooms and a lame Aragog. I see no reason to buy it when you could get 4754 for half the price on eBay. 4707 is quite innovative but no coherent floorspace means little play value, cardboard roof is not my thing. Quidditch - this is a tough call, Flint and Wood swing it for the new one, but the 4726 stand is far superior with its printed Gryffindor and Slytherin bricks. I understood Hufflepuff colours to be black and yellow. I think this new one is meatnt to be neutral or Ravenclaw, which makes no sense as it is the Gryffindor-Ravenclaw game of November 1992 Dobby - this is a kind of BP set and so I have to judge it on the minifigs, a win for the new one. I prefer the fleshie Dobby. The old Lucius is very cool but the death Eater double-head again wins. I totally agree with SuperChris on the book and sock though, with so much of the new sets just re-made, why not re-make the good bits? robuko

Thanks for the review def, and the great pictures. 2000 yen is a steal! I think LoM, like UFO and insectoids, is hugely under-rated. Printed parts, rare colours, great minifigs, plug and play mechas, why so unpopular? I like the aliens and I agree that it`s good for kids to have a line that is based on collaborative play like classic space, rather than goodies vs baddies. I wonder what is in the rocks? Would be great to have a martian city theme.

I would prefer to have fewer steps, but with parts call-outs, and to use the extra pages for the B models. It is a huge disincentive to build them if you have to do it where your PC is.

Seems to be a lot of focus on guns, much more so than the original adventurers. What is the point of shooting the undead? I like the mummies, Anubis and scarabs but I think it would be better to spend the same money buying the old Egypt sets.

Thanks for the review SuperChris. This is the second year Gryffindor-Slytherin game. One of the Bludgers is cursed by Dobby and Harry get his arm de-boned by Lockhart. I prefer the tower from the 2002 set for its printed Slytherin and Gryffindor bricks, blue is fine for Ravenclaw but why bley? I doubt we will see a Hufflepuff tower. It`s great to see Flint and Wood. I agree with Wout that I would like to see Cho Chang and Cedric Diggory, we already have a lot of Harry and Draco. I do like the new Hooch, but I appear to be in a minority. Robuko

Thanks Siegfried, I shall resume the hunt

I'm sure I'm on the right track, but I can't find number 5. Are all the figures in the intial topic post, or could they be half way through a lot of pages of discussion please?

Finally got number 2. That was hard! until it wasn't. now 4/4. Well done on the clues!

Had to change my vote on this. Best underwater set - 6195 Neptune Discovery Lab. But, I voted Atlantis for the minifigs, which seem like a very cool extension of Stingrays Robuko

It doesn't matter. The process of creation often starts as modification of another idea. Give credit where you know you copied. Play well. Robuko

Thanks Oky, just bought one on this review. My plan is to crush off the chain level with the top of his helmet, I think it will look better to have just a little bit of silver in with the gold, rather than the gap. I did this with Captain Cody and he looks ok. Not sure what to do with Ahsoka though, I think her headpiece might melt if I heat the pin. Robuko

Some good advice on this page. Everyone has a hobby. Not many are as creative, intellectually challenging, and peaceful as the brick. It is the perfect right-brain and left-brain fusion, and building gives you quite deep skills that will be useful when you least expect. In about 10 years, girls will love it because it means you are fatherhood material. I am lucky that I have a wonderful wife who likes it that I have an engineering side and an artistic side. Having said that, I came out of my dark ages when I was 32, and I did not build at all in college. With a job after college, money will be less of an issue, but college makes other demands that are more important on your time and you should make the most of it while you can. You will only be at college for a few short years but you can collect lego for six or seven decades after if you wish. It sounds like you might be going in to your dark ages. Pity to have them when the new sets are so awesome, especially the minifigs, some of them will be costly to backfill. It will be better to keep your lego in storage if you can rather than sell it, as restocking from eBay is not the same as having your own sets.

Has anyone successfully de-ringed Ahsoka? The headgear seems to be qute soft plastic, I am hesitant to use the candle flame technique in case it melts too quickly. The shape of the headgear makes it a bit tough to snap off the ring smoothly. Thanks Robuko