Galaxy Explorer
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Everything posted by Galaxy Explorer
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Thank you for the review! I've had this set since 1988 and I agree it's one of the best bases they've ever put out. I'm pleased to hear all the love for the corridor, as it is my favorite part of the set. Most bases up to that point were just one large open room with really nowhere to go, so that was a nice addition. It also uses a very nice selection of trans-yellow parts- I think this is one of the final sets to use them so abundantly, unless you count 1x1 plates and round 1x1 plates. That dome part is great, and is very useful for Classic Space MOC'ing. I picked this up at Target back in the day for $53. I don't recall it being on sale, so that was a chunk of change for me- one of the most expensive sets I owned, but totally worth it. The original Blacktron line will always be one of my favorite themes, and this set is the icing on the cake. Nice to see your Trek fandom- Trekkie here, too. Big fan of the films!
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I believe the 2010 crossing was a limited edition (TRU) so maybe that will show up later. But yes, I would be disappointed if we don't get a new one.I'm always happy to hear about new trains for CITY, but I just got the 2010 Passenger Train last summer, so I don't want to replace it quite yet. I'm sure the new ones will be available for a while.
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LEGO Star Wars: The Visual Dictionary Minifigure (2014)
Galaxy Explorer replied to DarthR2-D2's topic in LEGO Star Wars
Looking forward to this new edition as I love the original. I hope we get a look at some prototype sets like the Yavin Base from the last edition. As for the unknown figure, I think an Obi-Wan spirit would be perfect. It could pave the way for other spirit figures, but if not, Kenobi had the most spirit screen time. I would throw him in with the Wampa Cave. -
As a Classic Town fan, some of my favorite parts are the 3x6 skylight, slotted 1x2 bricks, the 2x2 mailbox, and the 1x4x6 window. I also remember loving the printed yellow wall panel from Black Falcon's Fortress. Any trans-yellow parts are winners for me as well. More recently, I like the X-Wing engine part used since 1999, the new arches from Elrond, and the 2x2 round plate with hooks. But hands down my favorite part, which ironically you can't really build with, is the cypress tree. I actually gasped when I saw it the first time. Just beautiful. I really like all the LEGO foliage, but to me the cypress tree stands out as the best.
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Sets you have not opened yet ... and why?
Galaxy Explorer replied to DrJB's topic in General LEGO Discussion
For decades I opened every set almost immediately. Then one day in 1996 I got the Forestmen's Dark Fortress on clearance and for whatever reason, I did not put it together. To this day it remains sealed, but I've promised myself I'll open it before it turns twenty. Nowadays I'm not always able to build everything I buy- I'm backed up quite a bit. I tore right into all the AOTC sets, but my Ewok Village is still sealed. I wasted no time building Orthanc, but haven't done Weathertop or Mines of Moria yet. And I have all the new Hobbit sets unopened as well as the two preview sets. I will do the Hobbit sets as soon as I see the movie! -
My favorite is still the Toy Shop. It's a perfect stand alone set- notice how it was not called "Winter Village" so if it bombed, no one would wonder where the rest of the village was. It really encompassed all of the Holiday Spirit into a single set- Christmas Tree, carollers, toys, etc. I also really like the bakery and post office- those three sets go together perfectly. I do not own the cottage or market, as they just don't seem to fit in as good. I feel like the scale was turned up a bit, as the cottage is pretty big compared to the previous releases. I would have preferred the cottage as two small dwellings instead of one. The price point on the last two releases also bothered me, as $60-70 was a comfortable range. Don't get me wrong, though- Least favorite does not mean a bad set, and I think both the cottage and market look like great builds!
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In retrospect the most massive build for me was in 1980 when I got Main Street for my birthday. It was by far the biggest set I owned at the time. Everything before that was small sets like Town tow trucks and police cars. That set just blew me away with all the pieces included- four baseplates, two trees, all the road signs and seven minifigs- Wow! Later on, the Launch & Load Seaport became my first 1000+ piece set, and it felt like it took forever to build. More recently I got the UCS ISD, and then the Taj Mahal, both multi-day builds.
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In 2000, I built a MOC playset of the Death Star- it was 100% my design. No "Kenner" influence or anything. It was built on top of a Rock Raiders HQ baseplate. It had a working compactor, detention block with cell, tractor beam control, chasm, conference room, two turbo lasers, a super-laser control room, the droid hide-out room, and on the side a hangar bay big enough to hold the Falcon or Shuttle. My regret? I didn't take any pictures! A lot of my friends at the time thought it was a real set. Back in the 80's I threw all of my Classic Space sets together and built a massive spaceship, much bigger than any ship LEGO had done. It had a command bridge, detachable fighter ships, an engine room, and an opening hangar bay. Again, no pictures!
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There is a South Park documentary on one of the season DVD's that show Trey Parker and Matt Stone's office at Comedy Central- they have quite a bit of Star Wars LEGO, including the Death Star. I also remember an article in the paper about U.S. President's favorite toys, and George Bush's (1988-92) was LEGO. I believe the article came out when the first Toy Story hit theatres.
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Although I love all LEGO, I generally have focused on Classic Town back in the day, and currently City. Town is what pretty much got me started on LEGO, although I quickly became attracted to Space, then Castle, then Pirates and so on! But if I was somehow restricted to only collecting one theme, it would be City or whatever town-type theme was around. Except Town Jr.
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Very nice review! I got this set a few weeks ago- I like it quite a bit. The plane is a great example of what the 2008 Police Pontoon Plane should have been. The boat looks nice and I'm glad it's not a leisure craft like the 2011 Fishing Boat.
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I picked up the Auto Transporter this weekend, and I must say it's one of my favorites this wave. The two cars included are a bit different from the one in the Flatbed Truck, which fits nicely on the Transporter. It was fun building the cars side by side- I just used the same piece in different colors for each step. The truck itself is big, but not too big- I was nervous back in August that it might be an 8-wide. Anyone here that has a highway in their layout would do well to grab this set!
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Lego Displays at ToysRUs and other stores
Galaxy Explorer replied to DrJB's topic in General LEGO Discussion
I worked at TRU from 2002-2007, and saw many of these displays. They were generally offered to employees at first, and thrown in the compactor if no one wanted them. Later on, we had to save the yellow frames so the reps could bring in a current display. By far the best display we ever had was a UCS X-Wing cut in half mounted against a mirror to represent a complete model. It was really cool. I was able to get some cardboard graphics from the Adventurers and a few from different waves of early Star Wars. Craigslist here always seems to have those displays up for sale, but I'd much rather have unglued LEGO! -
If they use number of transactions as criteria then where is my invite? I visit my local store at the bare minimum once a month, and that's probably twice a year. So that's a minimum of twelve visits a year. Add on to that SAH orders, which I do at the store if they don't have what I want in stock. At this point I'd believe they draw names out of a hat!
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Off the wall, I agree- I got an invite last year, much to my surprise. I was unaware they did this sort of event, and wasn't sure how I made the "list". I'd read here that spending was one factor, but never really confirmed, and seems more random than anything. Nevertheless I spent almost all of my LEGO budget this year exclusively at the LEGO Store. Now I'm not one who buys ten copies of sets at once, and I've never had to use a roll out cart to haul my purchases around, but I still dropped $3000 this year on sets- all at one store (Water Tower Place). So needless to say I was disappointed not to receive an invite. Of course I will continue to support LEGO, and have no plans to cut back- there are wonderful new sets I just can't say no to. I will probably pay closer attention to Amazon and other retailers for sales and discounts, rather than picking up the new sets the day of release. I'll hit the LEGO Store during double point events- I'm getting close to getting a free SSD!
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Thanks for the new pictures! I love the fact that TLG shows the new trees being planted by the logging truck. A nice nod to the environment! All of the vehicles look very impressive lined up- much better than just showing the box art. And yes, real lights on the fire truck would be so welcome. I think that feature will show up as a standard in vehicles in the future.
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Well at least they're doing something for all VIPs tomorrow. I'm hoping the Auto Transport will be available- it's featured on the December store calendar. It was nice to hear how some of the store managers were extending invitations to people asking about them- unfortunately my store was not so generous. Kind of disappointing since they always recognize me when I come in to shop, and are eager to show me anything new in CITY, as that's my favorite theme.
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I guess I didn't qualify this year- no invitation yet. Strange since my spending habits didn't change. I generally buy all my LEGO at one store, and do a little SAH. I visit the store at least once if not twice a month and always spend money. Maybe they're telling me it's time to take a break!
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80s-something Space Guy poster with Space Ship
Galaxy Explorer replied to danth's topic in LEGO Sci-Fi
See? All those "sensor arrays" really were weapons! That's actually a nice looking ship. Too bad most of the poster is the character. Are the X-Wing engines available in blue? I know I don't have any, but maybe there's a Creator set with some. And that trans-yellow Sarlacc beak part looks great! I would love this as a set, but then I would need a complete revival of the theme, and not a simple one-off. -
The new Police Station is looking pretty good! I believe it's the first one (not counting sub-themes) that does not have a traditional baseplate. That will change how it sits on my layout, as it's close to the sidewalk, instead of set back. It will end up being much closer to the street, unlike previous versions with actual driveways. I certainly understand the frustration with wave after wave of police sets, but I think that without them, museums, banks, and boat houses might have never seen the light of day. In all of Classic Town's glory there was never a museum, and only one bank!
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Saw Thor tonight and loved it! There was also an extended Captain America trailer included which looked pretty good. If you see this, make sure you stay for the entire credits. I missed SAJ at the end of the first Iron Man when I saw it in the theatre!
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The last few year's Winter waves have shown up in stores during Black Friday, so in just a few weeks we won't even need pictures! Although I've seen most of the pics out there, seeing the actual sets in stores will be great- I think I like not seeing so many pics before a set is released. The last time that happened for me was 2000's winter wave for Star Wars. I am very much looking forward to the Auto Transport and Repair Truck. I like the Logging Truck as well, but I'm not sure I'll have the space. My forest section is not very big, and pretty full. I have bought every police station produced since 1978 with the exception of Town Jr. and the World City one, so I'm sure I'll be picking up the 2014 version. So far it looks pretty good. I will be sad to retire the 2011 one as it's my favorite CITY Police Station.
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When did LEGO catalogs in sets disappear?
Galaxy Explorer replied to badbob001's topic in General LEGO Discussion
2003 was the last year I received a product catalog in a set. It had the new Creator line featured on the cover, and was updated for the fall. Those catalogs were an obsession for me when I was young, as it was the only way to find out about all the new sets coming out that year. I remember buying a set just to get the catalog- I had to make sure I bought a big enough set to get the full booklet and not a little fold out one. Every once in a while, I would get a catalog from overseas, which had a very different selection of sets I was not aware of. That was very frustrating to see a bunch of sets I couldn't get to! -
What's your recent LEGO Star Wars Purchase?
Galaxy Explorer replied to KimT's topic in LEGO Star Wars
My SAH catalog came in the mail yesterday with a 10% off coupon on the back cover, so I jumped on the train to Water Tower Place and picked up a Sail Barge. Got a free Clone Trooper and a little hippie van, too! The Sail Barge completes my current Return of the Jedi collection- now it's on to Geonosis, but not till October. Looking at around 600 points for that haul! -
Lego 2013 Holiday Sets 1/2 2/2 (HR Images)
Galaxy Explorer replied to GRogall's topic in Special LEGO Themes
Thank you for the pictures! These both look very nice, but for those who have the Winter Village Bakery a bit redundant. I agree this version looks better, and will find a different use for the Bakery one. With my LEGO spending habits I'm sure I'll end up with a couple of these.