Joebot

Thanks! I use Photoshop too (specifically Photoshop Elements 4.0). I also bought a couple of filter packages from Alien Skin Software. They're REALLY cool ... but expensive.

Plus there's the fact that the original Spider Man license wasn't even with Marvel. Lego's license was with Sony Pictures, the movie studio that made the Spidey movies. So, the Disney / Marvel acquisition probably won't have much impact on anything. That's not to say that I wouldn't welcome more Spidey Lego sets. Or X-Men or Avengers or Iron Man or any other Marvel character either!

Hey everyone, As I noted in another thread, I've had a few distractions lately, but I finally got the next issue of the Unlikely Society finished. This issue kicks off a new story arc with two new villains: Frostbite and Fiero. These dastardly sisters are holding the town hostage, and it's up to our heroes to stop them. I also updated the "Cast" section of my website. There are a few sneak peeks in there at some new, upcoming characters, including a first-ever glimpse of The Benefactor, the shadowy villain behind many of the evil doings in town. As always, thanks for reading, and please let me know what you think! -Joebot

There are two rules to making train inclines: 1) Don't make the incline steeper than 2 plates per piece of track. 2) Changes in the angle of incline (i.e., from flat to incline, or from incline to flat) should have a one plate difference. You can find more details on an old website called Matt's Lego Train Depot, that was one of the first online sources of Lego information. It hasn't been updated in years, but there's still tons of good information in here. Elevating your trains is great because it eliminates a lot of issues with trying to integrate roads and tracks. You just jack the train up OVER the roads, and it gets rid of a lot of problems. The downside is that it takes a ton of bricks. But, you can use basic 2x2s or 2x4s to do it. Years ago, I traded for it with some dude I met on the old rec.toys.lego newsgroup. I traded away a bunch of Castle sets (if I remember right, it was the Guarded Inn, King's Mountain Fortress, and Forestman's River Fortress). No regrets on that trade. I love my Airport Shuttle! Oh man, I never thought of that. That is a terrific idea!! I just wish I had an ounce of artistic talent ...

The ocean is made of two separate tables. The lighter blue one is simply plywood that I painted to match the Lego blue as closely as possible. The second, darker blue one (the one closer to the camera) is an 8 foot by 3 foot sheet of blue plexiglass. There's actually an "ocean floor" beneath that one, where I have all my Divers stuff and my son's Spongebob stuff (here's a better picture of it). You can find some more pictures of the baseball stadium here. Basically, time and money. I finished two of the foundation walls with drywall and paneling, but those were the existing foundation walls, and they were really dirty and ugly. All the remaining exposed concrete walls are new construction, so they don't look quite as bad. I simply didn't have the time and money to finish all of that right now. I may do it someday. As for it being cold, the room is heated, so it's actually quite comfortable in there! No, the new room is bigger. It's hard to see, but there's more space behind me from where I took that first picture. Indeed I do!!

Hey everyone, Remember that old Simpsons episode where Homer becomes the Garbage Commissioner, and Springfield becomes so polluted that they have to pick up the entire town and move it a few miles down the road? Well, I just went through something similar. For the past few weeks, I've been slowly moving my entire Lego town of Fluxington from one room in our basement into another room. I thought you all might like to see some pictures. Here's the empty destination room. My wife and I built a room addition on our house, and the basement addition was designated as the new Lego room. Here you can see the ceiling tiles half-finished, and some of the drywalling done. This picture shows Fluxington's old location, and the partially disassembled table. Here's the table reassembled in the new room, with most of the town relocated. And here's a few finished pictures, with everything (mostly) put back together. I'll try to get some more detailed pictures up on my website soon. Thanks for reading!

Hey everyone, I'm really sorry that I haven't got the next issue of the Unlikely Society finished, but I have two excellent excuses for why I'm so late. The first is that I just finished moving my entire Lego town. This process made a HUGE mess, but it's mostly finished. I'll post more pictures over in the Town forum, but here you can see Fluxington's new home. So, the big move set me back a few weeks on my production schedule for the Unlikely Society. And the SECOND reason that I'm so late is the addition of Eurobrick's newest IFOL (Infant Fan of Lego). This is my son Aaron. He was born on September 21, and is anxious to acquire the necessary motor skills to start playing with Duplos! Things are beginning to settle down a bit, so hopefully I can get going on the next issue very soon!

While Fantasy has certainly enjoyed a bit of a resurgence this decade (Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, the Twilight series, etc.), I wouldn't say that people don't like SF anymore. Especially on TV, we've had great SF shows like Battlestar Galactica and Lost, which have brought in tons of viewers beyond the usual SF fans. My wife loves Lost, and she hates sci-fi! This fall, there are quite a few sci-fi TV shows on (Fringe, Flash Forward, V, Supernatural, Dollhouse, etc.) You could even make an argument that all those comic book superhero movies are "sci fi," and they're making tons of money. So, if anything, I'd say that SF has gone mainstream, and is no longer the sole domain of nerds living in their mom's basement. It's now socially acceptable to be a sci-fi fan. As for Lego Trek, as others have noted, the set possibilities are endless. Lego obviously loves their vehicle-based themes, and Trek would be perfect for that (much more so than Indy). And the mini-figs ... with five shows and dozens of alien species to draw from, man, they could go nuts with the mini-figs. Unfortunately, as Yreodred noted, the problem is the Star Wars license. I think there's too much overlap in the fans, and the two licenses would cannibalize each other. Until the Star Wars license expires, I don't see Lego signing a deal with Paramount to get the Trek license. It's fun to dream though, isn't it? Klingon minifigs ...

I was just watching the WGN News here in Chicago, and they did a short (like less than 10 seconds) bit on Brendan Powell's Brick Testament! They showed a couple of pictures of the Bible scenes that he's built. The best part was when the newscaster said something like, "Powell started the project as a fun way to tell Bible stories." Uh ... I don't want to speak for the good Reverend, but I'm pretty sure that was NOT his intended purpose. My take on the Brick Testament is that it's a lot more satirical and subversive than simply "a fun way to tell Bible stories." Anyway, even if the newscaster was an idiot, it was still really cool to see. So congrats, Rev!!

Sounds pretty similar to the rewards program just about every retail store offers these days. At least it's free, unlike some (Borders, I think, costs $10/year, unless they've changed that). As for adding S@H, that would be really sweet, but probably won't happen. I don't know of any retail store that combines their rewards program with their online store. Retail and online components are often completely separate business units within a company. That does suck for people who don't live near a Lego retail store, but honestly, you're not missing out on all that much. It basically boils down to a 5% discount ($5 gift card for $100 spent).

Good points all around. I would just add that another way to lower the cost of entry into Lego trains is to sell more smaller sets. The past few years have seen mostly big, expensive, complete train sets (engine, cars, track, accessories). Back in ye olden days, Lego also sold individual cars. That's not something we see much anymore, and I think that's a mistake. A train is, by it's very nature, "modular." Lego would be wise to embrace that, and to sell separate engines, cars, and accessories. That lowers the cost of entry. A parent could start by buying their child an engine, a car, and some track. Yeah, it's not much of a train, but it works. Then the next birthday or Christmas, the parent can easily expand on it by buying another car or two. I look back on the glory days of the 9V era, and there was so much more variety available, both in the styles of trains, and in the prices and sizes of the available sets.

4-wide vs. 6-wide is a never-ending debate that has been argued to death. It's like Cubs vs. Cardinals, Marvel vs. DC, or Mac vs. Windows. There's no wrong answer (right answers: Cardinals, Marvel, Mac). I'm old-school, I guess. I prefer 4-wide. Others disagree. <shrug> Yes, I do realize that people can make any buildings they want with Lego bricks. That's an argument that gets brought up on this forum whenever anywhere dares to criticize Lego's product offerings. "Don't like it? Then build something else!" Of course it's a valid point ... but then why are we all eagerly anticipating new pictures of upcoming sets?? By this logic, we shouldn't care at all. We should simply be perusing the pick-a-brick site and buying bulk bricks. The fact is, even though I rarely ever keep my City sets intact, I still LOVE seeing what Lego is coming out with next. Their product lines are the raw materials that I use as jumping off points for my own ideas. For example, I think the Farm set is freaking awful (that barn is really terrible), but it's a great starting point -- the cows, tractor, and mini-figs are awesome. So, I got the Farm set, and I built my own farmhouse, barn, etc. I'm not looking to TLC for final products. I'm looking for inspiration, new designs, new parts, and new ideas. I'm not getting any of that from the '10 lineup so far. I see a lot of boring rehashes of things they've already done.

Agreed. In my opinion, it's a pretty underwhelming group of sets. Personally, I think it's a result of the "enbiggening" (to quote the Simpsons) of the city vehicles. As vehicles continue to get bigger, wider, and more detailed, the corresponding buildings have not followed suit. I suppose it's an issue of marketing, and trying to get their specified price points. You can make a massive, super-detailed Octans tanker, and sell it by itself for $25, and it looks great. But what if you want a gas station to go with it?? At an appropriate scale relative to the new tanker, it would have to be huge, and would probably run $100. I doubt there's much of a market for a $100 gas station, so they just skip it. You can see this problem with the garage set this past year. The tow trucks and other vehicles were HUGE! Rather than try to make a correspondingly gigantic building, they just made an "open-air" structure that gives the vague impression of a garage. The disparity between the gigantic vehicles and the relatively small buildings has gotten way out of whack. It's particularly absurd in the new airport, where the airplane dwarfs the terminal. The solution?? A return to good ol' fashioned 4-wide vehicles!! Compare this set (a classic that I owned and dearly loved): With the recent Garage set: I'm not suggesting that we should return to set designs like 6363; I think it's too simplistic for a modern audience. But there has to be a happy medium somewhere -- sets with enclosed, complete buildings that are at an appropriate scale to the included vehicles. 6363 might be pretty simple, but at least it was an actual building with walls and a roof, AND you could fit a car inside it!

I would highly recommend not complaining about prices in the U.S. Our friends in Europe will beat you down in a heartbeat as they pay much higher prices than we do on a per piece basis. It seems to be Lego's common business practice to use artifically inflated prices in Europe in order subsidize the relatively lower prices in the U.S. So, we don't have much to complain about here.

Thanks for the pictures! I love these big "action scenes" with all the Lego sets together. Reminds me of the old catalogs they used to include with the sets. I find it surprising that 7239 - Fire Truck is still available. That set came out in 2005, meaning next year will be its 5-year anniversary. That is almost unheard of for a Lego set to stay in production for that long. I really hate those airplanes. And again no runway with the airport, huh? Sigh.

I think that's a great point. The vehicles they've designed in the past few years have been terrific. And there's been lots of stuff we've never seen before (or that we haven't seen in 15 years) like the city bus, steam roller, cement truck, etc. But the buildings (aside from the modular building sets) have been pretty lackluster. Part of the problem seems to be that the scale of the vehicles has gotten so big, and the buildings have not followed suit. That recent garage set is a good example. To make an enclosed building that could actually fit the truck from that set would have been HUGE, and probably way beyond their target price point. So, instead they went with a really lame "open" design. The Town Plan set showed that Lego CAN still make good buildings in the "classic town" style (i.e., smaller, open backs, relatively simple construction as opposed to the modular buildings). All three buildings in that set were terrific. But then we got the City Corner which I found very disappointing. We need more stuff like the Town Plan!!

That is remarkably similar to the last fire station. Why even bother making a new set? Just keep the old one around for a couple more years and save some money on design costs. I find it kinda sad that the most interesting and innovative thing in the set is a kitten. WOW! TLC has ever had a kitten in a fire station set before!! Obviously these firemen sets sell, so I don't dispute TLC's decision to always have a line of firemen sets available. But from an AFOL perspective, man, are they boring ...

Great review! I love this set. I still have mine put together (you can see mine here docked next to the Coast Guard station). The harbor sets from that era were so well done. I totally agree with you that this set has a timeless, classic design that looks as good now as it did 15+ years ago!

I used to have all my Wild West stuff set up within my town as a movie studio lot. I used the figs from the old Studios line (cameramen, director). Like several others have mentioned, I've got the Medieval Market Village set up as as a historical district.

You can cross off #4 since the upstairs of the Cafe Corner is a hotel.

Hey, Zepher, thanks for reading, and thanks for the feedback. That's a fair criticism. I find the endings to be tough to pull off. Part of the problem is simply that it's hard to do action scenes with mini-figs because you're fairly limited on the poses they can do. Not having knees or elbows is very limiting!! I liked Lt. Lightspeed too, and I suspect he'll be back someday. :) The next story is pretty much one big fight scene, so that'll be fun!

Lego has never had a licensing agreement with Marvel. They had a licensing agreement with Sony Pictures, who produced the Spider Man movies. It's an important distinction. Lego was limited to making sets ONLY related to the movies. By all accounts, Lego's deal with Warner Brothers (DC) to make Batman sets was much broader in scope. Unfortunately it appears that Lego isn't going to do anything else with that license.

Terrific post! I agree completely. The comparison with Pixar is where I'm holding out hope. Disney generally leaves Pixar alone to do their thing, then Disney backs it up with their marketing / merchandising dollars. I could see something similar with Marvel. I really can't see Disney meddling into the day-to-day publishing business of churning out monthly comics. The comic publishing industry is small potatoes. Disney is in this for the intellectual property and the licensing rights. That's where the real money is. And as blueandwhite argues above, I'm not convinced it would really be such a bad thing if Disney DID hand down some editorial mandates to Marvel. When you look at some of the shit that Marvel churns out, like that recent Ultimatum mini-series... blech. Filling a story with violence, blood, and cannibalism (yes, cannibalism) does not make it "adult." It makes it "shocking," which is not at all the same thing. As for the notion of Marvel Lego sets ... oh man, pleeeeeze make this happen!!!

Hey everybody, The next chapter of my ongoing superhero comic, the Unlikely Society, is finished and posted. This chapter wraps up the Robotopocalypse story. The previous chapter ended with Joebot seemingly having betrayed the team. Was he really a treacherous traitor? Will Killotron, the evil robot-pirate from the future, succeed in destroying the town with his Mt. Dew-fueled doomsday bomb??? Read on and find out!! As always, I apologize for the long delay between chapters. But this time I have a good excuse other than my usual laziness! I had to move my Lego town! It's still not quite all put back together, but it's getting there. I'll try to post some pictures of the gigantic mess it created. Thanks for reading, and please let me know what you think! -Joebot

There's a little bit of that sort of knee-jerk defensiveness around here, but it's not nearly as bad as some other sites where any criticism of the Lego Mothership is met with angry attacks on your heritage, intellgience, and personal hygiene. I find most EBers are pretty open-minded, as long as you back your criticism up with some relevant facts, and state your opinions politely (which you did very nicely!). Nobody wants to read posts like "TLG sukz!" And I totally agree with your point -- even though we may not be the target audience, the fact is that we are also paying customers, and therefore are fully within our rights to spout off on message board forums!! Not that any of our ranting and raving has ANY effect on Lego's business decisions, but it makes us feel better, right?