Joebot

Freddie PM'd me to tell me that he was also having problems in Firefox. I used iWeb on a Mac to develop the website, so there must be something in the iWeb code that Firefox doesn't like. It looks fine on my PC at work using IE. Huh. Sorry about that, to all the Firefox users out there! Unfortunately I don't know enough about web development to troubleshoot what the problem might be! Heh. Yeah, would you believe I came up ONE BRICK short on plain red slope bricks, so I had to substitute in those striped ones. That was annoying. I like your other suggestion. I may play around with that a bit. Thanks! I've got some more new stuff I need to take pictures of too, including a gym. I'll try to get that posted soon ...

Interesting thread, even if it did devolve into a sadly predictable "You're too easily offended!" argument, which is what always happens whenever someone brings up a poltiically sensitive topic. To those saying "Don't get so worked up about it! It's just a toy!" ... I would reply that no one here is "worked up" about it. No one is threatening petitions, boycotts, marches, or massive letter-writing campaigns. The OP just posed a question and asked for thoughts on the subject. That's what we're all here for, right? Personally I think it's an interesting topic to discuss. As consumers, we need to be smart and ask questions, and most importantly -- THINK about what we're purchasing, ESPECIALLY when it's for our kids. It's nice to see that other AFOLs think about this stuff too.

I'm from Chicago, so I don't really know what European post offices look like. I went with red and yellow because a) those are the pieces that I had available, and b) it matches the post office van and airplane. I like the color scheme because to me, they're "classic" Lego colors. The relatively recent more realistic colors, like tan, brown, and grey, are fine. but I guess I'm just old-school. I still like the bright, primary Lego colors the best. The building next door is the hopsital. You can see pictures of that here. Really? Is anybody else having any problems? I just checked the link again, and it worked okay for me. It sometimes takes a few moments for the page to draw, though. What browser / OS are you using? Thanks for the comments!

B-OV-9A Hey everyone, Since TLC has been giving us some great postal sets, but not an actual post office, I decided to build my own. More pictures can be found here! Please let me know what you think!

Agreed, kids don't THINK about it that way, at least not in any consicous, self-reflective sort of way. This is much more subtle and insidious. I'm not suggesting that TLC is doing this stuff intentionally. They don't have any shadowy motives. They're just trying to sell cool toys to young kids. But that doesn't mean they shouldn't think about this sort of thing though. I think the issue is not one of people being offended (unless there's a big Squidman demographic out there that I'm not aware of). The issue is teaching kids that the Other (whether that be an alien, troll, monster, or basically anyone who doesn't look like you) is evil. TLC used to be more careful about this sort of thing. When you look back at the Native American sets or the Islander sets, none of them have any built-in conflict, where Native Americans were fighting with the soldiers. The two groups were sold in completely different sets with no overlap. I have to think that was done intentionally. Speaking of Native Americans, don't the descriptions of the Mars Mission storyline sound like the American West? The astronauts show up, claim "manifest destiny," and start rounding up the Martians and exploiting the natural resources. It's really a weird theme.

This topic popped up over in the Space Police thread once the first new pictures showed up. I, for one, agree with you. I think this sort of thing is important, especially in a kid's toy. Obviously there are no real alien speices that are going to be offended by their portrayal in a Lego set. That's not the point. I just don't like how TLC sets up "The Other" as the enemy that must be defeated. Besides that, it's boring. It's been done to death. The human vs. aliens/monsters/whatever has been repeated over and over again. I said this in the other thread -- how cool would it have been if TLC had created a multi-species Space Police force, like the Green Lantern Corp. That would have been awesome. Instead, it's just another dull humans vs. aliens conflict.

This looks like a really nice $20 set ... it's a shame that it costs $30. The set gets bonus points for being a new type of vehicle. After years of endless bucket loaders and cranes, I can't ever remember TLC making a steam roller. Thanks for the review!!

Thanks again for the great, in-depth review. Everytime the farmer popped up in the bottom of a picture, it made me laugh. This looks like a nice set. My only complaints are probably the same as everyone else -- the price, and the open-air barn. It's more like a carport than a barn. I think that's probably true. The set was designed to focus on playability, not realism. It's an understandable choice ... but still a bit disappointing for us AFOLs. I'm just thrilled to see Lego FINALLY giving us farm sets. I don't know where I'm going to put them in my town (real estate is currently at a premium, with no space for expansion), but I'll figure something out. I just hope that TLC builds on the theme, with more farm implements, wagons, plows, more livestock, maybe a crop duster, etc. I would really love to see something like a meadow or a field with crops, but I doubt we'll get that.

You are preaching to the choir!! My iPod has an embarrassing amount of heavy metal on it -- Twisted Sister, Quiet Riot, Britny Fox, Warrant, Poison, etc. I love all that stuff. I grew up listening to it, and -- much like with Legos themselves -- never seemed to outgrow it. The Boombox character is very much tongue-in-cheek, and not meant to be a serious criticism of heavy metal. So, lift your goblet of RAWK!! And yeah, that's true about AC/DC and GnR. But I love those bands, and couldn't resist including them. Led Zeppelin will pop up in the next issue, and they're DEFINITELY not a "hair band. " Thanks for reading, everyone!!

Hey everyone, The next chapter of the Unlikely Society is finally finished and posted. I think this is where I put in my standard disclamer about "sorry it took me so long," and "I've been really busy," and so forth. This time our heroes are up against a new foe: Boombox! He's got a sonic disrupter and questionable taste in music. He's rockin' all your favorite '80's hair bands. Please check it out and let me know what you think! -Joebot

That's what I read over on fortressat.com (a website devoted to boardgames). Knizia has developed some good kids' games in the past, so we'll see. Hopefully it's a better game than that Lego Creator one, which I find mind-numbingly boring. That's a pretty common approach for many American boardgame companies. The game seems like a great concept; I'd be really surprised if they don't sell well!

This is the part that's driving me crazy!! I can't believe we haven't seen anything yet. When did TLC get good at keeping secrets???

It's hard to say -- a lot of German board games do end up getting translated and published in the U.S. by companies like Rio Grande Games or Mayfair Games. It could happen. My other hobby is board games, and I think this looks pretty great. The designer is Reiner Knizia, who is a HUGE name in German board games.

Yep. Prior to this year, a 78-piece set would have been $8 or maybe $10. If you look at the prices of all the construction sets, they're also all about 30% higher than they would have been in previous years. Welcome to the new economy! Thanks for the great review. This is a terrific set with a lot of playability and charm. A farm and a zoo were my two main wishes for the City theme, and Lego has done a great job on the first one. Now, maybe we'll get that zoo next year ...

Good point. TLC missed a cool opportunity here to have a multi-species police force. Sorta like their very own Green Lantern Corp. That would have been really great.

Great discussion of a potentially sensitive topic! I think the same logic can be applied here as with anything, whether it's a TV show, movie, book, song, painting, sculpture, etc. If it offends you, don't look at it. But don't try to tell me what I can or can't look at. I've seen Lego MOCs depicting pornography. Yes, they're out there; and yes, I looked at them (just out of morbid curiosity of course!). A few months ago somebody posted a MOC here on Eurobricks of two Miniland scale figures engaged in some S&M. Reverend Powell's Brick Testament site is definitely edgy and subversive, and is probably offensive to some. But I think all these people should build and display whatever they want. Heck, I remember way back when people still actually posted stuff on Lugnet, that somebody created a Space theme called "Bonk-o-tron" or something like that. It was a bunch of phallus-shaped starfighters. Tasteless? Absolutely. Hilarious? Yep, that too. So yeah, there's some crazy stuff out there. That's the beauty of the Lego system (and also of the Internet, for making it all so widely available).

Yep, I had the same thought. And that bulldozer is about the size of a Vorgon cruiser. Don't Panic!! Really terrific story and pictures. The whimsical tone of the narrative and the bright, cheery pictures made a great contrast with the bitter satire. Also, thumbs up for that old Town House set!! I had that set when I was a kid, and it was always one of my favorites.

Thanks so much for the great review! This bad boy almost belongs to the Model Team theme, not a mini-fig scale System theme. Really impressive design though, even if it is way too big for my town. I worked for a farmer for a couple of summers back in high school, and I actually got the drive the combine. The one I drove was air conditioned. It's a pretty easy job. It's a lot like mowing a huge lawn. Now most combines have GPS in them, and they'll steer themselves, making it even easier!

Indeed, I just recently discovered this fact, and it's been VERY useful!! In my town I have two raised sections (built with plywood, supported by wooden two-by-fours, then surrounded with Lego landscaping). You can see one of the sections here. I intially had an all-Lego solution, but geez, that took up a LOT of bricks. And it was kinda flimsy when you tried to push down on the raised baseplate. The plywood solution is just a whole lot cheaper, simpler, and sturdier. I've always used roadplates rather than brick-built roads. My problem is that my collection spans 30 years, and over the years, Lego has seen fit to change their roadplates probably 6 or 7 times. I've tried to isolate the green roads from the grey roads, but even within the different colors, the roads are different widths. Personally, I love the classic 4-wide cars, but I guess I'm just old fashioned. 6-wide appears to be the wave of the future.

With all the new '09 sets hitting the shelfs, and new pictures of upcoming City and Star Wars sets starting to leak out ... how is it that we've seen NOTHING about trains for '09?? It's hard to believe that we haven't seen anything yet. If I were the cynical, suspicious type, I might start to worry about the future of Lego trains ...

Actually that's not true. Alfred Molina played Satipo in "Raiders of the Lost Ark" (available in the Temple Escape set) and Doctor Octopus (available in several Spiderman sets). I will now go stick my own head in the toilet for being a huge nerd for knowing that ... Anyway, my favorite mini-fig of the year is Harley Quinn. Least favorite has got to be that creepy, dead-eyed Anakin mini-fig.

Looks nice ... but to make it completely accurate to the Ford Probe that I used to drive, it would need to include a broken radio, broken air conditioner, leaky window seals, horrible squealing noise from the engine, and a damp, swampy odor from the rain water that collected in the spare tire well in the hatch (due to those leaky window seals). Worst car I ever owned. But, your version looks great!

That's interesting, I'd never seen that quote before regarding Dino Attack. Are those the same focus groups that prompted the change to the new grey and brown colors? There's definitely a fine line for TLC to tread in regards to providing enough story and conflict to catch a kid's attention, and still creating a wide-open system of play for the child to take the story in their own direction if they want. I think TLC does a pretty good job of it in most regards. Some themes are really great at it (like Adventurers, I would say). With only this one blurry picture of Space Police, it remains to be seen if this theme continues to walk that line. I do like what we've seen so far. Yeah, it's just good guys chasing bad guys for the umpteenth time, but c'mon ... space hot rods!!! That's pretty slick. The bad guy car/ship reminds me of the Superman villain Lobo. Maybe we'll get a neat space motorcycle like Lobo rides around on!

Yep. Lego even has a term for it: "Play Theme." There was a thread here on EB last month where TLC was looking for ideas for their next Play Theme. I thought it was interesting to see what TLC was looking for: Named characters with personalities, a pre-defined storyline, and clear-cut good guys and bad guys. As you said Phoinix, it's the same story over and over again. I refuse to buy into TLC's perception of kids these days. Are kids really so devoid of imagination that they have to be spoon fed these boring, repetitve conflict-driven stories in order to get their attention?!? I have two kids, and that's certainly not the case in my house! Anyway ... not to derail the thread ... the space hotrod is pretty smokin'!!

It's not just the hair either. They both have the same blank, empty stare, the same forced smile ... the resemblance is uncanny. Cripes, what a horrible time to live in Illinois. We've become a laughingstock ...