BimmerBoy

Updated Count Dooku Pretty much any and all Storm/Sand/Flame/Snowtroopers. (Except the Rebels Stormtroopers with that mega frown...) TC-14: Actual shiny minifig within easy grasp of mere mortals! Captain Phasma Old style Boba/Jango Fett: The updated ones are great, just love the old school. Honorable mention: Inquisitor, Old Han, Max Rebo, Slave Leia, BB-8, Death Star Gunner

The Death Star makes a fun Christmas Tree ornament.

Those guys never made it into the Falcon, IIRC. They watched it fly away. Edit: Ninja'ed! Yes, thank you! I have the parts to piece one together! I plan to place some figs in positions relative to where they were seen in the movies and see how that works out for photos (if it doesn't work, I'll just have the group in a line in front, probably in order of chronological appearance). So, I'll have Hoth Han and the Treadwell on the roof of the Falcon, TK421 and friend standing guard at the ramp, and so on.

Great model. Great Starbuck minifig!

Here's what I know: Yes, some Made in China items are absolute garbage. When I dabbled in N Scale (small) model railroading, my best locomotives were made in China. My absolute best locomotive was made in Japan, but I had some duds from Japan. The Chinese made locomotives were consistently good (that said, I avoided brands known to have issues). These are intricate machines, not some basic plastic toy. I have never had a Lego element made anywhere that has had a problem. Clutch power is good, color uniformity within the element is good, and so on. I had a set once missing a complete bag of parts, but that is not a manufacturing problem (and Lego took care of it to my satisfaction). As noted above, the problems, or lack thereof, of manufacturing in China lie mostly at the feet of the company having the item produced. If they spec high quality and/or have their people in place to make sure things work out, China can deliver. If the company specs low quality, that is what you will get.

I can't answer your questions, but since I've been building cars lately, I love having another studless curved slope option!

No, I would not buy this as a generic "firehouse" set if it cost the same as the GBHQ. It does not fit with the Modular line, and it would come with generic minifigs. The style (opens up via hinges) is similar to the Haunted House, but the HH is much cooler, has unique figs and ties in with a holiday (Halloween). I adore the GBHQ and will get one eventually, but that's because of the movie tie-in and great minifigs and movie related details. The only thing a generic fire house version would have in its favor is the piece count. However, other sets in this piece count range are related to iconic movies or iconic buildings (UCS Millennium Falcon, Taj Mahal).

Yes, I forgot about that droid, thanks! I could probably fab something passable out of parts. Yes, yes they are. But this is something I really want to do, and I've sold off quite a bit of Lego recently, so it won't be too painful. Such is the hobby, anyway. Nice ideas, I appreciate them. I will probably acquire the original figs, expensive to be sure, but such is this hobby sometimes. This photo idea is something I really want to do, and I made myself sell some other Lego items from my collection to help with this. I'm just glad I bought 10179 several years ago! Yes, I listed an Episode 4 stormtrooper. Actually, come to think of it, there were two Stormies who were walking through the Falcon right before the Han and the gang popped out of the smuggling compartments. I think one of those stormies had the longer blaster rifle?

Thanks. I'm working on gathering the minifigs, the Lando's and Bespin Leia need to be acquired through Bricklink or ebay, so photos will be awhile. I also want to make a TFA radar dish for the 10179. I missed that battle pack somehow! That crew guy is a great stand in for the scanning tech. Thanks for that! I knew there was someone else in the Falcon cockpit. Blount should be easy to make, I have Endor trooper helmets and various tan torsos.

I'm looking to make a list of minifigs of Star Wars characters that have stepped foot on or inside the Millennium Falcon in the movies (deleted scenes OK!) for a group photo in front of my 10179. I have so far: Chewbacca (I will probably use both designs) Han Solo ANH Han Solo Hoth Han Solo Bespin Stormtrooper Han Solo out of Carbonite Han Solo TFA Luke Skywalker Tatooine Luke Skywalker Bespin Leia ANH Leia Hoth Leia Bespin Ben Kenobi R2-D2 C-3PO BB-8 Rey Finn Kylo Ren Snowtrooper TFA Lando Calrissian Bespin Lando Calrissian Battle of Endor Nien Nunb NOT IN LEGO FORM (That I know of): Imperial Scanning Crew member ANH PruneFace? (or some sort of hooded figure that walks into the Falcon in ROTJ) Lando Calrissian (at the end of ESB) Can you help me out with any I missed or have any suggestions to create non-existent ones like the Scanning Crew member? My copies of the original trilogy are out on loan, so I can't watch them to verify.

The Marvel movie universe will continue on for many, many years. People who missed out on the Lego helicarrier will get nostalgic after the next Iron Man or Captain America or Avengers movie (each one) and start looking for Lego Marvel sets. The helicarrier will be in demand. There is not really any new Ghostbusters material beyond the remake/sequel with the female ghostbusters coming out soon. People might forget about Ghostbusters. That said, the sheer number of pieces in the GB HQ will keep it noteworthy for a long time, as it only trails the Taj Mahal and UCS Millennium Falcon in that regard. I don't think you could go wrong either way, but as noted above, look for End Of Life before buying. The helicarrier has been out less than a year, and the HQ was just released. My guess is the HQ might go for more money, but it will be harder to move for top dollar. The helicarrier won't go as high in value, but it will be easier to move at top dollar. If you are patient, go with HQ. If not, go with helicarrier.

Lego made the Emerald Night, same Dark Green color but a much larger steamer than the Constitution. Alas, its retired and expensive on the secondary market. Lego also made several versions of the Harry Potter Hogwarts Express, which features a steam engine. As noted above, there are lots of free plans and parts lists out there. I suggest scanning the Train Tech forum here on Eurobricks.

Lego has the Volvo license, too. There are not a lot of sexy sports car type Volvo's to choose from, but a retro Volvo Wagon Turbo would be excellent! One can dream... :)

Are you sure??? In ANH on the Death Star, Tagge states that the Rebel Alliance is "too well equipped". Motti says "perhaps for your star fleet, Commander, not for this battle station". The Rebels have literally 30 or so starfighters at the Battle of Yavin (no capital ships), which does not seem to equal "well equipped" in my mind. Its clearly referenced by the chat on the Death Star that the Rebels have significantly more space ship resources. Why can't those be A-wings/B-wings/etc? Anyway, to keep on topic, what can we expect in Fall 2016 with Lego Star Wars?

My list is generated from themes and sets that interest me (I'm sure Friends and Technic and so on had good and bad stuff, I just don't pay attention to them). Best NEW theme: Speed Champions Existing theme that had best 2015: City (deep sea exploration sets, city square and a good space shuttle!) Best Set: UCS TIE Fighter. I went from hating this set in the pictures and designer video, to liking it when seeing it built at the Lego Store to loving it after building it. Any set that can change my opinion that convincingly deserves accolades. Best Set Runner-ups: Temple of Air Jitzu. I don't collect Ninjago at all, but every time I see that set I have to look it over and admire it. I wish I had the time and skill, because I want to buy it and turn it into something that would fill a 32x32 baseplate and fit in with my Modular buildings display. Detective's Office Ferrari F40 Gingerbread House Best Minifigures: Captain Phasma, Old Han Solo, The Doctor, Scooby Doo, CMF Mad Scientist, CMF Skeleton Costume WORST Stuff: Toy Shop re-release Pirates Theme (could've been SO much better) Minecraft (my kids love the game, love Lego, yet dislike this theme) Darth Maul's Sith Infiltrator (Another attempt, another fail for Lego to get this ship right, and the Darth Maul minifig is very disappointing) The wheel-to-body connection on the Speed Champions cars. This theme is great, but the cars do not roll well at all! Too much friction. They used the wrong type of Technic pin.

I would like to see buildings as seen in Town Square and City Square in less expensive sets. City Corner was a good one. I don't need the vehicles in those sets; Lego makes plenty of City vehicles that are sold individually. Buildings that are not Fire/Police/Crook related, and are affordable. I know Creator line has some of these, but I want stuff that fits in with existing City designs.

If you have kids that might play with the sets, 60052 is vastly better than the High Speed Train. I understand you liking the 60052 locomotive, reminds me of an older CSX color scheme. It might not be as detailed as the Maersk, but this is a City set designed to give someone the full Power Functions train experience (and be relatively easy to build), not a Creator Expert set that is focused on detail and advanced building techniques. I'm not sure why people are making the comparison. The 60052 locomotive looks good for the City line, and is certainly recognizable as North American. The High Speed Train set is not very good, IMO. Basic loop of track, very basic station, annoying one piece cab section that doesn't stay together very well. I much prefer the previous red City passenger train, 7938. I don't own 60098, so I can't say much about that except it looks a lot like 7939, which I have. 7939 is a good freight set, but it was surpassed by 60052 IMO.

They already had an entire Lego City Mine sub-theme a few years ago, including The Mine w/ a small ore train. Granted, gold-ish crystals were ore deemed worthy of excavation. I did wonder why they didn't try to tie in the current freight train at the time (I think the Yellow train that is similar to the current Heavy Haul train) with the Mine theme, as trains are used to move all sorts of natural resources (ore, oil, lumber, grain, etc).

The grey mast riggings, the all-grey antenna's and the printed radar dish are the rarest. The nice thing is the inner structure can be built with alternate colors, so you can use pieces in hand or increase your shopping possibilities. Also, you can use used parts on the inner structure- color and scratches will not be visible once the Falcon is built.

I converted 42000 into a Ferrari F1 car (based on the F150 chassis of 2011) since I did not like the mostly white look of the Lego version. I made a few changes here and there, but most modifications were to allow for full RC via Power Functions. Its slow, but its a big car and everyone who sees it loves it. I still need to clean up the rear end, but its hard finding reference pictures of F1 cars that show rear details. Overall, this set is just good looking design, and its easy to swap out panels for different color schemes. I've been debating 42039 since it finally showed up here in the states. Its a big, impressive car with decent color scheme, and it looks a lot easier to add Power Functions for RC. I dislike the body style, though. It looks better in person than pictures, but its just "off" for lack of a better description. There was a preliminary picture of this set with a different body style that looked much better IMHO. The B model is cool, though, and someone here on Eurobricks converted the 42039 into a Grand Prix car that looks great. Also, I think the "official" Power functions that Lego incorporated are better on this car than 42000. I'd recommend 42000 since I love mine, but I don't think 42039 is a bad set, especially if you like closed-cockpit cars and/or endurance racers.

Clever work on the engine, looks great. The new TIE panels are wonderful, I'm working on updating my 9492 with them.

I use Lego Pick-A-Brick (or I guess I should now say Pick-And-Build) cups for a lot of sorting/storage. I like reusing things, these are stackable to some degree and I can easily put them in a tall RubberMaid tote bin which I can then move wherever for storage. I generally use the cups for smaller pieces or elements that I have a few of. Things like 1x1 plates and tiles, small smooth slope pieces, minifigure accessories, and so on.

Quite possible. Australia has an "Improved Production" racing car class that supports the popular V8 Super Car class. The IP class is for modified production cars. The freedictionary.com has a whole list of possible meanings for "IP." Some are quite interesting when thinking in terms of Lego.

I thought this was cool when I saw the first picture but I kind of glazed over it without looking too closely. Then you mentioned it actually transforms and you posted the comparison picture to the other OP toys. Incredible!

I suppose this wave will show up in the same time frame next year as this year's wave? Although I have some nit-picks with the SC cars, overall I like the theme very much and I'm glad to see so many real cars in Lego form (both SC and Creator).