Jargo

what I noticed about the community minifigs collection is that whoever threw the parts together has no imagination. Or little respect for the consumer. It looks like a reject advent calender mish-mash.

looks like the male is about to cudgel the female in the bottom left. I'm guessing it's a bride and groom eloping.

From poring over the images for a long while there's definitely four distinct alien types. fat head, long head, squid head and the brain bug/critter alien 'thing'. Which is just fantastic. Proper head moulds with real variety that will allow for army building but also have the differences to create rank or alien culture diversity. Me, I'm thinking an alien planet landscape with city is how I'll approach this. With the Earth force as invaders attempting to conquer the aliens. I figure someone has to be on the side of the aliens. And I really don't like blue Lego. I have to back the side that fights the guys in blue.

I hope there's some improvements to the marina and harbour. They seem a little bit messy. the bridge in the marina is silly. the whole quayside of the harbour is like a step back to vintage town. I acknowledge the history and nostalgia for town but it doesn't gel well with the modern design ethos of lego sets. I was hoping the fishing boat would be more of a small trawler rather than a pleasure boat. something for a full crew and a net full of fish. the speedboat looks a bit stunted. with a prow that blunt it wouldn't be going anywhere fast. it's more like a small dinghy launch. I know these are prelim pics but god I hope there's vast improvement in the final sets.

So the big jaws alien is one, the long headed alien is two and there's a third small alien that seems like a brain bug facehugger thing that turns humans into aliens. oh and a fourth that looks a little similar to the squidhead alien from space police. the alien from collectible minifigs and Rench from space police 3 will fit in really well with these other aliens.

I'm not terribly impressed with the human side vehicles but the alien one's look great. I love the tripod. I can see a few of those stampeding across my city. love the new dome piece. The aliens look quite cool. Compatible with power miners and space police. Nifty.

they obviously switched the red to blue so it didn't take your eyes away from the fire subtheme sets which are predominantly red. The fire sets were the subject of the picture.

The trident has a longer middle tine. This pitchfork is not as angular as the trident, all the tines are the same length and the shaft is simpler. It's a simple tool for simple peasant folk.

mill village looks great. the pitchfork looks new. It's a simple three tine one rather than the old style with two crossbars more like this style. Can't wait for better pictures of the goats and chickens. and a view of the windmill without the watermark covering it.

I like the chunky tyres. I'll admit they could stand to be a shade slimmer but these days a lot of cars have quite chunky tyres. (seeing slim tyres on a car makes you think someone is running on a set of spares to cut cost). I don't really want a return to the tyres of classic town with the flat edges. the depth of the tread on tyres botherts me more but I suppose the deeper the tread the less plastic used for a piece. At least we don't get the balloon tyres anymore. Later town sets that had those just looked ridiculous. They made every vehicle look like a failed monster truck.

I don't understand why the scientist has white hips. Unless the final figure will have the centre bit painted black. Similarly the hazmat suit guy could do with the black centre bit painting orange. the pics are great though. the more I look at this series the more I want them.

Wow that's gorgeous. I love the cleanness of the build. levitating Squiddie is cool. I've saved that first pic to serve as inspiration for my own city dojo. I could never build anything as magnificent so no fear of me copying.

Damn, they've removed the golden daggers they used in the preliminary photo. oh no, there they are at the bottom. Yayyyyy!

yeah I mentioned that a few pages back. It's a nice touch. That minifig has more sense than to carry lots of banknotes. the plane looks odd with a white tail. all the other airport planes bearing the bird in flight logo have had coloured tails of either red or blue, oh with the exception of the seaplane in yellow, but they've all been coloured. to reverse the colours seems odd. doesn't quite work. It's a nice little plane of course with the ubiquitous pilot and man in open blue jacket, (who appears to do a lot of travelling judging by how many transport sets he appears in), look forward to bigger pictures.

Amen to that. They don't seem to mind retooling parts and adding new parts and an actual skeleton skull head on a skeleton would be grand.

I bought an enlighten ship because it was dirt cheap and I was curious about the quality. The answer is that the quality is awful, dreadful and just plain crappy. Pieces don't fit together and colours are strange. the plastic is shoddy and brittle with many parts malformed. I did discover however that under blue light the yellow bricks are almost fluorescent. Perhaps radioactively. the crows nest piece is interesting as are the chromed cutlasses but nothing else.

Such a tough question. I actually don't think I can answer it. I don't particularly like a whole minifig but probable one or two parts of it such as torso and headgear. Or accessory and head etc. Currently I love the Anubis guard but also love the collectible minifig series four skateboarder and hazmat suit guy. but they're brand new. Possibly the original pirate captain and Johnny thunder minifigures have had the most impact for me. when I first saw them in Lego product catalogues all those years ago they leapt off the page and my heart raced with excitement. exactly the same feeling I get from certain minifigs now.

Terry Pratchett - Monstrous regiment. (finding it a chore to read. his later books get a bit dry and self indulgent) some idiot woman - Overcoming low self esteem (ridiculous self help book that seems to bypass reality) The Cassell dictionary of slang (So many rude phrases I'm blushing)

If Lego take note of fan suggestion and people suggest minifigs that are within certain realms of feasibility then the series could chug along for a while. But as has been said it's all down to consumer interest. there's also economic issues such as various countries taking austerity measures. the minifig collectibles may be the only thing people buy, putting off buying larger sets. I know I've been spending less on sets and more on minifigs lately. If Lego put the collectible minifigs on hold for a while it wouldn't be a bad thing though. Their business model is cyclic releases of themes and sub themes so it would make sense not to drown the market in minifigs. Bricklink, Ebay and Amazon, various e-tailers and fan trading will see the current range of figs circulating for a long while yet. If you look hard enough you can find anything you want. All in all the experiment has been interesting and productive. I'm sure Lego have learned a lot from it. And we've gained some rockin' minifigures. win win all round.

It's not this hull either. http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=62791c01 There are no ballast tank bulges on the hull sides. The stern is flat as are the sides. So that brings us back to http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=54100c02. And yes it's likely just 'movie set' filler in the commercial. Paul_delahaye the forklift looks like one from 7733 truck and forklift and the delivery van kinda looks like the van from 7237 police station. the little 'cafe' like building is cute.

They're not bad. Just not great. 6278 Enchanted island was one of my favourite sets back in the day. I only ever had smaller pirate sets and no ships but the island was great, islanders peering round corners waiting to attack the pirate invaders. lots of fun in a box. Now I'm not so fond. with the advances in torso prints and designs the islanders could do with an update. The concept of having some natives in the pirates theme is great but they don't stand the test of time well. Actually I think it's probably time for Lego to move over from yellow skinned minifigs to fleshtones. The islanders might look better in dark flesh. have a bit more zing to them. I'm all for a revival if they were rebooted. I don't think the old sets sit well in terms of colour usage and parts. They need to be sent back to the drawing board and rebuilt.

It's not the large cargo ship in red it's too narrow and too short. It may be the hull from the police boat. http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=54100c02 Hard to tell from that angle and the speed it zips by but I know it's a lot smaller than the cargo hull.

Don't really do much with trains in my city layout but the one thing I do want is straight track. I'd welcome the availability of straight track sold separate to curved or flex. It irritates me that it's bundles of mixed track in the same way as it irritates me how road plates are bundled together. Also I think far too many people and Lego themselves underestimate young Lego builders. Children have very clear ideas of what they want to build and which parts they want and should be given the opportunity to pick and choose. It seems quite insidious and cynical to dictate to children what they should want or should need. equality right through the lego range of products available I say. Anyone want a drawer full of curved track......

I kind of have it a bit easier as a gay man because my partners have that inbuilt joy of nostalgia and toy tinkering inherent in men. My last partner (sadly no longer of this world) didn't exactly participate but gave me the freedom to indulge my brick love. And made an effort to appreciate my excitement over new sets and interesting part combinations. My current partner is a fan of Lego. Buys me Lego. Played with and again now plays with Lego. our collections are combined. I think he feels I'm a little too obsessed with the brick but as I've been sitting here the last few days sketching minifig designs he's offered constructive critique and suggestions for new ideas. I'm positive that when I move my Lego hoard down from the attic to the main part of the house we'll both spend a lot of time together constructing. To my mind though it doesn't matter if your partner doesn't share your brick love as long as they give you the freedom to enjoy it.

Be nice if next time Lego get round to Police sets they include a prison instead of so many vehicles. Revive the orange overall prisoner from the world city sets. stretch out that barbed wire ring into a length of wire with aglet ends, prison guards and a governor. *wistful sigh*