Artanis I

Hey fellas, (arguing over the Greek/Roman soldier) how many Roman soldiers had a moustache? I think this guy is just a Lego invented soldier, he seems to be a mixture of ancient sorts.

Hmm, the posts I wanted to quote disappeared. Anyhoo, was basically going to say that in my city I have still only ever seen the minifigs in 1 of the 5 places that sell Lego. And there was 1 half-empty box, which was gone the next time I went there. 4 of the 5 places seem to be getting in new stuff promptly.

I think you may be right there (I was considering this the other day)... they created an illusion of a lack of supply in order to create a frenzy of "Oh no, I'm going to miss out! I'd better buy as many as I can!" then keep releasing them slowly and staggered to keep the demand a bit ahead of the supply at all times. Otherwise if they'd released them in good supply from the start the leftover stock would've just sat there, everyone having already bought what they wanted in the first place, not worried that they would miss out. This way people (and scalpers) buy more than they otherwise would have. Sneaky.edit: Oh yeah, oops. You're right, but I knew what he meant by it.

Pity I was impatient and bought the Space Police Central at full price the first moment I saw it. Can I justify getting another one? Probably not. Will I get another one anyway? Ummmm... no comment for the press, talk to my lawyer...

I feel like stirring it all up a bit more... if I was responsible for all of this and got a kick out of reading all of the heated and frustrated comments about it you know what I'd have done to make it even more bastardly (dastardly but with a b)? I would've released all the series' in the exact same packaging. Boohahaha!!! All the bags, and all the boxes exactly the same. That'd stick it up 'em! Either no barcodes, or keep reusing old ones bahaha... Noone would know what was what!!! You couldn't even buy a box to make sure you got them all, because you wouldn't know which series it was!!! Did I just buy a box of series 3? Or series 1? Am I completing my collection or doubling my number of figures I already have too many of?

wow... I would call that a profitable day. Yeah gotta leave something for someone else. Unless there was only a handful of bags there, that would be okay to take them all - no jerky feelings.

I honestly couldn't tell you. The cardboard box wasn't fully open, just the corner pulled back so I didn't get a good look at any images. I could only see the side or top of a couple of boxes to read that it was castle/kingdoms whatever and that there were quite a number of them. I do also recall there being a similar size unopened box not far away on the side counter. It could've been anything though, admittedly.

I got it for that much in a bookshop at the start of the year. Haven't seen it since. I got one from eBay last year with the Space Speeder for $10 inc postage. Thanks for the info, I'll give Toyworld another try later this week. When I was there they had a partly opened box of castle impulse sets ready to shelf. Who knows what else is in stock but not in store! Bad pun intended.

Nice swag! My foray into town just then was not so successful. Target was sold out of the specials, noone had the minifigs, and noone had %$#!@ K9 Bot. Everyone has (if they have them at all) the new sets at full price.

Also, keep in mind that a number of S@H sites have sold out, I'd say they're really popular, and there's not many left. I could be wrong, but it seems to make sense?Edit: what he said

...and it could have a new monorail...Considering that SP3 has been reasonably received I think there'll be at least some space next year, how much I don't know. Possibly not much. New subtheme/faction? Maybe. I doubt there'll be more SP3, other than maybe 2-3 small sets to finish it off (but there's already quite a range). A new (or renewed) faction would be a big step - are Lego willing to continue Space 2.0? edit: it kinda says "we're going to do this for a few years, not just a couple as a novelty" Anything could happen of course.

First bit gets a bit sarcastic at times. Beware.1&6. Hey, no need to disagree with everything I say just because some of it is of a different opinion to yours, in summary of MY situation. You talk about yours too if you want, that's fine with me. That's what this place is for. But if they're not breaking any law you CAN'T tell someone they're not buying something properly, or cheating at the game if there's no written rules. (Is Lego selling something properly? Legally most certainly. But it's a pain in the backside for some! No reason enough to cry foul, but certainly enough to have a rant, as many have done.) It's all opinion, there's no right or wrong here. It's not written in the Bible or on the bags "thou shalt not use barcodes, for it's cheating the little kiddies out of their fun surprises" or "this is how it's MEANT to be played" but you know what? Apparently (I'm told) the kids are happy when they "play the game" ie (buy a bag & open it) -regardless of whether they get what they specifically wanted- because they still got a fun surprise, so if they missed out they get another one which is also a wonderful joyful occasion and open that to maybe find another one they didn't quite want (or they did want) & so on. So basically Lego wins because they have the kiddies' money, the kiddies are happy because they had fun & "got their cool surprise" & their amazingly awesome specialised minifig that can be used for so many varied applications, the evil AFOLs are happy because they got the figures they wanted via barcodes... Who's unhappy? The goose who wants to collect the series (or some of it) the hard way. (Which is actually easily rectified.) So what's the problem then? Barcodes can make everyone happy. No need to complain. 2. Haha is it? I got my probably wrong estimation in a few seconds, based on the surely-not-far-off assumption they're equally available, didn't think it would be that far off. I think I only checked 10 or so before I found both anyway. 3&7. most themes are not for me. Depends what series 3 has. I'm not getting any of series 2, because none of them fit the space theme. If there's one or two from series 3 I like I'll try to find them online. Unless the price is ridiculous, then I'll wait a few years, since the price really only goes up for sealed boxes/bags or for pieces/figs that are only in 1 set. It doesn't worry me, I'm not saying it out of protest, I'll just probably be happier doing it that way. 4. You don't need a smart phone or barcode scanner. You can use your eyes and your memory. That's what I did. I was really really hoping I'd got it right, but couldn't find out until much later when I opened them, so it was very tense! Very exciting, and a huge relief when I was right. Phew! No cheerleader. Ahh breathe. (Would've been REALLY p*ssed if I'd got it wrong, haha!) I bought them from a small toyshop (only place I've seen them so far), the already opened box was right next to the cash register, 2 ladies standing behind the counter watching me curiously. School holidays were on, so a few kids there with their mums. Incidentally, if you were to get your 2 figures by "playing the game" you'd spend an extra $61.50 (3x 22.5-2) for a bunch of figures you don't care much about & 30 seconds of not looking ridiculous. That's pretty expensive? I personally think you'd look more ridiculous continually going back for more figures until you get what you want. I know I'd feel more ridiculous being diddled out of my money! 5. That's fair enough for you, if you want to do it that way. 8. Don't know why you said that, nor why I got a ":/" ... I thought Mac-K had some good points there, (probably forgot to say that) but added that for some kids it's not relevant. 9. Yeah I'll get what I want if I can, if I can't then I won't. If I don't want something, I won't get it. If no series 3 minifigs appeal to me I won't touch them. If there's more SP3 I'll probably go after it anyway, but thanks for the recommendation! Happy building/collecting whichever you do. I do a combination of both, but under strict purchasing guidelines. Gotta draw some lines, or there's no money left for food on the table haha!

I agree that that may be the case. I haven't seen many impulse sets for sale in general, which might be the cause or result of low sales. So far I've still only seen one local shop with SP3 impulse sets in stock (an independent book/hobby store) & I only saw the K9 Bot there once. Pity, because I'd buy 2 or 3 more, I want more officers for the new base.

or 16 if you "cheat" I collect space. I wanted a spaceman and a robot. No way I would try and get these "without cheating", on average it would take 16 tries. That's 14 figures I don't want (and won't use) x$4 (for some reason Lego is more expensive here) = $56 extra. I could buy another Undercover Cruiser + Raid VPR with that (on special this week that is). Unless (as many kids do with collectibles and similar toys) you trade with someone else for one you want. I didn't like trading, and always regretted it later.

Oi! Haha. No excuses for USA: in a country of 300 million there's got to be plenty left over for soccer after all those other sports are taken! Not many other countries have anywhere near that many people.

If you look at the photos (or replay), you will see the reason for the red card was because the ref's pants were up too high, and made him more agitated than usual!Australia sucks so much at soccer because all the talented blokes play this brand of football:

I set my alarm to wake me up for the 4:30am kick-off... I should've stayed asleep! What a disgrace! 4-0! How embarrassing!In all honesty I was expecting a 1 or 2 goal deficit as a reasonable result. The only hope for a salvaged humility is for New Zealand to have a bigger loss haha.

Still haven't read an acceptable answer on what the barcodes were "intended" for (and therefore "abused" when you use them to pick which figure you want). A computer scanner can't read them, as the flap covers the bars that are actually different (someone else has already said this) & also, why would they go around checking each box manually? That'd take forever, so it can't be for Lego to tell how many of each they're putting in a box. Besides, surely boxes would be filled the same as when a factory makes those boxes of assorted wrapped chocolates/sweets/lollies/candy/whatever you say: machine in factory puts some from this conveyor belt, some from that etc or similar. Or are there Oompa Loompas working in Lego factories sorting the pieces into bags? I see no purpose in having barcodes on there, other than the one some people have used: to buy what they want with the money they want to spend. I'm NOT saying they were put on there FOR THAT REASON, but I'm yet to hear a different (& valid) reason. Anyone? I'm talking logic here, not opinion.

Then what is the purpose of the barcodes, if not to individually identify the bags from each other? How is it abusing the barcodes if that's what they're there for? What else could they possibly be for if not that?If by "abuse" you mean that people are going too far and buying out all the Xs and leaving all the Ys, sure that's annoying, but how different is that to turning up at a shop during a sale to find all of the blue toasters are gone, and there's nothing left but green. Maybe Lego want to remove the barcodes because they have decided how many of each figure they're going to make, and want to sell them all despite the varying consumer demand for each. It means they don't have to predict which ones are going to be popular (and therefore which ones to make more of) because you get no choice on what figure you get. With barcodes there might be heaps of unsold cheerleaders for example, but without barcodes everything would sell evenly until all were sold out. Let it be known, that I will not be purchasing any of series 3 if it does go down the "lucky dip" road (ie no barcodes or anything else identifying). I don't want any Lego I don't want. Captain Obvious...

I finally found somewhere yesterday with the minifigs in stock. They had ONE box, on the counter. I had memorised the barcodes of the 2 figures I wanted, and found them. I most certainly did not want any of the others, so I'm really glad for the barcodes. If you want a random figure as a surprise, don't learn the barcodes. If you want a whole heap of the same figure, be nice to the random buyers and get them online or buy entire boxes and sell the extras.

1. No. I don't buy these sets due to cost (and because I only buy Space Lego now) but if I did it would stay built and not be used for parts. 2. If I bought any World Icons set it would be because I like that particular one, not because I collect them all. I do however collect all space sets including the ones I don't really like. 3. Some ornate palace/castle/cathedral it's all the same to me, I wouldn't buy it anyway. 4. A massive ship, spaceship or castle full of minifigs. 5. New monorail for space! New (or revisited) civilian space subtheme (but not down-town Coruscant resembling - real space like the subthemes of old ie pre 1997). Thanks for asking!

I already had Duplo and Lego but the first set I received with a minifig was the 6848 Futuron set Strategic Pursuer. Don't remember the first set I bought with my money, but I remember buying brand new sets released in 1990.

I found this comic a week ago. I read it all in 2 days, apart from the last 2. I thoroughly enjoyed lots of it, but some dragged on & on. I prefer when it's set in space, and made of Lego (hence the name of the comic) and not just photos of your toybox contents or other sets you've bought or built, somehow wormed into the story. I'm not really into the dacta "let's break down the 4th wall again" segments either. That said, it's your comic, so you do what you want. I think most of it is really good. I like the way you've come up with so many characters and threads, and used different minifigs for most of them (helps with the identification). Your backdrop idea is awesome, I think it really sets the scene and looks great. Valkyrie is HOT.

I was into Lego sets as a boy, there is nothing unusual about that sort of thing! Once you get to the high school age, girls seem to "mature" or something, and toys are apparently uncool. "Do you still play with Lego? Hahaha. Why don't you grow up and watch these (stupid) TV shows and listen to this (awful) pop music instead? That's what all the cool people do" they say. Some boys get into cars or sport, but some of us are still interested in Lego etc despite the bad attitudes we get for it. I stopped buying Lego in my teens, for that reason & because I'd get dirty looks in shops. "What an immature young man, he'll never grow up or become a real responsible adult, he'll obviously be an unemployed burden on the rest of society" they tell themselves. But I kept building castles in my room and playing wars with my knights and forestmen. My parents didn't say much, they'd just frown and hint "you're a bit old for that aren't you?" Fast forward to adulthood where hobbies are allowed again. I discovered Bricklink, then eBay, & then Paypal opened up the whole world's Lego supplies. I later found out I was an AFOL (and also, not the only one). Having only recently discovered an active Lego forum, I can talk about it with others who share the interest. My friends know about my Space collection, but not many have actually seen it. On talking about new acquisitions one time, one girl asked "how old are you" (she knew my age) "old enough to not be too cool for Lego" "haha, okay then" from that point on it was always "you and your Lego *shakes head*" (which is almost nothing compared to her bizarre obsession...) But noone else seems to think ill of it. I'm not embarrassed about collecting or building Lego, but I still hate being watched when I'm looking at it in shops. It's hard to pretend you're buying it for your nephew when you keep buying big sets haha... I do often get dirty looks if I'm walking through town with a big set! These people probably spend all their money on "grown up" things like getting drunk...

Haha. Going to get another one of these sets, Target has 25% off the price of selected sets (including this one) from Thursday. (Brings it down to the price it should be, but hey, that's better than a punch in the face.)