Artanis I

Yes I got one last month The booklet has some nice pics of old sets & minifigs, but there's lots of gaps, as per usual. And the character "dialogue" is pretty silly. Unnecessary in my opinion.

I don't see the attraction to these space program sets. Unless you work for NASA or something. They're ugly looking models, even more hunk-o-junk-y than you-know-what from SW. If I wanted a Mars Rover set I could grab a bunch from a local shop. No help for all those Americans who want one, because retail price here is $60 I think.

Kids do love stickers. Sticker books are popular. I liked applying stickers to things when I was a kid, but I think after a certain age kids find placement frustrating if they aren't easy to put on straight or to correct if they are crooked. Benny's spaceship had 1 sticker that had to be applied on a trans element, and I didn't get it on straight the first time. I tried to remove it and fix it as I usually do, but this time it didn't look very good, because the interfered glue layer shows through the sticker and element. It's just as well that it is hidden inside the model because it looks rubbish.

A contributing factor to the cracking chinstrap is that the helmets used to get stuck on the heads. These days with the recessed stud or the hole in the head, headgear is a lot easier to remove, but back then they'd get stuck fast. Because the helmet wouldn't come off or turn when you wanted it to, you'd try to lever it off and thereby put extra pressure on the frail chinstrap. Have a look at the current helmet, you may notice that it is on an angle rather than being flat on the bottom.

We heard a few weeks ago that Ultra Agents release is September, most other things are August.

Exo Suit & Research Institute are now available on S@H, prices are $50 & $30. I think that seems fair enough, considering. Mini Mini is free with all orders $150+, just remember to spend $200+ if you want the free postage option. Also, the MTT is now available. $150 if you needed another reason for heart failure. Finally, there is a new supplementary set for the Arctic theme for $20 that hardly seems worth it, but that is the way those things go. It comes with a tent and 2 dudes.

There have apparently been some "technical difficulties" with S@H... perhaps AFOLs are inadvertently causing some form of DOS attack. It's available to Aus now, but didn't show up until a short time ago. If it's available here, it should be available in Europe!

You get bored 7 minutes into a movie?!?

Right, so turns out I just had to wait for it to be 1st of August somewhere in the USA. Don't recall that happening before. Placing an order at 4pm on a Friday certainly doesn't feel like getting in early! So I grabbed the other 2 Ideas sets too, to get the free shipping.

I was going to order 2 Exo Suit sets from S@H, but it isn't on there. Been looking forward to this for weeks. No new sets available on there at all, actually. On the home page there is an image for the set with "buy now", click on it and "product not available". Hope I don't have to wait another month!

So if a collective of Lego minifigs were to be called a "clutch", what would a collective of MegaBollox figs be? A "slip"? A "loose-grip"? Or use the pedal metaphor and go with "brake/break"?

Yes, it's a refreshing change from a lot of the same-old Disney animated movies. I haven't yet read the original Welsh story to know how much it was changed, but it seems to me that it was a lot less than other "happily-ever-afters" were.

When you consider how different the appearances of various ground, air, and water craft produced in roughly 100 years is on this single planet of Earth, it should come as no surprise that an entire galaxy of populated systems with their varied inhabitants may produce craft that looks very different from the others... Zeppelins don't really look like anything else.

That would be herd of cows. I probably say bunch. How about "a clutch of minifigs"?

I think it's pretty obvious that something heavily relying on many stickers or prints is not going to be too likely to pass, and something that just uses subtle prints/stickers could still be made even without them. The key question regards minifigs or specific items that require recognition, and of course mostly applies to licenced Ideas.

And blonde Luke

I thought that the barrel scene (and the ridiculous Bombur bouncing around stuff) was not too dissimilar to the goblin town and plate throwing scenes in the first movie. Where the dwarves seemingly do everything choreographed even though it is spontaneous. Disagree with its legitimacy if you like, but it isn't unprecedented. Nowhere near as silly a "rollercoaster" as the Tintin movie action sequence.

My idea is $200 max. For a while, (but briefly recently we enjoyed better prices with a high dollar) US to AU price conversions were roughly 11/7 or 3/2. These work out to @200. So, maybe 170 or 180 if we are lucky. (I can't remember ever seeing a set at $190.)

It isn't August yet. Could start finding them next week. I am expecting to find sets locally in 3 weeks time, a few days after the end of LT's usual complaints about Eastern states getting all the favouritism.

At least when you spend $200 to get free postage you still get $200 of Lego. It's not like the postage cost goes up for us, unless you plan to still make purchases between $150-200.

Disappointing about the $200 limit. "We strive to offer you an unrivaled shopper experience. Due to changes with our shipping logistics, we have recently had to review our free shipping threshold." Yeah I noticed that Target has upped their stock levels a bit. Still don't have everything, but hopefully when the sale starts I'll be able to grab some stuff. I also noticed that there was no room for more stock and therefore new lines, but that is no surprise.

New promotion on S@H is a (Chima again) Worriz Fire Bike with $45 purchases. A bunch of old Chima & Ninjago sets are half price.

You know, I never even realised that the clothes were the same colours as the bricks. Only that your included snapshot lines up with all family photos from the era, demonstrating the same thing that we eventually learn of every era: the fashion of the day was awful!