Bennemans

Got some pretty good deals at sales at my local toyshop, drugstore and department store this month!

absolutely gorgeous! the detail is superb! And some great techniques!

I'm absolutely aroused by this set!

Another little haul: Got the Shell Tanker for FREE with air miles, WHOOP! The two Friends sets with a 45% discount The 6177 Bricks set with a 50% discount The game for 50 cents at a thriftstore And I'm very happy with the pizza guy! First one I bought from series 12, and I immediately got one of the only 2 figures I'm really interested in! (him, and the gamer)

That's a very nice idea! I might have to steal it some day ;)

Still don't agree. You're right about the old Basic buckets having non-basic parts; windows, doors, arches, slopes and wheels, but not nearly as much as these seem to have (aforementioned, plus SNOTs, macaronis, studs, cylinders, etc etc etc). Not to mention the absolutely non-basic colors used here; I count about 24 colors in the bigger tub. That's substantially more than the basic red, blue, yellow, white and black we used to have in the 80's/90's, and still more than the buckets and boxes we have in the stores right now. To me, this is basic vvv (basic bricks, basic colors) Hmm, never thought about it like that. But I have to somewhat agree; the name 'Basic' doesn't inherently have negative connotations, but it sure can have 'm. Interesting point! Even though most definitions of basic are more in the lines of "essential" and "fundamental".

Honestly, me too! this, and some of the new pieces in Elves

Just found these two with a 45% and 40% (respectively) discount. Could not resist! They cost me almost nothing at all… nothing at all… nothing at all… Too bad the rest of the collection wasn't discounted this much… guess the girls' Juniors sets just didn't sell here

Really?? So you guys never wanna be surprised?? So what about when somebody wants to surprise or thank you?? Do people know what they can buy you when you don't know they are getting you anything? I think there's nothing more wonderful (and maybe childlike) to shake a wrapped box and hear the all too familiar rattling of bricks, and not knowing what's inside . But to each their own, of course!

I'll just leave this here for easy viewing

Gift-wrapping season is upon us!! What should I ask for christmas? Ah, I know! How about some of those plastic bricks I love so much!? Well, easier said than done, as always. Because when it came time to tell the family and my significant other what was on my wish list, simply "Lego" didn't suffice for them. Questions like "What kind?", "Which one?", "Anything specific?", "but I don't know what you have already" (not to mention the occasional "don't you know any better gifts?"…. ex-f*cking-cuse me???) run rampant. So, that got me thinking. Why is it so hard for non-fans to buy Lego-related gifts? Going to the toyshop, pointing at a box and shouting in your spouse's ear "I want that one!" really destroys the surprise and excitement of unwrapping the present later on. Getting a gift card is no fun either. And I've also had my share of gifts I don't like ("you like Lego, so here is a Lego flashlight!"… dafuq am I suppose to do with that??). And what about the moments your partner just wants to surprise you with a gift? They can't just ask you for a specific set number then, right? Or people who come to your birthday; do you really wanna make a giant list of presents for everybody? So what are gifts that us AFOLS would like to get, without getting too specific, and with a high success rate? To be clear, I'm talking about gifts everybody could give an AFOL; maybe a hostess-gift, a thank-you-gift, or just a little surprise (and of course birthdays and holidays). I'm guessing that most of us would be happy if they got the following: Minifigures! Who doesn't like minifigures? We could always use more citizens for our city, recruits to beef up our armies, and maybe it has that specific hairdo I could use more of. Even older series may be welcome. And because it's a blind bag, it's not the gift-giver's fault if it's a figure we despise! And it's cheap, small and easy; great as a stocking stuffer! Basically anything from the Basic/Bricks and More/future Classic (2015) collection. Who can't use a big box full of plastic happiness? There are always colors and bricks in there we can use, and the ones we don't use we'll just store/sell/donate. Tickets to a Lego Con, Expo or Themepark. We like to get some inspiration, walk amongst our kin, and have the chance to score some loot! But please buy two tickets, so we can take someone, maybe even you! So we can show you why we love what we love. (Or we can take our partners/kids/friends, whatever.) Anything to get us out of our basements and attics we spend all our free time in, surrounded by that damn addictive plastic! I personally tell everybody they can buy me just about anything from the Friends and Creator series as well, and I'll just use those as parts packs. But I'm usually happy with anything with Lego bricks in 'm (I just use it as a parts pack). I've gotten things I don't like though; Lego flashlight, lunchbox, storage cubes (I seriously don't care for those), and unofficial stuff, like Lego-shaped piggybanks, pencil erasers and more. Things that'll just end up being donated to my local thriftshop. So, how do you go about the holidays? Is Lego on your wish list? Do you ask for specific boxes, or do you like to be surprised? Have you ever gotten Lego related gifts you hated? Tell us all about it!!

A website I found these at has these prices listed with them (in euros): 10696: 29,95 10694: 19,95 10693: 19,95 10692: 14,95 These seem to me like very fair prices, maybe even low for the amount of different parts and colors you get. But that all depends on the part count. Also baseplates for 14,95 (meh): I was surprised by that too. When I heard the name 'Classic' I assumed they might be bringing back those boxes of red slopes, white bricks or old style windows and doors from the 90's, or even bring back modernized versions of the Legoland series. I'm gonna guess they chose the name 'Classic' because having a big box full of bricks you can let your imagination run wild with, may be construed to be "the good old-fashioned way" to play with Lego. Just modernized with different colors and specialized parts. 'Basic' wouldn't fit either; they don't just (/mostly) contain basic colors and bricks.

I'm very intrigued by these sets! To me they are much better than the ones we have on the shelves right now! They seem to have a way larger variety in color and bricks, even some pretty rare colors. May be very good as parts packs! What do you guys think?? Does anybody have more info on these? [EDIT] A website I found these at has these prices listed with them (in euros): 10696: 29,95 10694: 19,95 10693: 19,95 10692: 14,95 baseplates: 14,95

Very beautiful work!

My way of keeping tabs on my spending is to take pictures of everything I get. My haul of last month (I was fortunate enough to go to a big Lego con in my city with my best friend, who surprised me with a little shopping spree, on her ) I just found these at a market: Veeeeery happy with the leafy bits! And those two containers had nothing really special in them, but a load of tiles and 1x1 plates, which are always very welcome! And the containers themselves are of an expensive brand and more than worth I price I paid for them. Whoop! And my mom just visited me with a little present she got for me (on sale):

Yup, I want them too! Put me on the list!

THAT'S IT! Great, thanks! I completely forgot about the sticker sheets that came in idea books! :thumbup: Fair enough. It can be hard to find a piece you have no clue about, and your assumptions might take you way off course in your search. A basic brick with a sticker on it shouldn't be too hard to figure out though . Felt like an idiot for not being able to identify it I didn't ask in the BL forums, I'm not active there; I love this community right here

Yes it's LEGO… loads of my 1x4's are like that on the bottom, so I don't get why it shouldn't be. (plus, the LEGO marks on the studs kinda give it away , but hey, that's not visible on the pic) Of course I've done a BL search; if it was that easy to find I wouldn't have any need to ask it in the forums, now would I? It could be somebody put a non-LEGO sticker on a brick… it was in a batch of late 70's - early 80's bricks; all original. But there was another piece that had a sticker on it that it shouldn't have; that was an original LEGO sticker though, just misplaced. That's why I feel like this should be a LEGO sticker too…

Anybody got a clue? Because I sure don't...

Hm, kinda like the design, but holy crapoli that is one tiny workshop! More than half of the building is apparently Santa's ho-ho-home! Where's the grandeur you'd expect with something as magical as Santa's Workshop?? And I find it a shame the reindeer are brick-built; would have been a nice chance for TLG to give us something special. Plus-sides: the sled, the figs, the chair, the machine IMO: disappointing [EDIT] The more I look at it, the more disappointing it becomes… the 5 bazillion shades of brown on the inside which make it look unpolished, the fact Santa has to climb a LADDER to get to his chair, why aren't those star-shaped pieces in yellow or gold, no different colors or elf hats, those tails and hollow necks of the reindeer are horrendous. I'm gonna skip this one.

"What? Do you actually play with it? Like in 'beep beep, hello neighbor, pew pew, blargh!"?? … erm…. nooooo? I'm not a 5 year old child... I build stuff with it! That's me "playing" with it! "Oh right! I had playmobil when I was a kid, that's the same right?" - "You want this wrapped up?" *already rips off giant sheet of wrapping paper* - No thanks, it's for me - "Er… oh… ok..." *looks of bewilderment and confusion* - *me, giant 270 pound bearded man, skips out of toyshop with pink Friends box under arm* Everybody around me knows about my hobby, and I never get stupid questions or weird looks or something. My friends and family fully support it (and will always buy Lego for me when they find some crazy sale or a box full on a yardsale). At every gift-giving event I ask for, and get, Lego…. except my partner can be a d-bag about it sometimes; "I don't wanna give you stupid Lego! I wanna give you something lasting and meaningful!" is what I got for my last birthday. Wow dude, thanks for the support… F you and YOUR hobbies. Of course there was a big BL order as a peace offering 2 weeks later.

AH! I like that one! "Assembly" Clutch and collection are nice as well!

All right, first of all I wanna say this isn't my cup of tea at all, but holy canoli that is some great work you've put out! You've managed to put the entire Friends Universe in one vacation destination; very nice! I like how you tried to stay true to the Friends style. I'm surprised you managed to get so much variety in the figs; I always found them too similar. Nicely done! I like how this build is something like a Lego version of 'Where's Waldo"; try to find all the Friends animals! The little details like the multi colored tennis-courts, the table tennis table, the little foodcourt, waterfowl and much more make it a feast for the eyes. And those cars are yummy! It's a very manicured build indeed. Honestly, I find it a tad shame that you didn't give your vacation houses an (even basic) interior; the empty rooms behind those big glass windows are a bit jarring to me, seeing as you spend so much time and attention on the outside. Are you planning on doing that eventually by any chance? To me, your "Sad Grey Town" is one of my most favorite builds EVER! But it's nice to see you can work in color as well! Keep on having fun!

Ah! I was wondering the same thing about the colors. So you are planning on making Radiator Springs for real? That's a very cool idea! Would love to see photo's of that!

Very recognizable!