Malikon

Another trick since crazy glue can leave nasty white residue and is generally nasty stuff, is to paint a light coat of clear nail polish on the ball of a socket joint. I use to do this for transformers all the time if a limb was loose and floppy. Works great and is an invisible repair.

Kre-O does GI Joe, not Megablok. Brick quality is fine and on par with Lego. I've never touched a Megablok kit (though I'm considering the UNSC Mech),..so I can't comment on them.

I assumed no company was interested in making kits of fictitious serial killers.

No I was careful about where I dumped the pieces out, (on a table), and I triple checked the bags and the floors. I ended up separating the pieces by color just to be sure that "yes, it's definitely not here." I'm getting ready to buy 5 more modulars and I'm just hoping there's no more missing pieces in any of them.

A thought I had was if red bricks had a thin tan border around the face of one side,..they'd look like actual bricks when building a wall. Since the tan lines would give the appearance of actual mortar between the bricks. That'd be pretty cool. A wall that actually looks more like a real wall. ..plus if they're only painted on one side, you could still use the other side facing out if you didn't want the 'mortar' to show. something like this... when combined with others could look like... which would be really cool. (If this exists already, apologies, I just haven't seen it)

I know they'll never do it for violence reasons, but I'd love to see modulars with mini-figures of: Michael Myers and the Myers house. (HalloweeN franchise) Freddy Krueger and the Elm Street house. (A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise) Jason Voorhees and the cabin in the woods. (Friday the 13th franchise) Leatherface and the Texas Plantation house,..with a sliding 'steel' door. (Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise) ...it'll never, ever happen. But a guy can dream. Robotech and large Valkyrie Mechs would be pretty awesome too. ...or Voltron. Imagine buying 5 lion kits that you could combine to form Voltron? That would be pretty awesome too. actually I'm sort of surprised they never did the last two. Maybe the fan base isn't large enough to justify it.

Interesting, considering Oxford Blocks are the ones who make Kreo. ...sort of a contradiction happening there.

I'd never seen a board that didn't have trolls or mean spirited conversations, until this one. Can't help but think the Mods have something to do with that. Good work on a generally thankless job. Cheers.

it's not that, it's that I'm in the middle of moving, rehabbing/painting the new place, and I still have rehearsals and gigs to do and web-work to do,..so making a block of time to just sit, relax and enjoy building is a bit scarce lately,..last night was my block of time this week. Which is why it was disappointing. No sense in building it if I can't finish it, because there's no where to put it except in the box it came in. That's kind of become my relax thing to do, pull up a movie on Netflix and build something small (200 pieces or less) I'm glad missing pieces aren't that common. It's really not a big deal, but it's always frustrating when you've been looking forward to something and then it just doesn't work out. ...and the AT ST has always been one of my favorite SW vehicles, so I was pretty excited to see there was an AT RT set and have been looking for it for a couple weeks. No one seemed to have it in stock, (or the white Highway Speedster I'm also interested in.)

Man that's a bummer. So far I've got: The Coast Guard plane, The Melting Room, The orange Creator car, the Mountain Cabin, The Treehouse, and the Pet Shop. and this week I finally found the AT RT at the Lego store. ...still haven't put the Pet Shop together and I'm really hoping it's not missing any pieces. With a 222 piece set missing a piece, a 2,000+ piece set has me a little worried. And it's going to be weeks until I have the time and space to unbox and assemble it. ....mostly I was really surprised how I just seemed to refuse to believe it happened. I kept looking, and looking again, and looking again,...and finally separated all the pieces by color until I was left being forced to admit it just wasn't there. Not a huge deal, except I'd been looking for this kit for weeks, found it Tuesday, and finally got to unbox it last night. Bag #1 went together with no problem. (and I love the little Clone Trooper,..I guess I assumed the head would be one piece, so seeing that it's a head and a tiny little helmet was a neat surprise. ..that little helmet is so cool!) Bag #2,...step number 5. *BANG!* ..."no more Lego kit for you tonight", said the Gods of Plastic and Thunder. Was so disappointed I just bagged it all up, ... searched Eurobricks real quick to figure out what to do,..and did the Customer Service thing on Lego.com In their defense they made it incredibly easy to find and order the missing piece. Just sucks that I know it'll probably be 3 weeks or so until it arrives. Were it a normal piece I'd have just grabbed one from another kit to finish the build, but it's an odd piece.

Glad I picked up the Pet Shop recently. At the Lego store Tuesday night the employee said the Emporium would be next to go. (for what it's worth)

6 Kits in and my first missing piece. 75002 the Lego Star Wars AT RT, hit the missing piece on step #5. Couldn't believe it, I kept digging through the pieces for 10 minutes before I admitted that it really just wasn't there. Pretty disappointing, I've been looking forward to this little kit for a while. I really hope the Pet Shop modular I got (which I haven't had space or time to assemble) is complete, now I'm worried. I'm in the middle of moving so I really wanted a small 200 piece kit to do in the evening since I don't really have the time or space to do the Pet Shop or any of the big kits I got. So I've been looking for the Highway Speedster and the AT RT as small kits I could do in the evening with limited space. Finally I got to sit down to it last night, and right there on step 5, a little 2 stud brick with a hinge on one side,..directions said grab two,..there was only one. Anyway thanks to searching in this great forum I was quickly able to figure out the solution and had filled out the Lego Customer Service form and have them mail me a replacement piece within like 20 minutes. ..stinks that I have to wait weeks to put this kit together, but really cool of Lego to offer a replacement that's basically, "no questions asked." When I put together the first bag, which is Yoda, the Droid, the Clone Trooper, and the tri-pod gun,...I was left with a bunch of left over pieces. An extra lightsaber handle (no blade), an extra set of Droid arms,..and a few little studs and bits. I thought it was weird that I had so much 'extra.' I wonder if that threw off the weight or something for the kit? I'm not sure how Lego packages these, but I imagine they're weighed by computer and that's probably how they can tell if a piece is missing. Since this had a few extra pieces in bag #1 I guess that kept the weight where it was supposed to be. Bummer though. This forum has been extremely helpful in answering my questions though, really helpful. A very good resource for those of us who are new to all this. Thanks again Eurobricks.

thanks again everyone. I made my way to the Lego store in the Woodfield Mall last night and was blown away! What a cool store! Even the light fixtures looked like giant Lego elements. Talked to the guy working there and they will sell me boxes of particular bricks no problem, so that problem is solved! Signed up for the VIP club and bought a Stormtrooper keychain and the Star Wars AT-RT set while I was there. Btw the folks who work there have the patience of saints. I couldn't believe the kids running around unattended like people just drop them off there while they shop? What the hell? Seriously? The cashier even had a little girl (real little, like 4 years old) that kept going behind the counter and messing with stuff. And he was so nice he was like, "Hey sweetie you can't be back here, I don't want you to get hurt." And where was Dad? Talking to the cashier about some Lego kit he wanted that wasn't in stock. *roll-eyes* Seriously dude, police your kid,..you're standing right there. I loved seeing all the Modular sets in stock, I was drooling over a few of them. And all the kits I've been looking for (minus the haunted house) they had in stock. Was shocked at some of the prices compared to Toys R Us, which is also in that mall and I stopped in there first because I was walking past it. The 'Galaxy' set with the orange and white Mech (70707) and a couple alien/bug looking things? $39.99 at the Lego store, and $55. at Toys R Us. The Creator Highway Speedster (31006) ,...$35. at Toys R Us and $25. at the Lego store. I couldn't believe that. I mean they're in the same building like 50 yards apart,...but what a price difference. I imagined this way Toys R Us can have a 10% off sale,....and still be sticking it to people. ....what shady behavior. I think I'll never step foot in a Toys R Us again. ..that left a really bad taste in my mouth seeing them do that. But anyway, point of this post: Thanks so much for suggesting checking out the Lego store. It was a great experience and the guys that worked there were really great guys and fun to talk with for a few minutes.

And now I know what Lego lust feels like. WANT!!! hahaha. They had me at AT-ST

Thanks, that helps a lot. I guess that seals the deal that I need to check out the Lego store. I'm in Chicago and I remember reading there's one around here somewhere. Suppose I could build the supports and things for the highway (like the wall) out of something else and use Lego as a facade, I hadn't considered that. ..I'd wanted to build the whole thing out of Lego/Plastic Bricks but I guess that's not really cost effective. The highway is really just background, to seal off one side of the street. (because I can't afford houses/buildings on both sides of the street.)

Thanks, I'll keep looking around. It's hard to psyche myself up to spend $300. on a highway retaining wall.

btw I looked at 'Pick a brick' and it's $600. for 2000 of those bricks in grey (I don't see tan offered),..I can't help but think there must a cheaper alternative. I've already spent close to $500. on bricks so far in the past couple months, so I'm trying to stay within a reasonable budget for this project. I'm not a rich rock star, I just do this (music/art) for a living,..so it all comes out of my pocket.

that's amazing. The overhead shot with the chandelier is very impressive.

I'd be happy if they'd make Lego City Undercover not a Wii exclusive game. Hahaha ..the game I really want to play on the system I don't own. *sigh*

My next music video I plan on having a big part of it have Lego and stop motion, but I need to build a wall that's maybe 3 to 4 feet long and maybe 2 feet tall. I was thinking maybe light tan or light grey made out of the blocks that are 2x4? ...like this.. Where do you go to buy a couple thousand of just those? I did a search online and got back too many results and too many sites with very confusing navigation. I've bought about half of the parts I need to build the entire set (I think), but I need to figure out how to build a road, highway, on-ramp, and a huge retaining wall, (and possibly columns holding up the Highway overpass past the retaining wall.) This is probably a dumb question with an obvious answer I'm overlooking, but I'd appreciate any help/advice. The script is done, the song and storyboards are done and the set is fully designed and about halfway built. I'd like to get the rest of the parts I need as easily and painlessly as possible so we can get to work making the actual video. Thanks Eurobricks. :)

that's amazing. I can't understand how people have the patience to design things in LDD and such. It takes me forever to find the pieces I'm looking for and by then I'd rather just throw some plastic on the table and slap it together.

I'm a book lover, can't help myself. I hate seeing books mistreated. PDF only?! The Horror!

dangit,..now you make me want to go to Target and look around. Hahahaha "the instruction manuals were in bad shape. They really looked like they were forced in, then more bags pushed in on top." that's exactly how mine were as well. I wouldn't personally go to the trouble of trying to order a replacement,..we kind of shouldn't have to. Btw,..the fireplace is really cool. The skull mounted on it somehow just makes it really cool and rustic. ...the small pile of 'logs' next to it is a very nice touch as well. I think you'll enjoy the build.

Well, I'm a working musician which basically means I live hand to mouth much of the time (feast or famine), so when I spend money on something and it ends up being kind of messed up,..it really bugs me. And (don't kill me for saying this) while the very first Lego I bought (actually my GF bought) was the very small Coast Guard Seaplane, the first Big sets I bought were the 3 big Kreo Transformer sets, and they're really nice sets. The robot modes leave a bit to be desired, but the vehicle modes are exceptional imo. And since the boxes could be used as sorting trays and the books are all flat, with a glued spine on good, thick glossy paper,...that's what I was used to. But because lego is,..well LEGO,..I assumed it would be a lot better quality,..because reading online I keep reading about how superior Lego brand is. And it made sense to me,..they're the originators. So I bought the tree house kit, and I liked it. The books were slightly mangled but I liked the kit itself and the heavy green baseplate, and I figured it was a fluke that the books were crushed. I cut a notch into the box flap so it would stay closed and that was that, I wasn't unhappy or anything. Then I got the Pet Shop/Townhouse and was .... well, it's awesome. The box has a flap to stay closed, the instructions were packaged neatly, ... and I just really like the kit,...can't wait to get more big modulars (I'm actually planning on using them in my next music video.) So then when I got the Cabin yesterday and got home and realized the mountain was really 2 BURPS,..and the books are just mangled and balled up,...and I'd just spent close to $40., basically twice what I paid for a Kreo kit,...I was just like, "WTH? Are you kidding me? How is the 'knock-off' so much better for half the price?" But I spent a good chunk of the evening putting it together with my GF and we had fun,...and that was kind of cool. It's the first one in the short time I've been buying these that she's shown any interest,...so that was cool. But then today I woke up all grumpy and saw the boxes sitting in the corner and ended up getting online and kvetching like....well, like lots of people end up doing online I guess. Hahaha I still really like Lego and plan on getting many more Lego sets and a couple more Kreo (not much more interests me in the Kreo line), but I guess I'm viewing them a little more grounded today. Just seems like the best Brick Building company in the world would have a refined process for packaging the instructions so they're not all messed up. ...and the quality of the paper is really not very good, it's very thin, torn in a couple places, and one of the 3 books in the Mountain set has that feel to it like it got wet at some point. Hard to describe but if you've ever seen a magazine get wet and dry out, you know it gets a certain look and rough feel to it. It was just disappointing. I should just learn not to build my hopes up and stuff. ..but I don't know or understand the Lego business. Maybe it's all really expensive to produce and a $40. kit is a great price,..but maybe it isn't. I just don't know. I do know the mountain cabin kit seems like hundreds of tiny little pieces like 1x1 studs, instead of a bunch of plates and bricks like I'd hoped. But out of 7 total kits between the two brands,..being disappointed in only 1 out of the 7,...*shrug*,...that's really not a terrible ratio. Again I'm not trying to badmouth Lego, I didn't grow up with them so I just have no nostalgia or anything for them. Most of my childhood was spent with a guitar in my hands. I knew about Lego (who doesn't?) but they were either too expensive at the time or maybe I just never asked for any,...I really don't remember. Just as an adult consumer I'm not used to buying a product that seems like some angry guy at the factory grabbed the bags and manuals and slammed them all into the box at the same time as hard as he could. I'm used to things being packaged really well so it's not damaged. I guess I was just surprised is all. And I admit it kind of bugs me now knowing that all the other kits I want to buy have a really good chance at having the manuals all smashed up as well. ...it really doesn't encourage me to part with my money....but I'm sure I probably will anyway, even if slightly begrudgingly. It's really not a big deal,....but it kinda is?..maybe it's the principle of the thing to me. If someone pays for something with their hard earned money they deserve to get a product that isn't damaged right out of the box.

yeah I put up a Fender Stratocaster for sale this week to get some extra money for bricks. and the HHouse is top of the list. I really want the Town Hall too,..with the Coosoo Delorean from back to the future. ...they sure seem like they're meant to be together.