jonwil

So the train includes the following items? Red diesel locomotive Flatbed car with helicopter Brown hopper car Flatbed car with backhoe loader Crane with scoop on the end and blue cab body And what else?

I guess it depends on the card and bank.

The helicopter isn't in Octan colors, its got an orange stripe.

Its not actually an Australian shop, as far as the bank is concerned its a foreign business (even though they charge in Australian Dollars). One way to avoid that is to look at one of the various credit cards out there (28 Degrees card is often cited as a good one but there are others) that doesn't charge a fee when you buy from these overseas stores.

Mr Toys Beenleigh has a catalog with a bunch of new product in it but they couldn't give me an actual release date for any of it (e.g. double decker couch)

Superheroes aren't a February release, they are March I think (both DC and Marvel)

Ideas is responsible for a number of awesome parts we wouldn't have otherwise gotten like the green classic space astronaut in the Exo-Suit, the star chart from the Research Institute and all the awesome printed parts and figs in the Ecto-1 set.

Yeah I think retailers would be annoyed that they are only getting some of the February releases right now and not the whole lot (i.e. LEGO Movie etc). Anyone know if we will be getting the Shell Ferrari promo sets (the ones that came out in Singapore and parts of Europe last year) alongside the F1 when it hits?

Does anyone know of the origin of the 1 x 1 tile in trans-orange? I have seen evidence that suggests such a thing exists but I have no knowledge of where it would have come from or how I can get my hands on some :)

I need to get off my bum and work up my 5-in-1 6-wide City cars idea and get it submitted. Its a great project for Ideas, its not too big and you can make 5 different car designs from the same set of parts so its got that factor to get you to buy multiples...

One option for the Piano idea could be to combine the Grand Piano idea with the similar Upright Piano idea from the same guy and produce an x-in-one set that produces 3 or 4 different styles of Piano from the same set of parts. More play value and more encouragement to buy multiples (so you can make one into the grand, one into the baby grand, one into the upright etc)

Big W Beenleigh has the new Creator Beach House and Toy & Grocery shop.

I suspect any safari or zoo type sets that get made will end up in Duplo, see http://brickset.com/sets/theme-Duplo/subtheme-Zoo Oh and LEGO have used the term Safari before in set names (including one of the aformentioned Duplo items).

I still think there is a chance they could take a punt on the modular museum. They know hoe well modulars sell (even more so than most sets) and they know the target audience for modulars is the sort of audience that would be interested in a museum.

They are likely still working on it. The original submission was a lot further away from an actual LEGO product than the Birds idea was.

Wall-E is a perfect fit for LEGO and the fact that the guy who made it worked on the film was a bonus :) I hope Doctor Who includes at least one of the Doctor's enemies (I wonder if its possible to produce a Dalek at minifig scale that would be satisfactory to LEGO and the BBC and that doesn't need any new molds, illegal building techniques or anything else that would rule it out) I suspect the Hubble was just too big (and also its not in the minds of the public in the way the mars rover was at the time that set was green-lit) I think its pretty clear that LEGO will never do a Ghostbusters HQ set because it would be too big. The best hope for more Ghostbusters stuff (assuming the Ecto-1 sold as well as I thought it did) would be the Stay-Puft set which isn't too big to work and is also instantly recognizable for anyone who has seen the film (next to the Ecto-1, the 4 guys and Slimer its probably the most recognizable thing from the film) Both DC and Marvel have big D2C sets available right now already (Tumbler and soon the Helicarrier) so it makes sense for them not to produce the Batman or X-Men houses (plus I suspect the size didn't do either creation any favors at the review and we dont know what the licenses have to say regarding Ideas projects from DC and Marvel or how that fits in or whether Marvel even wants X-Men toy product on the shelves right now because of their fights with Fox over it) As for the Star Wars stuff, we have an AT-AT released just last yet, the invisible hand is not very well known, its not from the content Disney/Lucas actually wants to promote right now (they seem to want to pretend that Clone Wars never existed from what I can see) and its too big and the lightsabers are too niche to sell (not to mention the license issues that go with Star Wars and the fact that some other company may have the exclusive license to produce replica lightsabers) From the next wave, the helicarrier is out for obvious reasons, the hornet is out because its too niche (like other video game projects), the Goonies boat is probably too big and too niche, the Flying Dutchman is too big, the Jurassic Park gates are probably too big and also we dont know if things from the first 3 films are on the radar screen or not. Given how poorly LOTR seems to have done (and Hobbit especially) I cant see the business case stacking up for a set as large as Minas Tirith. The museum has possibilities but it may be a bit on the big side for an Ideas set (yes modulars do sell but the museum looks to be a step or 2 above the modulars in terms of piece count and stuff plus we dont know if a modular museum will be as popular as the other themes LEGO has picked for its modulars). The marble maze looks fun and it doesn't look like its too big to work either (although it would be totally different to any product LEGO have ever made so that might count against it). As for the piano, what percentage of the usual target audience for LEGO or for Ideas sets actually like pianos (as opposed to the percentage of that group who are pushed by their parents into taking piano lessons they dont want to take and end up hating pianos for the rest of their life...)

Good luck with that :)

Its possible that it was put out early by mistake and there is an official "street date" before these sets are allowed to be sold (either set by LEGO or by the car makers) Possibly they want these to appear when the racing season starts (because of the race cars in the line)

Regarding the decision about which figs to include with the set (both the micro-figs and regular minifigs) that may not have been 100% LEGO, Marvel likely had input into it and LEGO may not have been able to include the figs they wanted to (e.g. Bruce Banner or Hulk or Thor)

Is it just me or does the helicopter in the underwater sets look almost exactly like a Chinook? Not that that's a bad thing given that the Chinook does get used in the real world for similar things to what its doing in the LEGO set...

Does anyone have friends set 41087? Is there someone who can take a picture showing the baby bunny placed on top of a top hat piece? I want to see how well the new smaller bunny would work for the "rabbit out of a hat" magic trick before I decide whether to buy the set...

Spotted a few things on my epic shopping odyssey today. A few Simpsons Houses at Target Garden City and I think also MYER Garden City if anyone is still looking for one. Anyone who wants a Palace Cinema, there was one lone box sitting on the shelves at David Jones Indooropilly. A few architecture sets (including the Trevi Fountain, UN building, Vila Savoye, Eiffel Tower and Leaning Tower of Pisa) at MYER Brisbane CBD. Oh and David Jones Brisbane CBD has at least 30 Fairground Mixers. (and yes I really did visit both Garden City AND Indooropilly today along with Carindale, Toombul, Chermside, Toowong and Brisbane CBD)

Not particularly enthused by the tram. The orange is great but the trans-black windscreens are going to sit in my box of large curved bits alongside all the white shell pieces from my Sydney Opera House. Will reserve judgement until we get pictures of the entire set (and some idea on price too)

Theme: City Workers. Figures: 1.Electrician with printed 1 x 2 multimeter/test tool and pliers 2.Bricklayer with mortar board and 1 x 2 "brick" brick (in a color it doesn't yet exist in like red-brown) 3.Airline Pilot with the hat from the sea captain in black with the same gold stripe and a gold pilot wings on the front and also a new design suitcase 4.Female doctor with some sort of new medical tool and a nice female hairpiece. 5.Postman with Santa sack as mailbag, new printed 1 x 2 letter tile and postie hat 6.Chef with chefs hat and some sort of fancy food item 7.Fireman with fire helmet and printed 1 x 1 round brick + tap as fire extinguisher 8.Janitor with mop and yellow bucket 9.Gardner with rake and maybe plant 10.Female maid with spray bottle 11.Busker with acoustic guitar and printed busker sign tile 12.Dentist with toothbrush and 1 x 2 toothpaste tile 13.Female teacher with printed book 14.Newspaper reporter with camera and printed tile 15.Bus driver with 1 x 2 bus ticket tile 16.Lawyer with briefcase and tile with legal stuff printed on it

Anyone remember when the Parisian Restaurant first appeared in MYER?