jonwil

If I see it tomorrow at Australia Fair or whatever, I will be sure to post and let you know.

Don't waste your time going to Queen Street, I checked Mr Toys, Big W, David Jones, Target and MYER and none of them had the Captain America set in stock. For those in QLD, Brisbane CBD MYER has now got all the August stock (including the Movie stuff) on the shelf. They also have stock of the BTTF set, Sopwith Camel and the 3 Minecraft sets (micro world, village and nether). No modulars though. Big W Brisbane CBD has at least one Sea Cow if anyone is still looking for one. Nothing worth mentioning at David Jones, Target or Mr Toys.

Its definatly LEGO original, I bought a few of the same figs and the laptops I got look exactly like that.

Your best option would be the torso, legs and flasks from this http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?S=col11-11 (available on Bricklink at reasonable prices) then an appropriate head and hair.

Wizard is awesome, gotta get one of those. Would work well for a kids birthday party I recon as well as other uses in a more fantasy or traditional setting. Love the video game guy, need 2 of those I recon. Heads with new varieties of eyeglasses are always good. Space Miner is a maybe, the helmet is interesting as is the ray gun drill and the torso/legs with the harness/straps, not so sure about the armor or the head. Lifeguard is definatly on the list, the board shorts are interesting and the red binoculars are very useful (I have them in light bley, dark grey, dark bley, black, green and pearl gold but not in red) and I am sure I can find a use for more lifeguard floats. Heads with new styles of sunglasses are also useful. Joker is great, purple and orange is an interesting color combination and the printed playing cards look good. Dino Tracker would be more useful if the torso wasn't "damaged" with the scratches. I think this figure could also work quite well in some sort of zombie outbreak situation (the green syringe and capsules make me think of the anti-virus from the resident evil films for example). Still might get one though (I have one of those bows but another one cant hurt plus maybe the pants could be useful) Gotta get multiples of the pizza delivery guy, the shirt, the hat, the pizza box and the pizza are all great. Head is perfect for that pimply-faced-teenager look. Not sure why (given the colors dont even match) but the first thing that springs to mind when I look at the pizza guy is Fry from Futurama. Rock Star is also a must-have, perfect for that heavy metal setup with that studded leather jacket, cool hair and awesome guitar. And yet another pair of sunnies on a nice-looking head. Had brief thoughts that the torso might work for one of those biker dudes but then I realized that http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=973pb1399c01 or http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=973pb467c01 would be better for that :)

Don't bother with Pacific Fair, MYER website says Pacific Fair is out of stock, Toys R Us have gone and K-Mart Pacific Fair have crappy stock levels (or did last time I looked). Plus the place is a bit annoying with all the construction going on. Best options on the coast would probably be Australia Fair at Southport (Mr Toys might have it) or Runaway Bay (Mr Toys, Big W or Target could have it). MYER website says Brisbane City has stock but that might be a bit far for you to go (I will be heading up to Brisbane CBD tomorrow and then Southport and possibly Hellensvale on Tuesday, if I see it when I am out I will post here)

I for one always do the "feel" trick when buying my CMFs. There are retailers out there who dont like it (or keep their CMFs behind the counter so you cant feel them) but if you encounter those just buy from elsewhere.

I for one also hope we get a Lamborghini in the line. I own the blue Lambo cop car and wish I had been able to pick up the yellow Lambo and would definatly buy a Lambo if one came out. (its too bad that the yellow Lambo and its sticker sheet cost so much on Bricklink :( )

Ok, I see now. I thought it was the same piece as the nose of the F12 but its not, its similar but different. If anything, its more like the rear end piece of last years 250GT but with some extra plastic added to it.

Too bad there is no schoolboy outfit torso one could use for that guy from AC/DC...

Am I the only one who thinks the Rock Star could work well for hard rock/metal, what with the studs on the torso and legs and arms, the silver lightning bolts in the hair and that sliver belt? (more so than the other music-type figs we have gotten in the past). Even the guitar would be a nice fit for metal especially with the out-there shape of the thing.

If there is one color I want more of, its trans-purple, there is nowhere near enough. (you cant even get something as basic as the 1 x 1 round plate in trans-purple :( )

I dont see any parts in these Shell sets that are new or never seen before, all the parts have appeared before (a couple ARE new-for-2014 though) Even the nose of the cars is not new, its the same nose as on some of the previous cars.

If I was in charge of The LEGO Group, I would: 1.Look at Bricklink, Eurobricks and elsewhere to identify part/color combos (where both the piece mold and pigment are still available) that are hotly desired by the community and very popular but are either non-existent (i.e. hasn't been made in a set before) or existed but are discontinued and are very hard to get/rare/expensive (i.e. used to be in a set but now commands a high price on eBay/Bricklink/etc) and encourage set designers to look at ways to put those part/color combos in sets (ala how they put the dark blue arch in the Winter Village Market partially because of its desirability among AFOLs for the early modulars). This would make really rare parts (e.g. some of those from the early modulars, UCS Falcon etc) available again and make unavailable-but-highly-desired parts available for the first time. Doing this would also encourage AFOLs and fans to buy specific new sets they wouldn't otherwise buy just to get the rare parts. (so instead of paying big $ on bricklink or eBay for a rare part, they would spend that same money buying the new set directly from LEGO instead, likely spending less and having money left over to buy even more sets) 2.Release a NEW Ultimate Collectors Series Millennium Falcon (not a re-release of the old one but a totally new set) and produce it in massive quantities (with no limits on how many sets can be made or which retailers can carry it, let any retailer carry it if they want to) 3.Produce a proper Space theme with human bad guys (ala Blacktron) and not aliens (like all recent space themes seem to have done), one that harks back to the golden age of LEGO Space. Look to the Spaceship Spaceship SPACESHIP! and all the great Classic Space, Futuron, Space Police, M:Tron, Blacktron and Ice Planet sets for inspiration and to the more recent space themes such as UFO, Insectoids, Mars Mission, Space Police III and Galaxy Squad for ideas about what NOT to do. The LEGO Movie Spaceship in particular shows just how it would be possible to build a theme that takes inspiration from all the great Space products of old but still uses modern building techniques, parts and play features that would make it attractive to the kids of today. 4.Reduce the spend on licensing of these various unknown-quantity films like Speed Racer, Prince of Persia and Lone Ranger (i.e. properties that, when the license was being considered, had not shown that they would be successful enough to make the LEGO products viable as compared to more popular things like Star Wars or Super Heroes that were already popular enough as both before LEGO got the license) 5.Include more "modern day occupations" in the Collectable Minifigures series along the lines of the Butcher, Mechanic, Pizza Guy, Decorator, Plumber, Computer Programmer, Judge, Librarian, Lumberjack, Nurse, Welder, Zookeeper etc. So many occupations that would make perfect CMFs (if only Cricket was popular enough outside of the Commonwealth to make a Cricket Player a viable choice for a CMF...) 6.Introduce a requirement that, unless its a special mold for a special purpose (e.g. for a specific Star Wars minifig or a one-off for a particular CMF or a specialty part like the Mindstorms stuff), all new molds must have buy-in for more than one set before they get green-lit for production. This gets more use out of the molds, ends the practice of molds that get made and used in one set only then never used again when they could be used more widely and makes the parts easier to get. (e.g. the goat has to date only appeared in a single set which isn't the best way to get a good return-on-investment for the mold costs) 7.Clean up LEGO Ideas a bit more and remove projects that are clearly not suitable for production (e.g. where its obvious just from looking at them that they are too big to be a viable Ideas set or where it would conflict with an existing announced LEGO project like the various Mini projects on the site that conflict with the new Mini Cooper set or where there are sets present that clearly aren't a good "brand fit" for LEGO like the James Cameron Avatar projects I can see on the site). Also change the way the time limit works so that sets have a certain amount of time to get to 1k then another bigger amount to get to 5k then even more time to get to 10k (that way projects that sit there and go nowhere for 3 months disappear but sets that get close to 10k within the current 12 month limit still have a chance if its clear they are actually moving forward). I would also restrict or ban ideas based on real world brands/businesses (e.g. the modular apple store) as those generally aren't the best fit for what LEGO does. And if its known that a particular license isn't fesable for Ideas (e.g. if Zelda is known not to be a viable license because of discussions with Nintendo or if Star Wars projects have issues because of the deal with Lucas rather than just because they conflict with existing products) I would call that out on the site and ban projects for that license completly. (wouldn't even need to specify why just that "it is not possible for us to produce LEGO Ideas sets based on xyz at this time and any submissions based on xyz will be rejected". Oh and I would encourage more 8.Introduce greater variety into the Technic line instead of the same thing again and again (front end loaders, backhoes, F1-style race cars, cranes, tow trucks). Stop whatever requirement insists that all higher-end technic sets must include power functions (most of the great higher-end technic sets of the past didn't have or need electric bits to make them great sets). Release a true successor to the legendary 8880 Supercar, one that is BIG and has a lot of highly detailed features and the look of a proper sports car. And NO power functions or electrics of any kind. 9.Introduce a greater variety of colors of hair pieces, specifically more hair pieces in "blond" colors and other lighter hair colors (tan and that light yellow color) and in greys and white (for old people) and 10.Bring back true "Model Team" sets, starting with a highly detailed and cool looking model of what us Aussies call a UTE. (but what most of the rest of the world calls a Pickup Truck).

Its not new, it first came out in this years City airport fire truck and has since appeared in the new City cargo train, the Arctic boat, a Star Wars set and a Chima set. I do like these polybags, especially the tanker and the shell station. I hope that A.These do appear in Australia like the last batch did and B.It is possible for me to buy them without having to purchase any petrol (not having a car makes buying petrol a bit difficult and pointless :) I also hope they use the same nifty pullback motor piece again (I was somewhat stupid and accidentally destroyed the internals of the one from my Ferrari FXX polybag by taking it to bits to see what was inside and would like to get another one that actually works) Oh and the 2-plate-high curvy slope pieces aren't new either, that part appeared unprinted in this years City police station and again in this years City train station as well as appearing with various prints in the Juniors Castle, Batman, Ninja Turtles, Police and Fire sets.

I wonder if there will be any helicopters (police or otherwise) in City for 2015. LEGO have had at least one helicopter in the City line for every year since it began as far as I am aware so I am sure they will continue with more helicopters in the City lineup (at least as long as their focus group and marketing efforts continue to show that kids like helicopters)

Alexandria is one of the main points for packages and parcels and mail to enter Australia (when you see mail being inspected on Border Security etc, it would be at Alexandria or a similar facility in Brisbane, Melbourne or Perth)

Quite a few LEGO design people (including IIRC at least one person involved with parts design) has said that a trans-clear minifig is impossible for 2 reasons, firstly that the hands (and presumably also the hip pegs) are too thin to be made out of Polycarbonate (the plastic used for transparent parts) and secondly that if you join one polycarbonate part to another polycarbonate part, they can be difficult to separate (so e.g. a polycarbonate head on a polycarbonate neck peg would be very very hard to get off without damage to one or both parts)

ANOTHER police station? :(

Assuming you really cant get the trans-red part out of the other part, your best bet would be www.bricklink.com Because you only need a few parts, if you order from a New Zealand (or Australian) bricklink store, your postage will likely be much lower than the $20 you talk about for ordering from LEGO directly. (especially if you are able to get the parts sent as "letter" postage)

This link http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemIn.asp?P=2495&in=S shows all 68 sets that contain the hand-cart.

They used to do a range of sets like this one: http://brickset.com/sets/7566-1/Farmer Multiple themes got them (Pirates, Space Police III, City, Castle, Mars Mission and Atlantis all had these sets) but they have now vanished. As others have said, they were probably not as attractive to kids as either the CMFs or sets like this years police motorbike (which is the current bottom-of-the-range set in the City line). That and because of the fixed costs of production of a set like that, packaging, distribution etc etc (costs that aren't as high with the CMFs) the sets did feel like they weren't as good value as some of the next sets up in the ranges they were in. Personally I liked the impulse sets and bought the entire line (every set that LEGO made that came in that size of box that I was actually able to buy) but I can see why they replaced them with the CMFs (and made the next size up of set the lowest price point they would do for regular-release themes)

I never have sets sitting around unbuilt, if I buy a set I will usually build it straight away (or if I have bought multiple sets at once I will build them one after the other)

Big W Beenleigh now has all the new stock (City, Movie, TMNT etc)

I suspect the water police sets will use the existing yellow life jacket element and wouldn't print it on the torso.