BirdOPrey5

Who is Merlin?

Only the discovery centers bar adults because let's face it, the only reason an adult would want to go is to abduct or abuse children. (Not my opinion, Lego's opinion.)

BricTek does bulk parts - and special pieces.

I have been buying a lot of the clone brands to figure out which are worth my while and which are not. I actually just built the Sluban Cruiser (883 pieces, 26 inches/66 cm long) this past weekend and made a video of it. Overall BricTek has been my favorite clone brand with WOMA and Sluban very close behind. What I really enjoy about these brands are the sets that Lego will never make- military themes mostly- Battle Ships, Stealth Fighters, Apache Helicopters, even replicas of guns. The absolute worst clone brand I have tried so far was- Mega Bloks! That's right- the worst by far. So far only one set, I won't do an official brand review until I build at least 2 sets but the ProBuilder "Carbon" Fighter Jet was nearly impossible to build- the studs simply would not line up no matter what I did, I literally had to use a rubber mallet to bash the wings onto the body. Not something you could expect a kid to do- there were poor reviews on Amazon from parents complaining their kids couldn't put it together but I've seen parents complain about sets that were perfectly fine before. Oh, the Mega Bloks was also the first new-in-box set I ever purchased from any brand to be missing a piece. I have yet to try Enlighten but I hear good things.

If that is true than the 2009 bricks must be indestructible as I recently came into a large collection of 80's/90's Lego stored in "less than ideal" conditions for a decade and they are in excellent shape and with near perfect colors.

My Lego pieces from the 80's with the Shell logo on them confirm this isn't a new partnership. Anyway, not like I could care about what Greenpeace wanted any less.

I will admit yellow skin is closer to white people skin than black people skin but a face is a face is a face. I have two cousins, siblings, a boy and girl just a year apart. The girl is "pretty" and the boy is handsome by most standards. As a joke one year I was showing someone how to use photoshop at a family gathering so I decided to put the sister's face on the bother's head and vice-versa... The result was unbelievable. They both have virtually the exact same face! Merely copying just the face (and not the hair) and you could barely tell I moved anything at all. There is little to no difference in what makes a male face vs a female face until you start adding makeup or purposely add a beard or mustache. A face is a face and I think it is sexist to say girl's can't imagine a Lego mini-figure is a woman- it is in fact insulting to suggest that.

Is that really a fact? Perhaps your Lego mini-figures have genetalia but mine do not. Who is to say if a person in a space suit is a guy or girl? Who is to say a person with a baseball cap is a guy or girl? Who is to say even someone with a short haircut is a guy or girl? DO all females need to have lipstick and long hair and a low cut blouse? Those are gender stereotypes which aren't healthy either. If someone sees 4 space MEN below I submit they are the one being sexist, not Lego. Kids can imagine they are playing with anyone they want.

MAybe he's independently wealthy and just keeps a job for socialization reasons. Would probably have to have some money to go from hobby to hobby.

The teachers use the students as pawns to further their own agendas. I love how Lego's response effectively said they were completely wrong about everything- which they were.

I disagree. Lego does not get to tell me what I can or can't build with their bricks. They also can't tell me I can't take a picture of my creations. Their product is intended for people to build things, custom things, with. Their red "Lego" logo trademark isn't being used in these photos- it's not my fault people wrongly assume use of Lego bricks in an image implies something it doesn't- I would never think that just because I saw Lego being used to build something it implied the Lego company was behind it. The addition of a specific line of text explaining it is not endorsed by Lego to remove all doubt is more than fair.

I think it's OK they put a disclaimer that the images had nothing to do with the official position of the Lego group... but I don't like that Lego tries to tell people how they can or can't use Lego bricks in pictures/advertising. I bought the bricks, they are mine to do with what I please. If I was an artist and I bought clay from someone, would that someone be able to tell me I'm not allowed to sculpt something specific with their clay. "No Catholic saints can be sculpted with this clay" or if I sold real bricks, the kind you build houses with, could I stipulate "Nothing you build with these bricks can be used in advertising a political party in the future." Of course not. Lego bricks are raw materials and they should have no claim over how they get used than any other producer of raw materials.

I realize some people managed to get their hands on Benny's Spaceship (SPACESHIP) a month or two back from overseas but here in the USA official release was just a couple days ago. Mine came in the mail today, haven't started it yet, not exactly sure when I will- I just like looking at the box right now. Can anyone tell me if Benny's helmet comes pre-cracked? I ask because in all the box artwork it is cracked EXCEPT one place in the corner that seems to be an image of all the mini-figures included where it is not cracked. I've been going through my large collection of legos that had been lost and found in a garbage can sitting for 10+ years at my Aunt's house, requiring extensive cleaning and I just found my first original Benny-style space helmet yesterday, albeit in yellow... and it is cracked in the very same spot. I guess it was one of the reasons that style needed the re-design.

The classic flowers that appear in the wide image at the top of the page,

I'll be honest- I don't care about super-heros or any of these fancy mini-figures... honestly I don't really care about mini-figures at all short of some of my favorites from the 80's/early 90's.. I have never bought a Lego set for the mini-figures it has and doubt I ever will. (Although I would buy Star Trek if available.) That said I proudly display lego-compatible builds right next to my authentic Lego sets. Just this weekend I did an Apache gunship - it's a nice big size (54 cm / 22") and quality looks as good as anything Lego would put out, but of course Lego would never put a weapon of war out. Plus it probably cost half what a similarly sized Lego set would have cost. However, I do keep my "extra" non-Lego pieces apart from my Lego ones. I have no qualms about mixing them in a build but for storage purposes best to keep them apart because it would be a big pain to try and separate later.

Usually... especially if it's a new project.Been on it a few weeks now... when you think each one needs a minimum of 28 supporters every day for every day of the year the chances any that aren't tied to something else popular (like a game) can ever make it. Might as well leave my comment, if it's a good design, better than nothing.

At this scale the little piece of plastic between the legs looks less innocent.

I know I had some of the old style space helmets (the kind Benny has in the movie) somewhere. I could have sworn I was even holding one and put it aside but when I went to look for it, I couldn't find it. I did find one solid blue "Benny" torso that was naturally faded much like he was in the movie, and I had plenty of blue legs, so all I need is the original helmet. I have plenty of the newer style helmets. At about 50% through the pieces I have had to move the mini-figures to a 32x32 stud base plate... it's a little over 50% full. Mostly space people but also a lot of pirate crews. I also found dozens of the curved swords, they must have been the same across a few genres.

I was worried about birttleness but not finding any... I've tried bending some of the larger pieces like 1x10 or 12 tall bricks 4x12 plates and the like and they don't crack or break at all, they go back to their correct shape. A few 16x32 base plate got deformed, I think they were bent under pressure for a long time. I built lego up all round the edges to force them flat, I'll leave them for a few weeks and see if they go back to their correct shape.

I must say my experience with the clone brands "Flegos" if you will has been presently surprising. The brick quality of BricTek, Kre-o, Mega Bloks, and Sluban are very close to or identical to Lego in some cases. I have a few more brand sets waiting to be built I want to try. I won't mix the pieces with Lego but I will display them side by side.

When you say original there were the all blue guys like Benny, or the blue/white (or various other colors) that kind of had like a zipper going diagonally along the torso- were you looking for a specific one? How much are they going for?

I know real flowers have raised centers, but the center tends to be a different color than the flower itself so the little itty part of the green stem that pokes through the hole was the raised part for me when studs down.

OK... So where are the answers?

The re-release of retired sets is the only way to stop it. Selling on eBay isn't as complicated as you make it out to be, eBay will auto relist for you if unsold. You don't drive to the post office anymore, they pick it up from you for free. That said I don't ever recommend anyone sell on eBay.

I think the clone brands will keep pressure on Lego to be innovative and keep prices lower than they would otherwise be. Of course Lego is the Kleenex of the brick world... I personally say "Lego-like" when talking about non-Lego brands but I don't take it for granted when talking to someone who isn't a fan if they say something like "Legos for sale" that they mean the Lego brand.