Vindicare

I went through this earlier this month, between a couple of Marvel sets or the Winter Village Train. I ended up getting the train namely because it'll be easier to save up the $50 or so for the Marvel sets, even though I ended up buying less sets. So, I would recommend Ninjago City, unless you'll have that money again in short order. Then again, I don't k own what kind of shelf life the Old Fishing Store will have, being an Ideas set? If the Old Fishing Store does have a shorter span, I'd go with that & Destiny's Bounty.

70612 Green Ninja Mech Dragon 100 2x2 dark tan tiles

LEGO Ninjago Movie. Another fun & great outing. The same humor we expect & a fantastic use of real world items.

That's a good point. The LEGO aisles at my TRU are huge. Star Wars stuff is the only section to rival it. And that's everything SW, of which partly contains LEGO sets.

Oh man, that's killer! I am a huge Starcraft fan. That's a great build and awesome job with the transformation.

I thought that last bunch were great, The Forbidden Forest being the only exclusion. The Knight Bus, The Burrow, Hogwarts Express. The Castle & subsequent "Battle" addition. All great sets. Come to think of it, the Dobby's Release set was rather lackluster as well.

Star Wars aside, and using Superheroes as the stand in "Action" theme, Marvel is pretty close to Action themes of the past, although it does kinda feel like they don't have that "big" set. Looking at this years Marvel sets(excluding Mighty Micros), we have dollar amounts of $20(X 3), $30(X 2), $40, $50(X 2), $60(X 2). DC is worse for dollar range and amount of sets. Using Monster Fighters & Pharoah's Quest to compare, MF had $7, $12, $20, $35, $40, $50, $80, and $100(excluding the S@H exclusive). Then PQ is similar at, $5, $10, $20, $30, $50, and $100. Both of those themes felt complete & had that one big ticket set that brought it all together. I did feel the 3 GotG sets had that this year, and the prices were on point. But overall, it would be nice to see a return to that price scale. *Thinking more, perhaps Nexo Knights and/or Ninjago fit the bill better, but I used Superheroes because I collect those and therefore pay more attention to them*

Heh, I'm all up to speed on Modulars & since I really only collect City and Superheroes. Now that I'm thinking about it, I wouldn't mind swapping a few for 10221 Super Star Destroyer. But then I'd have to take some of that money to buy something to put it on.

Not really a "which set" but more of a "which promo." I've been eyeballing the Lloyd minfigure that is going to be available in few days time for awhile now, plus there is the VIP points(which will put me over to another $5). Then there's the Bricktober Batman pack. I don't know if I want to wait & chance getting it after the whole deal is over, as in years past they had a large amount of leftovers-but nine have been Batman.

Ooh, I love lists! I think I did pretty well... I have a total of 795.93 76035 Jokerland-$119.99 76084 The Ultimate Battle for Asgard-$49.99 76088 Thor vs. Hulk: Arena Clash-$59.99 10259 Winter Village Station-$79.99 70612 Green Ninja Mech Dragon-$49.99 70620 Ninjago City-$299.99 70904 Clayface Splat Attack-$39.99 70907 Killer Croc Tail-Gator-$69.99 70911 The Penguin Arctic Roller-$29.99

I went in TRU today to ask about Bricktober...but they didn't have any info. One guy did say, but not entirely sure, that I couldn't buy just the pack, until the week after they're the offer. Is this typical? I've seen comments saying otherwise. I know they had plenty of stock from last years...but I don't see the Batman ones having much, of any, leftovers.

From a business perspective, I get the desirable fig in a high dollar set. As a fan & collector, it sort of irks me *cough* Velma *cough* I can't agree more on their success of Dimensions minifgs. I have quite a few, including the Fantastic Beasts story pack, just because I want the minifigs. And there's at least a dozen I plan on getting.

Kinda hoping we get some "Bat Merch" kids in the CMF series...

I said both Space & Castle, as they both hold fond memories. I'd love to see reimagined M-Tron, Blacktron, and the like. And Wolfpack on the Castle side.

The Superheroes theme is a time where one really has to remember this is a toy for kids to play with...but I agree with you. As an adult who collects the theme, I'd love to see more Bridge Battles & Daily Bugles and less....of everything else. Give us locations. They need to start thinking like a realtor... Location! Location! Location! As for Batman Movie sets, I think you're missing out. Despite what I said above about the overabundance of vehicles in the Superheroes theme, the Movie vehicles are all pretty great. The Batmobile is fantastic. I'm not even a real fan of Lowriders, but Jokers is probably my favorite set of the line.

Very cool layout. I'm always a bit unsure about having a straight road plate end abruptly at a building, but your use of it in the residential area works nicely I think.

While most seem to not be updated, brickbuildr.com has a listing of what stores have what.

I would go with the Brick Bank then. Since play is a big factor, you can have a break in, heist, hostage situation, car chase, everything a good action movie calls for. Plus, I got a kick out of the vault door. Ha! There's definitely TONS of interior space to play...just need an imagination.

Well, if you want a one & done, then go with Assembly Square, as there's 3 building options. However(since we all know the slippery slope that is Modulars ) the Brick Bank & Parisian Restaurant both have fantastic interiors.

Brickbuildr.com has the Köln store's wall updated a week ago. At least, partly.

This is when I need to remind myself it's a kids toy: all the vehicles. I've skipped out on a lot of vehicles that I really like, because I just have so many, and they're virtually the same. I was so ecstatic when we got the new van last year, I jumped at that one(especiallly for its price). It's completely understandable with SW, but with Superheroes it's a bit more frustrating. That stuff should be more location based. But, they have parameters to work in & they know their target audience(again, the reminder).

I like it. Not very fond of the big plastic tires, but it works for the Hulks. I really like Red Hulks vehicle more. The play feature is quite clever too. And fun. Crashing launching Hulks. Initially I thought they were strange, still kinda are, but since building them, they've grown me. But yes, it's a shame it was a bit too pricey...luckily the figs more than make up for it. She Hulk is amazing.

I was talking about this just today...they need to reel it in. It seems like they're trying too hard. Brickheadz was a market they never needed to get into. It's pretty evident they're jumping on the coat tails of Funko, in their own way. And, do we really need the DC Hero Girls? Juniors? It seems like they're trying to cater to every demographic possible, and that's a losing battle in my opinion. I get that they have people & market research who know more than the average collector, but it's just too much. Then we have big ticket items...it definitely feels like too much. There's currently...what? five Modulars are on the market? theres just so many great quality sets that are available at one time, it's hard to keep up.

76078 Hulk vs. Red Hulk

I don't think Licensed is taking over, maybe it was because of LEGO Batman? I think a special note should be added for City. We constantly complain about the revolving door of Police/Fire. Look at the last few years, all the different "explorers" off shoots we've got. There were many sets that I would've liked the get, it was just other stuff took precedence.