Vorkosigan

Nice fortress and surrounding scenery. You did a good job of integrating old and new parts and figures without it clashing.

If you can get Joust for around the original price, its worth a buy. For a village set I'd go for Medieval Market Village over Mill Village Raid. Its more expensive but its double the parts and a more interesting build. With MVR a big part of the price is the goats which are worth around $20 each. The goats are neat but to me that's not worth it.

Good suggestion about the availability in flesh. But I wish they'd make this door in reddish brown. It could also use a nice print with wood grain and printing of four recessed panels.

I saw this at Brickworld and it was awesome! I especially like the library.

Every time I see this thread title I think its about a vacuum for picking up LEGO off the floor.

Did it update the database when you started? Did you load a wanted list?

I think the big problem I have is that its the final wave, its in a set with the words BATTLE and ARMIES and it has no troops except orcs. Similar to how you want armored elfs from Mirkwood Elf Army but to me worse since its THE set about the final battle. Its true that a random wall is even less relevant though.

Brickficiency has worked well for me. You do need to get a little used to the settings and pay attention to your wanted list having proper configurations (not specifying new for long discontinued items etc). There is also Brickwizard, I personally couldn't get it to work but it claims to be faster.

Now that I've actually built this set I have a few comments on the build: Much more complex and IMO realistic than the 90s sub. Most of the sub is unused room which could contain the engine, and we have the big ballast tanks underneath. There is no space for this stuff on the older set. Downsides compared to the old subs is that the arms are too big, and too limited in movement due to the click joints. I much prefer the original snakelike arms, even though the set of attachments on the left arm is nice. I felt like there were a couple tricky parts to this build. First, putting the stickers inside the 1x2x2 hollow panel was difficult, and my hands aren't even that big. Need to get some tweezers for this sort of thing. Second the hollow tubes on the outside of the ballast tank take some trial and error to get inserted the right depth into the arms that attach them to the octagon ring. If its too tight it bows inward, if its too far out then it pops the octagons off the ends of the tanks. Overall a great set. I just wish they had released a large sub as well, instead of a big plane and helicopter.

How about The Hobbit "Battle of Five Armies." It looks nothing like Dale, and instead of soldiers to represent the armies it has only named characters (except the orcs). Plus of course an extraneous orc siege weapon.

Age of Mythology? I harbor some faint hope that LEGO will do an ancient mythology theme some day as that is the only way I see us getting several ancient cultures at once. There is also a faint chance for a licensed theme for a movie along the lines of Wrath of the Titans or Hercules, but I think these tend to skew too old demographics wise.

I had my first bad S@H experience today. I received an order of three sets where two items were wrong. I ordered the Deep Sea Submarine, Witch King Battle, and Space Starter Set I received the Deep Sea Submarine, Juniors Turtle Lair, and Double Decker Couch. At least I received the largest set... Now I gotta send back the wrong ones and wait another week for the other two sets. FedEx smartpost and their erratic tracking is another annoyance.

Thanks Captain Nemo.

Hey guys, if I'm just coming to the public day, is there any benefit to buying tickets online? Does it cost more in person? I've looked at the official site but I dunno if I'm just missing it.

Great scene. Those are some lucky bunnies, the carrots are bigger than them! I like the tree with the swing.

Thanks for the review, interesting to see some perspective on these sets. Don't let anybody tell you what to review! The mismatched archs is major

I have one of these I kind of want to restore too, it looks like there is a tab that can be pushed in to pop open the battery area. I don't know that there is sound though, I have an exo force with one of these that didn't have sound even when it was new.

BrickJagger, for some reason these don't seem to be on the US site yet: http://shop.lego.com/en-DK/Emma-s-Tourist-Kiosk-41098 http://shop.lego.com/en-DK/Heartlake-Grand-Hotel-41101

These are still not available on the US shop@home.

They are actually on ebay for as low as $16.50 shipped, new condition. Still a lot admittedly, maybe the test tubes are prized as well? Of course you can pick up a slightly less detailed female scientist in the space starter set now which is a lot better deal.

Such a peaceful setting. The balloons are a great idea and I like the gazebo.

He's talking about how many will win, not how many will enter. I do think that some states like California will hit the limit however, because its not just about population but number of LEGO stores and AFOLs. AFOLs and serious KFOLs will enter many more times than casual users and are more concentrated in cities due to the demographics of the hobby.

I'm ok with it, but I do understand the frustration. The tires are not that ridiculously expensive, and are likely to be included in a Technic set soon. Now I just have to try to remember to send an entry e-mail every day... I find it interesting that there is a limit of 75 per state, so you may have slightly better odds living in a less populous state or Canada.

Very cool mini and classy photos!

My father picked up a pretty incredible garage sale deal for me recently. $5 for a box of mostly Harry Potter LEGO, about 5 lbs worth. There was also 4 instruction manuals in there. I found seven nearly complete sets: Quiditch Match 4737 Knight Bus 4866 Hogwarts 4867 Hagrid's Hut 4738 Beauty Shop 3187 Freeing Dobby 4736 Forbidden Forest 4865 Only one minifigure is missing (a Hagrid), and about 55 pieces but all minor stuff. All the large, cool, unique stuff is there, and in good shape. For $5...