Lego Otaku

I don't have a number as I have mostly unsorted LEGO lots but it's close to 500 pounds. According to internet, LEGO averages 325 pieces per pound (about 0.45Kg) so so over 160,000

Any chance you used hinge align tool? It can warp the entire project and knock a few pieces off by a mm or 2 while trying to line up 2 pieces.

For really large want list, I'd run Brickficiency and do just 1+2 store combination. Odds are it'd get 0 result and display list of parts you needed. The list are conveniently sorted by fewest stores first so if you took a few of the rarer parts and moved it to a second want list (label it rarer parts or something), then run it. Limit to 4 stores at first. Hopefully with fewer rare parts the program can hit something worthwhile by 4 stores. 5 stores can take too long on large wanted list. Do this only if your wanted list fails to come up with 4 stores or better combination, and do it at night just before you go to bed. Disable auto-sleep just in case.

Another issue, and this one can be blamed on BL and not the program. Some European stores add VAT to part price and some don't so this can screw the result. For me in USA, any item that comes up with VAT included already, I need to manually calculate estimated difference (usually 19% off). Slows me a bit and I may miss cheaper deal because Brickficiency doesn't have a way to tell if the store includes VAT or not and can't account for that. and for people in Europe, some of the cheapest result may not include VAT so buyer beware...

Much better and more accurate than what LEGO released. Probably harder to build than standard LEGO would like but great one!!

Note: I was still using 91 when I got this error: See the end of this message for details on invoking just-in-time (JIT) debugging instead of this dialog box. ************** Exception Text ************** System.InvalidOperationException: This BackgroundWorker is currently busy and cannot run multiple tasks concurrently. at System.ComponentModel.BackgroundWorker.RunWorkerAsync(Object argument) at Brickficiency.ImportBLWanted.nextButton_Click(Object sender, EventArgs e) at System.Windows.Forms.Button.onmouseup(MouseEventArgs mevent) at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WmMouseUp(Message& m, MouseButtons button, Int32 clicks) at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WndProc(Message& m) at System.Windows.Forms.ButtonBase.WndProc(Message& m) at System.Windows.Forms.Button.WndProc(Message& m) at System.Windows.Forms.Nativewindow.Callback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam) ************** Loaded Assemblies ************** mscorlib Assembly Version: 4.0.0.0 Win32 Version: 4.0.30319.18444 built by: FX451RTMGDR CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/Microsoft.NET/Framework64/v4.0.30319/mscorlib.dll ---------------------------------------- Brickficiency Assembly Version: 0.90.0.0 Win32 Version: 0.90.0.0 CodeBase: file:///C:/Users/Lion.O/Desktop/Brickficiency.exe ---------------------------------------- System.Windows.Forms Assembly Version: 4.0.0.0 Win32 Version: 4.0.30319.18408 built by: FX451RTMGREL CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/Microsoft.Net/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Windows.Forms/v4.0_4.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.Windows.Forms.dll ---------------------------------------- System.Drawing Assembly Version: 4.0.0.0 Win32 Version: 4.0.30319.18408 built by: FX451RTMGREL CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/Microsoft.Net/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Drawing/v4.0_4.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a/System.Drawing.dll ---------------------------------------- System Assembly Version: 4.0.0.0 Win32 Version: 4.0.30319.18408 built by: FX451RTMGREL CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/Microsoft.Net/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System/v4.0_4.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.dll ---------------------------------------- System.Xml Assembly Version: 4.0.0.0 Win32 Version: 4.0.30319.18408 built by: FX451RTMGREL CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/Microsoft.Net/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Xml/v4.0_4.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.Xml.dll ---------------------------------------- System.Core Assembly Version: 4.0.0.0 Win32 Version: 4.0.30319.18408 built by: FX451RTMGREL CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/Microsoft.Net/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Core/v4.0_4.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.Core.dll ---------------------------------------- System.Configuration Assembly Version: 4.0.0.0 Win32 Version: 4.0.30319.18408 built by: FX451RTMGREL CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/Microsoft.Net/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Configuration/v4.0_4.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a/System.Configuration.dll ---------------------------------------- Microsoft.GeneratedCode Assembly Version: 1.0.0.0 Win32 Version: 4.0.30319.18408 built by: FX451RTMGREL CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/Microsoft.Net/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Xml/v4.0_4.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.Xml.dll ---------------------------------------- ************** JIT Debugging ************** To enable just-in-time (JIT) debugging, the .config file for this application or computer (machine.config) must have the jitDebugging value set in the system.windows.forms section. The application must also be compiled with debugging enabled. For example: <configuration> <system.windows.forms jitDebugging="true" /> </configuration> When JIT debugging is enabled, any unhandled exception will be sent to the JIT debugger registered on the computer rather than be handled by this dialog box. Happened when I tried to log in to pull wanted list.

Some laptops can sport 2 hard drives. I don't know if 13' model can but I've seen some 15" that has a space for second drive. You could have the SSD for OS and apps and install a regular hard drive for video and other data storage. Also most laptops have external video hookup (HDMI and VGA these day) so you won't be limited to small screen if you have some space to work with. My laptop is a bit older at 2 years old, an HP 6135DX with 256GB SSD (migrated Windows to it) and moved the original hard drive to second space. It does LDD pretty decently and all but battery life sucks. 17" LCD, Wifi on, no sound, I get around 3-4 hours on HP 9-cells battery and a bit over 1 hour on smaller 6-cells batter. (There's 12 cells but never needed to buy)

I am glad you left the option to continue searching after the match was found. I needed a few more pieces to finish a moc. Just 18 pieces. Easy right? There was only 1 store that had all of it but the total came to $9 before shipping. 2 stores option had combined total of $2 before shipping. Guess which I bought from? 2 store choice (after checking their splash page for lot limits, fees, etc, had to disregard the first 2-stores solution as they had $20 minimum buy). The grand total with shipping is $7 combined, less than one store solution.

Not a markup but crazy price. One local Walmart had NXT ser 8547 on "clearance" sale of $279.00. A whopping 99 cents off most store price and they still had it for about 2 years before it finally went away. I never knew what happened to that set but I guess they marked it off as loss and threw it away because they were to dumb to consider marking it down some more.

Any chance you can post the instruction so we can build one without waiting for Cuusoo?

Another LEGO spotted in Time Bandits: Leaning against the wall on the shelf next to the wall as the group was trying to escape Kevin's bedroom early in the movie. The box set is #50 but I am guessing it is empty and all the pieces are on the floor.

Just tried the latest, .91 at this time and I'm getting error after the initial download. After that it happens right away. I have not been able to log in or download anything yet. Windows 7 64-bits

Almost looks like Mustafar scene in Star Wars.

Maybe this: http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=64727

Definitly day one buy for me. Not quite as elegant as someone's UCS moc but still better than original sandcrawler. Things to do: lose the light saber. Luke never had it while Jawas were still alive. add a single flame element for that red droid with bad motivator. They fit into the stud on top. Find my chrome gold C-3PO and TC-14 and use it there for better look. TC-14 would be "spare parts." Can it be motorized? Need instruction book to check for dead space that I can use. (not up on LEGO site yet)

Images are broken to me. I checked, it required me to log into service to view it so it's not a good photo hosting site. You can try brickshelf as it's free and works for all LEGO related files. You can also use photobucket for image if you have trouble getting brickshelf account working right away.

True that 1x1 blue plates and 1x1 red tiles are really filler but with larger pieces there's often lots of little spaces wasted so I just filled them in. IOW those last 2 lines are basically "free" fillers just to reduce the wasted empty spaces. It did take me a lot of time picking 1x1 tiles from inside 2x4 bricks. I didn't pack it that way but that's how the parts settled when I shuffled it to pack a little more.

You could check eBay and craiglist (or whatever they have down there) to see about a local large lot of LEGO cheap. Here in USA I've gotten lots over 50 pounds (over 22Kg) at average rate of about $5 per pound.

Historically anything Mattel bought, they cheapened construction method and design to make it cheaper and more profitable. Megajunk is already cheap junk that don't work reliably. I can't see Mattel investing on just this one, and I don't know how they could make it worse without making it a complete and utter failure.

Ditch any camera that don't have manual white balance and ISO setting. Otherwise your video would have varying white and brightness level. Like the old film from hand cranked camera a century ago. Fixed ISO, fixed white balance, and fixed focus to keep each frame consistent.

One house per person or can I cook up a couple dream houses?

Troy store just updated: http://www.wallofbricks.com/pab-display.php?country=USA&pab_store_id=61

Oddly I was at Troy store just recently. There were lots of green parts this month, and it happens that build of the month is mostly green. Of real interest are the 6x8 green plates, I cleaned the wall of that part Total spent was $65 before tax and before $15 discount I have the note for the PAB wall and I'll update Wall of Bricks shortly.

In the past Mattel has a tendency to make whatever whey acquired manufactured even crappier with cheaper plastic, more inferior design and fittings, etc. to lower price. Megablock are already crappy to begin with, Mattel couldn't make it better without losing money and couldn't make it crappier because what little clutch power they have would fail and always fall apart.

Here's a trick I used when I am trying to find a hidden wrong part. I use shape selection tool (arrow with a 2x2 brick icon) and select the part that is not wrong (ie a 1x4 brick, or 1x2 with pin), then hide those. Repeat until the offending part is visible. I wish there was an option to invert selection like in some paint program. Select the 1x2 brick without pin using shape selection tool, invert it to select everything except for the 1x2 without pin, then click hide.