Mr Hobbles

Oh. My. God. This is awesome. There are no words to describe it. I just wasn't expecting this when I heard about the set. :'-) Everything just looks like it would fit in a Cafe Corner/Market Street town! The Service Station may just be the best one ever made, and the cars and people are just excellent. My only gripe would be that the cinema seems to have a pavement/sidewalk, but the others dont. Why is this? Doesn't really matter, it's easy to fix. I simply MUST have this set! 2008 is gonna be expensive. The two Post sets, the Cargo Truck, the City impulse sets, Green Grocer and now this. My poor wallet!

Aye, it is very realistic. And as you say there's no resource gathering, just non stop action. :-D The system works by giving you a certain amount of Reinforcement Points at the beginning. You can then spend these on tanks, infantry, planes and support which get delivered to the battlefield either by plane or by parachute. Once a unit get's destroyed the RF points slowly trickle back so you can spend them again. In addition, when you capture command points, your RF pool goes up slightly so you can buy more units at once. Also, when you destroy enemy units or capture command points you get TA (Tactical Aid) points. These allow you to call in airstrikes, artillery barrages, and even the mighty nuke. :-D Just wait until you see your first nuke blow up, its such a gorgeous game! Funny you should mention Psychonauts, a friend gave me a loan of it on Saturday after I watched The Escapist review of it. Haven't had a chance to play it yet though. Also Wii Tennis is very good. Although we've been playing it less now that I've got Mario Party 8. We usually play that now.

I think I'll probably be able to go, just depends on getting the money for it! Event on! *y* :-D

To be honest, I haven't played Company of Heroes (I've heard good things about it too though), but if you're looking for a recommendation for World in Conflict here's one: I'm a big RTS gamer and I quite honestly think this is the best RTS I've ever played. :-) Best

Aha, I see they made proper Postman torso's! I was wondering if they were going to do that. Anyway, thanks for those!

Just a quick thread, I was just wondering what everyone was playing right now computer game-wise. I personally am playing World in Conflict. It's a PC RTS, set in 1989, in a world were the cold war actually turned into World War III. It's awesome and I can't stop playing it. :-) Here's my multiplayer profile on Massgate.net - http://www.massgate.net/profile.php?0,267011 What's everyone else playing?

I used to dislike them with a passion (Along with My Chemical Romance) but they've started to grow on me. I have my flatmate to thank for that, she's a huge fan of them. I still hate My Chemical Romance though.

Wow! Some EXCELLENT looking sets! So, this year I'll be buying: All four CITY Impulse sets. Cargo Plane Cargo Truck (AWESOME! I was going to get this years Cargo truck, but have never been a fan of the 8-wide. I'll be getting this instead!) Post Plane Post Van (Also 10185 Green Grocer when it gets announced. :-D) My only criticism is with the minifigs; they could have made some new torso's for the new Cargo company rather than using the generic worker torso. Also, why are both postmen wearing Classic Space jackets? Why not a post company jacket? Other than that, those four sets are near enough perfect! The Police line on the other hand...I'm undecided. I don't think they suck, I'm just not overly impressed either.

Hmm, neither is taking my fancy particularly. They're not terrible, I quite like the design of the plane, and the truck is cool, but I wouldn't buy either simply because I'm sick of Police. On the other hand, if the Police Station is OK I would pick up one of those. Also I'm definitely picking up the large Cargo Plane.

Ooohh, shiny. The other Creator houses didn't really inspire me but this one really is very good. And for less than

I had a look through this yesterday, seems very well done, on par with BrickJournal! I especially found the article on the curves made out of straights very interesting. Also the article on that big black locomotive which I cant quite remember the name of right now. All in all, very well done! I hope like BrickJournal you can get exclusives on new stuff, especially the new power functions train line in a couple of years! All the best, and keep up the good work!

Wow, looks like there are some die-hard 9v fans out there! :-D

I hadn't thought about that, that's a very good point. LEGO hasn't said anything about making the new system incompatible though, they may still use the same tracks. For all we know we could be able to run the new Power functions trains on the same tracks as the 9v ones.

It's an entirely different situation. Apple lowered the price of a product by $200 dollars within two months of the launch date. This is not comparable to the usual price reductions in the technology sector. The reason there was an uproar is not simply because they annoyed their fans, its because it basically amounts to the early adopters being ripped off. As I said, $200 is two months is a huge price drop for the technology sector. On the other hand LEGO has been supporting the same 9v trains for well over 15 years (The Metroliner was 1991 and was the same 9v system), and been supporting it well. I think LEGO is allowed to move on to a new product.

Wow, some interesting opinions in here. First of all, I think that "consulting with AFOL's" consists of a little bit more than throwing us a bone. Discussions have been going on for a long time concerning 9v trains from what I can gather. TLG has shown us in the past that they frequently do consult AFOL's (Cafe Corner, Market Street, UCS Star Wars, Eiffel Tower, etc) so let's give them a little bit more credit. Secondly, if a product isn't profitable, come up with something new. It's a basic rule of being competitive. Will it alienate people? Sure. But people will adapt. If fleshie heads made it out into all LEGO sets, we would have two choices. Get old yellow heads on the aftermarket, or kit out our old minifigs with new stuff. It seems to me that people seem to think this is the end of 9v trains, all the while forgetting the beauty of LEGO...everything can be changed. Want a new train? Build a new one. I guess in the future if people need more 9v stuff, there's always the aftermarket. Nobody's collection will become obsolete. I love my 9v trains, and I would love to see them release more, but that's obviously not going to happen. If I want more there's plenty more stuff for me to buy from eBay/BrickLink. I'm also a bit skeptical about integrating the new "power functions" line into the trains, but let's wait and see what they do with it before we start hating. :-)

Michael Clayton Quite a good movie, very entertaining. George Cloonie is very good as usual, and the story is quite good. All in all B+, recommended. :-)

Nobody seems to have mentioned anything about the blue train creator set...I wonder what this'll look like. Wout, any info on this?

Having looked at them again, I also really like the Castle ones, and the Mars Mission robot one. If I was remotely interested in those two lines I would pick em up. In fact, I might even pick them up anyway, since they're "Impulse" purchases! BrickMiner, I agree, they should be polybags! Anyone ever collect anything like POG's or trading cards when they were younger, that came in a foil pack? It'll feel just like that!

Very nice! I'll be buying at least one of each of the CITY ones! The worker with the grit bin reminds me of this years advent calendar. Since that and the arrow are pretty much the only good things in it in my opinion, this'll save me buying it!

Wow, that arrow and grit bin are awesome. Not a great selection, but those pieces are really original. Might have to build my own. :-)

I guess I'm the only one who really quite likes it? Someone made the point about a modern hull with old style propelers; there are actually lots of planes out there that are like that, just look at the C-130 Hercules. In addition, on closer inspection of the picture it looks like it comes with quite a few extras. It seems to come with an updated set of steps to get to the door, as well as a little car. Round the back it also looks like there is a loading lift for it, that seems to extend far enough up to reach the swing door which is really cool. Granted, I think it uses the same wings, nose and tail as the Passenger Plane too (It's not Duplo; you can see that by looking at the classic LEGO barriers ontop of the stairs), but I don't think it's too bad. I don't have a particular problem against them. (Except maybe the wings). The colour scheme could be better, but I don't think it's terrible. It seems like TLC is making a new cargo company for Lego City, it has the same colour scheme as this years Heavy Hauler. I also think the new Large Truck and Crane is also going to have the same colour scheme. I'll be buying it. :-)

Any reviews of the other three yet? :-$

One more vote for Firefly here! This past week I've been to the cinema twice. I saw: Atonement Good movie, but very confused. Can't figure out what type of movie it's meant to be. But generally good. 3:10 to Yuma Surprisingly, very good! I've never really been a fan of westerns but I really liked this. Gonna be a DVD purchase for me I think! Heading to see Shoot Em' Up tonight and then Elizabeth on Thursday. :-)

Cafe Corner. It's what brought me back into the hobby. I had been wanting a set like this since I was a small kid, and it was set that brought me out of my Dark Ages. Also, the Metroliner. I had seen this in a LEGO catalog in 1993(?) and wanted it, but it was never bought for me. :-( Now an AFOL though, this set seems to have gained a cult like following so I bought it to see what all the fuss was about. I didn't think I'd be that surprised!

Run, Fat Boy, Run Really really funny feel good movie, with Simon Pegg and Dylan Moran the kings of comedy. Recommended! :-)