Inzane

Which one(s) are the favorite(s) in the series? Just curious. I haven't bought any yet, but might dive in soon. (sidebar: pondering whether its worth picking up Fire Brigade now at a slight mark-up or not.)

I was wondering this too, but the shop @ home site here in Canada shows that that set is due to be restocked within the next couple weeks, so there's hope that we've got a little while longer to pick it up. Jason

That must've just been a European thing. In North America, the galaxy explorer LL928 set was # 497 (as opposed to 928) and the LL924 space cruiser (aka space transporter) was # 487. Agreed. i hope that if this set proves successful enough, MAYBE just maybe that could be the catalyst to revive of a line of retro classic space. That would be so cool.

Great review. Thanks for sharing. I still have a fondness for the now "vintage" SW lego sets as well. ^ Regarding this comment, I believe that picture was meant to represent a supposed play feature where the vehicles are in a state of partial disassembly for maintenance/repair. This seemed to be a common "feature" found on all/most of the set boxes of that era.

Wow, had you used the careful feel methods and knew confidentally you had one in your hands, or was it a complete utter surprise when you opened it?

Where is that set available? I see it on bricklink and ebay for very expensive prices (~$300). It's not listed on shop@home, at least not in Canada. Brickipedia listed it as coming out Aug 2013 with an MSRP of $150 (USD?). Hmm.... it seems this was a US only exclusive, and might even be already out of production. Really?? Dang...

I miss the days (e.g. 2000-2004) when you could browse your Lego catalog (or the shop@home site) and see the various bags of bulk parts you could buy. E.g. Misc. grey or yellow plates, bags of trees, bags of roof slopes, etc. I know they pre-dated the pick-a-brick concept (both the wall in-store, and the brick-ordering function online), but there was a certain nicety about having a convenient package you could buy that targetted a bunch of elements in either a specific color and/or type. The only thing ressembling this concept that appears to be available today is sets 6117 (doors & windows) and 6118 (wheels). Does anyone know if it's possible that we could ever return to these bulk brick bags at the retail level?

I said "all else being equal", meaning apples to apples all parts of identical color different shape, vs. all parts identical shape different color. (Assume same approximate lot/storage size, not sub-sortings).

My biggest dilemma with space is the boxes. I've kept most of my set boxes, particularly for licensed themed sets (SW, Ferrari, etc.), unsure whether I'd ever want/need to sell some of them. I could regain so much more space in my "lego room" if I could just let go of some boxes.

Haha. Nice example. But... I wager you'd still find that Maersk blue 1x2 brick faster in that multi-color 1x2 tub, than you would trying to find that same piece in a tub filled with nothing but "Maersk blue" bricks of various sizes (1x1, 1x3, 1x4, etc.). I think it's a sound theory that your brain would perceive a color difference faster than a shape difference, all else being equal.

Sorry, I don't follow what you're saying. I've never heard of this level 1 and level 2 distinction before, and even so I don't see the 10030 ISD and 10221 SSD being classified any differently from each other. They are roughly the same piece count, and accomplish much the same impact in terms of display. The only thing of significant difference is the inclusion of 5 minifigs, and I don't see how that's "good value" for our $100. ($100 delta in USD & CDN, not sure what your price difference was accross the pond).

Wouldn't you have rather had that extra ~$100 in your pocket? That's the approximate price difference between the two large UCS capital ships. TLG, if they wanted to, probably could've come up with other clever ways to get us those few minifigs. (And really it's just Bossk that was the unique one there, isn't it?)

Umm.... 10175? If we're due for another TIE in the UCS lineup I think they should do the standard TIE (an odd omission up until now) or a TIE Bomber first.

A UCS AT-AT or Slave 1 would be cool, but I hope they could keep the size and price range reasonable (somewhere in the B-wing/X-wing range). And if that means keeping minifigs out of the set to meet that, fine with me. The massive (retail) price increase for the UCS SSD over the ISD is incomprehensible other than for the inclusion of five (unnecessary, for UCS) minifigs.

Hard to even call it a cameo... more like an easter egg. I don't consider it's "appearance" in the PT as anything close to the signficance of R2 & 3POs presence, for example. Now THERE are a couple icons that have to be in the next trilogy. On the topic of the droids, I wonder how possible/practical a UCS-sculture type set of C3PO would be. When you consider past sets like 3450 and 3723, not to mention the existing UCS R2-D2 set, it wouldn't be unprecedented. The color scheme creates an interesting dilemma though. Do they do the majority of the model in a gold/pearl gold color?

pissed, that TLG would re-release another ultimate COLLECTOR series set. Grrr..

Parts: ^ I another vote for this! I was going to post this but scanned the thread first to see if someone had beat me to it. I particularly want this part in black, followed by red. And on the topic of slopes, more variety of parts in the "Slope 18" variety too please!

I hope you're wrong about that... I thought the approximate size & cost of the first three was about right.

I'm actually in shock. No joke I was just about to post a question to builders on what solutions they came up with when designing house models with '33' slopes and not having an existing piece for the "inside" corners (aka double concave) like we've had for years with the 45 slope bricks. I went on to bricklink to find a picture of the existing 45 slope double concave when I found this........... Holy crap!! I had no idea before now that TLG FINALLY(!!!) read my mind and created this piece. http://www.bricklink...tem.asp?P=99301 It's about bloody time. The next question though is how long until this part makes it into the more mainstream colors for roof tiles -- basically, your basic red, black, etc. I could really really use this piece in black. I hope it doesn't take too long for them to expand the availablity of this part. But in the meantime, back to the intent of what my original question was going to be, for those of you that did some houses/buidlings with 33 slopes in red, black, blue or other color how did you handle inside corners? Thanks!

I only own three of the sets in the series. I have Toy Shop, Bakery and Cottage. (I missed getting the Post Office before it retired) I would have to say my favorite is probably the Cottage. But it's a tough choice. I love all three of the ones I have. The one I like the least is the Market. It doesn't appeal to me at all and I probably won't buy it. I hope that next year they can return to the size/price range of the first three sets. As much as I like the Cottage, the >$100 level definitely makes it less affordable and it felt like it had much more detail than necessary. (The interior details were great, but for a static display setting it's not that useful IMO).

After the recent trend of so many rehashes, you want MORE rehashes? I'd prefer to see more new original sets if possible. Not more updates to sets we've already received in the past.