NiceMarmot

Really nicely done! It's amazing how keeping it simple sometimes really works well. I especially like this photo below. The composition is just perfect, as is the angle of their blades, and so on. It's really good. Looking forward to the continuation of this story!

It will be interesting to see how the price compares to a parted-out price on Bricklink, once the full inventory is posted to BL. Might make a good parts pack, but hard to know right now given the small and relatively cheap parts. Maybe if it goes on sale, it will be a good deal.

Maybe you all should email this guy: Kevin.hinkle@lego.com; he's a LEGO employee, Community Coordinator for North America, I think. It's probably not his decision or anything, but he can probably pass the feedback along.

I've used it to get 169 2x4 bricks before. It's a tight fit, and the sides of the cup distort a bit. The top layer sticks up above the top of the cup, but you can still get the lid down over it, although you do have to get them to aggressively tape it down. I've even got that page bookmarked on my iPhone, so I can call it up in the store for reference. In the US, it works out to just under $0.09 per brick (not counting whatever else you can get in the cup), which is a better price for tan, LBG, DBG, and dark-red than I've ever seen on BrickLink.

Next time you do a PAB cup, check out this method for packing in the 2x4s -- 169 of them in a large cup!

Don't forget the 10-15% tithe to the LDS Church also... That sure doesn't leave much $$ for LEGO. Having a store close by can sometimes be a drain on the wallet, but sometimes the PAB wall is so much cheaper than BrickLink (although, surprisingly, not always). So you can save some big bucks by not buying sets and just loading up at the PAB wall. I'm not sure if I lived farther away whether I would save any money. I'd probably blow through just as much, but actually get less due to the "TRU tax" and BrickLink.

Not sure if this is what you had in mind, but here's a sand-golem I did for the GoH challenge 3. These things used to run amuck all over the southern deserts, but are rarely seen these days. Good thing too, as they're huge and incredibly strong. Thanks for the compendium of beasts, btw!

Way to go! I'm telling you, those Kaliphlin girls are the best! Married a Kali girl, just like your mother was. Nikutai, next time you're down in the southlands, y'all stop by and we'll treat you to some of our best wine and have a good old time.

Really like this design. Looks like a very comfortable cruiser. Once I build a ship, we'll have to have some races Or maybe take a nice cruise through the Spice Islands. I know some great beachfront bars down there...

"cartons"? How many 2x4s in each carton? Sounds like a lot of bricks!

Because Mormons don't have enough children!

I agree. She really is big, much much bigger than the minifigs. I really don't know how Sam is going to be able to take her out. And very well designed. I'm very impressed by how the designer really nailed the overall look of a spider, especially the head and mandibles. At first I was a bit unsure about this set, thinking I could just build the spider from parts I already have (which I could probably mostly do). But then I decided to go for it because of the minifigs (especially Gollum) and the great price-per-piece ratio. Now that I've built it, I realize there are quite a few really good parts in this set -- the new 1x2-1x2 brackets, the windscreens that make up the abdomen, a fish, three rings (3!), a doubled curved slope (93273), a Technic rotation joint, 1x4 hinge plates, spiky appendages / Bionicle spines, some gears, etc. Not many totally new parts, but a fair amount of uncommon stuff (or at least parts I don't have many of).

Bought Shelob Attacks and Uruk-Hai LOTR sets, full price, from the LEGO store. I almost never buy LEGO full price (except CMFs), but made an exception for these two, partially due to intense pleading from my five yr old (OK, I'm a sucker). I've been very happy with both, especially the spider.

I bought Uruk-Hai and Shelob Attacks (so far!). I'm very happy with both. Uruk-Hai orcs are very good, and Eomer really looks good. The wall extension is no big deal (unless you already have Helm's Deep, which you do), but it has some nice sand-green bricks and the new masonry bricks. The ballista is well done, and my son loves playing with it. I thought that Moria was a bit overpriced, and didn't have much to interest me besides the troll. I already have a lot of grey building bricks, and the Moria orcs are nice, but I think the Uruk-Hai are cooler. BTW, I think Shelob Attacks is a great set, and highly recommend it. It's got a great price per piece ratio, some good parts, good minifigs, and Gollum! The Gollum fig is very nice, although I wish his legs moved. My son is fascinated by him. But the best thing is Shelob -- the spider is really well designed and is huge. I think I'm going to have to work up some spider-related MOCs for Kaliphlin / Historica soon...

Definitely. If you're 90% there, go for it. Looking forward to two great battle MOCs from you!

Seems like a bunch of macho trash-talking. Those newcomer Avalonians have no sense of history, stirring up trouble to prove how tough they are... Oh well, I say we beef up our defences, and stay clear of the trouble for now. Personally, I've always found the Drow to be good trading partners, if a bit odd. They certainly pay good prices. Unfortunately, you can't really trust them, but they do respect overwhelming force. Great! I definitely will participate past the 1 year anniversary. Yes, me too. Probably the biggest criteria are: 1) don't ask for a shield, and 2) don't piss anyone off! I agree, perhaps it's time for some military-oriented free builds to beef up our defences. I could use some experience building some ships. Plus I know that our foundries at Mt Erezhi have been making a fortune recently selling large shipments of arms to some undisclosed buyers (that could be another MOC, my own 'Orc Forge')... If the Drow and the flower-and-tree crowd want to kill each other, we're happy to take their gold! Personally, I suspect that something has happened after the recovery of the crystals. I have my suspicions about exactly what. My team reported to me that they think the Drow were watching them during all their adventures. Let's just say I'm not sure all the crystals made it safely back to the High King...

Welcome! Nice tree! By the way, that photo is probably a bit large for posting on EB. I think the limit is 800x600. In Flickr, you'll want to choose the "Medium 800" option in the drop-down under Share. Once you make ten posts, you'll be able to do more stuff with your posts.

Maybe that's why it disappeared. The rightful distributor of said tags discovered it had been handed out on the sly? I hear ya. But I was just happy to get any shield at all. End?! No, there's no end! As long as the giant turtle still swims through space, Historica will live on! Seriously, what else would I do at work all day?

So my guesses for criteria are: Market dominated by large, powerful retail chains Wouldn't hurt any existing nearby high-margin independent toy retailers Not in same mall/shopping center as another retailer like Walmart, Target, or TRU Large number of fairly affluent households with small children in the area Proximity to existing TLG distribution and regional management Easy/inexpensive to bail out and close store if it doesn't work out That said, I don't know why we have three stores in the south and east bay area and none in the north bay. Seems like Corte Madera would be an obvious choice, except there are a few independent toy stores there already.

I think you're absolutely right. They're making tons of money off retail in Europe already, because of higher margins. Why disrupt that channel? You start putting in LEGO stores, and your existing retailers will start cutting back on shelf space. Plus I suspect that retail is expensive in Europe. You've got to hire those employees usually, pay them big benefits, and getting rid of them is much more difficult in most parts of Europe than in the US. If business takes a downturn in the US, you just lay off the store employees and close the store. No pesky job security worries. It's harsh for the employees, but it makes it easier for TLG to open stores. Plus I suspect that there are lots of small toy stores in Europe. Smaller retailers, that are not part of large chains, are easier for TLG to push around and retain larger margins for themselves. In the US, most toys are sold through huge retail chains (TRU, Walmart, Target, Amazon). Those guys have enough market clout to demand lower wholesale prices from TLG, thus shrinking TLG's margins. So TLG opens stores to try to cut out the retailer and keep that retailing margin for themselves. Obviously, it's working. As for expanding store coverage, it totally makes sense to do it organically, and grow outwards from existing stores. That way you can leverage existing distribution networks, and the regional management infrastructure. I'm certainly not complaining; I live within a 45 minute drive of three stores! The closest one is 20 minutes away; if it was any closer, I'd probably be broke.

Really nice job with this MOC! So much going on here. Really good work on the interiors too. I especially like the woman having breakfast in bed. I also like the guys building the walkway in front, as well as how you did the legs on the kid playing with the toy boat. What did the jester do to get pushed out the window?

Hate to interrupt the warmongering, but is that a new signature pic, Legonardo? Looks really cool! Great job.

Wow, lots of trash-talking and saber-rattling going on here. Is it just random? Or part of a larger story, perhaps one that began several months ago with a visit to Drow lands... I am beginning to think I might know what challenge 4 is going to be about...

Very nice job! I think you captured the feel of the slums perfectly! I think I recognize that guy from my old smuggling days; isn't that Anders Durtiratbreathsson? Good job on the buildings too.

Yeah, at least that's a fixable problem! If you live anywhere near a LEGO store, blue plates and slopes are pretty common in the PAB wall there. Great story BTW! I like how it ends