Pimbo

Interesting read indeed. The examples shown of some Chinese copied sets are just plain scary, and for some reason the indicated age range on those products is lower than on the official Lego sets One problem pointed out in this brochure is kids receiving inferior brand bricks, noticing the lack of quality, and thus altering their opinion of building bricks in general. Although I've noticed my little 7yo nephew picking out clone brand bricks in his huge pile of bricks without a problem, but younger kids might not be able differentiate. Fortunately, knockoff and/or clone brands aren't widely available in retail stores over here

My first proper Lego set may or may not have been 6658 Bulldozer: One thing I find very peculiar, browsing my collection on Brickset, is that some sets were apparently available in stores for sometimes 5-7 years after release, I remember occasions where I got sets from my parents brand new from the stores that were, in hindsight, already ancient. Good old days before strict corporate policies I guess.

I think the term "Nice Part Use" really applies here - the octopus is simply brilliant! Excellent lighting on the second photograph as well.

Hello Eurobricks members, Allow me to introduce myself, I'm Pimbo, born 1985 and living in the southern parts of the Netherlands. I've always been a fan of Lego, prolifically building moc's from the age I was able to put two or more bricks together until I moved out to attend university in 2004, but I always intended to pick up the hobby again. So in 2012 I finally managed to do so, moving all the Lego I still had from my youth to my new appartment, discovering the awesome Bricklink, and ofcourse Eurobricks. Though checking the site on a regular basis, I didn't register as a member until today. The rate at which I'm building isn't as fast as it used to be when I was a kid, but I think every AFOL can relate to this because, well, we're adults so we have other responsibilities. So far I've been building some classic pirates and some classic castle, revisiting some of the great themes from my youth. This was the first thing I built after my dark ages, the techniques are nothing special but I always wanted to build a huge Eldorado fortress.. ...and some Classic Castles Right now, I'm working on some Aquazone moc's, I will be posting them as soon as I built some sort of photostudio and borrow a decent DSLR from my workplace. I get a feeling Aquazone isn't a huge thing amongst AFOL's, but I think it deserves more attention and certaiinly a lot more moc's. See you soon in the acion themes forums!