Shadows

Best. Hat. Yet. :-D

First rule of debt collection, start small. If you break their legs too quickly, they tend to miss work. Fingers, however, are a subtle reminder to pay responsibly. >:-) There's three words I've never read in one of your threads before :-P

Raise taxes anyway. Use the tax increase to pay to have the mafia fill the potholes with any citizens who complain about the increase in taxes. A variety of problems solved with circular reasoning. As for enticing commerce, legalize gambling. Again, the mafia can help and you'll have a massive influx of tourism, not to mention all of the side businesses that pop up accordingly. Of course, you'll end up having to rename HinkleyVille to Sin(ner) City and a certain walrus will probably sue for infringement but the friendly and helpful mafia knows how to deal with such problems. Bucket-whack On! >:-)

Due to the badgood influence of this thread, I bought some vikings the other day from S@H, just so I could be sure to get my free ice tray! Yay me! In that spirit, I ended up buying coasters, a calculator, and some magnet bricks. I'm beginning to think this whole thing was a ruse to hook people on LEGO housewares. Methinks rare coloured helmets were the bribe >:-)

Very nice work indeed! *y* It's examples like this that make me almost want to start a collection of period military minifig customs. Maybe tiny vignettes of one or two appropriate soldiers for each side in a proper setting. Keep up the great work!

I voted yes, on a pick and choose level. I like the concept, I just can't imagine it working out in this format due to interest. I think we'll see an expansion of castle into even more mythological/fantasy territory before anything involving other classic eras. If that does happen, some of the concepts behind your ideas could easily be used to create sets that could then be adapted into an unofficial Greek line by AFOLs while still giving the kids their fantasy monsters. I would have suggested using a lot of these ideas in the Adventurers line, sort of a "Johnny Thunder vs the Cyclops" thing, but Indiana Jones will clearly kill any advance in that area for a few years at least.

Finally broke down and bought a pile of half off Vikings from S@H, along with some "new" Star Wars pens that look decidedly like the old ones and, of course, qualified for my free ice tray! Woohoo! :-P

I *wub* that word and now I wish I'd used it. Instead, I'll just say that this has certainly created a ruckus! I didn't really need to say that, but I like that word too, though not as much as brouhaha. Haha, ha, haha. I think I should go to bed now, it's been a weird week. ;-)

I'm sorry, but that doesn't quite work for me. Sounds like, "send me some cash and we'll see what happens down the road." Well, in the real world, the one where you charge for a service, you provide it or you face the consequences. It's all well and good to offer something for free and then shut it down. No one paid, no one loses. But when you cross the line into taking payment for this service, you just entered a whole new world, one where "see if it works" doesn't work at all. Basically, for those of you who decide to pay, make sure you get a proper agreement in return. This isn't donation territory anymore, this just turned into a full fledged business. Without knowing how payments will be accepted (a payment made every month, yearly in advance, etc) it's hard to say exactly how it should go, but be sure you get the exact amount of service time you pay for. I've seen sites pull things that were remarkably similar to this in the past, and they rarely turn out well. I'm not saying whether this is something being pulled of simply a problem that got out of handm but a lot of people start things for free on the net with the idea that they'll either pay for themselves with ad banners and subscriptions, or become very profitable later when a company wants to buy them. See the news for stories of massive successes at this. What they don't mention are the failures and the sites that take in money only to disappear. I'm not at all convinced this is well thought out. Based on the track record of the past few days, it doesn't seem to be at all. This problem didn't suddenly start, shutting down to "send the message" smacks of a stunt to convince people that they'd do just about anything to get it back (like pay $60 a year) and the lack of communication is simply unprofessional. Based on the clear lack of planning involved in the process so far, don't be surprised if the complications outweigh the profit quickly and it dries up again. Bottom line, back up your stuff, grab the things that inspire you, hope for the best, and have an alternate plan ... just in case. That said, I appreciate the site and the effort that has been put into it through the years. Most of all, I appreciate the work of the LEGO community that it has showcased, and wherever we all end up in the future, let's just make sure we end up there together. That's the really important message in all of this. Seeing how the various forums have come together to attempt to backup the many years of work was an inspiration (and should have been predicted by Kevin, another problem he didn't seem to foresee and another reason I have doubts about anything in the future).

I was just about to mention that Lao had stolen Mark's sigfig hat and then I read your comment ;) Seriously though, great work! I wouldn't have guessed they were your first, they look very professional. *y*

Hey, before this turns into a boozefest, let's remember the most important thing.. There are no less than 18 iced drinks in the world whose name is a euphamism for fornication in Australia. Party on ;)

I'll take anything with ships, military, or forts/castles/bases, but I really want a Zorro theme. I'm just going to have to start my own ...

Very nice review. Lots of pics, lots of description. *y* As for the set, it does seem interesting. I can see the mixer parts serving as engines in a space MOC, but I'm not sure I'd want to take apart the set. Sounds like I'll have to buy a few if I can. Good job, LEGO, you're managing to interest me in areas I never bothered with much before. Can we look forward to another excellent review in the future?

Absolutely stunning! I missed the entire WW series during my dark ages, and even if this was the only set I could ever get for the theme, I'd buy it in an instant. *y*

A prison will get us something like Arkham Asylum. A small shell of cells, a gate and tower, plus some kind of vehicle as always, all around $90. I think it'd be easier and cheaper to MOC up one, though a spare Arkham set would come in handy. I like a lot of the ideas in this thread. It really would be nice to see some normal life represented in creator style sets.

George_Lucas: I want a new LEGO SW Game. Tom_Stone: Well, let's see here. We've made the prequel trilogy. We've made the original trilogy. There's no more left. George_Lucas: Amateurs. Don't you people pay attention? Do what I do, tweak 'em a bit and rerelease! Tom_Stone: They'll never fall for that... George_Lucas: They have been for the last decade. Just make an annoucement and mention that they'll be new things and they'll be available for new consoles. Oh, and make Greedo shoot first. They love that!

If multiple votes were allowed, the forestwoman would get my nostalgia vote and the new princess would get my new girl in town vote. Since that isn't possible, I went with the alway's hard to find forestwoman, despite the funky hair. Hey, it isn't easy to get a hair appointment in the forest, though you'd think that one of the merry men could have helped out. ;-)

Favourite set I own: 6276 Eldorado Fortress. Most wanted set: 6277 Imperial Trading Post As much as I like the ships, for me the real interest is ports and bases. Same way I like City/Town more for the buildings than the vehicles.

*gasp* Sounds like more potential chances for us to make provocative comments about 1" plastic women. LEGO Vice City On! *y*

A nice showing so far, ranging from very classic to the latest style and construction, and of course, the 'working' girls. >:-) Assuming we're voting, it's going to be a tough choice indeed.

I never thought I'd be excited about a garbage truck, amazing... Great review as always *yoda*

I too hope that Cafe Corner spawns a whole range of city block additions, and most could be done using existing minifigs and accessories with no problem at all. Shops, restaurants, the full range of civilian life without the constant cops and fire. Though I would take an old style firehouse, something like the one in Ghostbusters. For restaurants, just something as simple as a pizzaria: Tan brick with red and white decor, chef, waitress, couple of customers, pizza tiles, etc. Or, a Chinese restaurant staffed by Adventurer's Orient minifigs, complete with *gasp* a dining family including a child or two using the short legs. So much possibility. I actually drew up a Chinese restaurant a while back (before the modular building dream became reality), based on a piece from Department 56 (LEGO could get a lot of 'inspiration' from the line they produce). She comes in at just over 1000 pieces and at this point, hasn't been built. I need to bulk up my supply of dark red bricks before I attempt it, plus there will be a few colour changes I'm sure, but most of that exists. The brown windows on the front of the left side don't and the small windows around the corner from them are a very old style that is out of production, I just didn't know at the time. Most of the rest should be simple (except that tree, of course). The whole gallery Downtown On!

When I heard that the theme for the classic space revival everyone dreamed of would end up being a return to Mars, I cringed. I avoided all news and all pics. I just didn't want to see it. Ok, so I've looked now. It's both better and worse than I imagined. I figured on mediocre ships and battle droid part aliens. It's a range of fair to very good ships and ? *alien* ? aliens. I don't know quite what to make of those. It's bad when I'm longing for a race of Gungans to invade and take over Mars, just so the humans will have a worthy target instead of killing ... those things. I still don't know what to call them. They can't even hold anything properly. Well, maybe a briefcase. Yes, that's it! I will use the aliens as intergalactic insurance salesmen and justify our invasion and subsequent elimination of their evil menace! Now it's all clear. Well, they're clear.

Those look better than I expected and I always welcome a biplane. Shame it's only one new villian, but I'm glad to see the line surviving. I expect to see a lot of custom bikers and wrestlers out of that Bane minifig. Thanks for the new pics *y*

Did he also swallow ziplock baggies full of 1x1 round studs for later retrieval?