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ElectroDiva

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Everything posted by ElectroDiva

  1. ElectroDiva
    The appeal of the City theme (for kids) has always been creating semi realistic settings and then using them as backdrops for random adventures. My nephews send their Ninjago figs on "missions" with the boats/plane/trains they have. They also stage various disasters and invasions of their small town. They also like playing good old fashioned cops and robbers They don't like Nexo knights though (infact I don't know any kids that do). I think it seems weird to them too. They were a bit young to get into either the last castle wave or LOTR but do like messing about with my castle and LOTR sets and figs when the come and visit. I think they can relate to the more traditional castle/fantasy setting better and I think they would lap up a traditional castle theme - especially if they could get their hands on a "proper" castle
  2. ElectroDiva
    Well, technically castle fans have an active castle theme at the moment with Nexo Knights... The problem is that it's a weird space castle mash up with a garish colour palette that quite a lot of traditional castle fans think is an abomination. The LOTR and hobbit sets kept many of them happy whilst they were around, but the last one of those was about 2 years ago now. I see a lot of great MOCs popping up on the Historic themes forum so the community is still pretty active - but you're right it's sad to see such a passionate/loyal group of fans getting such slim pickings. The one glimmer of hope is that apparently classic castle isn't completely dead and will return at some point - who know how long the wait will be though.
  3. ElectroDiva
    Thanks for the additional info and videos @theluke91 I actually have a lot of PF trains but have just started to get into 9v trains. I'm also in the process of switching all of my tracks over to 9v partly to allow both types of train to be run and partly because it just looks better than the all plastic PF track. Good to hear you are aware of Pfx bricks and might support that someday - I think the combination of something like the Rasberry Pi to drive automation and displays (for billboards / timetables) and the onboard Pfx brick to drive sounds and lighting effects on the actual trains would be a very good combination.
  4. ElectroDiva
    You make a really good case for the 4DBrix solution @Toastie - and I agree that it is definitely more polished and scaleable at this stage. However, I do like the the openness of @theluke91's approach and think it has a lot of potential. Picking up on a couple of your points: -The 4DBrix switch modules/sensors are indeed ready to go, but imho they are a bit ugly with the 3D printed plastic housing. I think I might prefer to build my own housing around the bare components -The browser based software isn't inherently any better than the more traditional 4DBrix software - BUT it does allow much greater flexibility in terms of your control device (I like the idea of accessing it through a phone or tablet for example) I'm at quite an early stage of planning an automated layout but I'm grateful for the choices available as a result of these third party solutions. They definitely fill a hole in TLG's offerings
  5. ElectroDiva
    @theluke91 Very nice solution - thanks for sharing. I was looking at the 4DBrix solution for automation but this seems like it might be simpler with its browser based access and support for generic off the shelf components (always a good thing in my book :) Couple of questions: 1-Can you give a bit more detail on how the "9v support with relays" works and what you can do with it? 2-Have you seen the Pfx brick and do you have any plans to support that? I would also love to see an example of a larger automated layout in action if you have one
  6. ElectroDiva
    @efferman - very nice stand - I was looking for exactly this type of solution. Just one question - what is the total width (front to back) with the MF mounted?
  7. ElectroDiva
    First 20,000 I think. And I think they send it separately to your billing address I ordered mine about hour after it went on sale on release day (as soon as the website started responding basically). I received an email earlier today saying it's been shipped. I better get one of those cards !!!
  8. ElectroDiva
    Good job OP - looks pretty accurate to me :) This set is easily my favourite 9v train - an all time classic. I was lucky enough to finally pick one up a couple of months ago and I'm currently gathering parts for 2 extra "standard" carriages for it. I'd love a couple of club cars but they are now just ridiculously expensive.
  9. ElectroDiva
    Very nice. You did a great job motorising it and building it out to give it a robust, industrial look.
  10. ElectroDiva
    This is beginning to look like the oldest marketing trick in the book from TLG - artificial scarcity - limit the availability of an item to build hype and increase demand. Let's look at the evidence: 1-ENTIRE stock for the VIP sales period runs out in circa 2 hours on the first day of sale 2-Buy limit set to 3 instead of 1 for what TLG must have known would be an extremely popular set. All this does is feed the scalpers and build more hype when they are inevitably resold at inflated prices (especially in light of exhibit 1) 3-Mark the set as "Sold Out" in many of their online shop fronts to create doubt about whether any more will be made in time for the general release on 1st October Or am I being too cynical?
  11. ElectroDiva
    Or alternatively, for multiple orders during a VIP sales window, they should really only ship out 1 immediately if the stock is going to run out - put the rest on back order. They could then fulfill more orders and keep more of their customers happy
  12. ElectroDiva
    I hope so. Apparently it's "until stocks run out" though so I guess it would depend on how many orders they got this morning
  13. ElectroDiva
    Keep trying guys - mine just went through after constantly refreshing first the login and then the checkout screens. I have an order confirmation but it's apparently on back order now until 1st October. Which is is fine as long as they give all Day 1 customers (at least) that black VIP card. I'll be a bit peed off if I don't get it - would have held off for a double points event otherwise!!!
  14. ElectroDiva
    If you were tempted - do yourself a favour and pick it up - it really is a cool little set. It's also widely discounted at the moment so you should be able to find it at least 20% off I think most AFOLs feel jaded from time to time btw. For me the fix for that is to carve out a couple of hours, put on some tunes and build something :)
  15. ElectroDiva
    @rodiziorobs - I wouldn't read too much into it at the moment. It's just a new CEO coming in and making his mark in a pretty hard nosed, harsh way. There was a huge amount of expansion following their exceptional results in the past few years and they are taking an (arguably cynical) opportunity to scale that back They're still the most successful toy brand in history and I don't think that's going to significantly change anytime soon
  16. ElectroDiva
    Agreed most of them are pretty pricey, but the Arctic Roller set was only £30 and really is an exceptional set. Here are some other 2017 sets I liked for £30 and under: 41311: Heartlake Pizzeria - £25 60150: Pizza Van - £15 70608: Master Falls - £25 75182: Republic Fighter Tank - £20 Same here. I would love to see those classic themes return but on balance I'm happy with TLGs output this year.
  17. ElectroDiva
    Nice turn of phrase - gave me a good chuckle - but I disagree with your point slightly. A company the size of TLG has to innovate to drive sales growth. It's either do that or stagnate. Clearly there will be some hits and misses taking that approach. Branching into movies was a clear success imo - and one they can sustain with future movies. Some of the fans they gain will of course move onto the next fad, but a lot will stay and you can replace the ones you lose with the next batch of kids who watch the next movie release (assuming it doesn't bomb). I think the issue is really twofold - they are trying to do too many new things at once, and they (unrealistically) expect that the huge growth of the past few years can be sustained - i don't think it can. Right sizing the company for a more sustained (lower) level of growth is the right move imo. They just need to pair that with better quality control over green lighting new products/themes. From what I remember reading, I think the issue with the old CEO was that he was too old and wanted to slow down a bit (he's still there as chairman I believe). I may be wrong on that. Agree on the level of job cuts though. Cutting approx. 8% of your workforce after only a 5% revenue drop is a bit excessive for a supposedly "touchy feely" image conscious company like TLG. I suppose they would argue though that it's a business at the end of the day and they have to do this now to make the company sustainable long term.
  18. ElectroDiva
    Just to add a bit of balance - I think this year has been exceptional in terms of appealing sets (appealing to me at least). So far we've had Assembly Square, a new Carousel, Silent Mary, Joker's low rider, Penguin Arctic Roller, Batman CMF series, Ninjago City, Destiny's Bounty, Old Fishing store, Saturn V, UCS Snowspeeder and a new UCS Falcon still to come!! The only minor downside from my perspective has been the lack a traditional Castle theme (I really, really dislike Nexo Knights) and the lack of a new train set (mitigated by the release of the winter village station). You have to go back a long time to find a line up as stellar as that
  19. ElectroDiva
    This is grim news - have we reached "peak Lego"? I agree with some of the earlier points about the bewildering array of sets currently on sale at ever escalating prices, but I'd hate to see the loss of the big ticket UCS/Creator Expert/Flagship/Ideas sets. These are where Lego really shines in my opinion. I would much rather see them trim the number of lines they have (some of which require unique pieces). Did we really need Constraction figures, Brickheadz or Boost for example?
  20. ElectroDiva
    I think it's too easy a conversion to just be a coincidence. I'd love to see this trend continue the next time (if there is a next time) we get a set with a tram. I really enjoy seeing your layout updates by the way- it's an inspired use of the space you have available and really shows what is possible in a mid size layout.
  21. ElectroDiva
    I think this will either become the new range topper (on sale for years to come like the Death Star) or be a limited duration "normal" UCS set. If the latter, I can see it possibly becoming quite scarce and hard to get hold of. Either way - I'm not taking any chances. Day 1 purchase for me. The view I take is it's much cheaper than buying one of the old ones off a scalper which I thought I would have to do - so a bargain :)
  22. ElectroDiva
    @Vilhelm22 - yes, that's exactly what I had in mind. The hot cocoa and present carriages in particular are just adorable
  23. ElectroDiva
    Definitely :) I wasn't hugely impressed with the WV train as a standalone set last year but it fits in very nicely with this station. Luckily, John Lewis in the U.K. must have had some stock left because they put them back on sale last week. I picked mine up a couple of days ago. Looking forward to setting up a nice little display around the tree this year with these two sets plus a couple of moc carriages.
  24. ElectroDiva
    All in good time @ColletArrow :) The Winter Village Station (10259) is actually this year's winter village set and is on sale from October 1st. They already have it up on the Lego shop@home site at £74.99 https://shop.lego.com/en-GB/Winter-Village-Station-10259 Judging by the promo pictures on there, it looks like they'll be bringing back last year's winter train to sell alongside it. Edit: designer video also now up:
  25. ElectroDiva
    Great news Digger - that will do nicely :) The station building is a bit small but looks like it has good scope for expansion. Love the little yellow minibus / van too.
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