WesternOutlaw

I notice a good number of people voting "Other" for the question, Why Do You Like the WW Theme? I'm curious as to what the OTHER is?

Take the Root'n Toot'n Wild West Survey to share your interest in the WW theme.

I meant this separately; meaning, keep sharing your WW MOCs on Lego community forums, and writing letters to Lego asking for a return of the WW theme.

We've discussed this topic through a few different threads before (usually those relating to "if Lego were to release a new WW theme, what sets would they make"?) If Lego were to do so, I think they would need some motivation or a catalyst. For example; if Lego saw a lot of interest in the theme through AFOL mocs, a new WW blockbuster movie aimed at younger children, or even a lot of letters requesting the theme, the chances would be much greater. I do think we will eventually see the theme again (just like Pirates). The question is just a matter of WHEN? In the mean time, build those MOCs and send in those letters to Lego. Give them a reason to build the theme again.

Excellent weekend excursions if you're not too far away. I don't know much about Bodie, but I read a bit about Rhyolite after visiting Death Valley. I'd also like to see some of the old towns in Arizona. I think it would be neat to go prospecting with a metal detector. - with my luck, I'd probably just find some old tin cans. You should build some MOCs related to the hobby. Here's a few pictures of Shoshone near Death Valley. It's not really a ghost town, but it's got some great old artifacts: I have this thing for old mining cars. and I really like the old gas pumps.

Excellent suggestion. I considered it a few years ago after reading about the Ghost Train of Ely. I also saw one last Halloween during a haunted Ghost Town tour. I never posted the image, but it was a huge black steam engine that has the boiler open and other areas of the train torn apart. On it was cob webs and a few skeletons. I will post a picture if I can find it. Edit: Found them! Here's some images of the Ghost Train: I thought Lego's official black steamer from the MOT collection would work well with just a few modifications. But I have a large jungle display on my tabletop at the moment, so perhaps some time in the future.

Sorry about the double post, but I've been doing some graphic editting with Photoshop and wanted to share this MOC with a new WW background:

I remember seeing the 1st movie and then finding a number of the Desert Adventurer sets in the store. I purchased Scorpion Tracker, and really enjoyed it. Later, I picked up the Sphinx set. This was a great example of how Lego did not have to purchase a license to sell their products. It was sort of a "piggy-back" off the success of the movie. It would be great for them to do something like this again. But then again, we have the Indy sets now.

Some time ago, this site or collection of sites had a neat scavenger hunt. I don't see it any more though. For more Ghost Town info, you can also check out this thread: Ghost Towns & Wild West History

Yes, but not available yet. I mentioned that above.

Toys R Us has the first two sets available on-line here in the US. For those of you here in the US, link here and forget about Walmart: 7624 & 7625 now available on-line at TRU

I just discovered that Toys R Us here in the US has two of the new Indy sets available on-line. If this is old news, or posted elsewhere, please disregard. 7624 Jungle Duel and 7625 River Chase are listed as "In-Stock" available for shipment. 7626 Jungle Cutter is listed on the site, but not yet available. I had a feeling that these new sets would be available before May 1. They'll probably be hitting stores soon. TRU Indiana Jones Items 7624 Jungle Duel 7625 River Chase Pound sand Walmart! I love the camp! The next picture of my jungle will have this set!

Amen! And thank you for that information. Having been in retail here in the US, I agree with this 100%. I think Walmart has the responsibility to sell since they displayed the items. If they get into trouble with Lego, then that becomes a new issue between Wal-Mart and Lego. I have a sneaky suspicion that they will release the items a week or a few days early. I could be wrong, but we'll see. Good for you . But this tells me that they don't even have a standardized policy making me feel more frustrated with their practice. I sent my letter on Tuesday. I'm waiting to hear back.

Great little WW town Athos. I esp like the little church and grave yard. I'm not sure about the bright blue though. The yellow building looks pretty good. I like how you combined the white on the 2nd floor.

Not really the topic at hand. The question is: Is the Indian Sub-theme the Islanders of the Wild West? Why don't you share your thoughts in regard to what you like or dislike about the Indian theme rather than focusing on Islanders. You can discuss Islanders in the Pirate Forum.

Excellent 007! Thank you for sharing the wonderful imagery, esp. the Nathan Wells saloon. That would make a great addition to the existing WW theme (the size appears perfect). As I've previously commented, I love your southwest scene. It's among my favorite WW MOC. It's very creative and the colors look wonderful. That genre of the WW is very rare indeed, and only a few MOCs possess similar southwest concepts including: My Fort Jacinto (which I would have loved to make in tan if I had enough bricks) and ApophisV's Gatling Stronghold

Good colors, but for what? Buildings, doors, windows, or other?

I was giving the Wild West theme a critical eye by looking at the various colors that Lego designers used in building Gold City and Fort Legoredo. To give you an idea: General Store: Brown walls with green door and window. Black roof. Red sign & design. Bank: White walls with grey door and window. Blue roof pieces. Red roof facade. Sheriff's Office: Brown walls with white door and windows. Red roof sign & design. Fort Headquarters: Brown walls with blue door and brown and blue windows. Light grey shutters. Red roof. In looking at each of the buildings, I find the color palette rather interesting. We have: Brown Black White Red Lt. Grey Green Blue I was thinking, what other colors would look good for WW buildings, esp. for windows and doors? How did Lego arrive at brown framed windows, blue panes, and grey shutters? That's definately an unusual selection of colors. Aside from brown and white, what other colors work well for Western buildings? Discuss the WW color palette here.

Usually, first batches are pretty limited. What I don't want to have happen is for Walmart and TRU to release them earlier than May 1 (just out of the blue), then I'll go to look for them and they'll be sold out. 2nd batches always take a while longer to get in (at least from my experience).

You should have asked her age, then tell her she should consider being a greeter for Walmart (perhaps she is during her day job). She's definately got the Walmart store policy on not selling new Indy sets before May 1 down. - old bag! I find such questions very insulting and although it's sometime hard to come back with a quick response when a store clerk says something offensive, it's best to just say, "that's none of your business and has nothing to do with my purchase today". Sometimes rude people need to get the lesson, esp. when they say something inappropriate. To use an old WW term, you need to cut them off at the pass. Now it looks like TRU is doing the same. I may just wait now out of frustration. But I did write to Walmart tonight, and have the letter ready to mail. They will be hearing from me.

That address is: Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. 702 SW 8th Street Bentonville, Arkansas 72716-8611 They also have a contact web site form at: Walmart Customer Service Feedback Generally, I find that one gets better results with a letter.

I would not have responded to these comments as I disagree, but since I visited Walmart last night and had another frustrated encounter, I need to vent. I went back to the same Walmart that I visited Sunday night only to find a large cardboard display of Indy Lego near the toy aisle. On the cardboard shelves were the old Indy sets and at least 10-15 of the new Jungle Cutter set (7626) with a big $39.99 price (I think that was the price). In addition, I found two of the large Crystal Skull sets (7627) in the Lego aisle. I asked a store clerk if they are now for sale, and he said "yes, they put them out late Sunday night". I picked up both new sets and took them to the register. Needless to say, the same thing happened again. By now, I was pretty frustrated. To make a long story short, I voiced my opinion to two different managers before walking out of the store without either set. I must have been there at least a 1/2 hour, while the staff tried to figure out what was going on. There is something called "Quality Customer Service", and what I encountered from Walmart was far from anything but excuses, and their determination to uphold some sort of date (which they could not provide). Another frustration is that not all Walmart stores are holding the sets (based on this thread). If they had offered a 10% discount or something other than, "Sorry, we can't sell it", I would have been a little more understanding. There is some law or general business practice that says stores have to sell items at the price marked (even if they are mispriced (unless this is just an Urban myth)). I have some experience in retail and I know of two stores that practiced this business policy. There should be something similar that says, if you put it on the shelf with a price, it's for sale - period. In any case, I plan to vent to Walmart Corporate, and let's see what they tell me. They lost me as a customer and I will now be buying the new Indy line from Target now - but they at least stuck to that unknown release date. For those of you who had similar experiences, I would recommend you write a letter as well. If you'd like to do so, respond on this message and I'll provide the corporate address after I find it.

That's pretty good. I've never been able to turn a dog into a Mini Lego War of the Worlds Robot Thingy with my photo program. What button is that? Sorry EB. I just had to.

Dr. Brick: My two cents: 1) I started a thread re. custom (non-photo enhanced) backdrops here: How to Make a Good Backdrop, Hints & Tricks. You might check this thread out as well. This would be a nice route to go if you don't want to mess with a photo editing program. 2) Personal opinion only, I hate white. If you go Plain Jane, try using some color. I used orange paper in my recent Indian MOC (link provided in my signature). Athos mentioned light blue. 3) I also tried a large green poster board for a non-Lego Jungle backdrop. It worked well also. 4) Lastly, as others mentioned, get a good photo program (Photoshop or Corel). I'm using Photoshop now (just started learning). My last Grave Stone MOC (Decrepit Bank) was my 1st attempt. And once you have a nice "cut image" of your MOC, you can use different digital backgrounds, photos, est. It's some time tedious, but the result it much better. Good luck and be sure to post some of your work once you try a few techniques that work well for you.

Are you planning to do any Grave Stone Ghost Town building?