WesternOutlaw

After my last poll re. favorite adventure sub-theme, (Favorite Adventure Subtheme) it appears that most people like Egyptian Desert the best. How about voting for your favorite set? Please consider all factors when choosing your favorite (design, piece selection, playability, value, other). Note that set names and numbers may be different in your country. The very small sets and special promotional sets are not included in this poll.

Apophis: this is a beautiful MOC. I love the fortress the most (esp mixing in the yellow bricks to add detail). I also like the use of the palm trees and oak/big tree within the fortress walls. Great detail, and I'd love to set up some great battles with this creation. I just wish I had purchased some blue baseplates when LSAH had them available. I've got a MOC that I'd like to do and could use some. Overall, 5 stars!

I have a few favorite themes in no particular order: Castle (one of 1st favorite themes going back to the yellow castle from the 70s), Train (remember Murder on the Lego Express?), City (because you can't have a train without a town), Pirates (although I have just a few sets), Western (one of my all-time favorites for it's uniqueness and link to trains), and last but not least Adventure (I have every Orient Expedition set and a number of Jungle, Desert, and Dino Island sets. I like all things mysterious and Adventure, esp. Desert, has that mystique (Curse of the Mummy, Riddle of the Sphinx, etc.)) - but don't be think'n I'm nice or anything! I still think Western aint no darn gone castles and pirates! >:-( Not sure what inspired me to do a tower, but at the time, I wanted to do a pyramid, but do not have enough yellow bricks. I thought I'd try a tower instead. In all honesty, I hate the classic castle figs with this MOC and just grabbed them because I had them readily available. It also lacked detail. The Curse of the Mummy MOC, however, at leat I think, came out 100 times better. And I put a lot more time into it. Curse of the Mummy Just regular paper. I made the design myself in Power Point. Just something quick to add some detail. Thanks for the compliments fellows, but I wasn't really happy with this MOC. Check out the Curse of the Mummy for a much better MOC (at least I think).

Thanks. Existing image. Do you create your own. I like your backgrounds because they're always bright and colorful.

Limited length and I wanted it to be a two-seater (front seats only). Originally, it only had one seat (all in black), but I added the adventure seat piece to give it two seats.

I already wrecked this. To be honest, I didn't really like it. It was too 70s'ish. The Curse of the Mummy (tomb) came out much better adding the Egyptian pieces for detail.

Phes, I'll post some images after I build a few.

Very good points indeed. I think the education part is important to Lego (or at least they have demonstrated this in the past). Creator, Mindstorms, Educational Kits, and Play Tables have been a way for Lego to pursue the school market in the past. Why not expand with historic themes? I sympathize with your dilemma re. lack of girls' toys. Walking into a toy store, dolls (Barbie, Bratz, and others) are about the only things I see - or at least on numerous shelves. While I don't know how it feels to buy toys for a little girl, I can see why you buy Lego for them (and have to agree with you regarding lack of female mini-figs in sets). This topic has been discussed quite a bit. I can understand why Lego doesn't include them, but they are still lacking and for a little girl, I would imagine they'd like to see sets with female figs. I wonder how Lego does with the "girl" themes? I'd like to see Lego get away from the licenses, as we built our own (including Star Wars) back in the 80s. They are great sets, but I'd like to see Lego go back to it's "generic" sets - Castle, City, Pirate, Train, Adventure. It doesn't take the association to a movie to make a good product. It's just a very strong marketing tool. An lastly, as AFOL, we need to continue to complain and be heard if we want to see great themes like Adventure return. I think we'd all agree that it's a theme worth continuing.

You make some good points Gylman. That would be great if they did the same with a new Adventure theme. I think Lego did this with Orient Expedition (at least the story-part) and it had a good story-line (Pippin and Johny Thunder thwart the evil Sam Sinister) with great characters (Babloo and others). I have every set and liked all of them. And I really agree with you re. themes not having to be about massive battles between robots and soldiers. Wars/battles aren't needed to make a great theme (esp. with children in mind). I would love to see Lego design some historic themes or vignettes of history (may involve some battles but they don't have to). Like a WORLD EXPLORER or GREAT DISCOVERIES theme with sets that involve heroes/famous people in history discovering new parts of the world or great finds. Some could include: Discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamen Columbus's voyage/discovery of America Marco Polo in China Famous battle scenes (Gettysburg, Alamo, etc.) Roman Coloseum And numerous others These would be great sets to teach children about history.

Lego is unfortunately a corporation first and it all comes down to sales. Don't underestimate the importance of $$$ to a company. Goodwill, ethic responsibility, and all the other missions and social goals are secondary to a company when their $ales keep them in business. It's all about the numbers. But what does give AFOL an advantage, is that we are vocal. We send letters and messages expressing our concerns, issues, and opinions re. new products, but unless we can dent Lego in the pocket book (or really provide information that will help their sales -which we're seeing with focus groups/Ambassador program), we won't be heard. I agree with BlueAndWhite's comments completely. It's the cold hard truth.

I love Adventure, probably more than Star Wars, but think about it: a young boy walks into his local toy store to buy a Lego set. He sees a Star Wars ship, a Harry Potter set, and an Orient Expedition set. What's he going to buy? There's no better marketing than that of a movie. Unless we see a new Adventure movie that Lego can buy a license to, I predict Lego doesn't do another Adventure theme anytime soon. I agree with Hobbes, AFOL make up a small % of Lego sales overall, so our interests are secondary to mass sales. It's just that we have a voice.

Similar, but not exactly. I would guess that the Adventure theme occured sometime in the mid to late 1930s (right before or around the start of WWII - 1939), if we compare Johny Thunder to Indiana Jones. The movie Mummy (1999), however, was set in 1923, then later followed by the Mummy Returns set in 1933 - if we use these movies as a way of dating the Adventure theme. This is a Model T that spanned 1908/1909 - 1927 (possibly a little earlier than the Adventure theme). So in all comparison, the cars during the Adventure theme may have been a little more modern than the Model T, but provides a good inspiration for my MOC.

Thought I would attempt to make an old Model-T/early auto for my Adventurers. A simple design that took me an hour (or two):

I thought Orient Expedition was one of the few decent themes to emerge in recent times. So basically what this representative said was only movie licenced themes are doing well at the moment? Do you know official the reason for the LEGO representative being at your local Toys R Us? The rep (she) was stocking the shelves and the Batman sets had just arrived - or at least she had indicated that she just put them out earlier that day. We were just having a pleasant conversation regard new sets. She also pointed out the Creator sets which include instructions to build numerous models (the red vehicle set-don't know the number). She seemed proud of this set and that it includes numerous wheels to build many models. She didn't say that ONLY movie themes are doing well, she just pointed out that the movie sets are very popular right now and that Orient Expedition/Adventure did not do well at all - so we won't probably see them return in the near future. I wish I had asked her more questions but I wasn't doing an interview with her, it was just general conversation. Interesting enough, she did say that the Wild West sets were very good (in her own opinion), but we didn't talk about whether Lego would make in the future. She also pointed out that she recommends I check the TRU and Target websites for exclusives (like the Arkham Asylum set) that she didn't know too much about. She did say that most of the new sets (new trains, Batcave, and Avatar) will hit the stores in August.

Very nice Mr. Norro. You're very good at depicting life in the Middle Ages.

I ran into a Lego representative at my local TRU yesterday and had a discussion with her regarding new themes (I had to get my two cents in). I recommended that Lego consider designing more historic themes, like ancient Egypt and adventure-type sets. She told me that Lego tried this concept with Orient Expedition that did not do well overall as a theme. She pointed out that what's hot in Lego is Star Wars, Batman, and the movie-type sets, not adventure. I was a little surprised. I thought the Orient Expedition sets were very good telling her that I had purchased every set and know others that loved the theme. I think Lego Adventure sets are a great way to teach children about ancient civilizations. Lego should consider this in their marketing strategy.

I would recommend that the 9V collectors start buying motors and track now because the writing is on the walll. I don't think they'll be around long at all (and we'll be forced to buy on Ebay for double to triple the value).

OK, I did a little research on Lugnet and found this message, a current status of the 9V system: From Lugnet, 9v Train Status Report, Eric Kingsley, March 30, 2006 9V Status Report OK, we have been given a limited amount of information that we have been authorized to share. Now I am a fan first and Ambassador second so I am going to give you all the nuts and bolts first. After that I am going to break down each statement as I see it. Finally I am going to present an initial plan for how we, the fans can influance the fate of 9v trains. First, what we have been authorized to release. 1. LEGO is still finalizing the plan for what they call the LEGO Hobby Train which will be based on the current 9v system. 2. LEGO will continue to sell the current 9v system including the train motor, metal tracks and the speed regulator through LEGO Shop at Home and LEGO Brand Retail only, from mid 2006. 3. In early 2007 the decision will be made

I was basing my comments on Jake's keynote/Larry Pieniazek's comments back in August re. the new play train line re. the future of metal rails: So what about "hobby trains"? Metal rails are not going away. Jake also announced that LEGO Factory is going live 25 August. Design your set in LDD, get fulfilled with your design or one you choose from the Lego factory site. There will soon be an additional palette for trains... LEGO factory is a platform. So... hobby train designs will be done with LEGO TRAIN factory. Choose the palette, design the model in LDD, get fulfilled via a new supply chain, and models are shipped to consumer. While there will not be a complete palette initially, the elements in the palette will be added over time. The whole thread: Jake's Keynote re. New Play Train This may not have been the correct thread, but I read more from Jake's initial keynote that said basically, Lego would have two train lines (one for the kids (play train) and one for the hobbyists).

Here's a shot of the whole MOC slightly modified at the top (new secret hiding place): This was a fun MOC to build. If I had more yellow, I would expand/add another section.

Bad design and just a mish-mash of parts. It almost looks like something you build with a bulk set of bricks (but worse). The only thing good from this theme were the figs and the dinos.

Got me. I was thinking Paradisa all over again.

I've heard of this website but never looked at it. I was just looking at some of the scenes. They're very well done and nice imagery.

Thanks Grevious. I think my next Batman MOC might be a villain hide-out or a building in Gotham.

Thanks. Ya, you'd want to stay away from the Shady Inn. On the camera, my older one that I'm partial to for the close-ups is a DSC-S50 (2.1 Cyber-shot).