Flak Maniak

Mine took more than two weeks to arrive; I wouldn't worry about it too much.

If you go into your order history and click on that particular order, it will show you the element IDs of the parts you ordered. This is, as you can imagine, not very convenient, especially if you ordered a lot of parts. But if you paste those element IDs into B&P or into Brickset's search, you should be able to see what's in there, slowly, one part at a time.

Mantas and anglerfishes... Very Nice. And now I feel dumb for not looking for cannon/cannon bases! But oh well, I probably have a decent number of them. As Donkey Kong would say... Oohhh... Banana...

Well, I spoke to a guy on the phone, and supposedly replacements for the missing parts from my order will be on the way soon. Here are my poorly-lit haul shots for the parts that did arrive: Minifig parts and large stuff. They didn't have Red Son's butt-cape, but I didn't care all that much. Four things were missing from my order. You can probably deduce two of them looking at this image. The other two missing things were "one cloak hood in dark bluish grey" and "eight of those spoiler-with-bar parts in black". One of the white curved bricks was noticeably discolored on the exterior; a pale reddish streak and a pale blackish streak. Another, I noticed later, had a small reddish blotch, thankfully on the interior curve. Not sure what's up with that. But, as I said, this should all be resolved by customer service soon. I might bash on Lego's website design, but I have never had cause to complain about their customer service. Oh, and in the top left, other than cloak hoods and the Generic Bad Guy Helmet in gold, that's Mei's and the Monkie Kid's hair pieces. (The one with the rune on the headband, not the unprinted one. Not sure why there's two versions.) The minifig heads that you couldn't really see above. Some Monkie Kid faces (man that cocky open-mouth, closed-eyes head is so good), another Red Son face, some of the woman-with-dirt-on-her-face... Also man the yellow printing on those green torsos is abysmal. I might just have to put some paint on them myself, with a brush. I think I've got yellow paint that is reasonably close to minifig shade. Far closer than that printing, at any rate! Other stuff. Above the dragon-sword-handles are those Overwatch gun bases, in black. Ingots are in black, pearl dark grey, flat silver, bright light orange, pearl gold. The black splotch next to the grey skeleton arms is 1x1 round plates with bars sticking up. I hardly had any of those, and they seem versatile. The thing next to the black skeleton arms is 23443, bar holder with handle. Those seemed like a really useful part when they came out a few years back, but the BrickLink prices were always high and the quantities small, back then. I never happened to see them for a good price in a BrickLink store I was already ordering from, and I didn't want to make an order just for them. But the magic of Bricks & Pieces is that they have tons of everything, at mostly-palatable prices. You can see that the trans-bright green blade pieces are fairly frosted, but I think the trans-dark blue versions from Nexo Knights were as well, so that's not surprising. I still want to know what this notion is, of parts actually being more-frosted in the States than in Europe. Is it actually the switch from polycarbonate? What's the new plastic like, anyway? I presume it's not as hard as polycarbonate; it might be good in some ways, because polycarbonate pieces can develop fissures and crack fairly easily. The joint parts, alongside the battle suit chestpieces in the first photo, show you that I will have to go to BrickLink for some battle suit cockpits, as those are not being made by Lego at the moment! You'd think they'd have a) kept them in production together or retired them together and b) gotten tons of use out of the cockpit part! Back when that pair of parts came out I thought it was an excellent design and surely destined to be all over the place, but apparently Lego disagrees. Sorting and counting this would have taken a while even if I didn't meticulously double-check everything upon realizing some parts were missing. (Again, the customer service guy I chatted with promised to make it right and the part numbers he wrote down are correct, as evidenced by the new "under review" non-charged order I now see in my order history. So I have every confidence the missing parts will get to me in due time.) My second order, whenever it arrives, is embarrassingly large; it will take an age to sort and confirm. And I will do so carefully! Sorry to put the part-pickers at the warehouse through hell; definitely too many 1-of parts in that next order. I wish I could have checked a box saying "take your time"; I am not fussed about when it will arrive. Just, take your time, be accurate, and do it right. I know everything's harder because of COVID; I will easily accept significant delays for that reason. Now I'm off to BrickLink both for battle suit cockpits and to stare at Kingdoms scale male knights and perhaps even buy some, if the prices aren't too outrageous.

Did Lego send Bowser's Castle to any influencers? I know they sent Just2Good various sets, but not all of them. Did the others get sent to anyone? I don't think the theme's core gimmick is for me (or for any of us, really). It's very much for the five-year-olds, which is fine. I hope they enjoy it. I still have some concerns that it's too goal-oriented, which I don't think synergizes with the freeform nature of "swing a figure around in your hands". I think that maybe they should have focused more on just establishing the interactive features for freeform, imaginative play, as opposed to some goal-driven "levels" thing. Anyway, I hope I'm not TOO tempted by Bowser's Castle; I gotta say that Bowser and the giant Bowser statue are lookin' good! But man with all the other big sets I'm gonna get this year... Gotta resist Bowser's temptation.

Turns out this B&P order was missing several things; I was gonna email but they say calling is faster so I'll do that tomorrow. Very disappointing! I hope to have it resolved smoothly (as opposed to quickly; I'll be patient in this age of plague). Spent a long time tonight laying everything out and meticulously counting! Gonna be even more annoying on the next order! Not looking forward to speaking seven-digit element IDs into the phone, but what can you do.

Palpatine legs must just be random surplus... I mean, it's no great loss. It's a nice torso and legs combination; I'd surely buy some for general purposes if they had both right now. But it's not a must-have. Not like these Kingdoms-era torsos and legs I've been lusting after anew these past few days. (The ones BL calls "scale mail", from the dragon knights, 4586502 and 4586383 , respectively.) I'm not paying $7 per fig on BrickLink! That's highway robbery! (Yes I realize how entitled that sounds, to those who have even a passing interest in figs from licensed themes, but I'm used to cheap Ninjago figs and the like. Used to recoiling at... Jay DX, was it?, being $18 or so some years back. That was a very displeasing price for a fig, even though I knew the licensed people were paying ten times that for some things.) I guess I should tune some things up and actually place my second order. Probably should prune various things from it. I think getting extra green 32x32s is prudent; not sure I want a second set of the 2019 snake/samurai wave spinner effects. They look so good, though! And of course I tossed in a billion random minifig parts... Gotta have my fig-building bucket full of amazing faces etc. to choose from. Once more I'll bemoan the lack of good medieval/fantasy minifig parts available right now. Ninjago stuff, though I love it, isn't really suited to the castle aesthetic. Man I hope they come out with some, you know, proper medieval or fantasy themes again sometime soon. It's long past time! LotR shouldn't be cockblocking castle in 2020! Do children not like knights and dragons in this day and age?! Oh and my first order arrived suddenly yesterday after being "In Warehouse" for ages; I was prepared to wait a while longer! The upshot is I now know what 6288403 was: The Ninjago Hunted weapon multipack, in trans-neon green. Very frosted trans-neon green! Is that the change from polycarbonate? (Perhaps that particular weapon multipack was never made in polycarbonate?) At any rate, once I sort it and check everything's there, I'll post a haul shot.

Yeah, they came back yesterday; it's INCREDIBLE what a difference that tool makes. It brings things up to "more-or-less usable"! On the topic of licensed and/or CMF parts, while trawling I noticed 6253626 Pharah's torso (but not legs), 6080459 Palpatine's legs (but not torso), and 28672 Jafar's staff (which was an old non-licensed CMF staff ages ago). Also that recent 66964 CMF longsword is available, the one with the somewhat triangular blade. If Pharah and Palpatine had both torso + body available I'd probably get some, but with just one half it doesn't really work. I guess Pharah's torso would be almost credible with generic legs. (Or maybe their other parts are on there and I can't find them.) I mean Palpatine's legs + body is just a great generic black robe; can swap out the hands for another color if I really want. But alas. (Pharah's legs + torso would look pretty good as just... Some sci fi figure, too.) Oh, and the "tricorne with braid" is available in both the Barracuda Bay colors AND the CMF colors.

I've never done B&P over the phone; is it a thing where I'd place an online order, then call to add to it? Surely doing the WHOLE B&P order over the phone would be insane. (I mean, what would I do, speak all the design and element IDs? Or try to describe specific parts and then... The Lego employee would have to try to figure out what it is? Sounds nightmarish, for all involved parties.) In general, what could I get with B&P over the phone that I couldn't get online? Barracuda Bay sails, maybe? (Gonna need a set of them for the Creator pirate ship, obv.) I guess I'd ask the person on the phone what 6288403 was! Today maybe I'll put in my second order and then call them and see if they can hook me up with sails and capes and... Whatever else it seems like they ought to have but don't. Is there an easy way to find the element IDs for all the printed variants of 2587, that traditional body armor piece? Even the design IDs seem to vary with the printed versions, and while BrickLink seems to have the parts together, it doesn't list element IDs. Ideally they'd all share a design ID so I could just type that into B&P and see if any are available. (Man I would strike a deal with the ABS devil if it meant the Dragon Knight pieces from Kingdoms coming back and getting on B&P. And I'm cursing myself for not learning of it during the Nexo Knights era; I wish I'd gotten way more of the various Nexo Knights visors.)

I'm here for recent-part recommendations. What're some good currently-in-production (by that I mean available on Bricks & Pieces) torsos, for whatever kinds of medieval/fantasy warriors? I'm not super picky; anything that looks vaguely like some kind of fantasy warrior is potentially good here. (I guess if I'm specific I'd say chainmail/plate would be nice, but whatever kind of armor-ish thing is fine, or even, I dunno, blacksmith torsos or whatever.) Legs are useful too, but I might be combining the torsos with short legs to make dwarves. (I'm also not SUPER into printed legs to start; I mean they're fine and can be quite good, but unprinted legs are also fine for many purposes, so long as the torso print ends cleanly.) Are there some current printed legs with JUST a belt, suitable for medieval/fantasy? I was contemplating dwarf faces, and... Perhaps Cole's recent faces are actually good for this. I think the thick eyebrows look dwarfy. Perhaps one would need black beards to match. I don't supposed there are many beard-compatible, dwarf-y helmets to choose from out of the current parts? Will I have to delve BrickLink for Fantasy Era dwarf helmets and beards, at whatever enormous markup? Or maybe my dwarves will just have to wear 3844, that ancient conical helmet, and look like they're from 1978... For other helmets, what should be on my radar, other than 89520 (that cylindrical one) and 48493 (the generic Evil Guy Helmet, new in pearl gold!). I guess 4503, that ancient face-grille helmet, still looks great after all these years, and shockingly is still in production. For armor, are there some printed 2587 variants in production right now? How would I go about finding all the printed variants of 2587, anyway? Is there an easy way to do that on Brickset or BrickLink? Also, what's with 65432 (the winter 2020 Ninjago villain's beard, sick design ID by the way) being so damn expensive on B&P? It's 1.59 US! Looks good, but at that price man I gotta pass on principle.

It's agonizing to try to find capes on B&P. So many different potential IDs to look at, and it's hard to find them on Brickset/BrickLink, for different reasons on each site, let alone to find one on B&P that's not marked out of stock. Does one just give up entirely on capes here? I mean, I'll crawl off to BrickLink if I have to, but I'd rather buy conveniently from the source if I can. Also, if I'm trying to find CMF parts on B&P, which I realize is unlikely to work, how do I even find their element IDs? Brickset doesn't seem to list parts for CMFs very well, and BrickLink doesn't give element IDs at all, so I dunno how to find printed stuff on B&P using BrickLink. Chastise me if there's a rule against wishlisting, but... Man I hope the 3x2 clip tile with Bowser's logo makes it onto B&P. Super unlikely, yes, but if it makes it on, I'll take twenty!

So if I were to try to place an order with that un-editable B&P parcel in it, you reckon that would go through? And would anything go wrong if I had multiple B&P entries in my cart? Trying to figure out how to actually order efficiently. The other question is, if I'm just starting over and re-typing things from my screenshots, what do I need to be aware of? When I first ordered, a couple weeks ago, before this seemingly-major update, B&P loved to time me out and delete what was in my cart. So I was frantically editing, trying to make sure I didn't let too much time pass between edits. Is that still a concern on the new interface? It doesn't seem to be, but I'm not sure if there's something like that under the hood (that may be causing the un-editable B&P chunks problem, and might cause other issues if I tried to order).

Thank you for the information! I will certainly keep that thread in mind. (To clarify, when people in that thread mention CMF-only parts, those are of no use on B&P, right? Since they're from the Chinese factory and all.) Wish there were a reddish brown dorf beard currently in production... It'll happen again eventually no doubt. Still no idea what element ID 6288403 was; pretty maddening I gotta say. Also, if the site is constantly giving me "Something went wrong." (What a useless error message!) when I try to edit the "Parts ordering online" entry in my cart, should I just give up and delete it and re-enter everything from my screenshots? Or is there some way to recover it? As for interesting parts I discovered while trawling (well, parts I knew about but didn't particularly expect to find on there now), both 18031 and 98370 (the two slight variants of that pointed straight sword part) were on there! Not quite as exciting as Nexo Knights double-injected swords, but still, very nice! The long lightsaber hilt (that is what we're all calling it, right?) from the Monkie Kid theme is also on there. 66909 is the design ID for the normal version, and 67131 for the painted version. In the order I actually placed, on the 2nd or 3rd of this month, I had the stand for the big Hidden Side villain. Design ID 65227, element ID 6317556. I ordered one but will probably get some more; I feel like a LOT of imposing villains should stand atop it. Black + trans-light blue is just such a clean color scheme; I love it. I hope they get much use out of that mold with other colors in the future! (Actually wait... Is that stand swirled, and not straight double injected? Disappointing if so, but still good.) When I saw that black skeleton parts from the new Ninjago sets were available, I got to thinking, because I don't really like the heads for them. The shape is just... Too silly. Anyway I thought and thought, and wondered if there were black skeleton heads with white printing from history (there are, available on BL decently), but then I realized... The heads for the new Hidden Side goons (Element ID 6303504) are the answer! Should look great in helmets, at least. That head is going to be a classic I bet; gonna be great for all sorts of ghost characters. I guess the HP centaur torsos are considered licensed; they're not on there so far as I can tell. Not that I was looking for centaurs, but I had to check at least. How often do parts get first used in a licensed theme, and then "demoted" to unlicensed status later?

Ok, some extra questions, first a technical one: For the past couple days I was fiddling with a second order, because I have poor self-control. Putting various things in. Last night (or I guess this morning in clock-time, though not in having-gone-to-sleep time), I was paranoid I'd lose my cart, so I DID screenshot it (my order was seven screens tall!). Then I clicked "confirm order" and it took me to the cart. (Once it's in the cart as "parts ordering", it's usually supposed to be a little safer from the ravages of timeouts, right?) Then I clicked "edit" to go back to editing it, and it said "Something went wrong." It always says that when I try to edit the "parts ordering" item. So, is there a way to get that error to stop, or will I have to consult my screenshots and retype all the element IDs? And what causes this kind of malfunction in the first place? Does it happen when the old interface WOULD have timed you out? Also, parts recommendation solicitation: I saw short legs on B&P, and given I'm already ordering or have ordered various things like skeletons, or Ninjago snakes/ice samurai, I'm basically already in the "bunch of fantasy factions" realm. So... Dwarves would really make sense as an addition, powered by short legs. The question is: What beard pieces does B&P have? Do they have a decent selection of dwarf-ish parts these days? I'm assuming the old fantasy era-style dwarf helmets can't be had, but what kinds of beard-compatible helmets are currently in production? Or are there any notable current-production hairpieces that strike you as especially dwarfish? And related, are there some currently-produced medieval/fantasy torsos? It's just... It's just so hard to search for minifig parts on B&P itself, due to printed parts having their own design IDs. Not sure I can ask BL for "only torsos that are in production", to check on there. I gotta say, it is sooo sick that we can just order minifig parts on B&P; can have armies of whatever we want. (Well, except licensed figs, which I don't want.) I think that for each new release wave I'm shifting to buying lots of B&P, and fewer sets. Not sure if that results in me buying more or less Lego, but certainly, results in getting a more concentrated selection of the parts I want. The part of me that says "Wow, those are some cool new Ninjago figs, gotta have 'em" can be appeased way more cheaply via B&P... But the part of me that says "Man I want fifty of this part to use in castle-building" is also quite pleased. I mean don't get me wrong; I'm a BrickLink addict like the rest of us, and will remain so no doubt. But the extra option of B&P, with basically-unlimited quantities, not at the mercy of an individual store's having only 3 of this part in that color...

How often will a part be on B&P, and have an entry, but NOT show up in sets that it's in? Where you can find it by searching by element number but NOT by set number for a set that it's in. (And where would I find the element numbers for such parts?) Also man they've GOTTA have a part-synonym dictionary; it's maddening to have so many indistinguishable-to-humans parts that are different mold numbers for whatever reason, and to just HOPE that BrickLink or Brickset will tell you what all the similar parts are so you can search for those. (The "multiple element IDs for the same design ID in the same apparent color" I don't mind so much, because if you search by design ID it just shows them all.) Also also, is there a way to search for various available capes? Those seem especially egregious in terms of having way too many listings, for all the different... Cloth types, I guess. And what's with printed parts having seemingly different design IDs from other printed or unprinted parts that use the same mold? Does design ID have something to do with manufacturing steps, where "goes to get X type of printing" counts as a different design ID? So that unprinted would be separate from single printing, which would in turn be separate from some elaborate multi-step printing process. Still trying to figure out what 6288403 was; I mean maybe it'll show up whenever my order gets here (and on that front I'll be patient; I don't mind if it takes months), but what if, as you guys have alluded to happening, Lego decides not to send that part, because they don't have it? I know I'm going on and on about the orcs, because let's face it I love orcs, but Brickset doesn't show us the orcs' parts at all yet. What kind of omen is that? I guess they're not on even the replacement parts service yet? (So surely that makes it more ambiguous whether they'll be on B&P later?) Also, does design ID 73200 cover all non-printed, non-dual-molded legs? Thank you for all the help; as you can tell I'm really jumping in the deep end and trying to figure things out. (Man I would have ordered SO MANY Nexo Knights parts on here, had I known back then...) ...Wait, 32x32 baseplates are available, including in green?! I thought those were discontinued, and we had to live with awful bright green! And I certainly never expected to see 32x32 baseplates in white!

I think the idea is that the images on that site will be fixed at some point, in which case it WILL be a much more practical way to search B&P. I kept thinking "What parts do they have in X color?", and realizing there was no way to search this on B&P itself. So an auxiliary tool that lets me do that is invaluable... Once its images are working. As for licensed parts, yes, I know those are rarely if ever available on B&P, and I'm fine with that. I'm almost entirely interested in Lego's homegrown IPs anyway. (When I discovered B&P was separate from online pick-a-brick, I did a double take, and asked myself "Wait, why do I hear people complaining about minifigs being exclusive to giant sets in this day and age?", and then I remembered... The minifig-collector types tend to go in mostly for licensed stuff. And even though I hadn't known B&P was separate from online pick-a-brick, I DID remember hearing all the "sell us licensed parts" complaints of years past.) I must say, I feel privileged to not be particularly interested in licensed Lego. Some new Ninjago fig that looks cool holds much more sway over me than something from a movie or TV show could. Also, thank you for clarifying that they do remove entries sometimes; that demystifies it a little. Still very strange for modern entries to have been removed, but for old grey entries to remain. Definitely gonna become a B&P addict. BrickLink might be the only source for old parts, but for new parts, B&P is amazing. Sooo many things are just several times cheaper on B&P.

Anyone know what element ID 6288403 is? It's in my order, but B&P claims it doesn't exist, and Brickset doesn't have it either. Obviously I can't remember what part it was. But whatever it was, Lego let me try to buy it! Who knows if they'll actually send me any of... Whatever it is.

How does Brickset get element numbers for elements like that, that aren't on B&P?

Thank you for the information. So if the orcs haven't yet shown up on B&P, does that mean they likely never will, or that it's easily possible they'll trickle in over the next N... Months? Basically, is the answer "almost certainly no" or "we have no idea" on the orcs? Re: Dark red, sorry, I meant the BL name Dark Red. But the weird part is if you search for that mold number, it has entries for the white and pearl dark gray, but NOT for dark red. And if you search sets like Kai vs. Samurai, that prominently have that part in dark red, it's not there. (Unrelated side note, how old is old dark red, and what was it used for, and what's its BrickLink name?) Also, is it common/precedented for B&P to have different parts available in different regions? (Rather, for a given element ID to exist in one region and not in another, as opposed to parts merely being out of stock in one region and not another.) Do listings ever disappear, as opposed to merely being marked out of stock? And man, what's with the fire-snake armor only being listed in pearl gold, not in copper? This is so incomplete, all of it! Also, does the over-the-phone service tend to offer parts the website doesn't? Man I do NOT wanna have to talk to actual humans to accomplish this process; I am, as you can guess, a cave gremlin, who flees from the sunlight and from all surface creatures.

Is this the main/only B&P thread? I only learned of B&P properly a week or two ago; wish I'd known years ago that it was separate from online pick-a-brick. Just happened to watch a Jang parts-haul video, and he explained the difference... So I placed an order. But is there a way to go and see what parts are in that order, in a concise visual way? I didn't write everything down; I'm not sure exactly which parts I ordered and which I omitted. When I check the order online, it does tell me the various element numbers, but it doesn't have pictures, so I'd have to go one-by-one, looking up each part on B&P to see what it was. Also, what's the scheduling usually like, in terms of parts reaching B&P? When I ordered on the 3rd, some but not all of the summer 2020 Ninjago parts were on there, despite the sets not being out yet. But it seemed haphazard; for example the orcs weren't available. For some of the minifigs, you could get a torso but not legs, stuff like that. Do the rest of the parts usually get put up eventually? If a part hasn't been put up after a long while, is it unlikely to ever arrive? I did notice some REALLY weird omissions, too. For example, the ice samurai armor and helmets are available... The helmets are listed in white, pearl dark gray, and dark red. The armor is listed in white and pearl dark gray... And dark red doesn't have an entry on B&P at all. What's with that? It's not like some other element numbers, which I KNOW haven't been manufactured since 2003 or so, but are on there and display as "out of stock", as you would expect. Dark red ice samurai armor isn't even in the system! Would something like "Ninjago orcs never arrive on B&P" just be a plausible, usual occurrence? And, not really important as I can be patient, but are order times affected significantly by just-added parts? My order had some parts in it from 2020 summer sets that aren't out yet in the States; I was surprised those parts were on B&P at all. I guess that might be related to why my order is still "In Warehouse". Whatever; I'll be a good boy and wait. I'm just glad that B&P exists at all! Wish I'd known of it ages ago!

So... How many copies of Ragana's Magic Shadow Castle were used?

I love the style, and the level of detail. Some might say it's overwrought, but I love it. The density of stuff going on is fantastic. It feels like nothing is there to add size; everything is there for a purpose.

Looks very plausible as a set to me. The level of detail, the building techniques used, and the color choices all feel very "real Lego set".

So when looking at sets like Master Falls, and wondering how to best build larger stuff behind them... One intuitively thinks "Oh, I'll add another A Plate on each side and then we'll be at 90 degrees; it'll work fine! But then you put two A Plates together in stud.io, and see... How horrifyingly offset the studs are when you try to join at the corner. And then with a little more experimentation... It's not even a half-stud offset per axis! It's some other demonic number! "Okay, but maybe going 180 degrees will be fine..." Nope. "Well what if I connect the A Plates directly together, rather than putting a 2x4 on top of them..." Extra no. "Okay, well what if I put one down, and then the 2x4, and put the other 'backwards'; surely that'll work!" Again, way out of system. Am I missing something? Is there a reasonable way to integrate these into larger creations? Or are A Plate sections doomed to be forever disconnected from the rest of the model, always at a strange, partial-stud offset? Is the best option to sort of "ignore" the angled portions, like in Tiger Widow Island, and put tiles to cover part of the A Plates, and then just... Build around those sections? So for example, with Master Falls, I would build all of my extra temple connected to the straight part, the main gate, not to the A Plate assemblies. Nothing would connect to them from the other side. Then, to integrate them, I'd just have some overlapping tiles or whatever. Is this really the best I can do?