kibosh

Funny. I was thinking about this today. I need a name, too. I'm from Michigan, and one of my favorite cities is Ann Arbor. I think I'm going with Brick Arbor.

Now THIS would be awesome....

Man. I found this set of eneloop batteries at Costco this weekend for $23.99. It was $29.99 regularly $29.99 but it had a $6 manufacturer instant rebate. After seeing the price on Amazon, $33.59, I was I would have bought two!

Lucy. Terrible movie. Just... dumb. Of course, Scarlett Johansson looked fabulous.

I disagree. For every AFOL that might hit their own saturation level, a new AFOL enters our ranks, taking their place. The kids that do enjoy LEGO will eventually grow up, get jobs, and have their own disposable income. Once they do, they'll start buying up all the stuff their parents didn't buy them as kids. Isn't that what the majority of us have done? I bet most AFOLs will raise new AFOLs.

Maybe more reviewers are posting reviews on their own sites in an effort to increase their own traffic.

My suggestion would be to find some fabric that is close to the green of your baseplates, and cover the tables with it before setting up. Cover those expose tables. Other than that, great display!

Fury. Really made me want to build some WWII stuff...

This really is a great point. Are the children involved in the company at all? Do they have ownership stakes? If they fight over the company, or don't care about it, they could easily tear it apart. LEGO needs someone a the helm that loves the company and cherishes what it is and what it means. If it becomes just another business, it will suffer like all businesses do.

I stopped being Lord Business after seeing the LEGO Movie with my family. I have a LOT of LEGO setup around the house. The only real rules I have are: 1) Daddy's LEGO stays where it is. You can play with my car in my display, but I don't want to find it in the bathroom. 2) You can play with Daddy's display, but you can't make big changes. Move the minifigs around. Create any scene you want. But don't rebuild my buildings or vehicles. 3) Have fun with Daddy's LEGO, but be careful with it. It's LEGO guys, not fine art. My enjoyment of my kids enjoying LEGO far out weights me enjoying it myself.

Are there any heads in current sets that would make decent zombie heads? I know Monster Fighters had them, but I sadly missed out on them. Anything in Ninjago or Chima? I am very unfamiliar with the minifigues in those themes.

I think this goes back to parenting. My kids love the their LEGOs, but part of that love, is building with me. I sincerely hope they will build with their children when the time comes. And oh the collection my grandkids will have access to.... I think kids of today, who have a positive LEGO experience growing up, will absolutely end up with little LEGO fans of their own.

Oh man do I relate to the action figure thing. I have no desire to have them anymore. I have been slowly selling off my other hobbies and reinvesting the proceeds into LEGO. I, too, want to hear from LEGO on the color change. It's not like the whole gray thing. They aren't color correcting. As far as I know, both greens are in production still. It seems like a base plate would be fairly simple to recreate. This is a perfect opportunity for a 3rd party to step in. Yet another reason LEGO should really address this issue ASAP.

My kids spend their fair share of time on their screens, but my son has played football for 6 years. He practices 3 months out of the year, 10-12 hours per week. He plays rec soccer in the off season My daughter is a competitive cheerleader and a gymnast. She practices just as much as he does. They both have actual bicycles that they pedal. They get plenty of physical activity. When they are on their screens, they generally learn things. My daughter taught herself how to play cats cradle with yarn. She's learning to sew. She watches YouTube to learn patterns for weaving bracelets for friends. She's almost 9. My son creates stop motion videos and learns magic tricks. He's going on 13. Best of all, if dad is playing with his LEGOs, they will join me at some point. It really is how you raise your kids. So yes, parenting (or lack of), is a huge risk to LEGO I think LEGO is taking the right step this year with a bunch of basic brick assortments. That's the first question I get asked by parents when they hear about my hobby. "Where do I get just bricks"? Hopefully this move continues. And yeah, the baseplate thing is ridiculous. Expand the color palette, sure. Phase out popular colors? Why? I totally agree, but no one is even close to this yet. I'll be the first to buy cheap, high quality baseplates that color match LEGO exactly.

I don't see a quality to cost benefit. For plastic bricks, they are either a quality product, or they're not. Price does not, nor will it ever, affect my purchasing decisions. It did back in the day, and I bought clone bricks. They were terrible, and I gave them away. Every family will dabble with them, but turn their back quickly. So LEGO's creativity is keeping MB from being creative? That argument almost makes my point for me. They have no creative options, nor creative ideas. Realistically, one of the biggest threats or risk to LEGO is the emergence of a direct competitor, so it has to be part of this discussion. Rising oil prices or falling supply are other possibilities. Increased video gaming cutting into kid's budgets.

I totally disagree with a couple points above. The quality of clone bricks is no where near the quality of LEGO. They are increasingly easy to pick out of bulk lots I get by feel, color, and general appearance. And they do not go together well at all. And talk about over specialization. Does Mega Blok even have non licensed lines? The only thing I see on the shelf is Call of Duty.

Slave 1 if it's in stock by then. If not, very possibly a Mindstorms set.

That is an exceptionally good job at faithfully recreating the original building. It's perfect.

I don't feel like hunting down the new CMF series so I bought a sealed case on eBay. I'll be selling off 2 complete sets soon!

This is beautiful, and an excellent representation of the real building. Love the modern look to it, and love how you did the roof.

I bought them a while ago, but they finally showed up today form the Neterlands. 22 copies of 7280 Straight and Cross Road Plates. My city is getting a big expansion!

Agreed. 100%

I don't have a set budget, but I do have two rules that guide my purchases: 1) My LEGO purchases are sell funded. To buy more, I have to sell LEGO from my collection. 2) I NEVER pay retail prices unless it's something like the modulars. And then, I only buy if I can save 20%+ with VIP points.

I build my city layout for the enjoyment of children. I try to work as many whimsical points of interest as possible; like the LEGO Movie sets. Kids LOVE them!. I plan of getting 76038 to use as a base for my Stark Tower/Avengers HQ. This will help me work a bunch of Super Heroes into the scene.

Do any third party makers make 32x32 base plates? I don't want 32x96 or double sided plates. I want plates that will fit in seamlessly with my current display. An expanded color palette, as has been pointed out, would be ideal. I'm not a huge fan of third party pieces, but I think I could make an exception for base plates!