kibosh

I would advise you to get the Grand Emporium. Both sets are awesome! Personally, I have NEVER paid over MSRP for a set, and never will. LEGO to me is simply a luxury. I don't need it, but I love it. As was pointed out, you are going to want to get all the modulars at some point. That extra $65 gets you almost halfway to something like the Palace Cinema. Get the current sets while you can, or you will forever be playing catch up. Also, you don't say how large your collection is. You can always download the instructions to the FB from LEGO, and try to build it on your own. You can swap out some of the more rare parts to keep cost down. This is another way you could spend the extra $65.

This is a great thread. I'll join in. In 2014, I plan to: 1) Start building MOCs. I've been accumulating LEGO long enough, and building the sets. Time to get creative! 2) Build MOCs for a LUG display. I've helped out at several MichLUG events, but have not contributed content yet. 3) Enjoy the LEGO I have. As my wife likes to point out, I seem to like accumulating LEGO. Time to start playing with it, too! I will buy sets here and there, and anything I find on clearance. 4) Rededicate my alegoaday.com website. Somewhere along the way, I lost my direction. I need to find it again, and get back to blogging.

This really is outstanding work. I love your interiors, and your color palette is just beautiful.

I picked up some of the LEGO Movie CMFs last night, and have to say, they contents of the bag DID indeed smell bad. But I don't think it was the plastic. I think it was the printed checklist. Kind of reminded me of the smell of baseball cards back when I collected them. After having everything sit out for a while, the LEGO has no odor, but the paper product still smells.

The Simpsons CMFs will be $4 per minifig??? I will only be buying these for possible torsos or legs, but will be even more choosy for that price.

GREAT story, and GREAT builds. Thanks so much for including that behind-the-scenes shot with the planet in the background. Genius!

Wow. That cutaway section is wonderful. And I LOVE the detail on the roof. It looks so... polished and perfectly constructed.

This is really excellent work. I've attended a few of these competitions, and you nailed the feel of them!

Wow. Love those Black Falcon capes. How did you make those?

Saw Desolation of Smaug as well. I was very entertained beginning to end, but I think I liked the first one better. Some of the water related CGI was bad. It just looked like a white blob moving around. And they took a lot of liberties with the story, but some of it really did flesh out the story. And parts were REALLY condensed. Like the time in Mirkwood was WAY shorter than in the book. Overall, very entertaining. And the dragon was fantastic.

I recently ordered the AT-TE for something like $45. Any idea why everyone keeps discounting this set so heavily? Seems like it has great parts, and makes for a really nice looking model.

I have to say, this year's Star Wars advent calendar is a major disappointment. WAY too much prequel stuff. Really glad I got it for $18...

I ran into this issue, too. Luckily I found the SW calendar on clearance for $18, but totally missed out on City and Friends for my kids.

Picked up the Technic Tow Truck (MSRP $69.99) for $39.99 at Toys R Us. Got a free Christmas tree polybag to boot!

Managed to order the $69.99 Sail Barge from Toys R Us for in store pickup. Just brought it home. Can't wait to give it to my son for Christmas!

Good grief. This might be your best one yet. The rear of it beautiful.

Finally got to see The Colony this weekend. I really liked it. I'm a sucker for a good post-apocalyptic story.

Was grandma in line on the other side of the door when you lined up? If so, she was at least in the first three. I'd certainly cut her some slack at that point. If not, maybe a different situation.

Rented GI Joe Retaliation and World War Z. GI Joe was okay. My 11 yo son really liked it. I really liked WWZ. It was an interesting take on the zombie genre, but it had absolutely nothing in common with the book other than the title. And if you listened really carefully in the beginning, you heard mention of African rabies. Still prefer my zombies slow and clumsy though!

I was able to snag several Battle of Smallville sets for 50% off. I'll be selling off the Superman, General Zod, Faora, and Tor-an minifigs shortly.

What "army builders" could you possibly want from Toy Story? Nothing exists in the movies in quantities of more than 3-4; aliens and army men. Same with Super Heroes. Other than the heroes and villians, which to my knowledge are all unique, what else is there? I get and agree with SW and LotR, but even Indiana Jones is a stretch here.

Woo hoo! My copy was waiting on my doorstep when I got home from work. Can't wait to play this weekend!

Finally pulled the trigger and got the latest Winter Village set to stay complete in the theme. Couldn't pass up the double VIP points and the free holiday set. Also got the Thanksgiving scene set. Totally bummed the other Fall set was sold out.

Licensed CMFs seem like a bad idea from a sales standpoint. In every wave so far, there have been at least one or two army bulder type figures; figures people would want multiples of. With "hero" figures, this won't be the case. How many Homer Simpsons will anyone actually want??? I guess you could have variations on them (different costumes), but even then, once I have the full set, I won't be buying extras.

Interesting. I wonder if this is done in part so people can't return the game after getting the figure.