timemail

I got my elephant body and eagle which were ordered through customer service in a matter of days when it normally takes at least a month to get to Australia. The few times I have used replacement bricks for damaged stickers, broken/scratched bricks I also received it in days vs the weeks I would for any Bricks and Pieces order. I suspect that going through customer service in this way prioritises your order (rightly so in the case of damaged or broken items) so you are getting them well in advance of if you could order through the website. For reference I received my May 27 order earlier this week which is pretty normal for me in Australia. I expect NZ would have a similar time frame (possibly delayed a little if it is all shipped in bulk to Lego Australia, repacked when it gets here, and then shipped to individuals from a central processing location here. I suspect they do something like this as all of the orders I received are shipped locally despite the fact we know they come from Europe.

My phone order elephant came in with a part number of 6364825 (this doesn't come up on B&P. The numbers Jonwil provided were what I provided to the customer service officer but they were not the ones they use to order (despite being on B&P). For reference I only got bodies and no heads - I ordered heads just didn't receive them. On an order time frame note my 27 May order just came in - 4 weeks for Australia - this is at the quicker end of receiving orders.

I have only been into Lego for 7 years, but I haven't noticed any change in Australian stores. We do have sets removed from stores long before they retire, but they are replaced by newer sets. The stores here don't always keep the sets for the lifetime of the set. With the amount of new sets released every 6 months it probably keeps the aisles fresh, and allows them to control their stock by replacing it long before it retires to cut down on clearance costs. As for the range, all main sets we can get in the toy retailers. I can't get things like xtra, poly bags (although these are occasionally in supermarkets), blister packs, key rings, Brick Sketches, BrickHeadz and a few other items, but I am not sure whether that is a local thing or worldwide. It seems to me that more of the bigger sets are becoming online only at some retailers so this could be what you are noticing - this may just be a sign of the times as people shop online more, it could also be retailers reducing the amount of stock they need to send out to stores, and potentially reducing theft by only allowing online purchases of their expensive lines. With the big sets as well I imagine people who buy them want that particular set, I wouldn't think that as many people would impulse shop (or gift shop) for sets that cost $200+ so they probably don't need them in brick and mortar stores since people who know what they want can buy online.

I've had no issues with the times I have used it. I have had them replace generic broken parts on 3 occasions. I have had 2 bent sticker sheets replaced, I have had the sticker set from the UCS Batmobile replaced, and I have had a trans canopy from the UCS Batwing replaced. I will note that I bought both the Batmobile and the Batwing through the Lego site so they had a record of me owning that set. The sticker set they replaced a year after I bought the set - I wasn't aware of replaccement parts at that time so I had fitted a badly creased UCS sticker plaque (it was folded in the box) - once I found out about the service I had it replaced. The sticker was not in the list of parts so I just typed I needed the sticker set into the "can't find what you're looking for" field. Every replacement was received quite quickly (less than a month which is good for overseas shipping). Given how much a Lego set costs and essentially you pay for the name and the quality that comes with that name, I have no issue with using them to replace any piece that is broken or missing on receipt, no matter how small (or how creased in the case of stickers).

For the same reason they can do the White House or Taj Mahal. It is about the building or architecture, not what those buildings represent (politics or religion). It's like the argument of separating the art from the artist.

Pixar are casting for a young (child) trans actress for an upcoming film. No mention of how prominent that character will be though, and unless the film becomes a series I wouldn't expect it to get a Lego set either.

Absolutely. A lot of those are in sporting sets or have some other context (or simply multiple flags) which to me removes the political elements, but the fact the I feel it is a political set is not really the issue. Most of the complaints I have seen about this set have nothing to do with a political opinion and more to do with ignorance or bigotry. I am sure that some people would complain about Lego doing a Stars and Stripes set on its own (they may do an Art flags set if the theme doesn't die), but this set would get far more complaints as the issue that most people have is not that it is political, but that they don't like the LGBTQIA+ community (or occasionally some who feel that the set is cheap pandering or trying to cash in on Pride week). I mean you could just compare the complaints received about the White House set (very few about the political nature) to the complaints received about this set, and you can clearly see that the issue isn't about Lego doing a political set. In the case of this set I am sure that many of the people complaining would not even consider reading the description, let alone watch the designer video for that context, and in cases like this that context is important.

I would like to see more representation along this line in the sets however would be concerned it would cause more uproar, especially if it was in sets aimed more at kids like City or Friends. I do wonder whether the 18+ Lego exclusive is simply to reduce the appearance that the set is aimed at kids, as it won't be in toy stores or similar - granted it is over the internet (especially due to the "controversy" around it). Fingers crossed that one set will make it easier to release sets with LGBTQIA+ representation in the future, especially if they can be released with more reach. Hopefully more sets will lead to greater acceptance (or at least less resistance). On the political set issue that was raised: I do feel this is a political set. The set is essentially a flag which is an inherently political thing. It is not used in any obvious context (granted Lego have explained the context but most people only care for the headlines), such as being at a sporting match, which would reduce the "politicalness" of the flag. This flag is a symbol which many people use to fight (justifiably IMO) for representation and change, however that to me makes it political. I am aware that many people use this flag with no political thought, and no one organisation uses it as there flag, but it is used by many LGBTQIA+ organisations as a symbol. Taking the environmental route which was mentioned earlier in one of the threads. I would not consider an electric car or wind turbine to be political, nor would I consider a protester with a logging truck to be political (unless the loggers were clearly labeled as being evil), however if Lego were to release a set with logging protesters and an extinction rebellion flag, I would consider it to be political. It is about the context, however a flag or representation of a flag by itself will always look political to me.

If you are after fleshie heads rather than yellow they are generally going to be more expensive as they are all licensed (as far as I know). You can search on Brickset by part (link below) and filter by colour - you could search for female but male (or alien) faces may be suitable so you may not want to limit. It gives an approximate price and link through to Bricklink (I don't know of a way to search minifig heads by colour on Bricklink). Some are cheaper but depending on your use they may not be suitable. https://brickset.com/parts/category-Figure-Heads-And-Masks Given fleshie heads are licensed you generally can only buy them in sets or on the resale market as Lego don't normally sell licensed parts. Occasionally you can get bulk lots of heads on ebay which may be useful but I wouldn't think a single head. Sometimes you may be better off just ordering a whole minifigure if you find the head you want and hope the rest will be suitable for another project. Not a lot of help since my answer is basically you just have to pay the resale price.

Not a bible story, but a Duplo or Lego Christening or Baptism set would make a good gift. Although it gets harder to design a set like that when there are so many different denominations with their own customs. Maybe a John the Baptist set would work.

I'm all for this set and more representation in Lego. Happy to have a set with just masculine coded minifigs, or just feminine coded minifigs as a family unit. I work in a Christian organisation with a strong LGBTQIA+ community presence and I know many people who will be happy to see representation in these sets. My main hope from this is that Lego will also review their policies to create other sets for groups they have typically excluded, such as churches, mosques, temples, and other religious type sets.

You know that if Lego ever did this that is what it would turn into. Although Noah in an Osprey rescuing animals would be something. Elijah and the chariot of fire is another that would lend to some modern interpretation. Although flying horses of fire would be cool without a modern interpretation. The demons being cast out by Jesus into the pigs would be another good one for the animals. A lot of OT stuff, while it may be cool, would be problematic though as it is against the modern compassionate Christianity practiced by most and ties into the intolerant Christians views. Things like the start of the Elijah story and Sodom and Gommorah (a town being destroyed by angels would be cool but clearly not in line with modern values).

Nativity - which I am trying to MOC but is really expensive to get animals and suitable figures. Noah's Ark - for the animals. I'm not interested in the rest of the set unless the minifigs were Castle suitable for civilians. Jericho - for the buildings and soldiers. Some good Revelations end of days sets - for cool demons, angels and the Four Horsemen. Edit - Not a bible story but would love a Winter Village church.

You have to order at least one thing off of the normal site (not Bricks and Pieces) to qualify for the free shipping. I haven't tried Pick a Brick but have been told this qualifies. That being said if you need an extra $49 you will likely need a set. If you are ordering standard bricks check both bricks and pieces and pick a brick, as some of the pick a brick prices are quite a bit cheaper (much smaller range though). My orders this year have been received in a week from the normal site and 6-10 weeks from Bricks and Pieces. Only one order was 10 weeks, one was 6 weeks and the others were 8. I am in South Australia.

Horse just came available in Australia. YMMV. Have a look at the profile of user 4bee who has a website to get alerts on when parts come in stock.

Started building this (my first castle set) and eagerly anticipating the next one. I have a not exactly related to this set question but one which I think people in this forum may be able to answer (hopefully not too off topic) about the armour with the right shoulder pad worn by the male black falcon (linked below). In reality would that sort of armour normally be built up on the right hand side rather than on the left? I would have thought that it could restrict your sword arm, while offering less protection to the arm which the opponent knight would normally be attacking? Since it can only be worn one way due to the back stud is this a piece of armour that has been made back to front by Lego or are my suppositions incorrect? https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=65435&idColor=95#T=C&C=95

It worked for me and I do know of others in a similar situation (YMMV). I was an 80's kid and had a total of 2 Lego sets (and maybe some loose bricks) and it pretty much was not a part of my childhood at all. I have spent thousands of dollars on Lego since seeing and then buying the Ecto-1 Ideas set. If it wasn't for that set I would not have spent any money on Lego for me or for my kids (who are now also fans of Lego). On that note it does seem to me that the sets which are getting adults into Lego are the "nostalgic" (licensed) ideas sets. For me it was enjoying building which kept me here. Almost all of my sets are licensed although I am looking forward to the new Creator castle set and hoping (but not expecting) that there will be more of those to come. While one IP got me here I do like more than one IP so I can buy others that come up.

I just assume that they use small market segments as test cases to see how the differing prices affect their sales (presumably with an intention of maximising profit through adjusting prices to find the sweet spot between supply and demand). It allows them to test without affecting their major markets and most consumers would have no idea that the pricing was different to overseas. Another example is in Australia the Vader and Scout Trooper helmets are both $90 and the Probe Droid is $120 while in the UK the Scout Trooper is £45 while Vader and the Probe Droid are £60. The pricing there is just as inconsistent in that Australia pays 33% more for the Probe Droid than Vader or the Scout Trooper, while UK pays 33% more for Vader or the Probe Droid than the Scout Trooper.

BAM items can't be ordered from Lego online in Australia (at least not where I can see). That being said we had a store open up here in Adelaide (about an hour each way drive from me but that beats the previous combination of a 3 hour drive and flight) and it is not all it is cracked up to be anyway. In three months they have had only a really small selection of BAM pieces with no new ones added - it could just be a poor store YMMV. Bricklink is still where I need to go to get any of the exclusive items, and as a general rule I need to buy them from overseas as the Australian sellers never seem to have them.

As somebody who has no castle currently and is planning on buying multiple of both of the new sets I can say that I would rather a civilian than another knight. I can make a castle set and village with civilian torsos and one factions knight torso, but without the civilians it is much harder for me to make the village surrounds. I am not too interested in making epic battles though to me the village is much more important. If however it was a second type of knight I would attempt to buy a couple of dozen of them so I would have an opposing faction. So while I would prefer civilians, I would spend a lot more money on more knights. As someone who only had one space set and one Fabuland set as a kid in the 80's (I had about 200 pieces of Lego in total for my childhood) I have no connection with any faction so I don't really care where the knights are from. Ideally I would like one faction and then something like Forestmen so that there is at least variance in the builds. In any case I will be happy with any castle (except yellow ones) since I have been waiting for this since I started on Lego about 6 years ago.

190 Euro for 60198 from Lego store. 131 Euro (including shipping in Germany) from Bricklink - cheapest seller in Germany. 30% off. I can order sets from German BL sellers and pay postage to Australia for cheaper than what it would cost to buy it direct from Lego with free shipping. It is quite easy to search Bricklink to see this for yourself. Just type in the set number and look at the lower prices. Not every set is the same but many are (especially the bigger ones).

That is from the basic building set 740. https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?S=740-1&name=Basic Building Set&category=[Universal Building Set][Basic]#T=S&O={"iconly":0} Instructions are here if you are interested. https://worldbricks.com/en/instructions-number/0000/700-799.raw?task=download&fid=483

That is from the basic building set 740. https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?S=740-1&name=Basic Building Set&category=[Universal Building Set][Basic]#T=S&O={"iconly":0} Instructions are here if you are interested. https://worldbricks.com/en/instructions-number/0000/700-799.raw?task=download&fid=483

It originally said that the second vote would not be released (and I don't think it said that they would use the vote to determine the winner) so the fact they will release the vote is better than what I expected.

As a kid in the 80's I only had one Fabuland and one Classic Space set as my parents could never afford Lego. I only got into Lego when Ecto-1 was released in 2014 and I really enjoyed putting that together. My next plan was to buy every Castle set that came out and build a large Lego Castle display. I was planning to get the castle, knights, civilian buildings, the lot. At the time I assumed Castle would be available yet unfortunately it never was. I have a grand total of 0 Castle sets currently. Sets are too expensive on the resale market and so I have made do with a few City, Star Wars, Winter Village and pop culture sets. I will buy a couple of the Blackmith and not open them in the hope that a new theme comes out - by itself it is pretty useless to me. The Creator Castle may give me the ability to build a Castle from scratch and the Blacksmith may be opened then. But for me and potentially many other new Lego users over the 7 years since there was Castle on the shelf, I am hoping that there will be some semblance of a repeat of previous themes to get my basic Castle in place, followed by add on sets to increase civilian life and military life. My view is that Lego is trying to cater to new markets more than existing ones so potentially I will get what I want in a repeat of Castle sets to bring new people in. There may be a set (like the blacksmith) to cater to the older fans, but if there is a wave I think it would not be much new. Ideally though the Creator Castle will allow for a big castle to be built and a wave will come in to allow for the civilian and military life. Which would be ideal if it is a long term theme. This is what I have been most excited for when I started building Lego 7 years ago, and I am still waiting for my first (hopefully of many) set. I will admit that in the last year I have been strongly considering just abandoning Lego and looking for a suitable replacement brand. Hopefully the coming year will make it so I won't need to do that. I have also voted for the Castle in the 90th anniversary set (God I hope it isn't yellow though). Who knows what will happen - we may even get a UCS Goat.