TheLegoDr

And here I thought my haul was good. I should really take pictures of everything. It can be quite amazing what you can squeeze into that cup. I recently had to go to Chicago for continuing education, so I was able to stop by the Water Tower Place store. Very different than what I was used to. Just so much more variety in the wall. So since I rarely make it to a LEGO store (maybe once or twice a year), I thought I would do a cup, or two. Results of first cup: 1,239 pieces = average $0.012 each. Very worthwhile I'd say. Most notable pieces were the large amount trans light and dark blue 1x1 round plates and the flower stalks. Second cup: 945 pieces = average $0.0158 each. Notable pieces here were the 2x2 light bley tiles and 1x1 dark green bricks. I stocked up on them. Although I wished it would have been dark bley tiles. And then I got a large number of 1x2 purple tiles. I'm thinking of Weasley Wizarding Wheezes in the future! With these pieces, I can't wait to get to building more castle themed dioramas. Maybe I'll partake in GoH sometime in the future. If I get a picture of everything, I will update this post.

I will propose a question myself then. I have $300 to spend for a Father's Day gift. I collect many themes, so it is hard to narrow down. I want a few of the new SW summer sets (Sail Barge is a maybe, but I don't like that price) and definitely Duel on Geonosis (mainly for the figures) and all of the LOTR sets. I also collect Super Heroes (only would need Arkham and maybe Daily Bugle). I am still missing Town Hall and Palace Cinema, but I want some of the other exclusives also. Mainly the Sopwith Camel is a maybe, the VW van is a possibility and eventually I will want the UCS X-Wing. As you can see, I'm in quite a predicament. What do I choose to miss out on for right now and which do I choose to jump on? As much as I want the big exclusives, that will eat up the budget quickly and then I will miss out on smaller sets. Any suggestions or combination of sets to get? Thanks in advance!

That's an amazing finished product. I just came across this build (a few months too late). I am really impressed with the size and details therein. The figurehead in the video game looks different than the official (and movie) version. I wonder why that is. Speaking of which, I am/was working on my own version of this ship, but I don't know if I will be able to do it justice after looking at this. I hadn't considered looking at the video game. I assumed the ship in the game was the ship they sold to us. Did the QAR change too?

Neat build. That building is very overwhelming in size. I think it would make a fine car museum. Are there a lot of those around you? I've been to a few, but never within a city before. They seem to always be off the interstate or in the "country" somewhere. The street is interesting. I like the design to allow a curb also. I don't think I will do this with my layout though. Granted I wouldn't mind having a curb/street sometime down the road. Keep up the great work!

Your builds never disappoint. This is another inspiring build. I won't be copying anything from this, but that's because I wouldn't do it justice. Some of your other builds have inspired me as well. Keep up the great work!

I chose "too far behind to get involved." I signed up for the Guilds on day one. Seriously, go check. I think I am in one of the first few pages. But due to lack of time, I never was able to actually build anything and unless you are involved/committed to the project, it can be hard to follow and catch up on all of the backstory with so many active members. Keep it up guys. Hopefully I can join in sometime in the future. I have seen some amazing builds out there. I want to partake in that.

Very intricate. At first I thought it looked K'Nexy also, but it is very fitting for structure and aesthetic. Keep up the great work!

Great micro build. I love seeing builds in miniature, especially recognizable LOTR builds. Keep up the great work. If LEGO doesn't release their own micro versions (I doubt they will), I may have to borrow some of these ideas for my own.

True, the shared legs are kind of weird to us, but LEGO was smart to re-use a piece. I can't wait to see the movie. Evangeline Lilly I think the brown corset looks okay. You can see a brown top in the second picture up top. But hopefully we will get other versions of her.

This is one of the few projects I would support. Oddly enough, all of the projects I have supported have been steampunk related. I didn't realize I liked it that much. I think the characters are nicely designed and varied enough. The walkers look really neat. I think the major thing about some of the steampunk sets, is the printing (or stickers) that is needed. I can build some of these sets out of my own pieces (normally), but the finishing touches is the printing to add the extra steamy details. Good luck to you. I think LEGO could benefit from something steampunky.

Nice little builds. The ruins are nice. I'd love to see more. Maybe an open field or a larger castle structure (ruined or not ruined).I especially like the rubber band usage and the sword placement upon his back. Very clever. I may have to look into that for a character. I currently am using the scabbard to house my sword.

I like the doorway technique. How did you do that exactly? I also like the window frame and the damaged walls. I don't usually love red castles, but this seems fitting. And the black roofing works well. Nice cloud too.

Went to the LEGO store in Chicago recently. I picked up 2 large pick a brick cups and 2 build a minifigure boxes. I liked seeing the variety a new LEGO store gave me. And they threw in 2 of the Iron Man 3 LEGO posters. Unfortunately they got tore up on the flight back home. I should have invested in some hard tubing. I will post my pick a brick haul in the PAB cup thread in General Discussion. If anyone cares...

Propicz89 - Are you going to be a completist? The Pirate ship set is underwhelming to me, but it does have some great figures. Weathertop actually is surprisingly decent. Yes, it is significantly smaller than you would expect, but they did get the shape right and it comes with some other great figures. Do you want Ringwraiths and another hobbit, or do you want some undead soldiers and a pirate? I think that is what it comes down to. TDKR2012 - I would choose the Wizard Battle out of those three. It includes the palantir of the eye. That is cool enough right there. Do you have other sets of those themes? If you have the other Superman sets, then that one is pointless. If you have other Lone Ranger sets, then adding to the cavalry would be a good idea. But LOTR wins out almost every time for me. Cerlin - I don't know the normal prices of those sets for your country, so I can't say anything regarding price. Also, I only own Whitecap Bay out of those. Are you into POTC, and/or have you seen the latest one that set is based on? I purchased all of the sets before I saw the movie, so I had no idea what was going on. It did hit the source material pretty spot-on. The mermaids are amazing, but the rest of the figures aren't the best. The build itself is pretty neat with the light brick and the colors used. Everyone raves about the Alien Conquest set, although I never picked any of them up. My wife (who isn't an AFOL) even liked the Alien Conquest sets, but I still didn't buy any and saved up for Kingdoms instead. I'd say go for the Earth Defense HQ, just because it will probably have the best./longest positive feelings for anyone. Canada_7 - I would recommend the new X-Wing. I don't have it, but after reading the review on here I was significantly more impressed with it than I thought I would be. I'm not into UCS sets normally, but that one seems to be a great recreation of the set. I don't know much about the Shuttle, so that isn't even on my list. But it sounds like it has been on your list for quite some time. With the price only going up, that might be a good option to get now and try to save up again over the next few years and pick up the X-Wing or Endor Village. Those are brand new so have lots of time left. The Shuttle is retired, so will you regret not getting it in 3 years? Leoparder - You're right. That Grand Prix racer looks like a great display piece. Are you into racing? I'm not, but I would choose that out of the two right away. Heck, I almost want to buy one anyway now. Thanks a lot... Sam892 - Without looking too into costs, the only TMNT sets I purchased were the Turtle Lair, Kraang's Lab, and Shredder's motorcycle. That gave me multiple foot soldiers and the main villains/heroes (at least from my childhood). Since Donatello and Shredder were essential to my collection, I had to buy the Shredder motorcycle set. The bike is ginormous, but the figures are great. Which Turtle is your favorite? I think that determines the "must have" set for your collection. If you add up those 3 sets it comes out to be 85 instead of the 75 you have to spend. But you would pick up all of the essentials. I haven't heard a lot of positive things regarding the Shellraiser. I've heard it is too blocky.

I agree that LEGO should focus on the set itself, but it does need quality minifigures to complement the build process. I typically buy Licensed sets for the figures and use the pieces to build other things. Rarely do I find a Licensed set that is worthy of display, even though there are a lot of quality sets out there. However, there are a lot of great looking figures available. I try not to buy too many sets just for the figures, but it ends up happening that way anyway. I usually hope for the set to include some pieces that I can use in a different project. If I only want one figure out of many, then I try to ebay/bricklink it instead of getting the full set. But with that said, I don't think LEGO should quit focusing on the figures. Figures do help sell sets. Just look at the collectible minifigure series. Clearly, minifigures sell sets since those fly off the shelves. With the newer printing available and minifigure accessories, the future looks bright for them. I love minifigures and display them more than actual sets. And since I don't play LEGO, I only build, I don't usually get too many of the play-sets, or I mod out the play feature.

ShaydDeGrai, I always enjoy reading your experiences and thoughts. They are always informative and well thought-out. To ride on your coat-tails, I will agree with everything you stated. However, I don't believe I would have been able to put them into so many words since I haven't formally thought about much of this before. I only recently started buying "extra" LEGO sets with the possibility of selling them in the future. I have not purchased anything with the direct thought to sell it later for profit. But as far as investing anything, I will reinforce the thought that not everything appreciates, and will add not everything appreciates continuously. Something may balloon up and you think you have yourself a great investment, then wait to sell and it plummets. I think the risk is what keeps me away. But I have only purchased sets I would otherwise have purchased anyway, so if I decide to sell it for a profit , but if I decide to part it out, it's still a win for me. I think a large part of investing in LEGO is the market getting flooded. A lot of people are investing now because of those few sets skyrocketing in value/price. Not every discontinued set will reach those levels, or even hit that high above MSRP. Not everyone realizes this. This includes the B-wing at 50% off. I don't see that rising in value much above normal MSRP. If LEGO had a hard time moving it at $200, and it sold out at $100, I don't see buyers trying to re-sell it at $200 having much luck. But I've seen stranger things.

I like the official images. I like how crisp and clean they are. Whether that is good photography/lighting or computer software, the end result looks great either way. And what is the technical term for photoshopping then? Someone mentioned photo manipulation, which sounds like a mouthful, but probably as good of term as any. It has become the band-aid or kleenex of the digital age. Some things you don't even think about. Oh hey, let's pick up some of those World of Warcraft legos.... see what I mean? Everything ends up getting grouped together based on similar properties. But I digress...

The survey didn't say anything about ripping off different regions of fans. It did say that Australians, New Zealanders, and Western Europeans feel the lowest value for dollar spent. It doesn't necessarily mean anything. Anyone at anytime could not feel like they got a good value for their money spent, even if it is a good deal compared to someone else. For every person that complains about costs overseas, there are plenty of people in the States that complain of prices. No one likes spending a fortune on anything, especially their hobby. There are a lot of big exclusive sets that may be priced accordingly, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't want to get them even cheaper. It's the same thing, over and over. The results are interesting, but not too surprising. You release it in more languages and more people respond. It is interesting that more women are involved in the community. Is it because of their children, husbands, or just simply they want to be involved? More power to everyone.

Thanks for showing pictures. I was planning on getting this set for Jango as well. I'm not a huge PT fan, but at the same time, there are a lot of cool characters in those episodes. From looking at pictures, you'd think they'd be the same (for character likeness, but also to keep mold costs down), but looking at the side they do look slightly different. But upon further inspection, I'd say that is the printing making them look different. The lip above the visor on Jango's looks higher, but I think the printing going higher gives that effect. The set itself, I don't know how much I care for. However, the more I think about it, the more I think I can create something with some of those pieces.

I've never seen or heard of a gollywog before. With that said, LEGO is made up of blocky characters, so a head or had mold wouldn't look out of place. I think a rounded head would look better, but it would also look better if flattened too. Not sure on favorites, but it should have some good figures. Can't wait for pictures.

Best of luck to you there. Even as a display piece I don't think I could live with something coming out the figure's back. You should look into the Quinjet. I was pleasantly surprised with it.

This is a great looking set. I agree with the expensive statements, but let's be honest. All of LEGO is expensive, especially to the casual observer. However, this set is definitely expensive. Granted, you do get a large, elaborate ~2,000 piece playset with an assortment of figures. So I think the price is justified, but of course I would prefer it to be cheaper. I'm thinking around $200. Still expensive either way, but more manageable with all of these other sets coming out. LEGO is doing a great job releasing multiple high dollar items that are worthy of our money. The downside is trying to capture all of them. If this does take the place of the Death Star, then maybe it will be around a while and I can wait on purchasing it. The new figures look great, but to complete the scene you need a lot of rehashes which is unfortunate. I agree about Chewie. He needs to be updated, especially since all of these other figures that had an older colorless mold that have been updated since. I really like the new Scout troopers. Very close to the source material. And the new Luke looks good. Leia naturally is a steal in the set and the main reason I would even want the Sail Barge. Two new Leias is great, but does she sell the set herself? I can't wait to pick this up, but it probably will take a while. Next, let's see some Sydney Opera House! Thanks for posting!

Great rock work again! Superb! The building looks great, but I do agree a lot of buildings look run down. Which shows off a lot of build techniques and talents, but is interesting how many are like that. I don't fault this build at all for it though. Everything looks great!

Great rock-work! I always appreciate a good landscape and this fits very well. This just shows me that I need to get to practicing for future builds. Keep up the great work!

Where to begin? The dragon is of course amazing. And I will definitely follow this topic to recreate that (if that's okay). Beautiful design. I actually really like the wall. The collection of 1x2s really helps make it more "brick" built. I guess I didn't notice it dull at all. Great piece usage for the table cloth. Very fitting. And I love the candlestick/candle set up, although it is a bit out of scale. But brilliantly designed. I may borrow that sometime too. Keep up the great work!