TheLegoDr

I sort by numbered bag. I only open the bags with the same number, but then sort those out to individual pieces (sometimes). Otherwise, I will just sift through a big pile. I am aware of what LEGO pieces I will need, so I can find them in a larger pile. The unfortunate time is when you get shortchanged a piece. You look high and low with nothing in sight. Luckily most pieces can be replaced with my own stock, but I must be one of the unlucky ones that get so many sets with missing pieces. You could think maybe I'm clumsy or I misplace them, but that is far from the truth. I open bags either into shallow trays so they don't roll away, or I empty them onto a bright colored blanket on the floor, so I can see the pieces with good contrast. Also, the friction helps prevent them from rolling away. So I chalk it up to me being unlucky with LEGO.

I considered entering that contest, but I don't have time to build anything. Your build, on the other hand, is brilliant! I wouldn't be surprised if you won. I love the use of pieces and Turtle faces. That was one of my favorite movies growing up, so I'm glad to see it recreated here. Great piece usage, and I agree about the building facade. Way to knock it out of the park!

I still plan on getting the same figures I wanted originally. I think the revolutionary soldier would benefit from a tricorn/hair combo like in POTC. But I think the wig will be more useful for more people. So it doesn't bother me to not have tricorns. I think I have quite a few laying around from the early Imperial sets. The Roman will be great. And the amazon warrior moved up a few slots on my list, so I will probably build an army of her after all. Mr. Gold would already normally be easy to find, other than the rarity. There is only one top hat figure in this series. They should have released Mr. Good and Evil along with Mr. Gold, so you'd have an extra figure to feel through. That would be especially evil of TLG.

I think everyone else has answered this pretty much how I would. I have figures from the late 80s that were played with extensively during the early 90s and then sat in storage for about 15 years. All of the print that is worn I would imagine was from play as a kid, considering most of my Crusaders/Black Falcons/Black Knights/Wolfpack and early Imperials are close to pristine condition. Very slight wear, but I played carefully with my toys too. I think overtime anything will deteriorate, but perhaps LEGO will just do so at a slower rate than some other products, and then there will be other products at an even slower rate than LEGO. I've never kept my stuff away from sunlight or dust, except for when it was in storage bins. But it was still exposed to some dust and humidity/temperature changes. I think your guess is as good as anyone else's.

Beautiful work. Looking back and forth between the two images, you could almost swear it was the same, only one in color! I think you captured the source material spot on. I don't love the red brown/tan combo on the pillars on the upper levels, but it does appear that is how it looks in the official photo. But you captured the overall shape and everything. Truly well done. Keep up the great work. This is impressive!

Nice MOC! I know nothing of this scene since I haven't read any of the books. Laketown is superb. I love the creation of water using that technique and then the actual structures themselves are quite well done. I think the dragon could use some work, but overall a nice effort. I've been trying to build my own dragons and been trying I mean I want to. I actually haven't attempted anything, but making something look more organic can be quite tricky with blocks. I don't love the wing mechanism, although I was planning on using the cloth sails for wings for my dragon too. I think it is just more the shape and not the use of the cloth. Either way, keep up the good work! Good luck!

I didn't even think about the rubber bands having issues over time. This was my first LEGO rubber band set. Mine is stored in the basement away from sunlight, but I may have to look into this as an alternative. Please share the MOD. Either way, it is a great set. I think TLG really hit it on the head with this one.

I'm not sure why everyone loves Futurama so much. I still enjoy the Simpsons. Those characters will always hold a place in my life, probably since I started watching them early in their life. But I've seen most of Futurama episodes and I guess I don't understand the humor because I barely laugh at all, but Homer and his antics is non-stop laughter. Odd since they are the same creative team. With that said, if they do indeed do Simpsons, I would imagine they may try their hand at Futurama sets also, especially for the play value. I guess they do technically have the claw hand from Davy Jones for Zoidberg.

Since HP got me out of my dark ages, I love all HP MOCs. This one does not disappoint. I love the tree especially. It looks very organic in nature with the base being angled like that. I may have to "borrow" some of those ideas sometime, if I can get a closer look. Otherwise, the bridge and hooded figure set the scene quite well. I only can hear Hermione's voice when I say hooded figure. I love the base it is built on too. Very fitting. Keep up the good work. I will have to get back into HP MOCing soon. This is very inspiring.

I've seen Elrond go for less than $20 on eBay/Amazon, so it might not be worth buying a whole game unless you want that game. I saw somewhere that TRU USA is having another BOGO 50% sale. I think it ends on the 16th. I went to TRU during their last sale and there was no signage anywhere about a sale, even though online there was. So YMMV here. TRU seems to be pretty inconsistent. But I'll go check out my local one soon to see if it is really going on.

I finally acquired a Series 2 CMF Spartan. I won't be army building with him, but he is a nice addition to my collection. And then I ordered a few pieces for a Guilds of Historica MOC I'm working on, but I probably could have not ordered those and been just fine. I just had the LEGO itch to scratch.

I concur. I don't think Ents will be in this set because they could make a whole other play set with Ents. My only memorable scene of Orthanc is with the Ents/flood, that's all. I would love many exclusive figures though, but I doubt that will happen. Prove me wrong TLG.

Everyone talks about the extended edition vs the regular edition. I've only ever seen the Extended Edition, so I guess I don't know what was included/excluded. I always assumed the Mouth was always in the movie, so I am glad he is in the set. As far as Orthanc is concerned, that scene with Theoden is a good one, but I would still assume they would go with a different scene for Orthanc. The most memorable being with the Ents and the flood. Who knows how they will do it, but that is what I would picture. Or I would picture no figures and just a display piece. As much as some people don't care about figures, that is almost the only reason I buy any of the licensed sets, so if Orthanc doesn't have any exclusive quality looking figures, I may end up passing, even though I love LOTR as a whole. But we'll see what happens..

Well, you also have to consider that not everyone buys Super Hero themed sets, so maybe TLG is releasing the number of sets they feel comfortable with so as to not turn buyers away from their other product lines. I love many themes, so if they started releasing more of just one theme, then I probably would cut out another theme and I would assume many others may do the same. It may or may not be in the contract about how many sets they can release each year and maybe it isn't equal between the two, but maybe TLG is trying to keep it a level playing field and releasing what they feel will sell the best at any given time. Even though Marvel has a lot more source material right now and DC is struggling with the Justice League idea, it doesn't always translate to LEGO deciding to favor with one company over the other. I am more than okay with how many they've released so far and what we have received.

And also POTC figure in Queen Anne's Revenge. It is a great feature with these new molds though. A bit more realistic, otherwise they could start printing hair on the back of the minifig head I guess. But after all these years with the standard figure, I'm pretty used to not having it. But it is a nice bonus. Edit: And I guess technically in that same QAR set, Jack Sparrow's hat/hair combo is attached too.

I guess the main idea is to what scale do you really want to work in. Microscale is probably actually pretty small, compared to say a midi-scale or a minifig scale, or of course macro-scale. I've built smaller builds before, but the more I see it from other builds, mine might not technically be microscale even though they are quite small. My Black Knight castle mini seen in my signature is on a smaller baseplate, but I don't know what scale it is technically. But like everyone else, just find a certain shape or piece that you want to use and build around that. There is a lot of great inspiration out there.

Very good question/topic indeed. I've never exhibited before and I've only recently joined a LUG and a few of those members do a lot of shows it seems. I'd be in the same boat. I just don't trust people in general, so to have any pieces/figures out in the public domain would make me worry, especially figures or rare pieces. Even with tight security and close friends/family around, you are still taking a risk. However, it seems theft is usually pretty minimal the majority of the time, otherwise people wouldn't keep exhibiting. Good luck and have fun at the show! I'm sure it will be a great experience.

That would make the most sense to get a lot of mileage/money out of a single animal mold. I think only recently they changed some of the dog mold and then also new printing with the Dalmation. I'd love to have more cows, goats, chickens, bears...whatever they can throw out there. I'd think more than one set could benefit from it across certain themes. I don't know their policy or reasoning, but I'd think to get as much use out of a mold the better.

I've put mine on hold for so long. But I agree with most, just substitute pieces that look good. No reason to buy the expensive pieces unless you want to sell it for a lot more than you built it. I did buy all of the dark red slopes because those look great, but I will pass on the dark blue-gray birds and the dark blue pieces. I plan on modding it quite a bit on the interior, so that won't bother me. But I do want the exterior to look as close to the official release as can be because I do appreciate how it looks. I've heard of someone modding the middle section one brick taller to make it not look so flattened, so I may do that whenever I get around to building it again.

I really like that gold lattice panel also. I may have to think about modding mine, although I wasn't going to originally. I can't wait to get this, although it's down the list since it just came out. I need to stock up on soon to be expired sets first!

Outstanding work. The figures look great and are a main selling point. But Ecto-1 and the firehouse are excellent as well. I like everything about this. My favorite is Venkman by far. Something about him just works. Good luck. I hope this makes it. It'd be a great addition display piece.

I didn't start collecting any of these until series 4 (around when my Dark Ages ended), so I had no idea about earlier distributions or what pieces came with what. I would assume we wouldn't receive a tricorn with the hair because the hair on the Revolutionary Soldier is the selling point for most people. A tricorn would be nice addition, but I wouldn't expect it. That's all I was trying to say. I also can't wait for the official review. It'll be great seeing every angle of these figures.

Great build! Very entertaining. And very fitting with the source material.

I meant the Overland Park, KS one. To me, all of that area is Kansas City. The discovery center does use the bag system and I bypassed that pick a brick because it was so expensive. We did buy some cool LEGO magnets there that aren't sold anywhere else. But you're right, they don't take the VIP card. They said they weren't affiliated with LEGO proper (or something). It seemed odd, but I guess TLG did sell their discovery centers to help make ends meet years ago, or at least that is what I heard. The Overland Park store has a pretty good pick a brick selection and they utilize the cup method. I will be going there again in a month, so we'll see how their pieces have changed. I was in Dallas last year, not far from the Discovery Center, due to continuing education, but I didn't make it there to see how their selection was.

Overall a nice set-up! I haven't seen the movie yet, but the figures look great. They almost look licensed. You said all official LEGO? That's brilliant, mind sharing where some of the body parts came from? I can't wait for Lone Ranger to come out, only because I want more western type LEGO in my life. Keep up the good work!