TheLegoDr

That is an interesting move. I suppose ordering a case would be a good move for a lot of individuals. I'm not sure where to buy a case exactly though. And it still stinks about some of the figures that aren't as plentiful. But I guess they have a reason for what they are doing.

Recently bought Goblin King Battle from Target for $75. I was quite pleased. And I finally received my Pick-a-brick order. Shipping from Denmark takes a while.

Faefrost (that might fit in the Lucky Lego Finds better, but I won't say for sure) I'm not sure if all Targets have it, but I noticed Goblin King Battle is MSRP'd at $89.99 instead of $99.99 here in Nebraska. Something to look into anyway. And I think they are doing Buy One Get One 50% off of City sets currently.

The downside of 48 fps is that it isn't available everywhere. I would be interested in seeing it in that format, but the closest theater here is over an hour away and I don't know if I want to drive an hour to see it that way, watch it for 3 hours, then drive another hour back. That will make for a long day. Granted I did drive to the true IMAX theater they had to see Dark Knight Rises..decisions, decisions.

I love the new Dooku, Yoda, Mace, and Grievous. Hopefully they become official figures. I'd love to get them non-CW style. I'm glad I never picked up any of the older CW versions because I'd be much happier now. I guess I'll wait and see what becomes of it.

My mom surprised me with the whole range of Hobbit sets for my birthday yesterday. I wasn't expecting that since she bought other sets for Christmas. But either way, I can't wait to build them. I think some of the sets will have good parts for MOCing more landscape things, whereas the LOTR sets have more castle MOCing abilities.

There are a lot of great MOCs out there, but I doubt the official model would just randomly be on some other forum for people to see. That was a decent looking MOC, but I wouldn't buy that set. White may be a more realistic color to build in, but I don't see TLG doing a white Modular. They usually like to use rarer colors or pieces in colors that weren't available before, plus incorporating new build techniques. Just look at all of them before. Dark red roofing, sand green, sand blue, dark orange, medium blue. I just don't picture white being used. It isn't that white wouldn't make a neat building, it's just the plain-ness of it. I don't mind the idea of another corner building, but we've had 2 already. I don't know if we need another one just yet. But either way, if the set is done right, I will buy it. I do like more fill-in buildings that aren't corners though. I guess short of having one block with two corners and then starting a new corner across the street from another corner could work, depending on your layout. Not a lot of people have that much space though.

This is a good idea for a thread. I think the best way is to update the first post with each regional sighting. Otherwise the readers would still have to wade through pages of discussion. I will keep my eye out in stores and this topic for sightings. Unfortunately, CMFs here usually come out 3-4 weeks after the official date.

A lot of factors go into pricing products for consumers. What it costs to make and what people will pay are two different things. If a consumer doesn't see the value in something they won't buy it. I'm sure as a whole Licensed themes can be more expensive for TLG to pay the licensing fees, but by looking at numbers I don't see them being that much more expensive than unlicensed themes. I mostly just buy licensed sets these days it seems, so I can't speak of other themes, but I have noticed quite a few City sets were pricier than expected. I like the idea of 10 cents/piece, but it isn't the best estimate for everything. Typically, what are you willing to pay and do you see good value in that price? For example, Jabba's Palace was MSRP at $120, but I only bought it when I saw it on sale for $100. I was comfortable paying that price, but I've since seen it for $80 at a few retailers which obviously is a much better price and much closer to the 10 cents/piece ratio.

Along with that, one of the tricky things would be remembering what some of the tags were originally given for. I'm sure some are older and not every staff member will remember every tag or title they have given. It would be interesting to know what each is for, but I also like the mystery of it all. I just randomly received a title and that made my day/month/and year!

TheJoker1 - I'd get Arkham also. Not only is it your favorite and you are mainly a Super Heroes person (your name alone suggests that), but if you buy it then you get VIP points, which would be put towards something else. If you buy the others, it'll take longer to accumulate those VIP points. Something to consider. TheRedGuy - I don't know much about Galaxy Squad or TRU's mark up on them, but they did seem quite expensive in my local TRU, but I'm not sure if that is their normal mark up or if the sets really are going to be that much more expensive. They only had 3 sets though, so I'm not sure what yours has. As far as Hobbit (if you go that way), I would recommend the TRU exclusive Barrel Escape. It isn't a terrible mark up (only $5) and it is the exclusive of the wave. I had it in my hands, but put it back because I'm stingy enough to wait and save the $5 from S@H.

To add to that original list, instead of getting something early, my mom surprised me with The Hobbit line-up for my birthday yesterday. So surprising may be an understatement. As for everyone else, those are some great Christmas lists. I hope everyone receives what they want!

For every person that hates Licensed themes, another comes around and loves them. I, for one, loves Licensed themes. They bring about some awesome figures, great printing, new pieces, etc. I love the new horse mold. I hated it at first, but the more I look at it the more I like it. It looks so much more realistic than before. I don't particularly care for the rearing up feature but it is neat nonetheless. I don't mind the Licensed skin tones, it does add variety, but I don't mix yellow/Licensed together. But looking back at older SW or Harry Potter yellow figures, they look horrendous compared to the newer Licensed skin tones. With all of that said, seeing that teaser site, it makes me really want these sets. I wanted to buy them when I first heard about the sets, but now that I see how awesome the figures will be, I will definitely pick them up. New Western is great, although it may be hard to mix in with the existing theme. Not all of the figures have skin tone showing, so those could work to swap. Everyone keeps talking about it flopping like John Carter or PoP, but I don't see it that way. I don't think it will be a runaway success and be a mainstay. I have no idea if they will make a sequel, but I'd think the first wave will be quality. I will have to give up summer SW to make up for this wave I would imagine. And I like the new pistol and skull piece. Those will be great additions. But if I'm wrong and it flops, then we will still get some discounted sets with some great new pieces, so win-win really.

Brilliant MOC. I love how you envisioned this. I won't pretend to know a lot about ships, but this one looks good. I'm sure TLG would release something different though, but this wasn't meant to be an official model anyway . Keep up the good work!

I could easily see a Fell beast set like that mentioned to be closer to $25-30 just because of 3 figures and a potentially larger scaled Beast. I wouldn't think it would be as small as Shelob with 2 figures, even if it were brick built. Adding in another figure easily could bump it up in price and if it was molded, it would definitely get bumped up again. There was the Ice Dragon Attack Ninjago set that was around $20 with 2 figures, but the dragon itself was pretty lackluster. It had a giant head with a tiny body and unfinished wings. I don't think that is how they'd want to portray a Fell Beast.

They wouldn't, but keep in mind also what ShaydDeGrai said about re-releasing UCS sets not happening. Otherwise, what would be the point of having a Collector Series if they are going to remake them? It would no longer be a Collector Series. TLG wants to make a profit, so they will sell what they make, but typically re-releasing something isn't as profitable for them because the core audience that bought it the first time around won't buy it again and the new people that want to buy are probably fewer and farther between. They'd make more money from something entirely new to everyone instead of new to a few people.

That it is, but it pales in comparison to last year. (#6774) Not that I'm complaining. I am more than pleased with the outcome and I actually could have received a lot less and been just as happy.

I agree, Bricklink has been a success as far as I can tell. Each time I've ordered, I've been pleased with descriptions and prices. Granted I only shop at stores that have the best price for what I need, so I guess that is part of it. But typically I prefer to shop directly with LEGO so they can make the profit instead of some other retailer. I rarely eBay or bricklink, but when I do I do plenty of research and ask questions to know what I am receiving.

I do not mix them at all actually. I have all of my childhood collection (from the early 90s) sorted by color and then I have the new sets from late 2010-present sorted by color in different boxes. I only have purchased a small amount of used bricks, but that is because they came with something else that we purchased. I don't remember what I did with them actually. But I do agree that most people assume megablocks is LEGO so you don't get all LEGO in any bulk purchase. The main problem is, most colors I have from the 90s are on the old color palette, so I have so many new colors to sort anyway it just made sense to keep the whitest whites and blackest blacks separate too.

My first outing at the LEGO brand store for Christmas from my mom resulted in Pet Shop, Haunted House, Palpatine's Arrest, Jabba's Palace and Winter Village Cottage. The Mrs is getting me Helm's Deep, Mines of Moria, and Weathertop. My birthday is next week so I'm sure I'll get one or two of these sets early from the LEGO store haul.

Well since this was necromanced, I will comment on it now. The ship is beautiful. That was one of my favorite original sets. The Black Knights being the only kingdom to control the waters. This is a great re-imagination of it. I would suggest the dragon symbol is a bit large, but to capture the right shape it probably had to be that prominent. Either way, the ship as a whole looks great! Keep up the good work and good luck!

Those are good ideas and all, but then you get collectors like myself that would not be able to budget for a 2nd modular every year. One is hard enough to get with all these other themes I buy. Obviously for Modular only people they would want more, but I agree that LEGO is there to be built however you please. Time to create your own modulars methinks.

Leo Crimson - I'd say Attack of the Wargs might be a better set overall. The new horses are neat, but they pale in comparison to having brand new molds for other animals you could use. Plus you get 2 orcs instead of ringwraiths. Ringwraiths are cool, but there is a limit to them, but you can have as many orcs as you want! I also think Weathertop was a bit overpriced unless you can find a deal. I'm noticing Weathertop is having more sales associated with it (and it was left out of the Holiday catalog from S@H that I received), so maybe it wasn't selling that well.

I thought I didn't have any time to build anything, but I don't have any backlog right now. All of the unopened sets are under the Christmas tree. The problem is I'm usually a quick builder, so I don't get to enjoy it as much (because who has time to enjoy it?). So I can build the sets quickly and then display them, but it takes out some of the fun. I should work on that for 2013 for sure. I do like the motto, get organized and build more. I think that would be a good idea for most AFOLs, but maybe just for me to build more. I want to do more MOCs for sure. Kristel - Glad you joined. You have shared some really great MOCs, as can be seen in your signature.

I already commented, but with this new information it is still very interesting and sounds even easier. I will have to look into this. I don't have that many trans pieces, but I'll see if any need some sprucing up sometime. Thanks for the info! I'm sure it has been asked before, but is there anything to do with cleaning the ABS plastic then? I don't mean discoloration turning them their original color. but is there an easy fix to buff out any scratches or overall clarity of the ABS pieces? Some pieces just have that foggy look to them, even though they are a solid color. Thanks for the info!