TheLegoDr

Don't you think that is why they haven't shown pictures?? If you know you'd prefer to have that over the current offering, you'll only buy something next month. However, if you end up buying the current offering to be safe and then later see pictures of the next offering and want it too, then you'll scrounge up money to buy it also. LEGO is sneaky like that... I already built in budget for both to be safe.

Very creative. It does have a very LEGO vibe to it, which is nice.

True, there is the likelihood that this series will not be good. Especially when compared to the original series they produced. But I am hopeful. HP is my favorite line, so I'll keep an open mind until I see it. Granted, I didn't like the Hobbit book and I went into the Hobbit with an open mind and was bored out of my mind...so who knows with this. Desolation of Smaug was only slightly better, but that was because of Evangeline Lilly.

Thanks for posting that video of the new Electro. I'd love to be able to pick that up. It is at least 100x better than the one we got...that seems to be a trend with LEGO. Hopefully it will have a wider distribution or at least get a little cheaper online.

Nicely done. HP LEGO is what brought me out of my dark ages. I have a long list of HP related builds I'd like to do, but I have too many projects in mind for other things that keeps putting down the list. I am currently building a mini Hogwarts, but I've been wanting to expand the official set to something more fleshed out like this. Thanks for the inspiration! It does make me miss the HP line. I wonder with the new series of movies coming out they will consider getting the license again!!

Nicely done. Very clever and I love all of the details. I've always believed we landed there. I don't see any reason why not. But this adds to that conspiracy quite well. Good job.

Fire Brigade was my first and probably towards the top of my favorites. I have no affinity for fire stations. I don't buy LEGO City sets. I have a handful of fire sets from the early 90s when I was a kid. But this being my first big set as an advanced builder basically brings a lot more creativity and awe to the table. I was impressed with a lot of little details, but maybe only because I hadn't seen them before (I would have just came out of the Dark Ages not long before receiving this product at Christmas 2011). The brick built flag does look odd, but it is also neat with the wind ripple effect. Anyway, I'd highly recommend it. To bricklink one right now it is sitting at around $322 with instructions/figures and ~$304 without instructions/figures. As far as rare/expensive pieces: light blue-gray trash can dark bley 8x16 tile ($5.62 average price) white ornamental arch light bley 1x16 brick dark bley 16x32 baseplate (could be swapped out) ($5.81 x 2) black plate 6x12 Now I consider pieces expensive if they are over $1/each, that's the only reason I listed those above. But ultimately, nothing too "rare" outside of maybe the large tile. I think the primary reason the price is so high is just the number of pieces. So if you find one to buy in box well below $322, you are probably doing good. Keep in mind, those prices would be withOUT shipping, so it would ultimately be more expensive. Edit: To add further to the information above. I took a quick look at Town Hall and it is sitting at bricklinking $433 with instructions/figures and around $400 without. So it is safe to say by bricklinking a set vs MSRP, it sits at about double. So always try to find a boxed version if/when available!

I wish they'd do a Batman head like the new Wolverine. You can at least still use the head in another way at least. In this instance, he keeps his cowl on at all times. But I like the variety in eye expression even compared to just a white band.

Well done. I hadn't considered MOCing Zoolander before, but this looks really well done. Good job on the pages of the book.

I don't know if you people are lucky to have a store near you, or if I'm lucky I don't. I know I'd be broke with one too nearby...

Might be worth a pick up. I haven't bought any LEGO books. None really bring anything to the table that I can't find on flickr or EB. But I know some people love having them. A person in our LUG does reviews online so gets ALL of the books for free all of the time.

I think that makes the difference...you either buy for the set or you buy for parts. If you plan on building that set sometime, then you shouldn't take the parts to MOC (it is a pain to re-source everything, believe me I know!) So I am currently going through my pieces for sets I want built, and ones that I haven't built yet I keep in box until I get around to building it. But then again I haven't bricklinked in 6 months or better and haven't really bought any sets in that time either.

Those Batman expressions are neat, but in reality, WHY print the black headband (or white in previous) for the cowl eyes and then LEGO people eyes below that. What really is the point? Especially in this situation with black headband and white areas for the eyes. It isn't like you can MOC an aerobics studio with this figure. Just pull a Mouth of Sauron and omit the eyes below the headband and be done with it.

Headgear on multiple figures don't fit on mine also. So it obviously is a problem across the theme. Jester and princess are the worst offenders. I went through my stash I bought a week ago. And thankfully I did have a complete series, but I somehow didn't grab extras of the lady warrior like I had originally wanted. I do have extras of the genie though and another wizard for some reason. I must have been in a hurry. I went back to the store recently (not for CMF) and walked by and it was picked clean. I haven't seen them in the wild here other than that ONE Target and with a lower MSRP I'm guessing they won't stay long.

My assumption (like many others) would buy them in order of release. Now if a set wasn't as popular, but it came out later, one could conceivably think it won't have another production run, so it is possible it will "retire" first. With that said, it is also interesting that so many modulars are available at one time. When I first got back into LEGO they only had 3 at a time, but I assume with the popularity of the series and maybe warehouse improvements, they have been able to keep some older stock live longer. Which is good for us, and good for them if they continue to make money on them, but bad for them if they sit on unwanted stock when a new modular could take up shelf/storage space. I'm still needing PC and PR and the funds aren't there this year to get them for Christmas, so hopefully they will remain a bit longer. As for the older, I'm glad I got them when I did. I don't think I'd be willing to pay the aftermarket prices for anything.

Bionicle is LEGO's savior...LOTR is not the money maker here. As you can clearly see! (I jest, but in reality, even as popular as LOTR may be in cosplay and books, artwork, etc. it doesn't mean all of those fans would buy LOTR sets)

Clever indeed. I enjoy checking out this page from time to time. As well as my mind works for puns or crossovers in other aspects, I have a hard time with using it for LEGO. Good thing Oky (and others) have a good hold on it.

The scale is impressive. I hadn't tried building anything that large before, but I think you pull it off nicely. I have yet to see the movie, so I'll check back after I have to look at the accuracy

Very interesting concept. Looking at the first picture, I was confused, but seeing it in the appropriate steps, it makes much more sense. Although, has the theater closed down and Joker has taken up shop there? I like the rose a lot. I hadn't considered that design before. The stickers are clever. Are the stars on the ground stickers too? Some look off center, but I thought the official set were printed. Keep up the good work.

That is a good idea though. How well do the standard bricks fit with Duplo? I've never experimented before. With that said, I have some reservations about ordering used pieces, even if they would be hidden in a build. I don't know why. I need to get over that of course since I am trying to source certain sets from my youth AND I have a few larger scaled builds I plan on doing in the future that will require a lot of rock-work and the interior won't be seen in that aspect... Can't wait to see this build you have planned. Have you stuck to your resolutions?

^Everyone knows everything. Surely you must believe that It's funny calling customer service and talking to someone, hanging up, forgetting a question you were going to ask, getting someone else on the phone and they give you entirely different answers compared to the first person you talked with...

More Batman is always welcome.

Looking at the aerial view of the official version, I can easily see a bat shape there. But maybe that's just me...

^Exactly. My guess is LOTR just didn't sell well. ROTK came out in 2003. Revenge of the Sith came out in 2005. Both have been out of the mind's eye for a while, but SW is very much alive in other venues. I think that helps push that along. LOTR is a different beast. I wish sales would have been better. It's the only theme I truly care about. Now I'll focus on DC super heroes I guess, but it isn't the same.

Good looking Ent. I'd love to see a minifigure next to it for scale. Very fitting for the video game version in terms of scale.