TheLegoDr

I just don't have a thief's brain. I wouldn't be able to comprehend how to rip someone off. I'd put my mind to use to figure how to do it legitimately. Seems easier to me that way. Maybe I'm just not creative.

Well there is the official toy Shoppe, so I don't think would make another one. And the bakery had an ice rink. Basically will just need to buy your own sticks and MOC it.

I wouldn't want to eat that fish I don't think... Great tower. Great figure placement. I love seeing green tiles as murky water. I've been wanting to accumulate a lot of those for that very reason, but I haven't had a chance yet.

Interesting concepts. I do agree the prices are a bit low. Wasn't the recent Castle sets at around $13 for 4 figures and a small build? Needless to say, if these were available at these prices, I'd snatch them up. I like the figure combinations for the most part. The viking torso with the gold arms was really neat. And I like the light metallic silver helmet for the CMF Elf torso. I hadn't considered that, even though it is quite obvious.

I was assuming MSRP, but I wasn't for sure. In this case, the value would be much higher. That does make sense about waiting. You don't want to just bust one person because it could happen again. You need to find the outlet to close the whole operation.

I haven't seen the movie, but I did see one of the sequels. This is a very interesting and creative build. I hadn't noticed you used mirrors, so nice job hiding that. The builds themselves are nicely done. I can easily see that in LEGO form for other people's builds.

Good point. Old gray would be a good color too. I do agree the tattoos might not stand out as well on a darker torso and maybe that is what LEGO was going for. But I do think he is too light. I still haven't picked up those figures yet. The sets might be worthwhile, but I mostly just want the figures and save some money to buy other sets I'm missing out on. I usually reserve Christmas/Birthday time for exclusives, but I may end up having to get regular release sets (Benny's SSS, Cantina, Milano, etc). Not good LEGO!

Very creative and interesting. The roof of course is interesting. I will have to copy this, but in black. I won't be as colorful as you. The walls are a good color too. The armor wall reminds me of the Persian wall in 300, only just armor. Very creative. It doesn't look sturdy, like you said, but the fact that you could swing that at all is impressive.

I am not trying to come off as a kiss megablocks or anything, but I think the above post by CopMike pretty much sums this up.

^How are they describing value? Is it MSRP or aftermarket value? Because a lot of $50 MSRP sets that are retired may go for more in the aftermarket. Just look at Zombies set from Monster Fighters. I think it sold for $40 and it would go for way more now. Outside of the minifigures, I wonder if the "grab bags" would get swept into the bulk LEGO they send out to LUGs? I know a lot of Pick a Brick and store display models get put into that.

^A lot of that is linked to new pieces which provide new techniques and possibly just better builders overall thanks to the internet. People can immerse themselves in inspiration and create all sorts of things.

^That picture confirms (in my eyes) they should have used a dark bley color instead of the light bley. I see very little green in him like others debated before. Light bley makes the tattoos too noticeable. There really isn't that much contrast between them on the actual person.

I just posted in the what did you buy today thread, but I'm pretty pleased about the purchase. I snagged a really cheap Mega Core Magnetizer on eBay recently for less than half of what the cheapest on bricklink is going for. I saw the price and had to go for it. I've been wanting to bricklink it lately, but it would cost about double what I paid just to piece it together. I am quite pleased. It looks like a fun model and my daughter enjoyed playing with it. It is one of the few M:Tron sets I didn't have as a kid.

I snagged an M:Tron Mega Core Magnetizer on eBay recently. It had a buy it now for about half of what the cheapest on bricklink was going for and I did the idiotic gamble of submitting an offer and they accepted! So I got it for way less than I ever expected to get it for. I planned on bricklinking it, but when I can get the whole set for the same it would cost me to get the 6 giant wheels and the trans green windscreen, I'd say it's a win.

Does that say available Sept 1-14 or while supplies last? I don't think people will be able to get the early access WV set PLUS the spaceman. Tricky LEGO.... I definitely won't be able to swing $100 early next month. I already blew through a budget recently buying old M:Tron sets and the Exo-suit... oh well.

I'd love a new molded creature, but maybe LEGO will pull a LEGO and give us brick built rams (similar to the brick built reindeer in the new Winter Village set). Everyone wanted molded deer for that, but they didn't get it. I highly doubt they will create rams for one set. The wargs at least were able to be used multiple times among all of Middle Earth. The ram will be used for this movie and nothing else (most likely).

I was worried it was going to be the free Christmas set over Brick Friday weekend. Thankfully this doesn't fit in with those, so I can easily pass on this.

Brilliant. I had the official TMNT version as a kid. It was fun to play with. Definitely something I'd love to see with the cartoon LEGO sets.

^I would agree with this more so than a lot of these arguments. Certain licenses are all about the characters and since LEGO is a building toy first, they incorporate builds with the figures. The positive, you get both bricks and figures and have a complete toy. The downside, they don't seem to be able to sell figures by themselves (I don't have details of each deal they make with their license holders). But since certain licenses are more about character building than set building, you'd think they could handle it differently. Maybe when they negotiate LEGO tries to get more access to figures, but since the license holder doesn't want that, there isn't much LEGO can do. They aren't in full control of every little detail, not if they want to sell a product with someone else's IP stamped on it. I'd love to get all of the SDCC figures. Even the characters I don't know much about. But I won't pay the aftermarket prices for them either since I'm not DYING to have any of them. I collect Super Heroes for the figures also. I collected LOTR for the figures. In terms of a collection, yes my collection will always be incomplete. But that is the point of collecting, to chase after that one missing piece. Most people after they get a complete collection, actually feel less satisfied than they did when they were chasing the missing pieces. Yes, I know it is frustrating. I realize we shouldn't "just have to deal with it," but that is the point we are at. LEGO is listening. How many were given away last year? 300? How many were given away this year? 1750!!! That's a big jump. No, not everyone will receive them. Aftermarket prices may still be expensive, but there are a lot more out there than the previous versions.

I realize theft equals no start up cost, meaning it would be all profit when selling in the aftermarket, but was the seller just getting MSRP for these sets? Surely they weren't getting more than MSRP when the sets were still active. And it said some sets were valued at $400...the only one I could think of at that price recently would be the Death Star. Isn't that box huge?? How do you walk out with that set, let alone possibly multiple times.

Easily my favorite movie. And this MOC is fitting. The stair effect is neat. I hadn't noticed it wasn't real stairs until I looked at it again. The candles are really neat. I didn't know those pieces came in that color. The flooring is neat. I haven't seen that effect in a while. Good work.

I changed all of my lampposts to having a 2x2 underneath it also. I just prefer not showing the baseplate if I can help it. I have also changed all of the lampposts to black, and I altered the top light structure too. They look different, but I prefer them. I may change them back to white, but with the design method I chose. I will show it if I ever get around to getting pictures of my Sand Blue Grocer MOC/MOD.

I agree, licensed sets can be completely different. But they strictly do not sell licensed minifigures. Otherwise I'd have a lot more LOTR figures.. But there are other factors at play too. Because I've requested things from normal sets. They still require proof. So my account has issues because of their tracking. Is it my fault I receive crap products? I'd say no, but they might beg to differ.

Some of these are good business ideas and some would be terrible. (Believe me, I have terrible business ideas too ) I do like the idea of connecting themes more though. I have been looking back at my old space sets (Blacktron II, M:Tron, Space Police II), but it also transfers to the classic castle stuff. They all connected. You will see Blacktron II figures in Ice Planet sets and Space Police sets. They even had minifigure packs you could buy that had a collection of that era of space figures or castle figures. There was a bigger picture there instead of scrapping everything you've done after a year or two instead of propogating that same storyline. I liked seeing how they connected. You could at least keep some of the same recurring themes for a little while as it transitioned to a new theme and you slowly phased the previous out instead of stopping it abruptly. People may like variety, but some diehard fans may want some of the old too. For example, I loved Kingdoms but I have zero interest in the new Castle line. Wouldn't it be better to introduce a new castle kingdom within the same realm and throw in mixed sets to keep the kingdoms lovers still buying sets and introduce new fans to it all?? Now a bad idea -- give at least one set that is made to me for my personal collection Edit: ^In response to the above, Batman is there for a few reasons. Recognizability. He's a driving force for a lot of characters. There are some who don't know or don't care about other heroes. Yes, Superman is recognizable also, but to be honest I wouldn't have told you who Green Lantern was a few years ago if it wasn't for the movie. I just don't pay attention to the other characters. Maybe cartoons today represent them better. And I guess I'm not as big of a comic book nerd as some people, but I really only care about Batman, so to keep getting variants of him and his villains, keeps me buying the sets. If there were sets without him or sets involving heroes I don't care about, I would probably pass (like most of the Spiderman sets).

Take a look here. It talks about de-yellowing. I've used peroxide without oxyclean and it works great. Maybe the oxyclean will help speed it up?