RichardGoring

Ah yes, that works. Thanks! -- StoneWars has just released their monthly 'what's new' to Bricks and Pieces article. Many are repeated from Clone OPatra's excellent list, but this has photos and a few other things on it. LEGO Bricks & Pieces: What to order in January? Over 400 new parts! (stonewars.de)

The site keeps crashing for me, which is annoying. Will try again later.

Me too. Will be shipped before Feb 8 according to the email. I've heard a few people who ordered to build, then saw the huge price increase and figured maybe it was better to sell to fund other, standard sets. To be honest, I have the same thing with Ninjago City. I have it new in box and can't bring myself to open it, knowing that it's $800+. I will, one day, when I move and have more space. But definitely a factor. I really wish they'd just produced more to meet demand, rather than an artificial limit taht very few actually value. Or that LEGO would just do something directly that's mass produced and widely available. Here's hoping for the 90th anniversary set.

Agreed that the BH layout looks nice with the alley. I do the same in my linear row with Palace Cinema and a corner MOC. Helps break up the skyline and also complements the passage in Detective's Office. Personally, I think the flat facade of the hotel looks best as the front. It's most likely what you'd build into the main street, and certainly not a small art gallery tacked on in the available space. But then, I also think that with Brick Bank, with the laundrette being down an alley/minor street, and the bank entrance being at the front. I appreciate that it means less variety in the main front view, but it makes more sense to me, and I like the bold statement of the wide, grand building.

This is why I hope for the BrickLink Designer Program to continue. It looks fabulous. Oh, yes, that's a real pain. I don't understand why they limit it to so few countries. I hope they open it up in the future. It's such a shame.

Got an exciting email from Lego today: Here's a quick update on your BrickLink Designer Program order. Orders to the United States and Canada will begin shipping at the end of January and those going to Australia and New Zealand will start shipping at the end of February. Due to ongoing global shipping delays, your order may take longer than normal to arrive after it’s been shipped. We also want to let you know that your card will be charged when we start getting your order ready to ship. You’ll need to make sure you have funds available and the card is still valid before then. So looks like the February time frame is still accurate. Hurrah!

I can definitely see your point, but the issue for Lego is that votes don't mean purchases. And it's far easier to get something voted through now that no one would ever buy. For example, Ashnflash had, with the greatest respect, a terrible set voted through, because he has so many followers and an active content channel. They will happily vote for it, based on his great content, but the set was a poor idea, would be difficult to implement, and wouldn't look great or work well. MandRproductions could do the same thing. He's said that he's not great at MOCs, but he could throw something crappy together and easily get loads of votes. Doesn't mean anyone would buy it. Having said that, I would love the Bricklink Designer Program to continue. The designers have to make sure the product is viable, so it's not just a simple popularity contest. And it's crowd funded, rather than just votes, so they know it will be successful. That seems like a very sensible way to get all the great Ideas sets that we won't get officially.

Took Destiny's Bounty (70618) apart today. Very, very carefully. And managed to get through it with no broken brown pieces. Phew! I wasn't so lucky doing the same with MetalBeard's Sea Cow last year.

The 1989 Batmobile also had parts changed when they introduced the 2x6 tile, so that it would have a uniform polished exterior, rather than the matte 6x6 tile they used originally. I found the video really interesting @kbalage. I've been watching a chunk of your videos recently and it's inspired me to try a few Technic sets. Thank you!

I'm very excited for this as an AFOL and fan of the movies, but I wonder what kind of approach they'll take with them. Will they do a couple of sets aimed at 18+, make them very detailed and displayable, or go for something simpler and play-based for children? But are children fans of the movies? It might be hard to get a lot of interest before the new movie launches in 2023. Either way, fun to see what they come up with.

As you said, you took them all. And I want to save the rest for others.

Got the six I wanted (birdwatcher, foal girl, Paralympian, forest spirit, raccoon costume, and bard), and then an extra birdwatcher with toucan, because they're very cool, and the figure can be mixed up nicely. Might do the same for the foal girl. On the fence about whether to get the chili costume.

Yes, wanting to swap is tricky. But I will say that it saves so much time searching for the pieces you want, even if they come packaged with other pieces you don't really want.

Went into the Burlington Mall LEGO Store today to find that the UniKitty print torso from the Ninjago Movie CMF is now in BAM (#5 in the figures). Quite a funky painted face too (standard face print on the other side).

I suspect it will be more like the UK had recently, with relatively high minimum purchases. LEGO doesn't tend to do things that AFOLs approve of, and is usually (probably sensibly for them) focused on what makes better business sense. But who knows, if we could wish for something, maybe a way to upload a list of parts, rather than finding each one individually?

BrickLink orders have gone through. I'm starting my journey to MILS.

I'd be surprised (but delighted) if they did, given that the third round will only be funded in 2022, and the sets from that may be delivered in 2023. It would make most sense for them to run it in 2023 for delivery in 2023, and hopefully learn a chunk from this version.

Would love some JP sets next year. It's such a good movie. I shudder every time I consider the first JW movie and just how bad it was in comparison and how much it had fallen back from JP. (Don't mention the sequels though!) But modern day sets of JP would be excellent, and it would be a good time to do it.

Really looking forward to being able to order the kittens.

Sonic has just released, and a day later the Globe has leaked. It's tried to be more realistic than the original, with real life continental coloring, which I think I prefer to the all green. If it's $200 as predicted then it might feel expensive, but the official images and reviews generally make things look better. Looking forward to seeing it launched.

Thanks! I thought you meant you could see this kind of list directly on LEGO Bricks and Pieces, rather than looking at each of them individually. Where would be without Brickset?

BriqFoundation is claiming that there will be a vintage taxi as a GWP for $200 spend on January 28 or 29 (going through into February if it lasts). He's used a photo of the Daily Bugle taxi, which may be throwing me off, but the jump from $85 for the teal Ideas car to $200 for a taxi seems a lot. Maybe it's because they can, or a good way to stop people getting loads at the expense of others. It might be that it's themed to go with the hotel? Also, Marc says that the hotel gift card is a GWP only in China.

How can you see a list of all minifigure heads? I thought they all had different design and element numbers. I've previously searched using Brickset first and then gone to LEGO with the element list.

Bricklink said it was shipping out to people in Europe first, and then everywhere else in February.

Managed to engineer a trip to a Walmart still during these as in stock, but no luck. Suspect that might be it now. Oh well. Got most of what I wanted. What a difference from series 1. There were still loads of beat boxes there though. And a few sets. Not much of anything else from any other line.