Ardelon

I love the rich detail of the wall, as well as the earthy coziness of the tavern. It must be quite a high-end establishment, with the golden goblets, I hope they arent cutting the drinks, just to break even!

I voted for Gloin, as he is closest to how I imagine a dwarf. Thorin and Dwalin compete for second place.Though if it came down to torso prints, the contest would be between Thorin and Fili.

It looks quite surreal, with 3 levels of size... I spent several seconds just staring at and trying to scale it in my mind!

Screen resolution: 1280x800 Internet Connection speed: dont know (fast enough) Internet browser: IE9

Hmm, I should brush up on my pop culture... What pieces did you use to frame the lines of light, some kind of double cheese slope?

Looks more like a barrel baby with a pacifier! In any case, its a neat way to do a brick-built human head.

Reminds me of the Greek islands too, specifically Santorini. Great job of making it so intriguing looking, I feel compelled to explore all the alleyways and passages.

Huh, I hoped TLG would give Police and Fire a break for at least one year... At least the sets seem to be getting better and more original, with a burning house and a museum crime scene. Though I was pretty disappointed with how the forest police/fire sets turned out, so I'll still wait and see. I wonder whether TLG's consumer research validates yearly updates of Police/Fire, or whether the kids (and their parents) simply buy what's on offer and would actually prefer more civilian sets. I know I as a kid preferred civilian sets (like one of my all-time favorites, Pizza To Go) over Police/Fire. I hope the Friends animals at least won't be too cutesy, so they could be used in the City theme...

Thanks for your usual high-quality informative review White Fang, though for me this series represents a slight dip on the otherwise upward curve of CM series. I was also initially disappointed about the over-the-top golden conquistador, but in the end, I guess its for the best. The CMFs arent really meant for hoarding or army building, which is what would happen if it was a more generic figure. As it is, there will be more conquistadors to go around. Well... You could use the heads for some islander or Amerindian tribesmen, with the black lines being war paint. And if you bend the real-life rules a little, you could explain away the all "12" team as being called the "LEGOland Twelvers" or something.

With the overly cute Friends animals? Thats going to take a lot of imagination to mix these with the regular LEGO system animals... But if we see a zoo, I guess it will most probably be as part of Friends

I decided to include only animals from a strictly "ocean-going pirate" POV, as opposed to islander or amerindian animal packs with land animals, otherwise I wouldnt be able to choose from all the interesting possibilities. So, here is my suggestion: 1x shark = 5 points 1x turtle = 3 points 2x fish = 2 points 2x seagull = 2 points 2x rat = 2 points total = 14 points my info: 24 year old male, Slovakia (yeah, fat chance of us getting this set here...)

For myself, I'm pretty optimistic to have three Hobbit movies. Too often, movie adaptations leave out too much from the plot of the books, in favor of making a simple and striaghtforward (read: dumbed down) story, with characters being rather flat and issues simpler and more black-and-white. So here we have a chance to see a movie that will hopefully avoid that. I'm pretty sure The Hobbit itself can be made into a three-part movie comfortably, though we all know there will be original ideas included as well (Legolas, Tauriel, ... ). I admit I'm pretty split on whether The Hobbit should be only the book itself, or include the other bits unmentioned in the book. But the way I see it now, the Hobbit story includes not just the book (which only tells Bilbo's POV of the story), but all the related elements from the appendices and Unfinished Tales (which I undestand PJ can't use...), and I'm looking forward to see the whole story put toghether.

This sets looks better than I expected. I was wary of announced blue color, but the cottage manages to pull it off (better than the MMV, IMO). I see the figs as being of secondary or even tertiary importance in the theme, so I wont complain about them. As for the roofs, I guess the post office guys are more responsible in cleaning their roof than the others!

Ironhook is the classic pirate captain with the torn red shirt and knife. Just sayin'.

I see it as an army builder simply because you cant build an army of Mordor Orcs without it.

Thanks for the pics Bizzy78. So, The alien queen has a pink plate, not a purple tile. And her skull is not trans. Probably disappointing for some. Cheerleaders expression does seem better (and she does have breasts...). Diver, Thespian and Conquistador look stunning, and they solidify their place as my top 3. The fairy still seems pretty lousy, though, and while the evil roobt looks interesting, im not too sold on it.

Not too thrilled, but not at all disappointed, either. My opinion on the figs: - alien queen: I, for one, welcome our new alien overlord/lady... - cowgirl: OK, would have liked a more authentic settler woman with a bonnet. hoppefully, TLG will give us a shepperdess or something like that soon. - santa: about time. - conquistador: very nice, but would have liked non-gold armor better. - Bavarian: OK, the pretzel is great! - cheerleader: as repeats go, this has the most merit, though another hairpiece would’ve been better. - diver: great! been on my wishlist for a long time (underwater Adventurers!) - footballer: neat trophy, but the guy could use some more color, he seems plain, and the sleeveless arms don’t really do it for me - pirate: like I said before, too much gold. the torso is the one very useful part. - fairy: looks pretty poor, need a closer look (I agree with someone before me who said she looks like put together from random spare parts) - businessman: so that’s what this fig is! OK by me, black bowler hat and a dapper gent is great for a historical setting - thespian: not “ancient”, but great anyway – such a fig was on my wishlist, though I wanted a big puffy hat to go with it (but since that came with the bagpiper, I have no complaints). - evil robot: meh. need a closer look. - DJ: OK. - vampire / man-bat: nice, a more scary color than the MF one (and much cheaper to get, of course). - skier: OK, we all saw a female skier coming (I don’t suppose TLG will make a female footballer, for example) – they might even make a third skier with a helmet! top 3: diver, thespian, conquistador bottom 3: fairy, robot, footballer

I think youre being a bit unfair to the 90s, which had quite a few animals, but from the ocean realm: the Islander crocodile (94), the Aquazone octopus (95), the dolphin from Paradisa (or did it appear earlier?), not to mention the great white shark, swordfish and stingray from Divers (97). And we cant forget the bat from Fright Knights (97), the snake from Western (97) and the scorpion and spider from Adventurers (98, 99). Quite a lot for a "dark age", if you ask me!

I also have no problems with an open back. The set looks very solid as it is. Looks like the Red Book of Westmarch on the right of the interior shot. but what is that dark orange or nougat piece on the floor of the set between the book and the table, on the far right? A bundle of firewood?

I hadnt realized until now how small the set is - it looked bigger in the catalogs! Anyway, I rate it as my 2nd favorite Forestman set, after the River Crossing (not that I own any Forestman sets). On a side note, I find it curious TLG stopped using the printed target piece. I think it would have been better in the Kingdoms target Practice set than the pieces used for the target.

At first, I was a bit disappointed, since there were no figs (apart from the Conquistador) that stood out for me. But after some thought, I think this will be a decent series. A lot more seems to hinge on the pics than usual. It seems to confirm several rumors: a match for series 6 (plenty), a (dark?) elf/fairy fig, I also remember talk of a female vampire. My opinions: - Ancient Thespis - hopefully a source for antiquity civilian clothing. contrary to someone above, I hope the clothing will be as plain as possible - Im still pissed over the green sombrero on the Mexican - I couldnt make a village of them, as they would look like a green-sombrero cult. - Pirate Captain - as I said before, great torso; meh gold stuff. - Conquistador - - Enemy Robot - I wonder what this one will be. - Evil Female Alien - depending on the pic. - Diver - I really hope for an old-fashioned one! - Vampire - hopefully a female with red eyes. (or male with black eyes. Just so the males and females would have matching eyes.) - Fairy - maybe one of Toths portfolio elves? - Football Player - an American one would be nice for sports variety, an "International" one (= soccer) would be nice for team variety. - Trader - the Czech would is the most general word possible: could mean historical merchant, businessman, even a shopkeeper or salesperson. - Skier - hopefully a female. - Red Cheerleader - why not? - Santa Claus - About time we got a proper Santa. To all you naysayers, the previous ones werent Santa, that was a well-dress old pirate! - Boy in Bavarian costume - why not? - DJ - depends on the accessories. - Cowgirl - not too authentic, but still useful for western scenes, or as a country musician (one we get a LEGO guitar or banjo or fiddle). And now for some Czech: The Czech version clearly says female. (The plural forms you mentioned were the result of some Czech inflection suffixes being the same as plural suffixes, and the poor translator didnt know which to choose!) While you are generally correct, in this case the -a is an inflection suffix. The Czech version is masculine, but Im still hoping for a female (hopefully the Czech version mistakenly translated the neutral "vampire" (which could mean a female) into the masculine form).

Im sure TLG could make a family-friendly version of a matador, they dont have to adopt the bull-killing aspect of the "sport". Otherwise my best guess is a sheriff or cowgirl. While I would like a Celtic lady, I think she would be too similar to the Viking woman from S7 to be done immediately after.

Great amount of detail, yet not messy, but elegant. Supported!

- sheep - deer (/stag/reindeer - probably the same mold in different colors, and maybe different antlers) - bison - wolf - a bird in flight And the obligatory for a zoo and/or safari theme!

At the risk of sounding overly relativistic, I have to say that morality/ethics are subjective, and your moral opinions are no more relevant than my and others' „justifications“, as you put it. The one opinion that matters is that of the store in question, and I guess what I'm trying to do is express the hope that the stores adopt a generous attitude based on the objective fact that they aren't losing anything by people taking some unsellable leftover. Punishing them would seem to me like treating them as a scapegoat for someone else damaging the packets. I would put the blame for taking sales away from the store on the person who damaged the bags in the first place. They are the ones who destroyed the value of the product. Those who take the leftovers arent doing any damage if the leftovers are unsellable. If the store decided to sell the leftover parts, then your point might be valid, though I'm not sure if I'm ok with the store selling incomplete figs or otherwise damaged products. What part of the proceeds would go to TLG? But again, this is only my own ethical opinion. Im not arguing either, but I would have a really hard time saying that theft of unsellable waste is comparable to the theft or damaging of a regular product, based on whether it has any value to the store (not how much value). Branding people who take these leftover bits as thieves seems petty, or even like a witch-hunt. I simply say that the anger should be reserved for those who steal of damage the packets. It would be comparable to our issue only if the gum wrapper was opened, or the gum bitten out of. I wonder whether we're still on topic.