JesseNight

For me it's pretty much everything up to M-Tron. Each theme was unique and good in its own ways. BT2 and SP2 weren't bad, but I wasn't a fan of BT2's cockpit approach and I found the SP2 sets disappointing. Nice on the outside, but seriously lacking detail on the inside. I will add Ice Planet to my favorites list, that was once again a unique theme that appealed to me. After that, themes began to be more confusing to me, lacking that unity that the previous ones had. And lacking big motherships (except for Exploriens), which was my primary appeal to Space to begin with.

That's an interesting way of putting it... and I think it's very true. Many system sets still make use of sturdy frames, and bricks-with-holes are the easiest way to integrate that. When working with liftarms, you're limited to either still use such bricks as a conversion method, or using half pins as studs which isn't exactly the strongest connection. I stepped out of my childhood LEGO phase in the mid 90s when bricks with holes were still the norm (like my 8880 Super Car), and liftarms were slowly starting to make appearances (like the angled ones making the doors of 8480 Space Shuttle, which was my final set in those days). I have to admit that when I came back decades later, and saw modern Technic sets... I was very unimpressed and even disappointed. So many smooth surfaces and large panels, it lost its LEGO appeal to me. It wasn't until I started looking at the mechanics under the hood, and saw how good the modern 1:8 cars looked, that I began to grow a new appreciation for it. It's just... different. In some ways better, in some ways not. It all comes down to our expectations.

Oh dang, I didn't notice at first how he flipped the left and right panels next to the vents! I think watching from the top, one big issue is that the front of the real P1 is much more rounded than the Lego counterpart. I hear people often say the front should be 1-2 studs longer, but that's really only in the center when you look at it from above. The "cheeks" follow that extreme rounded front and so do the headlights, making the side view look very wrong. Ngl... I do love the front of the LEGO one. It's just not a P1 front.

Same, already spending more than enough time behind a screen each day. During LEGO moments I prefer to stay away from them. I even went as far as making paper notes with my physical instructions for corrections to mistakes that were updated in the digital version, or even small mods.

I remember when those light & sound kits just started (1986 if I'm not mistaking), that really was something! I really only wanted one thing at that time... one of the bigger space ships. When my trains-loving dad went out looking for a space set for his son, that's when the monorail ended up under the Christmas tree. Ironically it had never even caught my attention at the time, but it never disappointed! Reminds me I once did a recolor and some edits in Stud.io, I really love those taller SP1 & M-Tron canopies and they look awesome on the train. Sorry, I'm straying a bit offtopic. I love the idea of a 80s-90s LEGO store, I'd love to see pictures if you ever manage to do it. If you want it filled with original sealed boxes that still look like new, I fear that's gonna cost a fortune. If you're okay with replica boxes, it might be a lot more doable. Not sure where to find the right banners and lights. I think the biggest challenge remains finding it all in mint condition.

That looks really good!

The simplest solution when someone takes issue with prices is not buying. For example, if soneone makes an awesome MOC (with a part count equal to a $200 official LEGO set, and no guarantee on how good it really is) and sells the instructions only for $25, and on top of that I'd have to spend $500+ on pieces, I find that too much. So I don't buy. It's a hobby and I have limits on my budget, and will have to accept I can't get everything I want. But I do understand the person having put a lot of work on it. Some do that for free, others do not. It's as simple as this. We can't have everything, definitely not for free.

Remember the big boxes with the flaps, underneath which we would peek at some of the special parts? Ah, the memories... (1980 kid myself) @SpacePolice89 Congrats on getting it! Enjoy not running out of light gray 1x4 plates anytime soon

Maybe because that site only uses insecure connection, or maybe they don't support embedding their images to other sites. Try uploading it to https://imgbb.com/ instead, I know that works for sure. You don't even need an account.

Congrats with finding your holy grail, it's a beautiful model for sure! My own experience with cheap solutions is that it generally works... as long as it's a display model that's not being exposed to the wear of play, or extreme temperatures. I think there are more possibilities between super cheap and specialized equipment, that might be more durable (but I'm no expert on this).

That's awesome! Now to mod the Galaxy Explorer to have 2 of those "dock" somewhere (like the wings).

For plates, my sets from the 80s all have no holes, while in the early 90s (give or take) they suddenly started getting holes. For bricks, I don't recall ever having seen them with holes.

It will no doubt be based on something from the upcoming movie. But to a Lego Space fan like myself, it has very little appeal.

It's hard to see yeah, could be either.

Probably not an og brick, but a custom 3D printed one specifically for the case. On pics from slightly lower angle, it clearly shows to be 4 wide which doesn't exist as an original Lego part.

Luckily exclusives can eventually be found on Bricklink. It's just a matter of how rare and valuable it ends up being. I never buy from LEGO either, we have some great stores here to buy it from at good prices and still great service.

And if the first 10 breads are a lot more expensive, you might still spend more I for one am surprised LEGO still manages to sell from their website with how big price difference is with other retailers. Many larger sets are easily 20% cheaper and that's outside of any additional discounts or promos. Not pointing any fingers... just being surprised.

Note: it seems to be exclusive for USA and Germany.

What you say is exactly why I have issues with GWP (which often aren't even "gifts" because we still need to purchase them). Rarity creates lots of opening for scalping. And often only the rarity gives them value, because nobody would normally pay a lot for a sticker heavy model without any unique parts or features. It's a business model that works for Lego to make us buy to unlock them, so they have absolutely no reason to get rid of it.

A good starting point to get an idea of value is probably https://www.bricklink.com/ There's a big market place for full sets (complete or incomplete, boxed or not) as well as individual bricks.

I just remember from childhood LEGO experiences (late 80s and early 90s) that catalogs had an age range set for all ages. There was Duplo for the youngest, Fabuland a bit up, then the biggest range of LEGO containing various themes (Town, Space, Castles, Pirates, and new ones following), then Technic beginners sets, then Technic advanced sets. I do not know what exactly is referred to, but I think with even larger sets aiming at AFOL nowadays they even expanded on that age range. As for licensed themes and dumbing down... I think those may just be commercial interesting choices to make more money and cut costs. Something that every business would do. Although I'm not happy with the "unicorn" vomit over some beautiful AFOL aimed scale sets, but that's something that's been discussed many times over. Some say it's necessary because of the complexity of larger models. I tend to disagree and be fine with complex model MOCs with that remove the crazy colors all over and often have more limited instructions on top of it. Again, business decision would be to go with what sells more.

It's a really nice set and I'm glad you finally got to enjoy it, it was worth the wait! (seeing the western theme now, I can't believe how it wasn't appealing to me back in those days)

I feel what you mean @SpacePolice89. I liked the City Space theme from last year, I think it was really well done... but it wasn't having that pull on me that the old deep space factions each with a specific role and theme had on me. Then again, maybe I'm just getting old

Not to mention I've seen Youtubers make mistakes revealing too much on videos making it easy to find out their locations (street names, noticeable buildings, things like that). And even without that, a criminal from their own area might recognize a location very easily. I think if you possess valuables and show it off to the world, you're at risk no matter what (unless it's all in a vault and well insured).

Sad truth. Businesses rule the world nowadays... At the same time they're not the only ones to blame though. There's so many rules and regulations and costs they're dealing with when running a manufacturing process in the west (compared to certain cheaper production lands in Asia), it's honestly no wonder so many move it to different places.