ChicoGoya

This is excellent! Very true to the LEGO animals look. Hopefully it will get the 10,000 supporters needed! I don't think LEGO would produce a set just for animals. I think they would utilize the idea and models to add animals to various themes and sets where necessary. Similar to how they added cows, goats, and chickens to the Medieval Village set. But it's got my support!

Went to check out the Grand Opening event on Sat. 10:15am was the earliest I could get there, and there was already a line stretching about 75 ft. Got nervous that they would run out of the special edition store model, but the mall coordinators confirmed that they had plenty left! It was about 40 min wait in line outside, and another 20 min to purchase. The store looks nice though, and, yes, I was able to get the store model AND a mini Sopwith Camel. Afterwards I went to check out the Master Builder event where people could help construct an 8ft Spongebob. Unfortunately I couldn't assist with work looming down on me! Oh well. I must say, we in NJ are quite lucky with 3 stores now! Some pictures of the store and event below.

Took a quick glance at the Elizabeth NJ wall. They have the Swordleaf w/ clip (30239) and the 2x2 Plant Flower in red (4728). Those are the ones I can remember. It was crowded (Grand Opening weekend), so I didn't stay too long. I think I may go back to pick up some of those leaves.

My sets stay assembled until I run out of flat surfaces. Right now, I have 3 modulars, Tower Bridge, and Imperial Flagship "displayed" on the guest bedroom's bed! Maybe it's time to break those down, huh?

But it's GOLD!! I can only imagine...that's gross! My brother gave me a Chewbacca minifig with crossbow that he found in a diner parking lot. I think I'm in possession of some poor kid's childhood memory! AWESOME!!

I'm trying to post a picture with the comparison, but I don't have enough posts to link it! :( It's 11x11 studs and 9 bricks high. The effective "fillable space" is about half the size of a large PAB cup. If you can find my Flickr page, the picture is in there.

I did my first PAB at the LEGO store in Manhattan, NYC right next to Rockefeller Plaza! It's a neat store with alot of large sculptures and mosaics. PAB wall had many basic bricks and plates in a ton of colors, but not much in terms of unique or rare elements. It was still very impressive: 15 high (of course you can only reach the first 6) totaling about 60-70 different pieces with minimal repeat! Thanks to this thread, I was well prepared on how to maximize space. Here's the haul! My bucket is on the right and my girlfriend's is on the left. I went with the built up central core method and she opted for the shake and stuff method. Cap actually fit on with minimal tape! I stuffed as much as possible and tried to fill every little space all the way to the top! Here's the built up central core. The bottom lip was filled with 1x2 bricks and the space filled with 1x1 round plates. Then I put a base layer of 1x1 round plates and topped that off with a layer of 1x4 tiles. The core was built up the center. Larger plates were stuffed on the sides. Space filled with more 1x1 round plates. Flower stems also stuffed down the side. 1x4 plates were forced down whatever space space was left between the large plates and cup. It was all topped off with 2x10 plates and other filler. Finally, the cap was filled with 4 4x4 plates, flower stems, and 1x2 bricks. There wasn't much rattle in the end! Last but not least, THE HAUL! I swear I did organize and count them, but never actually took a photo. I had a lot of different elements, so I'm not going to list them. Here are some notables: 78 flower stems 110 1x4 brown tiles 136 1x1 round plates lime green 129 1x1 roudn plates trans blue Whopping total of 777! Lucky 7's! Click the link to see photos for the other bucket. http://flic.kr/s/aHsjwL8myG This was a ton of fun, and I can't wait until my next cup!