winbrant

Not knowing when tool changeover is for Series 3 and speculation that there will be no secondary barcodes for this makes me think that they have not quite gotten to bag production and hence packaging of Series 3. However, given lead times I would hazard a guess that they are currently producing the elements for Series 3 right now. Given that Series 2 is to be out in the next month or so I would also think that they have already completed producing the elements for Series 2 and are currently packaging right now, if not done already and they are sitting in a warehouse ready for shipment or some cargo ship making there way from China.

There was a Toy Story promo? The Alien Space Ship. 30070? I just read the review on this site and thought this was just a UK Tesco deal. Might have to go check this out!

Or if TLG made it possible to get a whole set (16 minifigures) for those who just want to complete a set without paying for extras.

Difficult to choose from such great creations! However, 1 vote each for: 20) Skater Boy Entry (Build by Noodles140) 50) Crash Dummy Entry (Build by Oky Wan Kenobi) 53) Deep Sea Diver Entry (Build by lego-maniac)

Thanks for the Calgary heads up...I've been checking Wal*Marts since reports from Ontario and Vancouver came out in the last week. Airdrie Supercentre received about 10 boxes and they decided to put them up in the Express Line checkouts as they felt their size lended to high theft possibilities. I did manage to take a "box" with me to another section to work my bar-code magic (a la HTC Magic) to score a set. Son now wants to build a Ninja army and daughter wants a cheerleader team! As for Calgary LEGO store...yeah...I was hoping CrossIron would've got it but I think Chinook offered more incentive (i.e. central Calgary). On a positive note might not have to go and pay shipping and handling for Exclusives via S@H...worst fear is that they won't have stock, which is something I hear about the ones Stateside. Pick-a-brick will be a positive only if they keep it rotated well. Negative side...Chinook Centre. Crowded. Parking is terrible. Ease of accessability to the mall...traffic jams. I remember how bad it was when they opened the previous development back in 2000. It was easier to park in the industrial area east of the train tracks and walk over.

They did post on Monster about a week ago, as I mentioned in "Canadian Eh?"

Latest rumour I hear is Chinook Centre as part of that mall's renovation. Was just notified by a fellow AFOL that he found a job posting for a Store Manager for a LEGO store at Chinook...

In that shot with Nahdar Vebb in the chair you can see a picture (on the box) of Grievous on the med chair. He appears to be tan and dk.bley..that head almost looks like grievous from the 1st Cartoon Series...side "head-vanes" look exaggerated but with the joints and all he looks to be at least a brick higher than a a standard minifig

I found a 5979 Space Police Max Security Transport at Costco (Canada) for about $40. I saw at a brick and morter TRU the 10196 Grand Carousel for $280 and 10194 Emerald Night for $104. LEGO S@H Exclusives at a Canadian TRU! Too bad it's time to buy for Xmas now

And more than likely no minifigure and reinforced binding...

From what I've seen Library versions usually have a more reinforced binding. And, if this book, like the other DK books, are slipjacketed, then this will be usually have an additional clear book cover to prevent slippage and tearing.

One Wal*Mart that had the plan-o-grams is now stocked with the new 2009 Star Wars and Indy Sets...apart from TRU Exclusives and Temple of Doom. There was only one endor bunker left but probably 2 cases of each of the SW themes and 1 case each of the Indy themes...it was nice seeing to the Hoth set on the shelf.

Several Wal*Marts round here (Airdrie and Calgary) have the new plan-o-grams up now. Interesting to see more $100+ sets up there...incl. SW Endor Bunker and IJ Temple of Doom! TRU round here have not had the new summer SW or Indy sets yet...with the new TRU opening at CrossIron Mills hope to see the new stuff, though suspect Wal*Mart will be at or cents lower than MSRP compared to dollars above MSRP at TRU.

There's a lot of mismatching going on here but for the most part the distinguishable items are: set # set name year comment 1 8920 Ehlek 2007 2 mod 3 8564 Lahvak 2002 4 8560 Pahrak 2002 5 8762 Toa Iruini 2005 6 8571 Kopaka Nuva 2002 7 8747 Suukorak 2005 8 8743 Boggarak 2005 9 mod 10 8590 Guurahk 2003 11 8572 Tahu Nuva 2002 12 8592 Turahk 2003 13 8596 Takanuva 2003 14 8617 Zadakh 2004 15 mod 16 mod 17 8568 Pohatu Nuva 2002 18 mod Rahkshi 19 8591 Vorahk 2003 20 8602 Toa Nokama 2004 21 8567 Lewa Nuva 2002 22 8577 Pahrak-Kal 2003 23 8734 Brutaka 2006 24 mod 25 8570 Gali Nuva 2002 26 139x 2002 mod, looks like a macdonald's promo (I stand corrected) 27 mod 28 8562 Gahlok 2002 29 8565 Kohrak 2002 Made for a fun exercise while compiling software... EDIT: seems Neaku answered while I was working on this...sorry for the duplication

These are painted resin and appear to have just come out of a rapid proto-typer, more specifically, SLA, which leaves that Grainy and layered look. The figs do look good but I keep feeling that they look more M[another brick]ish...maybe it's the movie-realistic head vs. the LEGO interpretation. From a marketing point of view it makes sense that they go this way. You're right...Zurg does look like he has a bionicle-ish head...heck, thought the same thing of the Fallen during the financially successful Michael Bay fiasco [yeah, with better editing, taking it down to under 2 hrs, it would've been an awesome movie...I digress ] Irregardless, looking forward to seeing these next year...my wallet, not so much

Was down that way 2 years ago with the kids. The San Diego Pier...great art and seeing, up close, tall sailing ships and the USS Midway. Oceanside...walking out on the breakwater, finding starfishes in the tidal pool. San Diego Wildlife Park (about an hour East of LEGOLand)...nice to see wild animals in the wild and not in an enclosure. Check out the LEGO Imagination Centre in the Disney Mall area...when we went they had stuff that LEGOLand had sold out of. DisneyLand Fireworks...have not seen an equal display apart from fireworks competitions. Definitely gotta go back! Good times.

Yeah, which means that Wal*Mart will not carry as much (what else is new) and The Store Upstairs might be compelled to raise their prices. And even having the largest TRU won't do anything for the pricing At least it will give me a place to check the new sets up before I impulsively pick them up. On another note, the AFOL group I am with (SALUG) have a 10'x20' display up in support of the Glenbow Museums' Vistas project...they approached us about making a layout featuring 1900's Railway scenery and life. It's on the main floor adjacent to the mall hallway and the stairs leading to the second floor gallery. If you're ever in that area check it out!

Wednesdayware, If you're ever in the Airdrie area check out a store called The Store Upstairs located in downtown Airdrie, apx. Centre Ave and 1st St. SW...right above the Pharmaprix on the corner. They have a selection of both older and newer LEGO and are priced at MSRP! When I first discovered them 2 years ago (having moved to Airdrie and not having a TRU close by) I found even train cars and some old Legends Sets (10041 - Main Street) and discontinued sets (Enzo Ferrari). They are usually about 3 months behind releases as they are a smaller store compared to TRU or Wal*Mart but if you're patient about acquisition then it's a good place to check out. And, if you're in the area tomorrow, Airdrie has their Canada Day parade starting about 10AM along Main Street and it usually runs about 1-1/2.

And, there's one seller that has 26 of these... Being a completionist it's always bothered me that I could never "reasonably" obtain Chrome C-3PO or Darth Vader. Heck, I would've appreciated a Magnet 3-pack with the 3 Chromies to celebrate the 10th Anniversary :)

Missed out on the 3450 Statue of Liberty, 10124 Wright Flyer, 10024 Red Baron, 8480 Technic Space Shuttle, and 497 Galaxy Explorer. Having kids kinda curtailed purchasing the first three, and being a student with no income prevented the last 2

Yeah...this follows a "human error" with a S@H code that put the Falcon on for $0.01...LEGO quickly pulled this code but not before it rose to #2 on the "What's Hot" list. Know people that have received e-mails out claiming this price was in error but are offering 25% off.

The point was to weigh battle packs as it would be easier to note a difference in weight. With a larger set, with more carboard, glue, and plastic bag variation, these would increase the variability in weight and it would be harder to tell...in fact, it might be so much that the lighter package may have held a Chrome Vader....3.9g can be easily made up with extra glue and plastic bag. Now, 3.9g diff in a Battlepack...that might be a 5% difference and detectable...in a larger set with more weight, you're looking at <1% weight difference. Everyone's already commented on the "open and return" so I reserve my comments on this.

I was at TRU and they had a clearance table. On it was 8183 Track Turbo RC. I always thought this was a bit over-priced at CDN$50 but there was a sticker on it for CDN$16...but on the box was written "Missing Pieces". I took it to Customer Service to see if I could see what was missing...I just wanted to make sure that the Transmitter and the Receiver/Steering base were in there...missing elements I can deal with. To my surprise nothing was missing! And the bags looked intact and no loose pieces. I purchased this and promptly built it upon getting home and sure enough nothing was missing! They also had some similarly price reduced AT-PTs and Twilights but these definitely felt lighter and "rattled" more...suspecting the bags were in fact open and pieces were loose.

Ditto...arghhhhhh!

I've made several mods: 1. Back end gap - I modded mine using 4 1x2 slopes, 2 2x3 slopes and 2 1/4 tiles so as to give it a rounded appearance. 2. Also added in a "floor" under the speeder (fill in the space) 3. A "hood" holder just inside one of the doors. 4. filled in the gaps between the front bubble and frame (so the poor pilot doesn't look so exposed to space (or get sucked out ) I'm going to have to try to take some pics of this and get them up here.