Xyver

Is it just me, or are others a little disappointed in these sales, its basically just 20% off and the same sale prices as usual. There are a few at around the 30% I guess (that's fairly common at Myer though), might grab some duplicates of the vehicle sets at 33%, and the seaside house at 36% might be good for light blue pieces. Will have to stash Olivia's House at 35% off for my daughter's chritmas present I think (if she can wait that long since I've already told her I'd get it) Its good to see that BigW has the Dino range in, but they are at retail price so not on sale. I'll have to wait until KMart releases their catalogue before I decide where my money is to go.

Target Toy Sale catalogue will be online from midnight tonight, the sale starts 21 June for three weeks. BigW Toy Sale starts June 28. Kmart's sale is normally on at the same time, but their website doesn't say anything as yet. I'm hoping they put some decent discounts on, though my bank balance doesn't.

Thanks for the review. I'm not too sure if I want this set as a set, I think it will be out of place in anything other than a really large city layout, and I can only dream of having that much space. But after this review, I think I'll grab it for a parts pack. 16x32 and 16x16 baseplates in dark bley, plus 4 16x16 plates, they're so hard to come by. The van looks cool too, will have to mod the other vehicles though, or make something else entirely, and I do like the new wheels, those wider ones just don't work on a normal family car. Hopefully this set is in the shops for the upcoming toy sales so I can get it at a decent discount, $150 is a bit much I think.

Just got back from DJs at Carindale. I asked very politely if they can order stock in from other stores. The answer was a very strong "No, we don't do that, where'd you hear about that" I hadn't even mentioned what I was after, so you must have got someone on a very good day. I did grab their last Hillside House, I wanted two but they only had one left and 4 of the large baseplates, all a steal at 40% off.

awesome rendition, scale is spot on too. but what happens to a minifig when a wraith feeds off it? it should probably be dark bley though.

Which DJs was that at?

The David Jones website has the Pet Shop for $161.97, anyone know if they are ever going to get any in stock as I really want one of these and that price is so great I might have to pick up two.

That might be true for independent retailers, but I wouldn't be surprised if its the big chains (BigW, Kmart, Target and Myer) that are the ones who set the RRP in conjuction with Lego. I don't know for sure, just repeating what I was told from someone who should be knowledgable in the area. Since this has been going on for years, and across all product lines (the government is looking at computer software now) I don't see our whingeing having any affect on prices. I think its more a case of America having really cheap prices rather than us having expensive ones. So unless everyone wants to take a paycut to cut overhead costs of shops (wages and rent being the major expenses of retailers), I don't see prices dropping any time soon.

Great scene, but why is the female hostage smiling? did the actor make a joke in between takes? Love the segways, sure beats walking.

I recently had the priviledge of talking to a Lego public relations officer and this topic was brought up. As he explained it, the prices for Lego are set by the retailers, not by Lego itself. Lego does not have any retail shops in Australia, they are only wholesalers, so they don't set the price. The price on Shop at Home has to be the same as retail or people wouldn't buy retail and the whole system would fall apart. So if you want to complain about the price disparity (and I don't blame you, but keep in mind our minimum wage is twice that of America so everything should be double to have the same 'cost') then complain to the retailers not Lego. But while people are paying these prices, they will stay. So if you want prices to come down, you have to get everybody to stop buying Lego at the current prices. But then the retailers will just stop stocking it as it doesn't sell and we miss out on even more sets then we already do. Or just do what all other AFOLs do and only buy at 20% off or more. I do agree that the Shop @ Home shipping charges are shockingly high though, especially for exclusive items that we can't buy locally anyway, so there is no competition. But then, some of those do eventually turn up in one chain store. Take a look at the Town Hall, on initial release, it was $250, a very good price by most peoples reckoning, but it has since gone up to $299. My guess would be the retailer that has the rights to distribute this has said 'That's too cheap, its worth this' so Lego has increased their price. It sucks, but that's how business works Everything costs more out here, but we also earn more, its just been more noticeable due to the high dollar and the increase in online sales over the last couple of years.

I have a problem with my CM series 3 Elf, his hair won't sit on his head. It fits other heads fine, but not the elf's (and I only have one elf ) Does anyone else have this problem and/or a way to fix it. He just doesn't look right without pointy ears.

My shop/house with proper surrounds from the AMRA Brisbane Train Show

We had our display at the AMRA Train Show on the weekend, so the Town Hall finally got proper surrounds:

Jealous! I think that somes up my feelings towards this display. Well done

It seems to be even worse on licenced sets. The City sets, although high, are reasonable to me given all economic factors, but the licenced products are a joke. Take for example the new vehicle sets and 9490-Droid Escape, they retail for US$19.99. Here in Australia, the vehicles are AU$29.99 and Droid Escape is AU$39.99, why the extra 33% markup? I stay away from licenced sets because of these extra markups, they just aren't worth it.

Here's the fine print in the email I received this morning: *Limit 1 free LEGO Star Wars™ poster, 1 TC-14™ minifigure and 1 Mini TIE Fighter™ per transaction. Qualifying transaction must contain LEGO Star Wars™ merchandise. TC-14™ minifigure, poster, Mini TIE FIghter™ & free standard delivery offers valid May 4th & 5th, 2012, or while supplies last. Qualifying purchases for free minifigure and free standard delivery must be at least $100 in LEGO Star Wars™ merchandise only; gift card purchases do not apply to total. Excludes backorder items. Cannot be applied to previous purchases or combined with any other discount, offer or free gift. Minifigure, poster and Mini TIE Fighter™ available exclusively through this offer. Sales and deals apply while stocks last only. Approx. value of Minifigure: $7.99. Approx value of Mini TIE Fighter: $7.99. Offer valid in LEGO Stores, through LEGO Catalogue or on shop.LEGO.com. Not valid at LEGOLAND ® Parks or Discovery Centres. The LEGO Group reserves the right to cancel or modify this promotion without advance notice. Read that how you will, my guess is you have to spend $100 on Star Wars items to get the free delivery.

Here in Australia, the City sets are the cheap ones. Take for example the new releases this year, set 4431-Ambulance (City) and 9490-Droid Escape (Star Wars). Both of these sets RRP for $19.99 in US, but here, the Ambulance is 29.99 (fair enough) but the Droid Escape is 39.99. That's an extra $10 for nothing. Plus the piece count is 199-137 in favour of the Ambulance, so the price per piece for the Droid Escape is 29c which is outrageous. I got a real shock when I bought that one as there was no price label for it, but my daughter would have killed me if I put it back at the checkout once I realised the price.

Now you tell me. I went to the Carindale store yesterday hoping to find one, but to no avail. Ended up walking out with lots of baseplates, Car and Camper (4435) and Satellite Launch Pad (3366)-because my daughter wanted a rocket to match mine from the space centre. I'm not sure they were worth it though, the two sets were still 22.45, and I'm pretty sure I've seen them for 22 elsewhere, but what's 45c when it comes to Lego. I an glad I checked my receipt though as the woman forgot to put the 25% discount through and I had to go back.

Why did I start reading this topic? now I'm sad We don't even have a Lego store in Australia let alone a Pick-A-Brick wall and it all costs too much anyway, especially the licensed sets. If I ever get overseas anywhere near a PAB wall, I'll have to take an extra suitcase with me to bring back the haul I think.

I've played with bending the 1x2s a bit lately and a circle can quite easily be done with 80 bricks per row. I don't know if this causes any damage to the bricks as I haven't had a look at them, but I don't think so as the stress isn't too much. It also works with the 1x2 plates so you can add a thin line around it too. It does look quite nice, but scale wise it would be too big for a display. With a little patience, you would be able to get the number of bricks per row down a bit, but I doubt you'd get it to fit onto a 32x32 baseplate without damage and the risk of it exploding.

The yellow and green on the front top was something my daughter made, its not what I want up there. I do need something to fit in there though to cover the gap, but don't know what the final design will be. I also couldn't find my other set of gold windows which is why there is only one set in. I've located them now though, so they will be in the finished version.

I haven't done much Historica building lately, have been working on my city instead. But with the upcoming BLTG display I needed to make a few buildings for the medieval section. I started making a double size barn from the Mill Village Raid set, but it looked more like a hall so that's what I turned it into. There is no interior and as it will be part of a larger display I haven't yet done any surrounds either, but thought I'd post a few pictures to get peoples opinions. It'll also fit in nicely once I can set up the town of Fuchal all together. Front Left quarter Right quarter Right full Back

I spent up big on the weekend, even after telling myself no more Lego for a month or more: 3677 - Red Cargo Train 7938 - Passenger Train These are my first trains, now I have to work out how to fit them into my city layout And, because it was a buy 2 get 1 free sale, had to find another high cost item so picked up 7965 - Millenium Falcon too. Also picked up on clearance 7065 - Alien Mothership and another 7066 - Earth Defense HQ. These are more for parts than anything, and 40% off is a good saving. Now, I REALLY can't buy any more Lego for a while.

Damn you Shnake! I didn't want to spend any more on Lego for the next month, but I had to check out the Myer sale. And I just couldn't pass up finally buying a train. Then to make the deal worthwhile, I had to buy two other sets priced over $230. I ended up getting: 3367 - Red Cargo Train 7938 - Passenger Train and 7965 - Millenium Falcon - nothing else had a high enough price as I don't really want a pirate ship, but I have been eyeing this off for a while. This gave me a 30% saving. I would've bought another Red Cargo Train to resell but they only had the one. Plus, picked up another 7066-Earth Defense HQ and 7065-Alien Mothership on clearance at Kmart (37% combined saving)

I didn't come out of my dark ages until splitting from the wife, so I've never had to buy anything in secret, but I'm dreading the day I have to explain my hobby to a new gf. Hopefully I can find one that is at least tolerant of it. My daughter on the other hand always asks "Did you buy more Lego" every week when I pick her up - the answer is normally 'Yes'