Legogal

Wow! Excellent build! It looks so real that I want to use it!

Great posts full of lots of ideas. Thanks for so much info. EPIC sounds like a great solution to the lack of bricks in a specific color. I tried enlarging Cafe Corner a few years ago and ran out of steam. Maybe it is time to dig it out and give it another try. Interior was just too small to be usable. Buying a set is a great way to get a wide variety of parts, and you can always order extras off BL. I've done this a lot with Creator houses.

OMG! Congratulations, MAN! So it is twins for sure? Wow! They should be in good company in a couple of years with BabyEBers popping out all over! Make sure you get some peace and quiet time and sleep before they arrive because it will be difficult for the next 12 years or so! But sooooooo much FUN, and you will have to buy even more Duplo and LEGO for them as well. I am watching my five month old granddaughter most weekday mornings and love it. A bit difficult to answer business calls when she is screaming her brains out, so I just walk in the next room, close the door, and let her scream a bit. She is chewing on everything with teeth about to erupt, so it definitely is too early for Duplo. But there is a box of chewed up Duplo awaiting her when she turns one! I am hoping that she starts building with LEGO at three like her father did. Again congratulations to you and your wife....WOW! And WHOOPIE!!!

January seems to be the month we tend to go crazy sorting and storing LEGO as our collections expand over the holidays. After many years of using mainly Roughneck 10 and 18 gallon colored containers, we are moving most of our parts to the File Box 1868 made by Sterilite. It has clear sides, a black top and is stackable. This week many US WalMarts appear to have a pallet or two priced at 5US. They are somewhere on the floor....wherever the store has space. The item number is 007314918689. The regular prices appears to be 8US. Call your store first to locate them; they can tell you which store has them in at the moment. It changes day to day. Good luck! (BTW you can fit about fifty of these stacked inside a Honda Element 7 high with the seats lifted. I know from lots of practice!)

Yaatkuu, A great thread BTW! With a child who is that good of a builder at age six, I would buy whatever storage is needed to keep him building. But then he has a great role model in his dad's LEGO efforts! I am putting most of our LEGO into Sterilite 1868 clear letter boxes with black tops. Found these on sale for 5US at WM yesterday, and they are just wonderful. If you are in the US, make sure they are in stock and then start your engines because they are flying off the floor at this price. Each store around Raleigh seems to be receiving a pallet or two. After 25 years of keeping most of our collection in colored Roughneck 10 and 18 quart containers, we are switching to these smaller ones which are easier to lift and to see what is inside. These fit well on those wire rolling carts with four shelves if you want mobility. (You can stuff about fifty of these stacked inside each other in a Honda Element!) Oh, and I forgot to mention our most favorite item in the LEGO room...thanks to Yatkuu, we have dry mounted a LEGO Turtle Contest Poster on our wall. It is a real winner! Good luck with storing your kids' collections. That is a tough chore, but the sheet idea sounds like a huge help in picking up pieces. Cheers!

biting, We have all done it, so please don't feel that you are alone. Accessories are a tough call because there are so many wonderful ones. My favorites tend to be the rare white Duplo teapots and cooking pans/saucepans. Also the very rare white Duplo flower. As to system LEGO, the Friends' surfboard and bikes in azure or whatever are awfully sharp looking. And their purses are first class, too.

OT: Hahaha! Growing up in Pecos, Texas, the spring wind last about 4 months and could blow tumbleweeds 30-40 feet high completely over the top of your house so thick that it was hard to open the doors. What a mess! I cannot believe that you got hit by a tumbleweed in CT! Just finished the new Birds set that the rest of us can buy, and it is beyond outstanding the way the birds can be posed. Wow! I certainly hope that they make more bird sets. Will be interesting to see the details of the employee gift bird set....what a very cool idea! We love sets based on nature. The flower in the current birds set is outrageously beautiful. Build it if you have it!

Thanks, Guys! Photos and the instructions would be wonderful. What a cool looking set! Birds surely are in this month! And I do love all kinds of birds except for the flocks of Canadian geese that love to walk across our hilly, curved freeway entrances and every street in town. Will be the death of all of us at this rate. Have you ever tried avoiding a flock of geese you can't see while driving 60mph? Not a fun time for sure. I guess that is what airbags are for...

I just noticed this 2014 employee gift set 4002014 on Brickset. The photo of the box looks terrific. Has anyone built one, and what do you think of it? Prices are high at this point in early January at 200US available from US shippers and at 178US on Bricklink, but not available in the US. So we may have to Bricklink this one, all 487 pieces. Ugh!

Kim, Thanks! I agree but would add that we need to give feedback to both companies BECAUSE the parks are centered around Miniland, and the only plastic products I saw there are LEGO. Their condition does affect the reputation of TLG. Again Merlin badly needs the feedback from those of us who have visited their parks. I encourage folks to let them know what you see in their parks. Last year I was in all six parks, and noticed similar problems in all of the Minilands except for LL Malysia, which was too new to show much wear. After much thought, it seems to me that Merlin or whomever made a huge mistake by not covering the Miniland part of the parks. There is just no way that the bricks in the lovely, unbelievably complex builds can hold up under the elements. This is an overwhelming problem in the warmest/sunniest climes in FL, California and Malaysia. It is quite frustrating to travel that far and see that the bricks have faded badly and that many "moving" features do not move, especially in the newer parks. I view the Minilands as the most important part of the parks...one can go anywhere for "rides" as there are theme parks all over the US and much of the rest of the world. But there is not one other Miniland that is comparable in size and reputation as being outstanding compared to the Minilands. Even in Gunzburg, there was too much sun in June; that was a surprise as I was expecting rain and clouds. At least there were some trees to hide under. In CA,, the damage is horrendous because the park is getting old. In the newest US park in FL, the damage already is terrible and is getting worse as the bricks age. And in Malaysia, there is almost no shade in the park. Everyone rides the Duplo train around because it is too hot to walk (I was there in early October) and the train provides a shady seat some of the time. I once received a serious sunburn in 30 midday minutes in the tropics, and spent a week in bed painfully recovering. This is not what they want their guests doing. Without a doubt, a roof over Miniland would have saved the builds from much of the damage. in the US South, many playgrounds are shaded by tall trees or by a roof because it is too hot for children to play. The equipment can burn your skin. And parents are not crazy about their children lining up early for skin cancer. Also there is almost no seating in several of the parks. Grandparents, the elderly and the disabled do visit in large numbers and require shaded seating in order to enjoy the parks. The very young also need a shady place to sit when there is no shaded, dry grass around. As AFOLs, we want the Legoland parks to shine. Most of us want to visit the parks and enjoy Miniland as the highlight of our trip. We will sacrifice and travel long distances and pay enormous costs to visit the parks if they are worthy. Thanks again for folks taking the time to post feedback. (I have had responses from Merlin mgmt to my reviews on tripadvisor.com.) I realize that the landscaping would have to change towards more shade plants, but that is easy to do if you plan for it from the start. When we built two 10 sq meter (10x10 feet) arbors to our back patio, I changed out the plants to shade varieties, and they are doing quite well. This would be a massive job in parts of the Minilands, but all are not like Billings, which is almost overgrown with plants.

Very informative review and photos! Glad you finally built your first modular. The opening story is a hoot! Looks like a fun set with lots of options for play. Thanks for all your work putting up the review.

Best Set 2014: Parisian Restaurant. Lovely interior and exterior! Worst Set 2014: Minecraft theme sets. Just look like a pathetic pile of plain bricks to be, but then what do I know? (Someone must love them somewhere.) Best Minifigure 2014: UniKitty from Cloud Cuckoo Palace and other LEGO Movie sets in pink, green and blue. Just too cute! Worst Minifigure 2014: The Simpsons. Never been a fan of that show, and the figs don't blend into City, Creator, Modular or Town builds.

Wow! What is not to like! The bridge railings, many trees and bushes, stairs, temple at the top, and so on. A fantastic build that really catches your eye. Way to go!

Two things really stand out here...besides the MEGA MEGA size of this layout..... 1. Your humor is outstanding; love the comments! 2. And of course, the cars are just heavenly! (Vroooom, VROoooom, VROOOOOOMMMMM, and off they go!) They look so much better than most of TLG's car sets. Honestly.

Several US Targets have these on the shelves now, but more may have them in the back. So ask when you visit a Target. It seems that they either arrived too late for the promotion or were not displayed for some reason. Crazy way to sell them. Price now is 15US per four fig cube. My favorites are the green ninja and superboy, on which a few claim to have found printing errors,

Wow! That is quite a haul with lots of nice baseplates and other cool parts. And mostly sorted. Way to go!

Wow! I am so glad that they had this in stock again! So many folks did not get it the first two rounds. Maybe they will keep no making them for a while.

Love your many birds! And the lovely tree. Colors and details are perfect. Way to go!

Just saw the Dec monthly build, the gingerbread house, and it really is cute! Can't wait to build it with instructions at lego.com. Glad they kept the program for now.

Target at Crossroads Cary NC had five ExoSuits for 28US. And the special four fig cube for 15 or free with 49. set. Call you Target first because these may be few and far between.

The Angels and camels jump out at you! Congratulations!

Agreed! It is gorgeous full of touching details. The ground floor tile is lovely. Way to go!

Hehehe! Very, very funny! Never would have thought of using a weightlifter to haul the bags of toys for Santa. Brilliant! I like the larger height....less cluttered and better for our aging eyes. And some really cool stuff there now that I can see it. Thanks, Hinck!!!

Sorry I am not able to hand deliver some sand green bricks. ( I have made much stranger LEGO deliveries than this one!) Love your interior, too! The scales are brilliant! And the story is a hoot so far! I remember seeing photos of US hardware stores that looked like this from the 30's. They mostly were replaced by hardware chains such as Ace and TruValue in the 60's. And then those two have been replaced by Home Depot and Lowes' in the 90's and later on. Very few pure hardware stores exist, and it is difficult finding specialized parts. Hubby orders a lot online these days because he needs things that normal big box stores don't carry. There are just too many parts for a store of any size to stock them like large stainless steel specialty nuts and bolts and screws. Which is a shame. What you also see now are employees that have no idea of what you are asking for. Most of the old-timers did. It takes forever to look through all the bins at Home Depot or Lowes trying to find a special screw or nail. Being the main go-for/gopher around our house, I spend hours looking for special pieces at these stores and more often than not come up empty handed. it is great seeing a build of the past which brings warm thoughts to mind of slower, more gentle times. Thank you, LT!

Thoughtful review of a lovely set! Congratulations! It is such a creative build that it pulls you right in....a must have. Let's hope that they offer more birds in the future. It should be a wonderful present for non-LEGO folks as well as the rest of us.