AmperZand

Hello, @Itaria No Shintaku, When it comes to LEGO, I’m a latitudinarian who uses third party pieces for both minifigures/minifigure accessories and in construction (though more the former). So I can’t say for sure why some people treat the two differently. My guess is that they think of minifigures as not being what LEGO is really about and therefore OK to ‘taint’ by resorting to non-purism. But construction in their view is what LEGO is actually about and therefore it demands unadulterated parts. That’s just conjecture though - as I said, I’m no purist.

Indeed. It’s a bit tricky to see in this picture, but I did the same with Dragon Suit Guy when it came out. Back to S19 talk, any more UK sightings apart from Tesco?

Great minifigures! ?

Can’t stand fleshies. They’re an abomination.

I suspect popularity will vary by country/region. For example, the Gardener is a North American trope: flamingo garden ornaments were invented and popularised in the US, but never caught on much elsewhere. Rugby, in contrast, is predominantly a European/antipodean/Fijian/Samoan/South African sport, so the Rugby Player will be relatively more sought after in those countries/regions. As mentioned, the Monkey King is from the Chinese story “Journey to the West”, so that minifigure will be relatively more in demand in China and Chinese sphere of influence countries. Italian American cuisine and cheese dishes in general aren’t nearly as big in East Asia as they are in many other countries, so the Pizza Suit Guy won’t resonate as much with Chinese, Korean and Japanese kids.

Yes, since 1995, though that shroud remained in production until 2006 as a variant of the minifigure above and, I think, later as a key ring.

I wouldn't worry too much about that. I have had the same ghost minifigure as the one shown below in my display collection since 1993 and it still glows just fine. It takes a bit more 'charging' under bright light than the newer, scary shrouded ghost, but still works well. I expect it will still be a glowing ghost when I am one, too!

@ks6349, As you have surmised, there are ways of opening boxes that are undetectable. That’s why you need to tell sellers in advance that you intend to open the box and that you will be checking the contents in front of them. If they are legitimate sellers, they won’t have a problem with that. But if they’re swindlers, they will find an excuse to withdraw from the sale or simply won’t show up to the rendezvous.

If you’re making the purchase in person, let the seller know in advance that you intend to open the set in front of them and check it while handing over the cash. That should deter any dodgy sellers.

I have the US and European boxes of 70841 Benny's Space Squad. I bought the former from a LEGO store in the US and the latter from a department store in the UK. The US box has more text on the front with the words 'Ages/edades' above '5+', the set's name in French and Spanish in addition to English, the number of pieces and a boxed choking hazard warning. To accommodate the warning, two of the astronaut minifigures and one of the vehicles are pictured further back and therefore smaller. The information and imagery on the left and right ends of the boxes are swapped around. On the top side of the box, the European one has an age warning symbol and the name of the set in various European languages. The US one does not. The European one indicates the minifigure's scale with '1:1'; the US one says 'actual size', 'dimension réelle' and 'tamaño real'. The base of the boxes are the same except for different bar-codes and the European one says where the components are made. The lustre of the boxes is the same, but the shade of blue is a bit more violet in the US. The dimensions of the boxes are the same.

I would say it was the late ‘70s with the advent of the articulated minifigure and the emergence of various ‘Classic’ lines such as Classic Space and Classic Castle. But what constitutes a ‘golden age’ is inevitably highly subjective and my view is no more or less valid than anyone else’s.

The old trans parts are polycarbonate. I'm guessing that the new ones are poly methyl methacrylate (PMMA, commonly called acrylic) with added plasticisers for clutch. The problem of friction cracking in polycarbonate-to-polycarbonate joints can be obviated by PMMA-to-PMMA or PMMA-to-polycarbonate connections depending on the type and concentration of additives to the PMMA. So completely trans LEGO minifigures may soon be possible. Then again, the new trans parts could be methyl methacrylate ABS (MABS). If so, the problem of friction cracking could be solved anyway.

A few years ago, there were two versions of the same Marvel set after a structural weakness was discovered in the original design. Both versions have the same set number. If memory serves, it was a giant bug (pun completely intended!) in an Ant-Man set.

By 'new pieces', I take it you mean new moulds, not recolours, new prints or different capes. If so, I think the chameleon is new. There have been LEGO chameleons before, but not for System AFAIK. The Fox Woman's tail might be new but I'm not sure. The Chima fox tail went straight back, but this one goes off to the minifigure's right.

You're right. I stand corrected Wonder if we will get the other characters from Journey to the West as CMFs in later series. Perhaps a Buddhist monk would violate LEGO's rule about not depicting religions/religious persons.

Also well known to Japanese and UK television audiences of a certain vintage who remember the NHK version of 'Journey to the West' (re-titled 'Monkey' in the UK). Interesting little side factoid: the actress who provided the English language dubbing of Tripitaka's voice played Professor Sprout in the 'Harry Potter' films. The inclusion of a character from Chinese folklore, along with other themed sets, shows LEGO's commitment to that market.

@adde51 Great use of parts and colours! Looks like something out of a 1930s depiction of an alien world such as Flash Gordon or Buck Rogers. My only issue is fleshy CS spacemen. Fleshies? Really?

@howitzer I went a few years ago. Don't know if things have changed since then. Also, I was travelling alone so my experience won't be the same. But FWIW, here are my tips: Arrive as early as you can and take the popular rides then. It seemed to get a lot more crowded later in the day. The big store to the left of the entrance is a 'zoo'. Avoid it in favour of the smaller stores dotted around. They are themed and don't have the full range, but it will save you time overall if you get what you want from them and only get things you can't find anywhere else at the big store. Keep an eye out for sets that haven't been released elsewhere yet. I managed to get the latest CMFs at the time ahead of their street date anywhere else. Allow space in your car for any bulky sets you may be buying. There are lockers you can use to the right of the entrance. Very handy for stuff you don't want to carry all day. Bring your own food and drink. The food they have seems to be OK but is overpriced. They don't mind if you bring your own and consume it in the cafeteria or at the tables outside. If you choose to get lunch from the cafeteria, aim for 11.45am, not noon. Those 15 minutes make a huge difference in terms of number of people. Expect long queues for the rides/cinema. I didn't take any of the water rides, but if you do, expect to get soaked. Don't miss the real penguins in the tank at the back right of the park. Don't know if they still have them. Hope that helps.

Delightful MOC all round. I especially like the texturing of the roof and walls. Can't have a goat though. If the set went into production, they might become commonplace and then mine would seem humdrum. Can't have that! (Just kidding )

I'm pretty sure there is a dedicated thread on storing and sorting parts, but FWIW I use Really Useful Boxes. They come in various sizes, stack well and have trays you can buy separately. Within the trays (or sometimes just the boxes), I use different sizes of grip lock baggies.

It seems that if you want to redeem points in a bricks 'n' mortar LEGO brand store, you must first get a voucher online for the required amount that will get sent to you by e-mail within a couple of days. You then take that voucher and use it in store. The vouchers expire and their value/points lost if not used within 30 days. That's bad for anyone who makes impulse purchases. It's also terrible for anyone who uses points to purchase specific sets. Most official LEGO brand stores will only reserve sets for same or next day purchases (and sometimes not at all). Because of the time difference between how long the voucher will take to reach you and how long you can reserve items, you cannot be sure of getting what you want: You could call a store to check availability, go online to get a voucher, wait for the voucher to arrive and then call the store back to reserve the item only to find out it is sold out with an unknown re-stock date. You're then left with a voucher that expires in 30 days. Someone should introduce LEGO's right hand to its left.

Not only should LEGO not discontinue baseplates, they should re-issue old ones. If LEGO ever re-released the moon crater baseplate (below), a thousand wild horses couldn't keep me from the LEGO store!

I have been reading both since their respective inceptions and enjoy them for different reasons. Blocks is glossier and has more 'fun' articles. Brick Fanatics is more sophisticated though; there's an interview with a Cambridge professor in the last issue I have, for example. Sure, both contain 'news' that I am mostly long aware of from online sources. But they also contain building technique articles and MOCs I may have missed online (there's a great Droggon in BF issue 6!). Also, like lots of people, I spend a great deal of time as it is staring at screens all day. It's nice to curl up with a hard copy publication instead.

Unless I can possibly avoid it, I don't buy from sellers in the Netherlands (BL and others). I haven't done for years. The problem isn't with the sellers themselves. It's to do with the postal systems. Packets of small parts (LEGO and other small component collectibles) go 'missing' too often. I'm guessing that postal workers think the packets contain drugs.... I don't know. 50% of my LEGO/collectibles orders don't arrive. The ones that do take up to 6 weeks to the UK by airmail. I have asked BL sellers in the Netherlands who are close to the Belgian border to send them from there. Never had a problem with orders from Belgium.

I had the idea - as have many other AFOLs - that LEGO might recolour the stag as Santa's reindeers. Unlike the large cats (panther, jaguar etc), the stag mould has space for a 1 x 2 brick and plate. If you remove the plate, you can then put a horse hitching to a sleigh. I wouldn't use it for Santa myself; I would have it as a mount for Thranduil: Thank you! It's the body, cape and 'shield' of Elsa from the Disney S2 CMFs with the CMF elf maiden's head and a minidoll's hair (with ears I recoloured). The sword's hilt is a lightsabre in white with a BrickForge blade.