AmperZand

I have handled some Sheng Yuan and Decool minifigures and they seemed to be pretty decent quality. The parts were well cast and fit together well. The quality of the ABS was indistinguishable from LEGO's, but the printing wasn't always up to LEGO's standard. Overall though, I was impressed. If TLG imagine that all Chinese clone brands are poor quality and therefore won't appeal to the same consumers, they need to think again. Complacency isn't a viable strategy for TLG.

I buy parts on BrickLink I know I'll probably never use. Let me explain... I start conceptualising modifications to sets I like even before the set has been released. I know what the set will look like thanks to preview pictures/videos posted online and I'm pretty good at visualising my intended improvements, but it isn't always easy to know what will work physically, mechanically and aesthetically. To allow for different possibilities, I buy a variety of parts. Some get used, others don't. The ones that don't often don't find a purpose in other MOCs. I bought quite a few extra parts in dark red, red, orange and yellow for the modded phoenix below for example most of which I didn't use. I should be more patient and wait to have the set in hand before planning and buying parts for modifications, but I can't help myself!

Cool! It's a shame there isn't a greater variety of styles and colours of LEGO elf hair + ears pieces. I had to resort to a Kre-o part for my only dark elf.

Nice job! I'm not very keen on TLG's official gliders. They're too big and bulky. Your smaller design more closely approximates the "flying wing" that Green Goblin and Hobgoblin's gliders are supposed to be. I hope you don't mind if I make a design principle suggestion. I think your gliders are a bit busy and could do with less greebling. With some simplification, your design could be as close as one can get with LEGO to a perfect glider.

If you have transparent parts that have become cloudy due to micro-abrasions, you can use Pledege Multi-Surface Wax to remove the scratches. But Pledge won't help if you can trace the lines of the scratches with the naked eye. It only works on very fine scratches. And it doesn't work on opaque pieces.

Not a printed background, but I used a combination of a scanned box, some real background and Photoshopping to create the background for this MOCed virtual box:

Nice little YOC! I especially like the way Perseus is clearly looking at Medusa's reflection in his shield to avoid her petrifying gaze.

I agree. My first thought was: "That would be great!". My second was: "That's going to be a huge amount of work!" Oooh. Didn't know about goatleg. Thanks for the tip.

No, I'm not. TLG have and will have enough data of the right kind to model the popularity of this set without requiring direct sales figures. For example, they will know how quickly they sell out compared to similar promotions, how much people are spending to qualify (just over the $50 threshold or way above the threshold, and how that compares with similar promos), the mix of sets being bought that qualify (one big set, lots of small sets or a combination of large and small), and the spending profiles of buyers (regular vs occasional). They will also be able to determine whether this set appeals to the same customers as NK or different ones. If for example, NK sales are beneath target but the analysis shows that the crusader set is very popular especially among NK buyers, that would indicate to TLG that they had erred in their Castle strategy. They would need to do considerably more market research of course, but it would at least get them thinking seriously about reviving Classic Castle, Fantasy Era or the like.

Whether a time traveller or someone frozen since the late 1970s (similar to Captain America's cryogenic sleep), I think this poor crusader would be driven insane at the sight of his lovely Castle world having been NEXOed! I'm not opposed to lines evolving (I became an AFOL thanks to the fantasy aspects of Castle introduced in the early 1990s), but injecting science fiction into a theme and considering it the successor to Castle is a step too far. I hope this Crusader set is hugely popular, sending a loud message to TLG that there is still demand for a historical/fantasy line as opposed to the sci-fi'ed lines we have now.

LOL!

"See back for details". Sounds like there might be some interesting printing on the minifigure's back. (And yes, I do know they mean details of the offer on the back of the box! I was joking.) "Limit one per customer". To get two, you'll either have to go with someone else with each of you spending $50, going by yourself twice, spending $50 each time and hoping you don't get recognised the second time, or splitting your purchase between stores e.g. online and off.

Thanks http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=128862 Since posting that thread, the arms have become available for sale from the maker's site. They're more expensive now that it's no longer a Kickstarter project but otherwise the arms are the same.

Where did you order from? Some Ebay sellers claim they sell bags at random but in reality they know exactly what's in each one. The supposedly random ones are disproportionately those that command the lowest prices on the secondary market. The same sellers have separate, minifigure-specific auctions for the ones that sell for more. Sometimes, the same seller uses different Ebay accounts to disguise what they're doing. Caveat emptor! So have I : http://www.brickshel...ey_cmf_mocs.jpg . I think though that MOC with Syndrome's hairpiece would look better if the hair were red. By the way, I really like your minifigure even though I'm not into DragonballZ.

That's not so bad. My fiancee said I should throw my LEGO out!

If anyone is looking for the Spider-Man vs Venom-Symbiote polybag (30448: http://brickset.com/sets/30448-1/Spider-Man-vs-The-Venom-Symbiote), TRU has them at their RRP of £5. I got one at their Kingston branch yesterday. They had about a dozen on the shelf. The polybags were in the main LEGO area at the back of the store, not with the CMFs at the front where I expected them to be.

I moved twice within the space of a year a few years ago and can attest to badbob's suggestion of using gripseal bags. I used a smallish size of bag just big enough for each miniature and its accessories and put them in Really Useful boxes making sure that none of the capes were smushed or creased. I have hundreds of minifigures and they were all fine. Best of luck with your move!

Wash your mouth out with soap! Very cool picture - great demon army.

With different shades of green, the problem is very much lessened as there's considerably more variety in the available prints (as seen in my goblins below for example), but I think the OP is specifically frustrated by the lack of sand green options - which I can understand.

Those are really well drawn! They look professional. I particularly like the piper. The troll would be my favourite if he were not fleshy. Perhaps the troll would look better in green: sand, olive or lime.

Cool minifigures. Would you consider using other sand green heads to increase the variety such as the two on the right of this picture?

My minifigures are mostly based on European/European-inspired fantasy, mythology and folklore (with some Arabian and Egyptian in the mix). Despite the pictures above, the Japanese part of my collection is relatively small. I do have minifigures that are anthropomorphised animals including a tengu, a kitsune, some hebi, a bakeneko, some inugami and a tsuchigumo (the latter three among other minifigures in this picture: http://www.brickshel...14_cmf_mocs.jpg ) but they're more generic, European or fantasy (e.g. D & D) versions, and not the way they are traditionally portrayed in Japanese art. Thanks. It's kind of you to say so. When I saw that Star Wars head and the TMNT shell, they just screamed "kappa". Apologies to the OP for the threadjack.

The turtle-like minifigure represents a creature from Japanese folklore called a kappa. They're often portrayed stooped over, hence the pose of the minifigure.

The hat is by SI-DAN. I got it from the Minifigcat store ( http://www.minifigca...ome.php?cat=385 ) along with the bowl and prayer beads. You're quite right that the minifigure represents an oriental character. Specifically, it's a Japanese mendicant monk. You can see a previous version of the minifigure with plain black arms and legs among other Japanese-themed minifigures here: http://www.brickshel...ymios_court.jpg . The Disney CMFs allowed me to give him black and white arms and legs. Mendicant monks still dress that way in Japan today ( http://glennportal.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/japanese-beggar-monks.html ).

If you're willing to mod parts, you can get even closer to the colour of the contract in the film than Brickwarrior's tan. Its actual colour in the film is a bright yellow: https://texthelaw.fi...548-500-339.jpg . You can easily turn your white scroll yellow by washing it in soap and water, allowing it to dry completely, recolouring it using a yellow Sharpie, allowing that to dry completely, then giving it a light coat of Humbrol Satin Cote for permanence and allowing that to dry. That's how I yellowed Peter Pan's ears: http://www.eurobrick...75#entry2555206