AmperZand

I've walked past the building many times. Your MOC captures the look of the building absolutely perfectly. Even if I hadn't seen the thread's title or your post, I would instantly have recognised the pics as depicting the LWT Building. Splendid job!

You are mistaken, I'm afraid. Purist or not, a MOC that consists of minifigs only belongs in the Minifig Customisation Workshop forum. I double-checked with a mod. I know it's weird, but thems the rules. I fell foul of it myself once.

Hello, LuxorV, Thanks for your reply. That does answer my question. I suspected as much but wanted to be sure. I was told by another member (not a mod) that purist minifig-only MOCs can be posted in the forum of the theme to which they relate. But as I was once corrected by a mod for doing exactly that, I had a feeling the poster was mistaken. Incidentally, I'm very familiar with the term "purist". I just didn't want to get sucked into a discussion on what is/isn't purism. Thanks again, Amps

Is the Customisation forum the right place to post pictures of minifig MOCs that use unmodded LEGO parts? For example, if I combine minifig parts from different themes, where can I post pictures of those minifigs?

Great Highland Guardsmen, andhe. Fab use of CMF and other minifig parts. The only thing is, I think your thread is in the wrong place. I'm not a mod but I believe that because it's only about minifigs, it should be in the Minifig Customisation forum. Amps

Join SilentMode, another AFOL and me at John Lewis Oxford St London on 12 September for an opportunity to swap (and buy identified) Series 8 minifigures (and possibly some earlier ones too). We'll be convening at the Toy Department on the 4th floor at 6.30pm. If you arrive late, we may have moved up to the café on the 5th floor. Please post below if you'll be there. If there are any minifigures you're particularly after or spares you have to trade, please post that, too. Hope to see you Wednesday, Amps

Another great review! Thank you, WhiteFang. Just a few random thoughts... I don't think it's been mentioned but a natural pairing for a picture or vignette would be the conquistador from this series and the Aztec warrior from S7. Conquistadors are usually thought of in the context of Latin American exploration/conquest, hence their name. Another natural pairing would be the S8 diver and the S7 ocean king. While I agree that the S8 pirate captain isn't very exciting, by replacing his head with the skull that comes with the actor and replacing his yellow hand with a white one (from a spare Santa or skier), you can easily MOC an undead pirate.

I picked up the following from the White City brand store last Sunday: Pteropine vampire x2 Pirate captain x2 Conquistador x1 Shakesperean actor x1 Alien queen x1 Fairy x1 Skier x1 Tyrolean x1 I'm still after Father Christmas as well as duplicates of some of the above. I've found this series fairly easy to identify by feel. Before going to White City, I tried 5 Tesco stores including the superstore on the Old Kent Road. They didn't have them. LEGO brand store: hero. Tesco: zero!

My nephews who are small kids are getting into CMFs and minifigs generally. They seem to like any male minifig with a melee weapon or a cape. I mostly like ones that are fantasy/horror/historical such as the elf, minotaur, sea king, evil knight, Spartan, caveman, pteropine vampire, musketeer and fairy. In your experience, do adults and kids like the same ones? When AFOLs army build, are we depriving kids of the minifigs they want? Does TLG aim some CMFs at adults? Amps UFOL (Uncle Fan of Lego)

Mi dispiace!

Any sign of S8 in the UK? I know they're not officially out here until September, but I was hoping some retailers had broken the embargo. WHS and John Lewis are generally pretty good about releasing minifigs as soon as they get to stores, i.e. a week or two early.

In the case of this set (and similar ones such as the rock band), I agree that the UK price is better when you strip out VAT in the UK and sales tax (where applicable) in the US. But generally, US Lego prices before tax are lower than UK ones before tax. Take the Mines of Moria (a set I bought in the UK) as an example. In the US, it sells on TLG's site for $80. The same set on TLG's site in the UK sells for £58.33 excluding VAT, that's $91.58 using Yahoo Finance's FX rate. 91.58 is more than 80. Just because currencies fluctuate doesn't mean that prices can't be compared internationally. The Economist popularised the Big Mac Standard, a method of comparing the purchasing power of currencies. The Standard isn't perfect for various reasons, but if we use the same approach to Lego, we see that you generally get more for your money in the US than the UK (excluding tax for both). If we take "unfair" to mean more for the same thing, at today's exchange rate, Lego is unfairly expensive in the UK. I haven't crunched the numbers to see whether that's true historically, but I suspect it is and has been for years. I'm not claiming that the UK has the worst Lego prices (Australia's and New Zealand's are even higher), just that UK prices aren't fair compared to the US's.

Wait! The US price of $15 is actually roughly the same as the UK price of approx £10? UK Lego fans are actually getting a fair deal? Someone at TLG obviously doesn't know that it's company policy to rip off UK FOLs. They're so getting fired.

I'll pass on the rock band but will get the black and green hair pieces from that set on BrickLink if they're not too expensive. The monster pack is cool and I'll probably get it even though I already have the CMF witch and zombie, and the polybagged ghost. That will make quite a few witches as I have all previous witches back to and including Willa. A nice little coven! The zombie reprint will come in handy for my undead horde, as will the ghost. I really hope TLG release a fantasy pack with a recoloured elf, evil dwarf and evil knight.

- Gandalf arrives x2 - Shelob attacks - Uruk-Hai army - Mines of Moria I haven't opened them yet though as I'm still settling into my flat. My Lego space won't be ready until some time next month (at the latest, I hope). I also got the Ninjago Bytar minifig, Monster Fighters werewolf and an extra Moria orc from a BrickLink seller.

I don't know, Wardancer. Some universities in the US graduate a couple thousand people in a day. That's approaching the size of a small army, so I can see the case for considering the graduate as an army builder minifig. I suppose it all depends on whether "army building" refers to combatants or not and by what standard you measure an army by size. Medieval armies usually only had a few thousand men on each side.

I haven't encountered a limit on any previous UK newspaper promotion. Every time there's been a Lego offer, you get one polybag for each copy of the paper. That has been my experience from at least 4 WHSmiths in London. I got loads of Batmans and Ninjago ninjas that way. I would be surprised if this promotion were any different. I intend to build a decent sized Uruk-Hai army thanks to the Sun.

If... - You're building an Uruk-Hai army - Rumours are true about the Sun newspaper - You can wait until October - You'll be in the UK then ...you're in luck because the Sun will be running a promo. For the cost of the paper (70p at weekends?), you'll be able to get a polybagged Uruk. Inexpensive way to build a sizeable army.

URL: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-derbyshire-18876537 I'm not into Technics or that side of AFOLdom (I collect/mod minifigures), but even I find this cool. Now all they have to do is make the rest of the plane out of LEGO!

You mean a tonsure? I don't think Bombur from "The Hobbit" has his hair that way on purpose; I suspect it's male pattern baldness. Nice idea, by the way. Not one I had thought of but it would be cool.

1. Medusa 2. Professor/teacher 3. Chef 4. US civil war officer/soldier 5. Female vampire 6. Good knight 7. Evil musketeer (in red) 8. Marching band trumpeter 9. British policeman 10. Groom 11. Airline pilot 12. Roman emperor 13. Female ninja 14. Guy in lion suit 15. Trapeze artist 16. Mountain climber/mountaineer In a later series, perhaps S10 or 11, I think we'll see a harlequin wearing the ruff of the Shakesperean actor from S8.

One good thing about S8 that I don't think has been mentioned thus far is that the minifigs should be easy to identify by feel. I reckon that there's at least one part in each one you'll be able to identify tactilely. Of course, it would be smashing if they re-introduced the unique bar-codes, but I don't see that happening. As a collector of fantasy/historical minifigs, I rate this series fairly highly. The pteropine vampire, fairy, Shakespearean actor and conquistador I'll display as they are or with moderate modding, e.g. replacing the conquistador's morion with a musketeer's hat. I'm really pleased that I wont have to fork out a fortune for the MF man-bat. Other minifigs in the series including the Tyrolean, Father Christmas, alien queen and pirate captain I'll get for parts. The Tyrolean's torso will work well for Frodo for those like me who don't care for fleshy necklines.

I collect fantasy/historical, not SW and even I'm tempted by the Rancor set. The Rancor looks great and could easily pass for another kind of (LotR) troll. Not to mention the Gamorrean could be an orc. And the pit itself could be somewhere in Moria. If it isn't too expensive, I'll get this set, maybe in preference to a LotR set. Incidentally, there's a mistake in the opening post: there are four minifigs in this set, not three.

You can try WHSmiths or John Lewis but your chances of getting a sealed box from any UK store on a Sunday is remote. Reason being that stores in the don't take many deliveries on Saturdays. So by Sunday, most stores will have opened any boxes they had in stock and put them on display. Your chances are significantly increased if you can go on a Tuesday or Wednesday. Amps

I use a scalpel for very fine print removal. It won't leave obvious scratches but does dull the surface ever so slightly. I don't have access to my minifigs at the moment or a camera, but I couldn't show you even if I did; it's too subtle to capture photographically. Even in life, unless I point out where I've done it, you can't tell. I suggest you try it on a printed part you don't care abou first, perhaps on a few elements you have picked up on BrickLink.