brickzone

Well, the price will probably be €99 for the Eurozone, it's the UK that has the £68.50 price. At that price though I may have to plan a shopping trip to England given that we may have €1=£1 shortly! It's an awesome set, in just about every respect. I'm really looking forward to it! Nice to see the photos of the buildings folded up.

I had opportunity to buy this set when over in Munich during the week, and I was sorely tempted. However, at €38 it's just really over-priced. I do want it a lot, but I can wait till it comes out in the UK perhaps and make good use of the €/£ exchange rate.

I attached my own credit card rather than my bank account. If paypal try any fishy business, I can get it dealt with by the credit card people. Also this means you have credit on purchases (not something I've exactly needed, but it puts you in control over when to pay). Needless to say I do not have my credit card set up with direct debit - I pay bills manually. It makes no sense to give extra control of your money to others just for convenience. Letting the bank hold onto it in the first place is far enough.

I enjoyed the review, thanks. I for one really like Ice Planet - we thought it was so cool when it first came out! It was the only theme that we came close to having the whole set of in the house - everything but the Ice Planet base (which my sister and I both now have a set of!) My brother still has his original deep freeze defender (albeit now with nearly "tan" parts in places where there should be white). It was the catalogue images as well as the new trans-neon orange, minifigs and backstory that captured our imagination I think. Somehow Ice Planet manages to encapsulate the concept of a "theme" far better than just about any of the subsequent efforts (previous ones such as M-Tron, Blacktron and Space Police acheive the same). I sincerely hope "Space Patrol" manages to create a similar setting, something one can get into more even than things like UFO, Insectoid, Mars Mission.

Today, day 12, instead of a nice little mining cart, I received a second set of armor with stand and sword. Ooops!

Lego seems to be one of the few things selling well this Christmas. Had a hard time getting Duplo Thomas the Tank Engine for my nephew. Sold out in local toy stores, sold out on amazon (yes amazon is overpriced usually, but they price in £ so it is currently cheap *even* with shipping to Ireland). Got only 20 buy it now listings from all over Europe for "duplo" and "thomas" search. Art and Hobby stocked a pile of Lego, and again, seems to be the main thing selling in the shop. Tesco Lego section has been going down steadily, indeed it looked ransacked at one stage before being restocked. Argos - well, I don't know how they are doing. They've had a number of sales, though Irish buyers may see little point in buying locally when they can wait till they are next in Northern Ireland and buy in £ sterling with even better sales (e.g. half price instead of 25% off). Meanwhile clothes stores are not waiting for January for the sales. Indeed some are already having "closing down" sales. I for one am not buying any clothes before January - indeed if the prices are not low enough for me, I shall wait till February. I will still be buying Lego in the new year, but I'll be picky and I'll not rush it - I'll get one or two "must have" exclusives from S@H, and then see if I can get the rest over time on sale or priced in £ sterling (maybe take a shopping trip up North again in the new year).

I completed it too. I added my own "gripe", that there are still some occasional sets suffering from "too little butter over too much bread", i.e. the set design suffers for being arranged to "look big". Most of the existing gripes are not a major concern for me, although I did include the reduction in quality. The colour issue doesn't concern me as much as the brick tolerances. They are poorer recently, and although not too problematic yet, they are no longer quite good enough. It certainly wouldn't want to go the least bit further downhill. Rather scary to even roughly tot up the amount spent on Lego in the year. Looks like approx €2000. I've almost certainly underestimated. But it wasn't all for me! Meanwhile ebay, bricklink, etc. only accounts for 20%! Overall I'm delighted with Lego in the last year or two. I do think it is a new golden age, and for all the cries of juniorisation, many sets have never had such intricate detail as they have now. Themes are fun, not only kid-friendly, but a certain "fun" value that anyone should be able to appreciate.

Done, insofar as possible. Quin Abbey, Co. Clare rendered in pencil. Now adjusted to look "snowy" and a dark winter sky. Original/Wintery:

No, the eurozone is almost just as much a single economic area, with a single currency. The US can just as much be sliced up by region (and *is* for many purposes) - the economy of California bears little resemblance to say a mid-western state or northeast USA, and indeed the culture even varies a large amount (OK not as much as between all european countries, but probably as much as Ireland vs. UK, Spain vs. Portugal, Latvia vs. Lithuania, Belgium vs. France or Netherlands depending - sorry if I have offended national sensibilities including my fellow Irish). You even have different laws and taxes from state to state! Cost of living and income varies wildly, and prices in stores are not entirely harmonised (certainly when sales/promotions are factored in). The eurozone is slowly getting some harmonisation - the UK idea of waiting till they are closer to the rest of the EU economy is so idiotic for this reason - the euro is the means to harmonisation, rather than a dependancy. However, with the pound sterling in downward spiral, I am not really complaining. Cheap Lego from UK, woohoo!

Any other European members making much use of the Euro:Sterling exchange rate? I guess it affects us here in Ireland most, seeing as the pound is even used on our own island (in Northern Ireland which is part of the UK), but I presume other European AFOLs can make use of UK ebay listings and such? Even amazon.co.uk is looking like good value for some Lego sets despite the high prices and shipping. As an example of potential savings, a number of months back I bought the Agents underwater Mission for €52.50 from Argos (with €5 voucher back) and that was on sale (down from €60). Now Argos in UK have half-price sale, and so it is £20 which is a mere €24! Just this evening the exchange rate is near an all-time high of £1:€1.15! Quite a bit of the Christmas shopping has already been done online from UK retailers. I'm holding out on some Lego/Duplo though because I hope to get to Northern Ireland for shopping and save on the shipping costs from UK.

OK, the other delivery of these sets arrived today.

Still waiting for another set (applied for by someone else) to arrive here too.

I kitted out the brimmed helmet soldier with the bow and arrow. He had *two* shortswords from his own window. I like the target - the white round plate is useful. 5 minifigs left for 16 days...

2008 was some year! The Indy franchise has been a whopping great success, at least in my eyes and going by the amount of places stocking it, how fast it was selling, and how shops were restocking it again. I bought every set except the Peril in Peru (a bit too expensive, and things I would want more at that price, plus I have all the figs). Agents has been a similar level of success, it's a really fun theme in my opinion, a great toy, and really well design sets/scenes that anyone can appreciate - the parts are great too, both specialised and the amounts of ordinary brick/plate in navy/grey/silver/black/orange. Agents is possibly my favorite theme from 2008. I've modded the silver Bond-ish car (coolest Lego car ever?) to have a pull-back motor inside it. I modded the baddies' jeep from the chase set to have the bigger tires of the coast-guard truck, and a cargo-carrying rear rather than trailer. Also I'm building an Agents base MoC on the 2005 Police Station 3D baseplate, using the mobile command centre and my stock bley (Citadel of Orlan 2x2x3 pillars useful), smoked glass ('05 police station) and few bits of navy (Scorpion Palace and a couple robbed pieces from Market Street and one or two others). City has also been heavily stocked this year, and a feast of sets. The new police station, despite arriving while the old one is still stocked, is very well designed and has also been sold/restocked a lot by the looks of it - although here in Ireland the knock-down price of €55 retail (rather than €75 S@H) may be a factor. The mail/cargo sets are nicely done (though non-vehicle would be nice too). The exclusives and "hard to find" have been astounding this year. I love Green Grocer and Town Plan. Taj Mahal and other sets are really impressive if just past the end of my list of priorities. Castle '08 was a mix. Dwarves Mine was 2008 here, and a fine piece of work - gave the idea of an underground scene and looked smart even though it was essentially a pillar/platform design. I found the orc siege engine a bit same-y like the Viking ones, but I *loved* the siege tower (and tower). Really orc-ish rough look. The dwarves' mine defender was poor but nice minifigs, and the troll battle wheel was not useful enough parts-wise and overpriced for here (€45). The troll battleship I did buy, but it's a bit too cut-down (I think really the Dragons seem to add about €10 to the set price without corresponding parts increase). Of course there was the masterpiece of the Chess set, but that was out of my league (plus it would be an expensive ornament, or I would have to be a philistine and break it up). The Castle Advent Calendar is a delight, I'm really enjoying it. They sold out fast on S@H for Ireland (but perhaps there weren't many allocated). Mars Mission hasn't shifted much in the shops here, although the €20 models (both 2007 and 2008) seemed to sell out. I like the new big spaceship, at least from the main box art image (it looks seriously cool), but I don't want to spend that much, and I don't actually like the functionality or parts selection that much. Speed Racer... not much to say. No-one took much notice of the film, neither have the sets moved much (although the €20 cars seem to be shifting a bit - I bought one myself, albeit at 25% off).

I think Bionicle is a reasonable concept for Lego to have a stake in that particular segment of the toy market (in the same way Racers kinda takes on matchbox cars. However, I do not like it, for the simple reason that I think it diverges too much from Lego and even technic - too many specialised parts. I think the Exo-force theme and the amount of fancy hull pieces and custom ordinary Lego parts we now have shows that something like Bionicle could now be done with more "proper" Lego (i.e. more versatile and multi-purpose).

These people often don't deal in news, but rather any bit of nonsense that will provide some amusement to its readers. So I don't think really much attention needs to be given. It's far worse when they do deal in news and spin it whatever way they like to keep their readers happy.

Oh very nice, I only got one extra arm. You know that the extra arms can be used to extend the legs too though, right? Extra-tall skellies look cool. Unfortunately connecting the clips together like that stresses and weakens them (though in my case, simply squeezing the clips back a slight bit seemed to restore them).

Neither of these sets have appeared in *any* stores in Ireland (although both are available on S@H).

Useful parts in today's panel. And no addition to my own "reversed" shields (I have two, from the knight impulse sets). A reversed flag though! Slightly disappointed to realise that each day's kit won't fit in the window, but the arrangement of the lid forming a platform to display the pieces on is a nice touch (just takes up a bit more display space!)

Well, my own Daily Mirror Lego finally arrived today! My original guesstimate as to when it would arrive was early December, and so I was pretty much spot on! Now to do some building!

Wow, that's pretty amazing not just the sale but you guys that are getting the sale price retrospectively applied. I would not ever consider there the remotest chance of any retail store here doing the latter. You would be laughed out of the shop!

Edit by Hinckley: Sandy - if this forum software had the "thumbs up" button, I'd use it to applaud your post. You're quite right, I'm so sick of the word "<insert that tiresome argument>" being bandied around anytime there are design flaws in a set. Lego sets have never had more intricate detail than they have now (indeed too much for some with others complaining about technic and small pieces). Certainly I would not argue for the pirates being <insert that tiresome argument> (apart from the lack of string on the ship which I consider a *MAJOR* plus - I've never liked string mixed with Lego). Even the 3D baseplate set has a more usable baseplate than those of old - maybe less studs on top but balanced by the stud-grippable base and the ability to connect two together seamlessly back to back. That said, the single-piece wings do to some extent fit the bill of <insert that tiresome argument> - but that's only a single piece and even the oldest Lego sets have had the odd piece like that, or a 3D baseplate or what have you. The single piece wings are not something I'd mind having more of - I can't see how people don't see the potential for awesome spaceship "wings" acheived without using up a whole bunch of flat plates and smaller wedge/wing plate pieces. Flaws in the fuel truck aside, if this set was €35 or even €40 I would buy it and be rather happy with the contents!

I'd say the best approach for what you are describing is to not overdo it on the bulking up. From what you've described, I would have thought that a second BB is ample supply material for the expansion (that gives you extra middle hulls and enough end hulls to make them taller than BSB (afaik they are the same height to begin with in BB). A nice plan. I hope to do something similar when I get hold of Brickbeards Bounty, just supplementing it with my current parts collection - I have red-brown hull midsections from the Viking ship, ample red-brown bricks, and I'm happy to leave the ends as is. I may indeed just add one single hull midsection and add maybe one or two layers to the sides (I'd like to allow the cannons to point slightly more upwards - i.e. at least level).

Well, I didn't want to do that for now because there are folks in different time zones, and there might be some strange person checking Eurobricks in the morning before opening their advent calendar, and if they read this thread and it had a photo it would give it all away :) Paranoia maybe, but the reason I started a new thread rather than added to an existing Advent Calendar thread was to have one specifically for people to read without "spoilers". I'll add a photo later in the day. If I'm correct it's only 06:13 in eastern USA right now.

Well, having bought the Castle Advent Calendar about 3 months ago (indeed, bought 4 of them, one for me and three others for family members), I finally have begun to open it, with the first panel this morning. If anyone else has held off on opening their advent calendar till today, and avoided any reviews and such earlier, then you'll probably have the same opinion as me that what's inside the first compartment is just to taunt us or whet our appetites! Still looking forward to some of the unique goodies in the box, but it is kind of nice to not know what day we'll be getting them! So, who else is enjoying a little surprise each morning from now till Christmas? Photo of Advent Calendar as of 04/12/08 (DAY 4):