brickzone

Sets and second-hand mixed lots off ebay (kilo-ware) are the bulk of my collection, supplemented by bricklink. I did get to visit a Lego store once for PaB.

Well, they both seem to be the same in terms of stickers (some other re-releases had stickers where the original had printed) *but* a significant difference is that the re-release uses light bluish grey (bley) where the original used light grey (old grey). Some other updated parts in the newer ones like stud cutouts on wedge/wedge plates, wider runways on the plates. Significantly the re-release has standard velux windows while the original has distinct "barred" windows. Some omissions in the re-release like a white cone printed with red stripes. I'd buy the re-release though as MISB is nice, and while I have plenty of old grey and use it (esp. for old castles), for many purposes I prefer the brighter "bley" and also I probably have a larger more versatile amount of that (so I prefer to get more bley to have even more to play around with). If you're going to keep it as an airport or use it for city building, I'd say bley is a better choice.

Indeed - under the Christmas tree has been the only outlet for me to actually run a train! I don't think the pizza layout is entirely convincing, the scene would be quite constrained (mountainside or hillside or such). Now of course it doesn't necessarily have to be entirely convincing, but for the effort of setting it up I'm not sure the reward would be great enough.

I generally have quite broad "likes" as regards themes, but in the last year, yes I've had to economise. I think there's nothing for it but to do up a list and whittle it down bit by bit - (and you can still keep the sets you're unlikely to stretch to on it, just in case). My last Lego purchase - I bought Winter Toy Shop and Pirate Advent Calendar instead of other wants such as the Temple of Doom set, Trolls Mountain Fortress or the Agents 2.0 sets (I've ended up with only one of those, the speedboat chase, despite wanting all of them). The others will be probably not so hard to get in the future, but the Exclusives are special. I have decided to skip the Fire Station though, even when I have cash again I'll prioritise other stuff (Grand Emporium). I'm on a *complete* purchasing embargo at present however, and boy is it tough. The only thing is that some particularly cool stuff like Prince of Persia, etc. isn't out yet and I so still hope I'll have money by then!

Probably nothing stopping people doing so, but I would imagine the match wouldn't be that exact. As regards old sets - there is already the problem that the set may not have genuine parts, in the sense that though all parts may be Lego, they may not be the correct vintage (many Lego parts have subtly changed over the years - even normal bricks have changed, as well as almost all parts being produced in softer/shinier/slightly translucent plastic in recent years). So the only surefire way is MISB from a trusted seller, or second best, probably a genuine-enough looking sale from an ordinary person selling off old Lego, where the photo clearly shows the box and Lego (in such cases it's usual enough that the Lego is at least the correct vintage, as even if the parts came from another set owned by the seller, in a typical case of kids Lego there's probably only a max difference of about 8 years or so from oldest to newest). Third best is a sale of Lego without box where you can see other listings of other sets of similar vintage (again, any mix-matching won't matter as the parts should be the correct vintage). I've bought a lot of old sets *not* MISB but relatively cheap and in great condition from Germany. I've also bought Lego from UK which sometimes is coated in dust but barely played with (when cleaned it's like new). In such circumstances it's pretty unlikely to have "fakes" even if you do sometimes end up with scuffed/scratched Lego or the odd piece missing (but if you are paying cheap - that doesn't really matter - especially as all the "wins" make up for the occasional duff lot).

Looking at historical Lego prices, I nevertheless do not think Lego increases their prices by quite as much as inflation. When I was a kid (80s/90s) Lego was much more of a luxury product (amazing we could afford any at all!) The difference today of course is the even cheaper "toys" that are basically trash - while these were around when I was a kid, they weren't as rubbish, but correspondingly weren't as cheap. Starbucks just opened at my Uni - it is over €3 for a regular coffee. So a Star Wars battlepack is less than four Starbucks coffees. To give you an idea of the relative cost of Lego compared to income - well, while things are changing due to the economic crisis, here in Ireland minimum wage is still €8.65 per hour (and even hourly waged jobs would often be above that). Average industrial wage is €32K per annum (You'd probably pay only about 2K in tax on this as a single person - possibly less if you apply for all tax reliefs). Even the unemployment assistance is still about €200 per week for a single adult (more relevant now with about 12% unemployment :( - admittedly in Dublin in particular you would be barely surviving on that as living costs here are high.

Ah - but you see, Lego have had "special" Euro prices for countries like Ireland and Finland that are unfortunate enough to be considered fringe (less important and geographically peripheral) markets with more disposable income. So it isn't exactly tied to currency. Some recent sets are about €10 cheaper in shops here in Ireland compared to S@H (e.g. Woody's Roundup, Tie Defender), others €5 cheaper (Landspeeder, Droid Trifighter). Star Wars Arc 170 is a whopping €25 cheaper in store (€50) compared to S@H for Ireland (€75). This is good news for ordinary sets but is no help for Exclusives.

Well, Irish prices on S@H are about the same in most cases, but certain exclusive items aren't as overpriced compared to the reference point of German prices as they were (e.g. Imperial Flagship is €150 in both countries, whereas Fire Station last year was €180 for Ireland whereas it was €150 in Germany). Also Irish retail prices are in my experience cheaper. Even though Argos still overprices (as they add a premium for most of their catalogue compared to the UK prices) they are not as high as they were. Smyth's have had cheaper prices since last year in my experience. Some recent S@H Star Wars prices seem high for Ireland, but the shops are cheaper (Battlepacks €15 on S@H, but €13 in Tesco and a mere €12 in Smyths).

Welcome to Eurobricks! Great to see another member from Ireland! Tá cúpla daoine anseo ón tír iontach seo anois agus tá an bord seo ar fheabhas i gcomhair lucht leanúna Lego!

I only own two of the first prize figs, and it will be great to have a second golden knight (I love this minifig, right down to the navy plume!) and a trio of mermaids (existing ones from Brickbeard's Bounty and Advent Calendar) - having multiple mermaids allows for a good MOC with them! I had been rather disappointed that I didn't have the means to get the Temple of Doom set, particularly as I wanted the minifigs! The first prize ones are two of the best from that set! Trolls Mountain Fortress was another unrequited "wishlist" item and the shamaness is awesome to have! Also I don't have much Star Wars Lego, but I have Battle for Endor stashed for when I complete my PhD thesis (full draft in the next week or two) and it has most important characters *except* C3PO. So now I'll be able to put that right! :) So thanks ever so much Copmike!

Not only that, but it could have been bad for your parents to undervalue the house contents. Insurance companies can be weaselly. However, from what I gather, adding a small bit to the contents value isn't the main factor in how much house insurance premium is (value of house, address, elevation, past claims, etc. are more a factor). You just have to make sure you don't *overvalue* the contents either.

I thought there was one before, but the only page I found using search was from 2007 where people posted their age. Maybe someone could make this one a poll? (I was sure I'd seen one before though!)

I feel bad about every bought set that I use for parts. Why do I buy sets you could ask I suppose? Well, I do like to know that in theory I can restore the sets and rebuild, plus certain sets I get for minifigs and parts where bricklinking for them would not be good value (considering you can sometimes get a set for less than bricklinking rare figs and parts in that set). I keep some sets apart, even if I don't mind modifying them a bit - examples are Town Plan, Medieval Marketplace, modular buildings, holiday train, Emerald Night. I'll probably try and rebuild all my Harry Potter sets at some time, especially if I get the new ones, but it's a tall order as quite a few parts would be used in current MOCs (yes I have problems breaking up MOCs too - in fact I've not broken up many since starting into AFOLdom). I do chop and change minifigs, but with a certain reluctance. I've finally accommodated my reserve in this manner by keeping all my minifigs stored at first in their original state, until I decide to use part of them or modify them. I keep few "minifig parts" at anytime, and unlike one of my brothers, I don't from time to time sit down and mix-n-match *all* my minifigs or any new ones I get. So new minifigs tend to stay as is for a least a month or two this way. Plus any of my own minifig creations also get to stay as is until needed - I have reused minifigs created for one MOC in another without changing them. I keep those minifigs of mine that are not on display loose in trays rather than tubs, so I can see at a glance what choices I have when I need minifigs for a scene.

Wow CopMike! Thanks for these absolutely astounding prizes! Despite the hints I couldn't have imagined it!

Just wondering if I'm alone in having problems logging on this afternoon? Presume there are some others here on Eurobricks testing today?

Well, while stuck on mostly just over-used minifig parts, I'd add Spielberg's face onto the list too. I don't have an objection to large parts in general, I think sometimes they can be useful for quickly and easily making your structure larger, but I haven't found the castle tower piece with window very useful (the one used in Harry Potter, Knight's Kingdom and still today in recent Castle and even to be in Prince of Persia).

Well, this isn't quite answering the hypothesis, but I'll start by saying these are sets I would have most wished for when I was a kid (80s/90s): 6399 Airport Shuttle 4558 Metroliner 6285 Black Seas Barracuda (I now own this :) 6086 Black Knight's Castle (also now own) 6277 Imperial Trading Post (ok, a cheat, as I did own it as a kid!) As for new sets now that I would have killed for as a kid - I think most of them count. Even the ordinary city sets I think I would have loved as a kid (indeed it was the '05 vehicles which first got me back into Lego), and stuff I don't really go for as an AFOL still appeals to the child in me - Power Miners in particular I can see myself and my siblings having had great fun with. Agents is enough fun as a concept for me to have bought into even as an AFOL. I couldn't have even imagined the modular buildings! I suppose if I had some sort of time machine, these in particular I might send back! The entire concept of a Star Wars theme would also have been beyond my wildest dreams!

A lot of the colours look significantly different in the newer (softer) plastic - even apart from inconsistency of colours it seems inherently to have a hint of translucency. Red brown, dark red, dark blue, white - these are all noticeably brighter in the new plastic (giveaway being fainter printing of "LEGO" on the studs and softer clutching - although this can be obscured if you are combining old/new plastic bricks - both having come in some sets together as old bricks get used up - hence two distinct tones in the likes of early Café Corner sets - even apart from minor variation). However, I'm not an expert - these are just my observations. It probably differs too in North America (Mexico) from Europe (Hungary, etc.).

I like a mix similar to official sets. I am partly put off fully tiling for practical reasons (i.e. having enough tiles) but also because I think sometimes it doesn't make sense for surfaces that are "rough" in real life. I think leaving studs matters more too for particular details on models rather than the larger parts, in the former case surfaces should be tiled if they are flat, but in the latter case it can be ignored in my opinion - like picture made of large squares where when you look at it from further away, the squares are not really seen. Some subjects really benefit from tiling even large areas though - there was a space hanger MOC recently that looked swish and shiny due to the use of tiles. I'm not such a fan of tiles for things like water, grass etc. as these are not usually smooth and flat in real life (excepting "seas like glass" etc.) Sometimes tiling can also draw attention to the "blockiness" of a model (studs make the surfaces less defined, and so you don't notice the edges quite so severely). So even if I had more tiles, I would not tile with wild abandon, but would still pick and choose where to tile. Plus I agree about the fact that it is Lego and as such it is entirely reasonable to have some studs showing even if the true purpose of the stud is functionality.

Maybe just a new flesh tone (perhaps even for PoP) - as you say the others appear to be the fleshie hues. It doesn't really match the "butterscotch" in the desaturated photos we've seen. Note that Dark Orange *is* on the chart - so hopefully it's just a bit of a storm in a teacup.

Nice idea, I think it works pretty well alongside Eldorado Fortress, but as others have said, the yellow and tan don't quite combine well. However, an interesting approach to replace the tan in Imperial Fort with yellow. I created a modified version of Imperial Trading Post for my Imperial Fort, where I did use modern parts and colours for a "revamp" (possibly considered sacrilege by some!):

Thanks for the suggestions. I may try WD40, although getting the pump working would now just provide me with a second pump - I already went and bricklinked a replacement.

I love it! Perfect style, clever use of the Build a Zurg set! I like the engine block!

I think that probably just means your set was produced after Lego started using this new piece. My one has the old piece, but my set was bought at release of the original Agents sets. My brother has the City Garage, and it has a sticker designed to go on the inside of a 1x4x3 wall panel. However, the set actually has a new piece for that, with extra supports on the sides - so the sticker doesn't in fact fit on the smooth area inside. Just another example of how the new parts are just added in as they become available. Another example is the Indy Tomb set - Marion's face is different in later production sets as it uses an updated design.

I just have a fear of ending up with a dozen or so crash test dummies :( Here's hoping the distribution is pretty random and even if some are rarer, there isn't a single "super common" minifig.