jFox

I was considering adding a monorail set to my collection, but after seeing some of the videos from Masao Hidaka like this one ( ), I thought it would be a fun challenge to create them from scratch. Not to mention the cost and practically irreplaceable nature of existing monorail parts... Aside from his videos (which are pretty clear overall), I can't seem to find a whole lot of other variations.So I'm curious, have any of you tried this method yourself? Come up with any interesting monorail designs, or track options? Have any advice for someone going down this road?

I picked up a couple when I saw them at Target. They also had the bear battle pack, like all the others. It's a cute little set, with a few decent parts. The figure is okay, though I'm kind of torn on it, like most of the newer ice-themed tribes. Some aspects of the figures are cool, but the frozen zombie look on most of the pieces is not all that useful for me for anything else... at least, not that I can think of at the moment.

Some of these look pretty interesting, I may have to try them out. I wonder about the cloth pieces around the legs; how much range of motion is there? With a lot of custom pieces, putting anything around a figure's legs means they'll be standing upright at all times. It looks like some of these pieces are designed with a bit of space in them to allow for motion, but still not a whole lot.

I'm not sure where you're located, but the Lego Shop online has them in-stock as of right now.

+1 to Super Goblin, thanks for the trade!

Hehe, well glad I could help rekindle the Lego hobby/habit! I like your use of the torsos from some of the LotR/Hobbit sets in your elf army. Most have a bit of flesh color showing, but a few can work perfectly.

Hooray! I don't remember ever trying to convert anyone, though... was it something specific?

Eek, what did I do?

+1 to sspeck05. Thanks for the trade!

I don't, much to the dismay of my wallet... Recently I've started looking more closely at parts in a set, and how likely I'll be to use them elsewhere. It's kept me from an impulse purchase or two so far, which is a good thing. That, and occasionally I'll just Bricklink the intersting figures instead getting a set. Though if it's a double VIP promo at the LEGO store, all bets are off... last October was a rough one.

I saw the new series of Mixels in Target today, and the space-faring Orbitons called to me. Powerless to resist, they demanded I also take photos and share them, so they can convince others to take more of their goofy-looking brethren home as well. So without further ado, we'll start with Rokit: His arms are a bit strange (why's he holding lightsabers?), though his eyes and exposed brain/CPU under the transparent dome are fun features. Next up is Nurp-Naut, whose name makes me giggle as much as his sleepy eyeball. He features a rotating head with a dome and two extra eyes in the back. Yes, he literally has eyes in the back of his head! The last of the three is Niksput, a combination of creature and spacecraft, and whose name is an obvious anagram of the satellite Sputnik. As with all the other Mixel tribes, they can be combined into one larger creation, and this may be one of my favorites of all the Mixels to date: He's got a lot of articulation going, with the arms and legs which are pretty standard, but his mouth, wings, and jetpack in back are also attached via the new, smaller joint pieces. His stubby arms, goofy eyes and nose make him appear silly, but the addition of a jetpack and wings give him a bit more oomph, though I don't think I'd ever call him fearsome. Two thumbs up for this tribe, they're all pretty good on their own, and the max version is one of the best so far.

+1 to fred67, thanks!

Though I only have Flinx's phoenix from the recent wave, I think some of the others (Bear Mech, Tiger Command, and the Ice Mammoth Stomper) are a big step up from earlier sets. I think they improved the designs a bit too late, however. Earlier Chima sets were a bit hit-or-miss, with some gems like Eris' Eagle Interceptor, but then some duds like Laval's Royal Fighter. As a result, people may have been turned off from the line completely, so as newer, improved designs come out they are met with a shrug and "Meh, more of that weird Chima stuff, move along."

I'd be interested in your mythical creatures set, 4894. What are you asking for it?

Well done! I was looking at doing something similar, you've got some great combinations in there. Question: what's the helmet in the lower left corner, the one with the horns? I feel like I've seen it somewhere, but can't place it...

That is pretty flippin' adorable! It's like go-karts in space, fantastic! I think you really nailed the overall shape at that scale, well done. I also like how the figure has a bit of room to breathe, unlike the micro Star Wars vehicles that came out recently.

Thanks for the insights, everyone. I ended up spotting a new listing on eBay for the 7939 and got it for retail price + shipping. After tinkering around with it a bit I'll see where I stand on wanting to get new parts, cars, engines, etc. The only other train I have is the Constitution from the Lone Ranger sets, I figure with these two I'll be able to get a decent sized layout and figure out where to go next. People around here seem to speak pretty highly about the Horizon Express; it seems like it's a pretty interesting build with a lot of pieces in it for only having the 3 cars. Last time I spoke to someone at the Lego store, he mentioned that there would be a new train coming out in 2015, so that may be sooner than you think!

I missed out on the recent 7939 Cargo Train set, but will be picking up its successor, the 60052 Cargo Train. The 7939 is still around, but is it worth buying it for slightly inflated prices, or perhaps buy just the pieces that interest me for a couple bucks here and there? Do any of you buy multiple boxed sets, or just add a single car or two as you go? Some of the parts, like the Power Function remotes and battery boxes, I worry about ending up with way too many of them (the train version of a brick separator?). Along those same lines, what do you value cars or locomotives at? Would $50 for a locomotive (from any set, or even a custom) be a good deal? Would $100 be insanity? I don't yet have enough experience with trains to know what sort of parts I'd need (or their relative cost) for some of the train-specific stuff: cars, track, cranes, etc. I may just bite the bullet and get a 7939 before it gets really pricey, but I was curious if there were a more cost-effective way to go about it.

Which train set should I buy: Horizon Express, or the new High-Speed Passenger train? I like the sleek look of the passenger train (it reminds me of the Shinkansen in Japan), but the Horizon Express seems like it might be a more detailed and enjoyable build overall.

I had the King's Castle on display for a while, and ultimately broke it down and sold it. Some parts of it were interesting, but overall was just a so-so design. Like Artanis said, you can ultimately change whatever you don't like about it, but I didn't find the piece selection all that great either. I did, however, like the smaller Gatehouse Raid set (#70402), either alone or with the castle. Both sets are somewhat modular and you can throw a pair of gatehouse sets on opposite walls to build up the castle nicely.

I don't have any experience with the large carousel set or the Fairground Mixer, but the Winter Village carousel was pretty flippin' sweet. The way the rotation mechanism was integrated, and the movement of the horses on the carousel were very well done. I had never seen something with that technique before, it was a very fun build experience. Also, the fact that it integrates with the rest of the Winter Village stuff is a bonus.

Yep, it was a US store. I'd seen similar information about it not being available in the US, prior to the actual sale. But they were there, probably about 30 or so total on the pallet.

I picked up 4 of those Creative Tower sets. 6400 pieces for $120 is easily the best deal I've ever gotten on Lego before. They were in-store on Thursday starting at 6pm, on a wrapped pallet nearish to the toys. I normally wouldn't go shopping anywhere during this weekend, but the absurdly low price on these was enough to lure me in. Walked in with my girlfriend, we grabbed 2 each, and out we went. No hassle, only about 10 minutes in the store.

Wow, hard not to love this series. The Hot Dog guy cracks me up, as I had a Halloween costume exactly like that a year ago. The lady samurai looks amazing, and will fit in nicely with the rest of my samurai figuess. The goblin makes a great addition to any fantasy setting, as does the lady cyclops and that evil wizard (that cape!). The two sci-fi figures look splendid as well... this series looks like it's full of great army-building figures. May have to get a whole box of this one... haven't considered that since way back in series 7.

Those are really well done, and congratulations to the designer of the set, even though I don't think I'll pick this one up. I'm very glad to see sets like this make it through the review process, as I feel this one, along with the Research Institute and the Exo-Suit are more in the spirit of the Ideas/Cuusoo system than, say, all of the the licensed stuff that has been produced. I certainly love my Ecto-1 and am glad that Lego produced it, but something like the Big Bang Theory seems very odd to me.