gylman

How about a keychain display system in a space theme? Random thought.... no particular reason I mention this.

Sounds fair enough. Curses on my lazy kids for not registering and voting for their dad.... *skull* After all those late nights, stinky diapers, and scraped knees, not to mention my premature balding, graying, and belly bulge.

http://eurobricks.hosting.ipsyn.com/spip/staff.htm Or this, if you want to see some faces (although, sadly, most are not around any more)

Interesting that NXT is not mentioned at all.... did it come too late in the 1st half? I forgot exactly when it was released... April? Except for the first few weeks of release when the hype was high, I rarely recall seeing it in the "hot 25" sellers, and I haven't seen it move on the TRU shelves. Here is an interesting (although not necessarily correct) of some Mindstorms/Spybotics/NXT issues. http://www.techuser.net/lego2.html

Interior details fantastic! I like the height chart on the perp ID wall best. The fingerprint ID station too. I assume those come from police sets.... but I hadn't seen them before. Excellent use of stairs also. Trickier than many people realize. Excellent....

Hmmm, a 90 Euro temple set... this could be promising if real. Johnny Thunder and the gang would enjoy visiting a big juicy temple. Excellent.....

Nice comic. I especially like the splattering blood. A few flecks of gray matter randomly deposited about the area might have helped the Tarantino feel of things. oi... err..... no........ I mean.... Excellent...

I'd be preparing for the Thomas the Tank Engine avatar theme.... Excellent......

50 pieces? Steampunk? Oi.... err.. no... I mean.. Excellent....

Excellent....! Does TLC look at things like that when considering what they might sell, or even"legendize"? I mean the popularity of a set on eBay or Bricklink? It seems to me they should, to some degree anway.

Thanks for the information. Were those sets that you were working on going to be part of the upcoming 2008 lineup? I have a hard time seeing any relation between those sets that you designed, and what came out this past year. Except for the improved figs.

I believe they are also in part resonsible for global warming.

I dislike them because they are distracting. We had one here a while ago, a fighting stickman ninja type of thing that I couldn't stop watching. Incredibly good, but soooo distracting

Good discussion about the parameters of such competitions. I think it is obviously an advantage to have a big stockpile of bricks and different elements in one of these competitions, and I obviously used that advantage in my MOC. However, I didn't go to the time and effort of making this (it was 95% built between midnight and 2 AM over the period of a month - I slept 4 hours a night for 3-4 weeks just to be able to do this) just because I wanted to "win a competition". I did it because I hadn't built anything I was proud of for a while due to my hectic personal and work schedule, and was feeling kind of bad about that, and itching to build something worthwhile. I needed something to motivate me me a bit to start, so the contest and Hinckie served that purpose, but once it got going I just wanted it to be the best it could be. I wouldn't have entered a contest that says "500 parts, do what you can with them" - it would be more stress than fun. That's pure competition and no joy. Limited by weight woul be more intresting as long as the weight wasn't too low. It actally would become an extra challenge to build somethign with the least weight possible. I wonder how we would enforce that, though. I would also suggest that it is an advantage to be 16 years old and have no job, no wife or kids, no family responsibilities, and so much free time that you can really sit down and think about something like this instead of building it in a semi conscious state in the middle of the night while everyone else in the house is sleeping. Again, thanks Hinckie, for putting this on.

http://www.strategy-business.com/media/file/sb48_07306.pdf Not sure if it's worth it's own topic. Some insight into what the Lego Company did when it turned around. The reason for the colour changes is clear. Apparently their huge palette of colours which came from many different sources was a major supply cost problem. Oh, and for what it's worth, I'm with Brickminer. Other than for the improved figs of course, CC 2007 has been a disappointment for me. I haven't bought a single one of those sets.

Thanks for everyone who voted and took the time to look at these. The contest is far from over, but I just wanted to thank those who participated. The entries really are great, and original, and seeing what people came up with really inspired me to try harder than I might have. The original version of the diner did not have a roof, but then Hinckie's masterpiece came along, and my wife looked at his brewery and said it was way better than mine, and that I had to put a roof on and do better... And biggest thanks to Hinckie for putting this on and keeping the energy level up.

http://shop.lego.com/Product/?p=10178 Motorized walking AT-AT! preorder now, but shipping in a week or two....

http://mcafee.com/us/threat_center/muppetv...A-E/default.asp Dang! There it is. Vader, you're right. McAfee update identifies the Muppet Virus.

ARGGH. Maddening! Won't load.

What muppet avvies? What's a muppet? Dunno what you're talking about.

The postoffice sounds like a winner for sure. So far it's the only "different" thing we get from City. ...another firestation, another police station, another coastal station, another hospital, another gas station - although it was nice. I am still waiting for banks, schools, different shops, ... I agree that the giant airplanes seem pretty useless and I would not buy another one.

The Scudaria truck took the worst hit. Cafe Corner pretty bad too, Paradisa stables, Gold City Junction, Hot Rod Club, Amazon Ancient Ruins, the recent Airport and Airplane sets (I used like a bazillion red chairs), about a dozen others for one or a few parts. And my Black Cat Truck had to TEMPORARILY give up its two curved chrome pipes for the jukebox. It really showed me how useful Bricklink/Peeron inventories are. I need a part, I check which sets have it, and then I go to the vault.... It worked well. There was relatively very little I needed from Bricklink - the curved bricks and slopes mostly, a few cupboards, the cash register printed slope. The only sets I unsealed were the Krusty Krab and the Amusement park microscale set, which are nothing more than parts packs anyway. Most of the sets were not sealed, just complete and boxed. So, assuming I kept track properly (and I tried), the damage should be recoverable.... except I don't quite have the heart to take the Diner apart.

LOL. Thanks Yoda. I'll look forward to it. But I expect to be busy in the next 6 months putting back together all the sets that I plundered to create that diner. The collector in me nearly died making that MOC, but the builder in me had a good time for sure. I really think that the Brickshelf crisis had a good impact, on me at least. As I was saving directories furiously back in July I saw so many great things that I had never seen before, or forgotten about, which really was an inspiration to try to do a good job with the town themed buildings.

Imperialshadow, it's great that you entered, and your building is really very nice - I could easily imagine a row of similar houses in some of the backstreets of my own city's chinatown. I need to build a CC style building at some point, and there are great ideas there. Really, it's been great seeing the variety of stuff people put together - no two alike and really original ideas. Thanks for putting the contest together Hinckie.

It doesn't seem to me that there are enough entries to subdivide into categories. Or since restaurant was the commonest idea, maybe "food related" vs "non-food related". :-D /kidding. p.s. Thanks Yoda, I appreciate it... all those years of collecting Belville parts finally put to use.