gylman

My impression (as a non-train person) is that RC is not particularly successful. 9V seems to still be going strong. The Xmas train was a huge success, and was 9V I suggest you go with 9V, and if for some reason it collapses, your track will not be useless for RC. If on the other hand you invest in RC and it falls apart, your track is useless for 9V My non-expert advice.

It depends why you buy Lego. I build, and I collect. They are two separate activities. For building, you want the parts, and the box is useless. I got a lot of useful old gray parts by buying old castles with missing parts, no instructions, no box, for a good price. Much cheaper than Bricklink. Of course if you are a collector, the box is essential. Lego has some of the most beautiful box art of any toy (at least to my Lego-loving eyes). I would rather have a Forestmen box cover picture on my wall art than a Picasso. My home office is full of Lego boxes on all the bookshelves. I rotate them out every once in a while to "change the theme". A bag of Lego just doesn't do it for me. For the sets that I really love, I would happily pay 20-50$ more for a box, depending on condition and internals. I have paid 30$ for a box only on some occasions, although $5-20 is more typical. One time I bought a 375 set only because it had a good box - I already had the set and instructions. I ended up paying 100$ for the 375, when all I really wanted was the box. I since sold off the knights from that set for more than $100, so it worked out.... but I hadn't planned it that way. I just wanted a good 375 box. A few months ago I bought 200$ worth of excellent condition boxes on Bricklink, including SES and BSB for $25 each, Airtech for 20$, many others. It was one of the best buys I ever had on bricklink, which generally is not a bargain. Nothing tops MISB, but some sets its insane to try to get it. So, getting a good condition box is the next best you can do.

The best set is the Pharoah Forbidden Ruins 5988. If you want a box and instructions and the set used but in good condition, you will not find it for less than 80$, more often close to 100. If you don't care about a box, knock off 10-20 bucks MISB, about double. There are no "bargains" in the internet except if you manage to find a place where the seller has mis-listed the item, so that the people who are looking for it don't see it. Bricklink will be more expensive but more more reliable.

Space has gone down, I agree. Trains have gone down (maybe not the pre 9V, but I don't follow them so closely). Castle is stable or rising Technic is stable (the old good stuff) Town seems to be rising, but only the good stuff. Adventurers are surprisingly popular and prices are still rising on these

-Joebot My impression is that the often bandied about notion that art is supposed to "provoke" is usually used by artists who lack the talent to create real art, which in my opinion is supposed to make you look at the world in a different way or a deeper way(beyond the surface). These individuals use shock value to substitute for real vision and creativity, and milk the publicity to gain money / notoriety. I can be provoked by a poke in the eye. That dosen't make it art. That is not to say that art must make me feel good. Look at Guernica - that picture captures the horror of that bombing in an incredible way. It makes me feel that horror. But its a great piece of art. So, is the Rev's work art? I think it is on the edge between art and exploitation... for me, it does not provoke deeper thought or perspective. It just makes me feel vaguely revolted, the same way roadkill does. Roadkill is not art, although someone somewhere probably has tried to suggest that it can be. However, I don't disagree with Joebot's comment, but I would take away some of the superlatives, like "genius" or "brilliant". It's actually kind of obvious, not subtle at all. The Rev redeems himself, though, because he clearly does have skillz.

I agree with Asuka. While I dislike his work because I find it to abuse a child's toy that I love - as you have stated - the last thing I want is censorship to become acceptable on religious grounds. We got a taste of that a few years ago, and it is unacceptable in a modern world.

We have had this discussion before, though never a poll. I voted that it's horrible, although that may be too strong a word. I simply resent the tarnishing of the beautiful and innocent nature of Lego in order to create some of the horrid scenes he has made. To me this is not much different than using Lego to build concentration camps or mini porn scenes. People can make their artsy fartsy arguments all they like, but to my mind these constructions do nto make the world a better place. Life is hard, dirty, often violent, and there is enough ugliness to go around. The Lego smiley is one of the oases of clean innocence. It should not be used to display rape, dismemberment, and mass murder. This being said, the man is a talented builder and photographer. I cut him a lot of slack for that. It seems clear to me that he is mocking the bible, which I also cut him slack for. If you look at his other work, and some of his biographic info, it is obvious that this guy is not a bible-thumper. Quite the opposite. Still, I wish he had made better use of his talents. Or used Megabloks or Barbie dolls. Not Lego...

On closer inspection of the tiny pictures we have, I am not as enthused about this one as about CC. However, this is unavoidable if the part count is much less, and I agree that not every set in this series needs to cost $200 Canadian. These sets are infinitely customizable, so we can always mod them to suit our tastes. Just imagine, though, a number of the great AFOL builders using Lego Factory to make other extensions to the CC series. That's essentially what we have here. We can see the constructions online, and buy the parts for the sets we want. The potential is incredible!

Sweet Lord almighty!

CC is the best thing Lego has done in the 21st century. Non Lego people who see it are blown away. It is a joy to build, easy to customize, and the modularity is amazing. I pray that this direction is the future of AFOL Lego. Bring on the rest of the street!! Oh, and as usual... BRING BACK JOHNNY THUNDER AND THE ADVENTURERS!

Welcome to the friendly EB community. I am in Canada, so this may not apply to you. If you are a homeowner, and have insurance for contents, usually it is covered. You would want to take photos and even better catalog the collection with estimated values to avoid hassles in case of a claim, but that's very tedious. I was told that up to about $30,000 I don't need special extra insurance. If you have a truly valuable collection, you need a special rider written into your insurance. Special riders for collections tend to be very expensive. I have worried about this myself, but I came to realize that at this point in my life, if my collection was destroyed in a fire or flood I would probably just give up on Lego collecting. It would be just too hard to regather the collection.

Amazing! Something to really look forward to.... In May!!?? Excellent.

It's better than the first castle, and not as good as the second. It's better than I thought it would be from the initial pictures. I think that if you take about 3 of these, and 1 or 2 of the first castles and second castle, it shoudl be possible to construct quite a respectable Hogwarts. I presume basically they are using this set to sell some more of the parts they made lots of in the past. They did not want to make a big committment to HP this year. I believe most of the 2005 sets sold relatively poorly. The exception was the Graveyard Duel. All the others were available on substantial discounts either at S@H or TRU. Frankly, they deserved to - they were not great sets. It's funny, looking at eBay, it seems that the most successful HP set of all time is actually the Diagon Alley which routinely sells for 2-3 x retail, or more. All those teeny bits and bobs are quite helpful to have. I wish I had bought a dozen of those when they were available for 12 dollars each in Canada (at full retail, even less on sale).

This is not one of those things where whoever has the highest member wins. Some forums seem like that, but EB definitely is not. 200 good members who contibute and get along is much better than 2000 who contribute little, get into fights, and don't really care about Lego - they are just here because a buddy asked them to join. However, if you know a committed Lego fan, who builds nice things, knows about Lego or wants to learn more, and would be a valuable addition to the community... by all means, invite him or her!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/countblockula...57594151599107/ Usually the hip and legs are glued. Not removable I suspect, unless teh glue gives. All the other parts are movable and removable once the pin is taken out.

Of course I have one in person! Yes, the cloth is sandwiched between the legs and the torso sections. Good call. Cheers. G

Nah, this has been around for about 3 years. http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?G=850744 There are two stories about this. One version is that it belonged to the KKII theme, but there are no figs like it in KK to my knowledge. I am skeptical. The other says that it was supposed to be Hermione from HP going to some ball or dance (? Yule Ball with Krum). While there is no HP set to my knowledge that has this fig, her gown may have more than a passing resemblance ot the pink skirt of the minifig. http://static.flickr.com/26/65809561_7a218b4787_o.jpg However, the Goblet of Fire sets were from 2005, and this keychain was from 2004.... so I doubt this theory too. I personally think it is just a generic princess keychain that TLC just put together for sale for no good reason other than that keychains rock!

Doh! late to the party as usual. Habby Pirthday. Let me tell you about aging. White pubes. enough said. 30 is not old.

Wow, That's significantly more than the Cafe. I sure hope it's a good set. I'm really looking forward to it. Hopefully it won't be a disappointment like the dreamliner. You don't have what?? Phalluses? Yikes. My sympathies dude. :-D

Guys, do you seriously want to post your phone numbers on the internet?

Agreed. One's world view and political bias colours the interpretation of the VTech massacre. Anti-gun advocates see it as proof that guns should be banned. Anti Gun-control advocates point out that if people had been packing on campus, he might have been stopped before he killed so many. I think personally that neither side is clearly right. While I favour the "less guns" view, I am nervous about a society where only bad guys can get guns. Anyway, as long as people are civil, and don't start ranting and raving left or right wing propaganda and hurling insults, but present calm opinions, I don't see the problem with discussion. Stuff like "why is Bush the President? when a retarded ape could be a better one?", though, is not useful. It's obviously guaranteed to start a fight. If we can't avoid that, we should avoid the discussion altogether.

When I think of this type of massacre, I imagine what I would feel like if some worthless scum killed one of my daughters like this. That's where my rage therefore comes from, and why I have absolutely zero sympathy for the murderer. Before having kids I could intellectualize the situation, but I don't think I truly understood it. We had one like this in Canada few years ago, Mark Lepine, a woman hater, who killed 14 university students, all women. It didn't hit me nearly so hard at the time because I didn't have my children yet. That's why I made the point about having kids. It's easier to "feel sorry for the poor abused / misunderstood human" at a distance.

Well, if all we had was Buddha, no doubt the world would be a better place. I mean that seriously, not sarcastically.

Sure, fine. But I always find it odd that people never show pictures of Darfur, or Rwanda, or all of the world's most miserable places where people are being killed or starved to death in their hundreds or thousands on a daily basis. (unless those were the ones TT edited out, which I rather doubt) Just Israel. Wonder why. EDIT: Oh, Asuka, and I just found out that the professor that sacrificed himself to save his students....... was Israeli! http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/849070.html Think about that for a bit.

The above posts by me are how I treat him AFTER he has killed 33 people for no good reason. I am not evil, or mean, or insensitive to human suffering. How I (most of society) treat non-murderers under stress, in difficult life circumstances, with mental disturbances, is totally different.