gylman

I don't care how his life was. I am sure he was not doing this for joy. I am sure he was mentally disturbed. So what. That doesn't give him the right to take another. Or get even the tiniest iota of sympathy. People all over the world go through hell every day. They are abused, they are beaten, they are discriminated against, they are rejected by girlfriends, they see their families hurt or killed, whatever. Life can be hard. But humans always suffer / grieve / figure out what they can do to cope or get on with their lives. Even the most uneducated unintelligent humans in the most backward societies would not accept mass murder of innocents. No circumstances justify that he did. I hope he suffered before and during this event. Read more about how he did this, multiple bullets in people, systematically. EDIT: Oh, and what the heck does Israel have to do with this?

Thank you for your sympathy for the shooter, and your eloquent words on his behalf, how our system will fail him, so he can bottle up his rage... great, great stuff. The 32 other dead people, brilliant professors (one of whom apparently threw his body in front of the gunman to save his students) and young people with futures who could have made a better world... they get "obvious reasons". Here's my take on it. Good that the shooter is dead. Because if he had lived, it would have been a waste of time and money to spend one cent on the worthless POS. One cent in jail, one cent on a lawyer, one cent of a piece of toilet paper to wipe his megablocks, or a piece of kleenex for his eventual "tears" of regret. Zero sympathy for that piece of garbage. Anyone you know ever been killed for no good reason? Anyone who spent all their lives working or studying, or doing the right thing, even though its easier and more common to just slide through life. And then, through no fault of their own, as their future was opening up, they are killled. By a drunk driver, or a jail inmate on parole, or rock tossed over the overpass, or shot by a worthless "conflicted" whiner who can't cope with their own miserable life or some other human garbage who was for some lame reason considered "not responsible" for their actions. Do you have children? Good that he's dead. I hope he suffered, but he couldn't possibly have suffered enough. How's that for you.

They were selling them all at 40% off at TRU in Canada, with the fort at 70% off. Usually that's a bad sign.

HP is the best selling kids book of all time. Narnia stuff has been around a long time, many have read it, but realistically it only got a wakeup call because of Lord of the Rings was so huge. My kids have read or tried to read both. They found Narnia boring by comparison. They could not get through past the second or third book. The Narnia movie did not do as well as HP, and that was for the best and most famous of the book. When the other ones come along (Prince Caspian 2008 apparently) it will get worse. Potter still a year of hype left... Which has more mechandizing - HP or Narnia? Also, from my recollection of the Narnia books, there are not nearly as many good things to build. Narnia is mostly outdoors and animals, and Lego is not as good at that as it is for rooms and buildings etc. $0.02

I think Lego needs to get away from Licenses unless they are really strong. Narnia is not a strong franchise. Nothing like HP or SW or Batman.

OK. I confess. I am VCVC.

Avatar is an excellent show. Probably the best American made animation. Very popular in the demographics where Lego wants to sell (Boys 8-14), and girls like it too (it has an excellent strong female co-lead). However, two things went wrong IMHO: 1) Nick is not really promoting the show for some reason. The third season is delayed and people may be starting to lose interest 2) The avatar sets were so so. The temple was truly lame. The ship was good value for money, but not the most attractive set in the world. Unless you are a huge Avatar fan, or just want the parts, it doesn't exactly jump off the shelf at you. This is the exactly opposite as what happened with SB: Huge marketing by Nick, and visually very attractive Lego sets.

I'll take a tic if there's one stil available...

But they've had that sort of stuff for a number of years on sale at Legolands and some Lego stores. My kids still have theirs from 3 years ago. Don't mind if they sell it, as long as they aren't losing money on it.....

Sorry people, I didn't see this conversation until just now. The price was 69$ Canadian, and the usual 14% tax, so it would have come to nearly 80$ Canadian. Moot point though. I got the last two in the store near me, and when I tried TRU online, they said it had to be bought locally due to low quantities. Sorry about that. Gyl

TRU was rockin' in Canada this week: -40% off castle -40% off Arkham Asylum -40% off Vikings, but.... the best was Viking Fortress against the Fafnir Dragon, 70% or more off, for 35 bucks Canadian! Best Lego deal I have ever seen at TRU.

Hi Vader. Well, it's a doctor minifig, which has a white shirt, so I guess a white decal background would be fine too as long as it mostly matched the Lego white. How sturdy are the decals though? Is it special material or just regular glue-backed paper? Will they peel off after 1 hour in the pocket?

I have a question for you customizing experts. I want to give out a bunch of Lego keychains as a promo item. I would like to be able to put about 4 words ont he back of the minifig. The obvious way to do this is with a sticker of some kind. Engraving must be very hard and expensive. Where can I get these stickers, what software or special stuff do I need to get this done. Would any of you guys do this for me? (print the stickers and sell them to me). Just black print on a clear background. I would want them to be reasonably sturdy, not to have the sticker fall off in 2 days. Thanks.

Now we know where the world's supply of gray has gone!

Meh. Of course it's a lot of Lego, and there are some very special sets in there, but there are many collectors who have far more, and in better condition. It's a very spotty collection too. Lots of 1970's stuff, but unless I missed something, he has NO castle after the 375 era, and a relatively feeble Technic collection from the great 1980 sets in those lines. No Paradisa, and nothing other than Western from mid-1980s or later. Why anyone needs 5 copies of those 1970's town sets, I don't know. They have sentimental value, but Lego got better than that in the following years. If he was trying to show off, I'm not impressed. And it all looks so...... sterile. Lifeless. Not that I wouldn't make the trip to Italy to bring these home..... :-P

I have been building this in the last few days. The colour issue is not significant as far as I can tell. In Canada, I have the new style box, and it is a big improvement. The mold-marking in the windows is a nuisance, but minor compared to the beauty of this set. I like having the interior empty. I can fill it myself. A bar on the main floor, a desk and office on the second, not sure what I will do on the third. It is really great. There is no comparison between this set, and any Town set ever made by Lego. It's like a new company took over "the brick" with totally new ideas. This is clearly a set designed for AFOLs. TLC has been listening to us! Thank you.

I really enjoyed that. Lots of fun.

I had set up the Xmas train at my house this year, and my 3 year old nephew was totally obsessed with it. Here is the problem though. In my personal experience with my and my relatives' offsrping, the age group of maximal train fasciculation is 3-7. At that age they are not really able to build or modify the trains. All they can do is make them go round and round, and parents have to do most of the rest of the "playing". By the time they are old enought to really do something with the trains.... the attention drifts to action figures, video games, etc etc etc. There were the duplo trains, which were good for this... There will always be some kids fascinated with trains into later years, and I assume they will be well represented at any Lego or train hobby show. It may not be a big enough market though...

LMAO! I just had a listen to a few of the clips. Not my cup of tea, I'm afraid. Good luck to everyone's favourite...

Interestingly, Legoland California is putting some of those miniland sets we have all admired up for sale: http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZlegolandcaliforniaQQhtZ-1 I'd love to buy some, except: 1) most are too big 2) I suspect most of them look like hell up close due to weathering Still, first time I've seen that. Kinda cool edit: here are direct links, since they won't be visible from the seller's "current auctions" once auction is over: http://cgi.ebay.com/LEGO-Model-of-U-S-Coas...1QQcmdZViewItem http://cgi.ebay.com/LEGO-Model-of-Sail-Pow...1QQcmdZViewItem http://cgi.ebay.com/LEGO-Model-of-Lighthou...1QQcmdZViewItem http://cgi.ebay.com/LEGO-Model-Red-Harbor-...1QQcmdZViewItem http://cgi.ebay.com/LEGO-Model-of-Sailboat...1QQcmdZViewItem http://cgi.ebay.com/LEGO-Model-of-Miniland...1QQcmdZViewItem (ouch, that one looks beaten up) http://cgi.ebay.com/LEGO-Model-of-Miniland...1QQcmdZViewItem http://cgi.ebay.com/LEGO-Model-of-the-tall...1QQcmdZViewItem http://cgi.ebay.com/LEGO-Model-of-Miniland...1QQcmdZViewItem http://cgi.ebay.com/LEGO-Model-of-Zim-Cant...bayphotohosting

Weighing in late to the discussion, I do not see the appeal of skycrapers. Monotonous, repetitive, and not that attractive in life or in Lego. Why? Phoinix's post is right on the money.

Congrats! I know how that feels, when you get something you really wanted. Enjoy.

Its a cute little set with lots of nice useful parts. It was overpriced originally, but it has been on sale at S@H Canada (and I suspect also US) for 50% off for several months now. Still available in Canada. Well worth the money at 50% off.

It's the new "AFOL 2000+ parts line", town building sub-line.