gylman

Kenny! Welcome to Eurobricks. If I am not mistaken you are one of the elite club of keychain collectors that hunt down old keychains from around the globe. Again, welcome to EB. Maybe you should introduce yourself in the introductions forum. Cheers. Gyl

It's been discussed aplenty, but I never mind an opportunity to whine about why I, in Toronto, Canada, have to pay 30-50% more for my Lego than those who live a couple of hundred miles south of me, within less than 2 hours driving distance. It was not so 3 years ago. It used to be that prices between Canada and the US were +/- 10% allowing for currency valuation differences. I've significantly curtailed my purchase of any retail Lego in Canada. I either buy fromS@H on sales (very limited selection of course), or get my Lego on eBay or through special arrangements with US friends. In general, I buy less new Lego than I used to.

I finally had the time for working my way through your work and this thread. The Air Temple as supplied by TLC was a huge disappiontment I have to agree. Even my own two kids who are rabid Airbender fans didn't know what to make of that loose collection of big bits, figs, and miscellaneous parts. It was opened, semi built once, and has entered the parts bin very quickly, never to re-emerge as an air temple again.l If the air temple set was anything like what you have done, I think they would have sold more, and had people more interested in the line in general. As it is now, I think this line is dead, which is a shame. Great work. Happy new year.

I think because there is a factory there....

I've made no effort to hide my Lego obsession. My office at work has Lego models and MOCs, my office at home is covered wall-to-wall with sets, I have Lego T-shirts, erasers, knapsacks and pens. Our Xmas decorations were 90% Lego. One of the biggest advantages of reaching" a certain age", which I shall not name, but I am significantly older than UltraPrime, is that you don't have to give a flying fu## what anyone thinks. I can honestly say that I have no idea what most people think other than my kids (who think it's great) and my wife (who thinks of it as a relatively benign vice). There are no other opinions I care about. As for other people? Never asked them, don't care. So, for all you teens and 20 years olds on the forums, stressed about school or starting working life, or girls, I understand how you feel. I was there too. But knowing what I know now, I say that you should look forward to getting older. Assuming you have jobs and marry decent women, gettting older is a GOOD thing... at least until your body starts falling apart, which if you take care of it does not begin until about 60 or even later. G I re-read this post, and it is obviously male-directed. I could reword it... but too lazy... If any girls read this, substitute the appropriate pronouns.

I have a Lando, mint, no cape, which I would happily sell or trade to whoever wants him..... Or I can just list him on ebay. I trade for old keychains or old small Adventurers sets (MISB only).

Indeed! Forgot Steven Harper's microscopic contribution to our tax burden... Queens... yes, made famous by Letterman I think as being the best party school in Canada. I think they also give a good MBA program U of Toronto. Yes. It's the biggest university in one of the richest countries in the world. So it should be a great univeristy, no? Fact is, I studied there and I now work there. So, I can say a few things about it. But world class? Nah. Not since Banting and Best invented insulin. It doesn't even rank in top 10 for undergraduate university program. For medical shcool and law school it is still probably best or second best, although how long that will last given the vast amount of oil money being poured into infrastructre out west, is debatable.

Pictures are different through, mostly because the stickers are different. I don't mind the extra picture. Is this one the final version?? In geneal, I don't see what this adds to the Ferrari line, except that maybe if we combined this was an the racetrack from last we can make one bigger building. Also, we are now up to 6 little Ferrari F1 cars racing around our house. Too much of a good thing I'd say.

HA ha ha ha ha. You have been listening to somebody's propaganda. We have uniformly acceptable average healthcare and education. We don't have some of the very horrible situations (health or education wise) can you can sometimes find in the US, but can you name one famous Canadian university? And health care..... if you need a scan or an operation, be prepared to wait 2 months for an MRI, 6-12 months for a hip replacment, 1-2 years for coronary bypass. Radiation for cancer.... 2-4 weeks. I wonder if the cancer cells wait around that long before spreading. I have friends who moved from Canada to US, mostly California, and they say that they can't understand why they pay so much less tax, but services are better, as are public schools.... But, I digress (and rant). I was talking Lego prices pre-tax. Of course I then have to add on 15% afterwards... but I was just talking pre-tax dollars. Taxes don't come into it. That's my my EXTRA bonus that I get to pay. After the 50% ripoff. By the way, I agree with Phes.... I had a look a few times, and Oz has on average the worst prices I have ever seen for Lego in any civilized country.

The Christmas train was a huge hit. Kudos for Lego for putting this set together. I will not be surprised to find out that this ends up their most successful train release in a long time, maybe ever.

I'll be there Mike, 10 AM sharp!

Well..... Not quite. Compared to Europe, Canadian prices are good. However, compared to the US, it's a different story. A 20$ US set costs 30$ Canadian. This is a 50% increased in dollars, despite the fact that our dollar is typically 87-92% of the US dollar. Now, one could argue about different costs to market in Europe, VAT issues, etc etc to explain why Europeans get ripped off, which they do - no dispute. But, US and Canada are all but identical... why are Canadians getting ripped off compared to the US? Jipay, I am not sure when you were in Canada last. Until about 3 years ago, our prices were about 33% higher in dollars, while our dollar was about 78-85% of the US. So, that's fair enough. However, in the last 3 years the Canadian dollar is much stronger, but the our prices are 50% higher than the US in dollars.

Final Xmas layout.. Before you freak out and think we are insane... these are the presents for 5 families.They allcome over on Xmas day, and it's the best day of the year. And the Lego part of it. Whole brickshelf folder http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=222764 Merry Xmas all. Gyl

Merry Xmas to the mods and admins who work so hard to keep the site friendly and fun. Merry Xmas to our ever growing numbers of users. Hopefully everyone's presents contain lots more Lego so we can have even more Lego fun next yeas. Merry Xmas!! Gyl

Wow! truly excellent. So many great details and ideas. If also did the Xmas train and 2150 station in my layout, but my kids insisted on using the advent calendar as part of the layout... so we have a checking station and a small hospital beside the train station. Not early as picturesque as yours. Merry Xmas. Gyl

Jeez, hard to believe you never entered one of these contests before. Your three biggest entries - the interior, battle scene, and medieval life - are the best in each group so far IMHO. At this point you will be taking home the grand prize for sure. Your interior, especially, as I have said before, is one of the best I have ever seen. You have my admiration. Gyl

My kids had a wonderful time there. They are Lego and Bionicle fans, and enjoyed everything. There are no bargoons to be had. However, the selection of Lego gear is excellent if you are into that. PAB is good selection compared to regular Lego stores, but not exactly a bargoon.

Well... it's hardly classic castle. From what I am seeing the main castle building is made out of alot of very large pieces. Certainly, though the look is better than KK3 or KK2, and we finally have real knights and weaopns again. The evil castle is teh bleh, and the dragon is a waste of ABS and packaging material. It's not as good as it could have been, not as bad as I expected, and if you look at the overall trend between 2004, 2005, 2006, and next year, I am encouraged.

Funny, in Canada you don't see nearly so much playmobile in the big stores. The specialized toy stores, however, have lots. Usually about the same amount as Lego. Funny, I never understood the appeal of Playmobile.

It's not SOOOO extraodinary, but I've never seen this set so expensive before. An example of Pre-Xmas madness. http://cgi.ebay.com/LEGO-Pirates-Islanders...1QQcmdZViewItem Even on bricklink the new sets don't go above $120, and usually BL is much more expensive than eBay This one too, is overpriced like crazy http://cgi.ebay.com/LEGO-Pirates-6279-SKUL...1QQcmdZViewItem

Relisted. Same price. :-(

"Used to be" is correct. I think with the success and growth of EB came, as is usual when a small upstart gets into the bigtime, a certain loss of the "rebel spirit" that made this the place for real news (not Lego Company approved leaks). Now there is a certain sense of "not wanting to piss off the Lego Company" that has made EB not post real leaks or advance info. We have discussed it before, and I understand why they do this, but personally I think this is a mistake. In exchange for this loss of independence, EB gets the occasional bone tossed it way, like a 3 days advance notice on the Spongebob series, or whatever. Totally not worth it. For the price of an irrelevant advance notices, TLC bought the silence of EB. OK Jipay, you can shoot me now.

I wish it were true.... Forestmen? Black falcon knights? Sounds like a bit too much like what rabid AFOLs are asking for. Count me skeptical, but hopeful.

It is very nice. For 1,000 I would consider buying it. I'd probably sell some of the figs on eBay to get a couple of hundred bucks back (probably I could sell 25 figs per $100, and there are at least 50. 2500 is too much for my blood, though.