gylman

I have always disliked the entire Brick Testament series, and we did discuss this about a year ago. I just resent have something so innocent and beautiful like Lego figs used for coarse sexual humor or violence. Frankly the violence offends me more, and some of the stuff on Brick Testament is really impressive in how effectively it conveys suffering / bleeding / dismemberment. I don't know if everyone here has looked through the Brick Testament... really some of it bothers me a lot. http://www.thebricktestament.com/joshua/12...i/jos08_24.html There's worse.... http://www.thebricktestament.com/judges/ga...t/jg19_29a.html The sex stuff bothers me less, because (consensual) sex is just so damn funny it's hard to get too worked up about it. However, there's some horrible stuff there too, with gang rapes, etc. Personally, I think it's sick, and the humor has been lost of me. However, clearly there is an audience for that sort of stuff...

I have been enjoying these as they have come along, sorry for not posting more..... I have no criticism to offer, because I am not qualified to criticize since I don't do this type of set (due to inherent lack of creativity). I think the 4 sets have been quite consistent in terms of structures and "army=ish" feel. A couple of figs (the "snake pliskin" like guy in the Gatehouse, and the castle fig on the second level of the Hero Tower) seem unnecesary, but these are trivial quibbles. I think they are great, and I am looking forward to seeing the "BIG SET".

It has been suggested that part of the reason is not only poor sales (everything but Graveyard Duel has sold poorly as far as I can tell - they have been on the shelves for a year, and not moving here in Toronto, nor at Shop@Home). Also, the target audience for HP is moving past the target audience for Lego. As the series progresses it becomes more teen-oriented - scarier, romance, etc etc. Harry Potter is growing up, and so is the target audience. My own kids lost interest in HP in the third book. I'm sure they will pick up again in a few years, but the point is that the current episodes are not for little kids, but Lego mostly is.

I think they were duds at the beginning, because there was no specific target audience. I recall passing these by at the bargain bins a few years ago.... thinking "who would want these'? But as time has passed they have become increasingly popular. Good figs, good parts, lots of fun uses. I now regret not buying much more than I did at the time.

I would drastically lower expections.... Lego of 2006 is not capable of making sets of the 1980's, and the kids of today are not the kids of the 1980's. As Stephen King would say..... "the world has moved on". If they simply copy the style and colours of an old classic set.... we will cry "COPY!" and complain about bley replacing gray and about stickers. If they try something modern...... we will cry "Space Wars".... meaning it simply wil be space ships with lots of Starwars elements thrown into them, but not enough to cause copyright problems of course. And, finally, as I look at those old space sets....my personal opinion is that even more than castle or town, love of classic space was a state of mind that 8-14 year olds can achieve, but that the older, stressed, less imaginative, and more jaded version of themselves 20 years later cannot, and similarly hyped up over stimulated 8-14 year olds of today. I hope to be proven wrong....

Strictly speaking the big M did not boink his bride until she was 9, most sources agree. http://www.muslimhope.com/index.html In Iran of today it is apparently legal/acceptable for parents to marry off their 9 (maybe 8) year olds.

They can make him build a 1000 piece Jack Stone MOC. Gads. The horror

The most amazing part is..... they finally found a use for those useless soccer and Octan figs (other than as body part donors). :-)

What sort of clear warning did you have in mind?

Seems like Harry Potter Lego is probably finished. http://www.bricklink.com/message.asp?ID=166702 Based on the lousy product from last year (except Graveyard Duel), not surprising. No facts though... no one is sure.

Sorry if it's been posted before,but I haven't seen it here before. Enjoy

Wow, that is impressive. Paypal has gotten increasing aggressive about bad vendors, and no doubt the obvious nature of the fraud here helped. A lot of vendors actually have been victimized by PayPal because some buyer claims a fraud even if one did not occur, and PayPal may simply take the money from the seller, without sufficient proof. Still, certain it show that PayPal is aware that fraud is a problem, and threatens the credibility of the system, so they are agressive keeping things happy for buyers.

3 months for my refund (less 25$) from eBay (3 years ago) 2 months for my Paypal (100% refund) (last year). Be patient- they usually get it right in the end, but it can be frustrating with the wait.

There is a bunch of new sale stuff at S@H http://shop.lego.com/leaf.asp?Type=11 Mostly it's Bionicle and KK big figs that most would not be too excited about, HOWEVER, if you look at the Playsets as parts pack, these are pretty good deals for lots of dark red pieces (Battle of Metru Nui), good sized plates in large numbers, animal barbs and tails, long strings, LURP and BURPs (sadly, all dark bley), double holed 1x2 technic bricks, etc. Remember, playsets are mostly system pieces. Pretty good deal if you ask me, even for system builders. I picked up a couple of each of the Tower of Toa and the Battle of Metrui Nui sets.

My kids are huge fans of the show, and I have seen every episode. Sadly, it does not lend itself to Lego construction. There are no really distinctive structures, although each show does have its share of temples, fortresses, etc. However, none have any lasting role in the show, which basically changes location from week to week. The fire nation ship was pretty much the most constant structure in the first season, and we got an appropriate set for it. The air temple was really quite insignificant part of the series, and we got a quite insignificant set :-( The show really is quite good compared to the usual crap available for this age audience (7-14 I would guess), which is exactly the target audience for TLC, but unforutnately I don't think there is a lot more Lego can do with the license. I suspect the first two sets were a bit of a flop.

Yep, it looks like I'm heading in that direction, as there really seem to be only the two previously mentioned sleeping fig heads. Thanks. G

>:-( Used to be we paid a 50% premium in Canada This one is 60% WTF? Canadian dollar exchange rate? 10-15% lower than US. I swear if I buy another set off S@H...... you can come and get my entire collection. eBay for me. This is just abuse.

I lecture frequently. And I want to create a slide for the end of my talks showing a bunch of minifigs in an audience, all asleep. Kind of like this one, only a bit more detailed, and the audience asleep in various positions. http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/Y-Bros-K...he-audience.jpg But if I don't have a variety of minifig heads,and if I am restricted to fleshies only, it will suck.

Hey all. I am trying to get together a MOC in which I need a lot, well about 10-20, of sleeping minifigs. The only sleeping fig heads I know of are the Hermione and Ron Weasley fleshy heads from the Durmstrang and Merpeople sets. Does anyone know of any other ones I can use? I hate fleshies, and the HP ones I mentioned above don't look particularly nice either. THanks, Gyl

Yep, it's big all right.....

So what you are saying is that we judge philosophies, and people who preach those philosophies, by their actions and outcome of their actions, because the base nature of humans often does not work well with noble ideals, especially those involving self-sacrifice for the benefit of others. Agree fully. While religions (mostly) preach peace and spirituality>materialism, the fact is the RC church is one of the richest organizations in the world, has never sought to use their wealth in any consistent fashion to help their adherents, and through much of human history has been a torturer and conqueror. Other religions do even worse. I guess the Amish do well (so sad what happened there). Not that I am obsessed with Thomas Jefferson or anything, but excepting the last 10 years, the USA that Thomas Jefferson created (probably more than any other single individual) was a positive force in the world. It still is, but obviously there are issues now. And it did this by adhering to the key principles of the constitution: separation of Church and State, individuals' rights, respect for others, freedom of association.... No reliance on altruism or self sacrifice, just basic common sense principles that allow humans to live together in society without conflict - a kind of rule utilitarianism. Well, I've come back to where I started. Maybe we should stop the discussion before it gets repetitive (if it hasn't already). I've enjoyed the thread. Too bad no one else joined along. Peace.

I suspect they would not be able to come up with classic space that would measure up to your childhood memories. Partially because they seem to have lost their way, and partially because nothing could measure up to our childhood memories. Just like the pathetic KK of today cannot measure up to the castles of 10-20 years ago.

Well, 15 to 18 are Xpods, basically. They seem to be a good crop... as good or beter than previous years. The house is excellent - not a must have if you have Building Bonanza from last year, but a worthy variant. The roof certainly is more interesting. The plane is ... MEH. Never cared for them. This won't change my mind. I hate angle plates. The car is the successor to Gear Grinders - It seems OK. I imagine I will buy all of these. Designers/Creator is by far my favourite line these days.

I couldn't live like that. I have a rotation system. Most sets are stored in a dark room in their boxes. I have a number of shelves for display, on which I have a mix of built sets, MOCs, and MISB classic sets. Once in a while I rotate out one set and put a new one in its place. "How anal!", you say. And right you would be.

Ah. The old slavery bugaboo. That always comes up when Jefferson is mentioned. Frankly, he was totally sexist too, right? Women did not vote in Jefferson