gylman

I'm not very keen on that set, except the price looks good. I Have boxes of ZNAP I bought cheap on eBay just for hte 9V motor and small battery pack, and the hard wire bendable axels. Some of the small connectors are useful too. but the big ZNAP pieces....... ugh. Useful only as structural support behind something.

Can't..... reply....... hypnotized..... by........ your......... sig.......... arrrrgghhhh!~~!!! tears eyes away. see this topic http://eurobricks.hosting.ipsyn.com/eurofo...ic=3441&hl=znap

i know im not the only one on this board (briskster) would would love to see LEGO educate about history !!! - brickminer How I wish it were so. A full historical line of Lego would be a glorious thing, a theme all its own. We can dream.

OK, then with the next credit card bill, you should see a charge from PayPal for a buck or two. It has a number associated with it. You have to take that number back to the paypal site, enter it somewhere, and that completes the registration procses. Until then, you can't use the account. It's how they keep your card secure, and discourage hit-and-run credit card scams. Works very well, but a pain when you need your money right away.

when you signed up, did you give a credit card number? did you give a bank account number?

NO! and NO! :-)

At one point I heard someone said that Belville was the single best selling line for Lego in Europe. And sells very well on eBay and frequnetly sold out at S@H. Definitely not a loser line. Fabuland ran for a decade! Call it Jack Stone for the 80's because it certainly was "joonerized", but it definitely was NOT a loser line. Basketball is where I began this thread oh these many months ago. And it remains the most useless and failed line of Lego in my opinion. I specifically excluded Galidor in this thread, and Clickits and Znap are not Lego. Even in North Am, people are selling boxes of those minifigs for about a dollar each or less.

It's a spectacular deal if the set in good condition. Even if only for the parts is a good deal. New technic green junk vs almost classic (some liftarms) technic goodness. To make it workyou need a "code pilot" module, which you can see is an early version of the RCX, and a piece of paper or two that has the bar codes printed on it. They are loose, separate from the instructions. You then program the module to do a bunch of things (not just go up and down) by scaning a series of codes into it. I remember when I got it from the UK on eBay it did not have the bar code sheet, and I was able to get a program that printed them out, but I dunno if it is is still available or if I have it.

I finished building the set and all I can say is WOW, what a great Technic set! Gylman, you are right, this is probably the best Technic set I have ever built. It has so many functions and is very impressive to see in action. Have you build the alternate model? I hate to take this apart, but I'm intrigued to see if the alternate model is as clever as the primary. Any suggestions on it? Thanks for the recommendation! X-D Another true believer. The alternate is interesting. The looks are bleh. The functionality is interesting because it uses a pneumatic to flip a switch for another pneumatic, which I believe is unique for any "instruction" set, although the pros do it all the time. Overall, it is not nearly as impresive as the main model. I built it once and did not have up for long. Glad you enjoyed.

exactly... how i would love the wild west theme to be expanded on, but not in the realm of adventures... also, there is a reason why north american and europe were not explored in the adventures theme. the adventures (johnny and his crew) are presumably modled after the professor(north american, europe academia ) and adventurer indiana jones. a caucasian male anthropologiests who goes and discovers ancient cultures and treasures in lands far abroad. presuambly in cultures much unlike his own. for him to go discover treasues and jewels in his back yard from his own culture (and land) just isn't the theme. i think atlantis is the winner here !!! - brickminer Assuming that Lego would stick slavishly to the timeline of the adventurers, the Old West is out. Assuming that TLC is willing to "bend" time in order to give the Adventurers one last try at success in a financially less risky manner than truly creating a new line from scratch, new molds, etc etc.... the outcome may be different. Again, they are not selling this to you guys. They are selling it to the average 6-10 year old, who when faced with the legends of lost atlantis will likely say.... "wha???" Well, I guess that leaves.... well... uhhh...... hmmmmm.... urgghhh..... Oh yea! the Great Depression. There's a great theme for ya!

From a pragmatic point of view (meaning, something that is likely to sell better to non-AFOLs) I think there should be an "Old West" adventurers. The main reason why this would be doable, is because basically it would be recycling parts and prints from the Legoredo era. These are very popular on eBay, and cowboy and especially indian figs and sets are among the highest prices sellers of the older sets. No new molds would be needed. Just some creativity in the set design. A fun plot line seems simple to generate, and it would sell well in the North American market. Of course a train would be included, and this would give them a chance to sell some of the new trains. Also, think about this. So far they have done: Egypt: Africa Amazon: South America Orient: Asia Dino: Africa/jungle. They have not yet done a North American adventure, and the single most universal adventure type theme that people the world over identify with North America is Indians vs cowboys/cavalry. Europe eats this stuff up (eg. Karl May), and I bet it does well in Asia too. So to me, it's a no brainer. IF there is going to be another Adventurers theme, it will be North America and Indians etc. No license, ready market, no new molds = no brainer.

Agree with you Snefroe that an excellent condition (MISB) set on eBay often comes to the same as the bricklink cost. From what I read of madonlego's post though, it sounds like he is not selling that type of set. No doubt, as Jipay says, that a significant minority of eBay user are unpleasant people. They are more likelyto bicker about little things, whine about shipping delay, shipping time, etc. On Bricklink we are all lego lovers. Sometimes that's worth the money difference. The main issue with Bricklink to me is that you just put that stuff in the store and wait... and wait... and wait. Sure if you price it low enough it will sell quick, but not as quick on on ebay, and if you sell quick you definitely will not get the typical BL value. Sure there are auctions on BL, but they are insignificant. If the goal is to sell a bunch of stuff and get a reasonable amount of money reasonably quickly..... eBay seems better. If you auction everything off in one week, and the buyers pay in a day or two as they usually do ifyou insist on PayPal only, then it's just one orgy of packing and one trip to the postal station. If you sell it off bit by bit on Bricklink...... expect to visit the postal outlet time and time again. For me, at least, that has been a big issue. Using the postal service here is a huge pain in the butt.

I've been buying Lego online 5 years. Lessons learned: Talking about sets here. 1) eBay is the easiest and fastest. eBay is easy to use, and has the biggest target audience. If you build the item and make it look good, with the box, and instructions, and good angle, and everything shiny, you will get much more money. 2) bricklink prices are 25-50% higher than ebay for Lego sets.That seems to mean that you will get more for your Lego but there are caveats. First, bricklink buyers expect complete sets. They will be mighty pissed off about obvious substitutions. They are lego fans and care about the sets more than the average eBay buyer. Second, your Lego sits in your store until someone wants it. It can sit there a LOOOOONG time. 3) Don't sell giant lots of multiple sets. Like your arctic sets. Often buyers have 2 or 3, and want 2 or 3 addition. They won't pay extra for the ones they already have. List all the sets individually at the same time, offer to combine shipping, and you will probably do better. If someone really wants them all, then they will buy them all or most of them. You can offer a very attractive combined shipping deal to promote this. 4) On the other hand.... shippping 6 different items to 6 different buyers, who paid at 6 different times, is a BFPITA. Maybe it's better to get 25% less for your goods and just ship them and be done. On balance, I recommend eBay over Bricklink unless you are in it for the long haul.

Wow! Good stuff! My kids enjoyed it tremendously. They are off making Lego clouds now, and I have to find them a baby pteranodon. Way to make Pippin the heroine! Maybe TLC can learn a thing or two from you. Cheers. Gyl

Happy birthday. Congrats on all you've accomplished in the Lego world this year. \ Gyl

Don't really have much to add on this, but can't resist <strikes a thoughtful pose> Lugnet is a resource EB / CC/ FTBT /BZP are communities. The total disintegration of Lugnet would be a disaster for the AFOL world. So much information buried in those obscure usenet postings, the set database and its links.... It would be devastating. Obviously it should be turned over to new hands, and either reorganized as a giant database, or into a modern forum setup like EB or CC or whatever.

In the last month I have been increasingly frustrated by the brown change. The old chocolate brown was vastly superior to the new dark reddish brown. I think in the long run that will bother me as much as the bley problem does. But, regardless, it does seem that the new colors are here to stay.

lugnet is confusing. But not impossible. At the bottom part of hte page there are a bunch of connected little blue squares. Each of those represents a posting. Click on one of those, and you will go to a posting. In most of the posts there is a link to a moc. This Japanese garden boggles the mind. It is the prettiest Lego thing I have ever seen. http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=79287 This dragon train is just hilarious http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=1478969 All I can think of is when can I start collecting some pastel Legos. The tower in the woods. Again, so beautiful. http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=46446 I don't much go for the massive overwhelming ones made wiht 10 bazillion bricks, but there are some of those too: This aircraft carrier has been seen on EB before http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=126969 And another massive boat http://www.eden.rutgers.edu/~lfbraun/takao.html I don't think anyone can say that these are the BEST OF ALL TIME, but it is a chance to see stuff that you may not have seen. That Japanese garden seems to have come out of nowhere. Who is JoanB, the person who made that. Incredible.

I am sure some here follow lugnet, but for those who don't I think this thread is worth checking out. It's why Lugnet used to be great. Even I've never seen some of these before. They range from beautiful simplicity to mind boggling size and detail. Some are so beautiful they almost make you cry (the pastel Japanese garden) There is the initial posting. http://news.lugnet.com/general/?n=52396

Absolutely!!! I have done this. It didn't look so great, but it worked well. With the Claw Rig (8868 - I have this number tatooed on my chest - the best technic set of all time IMHO) there is no problem with delivery of pressure constantly - the compressor mechanism does that for you. This is only pneumatic set with this mechanism as a designed part of the set. However, the opening/closing, elevation/lowering, and rotation of the "claw" are jerky without the tank, presumably because the air pressure the compressor provides is not even (more pressure on the instroke, less presure on the outstroke). all the movements are FAR smoother with the tank. I have an uncontrollable urge to hoard air tanks. MUST...... CONTROL..... SPENDING.......

You know,you can always contact the seller and ask. I have found most good sellers reply very quickly and nicely. Especially if they are trying to get more bidders for their product. Or, he may realize that he is making a mistake.

Previous feedback.... 100% Not sure I would assume it's a scan, unless his identity got stolen.

Using an air tank allows you to "store pressure", allowing you to pump up the device, and then run it for 10-20 seconds without further pumping. They also release their pressure more evenly then if you are directly powering the device with a pump, so movement is smoother, not jerky. The effect is magnified if you chain then in series or parallel (I think parallel works better).

You mean Hobbes.... do they owe the bank money? Say they got 1 billion$ in debt over the 200-2004 years. Then they make a profit of 100 million, by your method they would still owe 900 million and would be 900 million "in the red". And.... of course the company itself (assets) is undoubtedly worth more than they owe, like Natelite says, if they even owe anything, otherwise they would be bankrupt. No one would lend them money. If that's what you mean.... I think that you are thinking like a regular person with debts and income. Not like a corporation, or a country, which is more applicable. I don't think corporations work that way. They may have debt,wiht interest they have to service, but those interest costs are part of their operating expenses. As long as the debt is not growing, or there is a realistic prospect for paying it off, it is not a concern. Heck, when a company issues stock, they are in effect borrowing money from every person who bought the stock. That's why they do it.. to raise money for expansion and improvement, yet they are going into "debt". TLC owns itself, which is a huge advantage in many ways. as long as the management is sound. Right now I think the management is sound. I really don't understand though, why some people are so negative about TLCs prospects. I don't things could be any clearer: -they used to lose money, now they make it (granted, only one year... that's the main issue - how consistent can they be -they cut costs even though they gained 8% in sales, and this during a time when the overall toy market shrank -anyone who has been around for 5 years can see the vast improvement in all aspects of the company, from communication to product to web presence.

What!? !! :-X How sad. A 10year old who believes in the easter bunny, but "doesn't like jews" in his discussion. I think it is time to close this topic.