gylman

Much of the humor has gone from Bionicle. There was a discussion about this on BZPower a while ago, and I was in the minority opinion that the new "darkness" of bionicle 2005 and now 2006 was not a good thing. I guess it's just TLC trying to appeal to an older audience. The original bionicle Templar episodes were amazing. So simple but so rich.

Ah, that's the point. Risk and hassle. Different thresholds for different people. It it was something I really wanted I agree I would take the risk. We still don't know what he wanted for shipping cost.

I think the main reason is that he does not take PayPal. It's a pain to pay from North America (and outside Europe anywhere) without PayPal, especially to European sellers. Also his feedback is so so - I know 98.6 looks good, but most Lego sellers do better, and he has lots of neutrals which did not go into the statistics, but usually mean vaguely unhappy customers. Also, the picture sucks, out of focus, hard to tell how good the figs really are. Finally, shipping cost is not stated. So, first we don't know what it was - it could have been a ripoff. Second, this eliminates last minute buyers from bidding because they don't have enough time to find out how much it would cost by emailing him. For these reasons I would not buy from this person, and I've been on eBay for 4 years, nearly 1000 purchases.

No dispute that TV can be good. I do try to seek this out and let them watch this. However, the vast majority of what is available is either junk, inappropriate, or just plain harmful (violence, attitude, behaviour). And I am not some bible thumping puritan, that's for sure. Leaving the TV on with random access for the kids is like leaving them in a toxic soup. What are they going to watch - the discovery channel? Or the latest Disney junk? Or some high action violence flick? Not the first one, that's for sure. It is impossible to screen this for your kids. I spend vast amounts of time with my kids to the exclusion of almost all else except work and late night Lego sessions, and I can't do it. The only solution I found was to eliminate live TV and only have stuff on video/DVD that I have screened. Same with PC access. There is an increasing amount of junk for kids on the internet, as advertisers have realized that their market is shifting. If you go on Disney sites, movie sites, etc etc, there are so many games, promotions, etc. There was nothing like this even 2 years ago.

LMAO. The most one sided pole in history! I have two GYDs, and they end up everywhere.

My kids are 6 and 8. TV is banned at our house, as are game consoles. The only TV they get is videos of popular movies, etc. PC access is restricted to 1/2 hour a day on weekdays, 1 hr weekends. Lego use is unrestricted except by sleep hours. :-D I am a ruthless parent, I guess, but to me it is SO obvious that letting kids watch unrestricted TV is harmful. As I tell my kids: "TV makes your brain stupid". In 20 years I predict TV viewing in children will be regarded as equally bad as exposure to second hand smoke and it will be stigmatized as bad parenting.

Well, it would probably cost about 2$ to list that. If no one buys it, then no other costs. It does draw attention, to be sure. How many eBay auctions have we talked about here at EB? Then, you go and look at his other stuff, and realize that he sells great stuff for Starwars people....... Not really that bad. I am puzzled though by why it would be a 3 day auction if he just wanted to advertize.

<scratches head> Looking at his other feedback and sales, this person is not an idiot or a crook. I don't get it. Maybe it's a typo. I'll ask him. EDIT: here is his response (pup-daddy, the seller)

Well, if Avatar has good castles, I will change my mind about it. The last good Lego castle was the Dragon Fortress from Adventurers (good, not great), and before that it was 6090 from 1995.

Kinda like Jimi Henrix dying in his prime, a legend, vs Elvis dying stupid and bloated feeding off his past glory. Was that off topic? :D

That's great news! I have to say that Lego's product in 2005 was the best I remember in a long LONG time. My favs: -The new Ferrari line, esp giant truck -the enormous Technic crane -the Creator: Xpods and building bonanza especially, but all were good -Vikings!!!! I am a bit worried because so far in 2006 I am not as excited about what I have seen or heard (ExoForce, Batman, Spongebob...bleh!) except a couple of the Xpods, the Ferrari Spyder, and the Creators. The Technic offerings are particularly disappointing since this is mostly what I do for my own entertainment. However, there's lots still to come that we haven't see. Still hoping for a new Adventurers line - maybe the old west - for my kids' sake. I would love to know which lines are currently most profitable. I.E. is Creator making money, or did Lego just max out profits from Star Wars and Bionicle? Did Vikings have an impact? How much profit does Xpod generate, or is it a loss leader designed to pull people into the Lego universe. Ahh, I would sell my soul to have 10 frank minutes with a Lego exec who knows the figures and the marketing strategy. Anyway - way to go LEGO!!

The Mata Nui online game was on Lego.com 4 years ago, and it was just awesome for its time, but never really supported by Lego. It was basically a collect and trade game, with minor puzzle solving, and it was great to meet some of the bionicle characters you knew as you went through the game. It could be upgraded for 2006 as a Multiplayer game - they can do a lot more with it. The Bionicle world is more than rich enough for this. Something simpler is good too. The Aventurers games were great for my kids. Going to historic places, solving a simple puzzle or two at each level. My kids were glued to the PC for days with them.

Sweet mother of mercy! The new Xpods and Ferrari sets too!? Must have! Now! I feel for you Europe people.

I think the cyclops captured the spirit of Halloween better than the Chimera. Truly an outstanding job all around though to all the particpants.

Agreed. What castle fan wouldn't give their left nut for those figs? (male castle fan naturally).

I think you guys are being a bit harsh. It's a very striking look, and does serve to show off the array of figs very well. It would be an excellent display piece, but much less fun to play with. I think he was going for the Minas Tirith look, but he'll need about 2000$ more to go the distance with the full seven levels and impressive enough army. It all depends if you like your world tidy, neat, and ruled by law and order, or crazy and chaotic with wild tribesman pillaging your helpless peasant stock.

OMG so many deals stand out. Maybe this one the most. A german seller, not the best feedback record on ebay to say the least, but I had bought from him before and he seemed OK, sold me: 8480 space shuttle technic 6195 Neptume discovery lab 6175 crystal explorer 6278 enchanted island + about 6 other lesser sets including Indians, Adventurers, Town, etc All for $140 US. Just the shuttle usually goes for that much. Shipping was only $30 since I used surface mail. It took 7 weeks to get here, and when I got to the postoffice it was this enormous box I could barely lift. None of hte sets were mint, and a piece or two were missing for each of them, but it was nothing major, he included most of hte boxes, most of the instructions, and I spent weeks gradually sorting and rebuilding them. That stands out the most. Oh yes, and Republic Gunship for $30 Canadian. It seems like they somehow made to the bargain basement stores at 70% discount in Canada as well as in the UK. Gyl EDIT: actually, I just got one today that may top these, although in this forum not too many people seem to care about technic. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...item=5998371501 I'mn still unpacking these. Just the big fat technic old-style wheels are worth what I paid (more actually). I estimate there is about 100$ of technic beams in there (lots of 1x16 in yellow and old gray), 20-30$ of pneumatic elements, plates galore, and lots of other goodies. God I love eBay!

Yoda UCS set (7194), beaten up box, but complete, for 20$ Canadian. I didn't know what I would do with bricks in those "useless colors" so I left it on the shelf and walked away. It was still there the next week and I still didn't buy it. so I was not only stupid, but thoughtfully and deliberately stupid. These days they go on eBay for 150$ typically. Recently I had a chance to buy as many hailfire droids as I wanted at 25$ Canadian, and bought only one. Argh! what a great parts pack.

As much as I have no use for Megabloks as a toy, I am grateful that there is at least one real competitor for Lego. This serves to: -keep prices reasonable. Believe it or not, Lego is actually less expensive now, allowing for inflation, than it was 10 or 20 years ago. Some of this is improved efficiency no doubt, but certainly there is pressure on them re: pricing -force The Lego Company to try new things -force TLC to suck up to their users (some of the people here may be too young to know how impenetrable Lego was a few years ago.They have made HUGE advances) -force TLC to use the full array of marketing to keep ahead of the competition. Nothing is worse than a company with no real competition. How good is your phone service? Your cable service? Your internet browser? How often do the providers of those items innovate?

Excellent. Again. You guys need a life, but as long as you haven't got one, keep up the excellent work. But how do I Harry Potterify my avatar? .... hmmm have an idea.

My kids play with one or two pods at a time. I use them for parts.

The seller was very reasonable. Told me that these were purchased at the Lego store at Disney, but beyond that could not prove they were Lego, and not to bid if I had any concerns. The word Lego has been removed from the auction. Very fair, I think. I think he/she was kinda suprised at the fuss (not being familiar with us rabid Lego fans). To 99% of world there is not a lot of difference between Lego and other similar toys. Please don't hassle the seller, people. Cheers. Gyl

Bought 100 this week, at 2.50 Canadian (a bit less than 2$ US) each. Buy one get one free TRU. Too bad most were series 1, but got about a dozen series 2. Love those 1x1 slopes, teeth, and the trans-colour containers. Mostly gonna go into loot bags and birthday gifts, but more than a few will end up in my hoard :-D

Welcome DV. I (and you may also) notice that a lot of the posts around here go like this.... "I'm not normally into bionicle but that [bionicle] MOC was awesome". Don't take that the wrong way - mecha building was done by only a select group in the system days, and most AFOLs have used LEGO mostly for structures and vehicles, or else small scale vignettes, for which Bionicle elements usually have little value. Hence, most AFOLs don't "get it" when it comes to Bionicle, and I doubt that's going to change much. Still, people appreciate a good thing when they see it, Bionicle, System, or whatever. The last Brickjournal was very mecha focused, and Cajun was featured. Hopefully that kind of coverage will make people a bit more open minded. With a very small number of (painful) exceptions the group here is mature and pleasant, and there's plenty of room at EB for Bionicle and fusion MOC'ers. You may even get a convert or two. It' great to have you and Jinzo here. BFS was here for while but doesn't seem to have been active recently. Now, if Cajun came... Me, these days I'm a Technic guy mostly, usually mechanical things. I fiddled with Bionicle for a year, and still do occasionally - I like it, but somehow I never managed to make a MOC that both looked good and worked well (either they look good posed but fall apart easily, or are sturdy but have limited range of movement) so you guys who can accomplish both have my respect. One of the observations I made in the past year was that building with System is easier intellectually than building with Bionicle because the system pieces all basically fit together somehow pretty easily, whereas Bionicle's irregular elements are much harder to work with - at least if you are not used to them. The good thing about Bionicle, though, is that you can build something decent with fifty bucks worth of pieces, whereas with System to really make something that looks even a bit impressive (other than microscale) the amount of money you gotta spend is prohibitive. My impression re: System vs Bionicle mecha is that System mecha tend to look slicker, more space-like, while bionicle ones are more organic looking. Either can be infinite posable (like gla gla in system). Either can look great in the right hands. Overall, I don't see it as a "bionicle vs system" thing. Obviously System permits different kinds of construction than Bionicle, but both should have a place in this community, and I would predict that in a few years a lot of Bionicle functionality will have worked its way into Lego lines other than Bionicle (like we start to see now in Vikings and Harry Potter) and we will overally be better off for it. Surely even the most die hard system people can agree that the Bionicle based Viking and Potter beasts we have gotten in the last year are far better than the hideous two piece elephants and dinosaurs we used to get? Welcome to EB. Gyl

I looked at the Kubrik product, and it doesn't really look like this either. Interestingly, the style of the key ring itself, the flattened ring, is pretty unique to Lego keychains, and is present in these ones. The Kubrik rings look totally different. Still not sure.... Anyone been in a Disney Lego store in the last week and maybe seen these? Allegedly that's where they were obtained. Gyl