gylman

Well, back from Legoland California and Lego Imagination Centre Disney, and the keychain hunting was good. Significantly expanded the collection. Here is the current status of the collection http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/gylman/k...ns/p7220312.jpg and http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/gylman/k...ns/p7220311.jpg Starwars and Harry Potter need to be improved, but I don't really like those franchises, so I will wait until I can get them of sale. It was surprisingly hard to build a sufficiently sturdy little rotating display for them, which holds only 16 keychains at a time. The pictures show my first attempt, which took a couple of hours of trial and error, and it will need to be expanded to hold the rest of the collection. After doing this, I had a looked at brickshelf for other keychain collections, and was dismayed to see that I was a complete amateur at keychain collecting. http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/Korran/K...le/closeup2.jpg and http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/Korran/K...tle/newkey6.jpg Holy cow! I have a long way to go (although all I want is the minifigs, not bricks or duplo, or promo type keychains) Does anyone know of a complete keychain database? Peeron and Lugnet are clearly incomplete. Cheers. Gyl EDIT: final version (for now) of rotating display, showing entire collection as it stands now (18 more are on their way via Bricklink and eBay, so I better think of some way of expanding this). http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/gylman/k...ns/p7230313.jpg

50%. All those names..... argh. all I remember is captain Roger. Gyl

The Lego store ("imagination centre") in Disney Anaheim was quite excellent.I was there 4 days ago - didn't want to leave. Sorry to hear about those other stores. TLC really should have some sort of quality control program for their flagship stores. Gyl

I find that S@H prices are not significantly different in Canada vs US after adjusting for exchange. Maybe a 5% premium if our dollar is at 80 cents US. A nuisance, but nothing like the crazy ripoffs the Europeans or Aussies sometimes have to put up with. However, you can get good deals in Canada. Getting "good deals" depends on definition. You won't get 50% off on this years' sets, and if you want them that bad you will have to pay full price (unless there is a mistake, for example recently on S@H, for several hours they listed a bunch of brand new sets for the US dollar cost, but in Canadian dollars. I had a bonanza!). On sets from the preceding 2 years you can routinely get 25-50% off if you are willing to wait until they turn up on sale somwhere. The only caveat is that the big sets often don't turn up that way. So I use S@H LOTS! Especially if you wait for what you want to turn up on "sales and deals". I probably buy 75% of my new Lego at S@H simply for the convenience, especially if you buy a bunch at once so that shipping is not so painful. They will ship practically anything for 25$ Canadian, even if it takes multiple boxes. Winners often has great discounts, but selection of course is very very poor (typically 2-3 sets at a time, but once in a while there is a bonanza). This is where the other 25% of my new Lego purchases come from. I am told Zellers is good, but I don't have ready access to it. Probably similar to Winners. Walmart is good supposedly, but I have not been impressed and I check frequently. ToysRUs NEVER has any good deals, but always has the most up-to-date collection. The Bay occasionally has sales that lead to bargoons (like buy 1 get another of equal value for 50%, so it amounts to 25% off, which is OK for relatively new sets. This is how I got all the Toa Hordika, Krekka, Nidhiki, a couple of knights). This is rare though. If you want specific parts, Bricklink is the most cost effective. I built up most of my collection on eBay originally, and you can get some great bargains occasionally, but increasingly I am using eBay less for Lego. Why? Most importantly, I have all the old sets I want :-). For newer sets, practically all the bargains on new Lego sets are basically the same as those that go on sale on S@H or Winners. So, why take a chance with an eBay seller. Also, I am kind of sick of used sets, with beat up or absent boxes, missing parts, dirty parts, smoke smell, etc. Still, eBay has a definite role for older sets you can't get anywhere else. There is no other reasonable way to get sets more than about 4-5 years old. For example, I have all the castle collections except Forestmen and I will have to go to eBay to gather those sets. My personal opinion, anyway. Cheers. Gyl

I got this set a few weeks ago and built it. While it looks cool, and it is a good set, but still it may not be as great as it should have been given its size and cost (and potential). See my discussion (and follow-up posts)on lugnet.technic. http://news.lugnet.com/technic/?n=14326 Has anyone found a solution to the "crashing boom" issue? Cheers. Gyl

I have grown to like bionicle for the flexibility it has (you haters should see some of the contest entries at BZPower), but my true love is system. So I voted 2 Does technic count as system? Should this be another entry? Gyl (at legoland yesterday, loading up on keychains).

An update on Lego's inadvertant sale.... I did end up getting the Pneumatic Crane truck for 150 Canadian, forklift for 70$ Canadian, and lots of similar Candian-US dollar mistaken prices. TLC delivered last wee, and honoured the prices. HUGE purchase, biggest bargoon I ever had for primo sets, basically every new set was 33% off. Now I'll be trolling S&H for the next 20 years trying to top or match this. ;) Gyl

Remarkably, there were 4 different suckers (oops, I mean bidders). However, I note that the high bidder was an eBay newbie, as was one other. Gyl

Hey all, Next week I am going to be in Disney California, and then one day later in Legoland California. Is there anything special I should look at? Are there any sets that I can

Do you mean the best character, or the best lego set (Colours, weapons, etc).

The Vikings seem an obvious choice. Flat base, more interesting figs, new theme, more pieces, LESS money. Duh! The only thing about the Viking castle is that it looksl ike a very basic construction - just some walls basically. I would have hoped for a more complex build. Vladek's castle may win on that account. Hard to tell from the pictures, I must admit. Neither of them hold a candle to 6090, 6080, 6085, 6074 - smaller, yet more elegant, and less "accessories". I'll be buying both for sure, but hey, I buy anything TLC makes almost, even when it is lousy. Gyl

I once had a chance to buy that set in a damaged box, with all bags intact, for $20 Canadian (like 15$ US) and after pondering a bit, left it on the shelf. It wasn't the money - I just didn't like the look of it, nor the colors of bricks at the time. Shortsighted I guess. Oh well. G

I must say - I am not very keen about these Bionicle playsets. On the other hand, I used to hate Bionicle and now I like it quite a bit.... so maybe the LEGO company knows something about designing sets that I don't. I won't be rushing to get these for now..... Vikings and the new Technic sets take priority. See how it goes. Gyl

Canadian Shop at Home madness continues. The 2005 bionicle playsets are now available. You know those half-system half-bionicle thingies. Bionicle playset 2005 Wolf04 must be freaking all over the place. What a crazy day. I saw more new stuff at S@H today than I have ever seen before. Stuff that was not supposed to be released for months! Oh my, with my heart palpitating like this, how will I ever get any sleep tonight? Gyl

OK, update 2 hours later. All the new sets are now totally gone from "Sales and Deals". Still available at regular price. I'll bet it was a mistake. If so, I hope they honor the stuff I bought at the discount. |-/ EDIT: Reflecting on this, I believe that when the listed the items in Canadian dollars, they used the US$ amount instead, since every "discount" was exactly at the US$ price. Even the Toa Ur-a-weenie I got for 8.99. Wow, what a day.

Hey, I'm not complaining ;) Just wondering if it's a mistake, or a marketing ploy to hype up the new products (like they way they released two of each big KK and technic set 1-2 months in select cities before the general release). I troll the S@H multiple times a day, not because I really expect to find anything new, just to relax for a few minutes. When new items come on sale its a few seconds of adrenaline until I see what they are, and usually I have a letdown as they put yet another clickit item on sale, or Bionicle shoes. Today though...... holy mackarel. I went insane for 10 minutes. Biggest S@H purchase I ever made. Funny, just 1 month ago I almost paid 340$ to some guy for the 8421 crane that I was so desperate to get, today I bought two of them combined for less than that, and don't even have to go the store. Awesome. What now? Only Vikings left to wait for in Canada. All else is here that I care about more or less.

Today I saw TONS of new stuff on S@H, but the pricing is bizarre First, I saw the new Technic stuff, including hte giant crane (8421) and the forklift (8416). It was 25% off!! Also, new bionicles, including Roodaka, Siddorak, Keetongu. All on sale 33% off. So, I bought a bunch. WOOT!!! 3 hours later, all are gone from the sales and deals, but can still be bought at full price. So, what was that? a 3 hour sale? Now, I see all the Dino sets, a bunch of the little cars, also on sale. 30% off on the big one (T1 typhoon, 7477) , 33% off on the second biggest one (Iron predator, 7476). WTF? Not that I really wanted the Dino sets, but at 30% off it's almost tempting. These are all brand new sets. Why are they going on sale already? Any ideas? Gyl

Meh, I can take or leave the playsets. The boat looked better in my memory than in real life. The really good feature is the figs/weapons/shields. I am looking forward to adding to my keychain collection. Gyl

I find Bricklink to be substantially more expensive than eBay, and equally substantially more reliable and safe. It's a small community, relatively speaking to eBay, so a bad egg gives the whole community a bad name and is quickly identified. Bricklink is certainly where I go when I can't wait. But if you wait, ebay is always cheaper. Sometimes vastly cheaper. Hopefully they'll have the Vikings at LegoLand California. I'll be there in 21 days (but who's counting) Gyl

I think the Tyco bricks were the best of the lego clones. I don't think they are made any more. I got a bunch once with a "lego" bulk auction. However, there is a clear difference once you build a bit with with them, and the lego blocks are clearly superior. I would certainly recommend Tyco over Megabloks though. Gyl

OMG! 2002 for sure! Exo Toa Boxor Cad and Gad Nuva > Olda and frankly, IMHO the Bohrok are still the best 10$ set ever!! I'll take the Bohrok over Rahshi, Visorak, and Vahki any time. There are only 2 bionicles on my desk at home - Tahu Nuva and Nuhvok.

Oh well, Peeron not Legofan. I wuz wrong. :$ Just as well though - peeron certainly has a better pedigree. Gyl(still searching for an avatar)man

Have a look at Jake's site http://www.bricksonthebrain.com/blog/ I previously predicted the the lego instruction scans will go to Legofan.org. Sticking with that. Any other predictions?? Gyl notice the interesting information that TLC actually financially supported brickshelf! Was that widely known? Also, what do you thing the "coolest lego product ever" is? I am hoping it is Mindstorms 3.0 p.s.... still looking for an avatar

Dang, that's a lot of work. Thanks for the info and the great photos. How long did it take to build? Gyl (I'm still searching for an avator)man

The Skull's Eye Schooner and the Black Seas Baracuda are #1 and #2 (in whatever order anyone wants). Eldorado #3. After what..... w/e. Personally I liked the Islander sets for their freaky canoes and Minifigs.