HawkLord

As someone who also collects items that they want in pristine condition, I can understand this dilema. The best piece of advice I can give you is to find a good vendor and stick with them. I've bought things from sellers repeatedly because they treated me well the first time. Also, it really does help if you mention that you want good packaging and be willing to offer alittle extra money to help offset the cost. Personally, I'd never buy something from TRU or Amazon that I would want in good shape - everytime I've tried before, I've been disappointed with damage. I'd much prefer to spend alittle more and buy the same thing from a brick-and-mortar retail store, where I can pick out the best box. Fortunately, there's also the local Lego store, where I can scrutinize packaging.

I voted for the Pirate Captain, because it reminds me of the Pirate sets I had when I was a kid. Plus, the gold looks cool. My favorite Series is 7, since it has a number of figures that I really like - Bagpiper, Galaxy Patrol, Viking Warrior, Black Knight, Ocean King, Aztec Warrior, and Tech Support. And I've found that I've army-built the most from that Series, as well. My hope is that Lego continues the series with maybe two or three sets a year. Ideally, I'd like them to go all out with ideas and occasionally repeat certain designs. For example, I could see some of the sports figures in different color uniforms or maybe a Galaxy Partol figure with different color armor and an alternate weapon.

TRU is running a promo with this figure - spend $20 on any Legos and you get one free. My local TRU also had a peg up with a price tag for the Thor polybag at $4.99, though all pegs were empty. Not a bad deal, if you factor the usual TRU mark-up on certain sets. I was looking at getting another LOTR Shelob's Lair for their $21.99, which would make the Thor alittle cheaper.

On top: Iron Man MkV (race track armor from IM2), Hulk, Spider-Man (Amazing Spider-Man movie) First row: Iron Man MkV (race track armor from IM2), Black Widow, Cap America, Warmachine, Magneto, Deadpool, Whiplash. Second row: Thor, Spider-Man, Iron Man MkIII, Nick Fury, Iron Man MkII, Hawkeye, Wolverine

I actually haven't, though the Death Star has been on my wishlist for awhile now. As someone who likes sets that have a bit of a story to tell, the DS would be more enjoyable of a build to me. We've already seen the Droid Escape on sale at TRU and as a lackluster, almost shelf-warming set, I have to think we'll see it on sale again. Meanwhile, the Skiff is the cheapest way to get a Boba Fett minifigure plus makes a good companion piece to the Jabba's Palace. It's going to be one of the hotter sets in it's price point.

The grey alien is one of my top five favorite CMFs and I'd like to build a display like this at some point with some guys in suits - Men-In-Black or X-Files style. This looks great so far.

As a huge Star Wars fan, I'd always go with the Death Star. It's iconic, easily recognizable, is a great talking piece as it showcases so many different scenes, and pretty much completes most of the basic cast of characters. Put the Death Star on a lazy-susan and you'll have people talking for hours. The Super Star Destroyer looks nice, but for at the end of the day, it's still just a big ship.

You know, it's not entirely my cup of tea, but if it makes some people happy and they're consenting to it, then it's totally cool. My only critique would be to change the head on the girl to one that's more happy. From my understanding on the subject (never read the book, so just speaking on general terms), people who are into this are pretty happy about it and the current head looks like she had no idea this was going to happen and is going to run out of the room screaming. If the creator of Lego is crying in his grave, we apparently have bigger things to worry about than this MOC. As it is, it's no where near the worst thing I've seen made with Legos.

I've also removed alot of Lego arms and legs when I was a kid and didn't care as much. Now that these are a collectible to me, I like to keep them organized and in good condition. I guess on some non-themed sets I could see myself modding figures like this again.

Thanks, guys. You're probably right - that's the best move.

Looks amazing. Are there some custom figures on there? I see one that looks like Ant-Man.

So, my question might be alittle more involved. I have some spare change and can buy a couple Lego sets to knock off my list. Should I buy them now at the Lego store and get another polybag Sopwith Camel or should I wait till next month to see if there's a better polybag promo? I really don't need another Sopwith, but if there is no polybag next month, then I will have lost out.

The last time I asked this while in a Lego store, the employee told me that all the white packaged ones were not glued. The blue packaged ones are glued and the white packaged ones are being cycled out - basically once a store sells out, that's it for the white packaged ones.

Series 1, I would agree is worth something, but I don't feel confident in saying it's worth that much. I'd say closer to $100-150. Every other Series can't be worth all that much. You can still get cases (60 minifigures) off of Ebay in the range of $140-180 depending on the Series and that would easily net you a few complete sets, since each figure is usually 5-6 per box.

Looks really good, man. I only wish the spider's legs ended in a bit more of a point, rather than flat, but that's not a big issue.

The higher priced sets don't usually run out too quickly (I say this as my local Lego store is out of both), so I would pace myself. I already have Moria (amazing set) and plan on getting Helm's Deep next month, hopefully when another good promo might be running (I don't need another Sopwith Camel).

This is a great idea. I especially like the Magneto one. Maybe it would be cool to see more "themed" Speeders for specific characters, kind of like a Mario Cart type thing. Maybe make ones for Superheroes, Harry Potter, Pirates, Sponge Bob, whatever. :thumbup:

Great review. Being someone who owns no Castle related sets but loves chess, this one is very tempting. I have a feeling I'll end up getting it one of these days. Shame about the Jester. I could almost see it being more of a Bishop than a Knight, but even then that's a stretch. I think the set would have worked alot better if the pieces were identical in form, but different in color. That would make it easier to tell who is who. Still it's an army-builder dream set with some small plate pieces.

That is great how every Batman enemy has a different cell design. I really like Man-Bat's. At least he gets a chance to stretch his wings - must be on good behavior.

You know, I think when Lego starts rolling out The Two Towers sets with Treebeard and/or Ents (hopefully they will), I think the Orc Forge might get a boost in popularity. I mean, I really like the set already, but it'll be pretty cool to have some Ents crashing thru it to re-create some of the mayhem in the Battle of Isengard scene. Granted, Orc Forge is one of the underground structures in that scene, some (if not all) of the elements could probably work for an above ground scene, as well. In any event, I can see the Orc Forge as being an army-builder set, just a really expensive one by comparison.

That looks great, man. The bike does look like it's carrying alot - I'm sure there are some tough choices ahead for Dr. Drake. I might suggest making the road and/or the rail look alittle more damaged depending on the nature of how the world became post-apocolyptic. Though maybe you can reveal that in future set scenes.

I'm not a BSG fan, but I'd get that Viper Mk5 if it were released. Great looking ship design.

I don't know. I hope your right, man. I found a box of the Batman jetski polybag the week it hit and the whole box was gone within three days. These polybag figure sets are a dream come true.

Great design. Battlefront 1 and 2 are some solid inspiration. If I could, I'd still be playing both those games... Everyone needs to take a break from time to time, but don't stay in the Dark Ages too long.

I can also confirm sightings of the Star Wars summer sets at TRU - Gungan Sub, Palpatine Arrest, Jabba's Palace, and Sith Fury. Given the nearest Lego store is only about a 15 minutes drive from this TRU, I'll wait on these. I was tempted on the Escape Pod set at $17, but I guess I'll save that $$$ for the summer sets.