HawkLord

Aside from evil auction sites, is there a place that might be selling the SDCC figures? It's funny that places like TRU offer Hasbro, NECA, and others' SDCC exclusives online. Even higher end collectibles like Sideshow Collectibles and Gentle Giant offer their SDCC stuff online (granted for a very limited time in some cases) for people who can't make the con, but we can't get minifigures offered on the Lego site.

Due to some job related success, I went out to the local Lego store to round out my LOTR sets. Sadly, they were out of Helm's Deep and surprisingly, the only LOTR sets they had were Orc Forge and Weathertop. According to the store clerk, the line has been doing very well and has been selling down every week. What's funny is that the Orc Forge is listed as "hard-to-find" and yet they had about 15+ copies of it. Ended up buying a second Weathertop and an Orc Forge. Now I just need Helm's Deep and I'll have one of each of the LOTR sets (and now two of Weathertop). Also got the mini Sopwith with the purchase.

The Panther urban camo is the bee's knees.

This kind of thing is why Lego is so fascinating to me. I mean, it's a global company that provides product to so many markets, there's almost no end.

Marvel: Doom - because Doom is such a great villian with alot of personality and I really like the Fantastic Four, who are also great characters with personality. So, supporting Doom feels like I'm also supporting the FF (just so long as it's not their Future Fondation colors - bleh!). DC: I'm calling it White Lantern Batman. I know it'll probably end up being called "anti-freeze" Batman and being added to a Mr. Freeze set, but it looks like a really useable White Lantern version. In a way, supporting White Lantern Bats feels like I'm also supporting the potential for other White Lanterns - Supes, Flash, etc.

I was on the fence with the Jabba's Palace set and now that I see this, I might skip on the Jabba stuff altogether. The Rancor looks nice, but is alittle small.

Doom and Venom look great. Can the Fantastic Four be too far behind... Whereas I'm not normally a DC guy, I do like the Batman stuff and that White Lantern Batman looks great.

I'll need this to with my Hulk polybag. Pretty cool set overall.

Bag End? Yes, I'll take two of those to go, please.

Hmm... not a bad set. I'll probably only go after 6-7 of these. Some of the choices I just don't need. Certainly, I'll get: Conquistador, Pirate, Bavarian, Diver, and Evil Robot. Alien Queen would easily be the number one on my list if she was a grey alien instead.

Looks great. Very creative. I'd like to see the Samaritian, though...

I really hope the Rancor is a build and in proper scale. I've seen alot of MOC Rancor builds and they all look pretty reasonable if Lego can tweak them somewhat.

The stain glass window and melting wax are genius.

This reminds me alot of the other thread on CMF - the about how many you'd have to buy totally blind to completely form a set. And like that thread, I just don't see any useful data. If you're staring at a case of CMF, it's much easier to just feel them then it is to use a scale and calculate weight. Sure, it might be a fun mathematical exercise, but it doesn't really solve a problem. Not that there really is a problem with CMF anyway - just feel the packs. Really, I got my set done in probably 20 minutes feeling packs and that was including a search for duplicate army-builders.

Certain sets I keep sealed just so I have a back-up. If anything happens to the first one or I lose a valueable piece, I can always crack open my second set. Granted, I only keep extras of maybe 10% of what I buy. Now with LOTR, I'll be buying duplicates and triplicates, if I can...

Very cool take on the damsel in distress. I think the build does a very good job of telling a whole story, which is the most impressive part of really good MOC vignettes.

No, he indicated that the staff was helpful in assiting him with finding parts that he then stashed in the PaB cups. He never mentioned that the staff was aware he was filling part of the PaB cups with BaMF pieces. He states that his normal strategy for filling PaB cups with some BaMF pieces is to invite his children to use the BaMF station while he half fills the PaB cup at the PaB wall and then goes back to "help" his children at the BaMF station. While he's helping them sort what pieces they want, he adds pieces he wants from the BaMF station into his PaB cup; while being mindful to remain undetected by store staff. It's the perfect cover and he really couldn't do this without using his children as a distraction. Then he goes back to the PaB wall and fills out the rest of his cup with PaB pieces. If he's crafty about it, the staff will never know. However, as mentioned the BaMF and PaB wall have different prices and to mix those is essentially stealing. Pay for the product that you're buying, not the product that you can stash in another package. Using his example, one could open the contents of the Star Wars Death Star and pour them in a PaB cup and call it good. It's still stealing and is shameful.

I agree 100%. There's a seperate cost associated with the BaMF and the PaB - combining the two and using your children as shields or distractions, just seems like a dirty tactic. It's the same as taking the bricks out of boxed set on the shelf and putting them in your PaB cup.

It's great to see all of the different options, but personally, I don't really mind if they don't have that many different options with the Uruks. Really, if I can make just those ten in the first pic, then I could just replicate those ten and then arrange them differently to achieve a varied look.

Yea, I know, but I'm interested in any vendors or stores. As for opening them, that's my own business.

For me, it's not really worth calling any of the early sets "the worst". I look at it as though Lego was still getting into their stride, so it's not fair to compare the older sets to those made today. When you go from something like the Podracer Bucket to the 7965 Millennium Falcon, there's no real contest. I'd say the Sith Nightspeeder, Bounty Hunter Assault Gunship, and T-6 Jedi Shuttle are all pretty bad.

This might be a futile question, but is there any place in the US to get these? I'm looking for any of these that are still sealed. I see alot of auctions out there where the sellers have cut a slit into the bag to verify the contents, but I'm hoping to just get any, let alone someone just using the feel method to find certain ones.

The Spidey from Spider-Man 2 is really good. Probably my favorite. I'd like to see a bit more of the TMNT stuff, since it's so unique. Lastly, is that an Ash from Army of Darkness that I see towards the end?

Well, wouldn't you want any holes in your head filled?

On sale, you say? Do you happen to remember how much? I still need to get the HP one; might be worth a trip now.