Eilif

Great Job Bluebard. This second incarnation of your town is a serious improvement over the original. I'm very impressed at how you have applied detail from every angle and side. Your oven is a thing of beauty that I will definitely be stealing.

I noticed a definite difference in the shade of some of my dark blue brick from Market street, and when I chanced upon some dark blue 1x2 elbows at a LEGO store PAB there were 2-3 distinct shades of dark blue. Not so much that I wouldn't mix them up in a MOC, but definitely more variation that should be acceptable from PAB. The 1x2 blue that I purchased from PAB online around the same time has a touch of variation, but barely. I've only spoke to one person who owns the VW Bug kit and they didn't mention any color difference, but that doesn't mean it has been properly addressed. Anyone with a Bug want to chime in about how the dark blue is in that kit?

I'd love to see some of the things that Mr Hobbes mentioned, but I don't forsee it happening soon. TLG is a very secretive company. Yes, things slip out, but rarely more than a few months ahead of time, and TLG keeps a very tight lid on anything that's more than 6 months away from release or pre-order. However, it should be noted that TLG is taking some very small steps in the direction of fan interaction and transparency. They have given a couple of sneak-peaks and interviews to Brick-Journal Magazine, and they make an effort to do their unveiling of new products at LEGO fan events. They've even begun to involve fan's and fan feedback into sets like Hobby train, Market street, Star Justice, Space Skulls, Custom Car Garage, etc... I think there might be a time where TLG has a tightly controled blog presence, however, if you're hoping for a Blog about TLG insider info, it ain't gonna happen...

Great job, at first glance you almost forget that it's made of LEGO. For future modules, have you considered and APC, or Command center module?

Just for those who see the first page, select the baby dan article and scroll down for the english translation. Interesting, a company using the LEGO logo to sell baby bedding and plush toys. On the one hand, I'm inclined to suggest that this may be exactly the kind of thing that took LEGO away from it's core mission and nearly sunk the company a few years back. On the other hand, it seems that if Baby Dan is taking all the risk, and making a quality product, then this may be a great way for TLG to build-on, and increase brand recognition among parents even before their child reaches "duplo" age. In the end, I think this could be a good thing as long as TLG doesn't do too much of it, and erode their pubic preceptions of the integrity of the LEGO brand

Nice Review of great set!. I also had this set when I was young, and I love the way it combined a good looking set, with great playability. I was/am a sucker for hidden features and the treasure compartment is one of the better "secret" features in Lego castle history.

I think that you two are right about the set design. I assumed that other folks liked it, but I guess I was wrong there. I didn't mind the size (most LEGO stuff is pretty small), but to me, it looked more like a "Smart Car" than a post vehicle. IIRC, I kept mine "stock" for less than a day before I modded it into the more jeep looking shape seen here.

Wow, That's a very well written article. Usually articles about LEGO are brief affairs that read like a TLG news release, or simply a few of the author's opinions and recolections. This article actually looks like it involved real research and insight. Hightlights... 1) Actually mentioning Hillary Page's (Kiddiecraft) place in LEGO history!!! 2) A good quick summation of TLG's financial difficulties and corporate reinvintion. 3) My favorite quote from the article "Kids are ruthless little bastards" I wouldn't hesitate to call this a must-read for fans of LEGO.

Glad to see this thread continues to make combacks. You all have posted some great sets, many of which I had or remember wanting . Great memories, keep them coming!

This thread is actually making my mouth water. I like almost all the food you folks mentioned, but I especially like... 1) Saganaki: Greek cheese covered in Brandy and set on fire! Salty, Cheesy, savory and burning! What more could you want? 2) Ethiopian Food: Rather spicy but delicious and eaten with your hands, what fun!. My favorites include Kifo Tere (spicy red rare ground beef meat) Ib (creamy white cheese) and Doro Wat (Chicken and a hard boiled egg in a spicy brown sauce). 3) Indian food: For many of the same reasons as Ethiopan food, but of course the flavors are quite different. Butter Chicken and Mutter Paneer... MMM, MMM good!

Too bad about the Post Van. I think that the post van and plane both ceased production in '09 and the post van just ran out of stock earlier. This is because they are both listed as "hard to find" which usually occurs only occurs for low production sets (which these were not), new sets, or sets that have ceased production (which these likely are). Whether this is because they didn't sell well, or were only planned for one year of production I do not know. If they were pulled for lack of sales in the US, it might be partially that United States Postal Service (USPS), colors are white, with red and blue accents. DHL and their red and yellow trucks do have a presence in the USA, but they lag behind UPS (Brown) and Fed Ex (white with purple and green). While LEGO could not have directly copied USPS logos, a more familiar color scheme might have greatly increased sales in the USA. As for a post office, while I do think that a post office could have prolonged the shelf life of these sets, history doesn't suggest that a LEGO post office is, or will be, in the works. Moral of the story: if you want a mail plane get it NOW!!

I'm not sure that's correct. I've been here a year, and I think I've annoyed at least a couple people, and I'm pretty outgoing... On the other hand, maybe (contrary to my self-perception) I don't have one because everyone loves me and/or I'm not particularly notable...

Wow, well done on this current crop of weapons! I'm especially glad to see a luger. I have a feeling folks have been asking for one of those for a long time. The PPSh and BAR are especially nice also, the WWII crowd will be especially happy with this round.

You're right about France, largely as a result of the holocaust, if I'm not mistaken. I've heard there are some folks in France trying to get the government to begin collecting ethnic data again. Is that true? Yep, Americans are pretty interested in thier ancestry. Even though we're the "melting pot" lots of folks still want to maintain some connection with their past. Especially since most of the average American's family has probably been "American" for less than 150 years. Of course you're right about not being sure, in that most Americans only know what country their family came to America from, they often have no knowledge of what countries they may have come from in even the 100 or so years before that. Human is not an ethnicity. It's common parlance for species: "homo sapien". Ethnicity is a subset of humans usually by nationality, "race", linguistics, culture, etc.

I'm pretty sure that your government can tell you yours as well. The term ethnicity is used in a couple different ways. Wikipedia actually has a pretty good breakdown of how it can be used. The US Government uses it as along with "race" as a way of loosely defining a persons ancestry and origins. In their usage, the "white" ethnicity is broken into two groups hispanic, and non-hispanic.

According to the US government, my ethnicity is "White non-Hispanic" My ancestry however is: 51% Danish (Dad is 100% and "Eilif" is my Danish middle name) the other 49% Is a mix of Chezch and English, with some of Irish and Polish and perhaps a few others. The Danish is the only part I've ever had much interest in, mostly because my Dad's homogeneous family is much more interested in cultural history/tradition than my Mom's side. You all have made some interesting points about how we define ourselves. Our ancestry has more effect on some of us than on others but it's true that the culture/society we are raised in has much more to do with who we are. Even those who would like to think of ourselves as "separate from" the societies/cultures/sub-cultures that spawned us are inevitably shaped to some degree ways by those groups. A good sociologist could take the most "fringe" individual from a given society and demonstrate clear traits, mores, values, etc. that they have adopted from the society/culture that reared them.

4 trades nearly completed. Thanks folks! I'm no longer looking for blue baseplates, and I've got a smaller selection of parts available, but I have added 20 more trans=purple flame/wave pieces, and I'm now open for trading internationally. Still looking for interesting town-ish torsos and female hairpieces, let me know if there's something you are looking for that is not on my list, and I'll see what I can find.

+1 for Bobskink +1 for Posades +1 for soc399 All Great Trades!

I don't think that the problem is that TLG's competitors would access their server, but rather that LEGO couldn't put possible parts of new lines/themes/sets on universe to gauge public interest without showing their competitors hints as to what they are developing. Anyone know of any other MMOG's that have been used not just for product placement/advertisement, but actually to guide product development?

Great bit of history there. I've never seen those screen test shots before. Once again, it's worth mentioning that folks keep on commenting on the funniness or unfunniness of the "rebuild it" ads, which misses the points that they are intended as social commentary, not as humor. It's like reading "The Jungle" and then choosing to discuss whether the book was funny rather then disucss the societal issues that the book raises. Art really needs to be judged first within it's genre and intent. Woah there! Remember that if you really want to be "open minded" (a really overused term, IMHO) then you also need to respect people's freedom to be offended, and their right to choose to believe that some things should not be shown. If you really believe that it's possible to live a truely "open minded" life, then remember that it's a very busy 2-way street, and you've got to give everyone the right of way.

There may be one way to do this. If you can go to a LEGO store, or find someone who lives near a LEGO store, you can buy PAB bricks by the case. The bricks for PAB come in boxes, and you can buy a box for about 70-80 bucks or so. I've heard that a box of bricks is a savings of at least 25% over buying them by the cup. Of course there's a limited selection, but if you have in mind specific bricks, that might be available you can call and ask a manager what they have. Otherwise, a search on Bricklink will likely bring up what you need in the quantities you are looking for, and it will almost always be cheaper than PAB online. PAB online is only cheaper for certain rare pieces and accessories and minifig parts. Your nearest store may or may not be here or may not be updated, but this will give you some idea of what kind of bricks are available throughout the chain. http://www.brickbuildr.com/view/pab/

I don't think Eurobricks has influcenced the number of purchases or MOC's. However what Eurobricks has done is better the quality and variety of my MOC's. I've gotten lots of good ideas for detailing of my MOC's from Eurobricks. EB also encouraged me to start building vehicle MOC's as well, something I previously tried to avoid. Feedback from EB has made the MOCing process even more enjoyable, and suggestions for improvement have helped to pefect several of my more recent MOC's. I would encourage anyone who wants to be a better builder, to post their MOC's here for commentary.

Here's one of those great MOC's that's basically a how-to in MOC'ing buildings. Look for the brilliant park benches, rain spouts and the great work at the roof-edges. I found a couple of brilliant uses for pieces that I have alot of, but haven't had much use for. Until Now. http://www.flickr.com/photos/31223598@N08/...57615197910762/ The rest of his MOC's are equally well done.

I didn't think to ask when it was coming out. I must say that I am quite exicted. I know there are alot of hopes about fire engines, lots of figs, etc. However, I think that looking logically at past sets, we are likely in for a set with 2-4 figures and no vehicles. My main cuiosity is whether it will be 16 or 32 wide.

Wow, somehow I managed to miss the fact that Batman is done for over 2 months! I'm pretty disappointed. I liked the sets, and has been said it was a great source for parts. My wife demanded that I purchase a second Arkham when they went on sale for half off, and she got me the batcave for christmas. Arkham especially was one of the best non "CC" sets in recent memory for acquiring pieces to build realistic buildings. Bye Bye Batman