Eilif

Definitely not. A small cup is almsot exaxtly half the capacity of a large cup but more than half the cost. I fill a small cup occasionaly when there's only a few things I want, but not when I'm stocking up. One good thing about small cups is that when using them to sort or build out of, they are much easier to use, so if you plan to use the cups for those purposes it might be worth it to go with small cups. Large cups are definitely the way to go for bulk buying.

LEGO proud here! All my friend's and most aquaintences know I'm into LEGO as it's hard to hide when you show guests around your house and they see the LEGO building area. I had LEGO's on my desk at my last job and I'm not shy at all about inviting people to our club's LEGO shows. As to the whole "these are for my niece" thing, don't bother. Toy stores and retailers are very used to adult collectors coming and buying toys of all kinds for themsleves. When someone smiles and inquires about who I'm getting them for, I let them know it's for me. There are enough things worth hiding already. LEGO isn't one of them.

Wow, several questions and assumptions here. Let me break down your post into it's components. 1)You're title is troolish, but I'll answer anway. I don't think LEGO is insanely overpriced. The assumtion in your title that LEGO is insanely overpriced is not likely to be shared by the majority of folks here at EB. 2) For it's plastic worth it is overpriced, but judging the price of a product entirely on the unworked material it's made of is a terrible judge of the value of a product. It comes down to what a person feels LEGO is woth. I feel that when you factor in design, quality, production, licensing, transportation costs, Marketing, number of play years/hours a child will use LEGO, etc, etc. It's realy quite a good deal. As has been pointed out, when adjusted for inflation, the USA retail prices of LEGO are cheaper than ever before and LEGO is a toy that youngsters play with for more hours and for more years than almost any other product. 3) LEGO -especially having large collections of LEGO- has definitely become a status symbol for many people. However, the same can be said of anything that someone can buy for their kids and show off to their neighbors. LEGO, as a product, is neither immune, nor the cause of this kind of behavior. Anything where you can spend more to get more has the potential to become a status symbol an brands and produts with a reputation for quality are especially prone to this. 4) This is a relative question/statement. When I was young, money was extremely tight. For those in the USA, you'll know what I mean when I say we were WIC poor, but not welfare poor. However, my parents still found ways to buy LEGO for my brother and I. When I look back, it clearly wasn't alot of LEGO compared to what I have today, and our collections grew slowly over a period of years. What is clear is that my parents saw the value in a toy that would be used for more years than any other and would be expandable and not become obsolete. I also run a LEGO program in a neighborhood where the median income for a family of four is $18k. Many of these families truely can't afford LEGO (which is why graduates recieve their own LEGO from the program) and yet I'm often surprised by the number of parents who have intentionally purchased LEGO for their child, even when their small alotment for toys would have bought them a much "Larger" toy from a different brand/type/series. 5)If I may modify your post title "Do you think LEGO is.... -priced for a good reason" Yes. In the end, I think you will find that those who have alot of experience with LEGO, some knowlege of inflation and product costs and are LEGO fans have no trouble paying what LEGO charges for their product and believe they are getting a good return for their money. I am in this group. The question you raise does come up often and it is frustrating to not be able to buy all the LEGO one wants, but that's the nature of capitalism and a quality product. LEGO is profitable, but it's not an unstoppable juggernaut. LEGO -while charging roughly the same as today- nearly went out of businessa a few years ago. There were several reasons for this, but it bears remembering that LEGO is a product that has very real costs to produce and distribute. Regardless of other factors, one reason that it will not come down in price is that LEGO cannot do so and remain profitable. Final Thought. Lest you think I'm a snob, know that I too wish LEGO was cheaper (see my sig for details), I just understand why it is not. I recommend looking for sales, coupons, used bargains and online deals.

I appologize for my long absence (though it will likely not be the last) I'm back with the latest addition to the town of Brickington! Previously the only live music in Brickington was the transient musician with his Brickforge guitar and top hat for collecting change. Now with the Tourism booming, the Island has begun to attract musical guests, including the Stud Circle Trio. This talented trio often uses their concerts to promote social awareness. The Gazebo itself. Close up. Showing the band and some of the ornamentation. The roof with owl. Drum set front. Drum set rear. Doublebass. This is a mod of a another user's design. I think it was slyowl, but it's been a while and I'm not totaly sure. It's a very effective design, but to get the most out of it, you need to elevate the minifig on a 1x2 plate. Rear of doublebass. Eventually I'll replace the tan scroll with a brown one. Overall, I'm quite happy with it. It is usually placed on the beach just back from the seashore and it adds alot of visual interest to the coastline. Next steps will probably be to add a wide boardwalk with seating. Hopefully that will draw the visitors eye to the scene as I've noticed that many folks who come to our shows completely miss the fact that there is a band in the gazebo. Hope you enjoy it!

LEGO has tried more articulated figures at various times. There were the original buildable "homemakers" figs from the 70's (with studs for ears!), Technic figures, and Belleville figures, amonng others. These have always been distinct products, designed for lines that are separate from the minifig based lines. As for the classic minifig, adding more joints, would require increasing the size of the minifig. As well as not wanting to see any change in the form of the Minifig, I'd also not like to see any size changes. The limitations of the fig are part of the charm. I am surprised to see that more AFOL's haven't used the Belleville, or 4+ figs in larger scale models. It happens sometimes, but only rarely.

I believe that 4+ figs are despised because they are a tangible example of LEGO getting further and further into j uniorized parts, and further away from "traditional" LEGO SYSTEM. I MOC almost exclusively in Minifig scale, so in my personal MOC'ing, they are pretty much useless. On the other hand, I have found that the 4+ figs are great for the LEGO class that I teach (see my sig), as they have no pieces that can be lost, and are easy to keep count of. I had collected about 20 of them, but they were almost all stolen, so if anybody has some that they would like to donate, or sell (for a good price) I'd love to hear from you.

Well done! The new Brickforge guitars really are quite nice, and you use it to good effect to draw the eye into the picture. You also take excellent advantage of the limited scope to use pieces in unique ways that might not be as effective in a fully viewable MOC. I really like this one. As to "Funksway" did you mean "Feng Shui" the ancient Chinese art of harmonious arragement?

Most of my personal MOC's are for the same club as Polish Guy, so my good MOC's tend to stay together for a while. If not for the club, my MOC's would probably be recycled more often, as I haven't got the space to display them. I haven't bought off Bricklink in years, and I usually only make one PAB online order when they change the pallete just to pick up some interesting elememts. Thus, when I'm building a MOC, if I don't have the bricks to build it one way, I'll find a different way to build. I don't have the patience to wait for an order to come in, and for me, much of the fun is building with what I have. Saying this is a bit disingenous, as I have a very large LEGO collection, but that's still how I approach the MOC'ing experience. I find a way to work with what I have.

As usual, I'm late for the party, but thanks for the new pics. The 8404 train is just what I've been looking for as a base model for converting to monorail. Since I'd have to mod it anyway to fit the monorail, the question is whether to buy it, or just build it from the parts I have? Decisions, decisions...

Great stuff there. The mouse story reminded me of the style of monty python skits.

Thanks for sharing about your sorting. However, as glad as I am to see on of my favorite topics again, all sorting posts unrelated to this particular sort are now supposed to be kept in this pinned topic: http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=26213 Thanks and welcome to Eurobricks! Thanks, glad to be of inspiration.

Come see us on August 7th at the Miller Light Beer Garden stage. 3 sets of music! It's one of our favorite gigs that we get each year. This will be my fourth time there. Isn't it the case that EB is a place for alot of odd connections? Is it Chris E from the presentation or a different Chris? (Sorry, but I know alot of Chris's.) Yep, thats a bit o' ink. Thanks!

Gonna have to disagree with you there. Fist off, it's not "that simple" the problems that brought down LEGO were more than just the sets (though that was definitley a HUGE part of their problem.) Read the article and you'll learn about many long-running supply chain, production, and company culture issues that greatly contributed to LEGO's near-demise. Also, I'm as annoyed by price increases as anyone, but compare the price of LEGO in 1990 and 2010, and adjust for inflation, and LEGO is actually cheaper today than it was then.

Sweet rig! Is that an AC15? I love the sound of an overdriven VOX. My first band's guitarist had an AC30, and my current rhythm guitarrist has an AC15. I'm also in love with valve amps in general. As for me... I'm a bass player. I played upright bass (doublebass) from elementary through high school, but I don't play it much any more. I've been mostly an electric bass player for the last 10 years. I've played in a number of bands, and are currently in a country band (www.janesvillecountry.com) and an indie-rock group. I also like to assemble, repair, and upgrade basses, and almost all of the basses that I play regularly have been built or heavily modified by me. Here's me last summer with Janesville from our annual gig at the Wisconsin State Fair. I built that bass from parts, and my brother-in-law did the paintjob.

I think this is the real point. Whatever we think about the "wrong strategy", what LEGO is doing is obviously working. IIRC, the early 90's were the beginning of what was nearly the end for TLG. By the late 90's, they were on a downward spiral. It seems reasonably clear that what they are doing now is better for their bottom line that what they were doing then. Here's a link to my favorite article about how LEGO almost fell apart, but came back. http://www.strategy-business.com/article/07306?pg=all

Here's another tack, I haven't run the numbers on this, but my theory is this: Take a look at smalish sets back in the day, and what they cost. Now adjust for inflation. I think you'll find that in non-licensed themes LEGO has nearly as many sets at the same price point as it did in the past. There seem to be more sets in the slightly higher price points, but when you do the math, in many cases, you're getting the same or more LEGO for your $, it's just that your dollar is worth less now that it was in the 80's or 90's. Alot of this perception may come the fact that there are fewere small licensed sets. It's true that IJ, Spongebob, Avatar, PoP and Star Wars have fewer small sets, but when you're dealing with licensed sets with interesting charachters, I have a feeling it doesn't pay to "give away" much at the low price points.. Lastly, as to dividing up sets, why would LEGO do that when they know that most LEGO buyers will pay more for the larger sets? LEGO is a luxury toy, sold mostly to with middle-class and up buying power. Those buyers will spend the scratch for the larger sets, but even they wouldn't, if they could get the parts they wanted separately. Some of us can't afford to buy all the large sets, but it would not make sense for LEGO to divide up sets at the cost of selling more of it's flagship products. I'm quite sure that if TLG thought they could make more $ selling individual sections of kits, they would.

Wow, Good to see that two years later, this article is still helping folks out, even in Bolivia! I agree that Ebay has hurt the hunt for cheap LEGO in places like Craigslist (I haven't gotten any LEGO off craigslist since I wrote this article). However, I still find LEGO at resale shops, though as the article says, you have to look often! Good Hunting, Eilif PS.Follows Closely, That is Brilliant!

Click on the "Brickington" link in my sig and check out: -Florist -Boat Builder's Shop -Courthouse Some of my other buildings have interiors, but of the buildings I have photographed, Those are the three that are most extensive. In particular, the Courthouse 2nd floor was an excercise in seeing how much I could convincingly fit into a 16x16 stud area.

Yep, that's the first one, back when "Creator" was called "Designer". That set was released just as I came out of my dark ages. I was so thrilled to see a set that reminded me of the "BASIC" sets that I grew up with. For a while it was hard to find, because it was quite popular. I definitely agree that Model Town House ( I think it was called Villa in some markets) was the best of the batch. Huge amounts of tan brick and black roof tiles, and arond 6 cents a piece! It also was the Creator house closest in style to the CC series of buildings.

For those of you Town and City fans, are you a collector of the Creator Homes? Though not a "collector" I do purchase some of the creator homes. I've picked up Building Bonanza, House, and Villa. If so, is it merely for the pieces, or do you find yourself adding these structures to your Tabletowns? I enjoy building the sets, but being primarily a MOC'er, theire ultimate end will be as pieces Do Creator Homes offer play not found in standard City sets? It's a different experience. Creator homes are more about interesting architecture and open-ended play and City sets are more about action and swoshability. What do you do to spruce up a Creator Home 'City-Sizing' it to blend in with the architecture and inhabitants of your LEGO Cities? Lots of folks use Creator houses side by side with their city buildings, but if you really wanted to "city-size" them, then it would not be a matter of "sprucing-up". Rather it would be a matter of simplifying and making the structures smaller. Are Creator Homes too different than Exclusive Modular sets or 'open-back structures' to tie in nicely? Entirely depends on what look you're going for. If you don't mind houses that are larger than fire stations or hospitals, then they're probably just fine. They also offer the advantage of being 4 sided, so they can be placed in the center of a layout without losing playability or having sides open to the street. Is the scale of the Creator Homes made more for Pirate 4+ or Jack Stone minifigs? Not at all. In fact, they are much closer to proper scale for minifigs than City structures. Truthfully, even most creator homes are still smaller than they should be to represent minifig size homes. It's my suspicion that since Town/City sets are already so minimized and stylized, that most folks have already suspended their disbelief to the point where creator sets fit just fine as-is into their table towns. Also, the medium scale of Creator sets, can be a sort of visual linkage for those who want to have Town sets and CC style kits on the same layout.

Hey Folks, I'm going to be using this mostly for my benefit as a place to keep an index of all the topics related to the devlopment of Brickington. For those who don't know, Brickington is the name of my module on the Northern Illinois LEGO Train Club layout. It's a seaside village nearly entirely based on the Market Street standard of 16x16 stud modular sections, and currently measures 120"x40". The topics below are listed in chronological order, from oldest to most recent, with the "fantasy" section being an exception. Enjoy, Eilif Before it was Brickigton: My first Module. Where it all began. Gift Island. A tourist trap souvenier shop (Warning, Large Photos) Seaside village The Brickington Era: Brickington expands. Brickington get's it's name and municipal improvements (police station and larger curbs), and most buildings get a floor taller. Brickington Seaplane Airport plus lighthouse and breakwater park. Brickington Ferry and Mountaintop Development Boat Builder's Shop. Brickington get's some light industry in the form of a shipwright. Light Logging Truck. Christmas tree Carrier. Vintage Pickup and small car. Brickington Station. A Train stop for Brickington Industrial Building Ground floors and a pirate funeral. Florist. A boutifull bevy of buds to beautify Brickington. Glass Truck. Keeping Brickington well-windowed. Lenderson Lighthouse. A new lighthouse influenced by Chicago Industrial Architecture Lee's Cantonese Restaurant. Redux. Brickington Courthouse. Major Renovations to the Police Station Chemical plant. Last minute space filler that turned our quite nice. Fantasy Brickington: Alternate reality where Brickington is built vertically in an exoitc utopia. Brickington Burning or The Day of Green Death. Gazebo and Jazz band More (mostly older) pics of Brickington here.

My own experience has then that I have been most happy with my hobbies when allowed to drift between them. I go from LEGO to 40k to Electric Bass building every few months, and that seems to work out well. Many times I've said, I'm done with "that" hobby, only to drift back into it a year later. This has gone on for over a decade now. So don't stress out. Do what interests you now and put the others to the side. When you get tired of the hobby at hand, don't feel guilty about going back to one of the others. My only suggestion would be to try and limit the number of hobbies you move between. Pick 2 or 3 and stick with those. As for social'ness of a hobby, that's a tricky one. I find that all my hobbies have social outlets, it's just a matter of finding them. Of course living in a major urban center does make it easier to find likeminded individuals. Sometimes you just have to enjoy the hobby for personal reasons and find your social outlet elsewhere.

I'd recommend going to all the Major LEGO forums (EB, Classic Castle, Classic-Space, FBTB, and Lugnut, and searching their forum for your state or town. Also, the Lugnet Member list, lists members by country (and state, but only for US). http://www.lugnet.com/people/members/bycountry.cgi#us Even if you just cold-mail those folks, I'm sure they'd be willing to point you in the right direction.

I'm surprised this topic doesn't exist already, but let's hear from those who attended Brickworld 2010. This was my 4th Brickworld (3rd as a registrant) It was a great time and utterly overwhelming. 4 full ballrooms of LEGO insanity. My only complaint (asside from the late load-in, and that's not BW's fault) is that it is so big that alot of what I saw runs together in my head. A camera really is a must for attendees who want to be able to recall what they saw. Good to see many familiar faces from previous years, but as usual, I didn't have nearly enough time to hang out. Next year I hope to spend a night or two at the hotel so I have more time for after-hours socializing. The LEGO community really is a great group of people, and BW is a great place to see it at it's best. The NILTC layout that I was a part of alot of fun and -if I may say- well done. As expected, while I was away running the BILd table, my section was molested by my fellow club members. (horses on top of buildings, bikers being run over by trucks and crashing off the cliffs, etc) I also enjoyed being a part of the Brickarms Modern Warfare layout. The Community Service and BILd presentations that I facilitated went well, and though not massively attended, they both stimulated many good discussions. The BILd table was visited by many people. We increased our email list and raised over $150 for the program! So Thanks to Bryan, Adam and the rest of the BW team for another extremely well-run event! I'm not sure how you will top this one, but I have no doubt that you will.

Yep, LEGO employees get minifigs as business cards. I don't recall which employees do, or how many they get a year, but it's been that way for years. I wonder if there are folks who collect these things?