Eilif

Good review. I'm surprised there isn't a gun for each figure, it's not as though they are expensive to manufacture. I agree with Prateek about the price. At 5 bucks USD, it would be a bit expensive for clone brand figs. If they apear around here, I'll might buy one just for the accessories. If they were 3 bucks and came with 3 guns, I'd buy a few of them.

Probuilder is a shadow of it's former self. Probuilder used to be the place to go to build huge brick-built models with few <insert that tiresome argument> parts. 1200 piece Warships, 2400 piece submarines (I have this one), huge cars, etc. Now, more <insert that tiresome argument> parts have crept in, and you've got to be more selective. I own two Megabloks sets, both Probuilder. My 2400 piece "Sea Wolf" sub is a good example of a non-<insert that tiresome argument> kit. I also have the steam express, which, though mostly brickbuilt with over 1200 pieces, does have 8 large <insert that tiresome argument> parts that make up the boiler. It's a good example of the transition that happened over time. These days it pays to look really closely to see what you're getting, as "Pro-Builder" is not necessarily synonymous with Brickbuilt anymore. Out of curiosity, what do you mean by this. If you mean lots of basic bricks, then I would avoid probuilder. Probuilder models have always had alot of classic style brick construction in them.

Benefits society.... I had a similar train of thought a few years ago, so I got a few other AFOL's (Hinkley, Beth Weis, Shaun Reeves Gary and I) together and we started Building In Lawndale (BILd). It's not a big program, but every semester we accept 10 3rd grade boys from the Chicago inner-city neighborhood of North Lawndale. On 10 consectutive Thursday evenings we take two hours to use LEGO to reinforce math skills, simple machines, community mindedness, group participation skills, and more. Most of the last two weeks are spent assembling a LEGO kit that they get to keep(We fundraise from AFOL's to buy the sets). Shameless plug: If you want to donate or find out more, check out the link in my signature to our -very spartan- webpage. Also, I don't know all the details, but Beth also uses LEGO to facilitate free play-days for children on the autism spectrum and their parents at the Deerfield, IL Park District. Reportedly, LEGO is an awesome medium for autistic children.

I just wanted to check in and say how great LUGBULK has turned out. NILTC recieved our first LUBULK shippment a few weeks ago. Our president was nice enough to divide up all the bricks according to what each person had selected. I picked my portion this weekend and am really pleased with what I recieved. Even with 11 baseplates in my order, I still recieved over 1000 elements. In my opinion, LUBULK is definitely worth the hassle, and the wait. There's just no other way to get such rare and usefull elements, in large quantities, and for such good prices. I encourage every LUG to get on board with LUGBULK. I may post pictures of my haul later, though please don't ask about revealing prices or purchasing, as both are expressly forbidden by LUGBULK rules. Lastly, many thanks are due to Jan Beyer, who has perservered, through what must have been hundreds of inquiries and questions from LUG's and kept everything moving along and on schedule! NILTC is just about to submit our second LUGBULK order this week!

I should have been more clear. I was referring to sections of sets, not entire designs. Based on the presentation that LEGO designer Jamie Berard gave on the development of LEGO sets, the process is quite a bit more free-form than you suggest. More than enough room in the process for subassemblies, techniques and other AFOL-originating ideas to be incorporated into LEGO's designs without needing to credit the creator. Personally I think that's ok. I've heard AFOL's argue and make claims is about "who-invented-what-technique" and belive me, it is really is quite pathetic to witness. However, if you look at the UCS Millenium Falcon and the PepaQuin model that was built before the UCS version you start to wonder if LEGO did "borrow" an AFOL design, how much could they get away with?

This should be clarified. Designs created on LDD and submitted to the my trains site/page did NOT become official sets. The Hobby Train box set included online instructions for 40 different train cars. These designs were created by a group of AFOL's who were pre-selected by LEGO. They designed the cars and LEGO refined them for inclusion in the set. As to TLG "unofficially" borrowing designs from AFOL's, my personal belief is that it happens from time to time. However, for reasons of liability, copyright, etc, LEGO will never acknowledge any influence by a fan if they did not specifically contract with a fan for a product, design, etc. It makes alot of sense from a legal perspective.

I've posted these before, but maybe folks will find this usefull so I'll play. I collect minifigs, but I don't collect for uniformity, or completeness. I collect for utility and variety. As for "utility" the goal of my minifig collection is that whatever kind of MOC or layout I would build, I would have enough figs to populate it. Regarding "variety" I like to have as many different minifigs as possible. I have alot of set-correct figs, but I'm more interested in having layouts with many unique figs and I like finding new combinations. Castle and Pirate soldiers are two notable exceptions for this as it makes sense to have many uniform troops, but in general my goal is to have as many different figs as possible. I'm currently at somewhere around 1500 figures, but that's just a guess as I haven't counted them all recently. Here's how I currently store my figs. Dust isn't much of a problem in my house. Most of my complete figs are in these racks ( just built another half size rack) or in boxes with my club layout, though I have alot of extra fig parts that I sort in hardware drawers.

I'll have: 1) My usual 120"x40" seaside village section of the NILTC layout. I am going to add a beach side jazz band gazebo and a road going up the side of my cliffs, but other than that, not much will change. 2) Sixteen 16x16 stud river sections for the Brickarms layout. The same sections that I brought last year, but this time they have been modified for a more urban apparance. 3) If I get time I'd like to build something to attract attention to the Building In Lawndale booth, but time is running out, and it might not happen.

Definitely agreed. Displaying MOCs is a great part of the convention, the real meat of the convention is the presentations, competitions, hanging out with other LEGO fans, LEGO store sales, freebies and other activities. The public days are great for seeing stuff, but if you only come to the public days, you won't get to do any of the things listed above.

Hey folks, Much like last year, I'm organizing a roundtable discussion "presentation" at Brickworld on using LEGO to benefit the wider community. I'm looking for roundtable presenters who have at some point used LEGO for community service. Last year we had folks ranging from an individual who had used LEGO in church activies to one person who was in a leadership position at the First LEGO League of Illinois. We want to include all aspects of LEGO community service. The presentation will last about one hour. Presenters will have the opportunity (if they wish) to talk about their particular service for about 3-4 minutes, and the rest of the hour will be spent discussion with the presentation attendees about how LEGO can be used to benefit their communites. So far we have 3 presenters, and are looking for 3 more. PM me or ask questions in this thread if you're interested. Thanks. PS Those not helping to lead the discussion are encouraged to come attend the class and participate in the discussion. Inspiration gauranteed!

Do we know this for sure? I haven't followed the news about this series very closely. I'd love confirmation on this, because it would be very good news for me!

Thanks for the review. Now that Sluban has gotten around to copying Oxford's ancient line, maybe I'll finally be able to find some version of these sets in the USA for a reasonable price.

Great review. Looks like some very high quality parts. I have to say though, I'm dissapointed that there is only one electric bass included, and no 4 string bass. A 5 string Explorer bass is not a very common instrument and the ubiquitous 4 string fender jazz or precision bass would have been a much better inclusion. If anyone's interested, some changes have been made, but the instruments included are closest to (in order on back of package): Ibanez Iceman BC Rich Warlock Fender Stratocaster BC Rich Mockingbird Gibson SG Paul Reed Smith McCarty (Based on a Gibson Les Paul) Gibson Explorer bass (5 string for some reason...) Gibson Flying V I'm torn as whether to bite the bullet and put down what seems like way too much money for the set, or just to wait for the inevitable other cheaper guitars and a more standard bass to appear, as they eventually will. All that said, being a bass player, if this had more or better bass content, I would buy it for sure.

I have no problem believing this to be true. While the great majority of buyers I see at the Chicago area LEGO stores are kids, I frequently meet adults buying themselves LEGO. Also, I have a couple friends who work for LEGO retail, and they can attest to the huge purchases made by AFOL's, whether it's PAB by the shipping box (not to many kids do this), reserving large sets, or just collecting general LEGO sets, AFOL's buy ALOT of LEGO. LEGO has been quite supportive of AFOL's lately, but it's great to hear LEGO officially recognize this segment of their market and acknowldege it to the public at large. If nothing else, it means that we're likely to keep seeing more CC type buildings and other AFOL-centered sets.

Great Review. How much was shipping on this? I see alot of clone brick deals on ebay, but many times, the shipping to the USA is more than the set.

Nice Job. Excelent work, and for charity too! This should be a textbook case for those looking to do Brick charitywork. -A realistic and definable goal and buildable subject. -A dedicated team -A short defined Timetable -A well known cause -A specific "subject" with a very large and targeted group of buyers -A public display and auction at a gathering of those buyers I hope I'm not reading too much into this, but I think the model and process is brilliant! A few questions. 1)Was the brick donated by public, the boat company, or the builders? 2)Was the project the brainchild of the club, the boat company, the charity or the boat show? 3)Was any glue used? Be sure to let us know how the auction goes. Bravo!

As one of the first large sets I bought after my dark ages (years before I had any trains), this set has a special place in my heart. It's also one of the most "realistic" Town/City Series buildings outside the CC series. I had no idea that the LDD palete had enough pieces to make such a close version of the Train Shedd. In fact, the brick built doors on your MOC are quite an improvement, as the originals didn't go all the way down to the tracks. Nicely done! One more nice thing about this set is that it doesn't use too many unusual pieces and the directions are available for download on LEGO.com, so that an AFOL with a good sized collection could build this with likely only a few parts needing to be Bricklink'ed or PAB'ed. TGBG, You might be one of the few who like's the majority of World City. There were a few jems (like this set), but by-and-large, I found the quasi-futuristic curved design of most World City sets to be quite unremarkable.

There's alot of talk about big boxes here. They boxes are too big, but there are 2 things to remember. 1- Boxes can't be too small. Parents are not going to pay LEGO prices for a small box. It just isn't going to happen. 2-Boxes and packaging have shrunk significantly. Boxes are quite a bit smaller than before, and they don't have the windows, top flaps, and inserts that they used to. Here's something I posted earlier: I got out my copy of "The Brick" (Go to LEGO.com and get your free copy now!) and brought over some more details about LEGO going greener New box sizes -7% smaller -Designed to pack together better -54 sizes of boxes made instead of the 85 that were made last year. -1352 less truck trips needed in europe and 598 less needed in USA Energy reduction -Set goal of 10% reduction over next 3 years so that energy use in 2010 will be 90% of use in 2007 -possible areas include manufacturing, packing and shipping... ...Boxes are still big, but they are smaller and less wasteful than ever before So the current boxes might be wastefull, but real progress is being made and should be noted.

One more thing. When I was a kid, my friend who was very good a technic, made me a machine that would shake my bottles of model paint for me when I turned a crank. It was simple, but the basic back and fourth motion replicated well the shaking back and forth of a bottle by a hand.

The build-a-minifig selection changes often. Sometimes the pieces are very common, and not worth 10 bucks for 3, other times there are some rare figs in there. I recently found some female pirate and governor's daughter torsos, and some dark red agent Trace hair. You are allowed 5 pieces per fig, so one good trick is to choose the rarest 5 pieces regardless of whether they make a complete fig or not. I've done this often, and even when I build complete minifigs, I rarely give them an accessory, usually I instead take an extra hair piece.

Well, I have to say, I'm pretty happy with these new sets. Except for the charming minifigs I'm not terribly interested in toy story sets, but these seem to be well developed and have alot of good crossover with town, and that can only be a good thing. Very excited to seem more of what the train turns out to be as well.

Nice town Bob. As you know, I'm a particular fan of seaside towns, and this one is quite charming. I like the long curving driveway and the neat boulevard it creates. A few suggestions for improvement, most of which have to do with the harbor end of things. -As you said, buy some blue baseplates to fill out your harbor. for the first time in about 15 years, LEGO is selling blue baseplates separately. At 5 bucks (BL used to sell them for 14) they are a steal. Get them now before LEGO decides to nix them. -The roofs and facades of the buildings nearest the harbor and the cargo ship itself could use some detailing. The trouble with displaying the CC series buildings is that you then need to up-detail your own to match. -The doc is a bit plain. A cargo crane, wearhouse, trucks, boathouse, or any number of other naval industrial structures could fill that space. It's extra nice if you can make it seem like they all interact with one another. i.e. cargo goes from boat, to crane, to wearhouse, to truck or train... That's a good way to create a sense of action and continuity. -A couple of fences and a simple awning would bring new life to the train platform. keep up the good work!

Thanks for weighing in Dave, NILTC had similar experiences as you guys, with the exception of -Everybody participated. -Maybe we picked the wrong elements, but 23 of the 80 elements we first submitted were rejected. -While the process moved along well and TLG is very good with communication, there were enough hicups as we internally worked out our orders that I wouldn't describe managing thus far it as "fun". I do expect a good time when the club gathers to divvy up though, and now that we have a workable process though, I think that future orders might approach fun, especially as we plan to meet as a club next time to negotiate partial orders between members. I definitely agree that this is a fantastic program. I know there was alot of skepticism posted here on EB when it was first presented last year, but thus far, there's not much I would change. I really hope that it continues, because being able to order almost 100 bucks of rare parts, at a great price, in quantity and twice a year is something I could really get used to.

"She's a Brick...House"

I used to work for a non-profit that builds affordable housing. Before the housing bust, we were building a line of small affordable homes called Cannan Homes. I was actually planning on buying one myself. For my own interest, and for the company to show at housing fairs, I used the architectural drawings to build a 1 brick to one foot scale model of the home, complete with interiors, landscaping and furnishings for the first and second floors (I didn't build the basement). Then the market took a nosedive, the project was canceled and eventually I took apart the model. I really wish I had a picture of it.