Eilif

I'm going to make it simple for everyone. Ben 10 line can be explained by the following equasion Bionicle + Galidor + CrashTestDummies = LEGO + BEN 10 Fans of Ben 10, Galidor, Bionicle or Crash Test Dummies (possibly also the KK2 large figs) will be thrilled. I think they are relatively useless to a system MOC'er like myslef and won't be getting any of these. However I'm not a fan of any of the mentioned lines, so my opinion is pretty irrelavent, and rightfully so.

Appologies if this has been mentioned before (I'm not going back through 30 pages, sorry). Anybody else think that Squidman from SPIII could have a lot of uses in Atlantis?

Of course it is not beneficial right now, but if humanity is going to colonize the moon one day, discerning whether or not water exists is of vital importance. Also NASA has a long history of developing technologies for space exploration that are public domain and end up being quite beneficial to the rest of humanity. Here's a partial list of products that NASA has brought us. Not all from the first landing, but you get the idea. http://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/news/f...asaspinoff.html As to the first moon landing, as any student of history knows, it was as much about competition with the USSR as it was about exploration. At the time, Democracy and Communism were in a worldwide competition and both sides believed it was of the utmost importance to prove that their worldview could produce feats that would out-perform the other. It might not be a pressing concern today, but make no mistake, there was alot at stake at the first landing. Most arguments about space exploration come down to the people who put an emphasis on exploring the unknown and testing the limits of human achievements vs those who would rather concentrate on solving present human concerns. I am personally undecided about the value of space exploration, everyday I see the many ways in which even in a prosperous country like the US there are still important areas of immidate concern relating to people's well being, and these areas are all to often neglected in government budgets. On the other hand, I don't think that we will ever make the earth a utopia, and my desire to see "what can be done" rebels at the thought of ceasing our push to expand our reach beyond the earth.

I voted for INDY. Brilliant sets, highly usefull accessories and minifigs, and color schemes that don't leave you wondering "what do I do with these bricks now". Harry Potter was a close second, and Harry potter did more than perhaps any other theme to introduce buildings and structure-usefull pieces in natural colors. However, the minifigs and accessories, though brilliant, weren't quite as usefull to me as the Indy, hence my choice. It also helps that most of HP happened during my Dark ages.

Interesting theme. Obviously another vehicle/play based theme that will not please alot of AFOL's, but I must say that I am very pleased with the figs, especially the Atlantians. I'll withhold final judgement on the vehicles until I see them in person, but the follwing sets are on my "Must Buy" list. 8072 (the mini underwater scooter) 8073 (mini set with atlantian) 8057 (scooter and sharkman) 8061 (sunken temple with cthulu man) It's nice that the temple is tan and grey based, so it -and possibly future structures- will at least be made of colors that I like to MOC with. Also I'm very glad to see that the swim fins are not a translucent color. I view this new theme the way I view Power Miners and Space Police. The vehicles inspire varying degrees of interest (from "cool" to "meh") and I'm not interested in collecting the entire series, but I'm pleased to see new and interesting figures and accessories that will have use elsewhere. I do like that this particular incarnation of LEGO's underwater world is giving us a more fantasy vibe, rather than the more naturalist or sci-fi feelings of previous incarnations. There's also the great potential for AFOL's to MOC in this theme and come up with some great underwater vehicles. Much the same way that there have been some amazing AFOL Power Miner MOCs. Even if the rest of the theme were rubbish (which I don't think it is) the atlantean figs alone would be enough for me to say "Thanks TLG!" for thinking ouside-the-box and giving us something new.

That's a question, but I think the "usefullness" of the issue is that if the moon holds alot of water, it could make it alot easier to establish a permanent Moon base, potentially a chance to develop technologies for exploring other planets.

Wow! Your freight cars are some of the best I've seen in a while. The grey car (grain perhaps) is simply stunning in it's incorporation of curves and detailing.

Wow, this is a particularly great assemblage of high quality Train MOCs. I'm not going to say who I voted for, but my favorites were the Pancho, ACT, German, and the Norfolk&Western, though there were others that were equally impressive. It's great when you see LEGO trains where you could remove the figures and it looks almost like a lionel set.

Joint account Family cards! Anyone else notice this? You can have family cards linked to the same account. I'm going to get one for my wife. She occasionally brings home LEGO surprises for me, and it'd be nice to have her surprises add up to rewards for me also! Yep, That's the rub. With the stamp card, assuming you buy exctly in $25 increments (a big assumption) a full stamp card gets you a 7.5% reward, whereas the new system is pretty much a strait 5%, with a few additions. This is why I think this new program will end up being a better one. I've often made small purchases and not gotten any points, and with the stamps, a $36 purchase only gets you $25 worth of rewards. In the long run I think this will get me more rewards, and make me more willing to make little impulse purchases. I wouldn't be surprised if this program gets expanded into shop-at-home as well, eventually. Since it's already registered online, it wouldn't be that difficult. A bit off-topic, but I like my Borders Rewards, I don't spend alot there, but it adds up and about every other month, I get a $5 gift card. That's a free book! I also frequently get $40% off coupons in my email, and that's nothing to scoff at!

Morrissey : Your Arsenal. First listen after picking it up from a used shop. Really a good Album.

The Big Kahuna. It wasn't universally panned by every critics, but so few people saw it or even remember it that it might as well have been. Amazing movie (adapted from a play) about the intersection of faith, humanity and business. 3 guys in a room: Danny DeVito, Kevin Spacy, Peter Facinelli. Goes from funny to in-your-face drama. I can't recommend it highly enough. Titus Julia Taymore's adaption of "Titus Andronicus" was another great that didn't so much disappear, but never really appeard. Shakespeares words with bizaire visuals that mix the ancient, modern and 1940's. Blood, sex, romans, deciet, murder and canibalism. What more can you want? Great acting also, not the least of which comes from Anthony Hopkins. These are the only immidiately recalled favorites of mine that were truely hated or completely kicked asside. However I have a heck of a time getting anyone to sit through Lawrence of Arabia with me, and That Thing You Do and Gattaca are drastically under-appreciated.

Thanks for posting this quick review. I have the dwarf battle pack, and I didn't notice the difference when I purchased them. If it hadn't been mentioned here, I wouldn't have known. It's disapointing, but it doesn't bother me that much. I'm still going to buy one or two more just to get some more dwarfs before LEGO has a chance to cancel the line.

I may be too late for this, but I wanted to mention that I saw these at the downtown store, and it may be best to call ahead to check what they have. On the other hand, any excuse to get to the LEGO store is a good one! Hope you all find (found) what you are (were) looking for.

I would like to thank the Ambassadors for this heads up. I am disapointed about the loss of Pirates, but as has been said by many other folks, we now have time to stock up, and we now know that it will probably be back in a few years. LEGO's stated strategy of a few evergreen themes and alot of other short term themes means that we as AFOL's will have to adjust in the following ways: -We have to accept that if we like a set with a particular vehicle, figure, etc. we need to get it and not wait for a similar set later. -We may also have to think long term and realize that certain themes may return in cycles. -We may have to be ok with shifting to a new theme or MOC'ing while we wait for the next incarnation of our favorite theme. These are not easy things, but LEGO has to be able to shift quickly in response to trends and be constantly introducing something "new" for the kids. I'm just glad that kids grow, so that LEGO is able to periodically re-introduce old themes as "new".

This is one of the things that I like best about this and your other creations. A well executed MOC is a thing of beauty, but when it's placed in a scene -especially one with a narrative- it really brings it to life and stirs the imagination. It's the same reason that I usually find a military diorama with good quality models to be more impressive than a museum quality model on it's own. Of course with this example you can have your cake and eat it too!

Great review, and good job with the comparisons. Clearly alot of things have changed in minifigs, motorcylces, etc, but it's nice to see that LEGO City is finally starting to take more cues from the classic 80's style town sets that are so iconic to so many LEGO fans. Now if only we could get bikes in a color other than red...

I voted for diversity. I'm not a "collector" in the sense that I don't collect and catalog official LEGO minifigs, but I do love to acquire and assemble as many different minifgs as possible for my LEGO MOCs. This is especially true for city where -with the exception of some "uniformed" figs, I almost never have two of the same figure in the 600+ city figs that I have. I'll usually keep the first example of a LEGO fig that I acquire in it's original configuration, but that's only a guideine that I use until I find that I need a part of that figure somewhere else. I often acuqire 2 or more additional figs of the same fig through PAB, sales and used purchases and for those I will nearly always mix and match to make new figs. The Indy Cairo set is a great example of a set where multiple purchases and mixing with other parts can make alot of diverse minifigs. I don't mind some uniformity in areas where it makes sense (castle, and pirate soldiers and space figs) but those are not my main areas of interest.

I like this alot. I'm especially fond of the hull shape. When I built the two yachts for my marina, I experimented with a few hull shapes but came back to the basic LEGO designs which are classic, but not at all realistic. You're SNOT hull shape on the other hand is inspired and looking at it, I see that it appears to be an ingeniously straitforward build using pieces that most folks probably have already! I may have to steal some ideas from this one.

Pictures are great, but this thing is a beauty in person! What PQ didn't tell you all was that he took the car home one night and by the next day had this beauty running on the rails! On the other hand, it's three weeks later, and the guy who have him the idea (yours truly) still hasn't even started building the car he bought. Oh the shame...

Nice Job, Very charming. To my eye it seems that the facade could use a minor change. Either the middle white section could match the outside white sections, or either it or the outside section or the pillars could have some color to them. Perhaps the round white colum pieces could be red. This is a minor suggestion however, and this is a very nice MOC, especially since it is your first. You can't go wrong with 16x16!

Just got in from the downtown Chicago LEGO store Nothing huge, but I just wanted to let you all know that they have some pirate parts including princess and soldier torsos in the build a minifig bin area. They also have agent trace long ponytail hair and some of the older style heads. Quick tip. Build a minifig and put another headgear piece in each section instead of an "accessory" In the pick-a-brick they have a pretty normal selection except that they have trans-clear 1x2 brick, Black 2x2 sloped computer screens and 1x2 grey profile (ridged) brick. Also, the new brick journal (blue spaceship on cover) is in stock.

Thanks for the kind words folks. I'm going to bump this once more. I'm hoping to meet on this thursday evening with folks who are interested in participating. Looking for 1. Volunteer instructors: help at 5-10 of the 10 sessions 2. Special presenters: Come once to make a special presentation to the youth. (space, robots, architecture, cars, whatever...) Even if you can't meet this thursday, if you're insterested in participating, PM me anyway. Thanks.

Hey Folks, As some of you know I run Building In Lawndale (BILd) a club for 3rd Grade boys here in the Chicago neighborhood of North Lawndale. It's a weekly club that meets with 10 pre-selected students from 6-8PM on Thursdays for 10 weeks. Our object is to use LEGO for education and character development. I'm looking for one or two volunteers that would be interested in participating as a co-leader for 5 to 10 of the sessions. Hinkley myself and two other AFOL's were the leaders last year, but Hinkley got hired by some amusement park and had to move to California so he is not able to participate. I know it's short notice, but the first session will be on October 1st. However, if you can't make that session, it's ok. I'll work with your schedule, but I would hope that volunteer instructors could come to at least 5 of the sessions. Lastly, we are also looking for Guest Presenters to do special 1-time presentations. If you have a LEGO activity or special LEGO skill that you would like to present, we'd love to have you give a special presentation to the boys. I'd be happy to answer any questions about the program here or via PM. I also have the original project proposal and last session's Annual report that I can email anyone who might be interested!

LEGO advent calendars are a famliy tradition for my wife and I. I purchase advent calendars every year. I puchased two of the castle advent calendars last year when they were special-offered to the USA. I would love to be able to purchase a pirate advent calendar this year. Signed, Eilif

Good Idea for a thread. For myself, I "play" much the same as an adult as I did as a kid. As a kid, I was far more interested in setting scenes, organizing troops, building, and equiping than in fighting and action. Not in a OCD way, (I've never had any problem disassembling, taking apart, or modifying) rather I was simply far more interested in "creating" than in "doing". That pretty well describes the way I use LEGO today. I build largely for the enjoyment of building, displaying, and socializing with other LEGO fans and the public at large.