Hey Joe

A nice little set, would it be correct to call it an impulse set? Hopefully this won't sound too stereotypical; it looks like they haven't thrown in the towel completely (with Friends) re: selling regular sets to girls?

I'm a little new to Lego so please correct me if I'm wrong; the train seems like a great little set? Some nice details for us big kids but not so detailed that you're reluctant to let the kids play with it and/or you're constantly looking for little parts that fall off if they do? Wish it weren't licensed but I'll look for it on discount.

After the revulsion of the horror of seeing Lego encapsulated like that had worn off I thought maybe in twenty, fifty, however-many years we might appreciate the fact that someone went to the trouble to preserve sets like that. I guess it's the way that it's being done and the money involved that bothers me.

Really excellent, maybe just a little too modern-looking to blend in with some of the official modulars? It has a nice balance of features though. FYI; perp stands for perpetrator and is slang for suspect.

Well, I'm on the record in this thread as being anti-licensing BUT these are some pretty cool looking sets. Hope the movie isn't so violent so my son could watch it, I'm not holding my breath about that though. 'Prince of Persia' was WAY too violent for the age group Lego is marketing these sets towards, I'm starting to get a little upset at the entire industry in general and Lego in particular. Sorry to be such a grump but somebody has to point these things out.

10229 Winter Cottage is sold out now, bummer! Thought I'd snag it after Xmas, on sale or Double VIP points or something. They'll bring it back next October?

Super awesome! Who knew trolls could ski?

That's very impressive, thanks for sharing! Joe

Holy rolling stock! Put it on Cuusoo!

A box of 32, with two complete sets inside, would have probably been better? It's pretty obvious so I'm guessing that the box layout didn't allow for this configuration but layouts can be changed. Thanks.

Yeah, really; this whole topic kinda blows my mind. I could imagine all that work for a deep scratch but for minor stuff I'd have to say you're fighting a losing battle.

Very, very impressive and thanks for sharing! Personally, the green space works for me; you need someplace to expand in the future, right? One thing I would do is make some sort of 'background'. Something spray painted a simple light blue (something along the lines of a City box background would be better!) would look 10x better than a brick wall and would make your lovely work stand out so much more.

Wow, I used to love to watch the old B & W reruns when I was a kid and I love Lego now but the licensed stuff really turns me off. Wish Lego would just do their own western thing. What's up with all this licensed stuff these days? Lego doesn't have confidence, licensed stuff is more profitable, kids and parents look for (demand) it, what?

Putting the minifig into parts might make it a little more difficult for someone to pinch the minifig from the bookshop?

They're are some wealthy people with money to waste. It's a little disgusting, isn't it?

I always have moments like this. Usually (unless it is truly a MUST HAVE set) I will think of what the wife will say and then put it back on the shelf.

Ok thanks for the long reply Qro. Have fun, Joe

Hi, yes I was talking about the light blue titles on the white background. Normally I click on View New Content and look at the titles to quickly find what's new or interesting. It's not the easiest of color schemes to read IMO. Thanks, Joe

Great review, it's nice how you added the slide of yourself. Now that 2012 is here and we have City Garage 4207 I'd really like to hear about your thoughts on it. My young son is interested in garages (not sure why really, the cars and lights I guess?) so I'll probably get it for him.

It looks new to me but I've just been using the site since this past summer. Is it the winter theme? I find it difficult to quickly go through the post titles when I click on 'New Content' to find what interests me and ultimately it's bothersome. Perhaps a darker shade of blue for the letters, I dunno? My screen's color settings are often calibrated with my Spyder so I don't think it's a hardware problem on my end (unless eyeballs can be considered as such!). Thanks, Joe

Reminds me of that Monty Python skit, how did it go? "We had to wake up at 4 in the morning, half-an-hour before we went to bed, crawl to the mill on our hands and knees to pay the mill owner to work there" Great stuff! Anyway, nostalgia does seem to be a major factor in many of the replies to this thread, which is totally understandable. Personally, I wasn't into Lego when the classic space, pirates, etc, was coming out so I feel that now is the best time however, I just put together a knock off of an old Lego pirate ship and if I had been of the proper age when that baby first hit the stores I would - without a doubt - say that that was definitely a golden time. So for me, this really seems like Lego's peak. I just wish I could afford to buy more of it!

Hi All (particularly the all-powerful webmaster, keeper of the fonts, passwords and site colors), Sorry to be a pain but this new blue letters on white background is killing my eyes! If no one else feels the same I'll sit down, shut up, grin and bear it but if it's not too much to ask could you change it back? How do YOU feel about it? Cheers, Joe

Thanks Qro, how much would a complete set of Series 1 be in HK roughly? Where do you shop for Lego there, do you go to that market where most of the shops are open on the weekend? It's described on this Smashing Bricks blog page here. I used to go to HK every so often but haven't been for a long time, it doesn't seem to be worth it to me to go all the way there just for Lego! I usually buy Lego from Taobao (China's eBay) here in Beijing, it's cheaper than in the shops. My wife does the Chinese for me. I pay a little more than US$ 50 for a complete set of sixteen figs for the CMFs on Taobao, very reasonable I think. This past summer - when I first started collecting them - I passed on Series 1 for about US$ 100. I'm kinda kicking myself for not getting them then as the price has gone up. I was going to offer to take that stuff off your hands as well, but I don't have much to trade.

Great news, Lego, Apple and Barnes & Noble under one roof, what more could one need? Hope I can find a parking spot!

Hi Qro and welcome to EB, it's a great site. My name's Joe and I've been living in Beijing for a long time, originally from the States. There aren't too many posters here from China that I can remember. I got into Lego via Duplo for my son and I've got all the CMFs except series one myself, so your story sounds familiar. Ok, have fun, Joe