Hey Joe

Thanks for the excellent review. The letters on the license plate are the model designer's initials.

Perhaps those brown things on the back of the truck are some sort of 'rack' to hold the plow if you want to remove it? What's the little side building, an out house? I love the set myself but also think there's too much white on the sables. Here's hoping for a train station next year!

Many thanks for taking the time to photograph and share it. It's VERY impressive. Atlantis (and my toddler son) brought me out of the dark ages (especially the bug-eyed fish) so it's particularly interesting to me. Hope I can make something equally enjoyable for my son someday. We don't really have a layout yet (we're moving sooner rather than later and my son is still pretty young) but I was thinking about building some sort of multi-tiered table to have Atlantis "under water" (not literally in water but below the city, off to the side, probably in the harbor area). Have you (or anyone else reading this) thought of doing something along those lines? I'm not sure how feasible it is. Cheers - Joe

Stupid question time; What's the deal with (the really cool) 'Brickley'? Can you only buy him at certain locations? Cheers!

Hi, I'm wondering if anyone knows of some good web sites regarding using LEGO Duplo with my toddler? I'm aware of the stuff that LEGO has posted in their Education web site, I'm looking for more ideas and techniques. Also, if you'd care to share your experiences with this I'd certainly be interested. Thanks in advance! Joe

The guy who made that also does biblical stories in LEGO. I'm pretty much an atheist but find the stories to be very well done. This is the link: http://www.thebricktestament.com/home.html

Many thanks for the awesome review of an awesome set. That motor is very very interesting to me, the way it sits in between the cars like that. Did LEGO use that configuration in other sets as well?

One major factor (that was briefly mentioned previously) IMO is the sales tax. The sales tax is added at the register in the States whereas the VAT is included in the price in Europe (correct?). The sales tax in my city is 12% so if the set is US$ 100 MSRP then it'll be US$ 112 actually. TRU often marks up the price from MSRP. If you order online then there's no sales tax unless the seller is located in that State (or something like that). Amazon has no physical presence in my state so I don't pay sales tax when ordering through them. I don't pay sales tax when ordering through LEGO S@H either but I believe that people in Connecticut DO because that's where their U.S. operation is at. I've never ordered from TRU Online but I think I would pay sales tax because they have stores in my state? I've been living in China for awhile now; LEGO at the shops here is about exactly double the US MSRP. Drives me bonkers. There are cheaper places to get my fix but it's still spendy in comparison so I know your pain. My Mom is visiting shortly, guess you know what her suitcase will be full of! Europeans pay higher taxes and get better social services I believe? I envy you, you're pretty much on your own in the States. Anyway, that's fodder for a different forum! Have fun!

Is that 'Flatbed and Repair Vehicle' a realistic piece of rolling stock? I can't recall ever seeing anything like that in real life and I used to be quite into trains. I'm American and it's obviously European but I've spent some time 'on the Continent' and have been to many rail museums there. Also, how does the repair vehicle get off of the flatbed? I like the set a lot (even though that loader thing is a little on the <insert that tiresome argument> side) and will probably buy it just for the rolling stock (which is unfortunately difficult to come by on its own). Hopefully I can sell the engine which looks a little too long for my taste. Who knows, I'll probably fall in love with it after I put it together, it really looks cool. Thanks for the great review and thanks in advance for any replies to my query.

All of these look interesting and worthwhile to me with the possible exception of the athletes. We've gotten so many athletes now, how are we to incorporate them into our sets? They'd look a little odd walking down the street in my Town/City layout. Anyway, great fun!

Galaxy Patrol sounds like a group/organization, like the Highway Patrol? Maybe it sound be Galaxy Patrolman? Anyway, guess we should just go with what comes out of Billund (but I'd forgotten what it was).

Wow, I'm really glad I read your post as I hadn't even realized that 'Hawaiian Girl' had a grass skirt! Luckily I'd saved the packages so I was able to go back and retrieve it. She didn't look odd in her green bikini bottoms, she's in Hawaii after all and the lifeguard was similarly attired (well, if memory serves she has a one piece but it looks the same towards the bottom). That's something that irks me a bit about these CMFs, to my knowledge there doesn't seem to be a resource that tells you exactly what's in each packet and how it's supposed to look. Perhaps Lugnet, I dunno? If someone could clue me in I'd appreciate it. It's tough to get an overall picture from the stylized figures on Lego.com and Brickset. For example, the mummy drawing doesn't reveal that a scorpion is included. The identical (for the series) papers that they include with each figure aren't a great help either. For example, for the Space Warrior in series 7 the paper doesn't show his helmet on the parts side (I looked because I wanted to see if I was missing a visor). When I first read about the CMFs the article said that there was a card in each packet to go along with the figure, I imagined something along the lines of the cards included in PotC. THAT would have been easy for LEGO to have done and REALLY COOL besides.

Wow, we're getting some great replies here, many thanks! As a newcomer I really appreciate them. When I was a boy, Legos were just simple blocks (not so interesting in the long-term but I do remember spending many hours with them) then I got into comic books and HO trains so I'm pretty ignorant of Legos in the past, one of the reasons for my original post. I've been browsing Brickset, trying to get a handle on what Lego's been up to for the past forty years but - as you can imagine - it's not so simple to get a comprehensive overview, even from a great site such as Brickset (and this one too, of course). The modular buildings are really interesting to me (as are the CMFs, Trains, Winter Village, Atlantis and Creator buildings) and just looking at all their other recent offerings it just seemed to be heads above what they've done in the past, speaking as someone with no nostagia to cloud my judgement (but I'm definitely going to take a harder look at some of the time periods and sets mentioned in your posts). I love the all of the new Star Wars sets myself but...sigh...have a budget (and I'm aiming at a Town/City-style layout with some trains) so I've not bought any save one; the new Luke's Landspeeder. Hopefully it won't look too out-of-place whizzing past the City Hall? I used the term 'Golden Age' because of my background in comics fandom. If I remember correctly the Golden Age of comics in the US was in the 1940s. Yes, absolutely but in the past I always seemed to get involved in things (baseball cards come to mind) a little past their heyday so I'm looking for confirmation of something that I already suspect; I got into something at a good time! I'm with you on this one GRogall. Legos are cool but I can barely justify buying them during sales at their present price. They seem quite spendy for what is, at the end of the day, small bits of plastic. I'm living in China presently and they're even MORE expensive here with the import tax. I've been getting some of the locally made stuff. Most of it is horrible but some of it isn't bad. Sometimes the shoddy instructions and/or missing parts force you to innovate, which isn't a bad thing. The price can't be beat!

When do you think that the 'Golden Age' of Lego was/is (or what will it take for it to be in the future)? It just seems to me - perhaps I should say up front that I'm recently back from a very long time in the dark ages - that they're really producing some very cool sets these days. Have they hit their stride? Can this be considered a 'Golden Age' or would those of you more familiar with their previous offerings consider the some point in the past to be the peak?

Well, this is a very interesting thread, to me anyway. I'm curious if Enlighten trains are still available in the West? I've never seen any of their stuff in the market I sometimes go to here in Beijing (BaiRong, a mega-market basically the size of a small city where you can get just about anything you could ever possibly want and/or need).

Hi Mark, I can't speak for the others and I'm new myself but I was reading the reviews of 7499 and it didn't sound like I wanted any flexible track (which makes up a sizeable portion of 7499). So, I was just casting about for alternatives.

Awesome skinkfem, just what I was looking for, many thanks. My logic is on the same track as yours, why not get some if it's compatible? It's just track. Maybe I can just use it to run a spur up to my winter village or some such thing? Even if it just sits in the box it's not like I'm out much money. So I guess I'm publicly expressing my wish for a Winter Village train station and/or train set as well (from Lego of course)? Will keep my fingers crossed.

Ok Harnbak, I will, thanks. I've heard of BrickLink of course but haven't used it yet. Are those genuine Lego track pieces? The prices seem reasonable. Oh, I'm from the States so when I look at the prices here in Beijing I nearly faint! Luckily I work near an outlet mall that has a toy shop so I can score a few things there (Atlantis and Duplo stuff mostly) and my Chinese wife helps me with the local version of eBay (Collectable Minifigs and a few Creator sets) but it still pisses me off when I look at the prices on Amazon. The larger sets are totally out of my price range even in those 'bargain' locales. So, I'm salivating over getting some train sets when I return Stateside!

Hi JopieK, I hear you about the alternative brands sucking and I'd agree with you to a certain extent. Mainly I just wanted to get some decent straight track which - it seems from surfing about - Lego isn't selling presently? If I'm wrong about that kindly smack me in the head. I don't care for eBay and have never used it but perhaps I should consider it? Lego is so crazy expensive here (double US prices in the shops) that I've been picking up a few Chinese sets just to check them out so I'm familiar with SluBan and I'd say you have to pick and choose. I've built some of their buses, a battleship and a tank that I've been satisfied with (keep in mind that I bought them here locally in China and they were very reasonably priced). Some of their other stuff looks pretty hideous design-wise. The military stuff isn't an option with Lego of course and the buses were so cheap, I can't complain. I tried to post a pic of the battleship but I've not been alloted enough space. BanBao (should be BangBao) is the better company IMO but then again, only some of their stuff is acceptable and it doesn't come close to 'the real thing'. Unfortunately their bricks are a little larger so I try to avoid them. They sell entire LEGO-like train sets which I'm not interested in, I just want the track! Anyway, I just wanted to clarify why (there's also the old saying of "When in Rome..." which is probably having an effect on my thinking as well) I was wanting to go the Chinese route and thanks for your reply!

Hi Folks, I'm wondering if anyone has any experience with using non-Lego tracks with their Lego trains? Specifically, I'm wondering if the Chinese brand 'Ban Bao' track will work? Kindly see attached jpeg. Even though I'm a little new to this hobby I fully realize that perhaps I'm being a little blasphemous so maybe I should apologize, particularly since this is my first posting to this excellent forum. I've been living in China for awhile and am planning to return to the US sooner than later and I want to get some Lego stuff for my toddler (the impetus for my emergence from the Dark Ages) in the US (it's crazy expensive here with the import tax) and I've noticed that it's a bit of a problem to get straight tracks so I was thinking that perhaps some Chinese stuff might do the trick? If you don't know that's totally understandable but maybe you could take some close up photos of the Lego track (the newer Power Functions-type) and/or post the dimensions? Perhaps either one would help (and would be better than nothing for sure)! Ok, thanks in advance! Cheers, Joe Oh, perhaps I should've posted this in the pinned 'Questions' topic?