Front

I don't do Bionicle at home either, although I have quite some of the never sets. Building for me is 98% system at the moment, with 2% technic parts thrown in. But I sit in the Bionicle project group, and when you work with these characters that the sets are, you end up loving them. Will be great meeting you both. But let's see what Ras come up with, it's not like I have to stay at one place all day, so maybe I can participate in some sort of "getting together" outside "parken". Front

I guess Japan is not having the complete lineup either, not even delayed. In the future I would expect the Asian market, including Japan, to have a higher priority for TLC. Front

Well I previously wrote I probably would not attend the event. The news are now that I will. Saturday and sunday (14th and 15th) I will be managing the Bionicle "area" in parken, as LEGO employe. As you may know I'm a part designer at LEGO in Billund, doing mostly Bionicle but also system elements and other cool secrets :-) This mean I'll probably be there from 10 AM till 5 PM. I am really looking foreward to help children enjoy building with Bionicle at the big tables that will be available. Bionicle will be placed right next to the Star Wars area. I am also looking foreward to meet other EB members. You will find Mr. Front named as Erland. It will be a busy two weeks, the week before I will attend the worlds biggest toy fair in Nürnburg. Right now I'm extremely busy doing technical design on 2010 elements, so a few trips to events are very welcomed. :thumbup:

The high strength form is characterized by having longer molecules (plastic is polymers, basicly long chains of atom groups forming a molecule), resulting in slightly higher yeild strength, but also a higher and more problematic viscosity during the molding proces. Excuse for any possible mispelling, that's some words I rarely type :-) Front

ABS is probably the most used material for bricks, but it has to be understood that more materials are in use, that are indistinguishable from ABS without actual destructive testing of the material. Softer materials are found in several variants, e.g. the type used for the many different Bionicle weapons. There are a lot of other soft materials, like those used for tires, or specials used for translucent soft bricks. In some cases materials are even mixed. In that sense, it is not wise to translate the behaviour due to material of one "brick" with another "brick", as they may infact be of different material types. The material for a specific brick, is chosen to optimise the function of the element, and at the same time taking the safety for the end user very serious. Front

I had the double of these parts too. Half were packed seperately in a bag. Surely a "mess up" in the packing proces. Front

Well surely they are part of LEGO System, it's just that their use is rather limited. I did a check on bricklink, and you are right, I see some of these plates are used as late as 2004. My initial thought was that the use had been stopped much earlier, because of the inability to build right under the "triangle". Anyway, I think if a designer proposed a new element with a limitation like this, they would need good arguments before the element would end up in production. Probably a comprimise would be reached allowing better usability of the element. Front

Starting out as consultant at LEGO in Billund in 2007, doing the technical design on new bricks, and being full time employed since the start of 2008, I have really got back to something that was going on more than 30 years ago. And that is building with bricks. I am myself shocked to realise that I have bought close to 100 sets during 2008 (not counting Bionicle), and have built most of them. Quite some of these sets are multiples of smaller sets like Exo-Force from 2006, but still I got a big selecting of the lines of 2005-2008. This has learnt me a lot about how to build with bricks, but I am really still a novice. I have nothing to do with designing sets at LEGO, but only looks at the technical design of the individual bricks. Building is "home work" I have learnt a lot about the technical design of bricks during these two years, while developing new bricks. This has mostly been Bionicle elements but lately I have been working on System bricks. System bricks need to be designed so that the building functions are maximized with all previously released bricks, or should I say the current line of bricks. There are some old bricks that do not fit the "rules" of the LEGO System, and would surely not be released today, but more on that later following the picture below. What most may not know is that new Bionicle elements need to have its building functions maximised too. Well it obvious that the dimensions of a cross-axle has to be within tolerances. But it is not so obvious, that you can't just design an element with random external dimension. Every element has to fit the Technic and to a lesser part the System building "system". This is a task that a designer may not pay 100% attention to, but I as a technical designer must do. Another very important task is to make sure that the toy is safe. LEGO is for kids, and nobody wants to design and release anything that could potentially be harmful or dangerous. Now visiting my parents this christmas, I was glad to see that my father had found a small box of LEGO for me to see, me and my brothers old toys. The bricks were mixed with other old garbage and stuff, so some sorting had to be done. There should still be boxes to be found in the house, and I hope to have more to sort, maybe next winter. The bricks are from the late 70's, and shown below is a small selection. The first thing to note is the old minifigure without movable arms and legs, and with only a normal knob connecting the head to the body. These are seen along with the classic Space Minifigure. Did the old minifigure had print on the head ? Some of mine lacks those, and I can't see if it has just worn off. At #3 old wheels are seen. There was maybe 25 of these but many were broken, as the metal axle har parted from the 2x2 brick. A not very ideal design. A better design is the similar wheels on a 2x2 plate, but still with a metal axle. The wheels at #4 are all metal axle wheels fitting to a 2x4 brick with bearings fitted inside the brick. It looks like a very sturdy design but seems a bit "over-engineered" and may have been very expensive to produce. Underneath the old minifigures are some plate-hinges. Some of these were broken too, but I think I as a kid was very rough in the handling of my toys The two shown are in fine condition though. At #5 there is a small SNOT element, with two knobs and a technic hole. A lot of the printed bricks were kind of worn, but not so the space logos. They may not look exactly new, but they are really fine. The box contained maybe 15 of the 1x4 bricks in different colours, with car headlight and grill printed on them. Many of those prints were really worn. #2 is a small yellow element with a ball connected to a round 1x1 plate. This is a hand of one of the many figures in the box, the figures much larger than the minifigure. I am not sure about the production years of these figures, but most of the printing on the heads were in a bad shape. The three grey plates at #1 is from Classic Space. They are surely not in production today, as they don't really fit into the System. You can't place these on a baseplate, as the triangle at the corner will collide with a knob on the plate (by the way the baseplate is a new one). I hope you liked seeing some of my oldest bricks, I really enjoyed finding them again. The amazing thing is that I could remember most of them. Even my younger brother, who has not touched LEGO for 25 years, can remember some of the bricks and their described "faults", when I explain him over the phone, how they look. What an amazing iconic toy. Front

Well in Denmark everyone call the toy Lego, like: "I play with Lego" "I bought you some Lego" "That piece of plastic is Lego" Front

What about Harrods ? Isn't that the name of the old famoues shopping "center". I'm not a Londoner, but I remember visiting in 2005, and had a walk around the toy section there, and if my memory serves me well, I think they had lots of Lego. Maybe their prices are higher than at other places. Front

I've heard so much about monorail, but this is the first time I see it. Thank you for showing it in details. I want a new monorail, a new space line. Front

Looks great, good combination of system bricks and bionicle ball joints. Some time back I though about adding wheels to a mechs legs, so that it could crouch down and drive on them. Not sure that your wheels are suppose to do that though. Front

This is just a sad story, I can't believe you had to wait for that long to get your money. Thank Copmike for emailing someone at TLG, I guess that is Jan. What should be done is telling the CEO about how some fans are treated, fans who put their spare time up for free for TLG to use. TLG should make it up for our Finish friends, by sending them an extra present. That would be good karma. Front

My first moc must be back in the seventies, I have no clue what it was supposed to be, but I have just sorted some old bricks from my childhood, and there are lots of wheels with metal axles, a bit of train and some space. I only had a few pieces of Duplo. Moc on the internet ? Well that's my alternatives of Exo-Force here on EB, probably 7701 first. Or maybe that does not count as a moc? Front

I was searching for this thread here, before posting my smaller dodekahedron in this thread Advanced building technics. Did not find this thread here though. I saw this one first, but used hinged plates to make pentagon (five-sided) shape. There are several more methods to make the shape out of Lego, at least what I've seen on the web. But the green half-dome shown here is really nice. Front

The viking sets I got features firing misiles, but they are not technic bushings fitted into a technic hole, that are popped out when triggered. Front

I doubt there is any production in UK. The site is listed as an Exporter/Importer, so it must be a regional office, taking care of sales and marketing in UK. Other buisness developement might take place there too.

I've built this set and rate it "Above Average". Among all the sets I've built in 2008, and that is a lot, this set stands out as the most thought through design. Looking at the box I thought: "this looks boring, but hey, it's a SW set". As stated in this review, the functions are nice. When I built it I wondered, now this is a strange way to assemble bricks, only to end up with some function that I haven't really seen before. The way the bombs are dropped one by one is really clever, but the firing misiles a the top of the ship, was the biggest surprise. I'm amazed that it shoot so well, and don't think I've seen this particular shooting function in any Lego set before. The set is quite sturdy. The big top of the aircraft open up nicely and is well hinged, and there is a locking mechanism to keep it in place. Another mechanism I've not seen before. The wings are as sturdy as they get, nice smooth rotation up and down. The front cockpit is hinged and can be put in two positions. But it can fall off, as can some of the side plates on it (and guns) if handled hard. The single antenna can fall of too, but that's it, a very sturdy set. Front

I think a lot of crazy gearings and mechanisms can be created with these new wheels and drills. At least they must be more usefull than the average big brick. Front

Coldbricks, I don't like the way you put your reply, but I actually 100 % aggree with your view. I was told by an admin once not to delete a post, 5 seconds after it was deleted, not even giving me two seconds more to explain why I did it (wanted a new topic instead of adding a reply). Instead I was met with a "do not do it again" leason. My reply? I basicly told the admin to mind his own buisness. Please admins, stop asking people to be 18 when joining, and then act yourself like someone below that age, when dealing with people double that age. Front

Got them all (Catwoman keyring mod though), like them all, voted for KillerCroc. I love his mean agressive reptile look. Front

Nice mosaics and models on your homepage, Mariann. Bookmarked Front

Yes, but Star Wars set and other licensed themes are often a bit less discounted. Employees can only buy sets for there own use, they are not allowed to buy for others. The good thing is that Lego employees can find the "not so popular and 1-2 year old sets" with an extra discount. Front

Yes, two 2M cross axles (red are used in this set) fit into the ends of those yellow sections. I've built this set too, and fully agree on it being stable and sturdy. But do not expext to be able to lift heavy things with it. When I built it I thought, the way the grey "cable" (three connected axles) connect the beam and the back section was really not a secure build. After completing it, I got wiser Front

Very creative design of wings. All in all this is a great moc, I like the look of it indeed. Front