Mr Bill

Thanks LH! That confirms what I've heard form other "official" sources... I never believed the other reasons people threw around (to compete with MegaBlocks/Tyco or testing showed moms were more receptive to buying the brighter greys and other such non-sense)... For me I count myself among those who were greatly annoyed at first. Since every new color means I have to add as many as 20 new drawers to my sorting system I wasn't sure how I'd approach the 3 new versions... Ultimately (and after much thought) I lumped them with their original counterparts. I know many keep them separate but the deciding factor for me was simply this: because greys in my city MOCs represent concrete and brown represents trees/lumber, all I have to do is look at the world around me and see much variance in the concrete and trees/wood structures around me. And (unless it's a part that ONLY exists in one of the greys), if I don't like two "contrasting parts" aligned together, I simply swap them out. Problem solved. I'm also keenly aware that over time the ratio of old to new will swing as I acquire more of the new. In fact after 40 years of accumuating Lego I'm now at the point where it's about 50/50 old to new in all three colors... --Mr Bill

I had a similar incident here in San Diego. In building my collection of medium blue I bought several of the beach house sets at the local Lego Store. When I opened one of them it only contained a bunch of sealed bags of MegaBlocks!!! I took it back and the manager exchanged it, but I know he wondered if *I* was theone who did the swap. I think being a regular and faithful customer ($200 to $500 a month) helped. The box, btw, was prefectly resealed -- I usually slice the tape with an exacto knife. After talking with some of my fellow SanDLUG members I learned his has been a growing problem here in San Diego. San Diego is where some time ago a culprit was caught making his own bar codes and putting them on Lego at TRU and Target to pay a lower price. He was eventually caught and charged with shoplifting. One of our members actually opens his boxes in the store after paying to make sure he's got a proper set, much to the dismay of the cashiers, but he does it because TRU and Target do not take back such sets. The culprit presumably uses a hair dryer to unseal the tape, make the swap and then reseals the set and takes it back. To our knowledge this was the first time he/she was ballsy enough to do it at the Lego Store (with TRU and Target being the usual venues of his/her crime). --Mr Bill

Hello! I've been a member for a while now, but haven't posted until now -- I've largely been a lurker so far, and visit for the latests news, etc. But now I've seen a few topics I'd like to join in on as well as the cool EuroBricks contests! I'm Bill "Mr. Bill" Gowdy from San Diego and have been building with Lego for, well, a very long time. I got my first set (in the Samsonite days) when I was six and have been building and buying ever since. I never had a "dark ages" and have used Lego as a collector, a builder and in my filmmaking hobby (something I now do for a living). I don't really have a favorite theme as I find something appealing in virtually every theme TLG has develeoped. But I DO enjoy the CC modulars, trains, classic space and most of the licensed themes... Most of my MOCs are town (mods) or space and I have a propensity to hide little humorous elements in all I build... Looking forward to joining in the conversations here and participating in events! --Mr. Bill (now I have to make an avatar)...