MAB

Wash things starting mild and progressively get harsher and stop when either happy or you've destroyed them. So water only, then with a mild soap, then with a little agitation, then a fabric washing liquid, let them soak, then very dilute bleach, then dilute bleach,... it depends what you want to achieve. They will never be bright white like new again unless you use a harsh cleaner that is likely to damage the coloured parts. As for torn holes, you can sew them, glue them, glue fabric circles around them, use fabric tape, tie string around the corner, or leave them and accept that they are old and battle damaged. Or buy replacements on bricklink.

Obviously we don't know what their plans are, but it could well be that when it comes to the Balrog scene, then we get this book nook or nothing. There is no evidence that they want to make smaller diorama sets (smaller compared to the ICONS sets) for LOTR, so getting in this unusual form might be the only option. It fits with the other book nook sets they are doing and the designer (or possibly LEGO) has made the decision to allow it to be flexible so that it converts to an open display piece rather than a closed box. Personally, I don't see the point of book nooks, so giving buyers a choice of how they display it is good. I wouldn't buy a set where most of the parts just form a box and you have to look into it very closely to see anything. When it comes to LOTR, I imagine they got the impression that kid style play sets were not popular first time around, and so they stick with more adult aimed sets and this means either big display sets or quirky things like the book nook. So long as they produce something, I'm happy enough that it can be adapted into something I want if I want to which is the same for the original play sets. I own them all from first time around, but all were adapted to my taste.

Indeed, when you have Darth Vader, Palpatine, Tarkin, the Joker, Galactus, etc., Sideshow Bob failing to kill anyone (aside from that one Treehouse of Horror episode) is nothing. I'm hoping that they do Moe and Barney (and Lenny and Carl) in non-bar situations as well as Homer in more variations of clothes in future. If they do a set with parts based on Mr Plough, or Pin Pals, or Be Sharps, or Homer and Barney as astronauts, or Homer's workstation, etc., there is plenty of scope to introduce the bar characters.

The ultimate driver for any business is profit, but that doesn't mean that is the only thing they care about. They care about quality in the sense of they need to keep quality to an acceptable standard so that people buy the product and the business thrives. A small mold mark on a piece is not going to put off most people that buy LEGO. I doubt very many children that play with LEGO care. I doubt most adults that buy LEGO care either. Sure, you can complain via email or letter about a pip mark being visible. You can make the ultimate stand and refuse to buy LEGO if you want. Either way, I doubt they will notice any difference given how many adults and children will continue to buy LEGO as it is not an issue for them. This is not an issue like the brittle colours were, where LEGO was receiving many complaints and having to pay to send out replacements. Personally, the existence of pip marks is way down the list of things wrong with LEGO that I would never complain about it. I rarely see set reviewers even mentioning pip marks, whereas they do bring up other aesthetic issues such as common parts not existing in the right colours (ball joints for example) which can detract from the look of a set.

An opened up book nook can still a book nook if you design it to close again. And that is the constraint the LEGO designer had compared to the MOC, that whatever they designed had to be foldable. With most sets, a good fan designer can do better when they have no constraints compared to a LEGO designer with constraints. You end up comparing different objects.

They aren't LEGO though. Yes, it is possible to MOC a building but for most people, producing printed parts and 3D resin printed heads at home to go with it is not possible. Even if LEGO want to stay away from alcohol, they could do Moe and Barney in other situations.

I used to collect monochrome figures and much of the fun there was actually the hunt for parts, the joy of seeing a new figure with a missing colour hands or arms, rather than the displaying of them. But that was killed by LEGO doing Everyone is Awesome as it sort of took monochromes away from being a fan creation into the mainstream where you buy complete figures to display, and partly due to the nightshift parts when large quantities of previously hard to find parts were made available. I feel the same about the way Classic Space figures are going. When they are pumping out yet another colour to add to the rainbow of minifigures on display so many people seem to have, it feels like it has become a "buy the whole collection" type collectable rather than introducing a new colour to define a new role in a building set.

Do you have permission to sell these from both LEGO and Lucasfilm? That is going to be your biggest problem.

Clean off the corrosion and maybe solder a new wire if the contact has broken.

They aren't generic historical torsos though, they are parts from licensed figures and so often cannot be sold in other sets or on PAB. Unless they are reused in other sets (like Pippin's scarf torso) or LEGO makes a mistake and sells them on PAB for a while (like they did with Dain's torso and Saruman's dress piece a decade ago) then it won't be possible to buy them cheaply.

If LEGO want to keep them around then they can choose to keep them around. They can decide to do exclusive battle packs with them in, or just keep them in stock for PAB. I wouldn't want them to start shoehorning well known unlicensed minifigures into licensed sets.

No dual molding for the legs is really off-putting if they are seen from the back or side as the colour design doesnt continue. That helps the choice for me, I’ll go torso only and use plain legs or other generic print legs. Using capes is an alternative cover up but becoming expensive.

There is obviously a difference based on the size of display. If displaying a large diorama at a convention then chances are you need a big army whereas displaying typical MOCs that fit on shelves at home, you can get away with far fewer figures especially bearing in mind that often you'd have at least two factions if it was a battle type scene. I don't know where the crossover between the two is ... maybe it is the point when you go from measuring in studs to measuring in feet or metres! Some of the large convention sized displays people have are amazing and need big armies to look good, but even then the display itself has to look good and not just be loads of troops aligned on a plain grey baseplate that looks more like a vendor's stock than a display.

I'm similar in that my biggest MOCs tend to be usually 64x32 so I find 16 of any faction is enough to depict a battle in that size. Although most of my MOCs tend to be smaller vignettes about 16x16 or 32x16 and there usually 4-6 of each is enough. I usually aim for about 20 to future proof against breakages or increased desire. I once collected over 100 Roman soldiers and never used more than 16 at a time. So sold off the excess when prices shot up.

Hands act a bit like a spring grip in this case so being slightly out doesn't really matter. If you wrap some tape around a handle or paint it, it still works fine. And the rest of the object doesn't matter either. Whereas bricks need to be correct all over.

Indeed, although I do like it when there is some sort of link. For example, my boar knights and scorpion knights (Vladek's lot) are allies, for not other reason than they are red and black. I'd like to see maybe a ram's head done in similar colours. Similarly, the shields of stags (S3 elf) and the trees (Forest Maiden) go together again due to colour.

It is a little more than that in that the mould can wear out more and still be usable or even not be manufactured to such high precision in the first place. Quite a few CMF parts, especially early ones, had little bits of flashing or bad sprue marks on. And also, as they are not building bricks going next to each other, I doubt the moulds for some of those parts, especially ones where it is a hand held object and has only a bar as a connection point (like a shield), cost anywhere near what the ones requiring higher precision do.

I don't see the point. There are plenty of cheap molded plastic drawers available. And you really need space around the parts to make them easier to pick out, especially if mixing colours in one bin. Where the part is almost the same dimension as the bin, you also need to be neat when putting them in.

Remember also tolerances can be different for different parts. Lego needs very high precision moulds where the connection point is a single stud and it is a building part, as it needs to be high clutch enough to grip but not too tight that it doesn't come off. Whereas for a part with many connections, a slightly lower clutch is acceptable and probably preferable. And a minifigure accessory can typically have quite poor precision (relatively) since the parts are not used for butting up against others so it doesn't matter so much if the mould is worn. The CMF Princess had a lot of complaints as her headgear was poorly made, and kept falling off. Presumably there they went just a little too big on the antistud in the headgear.

Two of my favourite figures for making castle figures are the S8 actor and TLM Shakespeare. Their clothese are great for nobles. Many not Castle figures can be made into Castle quite easily, but then the poll would become too big.

There has been a mixture where the belt is above and below. The worst is where they do the design across the torso and legs, since there they have to be used together in many cases, or sometimes the torso is just about acceptable but the design looks silly on the legs in isolation. I find the belt on torso looks too high when standing next to a figure where the belt is on the hips. For example, if the Gryphon and Kraken knights stand next to each other, it looks like one has long legs and a short body, whereas the other has short legs and a long body. I think the Kraken torso will look OK on plain legs. Whereas if you put the Gryphon torso on plain legs, it looks weird having the belt up so high and not on the trousers. Yeah, it does mean losing the continuous print onto the legs but personally I don't mind that. A lot of my (modern) Black Falcons have plain black legs and I find it gives them the 'old school' look and it allows them to be posed without the print getting messed up. I will probably do the same here, buy just the torso and then use plain legs and existing helmets.

They could do with a steer as to who their allies might be, whether that is done through colours or heraldic symbols. At the moment it is not clear whether factions are allies or if there is one big battle royale with each faction for themselves. But then, we do constantly hear how fans of unlicensed themes are more imaginative than fans of licensed themes and don't need to have a back story or be told what should be built, so maybe this is LEGO's response to that!

I think the kraken will look good with either dark green legs, or switching the arms out for reddish brown. As above, I have a load of the helmets from the Aquaman sets, and the Viking helmets will go to Rohan soldiers. I like the idea of the generic print for the Griphon as they can be just soldiers but that belt is horrible. Why do they need to do that on the torso. It looks silly so high and also limits the legs that can be used.

The only way I have found to filter them out is to add the user to your ignore list. You still see the thread but if you click it then it doesn't show. I do it for anyone with low post counts that are here just to post threads with links for IDEAS votes, BDP votes or paid for instructions at rebrickable (those offering free instructions is not an issue). It is not so bad if a long time user posts it as a MOC and has a discreet link at the end. But for people that only post to get votes / sales, I just stop reading or looking when I come to the link. For rebrickable links, I think there should be a rule that the user has to at least put the price of instructions into the post as they are here to sell so should be upfront about it. Other trades and sales have to be in the right place, and these posts are really just sales posts. At minimum the costs should be made clear.

I haven't bought a molded dinosaur for a while. But aren't the T-rexes fairly big compared to this? The Balrog shouldn't be much bigger than a big fig and there you only get articulated arms and wrists.