MAB

Not enough.

You can often ask in a toy shop, and people sell sealed boxes on ebay.

All the smaller ones are from brickforge, I believe. The red ones are meant to go the other way up, as a Greek Λ Lambda, but some people flip them and use them as a V.

Nice. I definitely prefer the brickwarriors Hoplite helmets and shields over the brickforge ones. Whereas I prefer the brickforge pilum. And aren't the riff raff wearing centurion helmets, whereas the rider has a legionaire's helmet? I'm still torn between genuine lego and customs for Roman helmets.

Try just a pencil eraser first. Rub for 30 seconds and see. Acetone / nail varnish remover will work, but may give you a bit of streakyness on the surface.

It's known as the Construct-a-Zurg principle, after set 7591. :-)

It seems to have gone now.

The Friends one does a good job, nice spot. The hairline at the front looks better than the side parting on the other one. Would be better in tan instead of the yellow but still not bad at all.

That doesn't look good at all. It looks like the dark orange is leeching into the painted flesh, which suggests that the "paint" wasn't thick enough so that the solvent is still dissolving the hair surface. It might be tough here, but painting the original surface white also helps show the correct colour, especially on a darker piece.

Before you look at how much off, look at the sets. Do you really want them? Many an AFOL has bought a huge amount of sets when they start out because of the discount, then realised they do not care so much for the sets. Learn what you like, and maybe stick to one or two themes to start with until you know what and how you will display.

For me that is non-purist. Taking legs off hips and arms off torsos is fine, as they can always be put back on (and the parts are as available in sets). However, cutting / breaking even gear means modifying. Again, not purist since it is non-lego even if a copy of a lego part. I have no problem with people modifying or using fakes (I do it myself too!), but don't call them purist.

The tile from Edna shows Gordie Howe, not Woodrow Wilson. That is just what Bart signed his name as. I'm not a fan of Homer's suit, the trousers and jacket should match. Also Marge's dress is rather plain, shame there is no neck-line detailing. And Comic Book Guy looks very odd, much too thin. But some nice figures in there.

He does look a bit skinny!

Comic Book Guy in the CMF has a slushee so they should be relatively cheap.

It goes to show how useless the reviews are (if buyers do nto read them). If buyers are expecting the old green, then they are clearly not reading the 1 star reviews about colour changes.

It sounds like your first attempts didn't seal properly then. Thin multiple coats seem to seal better. Good luck!

Yes, and also make sure there is a decent protective waterproof layer on top. I use three light passes of acrylic spray, rather than one heavy one.

First off, pirating is wrong. However, I can understand why some people would believe the books should be / are free (to them). In fact, I have never really understood why authors (or probably the publisher) allows books to be part of the pay what you like Humble bundles. If they do that, someone can buy often 10 books for 1c / 1p. These deals get listed on many deal websites at that value. Sure, the average value paid is higher than that. But once a book is part of a bundle available for a penny, I can understand why people think they should be free. Even if the book was one of the stretch goals. If the publisher has allowed them to be given away once, then why pay? Again, I think piracy is wrong, just like most here. But I can fully understand why some books are seen as costing nothing to some people.

Probably to get an idea of the build before purchasing, or to have a rough guide available if you lose them. Unfortunately some people sell CDs of instructions downloaded this way.

Have you definitely got inkjet waterslide paper and not LaserJet paper?

A few random locations don't build up a complete picture. However, many random locations do though, so long as they are widespread. That is why it is great when more people share there one-off observations. On their own, they are useless (apart from to that person and anyone in the vicinity). Together they are useful. Such collecting of random data is used a lot where you cannot have systematic data - so data on number of wild birds on a particular day, or the date of the first daffodils appearing, etc are often collected by individuals in their own gardens all over a country or continent. One piece of data is insignificant. But together they build a useful picture of what is happening to bird populations or climate. Just like if one person doesn't see a set in Target or Asda or their local supermarket or toy store, it is not very useful. But if everyone shopping in that brandstore all over their country reports the same, then it is significant. If no-one shares their seemingly insignificant data, then no-one can build a more complete picture.

We all got them. Lego has perfected the invisible man minifig. :-)

I don't think it is boring at all. There are a lot play features included in the set and hidden sections. I also think the parts used are good too. I've also read quite a lot of positive reviews about the set as a whole, not just Smaug. So I don't think it is right that the set is boring to most people. Concerning the price, yes, it is probably overpriced but then most of the line was. Fortunately most of the sets were on sale at some stage. That just makes this one look even more overpriced. Yes, and all those would probably have meant skipping new moulds for Smaug. I wouldn't want them to just reuse the existing dragon for Smaug just to get a Bolg. You don't have to deal with them, you choose to read them. Why not? Lots of observations in random locations that all say the same thing start to build up a complete picture of availability. And in some cases, they are not guesses at all. I have asked in stores that stocked waves 1 and 2 if they are stocking wave 3, and have been told no. That might be an unprofessional observation or a wild guess to you, but to others knowing that a store has chosen not to stock a line is useful information. Again, if you don't want to know about availabilty then don't read the posts about availability. Just because you don't want it doesn't mean others should not be able to discuss it.

Mine arrived (thanks!) ... in a chicken box. :-) No specials, but lots of group A kitties. Has anyone got a special one yet?

How are you counting new molds? Smaug alone has 10 or so. Then there is Thorin / crown, Dain, Witch-King, so that is 13 I can think of immediately. Also first wave sets are expected to have more, since they introduce character specific molds such as Fili / Kili hair, why replace it later on for these characters? Balin doesn't need a new hair/beard. For King Thorin in the crown, it makes sense to update the headpiece to wear a crown. But for other characters, there is no need to change their hair, beard, etc. They have already invested in the molds, why change them? The decided not to have a generic dwarf, so there is no need for them to increase the number of parts to make a generic dwarf possible when they don't intend to have one.