rriggs

Have people not got better things to worry about? The ads on Eurobricks are fairly unobtrusive and (in my experience) are always related to things I've been searching or shopping for recently. And, even if they weren't appropriate then I would simply ignore them. Can't believe there's even been a discussion about this... Cheers Rog

People have hobbies. LEGO is a hobby. Simples! Just do as you wish and don't worry about what other people think - although in my experience people are genuinely interested and I often get comments about it being a stress-reliever and/or therapeutic. My LEGO has it's own room and a fair share of my loft and I am buying, building or tweaking something pretty much every day. Cheers Rog

Would one of those things be cost? I couldn't believe the price of the fast ferry last time I looked! Seems there's a few of us on here then - although we all appear to have emigrated to the bright lights of England... :-p I'll have to have a look at the Irish LUG site - fingers crossed for old school Dublin Buses on there! Cheers Rog

For me, minifigs were - and still are - the most important part of any set. It's very rare I will buy a set of any sort without minifigs and when I do it's normally with adding minifigs in mind (like with some of the original Creator houses). The first thing I always do it seek out the minifig parts and put them together before even looking at the instructions or the rest of the parts. When I was a kid the same applied and the minifigs were always the most important elements of mine and my brother's models and also of our play. Once a model or models had been built the games we played were all about the minifig's stories and interactions. I'm not at all surprised that this is still the same for kids today. Cheers Rog

LEGO have pretty much done this now with the 1x2 brick with bow that has appeared in many of the 2014 first wave city sets. Although it's 1x2 overall, the base is only 1x1. It's a nice little part. Cheers Rog

I don't recall seeing an Irish thread. I'm a Dubliner (Tallaght) with family in Wexford and Clare but, like you, now living in England on the outskirts of London. Do you get back to the old country much? Cheers Rog

Do you want the stairs in the snack bar or as a separate entrance to upstairs? Most modulars use either a few brick built steps and then a LEGO stair case attached to a wall or a completely brick/plate built spiral staircase. The spiral takes up little space but many pieces and can be fiddly to make strong. LEGO stairs are strong but bulky. In your bar I think an outside staircase if the upstairs is separate or a spiral in the corner of the bar are your options. Cheers Rog

It's a shop where you order online or in store from a catalogue, then your order is prepared and you collect from a collection point in store a few minutes later. Here's what they look like: Cheers Rog

I'm lucky where I am as there is a good choice of shops selling LEGO so I don't struggle for choice of themes. Big department store, supermarket, toy shop and catalogue shop in the local town centre (about a mile from home) which between them have pretty much everything and often have offers on. Nearest big retail park (about 6 miles) has a TRU and the same catalogue shop again. In addition, there are four LEGO Stores within an hour's drive. The nearest is about 20 mins away. Cheers Rog

In the UK, the Coast Guard provide a rescue and safety enforcement role. It's the Royal Navy who patrol the water. Cheers Rog

I did try and see if they'd been posted already but must have missed them! I think Marge's head is quite a good size. Not as chunky as Homer or Ned. Cheers Rog

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/simpsons-lego-figures-leaked-simpsons-branded-2905336 Cheers Rog

Spent the time disassembling, cleaning and sorting a big pile of LEGO donated to me by my brother. Cheers Rog

I would have no problem paying for enhanced membership of some sort. I do this on some other (non-LEGO) forums which I am a member of already. Even if the enhancements are things very simple I still contribute as useful sites need and deserve financial support. I also contribute to sites financially if they are useful and interesting even if they don't have a formal paid membership or donation policy in place. However, I would only expect to pay c.$15 per year for membership. This is similar to what I pay for other sites which have a much smaller membership base. If it was monthly or much higher I likely wouldn't bother. Cheers Rog

Nice review! I have this castle and I think it's great. The blue is ok - although I am in the process of replacing with grey - but the best thing for me is that it's modular. This has made it really easy to integrate with the other 2013 Castle sets and also my LOTR castle and wall sets and has allowed me to create a substantial castle with a keep and different levels very easily. My favourite part is the gate house with more brick building than i was expecting and very neat portcullis and drawbridge. I have no problem with the heraldry on any of them although, compared to my Kingdoms chess set for example, the gold weapons and accessories are a bit orange and not very shiny. Overall I really rate this set and recommend it. Cheers Rog

This! Desperately trying to get up to date with sorting ahead of Xmas when a pile of new LEGO is due. Every time I get some done I then run out of space in one or more boxes and have to do a re-sort before carrying on again. Cheers Rog

Does Dr Sheldon Cooper count? Cheers Rog

Flags in the "wrong" countries are for expats. For example the Scottish guy in Saudi or - in my case - the Irish flag in London. Cheers Rog

I have split my collection which is roughly 70,000 pieces into 260 categories. Pieces are split by type then by sub type then by colour. Smallest pieces are mixed colours. All pieces that are disassembled are boxed. Boxes all have lids. The majority (c.200) are food containers from the £1 shop where they sell 8 for £1. Larger boxes are supermarket own brand Tupperware type boxes. Finally there are two multicompartment boxes for trans pieces and for minifig accessories. All the boxes are out of direct sunlight. I have a spreadsheet which is an index to the boxes so I can find the less common pieces. It all works very well - although sorting is a chore after disassembling large MOCs! My built models stay fairly dust free by simply keeping the door to my LEGO room closed when I'm not in there. Cheers Rog

Understand everything you're saying and completely agree but just can't remember the last time a City wave was so lacklustre or that there was so few sets I was interested in. Don't have a problem with police and fire waves again and again - the majority of my sets are one or the other - it's the lack of originality in the designs that's disappointing this time. LT - Even with a smiley face I think the patronisation was unnecessary. This is an AFOL forum and discussion on sets should therefore be from an AFOL point of view... Cheers Rog

I have to say that I'm disappointed with the majority of these sets compared to previous years. Few new ideas and inferior versions of previous equivalent models. I guess it means that 2014 is so far looking like a cheap year for me. Here's my thoughts set by set: 60041 Crook Pursuit Nothing except the policeman new here. At a glance would struggle to distinguish it from the last couple of police bike sets. 60042 High Speed Police Chase As above. The car is almost exactly the same as the forest police car but in plain white. 60043 Prisoner Transporter The vehicle is too American looking for my liking. Looks more like an armoured car from the 1980s. 60044 Mobile Police Unit Really don't like any of the artic police units. TO big, too unwieldy and just not realistic. 60045 Police Patrol Too big for City. They did the same with the off road fire truck and coat a couple of years ago. Simply too big to be of any use except a parts pack. 60046 Helicopter Surveillance The new helicopters have some nice details but like the previous set are too big if you want to encompass them with layouts of a reasonable size. 60047 Police Station This just looks uncohesive and messy. The last two police stations were too similar to each other but this one is just a mess. Disjointed bits of building that don't look like they should be together. Not enough cop minifigs in it either. Probably the most disappointing of the wave. 60053 Race Car I quite like the look of this and as long as the price is sensible will probably get one. Not a huge fan of racing cars normally but liked this year's F1 car and this Le Mans-ish racer too. 60054 Light Repair Truck This is again just average. Truck design is "meh" and the lift just looks like an excuse to stick some Technic parts in. It will be cheap but it really is a lazy effort. 60056 Tow Truck Again too American for my taste and looks too long for it's role. The truck from the garage a few years back was a much better proportion. I do like the colours though. 60057 Camper Van Hard to distinguish from the last camper. Has a different nose on the van which makes it look a bit more modern but the rest of it is just same-old... 60058 SUV with Watercraft This I though had potential until I saw it. This is a scruffy , ugly looking little SUV. Compare it to the great looking black SUV from the horse box a few years ago and I wonder what they were trying to do here? Just looks plain bad. And why the big wheels? Bigger wheels than any of the trucks in the same wave... Jet skis are OK but that's all. 60059 Logging Truck I actually like this one and it is on my list to get next when out. Good balanced design and some nice - and different - features. 60060 Auto Transporter As with the logging truck this is another good one. Could do with a couple of extra axles and will do something with the ladders on the top deck to make them move but overall a nice design and at least it's original too! 60061 Airport Firetruck Just too big again! 8-wide and very long. As with the giant helicopters and planes what are you supposed to do with these in the average town layout? Probably a good size for kinds to play with but disappointing for me I'm afraid. Cheers Rog

The map's looking pretty decent now. High concentrations in Europe and North America as I think we all expected but a nice spread and interesting nonetheless. Just need some more people to join in too! Cheers Rog

I've been through several cars myself over the years (about 38 at the last count). I did put one of my old cars on here about 4-5 years ago but this is the current one: No plans to change this one for a while as it's a cracker! Cheers Rog

Are you sure? Looks like ladders on the top deck which may slide depending on how they're mounted... Cheers Rog

Cleaver use of the magnets! It would be nice to see the lift be a bit slower if you could gear it down a bit and build the anticipation before scaring the girls and then follow it with the freefall drop from your manual version. Cheers Rog