ResIpsaLoquitur

Yeah, I'm confused--will there still be a set of winners tomorrow? I seem to be one of the few who still hasn't won...which is fine, but I'm holding out hope that I have one more shot tomorrow?

There are certain entries you look at and just say..."Oooh...he's going to win!" I don't quite know if that's you, but I'm betting you get more than a few votes. Your use of the T-shaped handles as a base for the poles was extremely clever, and I hope Lego incorporates it in the future.

Very nice, and a clever play on the German Christmas pyramid.. Is this a contest entry? You should probably change the title to market it as such so you don't get overlooked in the competition.

It's cute. Is this a contest entry? You should probably change the title to market it as such so you don't get overlooked in the competition.

I wish that they'd do a theme other than Star Wars so I can quit buying all three calendars every year. Thank goodness that I found two of the three calendars on early clearance this year. Though a Lord of the Rings/Hobbit calendar would be awesome. Santa Gandalf is an obvious choice, and they could easily do five golden rings for Day 5.

Well, again, I don't think the intent was for her to speed-build it, but to just give herself something to do while she spoke for an hour. She could probably just read the dictionary for an hour to accomplish the same effect, but her doing a Lego chat for an hour gave it a neat twist which is probably intended to distinguish her from other ASMR-ists. (It's certainly more fun than simulating an eye exam IMHO.)

I found the weirdest video on YouTube today. I've been reading up on "Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response" (ASMR), in which people report feeling soothing or pleasurable sensations from certain sounds, including soft human voices. There's a whole ASMR culture out there in which some people actually create entire videos in which they speak softly and make pleasurable sounds (tapping, brushing, etc.). Think of it as a "white noise" effect, or for those of us in the States, the reason why you want to go into a coma while listening to NPR. So there's this one lady who makes a series of videos themed around "childhood nostalgia." She'll talk about a subject from people's youth while making (supposedly) pleasurable sounds. I guess the idea is you're supposed to cuddle up and listen to her while she talks, and it will help you relax or sleep. Anyway, one of her videos I found revolves around Lego! She actually assembles "The Wizard Battle" while gently going over the history of Lego. I guess the thing to keep in mind here is that the video is NOT intended as a Lego history lesson or a review of the set. (Most of us would assemble this in 10 minutes--she takes the full hour.) It's a relaxation video in which she uses her discussion of this particular set and the sounds she makes as her medium. I have to admit, it is weirdly relaxing to quietly listen to her and drown out other input. It's particularly helpful if you listen wearing headphones, as a lot of these ASMR artists use 3-D microphones to create an acoustic effect. Here's the link (I don't know how to embed the video in here):

My local Lego Store had the Little Eagle bag clearanced at 98 cents. Not a typo. I bought two of them at that price.

Has anyone ever compiled a list of what you can expect to get spares of in any given Lego set? It used to commonly just be small parts like single 1x1 pieces, but I'm surprised what I'm getting spares of (and how many of them I'm getting) in this year's Advent Calendar. Here's what I've usually seen as spare pieces: - 1 x 1 tiles (round or square) - 1 x 1 plates (round or square) - 1 x 1 cheese slopes - Technic pins (any length) - 1 x 1 x 1 bricks (not often, but it happens) - 1 x 1 x 1 cylinders - 1 x 1 x 1 cones - Minifigure tools (i.e., wrenches, handcuffs, weapons) - Minifigure clothes (usually caps, fire helmets, scarves, visors) - Flames - Fire extinguisher nozzles What other bonuses tend to be out there?

Awesome. My daughter is cracking up at your entry. It might be even funnier if you could put an angry-faced Lego female getting upset at her boyfriend being in line...

Not bad. I thought about doing a stage but couldn't quite pull it off. This works (though Shakespeare should be a little more visible).

Looking in my spare parts bag and elsewhere, we have: - 1 carrot (no stem) - 2 mugs - 4 scarves - 2 wrenches - 2 yellow nozzles - 1 1x1 cylinder brick - 1 brown cheese slope - 4 scarves - 1 black cap - 1 wool cap - 1 flame - 2 wieners More to come tomorrow--I am expecting an extra flame, wiener, a 1x1 tile, and a 1x1 round plate.

I wonder if we'll start seeing returns kick in. I just found five Friends calendars at half price. They're still hot on eBay, but not as hot as a few days ago.

I haven't seen an update in awhile, so here's where we're at today: Today's build was a lady firefighter (my daughter says she's the mom of the upcoming kid) with a spray bottle and a hot dog. I guess it's left to our imagination whether the bottle is a fire extinguisher or a mustard jar! Or you can have both--today's spare parts included TWO extra hot dogs, two wrenches, two dispensers, an extra fire hat, and an extra 1 x 1 yellow round brick. In other words, you can make two mustardinguishers. Say what you will about this calendar, it's been a great source for spare parts so far.

I've got some more Friends calendars available on eBay. Well, I only have one listed at the moment, but I'll have a few more available later this evening if you hit the "see other items" button on the auction.

Man, that brings me back. I think my first set was a 720 Basic Building set, one of the primary models of which was a 6-wide truck. A few years later, I got the 6378 Shell Service Station for Christmas. Between those two sets, I loved the whole trucks and fueling station combo. I'd love a modern version of both (though Octan has bought out Shell), particularly since my smallish City has no gas station, so all the cars are going to run out of fuel real soon.

Can somebody tell me what the hook is for on the barrel? I've got a spare scarf hanging on it right now, but it's not the best fit, and anyway I don't think that's what it's for.

Interesting thread! I haven't won yet, and I may be one of the 21 people who won't. If I get a prize I'm not particularly interested in, I wouldn't be opposed to trading. I'll keep an eye on this. You might consider a multi-person swap if enough people get involved. Say, you have prize A but want C. Person #2 has C but wants B. Person #3 has B but wants A. You all swap together: you ship to person #2, he ships to person #3, and person #3 ships to you.

Yeah, Polys are weird. Some are staples, like in Target. Others just show up when they show up and vanish a little after.

The Advent Calendar has a Clone and a Droid. If you can grab a bunch on clearance after the holidays (if you can still find them), there's an option. Target is clearancing the poor, forgotten planet series. I found a Clone with Coruscant for $5 yesterday, which was a lot better than its original $10-$12 value. Good luck in finding those--I've seen packages of those sets where an unscrupulous shopper has removed the clone.

I hope this question isn't too nitpicky, but with regards to the one-stud overhang rule: my entry has two flags which are currently waving past the 16 x 16 edge. I'm reasonably certain that they go more than one stud over the edge. Is this something I need to correct? I can simply turn the flags to make sure they're inside a 1-stud border, but maybe I'm overreading the rule.

I should add that the Store had a bunch of minor items clearanced, including the Friends animal bags (which I don't think count as polys, but they're definitely poly-like). Also surprising was the Monster Minifigure set with the Witch, Ghost, and Zombie for $7.49-ish. I'm drifting off-topic...who's seen some polys anywhere?

I think the other kid is waving a flag just to be cute. I wish I had a Lego checkered flag to use instead!

How does CopMike or EB figure which ornament will be displayed on the calendar? Just curious.

Brickset has the new Hobbit Legolas and Lake Town Guard polys in their database. Let's keep an eye out for these!