ResIpsaLoquitur

So I caved in and put together an entry for this year's contest after all. Since we're going for a carnival theme, I think we need more rides, and what's more fun than kids driving Go-Karts? (EBers in the U.S. and Canada should know what these are--do they have go-karts in the rest of the world? They're small cars on a safe track that kids can drive.) Obviously I couldn't make a whole track, so consider this a "vignette." The kids will undoubtedly drive off on a fictional continuous track rather than crashing into the other market stands! Here's an alternate view so you can get a better look at the other car and see them from the rear. Overhead view: Back view. Updates: I forgot that I had some flags, so I decided to add those. Race tracks always need flags! I also added some oil drums (which may or may not have been stolen from the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier) to make it look more "race-trackey." Finally, I decided to make the checkered starting line one layer deeper, which I think looks much better. Enjoy, and good luck to all entrants!

I just saw that my local Lego Store had the Little Eagle polybag clearanced to something like $2.49.

I love spare coffee mugs. Right now, our cop is double-fisting them. We've taken to calling him "caffeine cop."

Oh, I wouldn't even slit the tape--it peels off easily enough. However, I am in the habit of opening the tape on the ACs before buying them just to make sure that everything's in there. I found a few on clearance last winter, checked on a whim, and yep, the minifigures--or at least the prize figures like Santa Maul--were missing. Best you can do is turn them in to customer service so they don't get shelved again for an unsuspecting parent.

Hi all, I've found one of the 2013 City Advent Calendars and a few of the Friends Calendars and have them up on eBay for sale, if interested.

Stopped at the Lego Store at the Christiana Mall in Delaware today (which is a great shop to go to purely because it's in a no-sales tax state). I filled a small PAB cup and a Holiday Bauble, which is a pain to load up. Some of the gems I got: - Lime green 1 x 1 rounds - Lime green 1 x 2 plates - 2 x 2 black axle plates (which is AWESOME, because all I ever find are the stupid 1 x 4 axles that I loathe) - Tires and wheels for said axles - White flowers and stems - 2 x 4 dark bley bricks - 2 x 2 light bley tiles - 6 x 6 dark bley plates - 1 x 3 dark bley bricks - 1 x 2 control panel plates - 1 x 2 x 5 white bricks - 1 x 3 white bricks - 1 x 3 yellow bricks - 1 x 10 white bricks (!!!) - 1 x 4 yellow plates - 1 x 3 AND 1 x 4 red bricks (I never find complementary bricks in different lengths) - Red rubies - 1 x 1 trans green cylinders - 4 x 6 light tan plates Now to figure out what MOC item is going in our bauble....

I checked eBay for fun. There's a lot of City and Star Wars listed, but they seem to be going for $10-$15 above retail. This is an improvement over a few days ago, where it was $15-$20 over. Since Advent starts tomorrow, maybe demand is tapering off and people could find one for closer to retail value if they don't mind opening it a few days late. Of course, that Boba figure could be adding to the demand on the SW calendar--it doesn't appear that he'll come out in a regular set.

Thanks CopMike! Just curious, do the minifigs come with their accessories, or is it just figures? If it's just figures, that's cool--I'm just wondering. Anyway, thanks for putting this on!

Cute. Can you or somebody tell me where these Red Vaders keep coming from? I'm not aware of them being in a set. (I'm hoping next year's Advent Calendar has one since it should be Episode III themed.)

Huh, maybe that explains it. I seem to recall the 2011 Calendars going quickly, but I wasn't really into the Calendars that year. I did get one of the few 2011 Star Wars calendars at 1/3 off the day after, and then they vanished. The City Calendar I found on clearance for $10 several months later--I grabbed it on a whim for that price. The 2012 calendars, though, were all over the place (except the Friends ones which were limited to Lego Stores due to that production screw-up).

Whew. I found the Friends calendar (and a few City and Star Wars) at a smaller chain. They were nearly cleaned out, but had a few left of everything. (ONE City left.) Still plenty of Star Wars, which they speculated was due to the higher price. Nobody seems to have them online for retail price--most of them seem to be 3rd-party resellers who are selling for significant markup.

Sorry, not sure if this should go under "General Discussion" or somewhere else. Has anybody else notived that the Advent Calendars have vanished from local stores? I've checked my local Targets, TRUs, and elsewhere, and they're gone. There were plenty last week. I had a coupon for $5 off a $29 purchase, so I finally decided to get the Friends calendar. It's vanished, along with the Star Wars and City ones. (I already picked up the other two, so I don't need them--but they're also gone.) I realize that Advent starts in a week, but last year there was plenty of AC stock in the stores. I was still finding them on clearance until March. Is it because the price is lower this year? Were the production runs lower? Did Lego suddenly pull them from stores? What gives?

I'm pretty sure that it is. I looked up the Mini Train on Brickset, and some old news articles associated with that set say that it was a freebie at the Store when you bought Hogwarts or something similar.

There's an article on Newsarama.com reporting that some as of yet unknown Star Wars characters will be in TLM. Hmmmm.

There's a rumor that there will be two new Hobbit polybags next year--a Lake-Town Guard and Legolas. No sighting, but let's keep an eye out for them.

Woo! Thanks. I forgot about the Witch's head. I'll have to try and grab the tree--I get the impression that's TRU won't have it on the shelves after this week.

I think it's close, if not identical! Compare--they're wearing the same coat and necktie, though the zombie's is bloody. That's going to be my personal canon now--a horrible accident turns Gordon Zola into the zombie, while the garbage man loses an arm in a horrible trash chomper accident.

Has anyone noticed yet that one of the Garbage Men in the "Trash Chomper" looks like Jack McHammer from the Monster Fighters? And Gordon Zola looks like the Zombie Chef from the Haunted House? There's got to be a story there.

Let's not forget that Octan is a corporate sponsor of racing cars! (Now I feel like I support evil for having gotten the 2013 Advent Calendar with the little Octan car.)

Does anybody have any interest in a Polybag availability thread? Over on the General discussion thread, we were discussing how polys are a...ahem...mixed bag. Some of them linger on shelves forever, while some vanish after a week, only to reappear elsewhere. I'm always on the lookout for them as a cheap source of parts. I'd like to know when they become available, too, since many of them vanish pretty quick. In my part of the U.S., I'm currently aware of the following availability: Target: - 30106 Emma's Ice Cream Stand (in the holiday section) - 30270 Krang's Target Practice (same) - 40034 Christmas Train (same) - 30250 Ewar's Acro Fighter (I think) (at the checkout) - 30230 Mini Mech (checkout) - That Mini TIE Fighter (I can't figure out the number, but it's at the checkout) - 30021 Fire Car Note that Target tends to do a major clearance sale the day after Christmas, so those first three sets should be 50% off or better on December 26. Five Below - 40028 Mini Hogwarts Express (still has a ton of these) Toys R Us - 30220 Fire Speedboat - 30221 Fire Car - 30224 Ride-on Lawnmower - 30225 Coast Guard Seaplane - 30241 Mandalorian Fighter - 30240 Z-95 Headhunter - 40077 Geoffrey There's rumors that 30186 Christmas Tree is showing at TRU, but I haven't seen it. I have seen the Krang's Target Practice at a TRU, but I predict it'll be gone soon--licensed polys tend to go fast. Lego Store - A lot of the "seasonal" sets from this year are still there. I believe on my last visit, they still had Fall Scene, Thanksgiving Scene, and the two Christmas sets. I've also seen: - 30185 Little Eagle - 30167 Iron Man vs. Fighting Drone I'm pretty sure they had some Chima sets, but I don't collect Chima, so I haven't paid the strictest attention to which sets they were. Anyone else have any sightings? How about Wal-Mart? The three WMs near me are very variable--sometimes they have polys, sometimes they don't. I'm not sure any of them have any at the moment. And this doesn't need to be a U.S. only thread--anybody who has poly sightings should post here.

What I want to know is whether the three Lego Star Wars cartoons (Padawan Menace, Empire Strikes Out, and Yoda Chronicles) are canon with the Star Wars universe. Other than Maul surviving to the original trilogy era, there's nothing that says it can't be... (the silliness notwithstanding).

Hmmmm...would it be worth it to start a "polybags sighting thread" in the Finds forum? If so, could we get a mod to sticky it?

Life would be easier if Lego just put the polys on the Shop@Home website...

I'll reiterate what I said before--I acknowledge that EB sets the rules and is giving away the sets for free, so I have no "right" to complain. I think it's more that I'm expressing personal disappointment that I worked hard on something and it doesn't qualify. I get the impression that other EBers have either a huge supply of bricks or a great deal of time to devote to their projects. I've entered only a few other contests here, and I've never gotten many votes. The competition is really, really good, but I can't tell if my projects are comparatively lousy or if I'm working from limited resources or what. My personal hope was that I had a chance at being competitive for this year's WV contest because of the work and detail that I put into my project over the last year. It was built from multiple trips to the Pick-a-Brick wall, endless searching for specific CMFs who fit with the scene, and a few special orders on Bricklink and eBay for just the right pieces. At this point, I'm leaning towards posting my build anyway even if it's not eligible. I do like what I built and I hope you will too (once it's finished). My disappointment in the rules is a personal thing, and it's ultimately my problem rather than EB's.

I'm musing over polybag sets. One of my regrets is that I didn't get more of the 30200 Monster Fighters Zombie Chaffuer Coffin Car. I got one--and believe me, I have four other copies of Renfield--but I'm kicking myself for not buying more of them for a cheap source of coffins and zombie heads. Unfortunately, the set seemed to disappear shortly after Halloween. I notice that this happens with some, but not all, polybag sets. Also last year, I was looking for the Avengers polybag sets of Thor and Hawkeye. I passed on Thor once at a TRU, changed my mind a little later, but he was gone. I don't think it's a shortage of these sets--there seemed to be plenty of them (and the Coffin Car) last year, and the particular TRU I go to doesn't seem heavy on customers. The Lone Ranger Tonto Campfire set also vanished shortly after its release, and I'd wager THAT set wasn't selling out. Meanwhile, the Creator mini-Lighthouse seemed to be on the pegs forever. At Target, it's different--polys sit by the cash register forever. For example, the Mining Quad Car was there in massive quantities for what I'd estimate to be six months. They just recently flipped it to the mini Fire Car. The Star Wars polys also seem to linger. I think the Z-95 Headhunter and the TIE Fighter were there for almost a year. Sometimes polys seem to reappear after a year or less. The Store exclusive seasonal sets always seem to reappear at Target a year later. For example, last year's Witch head and Christmas Trains have reappeared at Target this year. Five Below (a chain that's all over the mid-Atlantic U.S.) seems to have picked up the Harry Potter polys in bulk, as the one near my house has a LOAD of the mini-Hogwarts Express which I think is 2-3 years old at this point. I even found the Atlantis Octopus at a Five Below, and how long has that one been out? Other Store exclusives seem to be "First Dibs at the Lego Store, then elsewhere." A few examples are this year's Police Helicopter and the Iron Man Fighting Drone. These both first appeared as Shop exclusives--the whole "Spend $35, get a free poly" deal. They've recently reappeared at Wal-Mart (though I've also seen them on the shelves at the shop). Finally, some are recycled multiple times. The best example I can think of is the Friends Emma's Ice Cream Stand. This set first appeard (to my knowledge) at Wal-Mart back in the spring. It recently appeared as a Shop exclusive--spend $35 or $50 on Friends, get it free. It's also reappeared as a book exclusive in one of those sets with three mini Friends books. So, is there any consistency on the fate of polybags? How does Lego determine who gets them, how long they're available, and why they reappear later? And, most importantly, will Renfield and his Zombie Coffin Car reappear anytime soon so I can get more zombies on the cheap? Thanks.