ResIpsaLoquitur

Hmmm. I'm not anxious to spend $100 twice in two months for these sets. I will say that I saw plenty of last year's Brick Friday bonus (the horse-driven sleigh) sitting on the shelf after the weekend sale. I'm hoping some of the leftovers are similarly available. Curiously, Brickset has two upcoming seasonal sets listed: Decorating the Tree and Santa Sleigh. I had assumed that these would be the Brick Friday special. Wonder when they'll show?

Yeah, we've got a multitude of the girls going on at our house right now--particularly three Stephanies and two Mias. I was glad when they introduced "Kate" in the jetski as a standalone character just for some variety.

I can't imagine Palpatine being very holiday festive. If I were king, I'd love to have a Star Wars "Christmas Carol" calendar with Palpatine as Scrooge, Yoda as Christmas Past, Jabba as Christmas Present, and Vader as Christmas Future....

It's a shame. I wish they'd done a Wave 2 with some newer monsters, like a headless horseman and a Loch Ness Monster (they could have brought back some Dino parts).

Monster Fighters have been just plain vanishing around here. Most of my Targets have cleared them out--I was able to get a Vampyre Hearse at half price. The weird thing is that the only one I still see on the shelves is the Frankenstein Lab, still not reduced in price. Last I checked, the Lego Stores still had a pretty full stock of them, to include the Haunted House (which will probably have the shelf life of the Modular Buildings). I'm crossing my fingers that they do another Monster Fighters Club Meeting in October as a way of getting out old stock.

Call me nuts, but I'm wondering what 2014's Advent Calendar will bring. (Hey, it's microscale ships and a load of minifigs.) Last year was Episode I heavy with a bit of Episode V; this year is Episode II heavy with a bit of Episode VI. So I can only imagine that next year will be Episode III with a bit of IV. So I'm hoping for a Wookiee Warrior, a Phase II Clone Trooper, a MagnaGuard, maybe an Imperial Royal Guard, and a "Santa" Greivous with red and green lightsabers. For the Episode IV guys, maybe a Jawa and a Tusken. Oh, and I assume they'll stick yet another light tan Battle Droid in there.

I like buying mine on clearance after the holidays! At Target in the USA, they gradually drift down to 50% off until they disappear from stock. However, I'm now opening the box in-store and sliding out the tray to make sure everything is in there. If the employees have seen me do it, they haven't complained, and I'm not crass enough to steal the Santas.

You guys have me paranoid enough that I had to go check my still-unopened Star Wars Advent Calendars. Santa-Yoda and Maul are both still in there. Whew.

For those in the U.S.: any thoughts on what polybags will end up at Target this Halloween? Last year it was the Ghost Clock (great choice!) and, if I remember right, Emma's Small Car from Friends (which I regret not buying). I worry that it'll be something from Chima. (Why Lego discontinued Monster Fighters, I'll never understand.)

I really liked the three Monster Fighters polybags. Two--the old-fashioned Zombie car and the Ghost with clock--made great accents to the Haunted House. The third resembled a soapbox derby racer made from a coffin. It wasn't as good, but included another Zombie and a coffin. It could have made a nice army builder, but it vanished from stores (although who wants an army of Zombie drivers?).

I can't believe we're calling him "Stovepipe Hat President." I mean, that'd be like making a Jesus minifigure and calling him "Bearded Jewish Religious Figure." I know that minifigure names tend to be a little cute, so maybe "Honest Abe" would work better if we're trying to, I don't know, avoid offending the Lincoln estate. (I'm pretty sure Lincoln has no known surviving lineal descendants today.)

Thanks! I probably won't be doing any more detailed Lego buildings anytime soon--this was a limited experimental thing I did for my Bible class. You might check out "The Brick Testament" online if you haven't seen it yet. My recollection is that the author did a detailed replica of Solomon's temple based on the description in the Bible. Besides, I'd need to calculate how big a "cubit" is in minifigure scale. For the above image, I just assumed that a cubit was about two studs. Exodus says the Ark of the Covenant was 2 1/2 x 1 1/2 x 1 1/2 cubits, which is how I equated it into minifigure scale (the Indiana Jones Ark is 2 x 4 studs). The reality is that it was probably much bigger, but again, this was a quickie project for class.

I'm sharing something I put together in LDD. I'm taking a Biblical Studies course, and one of my assignments was to make a layout of the Tabernacle (where the Israelites kept the Ark of the Covenant during the Exodus). Rather than do a pen-and-ink sketch, I decided to put it together in LDD. Here's what I came up with, modeled on the Book of Exodus, chapters 25-40. This thing isn't 100% accurate by far. For one, the menorah is supposed to have seven candles, not six, but there's no seven-wide plate in LDD that I know of. I also couldn't represent bronze very well from the colors that LDD had. Also also, I have no idea how to represent a curtain in LDD. If these were real bricks, I would have cut my own cloth. Finally, the Tabernacle is a LOT bigger than this, but the assignment only called for me to do the inner court. Anyway, I hope you like, regardless of your religious- or non-religious preference. Feedback is welcome! (And yes, I took the Ark design from the Indiana Jones sets.)

Oh, heck. Let's see... 1) An AFOL: generic-looking guy with a Lego-logo shirt, a trophy accessory that's painted like a minifig, and a box/tile that looks like a set. 2) Uncle Sam: top hat, tail, and beard to look like the American icon. 3) Headless horseman: Cape, sword, head painted like a pumpkin, and a "one ring" painted black to secure the cape. 4) Lion suit guy. 5) "Dorothy" from Oz: child with a blue and white checkered dress, basket, and small dog. 6) Mailman: with a Santa sack, only with the word "mail" painted on it. 7) Lawyer: with briefcase and lawbook 8) Elvis: with the mechanic's hair, a guitar, and cape. 9) Film director: beret, megaphone, and film reel. 10) The Pope: Bible and a 2x2 slope piece for the skirt. It'll never happen, but it'd be our first male figure with the slope for legs. 11) Cub scout: short leg boy figure with knapsack, kerchief, and map. 12) Bigfoot: a recolored Yeti. 13) Zombie girl: because we need more zombies. 14) Cupid: short legs; bow & arrow; new wing pieces. 15) Girl pirate: With cutlass. 16) Journalist: with camera and notepad.

Finally found the Vampyre Hearse at $17-ish at Target, which is 50% off. I've seen the Werewolf set at $10 (also 50%), though I'm not keen on that set. I also got the Creator Carnivorous Creatures for $9-ish (50% off) and Creator Fierce Flyer for $4.50 (normal $16, so that's almost 66% off). Finally, they had that Bricks and More Blue Suitcase for $12. I'm bummed that a lot of Target's clearance stock seems to have been wiped out, though. One of the Targets I usually hit had a huge clearance section last year; there's really very little left this time.

You need to particularly watch for these on the Advent Calendars, particularly the Star Wars ones. I went looking for the calendars on clearance last winter, and found plenty, but I always carefully lifted the tape (which didn't hold very well anyway) and slid out the tray. Sure enough, I found plenty where some of the minifigures had been removed. It's easy theft, given that each mini is in its own little bag. (Don't get any ideas, folks!) I did at least have the courtesy to take the tampered boxes to customer service. Heck, I even found a really discounted SW2012 Advent Calendar at a bookstore in Montreal a few weeks ago--I think it was something like 75% off. I didn't need one, but I checked the box out of curiosity...sure enough, Santa Maul was missing.

My local Targets are starting to go a bit lower. I've seen the Creator Fierce Flyer and Red Rotors go down to 50% or less. One Target has the Monster Fighters hearse at $25--I'm hoping that it goes down to $17, which will be half price. I'm also seeing some of the Games--specifically City Chase, The Hobbit, and Ninjago--down to pretty cheap. I'm pretty sure City Chase was about $6.

Here's the Friends Wishing Well and Lemonade Stand in Bricklink's catalog which were free TRU builds. I don't know if those are their actual product numbers or if Bricklink just categorized them that way. I don't think I've seen the City Police Car on Bricklink, even though the build format was the same as the Friends stuff (here's some bricks and instructions).

Oh, good. I was wondering when people were going to start posting about Target. I'm seeing a number of sets going down in price--some of the clearance tags have a second clearance tag on top. Last summer, I found some stuff at Target at 50% off by early August, so my suspicion is that stuff will gradually drop over the next few weeks. I found a Creator Small Cottage for $21 two weeks ago; this week, it's at $17-ish. Stuff I'm seeing reduced: Architecture sets; the X-Wing Planet Set; the Monster Fighters Hearse; the City Museum Break-In; some LOTR stuff (Mirkwood Spiders comes to mind); some of the smaller Creator sets; and I'm not sure what else. One Target had a pair of Avengers Quinjets for about $50, but since it's normally a $70 set, I'm hoping it goes down to $35. I got two Sith Infiltrators for $35 each earlier this year--I think that's half the original price. Target rarely seems to go below 50%.

For what it's worth, my daughter and I cross over Friends with City all the time. They both have comparably-scaled cars, buildings, animals, etc. The Friends are slightly taller, but that doesn't bother us--particularly since their hair and headgear is interachangeable.

I suspect that we won't get any licensed sets in this series...but wouldn't it be great if we got an orange Batplane for Emmett?

These things tend to be outside my budget, but I'll bite. This set needs a vespa with a basket, with one of those loaf-of-bread accessories in it. And a rerelease of the CMF Mime figure.

I checked out their website, as I have a trip to Toronto coming and I might like to go. So a few things: One, their site says the following: "Our attraction is designed for families with children aged 3-10 years old. Adults must be accompanied by children to enter LEGOLAND Discovery Centre. We will host adult nights for our Adult Fans of LEGO without children." (Emphasis mine.) I've been to the LLDC in Grapevine, Texas, and I recall that they also advertised AFOL nights. So yes, he had that option. Two, I'm a lawyer. My instinctive guess is that this is a liability prevention mechanism. All they need is one instance of a lone adult molesting, kidnapping, or injuring a kid to invite a lawsuit and have their target audience asking "Why are lone adults allowed in here?" On a fundamental level, I don't like the notion that lone adults, particularly men, are presumptively out to harm children. In a place as busy as an LLDC, I think it's pretty unlikely. Still, this is probably based on safety concerns (and fear of getting sued as a result), and they made the call to have the policy. Three, having been to at least one LLDC, I should note that a 63 year-old man is *probably* going to be unhappy at an LLDC during all-ages hours. If it's like any other LLDC, then yeah, he might enjoy the two kid-oriented rides and the 10-minute Adventures of Clutch Powers films. However, the rest of the park is probably going to be pretty noisy and overcrowded. Does he *really* want to go in the Fire Department tubes and tunnel play zone with a bunch of six year olds? Or do karaoke in the girl's play zone? I mean, look, whatever floats your boat, but he's going to be competing elbow-to-elbow with a horde of kids half his size. An LLDC is *not* like Legoland (well, I'll assume it's not like Legoland, having never been) where you have much more open space. They're crammed into shopping malls. My guess is that the big draw for an AFOL is the city models. The Dallas model was pretty impressive, and was more interesting to me than to my kid (who wanted to get back to the rides). A smart move for Merlin might be to have the city models visible from the LLDC store, which to my knowledge *is* open to the public even if you're not going into the Center itself.

Yesterday was the second Tuesday of the month, so once again, a monthly mini-build was released at the Lego Store! This month's model was a cute little crab. How does it stack up as a model, especially compared to the other releases? Read on! Set Name and Number: 40067 Crab Theme: Promotional/Monthly Mini-Build Release: July 2013 Pieces: 37 Price: Free If you've never been to a monthly mini-build at a Store, it works like this: you show up (with a kid under 12). You wait in line until they let you in, and bam, free model. You're not required to buy anything, but let's face it, you're waiting in line at a Lego Store with a kid. Of course you'll end up buying something! It's not as though you can just walk into the store to get the model--there's a line. Most Lego Stores are in major metropolitan areas, so expect a line. We usually go to the Lego Store at the Annapolis Mall, and we try to get in line at least an hour before the build. (This month, we were at the mall and had nothing to do, so I secured our place in line around two hours before while my daughter played in the store. Score! I was first in line for once.) These lines can get long, and they're limited to 150 kids. Keep in mind, some families bring more than one kid! If you want to go, get there early. I'll also note that the Stores sometimes do additional models outside the first Tuesday. For example, last month, they had a Superman model on the 3rd or 4th Tuesday. On July 30th, there's a mini-model of a grill, and August 1st will have a Friends jewelry box. I guess if you miss one build, you might still make a model. While you're waiting in line, the Store will probably treat you to a Lego Club magazine (either the regular one or the Junior one--often your pick). You'll also get a card to secure your spot in the store, which your kid can write their name on. Here's a photo, along with something unexpected... Directions! We never get directions with the sets. Normally, the store has the directions posted at building stations, and you just keep the parts. On this visit, they actually gave us the instruction sheet to take home. I guess your mileage may vary. Here's the parts for this month's model, as inventoried on the other side of the card: Not pictured: the spares we got of the switches,black studs, and grey cheese slopes (1 of each). Spares are nice. Anyway, there's a nice assortment of colors and pieces here. Of particular interest: red curved slopes and hinge pieces, plus two 1 x4 black SNOT bricks. These sets tend to have a decent symmetry to them: you get a lot of pieces in sets of two or four. Here's the body broken into four main parts: the main body, the top shell, and the two leg/arm sections. The arms are one step completed twice. The whole thing went together in less than 5 minutes, and probably even less than that since my daughter asked for help. She did try racing the two boys who she was put with, so there's a fun option if you bring multiple kids. The completed model! I've put him with March's Turtle model for comparison. I really like the functionality on this guy. The pincher arms both move freely. The "switch" legs look pretty puny by comparison, but I'll give them credit for being functional. I think some of those hinge pieces with claws (like you see on a Droideka's legs) would have worked better, but maybe that would have required more pieces than usual for these builds. Overall, this guy has 10 points of articulation--pretty impressive, especially when compared to the Turtle's four. Finally, here's all the monthly builds for 2013 to date. From back left to front right: the Igloo & Penguins; the Log Cabin; the Turtle; the Lamb and Ewe; the Fisherman; the Kingfisher; and the Crab. They're all fun and different, but I think the Crab is my favorite one this year. Here's how I'll score Mr. Crab: Design- 9/10. It looks like what it's supposed to be, although I'd have liked bigger legs. Parts- 8/10. A great variety of useful bricks, and in nice colors. Price- 10/10. It's free. Playability- 9/10 Yes! This thing is very functional, unlike some of the more static models. If you want to build your own, Lego put the directions here. It's too late to get one of these, but if you've got the parts and want to build it, go for it. If you're not sure about doing a monthly build, I hope this convinces you!

What do these sets cost? I'm really leaning towards the 7-9 set...