dhaas06

I can say with certainty that I prefer American freight locomotives and European passenger ones. The U.S. has completely failed to keep up with the rest of the world with modern passenger train engineering, and as a result there is no comparison in style or performance. I'm simply jealous of European passenger trains. On the other hand, American freight trains are often created to cross the entire country with massive payloads, which is a significantly longer journey than many European freight trains are designed for. As a result, American freight trains are amazing simply because of their power. There is nothing like hearing one of these things thunder past a crossing gate, sometimes shaking the cars that are waiting on the road. As a side note, American freight rolling stock are typically much longer than European ones, and you almost never see short fixed-axle cars with only one set of wheels at each end, which are common in Europe (or at least the U.K. and France, which is all I've managed to visit).

Thank you so much! These images will really help, and they look great! We appreciate the time and talent put into them

Seconded, but no reason to leave out Fire Brigade or Grand Emporium! I'd love to get those images too

Has anyone else noticed the extremely high water level in this set? I'm sure the designers chose to cut a few hundred extra pieces from this already piece-rich set, but the support pillars at the bottom of this model are less than a third of the height of the real ones. That's why this set looks funny to me, because I find that part of the awe of the real thing is its height above the water. In fact, those tall supports make the real thing look balanced, while the Lego one looks top-heavy. If I don't buy the parts to raise those columns, I suppose I could declare this set documentation of a great London flood

I use a 3-drawer filing cabinet and use hanging file folders, sorted by theme. With hundreds and hundreds of instruction books, it definitely fills up the drawers! Still, it's organized enough to make it very easy to find what I'm looking for.

The story is true that S@H dumped figures in a common receptacle, because I too ordered 60 when the limit was removed. Instead of getting a box (or the dumped-out contents of a box) I received 60 loose figures, including 7 divers, no cowboys, no wrestlers. Beyond those, the spread was ok, but definitely not the same numbers reported of the sealed boxes. Some figures had 6, others had 1 or 2. Let's just speculate that S@H dumped a good portion of their stock into a common receptacle, but not all of it. Some orders were filled from there, others were filled with their own cases (with or without the actual box).

Thank you so much! I made it just in time, as there was only 1 box left in stock. I hope this doesn't turn out too good to be true!

I just got back from my first visit to London (or Europe for that matter), and I found a few sets at W. H. Smith at 5470 Oxford Street. They may have been a bit overpriced (I'm not sure since I'm not familiar with regular GBP prices), but I was happy to find 2 full boxes of the collectible mini figures inside at 1.99. These ones were behind the registers, whereas other W. H. Smiths I visited in the UK had them out on the sales floor.

Actually, this street sweeper looks more like the ones I've seen in the US than any of the past ones have. I think this one is more realistic for everyone.

I voted for the German Messerschmitt because of it's ferocity. The biplane is a nice model, but the nose of the Messerschmitt is so sleek, and the plane overall has a faster and more aerodynamic feel to it.

I just finished trying your fix, and it looks good and certainly moves a lot smoother. Thanks!

I'm confused about the back corner of the bottom floor. It has a ceiling above it, suggesting it's indoors, but you can see that there isn't a wall on the far side (look at the last row of studs where the main gray wall has a black base). What's behind that door?

Or, if you have the cash flow and are familiar with selling on eBay, you could go my route and buy several copies of 10194 and sell the extra locomotives and tenders online. They are worth about 60% of the purchase price, making it relatively affordable to put together a full train. I too was sad to discover that TLG would not release any more carriages, but in the end, it will be a lot more special to show off a train that I actually created on my own. I'm in the process of modifying six different types of carriages, and it's a lot of fun to blend the official Lego exterior style with interiors of my own that are far more detailed and unique than the original one.

If you thought that was bad, take a look at this one which leaves me dumbfounded: Hoth Rebel Base All I can hope is that it's some kind of joke, with the price being roughly 85 times the actual current value of the set. EDIT: Sure enough, it was a decimal mistake, and the seller has since fixed the error. That's much better than over $12,000 USD

Forget the ATM; Space Police refuse to let anyone (or any squid) steal a snowman on Christmas!

The Agents Mobile Command Center for $53.99 at TRU is a fantastic deal, considering the set has been discontinued for nearly a year and is currently fetching $150-$180 on eBay. Of course this sale will drop that price, but it won't be widely rereleased, so the value is sure to climb back up. I'm definitely in for a few, and it's really cool how they open at midnight this year! I hope that will help ease the massive crowds.

Actually, simonjedi, this is more than complaining. Discussing the issue with other fans is constructive, as it helps one learn what others think about the issue or have done in the past, and it is also good for getting solutions. By the fact that you went on to give a suggestion of your own, I'd say that his "complaining" did help.

Last year all three Targets in my area ran out of Imperial Star Destroyers within minutes. Also, the lines took about 45 minutes to get through.

Exactly, that perfectly illustrates the way I see it being successfully carried out. It seems so easy...

I believe the interior of the Emerald Night locomotive uses this technique too, with the headlight bricks being sideways.

I would make the same argument. Of course it isn't practical these days for TLG to release 4 different carriage sets, but I don't see why it is so much to ask for one modular one that can be built in different ways. I can guess why past sales of carriages have been relatively poor. With the My Own Train line, there were two main problems: 1) These cars were much more unrealistic and simplistic than today's models, so adults were less inclined to collect them; 2) The assortment was too wide for most kids to buy them all, so each set just sold a portion of the total for the admittedly smaller market of young train fans (compared to dominant themes like Star Wars). Both of these issues could be addressed with an Emerald Night carriage set that has enough extra pieces to make it several different types of cars. It would be realistic enough for adults to collect (and complete the perfect image that the Emerald Night demands~ a full, elegant train). Also, with only one carriage set instead of four, production would be streamlined, and it would essentially have the sales numbers of multiple carriage sets combined. This is a similar approach to the one used with the two Santa Fe carriage sets, but I think it can be improved over the Santa Fe case. This time there could be just one set instead of two, with even more flexibility and better promotion of the versatility and creativity inherent in designing so many different things from one set, which is what Lego is all about. It could be the ultimate parts-pack for all types of coaches, with printed instructions for at least three and inspiration for more, and a price point of $35-$50 depending on the number of elements. Basically, apply the Creator approach to trains. I know one thing for sure: I'd be in for more than five right from the start.

!!!!! I live on the other side of St. Louis (the Missouri side) in St. Charles, and the nearest Lego store is Chicago (6 hour drive away). Therefore, I haven't even had the chance in my years of AFOL-dom to even step into one, let alone go all the way to California to visit Legoland. If this comes to fruition, it will all be worth it. Please, LEGO, please!

Thanks! You definitely provided a lot of interesting information here, and I think either one of these scenarios is possible. I completely agree, and I too wonder if it's worth passing on to the ambassadors. It's time to get some answers. As I said before, I've gotten way too many damaged parts from these lots. A lot of you were marveling at the idea of unique finds like marbled bricks, but unfortunately most of the stuff has been worthless, like round studs where the stud is actually crushed flat into the piece or mangled girders. Yes, I have asked what his source is, and I was very polite and asked simply out of genuine curiosity (this was before I got fed up). No reply. That Batcycle and minifig from 7886 are actually left over from a year ago, when he was selling both sealed polybags from the set as separate items. The Harley Quinn minifig + truck sold out a long time ago. Agreed. I understand that his secrecy may just be to protect his sources to prevent competition, but it's time to learn the truth, because otherwise it leaves us to suspect something illegal or unethical. I know some of the Lego plants have had major security issues in the past (and may still), and it would make me sick to think that this guy could be getting these parts without permission.

That's not what I saw; the ad said 40% off all 3 of those sets, with those prices on the second two being the original price.

Add Badsneaker please. He was very pleasant to deal with and worked very quickly!