Hobbes

I looooove honey mustard... :') As for American SciFi-series: in Star Trek the aliens actually do speak a different language. The space ships, stations and those communicator thingies use a special translation technique that lets everybody hear each other in their own language - hence English for earthlings. That was shown in one episode in DS9 once where that translator didn't know the language of the newly arrived aliens yet and had to adopt. Until then you heard the original language of the aliens... How this works? Probably the same way the communicator knows who you're "calling" so only that person hears you saying their name before they answer... :|

Why, thank you, mister_phes :$ May I choose my reward? Or which reward did/do you have in mind? You made me curious...

Good point. But the set number is as far away from 10183 as 5563 - if it is a set number... But it does have 813 pieces which could be seen as a number-mix of 10183... ;)

The only "asset" to me is that it's got tons of sand green bricks which can be used for nice houses in a train/town-layout. But that's not worth that much. As Centaur said, it's nothing more than a big creator bucket with only two colors of bricks (or be it three)... @Centaur: How much do you want? ;)

The only "Racing Truck" I could dig up is the 5563 Model Team Racing Truck. But you won't find this on S@H because it's retired. 10183 doesn't exist - except maybe as a Zip Code in the US...

Argh... I knew the thread was named differently :$ Thought somebody renamed it... shame on me...

Just found this brickshelf gallery with "real" pics from the new Dino sets. Too bad he doesn't have the helicopter. The Hummer/Hammer is huge compared to the minifigs, though...

The difference between last year's loss and the "income" from the sale? If so, I meant that it isn't there because of "old" losses. If not, I misunderstood you...

Not really: The article said that last year's loss was EUR 328 mio. That's not their debt. Meaning, last year they lost 328 mio on top of what they had lost already. Meaning furthermore, with the sale they erased "only" last year's negative business (and some of the years before). What's still there (or rather isn't) we don't know... My g/f just explained it to me, and as a business graduate she should know... I knew why I hated this in school... ;)

That's a tough question. If I do some elementary school math it should be a good thing: LEGO's net loss last year was EUR 328 mio (Jesus, that's a lot come to think of it :/ ). With the sale of the themeparks they "get" EUR 375 mio - that should put them into black numbers and they should be able to concentrate on their core business and have the luxury of not turning every cent on every decision. How this deal really works out moneywise, though, I don't know. As for the parks, I never was a big theme park goer (any kind of theme park). I knew LEGOLAND existed but never felt an urge to visit it. I just wanted to buy LEGO sets and carry the boxes home (which still holds true). So to me this news isn't a shock, or "blasphemy" or anything. If they use this money-boost and do good core-business again I'm all happy. The theme parks, I think, will always be associated with LEGO - the name is just too well known all over the globe to be "forgotten".

It does have 2800+ pieces so the original price (USD 199 according to LUGNET) actually had a good price/piece ratio. Don't know what it cost here, but this is insane...

Well, looks like I won't get it that soon (would have been great for sand green pieces): eBay Store 1 eBay Store 2 Bricklink Alright, the price maybe influenced by patriotism. Which is OK- to a certain extent! This is just plain sick! >:( /rant

Uh-oh... they do look very similar :o

*thumbsup* :)

The best looking one to me is the Imperial Flagship. But it has the same problem all the ships after SES and BSB have (including pirate ships): the placement of the masts and sails. It looks just plain wrong and pretty disturbing... :/

Jake just mentioned "hours" but I think I read something about 16 hours or so in an answer somewhere in that thread...

It has 4 cannons, they're "rotatable". On the picture you see all 4 pointing to one side. See instruction pages 7 and 29.

It's actually a bit complicated to put together at first glance. Here's the finished one:

You mean this? 2 of these form a "container grab" as in set 6542 Launch & Load Port for example. I have the set but I don't sell it. Just wanted to clear things up if this is the part in question ;)

The Australian S@H really isn't all that attractive. Austrian isn't, either, but still cheaper than the Australian. The only time I bought from the Austrian S@H was the BNSF cos I didn't want to wait and for one article the price difference to the USD isn't that bad. But if I order more than one piece I order in the States, have it shipped to my girl-friend's sister, and pick it up myself on my next vacation there, or have the parents bring it with them when they visit, or have the sister bring it when she visits here. Saved me a lot of money so far. OT: You mentioned that you still surf on modem, now you reveal that you don't have a credit card, your monitor seems to be an old one - and still you "survive" in this high-tech world. Refreshing to see and proofs my point that it's possible ;)

Today I found a 7471 Mars Exploration Rover at a local TRU on sale for EUR 29.98 instead of EUR 119.90(!) :oo Although that's a preeeeetty nice reduction I didn't buy it cos I have no use for the parts and no place where to put the model. Dunno if other TRUs have the same sale...

Well, since you post so much your posts sometimes are difficult to figure out, mister_phes. But what with the fresh air you could be right: being on sick-leave and in bed for 3 days could have affected me somewhat...

Hmm... I'm not that big a fan of steam engine trains but I do have a small steam engine with a tender, 2 of the green passenger cars and the red caboose of the "My Own Train" line, a few palm trees, a monkey, some pirates and some guards (no Armada, though). A little alteration on the Imperial Trading Post could make it a nice train station. I think it should be possible to mix something together - but I'm not that great a MOC-builder and pics of the real Silver Train are hard and almost impossible to find so the train wouldn't look a lot different from the original MOT-stuff, I'm afraid. But I could try - once my room is ready (hopefully this summer)...

Well, maybe your monitor's too old, I dunno. It's nothing dramatic anyways...

His eyes look like the classical Alien eyes.