Still Raindrop

So, the large bugs in the Eradicator Mech set (coupled with the lack of minifigure-sized bugs) helps confirm my theory (well, more my visualization of the continuity of this theme--I doubt that this is something LEGO is actually doing) that these bugs are the Bilgin Bugs from Insectoids (although I, as a kid growing up in the USA, just got the generic creepy-invader backstory for Insectoids, I much prefer the other story where the Zotaxian refugees have to disguise their craft as giant bugs to avoid being killed by the giant bugs on the planet they now inhabit). In my modest Galaxy Squad setup (I only have the two smallest sets), I have a Zotaxian alongside the Galaxy Squad--the way I have it set up, a Zotaxian scout flew out to warn people that the Bilgin bugs are on the move.

Man, these look awesome. Sadly, I probably won't have the money for any more (I got the two smallest of this wave). Out of curiosity, why is everyone referring to the new minifigure as an "armored mosquitoid?" The only real thing it has in common with the mosquitoid is the antennae--no wings, no compound eyes, no proboscis, etc. It looks more like a new kind of bug--a roach, perhaps.

Nice! I had been noticing the different designs lately (that's one of the things I like about the coffee machines--they're not all the same design). Although, as a Starbucks partner, I have to notice that they're all drip machines--where is the LEGO coffee press?

Ah--sorry about that. I guess I didn't look around enough.

So, I looked through the pieces again, and I did indeed find some odd things! Here are a few pictures. Here is a 1x2 plate with the logo facing different directions (with a normal one for comparison): Here's an example of the different fonts you mentioned: This shows the old-style undersides for some bricks: Last (and not really odd) is a picture of some old raised baseplates (note the two different kinds of bottoms):

[pid][/pid]219D The other day, I built a few Islanders-inspired things for a story I'm planning. Pictured below is a hut and a statue (as those familiar with Islanders know, the head of the statue is not my own design, but an official one). Enjoy!

As difficult as it is to choose (some of the leisure houses, as well as classic space, pirates, and castle sets are so tempting), I'd actually have to go with 5978 Sphinx Secret Surprise. I know it's not the best choice as far as price value goes, but I remember having so much fun with that set as a kid. I was born in 1989, and though I have taken on much "fake" nostalgia for sets that were around before I was born, sometimes real nostalgia trumps that. I remember having fun with a lot of MOCs, too, and sets that I have most of the parts from, but this set was different. Plus, I no longer have some of the pieces.

LEGO Historian, thank you so much for the information! I love finding out such fascinating historical things. I'll have to look at the studs now and try to find the odd fonts! I'll also compare the red and yellow bricks to new ABS bricks. It does make sense that these would have been bricks from the 1970s, rather than the 1960s, as that's when she started getting them for her kids. Was set 345 (the one that I found instructions for, and was able to build--the review is in the Town forum) produced until the 70s? I would imagine so, since there weren't as many products out as there are now. There's a possibility (however small) that my wife's grandfather might still have one of the Samsonite-released town plan sets in his basement somewhere. If I ever find it, I'll be sure to post pictures (that side of my wife's family lives in the Denver metro area, where Samsonite has its headquarters, and which was, I believe, the first US city to have LEGO). Also, I'll have to save up some money to buy your book--it looks like something I could spend hours upon hours poring over!

The funny thing is, that jacket was a gift from a non-FOL!

Way before my time, too--in fact, this set came out twenty years before I was born! The baseplate doesn't actually have dots--I'm not sure if they were there once, and then rubbed off (a possibility, as the studs are rather smoother than I imagine they once were), or if this particular one didn't have the dots. This set also shows that the difficulty LEGO has in doing vehicle scale isn't new. The house is the perfect size for microfigures from the LEGO Games; however, the car is massive--over twice as tall as a microfig!

As you may have seen in my topic in general LEGO discussion, I received a bunch of old LEGO from my step-grandmother-in-law. Among the bricks were instructions and pieces for an almost complete set 345 from 1969. I was very excited to find this out, so I put it together. I recently took it apart and re-assembled it, taking photographs along the way for the sake of Eurobricks. So, without further ado, set 345: House With Car. First off is the car. This was still constructed in the bucket of bricks I received, so I never took it apart: Next I'll show you the instructions. Lots of added bricks per step, which was fun. However, the angle of the instructions sometimes made it difficult to find where things were supposed to go. The in-build shots. Finally, an all-around view of the finished set. Sadly, I don't have much time to post more pictures or thoughts. However, I'll try to come back and update the review later this week. Until then, enjoy!

So, I haven't been very active on Eurobricks for a while (work, school, marriage, etc.), but I figured I'd make my partial comeback in a big way. Earlier this year, my wife's stepmother's mother sent me a bucket of old LEGO from when her children were young--she said she began buying LEGO for her kids in 1971, but there are pieces here from the late sixties, as well. This blurry picture (better ones later) shows the amount of elements there were (as well as how excited I was!): I did an inventory today, and there were around 1070 pieces in there! Most of them were in excellent condition. If anyone wants a complete inventory, I can oblige, but for now, I thought I'd share some of the more interesting parts. I'll start off with a 1x1 plate. Not really rare, but there was only one, and it was cool to see it with the old logo. Next up is the underside of the old-style 1x2 plates. And the underside of the old-style 2x8 plates. A printed 1x2 brick. Printed 2x3 bricks. Both these and the previous printed brick have a sort of embossed feel. Trans-clear 2x2 and 2x4 bricks. A tv aerial and an old pine tree. Some cool old swivel pieces. An old propeller. Old windows and doors. Some old wheels. I have no idea what this part is. Does anyone know? Here are some old catalog images. There were also enough pieces (and the instructions for) a (nearly) complete set. While I'll be posting a review of that in the Town forum within the next few days, here is a picture to give you a hint. (If this is the wrong forum, I do apologize)

Curses! I had hoped to be the first to make the "Mr. Plow" reference. Thanks for the pictures! The size has me slightly concerned (a "cottage" that's bigger than the stores in town; makes it less of a cottage and more of a ), as does the price--I may not be asking my mother-in-law to get this one for me (the tradition for the past three Christmases, but $100 may be a bit too much for her). Interestingly, I feel like I'm very impressed with all the different elements that make up the set (not LEGO elements, but things like the plow, the interior, the exterior, the igloo, etc.), but I'm not as impressed with the set as a whole. Maybe I'm just being too critical, or maybe I'm finding sour grapes because I may not be able to get this one. I also agree with everyone on the minifigures! I like the grandpa and the red-haired kid, but then we get three repeat torsos, a Squidtron torso, and that Kingdoms queen torso, which I've never thought of as a good city torso, much less in the winter. I've already had to modify so many of the Winter Village minifigures; I'm a little bummed that, if I do get this set, I'll have to find ways to modify even more.

Hi, everyone. I was recently evacuated from my apartment for about a week due to the massive wildfire here. Fortunately, my home is safe, as is my LEGO collection. 347 homes were lost, sadly, but our firefighters have been working extremely hard around the clock to save every home that they could. Now, I'm looking for a few fire-related LEGO pieces so that I can add a brush truck with firefighters to my town layout as a reminder and sign of gratitude; I can pay, or I can trade--just let me know what you're looking for. I'm trying to get: --the sticker sheet from either 7942 Off-Road Fire Rescue (I have this set, but lost the stickers), or the sheet from 4209 Fire Plane. --Any of the new forest fire fighters from the 2012 line. If anyone can help out, let me know. Thanks! --Mark

1) All your monuments are belong to us (Lady Liberty) Entry (Build by CamelBoy68)-- 1 point 2) The ski jump in Holmenkollen in Oslo (Sleepyhead) Entry (Build by Cecilie)-- 1 point 13) Outpost Raid (Intergalactic Girl) Entry (Build by Oky)-- 1 point

22) Clockwork Robot Entry (Build by AlexScammer)-- 1 point 23) Mechanic Entry (Build by Darkblane)-- 1 point 26) Minotaur Entry (Build by kciR)-- 1 point Excellent work, everyone--picking wasn't easy! The clever use of scale to make the robot a toy in 22, the simple yet beautiful Americana aesthetic of 23, and the cleverness in both idea and parts usage for the game boards in 26 ultimately made me choose those ones.

I wasn't so sure whether LEGO was being lazy or ingenious by releasing what looked like slightly modified Time Twisters and Studios sets, but now I'm leaning towards ingenious; the builds (from what I can tell) and the figures are huge improvements! Interestingly enough, this is one of the few recent action themes where the heroes seem to be as unique as the villains. I actually rather prefer the heroes in this one, although the monsters look good, too. I'm pleasantly surprised with the way they managed to differentiate them from the collectible minifigures versions, particularly "the Monster" (I think that "Frankenstein" is an acceptable term; not because of pop culture, but because the creature, unnamed in Shelley's work, would have presumably taken the name of his "father," Dr. Frankenstein).

I had to choose 4433 Dirt Bike Transporter. It may partly be due to the fact that it's the only one I own, but there are a few things that really stuck out to me about it: 1. It has a lot of new (within the last two years) pieces--more than it looks like on the box. These are all used very well. 2. It has lots of "play" potential, with many different scenarios due to the inclusion of the dirt bikes. It could almost function as two different sets, really. 3. It is a very well-built set that is also extremely modifiable. For me, this is a huge virtue. There are some sets that do not lend themselves to modification; either the modifications needed to make a set look better would be too extensive, or the modifications aren't improvements. This one is different; although it's already a good set, it's easy to modify it to suit different tastes. I have already switched around some of the color scheme of the SUV (leaving off the stickers and changing the red pieces to black--I left the trailer as it is, though), changed the rear lights and changed the back hatch. It's not extensive, but it looks much better (in my opinion). 4. It's grey! A City vehicle that's not red, white, or yellow!

So, after looking at this review again, I decided that "hideous" is too strong a word; the minifigures are growing on me. I still wish they would have included stickers that said "Sheriff" or "Forest Rangers" or something, rather than "Police." But that's a minor gripe. I really do like that SUV, and the station office is great--it really captures that forest/small mountain town feel very well.

You don't think there's a difference in design aesthetic? I guess it could be just simple advancement, and I'm seeing the fact that the newer style pretty much entirely replaced the older style as indication of a large-scale shift (for example, whenever updated classic town torso & face prints were introduced, other old-style ones still coexisted; this really isn't the case with the new style).

Thanks for the review, SilentMode--it was very enjoyable, and showed me enough to give me a taste for the set without ruining all the building fun Hear, hear! And, in my case, my mother-in-law has bought me the previous two winter village sets for the past two Christmases--here's hoping the trend continues!

Very true; I admit, I did notice some of these as I was writing the topic (the "sparkle" eyes in the Divers theme, the cloth imperfections in the Wild West theme, etc.), but decided to overlook those, since they seemed more experimental and were not as widespread, often affecting the one- or two-wave "action themes" more than the "central" ones (again, there are exceptions). I was more concerned with the large-scale overhaul than its beginnings. Nevertheless, you make a valid point--LEGO had tested out newer-style prints before, and the shift didn't come from nowhere. Macoco, when I speak of a shift or overhaul, I think that there's actually more to it than just an advancement in sophistication; rather, it's a pretty massive change. For example--my wife has a Honda Civic from 2002. It's more sophisticated than the Civics from 1992, and there have been various improvements, but it's still essentially an updated, more sophisticated version of the same car. I own a Honda Civic from 2007, after Honda completely changed the body of the Civic. While it shares a model name with my wife's car, it is more than just a more sophisticated version--it has been completely overhauled, redone. In the same way, this torso: is more "sophisticated" than this one: , and can be seen as sophistication growing with time. However, compare either of those torsos to this one: and you'll see that the style is very different.

Neither. Certain details of these minifigures, however, just look "off" to me (specifically the police, since I'm guessing the criminals are supposed to be ugly); the bulging pockets, the face print of the guy with the sunglasses, etc.

Thanks for the review! I like the station, although think that it could have been much better; something about it just doesn't seem "foresty" enough. Plus, I think the minifigures are hideous.

I'm aware of this; notice, however, that my topic wasn't simply stating that things are getting more sophisticated; rather, I looked at one particular aspect of the advancement. As I had stated, I love the details of the newer things, but I think that sometimes the level of detail on things like sets, for example, actually makes the "scale" a bit more odd-looking. Classic town always had a sort of weird scale, but everything was pretty much on the same scale. The new level of detail means that things look better alone, but may not look as great all together, as they may be on slightly different scales (or some cars, for example, might have doors and no side mirrors, and others might have mirrors and no doors, etc.). I think the same could possibly be true of the printing--the more realistic clothing becomes (like with the new female "curves"), the more attention is brought to the fact that minifigures don't have human proportions.