Ogre

Quite honestly, I don't see those 'more realistic' companies as any real competition for LEGO, because they are in two TOTALLY DIFFERENT markets with regard to what they make. And even so...as a kid, though I ENJOYED stuff like 'pre-fab' toy soldiers, etc., I was always rather let down by their limitations...you couldn't CHANGE anything and a lot of the stuff that I wanted them to make, they DIDN'T make. My biggest beef was with castles. They were either the wrong scale, or were totally lame. At least with LEGO, I can build my own and customize it to bits...and when I don't want it around, taking up space, I can dismantle it into something far smaller than what I've seen from Playmobile, et al. And, they tend to take up a lot less space when BUILT, too. Not many vehicles? Pirates. *g* Nothin' but ships 'n' boats.

I think it would be a great addition to anyone's 'farm' layout...yanno, aside from the dudes running around in armour with swords.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Good one! ::high five::

Looks like the opening of Fairview will be the weekend of the 21-23 of Oct...at least according to the info for the 'big build' listed on the October store calendar (posted on Flickr) Looks like this one will be Yoda. *edit* Also: Today is the last day for free shipping from Sears.ca! $50 off $200 orders

Ditto! Loved seeing those commercials. Thanks for posting them, Niku. I'd like to see Kingdoms movies, even the half-hour ones, like they did for Ninjao, Atlantis, etc.

I'm very disappointed that more retails aren't taking 'leaking of details' seriously enough! I REALLY want to see pics! And I'm still seething with jealousy regarding those folks who got SDCC figs.

Dude, you have NO idea! If my wife was to roll her eyes at me any more than she already does, she'd suffer from motion sickness.

Just my opinion but...is too fancy a building for a fruit and veggie vendor. Besides, most of those types of sales were done in open-air markets. Your building (to me) looks more like something a fairly well-off merchant would have, so I'd be thinking more like a cooper, or rug merchant, furniture maker, or some such thing. Aside from that though, it's a nice-looking piece. Keep up the good work!

THAT is EXACTLY the sort of thing *I* would like to see from LEGO battle packs, REGARDLESS of whether or not they are for LOTR! I'd add one other point though...each figure in the battle pack has to have a different weapon/shield combo. Sword and shield, spear and shield, axe and shield, bow and quiver (NO CROSSBOWS FOR ORCS, THANK YOU!) That way, you can customize your units even further. I kind of hate to state the obivous here but...are you forgetting the 'Castle' theme? It's been around in one incarnation or another since the very first minifig-based sets came out and it seems to have done quite well for itself, WITHOUT any 'vehicles' except the odd cart, carriage or seige tower. I don't know about anybody else here but, when *I* was a kid, I LOVED all things 'castle-ish', was totally into the legends of King Arthur, etc. I read both The Hobbit and LOTR before I was ten, watched The Hobbit and Return of the King animated movies on tv and went to see the LOTR animated movie in the theatre (and yeah, even ANIMATED 'Dark Riders' were pretty damned spooky!). I LOVED 'fantasy adventure', mythology, ancient legends, etc.. Elves, Dwarves, Trolls, Ogres, Minotaurs, Centaurs, etc., etc., fueled my imagination BIG TIME. When LEGO released those original three themes, I thought I had died and gone to heaven! I was 'into' ALL of them, all for different reasons...and even to this day, I'm STILL 'into' MANY different themes, for many different reasons. I TOTALLY think that a LOTR theme could stand on its own two feet and compete for shelf space with themes like POTC, SW, Cars, etc...and I think that in many cases, in many places, it would WIN. It's a classic 'good vs evil' story. How the perceived 'weak and meek' triumph over what seemed like overwhelming, impossible odds. It's peppered with cool locals, fascinating characters and some creepy/scary/cool as heck creatures. IMO, it's a PERFECT line for kids with an imagination. The only question is: in this day of video games, computers and 'spoon fed entertainment', do children have any imagination left? *edit* One other point: release a LEGO LOTR video game from TT and the line will EXPLODE with sales. Look at Batman. No video game = flat sales...and let's face it, that line had BATMAN fer cryin' out loud! It also had a massive pile of vehicles and colourful crooks to keep things entertaining. Sales still lagged. Line was dumped. Right around that time, the video game came out and all of a sudden, kids were BEGGING their parents for Batman-related LEGO sets, so they could recreate the video game. Alas, almost none were to be found. To paraphrase "Field of Dreams": If you game it, they will come.

Oh. My. Goodness. Holy Captain Crunch, that's a lot of Vladek polybags! Wow! Very impressive.

I was actually going to wear one of those to Brickfete but, completely forgot in my rush to get out the door!

I'd like to see them re-issued, like the old 'Legends' line. Sure, they'd probably have to have the newer 'motorcycle helmet' style of head gear but, I can live with that. Absolutely agree! It's like you hear a lot of actors say: the bad guys are more fun to play, because they tend to be so much more complex characters. The 'good guys' tend to be a wee bit boring. LOL And I agree...black with some yellow is a STONKIN' colour scheme, especially if you want to give that 'hint of danger'. Must be why Mama Nature uses it, huh? I only had the two smallest M-Tron sets but, I REALLY liked them and thought their colour scheme was very cool. The colours, paired with that graphic logo, really worked well. You're very welcome. I'm glad I could help.

Actually, re-reading that post of yours, *I* was the one who misread it. LOL Yes, I can see some of the 'pinkishness' in that fig quite clearly. I didn't notice with the gold, either. BUT...you can bet yer butt that I wrote to LEGO as soon as I found out that they were replacing them! LOL (extra pieces, dontchaknow *g*) Those horses would be FANTASTIC for use as statues and the barding is great for pretty much any 'blue-based' cavalry unit. Very cool!

*shrug* It's my nickname. Has been for 25 years. LOL

Fave is metal. Next is classic rock. But, there's a TON of great music out there from just about every genre and I like a lot of it. Currently listening to the remastered anniversary edition of "Peace Sells...But Who's Buying". GREAT sound!

That looks like a normal 'chrome gold' crown, to me...which has been around a long time. In the parts list for the Trolls' Mountain Fortress, the troll crown is indicated as being bronze in colour, not brown, so I'm guessing it's a mistake if you got the brown one, like I did.

Use your 'auto focus' settings to help reduce any blurring and if you want to do 'close up' shots, check to see if you camera has a 'macro' setting. Keeps things in focus even at very close range. And they don't usually have room for weapon storage, either. Blasters, lightsabers, etc., either don't fit, or they just 'bounce around'. Not good. I like the concept of your vehicles, 'Hrw-Amen'. Reminds me of Warhammer 40K and all of the Rhino variants, etc. Totally dig the hover-bike, too. Nice job.

My votes were quite similar, since I have a very nostalgic place in my heart for Classic Space, Blacktron and M-Tron. I had some of the space police sets but wasn't too fond of the blue/red colour scheme and I don't think I had many of the Futuron sets, if ANY.

Folks have been speculating, wishing and hoping with regard to what space-oriented themes they'd like LEGO to revive from the the dust bin, so here you go! Cast your votes and see what your fellow EB posters have to say! Agree, or disagree withe choices? Why, or why not? Make your voices heard! (heck, someone might even be listening! ) (and for the sake of keeping it simple, ALL versions of Space Police and Blacktron fall under their respective headings) BTW...I hope y'all don't mind me throwing the poll up. I usually post more in the 'historic' themes but, I noticed a call for a poll while reading this morning, so I thought I'd help y'all out.

Yeah, some sets like the 'flying saucer' and 'alien hopper' were no great shakes but, the 'warp wing fighter' was pretty awesome, IMO. Heck, even to the stickers on the front of the 'VV' ship from the HQ...throwing the old "LLxxxx" in there was so nice to see. I definitely miss the trans-yellow, yes. Having the blue and grey with no TY just feels a bit...wrong. I like the change of direction. Helps 'mix it up' a bit and keep the Space line from getting boring. I really wish they had done a better job with the Alien Mothership, ADU Defender and Jet Copter sets though. I don't mind the copter too much but the alien ships look rather goofy...and there are too many 'small alien ship' designs in this line...should have kept it to 1 mother ship, 1 large tactical, 1 medium tactical, 1 small tactical and 1 mini tactical. The small saucer that comes with the ADU HQ unit is FAR superior IMO, to the silly "hook 'em up" style that comes with the Jet Copter. There's no POINT to joining the two ships together in the first place, so why not just have two of the saucers that came wiht the HQ, or two of the mini 'skimmers'?

Awwwwww! *kicks rocks* We never get to have any fun!

Maybe they're just so awesome already that they can't be improved upon?!?! Okay, so maybe not. But, they ARE awesome.

Not only that but, they're so hard to discern sometimes that it's just FASTER to 'grope' the bags. I can usually identify three to five figs 'by feel' in the amount of time it takes me to figure out ONE dot pattern.

That would make sense, since that's how it was done for Sherway. Oh...and I hear that they're still hiring...specifically looking for folks who are available M-F days. At least, that's the rumour, anyway. Friend of mine said she saw something posted on the construction wall where the store will be opening. I haven't been down in that area myself, so I can't confirm or deny but, I thought I'd pass on the info.

I'm not sure if the "red was faded to pink" or if it was just a really THIN printing of white over red that made the pinkish hue. I never noticed that effect with any of my troops, so I can't really say.