posades

I'm rooting for the Kiwis! And for the record that penalty call against you was bogus. Anyone else hear about the drama going on in the French camp? Apparently the team is refusing to train due to the sending home of Anelka (who called the head coach some dirty words ). This should be interesting, maybe they'll boycott the game against South Africa?

That ref in the US game sucked. We should have had the full 3 points, but at least we control our own destiny thanks to England. Now I just need to figure out if we should finish 1st or 2nd, since avoiding Germany would probably be best in the next round.

It's my hope that LEGO will have plenty of boxes in their retail stores come the official release date (June 21st in the US?). Because frankly this is starting to wear thin. I ask a TRU employee everytime I go whether or not they have them in stock and they never know; the one time I did see a box of them on sale, they were all gone. I was hoping these would make their way to Target and Walmart, but I guess time is running out considering Series 2 is almost here in a couple more months and they're already sold out in Europe.

Even though Spain is my second team, they were pitiful today and didn't deserve to win. When you have that many chances and fail to convert one, you're either really unlucky or the goalkeeper is pretty good (a mix of both I guess). And was it just me or did Torres look really rusty? Seemed every ball he touched would get away from him.

North Korea really surprised me; I expected them to lose by 3 or 4 goals, but they held their own quite nicely. If Portugal doesn't pick up their game quick I could see the N. Koreans sneak in there as the second team qualifying out of the group.

No doubt it's the Forestman for me; gives me hope of a future Kingdoms subtheme.

That's no excuse Artanis I, since all our talented blokes go to American football, basketball, baseball, ice hockey, etc. Looking forward to the Italy-Paraguay game. I'm thinking Paraguay might pull the upset here and get a win, especially since they'll be emotionally motivated to play well for their star striker who was shot in the head earlier this year. Then again that might work against them as well, we'll see.

Recently watched Prince of Persia. Fun flick, but kind of forgettable (seeing as how I watched it a little over a week ago and I already forgot the plot ). The ending for me was a bit rushed, but other than that I liked it for being a mindless-action kind of movie. The ostriches were awesome, and it doesn't hurt to have a hot chick cast as the main female lead. 7.5 grains of sand out of 10

Yes Sandy I'll give you that digimon created a lot of these designs before Nintendo; I remember seeing a comparison shot once that showed a digimon with a tree on it's back just like Torterra, except that the digimon was created before Torterra! As for the monster debate, I was thinking about the starters like Charizard and Blastoise. Now that I look back a little more, I do realize there was a few Clefairys and Jigglypuffs as well, so it's not entirely true that even back then they were all badasses. I guess my gripe with these newer generations is that there is an increasingly larger proportion of Chanseys so to speak instead of your Gengars. I never got into digimon, but judging by your second pic, I can see how you wouldn't consider pokemon very menacing.

Most of them are fine, some are just plain weird though (a gear?! ). Personally my favorite out of the bunch so far is the crocodile looking pokemon, and also the gorilla one you mentioned. I kind of miss how most of these nowadays are going for the cute look instead of their namesake, more monster-like. Oh well, there's always their evolved form...

Great result eh? What's the tiebreaker when 2 teams have the same number of points, would it be goal differential? Just asking because it may come down to finishing in 1st place might be worse if Germany finishes 2nd in their group or something. It's been a decent worldcup so far, though a few of the games have been snoozefests (I'm looking at you France).

I totally agree with you there; I hated how when they added a Baby evolution in a later generation or second evolution (like Rhyperior), they would just tack it on at the end. Changing the order would be perfectly fine with me, but I'm afraid other people wouldn't have the same opinion. By the way, I've gotten back into collecting pokemon cards, so if anyone has any that they don't need anymore or just want to get rid of to clear some space for LEGO , shoot me a PM and we'll get something worked out. I'm currently trying to complete my older sets, but any cards are welcome.

You know I could see the Forestmen making a return with their Stag shield; they could be more of a barbaric kingdom with no established knights or large castle.

If that's the reason she broke up with you then she probably wasn't worth it anyways. I've learned that outer beauty quickly fades but the inner beauty stays forever (yes that's my words of wisdom for the day ). As for funny stares, I can't say I've gotten too many. However walking through the mall with a bright yellow LEGO bag isn't exactly my idea of blending in. My family is fine with it since they've grown accustomed to my hobby over the years; heck my sister still loves them although she doesn't collect anymore, and I've gotten my niece hooked as well.

You know as far as the US is concerned, I'm beginning to think they're only available at Toys R Us. I have yet to see them anywhere else, but then again the official release date for these is in late June so it might just be a case of TRU breaking (or TLG allowing them) the street date. It is odd, however, how these are being seen in Canadian Walmarts.

The Red Fantasy Wizard had the awesome cape (and a printed torso?), so for that reason I have to go with him. Although the beard color isn't as menacing as the black, I love the Red Wizard's face and leg printing.

As far as my local TRU is concerned, there is a conventional aisle of LEGO where much of the larger and medium sets are located, and then there is an "island" type shelf in the middle of the main aisle of the store that has much of the smaller/impulse sets. Just beware that the impulses there are $4.49 (a .50 cent markup I believe from the new impulse price).

Well I went to my local TRU today and finally found a box....too bad it was empty. Also, it seems TRU has raised the price of them to $2.49 (at least the one I went to). It's a shame really, you'd be better off buying them off Bricklink for some of the figs.

With my niece's birthday coming up I bought her the Bunny set from Easter that was on sale at the Lego Store. I originally wanted to get her the Belville set with the dogs but they were all sold out; seeing as how this Bunny is kind of small, I'll probably end up buying something else for her as well.

I agree, mine looks great as well! Going into my signature for sure, of course with props to the artist.

You know I could see the Ghost making a return, and besides what other people have mentioned I don't see the "fantasy" aspect being a focus of Kingdoms. Seeing a mature dragon in the next wave seems a bit of a stretch, though I won't rule it out. I was ok with the orcs and whatnot in the last Castle line so I'll be fine with whatever fantastical element they throw at me this go-around as well.

Wouldn't be that hard to incorporate some kind of hinge mechanism.

Looks great Noisy, it's nice to see another list that's easy to read. I'm assuming that's the US barcodes? Well I'm a bit disappointed; stopped by my local TRU again and the minifigs were nowhere to be found. I checked the front checkout lanes and where the LEGO was, and I asked a worker there but of course they were clueless about the whole situation.

Gah I'm so jealous of you, getting a sealed copy of this set. This one is probably in my top 5 greatest sets ever simply for the nostalgia factor. I remember lusting after it in the catalog and in the store; I was too little to have a steady income at the time so I never managed to pick it up, but hopefully one day I will. Great review, I like how you pointed out a lot of details in, well, more detail.

Well I live in the US so I guess it's already out. Your best bet is probably your local Toys R Us, they seem to put out the new sets a little early.