blueandwhite

Don't be so hard on yourself. Personally I love to see MOCs regardless of the technical ability of the builder. It's about having fun and making something new. Most MOCs have something potentially interesting about them, regardless of the builder's relative level. I'm sure your MOCs are better than you think *y* . I should hope so. You seem like a pretty decent guy, so I'm sorry about some of the comments earlier. While I'm not a big fan of collections per se, I respect your enthusiasm when it comes to LEGO and Star Wars (two very cool things IMO). It certainly is an impressive collection so don't let others disuade you from doing what you enjoy. Later.

NEVER!!!!! :-D

Interesting. I wonder where that UK seller on ebay got his hands on them. Right now, those and the advant calender are tops on my must have list for this year so I'm hoping that they are easy to come by. The tic-tac-toe sets came and went too fast for my tastes. This set also has the added benefit of having both soldiers and knights, so I am really hoping for info soon.

I find these sorts of contests to be limiting. Only builders for a passion for (insert license here) are likely to even consider participating. A sigfig/vehicle/seed part/set mod etc. contest is open enough that you have fans from all themes participating. Star Wars is obviously something of an exception only because it has an insanely huge following. I see Star Wars MOCs everywhere. Transformers MOCs are out there, but they aren't overly common. A good contest is one that encourages as many different builders as possible to participate.

With the way he spends it; so does he :-D . In all seriousness, it's a very nice collection but I'm a fan of building not spending. Buying and building sets just isn't that impressive to me. Sure, it's nice, but there is more to LEGO than simply collecting (IMO). If he had some nice MOCs in there to go with all of those sets I might be a bit more impressed.

I'm more interested in the prospect of getting my hands on those battle packs. Given that they've been spotted in LEGOLAND Windsor and California, I'm wondering whether they will be available elsewhere. My current castle army is modest at best with only 250 or so troops. I was hoping to add another fifty or so with those sets. Impulse sets just aren't ideal for building a real army.

Indy. I always viewed Johnny Thunder as a poor man's Indy anyhow. Now that we've got the real deal, I have no use for Johnny and company (the female minifig heads in that line were great though).

I never bought the 2007 castle. I was too busy gathering Crossbow Attacks :-D .

I suspect that LEGO like many other companies simply feels that US consumers will not buy their products at a premium. From what I understand, international manufacturers are having a hard time making any profit in the US due to the weak economy. Many are simply staying the course to maintain brand recognition in the world's largest single market. The irony of course is that the weak US dollar has a ripple effect in other markets as it becomes difficult to compete with cheap American products that are now produced for far less owing to the weak dollar. Simply put, a car produced in the US today costs significantly less to make on the world market because the dollars autoworkers are being paid in are worth significantly less. This is putting the pinch on regions with stronger currencies as the relative price of labour in those regions hasn't changed. I very much doubt LEGO is happy with its situation in the US. That being said, I bet that they are very weary of moving prices for fear of losing the US market entirely to clone brands like Mega Bloks. Smaller markets like Canada, New Zealand or Australia simply don't register on LEGO's radar, and Europe has traditionally been accustomed to paying premium pricing. I really don't expect anything to change in either the US or the rest of the world. The fact that Walmart has challenged them and LEGO has subsequently pulled its products from store shelves in Canada says that LEGO will stand firm on this issue.

The Canadian dollar hasn't really improved on the world market. It's just that the American Dollar has lost alot of value in the past seven years. This of course feels incredibly frustrating to Canadians as we share an open boarder with our neighbours to the south. Despite the falling U.S. dollar, American prices have remained relatively flat, meaning that the price of LEGO in Canada feels far worse than it did a few years ago. Price wise, we pay about the same as the rest of the world, but we would definitely prefer US pricing given our proximity to the U.S. . It's very annoying knowing that despite having an open boarder, pricing is so skewed.

The way some sets appear and then disappear from LEGO's cashe, you'd have to wonder whether they weren't intentionally leaking these to the AFOL community.

I'm not sure they care. It's not that our dollar is strong, but rather the American dollar is weak. I wonder how much profit they are actually making in the US. There was a recent article about Volkswagen discontinuing sales of the Rabbit/Golf in North America because they are actually losing money on each car sold simply to stay competitive with the low price of American cars. The weak American dollar means little in the way of profit when you consider that the US greenback has dropped in value by over 40%. Alot of companies are staying the course in the US simply to maintain market presence, however I very much doubt that we in Canada will ever see the fruits of this. Look at Bombardier; a Canadian company. Are you aware that they sent notice to their US dealers asking them not to sell to Canadian customers. Much like the Automakers, Bombardier does not want Canadians going across the boarder to reap the benefits of our stronger dollar; and they're subsidized by our federal government :-| . Despite getting ripped off when compared to our neighbours to the south; I don't really think that LEGO gives two pins whether they lose customers or not if it means lowering prices to match the US.

It's an impressive set, but it isn't exactly what you'd call an army builder. With so many pieces to make up the board, this isn't exactly an affordable way to amass an Army. If this is around the $150 that alot of fans (including myself) are projecting, then we are actually paying a whopping $6.00 (US) a fig. This price will undoubtedly be even more inflated for those of us who aren't blessed with US pricing. If you're looking to build armies, this set probably shouldn't be your first choice :-( .

I dunno; I'm more concerned about what's on the inside of the package. It's not like LEGO's packaging is anything spectacular. They're just cardboard boxes. This plastic packaging is actually beneficial in that you have the opportunity to check for any possible misprints/defects which seem to be more common with LEGO these days.

Well, I amassed a pretty large collection of old grey when LEGO used to offer the bulk brick minibags. I'm also a major supporter of Bricklink. For amassing specialized bricks, there is no other way to go. Buying 10 sets so that you can get that must-have brick that only appears twice in a $50 set is not exactly the cheapest exercise; particularly when you won't use most of the other bricks. For this purpose, Bricklink is golden. Pick-a-brick is ok, however I find that prices tend to be higher than what you find on Bricklink and the selection is aweful. If they have something you want, then that's great but more often than not I find that this isn't the case. As for oder speed. That depends greatly on the shops you use. I typically only visit major sellers with excellent reputations. I don't need to be taken for a ride by some obscure seller who has only made seven sales; three of them with negative feedback. A good shop will generally have your order to you within a couple of weeks (depending on geography). I've never had an issue with ordering minimums as I try and limit the number of orders I place. I'd much rather wait and make one large $100+ order rather than several smaller ones. If you're looking for a diverse collection of unique bricks, there is no other solution. As for designing MOCs: WING IT *y* !

You guys might want to check out Classic Castle's contests page. This particular mine was an entry for the CCCV. There are alot of incredible castle related MOCs over there.

It's not like LEGO has a choice on this one. If they didn't act on potential infringements on their trade name, they probably wouldn't have a leg to stand on when defending it from their competitors. I don't think that they're all that concerned about small vendors passing themselves off as being associated with LEGO as much as they are simply worried about keeping their brand name. This is simply lip service for the courts and legal scholars who jump at every opportunity. LEGO is actually on the defensive here.

As much as I love this idea, I think that it's expecting a bit much. If we could get all of those figures in minifig packs, would nearly as many people buy the advant calender or the larger sets? I can honestly say that I wouldn't. One tradition I don't see LEGO abandoning is the inclusion of special minifig varriants in more expensive sets. Even in the days of classic castle, we weren't accustomed to seeing special figs in the minifig packs. The knights and soldiers we got were ones that could be had with most small ticket sets. If you wanted a King with a cape, white dragon plumes or any other special fig, you had to shell out for the respective set. Looking at these battle packs it is painfully obvious that the figures being offered also happen to be incredibly common. This is no different than packs like 6102 or 6103 which offered forestmen falcons, lions and one peasant. While this looks amazing today, remember that these guys were littered throughout most sets during the time. When I was younger, I wasn't worried about the possibility that these guys might not be around forever. The battle packs are fantastic army builders, but they are also incredibly common figs for this line. Almost every other set has one of those knights.

I think the witch is actually the witch from the advant calender. Who knows; with the way things are going maybe we'll see the jester and peasant woman before the holidays too :-$ ! About the price. There are far more than 500-600 pieces given that the chess board itself has 576 tiles on it. this set is far bigger than it appears, so I wouldn't be betting heavily on that $100 price. This one is going to cost us top dollar (and we'll gladly pay with tears in our eyes :'-( )!

No problem. When it comes down to it, Bricklink is nothing more than a super powered pick-a-brick. I certainly understand LEGO's move to protect their brand though. The idea of Megabloks calling their bricks "Megabloks brand legos" just gives me the willies *wacko* . Let's hope that LEGO never loses its distinctiveness. Later.

You could always just 'lurk'. I don't mean to be rude, but this cry for attention seems entirely unnecessary. Instead of asking about 'cancelling' your membership, why not simply stop posting? The effect is essentially the same. Moreover, it's not like you couldn't look at updates every week or so to see what is happening in the Eurobricks community. If you don't want to be banned, then what purpose does cancelling a membership actually serve?

$100 is being way to generous. If you look at the size of the set, there are actually 576 black & white tiles needed simply to cover the chess board 8-

The biggest hurddle for something like this is probably the limited demand. First of all, it requires a love of history. Secondly; it cators to a very specific demographic (the US history buff). Those two factors make me suspect that such a line simply wouldn't work. As I understand things, the Wild West theme didn't sell that well. Now if the Wild West theme didn't have the appeal to continue, then I can't for the life of me imagine something such as an American Civil War set doing very well. Perhaps a better way of looking at it would be to ask American fans if they would snatch up English Civil War sets? While a few builders might say yes, I suspect that the overwhelming majority would pass on such a line for the likes of Castle, Star Wars, Town or any number of other lines. Unless you're interested in the English Civil War, such sets would undoubtedly seem like a complete waste. I know that an Oliver Cromwell minifig isn't exactly a 'must have' item for me.