blueandwhite

I'm more excited about the prospect of the "special set" than any of the other ones. This year we're getting the calender. I'm wondering if we're finally going to see something UCS-like in Castle next year. Twelve new Castle items sounds absolutely out of this world, but I'm really hoping for something that stands head and heels above eveything we've seen in Castle thus far. Makes you wonder how long this line could go.

We all have our preferences. While I don't think that a 'human vs. human' line is particularly original, I'm not exactly convinced that any cliche line should be used as an example of originality. Elves? Dwarves? Orcs? These are fantasy fodder that appear in countless works of fiction. They are common in movies, toys, games and fantasy literature. Another fantasy cliche doesn't stand out to me as being much different than another group of generic knights. That's why a civilian focus really interests me. It is the one side of castle that is rarely touched upon.

Thanks for the info. It's good to know that the Castle line is doing well enough to continue into its third year. I'm definitely hoping for a few extra civilians. My mind is already conjuring up possibilities!

Ditto. I'm very much the same. I keep my black roof slopes in a single bin, grey basic bricks and grey 1x1 and 1x3s in separate bins while putting specialty elements (arches, corner walls, cylinders, tiles, etc.) in their own separate spaces. Building demands some semblance of organization, if only so that I don't go completely insane looking for a very specific element I only have in small numbers.

Glad to see some real lovin for the OT! Whatever this set is, it needs to be iconic, as it is a celebration of ten years of LEGO Star Wars (how amazing is that)!

For the force ghost idea they should just do a small set ala the battle packs with Luke on Endor looking at Yoda, Obi-Wan and Anakin (OLD ANAKIN of course ;-) ) and throw in a Hologram Emperor and Vader (*edit* and Leia) just for the fun of it *y* .

It's allright. I still prefer the Naboo Fighter and the TIE Steam; both of which have more coherent designs IMO. While Steampunk brings those crazy flying machines to life, I find that some Steampunk MOCs seem too slapped together. The idea of a Steampunk Falcon is absolutely brilliant, however I'm not completely sold on the execution. It's a good effort though, and the builder definitely deserves some kudos for his work.

I believe it needs to be something iconic; something both hardcore and casual fans can identify with. For me, the ultimate set would be an Episode IV trench scene with both an extensively redesigned X Wing and an extensively redesigned TIE Advanced (without the blue). As much as I'd love to see a bigger Hoth set, or a Battle for Endor playset; I'm not sure that they represent the best of Star Wars. For me; it needs to be a set that epitimizes the struggle between dark and light sides of the force. The first Death Star Battle does that perfectly. Luke taking that final shot IS Star Wars (Include Leia and C3P0 watching from Yavin IV as a bonus). I feel that a 10th aniversery set should focus on what made Star Wars so popular with millions in the first place.

Probably, but Lucas has always been very resistant to these sorts of things. It took a dog's age to get Star Wars onto DVD (and even longer for Indiana Jones). I think he still wants to see a revival of Laser Disk :-D . In all seriousness, one of the biggest drawback for HD formats is that studios and producers have been slow to get behind the technology with must-have titles.

I think that you may be over-estimating the value of your figs. Many of the lines your selling don't go for alot on Bricklink and alot of your figs are incomplete (wrong helmets, visors, heads, etc.). When buying in bulk, buyers typically expect a better deal to boot. Many of the figures your listing can be had on Bricklink for less than $1.00. The unfortunate reality is that not all minifigs carry the same demand in the marketplace. Lines like Ice Planet, Spyrius, Blacktron II and Aquazone don't fetch as much as Classic Space or Futron. Most of the figs you've got listed just aren't that popula. Also, it seems that most buyers go to ebay looking for a bargain. There are risks to purchasing off of ebay (for both the buyer and seller) that makes alot of people reluctant to pay high prices. All of the above factors make this a pretty tough sell. I just can't see many buyers forking out $115 for these guys. Sorry.

Really? I found the fact that he was only 28 to be a huge shock for me. Steve Irwin was older than me, but Heath Ledger was actually two years my junior. That really hit home for me. It's not every day that you stop and think about how incredibly fragile life truly is.

Indeed. It's unfortunate when these sorts of things happen. He was a good actor who clearly had a hard time of things. 28 is far too young.

I still wish we got some more new characters like R'as Al Gul and Batgirl. One of the biggest incentives for buying sets is picking up the minifigs. I love the Batman line, but I think that a few more new figs (beyond Harley Quinn and Gordon) would be nice. And on a sad note, I wonder how TDK sequel is going to fare with the death of Heath Ledger. I was completely stunned when I heard about his passing.

Exactly. It's not like the sets would need to centre around the villagers. Raids on inns, guilds and festivals by orcs, skelies or trolls would make for some great play scenarios for kids. As long as the sets remain action-oriented I'm sure that kids would go for them. Personally, I like the idea of having something for the knights/dwarves to defend. It gives them a purpose. The Advant Calender is definitely a step in the right direction IMO.

Listened to its fans. How many other companies can say that they have the kind of relationship LEGO does with its fanbase? We have ambassadors, fan-made sets, UCS Star Wars models aimed at older collectors, shop @ home exclusives, sets like the Cafe Corner, Eiffel Tower, VW Bug, and the return of old favorites like castle. LEGO does slip up from time to time, but when compared to its competition nothing else comes within a country mile!

Ironically, I feel that the worst prices are on the "impulse" sets. At $5.00 Cdn a pop, these things are pretty hard to justify. Heck, it's hard to justify buying the Knight when I can get a crossbow attack with its three minifigs, a skele-horse for a few dollars extra. At 20 cents per brick, that knight is just not worth it. How can one build an army when a figure costs $5.00 a pop?

If only :'-( . As you must be aware, new grey when mixed in healthy portions with old grey makes the old colour look faded or discoloured. It looks like you've mixed two different brands of building blocks together. Still, for folks with smaller collections this probably isn't a big deal.

Not bad. I could see picking up a couple of these guys along with a few of the new knights. I actually prefer the wizard as these impulse items are simply too expensive for army building (IMO). Later.

If they cited their sources and actually said things in context it wouldn't be pop journalism. And without pop journalism and media slander we wouldn't have the awesomeness of teh Daily Show or the Colbert Report! Can you imagine how horrible the 21st century would be without the Colbert Report *vader* !!

Brickshelf goes down from time to time for maintanence. Last summer there was talk of Brickshelf going down permanently, but the issue has since been resolved.

I think a good way at looking at it is viewing it from the POV of a movie or rating committee. Alot of films that are PG or even G contain certain acts of violence. Many Disney movies that have a distinct G rating feature guns or attempted murder (the villian attempting to kill the hero). Despite this, these rating committees draw a clear distinction between certain violent acts. A movie like Beauty and the Beast or Tarzan is not given the same treatment as say Saving Private Ryan or Gladiator. While I appreciate that there are fans out there who would love this theme, I'm not sure that LEGO would be willing to go in that direction. Alot of people are drawing a clear distinction between certain acts of violence, not unlike the movie review board does. If LEGO sees it this way as well, I would suspect that the likelihood of a military theme is pretty low. For me this is simply a theme I'm indifferent about. I'm sure it would sell well, but I still wonder whether LEGO wants to go in that direction at this point. Heck, if Indiana Jones sticks around long enough, I'm sure we'll see some more military vehicles anyhow.

Not sure why you'd be angry about that. I'd call that an amazing stroke of luck or an incredible use of the force *yoda* . Still, LEGO is fantastic when it comes to missing bricks. I have never had any trouble with their customer service dept., and both times I've had sets that were missing bricks, they were quickly replaced without questions.

It was common practice to wear a surcoat over your armour prior to the fifteenth century. The new torso also matches up with the older castle figs who wear similar designs. I actually prefer this design to the scalemale torsos of last year.

Now perhaps I'm wrong about this, but isn't England a constituent country within the greater nation of the United Kingdom? I appreciate that the United Kingdom is comprised of four distinct nations, but the UK itself is also a nation. You should be happy that your country is represented. We Canadians aren't even worthy of an appearance on this poll :-D . Canada! Underdogs unite!!

I've never had a problem with new grey as a stand alone colour. My beef has always been that it simply matches poorly when mixed directly with the old stuff. I'm not stuck with a bley problem because new grey exists. I'm stuck with a bley problem because I have over 30,000 old grey bricks. If you haven't amassed such a stockpile of the old stuff, this problem is moot. There is nothing wrong with bley as a colour (new brown is another issue though :-X ). It looks good, and actually matches well with alot of the newer dark colours (dark red, blue, and green). So don't mind us old AFOLs with our obscenely large collections of old grey. I'm sure we'll find a way to manage with what we've got :-D .