rollermonkey

Nice, but couldn't a similar appearance be accomplished with plates and cheese-slopes?

eBay, and only at ridiculous mark up. It seems that all 10,000 sets have quickly sold through at retail, and far too many of them were snagged by speculators. I got mine at only $10 more than list, but they usual sites that same week had many being offered at nearly 3X list price.

I'd say the White House is as 'regional' as this is. I don't see it as some fantastic work of architecture. The regional buy-in concept is probably the biggest factor on this one. If the honchos in TLG-Europe or TLG-N. America didn't think it would sell in those areas, and didn't ask for an allocation, bam. We're done. And as for notability? I'd wager that Farnsworth House is less notable than this one, being a massive structure in a world-class city. I lived in Illinois for a few years and had no idea Farnsworth existed, even though I knew where Robie House is and even where Fallingwater's middle-of-nowhere location is.

Now you need the big-daddy UCS X-wing to go with.

It's weird that they provide the two language plates for some sets, but not others... I think Villa Savoy did, too. I wonder if it's a requirement of the licensing agreement?

Ok, wow! Nice photography, too.

About 14 days for me on the US west coast. Missing parts come from Denmark, so I'm surprised you don't have them yet.

This. 1000 times. This.

Wow. That's weird. You'd think the weight of that shell piece would have been enough to send that bag back.

Tell me about it. Really shows how far the sets have come!

Is there no room to put another reduction gear on the drive mechanism so you've got better control over the condiments?

Zombie thread, but harmacy needs to update it with a finished back end picture!

Dining room? There's three living room / sitting rooms and they eat in the kitchen!

OK. I'm torn. The minifigs are pretty much what they ought to be. The half-closed eyes cannot be the make or break on a 2500+ piece set for me. The house, at first look, is incredible. So many iconic elements made the cut, but then... BrickG posts those screen caps, and we see how much is actually missing. The idea of getting two and merging them to make a more accurate house is, of course, an atractive idea, but then the whole house becomes larger than almost any City set or other minifig scale building. Mostly, I'm hoping that those molded arms and legs are TLGs way of telling us that they hear the complaints and nearly all parts will either be molded this way or printed so that they can get away from stickers entirely.

Bit of a control problem, but still awesome.

Starting to look like the line is getting cut way back. Now sold out: Studio, Robie, Khalifa, Rockefeller, Guggenheim and Willis Tower... And none have anticipated restock dates. UN, Big Ben, White House, Space Needle, Farnsworth and Eiffel are all out, but say will be back in 30 days or give a date.

Where's the battlechess table? ;)

Just picked it up at the post office. Seeing the stoopid prices on eBay, I almost want to hold on to it, but I'm a builder, not a seller. The 1x4 plate, loose in the box, is a little odd. And I'm done. I actually like it a lot. The actual building has barely any straight lines and is enormous. Reproducing it at this scale was probably quite challenging. I actually like the back of it better than the front, as the curves are more readily apparent there. (Plus then you aren't staring at the huge glass curtain walls that dominate that front side.) It's definitely more wobbly than I care for, but that's a result of only being connected to the base with two posts. I happen to love the trans-blue color, so that's a plus for me to use a lot of it. During the construction I noticed a couple places where they could have used a more common piece to do something, but instead used an additional number of a piece already in the set. An example: Twelve white 1x1 bricks with a (technic) hole are used to connect the three towers to the hinge plates, but up on the cantilever, there was one opportunity to use a standard 1x1 solid brick, but they just used an additional of the holed piece instead of having an additional item on the parts list. I'm obviously a bit of an architecture nerd as well as an AFOL, so me giving it a 4.5 out of 5 shouldn't surprise. (I just wish it was a bit more solid on the base.)

June, huh? As I said before, I hope it's wrong. Trevi Fountain is beautiful because of the sculpture, not the architecture. The building behind the fountain just has WAY too much detail to be reproduced effectively in brick without a stratospheric piece count. Also, to be true to the actual location, if it was scaled to a 10"x12" area, it would need about 2,000 minifigs, and every single one with a camera. :) Of all the sights of Rome, it's got to be the most insane.

Huh? 21020-1? Why dash one? Also, how is that a confirmation? I do hope it's wrong, though. Having been there, I would say that Trevi Fountain is more art than architecture. I guess the restriction of no religious buildings makes it tough to do anything from Italy besides the Coliseum... But, wait! The Leaning Tower of Pisa is actually the Campanelle or bell tower for the cathedral in Pisa, so they've sort of already broken that rule.

Why use a blade when a 1x6 or 1x8 brick works? I place a row of 1x1 tiles, then put the brick next to the row. As I remove the brick, I rock it towards the row of tiles that I'm aligning. Works like a charm. For a row on an edge, just use the side of the brick. For all the seriously annoying cheese slopes on Tower Bridge, I just placed them then pushed them against a flat surface like the table I'm building on. They line up just fine.

Um, what? I'm not seeing it. The bike in Akira has brand labeling, much like any race car or bike. (Canon, Citizen, Shoei, Arai and some fakes) Not exactly random street signage. Also, the Akira cycle is larger in front of the rider than in back.

Mine doesn't move unless I really push on it... I wouldn't call it wobbly as much as it's surprisingly flexible for an iron tower. ;)

Reports have had people buy it in Hong Kong, but not exactly through what channels. You could try Toys R Us... There was one on Kowloon side inside the mall on the cruise ship terminal pier, which is a pretty convenient location from almost anywhere in the city. I heard of someone buying it from a Japanese eBay reseller, but that doesn't mean it was purchased in Japan. The Kowloon one is now in iSquare, exit R from Tsim Sha Tsui station.

^Did Korea actually get more in?They'd been out of stock for a while.