MetroiD

Well, I also managed to miss that...

I definitely think this is a move in the right direction. TLG should try to come up with as many and as diverse vehicles as they possibly can, and marketing a narrow-gauge mine train, if it is fairly simple, is a nice way to please train fans as well. Besides, if this one had been designed any more complex or supplied with new / more rails, that would have increased the price dramatically to a point where it wouldn't have made sense any longer.

Dunno if that was on purpose, but... As to Kre-O & the likes: most of the original (crucial brick/plate design) patents filed by LEGO have by now expired. It's not a question of whether they are going to "let" this happen, because it is happening. Lifting molds? If said molds are 30+ years old, it's very much legal and hardly constitutes hypocrisy. The way I see this, the more competition LEGO gets, the more pressure TLG will feel to keep improving their product - and, hopefully, amend their prices. So, all in all, there's no way in which this would be bad for the customer. I don't care at all about clone brands, but I appreciate the positive effect they can hopefully have in the long run.

That guy reminds me of someone I know. What a dolt.

I would also more than gladly pay 200 $ for the Town Hall. But, as you said - we have it great here in Europe. Where modulars started off with the Cafe Corner costing a mere 88 GBP and have now come to a price of 120 GBP for the Pet Shop. And those are actually the _good_ prices in GB pounds, as opposed to the sweet amounts we pay in EUR or equivalent currencies in order to obtain Modulars... As usual, LEGO's pricing policy is astounding, but I guess that's nothing to be surprised by.

Very original - and quite an inventive solution to the whole problem as well, I don't see why you'd be unhappy with it. I must say I really like the fact that the build is simple yet clean and extremely effective! Best of luck in the contest :)

Don't get me started on the need for LEGO Caves... :/ But I'm absolutely looking forward to that, for some reason I just know that you'd add an awesome Classic Town twist there

Not really a discussion, this one, now is it... RIP Whitney indeed. And RIP thread.

To answer your question - people who have rediscovered their love for LEGO but have found out that they don't own the original instruction manuals to their sets anymore, a.k.a. collectors such as fyrmedhatt here. But there's one thing I find funnier... Who buys empty boxes of sets!? My guess as to the answer of both questions would probably have to be in the vein of what roamingstudio has suggested - so those would probably be people who want to sell a specific set and are presuming that it's worth less without its original box and/or instructions. I really can't understand why the whole thing would be worth the hassle at all, but I'm sure that collectors appreciate it. There's probably lots of nostalgic people out there who want to keep old LEGO stuff as memorabilia, and that includes boxes... but a collection of boxes? Now that sounds weird!

Yes, but you should not forget that palm tree pieces can also be used for completely different purposes I am very much hoping to see more palm trunks, by the way. Love experimenting with various applications of those.

Rock for the win! Great job Pep, looking forward to more of these Speed Racers from you - and maybe even a racing track later on?

Yarrr, can't wait to get my greasy paws on this yellow beaut! I've got a lot of payback to inflict on your 'Bird after what it did to my bikes last time it hit ( ) town... But seriously, from the moment I heard you're doing this I knew it would end up becoming something brilliant so you've definitely delivered there... Even though I must admit my level of Technic prowess probably does not allow me to fully realize just how great all these functions you've crammed in are. But at least I know it'll make for great entertainment at our next event - and who knows, these crazy functionality-packed RC-controlled vehicles of yours might just end up becoming a bit of a local tradition! Hats off and please do keep it up :)

The next mafia game after this one is going to be a Mafia school. Just be patient

Congratulations Si and Macoco! Now let the neglecting begin! And have tons of fun while you're at it guys

That's 95 more But yeah, keep commenting, keep bricking... (sorry Lt, I came here first ) I still haven't gotten around to finally building my Grand Emporium, but I'm very much looking forward to it, despite the apparently repetitive build. Tower Bridge was also unbelievably boring at times but the finished article is just a joy to behold, and that matters more for me than whether I enjoyed the actual building process. In that aspect, I reckon I'll put off buying the Pet Shop for as long as I can. I don't expect either of these two modulars (GE / PS) to be as fun a build as the Fire Brigade (which still is my favourite set in terms of building experience) - however the Emporium definitely looks the part, whereas the Pet Shop... well, it just doesn't. I'm sorry if that sounds harsh, but considering how the prices of Modulars have been going up, it's a bit sad that their heyday to date, at least to me, can be placed at or before the release of Fire Brigade. Town Hall has definitely contributed to whetting my appetite for modulars lately, but in terms of bang for buck I doubt if it would ever be able to compete with the Cafe Corner which cost a "mere" 90 GBP. All in all, I think the choice here is a no-brainer; same as almost everyone else, I'd choose the Emporium over the Pet Shop anyday.And besides, I've already got a pet and my hands are pretty full at the moment, having to deal with more would not be very nice...

Me and furry psycho mind are totally looking forward to that

Another big fan of 16-wide modulars here - good work on utilizing the space you've had available to the maximum! I also enjoyed the 'unconventional' second floor of the bakery and the diagonal arrangement of the entire building. I must admit though that I' mot a huge fan of the pink + other colours combo - it does work great with bley, but the addition of brown, yellow and light blue makes for a rather eclectic facade. Then again, I guess that's just what you were aiming for, placing a sushi bar and a bakery in the same building, so it does look rather sweet

Amen! Following TLG's logic though, after having given us a steamer and a diesel hauler, I would guess it's time for an... electric exclusive? Not big on electric trains myself - unless it's a tram, in which case I'd be over the moon.

That rimless design looks smashing... and to be perfectly honest - who needs them to turn anyway! This is definitely inspirational, I should try a minifig bike with this rimless design as well someday...

Haven't heard of there being problems with the Collectable Minifigures, so I can't say whether it works with them as well. You could, however, just specify the set number of the CM series and then additionally explain in detail what's wrong with the particular figure.

1) I won Scouts' Imperial Mafia and was murdered on Day 4 in Hinckley's Fabuland Housewives Mafia School (which I passed). I wouldn't consider myself a hardened veteran, but I don't think I'm a mafia noob either. 2) I will definitely be available for frequent posting over the next 6 weeks. 3) My knowledge of Japanese culture and history is admittedly pretty basic and is largely based on games such as Shenmue and . Definitely not a fan of anime, but I've got tons of respect for the Japanese gaming industry. I do not have any tangible knowledge of the Japanese language other than how Engrish sounds, but I'm sure that doesn't count - although if need be I could try and recite something from Zelda or some of X Japan's more famous tunes... Oh, and I'm not sure if that's of any significance, but I do love sushi Really looking forward to this Mafia game, and I hope I'm picked for participation. Thanks for your consideration!

It's good to have you here mate - least of all because it really is so much easier when you're actually traceable in case one wants to blog your MOCs Here's to at least two by twenty more!

In order to prevent that sort of thing from happening to my minifigs, I placed a nice order for some minifig hands. Forgot to order arms though. Should put that on the list for next time. As discussed above, taking the wrists out of the arms is the primary cause for such cracks to appear on the arms of minifigs, so I prefer to use a separate batch of hands when I need them. But yes, I also do have a few (old) minifigs with cracked torsos which is rather weird - of course, this can't have just happened like that, by itself, so probably I must have mishandled the torso at some point. That said, I very much like to fiddle around and combine torsos / legs / heads to come up with random minifigs (I don't even keep some of the exlusive ones as they are), so I guess I have to be extra careful... If a hand is broken, it's no big deal, since hands are easily resuppliable, but cracked torsos is indeed quite inpleasant - and probably irreversible.

I've been a huge fan of all kinds of hi-rail equipment, rail trucks, rail inspection cars, etc. ever since I got this set back in the day, so it's always a pleasure to see something like that. Besides, it's a Unimog - and we all love Unimogs!