MetroiD

I can't even begin to express how dumbfounded I am by this news... Dieter was one of the guys I was so much looking forward to meeting some day - not because we share a hobby, but because I've found him to be a great person who I would have loved to know better. Our Captain Lord Admiral will be sorely missed and I do not think that the Classic-Pirates community would ever be quite the same without him. My thoughts are with his family and relatives. Rest in peace Zorro, you'll always be remembered.

Thanks guys!!! I'm otterfully chuffed to bits that you still haven't forgotten good ol me, despite the fact that I haven't really found the time to properly stick around lately. Which of course doesn't it any way mean I've abandoned you ;] Cheers... aaand treat yourselves to a grog for me today!

Relative to the topic at hand, that being Sesame Street and Muppets, it thought it would be quite in order if I shared with my fellow lovers of science the intriguing fact that Grover has apparently begun to apply and use Old Spice on a regular basis. Keep it relative.

[258] - Because square brackets equal properness. And in 258 AD Gaul, Britain and Spain break off from the Roman Empire to form the Gallic Empire. Obelix is awesome. Can you see the connection now?

The question here should read 'Why' that is NOT so, as opposed to looking for reasons as to why that would be so, when in fact so it is not. I find the latter query rather unrelated due to the reason that so it is indeed not, and hence look at it with contempt due to my urge and drive to keep things in a relative manner... It is for those reasons that I feel an urge to react with an outspoken Ha. But not as in Hicklium's He Ha. Ha, as in a prompt expression of my true contempt for asking the wrong questions. Ha, then. And some of you need to lose weight. I am at the bottom of the table which puts me in a rather uncomfortable situation due to your mass. My estimation shows it to be close to critical in some specific cases, so please do take appropriate measures. Refraining from nourishing any representatives of Odobenus rosmarus would most certainly be a good start. Keep it Relative.

It is the failure on our part to fall into a publicly accepted category of 'amusing individuals' that has you irritated, sir, is it not? Notwithstanding the truthfulness of your observations, I will have you know that we are indeed at work for the greater good of mankind here, and not merely engaging in petty games, as some might suggest. Keep it Relative.

What shenanigans are you referring to, young friend? I too firmly believe in the need for precise reasoning behind every deed and course of action, even though I fail to see any actual processes unravelling here. Hence I shall retreat to sip my evening tea. Please excuse me. Keep it Relative.

Thank you, fellow man of science, for joining these conversations that have proven to share the same subject. Regarding the matter at hand - I must unfortunately share my concerns that the so-called "hiccups" which the aforementioned photography-presenting service is experiencing are hardly temporary and are verily in need of direct scientific treatment. Keep it Relative.

Way too intensive on the eyes. In my judgement, observing spontaneous fission is exceedingly more soothing. Keep it Relative.

By all means, I would concur. Keep it Relative.

Ah, brings back memories of days gone by, this one surely does. I appreciate the modern twist to it, and I an certain that it would look nice next to a Modular due to its size measurements. I am not so sure about the external staircase though, even though I must admit that it certainly adds more character to the whole building. Forgive me, I am off to sip my tea now. Keep it Relative.

]Yes, precisely, that would indeed present you with a very nice way of keeping it all in relative fashion. Keep it Relative.

What are you people on about anyway? All this excessive rambling is making my head hurt! Keep it Relative

Apparently, deeplinks are still working. Oh well, we should be used to that by now...

BS has problems, glitches and issues every other day now. I've migrated away from there and have given up hoping for Kevin to update the site or introduce a paid service of sorts. However, as a blogger, I've found the site increasingly hard to surf over the last month or so, since I have trouble viewing the MOCs posted there almost on a daily basis. P.S.: Check out the frontpage: "Gallery contains 0 files in 328,396 folders"... Cool!

It's not Prince William, it's Brickshelf - it's having all sorts of problems, again. I'd also use the opportunity to hereby urge Brickshelf users to back-up their pics or use another photo-hosting service as an alternative.

Enlighten are ripping off LEGO. And their customers. LEGO - in terms of intellectual and industrial property, regulations and legislation for both of which are in place on a global scale. Most of these Chinese bootlegs should not even be in existence, but they do end up showing up all over the world instead. What does that tell you about Enlighten & the likes obeying laws and regulations? That said, personally I must admit I have absolutely no problem with them flooding the market. My issue is with the quality of their stuff, because yes, I too have seen and felt what Enlighten bricks and sets feel and look like. And even putting aside my worries regarding the chemical elements contained in that plastic/ dye, etc. (refer to my law + regulation obeying comment above), I must say that these bricks are far from being as impressive as some of you make them sound. Yes, they probably might make a nice replacement, but they also hurt your hands when building with them, can easily scratch you (some toy, huh!), and are on the brittle side too, especially after having been placed under direct sunlight. Not to mention the fact that many parents buy such sets and their kids grow up actually believing that "that stuff that just doesn't work right" actually is LEGO - at least in my country. Unfair competition, anyone? Let me just remind you that this whole thread is about Enlighten not actually selling / producing anything remotely close to 9V either. So... yeah, you can buy those train models. And yeah, then you'll end up torturing both the badly-molded train wheels and (probably) the Enlighten rails by actually powering those trains, but that's your choice. Another choice you could easily make is to ignore PF altogether, buy some bricks off Bricklink, find some old 9V rails on eBay and build the trains you'd like. It would end up costing a bit more than Enlighten, but at least it would actually run properly. In any case, it's your choice, so I don't see why bashing TLC is required here. Whatever you choose, play well and have fun

Welcome to the MOCcing scene - I have a feeling we'll be seeing a lot from you! Great work ;)

Oh. I'm sorry then. Sure felt like a glitch to me though.

Aaaaand there's another crucial nugget of information regarding product cycle patterns (to go back to the original topic at hand): Do not believe the prelim pics / catalogues hype, for those can at times be extremely misleading, especially if you like jumping to conclusions. @Aanchir & Tyrant - you guys rock. This has been enlightening, to say the least! ;)

Oddly enough, even though I've searched my entire profile for traces of that thing some of you have mentioned seeing, I never found anything. While looking for it though, I had EB start to act weirdly, and I really feel there's an issue with bad links and the system failing to update that actually needs to be looked at. Since I'm not sure what's wrong with the boards to begin with, I don't know whether the problem lies this way or that way, I guess I'm just not 100% sure that this mess is completely resolved.

That's exactly the issue that's concerning me, Fangy. However, I do hope that it would be possible to order the magazine and have it posted over to Bulgaria from the UK, for example. Wouldn't be too disappointed if that's not an option, I guess, since it does look plausible for the magazine to only be available in countries where S@H is also available...

Hey muffin - welcome! Hopefully, both you and your husband will be hooked so we'll be seeing more of you around these parts As to your specific question - I own the Emerald Night, but still haven't bought the particular pieces needed in order to make the train run, pretty much because the purchase price of those makes the train cost double as much, and because I'm still unsure on what kind of battery box I'd prefer to own. That said, I have borrowed all the PF pieces required and was absolutely fascinated to see my train running (there's a significant difference between the EN and my other trains), so I do believe it is a worthwhile investment. Financial issues aside, there's also the actual process of building the Emerald Night - I wouldn't really call it a complex build, perhaps just more demanding in terms of time and attention, but I actually think it is something that both of you would really enjoy. Here is the package of the Emerald Night including all of the stuff you'd need to properly run it and you can see that powering the train costs roughly an extra 120 USD - that is, provided that you can actually find this set/package in shops, since from what I've heard it's not readily available everywhere. Your other option is to just buy the EN and then, once you're ready to actually motorize the set, purchase a few of these (I don't think you'd really need flexi-track) and look for this set which comes complete with all you'd need to motorize the train. On the other hand, the 2010 Cargo Train is also a fascinating set which you can build and then run on the track provided with it straight away - but it's not that much cheaper than a motorized Emerald Night. On the upside, it comes with a diesel engine and as many as three wagons, plus trackside structures and vehicles, which makes it much more fun in terms of actual playing. The 2010 Passenger Train is, obviously, the cheapest option, which does by no means make it the worst one. Provided that you and your husband enjoy looking at such modern electric trains, that should be tons of fun for both of you - even though the Cargo Train is packed with much more stuff to enjoy/ play around with. At the end of the day, all three of those are pretty nice sets with the Cargo Train probably offering the best playability. However, in terms of sheer wow factor, you'd be hard-pressed to find anything that could really come close to the Emerald Night. Besides, the image of the EN running under a Christmas tree would really be quite something. So my advice would be to get the Emerald Night, even if it's without the additional Power Functions pieces needed to motorize it - you won't regret it!

No, it is not. And as I said earlier, it won't be anytime soon. @Itaria: I think you missed the point there. "Castle" was the name under which this theme has been known for decades now and "Kingdoms" has officially replaced that name as of 2010, while also introducing a new chapter for the theme. Just as was the case with Fantasy Era and Castle, I see no reason why TLG would not introduce new factions or entire chapters to the theme while still keeping it all under the "Kingdoms" tag.