MetroiD

Wow, that's brilliant! I'd love to see the Euromap in person someday - are you planning on displaying it at a big convention? And are you planning on having more local landmark MOCs added to it?

Once again - all the best mate! Hope you have a smashing b-day :)

Pure awesomeness! I'd love to see your take on Kubica made out of LEGO - care to post some pics of the minifig?

I can totally understand that and it's at that point where TLC's marketing strategy is most irritating for us adults, yet best suited towards the psychology of their prime target clientelle: kids. Kids love to "collect" stuff, simple as that - and while I could probably envision how I'm going to use 3 fishermen from the upcoming Series 3 (although ATM I really can't ), a child doesn't have to make a motivated purchase. It just... has to has it! Speaking of which - I wasn't aware that barcodes were going to be removed in future Series. Not really sure if this is a smart move, since it won't help drive sales up that much (most kids don't buy specific minifigs in specific quantities), and would be the worst way to treat us AFOLs for the above reasons... If that does happen, TLC will once again have nailed it initially and then gone on to ruin it from an economic point of view. Neither are they on mine! Can't think of why I'd need a spartan in my town or pirates diorama. So definitely no spartans for me, yay. 100%.

...but it still has a long road ahead of it in terms of development, and many areas in which it lacks any info whatsoever. Besides, I used to like BrickWiki's uncluttered looks which made it more appealing to AFOL's as opposed to Brickipedia's design. That said, I hope lego.wikia continues to develop and takes its place alongside Brickset and Peeron as a trustworthy source of all kinds of information on LEGO.

Psychology in marketing, guys, there's a special course on that. And yeah, most of you have nailed it - there's nothing about the exclusive minifig frenzy that could be justified by the line "surprised by demand". A brilliant marketing move by TLC, unlike many of their production/marketing decisions over the last 5 years. From an economist's point of view, I applaud them. From an AFOL's point of view - I must say I don't mind the way things have panned out, not even a bit. It's just not in me to turn my hobby into a mania of collecting "stuff", so I've just bought the minifigs I want in the quantities I need (much like Ralph has described above). I guess I have to admit that I've been fortunate enough to have access to a store that will sell collectable minifigs in a way that facilitates my demands, as opposed to TLC's chosen marketing strategy. That said, I do pay more for a specific minifig than I would pay just for a random minifig - but at the end of the day, I still find the price reasonable and the whole buying process is not turning into a frenzy for me, which is what matters. With customers in other regions, particulatly overseas, things have turned out differently and - once again - I'm absolutely convinced it's a direct consequence of TLC's local marketing strategy. Hats off to LEGO management for the textbook approach to creating artificial demand and 'innocently' driving prices up. It is well known by most of us that smaller sets are those that generate the greatest amount of profit for LEGO - and in this case, these inexpensive, Chinese-ABS minifigures have become a veritable gold mine. Which is perfectly fine by me - I don't need a gazillion of these collectable minifigs, and I certainly haven't placed a personal limit of owning at least one of each. So I'm pretty fine with it all - if anything, I'm chuffed that LEGO decided to take a gamble and introduce these. P.S.: Even though I might not feel "troubled" by the minifig frenzy, I must say this is a great write-up, Brickster. Thanks!

5 stars for wisdom!!! Athos, this little vig might just persuade to go and buy a weightlifter, after all... I've been trying to be very selective about which exclusive minifigs I buy, but this expression is unbelievably appropriate for such a toilet scene

Well it really is a rather ingenious touch, so I guess it's natural :] Kudos on the sweet design - are you planning on using this as actual interior?

Yep, that's it - after all, it is in the "LEGO set instructions" category. So naturally, they are only selling the instruction manuals, and they have as many as 23 of them in stock - for only 25 USD a piece! Wow. Just check on their other train sets on sale, you'll notice the ridiculous prices (in the exact opposite end of 'ridiculous', btw).

Under no circumstances will the new ships be bigger than the Imperial Flagship - at least that's what I'd expect. That said, they should provide us with some nice new colours, at least if the HMS Endeavour is really made - although I doubt it, because if I were TLG, I'd launch the Black Pearl first and gauge public reaction to that before considering another POTC ship set.

Good for you mate. In my case, it's MY girl who's trying to persuade ME that we need to buy another Green Grocer... but I'm saving for a bike now, so it's not gonna happen... (I know, I know - blasphemy!)

I've been working on multiple designs, but the other options I've tried out make the whole van extremely unstable and are ridiculously complicated for a 4-wide vehicle. Which is why I've resorted to having the van show off its sliding door in "open" mode for most of the time, since when closed, it does prohibit a driver from being seated. That said, there's still plenty of room in the back - so as long as Dude's willing to push the van, Dudette can still enjoy all the spaciousness from the inside :D

Actually, as you probably know, this "new" train station is pretty much a modern remake of 7822. So what we could expect with Trains, just as is the case with many of LEGO's other series, is probably another revisit or two of older and more or less forgotten sets. For example, I wouldn't be too surprised to see 4554 make a comeback at one point, albeit as a new, modernized set, not a "legends" re-relase. Another thing we should expect is for LEGO to continue their Trains policy which they've pretty much kept the same since they introduced 9V. Which is simple - keep Train sets to a minimum and only introduce new sets every few years. We've had a train station, level crossing AND two trains in 2010, not to mention 2009's Emerald Night. I don't think we could ask for much more. As they say - for everything else, there's MOCcing. Keeping my fingers crossed for that. Actually, have LEGO scrapped the entire Factory line? I would love to see another set follow in the steps of "Hobby Trains" - although I know it's highly unlikely.

Thanks for the kind response, guys Weirdly enough, no one has really mentioned Guy's custom surfboard - which was originally Asya's idea, implemented/printed by a fellow LUGger. I guess Dude's "collectable" shortboard has really stolen the thunder, both in that story, and in real life @ Rick: Yup, these two took a bit of fiddling around in order to get it right, but I was hooked on the idea of packing in niceties in 4-wide. I might as well start looking for another narrow-chassis car on which to base future MOCs of this kind... @ Fangy: Whoa, thanks for blogging these - if I'd known they'd end up on C-T, I'd have taken the time to photograph them earlier! Cheers mate! Aaaand I'm off to play B'n'R's Paradise City now (Zorbas, you rock - pun intended).

Here's something to remind you guys of the days of summer gone by... Coincidentally, these MOCs are also my way of honouring the 50-year anniversary of Volkswagen's "Type 2" model which needed much less than half a century to cement its status as a worldwide cultural icon. These two have been lying around for the past year or more and even managed to survive two LUG exhibitions, which probably makes them some of my longest-standing MOCs to date. They were in development back when Ralph Savelsberg posted his brilliant 5-wide T1 & T2. Originally, I only intended to build the T1, but after seeing how great his vans look side by side, I decided to follow suit and build them both as well. Credit to Ralph for the door design - I'd been playing around with a couple of ideas for the two models, and his design was definitely very inspiring. I know Hinck & co. would have liked me to join the dark side by finally starting to build vehicles in odd-wide (and I will do that - sooner or later), however due to the original cars' narrow chassis, to me 4-wide was the only way to go here. The one that started it all, the Type 2 T1: And its successor, the T2: And last but not least, something to help connect these two 'archaic' vans to modern times... Guy: Finally at the beach, Lass! What say we get our tent set up over there... Guy: Can't wait for Dude to see the awesome Hawaiian custom artwork on my ol' trusty surfboard... Guy: *Whistles happily while marvelling at the cool new paintjob on his surfboard* Lass: Hey, Guy, it's Dude & Dudette! Hey guys! Guy: Yo Dude! You finally made it! Come over here, I got something I wanna show you... Guy: Check this out! Custom blue... Dude: Wait a sec Guy, I got something up here you'll definitely enjoy! Wait for it, wait for it... Dude: Ta daah - the brand spanking new shortboard, complete with Hawaiian sunset paintjob. This baby's totally gonna rip the waves! So what was it you wanted to show me then? Guy: Uh, never mind... Need a hand with your tent there? *aside* My ol' surf is still way cooler.

Nice MOC tiger, I've been planning to build a bike dealership with an adjacent biker wear store and a bikers cafe myself, but I still haven't gotten around to that.

Yay! Spotted my sigfig in there, with Davey right behind me!!! You rock, Stash! *jumps around happily like a small kid* Following up on Zorba's comment, I think you have to use a slogan for Brickworld 2011 along the lines of "...starring Stash as Mohammed AND the mountain"

Whoa there! A belated but nevertheless rather hearty WELCOME to the boards (as weird as that might sound coming from a long-time absentee such as myself)! And what a wonderful introduction to EB - I absolutely love your Railjet - and would like it even more with a full set of cars behind the Taurus :] I agree with Doc that dark red might look more realistic here, but this train of yours looks just as nice in brown. What caught my eye almost immediately was the pantographs - funnily enough, I've just utilized that same approach with a train MOC of mine - clean & simple, me likey! As to the "holes" - try to cheese it up and let us know if it works out :) Cheers mate!

Totally have to agree with that. Looks much better (cleaner?) than the Emerald Night fireman! And by the way, to be perfectly honest, I must admit I've developed a liking for Conductor Charlie here... I for one find that he looks much more decent than this weird-looking geezer:

I've had the EN for some time now but had totally forgotten to order the PF train powering set until it was too late. My LUG is having an exhibition this weekend and I've fortunately managed to get a hold of all the other stuff I need, but the only battery box I can currently obtain is the 8881. So, if the above is correct, the conversion which a pal was planning to do on my 8881 box - using a square 9V battery instead of a 8881 box in order to power the train AND fit in the tender - won't really work. Bad news, I guess So I'll probably just have to go with the 8881 box sticking out of the tender, ugly as that might look - since I don't really have any alternatives, or time to order off BL.

Believe me, in this particular case, if it's red bricks you're after, look no further. The Fire Station set is absolutely brilliant, and by the way so is the Garage, contrary to what I had expected. They've really managed to bring regular City sets to a new level, and the 'modularity' of it all really just adds more ideas as to how you could use all those bricks to MOC or MOD. And as for larger 'wall-like' pieces - I used to hate them before I started building modulars. Now I've come to love them - they're ever so helpful, especially with the large rear sections of the modular MOCs! So don't be too scared of them, they may be big, but they're still pretty useful!

Luverly! Especially all the details in the interior - that's a top job right there. 4 floors filled with flowers goodness, that must be any florist's idea of heaven. Btw, I also like the contrast with your last modular, although in my point of view they're a tad bit too "different" to sit alongside each other. Perhaps another modular MOC to sort of connect them there? ;)

Welcome - and what a great idea you've got in your head there! Hope you get around to building that sooner rather than later - if I were you, I wouldn't wait until I've got all the "right" bricks - just go with it and try to build anything, even if it's just a small portion of what you've planned. An entire university campus sounds, at least to me, like a very daring project - have you considered the Harry Potter sets for that purpose? I know they're a bit overpriced, but at they end of the day they might have quite a few pieces you'd need in that alma mater of yours. Also, you might want to check out the 10184 Town Plan - I feel that it could be very useful in terms of building arrangement, scenes, etc. for your campus since it also tries to potreay quite a large scene. In any case, good luck and have fun building, and don't forget to fill us in on how it's going.

Can't wait to see this one in person in a couple of months!