Legoist

These are the ones that seem reasonably priced in my personal opinion, the rest costs more than it's worth... as most complete sets on Bricklink. If they were "like new" then it would make sense, but what guarantees that you'll get decent parts? The prices seem to be around 30c per piece. Have you tried to check the parts list from Peeron and see if you can buy the special pieces you're missing for a lower price overall?

I seem to remember that leaving 9v was also to make it cheaper. But maybe I'm wrong and it was just a consequence, that making battery-based trains meant non-electrified therefore cheaper tracks. Making it cheaper makes full sense if aimed at KFOLs, but might be not so important for AFOLs: on one side of course AFOLs too want cheaper Lego, but in the case of Trains it might not be welcome to switch from a system to another for those who already invested a lot (although luckily there is no problem running RC/PF trains on a 9v layout!). The fact is that at the moment PF motorization is more expensive than 9v, while tracks are cheaper. If PF parts become cheaper later, once research costs have been covered and manufacturing improves, then PF will win, although I've read questions about PF performance. (edit) At least it seems that everyone who has tried PF trains say that it is an improvement over RC, and the 2010 PF trains supposedly cost about the same as the RC train, so the change RC -> PF is almost certainly a good move. Now the problem may be only left to AFOLs if PF doesn't work well for us, since 9v is out of production. There are of course other options, but it's natural that we wish for something useful to be in production, because only a few have the skills to make a custom motorization system, and older systems on the 2nd hand market might become more expensive.

Thanks a lot! There seems to be some mismatch between BrickLink and Peeron. On the latter I can find also DoveBlue...

I voted for the Cargo Depot but the article gave me a lot food for thought that I really had a hard time picking a choice... I am in fact still undecided... about everything related to trains I think it's easy to wish for huge train-related sets, big buildings with lots of details. Probably if they started an AFOL-oriented train-related line equivalent to the modular buildings, thousands of AFOLs would rejoice. But if I purchased a really big set costing more than 100e, I would be reluctant to dismantle it for parts. So I think I might prefer Lego to release smaller and simpler sets for railway-side structures, sets that could be sold in retail shop like the recent yellow train station, and then let the AFOLs expand them or build their own. So perhaps if I have to make a wish, an odd one (in fact, it'll never happen), I wish TLG to release a set that is similar in concept to the Hobby Train, but is in fact designed for building your own railways structures. Essentially, a huge box (it would have to be bigger than the Hobby Train, I guess at least 1500 pieces, without track or train parts) with pieces for building trackside structures, containing various elements that have been proven useful before in this type of sets. It should also contain a small amount of regular bricks, enough to provide for a single mid/small building, but maybe 2/3 of the pieces should be specialized for the theme. Then provide instructions to build at least 10 different railway-related buildings.

I believe these good picture show that in fact they do fit together very well aesthetically! The EN is not much larger except at the front.

He can also stop complaining, and not buy it. I do that all the time and not just with Lego There are many thousands of Lego sets either in production or available on the 2nd hand market, that there is not one single set that you absolutely "must have", if someone really thinks he "needs" to buy it, then he has a problem that suggests counseling. TLG knows well how to price sets to make the best profit, they don't do charity, so neither us customer do charity and buy sets in fear that otherwise they will stop...

Well it's always possible that the cost much more than currently speculated, but then raises the question whether it is a realistic move that they will sell a >200$/e set in a retail shop I couldn't see the catalog, did it have price tags? Probably not but if it does have, then between the picture and the price it is the picture most likely to be wrong, because the retailer may use the catalog to plan his order, and while the exact content of the box may change without affecting his orders much, the price certainly does. I have serious doubts that the sets will be significanly more expensive than the current speculation. In my opinion it's more probable that either the PF system included does not contain the expensive recharging parts but only the cheaper normal-battery parts, or alternatively (optimistically) they have managed to produce the first at a lower cost. Or they are just fine with getting a smaller profit compared to previous sets, as long as this batch makes PF more popular. BTW, what was the main purpose behind the research & development of PF engines for trains? Was it designed more with AFOL or KFOL in mind?

Is there any Lego set among the most legendary and critically acclaimed that you never liked much? Despite the fact that I am a Lego Trains fan, I've never particularly liked the metroliner, both because of the shape and the colour scheme: My dislike goes only to the design of the train itself, not the rest of the set (track, minifigs, 9V system etc.).

I think both of these are not just italian problems: - Castle isn't there because of the new Castle line coming out in the summer. Old Castle sets will probably be on the shelf still for months. - Agents is over. I am not sure but I believe that many of these "hard to find" or shop-exclusives are not usually included in catalogs but then can be still found is shop chains which have some special deal with TLG. The 7747 has never been in any Finland catalog, but you can find it for instance in the shop chain BR. The question remains if any italian shop chain at all has made such deal for this set and other shop-exclusives. BTW, I would certainly not vote for Finland, where I live, as worst place for buying Lego: the set availability is almost total and the prices in retail shop are fine. Furthermore, it's quite easy here to find almost any Lego set you want with at least a 20% discount if you have patience (I myself have yet to buy my first Lego set that was NOT discounted!). On the other hand Finland is probably the worst place for the Exclusives, since there are no Lego brand shops, so you need to get them through S@H which has the highest prices of the world (like 200e for the Fire Brigade or the Imperial Flagship). Overall I think Finland is a good place for Lego fans, except that I have yet to find any AFOL club...

(some preliminary stages before the exit from the dark ages) At some point in my mid 20s (near the turn of the century) I remember I suddenly had the distinct thought: "I feel like I haven't played enough with Lego bricks as a kid". I started looking around the web and discovered AFOLs and their MOCs for the first time, I think the first of them were grim and splatter vignettes actually. I also found information about the Lego sets being produced at that time and I thought they were horrible and overpriced. A few years later, when me & my wife were into family planning, I decided to search for my childhood Lego bricks in my parents' attic with the idea of resurfacing them for our future kids, and discovered they had all been given to charity (finally out of the dark ages) I finally ran out of tears for the previous loss, and started looking again for Lego news on the web, and found out that now the sets produced were miles better than before. Being a former Lego Train fan I was especially enthralled by seeing the Santa Fe and BNSF locmotives. When our first newborn finally arrived into the family, I decided it was about time to start buying some of these new sets because now the Lego designs were getting absolutely better than ever. But since I don't have a credit card to buy from S@H, I needed to see with my eyes one "wow" set on a shop's shelf to finally open the floodgate of my wallet, and it was this_ Although building this from instructions is not yet really about being an AFOL, I was really amazed by the Building Crane. It was something that Lego could have never done back in the 80s, and for me it was really the sign that this was the beginning of a new and greater "golden era" of Lego itself, so why not jump onboard?

I am rare junk.

Resistance is futile... Buy it from eBay from an american seller (wait a little so that the set is already quite common, but not too much or it goes out of production). If you want, ask the seller to open the original box (but not the plastic bags) and ship everything in a smaller box: this may reduce the shipping cost and will make you avoid any import tax since the item is technically not "new" anymore but 2nd hand.

OVERLOAD :cry_happy:

I might be wrong but I think the boxes have some mistakes in the preliminary version, so I wouldn't trust them too much... the passenger train has the cargo locomotive on the right frame to explain motorization (although this might be fine anyway) and the list of track pieces shown in the bottom frame seems wrong to me: it says 16 curves + flexitrack, it doesn't seem to possibly form the oval displayed nearby.

I wouldn't call it <insert that tiresome argument>, except maybe the dragon One more thing I wanted to say however. Nostalgia certainly hits me too, but I don't think it's just that. When it comes to the Castle theme specifically there are very much two different "styles", the historical and the fantasy. Besides the minifigs and monsters, the fantasy style also affects the concept and structural design of sets. Fancy architectural features such as awkwardly positioned towers, flames or spikey things in general belong more to the fantasy style. But there are many AFOL who enjoy a vaguely realistic/historical style, and that actually means also more "boring" architecture that delivers a "grim & gritty" look. It also means soldiers with identical uniforms (at least when coming from rich, organized groups like in a King's Castle!). A lot of people like this kind of style, that's all, and old Castle sets were close to this more than the new ones. I actually like both styles for what matters...

That actually sounds like everything has really been done on AFOLs and Ambassadors' part, and even more. Great! BTW, personally I have not been hoping for releases of an EN without the carriage, I think it's pretty much a given that once a set is produced there are no variations possible (although they released a special version of the EN with the PF, but that's more an add-on). Maybe I was crying over spilled milk, but my concerns are more on the future train exclusive sets, which I do hope will be arranged more like the Santa Fé case. Who knows? My guess is that the EN is selling even more, but I believe it's because if the Santa Fé had a fantastic design, the EN has a super-fantasic design Anyway, thanks a lot for sharing and clarifying

In the first 2010 catalog, Agents are out. I think that if there was going to be new sets from the second half of the year, they wouldn't have removed older set from the catalog yet. It looks to me like the whole theme is over.

I'm not sure, there's good and bad in both old and new sets. We have to keep in mind first that modern sets have much more pieces, more expensive in fact. The 6080 had 664 pieces according to Lugnet, the current castle 7094 has 973, that's about +50% with of course much more diversity of pieces nowadays. That's two starting advantages. I would certainly agree that with more pieces and more piece diversity, the newer sets have "more play features, more details, more pieces, and more imagination put into them" as you say. I otherwise disagree that they are "more aesthetically pleasing". They are more decorated than the old (not much more, and usually not to my taste) but mostly they have not enough "meat", meaning that the structure itself of the castles and other sets of today often look flimsy and empty. When I look at castle MOCs (including yours), they are always very "meaty" in the structures, they look more solid like the old castles, and on the other hand they have lots of nice details like the new castles. Then of course MOCs actually surpass both the old and new official sets by far in these features Compare:

Thanks for the excellent review! I have to say that even with the lack of details, the overall look of this 8087 is fantastic I am not a fan of Lego SW (I have no set), but if I ever buy a set it will be either this or Vader's TIE. Pity that they are so expensive... I think this one is actually 60e in shops around here, and the Vader's TIE is 45e

Just a couple of more things that came to my mind: let's not forget that there are also AFOLs who have limited time for the hobby, and MOCing requires certainly more time, at least until you're good at it. Furthermore, AFOLs who haven't been in the hobby long enough yet may not have easily enough right bricks for even starting most of the ideas that come to their mind. Therefore let's not be too hard in judging those who mostly build official sets.

I don't understand why you have to be so bitter. We're just customers saying our opinions. Each of us has its preferences and we want to believe that if we tell them openly - and once in a while we happen to find out that a lot of others agree - then perhaps there is a tiny chance of affecting production to our advantage. Don't underestimate how the purchasing power of a customer can be influenced by this kind of things, especially in the positive case On the other hand, let's not overestimate the skills of marketing experts... they know their job, but the history of every company (TLG included) contains marketing failures, and no one can ultimately know if they would have really made less money with a different arrangement. Marketing is not a science unfortunately. Customers speaking up in the internet era is supposed to be helpful for companies, and at no cost. And come on, you're an Ambassador! You're supposed to be the channel between the company and the customers, how could you suggest the latter to "get over it"?

I don't want to derail the discussion to another topic, but this really surprise me. Those Santa Fé cars are being bought for very high prices on the 2nd hand market. It could be that one reason for that is exactly that there weren't many produced at the end, but today definitely there are lot of people who want those carriages and pay lots of money for them. I really don't know anything about how many sets are sold by TLG, but I just think that the sale/discount policy is more complicated than we think, and probably largely unpredictable even to TLG itself

Uhm... why so defensive? You are subtly suggesting that this thread is meant to provoke you to make you insult someone. Is that innuendo or plain sarcasm? I feel so insulted! (...kidding ) Thanks for the info, I should have thought about that.

This is a very original and funny MOC, it's like the R2-D2 of Lego trains

I prefer the 6268 because of the better colour and sails.