Legoist

I've been playing D&D a lot, both as a player and a DM/GM/referee - as you prefer . I played with OD&D, AD&D 2e, D&D 3.0 (my favourite), D&D 3.5 and D&D 4ed rules, I think I've only missed AD&D 1e there... I've been lucky to have friends who were interested in it and took me in, without being complete nerds Later I've been even more lucky to have a girlfriend/wife who seriously enjoyed the game with me and our friends. We stopped playing a few months after 4ed, when many in our friends circle started to have children, but perhaps in a few years we'll be playing with them. Now to the point... As a DM, I never bought or used neither minis nor battlemats/tiles. I've always been a strong proponent of RPG's intrinsical cheapness ("pen & paper") and the importance of both the DM describing with words and the players imagining things (visuals, sounds, smells and everything). I've normally only be drawing room layouts on paper myself, and used anything available (dice, coins) to represent characters and monsters. But I am not insensitive to better visual props, and I've thought many times that LEGO minifigs would be a great idea! Sadly, when I playing D&D I was still in my dark age so I didn't have bricks or minifigs to use, but I was seriously consider getting some. Now I'm no longer playing D&D, but I think all the time whether some minifigs or sets I'm buying could be used for D&D later on. Some things to keep in mind: - Visual props are useful for handling the rules of the game related to distances and movement, but using too much visuals can distract the players from the game itself or confuse them (e.g. 3ed doesn't have rules for facing, but if you use Lego minifigs some players may behave differently because of how the minifigs are facing) - A huge part of the game is about exploration, which means that stuff should not be shown to the players until the characters can see it! This means that if you build a dungeon, you should really design it so that rooms are added to it as the characters advance. This is an extra building and logistic challenge. - The above also applies to hidden things... How do you build a secret door? If it's visible in the build, this is an unacceptable clue from the game point of view. There are also illusions in the game which may require you to build things twice, one for when the illusion is working and another for when it has been discovered and vanished. The key problem here is that having a solid model made of bricks could lead your players to assumptions, hints or clues that may not be good for the game. - A similar problem, maybe not too common but potentially much worse to handle in the solid model, is limited illumination. There are always circumstances when the players are in the dark (or fog, or dense foliage etc) and their torches or lamps only illuminate until a certain distance, so what is visible to them may change at every step. - Last but not least, sometimes things in D&D are just huge... maybe you don't mind for the cost if you already have a large Lego collection, but you should worry about the time required to build them! Our gaming group usually met bi-weekly on average, I don't think I would have ever made it to prepare both the adventure and a Lego model for it. There is however everything you need in Lego to make a fantastic setup for D&D!. There's plenty of small critters (spiders, scorpions, snakes...) and weird minifigs to represent human-sized monsters. I would however go for brick-built for everything that is larger than a minifig!!

I think most sellers just put ridiculous "buy it now" prices. But I have to say, the only time I ever used that option on eBay, it was the best deal I ever got there. The seller had put an honest price which for me seemed "just right", so I decided to avoid the gambling of the auction and went for it. The seller had other 2-4 auctions with more copies of the same Lego set in the following days, and they all ended with a price higher than the "buy it now".

Same here. I would suggest you, if there is some set that you absolutely utterly want to have, forget about discounts and get it, after eventually doing a small check on all your local options + online about where it has the smallest retail price. But try to ask yourself which sets you really cannot live without, if you can Everything that is not a Lego Shop exclusive in my experience early or late it is always going to be on sale (I consider 20% the minimum discount to really count as "sale"), so unless you believe you're really going to be sorry to miss a set, with patience you can get nearly everything for a better price. Just keep an eye on discount ads in your newspapers or magazines, and check a shop when you pass nearby. Exclusives a different thing, at least for me who live in a country with no Lego Shops, because the only way to get them is through the Lego S@H website: when exclusives are on sale in S@H, they are usually immediately sold out, so I never count on that.

As mentioned already, the first and foremost reason is that the TV show is "old". Any show or movie that isn't "current" is already old for making it a Lego theme. Star Wars is the exception, due to a massive amount of fans around the world (which actually even predates the second trilogy) that no other sci-fi franchise can compare with, perhaps with the exception of Star Trek. I also agree that BSG is really not for children or even teenagers. Star Wars, Indiana Jones and LoTR are not for small children, but are fine for 12+ or even a little younger. And as much as I loved to watch the BSG series and appreciated its visuals, it's probably too much "realistic" (i.e. not fancy, not colourful) and too much "human" (no monsters except the centurions) for designing really attractive Lego sets. I believe that rather than BSG, another sci-fi series I liked in the past would have made a much better Lego theme: Babylon 5. It had a few (but not too many) visually-compelling alien races to turn into minifigs, and many spaceships were fancy and colourful enough. But it was made at least 10 years too early for Lego.

Thanks for the info! We still haven't opened our copy of Monster 4 so I wanted to be sure, because in some of the pictures on Brickset (e.g. the Heroica sets) the 2x2 tiles with stud in lighter colours gave me the impression of cheaper plastic.

I haven't thought of those... well they seem to have plenty of 2x2 tiles w/ stud on center and in a variety of colours, probably they are not easy to find. Normally I quite hate those microfigures, but considering that I am also planning to use Lego material for RPGing, those micro-trolls would come handy to represent small goblins. BTW, any opinion on the actual bricks quality in Lego Games? Is it identical to normal Lego sets, or is lower like Collectable minifigs?

Do you think some of the Lego Games are good sources for parts useful for MOCing? Have you bought any of them just for the parts? We only have Monster 4, and I know that when I bought it I specifically thought that if the game wasn't good or would become boring quickly, at least I could have used the minifig heads. And I've just noticed someone in another subforum mentioning he bought multiple Ramses Pyramids mostly for the tan baseplates, which probably cost (on BrickLink) more than half the price of the entire set new. Other games have interesting parts like Frog Rush and Banana Balance, but I am less sure about them being cost-effective

I agree with this. I don't want to pretend I'm immune to brand charme, but I believe that if a clone brand was capable of producing bricks completely identical (save for the printed brand) to TLG bricks but at a lower price, I'll buy the clone brand with no problem. I like thinking that to me "premium" means actually "better", by substance and not by name. Incidentally, I haven't bought a Coke or a Pepsi in almost 20 years exactly since I realized that their "higher quality" is non-existant. I've become a huge fan of Finland's Pirkka Cola and Rainbow Cola

You are in a similar position to where I was two years ago! I now have a 4-yo daughter and a 2-yo son, I am a fan of Lego Trains most of every theme and I also had a small history of HO modelling when I was a child, and thought later in my teenage years whether it was worth getting back into that. Here is a summary of my decisions, take these as a possibility but not necessarily a suggestion 1. Last time I checked (admittedly, more than 10 years ago), train models were much more expensive than Lego. If I ever went back to train modelling, it would have certainly be N gauge because it is so much better in terms of space. I suppose HO will save you quite some money compared to N, but you should really check how much space you have (I didn't have and still wouldn't have nowadays). Z gauge is only slightly smaller than N and has much less variety/availability so I didn't even consider it. The biggest problem with HO/N models compared to Lego Trains is that you aren't actually in the hobby until you start planning a whole layout. Which is obviously a HUGE work, lots of money and lots of time, and once you're finished you're kind of in trouble because that's it... unless you start a second one, it's usually quite hard to extend an existing, complete layout. With Lego Trains instead, you are already in the hobby by the time you start designing your first locomotive (or whatever). You don't need space until you really, actually need it There is no minimum to be a Lego Train hobbyist, one single model is enough. This allows you to eventually work on a layout "bottom-up" instead of "top-down". Of course, expert Lego Train hobbyists often make a "top-down" layout project, but the beauty is that you don't have to until you have enough resources (time, money & space). The "entry barrier" is much lower! That's where I am today: no time, money & space yet to commit on a layout, I'm content enough on designing some individual models for now. Add to that the quite obvious fact that Lego allows you to undo/modify all your models, so your "project" (and your fun) never ends!! But until you start a first "top-down" layout project, you're protected from the frustration of being unfinished, and even if you make mistakes you can always go back without wasting anything (time is not wasted anyway if you had your fun). 2. I'm not sure about measurements, but I think L (Lego) gauge is close to O gauge, maybe something like 2x HO measurements. Possibly you might need more than 2x due to the problems with fitting multiple Lego tracks, which I believe cannot be packed together as easily as HO tracks can be, at least because in Lego you only have one standard angled curve (it's probably better today with the flexible tracks and also some non-TLG products, but I have no experience with those). On the other hand, consider that very few Lego Train hobbyists build trains with realistic lengths... even if they pursue realistic loco/wagons length, they never use as many wagons per train as HO/N hobbyists. Lego proportions are anyway "wrong" as soon as you put minifigs into your models, so there's not much to be sad about this. The good part is that it definitely reduces the space required. 3. Power technology: I've always struggled with understanding which would be best for me, so I decided not to bother and design non-motorized trains only. Before I can commit on a layout, it's useless to motorize anything, so I will delay my choice until such time. If you feel ready already to commit on a layout project, you need to do some homework I presume you've already found out the pros and cons of each system, so you could for instance write them down on a page, then take some time to think on what pro is more important for you, or what con would be more critical. Maybe also you should strive to find an opportunity to see for yourself (for example at an exhibition, or friend's house) how a system works and "feels" to you. And then obviously do not commit all your money at once on the chosen system, make first something small and see if you're happy enough. Good luck and have fun!!

This is definitely a sad and disturbing story... good luck with the cleaning. But you know, it's not as bad as can be. When I went searching for my childhood Lego collection, I didn't find mouse poo on it, but I didn't find the collection either. All gone

"several million people each year" is the part which surprised me most. I've never thought that DbM was THAT popular! I completely agree. These are the reasons why LDD+DbM have always been useless to me. My personal choice is LDraw+BLink. I was thinking more or less the same... when something is appreciated but not commercially viable, it's best for everyone that it becomes open source and maintained by the community. If TLG prefers not to, perhaps in hope to resurrect the project in the future, then at least I hope more people will move to LDraw and support updating its database.

That's a good alternative explanation. I've seen the MVR only in one TRU shop over here, and nowhere else. In fact for a while I was convinced that it was an exclusive because I couldn't see it anywhere...

That's because they're not exactly "City" (except the Mail Van... what's so special about it?) Of course, Exclusives are another thing entirely when it gets to collecting, and they are almost always really good-looking sets with special parts or colours.

Thanks for the great review, it was very informative! Unfortunately, it confirmed my suspicions that this for my tastes is one of the worst advent calendars ever (gets my vote = 1)... - I don't like at all the idea of "large" builds by combining multiple days. It makes so much more sense that since the children are supposed to open one day by one day, every day contains something standalone. - The police theme is as common as possible, and not at all themed with the XMas season. I'm sure kids still love police, but as an AFOL I am sick of it, and if you have kids there are very good chances they already have police sets and this calendar will add nothing to your town. - Horrible minifigures, except maybe for the one with the green winter jacket and hood. I think last year's advent calendar was pretty good, except that the minifigs were a bit too standard (and the two Santa's were too many), but the micro-builds (toys) were really fun and imaginative, and everything summed up pretty nicely.

Personally I think this makes sense only for sets belonging to a theme that is highly collectable, such as Star Wars. Other themes with lots of people actually collecting sets of the past could be Modular Buildings, Trains, Pirates ships, Harry Potter and maybe some of the older Space themes. Collectors often develop a real addiction, and if they have a good income they can easily start to shell out ridiculous money for the sets they're missing. There is always someone who started collecting recently and is looking backwards in time to extend his collection to older sets, and is fine with buying a few of them overpriced. On the other hand, sets like the ambulance you mention really make no sense. I don't think City is very much a collectable theme, it doesn't have the same strong flavor as other themes, it has way too many sets and way too many re-releases of the same concepts to make City sets really collectable in a "completist" way i.e. feeling the real need to get what you don't have. No one in his sane mind would spend so much on a small set with the intention of simply owning/using the set. First, I would check if those sets are really sold at all, of if it's just wishful thinking by the seller that doesn't really end in an actual sale. At least I know that there are for instance sellers on BrickLink who put some sets on sale with no intention to sell them, only to "show off" they have that set, and stick an impossible price to them thinking "I'm never going to give this set away, unless someone is so stupid to give me 10 times its value". If it really ends up in a successful sale, I have no other possible explanations than these: - the buyer is really rich and can throw away his money any time - the buyer is a poor child using his poor dad's computer and getting fooled because he doesn't really know the value of money yet - the buyer is attempting a fraud and has no intention on paying - the buyer is gambling on re-selling at inflated price, a very risky idea if you ask me... - buyer and seller know each other and are doing some shady tactic (e.g. moneylaundering)

I am not in a rush, I won't put this on eBay until next week at least, or even later. Please send me a PM when you've made your decision so that I will be notified by email (I don't login to EB forums every day).

Hello all, I'm checking here at Eurobricks to see if someone is interested before starting an auction on eBay. The set is MISB (actually, it is still shrink-wrapped into TRU's gift paper). 40€ + shipping, PM me if you are interested!

It seems too quick to be true. But it is actually possible that the MVR has not been popular at all with kids. I guess a KFOL would be much more interested in a castle or tower than a civilian structure. And the set is pretty expensive... it's over 80e here (maybe because I cannot find it elsewhere than in TRU). It's definitely been popular with AFOL, but after the initial hype not even us bought it...

I hate clone brands and I'm always afraid that our children's grandparents will buy some instead of real Lego (already happened once, but at least it was with a Duplo clone, I don't really care about that). I actually rarely see MB sets on sale, but there's another clone brand with military and pirate sets on the shelves around here, tho I don't remember the name. I usually see it in consumer electronics shops rather than in toy shops, so I guess it's sold more as a "compulsion purchase" than a well-intended purchase, as in: dad takes the kids to the electronics shop to buy an expensive TV or mobile phone, kids see the clone brand set on the shelf and bother their dad about getting it, dad is guilty because he is spending lots of money for himself already and gives up buying the toy. However, as much I hate the clones, I say to each their own... How many among us always buy cheap food, when there is premium, high-quality, more healthy food for a little higher price on the other shelf? Maybe the cheaper, artificially tastier stuff we buy is the Megablocks of foods, but we don't care or we even laugh at those who buy expensive food like they were foolish.

Perfetta!

The Amazon deal seems to be very good, but I wonder how much the shipping will cost to you overseas... Personally I don't like the 7939 that much, but then usually I am looking for train parts for MOCs rather than complete sets to keep as-is, and even at this good price I am not going to buy this because I don't find the parts very attractive at the moment (plus I currently have a policy of avoid spending more than 100e on a single Lego purchase, but that's a very personal thing). But since you only have 2 trains so far, I'd say go for it, especially if you like the PF system!

Me too... and the 7777 has always been my favourite Idea Book ever. But today we have the Railbricks magazine, which you should definitely check out in case you haven't yet.

A reasonable concern. Not that I buy many minifigures in general, but still I've purposefully never bought more than 2 of the same figure from the same shop on any given day. I think people (KFOL and AFOL alike) have wildly different opinions on which are the "best" minifigs in a series, so things tend to even out in the end. "Army builders" could be very unfair when there is one key minifigure in a given series that attracts all of them. I do this all the time, and I think everyone should (not with naked fingers... in European shops there are often thin plastic gloves exactly for such purpose! or at least some of the plasic bags can be used for that), because it keeps the quality of the merchandize under check and improves competition between sellers in providing fresh products and maintaining healthy conditions.

I would answer NO to all except to 4. to which I would answer "mostly NO". Only in the City theme and Train subset theme (not counting the Exclusives) I feel there has been some decrease in set design quality recently, but not a steep decrease. And of course, it's subjective...

The City/Town theme can never jump the shark unless Lego as a whole jumps the shark There is always going to be a police subtheme and a firemen subtheme. If they don't do new sets for these themes, they just keep the previous sets for another year. But they have to change them every now and then so that the same KFOL may want to buy more sets of the same theme. How quickly, it depends on how well the current ones are selling. The key point is that each KFOL doesn't usually want to buy the same set again, and may not be interested in many more themes, so to keep him/her as a customer TLG needs to produce new sets of popular themes. Trying out variations like these forest-oriented firefighters can improve the chances of keeping the KFOL's interest high, although it's a bit riskier compared to well-proved safe choices. We AFOL often forget that we are not the main customers here. For an AFOL one great police station may be all that's needed, but for TLG even if they could design the "perfect" police station one day, they will still need to replace it after a while.