Legoist

That's gross man... your guitarist using Turbo Distortion and Metal Zone at the same time.

I just have to subscribe to this thread... :) BTW maydayartist, have you planned all the content of the diorama beforehand? To what level of details have you planned the different parts of it before starting vs "improvising" as you build? Did you make some pre-calculations on needed pieces, for example did you use MLCAD/LDD for some parts, or did you have massive loads of bricks already?

I agree with those who said that the smallest Creator sets are not effective to increase your "home bricks supply", because they are proportionally more expensive per brick than larger sets. But from your post I didn't feel you were concerned about this at all... :) IHMO the reason behind the tiny Creator sets is that they have HUGE building value at very low price, so they are the perfect purchase (mostly for KFOLs but of course AFOLs too) for plain building fun. Just like their bigger Creator bros, these sets come with instructions for multiple models, so even the tiniest Creator set can provide quite a long time of fun for a child, and maybe still a good hour for an adult - or more, if you try to build something original. I think that they have a long-term value also, because once you (or your kid) are done with the models, the bricks even if always small they usually have some pretty good selection, I'd say something like 50% at least of these bricks are non-basic. So once the set is finally disassembled, they still add nicely to your "home bricks supply" above. Just don't get 50 copies of the same set for the parts :)

The 2 trophies are a feature, not an error :)

Thanks all for the suggestions. I think the problem fixed itself because I've been stuck at home with guests all weekend and couldn't sneak off to the shop, I guess tomorrow these will be gone already :)

Brilliant, and I love that simple mic stand :)

Not at the level you're talking about :) For me some realism is necessary, but scales go immediately out of the window as soon as you see the minifigs: they aren't adult people, they are 2 years old children playing adults (with postiche or painted beards), and therefore in a certain way the world around them has to have some goofy proportions ;)

I agree with you. The Maersk train set is IMHO much more "balanced" in content than the Emerald Night. 1 engine + 2 cars is not a "realistic" train, but it is already good enough for the average household diorama. The E.N. had 1 car, with the engine twice as long (if you count the tender also), that really doesn't look much like a train - and that's the reason why I myself only bought the E.N. engine rather than the whole set. I'm undecided whether I should do the same for the Maersk or buy the whole set, but the indecision in this case is because I don't like the cars that much.

I believe 7642 used to cost between 85 and 100 depending on the place, but in the last year it was always discounted. 7633 was as high as 105 when it came out. I think this "lucky find" could be a shop pricing mistake: the label says 67e and then the discount label says 35, it might be that some clerk actually discounted this twice The problem is that actually I don't see much "needed parts" there at all

I've found two older Town sets significantly discounted: 7642 Garage (http://www.brickset.com/detail/?Set=7642-1) for 55e = ~5.8c/piece 7633 Construction Site (http://www.brickset.com/detail/?Set=7633-1) for 35e = ~3.9c/piece I'm not interested in these sets as such, but only for the parts. Considering the price per piece is low, I'd give these a shot but... I actually have the feeling that these sets are specifically bad in the bricks Particularly, they have tons of white and dark grey bricks respectively, two of my least-wanted colours. Consider I build only stuff related to Trains, but that of course include buildings and some road vehicles too. What would you suggest?

There's not enough space in Italy (where I'm from), and the distances between towns are much shorter. Plus the railways are used mostly for passengers trains, which I think 10 carriages is a reasonable size for intercity trains for example. Cargo trains are longer, perhaps in the 20-25 range. In Finland (where I'm now) there is less people, and passenger trains are usually more like 5-6 carriages.

One more consideration about "realism". Just check how many carriages the average train has (here in Italy it's easily more than 10, particularly for cargo trains), and tell me how many times you've seen Lego enthusiasts really build train that long. It doesn't happen that often... should we conclude that the VAST majority of Lego Trains AFOLs simply forgo realism for reasons of cost and space? I would say that within the context of Lego, "realism" is achieved much earlier than that!

Location: Finland Trades with: anywhere, but EU countries preferred Want S1 Clown S1 Cheerleader, many Atlantis Naga Warrior (set 8078), many Atlantis Squid Warrior (set 8061, 8078), many Pharaoh's Quest Anubis Warrior (set 7327), many Have S2 Vampire, 2 sealed S2 Spartan, 2 sealed S2 Witch, 1 sealed S2 Mariachi, 1 sealed S2 every other, 1-2 each sealed* S3 Elf, 2 sealed S3 Sumo wrestler, 1 opened *still to be checked

Not really the case. They sell one engine per set because most people want to use only one per train, and those who want two per train inevitably build longer train and have no problems buying 2 copies of the set... If the put 2 in each set, everyone who is fine with just one might actually not buy the set at all.

I saw them today in Finland for the first time. I bought 2 bags, haven't opened them yet but presumably they are the Geisha (I'm 100% sure) and the Surfergirl (90% sure). I used the "touch & feel" method because the dots do NOT match. The Surfergirl dots were vaguely similar to the ones in the cheat sheet, the Geisha dots were totally different. I hope someone breaks the EU code soon...

I don't like the white part of it very much (oddly white is my least fav Lego colour), but the general idea is cool! I was thinking myself of building this loco in alternative colours. My plan would be drawing it in MLCAD and then try many different colour schemes before deciding which one to build, and then go hunting for parts. edit: I had almost suggested you to switch the white for black, and now I just found a picture of a real locomotive of this type that matches. What do you think? :) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Union_Pacific_5304.jpg

Your post was so moving, that it has convinced me to do the same... not just with Lego but with everything I own! Unfortunately I won't give my Lego collection here however, because I've already sent to this poor girl in Russia who's personally contacted me so many times (but why does she likes to change her name every time?) to beg for something to use as pellet stove fuel, 'cause her babies are freezing and russian winter is so cold.

This is a great summary of the insanity of a collecting hobby

Not a huge fan of sci-fi themes in general (the only space theme I really like is Classic Space, and mostly for nostalgia reasons), but for me this theme is so underwhelming... It's clearly a KFOL-targetted theme, probably a replacement for Power Miners. The theme idea itself is actually really good! Lots of playability and potential. But the only good thing in the "implementation" is the look & design of the alien spacecrafts. Now for the bad sides: the design of the human vehicles is dull; the colour scheme is very childish but without having anything new (as e.g. Lime bricks in Power Miners); the parts are nothing special with some oversized ones; the minifigs are very toy-like. This is from an AFOL's POV... if I were a KFOL I'd probably love this theme because all those bad sides would actually become good sides.

Yep... I totally understood the hype when it was related to figs like the Spartan and the Elf. They had a higher cool factor (subjective, but at least more widespread), they made sense to be owned in a large amount, and they had really unprecedented parts e.g. the spartan/greek helm and the elven "ears".

I think all the hype about the Crazy Scientist is because "oh my God, it's so rare!!". If TLG delivered a small April's fool telling that there will be 10 CS in a box, a lot of people will not want it anymore. Think... the same thing happened with the S3 Fisherman. What the hell is so special with this fig? It's well designed but it's pretty "normal". Torso and legs not so different from construction workers (of which there are a lot around). New beard and fishing rod ok, but they are not unprecedented concepts and can have substitutes. But since it was slightly rarer than all others in the first batch, it became the favourite fig of a lot of people. But not anymore.

If you have to pick just one thing coming in 2011, be it a set, a theme, a single part or minifig, or even a service from TLG... what are really most thankful for? Personally I am most thankful for the humble return of the pitchfork!!! No really, I am super happy about this

I think the Maersk train will be the only train set for 2011. But either way, if I could make a wish I'd like a creator set with train parts, similar to the hobby train of a few years ago (possibly in any colours other than red or white) but sold in retail shop. Something with ~1000 pieces for no more than 100e, or otherwise smaller.

I can speak only for myself. I do not collect them, or anything else. I buy a few minifigs per series, using barcodes/dots+touching to avoid randomness, just to have more variance in minifigs in general (faces, torsos and accessories). I'm interested only in civilians (especially female minifigs, the option of getting them individually is for me the best feature of the collectable series) and fantasy characters. I don't buy multiples, but I am making an exception for the Elves and maybe will later do the same for the Werewolves, however just a bunch NOT an army! It'd be nice to have multiples of the accessories and the hairs, but not the figs themselves.

Apparently I always like even-numbered series more than odd-numbered ones. I'll get no more than 4-5 of these, and no multiples. British Banker would great. With an umbrella too