David Thomsen

I still think these are going to be taken down within a couple of days, not only are they preliminary but they show details of the fourth movie. Also, no one else is showing the images, suggesting they haven't been authorised for common usage.

Are they allowed to put preliminary pictures on their store website? I doubt it... these images won't stay up for long. That Whitecap Bay set, does it look like it might be modular in the same way that Soldier's Fort was? And if so, are they likely to be compatible? I'm trying to figure out if the QAR has a deck like the IF, of it it's just one level like every other pirate ship. Also, I think the captain's cabin might potentially fit inside the QAR, which would be nice. Is that a new bottle piece in the captain's cabin and being held by the stagecoach driver in London? My pirate ship is going to load up with rum if that's the case.

I find it weird that she's writing this article like she's talking about obvious truths that all adults will understand. "Yeah, I read that article about the mother who glued together her child's Lego sets. I'd totally do the same thing. In fact I'd go with Playmobil, it's comes pre-assembled!" But then, everyone who writes a column in the newspaper has the same kind of self-righteousness and confidence in their opinions, even when they're quite horribly wrong. This is why I just don't read them any more. Later on, after he has left home, the child will remember how his mother used to glue Lego together, and casually buy a set just to see what it's like to have non-glued Lego... this purchase will lead to another... and another... I wouldn't contact her though, personally... I imagine I'd just get a snarky response anyway.

I don't worry about how 'nerdy' it is, but I do get a bit self-conscious that I'm a six foot three guy with a beard and long hair and often wearing lots of black, and I tend to loiter around children's toys a lot.

I never really liked the old Tintin cartoons, and was wary when they said they were making a new movie. It doesn't seem to be something that can translate to television and film very well. However, reading about some of the talent behind the movie (Steven Moffat "Doctor Who"! Edgar Wright "Scott Pilgrim"!) I am becoming cautiously optimistic, and have even begun to think it will make a good Lego theme. Ideas: The shark-submarine with Tintin and Snowy. The Unicorn ruins with deep sea diver and shark. The Sirius, the boat they go treasure hunting on. The Island (or a small representation of it) Marlinspike Hall. The Unicorn itself could be a Imperial Flagship-size ship with Sir Francis Haddock and Red Rackham.

I don't buy many Police sets, but this is a must-have. I get a bank, the new police uniform, a red dirt bike, crowbar, credit card and beige backpack. I hadn't realised until now how similar in design all of the police vehicles are. I find that interesting, like there's a template they use for all vehicles. I also noticed that the vehicle in the helicopter chase is identical to the one from the garage, just a different colour.

I wonder if they will even do a UCS... Indiana Jones didn't get one, and there were such brilliant possibilities, like the circus train and Brunwald Castle. Harry Potter only got a UCS after ten years. Star Wars is in an entirely different category of licenced themes. It sounds like there's going to be another Pirates trilogy, so the theme might be around long enough to warrant a UCS... but I doubt they're going to wait five years to release the Black Pearl, unless they're going to do what they did with the Millenium Falcon and do one in an affordable size, and then another in Mega Scale.

Since this thread isn't being locked as a duplicate, I am going to post my ideas in it. Post Office, Bank, Police Station, Health Clinic, Theatre, Tower. I visualise the Tower as a special 10th Anniversary Modular Building, twice the height as the other modular buildings. A corner shop or reception on the ground floor, offices or hotel rooms above that, motorised glass elevator, lighting for each floor, veiwing platform on top... exclusive Mayor minifig with mayoral chains, cutting the ribbon to open the building... journalists covering the event... Ahem. I do think a Theatre has the best architectural possibilities though.

To answer my own question, the website says 'Backorders accepted, expected ship date 12 Jan 2011', so I guess that's why I haven't seen it anywhere... Incidentally, I can't remember who it was, but someone was going to sell me the taxi from the train station set in a sealed bag with the relevant instruction booklet and stickers for $30 plus shipping (or I could pick it up within Wellington)... is this still happening? I haven't heard anything in the last few months, and am thinking of renewing the offer if anyone else wants to take it.

I'm personally not a believer in the Modular Set Hints. I think it's possible to read anything as a hint, especially the girl with the purse. If the fourth had been a police office, then it would have been something for the crooks to steal. If the fourth set had been a school, then she would have been carrying a school bag. If the fourth set had been a bank, then she would be carrying money in her purse to deposit. I doubt anyone looked at the purse and thought 'department store' until after the Emporium was announced. They included a girl with a purse so there wouldn't just be firemen in the set, that is all. When they do a police station, they'll include a civilian with a suitcase for the same reason. Also, the Corner Cafe had a trash can with cherries because it was a Corner Cafe.

Transformers: Prime just felt like an unnecessarily long cut-scene from a computer game to me. I'll watch the next episodes when they screen in the hope that it's found its feet by then, but I doubt it ever will. It was trying to be 'darker', I think, and even included a torture scene... but then they pulled their punches, and the result of this torture was just to make someone act silly. I think this is an example of why the show is so weak... it doesn't have the guts to really be as 'serious' as it pretends to be. I find it funny that so many Transformers fans think that Animated was too 'juvenile', and then believe that Prime is somehow more appropriate for an older audience. It's like claiming that GI Joe is more 'mature' than Barbie because Barbie doesn't have guns. No... actually, it's all aimed at the same age group.

It's actually not as hard as it looks once you get used to it. Here's what I learned... First, move all the pieces to one end jiggle the bag so all the smallest pieces fall to the bottom. If nothing falls, move all the pieces to the other end and jiggle the bag around and jiggle the other way. It's very easy to identify several of the figures within a few seconds this way. The 3x length bar is unmistakeable, so you've found either a Cyborg or an Alien. Look for the legs to determine which one it is - pegleg, or no pegleg. The Cyborg also has a visor, as does the Race Car Driver. Look for the round brim of the Driver's helmet. The Baseball bat is slightly thicker, and has a thinner, bumpy handle at one end. The maracas and the microphone are very similar, but the microphone has a ridge around it. If you're not sure, look for the ridges of the Hula Girls hairpiece, or the rectangular boombox of the Rapper. The Ape's banana is... banana shaped. The Sumo Wrestler's trophy is easy to identify also, very small and with a base. The Aviator and the Snowboarder both have goggles. Try looking for the round brim of the Snowboarder's helmet, or the Aviator's backpack. The Tennis Player's racquet is another unmistakeable item. That's eleven minifigs I could identify within seconds. The others gave me a little more difficulty, at which point it's necessary to start searching through piece by piece. Often it's easy to find the Mummy's scorpion. The tail and pointy claws are unmistakeable. The Samurai's sword is flat and flexible. The Tribal Chief's spear is one piece, easy enough to identify, although for some reason I always had trouble finding it. I was only able to identify one Elf, I actually strongly suspect someone got there before me and took them all, but missed one. As such I'm not really sure how you'd identify one quickly, the bow and shield are both flat and can blend in easily. Same with the Fisherman, although I'm not sure why anyone would take all the fishermen. Maybe if you've got a big harbour or something... Even if you're looking for one of the harder to find ones that doesn't have small pieces that fall to the bottom, it's still a good idea to try to find the small pieces anyway, just so you can disregard them. Also, be gentle! The tab of the Aviator's backpack is easily bent, I know this because my girlfriend bent one while we were looking. Fortunately it was one she wanted anyway, and didn't mind the damage.

Is any store selling the Bank & Money Transfer? I thought it was coming out later in the year, but it's on S@H now. I didn't see it at the Warehouse or Farmers, so I'm assuming it's a Toyworld exclusive?

It may just be an unfinished/abandoned prototype. I don't think they're going to change the height of their modular buildings, and regular City buildings don't look like that, it's just a thing in Jamie's workshop with no real meaning. Maybe they were experimenting with having an inside corner building.

I'm sorry if this has been posted before, it's a hard question to search for, but is there a definite or 'proper' way to put on the hula girl's skirt? The stock picture doesn't have the same skirt, and the instruction says nothing useful, so it seems to be entirely guesswork, but the way the holes are placed makes me think they had a particular method in mind. A lot of the review photos I've seen place the slit at the back corner, but it makes more sense for me to place it at the front corner, which is more in keeping with real slit skirts (just google image search 'slit skirts' for plenty of examples), and doesn't hinder the minifigs movement too much. Ideas?

Yeah, the ridges in the hair were the distinctive feature for me. Quite a few of them have convenient giveaways, like: The cyborg and alien have a 3x light sabre bar The Samurai has a flexible sword The Ape's banana is impossible to mistake for anything else As is the Mummy's scorpion, just hold it by the tail and look for the claws The Snowboarder and Pilot have goggles The Elf's bow, if you can seperate it from everything else The grip on the Baseball player's bat The rapper's boombox The tennis player's racquet The race car driver has a disctinctive rim on his helmet And so on. The trouble is that I can spend minutes looking for anything other than a torso, legs, head and base, and these minutes do add up. Meanwhile, everyone else is looking at you like you're a crazy person.

Oh... I thought the discount was only on selected lego, and the minifigs weren't included. Infuriatingly difficult to identify the minifigs, though fortunately some of the pieces are extremely easy to identify. Although now that I think about it, I hope I didn't mistake the hula girl's maracas for the rapper's maracas. Should probably go open them and check...

Just reading this topic about underage members, I have a similar question... I often see banned members who have only made between three and twenty posts, none of which seem to be offensive in any way. Sometimes I go through that member's entire post history looking for anything that could get them banned, and I find nothing. Is there any reason this happens so often when there are a few members with 500+ posts who regularly engage in borderline trollish behaviour and only ever get warnings? My theory is that, because of the competitions that often run here, some members try to create multiple accounts to boost their own votes, but I have no idea how you'd identify such a fake account.

brickcitydepot: 1 Kazeneko: 1 kost u grlu: 2 NovaStar: 1

The guy escaping from the bone cage? I couldn't make out the hairpiece, but I didn't think it was a wig since no one in the bone cages in the movie wore a wig.

Oh yeah... I can see that now. Bonaparte, how do you come to the conclusion that we're getting the wig piece? It isn't in anything we've seen, and we know almost nothing about the POTC IV sets.

I'm looking at the 'fairytale and historical figures' minifig set, and the wizard seems to have a giant bottle piece that I haven't seen before. Could this be the bottle from the 'ship in a bottle' Jack Sparrow has to steal from the captain's cabin? I can't get a very good look at it because the zoom function isn't working for me at S@H.

These are actually looking really good. I'm quite sure Elizabeth's dress is just a substitute for the preliminary pics. In fact I'm certain most of these are just fill-ins, the pirates fighting on the waterwell don't even match the ones on the corner of the packaging. There's absolutely no point judging the figs from these pictures. I see what they've done with the waterwheel, some of the studs are facing inwards and some outwards so figs can stand inside or outside of wheel. I think the beige pieces go face inwards, and all the others face outwards. That can probably be easily changed for those who prefer aesthetics over play function.

I didn't actually ask them in the end... I have faith that TLC knows what they're doing, and will do it with integrity. I sent my submission on the deadline and haven't received any acknowledgement yet... is that anyone else's experience? I guess it's near Christmas time and they would have received a lot of submissions, so maybe they don't have time to acknowledge that they received all our ideas.

Hee hee, that guy has a conch shell for a head. I bet he got teased about that at school, and that's why he joined up with the bad guys. All the sets seem to have posters inside... I wonder what that's all about. I think the images are still very preliminary, two of the guys on the waterwheel look identical.