David Thomsen

Surely there are other people who work in retail here who have made their own observations... The other set, the Pirate Building Set, I was looking for last week because I wanted another one of that rare torso in case of deterioration of the one I have... and of the six main Lego retailers in this city, only one still had this set, but they all had the Castle Building Set.

Has anyone else observed how so many more Pirate BrickMaster books are sold than Castle ones, and how many Pirate Building Sets are sold than Castle Building Sets? Wherever I go, I see more Castle Building Sets than Pirate ones left over, and more Castle Brickmaster books. My girlfriend who sells the BrickMaster books at her bookstore says that children almost unanimously choose the Pirate one over the Castle one. The only time they sell the Castle one is when the Pirate one isn't there. While I have no access to the sales data of either theme, these two sets are both aimed at children. Given that the Pirate theme seems to be heavily preferred over the Castle one, it seems bizarre that the Castle theme should be 'evergreen', and the Pirate theme should be a one-year novelty.

Ever since the announcement of the Imperial Flagship I've been pondering these ideas... Instead of the chef that comes with the set, I want to use this woman from MMV: And instead of a prison, I want the room at the front of the ship to be a gunpowder storage room, and I want to use this torso with a tricorn for the powdermaster (or whatever you would call him): Ignoring the answer of 'of course you could do that if you wanted to, this is Lego, you could put space aliens on your ship if you wanted', how historically accurate would these torsos be? Edit: Sorry, I hadn't realised there was already a thread for this... although it seems odd that these two haven't already been mentioned. Another development from recent times that should be mentioned here is the extremely pirate-looking head from Atlantis set 8057. I will be getting that set just for the head.

Holy cow - I really wasn't expecting this one. It's awesome. I wonder how many minifigs you can fit in that limo?

I'm really not sure I like the stretcher not having wheels though. Has any other stretcher not had wheels? I doubt it. It feels incomplete without them, even if this is just a field stretcher. Has anyone noticed the similarity between the jeep in this set and Indiana Jones' Brickmaster Jeep? It's not identical, but it's amazingly close.

I'll probably be getting two or three of this set. It seems like one of those sets that gets better the more you buy. I'd like to see some MOCs too. Anyone up for a green tent or bunker pieces?

Oh yeah... I forgot that came in a separate bag. Is there an index of all the parts that are made in China? It would be useful. I also remember the cows coming in a separate bag with their horns.

If you look at the instructions, you have to make the army men yourself. They're not made in China.

Indeed, even if I don't get any of the other Toy Story sets, I have to get this one. I'm also looking forward to MOCs of other green army men accessories... tents, fences, flags, bunkers, artillery... Wish you could get the same set in a different shade of green, for a rival army. Beige would also work for desert armies.

He comes in a seperate bag from the rest of the Lego pieces, pre-assembled, and he doesn't have a mark on his neck... the evidence is pretty clear. These are not high-quality lego pieces. At least these pieces are unique, though, unlike other minifig pieces that could easily be mistaken for the real thing.

I'm not sure if that's the final version of the impulse set... it just doesn't look right. Your one with sides looks much better. I actually wasn't sure what the official one was supposed to be and thought it was some kind of vegetable patch. Here's something I was thinking of making but will probably never get around to... a crop duster.

I guess having 24 days is an incentive to buy an extra lego set for the 25th day. This little mortar cannon is my favourite so far. It actually looks the part.

I've actually never had a missing piece... which makes me feel kind of lucky, looking at how often it seems to happen. There have been times where I have sworn there had been a piece missing, then either found it or realised I'd put the wrong thing in the wrong place. More often the latter, especially when I can't tell if dark grey in the instructions means, light grey, dark grey or black.

Wait... aren't there supposed to be 25 days? I thought the last one was supposed to be opened on Christmas day. I hadn't even noticed there were only 24. Does this mean I've been doing it wrong, and that you're supposed to open the 1st on the 2nd, and so on? I've never had an advent calendar, so I assumed the number represented the day of the month.

Day four: A soldier. Alas, the same bearded smirk minifig head that comes with almost every pirate set, including the smallest and second smallest. I'm beginning to notice a pattern: one minifig, followed by two accessories. If this is correct, tomorrow and the day after will have something appropriate for a soldier.

I'm the same... I hardly ever comment on MOCs unless they particularly appeal to me. I love the fact that there are two architectural styles at work here... a lot of hospitals I'm familiar with have that kind of frankenstein appearance. The one down the road from me is a mixture of old, grey, 70s utilitarian blockishness and spanking new modern curves and glass and wavy shapes and shiny bits. I would have thought making something almost entirely white would look bad, but it actually looks quite elegant. The grey bits add just the right amount of contrast. Looking to see how the details were made can be extremely rewarding. The only thing I find a little odd is that the helipad isn't on top of the building, like it is at the hospital down the road... where it is now seems like such a tight spot to land a helicopter. I think having the helipad on the roof would even add to the mix of building designs - the old part has the sloped roof, the modern part has the helipad.

That's why I'm waiting until the end of my day before posting. Day three: A cup holder with a parrot. Or is it a parrot holder with a cup. For some reason the cup is a modern red mug, rather than the goblet which is in various pirate sets. Maybe it's supposed to be some kind of parrot feeder? I think I'll go with that, rather than it being an anachronistic mug.

Oh yeah... I guess with the blindpacking, even the unpopular ones (diver?) will be sold.

I've been thinking about the idea of 'minithemes'. Like, instead of having a range of seven sets with the same theme, there could a range of seven sets with different themes. For example... one prehistoric set, one Roman set, one circus set, one cowboy set, one pirate set and one viking set. They could feature themes that don't currently have a line of their own, or are too small to warrant a theme. There might not be many people who will get all the sets, but every collector will have at least one they want. And it'll be a way to keep, for example, Klaus-Dieter content while the Western theme is inactive. Especially if each set has brand new 'unique' minifigs, like this collection of sixteen.

Yeah, that was it... although I think most people have either opened theirs already, or have read reviews of it, so would rather talk about the calendar as a whole than from day to day. I think it's interesting to review each day on its own... is it really worth 1/25 of the price of the calendar. If no one else participates in this thread, I think I'll just drop it.

I'm a little confused by the popularity of the cheerleader... is it just because in real life, she would be a cute girl? Otherwise I don't see anything special about her... she isn't a remake of a really old minifig, like the forestman or the cowboy or the native American... she isn't something you never thought Lego would ever do, like the zombie or the wrestler or the robot... she's just a cheerleader. I never even thought the Lego sport themes were that great.

I don't understand the point of using computer animation to fake something like this, and using stilted camerawork to make it look even more authentic. When you see something like this, the really amazing thing is that it was actually done. So when it wasn't actually done... then there's nothing amazing about it at all. It's an 'idea', but not an achievement. People shouldn't get recognised for 'ideas', unless the idea itself is the final product. Bah. Now I have to put a quarter in the authenticity jar.

The 'pirate advent calendar story review' thread seems to just be about Mariann's review... I thought there should be another thread for people to share their general thoughts about the calendar. I have to say I'm a little disappointed by day one. Just Brickbeard? With a sword? I have half a dozen of those already! Maybe if the calendar came out last year, before the theme itself, I would have been a bit more gleeful. (My girlfriend has her own advent calendar, and she insists on having Brickbeard wear his epaulettes upside down. Can someone explain this behaviour to me?) Day two was a little better... The lantern looks like an appropriately sturdy device to keep aboard an unstable wooden ship. I think the table could have had something else on it though, like a goblet.

Just my top four, since I can see some of these lists getting kind of long... Cavewoman. Definitely. I don't want my caveman to get lonely in a theme all of his own! I don't know what accessory she'd have, though... a dinosaur tooth? A femur? Swashbuckler. A romantic, well-dressed pirate in purple with a plume in his tricorn and a dashing grin on his face. Maybe even a new sword mould, like a rapier... Roman legionnaire. Imagine the possibilities of a Roman helmet mould... Sheriff. Someone to fight the cowboy. Not that imaginative, I guess, but still kind of necessary. Out of those, Swashbuckler would be my favourite. Anything new to add the the Pirates range, in fact, would be extremely welcome. And I have a feeling it's likely to happen, statistically.

I think it would also be interesting to gather data on which ones people want. It would be useful to find out which ones are most desirable, not just which ones are 'favourite'. I want: The Caveman, just because he has his own unique theme. The nurse and rock star, who can fit into my town. The cowboy and the Indian, because they're the only Western minifigs made in the last decade or so. The forestman, who will be the 'special ops' figure for my castle. Nothing else really has a place in my collection. I could use the cheerleader hair and face for my city, but that's about it.