Blondie-Wan

Two days ago it was less even than that, just $104.99; I ordered two at that price myself, and now it's back up over both prices, to the original MSRP of $119.99. I wouldn't be surprised to see it offered above MSRP there from third-party vendors (once Amazon's own stock runs out) in the very near future. I wish I could afford to order at least one more before that happens (but then, I'd also want to buy any of hundreds of other LEGO sets I still 'need' - darn these limited financial resources...). I'm glad I at least got an order in for two of them at a good price, though; I know not everyone will be so fortunate, so I'm counting myself lucky. I'm just a little antsy over my Amazon order not having shipped yet... I might try to pick up the Red Cargo Train at my local TRU sometime.

Possibly; it really depends upon how well the theme sells, of course. However (as I pointed out earlier), Indiana Jones had its last movie released in May of 2008, and TLG continued the theme into 2009 with waves for both January and August. That's for a theme with a) fewer movies, b) less recent movies (both themes of course were launched a few months before the latest movies were released, but for The Lord of the Rings the oldest movie at the time of the theme's launch is a little under 12 years old, whereas the oldest Indiana Jones movie at the time of the theme's launch was a little under 27 years old, and the most recent of the first three was almost 19 years old), and c) arguably less popular movies. All three factors suggest The Hobbit / The Lord of the Rings should be at least as successful as a LEGO theme as Indy was, if not more so, so I don't see why it couldn't have at least two additional waves after the third Hobbit's release.

I saw something about this in the Easter Egg thread, but don't know the whole story, though from what little I understand it is indeed a touching move. Could anyone enlighten me as to who Nnenn was?

Wow, that's neat. I'd like to try to get extras of all the stickered parts from Pick-a-Brick or something so I could use both sheets, and build and rebuild the castle for with either glowing or non-glowing decoration, as the mood strikes.

This is just gorgeous.

That's a really sweet piece of work, markus1984. How heavy is that siege tower? If it's on a non-studded surface does it roll well, or is there too much friction because of the weight?

Hey, I see I got a new descriptor under my avatar. So those things are just assigned by mods here, then? Heh. Anyway... so has no one else gotten a free extra minifigure (intentionally) thrown in with a recent order? It's clearly a deliberate bonus item, and I can't have been the only person to have gotten one, but I hadn't heard *anything* about it until I got my order yesterday...

Yesterday I received my latest order from LEGO Shop at Home, and along with all the stuff I'd actually ordered there was a Series 7 Minifigure along with postcard-sized card saying "Brick or Treat," and that the minifigure was a special treat to thank me for my order. Sweet! Are these being included in all Shop at Home orders right now? If so, for how long? Astonishingly, there was also a fairly large set included entirely by accident (!), 4438 Robber's Hideout - I hadn't ordered it, it wasn't mentioned on the invoice and I wasn't charged for it, but there was still a copy of this $40 set in the shipping box along with all the stuff I'd ordered. It would've been soooo easy to just keep it and not notify TLG, but my conscience got the better of me and I called them to let them know; they're sending me a shipping label to return it (they initially offered to just email me one, but our printer's been a little wonky and I wasn't sure the label would print cleanly). Ah, well...

TLG changes box art all the time in all its long-running themes, even things like Creator. With licensed sets in particular, though, the box art is often mandated by the licensor (Lucasfilm, in the case of Star Wars, as well as Indiana Jones), who wants all its licensed products from a given property that are out at the same time to have a cohesive look, even across product ranges from entirely different companies. That's why you'll see consistencies in the package art for Star Wars toys from both LEGO and Hasbro, for example, if they come out at around the same time. The Yoda art we're seeing on these LEGO Star Wars boxes for next year will be seen on more than just LEGO sets - it'll be on action figures and action figure playsets and vehicles, and other sorts of Star Wars toys and other merchandise released next year.

Hrm. I'm not sure how I feel about finally getting leg printing on Rebel pilots now, after all this time, but I can live with it since the snowspeeder flight suit actually is different, anyway; I can use printed legs on just the speeder pilots and the non-printed ones on the X-wing and Y-wing pilots. But it's getting really frustrating to build up a force over years of collecting only to have to choose between the ones I've already gotten and the ones in new sets...

Really? You think so? Really? The previous torso design had some detail (for it to have absolutely none at all, it would have to be unprinted). I thought it was sufficient - it was certainly recognizable as Han Solo, even if it was just the torso itself without legs or a head, which to me indicates it gets the job done pretty well. Still, I don't mind the new torso; I'll be quite glad to get it, and can then use the older one(s) for background characters or whatever. I'm afraid I just don't get your argument on Han's hair, though. As you say, Han has a shaggier hairstyle, but to me that's an argument in favor of the newer hair, not against it, as it's clearly shaggier-looking than the classic element that's always been used for him, as well as having the part closer to where it should be for Han (not that it's actually screen-accurate, but closer than the first element, and probably close enough for LEGO purposes). The one aspect in which the old element might be more fitting is in the fullness, but since all that volume is molded into a perfectly coiffed '70s hair helmet while Han has the shaggier look you yourself cite, I think the old element simply isn't the best choice. That's funny; I was thinking the fact the Rebel soldier looks the same as in the Advent Calendar (and the battle pack and Tantive IV, save for the different facial expression) was a reason for me to buy it, rather than one against - specifically, it means I can use it for army-building by adding to my existing Rebel troopers. Right now I'm mulling over how many copies of the current Endor / AT-ST set I should get - I have four of the AT-ST from a few years ago and would like additional drivers, but the one in the planet set doesn't match that one, and I'm trying to decide whether the difference is sufficiently negligible to use them together. If it had the same print, I'd be happy to buy a bunch of copies of the planet set, but since it doesn't I'm not sure which way to go.

Coolness! That looks like an excellent parts pack, to me. Are those castle wall elements available in any other sets in those colors? I see it comes with both the dress-printed slope brick and a regular pair of minifigure legs, which is nice to have for the additional building options it offers. It's strange that they decided to go with black for the legs, though. Presumably if one has the princess riding the horse, one can just use a regular 1x2 brick and plate in place of the legs, so that she still appears to be wearing the white dress. It looks to me like a regular small box of the same size used for previous "Bricks & More" sets like this, this, this, this, this and so on, which I guess is essentially what this set is. I'm sure it'll be around $10, no more than $12 (in the US, that is, of course).

What a great project (if sad it's needed in the first place - I mean that so much has been discolored, broken, etc.). This was a fantastic-looking set, and one I always desperately wanted but never had. To this day it's the single set that most sums up what "Classic Space" is, I think - just beautiful. My goodness, it is. TLG really should think about offering that box art as a poster - either the original photo by itself with no logos or text, or with all of those so that it recreates the entire box lid. I'd dearly love to have that image on a wall.

I'm a passionate devotee of the OT, and I tend to break the theme down a little differently - rather than breaking them down into the CW and "the movies" (further divided into PT and OT), I tend to think of these more as OT and "PE" - "prequel era," meaning the prequel trilogy and the Clone Wars combined (CW does fall into the timeframe of the PT, after all, specifically from Episode II to Episode III). I devote my resources predominantly to the OT, but prioritize other LEGO themes ahead of the PE. I don't fault TLG for producing a lot of PE sets, though - the overall PE (PT and CW combined) simply has a lot more material from which to make sets, and it's also that part of the SW saga with which the kids who make up LEGO's target audience are probably most familiar. That said, I do wish we'd get some more material from the OT era, beyond the actual movies (for example, the Droids and Ewoks series, the various OT-era novels, even the Holiday Special) - but I should probably be careful about what I wish for, given that I can't afford the stuff that's already being done...

Really? I don't understand why intentionally making it look different for difference's sake is desirable. I want to build a bunch of A-wings that actually do all look like the same model of spacecraft, differing just in exterior markings and so on. If anything, I'm troubled by how different the new pilot is from the previous A-Wing pilot figures; it makes it harder to use them together. As I hardly have any, though, I guess it's not an issue. I just wish the other minifigures weren't specific, unique characters like Han and Ackbar, but rather more "generic" troops. I'm especially vexed that I'm going to have far more Admiral Ackbars than generic Mon Calamari officers, when I'd want to have it exactly the other way around. Still, it's a very nice-looking version of the A-Wing, and I can see myself getting several. While I don't see a need for Han in this set at all, I'm okay with updating the torso, since I need just one Han at a time anyway, and can always be free to use the other versions of the torso for other characters of my own imagining. However, I don't understand what's so "dated" about the previous torso design, especially how it's supposedly not just a little dated but a lot. I will say I'm an eensy bit disappointed TLG is still using that hair for Han when the new "standard male hairpiece" introduced in 2008 (used on Mutt Williams, and numerous LEGO Cityfolk) is a much better match, but as long as I can just swap out hair elements anyway it's not a huge deal.

I just called my own local TRU, just now - while the trading event should be going on - and they don't know anything about it. Has the date been changed, or something?

Hi! Welcome aboard!

Wow! On the one hand, it's certainly true there really isn't any burning (heh) need for more Fire and Police sets, but on the other, these are quite nice ones. As long as they are going to constantly churn out sets of these two staple subthemes, it's great that they do continue to explore ideas about playability and narrative and so on. I love that they're giving the firefighters burning buildings, practice items, etc., as well as invoking some of the archetypal tropes of firefighters (having a dalmatian, rescuing kitties from trees, etc.). That mold is still a fairly new mold, actually. It hasn't really been around that long...

Is that an issue? I'm aware the non-US packages don't generally include the piece counts, but the Minifigures also lack piece counts, even here (naturally, as the piece count for one of these sets will vary depending upon what specific figure it is). How could they do the Minifigures without piece counts while being unable to do grab bags? _____________________ I must admit I'm disappointed. I never got a grab bag; I don't think I've ever seen one in a LEGO store to begin with. That might have something to do with the fact the one I get to visit most frequently is the Downtown Disney, Orlando one, which is always insanely crowded and anything "special" like that would probably get scooped up within moments of hitting a shelf, but I don't remember seeing any at the couple of other LEGO Stores I've ever been to, either. Oh, well.

Indeed. Additionally, licensed themes based on popular entertainment franchises such as Harry Potter have their own fanbases completely aside from LEGO lovers, so those sets also attract other buyers who otherwise wouldn't care about LEGO sets. That said, it's notable how many of the 2010 Harry Potter sets are actually still widely available in stores anyway.

Of course; I wasn't talking about buying them on their own. I was talking about just buying $60 or more worth of stuff each week; it's not as though there isn't far more than $240 worth of LEGO I want that's lining the shelves at TRU. The only issue for me is affording it, but I think I can spend at least $60 or $70 per week, and perhaps $120 or so one or two weeks. But I, too, would certainly hesitate at spending $25 for a pack of five minifigures that lacked even accessories. I had missed the "one pack per person per week" stipulation, though; that would indeed put a crimp in my plans (but then, it's a bit of a challenge for me to scrounge up $120 for LEGO purchases even one week when I'd also be spending at least $60 per week for each of the other weeks in the four-week period). However, frankly I'm not sure how diligently TRU will enforce that rule, so if it turns out by some miracle I can afford it, I might try to get multiples of one or more of these, if my local store will allow it. True, but I did at least manage to save a few bucks today on some sets I wanted anyway. It helps in my case that I'm interested in practically all LEGO lines anyway, so I can always look for that handful of "properly"-priced sets they have, regardless of theme. With the BOGO, it's certainly not too hard to make a total purchase that at least isn't above MSRP for the whole purchase even if it doesn't actually save much money, and then also get the minifigure collection for free, so it's not too bad. I forgot to thank you for the link earlier. Thanks!

I just made my first "Bricktober"-related purchase at Toys'R'Us this year (and look forward to a few more ). My purchase was mostly non-Star Wars-related, but did include two of the new Series 2 Planets sets: 1x 9677 X-wing Starfighter & Yavin 4 1x 9679 AT-ST & Endor

Suit yourself! Personally, I think they're quite fine for promotional freebies, and I'd like to try to get at least one of each. I wouldn't mind getting a couple of any of them, though, and I specifically hope to get that many of at least two of them. It's true TRU has appalling markups on most of its LEGO items, but even they do have some fair prices (and even occasional deals!) here and there - enough that I don't think I'll have much trouble finding something worthwhile to buy each week. During a normal, non-promotion period there isn't as much incentive to shop for LEGO at TRU specifically (as opposed to any other LEGO vendor), but for these minifigure collections? I'll be quite disappointed with myself if I don't get them all. As it happens I actually just went and bought several sets I'd wanted anyway, and picked up the first of these with them. I haven't opened it yet, but the figures look great. Perhaps I should do a review of this one (and/or the original Vol. 1, that had the same figures as this save for having the old Studios "mad scientist" actor instead of the Studios actress found in the original Vol. 5). That said, I do agree about the Spacemen; I'd have dearly loved a set that was simply five classic Spacefolk, one apiece in white, red, blue, yellow and black. I'm disappointed the yellow one (previously represented in the original, non-Bricktober Vol. 4) isn't featured again in any of these; it'll be the only one one can't get again here. Perhaps TLG (and/or TRU) doesn't really like to revisit the yellow one so much, since it facilitates making other minifigures nude below the waist. Ah, well. I'm still happy to have one more shot at getting blue and black spacemen (and the other figures with them, of course)...

I'm a little surprised the rocking horse doesn't use a couple of the bricks printed with eyes, as commonly found in lots of the bulk brick boxes and other such sets. It seems like they'd be perfect on that horse. Where will these be available?

Which of the Bricktober collections go with which weeks? Obviously the yellow one is first, since we can see it on TRU's site (and in stores, undoubtedly) right now, but the pic is too small to make out which ones say "Vol. 2," "Vol. 3" and "Vol. 4" (and of course I'm just assuming that they'll go in order anyway, though I don't see why they'd do it any other way). Also note they're combining this promo this week with a Buy One / Get One 40% off sale, which really sweetens the deal, though the BOGO is limited to construction sets (i.e., not games) and excludes Friends, NinjaGo and Technic. This looks like quite an opportunity this week! Are you kidding? I'd love to have some of those minifigures. And what sets are they getting rid of? These collections were obviously created for Bricktober.