Blondie-Wan

Just a heads-up, for all those interested... In the last couple weeks I've noticed most of the last wave of Belville has become available again; my local Toys 'R' Us got a few copies of 7585 Horse Stable all of a sudden a couple weeks ago. Then Shop at Home made that one and the two smaller ones from the same wave (7587 Horse Jumping and 7583 Playful Puppy) available again. Also, my girlfriend was at the LEGO Store at Downtown Disney in Orlando today, and tells me that all three of these sets are in stock there, too. I'm guessing TLG located some additional stock that had been forgotten in a warehouse somewhere; it's also conceivable they did another production run, though this strikes me as unlikely, somehow. At any rate, I'm reasonably certain the wave those three sets are from was still the end of the line for the Belville theme, so the return of those three sets represents an opportunity for anyone wanting some to get it now before it's all gone.

Wow! Did you learn all this from that Flickr page you linked to, or did you post that yourself, and if so, where'd you get the info?

Nice! I'm sure I'll get this one eventually. Where would the stickers be applied, if you'd applied them? Do they cover multiple pieces? The light brick itself?

I think you're right. In particular I don't think it would be a nougat or tan color; I believe the designer would want it to be a color more readily associated with something metallic.

I love it as well (I hope you'll forgive me for noting it's not actually a soundtrack, but rather its own entity), and I've long wanted to do some War of the Worlds MOCs drawing upon this album's designs for the Martian war machines. I guess I'm not the only one... In the meantime, this whole theme looks like another excellent take on the classic sci-fi invasion scenario, and I want all the sets, and that includes multiples of this one for me as it does for ZO6.

I just saw the new little single-pack sets for Lightning and Mater in a store today! - and it wasn't even one of the big-box major retailers like Toys 'R' Us or Target; it was Hobbytown USA. They had them at $8.99 each - that's above MSRP, correct? - but they were there. I very nearly got one, but with Sunday fast approaching and a Toys 'R' Us gift card waiting in my wallet, I think I'll wait to see whether they're doing another LEGO sale or promotion next week, and whether they've gotten in any new Cars (and/or Alien Conquest) sets yet.

My order came yesterday (minus the preordered MBA kit # 1, of course), a full four days earlier than the May 9th date cited as the anticipated delivery date on the shipment tracking page - wow! I'm thrilled to finally have a couple nifty classic SW items most others here probably already got a long time ago. The ARF Trooper and poster were also both included.

I don't think the monkey is inconsistent with them, exactly (technically, it's quite the opposite - it actually uses the exact same arms and hands). They could conceivably even add printing if they wanted. That said, I would love it if they'd had articulated the chimp, even though there's no way they would have for something debuting as an accessory in this line. My only real quibble with the difference between it and the classic monkey, though, is that the monkey is larger (!)... but then the size of everything smaller than a human being in LEGOLAND has always been kind of crazy, anyway, so no biggie.

Oh, how I love these! This whole theme continues to delight. Poseability would be wonderful, yes, but then it would probably make it as expensive to produce as a whole additional human minifigure (or getting close to it, anyway). It's cool that some of the minifigures already come with additional "minifigures" of their own, even if they're just non-articulated, single-piece critters of the sort we're all so familiar with; in the zookeeper's case, it's an entirely new figure she comes with (as opposed to the traditional LEGO bat, scorpion and snake included with other figures in the theme up to this series), and it's printed, too. Articulation would really be a bit much to expect for a figure that's considered just an "accessory" for another figure, even though I for one obviously like to think of it as a figure in its own right.

Wow, this is too cool! I have to disagree about the sound brick. Oh, I do think it would be more useful if it didn't couple the doorbell sound with the dog barking, but even so, it still comes across as charming and fun to me. I'm tickled by it just playing the video. Otherwise... "wow" at those 16 x 16 plates. I don't know if I like the idea of them moving from baseplates to regular plates for building bases or not, but I certainly do appreciate having such large plates now. I was kind of astonished when I realized there was a piece like that in the Log Cabin, and just months later we get a set with five? In two colors? Zounds!

Same here! Alas, it's just not an option for me...

Why "hopefully?" Wouldn't it be nice if the figure were sufficiently readily available for everyone to be able to have as many as they want? I assume from your positive assessment that you don't mean "hopefully" in the sense of "hopefully, we won't be burdened with more of these wastes of plastic taking up space and bloating our sets' piece counts"...

Fair enough! That said, I'm seriously thinking about subscribing for myself. I don't expect to really learn a lot of new techniques from this, but every once in a while I still learn something from the LEGO designers on their own site or whatever, and I also think I'll appreciate the physical products - more parts, of course (always welcome, even if they're not particularly rare or needed), especially the exclusive minifigures (who look like they'll get along famously with my LEGO Universe preorder astronaut), and the rest (everything from the booklets to the parts trays). I've gone ahead and preordered the initial kit (and might order additional copies, if I like the first and if $$ circumstances permit) and seriously think I might get the sub.

Cool pics! LEGOLAND looks delightful; I wish I could visit all the parks. I've wanted to go since I was a kid, but never have until this year. I'll be at the grand opening of the Florida park this fall, though! It's really neat to see all that Doctor Who stuff in there, and surprising since a different construction toy company has the license. Perhaps the park licensed it on its own without going through LEGO and it's not a problem since they're not selling actual sets.

I ordered a little while ago, and just received my order confirmation email while writing this post, and it (along with my checkout page) shows the Shadow ARF Trooper as part of my order (albeit with no mention of the poster), so I'm hopeful. It appears I'm getting the minifigure (and poster?) as well as free shipping despite the fact that not only do Star Wars items make up only $46.98 of my $76.97 order, but the remainder of it is a preorder item (the first Master Builder Academy set) that won't even ship at the same time as the rest of it. Beats me; I know I'm desperately hoping I'll win it, myself...

In the process of checking stuff out I accidentally discovered what others here seem to know already - one apparently doesn't need to order $75 or more of Star Wars stuff specifically; apparently any Shop at Home order of $75 or more will qualify for the free minifigure, whether it has Star Wars items or not (and it doesn't even have to be regular sets - books, videogames, whatever, apparently it all counts). That said, I still wanted to get in the spirit of things and get SW items. I came verrrrry close to finally getting the Tantive IV (and I'm going to regret it horribly if I miss out on it), but for the moment I just went ahead and (finally!) ordered Luke's Landspeeder and LEGO Star Wars: The Visual Dictionary, both of which I've waited uncomfortably long on already (well, the Tantive IV as well, but it's also more expensive). I filled out the order by preordering Space Designer (the first Master Builder Academy set). It's a little alarming seeing all these posts saying people are missing the Shadow ARF Trooper minifigure on their invoices. I'm still waiting for my order confirmation email, but the checkout page showed the minifigure included with my order, so I'm hopeful; I did check the appropriate circle indicating I wanted it, of course (I wonder how many people actually intentionally opt not to receive it? It seems strange, but surely there must be some folks who just aren't interested enough in LEGO Star Wars to want even a freebie...). Unlike with the minifigure, though, I never saw any mention in the order process (or anywhere else on the site aside from the promo page) about the poster. I do remember last year I ordered a bit later than many and didn't get the poster right away, and thought I'd missed out, but eventually received it in its own individual envelope a couple weeks after the rest of my order arrived (I had called to ask about it during the promotion, which might have helped). Anyway, I'm looking forward to my stuff (and contemplating another order - I do still need that Tantive IV!)

I must say, I'm very glad the minifigure book will include Han Solo with the medal. As long as we've got Luke with the medal already, we ought to have Han with one for those of us who want to recreate the (finish of the) ceremony. Mind you, it'd be cooler if neither was printed with the medal, and instead there were a medal accessory (or we could just imagine it there), but as long as the Luke minifigure has the printed medal, I'm really glad we're getting a printed medal Han. Now if only the next book to include a minifigure will give us award ceremony Leia (or another super-shiny Threepio)...

Well... not from Prince of Persia, anyway. They have released lots of sets inspired by scenes from movies a year old or more, but then Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Harry Potter, Toy Story, Cars and Pirates of the Caribbean are not Prince of Persia (or Speed Racer).

Same here. Assuming the FBTB information is accurate, the Tantive IV may well be the thing I get (I'm also mulling over the AT-AT, but I've seen that on sale for less more than once at TRU, oddly enough). I'm still thinking it over, though...

For that matter, just how many years has TLG been doing a "May the Fourth..." Star Wars promo event, anyway?

I think this looks like a great set. Despite the high price per piece, it seems entirely reasonable to me given that one of those pieces is a good-sized floating hull piece, and that the other parts include two human minifigures and an articulated animal figure. I haven't yet gotten either of the current / recent, larger boat sets with floating hulls (the police boat and fire boat); I've been interested if simply for those hulls, but otherwise... more cops and firefighters? I'm just not sure my LEGO City needs so many more emergency responders. This, though, is all stuff I can't get enough of (well, maybe not that many more of the plaid shirt, but still)... Really, the hull and the shark alone are enough to make this a desirable set for me. I think the first and (so far) only LEGO boat set I've ever had that actually floated was this one from my pre-dark-ages childhood (around the very beginning of my initial LEGO passion, in fact). I believe 4642 is going to be my second one ever (but hopefully not my last!).

Interesting that this sort of issue would come up, given how they test the builds during development. I'm not sure this topic belongs in "Sci-Fi" (in fact, as jarring as it might seem, "Historic Themes" would probably be more appropriate at this point, actually ).

I initially thought this topic would be about these.

Like others I'm waiting to see just what's on sale and for how much before I decide what to order (though I do have some ideas), but I can say right now I'm more interested in getting a) some likely-soon-to-be-discontinued OT sets at sale prices and with free shipping, b) the poster, and c) one last, one-in-a-million shot at the UCS Millennium Falcon, than I am in getting the exclusive minifigure. That's not to say I have no interest in it whatsoever, but my Star Wars passions are really focused on the classic original trilogy. I'm just hopeful I can avoid missing out on too many more sets from the OT.

When was this?!? I've been dying for that set for years!