Blondie-Wan

A doorbell?!? Oh, how wonderful!! It looks like the set includes a feather element (the kind used in feathered headdresses and so on) for the house's occupant to use as shears for trimming the bushes.

Darn kids, buying up all our toys!

No problem!

I support this as well. I was kind of shocked when it disappeared from the PAB parts list with the last major refresh, when all those Atlantis parts were added. I'd like for it to always remain available.

Er - what? Where do you see a Star Destroyer set? 10188 is the Death Star, and it's not discontinued yet. 275 GBP (274.99, to be precise - and you are in the UK, right?) is the regular price; if you see it being offered for more elsewhere, that's just because someone is trying to sell it for more. "Hard to Find" is simply the store's terminology for sets with limited distribution (here in the US, for example, it usually refers to sets sold exclusively through LEGO itself and through one or two other specific vendors, such as Toys 'R' Us).

What do you mean by "legoshop" - LEGO's own online store? If that's it, well, of course - it's LEGO's online store, after all, where you can buy their products directly from them instead of through a retailer (or some aftermarket seller like on ebay or bricklink or whatever), and naturally they sell their own sets for their regular retail price. For any given product, they will continue to sell it until their last remaining stock sells out after its final production run. Or do you mean something else? And if so, do you have a link so we can see what you mean?

I'm sure we all know another LEGOLAND theme park is opening later this year; this will actually be the largest one to date. I'm planning on being there opening day. Is anyone else here doing the same?

Nothing original here - I desperately want a UCS Millennium Falcon, and have since it was released. I've been terribly frustrated by its discontinuation.

It is, but I'm not sure it always equals a corresponding price premium for the resulting set; I think the additional cost TLG incurs for the license when they do a Star Wars set can be balanced by higher expected sales. Star Wars is one of the most popular LEGO themes, and I suspect Star Wars sets in general can probably be expected to sell a lot more copies than ones from, say, their various one- or two-year action themes. I think at least some of the price premium people commonly perceive with Star Wars sets is indeed a matter of perception.

Gamestop is giving this away?! I take it this is some sort of preorder bonus for the upcoming LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean videogame?

Unfortunate, but FWIW I actually have seen WM here in the US offer LEGO sets at prices above MSRP. It doesn't happen often, but I've seen it every once in a while - for example, 8401 City Minifigure Collection was sold in some WMs near me for $10.99 or thereabouts, a dollar above the set's list price, and right now the Spongebob Squarepants set 3834 Good Neighbors at Bikini Bottom is $41.97 or so, about two dollars above the "regular" price. Not that that's good, exactly, but at least it shows no vendor is completely free from occasional LEGO set prices above list - not even Walmart, not even in the US. ______________________________________________________ Incidentally, Series 2 is the only one I've ever seen at Walmart, and then only at one particular store out of the five Walmarts closest to me and which I check out semi-regularly. Despite Series 3 onwards reportedly having been produced in much greater quantities and distributed more broadly, I have yet to see Series 3 in Walmart. I know Series 3 and 4 are getting or will get much broader distribution than the first two, but for me personally Series 2 has actually been the one I've been able to get most easily (in terms of number of places that carry it, as well as the duration for which it's been carried - there's a Borders near me that still has it, actually).

I agree. Actually, what I'd really like to see is a Millennium Falcon that included all the "hero" characters who were aboard her - Han, Chewie, Lando, Luke, Leia, Artoo, Threepio, and Ben (and perhaps Nien Nunb and the rebel gunners from the Battle of Endor), even if they all represented different scenes and all. But yes, if they're going with a sort of classic, ANH crew, Artoo and Threepio definitely should be there - moreso than Vader, though I can understand his inclusion here as he was at least in close proximity to the vessel a couple times on the Death Star. "Falcon undercarriage" scenes are almost as important as ones onboard the ship, really - there are so many notable scenes that take place just outside the Falcon whereever she's parked, with characters coming and going, shooting, cracking wise, etc. around the landing gear and entrance ramp, and if we include scenes at a slight distance away, like Ben and Vader's duel or Han and Lando chatting just before the Battle of Endor, their importance is only increased.

I haven't decided upon my own favorite of these yet, but what you've said here fits some of my own personal philosophy with regard to Star Wars MOCs - for me, getting to the "essence" of a vehicle is more important than a slavishly accurate recreation of the exact lines and dimensions and proportions (a slightly lost cause anyway if it's going to work with minifigures, given their inherently different proportions from real people), and indeed I can personally find a LEGO X-Wing (for example) better if it doesn't try to be absolutely screen-accurate, but instead tries to capture the qualities of the X-Wing while also remaining true to the LEGO aesthetic. But perhaps that's just me.

"No plausible way," really? I'm sure they won't be that hard to find in a few weeks. They should be plentiful in Toys 'R' Us and other outlets in the not-too-distant future, and Shop at Home will have them as well, of course (even though one won't be able to cherry pick figures there)...

Well... marvelous, I must say, though from my own selfish perspective I'm also rather annoyed; I was planning on doing something very much like this for my own D2C entry (an Adventurers Club, and I was even planning on setting it in London in the '30s, though the building details would differ). Ah, well. Yours is gorgeous, I must say.

Zounds. That's kind of dark for LEGO, isn't it? I mean, sure, that happened in the comics upon which the theme is based, but still... but then, the cute factor intrinsic to minifigures combined with the fact they are construction toys after all probably makes it palatable to TLG. Still interesting and surprising, though. I'd think it might be an unlicensed shirt merely "referencing" LEGO Batman without actually using the trademark, were it not for the actual LEGO Batman logo there at the bottom left of the design. Anyway... TLG has shown it's willing to put a licensed theme on hiatus a while and bring it back (Harry Potter being the obvious example). Perhaps we'll get more sets around the time of the next movie.

Ugh, sorry about that. One would think that they'd get more than one shipment apiece (how many boxes are in a shipment?) if they're going so quickly. I want that so bad. Got a couple of those polybag ninjago skeleton helicopters at TRU though, they also had plenty of these: clone wars mini shuttle:) Wait, what? NinjaGo skeleton helicopter polybag?? I haven't heard of this before! I also haven't seen Target Practice yet, though I do at least know about it. I do check my Targets periodically but the only polybags I'm seeing lately are the City fire helicopter and the Toy Story army man. Wasn't that Star Wars mini shuttle original a Target exclusive? And you say it's at TRU now?? Heh, cool! Not much chance of that with my mom... EDIT: Meanwhile, I've just returned from a post-work visit to my local TRU, where they informed me they had gotten their initial shipment of Series 4 and put them out today, and their entire allotment was bought almost immediately by some guy who announced his intention to sell them online at some hefty markup. Annoying, but probably just as well - I really shouldn't be spending the money just yet. I think Series 4 will be readily available for a few months; I probably don't need to get it all just yet (and can't really afford to, anyway)...

This is being discussed over here, too. Here's some good news, quoted from a post in that thread that itself quotes one Andrew Arnold, PR and Communications Manager for Community, Education and Direct TLG:

I got the game at full price when it came out, but I'm fine with that since I got the exclusive LU astronaut minifigure. I wish I had more than one! I really wish I could play the game right now (I don't presently have a computer that will run it), but I'm looking forward to finally digging into it (if only I can get a new system while the game is still active!.

Perhaps I misunderstand - I've been able to play the game only very briefly since I don't yet have a computer that can run it, and I'm also posting from work so I don't have access to my copy of the game manual at the moment - but doesn't the game let you assign each of your minifigures to whatever faction you choose? I thought that was the reason it lets each player have four figures - to have one for each of the four factions...

Very cool. I really enjoy this one. Prince Dastan, correct (and Captain Roger is right about him being a video game character, though of course he's also a movie character now).

I don't think should even matter what others think. But FWIW, I think these are lovely, and I'm looking forward to seeing more. Nicely done. "NPU?"

Indeed. Now if only more people would also do the same with the S2 Maraca Man, whom most people around here refer to simply as the "Mexican," which is an awful heck of a lot more general than "Gladiator." He's not even the first (presumably) Mexican figure in the line - do people not remember the luchador (Super Wrestler) from S1?

Eh, I wouldn't say it's the weakest (though of course that's all subjective). I don't think these are being clearanced, exactly - they've still been out just a few months, after all, and other sets aren't normally clearanced after two or three or four months (my odd experience with the NinjaGo Turbo Shredder notwithstanding). I think it's just that this is the first time the figures are plentiful enough that they're able to do special promotions around them (and of course they've been included in general LEGO promotions before). I know my own TRU has sold out several boxes of Series 3. Perhaps they'll get more in, and the figures will still be plentiful there, but it's not because no one is buying them; I think it's just that the supply is much, much better than before.

Probably one I desperately want, but don't have: the gold-chromed version of Threepio. Threepio is actually probably my favorite character - not the "baddest" or coolest or whatever, but he's so relatable (at least to me), and I've just always enjoyed the character. Aside from that, he's very visually interesting which is important when it comes to the appeal of a toy version, and of course the chromed version is the one that best represents his ideal state, the way he'd like to be seen and thought of. Of course it figures that this version would be available only as a limited-production, randomly-distributed thing I can't have, and which they apparently don't even intend to produce again as a regular part of some set, though it certainly ought to be. I'm so constantly frustrated by my inability to get all the Star Wars LEGO sets I want, and while I'm lucky enough to actually have quite a bit there's still a ton of stuff I don't own, and of all the many LEGO Star Wars things I've been unable to get, this minifigure is one of the top two I most regret not having (the other being the UCS Millennium Falcon. Though I imagine TLG doesn't intend to produce a chromed Threepio minifigure again (partly because of the cost, and now also partly because the 2007 one was presented as something unique), I really hope they do. If they're concerned about diminishing the implied status of the original as a limited-production item (something I'd frankly rather not be a consideration anyway, but I'm sure it is one to some people, perhaps including folks in TLG), I'd like to see them get around it by leaving one leg silver. Ah, well. I still have a few of the 2007 sets unopened in their "anniversary" boxes, which I've held off on opening partly so I can allow myself the fantasy of thinking I might actually have a copy of this figure after all - really unlikely, I know, but as long as I don't specifically know otherwise, it allows me to dream. Of the figures I do own? A tough call, but possibly non-chromed Threepio, or the latest version of Artoo, or one of a number of other hero characters. Various Lukes and Hans would be candidates, even though most of TLG's official figures of Luke and Han use less-than-ideal hair elements (IMO, anyway). Fortunately I can simply swap out mininifigure wigs; I think the newish male parted hair element rolled out in 2008 for Mutt Williams actually works better for his dad Indiana Jones, as well as Indy's doppelganger from a longago faraway galaxy.