AndyC

I like it, I think the only thing I'm not sure about is the panels behind the arches at the base, I think because it obscures the windows in a way that doesn't look so good. It very impressive given the limitations you set yourself and I really like the idea of building out the raised baseplates in some of these old sets, it really creates an interesting final product.

They don't look like they're anything in particular, just vaguely building shaped boxes to give a bit of depth.

I think I'd have to be the Emerald Night. Definitely British, rather old fashioned and with a few design flaws that mean I probably won't run much without having to take a rest.

I think that ignores a lot of what Friends is, because you could just as easily say the same thing about Belville or even Paradisa. Clearly the intention was finding out what changes they needed to make to make Lego more appealing to girls. Putting a doll in the box and colouring it in typically "girly" colours obviously didn't work out so well and neither did simply making pink bricks.

From the pictures I've seen of the "girls" version, it did include quite a few of the traditional minifigure lines too, so it's not exactly pushing Friends as the only Lego sets for girls. That said, the Club magazine has never really been anything other than very thinly veiled advertising material, so it's hardly surprising if TLG would start to push out differing adverts to the target market in question. I may not agree on an ethical standpoint, but I can certainly see the business sense in it.

Nope, even the recent ships recommend a temperature no greater than 40C, i.e. 104F. I don't think I've ever seen a minimum temperature anywhere though.

Quite excited by this set, it has some very cool parts. I particularly like the modern update of this hinge part, I could see that being very useful.

Hmmm, does this mean I have to make a fake "girl" subscription to Lego Club if I want the Friends one too? That seems kind of dumb. I'm hoping that the "Special Edition" thing just means it's a one off.

There are a great many dark and disturbing goings on in the seemingly sleepy city of Heartlake. It really wouldn't be fair to concentrate on just Olivia's misdeeds....

Great MOC and some really innovative piece usage on the rocking chair, not just the crossbows but also the window shutter. Love it.

Nope these first appeared in the Indy Temple of Doom set and then later in the Alien Conquest mothership. Sadly there hasn't been a compatible straight piece released yet though, which limits their usefulness.

Do they have to be bald?

A horse would require a lot more articulation than the bear to be reasonably posable, I just don't think it's a likely option. Coupled with the fact many of the horses are the classic one and I can't see TLG mixing fully posable horses with the unposable one, it'd be either one or the other. I think a horse molded with different leg arrangements is far more plausible and would be fully compatible with existing barding etc.

Nice collection! I have all but the Crossbone Clipper, which is far too expensive on the secondary market for such a small and ugly ship. And I've just got the Imperial Trading Post so I've finally added Trader Steve's little ship to the collection too. On top of that I have 2x the new IFS for spares, one dismantled for some MOCing and a second still MISB.

I'm not sure I could put a numerical figure on it, but Pirates certainly count for a significant proportion of my collection. And, what's more, there the sets I am least likely to take apart to dismantle for MOCs (except the spare IFS sets I bought to make more custom ships from!)

I'm wondering how much that is just the perspective of the image making it look bigger though, I'm not sure the actual height difference will actually look so significant at less of an angle.

Not to mention the 5 high doors too. I just think it's unlikely, unless the design was revised somewhat (which has never gone well in the past). On to the Town Hall pictures though, it's interesting but a little underwhelming. Maybe it'll seem better when images of the insides are revealed, but as-is it just reminds me a lot of the Fire Station and I can't say I feel particularly excited by it. It'll be a great set for Nougat bricks though by the looks of things.

One obvious advantage is that you can turn a Friends figure's head to face any direction without the hair getting in the way, since there is enough flex in the rubber that it will bend over the shoulders. In a theme with predominantly long haired girls, that's a massive benefit when it comes to posing figures.

Hehe, funny review. I think these Friends impulse sets are great value for money. The splash pool does seem a bit odd but kids probably wouldn't think twice about the fact there's no water in it. Got to admit I'm becoming something of a Friends lover too.

@Jetro: LDD tries to check the internet for an updated version at startup, I wonder if maybe you have third party firewall software that might be stalling it? @FallenAngel: Sounds like whatever Browser you're using isn't handling files correctly and is assuming that executablename filename will open a file, wheras LDD is registered to require executablename -open filename. If you can customise the command sent, that could fix it otherwise it should probably be filed as a browser bug. As far as I know LDD is single-instanced, so you can't open multiple files at once.

They were there, but there was an issue with them so they were temporarily removed. Hopefully they should be back along with a lot more bricks in the next update due in a weeks time (to coincide with the removal of Design By Me mode).

In that case, 3061 City Park Cafe.

I like it, very creative use of pieces.

Doubt it, there are very few technic pieces in DbM and it'd need some heavy redesigning to do it with what there is. And Design By Me ends as of Monday 16th, so you'd not have much chance to do it either. Bricklink would be a better option.

Amazing. It's often said you can build anything out of Lego that you can imagine, I think you may have just proved that truer than anyone would have thought.