AndyC

I believe it's this one, although it's only used in that set as a decorative piece. It normally shows up in System sets. I can't imagine you could make a Technic model in which they don't appear far too small to use as wheels (even of a go-kart)

I've been doing a few old Adventurers sets of late, so far I've got 1182, 2879, 2995, 2996, 5901, 5906, 5918, 5975 and 5987 pretty much done. Just need to do a bit of colour checking/correcting. I'll try and upload sometime over the weekend.

If it helps, I love Star Destroyers but still think that 6211 was a fugly rendition of one. So if you don't build it, you never had to look at it and if you do, it's resell value probably wasn't that great anyway. Now if it was a MISB 10030 you'd have a tougher call, but that didn't stop me building mine and I could never regret that for even a single minute.

LEGO don't need to offer it, if someone builds one and shares the LXF file you could just buy one.

I've bought a little over 200 sets since getting back from my dark ages about three years ago. Most people would think I'm crazy and I find that it takes up an enormous amount of space. I can't even begin to imagine how you could manage 1700+ sets in two years or find the time to appreciate them when you do get them, unless they're a bunch of tiny sets I guess.

I tend to treat "100% complete" on ebay as meaning "can be built to something vaguely approximating the correct model by someone just wanting shot of their kids old toys" and bid accordingly, assuming I'll need a little extra to Bricklink missing/substandard pieces. You're generally not dealing with hardcore LEGO fans, so they'll more than likely miss out small details and occasionally the odd piece (particularly with old sets that had relatively complex steps with no piece call out). You can usually spot the better ebay LEGO sellers as they'll mention checking the piece list against Peeron or Bricklink inventories, but even then there is still some margin of error. If you want people that are more likely to strive for accuracy, you're much better off going to Bricklink in the first place.

Fantastic, I just love the way you mixed in other themes and the odd humerous element here and there. I think what really sells it is the sheer amount of activity going on around the layout, it gives a genuine sense of life to the whole place.

Hehe, now you've started it. Everyone is going to be speculating about this for months now. Know what you mean about some comments though, reality seems to go out of the window when you see some peoples wish lists and suggestions, pretty sure TLG wouldn't last long selling massive 20-figure playsets for $5! A competition of building an AFOL alternative to a set with a fixed weight limit based on the original is an interesting idea, although possibly a little bit over-complicated to judge. I know that just playing around in Lego Digital Designer (which forces in-System rules) has given me a much greater appreciation for some of the limits set designers have to go through. Anyway, back to dreaming of the Lego Rancor that's coming in 2012... [Well that's my speculation anyway!]

Realistically the only way to avoid that is never to produce building instructions, which would be a rather sad situation to be in. There is very little else anyone can do, especially if the seller isn't actually supplying instructions. The only other option would be for the MOCer themselves to preempt #2 by buying up all the stocks of one of the rare parts themselves and only selling them in small quantities, but that's not really a better situation either.

They had some behind the counter in my local WH Smiths today, I got 5, 3 of which turned out to be boxers! Other 2 were the British Guard and the Zoo Lady though, both of whom are lovely.

Wow. That's some severely complex building going on there, well done on that one. I think the only thing that detracts from it a bit is the couple of places you've used stickers, which feel unnecessary given how well you've achieved the camo look without them. I think I'd be inclined to go without them myself. I'm curious as to how fragile it is, it looks almost like it'd fall apart if you breathed on it a bit hard.

It depends on the seller, though most I've noticed generally work on the principal that it's 'used, but still in good condition' with any exceptions explicitly mentioned. If you're unsure and it's not spelt out in the store terms just contact the seller beforehand, I think you'll find that most if not all of the good sellers will be happy to let you know their policy and possibly even send pictures of specific pieces if you'd like.

Well if you put one rebel soldier and a few ewoks in a BP you could have an ewok catapult or something like that.

This is such a fantastic idea. Simple and yet such a clever use of pieces. I like it so much I've already Bricklink'd myself a whole bunch of those dotted tiles to make my own set.

Both looking pretty good, though if you're going for the genuine LEGO set feel it might need some flick-fire missiles.

Quite possibly I've been spending too much time playing with my Pharoah's Quest sets. The terrifying Sphinx, guarding his 'treasure' LXF File

You don't actually have to have Access, you can get the Access runtime for free from the same place you get LDD Manager and that's all you need to use it.

It doesn't look like the slotted version in the manual, now you mention it. And has the Element ID 4212355, which Bricklink maps onto the unslotted version. Maybe TLG considered the change too minor to be worth redoing the manual?

All of mine are of the slotted kind. I got my falcon towards the end of it's shelf life so I don't know if earlier versions differed at all.

Well the other option would be to include a PF IR Reciever and use the train remote, since that will allow you to run the motor slower. Or you could use the Rechargable battery box, since that has a speed controller on it too (although it's not cheap). Nice MOC though.

Why not just ring them up and ask?

Presumably changing the entire building system (in effect) probably also meant delays in designers getting physical parts designed, into their hands and then get the hang of the newer system. That might have lead to the decision to roll out some rereleases to keep the product in-store without budgeting for whole new designs too.

My collection is catelogued in my head into a few rough categories. For any given part I'll basically know it fits into one or other of: 1) Yeah, I have loads of them - not going to need to order any. 2) Have a fair few, might need to order if I'm using lots. 3) Ooh, bit rare in my collection, will have to check colours and count if I need 'em. 4) Looks vaguely familiar, I think I have one or two somewhere. 5) Probably easier to just Bricklink that right now, 'cos I'm pretty sure I haven't got any. There's also a sort of vague sixth category of "Well might as well Bricklink some of those anyway, it's a cool piece" for things like Pirate gold coins and other random bits and bobs. Often these are the pieces I'll just throw into an order when I'm buying other bits to make it seem more worthwhile.

Compare it to every other LEGO pirate ship. They all sit far too low in the water in reality, building up the Black Pearl to the right height would not only be expensive for very little benefit, but also would look totally out of place sat next to any of the other ships. Not to mention that it would then start to look horribly thin unless you also widen it further, again making it look out of place with existing ships. I think a lot of people have had rather unrealistic expectations of this ship, expecting some kind of grandiose UCS type set which we've known all along it wasn't going to be. As a LEGO pirate ship, I think it's pretty cool, certainly better than Brickbeard's Bounty for example. And for most kids the Black Pearl was a black pirate ship with black sails, so this will do the job nicely. Of course, if some MOCist wants to prove me wrong and produce some stupendously brilliant minifig illusion scale Black Pearl in a similar number of parts, well then I'll eat my words.

Iron Man's head looks awful, far too big for a minifig and Hulk appears to have no face. Hopefully those are just early mockups though, I can't imagine they'll end up looking like that. The others are all looking pretty good though, it's definitely got the potential to be a great new theme. Although I do wonder what this mean for the Hero Factory line, especially if they are doing buildable figures as a major part of the theme. It's not something I particularly like, but it's always a bit sad to see original lines being sidelined in favour of licensed products.