AndyC

Schrodinger's Lego? I guess it is both at once. Well, unless it's one of those old-school flap-top ones with the window showing some pieces.

I'm sensing a dismantled Taj Mahal may have provided pieces and inspiration for that somehow. I like the way you've suggested the shape of the pyramid with the cheese slopes, whilst avoiding having to have lots of real sloped pieces in tan. Now you just need a big Sphinx to sit next to it.

Well I'm glad I did buy one, after initially thinking I wouldn't. I'd have no problem with them reissuing it, as I've no intention of ever selling mine on. The problem from TLG's point of view, I guess, is whether there are really enough people out there left who don't have one, could afford one and would want one. You do have to wonder at this point whether it would actually work out cheaper to just Bricklink all the parts.

Woohoo! This is great news. So many times I've looked at some of the Batman figs on Bricklink and been tempted, despite the ridiculously high prices, but now there'll be a way to get new ones.

Some people will just try anything to make money, that's just the way life is. Quite why anyone would pay above retail for an Emerald Night when you can still buy it new is beyond me. I guess they're taking advantage of people who are going to ebay assuming they'll get a bargain and not doing any research on what is available elsewhere.

They used to replicate quite a lot of what they were selling on their own site, I'm guessing that's turned out to be impractical as they now just seem to go straight to Bricklink for everything.

"Hard to find" generally means it's a set that is exclusive to some retailers, so you won't see it everywhere.

Which isn't quite the same thing as "LEGO won't produce another Monorail", it just means you won't see the old systems return (and likely a future Monorail would not use track compatible with the old ones).

Well none of those sets contain instructions for motorization, so including a PF pack would seem a bit odd.

It appears to be the image in P4trickvH's signature.

I've had a few dealings with them over the past couple of years and every time has been a positive experience. I even contacted them after picking up a MISB 4483 At-At, because one of the old grey technic beams was deformed. I wasn't expecting much, but to my surprise they happily sent me a replacement part.

I think that's a very intentional design decision, it means the remote doesn't need to be constantly sending out signals in order to ensure the reciever has picked up the correct speed setting. As to the longer term plans, I'm hoping TLG come up with a Bluetooth controller for Power Functions, although I imagine the difficulty there would be finding a way to reliably and simply pair with a controller.

I'd probably consider speaking to someone at a real auction house to find out about valuation. Quite aside from the intrinsic gold value you have something which is exceptionally rare and could appeal to both Lego and Star Wars collectors (of which there are a great many) as well as generic Toy collectors. I certainly wouldn't sell it on something like eBay, items like this are usually going to do better either through a real auction house or as a private sale, depending on how much you need to get rid of it.

Genuinely epic creations, absolutely fantastic work.

I think it's incredibly unlikely that PF is going away, it just doesn't make sense given that it's an entirely modular system. If TLG wanted to replace IR with something else, like RF or Bluetooth it could just as easily do so without having to abandon PF - just substitute the remote and receiver and off you go. Even the power supply could be changed to go back to 9V from the rails without abandoning PF, though I doubt that will happen for all the safety reasons others have pointed out. I think it's more likely this is a misunderstanding on the part of the retailer. Most likely, in my opinion, is that the flex track has proven unpopular and is being redesigned (which has been rumoured) and that is what is being changed. It may even explain why the cargo train is lined up for replacement so soon, if the new set is going to bring in a better flex track.

I'm surprised no-one has answered this, but basically you're doing it the hard way. You can create a Wanted List on Bricklink to keep track of the parts you need and even locate stores with those pieces available. Best of all, given a set number you can build such a wanted list automatically just using the "Part out a set" option.

- Yep, all the PF parts you need for the Maersk train are included. - You don't need a seperate 8879 remote, one of them can be used for all your trains. The only advantage of more than one is that you can control more than two trains without having to fiddle about with the channel setting (Each of the four channels can control 2 trains), but that's hardly a big issue.

You could put a PF Pole Switch (#8869) between the remote unit and the motor, that has a little switch on it which can be used to invert the direction.

Fabuland had animals, Jack Stone/4+ had people. When you think of people and Lego, you inevitably think minifigures and so the Jack Stone approach just seems wrong. By using animal characters, Fabuland was basically exempt from that comparison so people are more likely to judge it on what it is, rather than compare it with System themes. There's also the fact that the Jack Stone figures look ugly, wheras Fabuland characters are just uber-cute. Juniorization isn't really a fair argument to level against a theme that was basically a stepping stone between Duplo and System, again the distinct 'style' of Fabuland helps here to make it very clearly a seperate thing. It's no different to the fact you don't see juniorization complaints levelled at Duplo. Being visually distinct is an important aspect here because it leads to a very easy separation in the mind. As far as story elements go, I don't really think you can compare Fabuland, which had simplistic stories designed to basically give kids a starting point from which to begin their own adventures and the likes of Bionicle, which has complex backstories and interactions. Not that I'm suggesting the Bionicle way is worse, as a kid I loved Transformers for many of the same reasons, but it's a lot harder to get into the story if you weren't there at the time. I don't really buy into the idea that having some backstory restricts imagination, but I can see that for those who do the Fabuland approach seems less constraining. I don't think you can entirely discount the way some builders have taken Fabuland and somewhat subverted the theme with a strangly dark twist either. I doubt you could really accomplish the same using any other theme as the starting point. With minifigures or even Jack Stone, it just wouldn't work. The aesthetic of little animals in quaint houses contrasting with deeply sinister overtones is something that appeals to a dark sense of humour.

Because of the way domain names work, owning lego.com means you automatically own everything that is something.lego.com so they can make it come and go as they please without there being any risk of losing it.

I've received a few discounts without ever having asked for it, I don't think it ever occured to me to do so. I'm probably more likely to go back to a store that gives good service like that, so I guess it's good for everyone.

Definitely with the doors next to each other, I think that's a more traditional layout.

It'd be easier to take friction (and space) out of the equation by just running the motors raised up and seeing how long they last.

Nice one, Jigsaw Killer. Those Ackbar ones are usually predictable, but that "It's a map" one made me genuinely laugh out loud.

Yellow minifigs were originally supposed to be 'raceless', but this lead to a problem with Lando in Star Wars (and also the NBA sets). Initially Lando was brown and the other figs yellow, but this introduced something of a dilemma since it suggests that yellow figs were intended to represent white skin. To resolve the issue, TLG decided that all licensed themes would use appropriate colour flesh tones and non-licensed sets would retain the traditional, raceless yellow minifigs.