jof

No, not F1, its just so boring. At least watch rallying for the crashes. Oh, & what is wrong with with Civilization in its orignal classic form? Either that or spend some time modding the ship stats on the original homeworld! Jof

I think quality is suffering. I have my original late 70's/early 80's minifigs that are fine & in working order & played with by the kids all the time, yet I have harry potter minifigs that have cracked on the arms so the hands won't stay in. Its not just the harry potter figs either, some of the other new minifigs have gone the same way. Looking back over the old figs, I only appear to have 1 nondescript man & a yellow spaceman that have suffererd vintage 1989/90. I have put darth away in a box so the kids don't get him! Jof

Went for a walk this lunchtime. 25% off all sets, including dino whatsits & exo dodahs I don't know how long its been on or how long it will last (or even if it applies to all stores), but there were quite a few shoppers with several large sets wandering about (4+ pirate ship & castle sets) Jof

Yep its really hard to make small fighters on that sort of microscale. I guess thats why star wars mini sets were the size they were. (does the mini Tie figter make the UCS star destroy more of an 'inderdictor' class vessel? I tried to use the homeworld style analogy when building carriers - but my collection only really allows craft up to frigate size to be built (think support frigate), if you assume fighters of a reasonable size. Jof

No, you are looking at it the wrong way round. They alway have a toy with kids meals at legoland. Its is a cheapskate cop out replacement for some of the real lego toys they used to include. (OK at the end of last year it was minifig keyrings) but in the past we have had Mini Ties - This was one of the best! Lego Racers 4+ Pirates Designer dinosaur Paramedic Strange catapult Fireman Johnny thunder keyrings. So you can understand why there is a fair amount of sarcasm in the inital review & my comments on having one available for mr phes! Don't get me started on the creeping sellout at legoland windsor with the introduction of non lego rides (jcb diggers) & the rise of

Are you sure about the episode IV bit. Its been on the front as long as I can remember & I'm an old man with a 7 year old kid! When I last videoed it from TV I wasn't impressed by the messing (sorry re mastering) on the origianal star wars. Where had the millenium falcon greebling gone! Its not supposed to be a smooth/sleek spaceship (thats what made it work so well in lego) & where have all these obvious CGI creatures overlaid on Mos Eisly space port come from. So as you can see I would be more than pleased for the classic version to make a reapperance for my kids. After all there are a lot of films that have been ruined by a remake. Why do you think that no one has ever tried to remake Fritz Langs Metropolis? (Now there is an idea for a MOC project) Jof

OK, Its now on the TV & I must say I am never sure if its worth watching or not. The eurovision coverage in the UK changed about 6-7 years ago from being a semi serious program that no one watched, to having a comedy coverage with funny commentry about the bands, like comparing them to other bands etc. Since this change we no longer feel we have to watch this as there is nothing else on, we hold eurovision parties, (ok, invite a few friends round) partake of several alcoholic beverages and laugh at the entries. There are several countries who take this competition seriously who would frown on this behaviour, but think about it, isn't it better that more people watch, even if they don't take it as seriously as they do. Think about previous icelandic entries, and this years finnish entry. I think its brilliant, inspired & just whats needed to shake things up a bit. (Although the voting bit at the end should be speeded up - who are we to comment anyway it can't be any worse than those of us who can recognise which colour bricks have never been released in a lego set at the pick a brick shop!) Now I'm off to watch some more with Mrs Jof & the other half of a nice bottle of rose! Jof [update 10:30 BST - 11:30 eurotime] Excellent, the Finnish are storming ahead, confirming the fact that the eurovision needs a bit of a shake to wake it up!

I am now in possession of a BNIB mint example. So if you are an avid collector who must have an example of all pirate products, let me know. I can also confirm that another set exists in this range, however it is a 'clickit' version, and hence not really lego. (Its a shame its not belville, as I would have sent it to jonfett). I can also add to the review that in addition to the pieces not being compatible to other sets, similar sets cannot be combined to make larger creations or dare I say it MOCs Jof

Excellent, I love the engines & the plumbing and none of that snot stuff. Make the studs the greebles and don't worry about it (must get round to posting some more microscale capital ship images) Jof

When I was a kid, our word for searching through the lego to find pieces was 'scrabble' as in "Stop scrabbling and go to bed, its half past 10!" So what term do you guys use, and is there an offical word for this activity? Jof

OK I now have a collection of pictures, where do you want them mailed to? Jof

Phes, don't tell me you actually want one of these! I would say I'd pick one up for you, but that is not the usual restaurant we frequent when taking the kids to legoland (as season ticket holders only get 10%, not 25% off there). Not that I'm a cheapskate you understand. Anyway I am debating taking 'jofsson' to windsor today, in the pouring rain, as sne has asked me to pick him up yet more train carrages Jof

Exactly, imagine, we would have been happy with just the sweepings from their floor!

I opened a 4505 set that I had been saving for a rainy day. Its got 3 of those natty new 2*2 and a bit smoke windscreens

Mrs Jof says "I could do that for you" But I don't think we have enough clear space to do it, so maybe it is a girl thing. Although she says she didn't think I needed my bricks sorting & that I knew where they were instinctivly.

It looks really good, but I would be tempted to dump the mini fig scale, and use it with the sw mini sets. You could then fit out the inside to hold a squadron of Mini Ties and maybe a shuttle. OK, it wouldn't quite be to scale, but better than minifig scale.

Oh, but its so true, ask my wife & kids Jof

I've only just come back from the event, so I won't be going again until one of these days (probably) 6 - 8th May & provided I remember to take my camera

I take the kids there every couple of weeks or so, so I may be able to get you something, even if you've missed the main event. (However my camera is only 1.3 Mpixies, Great for emails as images not too big, but not very high res for printing out) Jof

The last report before the event! Well I can say that the new 4D show is good. It stars mini figs set in a castle world, and you get a female lead! However, we didn't think there were such good effects as racers, but new film is much sharper. (They are now playing advert filmed at other legoland parks while you enter & sit down before film starts, but this isn't 3d, so if you put your glasses on, you can only see through one eye!) If the weather looks a bit dodgy, you should get down to the lego building room, where you can book in for a mindstorms lesson (advise booking early), and they have some techinc advanced building sets (estimated time 1.5 - 2 hours) so I guess if its pouring, you could arrange some races & see if they can be done in 20 mins! No Santa Fe trains left, but a few baggage cars. Black pick a brick is mainly standard pieces with some roof slopes as well + 1*2-1*2 plate hinges & 1*6 slopes. At 4pm today, they had plenty of UCS Y Wings, 2 death stars & 1 star destroyer. (No sign of new sets coming out early though) I hope we can still make next week as smallest is coming out in chicken pox.

I will meet you in the park on Saturday afternoon 1:30 - 2:00 pm as daughter has ballet lesson at 11:30 & its about 1 hour drive. (We have to go tomorrow to renew season tickets, so maybe I'll try & finish the pick a brick inventry of black parts) Jof

Must be to do with: move of vans to 6 stud wide, (e.g ambulance etc) make helicopters look out of scale. More in scale with mini figs. Competition, keep them on their toes if they are still churning out clones of old stuff. I think people were pleased with the overall effect of increased size, compare starwars spacecraft sizes to classic space craft sizes. If its bigger, you can sell it for more & people don't feel ripped off. (Think how much small lego sets used to cost relative to other toys) so if you make it a bit bigger, you can charge more. Obviously I don't know how much they cost to produce, but you do seem to pay 'per minifig' in the smaller sets. Jof

I think he's going through a funny phase, have you seen jonfett's title lately?

We see trains like this parked up in sidings when we go on the train. I am not entirely sure what they are for, other than general maintainence, so I thought I'd build one for little jofsson. Thought it best to take pictures in case he remembers & says, dad can you make one like this again (please), it doesn't take much to post them up here Side1 Side2 Jof