Freddie

Steven Spielberg is the first one, I guess, but who's the second one?

It's a mistake caused by a journalist not paying attention, and getting all their information mixed up, and then deciding not to use it at all.

Hmm, I couldn't justify anything above "average", as I missed the conclusion. It's sort of a crucial bit because without it, the article feels incomplete. It's an interesting question you're asking, though. I've been wondering about it myself. Personally, I would point towards the lack of success for the later trains, as they were quite expensive, and it's not easy getting a customer to part money for an accessory for something the customer doesn't have. Also, I'm guessing that LEGO are marketing and pricing their trains wrong, with the passenger trains, having accessories somewhat limited to extra passenger coaches and train stations, being the small and cheap starter set, while the freight train, being the more expensive set, is also more flexible in terms of what accessories are compatible, in terms of theme. With few parents being willing to part the extra money for the expensive set, and even fewer willing to spend some more on extra train cars and such, it's no wonder if extras don't sell. I think if perhaps LEGO took the classic approach of making the freight train as the (cheap) entry set, and the passenger train the more expensive (and thus more fancy) set, parents will be more approachable about buying those extras. Also, if LEGO started actively using the trains in advertising, not necessarily as the highlight, but perhaps in the background, standing next to the harbour being loaded by the harbour's cargo crane, people will become more aware of the existence of LEGO trains. You see, I think also the "isolationism" of LEGO's advertising, and I'm more looking at the brouchures and catalogs available to the public here, is a contributing factor to the lack of trains being sold -> lack of single train cars (and to an extent, single motorised locomotives). Uhm, yeah. I think that's it.

Oomph! - Labyrinth Been listening to it for hours!

Power Functions, as in the trains being updated with all the new connectors, cables, LEDs and such. They're also getting rid of the battery-base and replacing it with a rechargable lithium-polymer battery (4x10x4), and the engine will now recieve its commands through the already released IR-receiver. Other than that, it will pretty much remain the same (new magnets/buffers are apparently backwards-compatible)

Poets of the Fall: Revolution Roulette (entire album, on shuffle and repeat) Fantastic band

I'm thinking it's one of these, with a 1 x 4 w/ round top to create the sumpguard. Place a pair of 1 x 1 round plates on either side, and you have the right effect.

Rock Raiders revisited? I'm not sure of what else to make out of this article.

It appears to be included in black as well in the same set, as the pursuing car uses the same technique for its front modguards as well. I haven't seen them on any other sets, though I suspect we're going to see more of them. Because, well, they're way better than both the old hinges and the click-hinges, IMO.

I'm interested in those new RC cars; more specifically those bases that the cars appear to be using. Looks like they're small enough to build (larger) minifig scale cars on top of them. I'm also kinda suprised no one's mentioned them before, there's no interest for them here?

Hmm. I'm not really feeling the urge to get the sets that I usually feel whenever new pics are leaked. The construction site is nice, except for the crane, which looks... bland. I like the new construction vehicles, though. The farm is nice, the vehicles obviously the highlight of the sets (nice details that with the tractor eqipped with the outer wheels at the back). The SUV with the horse-trailer is overall excellent. And then there's 8401 - about time! And this time there's more civilians than workers at a ratio of 3:1, which is excellent.

How often has Whung been off with his "predictions"?

What? It's already that time of the year, again!? *clicks link* I spy... a creator town building set But what's this "Metro/LEGO® Giant Box"? for something, it's under the creator moniker as well. Moderators, I sense, based on my own eagerness, that this thread can go way off the town/train theme.

Please and thank you!

Of course it wasn't! It was made from plastic!

It was only named Metroliner in the US, because of the color scheme is similar to the real-life Metroliner. I believe in EU it was called the Euro-Express, and probably just "passenger train" wherever that would be suitable. The product-number 4558 is universal, though. Hairy Ruben, you don't have a review of the double-decker/club car on the way, do you? I myself never got it, and I am seriously considering buying one from Bricklink, plus it is more-or-less an requirement for this train (one of very few double-decker cars to actually stay within the general outer dimensions of the train).

I also voted "Outstanding", for the simple reason that I've owned this set for a long time, but for most of the time it's been an anonymous heap of bricks mixed with all the other bricks I have. So about a year ago I started rebuilding it, and it now sits proudly next to (also rebuilt) 2150 on my shelf. IMO; It's an excellent set, best of the 9V passenger trains, no doubt. And it combines the best of the 80's trains with that of the 90's - it's not some futuristic panorama-glassed low-slung train, but an honest, realistic-looking train that captures many of the features that passenger trains used to (and in some cases; still) have.

This is just a jaw-dropping gorgeous set. It's obviously for the collector, and I myself have no idea what I'm going to use it for (I don't play chess) and have no where to put it while I think it looks way too good to be broken apart and assimilated into a general collection of bricks. But they certainly put an effort into making this chess-board look fantastic. That effort didn't go to waste.

You know what I think this set has? Charm. Lots of it. I'm not a big fan of castle, having very few sets, all of them spanning different nations/armies, but I couldn't resist this set. And while not obvious at first, it really is backwards compatible with every castle set with a horse in it. Nonetheless, I think this set is great. It's simple, cheap and has charm. That's good enough for me. Plus it has that fantastic grinning knight and the black skeleton horse. Those just made it better.

You didn't understand one bit of what that was about, did you? ;) The event is called "Children's Dream-town", directly translated, and the idea is that the kids are handed out a 16x16 baseplate each, and they are going to build what they think would be the perfect house for the future. Takes place over a week, plus an extra weekend, and us Scandinavian AFOLs are needed in the weekends - in exchange we get fancy t-shirts and 1000 DKR worth of LEGO products. Matija has already been told that I'm interested - no doubt I'll be competing with the others within the vicinity of Oslo.

A Hot Rod!? Sweet! Cars are a bit huge, though, but the (functional) details make up for that.

You know, in May I actually found one of these, complete with large tires of that era, in a event-concluding Free-for-all PaB. I could hardly believe my own eyes when I found it, especially so because it was in pristine, as-new condition. It is literally one piece one does not expect to find (WoW-players, it equals to an item of legendary status), simply because it hasn't been around for close to 20 years. So yeah, old pieces that haven't been in production might appear in PaB.

*sigh* The "Maybe" in may is now a "no". I won't be there because I can't afford it. I'm a bit off on my budget (summer-jobs haven't helped much), and the need to replace my car has first priority. Ah well, what can I do? Next year, maybe.

1. Probably, if I remember correctly these are considered rubbish when they've outlived their usefulness, and as such are thrown away when their time is up. 2. Yes, they glue the models together. 3. No. 4. Yes. 5. No. That's because the glue is a reagant that reacts with the plastic, causing the bricks glued together to litteraly fuse together. If you do get split apart, consider yourself lucky if you manage anything that looks like a dog ate it. In short, if you get a display case with display models, it's for display (i.e. not intended for play), so don't expect the wheels to be turning if you get one of those Turbo Tanks, for example. You should also expect the assemblers to have done mutilations to the models, just to get the right effect while in it their case (i.e. screws, rods. The lot, really.). edit: I speak from experience, since I received a display model once. Can't say I'm interested in another one.

Indeed they have; they've appeared in 15 different sets, in total. They also have an identical width with the wide 2x2 wheels holder which is used on cars today. They are still excellent today, since retrofitting these suspension parts onto today's off-roader trucks won't give them weird proportions or any problems, and it looks perfect. Plus they are useful if you're lazy and don't feel like constructing the pin-suspension used in the early 90's for truck-trailers, altough stability probably will suffer.