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jodawill

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Everything posted by jodawill

  1. jodawill
    Here's the list I have bookmarked. It includes all of the interesting elements from 10305 that haven't been published on Pick a Brick yet. Let me know if I missed anything. https://www.lego.com/en-us/pick-and-build/pick-a-brick?query=6428486%2C+102325%2C+6428491%2C+6428493%2C+6428494%2C+6428495%2C+6428496%2C+6315053%2C+6406106%2C+6120224%2C+6125710%2C+6248874%2C+6403581%2C+6400204%2C+6319748%2C+6343017%2C+6408195%2C+6295400%2C+6280160%2C+4611883%2C+6289361%2C+6268960%2C+6327809%2C+6037507%2C+6125711%2C+6335666%2C+6335192%2C+6335631%2C+6268961%2C+6280161%2C+6076677%2C+6268844%2C+6020190%2C+6349966%2C+6351360%2C+9336%2C+6349971%2C+6349975%2C+6351361%2C+4611884%2C+6135287%2C+6312358%2C+6328195%2C+6342625%2C+6345264%2C+6273388%2C+6283957%2C+6022079%2C+6022359%2C+6343565%2C+6370037%2C+6408305%2C+6409580%2C+6334630%2C+6351814%2C+6405989%2C+6406251%2C+6393847%2C+6409509%2C+6409588%2C+6395137%2C+6402701%2C+6370297%2C+6331221%2C+6405994%2C+6403580%2C+6317293%2C+6371952&page=1&perPage=400&includeOutOfStock=true
  2. jodawill
    I just find it amazing that the service exists at all. There was a time when I never would have imagined Lego would ever allow people to buy individual parts, much less highly sought after minifigures. The UI is adequate. It could be better, sure, but I never have any issues finding what I'm looking for if you understand how it works. The numbers are the element ID and the part ID. The element ID is specific to that color and printing. The part ID can be used to find all parts that share the same mold. When I'm looking for a part, I go to a set that has it and use the category filters to narrow it down. If I want the same part in another color, I copy the part ID into the search and it displays all of them. I'm very excited to see more of these parts show up in the future. I was really excited to see those breastplates are available. I only had one when I was a kid. I just ordered 50 of them. I really hope the visors are available in the near future, and of course, the Lion Knights. I'm sure they'll show up at some point. And I really hope they stock enough so that everyone has an opportunity to buy as many as they want. I don't like the idea of Lego parts being rare. I think every part should be available at a fair price to everyone who wants them.
  3. jodawill
    I just ordered tons of goodies. Besides the Black Falcon minifigures, they have several other good parts available from the set, including the breastplate, black conical helmets, short swords, tournament helmets, great helms, and more. I ordered pretty much everything of interest in large quantities because who knows whether I'll have another opportunity to buy them again. I regretted buying only a dozen of the Black Falcons last time around. I only ordered 30 this time, but honestly, that's probably all I'll ever need for personal use.
  4. jodawill
    That's a good question. My thought was that he's just a neutral 3rd party enjoying the spring weather. But you can imagine him to be anything you like!
  5. jodawill
    The other day, my son came up with the idea to have the forest woman on a raft going through a tunnel. I helped him rework it into this: https://imgur.com/a/HH3ltWS People normally only make forestmen hideouts in the forest. I thought it would be cool to reverse the roles here and have the black falcons guarding a hideout in the woods. They're looking for outlaws, but this one slipped through unnoticed! We made this almost exclusively from two copies of the GWP, with the exceptions being obvious.
  6. jodawill
    I saw this on Reddit today. I can't wait until I'm able to open mine and build something like this. (I'm waiting until Christmas.) It's crazy to think that something like this could have actually been the official set at a mere $200 price point. https://rebrickable.com/mocs/MOC-120930/DaapMechEng/galaxy-transporter-from-2x-10497-galaxy-explorer/#details
  7. jodawill
    Why? Having it sticking straight defeats the entire purpose of having the ramp in the first place.
  8. jodawill
    It looks good, but it should have a right angle like the original so enemies can't bring a battering ram up the door.
  9. jodawill
    I don't see the appeal of that Castle in the Forest set personally. It looks like a big mess to me. It just looks like they tool someone's MOC and said, "Here's the product!" I'm not completely sure that 10305 is better than Black Knights Castle, but I like it infinitely better than any of the other castle stuff made recently (the 3 in 1, Castle in the Forest, and the blacksmith shop). Now that I've had it for a while, I think the only thing that I really feel sad about is the lack of accompanying sets. I wish they had made it a standard modular design and released half a dozen add on sets at the same time like they used to. I'm pretty pleased with the minifigures in this set, but I really hope we get some more interesting plumes in the near future. We were really fortunate to have such a large variety in the '90s with all of the special shapes. There are currently no plumes in production to go into the sides of the visors, which I think is really sad. This set is fine without them, but I sure would like to see them return. I really want Black Knights 2.0 with totally decked out knights. I experimented today with making a black knight with the new visor and armor. I prefer the original, but the new colors make acceptable black knights if you put the visor on a black helmet and use a black torso and legs. Of course, we still don't have a reissue of the dragon shield, so you'd either have to buy old ones or create a new faction from one of the extra shields in 10305. I'll have to pull them all out and see which one looks best with a black knight.
  10. jodawill
    Playmobil's customer service is pretty bad, but the fact that they regularly re-release classic sets is one of the major reasons I've become a Playmobil fan in recent years. I bought a dozen copies of the 6464 "Group of Outlaws" set (which is basically their version of forestmen) when they were 30% off - less than $20 for 7 figures and a large tree. I love it. They also re-released the Victorian Mansion this year, and I bought all of those sets for my daughter. They have some more castle sets coming out some time this year, but they've been listed for months and haven't come in stock yet. I keep wondering what it would be like if Lego gave fans the same treatment Playmobil gives their adult fans, re-releasing old sets (with the exact same parts and colors) on a regular basis. I honestly think they'd sell enough to make it worth their while, with many people buying dozens of copies of them. I think the limiting factor will always be their production capacity. And I'm also not sure that Lego really cares about anything other than profitability. They don't seem to go out of their way to do special things for fans unless they think it will be make them a quick buck. I've been thinking lately that it would be great if they had a Go Fund Me type website where they allow people to pledge dollar amounts to buy special parts. Imagine if we got to vote on new parts to be produced in old gray. Even if the prices were relatively high per piece, I'm confident AFOLs would spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on them, if not millions. It wouldn't be difficult to find 100 AFOLs who would spend $1000 on old gray parts in a special batch. Sets would be much more difficult, but they could throw us a bone every now and then, like re-releasing old minifigures through Pick a Brick, or those black plumes.
  11. jodawill
    Take a look at the middle section of the front wall. Imagine if you deepened this part of the castle and turned this into a balcony with archways on either side. It would be a great place for the queen to stand and address her subjects. I imagine this is what the designers had envisioned, but they didn't have the ability to flesh it out with their limitations.
  12. jodawill
    What's the Bricklink name of the color of the queen's visor? I was just looking at the price of each color, and the metallic gold one is $20! They're all ridiculously expensive though. I'm going to buy a ton of these if they ever show up on Pick a Brick. Edit: Actually, it's already listed on Bricklink. It's pearl gold. I wonder how much it will sell for.
  13. jodawill
    There's another interesting detail I forgot to mention. The flames inside are the small vertical ones, but all of the flames on the exterior appear to blow in the wind. Great attention to detail! By the way, people discussed the possibility of Wolfpack returning because of a comment in the instructions. I don't think that's the case because there's also a reference to the dragon knights when the are built. I think they're nothing more than nods to past themes.
  14. jodawill
    The drawbridge and the portcullises are really fun. I remember there was a Beyond the Brick video where Kevin Hinkle was talking about how he normally didn't really use the play features in sets, but he sprung the jail wall in Sheriff's Lock-Up nonstop. (I did too!) The play features in this set are the same way. I could release the drawbridge and the portcullises all day. They're very satisfying.
  15. jodawill
    Yeah, looks like you're right. I remembered wrong.
  16. jodawill
    I do remember that now that you mention it. Is there any significance to its location in the cave?
  17. jodawill
    That looks really good! I hope we get some more torsos and brown hats soon for MOCs like this.
  18. jodawill
    I finished building it. I was completely wrong about the size of this set. The build from the second book is a lot bigger than I expected. Once you've put it all together, this thing is MASSIVE! I'm really happy with this set. I actually enjoyed building the second book a lot more. Book 1 is largely dollhouse type stuff that's less interesting to me. The second book is 100% structure. It felt more like building a traditional castle set. There's a lot to unpack in this set, but here are some of my thoughts: This set uses several very useful parts in large quantities, such as 1x2 masonry bricks, 1x3 and 1x4 bricks, and 1x1 "blocks," among others. In fact, I don't believe there's a single 1x2 brick that isn't the masonry style. So you actually get a lot more of them than you'd expect when you look at the box art. They're often used in places that aren't even visible. Because this set of made of so many basic parts, it's very versatile. Take a look at the image at the front of book 2. It looks a lot like Forestmen's River Fortress. Swap out the shields and fill it with forestmen minifigures, and you have a forestmen set! Just exclude the section from book 1. There are more helmets included than I remembered seeing in the pictures. In particular, there are three visor helmets, which I'm excited about. I like the corner piece used for the jail cell doors. This is new to me. I also love the fact you can make the door hinge on either side. My biggest takeaway from this is just how amazing this set is as just a parts pack. It doesn't use an excessive number of random, specialized parts. About 90% of it is just basic stuff for building castles. I'm very much looking forward to expanding on this, as well as building forestmen MOCs from it. I had mentioned in a previous comment that there were more "decked out knights" in Black Knight's Castle. It turns out that's not true; the box art just doesn't emphasize the fact it includes extra helmets and armor. Just throw in a couple horses from Bricklink for $3 each, and just about everything about this set is superior to Black Knight's Castle. I still say I would prefer to exchange the Majisto and children minifigures for pretty much anything else, but if I just remove them from the castle, I don't feel like I'm missing anything. Edit: By the way, does anyone understand what the gold frog is all about? If it's a joke, I didn't get it. I'm also wondering about what appears to be a drum in the cave. Do the forestmen beat a drum to call their men to action?
  19. jodawill
    Yeah, I think the roller coaster track would be great. I think there was also something similar in the base for Ice Planet 2002 if I recall correctly. But imagine having a big moon base with a roller coaster track going up around a mountain on another planet with some kind of wheel system to bring the up to the top - maybe some kind of mining operation. That would be a really cool $400 set.
  20. jodawill
    I know, it doesn't make a lot of sense to compare them. They don't compare in terms of building capabilities - just the general idea of medieval themed toys (a space in which there aren't really any other serious contenders). I'm not really comparing them. I'm just adjusting to going back to the smaller Lego scale. I guess I'm wrong then. That means this set is more than 2.5 times the area of Eldorado Fortress when closed. I'm anxious to build the second book and see it in person. Also, the towers in the second book are taller than the first one, so I think seeing only the first part built gives me a false impression of how large it will be when I'm done. They make a huge difference in perception. Try to picture some of the old sets without their baseplates. Sheriff's Lock-Up and Bandit's Secret Hideout would have looked like a complete joke if you just set those buildings out on the table. The baseplates complete them. 10305 did the best job I've seen at obtaining a similar feeling without using baseplates. I remember Helm's Deep was a major disappointment for me after I built it and saw how small it was. It would have benefited greatly from a baseplate. It would have felt much more complete. Yes, the ox cart is great. Something I love about this set is that it feels like they took an entire wave of castle sets and put them all into one package. I would have gladly paid $10 for that ox cart and farmer. The forestmen's hideaways throughout the set also give the feeling of getting a couple bonus sets added in. It will be even better when I just have all of the parts from this set sitting in a tub and I can actually build out separate forestmen sets. I would also like to modify the ox cart to have a place for the forestmen to hide in, just like the original. I feel like I've been overly negative in my comments in the past day. I'm just incredibly tired right now.
  21. jodawill
    I'm really happy with this price point also. I'm glad it's cheaper because I can buy multiple copies. I still don't think a large base would fit with the classic space theme. But I could see them doing it with other themes, especially Ice Planet 2002. A monorail would be amazing too. Those things just don't fit the aesthetics of the original space theme in my opinion. But I would definitely be down for large space sets in general. It's surprising to me that they still haven't brought back the monorail. People would go nuts over that.
  22. jodawill
    For me, it's a combination of three things. I've been doing Playmobil for the past few years, so my perspective is a bit off. My smallest Playmobil sets dwarf this one. That's not a fair comparison, but it's on my mind. Second, I'm used to sets where the baseplates and larger pieces build things that are pretty comparable to this set in size. I've only built the first book so far, so I could be wrong, but it appears to me that this set is about 1.5 times the size of Eldorado Fortress (a set I'm more familiar with). Third, the minifigure and horse selection seem a lot more impressive in Black Knight's Castle. There were more knights that were completely decked out on horseback. This doesn't mean I don't like the new set. It's great. It's just different. I'm curious now to buy a Black Knigh's Castle and compare the two. I think I prefer the old style of building larger structures with fewer details and fewer parts. To me, it's all about the structure and the minifigures. 10305 is a great set. I don't know if it's fair to compare it to anything from the past because it's just different.
  23. jodawill
    I agree - 6059 (or maybe something similar to accompany 10305) would be a great GWP. I'd like to see a return of that style of set - castle battle packs that include a wall section to add onto an existing castle. I'd like to build my own version of that to go with 10305. I did get another Forest Hideout with my Galaxy Explorer order, despite having gotten one under the same VIP account in June. I'm excited to see how it looks next to the castle once I'm done building it.
  24. jodawill
    I don't think I'd like a $400 spaceship. That would just be too big. I haven't built this set yet, but to me, it looks like the largest scale that would look good and be fun to play with. I've been wondering what a $400 moon base would look like. I just can't picture it. I don't think this set lends itself to $400 sets. There's nothing wrong with that. Small sets are a lot of fun. I'd love to see more classic space sets in the $100 and below price range. Some $20 sets would be amazing. They really knocked it out of the park with Benny's Space Squad (except for the blue and pink minifigures in my opinion). I really enjoyed the small ship that came with it. Something slightly larger than that would be fantastic. I did get a look at the box after it arrived at my parents's house (for safekeeping until Christmas). It's gorgeous. The box for 10305 isn't a very pretty one for displaying because it's so large. (An accompanying poster would have been nice though.) Forest Hideout and Galaxy Explorer have beautiful boxes, and their dimensions just give them the perfect sleek appearance. I'd love to see these longer boxes make a big comeback. They're so much more attractive.
  25. jodawill
    I'm really tired of all this "paying homage" stuff. I don't want a bunch of cute little references. Just make things that are cool. An updated Black Knights Castle would be amazing. It wouldn't need to be a recreation of the original though. I just love the aesthetics of that theme and the ghosts. I got my set on Sunday. It shipped on Friday. Thankfully, it arrived in perfect condition. I've been enjoying all of the interesting building techniques. I've never built a set anywhere near this size before. I have to say though, I do miss the simpler sets. About a quarter of the way through the set, I was ready to be done with it. If I had been building an older castle, I would have been done at that point and would probably have already torn it apart to build my own creations. This set is fantastic, but I don't really have the patience to sit there following hundreds of steps to build something from someone else's imagination. I think I'll keep this copy of the set in tact for a long while, only because I just can't see myself ever building it again after the parts are no longer separated into numbered bags. I hope to get more copies of the set to just use as parts to build my own castle, or maybe build extensions to this one. The parts selection really is great. I've always loved how quickly you can come build the old sets made of big panels, but I've never been good at making something look good with those panels. They're pretty awkward to work with. Having all of this made out of bricks means I'll have a lot more flexibility with the parts. It was interesting how the harpsichord attached at an angle. I was surprised to see a set actually make use of the bar inside a plate, and I'm even more surprised the angles actually work out correctly. The thatched roof looks much better in person than it does in the photos. Oddly, it doesn't really look or feel like Lego. It actually seems more like Playmobil because the "tile" pieces are so large, and the roof goes on in a large section, just like Playmobil roofs. I've actually been off doing Playmobil for the past few years because Lego hasn't made anything interesting to me in so long. Coming back to the Lego scale is a bit jolting because this set, being so large at the Lego scale, is dwarfed by even small Playmobil sets that cost a tenth of the price. That's not all bad because you get many orders of magnitude more flexibility with Lego than Playmobil, but it's jarring when you see the size of a "large" Lego set sitting next to Playmobil. I've also been spoiled with Playmobil's greater variety in figure customization. I like both - it's just interesting that I have a different perspective coming back to Lego now. I'm only halfway done, but the set does feel a bit smaller than I was expecting. Hopefully I'll be able to flesh it out some more after I get some more parts. It would be awesome if they released an entire wave of sets to go with it. Imagine if there were about 5 extension sets that could be combined in any permutations you want. If I don't sound super upbeat in this post, that's because I'm super tired. I've sacrificed a lot of sleep building this thing, and I've been woken up by a baby every hour the past several nights. I really do like the set.
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