natelite

if i recall correctly, the building crane retailed for $50 during christmas 2006 at target. TLC sometimes raises price on city sets. the 2005 police set was the same thing. was $50, then raised to $70, and reduced to $50 later on as a "clearance".

yeah, :-D that building by the boy's elbow. there's the church you were looking for. :-D ;-) edit: actually by his left arm. his elbow is on the gas station, so it seems.

well, ted did say zellers BOGO were like monthly. to me that's frequent enough. :-P unless you receive your paycheck weekly, in which case i would agree, it's not "frequent" enough. hehehe. does zeller mark up normal retail price? in that case, BOGO isn't really BOGO either. :-P i think the compromise with walmart will be in the form of frequent d/c sales, tbh. that way TLC doesn't need to extend the same pricing to other retailers. however that can really backfire especially if the sales became too frequent to the point where consumers equate sale price to "normal" price, and msrp = marked up price. :-D it's all about expectations. what i don't understand is why everyone is comparing their countries' prices to US prices. lego bricks are manufactured in different regions. lego isn't made in the US. TLC's cost base doesn't decrease when the US$ depreciates. in fact, it probably rises since the raw material price rose (i.e. oil). and if you have been paying 100 euros (or loonie) in the past for 1000 pieces sets then what has changed that you need to pay less now? we know that TLC manufactures in denmark, hungary, czech and mexico. 3 of those are in the EU and all 4 nations' currencies have rose against the US$. that means labor cost has risen relatively vs the US$. if TLC were to adjust its MSRP so that every country is based off of US's prices, then revenue decreases, cost increase = loss!!!! (or lower gross margin). just because they happen to be subsidizing US doesn't mean that every other country needs to be subsidized as well, right? afterall, their game plan is to capture a bigger pie of the US toy market. if they were to raise price in the US to match their cost base, wouldn't that mean lower sales? hence a need for them to lower prices in the US to stay competitive vs mattel and hasbro. In fact, i am quite surprised that they haven't been sued with "dumping goods" by the US toy industry yet. :-D

and this is the european version of town plan. here's your church, hink! :-P more pictures of essentially the same set but with diff design and diff kids

i think it is somewhat appropriate given the price. it's a pretty expensive set for not a whole lot more. in the past that's the only way to get stormtroopers but with the ST mf pack at $10, why would you plunk $50 of your money for the same no of mfs? doesn't make sense. the model isn't really that great to begin with. gimme the imperial shuttle! :-P p.s. imperial shuttle came with 10 mfs. ILC came with just 4. *wacko*

why would you wanna drive across the border to get a set for 30% cheaper when you can get BOGO at zellers? especially when the BOGO events are frequent.

i was thinking the exact same thing. :-D X-D it is most likely a pirates or seafaring based theme. how else would you justify making a new mold? my guess is that they couldn't find the old shark mold and decided to make these new sharks. they could find the old croc mold so they just recycled them into dark green crocs. :-P

if you applied enough force, you can pull the glue apart. i did this with my viking chess set and most pieces are now "unglued". :-D the trick is to do this gradually. if you did it too quickly/rapidly, sometimes you tear the surface. first of all, you should use an exacto knife and score along the joints, for eg, between the torso and hips. this is to form a weak line that will break when pulled apart. without a designed weak line, it may cause tearing of the surface. then gradually apply slow even pressure on the two parts. do this for a few mins and eventually they will come loose. :-P if the glue was heavily applied to the studs, the studs will be deformed when separated. but anything hidden isn't really a concern, right? ;-) X-D

i spotted lots of chewed and yellowed bricks. :-P other than that, nice moc.

well, i hope it doesn't detract them from their core business of designing models and sets.

hmm, you could be on to something... every other lego theme has no story...why this new theme? and we know lego always re-write "history" anyway (like lego pirates) so it is quite possible. here's hoping for a new history theme with crazy background story to make it less controversial with the kids and which afols can use to make historically accurate scenes!

one thing to note though - and this was from my experience so it's accurate - please be safe and wash any chrome printing or chrome plated parts by hand using mild soap and lukewarm water. i have a couple of printed scale mail, breast plates, and very likely crusader axes/lions torsos faded during bulk washing, and i have my share of destroyed chrome gold coins that were not sorted prior to bulk washing.

i like toa's the best. i'm just a sucker for the storm lasher type crafts. but the long technic pin is strangely missing from his. *wacko* *wacko* maybe i'm just seeing it wrong.

tell me about it. i don't know why they don't read the payment instructions at all. this was after I sent 3 to 4 copies of the invoice with specific instructions. seriously, my margin is so tight, they still have the nerve to screw me over payment.

wow...the AT-TE is fantastic as well as the gunship. i like how the doors open so realistically. and the legs are so posable for the AT-TE. everything was so well thought out. the AT-TE cockpit, the container. etc. the indy jones temple is also well built. so many traps and features. wow....and to squeeze everything into that set. wow...jungle cutter that cuts. 8-

nice! *alien* it doesn't look half as bad. the arms and legs are from the same mold. :-P you can make a space monkey out of it i think! *wub* *wub* it really looks like a real alien now.

BL defies convention too. often times, shops with fewer goods sell cheaper than shops with more of the same. that shop with 65 of the hats can charge more just because it has more of the same. this is because shipping is often the killer and people who buy from BL prefer to obtain in one bulk load from one shop rather than to shop for the cheapest from many.

got the indy jones sets from TRU. and after an eternity (like 4-5mths) i finally got the kellog's promotional set for my son. :-P got the second prize...the skeleton carriage.

hi, just like everyone to know that TRU is having a 20% d/c on the indy jones line. Despite the blatant mark ups, it's still relatively cheaper. Motorcycle chase was 10.99, now 8.79 (msrp: 9.99) race for stolen treasure was 30.99, now 24.79 (msrp: 29.99) temple escape was 69.99, now 55.99 (msrp: 59.99)

wow! simply...wow! your mocs are always so large so magnificent. not much action? how's that? i simply love your telescope... :lol: and the bikini amazonians... lol. that's just pure poetry. keep it coming. just love your work. even steampunk sw...just amazing.

anyone has a really good close up of the agent's theme? i see tons of new hairpiece mold. i wanna see the orange/black punk style and also the silver metal jaw headgear. it seems like i underestimated the agent theme. looks to be an extremely useful and weird parts pack. even mm looks good. no close up of that neat little mech yet. :( wow...2008 looks to be the best year yet... edit: sorry...posted too early...didn't see sam's or sinner's latest thread. pls ignore...going through the goodies now...can't chat. :-P

nice decals!! this is way better than yoe previous elves. :-D good job. did you do the head as well? looks like the ninja princess but it looks good with it.

well, she is rather thin. and very long. the mf looks fat and short. :-P but other than the lego MF scale distortion, i would agree with you. :-D X-D ;-)

i agree. these days, anyone who is less than perpetually happy is often classified with an illness. even being unhappy is a disease to be cured. :-| :-D

nice block! :-) i like the police station and the fire station. i'm not so sure about the hospital. city hospitals aren't that small. they are huge and probably sit in blocks by themselves instead of as a building in a block.