natelite

http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9706/25/cousteau.obit/ if this is the guy you are talking about...sorry, i think for the most part the world was preoccupied with neil armstrong landing on the moon in 1969.

let's kiss and make up... *sad* *wub* *yoda* *vader* *knight* *alien* X-D

hmm, shoplifters ripped even the small boxes to shreds in order to steal stuff. i dont see how having the new boxes would do anything to help. so the only plausible explanation (besides the obvious, TLC is run by millions of monkeys with millions of typewriters) is they want them to be stolen. :-D

i dont think that's correct. how can you "take" a picture of a galaxy from where you are? it's kinda like an ant trying to take a picture of an elephant while the ant is on the elephant's back. how's that possible?

ahem...did you miss the coast guard set from world city series? *wacko* i think it is still available from kbtoys at like $30 orange tag...which is currently on further sale (buy 1 get 1 50% off!). :'-)

have you ever wondered what is in the center of the galaxy? everything is spiralling inwards (or outwards)... but what's in the middle? :-| :-D will this be the question of the weekend?...or the one on uranus vs earth? *sad*

wait...so you're saying URanus is bigger than my earth? :-P

maybe they changed their stance and actually want people to steal them? 8-| *wacko* :-D

that's a lie...that's scandinavia...not europe. :-P and it's sweden, norway and finland...go vikings go! :-D and of course you know where holland is...you're europeans. :-P do you know where guatemala is without looking at a map? how about papua new guinea? angola? :-P not so good now eh? ;-)

does spongebob count as an underwater/diver theme? :-P

hmm, why gylman?

holland is right next to denmark at the northern tip of the european continent...above and between france and germany, if i recall correctly. could be belgium...i always confuse denmark and belgium. :-/

crap...when was that? must be new. do they have arkham asylum too? how much is that? gotta make my way to target this weekend. hopefully it is still there! thanks suvieD!

@Section8: not trying to be rude here but i dont think it was popular with the other 99 kids when you were growing up. do you know what you and your friends played together as? i doubt that you can find many who find deep sea interesting. let's not forget that during the 80s was when jaws was famous. diving? seriously? most people probably forbid their kids from going to the ocean. probably just stick to the pool or something.

alright, time to butt my head into this "discussion" topic one more time. ;-) divers as a theme sucks because: 1. no kid ever dream of becoming a diver. atlantis was not a popular show. 2. during the 80s and the 90s space was the most popular thing ever. engineers, pilots, astronauts were the career of choice for most kids. not to mention a ton of popular tv series or movies on space theme such as star trek, star wars, battlestar galactica, odessey 2000, etc. 3. tv also bombarded us with the space race...during the cold war. mars, robots, pluto, etc. i grew up in the 80/90s, so i can say that space was indeed my favorite. i doubt other themes were as popular apart from the regular city lines (like constructions, police, fire and rescue). the decline of the space theme can be attributed to the end of the cold war. space exploration story became old. i don't know what the pop culture is these days. any clue? that might tell us about what may be a popular kid's theme. what is the most popular mmorpg game these days? or the most popular console game? i know lego star wars is pretty hot...but what else? is it fantasy medieval? is it steampunk/retro fantasy? whatever is popular can be a great cash cow for lego if they can just ride the popularity wave!

@hobbes: that example was to highlight how to the common joe the two events are the same. the average human thinks in terms of savings absolutely neglecting the concept of time frame. eg, for the second offer most people think "if i pay for one, i will save 50%." for the first offer it's also the same thoughts "if i pay for two, i will save 1 and is the same as if i pay for one, i will save 50%." see how it plays mind tricks on you? the smarter person will think of the second event as "if i pay for one now, i will save 50% in the future" and of the first event as "if i pay for one now, i will save 50% NOW". that IS the difference! ;-) that is how reward cards trick you into thinking the reward is larger than it really is. the first trick is to provide you with milestones. spend this much and get rewarded for this much. most people "write off" the past spendings mentally and think of current spending will save you more than it really does. the second is that the reward is for a future period not for current period which diminishes the discount even further. the sale example was to highlight the concept of future savings vs current savings...in a more dramatic way. ;-) edit: i'll stop my drivel now...don't want to bore peeps with my finance 101 classes. ;-)

um, sorry if it was confusing...let's speak via examples. if say the set was originally retailing for $100, and right now can be bought for $90, which is a $10 discount. say you are $100 short of getting a rebate voucher for $15 (the rebate was after you spend $300, you will get a $15 rebate on your next purchase). you would think that buying the set from lego at $100 will get you $15 "discount" which is worth more than the instant $10. but this is wrong thinking. the reality is you already spent a good portion (in this example, $200) to get to that rebate. that means the $100 you now spend only get you $5 in reality. would i spend $100 to get $5 in the future? or do i spend $90 now for a $100 value? in this example, the former action is worth less than 5% discount (100/105 = 95.24%), while the latter is worth a 10% discount (90/100 = 90%). if you are not careful, special offers can play mind tricks with your money. take the following example: which offer is better value? buy two get one free or buy one get one 50% off? choices: 1. they are both the same since one is exactly half of the other 2. buy two get one free 3. buy one get one 50% off the correct answer is 2. buy 2 get 1 free = 2/3 = 67% or 33% discount per set. buy 1 get 1 50% off = 1.5/2 = 75% or 25% discount per set.

yes, they can do everything a regular minifig can do... and more since they have magnets attached to the inside of the legs.

if the incremental value that your batcave adds to the redemption value is GBP15 then it is as you said. but if the incremental value is less than GBP10, then you just ripped yourself of some money. loyalty reward points should only be seen from incremental value not in absolute value because your previous purchase also added to the redemption value (as well as future purchase).

if you wanted fun, try entering the mecha competition. :-D

hmm, i wonder if tru us will be having a sale soon... whats the occasion for tru austria?

for me the batwing looked good in photos but not in real life. the batmobile looks much better. the batwing is way too unrealistic. there are several batwing mocs on brickshelf which are way better imo. i am exiting the batman line because the vehicles are not as sexy as i first thought. the line also suffers from the same issue as Dino Attack: unrealistically large vehicles. the batwing is larger than the slave 1 and b-wing. the batmobile is also twice as long as the truck. i know they wanted to make the batman vehicles as impressive as possible but haven't they heard of the term "small is beautiful"? an ideal size for me would be the size of an a-wing or the tie-interceptor. best lines for me are star wars classic (and ep3) and exoforce wave 1. out of wave 2, i only wanted the mechs of the fortress set and the tank. the tank was a disappointment, and the fortress is too expensive for just the mechs only. set 7713 should redeem the line, but not sure when that will be out. good luck in your batman decision. just thought u wanted some negative opinion to balance out. 8-| 8-

only the head and the hairpiece. the torso is stuck to the legs. you can probably pry the arms and hands off as well, but that's probably it. maybe if you are dextrous enough you can also pry off the legs and replace with non magnetic legs. but the torso and the hips are stuck for good.

Hi, i originally bought 7706 for the alternative model. sadly i was very disappointed since the model is not sturdy at all. it breaks easily and is mostly for display. for instructions you can rely on the exo-force.com website. here's a frontal view. the "cockpit" is not a cockpit at all as it does not allow a minifig in there. the "shoulder" armor is not sturdy - it breaks off easily. the wheels also break off easily and much worse they do not rotate. i will need to replace them with better threads that can move. here's the side profile. the wheels are sort of "hanging" by the technic pins which meant there wasnt any real support for the threads. to make matter worse the technic pins are very thin, which means they buckle easily resulting in poor movement. they should really make better tank threads than what came with the set. a real let down. here's the backside of the mech. the entire frame is hollow, so unlike the main 7706 model, it doesnt have a cockpit and is really designed to be a one minifig mech (to be placed on the arm). but that doesnt stop me from improvising. the platform at the bottom allowed for it to be some sort of an APV. too bad the minifigs are OUTSIDE the armor. 8-| here's a close up picture of the crew. here they can be seen combatting a large alien crab creature. here you can see how it fare against the supernova. here's how it weigh up: - sexy design but flawed execution as many pieces can break off easily. definitely not sturdy enough to handle child's play. - wheels that do not roll. mostly due to poor design of the thread and the axles. the wheels just sort of hang by the axle. not firm enough to roll. - no cockpit to put minifigs. would have been a great model should the bottom platform can be sheltered so it becomes an APV (armored personnel vehicle) for troop transport. - i certainly prefer the main tank model. it's far from perfect but still better than the ATU. for this i gave it: design/looks: 8/10 (i still think it looks awesome) frame: 3/10 (breaks off way too easily) playability: 2/10 (my boy stopped playing after a while due to poor wheel design which do not roll) overall: 13/30. sorry for the poor resolution. i took it using 640x480...didnt know the resolution is that shitty. :-| i'll take a few hi-res pictures some other time. :-P link to the folder when public. http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=196674

well, i think millennium falcon will get a re-release as 6213 right after 6212. *sweet* *wub* with 5 more years of sw lego to go even if 6213 doesnt materialize, i am sure MF will either be redesigned one last time or re-release one last time before 2011. :-D so in terms of devalue - sell now buy later? just a thought.