meyerc13

I could forgive a few of the things mentioned in the article, but gluing the LEGO pieces doesn't make any sense to me. My son is much like hers, 5 years old and wants to play with the LEGO sets like they are action figures. Which is the point since they are toys. Sometimes sets fall apart, and I fix them. The cause of sets falling apart is usually his almost 3 year old sister. I posted a thread on here a while ago that my daughter had destroyed the LEGO City, taking me days to sort out parts and rebuild sets. But in the end I got it done. A few changes I've since made: Instituted the rule that if you didn't build it, you can't take it apart. Keep a closer eye on the little one. Rebuild minor destruction every day or two, so that it's easier to figure out what parts go where. I would never glue LEGO sets though. Even though my son wants the sets to be together for play (and with my new rules he isn't allowed to destroy the purchased sets without my permission), there will come a day when he decides the police station isn't the way he wants it, and we will tear it down and rebuild. We also keep a good stock of useful parts and random bricks so that if he wants to sit and build something he can, without destroying sets to do it.

You've posted exactly what I was thinking. When I look at these pictures, it screams "Action" theme to me, closer to Atlantis or Agents than Space.

Interesting. Their markups on quite a few sets have dropped back down to their normal levels. I suspect this means the end of their BOGO sales on LEGO for a while.

Excellent job! I've visited 4017 at the National Railroad Museum in Green Bay many times and can attest to how absolutely monstrous these are. Every railroad fan should visit one at some point, because pictures do not do them justice.

I'd like to emphasize this. I was using the dots, found what I was almost sure was the aviator and gently started to feel the package. Unfortunately, someone before me hadn't been as gentle and I could distinctly feel that the backpack had been bent clear over, probably broken. That's why I still don't have an aviator.

As I mentioned above, I don't get there often, but I was at the Mall of America store back in November. On Monday of that week, I visited the store and they had gray 1x2 bricks. On Friday of that week, I went back and those had been replaced by another part (which I know because I went back to get more). Yet I saw them on that Friday restocking other parts on the wall from shipping boxes. So I think it is hard to say. They definitely have some parts that stay on the wall a long time, but other popular parts can disappear quite quickly. I think with the free boxes shown above that are good from 12/26 through March, that you'll see the wall changing more often in the next few months. Probably the best thing to do is call the stores during a slow time (weekday morning for example). I've found the employees to be very friendly and helpful (as long as they aren't too busy). If you are looking for a certain part or parts, or just interested in knowing what good parts they have, maybe they can give you some idea over the phone. Tires are tricky. Obviously you'll want to put the wheels in the tires to save some space. Beyond that I'd just grab a handful and drop them in my cup, filling in the space around them with small 1x1 slopes, studs, plates, etc. I haven't seen a car chasis on the wall when I've been, but that's another tricky part. If the chasis has indentations that can be filled by plates, I'd fill them with plates. I have seen the old 2x4 mud guards, I stacked those alternating, not sure if that is the best method or not. With some of these tricky parts it's difficult to pack the cup, but add lots of small pieces as you go to fill any air gaps and you'll end up with a good piece count on the cup.

I can't wait to visit the Mall of America store again. I live about 5 hours away and get there 3-4 times a year. I have one of these boxes to use as well, so it's helpful to know about what will fit in the box. I'm hoping that when I get there in a few weeks that they have lots of brown/gray/black pieces because my kids are getting interested in Kingdoms now and I have almost no bricks in those colors.

Thanks for the great review. To answer your question, if I had to choose one, I'd pick the City collection. The problem with this one is that it crosses many themes - some Pirate, some medieval, some western. Of those three, I'd be interested in the medieval, but not the others. So I'd end up with minifigures for which I had little use. Contrast that with the City set, I'd use every figure. So if I had to pick one it would be City all the way. I do have a question though, you mention finding many of these parts in the Build-a-minifig. I live 5+ hours from the nearest LEGO store, but as I recall when I've visited that store their build-a-minifig area is something along the line of three holes in a table, one filled with legs, one with torsos, and one with heads/accessories. The area filled with torsos has only had 3-4 different torsos when I've visited. Do other stores have a better selection? At the store I've visited, every time I've wanted to do this for my kids but the selection has been so poor I can't see spending the money on it.

Another amazing creation! Your ghost trap led me to watch the first movie last night with my wife and son (his first time seeing it), now that he saw this he wants to watch the second movie right now. I'd say that's a success!

This is an incredible creation. I can't imagine what the cost would be to build this through DesignByMe. The outside of the ship is fantastic with the turrets and detailing, but then when you show the interior, it is mind-blowing. The fact that you've incorporated not only rooms, but rooms large enough that they could be feasible such as the crew quarters and the mess. Simply amazing. I think you should take a collection, build this, and invite everyone over to play!

I love this creation. William Gibson is one of my favorite authors, Blade Runner is one of my favorite movies (and DADoES is an incredible book), and this MOC reminds me of the worlds created in those works. I actually think the quality of the photos adds to the future noir theme of the work.

I love it! As a kid this was one of my favorite movies. In fact, my brother and sister and I told my mom we lost our library cards, and then used one of those old label makers that punched white letters into red tape to make our membership cards for the "Ghostbuster club." Good thing mom doesn't read these forums.

I was afraid of that, same price as the last version, but less figures. However the variety of figures is better, as are the accessories. Tough decision, but four of the extra figures I believe are police and firemen, which our LEGO City certainly isn't lacking, so that might help with the decision.

I couldn't agree more. My daughter started showing an interest in her older brother's LEGOs, so I bought her the pig farmer impulse. Then she wanted a tractor, so I built her a red version of 4899. Then she wanted another tractor, so it was on to 7634. For Christmas she received the Pig Farm and the 4x4 with Horse Trailer. She loves to play with LEGO farm, and if this line wasn't popular it's only because it was a TRU exclusive along with the TRU price hike. I think this would have sold better with lower price points, even if that meant dividing the farm into multiple smaller sets. Maybe a chicken coop, cow shed with cows, the farmer's market idea from above... This line could have gone a lot of places, but the expensive farm that didn't even include a proper barn probably didn't help this line. I know I passed by that set many times.

jansued - 1 point stratorion - 1 point philocrites - 1 point bricknave - 1 point dix - 1 point

Thanks for the review of this great set! My daughter loves minifigs, and has a birthday coming up in February. My wife and I have contemplated buying the predecessor to this set, but might go with this one instead. Anyone know what the US price is for this set?

Perhaps she is wearing a bullet proof vest under her uniform? They tend to have that effect. This is a marvelous set, I really love both of those cars. I only wish LEGO ditched the three wheeler mold and included more police motorcycles. My son has two LEGO police motorcycles, but that's only because I bought one online. They seem to have a limit of one set per cycle with an included motorcycle. With that limitation, how can we reenact our favorite memories of C.H.i.P.s?

I had to vote for the City House. There were other sets I liked, but it was better overall. The Fire Station was nice, but the last fire station was nice too so it wasn't a ground breaking release. The TRU Truck was great, but I wish the store was bigger and the truck was smaller. The Transportation set was also good, but my kids' LEGO City has so many vehicles that I would rather have a building. The City House fills that need, giving us a civilian house with furniture (which the Creator houses lack), and compatible with the Pizza Shop from City Corner. So for me that was the winner.

Thanks for a great review of a great set. I probably want this set more than I've wanted any polybag set to date. The great minifig, crossbow and quiver, two spears, chicken leg, two apples, this set is useful on so many levels. As a City collector I'd pick this up just for the LEGO food, but since my kids are now into Kingdom as well this set is perfect. Hopefully it shows up here soon, so far all I keep seeing are those Fire helicopters and Toy Story Jeeps.

That lighthouse looks quite intriguing. My son has the City Coast Guard sets, and a lighthouse would look great. I can't wait to see what the alternate models are for that set. The other set looks nice, but I'm really disappointed that it appears to consist of white bricks. I wanted the 6754 Family Home, but it disappeared out of stores before my wife could buy it for me for Christmas. I was hoping that its replacement would likewise have some other color besides white, since our LEGO City already has quite a bit of that color. Dear LEGO, please make the next house in light grey or some other real world color other than white.

I gave my kids the construction and knight sets, and my nephew the airport set. The airport set is obviously the strongest, lots of great parts. Between the other two, the knight set is the better in my opinion because of the door and windows. The construction set is a good piece/dollar ratio, but the parts aren't the most useful and the proportions on the models are way off. The only redeeming feature for me was a minifig torso I didn't have and the jackhammer piece which I also was missing.

Here is what I got this year: 5984 Space Police Lunar Limo 8037 Star Wars Anakin's Y-wing 8083 Star Wars Rebel Trooper Battle Pack 8896 World Racers Snake Canyon My daughter got: 5560 Large Pink Brick Box 5929 Knight and Castle Building Set 7635 4WD with Horse Trailer 7684 Pig Farm and Tractor 7953 Court Jester 8803 Hula Dancer My son's haul took first place: 2824 City Advent Calendar 5930 Road Construction Building Set 5973 Space Police Hyperspeed Pursuit 7279 Police Minifigure Collection 7286 Prisoner Transport 7744 Police Headquarters 7752 Count Dooku's Solar Sailer 7848 Toys R Us City Truck 7948 Kingdoms Outpost Attack 7950 Kingdoms Knight's Showdown 7976 Atlantis Ocean Speeder 8015 Star Wars Assassin Droid Battle Pack 8016 Hyena Droid Bomber 8036 Separatists Shuttle 8076 Atlantis Deep Sea Striker 8084 Snow Trooper Battle Pack 8085 Freeco Speeder 8086 Droid Tri-fighter 8093 Plo Koon's Jedi Starfighter 8803 Space Villian 30005 Imperial Speeder Bike (x2) Over 6717 bricks, 99 minifigures. My fingers are very sore from putting those all together! The best part, every set we bought this year was bought through a sale, so 20-40% off.

I like this entry a lot, especially the desks and the upstairs library. The only thing that I don't like is the windows on the first floor. Windows in schools are generally smaller, either tall and very narrow (maybe 1x2x5 or 1x2x6), or short and wide (perhaps 1x4x3). I think that's so the students don't spend too much time gazing out the windows. If the windows were changed I think this would be a perfect MOC. I think in this case the 1x4x3 would fit better with the architecture of the building.

When a cat does this, it is basically the cat bringing you what it has 'killed.' Be thankful it is a LEGO and not a mouse. The cat is showing you what a good hunter (s)he is, that (s)he likes and respects you, and that (s)he is willing to share food with you. One of my cats used to steal baby socks and small baby toys and bring them to me like this, but never LEGO. While my cats haven't taken to carrying LEGO around or hunting it like this, they do like to sit on road plates and walk through my kids' LEGO City.

Almost two years ago, my son was sick and in the hospital for a few days. My father-in-law wanted to bring him a gift, and I told him that my son liked LEGO. So he picked up a few LEGO pirate sets which my son loved. My father-in-law then mentioned that he had two 'lego pirate ships' in the basement that he had bought for the grandchildren to play with, but my son could have them. When the ships arrived at my house, it turned out that they weren't LEGO but Cobi/Best Lock. The instructions and pieces look a lot like LEGO from a distance, but once I started putting together the ships I could feel the difference. Sections of the ships would fall apart as I was building them. Once I finally got them together, when my son would play with them pieces would constantly fall off. There were cannons that were supposed to connect to their equivalent of a jumper plate, I eventually super-glued them because they'd fall off if you looked at them funny. With even the most fragile LEGO set, I've never had to resort to superglue. Eventually I was able to talk my son into selling these at our garage sale last summer. I think we got $5 for the pair. Some people may not have a problem with these knock-offs and competitors, but I've purged my house of everything non-LEGO, with the exception of a few Duplo-like Ni Hao Kai Lan Mega Bloks sets that my daughter plays with. Since Cobi/Best Lock actually are sold in US stores, I suspect their quality could be higher than Enlighten, which if true would be a good reason to avoid these. In any case, I agree that ebay shouldn't allow these in the LEGO categories. It's the main reason I stopped browsing for LEGO on ebay... it was too time consuming to try to filter these out or wade through all the bootleg listings.