fred67

I never saw a single series 1 pack in stores. When I ordered a set from BL, they were labeled. For series 2 I only ever saw them at the LEGO Store, limit 16, so I bought 16 trying to make sure I didn't get duplicate bar codes (although that didn't work so well); I already had another 16 ordered from S@H, and by the time I went into the LEGO Store again, there were none left.... so again, I never really needed to feel them. Series 3 is the first series I was actually able to buy in the stores other than the LEGO Store, and the first time that I could visit TLS multiple times to buy figures, so it became a lot more worthwhile to try to differentiate.

Did you get my PM?

Since I'm still firmly grounded in 9V land (only PF for newer stuff), I plan on making extensive use of the O-Gauge trick mostly for straight sections. As it is I'm slowly collecting 2x8 plates for when the time comes; we know we're moving, just not when, which is when I'll get some space. The technique for using O-Gauge is on this blog: Ken's Flex Track for LEGO Trains. I do not believe my "permanent" layout will be large enough to accommodate large radius curves anyway, and as it is I just have shortage of straights (like everyone else, it seems, both PF and 9V). Also, using flex track for curves requires installing at a fixed radius and cutting the inside rail to fit, making it not particularly flexible (I should say "versatile") for future use, one of the benefits of LEGO (being able to easily reconfigure things).

+1 Tung T. Le

D'oh! I don't follow those themes (except city w.r.t. modular and trains). Seems odd that the FBTB folks didn't know who that alien was either. Thanks. Not interested in those themes, but I like that astronaut.

So, I was perusing FBTB.net and found this post. I won't directly link the picture, I don't know if they'd appreciate that. Some of the minifigures on that "invite" are definitely ones I don't recognize, and I'm wondering what the speculation is about them (there is some discussion there, but I thought I'd get your opinions on it). So, can anyone tell me about (if we go by row x column): 1x6 (alien looking guy) 3x1 (blue hat, binoculars?) The whole fourth row (except the baseball player) The whole fifth row (except the Ninjago who isn't really part of that section). I'm particularly interested in 5x5, the astronaut with the gold dome. Nobody seems excited about it, so I guess it's an old one, but I don't know where it comes from.... except it's got nice new print. This is from the latest LEGO Education catalog, page 56: Ok, I know some may not think this is a series 5 post, but I was wondering if any of those figures will be series 5.

Updated February 16!!! Have to trade: Alien (x5) Baseball Player (x2) Mummy (x2) Ape Suit Guy (x1) Rapper (x1) Samurai (x1 closed, x2 Opened) Cyborg/Space Villain (x1 closed, x1 opened) Native Chieftain (x2) Snowboarder (x1) Race Car Driver (x1) Pilot (x1) Mime (x1) Surfer (x1) Lifeguard (x2) Ringmaster (x1) Vampire (x2) Explorer (x2, Opened/Complete) Skier (x1, Opened/Complete) Crash Test Dummy (x1, Opened/Complete) Want Elves. Willing to do 3 for 2 except 1 for 1 for fisherman. Want Castle figures, Train, SW 4/5/6... make an offer. Prefer USA, Canada (2 or more figures).

They could be the color of the packets - that might be interesting, but I think they're more useful as something besides stands in black than they would be in those other colors. I'm planning on using them as shingles for a roof (with black tiles on the ends of every other row).

I imagine holding a blade would be very difficult. I have needle nose pliers; I wrapped the very end of the bar in a torn bit of an index card so that it wouldn't get roughed up, but since I clipped the end anyway, that's a waste of time and makes it harder to hold. Then I used a utility knife - you really need something to hold the blade. Then I whittled - you can't do it all at once, you have to sheer off little bits at a time. I'd do a couple of cuts, then twist the bar in the pliers to get it at a different angle. You also want to make sure you're using a sharp blade. Each wand will be unique. I simply didn't try at all to make the cuts straight because I wanted it to look like twisted wood and I wanted them to be unique - how to make them look like each wizard's wand from the movies? Don't know if I'd try, but I think I'd start with what I did and then use a smaller xacto knife to try to customize. I've got a bunch of bars on order, including brown and tan, and I think I'd actually like them to be a bit smaller still, so I'll post more when I make them.

I have to agree that this is a great MOC... it's VERY MUCH, almost EXACTLY how I pictured it when reading the book.

What can anyone say except WOW! That's just absolutely fantastic work! I'm still working on my microscale castle, and recently took it apart to plan for doing it on a much better landscape, and you guys put me to shame. I'd like to add that when I first saw the supports at the far end (away from the castle), I thought you were just going for lighter pieces with less filler bricks... but seeing the tomb, then, was a fantastic "surprise," and this layout's got so many surprises, it's just amazing, I could look at it for hours. Yet... after all that, the thought that keeps nagging at me is... "that poor pig."

I'm making belts with felt. Would be nice to have something official, though, and then you need entirely white pants. I also agree with the Karate master sentiment... the head of our academy is normally in black, as are some of the uniforms for the various arts (like Kali/Escrima students wear black, as do Wing-Chun, but other disciplines use white). But... but... but... that's what I'd been saying; I'm already working on our academy's logo to print on water slide decals and apply to plain black torsos... for me, I'd rather see a lot more generic parts available.

I agree with wanting counterparts, but for most of these I don't see the need: karate guy with brown belt Why would you want a black belt fighting a brown belt? Wouldn't two black belts be better? In which case you just need to swap out the head and hair. I gave a number of these figures away, some to girls, and just gave them an extra female face and hair. This essentially goes for every figure you mention except the competitive sports figures; even a skategirl using, say, the popstar torso (hey, we're getting two skateboarders, you could always put a female head/hair on one) is at least adequate - I'd rather get new figures when you can already mix and match heads and hair... like this. TLG has even released nets (for other things, obviously) and tridents with other figures... get them on bricklink. Now, I'm not saying I wouldn't like to see more counterparts, I definitely would... a different gladiator helmet for example, and the three musketeers DO need someone to fight, and there should be a variety of uniform styles, but I don't think the best thing is to eschew new figures to make counterparts for existing ones that can be modified by simply changing a few parts. But again, I have to say that, more than anything, a super online build-a-minifigure would generically satisfy most of the requests I've seen here.

Very interesting... Both: and are perfectly exemplified in Diagon Alley, where Borgen and Burkes has a sprinkling of 1x1 round tiles.

Which is why I like the idea of a super expanded build-a-minifigure (currently available at B&M LEGO Stores) online and promote it. People could make their own basic characters for whatever they wanted, but there'd need to be a very large selection of parts, a lot more than they have available in the stores. Right now the selection online is extremely limited and it's not easy enough to put together minifigures using it.. and they need to make it more generic - more plain torsos, for example. Really... select a torso, select a head, select legs, select a single headgear, select a single accessory... add accessories for $0.xx each (capes, armor, etc.). Add sticker sheets - city, pirates, castle, and any other unlicensed themes, for an extra fee - now you're really talking.

%$#$ them. How can they just assume you're there for yourself anyway? Jerks. That's really a great comeback, though... no offense to those of you stocking shelves, but that was a high school job for me. It's hard to hide it at the LEGO Store (not that I'd want to) when you pull out your VIP card. But the great thing about TLS is most of the people working there are LEGO enthusiasts, too, so I stand there feeling up collectible minifigure packs and chatting with them about what we're working on. Even adults who come into the store... and it's funny as we're all standing there feeling up minifigure packs - some admit it's for them, some have kids in tow who want a specific one; we all know what the others are looking for and it's like "Here, I think I found the snowboarder you wanted..." Nice community, overall.

I was thinking that... the store said they stack, and the first thing I thought was "maybe I'll have to put lights in it," but I think that's a bit much. I only ordered two because I don't think any of us were certain how nice it would look, so I'll definitely order more; it really looks great neosmosis.

Thanks for the update, it looks really good (I have a couple of them on backorder). But I'm wondering - are the figures secured down at all? I was thinking on building the bases for it to secure them in place. Would be nice if the height of those bases matched stacked bricks/plates.

I feel the same way - the only reason I didn't do brown is because I didn't have extra brown ones, I'm not going to "enhance" what came with the set (even though I could just order replacements... it's just not the same in my head). I also think I will try to make them even smaller.

I'm going to be honest and have an old man moment, but I put them there a while back and don't really recall, but I think it's a 4x4 plate on top of two black 2x4 bricks. I got the cases I ordered from the Container Store and the tops are clear. They are "OK," but only just "OK." The top is tall enough that you either build up a base so that the "seam" between the top and bottom of the case does not overlap your figure (which is what I did, I'll try to get pictures later), or you use a small plate (maybe a collectible minifigure plate) and you get the seam across your minigure, which sucks for displaying. The problem is I tried with my slightly customized elf holding an elven spear from BrickForge, and with the built up base the spear wouldn't fit. With the built up base, the regular elf with the bow barely fits (the elf is holding it up, he could hold it at a lower angle). So... they are probably not a great choice for a lot of figures, but are great for things like chromed or special figures without large accessories. Perhaps the next size up would be better... 60380. The largest size from that Container Store page could hold a decent small MOC... 10x10 at least (EDIT: except the bigger the container, the taller the lid... annoying).

You sure it's not in an unnumbered bag? I got the box from my trash and it's got five empty "1" bags.

That's what I'm saying - I know you're not an idiot, but double check the figures you made to make sure you gave them the correct color bars for wands, and make sure you're getting the colors from the instructions right; I was in a decently lit room (near a window) and still had problems discerning the colors in the instructions.

What plastic are they made out of? From what I understand they ARE made of ABS, it's just the mixing/molds/quality control that ends up making it different from the others.

I don't recall how many of each bag there was... has anyone gotten around to doing a "proper" EB style review? However, this was a fairly difficult build and getting the colors based on the instructions can be really hard - I'd go back and double-check.

Fantastic!!!! I haven't bought any recent sets; the only train I've purchased in years and years is the Emerald Night, so finally a great new AFOL train. Ok... I lie, I have Hogwart's Express and TS3 Great Western Train sets, but I haven't bought any of the last few "train" train sets. This will be a great addition to any city, I'm really impressed, although the engine looks a lot like the original BNSF with different colors... I'm good with that.