fred67

Cleopatra committed suicide with an asp... I think the snake puts the nail in the coffin on the debate about whether it's just some ancient Egyptian woman or Cleopatra.

I see the difference, but don't have a big problem with it, either. The most blatant example is when I took my son to his martial arts class, hit Target and got a few figures... and put them together in my car. While I was waiting in the parking lot for his class to end, when I was setting them up on the dashboard (sun to the front of the car), the leg transparency became blatantly obvious... but really, it's not like we display them in my car; sitting on my shelves back home you can't tell. The only issue I notice that is bothersome (but not that terrible) is the hands don't seem to rotate as freely. Now, I just pose them in little vignettes or just on a display stand... not a big deal for me.

I ended up with too many Samurai... more than I have listed on the trading page. See my post there if you want to trade... I know one problem is that they're still so available that people are hesitant to trade when they might just be able to get what they want.

You sure it's a midget? I guess.. midget clown? Wait.. that's politically incorrect, so my apologies - vertically challenged clown? Thought it might be a ventriloquist dummy, but then why would it have a pie? I'm also not shocked in the least (if you follow the "what minifigures are missing" thread) that we now have a cave woman and... what's that one on the left? Cleopatra? That's awesome! I'm guessing the guy who looks vaguely like an explorer is supposed to be Sherlock Holmes (which is out of copyright, I guess, so no licensing). It also makes me think the Gorilla suit guy was not supposed to be some circus performer, but King Kong on a movie set, and now we'll get Godzilla - the MOC practically makes itself. Edit: Little disappointed in the dwarf, seeing as how it's not been that long (relatively speaking) since the demise of Fantasy Era, although at least it's got cool new markings.

Not quite finished - needs at least one more Hula Dancer, and I'd like straw (tan) skirts for the men. Those are Sumos, if you didn't notice... the faces and hair have been changed to protect the innocent. The guy on the right? It's his first time.

D'oh! I prefer, rather, "enhancing." If you read between the lines you see that I said I had no brown when, quite clearly, Harry and Hermione are holding brown bars... because I don't want to enhance the pieces that came with the set, I'm just weird that way... but I will order (likely used) ones and butche.. uh, enhance away. Thanks; I've been thinking that for quite some time... and got tired of waiting. I suppose I should participate more on their forums, but this is such an easy thing to do, and each one ends up being unique... I wouldn't pay $1.00 or even $0.50 for one, which probably makes it not worth their while.

Yup... it's hard to get a good angle with the blade when you're holding it with pliers, so it was easier to start with a 4L. On top of that, they're more common and therefore cheaper on BL.... also no brown.

Having recently finished putting together Diagon Alley, I'm reminded of the disappointing use of 4L bars to represent wands. They don't even use 3L, which would be a great start if they didn't want to come up with a new part. Anyway, I took a couple of extra bars (unfortunately, I didn't have any in brown - I'll have to order some) and whittled them down with a utility knife. I held it in place with a pair of pliers and just carefully whittled it down. Here's the result: I decided that whittling wasn't enough - these are still too big, so I clipped the end: If you want to try this, whittle it first before clipping, it's easier to hold onto. Just leave enough to grip after it's been cut.

Ok, so I got motivated to make a Luau using the Hula Dancer, and it occurs to me... I don't recall ever seeing a Hula Dancer use Maracas (I've seen the occasional one with gourds that sound like Maracas, but never Maracas). So just to make sure it "technically" is a Hula Dancer, I head on over to LEGO.com, click on "Products" and then "Minifigures." Guess what... on their "wheel of minifigures," there was NO HULA DANCER!!! I discovered their wheel of minifigures only has 12, and when you reload it there will always be four random ones missing. Edit: I need BrickForge to make a Ukulele.

There's no point in criticizing our biases when we ask for a male baseball or basketball or (American) football player... those are male dominated sports, so if we want to create a "real" sports scene that is easily recognizable, it's going to be dominated by males. That leads us to this: Because TLG isn't in the business of creating some sexually egalitarian society... they sell toys and make money, if they decide to make a basketball theme they are going to do the one that sells the most. When 100 times as many people follow NBA basketball as WNBA, it's NOT a valid complaint against TLG that they choose to represent the NBA instead. The same can be said of just about every sport except tennis... and lo and behold, we got a female tennis player! You can't blame TLG for what goes on "in real life." You can argue that they are simply encouraging the stereotypes, but that's completely disingenuous when you understand they are following real life, not leading it. That's right, there aren't. I'm sure there could be, but it would always be a male dominated sport, that's why the WNBA exists. I'll repeat - it's not TLG's job to create a sexually egalitarian society (since it's impossible anyway - like it or not, men and women are different). As far as TLG goes, that message is "we lose money because our core audience doesn't want WNBA, they want NBA." When "real life" creates a demand for it, I'm sure TLG will respond accordingly. It's not that there's not some level in which you're making a good point - surely TLG wants as many girls as boys, they'd stand to make tons more money, but they can't force girls to buy their products and when they've tried "girly" sets they didn't sell well, is it really hard to blame them? So they are doing what they can - they are already doing it, they are including more females in their sets, and they are including more "strong" female roles as well. They are including females in sports where it makes sense; and I'll throw in that I'd like to see some more "executive" females (I like the train theme - there are females, but it's generally the guys with the newspapers drinking coffee on the train, and it feels like the women are along for the ride - but then again, I never said there wasn't room for improvement). I don't disagree with you, but what do you want TLG to do about it? The core audience wants Spartans, Legionnaires, Vikings, they don't want Marie Antoinette or Susan B. Anthony; you can't suggest TLG needs to satisfy a fringe audience. Well, then it may be of no surprise that TLG has actually made many female pirates and, in fact, I just built one a couple of weeks ago at the LEGO Store's build-a-minifigure section, and it's not just me putting pieces together, it was a female face with an eye patch. I'd love minifigures of those, too, but again you have to be realistic... for every 1 female gladiator, how many males were there? So if LEGO is going to make one, which one should they make? And I have to suggest that releasing an Amazonian would be counterproductive; how many feminists will whine and complain about that one? That's bad, but again I have to suggest that if 90% of street cops are men, that any company making a toy representing what you're most likely to see on the street would make a set with men; same thing with fire "persons." Don't get me wrong... even at a 10-1 ratio, it would be great to see 2 to 1 in sets. Like I said, I have no problem with it. Perhaps, or perhaps it's because it's an action theme and I don't recall reading much about female Ninjas? Look, honestly, I'm agreeing that I'd like to see more female minifigures, but I am arguing that criticizing TLG for giving their core audience what they want is not helpful, and neither is criticizing AFOLs for saying they want Spartans, Romans, Baseball players, football players, etc., etc.. You can't make people want a female gladiator when the vignette they're dreaming of making doesn't reflect that. Are we supposed to feel guilty about it? Even though I want more women, if they make a gladiator, I want it to be male. Sorry.

Now who's being naive?

Thanks for doing all that work, and if you look a couple of posts above yours, you'll see I requested two different types of figures - with a male and female version of each. Yes, I'm still gender-typing, because the ballet dancers were with respect to my daughter, but the martial artists were with respect to my son - but I did ask for both genders of each, and I did not dictate what my kids chose to do. In fact, I asked over and over again if my daughter would like to do martial arts (which I think was wonderfully helpful for my son) and she declined, despite the fact that half the class is, in fact, girls. It's a hard stat to noodle through... you're stats aren't wrong, but I don't think the conclusion you reach is a fair one. 1. Most AFOLs are males; they sometimes ask for female figures to flesh out "real life," but they are mostly males - if they ask for football players, baseball players, soccer players... well, in professional sports, for good or ill, there are many more male athletes, and most people follow male teams. 2. If you ask for historical figures, like pirates and Roman legionnaires, they are all men... you can't be gender neutral and true to real life when talking about these historical themes. All the time I'm asking for medieval women (among other things) for trades, since I'm into the castle theme - but even if I have 50/50 ratio of townspeople, the soldiers are all male.... ultimately there are many more male figures in my medieval setting, and that's not gender bias, that's just how it is. That said, I certainly am not denying some bias in LEGO sets, but we are actually seeing it getting better and better, IMO. We ARE getting castle town sets with women, city sets have more women, the sets that are generally for the older crowd (like the modular buildings) are pretty gender neutral... but certain themes just don't lend themselves to being equal. Even when we look at collectibles, which started a huge debate last year about LEGO and gender bias, and I agree they could do better, but when you have a line of characters - like the historic "warriors," for example, you won't see women... as far as I know, historically speaking, it would have been pretty strange to see a female Samurai, Ninja, Sumo, or Spartan. So if you then go and look at the suggestions and complain about the ratio, you have to first remove the figures for which there would be no female counterpart anyway. How many female werewolves in movies? How many female mummies? How many female wolfmen (wolfwoman?) Even when they happened - even though there have been classic female vampires, there's got to be at least a 10 to 1 ratio of classic movie vampire men to women. So... I guess what I'm saying, if you went back through your list and eliminated characters for which a female wouldn't make any sense, I think your stats would paint a very different picture, even if bias would still exist. On the flip side, while I'm ecstatic that we have a female tennis player, I'm disappointed we don't have a male one. It goes both ways (even if more one way than the other). I like the Hula dancer, but I'd love to see matching native Hawaiian men (possibly with drums or something). Conversely, I'd like to see cave women, native American women... most of the characters could have a match of the opposite sex, and I think it would be better if they did.

Bricklink prices are just hype while series 3 are still available in stores - Elves and fisherman are two of the easiest figures to feel out, there's no reason for people to pay more at this time. For sold out items, BL can be a decent indicator of relative cost.

Definitely a fantastic job... the car is fantastic, and I love the way you did a staggered second floor to see the action on the first... really great ideas rolled into this MOC, definitely a great job.

Ok, I'm late to this thread (I've seen it but am usually pressed for time). I will skim through, but I doubt I'm repeating (at least the first ones). One thing I REALLY like about Series 4 is the painter, and I'd like to see more of the "arts" being represented... perhaps a sculptor. I would also like to see more interesting themes for girls. My daughter is on a dance company, to explain the first two: Gender: Female Occupation/print on torso: Ballet Dancer Type of headgear: Hair/Bun (like the Sumo Wrestler) Type of facial expression: Female, smiling, maybe pink cheeks. Color on torso/legs: black or pink torso with bare arms, pale white legs (like stockings), pink or black feet (matches torso) Accessory: ? Gender: Male Occupation/print on torso: Ballet Dancer Type of headgear: just hair. Type of facial expression: neutral. Color on torso/legs: black with bare arms. Accessory: ? My son does mixed martial arts... Gender: Male/Female Occupation/print on torso: Martial Artist Type of headgear: Just hair. Type of facial expression: Neutral/Serious Color on torso/legs: (*) See below for variations Accessory: various belt colors (perhaps 1x2 plates with completely open holes?), perhaps a broken board. (*) Variations: torso with bare chest and arms OR Gi (white or black, which would work both with male and females), white or black legs to match the Gi. Really, though, ultimately I would like to see an increase in the availability of a variety of minifigure pieces from PAB... more heads, plain torsos and legs (that we can detail ourselves), more hair. They should do an expansive version of the "build a minifigure" from the stores online, perhaps even doing sticker sheets instead of printed torsos (I prefer printed of course, but I'm trying to think more realistically). Plain torsos + a sticker sheet for martial arts or ballet, or any number of some suggestions already given (scientists and such). A great example could be any team sports player - where the sticker sheet could have a variety of numbers and someone could make a whole team. Edit: wow... you guys are good; not only did I see ballet dancers, but coal minors (I was thinking of that, too) and a lot of ideas that ended up as collectible minifigures!

A centaur, huh? BrickForge should come up with more ideas so that we can get "official" LEGO versions.

No...you need to read the Series 3 discussion thread (links to my post on feeling the packages). People were using the "dot" patterns created when the packages were sealed, and it seemed to work well for the first run... but subsequent runs were different and they're virtually useless now. You need to feel through the packages, it's really not that hard.

6 Series three at Target... first time I've ever seen them in Target around here; up until now it's always been an empty shelf. Since I was there, I got the TS3 Jeep pack, but I still haven't seen the Target Practice set.

I could do without those, as well, but I still like the detail on the rest of the face - the stubble, etc. Agree completely - it's true that sometimes it's hard to have old and new figures in the same vignette, but as long as they're all fleshies or all yellows, it doesn't bother me. It's not so much being more realistic, but the greater variety. The torso details on some of the newer figures are fantastic, and it doesn't bother me when they are next to "plain" torsos as many people just wear solids anyway; I rarely wear a t-shirt with a logo on it, it's usually just solid, and so are my button up shirts and pants... so mixed (old/simple and new/complex) torsos and legs don't really seem out of place with each other. We're at the point now where we're building large cities with possibly hundreds of figures, or medieval themes/castles with dozens of villagers or soldiers - all with the same face would look terrible; even if you had a variety of three or four it would look repetitive. I also love the trend towards two expressions on each head. I really wouldn't want to regress. Is it enough already? I don't know - I agree with David that the faces might be going too far. I would rather have more variety at this point than more detail. And yes, while I never complained about LEGO being sexist, I'd really like to see a lot more females. I'll have to take some pictures of my "minifig" kit tonight and post them... I LOVE having variety, and the more detail they add the more variety is possible. My "minifig" kit is like the "build a minifigure" at The LEGO Store, only it's got stuff they'd never have, including stuff from BrickArms and BrickForge, and "dresses" (printed 2x2x2 slopes that the manager of my local LEGO Store said they NEVER get despite getting dress torsos). I guess if I had one wish, it'd be short legs with hip joints. I recall a lot of people saying "NO!" about that, but it's not like you HAVE to bend them. I need kids and Hobbits that can walk and sit!

Yes.

My two cents... like others, I grew up with the OT - I was 10 years old when Star Wars came out. We made TIE fighters and X-Wings out of the LEGO we had back then, and had a lot of fun. Anyway, I don't really have a problem with CW. In fact, we do some work for CW where I work (we do CW commercials). But I never liked the characters involved in the PT, who are largely the ones who star in CW. The PT was just terrible, IMO; George Lucas should be shot - he has no concept of bringing real relationships to the screen and the whole "love" story just never materialized. Anakin was as emotional as the big rock in my front yard, and yes, I need more character driven stories. The occasional bad guy was great; Grievous, Darth Maul... but I just never liked the main characters, and they're the ones who play a significant role in the CW. But I don't hate it; in fact I watch it sometimes. But I'm not interested in CW or PT LEGO sets (the only one I got that I didn't ultimately regret was UCS Grievous).

I needed ONE, and in my order of 16 from S@H today I got FIVE Aliens.

UPDATED on Wednesday Jan. 26. USA or Canada (if trading two or more). Please note: all the Series 3 are sealed and determined using the "feel" method (sometimes corroborated with the "dot" method, except for some of the newer ones where the dots don't match). I've been 100% accurate with every single one I've opened so far. I would be happy to double check (I will definitely do another "feel," but I'll open it only if that's what you want and you will guarantee a trade). What I have to trade so far: Alien (x4) Baseball Player (x2) Mummy (x3) Tennis Player (x1) Ape Suit Guy (x1) Fisherman (x1) Rapper (x1) Samurai (x2 Opened) Cyborg (x1) Native Chieftain (x1) Snowboarder (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) As far as collectibles go (but see next line otherwise), all I want at this point are elves (closed or complete). For collectibles I will consider 2 for 3 trades (2 of your elves for three of my minifigures, 1 for 1 for the fisherman). I would also be interested in Castle figures, either Kingdoms or Fantasy: Trolls, medieval women, and soldiers. NO SKELETONS. I'd consider other offers as well (SW OT, Castle, HP, Train). Other things on my BL wanted list include rope bridges, train bases, plain torsos and legs, and LBG helmets. Edit: updated.

Yes and no... in the U.S., the first round were stamped with the code "138B0," and those with that code match the "published" list. Ones with newer codes do not match the published ones, nor does it seem clear there's any pattern. I just got a bunch of the older ones from S@H, so it's no help for me to try to compare dots.

I was looking at that, but wasn't sure it would be tall enough to do a second tier. There are 2 container stores in the Metro Atlanta area, but the area is so large, and they are both really out of my way (even when I head into town for work), it's more worth it for me to pay shipping than make a special trip.