fred67

I agree with DHCP1121, and I often repeat it here. Not only do I find the odd item here and there cheaper on PAB, but often times for "rare" pieces, BL sellers will only have one or two when I need more than that - and so single shipping from S@H is cheaper. Also, when buying many of a certain item, often enough no BL seller will have the quantity you want - you'll find really good prices from sellers that have very few, and prices go higher in quantity, occasionally surpassing PAB, making PAB more worthwhile. I actually buy from PAB quite often... depending on what I want, I find it frustrating sometimes to have to make three or four orders when for a couple dollars more I can get it all from PAB and not have to deal with BL sellers... they're usually quite good, but I have enough problems (short orders, long delays in invoicing/shipping) that sometimes I just say "screw it" and buy from S@H when I'm buying other S@H items as well. Ultimately you have to weigh in the time and cost, and BL is almost always cheaper. But only "almost." Which makes me laugh, because I just finished watching Apocalypto (if you've seen it and remember it at all, you'll get the joke).

My plan is 30x60 inch tables. Although I plan for it to be modular, my initial plan is four tables, laid out something like this: 112 4 2 433 Where 11 is the first 30x60 inch table, 22 is the second, etc.... I hope the idea is clear. It will give me a 30x30 center to work in, should the need arise. I can add tables later on (there will already be branches built in to the initial layout). If I change my mind, it will only be to use 4 feet by 8 feet plywood instead, and do roughly the same thing (if I have space). I will never have to reach more than about 2 feet, and I can get anywhere and wire it from underneath with no problems. Going the modular route, I could even do half height (or any height) legs if I wanted (or wanted others) to be able to get a better look.

Well, we go back and forth between "dream" licenses and what's "realistic." The title of the thread is "Dream LEGO Licenses," so I don't think they need to be realistic. Having worked on both live action Ben 10 movies (airing on Cartoon Network, I work in a TV production facility), I was baffled by TLG's decision to do Ben 10, but I was like "ok, let's wait and see what it looks like." When it was "oh, mediocre Bionicle style..." it just made no sense - you got none of the other characters, none of the vehicles, you couldn't really do anything with them... are the different alien forms Ben can morph into supposed to fight each other? A minifigure version would have made a whole lot more sense. I also would like to see LOTR more than anything. Not only is it my "dream" license, I think it's also completely realistic, despite what so many people say to the contrary. There's plenty of sets that could be made, both large and small... I've mentioned before I could probably come up with 50 off the top of my head, not including The Hobbit based sets. And contrary to thinking about what 8 year olds are interested in, the fact is that many 8, 9, and 10 year olds were perfectly "aware" and enthralled by LOTR when it came out, despite the maturity rating of the films... the video game franchise for LOTR continues to this day. I don't think it's unrealistic at all. The same was being said of Harry Potter, in fact... it was getting "too mature," it was getting "too dark," and not appropriate for kids, which is why (it was said) they hadn't made any in years... yet many of the new sets sold out for Christmas, including the most expensive one. Diagon Alley temporarily sold out already (although it's already available again), and it's official release was only Jan. 1.

I keep a couple to actually mark off what I got (I know, childish, right?), and a two or three extra. I may make a larger poster out of the smaller ones at some point.

I ordered a couple, but they were back ordered. I also ordered a few of these: "Amac" boxes, 1-5/8" sq. x 2-7/8" h (item 60300), which are approximately the same size as some dice boxes I got a while back for my kids (for Pokemon), if you turn it upside down and build it up a brick (which ends up looking pretty nice), it's perfect for a single figure - and they're pretty cheap ($0.79). So - I can't "rate" them yet, but I ordered a few and I'll post back with some pictures if they work out as well as I hope. When I get a chance I'll post a picture of the dice boxes. Edit: Dice cases to display minifigures. by FredJH, on Flickr

As I collect more elves from Series 3, I bought a few more Elf items from Brickforge - blades, helmets (which, of course, negates the need for elf hair), a couple miscellaneous pieces.

Yup... with the baseplate and the little "poster" insert, it can be hard to tell... the bow is definitely what makes it 100%.

Battle packs are possible, you never know what they could come up with. a graveyard scene with some death eaters and Tom Riddle Srs. grave and maybe a few fence pieces, perhaps a couple extra tombstones (which would be cool by themselves, if you ask me). any classroom with a table and various other items (books, flasks) and a number of generic students from different houses. any common room with cheap fireplace and couch and generic students from that house. I don't think it's as big a deal as it's made out to be. If TLG doesn't do this, it's simply because they don't feel it's worthwhile. If we didn't do battle packs as such, then think about this comparison with Castle: people hate the battle packs. Now, I disagree - I did have some problem because they packaged them without the shields fully inserted in some hands, so the hands were forced open all those months on the shelves (and in my closet), but I digress.. those castle battle packs cost $15/each, came with five guys, and people didn't like them. Now, the Knight's Showdown pack only came with two Knights (and a little catapult and stand) and cost $7. So, instead of $30 for two battle packs (with what some called sub-standard figures), you could buy 5 of the showdown sets for $35, get five of each knight (granted, they're all the same), and a bunch of other miscellaneous pieces. Now, granted, you'd want several different sets to get different figures, but if they had a small 2 to 4 figure set (as I described above) with generic Ravenclaw/Hufflepuff figures, then you could easily build up a bunch - swap out some heads and hair and have whoever you want, and you might have to buy some extra things (tables and such) to get around TLG's restrictions, but that's not too big of a deal, I think. While we're on the subject, I wonder what is going through the minds of TLG's management... they stopped HP because they obviously weren't selling as well as they wanted (don't tell me otherwise... companies don't discontinue products they have a license for if they're selling well), so I wonder what they're thinking now that the sets are selling so well? Also while we're on the subject... who's got the exclusive license for HP action figures?

Got some more at the LEGO Store this morning and just got the chance to go through them... the dots are indeed different. For those saying they absolutely have no dots, you need just the right lighting condition... some are definitely very difficult to see, and you certainly wouldn't notice them at a glance. In the U.S., the older packs with the code "138B0" match the dots that have been published. The newer ones with "544B0" not only don't match, but sometimes conflict with the published dot patterns. It doesn't really bother me, though, because for series three feeling them has been pretty much 100% for the ones I've opened. I am trying to save a complete unopened set, and verified what I felt with the dot patterns up until now. Of the ones I've opened for me and the kids, I've been 100% (even when we just started out and knew we'd be opening them, I wanted to see if I could tell what they were first). I know it's been said, and people have their different techniques, but the feel method should be 100%, IMO, for at least these: Elf - shield and bow are absolutely unique. Fisherman - you feel the pole, which has the bump on one end and the reel on the other; the fish can be difficult, but the clincher is that you can feel the string. Samurai - I have trouble with the armor, but the sword is absolutely unique - feel for the hilt. Baseball Player - again, the bat is absolutely unique. Its' fatter than the rods that come with the alien and blacktron guy, and you can feel the indent for the grip on one end. Snowboarder - pretty obvious, make sure you're not feeling the stand. When I was at the store with other people telling them you could feel most of them, they all kept saying they got the snowboarder because of the stands they all come with. Feel for the curve. Tennis Player - damn tennis player (got four in my first order from S@H); the racket is absolutely unique. Tribal Chieftain - Spear... should be clearly distinguishable from the fishing rod, no big bumps (reel on the fishing rod) and flexible spear tip. The headdress puts any doubts to rest. A tiny bit more "iffy:" Alien and Blacktron space guy - these come with with the small rods ("lightsabers"), if you feel that part then you know you definitely have one of these two. If you can feel the visor or helmet, it's the blacktron guy; if you can feel the alien head, then... it's the alien! I was not able to feel for the peg leg; and helmets can be hard - the visor or the alien head are give-aways for me. Ape - I know, the ape should be easy, right? Just feel for the banana - but it can sometimes be easy to confuse with a helmet visor. Shouldn't be too hard, though... give the crescent shaped objects a good feel. Rapper and Hula - both have maraca/microphone shape objects. Obviously Hula has two, but sometimes it's hard to get all the parts. The hula has big hair, though, completely distinct from the rapper, and the rapper has the boombox - rectangular with a handle. Sumo - the sumo can be mistaken for a rapper or hula if you're not paying that much attention. The little statue can feel like a maraca or mic. He has unique hair, though, and if you feel hard enough, you can feel the shape of the statue (in that it's not perfectly round) and the bottom of the statue is flat. Mummy - the scorpion should make finding the mummy a piece of cake; unfortunately, sometimes it's hard to tell through the package that it's not just big hair or something else. Still, this should pretty much be 100%. Race Car Driver and Aviator - feel for the backpack; otherwise be careful because they both have helmets (although somewhat different) and visors on their helmets; the different is either hair (driver) or backpack. These are the most frustrating for me.

I did a Ruby Night, and it's really nice (except I haven't done pin striping). Onyx or Obsidian Night are definitely my choices.

You guys need to get together for a beer and discuss LEGO.

Being 44 with two kids, a full time job, and a needy house (high maintenance), I find I hardly have any time at all to "play" with my LEGO. Often when I post here (like now), I'm just taking a quick break from work (this program I'm writing is becoming very tedious!). I have a bunch of sets that I considered "must haves" and haven't even opened yet. I have my own MOC projects that I haven't worked on in ages. But it happens... every so often I get the time to do something - that's what a hobby is, it's what you want to do in your free time... but sometimes I'm not in the mood. If I felt like I could just pack it all up and not play with it at all, I'd probably just sell it.

Only if you're from the south. If you ask for coke up north (assuming you're not talking to a drug dealer) you will get Coca Cola, you will not be asked "what kind?"

Agree with others... for random bits and pieces, BL is your only option. Don't ever forget about S@H PAB! In a lot of instances, for me anyway, ordering from there was actually cheaper, but they are so limited in what they sell, and especially things like just a separate "arm" is something they'd never have. BL is not so bad... make use of the wanted list, read store terms carefully (minimum orders and such), and keep a mental list of the kinds of parts you wouldn't mind bulking up an order with if necessary. When I really need a single part (or few parts), I'll look for tiles and bricks in bulk, skim through minifigures, etc., to meet minimum orders and to make shipping more worthwhile.

Lego or Legos? Neither, it's "LEGO." Period. Case closed. If you're going to be all anal retentive about it, there is no "Legos," there is no "Lego," there's just "LEGO." My suggestion, though, is to not be all anal retentive about it.

Someone (I'm feeling too lazy to look it up) made some really cool LOST MOCs that they shared here on EB a while back. My supervisor is not a LEGO fan, but was a big LOST fan, and wondered how much she could buy them for. So here you have the market - it's not LEGO enthusiasts, who might be inspired by other people's MOCs, it's the people who aren't traditional LEGO fans, but like like the theme of the MOC. I said that generally people don't do MOCs for resale, and that she could make an offer, but it'd probably have to be quite high, relatively speaking, for someone to part with it. And Ralph is absolutely right... I can buy a canvas and paint and paint a house for a lot less money than I could buy a painting of a house... but my painting would look like garbage; that's how a good artist makes a living.

Maya has kinematics, it's just not automatic.

Kids.woot.com is selling four different LEGO kids watches: bionicle, castle, space police, and power miners for $9.99 + $5 S&H. For those unfamiliar with Woot, it's "One day, One deal." You can order up to three of the items they are selling (in this case, you'd be able to get three different watches, or three the same, or any mix) and S&H is the same regardless how many you get, so you conceivably get 3 watches for $35 ($34.97) including S&H. One day, one deal, ends at midnight CST. Not my cup of tea, but not a bad deal (I found space police for $15 at Amazon and it's eligible for free shipping if you get the total order high enough, but if you wanted more than one you'd save some money). The castle watch is $18 at Amazon, so YMMV.

I agree, JoeBot, that looks like a GREAT solution... at 10 inches wide it's about as wide as a standard baseplate (although you wouldn't get that much usable space). I think I'll order a few.

They are legit, but they aren't licensed (do you see the LEGO logo on it anywhere?). $19 is too much for what it is, IMO.

Well... I don't think there's a specific EB area just for micro, since you can build anything in micro it applies to every theme. The latest issue (I think) of Brick Journal has a "Building Standards" section and includes a few pages on microscale, but it's not entirely accurate, if you ask me. They actually "define" micro figure size as 1-brick high + 1 plate head; if you look at some of my microscale creations (well... one big creation that I'm still working on), I make them taller, which allows you to use clips for them to hold things. This joust scene, for example, shows the figures holding lances and shields and even riding micro horses. This is my thread on my ongoing (if slow) microscale castle project. You can visit Classic Castle's How-To section for their microscale techniques. Then, of course, is MicroBricks, a blog dedicated to microscale LEGO. Most people, though, as far as I know, just wing-it - trial and error. It's usually not that frustrating because it's micro and any particular "thing" is not so many bricks that you get frustrated at the work you put into when it doesn't look just right. Edit: I wanted to make it clear that there's no "fixed" meaning of "micro" scale, that's why I didn't like the "definition" given in brick journal... the scale of some creations are so small they simply can't have "people," for example. So while there might be "standards," like "Micropolis," "micro" by itself isn't defined as anything except "smaller than mini." I'd offer, with LEGO making some arbitrary "midi" scale, that you might want to say "smaller than midi."

I know this is a common sentiment, but I don't share it. First, overall, these characters are as varied in theme and excellent in detail as the other series. I've collected all of every series so far (well... I give the ones my kids want to them, so I need to get more, but we have all 16 of series 3 in the house), and there's really about the same number of "must haves" for me - the Elf, the Samurai, Tribal Chieftain, and the aviator. At first I was down on most of the other ones, but when I saw them I realized most of them are equally important to continue the sub-themes - the Sumo for the "martial" arts (I don't know if it's considered that), the snowboarder, baseball, and tennis players for the various sports, the mummy - even the ape suit guy is cooler than I expected. I hated the rapper from the photos. The only reason I thought I would want one was to be a completest, but then when I saw the boom box itself, I decided it was an excellent new piece, even if I don't really care for the rapper. The alien and blacktron guy are cooler than I thought, the Hula dancer is cool. I don't think there's any more or less I like about this series than any others so far, I think they've all be fantastic, they've all had the handful that I wanted multiples.

This was my first attempt at such a beast... I've done other ones, but didn't make a movie. It's a simple walker. Not particularly elegant, but it worked. Here's a movie.

The distribution of my first set of Series 3 from S@H was quite good: Snowboarder Gorilla Suit Guy Baseball Player (x2) Rapper Tennis Player (x4 ) Alien Race Car Driver (x2) Hula Dancer Fisherman Elf Tribal Chieftain That's 11(*) different out of 16, which I think is pretty darn good. (*) Duplicates are all unopened, including the Elf and Tribal Chieftain, and fisherman, which I already had, but I'm 100% on the "feel" method so far, and the tennis rackets, spear, bow and shield, etc., make me 100% certain about the ones I didn't open except the race car driver, but I double checked the bumps online and I'm pretty sure I got that one, too.

Nice... I'm wondering, with the advent of TLG's new "elf" from series 3, if you have any plans at making alternate "elf" hair (with the "built in" ears). Female elf hair would absolutely fantastic, and for Tolkien fans you've got both light and dark haired versions. I'm actually considering doing this to some LEGO hair using a rotary tool, but I know you pros could do it a lot better.