fred67

I let them do whatever they want... sometimes they don't clean up (put away) up to my standards, but I'll never not let them play with the LEGO.

I dunno, Andy... are you being facetious? When you buy a set of 8 straight and 8 curves for $16, $2 for one straight makes it more worthwhile to buy the set and stick the curves in a drawer somewhere because maybe you can figure out something to do with them later; but buying $2 straights is pointless (given only a few fringe buyers would only want 1 or 2... which would be downright stupid unless you're getting free shipping anyway). And lastly, nobody is "whining" about it, we're stating a preference... I don't need more curves and have minimal use for flex track, so it would be nice if I could buy straights separately.

Just bundled with something else we (I) don't want. I need flex track like I need more curves. IOW, I don't; and while it has uses, I would rather buy a set of flex track when I come across a problem that requires it. I know. One of the things I mentioned is that they should sell it in LEGO stores and shop@home if they have to. So we shouldn't offer our opinions in a thread whose title begins "Should Lego....?" And as has been mentioned earlier in the thread, $2/track makes it more worth it to just buy the pack... it's pointless.

If... IF that were the case, I wouldn't have as much of a problem with it, but they KNEW from experience with 9V that it most certainly is NOT the case. It's not always quite true, though... as I said, you may not buy the track, but most people are going to say "I want straight track, the most cost effective way to get it is to buy the pack." LEGO gives us just enough of what we want, but not exactly what we want. Yes... yes... yes... while AFOLs are more consistent, it's the kids and buying by the parents that mess up the equation for AFOLs... and while we want to complain about it, we realize that TLG is giving people, on the whole, what they want... if it sells, they think people want it. The problem is that the combo pack sells because there's no alternative, and it's still the cheapest way to get new straight track. Yes... the whole equation is more complicated than we can possibly cover on EB; I can complain about marketing killing 9V, but I don't know what people wanted... I only know what I wanted, and what a lot of AFOLs wanted... we're only a tiny fraction of the buyers. I agree with everything else you wrote (no need to quote).

I know I'm a day late and a dollar short to this thread, but here's my two cents: As an over general theme of what I'm interested in right now, I want more minifigure parts available on PAB. Flesh and light gray hands, more solid color torsos, light gray hair, light gray helmets, more flesh heads, more torsos with prints for females. So I don't know how to phrase this... it's not new parts, and it's not new colors - it's old parts in colors that exist for other pieces, some of which had previously been available but aren't any longer (like light gray torsos, not on PAB anymore, but beyond that I would want more colors). If I could be specific, parts I would like to see sold separately (some of these already exist, but you cannot buy them separately): Part Name: minifig hands (pair) Description: minifig hands in light gray and flesh colors. Usage: modify/build a greater variety of minifigures. Part Name: minifig arms (pair) Description: arms in a greater variety of colors: green, light gray, flesh, blue, red, etc. Usage: modify/build a greater variety of minifigures. Part Name: minifig torso with dress print Description: various color minifig torsos for females. Usage: Build a minifig whorehouse modify/build a greater variety of minifigures. Part Name: Brick slopes, 2x2x2 high, printed dress patterns. Description: various color minifig dresses for females. Usage: modify/build a greater variety of minifigures. NOTE: I want it to be known I'm not being sexist... most women you encounter in the "real world" (if such a place exists) are wearing pants; I realize these slopes wouldn't be as popular as regular minifigure legs, but the fact is you could use solid color legs with a torso printed for a dress and it would work just fine. In particular, though, I'm interested in medieval settings, in which case dresses are more important. I would like a lot more plain color torsos. Most of them would be used within some context that wouldn't require printing... you put armor on it, and you don't see it anyway; you put some sort of gear carried on the back, or even just a hat, and the figure carrying some utensil, and the outfit is given in context. These make them more generic and easier to apply in more situations, and also makes customization easier. I don't think things like this are unreasonable... it's not new molds, and it's not new colors.

I know, right? But it wasn't always like that - you used to be treated really well when flying. The point is that overall, people demand cheap and cheap is what they got... I'm willing to pay more for better service, but the masses have spoken. On some airlines it's possible to upgrade, and I've taken advantage of that (Air Tran, specifically), but overall you lose choice because of the lowest-common-denominator approach businesses take. And that's the thing - I'd be willing to pay more for straights, more than 1/2 the price of the combined pack for 8, and I'm sure a lot of other are - but not more than $16 when you get 8 straights! So that's what I was saying... you can boycott, or you can say "well, I need straights, and the cheapest way to get them is still to buy the set and figure out something to do with the curves later." And that's marketing... I get annoyed at it, but TLG knows what it's doing and nobody is forcing me to buy them. I've seen some creative uses for the curved track... curved walls, interesting roofs... I'll figure out something, but the preference is, of course, to be able to buy straight separately. And that's what this thread is about... in our opinions, should we be able to buy straights separately... I think we all want that. You can argue about SKUs and shelf space... I don't care if it's LEGO exclusive, only online or at LEGO Stores... then it shouldn't be an issue. I guess the thing is that it's my understanding that they have ONE mold that makes an equal number of straights and curves. That was just plainly bad planning if that's the case. But being that's how it is, and they know more people want straights, they sell the combined packs because they don't want to get stuck with them. Even 9V tracks... I don't think people even get MSRP for 9V curves. Edit: Do you wonder why the LEGO.com message boards don't have a train forum? I don't.

You're an anomaly... you must realize that. It wouldn't have gone on so long if the majority of people felt that way. I needed track just for my shelf displays... all straights; now I have a drawer full of curves. I have ideas how to use them, reselling them wasn't a consideration... who wants curves? They're not worth selling. Nobody expects you to be a "loss driven customer." People buy things that they think are worth it... buying a pack of straight and curves was more worth it to me than buying straights separately on BL. If you want straights, you have little alternative, as TLG has no competition. I realize there's more to it than that, I realize there's limited shelf space, and over all limited demand... there's a lot more to it than can reasonably be discussed on a forum like this... I mean, all they have to do is say "we have plans to do this because the customers want it... but we're too busy making higher profits on these other sets right now." That's the way it should be, but that's not the way it is. When their customers weren't buying enough 9V, they didn't change marketing strategy or ask the community what we wanted. They set the rules... if you want LEGO trains, you buy their products... their major demographic in this situation doesn't share your concerns - they do not care about you as long as kids and their parents buy them more LEGO products than we are buying, and by all accounts, that's the reality. It's nice to take the high road and say "let's boycott straight/curve packs!" But all that happens is the kids and their parents buy enough to satisfy LEGO. And I don't believe for a minute TLG really cares about how much you can expand your layout with $15 track sets when parents are lining up to buy $120+ complete sets for their kids. I do not believe this for a minute. This comes down to prices for manufacturing and doing what's easiest for TLG. I would rather have the curves than the flex track; it looks terrible... now instead of just having terrible looking non-standard curves, all the curves will be terrible looking? Are they going to continue selling the straight/curves? I had assumed this was a replacement. If they are going to sell both, then the arguments against selling straight separately are even worse. First of all, I never claimed TLG was "evil." I don't think businesses trying to make a profit are "evil." They market and sell things in a way they think will make them the best profit; that's not "evil." Second, that's a strawman argument... obviously star wars has nothing to do with castle themes, to imply that it's comparable to tying two types of compatible train track together is disingenuously silly. If you want a comparable example, try buying a Darth Vader magnet by itself. Try buying a Harry Potter magnet by itself. They tie together figures you may want with figures you may not want despite the fact that most of us wouldn't want all three. That's not evil, nobody "forces" us to buy anything we don't find valuable enough. I'm not going to try to figure out what's going on the in the minds of LEGO marketing, but the bottom line is you have to understand TLG is a profit driven company; the decisions come from management, almost exclusively based on what marketing tells them... which is not what AFOLs want, it's what will make TLG the highest profit. There's nothing wrong with that, there's nothing "evil" about it, but since TLG doesn't cater to Adults, it sucks for us, it's just one of those things we need to get over. I want to add one thing - companies market things based on the ebb and flow of market demands. You tell me I can use my money to influence companies? I don't want to shop at WalMart, but they are the biggest retailer on the planet and affect a large number of products on the market; people demand cheap - most people don't think about the ultimate cost of cheap (like that a $35 pair of jeans is likely to last twice as long, if not longer, than a $20 pair). People complain about being herded like cattle onto airplanes, but refuse to pay higher prices, and I'm stuck with that.

I haven't visited this thread in a while and only just watched this. While the guy was overboard and very funny, he made some good points - if I know what it is, as a LEGOholic, I'll buy at least two of each figure anyway, and some figures a lot more. Also, if you're going to keep it blind, please make the ones people will want multiples of less rare... you know what happens, with normal people like me(*)? I want more Spartans... just a squad, maybe 10, not 300... I have two. I'm not blindly buying more in hopes of getting more, I'm just going to live with two... but if I knew what they were, I'd buy them! And I know we're AFOLs and TLG only wants to make the little children happy, but the little children aren't going to be happy after whining their parents to death to buy another handful of figures at the store and opening them up to find... two more mime's, another weightlifter, another disco guy, and two more cops (**).... all of which little Jimmy already had. What fun! (*) statement has not been validated. (**) at which point I could make a gay disco club with half the village people, gay weightlifters and mimes... not that there's anything wrong with that.... I just don't think it's what little Jimmy had in mind when he tantrumed his way into getting his parents into buying more collectibles.

If I had enough money, I'd do it. By enough, I don't mean $20k. $20k in one shot like that would require that I held investments in the high hundreds of thousands, if not a million or more, to spend $20k in one shot on something as frivolous as LEGO. There, I said it... it's just a hobby. I wouldn't sacrifice my kid's college education for it.

Interesting question, and I suppose it depends on which "category." The new train sets are selling really well; they have track expansions (straights/curves), turn outs, flex track... remember last Christmas all the current sets (at the time) sold out. The category TLG cares about is the under 14 crowd... and they are meeting the needs of the kids getting into LEGO trains. Unfortunately what it seems like is they don't really care about hanging on to those train fans as they get older, they make more getting newer buyers every year. They tried the traditional train route, where you could buy so much separately - rolling stock, straight and curved track separately, separate engines (steam in various "plug and play" configurations). It was great at the time, but it didn't work for TLG. If they were properly meeting the needs of the category that keeps them in business, they would have made enough profit to continue it. Now why it failed is subject to debate, but they didn't do a great job of marketing it. I knew nothing about it. I didn't start getting into LEGO at all as an adult until I bought my first train around 2001 or 2002... when I bought the Railway Express, I didn't know anything about it. I bought two (they were clearance) because I didn't know that I'd ever even be able to buy more track or another motor. Now, that may seem fine if you're just some average Joe, but I was a model railroader in N-Gauge before LEGO, and I knew nothing about LEGO trains... despite the magazines and conventions. So yeah, I think TLG did a bad job of marketing. I don't know how they could have done better, honestly. There's only so much shelf space TRU will give them. TRU has to pick and choose what they think will sell the best; did TLG even offer trains? I don't know... TRU had a pretty crappy train section at that time (still do, AFAIK). It gets depressing... TLG can only make so much product per year. If they over produce, they end up like they did in the 90's, on the verge of bankruptcy. Trains didn't save them, Star Wars did, and once they got back on track they knew they couldn't make the same mistakes. At the same time I wish they'd produce more of what I like, I also feel the strain on my wallet and often curse them for making so many good products. I wish we knew sales stats on various products, but it's probably trade secret. How well did the Emerald Night sell? Considering that many people would want at least 2 or 3 cars, if not more, wouldn't it be worthwhile for them to release the car separately? Apparently not. Is My Own Design good enough? Yeah, if you want to spend $200 on a car from a $100 set. So... the bottom line is TLG is a profit driven company. A lot of fans are loathe to admit it, and some actually deny it, but there it is... if they make more profit releasing packs of curves and straights together than they would separately, then that's what they will do... as long as we keep buying it. And we do.

According to brickset: You own 238 sets (123 different). We have piece counts for 84 of them. Using that data we have calculated that you own 55231 pieces! So... it's a wildly inaccurate piece count (on the low side... I must have ordered at least 15k from bricklink over the years). I also own 545 minifigures... but that's wildly inaccurate, too (on the low side). Of course, that's not all Star Wars... in fact, probably maybe only 1/4 to 1/3 Star Wars, less on the minifigures.

Well... the roofs on both the toy shop and bakery caused me some minor problems. In the case of the Toy Shop, it is a bit awkward but I built it last year, boxed it, took it out and set it up this past weekend, and it's still good. There's no "barely" holding on, it should be a solid connection. I had a problem with the bakery because I built the first section in the instructions and tried to put it on the "first" side without really looking... it would fit, but not securely, and I sat there saying "this isn't right, " and I went through the instructions and I had it on the wrong side. Now, I'm not saying that's what happened to you guys, but a single missed plate here or there and it's likely to not fit. I would go over the instructions again... yes, the toy shop roof seemed a bit awkward to attach, but where it attaches it attaches solidly. There's not enough there to be able to, for example, pick it up by the roof, but the roof should stay on. As far as the lights go, in both the shops I never figured to even leave the lights on... it was just something you'd go and press the button when you wanted to see inside. I'll try it when I get home, but it seems to me if you bend them back that far, they wouldn't do a particularly good job lighting. I was just going to do my own LED lights anyway.

I agree with the former, but don't see what it has to do with the latter. I don't like flex track. Yes, it's got it's uses, but I don't want to buy a bunch of it every time I want straights. Yes, I know it can be used to make straights, but it's butt ugly and only useful when you have "non-standard" curves. And while I agree with the former, the fact is that I am going to start making my own out of 0-Gauge rails and 2x8 plates, both for straights and wider curves, and I'm going to be doing that because TLG is not selling it's customers what they want... almost everybody, whether AFOL, TFOL, or younger who has a train set they want to expand wants more straights than curves, period. Their continuing trend towards "lowest common denominator" is quite annoying. Soon all you'll be able to get is flex track since, hey, you can use it for straights and curves and then TLG only needs one mold!

I agree with the others - great design, great "wrap around" engines, everything from the nose to the back of the engines, including the wing design... the only thing that bothers me about it is that the tail looks on level with the exhaust, and I think that would rip the tail apart.

What Duq said... full speed is too fast. If you're going to power it with PF, get an IR receiver and remote. They're not that much more money when you consider the price of everything else. In fact, it almost makes no sense without it.

Agreed. And while it may have it's uses, the flex track is butt ugly IMO. Just want straights.

-Monster -Werewolf -Mad Professor Let's see... S1: Zombie, S2: Vampire and Witch, S3: Mummy. Now, Monster... that's not very descriptive. I could say "Oh! It's <oh... insert random politician's name>." Frankenstein's Monster? That would go with the mad professor... It seems like a bit much in one series. I'll hold off on judgement until we get some relatively official.

Very nice... I'm not a big creator fan, but the sets can be really fun. I generally consider the houses to be more city sets, I don't get the distinction. But I like both the house and the robot; I'm glad to see the newer light brick appearing in more sets. They also don't look that big... which is nice, because maybe it means I can actually afford multiples of them.

Yeah... I'd preordered mine about a month ago and just got it about a week ago. I had subscribed once to BM, and while I liked the little sets, it would have been worth it if they were all Star Wars, to me, or if you had a choice in themes or something... I don't know. Didn't seem worth it overall, and I did not resubscribe. Anyway, I figured this was going to be the last of it, so I said "what the heck" and ordered it. The magazine itself is not that great; most of the content overlaps what you get with the free fanclub magazine (I don't even remember what it's called). They had some contests, but I never participated because I always felt it was for the kids. Don't know if it's worth it unless you're a "collector," and want all the little sets whether it's your favorite theme or not... many of them are easily built from your own collection or with inexpensive BL purchases (if you're buying other stuff, anyway). If you need "everything" LEGO, including all the comics (including 3D), then you might like it more than me. It did include a few mini posters that are kind of neat: - A 3D Atlantis poster; the other side like a LEGO Universe thing. - A Star Wars poster; the other side is a collage of pictures from BrickFair. The order came with a large Diagon Alley poster, which I think is very cool, but it's not limited to the BrickMaster magazine, as I got another one in a separate LEGO order. EDIT: If this is all news to anybody, I can take pictures later... I'm at home, but technically I'm supposed to be working.

Yup... having to pick only one, I have to go with the elf. I don't like the second question, though... I "love" the collectibles, I suppose, but it's more like a small group of each one, it's hard to pick any series in particular, they've all had those few that seemed really great.

Really? You don't think it's worth the price, or worth getting out of bed that early? I have the Troll Mountain Fortress, and while I don't really want another one, $65 for the parts seems pretty good... 8 really good minifigures plus two "giant" trolls, a bunch of burps, a variety of interesting slope pieces... I may get it for the parts; and if I'm dragging my megablocks out of bed, where I'll be that day the Target is right across from the TRU, and I wouldn't mind a couple more of those creator houses.

Wow... 30% off? That's quite good, isn't it? I really like this one... I have one, the only thing I added with double slops on the top; it seemed really bad without them and looks great with them. I wish I could have gotten three to do all three "official" builds, now maybe is my chance.

Find the set in the catalog: . In the lower section near the center of the screen you can "part out" the set to your wanted list. This is what I did for the Holiday Train... part it out to a wanted list; I took an empty container that I had handy to put the parts in, and I went through the wanted list and put in the container the pieces I already had, removing them from the wanted list as I went along. What I was left with was a list of pieces I needed to complete the train. Then you search for items on your wanted list by store and generally work it out. It's not easy, especially with a lot of parts, and the wanted list search doesn't sort by best prices or anything really useful... it won't go through your list and get the best overall price for the largest number of parts, and honestly most stores will not have more than a handful of the many parts you'll need to complete the UCS Falcon, so you will have to optimize based not just on parts, but on minimizing shipping. Lastly, I need to make this perfectly clear: sometimes, especially for certain pieces in quantity(*), LEGO Shop@Home P.A.B. actually has better prices. If you order enough you can probably get free shipping, and you're also guaranteed the parts are new and in decent shape (although they are packed loose and can jostle around and scratch each other... but you get that from anywhere). (*) Let's say you need 50 of something... there may be a number of sellers selling more cheaply than S@H, but if none of them have more than 20, you're making three orders = 3 times the shipping and handling. Trust me on this... it's impossible for me to steer you wrong by simply mentioning to check S@H; either the pieces are cheaper or they're not, in which case nothing lost. EDIT: I want to throw some things on my BL resume of doing what I just described: The Holiday Train was the latest, but I have three of the five Sante Fe cars built, and the pieces to build another one (just haven't gotten around to it); I managed to save a bunch because I accepted a black roof instead of gray... no big deal, IMO, but I had a gray alternative that worked OK, too... so it's good to be able to accept alternative pieces. I've built a number of Star Wars A-Wings and Snow Speeders, too, and even a handful of minis that I didn't feel like spending full price on for a new one. It's not always worth it, though; the reason someone can charge $1000AUS for something is because they know it will likely cost you at least close to that amount trying to do it yourself.

Don't know. I've always gone to the store. A lot of these deals are "door busters," things to get your butt into the store and hopefully buy something they will make more of a profit on. The ad says in the fine print that the sale prices are good Friday and Saturday... it also says (in the little "mice" type) to "Shop Target and Super Target" and to find your nearest locations online... so at first glance, I would assume it's in-store only. But the large print says "Shop Target.com Thanksgiving Day." But the ad doesn't say the prices are valid on Thanksgiving. So... I dunno.

Well, I had a huge reply typed out, but wanted to make it short and simple: I think the thing is that we shouldn't stop giving small businesses like BrickArms and BrickForge a pass, as they fill a niche that LEGO can't or won't fill, and I've make a number of orders from both and have been very satisfied. But the bottom line is that Megabloks also offers things that LEGO does not; their minifigures are different and, in some ways, superior - especially (but not limited to) the Halo ones - they are more detailed and more articulate than LEGO minifigures. Don't get me wrong, I personally only have one from a long time ago, and I love how customizable my LEGO minifigures are even just using "official" parts, but the fact is they are similar, like BrickForge swords and helmets, but different, which adds merit to their existence. And while megabloks also has bricks that are nearly identical to LEGO bricks, they also offer bricks (like double sided plates) that LEGO does not offer. Ultimately I think the problem is that a lot of us are too much "fan boys" for the products we've selected and make excuses to denigrate and berate companies like megabloks while happily accepting companies like BrickForge and BrickArms. If I could draw a conclusion, it's that we should stop belittling Megabloks and accept that they are a worthy player (and add value to) the "brick market," the same way we have for BrickArms and BrickForge. Slippery slope indeed... I think the criteria should be if the company or product adds value to our brick worlds, and all of the companies I've mentioned so far do. A company like Enlighten may not, but surely Megabloks does. On a final note, while I won't buy those lampposts, the fact is they are offering something TLG does not... lampposts that are designed to be able to use actual lights. Many users have previously been drilling out LEGO lampposts in order to achieve the same effect. I'm preferring, at the moment, to experiment with brick built lampposts (see the upcoming Diagon Alley for a good example). But I guess what I'm saying is these lampposts can replace the LEGO ones, it's true... but the LEGO ones can't replace these, and that gives them merit. What happens with products that BrickForge came out with first? They offered Spartan/Hoplite weapons and armor first; they offer sheep - a lot of the products I'm not sure about, like dwarf beards, but what happens if LEGO introduces a centaur or sheep?