fred67

Assembly Square is the only modular I don't have. I really want to keep the shuttle; when I build my city I can definitely envision a huge space center - but it's very likely not going to happen (not enough space), so I'm willing to let it go. Right now the cheapest new 10231 in North America is $400; average six month selling price is over $360. I'm willing to let it go for a trade for a new Assembly Square - it's a good deal for anyone that wants the shuttle. Pictures on request, of course.

Yeah.... IDK. It's easy to organize basic bricks, I think. It's the modified bricks, and all the little bits and pieces.... do white profile bricks go with white, or do I have a separate thing for profile bricks? Does a black 1x1 modified with studs on two sides go with black, or with some other specialty bricks? Here's a shot, for example, of one case of what I call miscellaneous (YMMV): That's just one. Where do chains go? Where do 2x2 round tiles with hole go? Bars? So what would I do differently? Every method I can think of starts to fail when your collection gets sufficiently varied. Note - that's not "large," like 100's of thousands of bricks, but varied. What you would do with 50k white 2x4s as opposed to 10 each of 5k different elements. Now you have to figure out the in-between. some parts I have thousands of, some just 1.

There are some steam train rides (11 Places in the United States where you can rides a steam train). That's a bit of a stretch, I know, but so is any of this, really. Besides, we had Emerald Night as a creator, they could do another one (although it seems they're not). Honestly,my favorite steam train from LEGO was the Lone Ranger one. So... whatever. And that was 7 years ago. There's been some castle sets, though.... it looks like this was the last one, two years ago. Not much. A 3-in-1 creator style castle building (something like a tower, a moat crossing, and something else) would be neat. As I mentioned earlier, a castle modular would be phenomenal.

Interesting concept, but I think TLG would need something narrower - more precise. But I don't run TLG, so what do I know? They never cease to annoy me with their profit motivated decisions instead of catering specifically to me. It would be interesting - for me, anyway - to create those kinds of sets that actually CAN fit into the city theme. I'm a railfan, I have a lot of trains and creator sets - including almost all the modulars and many of the creator houses and three in one sets for building up a LEGO city. A lot of teen fantasy novels revolve around the "fey" co-existing with the modern world. Think "Bright," if you've seen that Netflix movie (which was panned, but I liked it). It wouldn't have to be a separate line, it would actually work with city. And just be sets that people who weren't interested in that sort of thing wouldn't have to buy. This would actually also work for aliens and other themes. Alien Conquest was easily incorporated into any city. Monsters, zombies; there are even movies like Reign of Fire depicting dragons in the modern world. It's all about imagination, right? As a side note, the Haunted House set was a big hit (I missed out on), and many people included it with their modular cities. I'd also point out that castles still exist in the modern world; a castle made to the standards that modular buildings are would be phenomenal.

These are what I've been using for some years for minifigures. They are LDPE, and you can get other sizes. There are a number of "regular" food storage bags in my collection, too, but they get phased out as time goes on.

Yeah - Akro mills includes like 4 dividers? I don't recall. Not enough for all those drawers. I just outline one on cardboard and cut it out. Larger sets often have the instructions in separate plastic with a cardboard to keep it from bending and getting all mangled.

I also use the cardboard that comes with the instructions (to keep the instructions from getting mangled); I cut it and use it for dividers in my Akro-Mills organizers. I always get the Akro-Mills with the large drawers, and then subdivide, if necessary, with the cardboard.

Yeah.... I was around when you moved to facebook entirely. I don't like facebook, so I rarely look. The problems I've had trying to participate are like this: I work in television, particularly graphics for sports. Last week I was in Boston for E-League (if you've ever heard of it - "e-sports"); I'm catching a break by not doing the NBA All-Star game this year, but by the end of the month I'll be heavily into March Madness, then Final Four, then NBA Post-Season. Then, over the summer, I usually have another break - but then it seems like not a lot is going on then. I need a different job.

You would think Young Sheldon would know there's no such thing as "legos."

If they had previously had something done to them (or were, indeed, keychains), and hadn't been properly cleaned out, then it it's very possible that trying to use them on another figure made the connection too tight, and that too much force (connecting or disconnecting) caused a break. It's also possible there was just a bad batch. I'd long been in the camp that marveled at how many people seem to get pieces that fracture or break easily. It had happened to me a few times, but nothing I couldn't really explain and, having a lot of parts in my collection, I'm usually just able to move on. However, I did have this happen to me: This was from one of the modulars... The Fire Brigade. All of them from the set - every single one of them. I went to my own collection and dug out the nearly 20 I needed to complete the set, and they were all fine (so I'm not some ham-fisted gorilla, pounding LEGO into pieces). Contacted TLG and they NEVER made good on it. I even sent them this picture. I don't know if the manufacturing defect was the plastic, or if it was some post process that made them just a tiny bit too small, because they were SUPER tight.

Ahh... I wish I had more time for you guys. I was travelling for work last weekend. I also don't know what I'd have to offer, although I'd try. Looks great - the clock tower is really really hot! I like it a lot.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again - if I were a LEGO store manager, I'd be damn sure to have my brickbuildr and Wall of Bricks pages kept up to date. I've gotten to the point where, with free shipping from S@H on sufficiently large orders, I wouldn't go to the store unless I was at that mall anyway. If I knew what was on the wall, I might be inclined to go to get the pieces I need instead of using bricklink.

Hmmm... My current wishlist includes: Assembly Square (10255) at $280 Firehouse Headquarters (75827) at $350 Old Fishing Store (21310) at $150 In that order. That's $780. I suppose I'd add a PF motor or something, maybe some bricks to bring it up to $800.

If you order a trade from LEGO, and it qualifies for the 60th anniversary addition, I will send you the 60th anniversary set.

As another recipient of the metal rail, I too took far too long to actually use it, as I got it last January and then tried to build my Christmas layout in late November. I was extremely disappointed with the rail, and thought they just messed up which radius parts they put together (I was assuming it was much larger radius than what I ordered). Now I know. I am also interested in the LED lamp posts - I have a handful of them I bought after getting a handful of lifelite eLites, but I think I will go with the nanolites if I get more - they are newer and I haven't tried them yet.

Well, icm, I'm a lot like you. Frankly, I have a mental disorder that won't allow me to take apart a cool set for the parts - if I want the parts, I'd have to buy two sets. I've gotten better over the years, but it's still true for the most part. It's not my creativity lacking (or perhaps it is - I think they use the parts better than I can); I would guess I have somewhere in the neighborhood of 100k loose parts that I build things with. Which adds to the point I was making. For example, how many of you think a box of gray profile bricks wouldn't sell out? I know that when they released roof tile packs, doors and windows, and wheels and axles, the only thing I ever saw on the shelf at the LEGO Store was wheels and axles - roof, and doors and windows (set 9386 from 2010) and roof tiles (set 6119 from 2008) was always sold out. Now, logically, wouldn't that mean they should make more? Why retire sets that constantly sell out the minute they hit shelves? I do think there's a market for mono color brick packs (and specialty packs, including doors/windows/profile bricks, etc.), but then you wouldn't have to buy a bunch of other sets to get the parts you wanted.

Last time I tried LEGO customer service I was pretty disappointed, but on the whole, for something like this, I agree it's the best bet. Actually talking to someone, rather than email, tends to work much better.

I think, as far as number of sets is concerned, you're missing that they added things like CMF - each series counts as 16 individual "sets." It doesn't explain the whole difference. In a nutshell, along with everyone else, I agree - TLG is following the money. That's their prerogative. I buy less and less every year because of it. I don't need batmermaid. In fact, the LAST figure we need is more batman (has any other figure been done as much?)

It would be great to see this working. I used copper tape as an experiment one year, and it worked great until it wore through. The wheels contact the track right at the edge, and since it's squared off, that hard edge just cuts through the tape after having been run on for a while. Hoping tin works better. Couldn't you do something like this part: That was made to take the HO rail (similar to what ME tried, but you'd only need the one generic piece). Then people could buy flex track, take the rail and make their own LEGO flex track. Frankly, while ME may have failed, using standard model train rail and rail joiners worked really well for conductivity.

I keep reading about BMR's "sets", but I don't see that they sell anything but instructions and decals (and wheel sets).

Interesting take, but what would a grandparent consider a cool set? By that logic, they'd walk past the castle theme entirely and get Batman, so we're screwed either way. Much like the popularity of the PAB walls at LEGO stores, I think kids would be interested in mono-color (or similar color, like LBG and DBG packs together) - I know my multicolor spaceships were fine, but if I could have made them much more cool by having the colors I actually wanted, I would have been happier. My multicolored buildings, also. There's nothing wrong with them if those are the bricks you have, but it's not really what anybody - kids included, actually want.

I disagree with almost all of you (big surprise - an executive I was on a planning team with gave me a copy of 12 Angry Men). As I mentioned, you need a SET, not just an engine, to get people involved in the hobby. We're talking generically, here - not outliers, but given the people who are potentially interested in trains, IMO (it's obviously all in my opinion, based on my experience as a parent and father who ended his dark ages because of LEGO 9V trains) most of them would want to be able to buy a complete starter set. Here's the thing - if you want to make it more widely appealing, include the PF but also the bricks to make it push only. Include an oval (not a circle) of track. Like the winter train, you need several cars - not ONE, but several - three or four minimum; more for steam (adding a tender and caboose for completeness). THEN you make available higher quality builds, creator 3-in-1 sets, maybe N-in-1 where builds could include a number of different cars (yes, like the failed Santa Fe cars, but only when interest becomes high enough). The comments about the winter set above bear this out - a whole set with enough cars to make it interesting. The sets TLG is releasing now don't include enough, and for most kids and adults, roll your own or BMR instructions plus weeks of bricklinking parts is not a viable alternative - simple rolling stock shouldn't cost more than BMR instructions do by themselves, with no parts. I actually think MOT was phenomenal, and if it was a failure, it's because TLG didn't advertise it well enough - you didn't really see a lot of trains at TRU, you didn't see ANY MOT. If the theme was fringe, it's because TLG made it that way. I bought the Railway Express at Sam's Club for like half price when it was on it's way out. I never knew TLG even made anything like it.... I bought 2, because I thought it was standalone, I didn't know you could buy track and motors separately. I stumbled upon a LEGO Store Outlet (not even a "full" LEGO store) where I found packs of track! Straight track, all by itself, not saddled with having to buy more curves. I got the BNSF - a real train 100x better than the Railway Express; and finally found that I could order the MOT online (it was not in our store). I was in heaven (for a very brief time, because the plug on 9V was pulled shortly thereafter). I ordered several MOT steam engines, a bunch of rolling stock, a couple of cabooses. The next time I went into the store, the track was all on sale. There was no straight left. I bought a few packs of curves because it was a great price and I figured I could work them in. I bought a couple of motors. Then it all went away. I was a train fan, I was into the hobby, and it was only blind luck I stumbled into LEGO trains... not marketing, not good advertising - even after buying the sets I still didn't know what was available. How could it possibly have succeeded?

That's actually a really good point. I bet a complete, not ridiculously detailed (i.e. expensive) set - something like Bachmann's "Old Timer" set done in LEGO, complete with track, would could get more votes as adults, in particular, might think it's actually a good set for kids while those detailed engines would get a pass. I still doubt it getting enough to succeed, though. The Christmas trains I've seen on ideas are fairly complete, although maybe they focused too much on the Christmas aspect. I also don't think they emphasized having a complete, run-able set out of the box (meaning "nothing more to buy," not that it doesn't need to be built). EDIT: something like the Lone Ranger train, but a complete set, modified for PF, with perhaps slightly larger (and a couple more) cars, including a caboose, full set of track - maybe even with something interesting added, like a turnout. I'm dreaming, though. Then you'd want individual cars sold separately, and structures (or maybe they just bring back the western theme).

Would be nice to be able to buy a single connector piece only that reverses the polarity. You could then stack the connections to the IR receiver with the polarity reverser in the middle. I agree that adding the switch would be difficult - it's already bad enough with the battery box and receiver being built into the train to have to add something else that large. At the same time, it would be a lot easier for those less electronically inclined

Two of them are nearly completely red, two are nearly completely green, so a 4-in-1 wouldn't work, but two 2-in-1s would I've said this, too, but not a single engine or an expert creator sets - you need a complete set similar to what the model railroad companies sell as starter sets. You could argue that the usual cargo and passenger trains are that, but I don't think it's enough to sway model railroad fans away from traditional model railroading. It's not that they don't have their place, they're just not as "serious" as sets like a good, let's say Kato, starter set that would come with at least four cars in addition to the engine. A "serious" starter set from quality manufacturer will be at least $250 - TLG could sell a starter set for that much and include four or more cars. Not going to happen? No, it's probably not. LEGO isn't supposed to be "serious." I will tell you I got into LEGO sets coming from a budding N-gauge hobby. After dumping all my N-gauge stuff for pennies on the dollar, TLG discontinued 9V. I was more interested in building, experimenting, and playing with my son (who, at the time, only wanted to go fast enough for my expensive N-gauge trains to fly off the track). I think a lot of parents (let's face it, mostly dads) who would like their kids to get into the train hobby might like the idea of using LEGO as opposed to something like N or HO. If they do any research into it, they see they can't just add rolling stock to the abysmal amount offered in full "sets." Nor are they inclined to spend hundreds of dollars on a set of instructions and all the little bits and pieces they'd need to build any (like BMR or SRW). Those instructions are great, the models are awesome, but pricing out all the pieces for someone who doesn't already have a large collection gets very expensive. So we're at kind of an impasse with TLG. Like dogs sitting around the table waiting for scraps. I've invested heavily over the years in 9V and PF, and have a lot of stuff to play with at the moment, but trying to get newbies into the hobby is not really plausible.