fred67

Both me and my shovel have our eyes on you.... ...you know. Like, if a shovel had eyes. They'd be on you. You know what I mean!

Me, too... The ingredients I can provide would "properly" aged. Sir, I humbly request my favorite food from that list... It so happens I have... eh... an "arrangement" with some fellows from... er... elsewhere... they take the caskets and all. Not sure where they go, but I just put them between a couple of posts and it's gone. BTW, I'm eying suspiciously ANYONE who's not from these parts, you know, someone who might just have "come to investigate ze strange going-onz in thiis town!" and killed ten of my best friends with only six bullets. MORRIS! Got any business to send my way today?

Again... I'm not holding my breath; I would like to see it happen, but I'm doubting it will, but as I said... I could probably come up with 50 from the LOTR movies and thinking about what will obviously be in the Hobbit movies. But you can start with Bag End and Bilbo's birthday for two; Gandalf's cart for another, and in just those sets you have the four major Hobbits and Gandalf in the sets... three easy sets in the first few minutes of the first movie, and if you wanted to pull a "LEGO," you could probably get two out of Bag End (the same way you can get a Hogwarts Castle and separate sets for various offices and classrooms). I don't want this to become another thread of set ideas, but the point is that even limiting it to the movies you could get more out of one LOTR film that you got out of all the HP movies.

Sorry... I'm not in the world's greatest mood, and so probably should refrain from writing this, but I'm a bit annoyed at people blaming TLG when they have to pay taxes on their order. There's three possibilities: 1. You think taxes are too high... blame your politicians. 2. You think taxes are fair but want to be exempt because it's an internet order... blame your politicians. 3. You think taxes are fair and we ought to be happy paying them... stop complaining. It's not TLG's fault that the various governments for the locations they ship to demand taxes. Those in the U.S.... you've got an election next week, do yourselves a favor and ask what's really important to you and pick the best candidates. Don't vote for or against someone for their party. And if you don't vote, don't complain about taxes.

Yes. It depends how "in" to the theme you are. I'm a fan of the Star Wars OT, for example, but I've taken to making a lot of my ships instead of buying sets for various reasons... but that leaves me stuck without matching minifgures. So I made my own snow speeder, and I was on fbtb.net, I think, and I was like "you know what? Who the heck cares about some tiny detail on the pilot's uniform? Just give me a rebel pilot in an orange jumpsuit and that's fine," and got a bunch of replies berating me about which pilot was which and how important the distinctions were. But then I'm just some older guy who fondly remembers Star Wars from his childhood, I don't keep up on the all the new fiction or every little detail of the SW universe. On the other hand, you damn well better believe there's a difference between Crabbe and Goyle in HP, and don't try to pass one off as the other. Don't even suggest there's not enough difference between Hermione and Ginny minifgures to care about! Suffice it to say I saw their point when I thought about it for a little while. 13 Dwarfs is a lot though, I admit. I think it's not likely they'd do all of them anyway. I'm more of a LOTR fan than HP, and even I wouldn't be like "Dude! They SO need to make a Dori figure!" I would take the important ones (like Thorin, Balin, and Dwalin) and fill in the rest with generic ones and not be upset about it. The reason the suspended HP was because there was nothing to make. How many times can you release the same train and castle? And they've essentially did it again with minor updates. But there's dozens of sets of all different sizes that could be made for the Hobbit and LOTR. I'm sure I could come up with at least 50 reasonable sets, and the LOTR thread has produced a lot more than that (although I think many are of dubious "reasonableness"). So... back on the record, back to reality... I doubt it will happen, but it's as logical a license as any, IMO.

Do you have to use it that day? I'll be away from my LEGO store for Thanksgiving, but my wife will still be in town. I can't really trust her to get what I want.

What's more playable than trains?

I didn't seem to get VIP points on Pick-A-Brick. Anyone else encounter that?

"Paranormal" being something that simply can't be explained by what we consider "normal," then the answer is yes, a long time ago (around 1980 or so). I don't feel like going into detail... it was a long, weird night during an overnight hike at the camp I went to. On top of that, I experience deja vu... what's odd about this thread is that I hadn't experienced it probably in several years until I was working today and had distinct memories of doing exactly what I was doing before... writing a program. Yes, I write programs every day, but it was the exact same program in the exact same way in an editor that I only just started using a few months ago.

I'd like to play... My name is Eyegore; I occasionally help out the local undertaker with coffin relocation and landmark placements services (grave digging and tombstone installation). The rest of the time I earn my keep emptying cups and glasses people have left on the tables at the tavern (when they're not looking). I've lived on the outskirts of the village for... uh... well, my memory isn't what it used to be... couple of years at least. I think. It's a nice place - I even have my own outhouse (that I only need to share with five others). Just doin' ma job... wait... I'm supposed to put 'em in? What's that? Behind my back? ... oh... uh... it gets a might bit dangerous round these parts sometimes... BTW, Eyegore is a nickname I got based on my favorite food...

BFADs.com has some ad scans up, and while there's a K-Mart toys scan and a Toys-R-Us "big book" scan, neither one is a black Friday ad, but it's still really far away. I usually go check when it's only a week or so out.

Along these lines, I'm wondering if any electronics tinkerers out there can suggest places to buy: Very small perf boards (fit in a 2x4 brick) (*) very small inline connectors with both +/-. very small coaxial wire. I would also like to hook up an external power supply (a generic DC wall-wart with selectable voltages), so would like to see if I could find female plugs for that. I've been buying at Fry's, but haven't been too thrilled with what they have (or the prices). (*) Alternatively, is there a decent way to cut larger boards? I've not tried it, but it doesn't seem like it would work too well.

I like it. I just display my sets anyway, and I think it adds a lot. True, it's not very well done, but conceptually I think it's a great idea; it inspires me (as someone coming from a traditional model train hobby) to make my own, just with a bit more realism.

I'm getting sick of all these Borders coupons I've been getting... my local store doesn't have jack, and the next nearest store makes it not worth the drive, and you can't buy LEGO online from Borders.

I realize it would be a limited audience... the part itself, though, would be very similar to the existing part - just not curved as much. You'd need more to build your curve, as opposed to the same number of much bigger pieces; that in itself gives the user a lot more flexibility. I'm not holding my breath about it... but I don't like the flex track. I'm not sure what I'm going to do when I finally have the space to build a large permanent layout, but if nothing changes w.r.t. track by then, I will probably use "Ken's Flex Track for LEGO Trains."

I completely disagree... with a new movie coming out, there's no difference between LOTR and Toy Story (the first two parts came out before the LOTR) and Indiana Jones (even worse... three movies over 20 years ago). Even Pirates of the Caribbean... three movies, no LEGO; fourth movie, and now LEGO. Let's not also forget the giant gap between the last HP sets and the current ones... yet even the new ones are themes from past movies. Now this part I can (and already have) agreed with... HP attracts the LEGO demographic a lot more than LOTR, I don't think there's any question about it... however, The Hobbit is definitely geared towards a younger audience than LOTR (and as of right now, Jackson is slated to direct it - not del Toro). Well now... that's just you... I don't "play" with any of the sets I get except trains... my shelves are filled with Star Wars ships, Harry Potter "vignettes," castle sets, and many city themed sets (that are intended to eventually be part of a large train layout). In fact, the only set I was very "iffy" about with HP was the Quidditch set, because it's definitely a play set... otherwise the figures just stand there on the ground (I eventually used clear pieces to make them "fly"). Sure, they're a functional display... I can show people things light up, or secret passages open, etc., but it's essentially just for display. I'm not arguing that I'm normal (I'm most certainly not), but not only do I think "display only" is just fine, frankly I think there are more playable sets from LOTR then there are from HP. Sure, Bag End and Orthanc might be better off as displays, but there's a lot more than that... from chases involving Nazgul (including the encounter at Weathertop) to confronting the troll in the burial chamber in Moria, and on to facing the Balrog... lots of battle scenes, too... they've already done siege towers for the castle line, that's the kind of thing they could do for LOTR, also. I'm not going to list them all, since it's been done to death in another thread, but there's plenty of "playable" sets that could come out of LOTR. Now, honestly, I'm just thinking out loud some more, because while I would love the theme, I also realize it's likely not going to happen and I wouldn't want anyone to get their hopes up, but the reasons are strictly financial ones, not because they wouldn't make good sets... I don't want to suggest I even think it's a possibility, but I do think the theme has a lot of merit; more than some of the other themes they've chosen.

I know is "medieval" and not modern, and would be used for grinding grain and such, but it would be interesting if they designed it so you could put an E-Motor in it.

Brickarms. "Expensive" is relative... these are really expensive, IMO, but rolling your own would be very difficult... you'd need legs and torsos in the right colors and you'd still need to buy helmets. Sorry... that's just the way it is.

Are we talking about books or movies? LOTR has had many more readers... but it's also been around for nearly 60 years, so it's not really comparable... HP has probably had an average number of readers per year a lot higher than LOTR... but it's been around a lot less time.On the other hand, we're referring to the movies... on a movie by movie basis, more people have seen the LOTR (you have to look at the average for each movie in the series to estimate the number of fans.. and the average viewership for LOTR is much higher than HP). Don't get me wrong... I'm not arguing one is better than the other - I like both, and am enjoying the current series of HP sets. I think the argument to make is that the target audience for HP is much more aligned with the target audience for LEGO. If you look at people in the LEGO demographic, HP is a lot more popular. Still... thinking out loud, TLG discontinued HP, ostensibly for less than stellar sales (don't believe the hype about the movies getting "dark," is complete garbage... the only reason a company willfully stops producing something has to do with money).

I think this, too. I would love to see LOTR LEGO, I could see the slim possibility of it happening because of the Hobbit movie, but I just really doubt it and certainly won't get my hopes up.... and the only thing we're really missing is elves. That said, I don't think it's too late to capitalize on the LOTR because with the Hobbit movie coming along, I think interest will be rekindled... I mean, that's what happened with Toy Story, right? But it's true - we've gotten most everything we need with Fantasy Era except elves. Sadly, while we'll get collectible minifigures, though, we won't get any large scale set with various elves in it... it'd be like have three hundred Spartans that all look exactly alike. But since we're pondering the subject, the truth is there's so many more possibilities with LOTR than there ever was with Harry Potter, and Harry Potter managed to work out well enough for TLG. In fact, the possibilities were so slim we got several repeats of most HP sets.

They sent me a reply saying they know about the problem, and there's a work around... I just went 10 per page. Yes, I buy off PAB... I find it's actually sometimes better than BL, especially for certain parts in large numbers (plus my total was high enough for free shipping).

This is fantastic... I've got a bunch of stuff that I've wanted to use for just such a purpose - LEDs, resistors, etc. My problems include not having a drill press in order to drill such a small hole through such a long, thin lamppost (I even bought a bunch of those same lampposts), and dealing with wiring. I'm think that surely with such low voltage that you could use something like headphone speaker wire (where you have both + and - in a single wire), but I can't find anything suitable. I'm also wondering how you managed to wire up your layout (without having the wires visible). I'm not adverse to cutting notches in some bricks to run wires. For my former problem, I've actually been inspired by TGL itself with the Diagon Alley set coming out in January... I really like the lampposts they use, they are brick built, and looking at the pieces seem to have a hole top to bottom without any modifications. Your layout looks great, I really need to get something like this done for my Christmas layout and you've really inspired me, FONIX - this is why I love Eurobricks, so many great and creative people. Most packs of LEDs will tell you the voltage... mine say "2.9 min, 3.2 typical, 3.5 max".

I, for one, think the "community" would be better served with larger radius tracks instead of "copping out" with "just use flex track." Yes, I understand LEGO trains are a large gauge, and as such already take up a lot of room to make a basic loop, but I'm not suggesting discontinuing the smaller radius tracks, either.

See this thread. If you have good "orthographic" (side, front, back, top...) pictures of the subject, you can use this tool to help figure out the brick layout. However, as I posted in that thread, you can use virtually any graphics program (like the wonderful and free GIMP) and set the overlay grid to whatever aspect you need (brick height to width ratio is 6:5).

That's awesome... being an ex New Yorker, all I can say is that was very well done... I don't think people appreciate the size of the WTC towers. My wife had never seen them, and I have to explain that the tallest building I've ever seen in the country she's from isn't even as tall as some of the secondary buildings at the WTC, which are just absolutely dwarfed by the towers. Yes, I realize they've been beaten in height several times, but that never made them any less impressive. I feel bad my kids will never have the opportunity to see it. I roughly (in my head) estimate a minifig scale WTC would be roughly 25 feet tall, possibly more (that would only give about 3 inches per floor... given interstitial space, I'd say it would have to actually be substantially taller).