fred67

Thanks... it's pretty much what I thought... it's essentially random by now.

My favorite theme is trains, but trains goes hand in hand with other themes. I don't particularly like City, but I like the modular buildings; I don't particularly like Creator, but I like the sets of homes. All of these work together for a nice train layout. The only other original theme I really like is the Castle lines, which are pretty much unto themselves. As far as "collectibles," I like Star Wars (OT) and Harry Potter, so I like those sets, but I don't rush out and buy every one released. I like pirates, but I can't even afford the themes I currently buy, but the Imperial Flagship looks amazing, so I would like one of those. Oh... and I like the NASA sets, and would love the new shuttle. I have the Mission to Mars set, and the Saturn V set.

Is there some method to numbering sets? The only thing I know is that five digit numbers starting with "1" are generally considered advanced or UCS. It seems that sometimes series often have the same prefix (like 80XX), but even then they're all over the place. So I was just curious if there's any method behind it.

Hmm.... that's not what I see. If my wrist is straight, and I make a fist, the top part (part with the thumb) is much higher. Only when you bend your wrist down (so that your forearm makes a straight line, more or less, with your thumb) does the bottom part become larger... but then if you were to hold something that way, it would be at an angle with your arm. If you keep your wrist straight, what you held would be perpendicular to your forearm, which is how minifigures hold items. IOW, long story short, the larger part on top seems to be the more anatomically correct natural position. Edit: that's not my hand, BTW... I cut my nails!

For building sets or MOCs, I wash my hands... and also keep a half damp (wet on one side, dry on the other) hand towel nearby to keep cleaning them... I can't stand oily or sweaty LEGO pieces with finger prints. Also good for wiping down and drying a surface before applying a sticker... and I use the towel to rub the sticker onto the piece. I don't sort at first, but if I'm having problems finding a piece I will start sorting until I find it. By about halfway, the pieces are somewhat sorted and easy to find. Although I don't save the boxes, for some reason I'm as careful as possible when opening them.

After getting all the red bits I didn't have from BL, I finally made my "Ruby Night." What an awesome and simple MOD it is, and the two trains look great together. My only problems: I haven't pin striped yet, but I think it really needs it to break up all that red. Just hoping I have a steady enough hand to make it not look terrible. The other problem is no "Ruby Night" stickers, and you can't use the same number if you want to have them on the same layout. I've been planning on getting ink-jet printable water slide decals for some time, maybe now is it. I've checked out the available colors for , and can't think of any other color I would be interested in. I was hoping to see blue to make a "Sapphire Night," but no such luck. Other colors might look OK... all black, yellow, brown... but not for me... I have another unopened EN that I will definitely use for the car; it would be awesome to do a third color. So thanks Eric87 and prateek... it's a beautiful MOD. And rday1982... perhaps I will do another one with MODs to make it look more like the Hogwart's Express decorated Olton Hall... it's not quite the same, but it's close enough that a good MOD and the sticker set from an older Hogwart's Express (which I happen to have, for some strange reason) might look pretty nice. I'll have to count my pieces... I know I ordered extras of everything, but I don't know if I ordered enough for another one.

I hate taking sets apart. In fact, I don't think I've ever taken apart a large set as an adult... maybe some of the little impulse buys, but nothing substantial. Yes, I ran out of shelf space and need more. I have a lot of sets I haven't built because I have no room to put them. In fact, any set that I want the pieces from, I have to buy two - one to build, and then I can use the pieces from the other one. I have less of a problem taking apart my MOCs, although it depends how much time I spent on them. It has a lot to do with the fact that I buy the sets I'm interested in... like I'm a train fan, so I won't take apart my trains unless they're terrible (Railway Express), and even then only when I might need the parts. I'm a castle fan, so won't take apart my castles. I'm a city fan (goes with trains), and I won't take apart my modular buildings... But that's the thing... I buy Green Grocer because I want the Green Grocer, not parts. I buy the Emerald Night because I want the EN, not the parts(*). If I need pieces, I do PAB or Bricklink. (*) EN is an interesting exception... I bought three for the cars and because I can use the extra train pieces for MOCs, but if I wasn't getting the cars I wouldn't have bought them just for the pieces, I would have gotten train wheels, for example, from Big Ben. After being inspired by Eric87's Red "Emerald" Night, I made one of those. But this was a second set... if I only had one EN, I wouldn't have done it.

Hi, welcome to EB... I'm a rail fan, also... what made you decide on 12v (assuming you don't already have some)?

I got mine on Friday... Harry Potter gets the spotlight, along with the promo people have been talking about (buy all the sets, get free alternate building instructions for the Burrow). What annoys me is that I don't want all the sets, even if I had the money.... I'd rather buy two Burrows to have one of each build, and that would cost more than buying the two least expensive sets that I don't want.

stupid dead sheep shoes. If not.... Edit: googled to figure out what I didn't know... then the search is easy.

Hi Dr. Nick! Thibault! Welcome to EB.

Yeah... I misunderstood what you meant. People refer to the really top quality sets as "modular," like Green Grocer and Cafe Corner... I don't have any of the basic city sets, so I wouldn't know.

"Warnings" about being modular? None of the ones I have resort to using big specialized pieces... quite the contrary, in fact. The buildings are excellent - beautiful, and "modular" only refers to the fact they go together. They are very easy to use to build MOCs.

The only "international" orders I've done were with Canada (I'm in U.S.), so it's almost like it's not even international. I did have a transaction where I traded with someone from the UK, and found the price was not so bad and shipping time was faster than I expected, so I've decided not to exclude European countries if I can get really good prices. As far as general advice goes, learn how to use your wanted list, included keeping several wanted lists... it's rare I find everything I want for a particular project in one store, so to save (in the long run) on shipping I can bulk up the order with items from my other wanted lists.

I'm sorry.

Maybe if, *edited*

Understood... and able to read after editing the URL. Why is this site censored when it's supposed to be for adults?

D'oh! I hit something in the road with my car (not my fault, but too long and boring to explain) and need new axles! So not only is money short (although 40% is too good to pass up), but I need to beg my wife to take me while my car is being fixed. Edit: hey, anybody who's been... the two most expensive sets I want that are out right now are the Slave 1 and Toy Story Western Train... anyone seen either of those two at Borders? Edit 2: Worked it out "Hey honey... let's go out to dinner... oh, and while we're out, let's stop by Borders!"

Link doesn't work for me. What other celebrities? I read David Beckham is building the Taj Mahal, and when that was published it boosted sales by like 300%. Edit: http://finance.yahoo.com/career-work/article/110447/6-companies-thriving-in-the-recession: 6. Lego Last year was a tough year for toy companies - except for Lego. During 2009, when most companies were holding tight to ride out the recession storm, Lego's profits soared 63%. Exploration of the global market was the key to this company's recession-bucking success. While the U.S. had a stagnant toy market, Lego was able to expand to Asia and increase its sales in Europe, bringing in the big bucks. For a recent surprise addition to Lego's profit: after a recent interview where British soccer star David Beckham admitted he was building a Lego Taj Mahal during his down time, sales soared 663% - proof that sometimes free celebrity endorsement is the best profit boost of all.

I got that, but I don't see toys online, just books. What am I missing? Or do I need to go in person?

I saw mini trains on Ebay, and not wanting to pay the outrageous price for a discontinued set of common pieces, I built it myself... I actually ended up building two (different colors) and adding a tender to one. A few years ago I won an auction for a Sante Fe Super Chief train engine, long after TLG stopped selling the cars that would go with it. People wanted outrageous prices for the matching cars, so I downloaded the instructions and started building them on my own. The only really expensive piece was the ones they used for the roof, and only in that color... and you needed 32 of them (per car!), so it got real expensive real quick, so instead I bought the same piece in bulk directly from LEGO in black instead of gray (nobody on BL was selling many black pieces for a reasonable price), and ended up saving quite a bit, and I'm not unhappy with the black at all. I've built three so far, and have enough for a fourth, and probably about 80% of the last one. Oh yeah... me being the cheap bastard that I am, after deciding I wanted a snow speeder, but didn't want to pay for the new set Wampa set, I downloaded the old snow speeder instructions and built one mostly of pieces I already had... I bought a pilot and a couple other pieces. I also liked the A-Wing in the Home One set, so, while this is a bit different, I built a couple of A-Wings following those instructions (using some color variations) and the only thing I bought was the canopies and a couple of pilots... Oh... I missed a couple of Star Wars minis, so I made those, too... I really don't care when it's not the "real" set. So, yeah, I've slummed it... and I'm not embarrassed to admit it! I wish I was more creative and had more pieces available in my own collection, then I wouldn't even need the instructions.

Wizards of Waverly Pla... 90210.

It's gorgeous... the trees may not be "accurate," but I like them, too. I love the stonework and the Tudor style top.

Am I going to be penalized if I call him "Ring Master" instead, or would that be too confusing with Sauron? Is "Ring Master" an American, or English, colloquialism? I'm not nit-picking, just curious.

I see what you're saying now... both Kingdoms and Fantasy are sub-themes of castle; but I would suggest they just want to promote the latest theme as much as possible, and not make it ambiguous about which line is current.