fred67

Because it ended. It's not that it wasn't good, but if the sales were high enough then TLG wouldn't have "retired" the theme.

That's incredible - I love all the details! I love those gray insets - with the microfigure and other bits. Howard Roark would be turning over in his grave (if he were real), but the fact is that buildings have details like that and yours are excellent!

A 50th anniversary set, something that would blow us away, would be incredible! Unfortunately, I think the early 2000's showed to TLG that trains are, indeed, a niche product. Yes, there's a lot of us fans out there, and they will keep making sets that are suitable for kids, but there are just far more fans for other themes for TLG to do anything but throw us a bone every so often.

Haunted House is gone, so don't get your hopes up. In other, really long lasting themes (like Star Wars) they release new versions of things; in repeat ad-infinitum (TLG calls them "evergreen") series, like castle and pirates, they release new versions of sets (like every castle theme ends up with, of course, some castle). But MF is dead - it's not an "evergreen" LEGO theme, so I really doubt we'll see the Haunted House again (although it's a shame, because I didn't pick it up, either). I do not doubt you'll see haunted houses in other themes, though (Scooby Doo already has the Mystery Mansion - it's completely different, though). I also wouldn't be surprised if a smaller haunted house comes along - I think, despite Monster Fighters failure, that monsters are pretty popular (note the next CMF theme). So... the bottom line is that you never know what TLG will do, and it would be cool to see it released along with the upcoming CMF theme, or as an autumn seasonal release, but I really do not think it's going to happen.

Wow, that's another neat idea... good job, there, rodiziorobs.

I was thinking it could be Shane, but there's nothing that screams "Shane" about it; the last one being Merle? That just really doesn't even work for me... the gray hair with the pseudo widows peak? I'd never have called that one Merle. Maybe if it had a hook instead of a hand, but even then I'd say the hair is wrong.

Wow, that's really impressive... the attention to detail is amazing. I like the technique for the curtains a lot, but everything is incredible - the table, chairs, sink... it's all really well done.

That's absolutely fantastic!

So, OK, it's not Superheroes, but there was some interest in seeing the Walking Dead figures from JX. First of all, it's an incredible bargain; for just over $20 including shipping, there are 15 regular figures and 10 zombies, if you count Michonne's two "pets" as two (and why wouldn't you?). First of all, I was not hoping for much... from the pictures, especially Rick (which I thought was Carl at first glance, since Rick gave the hat to Carl fairly early on). But I'm actually mightily impressed overall. Some pictures: DSCF2364 by Fred Haab, on Flickr So... Rick's gun is not a revolver, but that's easily taken care of; EVERY figure has back printing: DSCF2365 by Fred Haab, on Flickr Often it's just creases from shirts and jackets, but a lot of them have nice details like Daryl's jacket. The real highlight here is Daryl's crossbow: DSCF2359 by Fred Haab, on Flickr I'm actually not sure how to attach that little bottom clip part; not sure where it goes, but this is a very detailed accessory, it looks amazing. The whole cast (I haven't assembled zombies yet): DSCF2377 by Fred Haab, on Flickr So, most of the figures are easy to tell... but I do have some problems figuring them all out. The back row: Daryl, Michonne, Rick, Lori, Carol The middle row: Tyrese, Bob, Abraham, Eugene, Andrea The front row: The Governor, Maggie, Glenn, I don't know, I don't know. I'm not really certain about the ones in red, but I'm pretty sure about them except those last two. The Good: the figures are actually better quality than I thought they'd be; the printing wasn't bad at all, and I was pleasantly surprised by back printing. The abundance of figures is amazing for the price, and a lot of the major characters are instantly recognizable. I think it's pretty cool that you get the extra pieces (some of which I have not seen in LEGO before), including an extra zombie head with each figure and an ax; a few extra bits and pieces to display the head on. I think they may actually be clones of Megabloks bricks. The Bad: Andrea was missing her left arm. It's the only piece missing in the whole bunch. There's a hairpiece that I think is pretty terrible, and they used it several times in the series (the one with the gray hair in the front row has it). Some of the weaponry really doesn't match, but I don't think it's too bad. What I would guess are the first two series have extra large plates to stand on; the last series has a different size plate. The Ugly: The black characters are dark red, not brown. Terrible. Terrible. Terrible. The Funny: some of the figures came with legs attached, but none of them with arms attached. Some had hips attached, but no legs, and some had neither. For some reason I found the inconsistency funny. The best, though, is that while every "human" comes with an extra ax and a zombie head, every zombie comes with a "human" head (but with zombie face printing). Overall I'm really impressed.

Likely it will be sold out right away, then back in stock, then sold out again, then available for a while longer... that's what most of the popular Ideas series have been like.

I thought the bun was the best part of all the new Scooby-Doo stuff, but the pumpkin head is pretty cool.

I ordered my Walking Dead figures from AliExpress on July 7; I got them yesterday, so right around just over 2 weeks total time from order to arrival. EDIT: BTW, I have some organizing to do, but will try to get pictures today to post.

Agree with zephyr1934 - if you do a kickstarter, come back here and advertise it. I supported ME for metal rails and have been waiting for a long time; I fully believe they will fulfill their orders and hopefully be very successful selling LEGO compatible track - I fully intend to buy a lot more of it. But I would also commit to a kickstarter campaign for these, too. The way I look at it, I buy from a lot of third parties (brickforge, brickarms, brickwarriors, altbricks, big ben, the list goes on), I would definitely be buying from both ME and another business putting out decent tracks.

Moreover, why even respond to this topic at all, then? As far as BrickLink goes, there's some hypocrisy there (that I'm actually OK with, although some are not), where stores can sell third party accessories (like BrickArms and BrickForge items) and customized items (like chromed bricks), but they absolutely cannot sell things like MegaBloks, Kre-o, BestLock, or any other LEGO competitor (I guess they don't consider the small custom items to be competitors).

The monkey has to be smoking a cigarette... and be kind of a jerk.

Yes, the key word is "blue-ish" meaning, just a hint of blue, as BirdOPrey5's picture shows... It can be really hard to tell them apart, sometimes even when right next to each other - but in the right light, the difference is glaringly obvious.

I'd like to see more varied buildings, but I don't know that the target audience would like supermarkets or banks without robbers. I'd definitely like to see them make part/color combos that are considered rare and are ridiculously priced in the after-market, but I don't know about mandating they be used in sets as a justification for making them. I know the designers are asked to use certain parts for various reasons (like that there's an abundance of a particular part for some reason), but I'd hate for a great design to be changed to squeeze in some blast-from-the-past part just because they're rare and expensive on BL. I think I'd rather just sell those parts on PAB, maybe even publicizing when new color/parts are added, and perhaps even charge a premium for them (but still much less than BL). There are, of course, times when parts will easily fit into sets, too. New doors for Market Street can be $50... for a $#@$ing door. A #@#%#ing door is more expensive than a lot of sought after minifigures. A 2x2 gray turntable is like $15. There's really something wrong! And we're not talking about parts last released in the 60s or 70s, we're talking about not even 10 years ago. So I'd actually encourage the third party shopping (like BL) for people that want to recreate missed sets - they are already paying a lot more for them, and TLG is already making a lot more with all the sets that are sold to cover the parts needed... they could make even more by making certain parts more readily available.

It's really impressive, but I don't know about having enough room to fit a 1m model on my shelf! I love the detail on the capsule. I have the old LEGO Discovery set: But of course it's not available anymore, and doesn't come close to what Saabfan created.

It's really nice - I love every little detail on it, from angled wall section to the flora growing around the outsides to the "metal" hinges on the doors to the stained glass looks.... Just an incredible work of art.

Last month TLG won (in the EU, anyway) trademark status on minifigures, so they could go after anybody importing in the EU if they wanted to. Edit: I would add that, perhaps (like Microsoft), allowing clones/copies/IP infringement might be beneficial to certain companies, especially in largely low-income countries, by helping to keep their IP in people's minds, so that when movies and other official products pass by people might be more inclined to buy them.

I have to laugh... the year in question is dead-on. As someone who originally got back into LEGO for the trains, the 90's had some of the greatest sets released, including the classic Metroliner, some of the nicest train stations, the Club Car, Crocodile.... And 1999 produced what is perhaps the worst 9V train set ever made: the Railway Express: Luckily, it was because they were trying to clear these out at cheap prices a couple of years later, I'm the proud owner of two - and it's what got me back into LEGO. I just didn't realize what had been available before - it was the first time I'd ever even seen an electric rail driven train set by LEGO. I was so in the dark, I bought two so I could have some extra track and a motor to hopefully build my own, decent looking train with.

I'm bricklinking a Market Street, and am surprised at how.... I don't know how to say this.... "not in abundance" the DBG 2x2 tiles were. It's not like they were rare, or difficult to find, but I would have thought they'd be a fairly abundant piece. Few sellers in N.A. had the quantity I needed. So, my story goes that I got back into LEGO with trains around 2001 or so, but it wasn't until maybe 2006 or 7 that I was inspired to make some big creations of my own. Long story short, back then I found a seller on BL who was selling white 1x2 bricks for 2.9 cents, and 1x1 for 1.9; black 1x2 for 3.9 and 1x1 for 2.9. I ended up order several thousand white 1x2, about a 1000 in black, and several hundreds of 1x1 in those colors. It was a huge leap forward in just being able to start building something big to have all those pieces in neutral colors. So my mini castles are white instead of gray... big deal! Gray costs too much (although I'm saving LBG up over time).

Understand that point of view, but stickers just aren't as durable, and easy to apply imperfectly lined up with my adult fat fingers (I use tweezers now, but still manage to mess it up from time to time). Considering that it's usually just basic pieces that can easily be obtained otherwise for the MOCers out there, I most definitely prefer printed.

Aaahhh.... don't get me started on prices. People keep defending TLG's price increases, but they're like the most profitable toy company on the planet and privately owned. TLG is finding out what the market will bear - people forget they must have been making some profit when they were $2 in the U.S., now they're $4 - 100% price increase in five years. Sorry... don't want to digress... this will be the second series I'm not motivated to collect them all, but there is some goodness to the series; also looking forward to WhiteFangs review - sometimes his reviews actually make me more interested in figures I thought I wouldn't be; and I'm happy I won't have to bust my wallet to get the ones I like.

Let's see... there's two right above the door. The lower one looks like you can use a 2x2 offset; the upper one attaches to a 2x6 plate OFF one side (so only two studs attach to the turntable), which means a 2x2 offset wouldn't work. That section (built around the 2x6 plate) attaches at the sides, as well as in the middle with the turntable. So I think it's certainly possible to use a 2x2 tile instead, and just not attach it in the middle... it would look right, but again lose a little clutch power, which I don't think is an issue. The other two are above the upper corner window... both look like they can safely be replaced with 2x2 offsets. The loss of clutch power for the little tower section above the window might be an issue if you play with it, but probably not too bad, and certainly not if it's for display.