fred67

I think I'm not alone here when I say the best thing about these sets so far is the hamburger bun. Am I right? No... still probably just going to get the Mystery Machine.

Thanks! But if you like those, you should LOVE this one by Ragnar, I think it's outstanding - the sails are an awesome idea.

Mr. Clean Magic Eraser is quite good at removing printing - I've only tried it on heads, but it worked really well and without any scratching at all.

I don't see why it would damage the motors, but given the E-Motor was specifically made for it, I'd probably defer to using it to generate power over other ones.

Actually, while there's nothing really adult about that set, I actually kind of like it... and the knight apparently put someone in the dungeon long enough that all that's left is a skeleton. I don't think "gritty" has anything to do with these sets, since there's really no absolute story that goes with any particular set (there's a sort-of scenario at best, like the Fantasy King's Castle had the skeleton guy attacking on the dragon). I will say this - after LEGO LOTR, I wouldn't put anything past TLG. I'd long defended LOTR as a possibility (in that there was more mature, or at least just as mature, material that TLG had made into sets), but I never thought they'd ever actually do it, even with The Hobbit looming on the horizon. After that, nothing really would surprise me.

Yes, it's fun to play with, although I've only done lights. Interesting idea to make a remote crank that doesn't require batteries.... (thinking about a train crossing...) I think one of the reasons you don't see a lot about this is because the LEGO E-Motor is supposed to be designed for this sort of thing, and supposedly more efficient at it.

Or you use one of these, instead.

But they make it in the same as radius as LEGO track, too, so I don't understand the problem.

I have probably 80 or more sealed sets sitting on shelves... but I did not buy them for speculation, I bought them build. Unfortunately, I do not have the space to display them, so while my wife and I are planning to get a new house within a few years, one with a large room for me and my LEGO, the collection keeps building, because I will not miss out on sets that I like only to have them double or triple or more in price. Occasionally I clear off the shelves of sets I have on display to make room for building newer sets. That's how I got my tag. My daughter wanted to do a "family" build, so I told her to pick out a modular building... she picked the Cafe Corner, MISB. Just out of curiosity, I checked bricklink... and it was selling for over $800 at the time (a LOT more now!). But I didn't buy it to sell it, so I shrugged and we built it. At the same time, some realism sets in, and there might be the odd set that doesn't fit with my collection that I just found interesting at the time, and I decide to sell it... but that's not why I originally bought it. I just realize that when I am able to build, it still might not fit. I have several sets like that... I was collecting architecture, ended up getting a few of the larger sets, but then decided to only stick with the smaller ones. Now I have a Robie House that I bought on sale on Amazon that's worth a WHOLE lot more. I also am prone to modding sets (usually removing play features since I put them on display, but not just that), and I buy tons of parts on BL for my own creations. In fact, a lot of bricks go to LEGO displays for LEGO sets, like Ghostbusters and CMF displays. When I want parts, I get them from BL, I don't like breaking up sets because I rarely buy sets that I don't like as sets... I have, on occasion, for some minifigures when, as pointed out, it's sometimes easier and cheaper than just buying the figures. So I guess I'm sort of a jack-of-all trades in this thread. I will admit to this, though - I have, for example, a UCS Naboo Starfighter, MISB. I actually bought it on Ebay back in my early days, because you couldn't buy it anymore. I already paid well over MSRP for it... but before I opened it, I got another one - the one with just gray instead of chrome, for a lot less. So I ended up saving the UCS version and building the "regular" version... now the UCS version is worth about six or seven times what I paid for it, and I'm still happy because I was able to build a Naboo Starfighter for display. I still have it; I may still build it, but it's one of those ones I'd have to think twice about. So, for example, from Star Wars I just want ships, mainly OT, but also some new ones. I got a 4504 MF on black Friday sale, but it's so big I have no place to put it when built... but then I got the midi scale ones. It's not the same, but all I really wanted was one of all the ships, I didn't care which version. The midi scale lets me build and display it with fraction of the space... but now what do I do with the 4504? I don't want to sell it - I may yet have the space some time.... So what does that make me?

Yes and no - it's not a pyramid scheme; I have no doubt they are not taking the money and running. What profit they are making now goes towards finishing the products. At some point they'll make up the balance they lost from people abandoning the project and finally get caught up, and then they can start making profit for real (and deservedly) and hopefully roll that into other projects (or another kickstarter campaign that they'll have more experience with to deal with those issues).

I don't like being just another "me, too!" poster... but what everyone else said - this is really cool, I like it a LOT, and would definitely vote for a mini Springfield on Ideas.

What happens is you don't pay immediately, you pledge the money; when they reach the end of the campaign, if enough money was pledged, then they charge your card (or paypal, or whatever). That gives people time to cancel, block payment, do whatever. I think it's really crappy of them to do it, but perhaps the timeline just got too long for people; perhaps cards expired during the time between pledging and the end of the campaign. But sure, those people aren't going to get anything. As a metal rail backer, I'm greatly looking forward to them, as well. If pre-ordering more track would help them out, I'd be willing to do it.

See my signature. You had CMF elves (unbelievably, figures like "Piggy Guy" and "Bee Girl" actually are going for more than elves, according to the LEGO minifigure price guide), but I know they're too much money these days. It would be nice if they picked up where they left off with elves. I would love to see a forest kingdom with the grandeur of the Ewok Village instead of another "King's Castle." See what "The_Cook" wrote? I agree... but that doesn't mean you're in any way wrong to ask for it. One of the wonderful things about Middle Earth is that Tolkien approached it almost as if he were an archaeologist documenting the history of Middle Earth... starting with a creation story (for each of the races, in fact), and an a "general" history (some stories with more details than others) Both the LOTR and the Hobbit were just fleshed out stories that account for a tiny fraction of what happened on in ME (despite the significance of what happened in those stories). I think they did this for Fantasy; they did like a lot of fantasy writers do, and start with a map, then they flesh it out with factions, stories, locations of things... that's why there were elves on the map TLG gave us. Now they deny they meant to do elves at all, but that seems patently absurd under any kind of scrutiny, IMO; I believe LOTR killed Fantasy and they just didn't want Fantasy fans to be upset about it. They don't need to read a novel. It could be a cartoon series, like Elves, but it doesn't need to be - I think the idea is that with a good story comes good (and logical) set designs that work well with each other... you don't necessarily need to convey that story to the kids. Tolkien can pull off the Battle of Five Armies, but perhaps having humans, orcs, skellies, dwarves, and (theoretically) elves is too much for one LEGO line. Tolkien's story worked, but was too involved. A good fantasy writer could avoid that, keep it generic, and have sets that fit well together. As much as I loved Fantasy (and would like to see it again), I hated skeletons (they are too supernatural, not really fantasy), and while sets like the "Troll Wheel" were good for parts, they weren't really great sets.

I buy now because I don't have enough 9V track, so am waiting for them to get to it; I previously bought their metal track and initially didn't have any problems, but had some connectivity problems last time I used it. I can work around it, though, but I'd rather have better functioning track. But I also buy plastic track because the future doesn't include 9V (sadly), so I will do both for now as I transition... but regardless, there's simply not enough straight track to keep people satisfied. I need a few sections every time I get a new train to put on display; a lot of people don't have permanent display, but always evolving setups that they put up for some time and then take down, and the next time they set it up they might make it bigger (in my case, my Christmas setup expanded to a second table last year). There's also the simple fact that track sometimes fails. I know it's seems odd, but I've had metal track from LEGO fail. You can't get first hand replacements. As a little addition, I've used train tracks for other things - my abundance of LEGO plastic curves was the basis for a large arch. I've since taken it apart (no room - it was quite large), but I imagine when I do a permanent layout I would rebuild it as part of a large, modern train station.

Your picture looks like DBG, I didn't see DBG as an option.

It would be easier to tell if you linked to YOUR post that was moved. For the record, if you see the elf in my signature, I put that in Minifigure Customization, not historic.

Oh, I'm not arguing about that, I'm just a little tired of the "it's too mature" argument that people keep using. If TLG doesn't pick a set, it's all about money and nothing else.

FANTASTIC... I need to try to make one!

They might claim that, but it's really not. It's less "mature" than LOTR (think of how much death... including orc heads on pikes in Two Towers); there were a few episodes of X-Files that were pretty disturbing (Fox even banned re-running "Home" for a while), but by today's standards it's a fairly tame show - the vast majority of the episodes were not "TV-MA" by any stretch. I have to point out (as I did defending the efficacy of LOTR before TLG announced it) that there have been plenty of disturbing things in the movies that they've made sets for - they even made a "Darth Vader's Transformation" set; they made a "Flying Wing" set from Indiana Jones (remember what happens to the mechanic?). IMO, on themes like this, TLG simply uses the "maturity" excuse as an easy way out... if they don't think it'll make money, they won't do it. I, for one, would buy X-Files sets of your quality and detail in a heartbeat.

Could be a lot of factors... PayPal and credit chargebacks by people who thought they were ordering something immediately (didn't understand the process), PayPal and credit chargebacks by people who got tired of waiting. I don't know if you're allowed to pledge by check or money order, but perhaps there were some other forms of payment that didn't require an immediate payment and that people just didn't send. Yes, it's annoying that people would do that. Of course, sometimes people financial situation changes through no fault of their own, too, but I don't think that accounts for more than a fraction of unfulfilled pledges.

I've missed all but about four days. Off to send in today's....

Yes, I've seen the show. Why would that keep anyone from complaining? It would have been fine without the goofy face.

No, not just the classic bricks - patents only last up to 20 years - minifigures, for example, have been around a lot longer than that... the majority of LEGO bricks have.

They are from the Container Store; see this thread and this thread for cases and ideas and discussion on displaying minifigure collections.

Because the "competitors" have waited until the patents expired, that's why TLG goes after them for trademark infringement instead.