fred67

Nice one! You're on a roll, PaddyBricksplitter, I really like this... simple, yet cool (no pun intended).

Maybe not $60 for a White Boba Fett, but a lot of "unique" super heroes are in the sub-$20 range... $15 to $20 for some figures that, if there were more alternatives, might be $10 to $15 instead.

Yeah... UV light is damaging. Unless you put a filter on the glass, it'll still affect your LEGO, just more slowly. So yes, it's not as bad, but it's still not great. Fluorescent lights are bad, too. Stick with Incandescent or LED lighting.

Robby isn't the robot from Lost in Space (although it made appearances from time to time). The robot on Lost in Space was just "robot." Robot from Lost in Space... "B-9, Class M-3 General Utility Non-Theorizing Environmental Control Robot," simply called "Robot" on the show. Robby making an appearance on Lost in Space. PaddyBricksplitter's robot looks more like a cross (the head is more like "Robot," the legs more like Robby), but it seems to me he was going for B-9 (especially with the "kid" in the MOC). In any event, a great MOC, nice job!

+1 Best post... put all four together and use a file (even a metal nail file), if you have to - perhaps make a slight, straight cut beforehand to help guide you, or maybe rig up a jig. In fact, you might sacrifice some longer pieces to sandwich in the 1x2 so that they can be more easily held in place in a saw box. I've never done anything like it, but I'm not adverse to modifying LEGO (see the Harry Potter wands in my signature).

As long as you make sure it's a valid link... good browsers will not let an obfuscated link hide the actual destination (when you hover over a link, you'll see the real link, usually in the lower left). I've clicked the link for paypal from bricklink invoices, but only when I knew it was valid.

Interesting; I haven't been following for a few years - this is more comprehensive than the reports I'd been reading a few years ago, and it's interesting (and good) that they are including Net Profit Margin on their report. I'm curious about their need to create and publish this report, though; that's usually only reserved for publicly traded companies. Perhaps the rules in Denmark are different? I wish the report went back farther, though. When we talk about how expensive LEGO is, the Net Profit Margin is the key indicator, there. It's easily shown that some products have > 50% profit margins (like CMFs), so there must be some sets with better value to drag that average down to below 25%. Interesting 10% jump in profit margin in 2012, though. Whether or not LEGO is too expensive is an exercise for the reader, but the companies on Standard and Poor's 500 average around 8.5%. Of course, a company can kick butt on a 1% profit margin if they sell enough; some industries have much higher profit margins because they have far fewer sales... but TLG's got high sales AND high profit margins. Well... I'm a capitalist, so good for them.

There's a new white Boba coming out? Huh. I guess I've been busy lately and not been paying attention. I think it's the same with most items, though. I do believe that demand for the old white BF will drop when the new one is released because, while some "collectors" might want a particular one (or both), the casual collector just wants to say "I have a white Boba Fett." I experienced this with my 4504 Millennium Falcon... at one point valued over $300, significantly dropped with newer (and ostensibly better) versions came out. I still have my 4504 in a box... not because I'm a collector, but because I have no space for it. When the midi-scale Falcon came out, I bought and built it. I just want one of every ship, so will not pay high prices for old ships if a new version comes out and I can get that one instead. Same thing with my collection of Superheroes... I don't need every variation, I just need "a" batman, "a" joker, for my display. So I do think values drop because, while I'm not like everybody else in that respect, I think a lot of casual collectors are. As far as bootlegs go, there's a whole thread about that, too. I was very disappointed to see, after collecting for a few years, that you can buy knock-offs of essentially my complete collection for like $50. But it does mean something to me that mine is original, and if I wanted to sell it, that it's all original LEGO. I did buy bootleg Fantastic Four, but only because TLG doesn't make it.... however, even they are not on display with my genuine figures, and I bagged and tagged the ridiculous accessories they came with as "not real LEGO."

It's important to remember that it's not really sunlight causing the damage - just like with your skin, it's the UV light that is causing the damage. Many (especially newer) windows are treated to block UV light. Also, in response to some other posts above, you have to remember that ambient UV light coming in a window is just like ambient sunlight - it's incredibly reduced compared to direct light, you only get a small fraction. There are already threads about it, you should probably ask there.

I actually agree, here. It's a great, catchy, pop tune that is really fun... but it's sung ironically in the movie and, like a lot of songs (like "Material Girl," "Come out and play") the actual intent of the song is completely backwards from what most people get from it. That said, I don't care about Oscars or other award shows. That people like (and pay for) what you've created is the reward. The more they like it, the more they buy it, the more you get both financially and esteem wise. I work in television, and I've been nominated a few times, and won a national Emmy once... and I think it'd be really cool to win again (the win was 1997)... but I still don't watch. I don't know why anybody does. As far as Oscars go, I read about it the next day. I wasn't going to miss The Walking Dead for Academy Awards.

Agreed.... Agreed.... I guess it depends on what one considers a "rehash." As long as they give us something truly different or unique, I don't consider it a rehash (despite the fact it may imply they are running out of new and original ideas). is the wolfman a rehash? It's a completely different style wolfman than what was released before, and despite the fact that the head piece is similar to non-cmf wolfmen, that the figure is an evolution of an existing cmf figure makes it interesting and compelling to me. If you make a vignette (or a series) to tell a story, that figure is perfect. I also don't consider a figure like the witch or scientist to be rehashes because they are entirely different than what's been released before. That doesn't mean I like them... I'm one of the nay-sayers on this series (but in the "I probably won't get a lot of them" vein, not the "they shouldn't do this because I don't like it" vein). Yes, we've had zombies, and we've had cheerleaders... now we have a zombie cheerleader. I don't like the expression on her face - it ruins the entire figure's usefulness in a Z.A. MOC. But it's not a rehash, it's an evolution. Even the "rock" monster" has a different expression and different clothes. It doesn't matter I've already done my "monsters of rock" MOC, I don't like this figure at all. Of all the figures, it's the most "re-hashiest," but it's still unique. How many policemen are they going to give us? Were they rehashes? They were all completely different types that serve different purposes in a MOC. Anyway, I'm not giving a lot of love for this series, but I do understand what TLG is trying to do, and I also realize I'm not the target audience. Shrug and move on.

Wow, thanks for the links... some really neat stuff on that site. My list of third party products grows... For the record, I think this is a great idea (as long as you're not planning on making a living off of it... at least at this stage). I'm not particularly religious personally, but I definitely think there's a market.... often even for non-religious people who just might want some custom parts. I could see making a Buddhist temple of of some sort; the links given here to the brickemyoung site were great - cathedrals can be great architecture for a city (I just wish they were custom sets made from real LEGO). Good luck.

Updated with Series 13 figures I have for trades, including classic kings, goblins, galaxy trooper... see the link in my signature for full listing.

They're completely different, though.... the death star is just a spherical shape with minifig illusion scale rooms inside; the hell carrier is a flying aircraft carrier with runways... they simply aren't comparable when considering minifig illusion scale.

Being a some-what fan of superheroes, but obviously not as dedicated to it as most of you guys, I think the set is spectacular. I actually love the move to microfigures, and hope they can include them in other sets so they can do a better job on making larger buildings/ships to some scale. If you want something that works with minifigures, it would have to be the size of a dining room table. If you wanted something that was minifig scale, it would be the size of a school bus. I realize people like the Ideas set better, but it's an impossible cost to implement. There are two reasons I will not buy this set: price and size. I have nowhere to put it, and when I saw the piece count it was quite obvious it would be a $300 set... then when I saw the price I had to shake my head.

Would be neat, but I think they replicated some of the more recent sets with TRU "Bricktober" sets. They are not all quite the same, but some are pretty close. I don't know if that means they'd be excluded from a second set of 5, but it might annoy TRU.

Yeah... I understand why it's not the greatest concept in real life... just thinking out loud. I think it could work in LEGO.

Here's the thing - and this happens in quite a lot of situations (in different ways), but you have a clear, objective rule like "no adults without children." It doesn't matter whether or not they have adult nights occasionally, that's not part of the problem this young man encountered. Once you say you'll make an exception, it becomes subjective. To what extent does someone have to be mentally disabled? What kind of disability? And then when they make an exception for one person and not another, they get sued, or bad press, or some online petition signed by thousands of people who don't understand why the rules are in place to begin with, and don't think of the cascading effect acquiescing to the demands of the mob will have.

Agree with the center's decision (and Off the wall). It's a pretty clear policy. Adding the word "disabled" in front of "adults" doesn't change anything.

What's that dragon thing behind the jet?

Thanks for the new picture... it's nicer when you can see the separate cars more easily. This is certainly not a train replacement, by any means, but it should be a pretty nice and inexpensive (relatively speaking) set.

^^ The gravel is less LEGO-y but fills in around tracks better - I like the effect that was achieved, although I'll stick to LEGO, personally, unless I can find a similar plastic gravel. 1x1 round tiles and plates can be very expensive. It shouldn't be all that messy, especially if you rinse off the gravel first. My concern would be scratching the plastic.

I like the tram a lot, but it's definitely not as serious as a new creator train. It looks way too simple, and wouldn't satisfy me from the point of view of actually building it, but I think it would look good in a LEGO city layout. What I'd really like to see now are 9V polarity switches to let something like this run automatically up and down the LEGO street on it's own.

Cool... wondering if it could actually work.

^^ The two previous posts above mine are both right, but if you can get the $2 CMFs there's no comparison; they will be gone FAST (if not already).