fred67

I've never done anything like that, but I am using CMFs to make people I know in a more positive way (like Colossus). I'm a computer programmer, so the programmer from the CMF series was great - I changed faces and hair to match coworkers and gave them as gifts. I even built a replica of my own desk, complete with computer and everything, and had me sitting at it... on display on my real desk. Then I switched to a different department and gave the desk away (they all looked the same anyway). I also female-ized the Karate guy for one of my son's martial arts teachers (again, using the closest hair possible). People really seem to love getting a "mini me."

While I've long since stopped whining about 9V being tossed aside, I agree with this. I came back to LEGO as an adult ultimately as a replacement for my traditional trains. At first it was for my kids, because I didn't want them messing up my "real" model trains, but I got into it to, and ultimately switched completely to LEGO... at which point they dumped 9V. I understand that TLG isn't a model train company, and that model train aficionados are not their target audience, but it is largely how I see it - they finally made trains in the traditional model railroading style, and then dumped them. Had I looked back through history, it should have been obvious that they were going to change - as they seem to do every so often, but I didn't know that when I got involved in LEGO trains. I'm good, though; I don't have as much time (or space) for my LEGO Train hobby anyway, and with ME helping keep 9V alive, I'm good for now. I've also gone ahead and powered a few things with PF, and while I don't like not having the really smooth operation I seem to get from 9V compared to PF, it's okay-enough. Somewhat... it simply wasn't cost effective; the molds for the plastic part of the track were more complicated and the machines that added the metal railing were more complicated. They also made the mistake of making a mold that made an equal number of straight and curves... so ended up with way too many curves. Sure, the sets themselves were mostly curves, but people mostly only wanted to buy straights separately. As a result, when they went on final clearance, I got like 4 packs of straights... and like 10 packs of curves. But the fact doesn't change... they didn't sell enough of that style of train to, at least in their own minds, justify the costs. That's it. That's the bottom line. They're the ones that lived it - there's nothing we can do now to convince them otherwise because they already tried it and (apparently) lost money. If you lost money investing in a product, would you invest in it again later just because you had more money now? It's really not coming back... I've gotten over it, I use PF for a lot of trains now (although I have not, and have no intention of, abandoning 9V, especially thanks to ME Models). Look at it this way - there's positive and negative arguments for both sides, neither side - limited to trains - is that much more compelling that it's a clear winner. But it's not limited to trains... PF can be amortized across several product lines, so it's a clear win from the perspective of TLG. 9V is NOT coming back.

Very cool, nice to look through and see what's coming. The Hulkbuster and the chance to get a Green Lantern will be great. Other than that, didn't see the kinds of things I usually look for... CMFs, there was no Hobbit or LOTR, and I was disappointed by the new pirate ship, although I'm sure that's been posted elsewhere on EB, it looks like too many big molded pieces making up the hull. I know it's fairly common in ships, but not always to that extent. Some of the basic brick boxes look good, too.

I ordered them from Target's website, but the Target I most frequent did not have them on display - but had a LOT of shelf tags advertising the special deal.

This is what it's useful for... as a replacement for curves, it's a serious fail. If there's an awkward part of a layout that needs something like it, then great. It's a travesty that you can't buy just straight LEGO tracks in a set from TLG without being saddled with something so many obviously hate.... even most of the reviews on S@H for the straight/flexi set are negative on including so many flexi pieces. They should at least add a couple of straight and cut back on the flexi, but I suspect that they have like a single mold that makes both, and they are tied together in volume. That had that problem before when they had a single mold making the same number of curved and straight pieces. I don't get why they haven't figured out demand requires them to be molded separately so that they don't get stuck with (or force on consumers) parts they don't want.

Well, then you may have another issue with 9V - power attenuation on long stretches of track. By the time you get to the farthest points away from your speed regulator, you may have an issue getting enough current to the 9V motor. There are ways around this (multiple runs of the power connectors from the speed regulator to the rails), but it is another issue to consider if you have a large layout. So, really, to answer your question, they are NOT the same, but which system is better depends on what you want to do.

Added Chima (Lavertus - Fire Chi, Cape) Ninjago (Lloyd - Green Ninja DX, Dragon Suit) From the Target exclusive sets. 2 for 1 deal is good until Monday (15th of December).

- outdated -

Yeah, I'll add that I don't know how many I have... they simply make them faster than I have time or space to build them, but I don't want to miss some of them, so the backlog gets bigger and bigger. Some day I'll have room and build LEGO 16x7 (I have to eat and sleep!) for weeks.

There was an episode of Supernatural where they were cast into a world where their lives were a TV show, complete with the actual directors and producers and so forth, so many of the actors were portraying themselves (and having a lot of fun with it). I could imagine they could have passed by a store and have seen Supernatural toys. Of course, this isn't Supernatural, where, you know, supernatural things can happen... but there's been enough dream sequences that they could do something, I'm sure.

Good call... I'm using a bunch of white plates (of various sizes, as I'll put a few figures standing together). White CMF plates would be great. EDIT: as luck would have it, I got the Target minifigure exclusives today... and they come with the display stand piece in LBG.

I don't buy those complete sets anymore... I'm just not a big fan of the train sets, which seemed geared towards younger crowd. I buy the creator/advanced ones like Horizon Express, Emerald Night, and Maersk. I'd bought a bunch of PF stuff right when it came out, and also added a lot of new train motors later on - even the PF lights (which you can use to light headlights on 9V trains, too). I've also added non-train series trains (liek cgarison mentions above) - Toy Story 3 and the Lone Ranger ones, for example, and Hogwarts Express. I buy a lot of track and parts separately, bricklink has lots of train bases, magnet buffers, etc., for reasonable prices.

Anyone have any problems with exploding rechargeables? I haven't, yet, but rechargeables only make up a small fraction of what I'm using right now (and I'd like them to make up a lot more). My problem is that I use a lot around this time of year, when I have my Christmas train set up, but not so much the rest of the year (unfortunately). If I forget, and leave batteries in, they always seem to explode - even supposedly good ones (energizers and duracells). And no, I don't mix old and new (or brands).

I have some of the dragons from the Fantasy Era sets; I also have the current Dragon Mountain set, and I really like those dragons - they are all similar, just changing the colors. Brick built doesn't seem to be popular in this thread, but I also have this set, which is quite a nice build (IMO). Folding wings, poseable, light brick to light up the fire, giant shackle with chains around it's neck (which can be removed, if that's not your thing, of course).

If you're talking about rolling stock, the method of powering (PF or 9V) is completely irrelevant. Having gotten started in 9V, I'm loathe to give it up - I do not do complicated layouts, I do not do club displays with many trains running on the same tracks - I'm like probably the vast majority of actual train users who have a simple layout (when I have one at all which, at this point, is just for Christmas). I like 9V because: 1. My older trains were made for 9V, and I have a handful of 9V motors, and they are far easier to work into a train design and don't require hiding a battery box. 2. I can run it on my Christmas display day and night (if I wanted to) without running out of power. 3. I came to LEGO from an N-Scale train hobby which I abandoned for 9V... and which was subsequently dropped. For me it's about the layout and watching the trains run. Yeah, but it's not really all that realistic... the driving rods don't propel the drive wheels - that would be realistic. The only thing that makes it more realistic is that what are supposed to be the drive wheels propel the train, but no casual observer would ever look at a steam engine being driven by a 9V motor in the tender (for example) and complain it wasn't being driven by the drive wheels.... they are all turning, you'd never know. Now, all of that said, if you don't already have an investment into 9V, it's really a lesson in futility and wasting a LOT of extra money to use 9V. My only saving grace is, having participated in the ME kickstarter, that I'll get more metal rails. I've been using their non-kickstarter metal rails they had out a few years ago, and while I appreciate having them (I couldn't have done my expanded Christmas layout this year without them), they do have some problems that I could not solve with the metal tape they provided (particularly because I need to take it all apart after Christmas). If I was going to start now, it would have to be PF all the way, but honestly - the trains are what brought me back to LEGO as an adult, and if I'd only begun to see them now, I probably would have stuck with my N-Scale hobby.

Well, like a lot of others, I see a lot to like here, but I still am not liking minidolls at all. I'd buy these if they were minifigure based; I may buy if there is interest in people buying the minidolls just to get the other stuff - pink and purple leaves are cool; the six stem flowers are fantastic. The overall sets are great... just don't like minidolls.

Well, now... something must have changed. I have not been looking at the PAB selection, but when I go to "sales and deals" and click on "view all," the first time I do it the site goes back to the main page. Then I go back and try again, and it works.

That explains it, then. They will never make castle fans happy - no gray brick buckets, and only sparingly gray on the PAB wall, and I've never seen 1x2, 1x4, or 2x4 in LBG on the wall.

I've only seen the turntables from technic... I grabbed a few myself at that time, but it was a long time (years) ago. As far as PF stuff goes, they used to let you order stuff from S@H while at the store, and shipping would be free. I don't know if they still do that with their constant free shipping for orders over $75.

Bueller? Bueller? Anyone? I'm willing to make favorable trades... this week I will do 2 for 1 (in value as determined by average selling price on bricklink).

LBG 1x2? I don't think my LEGO Store has EVER had LBG 1x2 - castle builders would go nuts. I've been going to the same store for over 10 years and have never seen them there. Even talked to an employee fellow castle builder that said he'd been waiting for them. Dang.

Wow! I love the addition of the interview, and probably for the first time ever, I think the distribution is great. I also might change my mind that the cyclops is the worst... the disco diva might just be. Thankfully, only three of each to the box.

Wondering if anyone was able to grab one of these: At Walmart. I saw the Black Friday list on some blog, looked it up at WalMart, and sure enough - 1600 parts for $30.00. That's less than $0.02 per piece, for brand new, wide variety (colors and types) of bricks. Unfortunately, WalMart doesn't sell it on the website... it's not available for online ordering with in-store pick up, and they won't tell you if your local stores have it. I went to three WalMarts, and not only did none of them have this set, none of them had any "basic" brick sets (except for younger kids, like Duplo and Jrs.) at all. The web page just says "Please check your local Walmart store for this item." I'd claim bait and switch if it were a $1500 TV with a $50 advertised price... I don't think they have some big strategy to lure LEGO nerds to the store so that we'll buy other LEGO sets, but I find it annoying and would like to know if anybody, anywhere was able to find one (or more). Even at the regular price of $60 it seems like a great deal.

obsidianheart, I don't understand your damage... I stated what I thought in answer to a question... in what way does it make the assertion TLG is obligated to do something?

That's fine... of course, nobody said anything like that whatsoever, so I don't get why it bothers you so much... the question was asked why people don't like it. I gave my reason why. TLG isn't obligated to do anything for anybody, and only in your head did you think anyone was implying otherwise.