fred67

I'm going to add some insectoid legs... I have a handful if each, just ask for how many you want and I'll let you know if I can do it. and (the smaller one in black). I can't believe the non-response to free stuff... I will also ship these at my expense (U.S.) to a good home... free stuff shipped for free... EDIT: All the free legs are spoken for.

So... no one wanted the park pass; I guess we all got one (or more), but here's a bionicle bonanza! Bionicle parts by FredJH, on Flickr EDIT: MASKS ARE SPOKEN FOR Bionicle parts by FredJH, on Flickr You can have it all... I will split things off, but you must take at least 4 lots. I will ship the parts at my expense, too (U.S.), I'm just in that kind of mood.

No. Some women actually have hourglass figures, some don't. Some female minifigures have hourglass figures, some don't. I'm failing to see the problem. Are we trying to recreate "real" scenes in MOCs, or pushing an agenda?

I always thought it was a play on the word technique, and so pronounced it that way until I heard a speech from a LEGO v.p. who pronounced it tech-nick, so I pronounce it that way now, too. I also thought Ninjago was ninja-go.

Well... they're not food storage quality, but I haven't had any problems, and I like how they stack. I haven't dropped one, but I wouldn't expect a huge mess if I did, either. Ultimately I'm quite comfortable with them, although I intend to eventually re-sort into my Akron mills and Stanley organizers.

I was really disappointed. I was pulling for Brazil, although if I had to bet I'd have bet on Germany. My wife is from Brazil and is in a real mood right now... I can barely talk to her. I can understand Brazil losing... but that was just ridiculous. I don't even know what to say. I won't try to take anything away from Germany - like I said, I figured they'd win, but the Brazilian team looked like my son's recreational soccer team vs. world class Germany. The way the game went, by the time they got to minute 40 I was impressed Brazil managed to go 10 minutes without giving up a goal. it was just.... terrible. I don't know the word for it. If it was the U.S. (who I was also rooting for even though I knew they would likely not get far), I would just shrug and shake my head and get on with life, but Soccer is like a national identity for Brazil... losing is one thing, but not like that.

My problem is all the themes I was buying... and I wanted it all! Then when I decide to stop and focus on just city building and CMFs, TLG announced LEGO The Hobbit and LOTR... and seemed to start releasing Modulars more frequently. Then, being disappointed in both the movies so far in the The Hobbit and some of the sets, I convinced myself I didn't need them all... but the only ones I want at the moment are the super expensive ones. Luckily I had no desire for the BTTF set... liked the movie, but not thrilled with the set.... but got the Ecto-1, and want the ones that have been selected and not released yet... but I don't think they will be all that expensive. So... yeah, every time I try to cut back, they somehow figure it out and add more stuff I "need."

About those containers... I'm a really cheap guy, if I wasn't getting them for cheap, I'd find something else. I do not know why they cost so much elsewhere, but I've been getting them for less than a buck each at the Target I go to for quite some time, it's not a sale price. About those containers... I'm a really cheap guy, if I wasn't getting them for cheap, I'd find something else. I do not know why they cost so much elsewhere, but I've been getting them for less than a buck each at the Target I go to for quite some time, it's not a sale price.

There is no place to upload a MOC, you need to find a place to host your images and then link to them in your posts. If you want to share an LDD file, you may need to find a different way to host it. Most of us just use something like Flickr to share images.

If you're going to just build and"play" with it, that's what I would do. If you like the dragons, then that's a very reasonably priced set.

Thanks for the review. I very much like this set, too. I understand a lot of AFOLs get caught up in the factions and heraldry, but it seems to me to be bigger than both the Kingdoms and Fantasy era castles (both of which I have, which is why I'm not getting this one). I understand the dislike of the big panels, but it makes for a pretty epic build, if you ask me. I do think any castle fan kid would love this set, personally. If I didn't already have the last two castles, this would be a sure buy for me. If I could find it for a good discount, I will almost certainly get it.

I feel the similar to naf on this; I've had micro-modular castle sections topped off with cheese slopes, assembled, for several years... hundreds of cheese slopes, not a single crack. Something else must be at play... obviously a bad batch of plastic, perhaps, but I've NEVER had broken pieces out of the box, and right now my collection stands upwards of 200+k parts. I've been missing bricks from sets (on occasion, rarely), and I've encountered some bionicles with broken joints (that I bought at a garage sale). I've broken pieces (accidents involved knocking things over on hard floors), but I've never had a piece just "break," just like that, and never broken out of the box.

Very nice... sorry I'm replying to this (and the Constitutional Convention) quite late, I guess I haven't been on since before the fourth. The Movie series of CMFs is the first one I didn't get a complete set of, I just wasn't that interested, but I had to get a couple of Lincolns. I know there are a few more, but I wish we got more historic figures, both U.S. and others.

Thanks for the MOC! It's really well done, and I'm always happy when people remember they're not getting the day off because it's July 4th, they're getting it off because it's Independence Day.

Me, too... it was definitely the dinosaur skeleton that sold it. I'm generally a defender of TLG when it comes to people complaining about lack of females in sets.

Unless something has changed recently (I haven't been missing any parts lately), they will replace the parts they can for free. Click on the "missing parts" link on the bottom of the S@H page.

That's a very cool and impressive display stand! I really like the additions of the labels and, yes, I also like what you've done to customize it for some specific figures. This is also what I use; I don't have any recent pictures, but there are threads (here and here) on minifigure displays. Some are using special cases, but others are a mix of some commercial product and a stand made from LEGO for the figures. I prefer the container store display boxes because they keep the minifigures dust free, and you can densely pack them... 32 to a box so that you can display two full sets in each one. DSCF1457 by FredJH, on Flickr They're also stackable. DSCF0851 by FredJH, on Flickr

I sold one of my Troll Warships with the dragon in it, and immediately regretted it. The dragon by itself is quite valuable on bricklink, and I really wish I had the second one still as someday I hope to have the space to lay out all of my stuff. As a consequence, I went ahead and bought dragon mountain, because the dragon makes it a very worthwhile set (as Sigolf Brimabane points out, though, only if you like the fantasy aspect). I've also had my eye on the Castle. If I didn't already have both the fantasy era and the last kingdoms era castles, I would probably get it... they look better (to me) with every generation. I agree, it's a tough call, but if you're not interested in dragons, for twice the price it looks like you get a lot more than twice the building with the castle, which is great whether you want the set or the pieces.

I have one non-LEGO set that I've had for quite some time. It's a Megabloks Mech. I probably bought it 12 or more years ago, when LEGO still seemed too expensive to me, and just didn't make things like it. I guess the worm has turned... LEGO made a few mech type suits for Exoforce, and now it's a Cuusoo/ideas winner. I am anal retentive when it comes to mixing my LEGO with clone brands, but the idea of clone brands at all isn't as disturbing to me as it is to others, I think. I would try Enlighten track if I could find some with reasonable shipping, and I've had my eye on a few Best-Loc military themed sets, but never bought one. I suppose if there were specific pieces that TLG didn't make (and there are!), I might be inclined to get some; there were 2x2 "rock" pieces that were like regular 2x2 bricks, but one side was a molded as a rock... a wall of those might look pretty cool, even being a pretty cool looking castle. Unfortunately, you can't just buy bulk sets of other brands, either. I also mentioned track... I've already bought a handful of ME train track, and use it quite willingly alongside LEGO, as well as other non-LEGO brands like Brickforge and Brickwarrior. As long as it's clear to me what is what. If I took apart 1000 piece building using basic bricks, I wouldn't want to have to figure out which ones were LEGO or not. Plus competition is good. One of the (many) things TLG decided to get out of their financial problems last decade was to simply stop bothering to compete with "clones" because they're widely recognized as being inferior. They figured they'd let the "lesser" companies squabble over the low end, and they'd take the high end. It worked. People who bought LEGO before bought it because it was LEGO, and they kept buying it. Still, I like the idea of people flocking to clones for filler and special pieces. What I really want is for a clone brand to step up to the quality of LEGO, to force LEGO to compete again. It seems like one of these companies should make the bulk products we LEGO lovers wish TLG would release... bulk packs of single colors, and colors you don't get in bulk packs with LEGO, like gray and black. It would be impossible to actually compete with the variety of parts LEGO offers, in the variety of colors they are offered... but a lot of us just want bulk bricks to build large buildings, walls and anything we want to build big.

I've not had an issues with LEGO sets from Amazon. On the contrary, I've had worse problems from LEGO themselves. I've had other items (like heavy packages of canned goods) arrive totally destroyed; FedEx even sent one back before it even got to me... but never LEGO. In fact, I've just ordered another set (Architecture Eiffel Tower) because, as I was getting dog food, I took a look and saw it for a few dollars off.

It's really cool, but looking at the garden my first thought was: OMG! It's the garden from Motel Hell! It's got a lot of great organic looks in it... although it looks like nature is about to reclaim that land.

I powered the Toy Story train by putting the train motor directly on the engine to drive the big wheels, and the battery box in the "bank" car. It worked just fine (and it doesn't need to pull a lot... it's just the Toy Story train).

There's a whole thread (and another one) dedicated to this with a number of options, including the $10 Container store display boxes. Mine (before modifying with LEGO to pack more figures into each container): My complete set of the first five series, 80 figures in four cases: DSCF0851 by FredJH, on Flickr

The ME models one is clearly stackable.

Yes... always trying to get organized, I took this approach. I started with a large number of plastic shoe-box containers: Sterilite 6QT "shoe box"; at Target they are less than $1/each, and I have about 40 now, with about 10 waiting to be used. I also have the much larger 16QT version. For a while, I'd been using these to store sets I'd previously built to make room on my shelves for more sets, but at the moment I'm taking everything out of my Stanley suitcase style organizers, and Akron Mills storage units to sort by color and part type. I'm still now sure how I'm going to handle greebles and other pieces. For example, I think I'll keep all the wheels together, regardless of color. In order to keep the pieces organized, they go into one of the small ziploc style bags for pieces I only have a few of, and larger (sandwhich to quart to gallon sized) for bricks I have a lot of. Eventually, though, I will put them back into the other storage units, just keeping the shoe-box containers for "overflow." It really is an art and not a science.