fred67

I was thinking about this the other night (my family and I are in the midst of building the set); The problem is not only the space - the outside is built to a good scale, and will look nice in my city (eventually), but the layout of the house in the show itself has only a few consistencies, with many things varying from show to show depending on what they need it to be (including, as BrickG points out, copious amounts of interior space that don't really match the outside), but even given the things that are consistent, the only "right" one in this set is the garage. I realize to really fully do it right it would be a $500 set, but it seems fairly disappointing as a "play" set, and I'd rather have paid less for something like an early modular that was more facade than playable (but then I'm an adult and want the set for displaying anyway). I also do not like the tired eyes they all seem to have, and prefer the CMF versions. I think it would have been cool for the car to better, and to have a version of Marge's hair bent to put in the car (as it's done in the show). Speaking of Marge and Lisa, I'm not a big fan of those skirts. If they were one unit wider so that they overlapped when wrapped around, they wouldn't be so... "revealing." And Marge can't sit down (or in the car) wearing it. Would have been better printed on the legs (as far as playability goes). So... don't want to insult the designer; given constraints he was probably working with, it turned out really great for a $200 set, and some of the things (like the skirts) are just par for course for TLG (they would have been that way in a $500 set, too). The overall outside design of the house is spectacular, IMO, a perfect minifig illusion scale of the Simpsons House. It's one of those things where I'm glad I got the set, it's definitely worth the price to a Simpsons fan... given the price per part, it's probably worth it for a non-Simpsons fan, but being a Simpsons fan (and nerd), deviations from the show stick out like a sore thumb. While I'm "ranting," I was a little disappointed at the instructions, too. Given three books, I thought it would make for a good family build (we often build modulars together), but the latter books depend on the earlier instructions being completed (to a large enough exent) that made it difficult. I realize they don't design with that in mind, but I think on sets like this they should. It works great for modulars, it would have worked great here.

No disagreement... perhaps I should rephrase what I said to be "even if they only sell half as much..." I have no doubt that, if sales do decrease, it will be very minor. I think, though, that if people really thought about it, TLG might lose some good will.

Yeah... it's an art, not a science; although I've done it the way you suggest, I also don't like sorting things differently (having some of a part sorted one way, another sorted another). I'm falling back to sorting by color AND part for parts I subjectively consider "building bricks." That would include things like headlight bricks, because when you want one you want one of a specific color. I've decided, for those bricks, even if I only have one, it will somehow be sorted separately. If that means a larger container/bin/whatever with invidividually sealed pieces, then so be it... but when you build, you generally say "my building will be <this> color," and it's nice to have all that color together. I've been pulling everthing from my usual storage (mainly Akro-Mills and Stanely "suit case" style storage) and sorting them into plastic bins by color - each type being sorted into a ziplock bag (I bought a bunch of various sizes on Amazon). Right now I have 10 bins - 6 shoebox size and 4 larger sterilite boxes, all pretty full, plus a couple extra for mixed colors where I didn't have a lot. In addition, one of my Akro-Mills bins was already sorted by color (less common colors, like sky blue, lime, purple colors). If I put more than one kind of piece in a drawer, it's in a separate little ziplock. Now I don't know how I'll put them back... but I think I'll be favoring the Stanley organizers, as I think they are safer when being moved, or bumped, or whatever. Then I can grab a "suitcase" of <some color> and get to building without going from bin to bin. But... like I said, I don't know how well this will work. It's more of an art, and frankly, I don't think there's a way that solves every problem efficiently; there'll always be something wrong with the method you choose.

But they completely sold out... it must have been a financial success; the more popular parts (mostly straights) sold out relevatively quickly. And granted I didn't get any curves, but the straight track I got I wouldn't exactly call "beta," it works flawlessly. I would have bought a whole lot more of it were it available.

I think it might, but look at it this way: TLG comes out WAY ahead if they sell half as much at twice the price. It's one of those marketing things... they raised the price by a buck in the second year, now again in the fourth year... when it happens, the mindset is "it's just a buck." But it adds 33% on top of whatever the profit margin was. Now it's 50%. seeing as how their average profit margin is normally around 25% (based on past earnings statements, but still just a guess - they are a private company, not publicly held, and don't have to disclose much), and assuming they split the extra profit with the retailer evenly (they don't, but let's give them the benefit of the doubt), the profit margin is then over 37%. Sorry, I know this is boring some of you, but while I won't berate TLG for that kind of high profit, I think it's interesting to keep in mind, when most people's mindsets (according to a study I read a few years ago) suggest people think 10 to 20% is "fair" for a company to make. Personally? I understand it's a free market (and I fully support the free market), and for some non-necessity like minifigures, TLG can charge as much as they think people will pay in order to maximize their profit... but I like looking at the numbers. To get back on track, though, let me just say the ones I'm looking forward to, more than the others (my opinion may change when I see them, of course), is: - Battle Goddess.... can't wait to see that one. I love the fighters, especially the female ones because there's been so many males; even the evil ones (like Medusa). - Wizard... I have some wizards, including the polybag one (and including Galdalf); if they can pull off something unique, that would be great. - Piggy Guy... expecting something like chicken suit guy, bumble bee girl... I love that collection, so this should be cool. Pair a few of them up with the classic wolfman (full wolf head, not the CMF), and it could be a cool part of the "studios" builds I'm planning. - Fairytale Princess... pointy hat would be a cool one, since I don't have anything like that, but we'll wait and see. I am a big castle fan, it would be an interesting addition. - Spooky Girl... need to see this one, but could be cool... could be on either side of a "Ghost Hunters" equation? - Prospector... Love the old west theme. - Genie Girl... I like when new CMFs pair with old ones, so that would be cool. Anyhow, my two cents.

Yes... I really don't know the nuances of what's going on with ME... they made rails, sold out of most of it in a reasonably short amount of time, with a few straggling items left over (that eventually sold out), and yet they wouldn't make more without a kickstarter campaign? I actually missed out on the kickstarter (took a break for a few months and came back when it was already over); I'm glad they met their goal, even if I won't be first on the list. Their track was impeccable, IMO... All fit together nicely, I didn't need the metal tape to make sure the connections were good (they were fine without it), and it worked great with TLG's 9V tracks. I guess I should have ordered more back then, because I've been waiting... and even Big Ben bailed on selling track, so we've had no retail alternative for some time.

I think we'd already figured it would be $4... I went ahead and got the simpsons, but with 11 complete series, plus the simpsons, I might look for specific figures, but won't "collect" anymore. I'm sure TLG is weeping. Europeans can complain about an American complaining, but no matter how you look at it, it represents a 100% increase in 4 years.

9362. I'm officially embarrassed.

And don't wait for a real e-mail, check back and see if you have messages at bricklink. Sometimes it can take a week. If they are U.S., they might be students facing finals or something... which they should have noted, of course. If it's been a week, try proactively contacting them. I usually don't start off whining, I'll just say regarding order number whatever, is there s problem?

It's not just rectangular bricks.. the "creator" sets show how well you can build trains without looking too blocky, but still looking excellent. LEGO, the fundamental idea, is that you can build other things, even if they give you the bricks to build a particular set. Right now it seems like only the creator sets still follow the philosophy.

I consider it the time between being a kid with LEGO and the time I got back into it as an adult, but I also often refer to mini dark ages, where I might step away for a few months or so, where I just felt burned out or overwhelmed with other things.

Anyone interesting in trading or buying should see the link in my signature.

Will be reviewing some of the latest posts, but wanted to get it out there that I have a whole Simpsons set to trade (or sell) separately or as a set... Link to my post is in my signature. Particularly still need a Shakespeare... Am willing to entertain offers outside of what is specifically listed in my post, though.

Agreed... So much so that I will certainly get at least one of these, while I passed on the Delorean. And while I don't always respond to WhiteFangs reviews, I wanted to say how much I appreciate them, they are always top notch, and always help to decide whether or not to get the sets. I have previously purchased the Ghostbuster style backpacks from Brick Forge, and was expecting to use them here, but these are surprisingly good.

It was very good... as someone that has watched since Tracy Ullman, it's one of the better ones from the last few years.

Yes. In fact, today is my first day back on EB in nearly two months. I did not stop buying(just finished my Simpson's collection with the last two today), but i have not spent a lot of time on LEGO, only buying the figures because I really didn't want to miss out. So yes, I sometimes have these mini dark ages. I also get in that funk where I am depressed about not having enough space, and wonder what's the point... and yet here I am again :)

Finally ordered a car from my usual supplier, but couldn't help picking up a few while waiting... the quality is awesome, this is a great series. I'll be happy when they get back to normal series, but i prefer this diversion over the movie figures.

Ok, so, not to start an argument (these are all just opinions, anyway), but while there's a couple of things you could point out (like the buggers looking like, you know, big bugs), I don't see the similarity. In Starship Troopers there was this big deal about nationalism, and you might think that was there in Ender's Game, but in reality the world was still fighting amongst itself, with countries only joining forces to defend themselves. Ender was a much more troubled, reluctant hero than Johnny Rico - there was a whole lot of introspection going on there, very psychological... I'm sure just about everybody knows the plot, but spoilers ahead - he didn't even know he was actually fighting, and the fact that he was using the lives of others as pawns - and the fact that he committed nearly complete genocide of an entire race, all without knowing until afterwards is a huge psychological bomb that leaves you discussing things with your friends after the movie, while Starship Troopers (which I enjoyed, don't get me wrong) has you talking about the special effects and laughing at the over-the-top jingoist nationalism spread throughout. Except that it's humans fighting bugs, I just don't see them as similar at all. I'm disappointed that the politically correct crowd destroyed Ender's Game and made sequels all but a dead end. OK, I haven't seen it, but I've heard a review from a fairly conservative, religious person who claims he'd be able to accept some liberty with the story, but that the movie was completely ridiculous - with "Rock Monsters" (his words) and Methuselah having magic powers and something about some magic snake skin(?something like that). I'm not particularly religious myself, and most of the religious people I know take the bible with a grain of salt - mostly parables to send a message rather than actual history, but if that's true, then it seems they've really strayed too far from the source.

I'm not going to quote Andy D because it's already the post right above this one (as I'm writing this, anyway). I have a handful of different solutions going, including the Akron Mills drawers and Stanley "suitcase" style organizers (the ones with removable bins, which I think are awesome for when you're actually building). I should note that I have dozens of sets stored in plastic shoebox size sterilite containers, but I was only using kinds of bins for bricks that I had a large quantity of. I have always eschewed sorting by color for smaller collections because I stand by the belief that it's easier, for example, to find a red 2x2 in a bin of 2x2's than it is to find a red 2x2 in a bin of all red bricks, so for years my collection has largely been sorted by type - but I'm man enough to admit I may have been mistaken, at least as collections grow. Now it seems building uses largely one or two colors, with maybe a couple others for accent pieces - a gray castle, a white house, a yellow submarine... so I found I was going to a million different bins to gather up all the different types of pieces I wanted in the same color. So I've gotten larger bins (the 15 quart ones), but also use a lot of the shoebox size ones, and I've been sorting different colors into each - using some small ziploc type bags I got on Amazon (like 500 of each kind); if I need bigger, I use sandwich or gallon size bags. So now most of the bricks of the same color are stored together. But I intend this to be a first step, as I will re-put them back into the Stanley and Akron Mills storage by color now, instead of type. The problem is if I have 500 white 2x4s they don't fit into a single (or even several) drawers... so I need to keep the shoebox size (and larger) containers for overflow - but at the same time, if I have a SINGLE 2x2 white tile, it ends up getting an entire drawer to itself? I can keep them in their little ziploc bags in the same drawer as similar items I only have few of, I suppose, but I don't really like that option in the grand scheme of things... but it's probably the only tenable option there is, and is where I'm headed. I still keep some elements separated out, sometimes with the colors mixed together, like wheel holder bricks, axles and a lot of other technic parts - mostly things I consider to be more functional, I guess, and not "building" bricks.

I've made some great offers (IMO) without response... Get the feeling there's like three of us who follow this thread.

I w wouldn't care about the boxes either, but if the quality was decent, I'm not adverse to the idea of buying other bricks.

+1 Super Goblin

Yeah... I was just musing about it. It would be cool, but they can't cater to every special interest.

Being a fan of the new (-ish) show on History channel, I wouldn't mind seeing the theme revisited, but on a more serious level, I think.

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