fred67

I'm admitting I'm writing this from a fairly grumpy perspective at the moment, but I personally hope TLG has a miserable Christmas... I'm very much a capitalist, but TLG is doing phenomenally well financially, the constant increases in profit margins needs a smack down. I'm glad they were able to avoid bankruptcy ten years ago... but they did it partially by realizing they didn't have serious competition, and so stopped trying to compete with the likes of MB.

Oh... I didn't address that question. I generally keep sets together unless I bought one specifically for parts, which is actually pretty rare. I have a lot of parts to build with, so generally go to bricklink or pick-a-brick to get specific ones I may not have.

I don't know how many pieces I have: brickset estimates around 120k from sets, but then I have 10's of Ks from bricklink and pick-a-brick, too, and what I've found is: For smaller collections, sort by TYPE; it's far easier, in general, to pick out a red 2x4 from a bin of 2x4s than it is to pick out a red 2x4 from a bin of all red bricks. As my collection grew, I would separate out colors that I had a lot of. For example, if I got a K box of green 2x4s from the LEGO Store, I'd also remove greens from by general 2x4 bin; that keeps it easy to find other colors and not have to dig through a sea of green to find them. HOWEVER, it's entirely subjective, because what I've also found is that I tend to build with one color... for example, a gray mountain, a brown tree, a blue building... so you want all the different types of bricks in one color handy and not all separated. At this point, while I have tons of special pieces (technic, food, bars, flags, etc.,) separated by time, I'm moving towards Akro-Mills storage containers (they've been linked to here before, here they are on Amazon - I prefer the larger drawers, which can be separated, rather than the smaller drawers); So I have been reorganizing so that each cabinet has a color (or multiple colors for uncommon colors where I don't have a lot of bricks), and the types are separated into different drawers. This obviously has the drawback that for bulk bricks - like 2x4 and 2x2, they don't all fit in one drawer, so I need to "overflow" them to separate containers. But the bonus is that if I want to build a castle, I can take the gray storage container and have all the various grays available and organized. It's rough... and expensive. I only have four of those bins so far (and one of another brand that I don't like so much). In addition, I have a ton of the Stanley "suitcase" style organizers (the ones with removable bins) and Sterilite drawer systems, but as I move forward I'm favoring the Akro-Mills ones.

Post Updated. For the next week, I'll offer the 3 for 2 again. Want to point out again that I have two whole series 4 sets I'm trading.... one of the best series (an entirely objective statement! ) Musketeer, two classic movie monsters, mad scientist, viking, geisha, hazard suit guy! ... and, it's not in my post, but will do 1 for 1 trades: my evil dwarfs and elves (open, complete, very limited supply) for your offers from my wanted list.

I bought a few of those - mostly plate packs; the more recent roof slope packs were always sold out, while a big pile of wheels sets languished on the shelves. I wish they'd bring them back, but money is the bottom line - they don't make as much money if you can easily get what you want in a bulk pack. The architecture set is not an exception - great parts pack, but the price was extraordinarily high unless you were also interested in the book.... in which case it was just ordinarily high.

+1 ResIpsaLoquitur, thanks for the trade!

Where are you getting that from? Why must they be larger than normal minifigure heads? They are much larger than they need to be to retain the likeness of the characters.

The camera is only as good as it's settings. If it's on auto, try going to manual settings, and make sure the white balance is set to the type of lighting you are using.

It wouldn't bother me, but unlike movies, books (including comic books), you generally get to see the whole thing in it's entirety before buying... you either like it or don't. Why should who designed it change that, or even influence... even just a bit... whether or not it's a set you like?

One of the greatest things I learned as an adult is that I don't owe (most) people explanations.

I've used that forum, a long time ago they helped me reconstruct an MB mech that I didn't have instructions for. Like most things (video game systems, computers, phones, etc), there's a handful of people who are blindly loyal to a brand. Happens here and it happens there.

Short legs that articulate would be a good start. I also think that a slope brick for dresses that matches the size of legs would be great - all the women in dresses are taller than the men. I have nothing against tall women, but they simply aren't, on average, taller. More articulated arms would be great, too. Holding some items in a decent pose can be very awkward... at the same time, if it's too loose, they won't hold the position, so that's a tough one.

I mainly have LEGO, and admit to being a plastic brick segregationist, but to totally discount clone bricks as being... what? Untouchable? I think it's kind of ridiculous - if TLG isn't giving you what you need, you get it elsewhere. Maybe TLG gets the point and starts making the parts the LEGO fans want. By blindly insisting on only LEGO, you're enabling them to be a bit draconian about what they "give" us. Thank goodness, IMO, for hobbyist parts from places like ME Models, Brickforge, Brick Warriors, Big Ben... hey, if it wasn't for Big Ben, we might never have seen a "real" steam engine like the Emerald Night. Back to the discussion, there is one brick I really wish TLG would make... Megablocks has a gray brick that really looks like a chipped "stone" that would be great for castle walls.

I'd like to throw in my Kudos to WhiteFang, too - another great review of CMF where we get to see all the little details. Always a great job, this time is no exception. I'm torn about "collecting" these. I really want to know, after the Simpsons, if they will put out what they officially call "Series 12," because that will mean that, like the Team GB figures, I don't need to collect them all to have what I consider to be a complete collection. I also don't know, then, if I should put them in my display with Series 11 (I have two series to a display case), even if I do get them all. It would push me over the line to just buy a box if I really wanted at least half of them, but as it is, I count 7 that I find interesting. But thanks to Whitefang, again, it never occurred to me (I really don't know why) to just swap out the ugly robot heads and have a handful of new female figures. That makes two more that would work great... and then my enthusiasm was deflated seeing they will only be two to the box. Aaarrrggghhh!!! The Wyldstyle torso might be OK, but I don't think I'd want more than one of that hair in a MOC. I think I'll just bite it and get the box. All things considered, the distribution isn't that bad, considering most of my likes are 4 or more... except the mermaid (would only need one more) and Shakespeare (again, would only need one more). The panda guy... is so cool, but six of them? I love the stuff panda doll, but on the whole, I don't think I need six of them! I will state my usual disappointment with the distribution... I don't give a damn about fitting an even amount so that they can make uniform distributions in the 30 count boxes, but even if I did, they still have a number of figures that have six that could have four, allowing at least some of the twos to be fours instead. So even with that 30 count box argument, the distribution still stinks.

They will not, they did not make enough money for it to be worth their while (like 9V trains). What I don't get is why they don't capitalize on PF and make a new set that way, perhaps with much simply track that could be used for other things (like rails that are compatible with PF trains). But they pick and choose what they do based on how much they think they can make, and they don't seem to think they'll make a lot with monorail. Now, if you want to peruse the net and look for monorail, you can see how to fairly easily (although with a lot of bricks) build your own with PF.

This Thread is probably the most comprehensive of a number of minifigure display threads here on EB. Interesting ones, besides the one in the first post, are posts 16, 48, 73. This Thread shows a lot of brick built, but if you read on also in the container store cases discussed in the first thread I linked to.

Someone delete the idiot post above mine! Fixed! Another soccer player... Beckham once mentioned he was working on the Taj Mahal. Edit: link

I found the lights at WalMart's site; I am sure I paid less at the store, though (although these are 24 lights, the one I got was 18, so that makes sense). The strands are tiny, thinner than the gauge wire I was using for my home made lights, which is thinner than lifelights. They have strands of single colors, as well as this multi-color one. The wires seem pretty fragile, but are pliable and hold their shape, so seem easy to work with. For anyone else looking for simple, easy, inexpensive lighting, I think these are great. At the same time, I got another brand at JoAnns: The cord is a lot thicker. While available in multi colors, I got them in white. Instead of being "inline," like the bulbs on the other one, these are more traditionally bulbs with sockets. I haven't put them up because they require C batteries, which I don't have at the moment. These are cheaper, but also, as noted, the cords are thicker and they require C batteries. On the upside, it's 20 lights where the other one I got (not the one in the picture) was only 18.

I'm a big fan of life lights, but I've always wanted to do my own wiring, and I always keep my eyes open for new things... I found these - "Holiday Time" lights - at Walmart while picking up hangers for my real house Christmas Lights. I don't have a lot of time, I'd like to take better pictures (this was taken on my tablet). I just draped the lights over my display, I'll neaten it all up and take better pictures, but didn't want to wait, I figured people would be interested. holiday time lights by FredJH, on Flickr holiday time lights by FredJH, on Flickr It was $5.99, uses three AAA batteries. I can't find a link, but I found other Google hit called "fairy lights."

I have every single regular CMF, most in multiples - some in many multiples. Off the top of my head, that means 176 on display alone, plus at least that many opened for mocs and play... I have seen the translucent reds when holding them up to bright light, but have never gotten a scratched one. Maybe it's because I usually get a case now, and don't have to deal with ones that have been violently felt up in stores, although I still get plenty at retail, too. I have to think that if you get three scratched ones in one purchase, then some complete jerk was really rough feeling up the packs. I get why they can't give specific replacements, but might send you a random pack. They might think someone is fishing for free Lego by complaining about three "defects" all in one purchase... the likelihood must be infinitesimal to be production defects on three different figures in the same purchase.

Yes... online promised exclusive deals for VIP members, but the only real bonus on is triple points. Since it's still cheaper to get non-exclusives at Amazon (more so with prime and free two day shipping), and the holiday set bound to be free next week (on large enough purchases), and you'd get free shipping on $75 or more anyway, I did the only logical thing... Palace Cinema. There are others I want, but I'm a patient man... I want a real deal, not a carrot. 450 VIP points, though, and I was able to use $10 I already had. so it was OK, but nothing to get too excited about. While other companies are scrambling to give us great deals, TLG shows the problem with lack of any real competition.

Interesting... Any three-peters? Maybe they thought so many times in a row wasn't fair. I did not get an invite this year after getting the first two years they did it, but I'm not surprised because I cut back a LOT!

They didn't, though, they started licenses with yellow, and it became problematic when represent ing real people. The first Star Wars and HP were all yellows.

Ender's Game. I feel bad that people are boycotting it because of philosophical differences with the author (for the record, I share those differences, but I accept he's got his views). It was very good, not great, but well produced and reasonably followed the book, and deserves to do we'll enough for the sequels to be produced. As someone who doesn't go to the movies very often, I was happy with my choice.. We all read the book, and were happy with the movie.

What will the deals be on Saturday for non-invites? The catalog last week said there'd be online deals for VIP members. Not getting invited is disappointing, but not surprising, but surely there'll be something for the rest of us?