fred67

Serious (related) question: do people really pay significantly more for used sets with a box? Since it's used and already out of the box, it's no longer an MISB collectors item... I'm just saying, I wouldn't pay more for a used set just because it had the box. If I was buying as a collector, I'd want MISB. While I sell things occasionally, it's normally not my plan, and as others have mentioned - I barely have enough room for the LEGO (and the instructions, which I do keep), I can't keep all those old boxes, even folded. I have several hundred sets... I've even taken to un-boxing new unbuilt sets to put in smaller storage containers (plastic shoe box size containers). The Black Pearl fits in ONE plastic shoebox, compared to that huge box it came it. Sometimes I have two or three sets stored in the one shoe box, so I don't even keep all the boxes for sets I haven't even built yet (but then I have no intention of selling them before building them and enjoying them myself first).

I don't get 387 pages.... An approximate post number would be better, since you can adjust how many posts per page you see. ...just saying.

Nice! As a proud Super Chief owner (sadly, not L.E.), and a microscale enthusiast, all I can say is this is really neat and well done and definitely gets my CUUSOO vote (supporter #3).

10020 Sante Fe Super Chief Limited Edition.

Yeah... you'll have to be more specific. The East Coast has a lot of states on it. FWIW, I haven't seen them in GA, but then I haven't looked in the past week or so. I was at Target yesterday and did not see them. I don't know what happens when TRU releases them early - TRU tends to do that, but even individual stores might be more apt to do it - or more error prone, seeing as how they don't violate the rules when it comes to releasing video games early. I guess they know they won't be sued by LEGO for releasing early, though.

How is that better than just keeping the instructions? I have a file box full of instructions; I throw the boxes as I don't intend on selling the sets I built and if I ever do, for used, don't think it dramatically changes the price more than having instructions.

Updated my post. In particular, updated "wants" and series 7 "haves," and will trade for Batman Jek-Ski and Ghost polybags (among other things).

closed.

Hi, landam... welcome aboard; we're glad you found us, too. There's BlueBrick, it seems that there was a lot of support here for it, although I haven't heard much lately. It allows you to add your own "tiles," and a lot of people here have added parts (train sheds and such - I think even some modular buildings). One of the latest posts says it'll even run on Linux. So it seems kept up to date and is user expandable. You could probably even do just tracks in LDD, but I'm not sure. I haven't had the space for anything but a simple layout, so haven't bothered looking at software for a while. A 3D one might be cool... I am a programmer, but I have more ideas than time, unfortunately. Edit: oh yeah... switches and crossovers are always useful; what they haven't made for PF trains you can use the 9V equivalent, even if they're a bit more expensive. ME Models has now been making track, too, and while it's conducting track for 9V, it's also compatible. They seem to have pretty much run out of their first batch - and haven't gotten a second batch in quite some time, but it got great reviews and I'm optimistic they'll get new inventory, hopefully new parts, too - they were working on larger radius curves, for example, but we haven't heard from them in a while.

I don't have a problem with batman - in fact, I supported a small batman set (and it didn't even have batman in it) the other day, but the signal to noise ratio (interesting vs garbage sets) is so low that, given the choice, I'd filter them out. EDIT: ... and again, people shouldn't vote on sets they think are good if they would not buy them. While I'm collecting most of the popular superhero figures, I wouldn't buy any of the sets I've seen (except the one I supported). Ultimately, if people aren't batman fans, they should be able to filter out batman. If people aren't Star Wars fans, they should be able to filter out Star Wars. I like Star Wars OT, I wish I could filter out SWCW. That doesn't mean those sets aren't good, just that I'd never buy them myself, and so won't vote for them. But I admit a "hell no" button could be as abused as anything on Cuusoo, too, I suppose.

I would love a "hell no" button. It would be interesting if support required a commitment to buy at a maximum price of what you entered when you supported, and obviously dumb amounts wouldn't count. So when someone puts $1 for how much they'd pay for a UCS sandcrawler, not only doesn't it count - the user should have their account suspended. But if they put $500, then if LEGO makes the set and sells it for any amount $500 or below, they should be obligated to buy it. Maybe submitters should be required to estimate a price, or include the number of bricks in their description (even if approximate), so LEGO could estimate a minimum price. I know they can change the sets afterwards, I'm talking a ballpark figure. Supporters who enter an amount less than the minimum price wouldn't get counted. Edit: I want to add that, yes, I'm very opinionated and vocal about things - I know that turns off a lot of people, but let's face it - in this case, Cuusoo is a great idea that's being completely abused by users. People show off their 10k part MOCs that will never be made into sets - they are great MOCs, but they are unrealistic as sets. At the same time, people with no ability submit pictures of cars or cartoons they want made with no attempt at even building anything on their own, in LDD or otherwise. And I've had conversations with people here who have supported projects they had no intention of buying just because they were well done - there's a reason they ask how much you'd pay and how many you'd buy... if 10k people say they'd buy it, and only 5k do when they release it, you can kiss such a great opportunity for sets we'd like to see made good-bye. I'd say a huge portion of the submitters are using Cuusoo just to show off their MOCs that have no chance of being made into a set at all... there are other websites for that!

Yeah... I go about once a week or so, and I just do a search for the latest projects until I run across the ones I've already seen. It would be a lot better if I could filter OUT some things... like anything to do with "minecraft." I'd filter out: mindcraft, battlepack, bat*, Star Wars, Super Mario... the list goes on and on; mostly video game stuff.

Looks like a ripoff of Consumer Report's inside back cover that ridicules, usually, misleading packaging and terrible advertising... and it looks like they couldn't find enough to make fun of so they tried this lame "joke."

closed.

I don't see what the point of that is (for resale). Far simpler to open both ends of the box so that you can store it flat... little difference between that and destroying the box just for the front.

JFox is absolutely right, but as a tip, if you know a set that has a part you want, look up the set in the bricklink catalog - then look at the inventory.

I built on a 32x32 to conserve some space, but extended the width by another 10 studs... covered in 4x4 gray and dark gray tiles... I'm pretty happy with it.

Yeah... I'd love to know more about it, too. I had an opportunity to get the Ghost bags on Bricklink for like $8/each (I would like several). But given that you just get a Ghost and pretty standard pieces (and you don't even get legs), I think it's a bit much - MSRP would be an acceptable amount for me to pull the trigger, so it would be cool if we could get these here. According to brickset.com (http://brickset.com/detail/?set=30201-1) the retail availability is only Germany (released in May). Frodo Cooking Corner (http://brickset.com/detail/?Set=30210-1) is supposedly available in Canada and the U.S. now, but I haven't seen it in TRU - it's available online, though: http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=13215033 Uruk Hai with Ballista is not released yet: http://brickset.com/detail/?Set=30211-1.

While we're making suggestions, I suggest that people who post something for sale, trade, or to buy, without posting their location should be shot. Or... something. Something bad. Whatever.

No, you're right, but a much larger group of actual LEGO fans (as opposed to event attendees... most of whom likely are not big LEGO fans anyway) would be happier if they had at least some variation of these figures they could get. But I refuse to accept you would be unhappy just because others could get a figure, as opposed to less happy because something someone handed you "for free" isn't worth as much. Does it really take denying the pleasure to other people in order to make you happy? Which is why I wrote (and you seem to skip over when I mention it), that if TLG chooses not to sell these figures, I can assume they think it's better for some reason and it's TLG's prerogative to do whatever the heck they want to do. And yes, what Chump said... I've never argued that they can't have exclusives, but that some variation of characters they haven't released elsewhere should be available. Why on earth would that make you unhappy?

Actually, they could... TLG is choosing not to. Like I said, I will not go so far as to support this petition because we're not in a position to "demand" a damn thing - if TLG chooses not to sell these figures, I can assume they think it's better for some reason. But, at the same time, I understand where the argument about disappointing and alienating fans is coming from, and I don't think it's entirely wrong. Ultimately, it's TLG's prerogative to do whatever the heck they want to do... but as members of this community, we should voice our opinions on the subject if we think they should change.

That's exactly what I did... actually more, because then I put the large wall section along the lengthened side, and the doors on an adjacent "short" side. I used a blue baseplate (it's what I had handy), along with a couple of green 8x16 - but it's moot, because I covered the whole thing with a checkerboard pattern of light and dark gray 4x4 plates.. I got two extra studs on one side by over hanging (and filled in the opposite side with 2x plates that are hidden under the door anyway. I think it came out pretty good... more comments below... These figures are quite good - I disagree with the suggestion to buy the figures off of bricklink; by the time you add them all up, you're quite close (if not over) the price of the set... close enough that it makes sense to just get the set (IMO). I know that kind of sucks, but it's how it is right now.... especially for the cave troll (cheapest one around here is almost $12, not including S&H); Legolas is about the same price. The orcs, Gimli, Boromir, and Pippen are $5 to $6 each (and there's two orcs in the set). That's around $50 just for the main figures... for the extra $30 you get two skeletons, a bunch of weapons (and, oh yeah - most bricklink lots don't include the weapons), and over 700 pieces besides the figures. Just my opinion... on top of all that, you'll likely have to buy the minifigures from several different stores, incurring double or triple S&H... and my prices are given the absolute cheapest on BL; if you tried to get them all from one place, it'd likely cost more for the figures. OK, so now onto my opinion of the set - I just built it the other day, and wanted to add my two cents. First, I'll eventually be getting all the sets, reviews be damned. I'm a big LEGO fan, I'm a big LOTR fan, so I'm "forced" to buy even crap sets. But I don't believe this is one of them. The minifigures, while lacking (*), are good choices and I'm not unhappy that, if they were going to pick 3 of the fellowship, they picked a good selection. The second thing is my own personal slant on LEGO... I don't "play." So this set has a lot of play value, but it's not what I do - I build the scenes and display them, so I am inclined to think that maybe, at some point, I'll be going through a number of sets and removing the flick-fire missiles and falling columns and breaking walls, and just build things in the state I want them in for my displays. Lastly, I don't get why the main wall section needed to be done in three pieces; even if you consider it one big wall piece, you have the wall, the doors, the tomb, and the well, all as separate parts. This again might be great for play, but it's not great for display. So I did use a baseplate and build up some light and dark gray plates on it to fix the scene on. I could throw a picture up if someone wants me to... it's nothing special, just a checkerboard pattern of light and dark gray. I also put 1x tiles around the base of the wall to make it easier to stick on (large tiles sticking on large tiles is a pain). So... it's OK (that was my vote); it's not great. I bought a new set of tweezers to apply the decals, so that helped. I prefer printed parts, too, though. Overall: it could have been better, but it's LOTR, so I'm happy enough. (*) How impossible these sets are... several scenes with so many characters, yet you don't want to pay for so many repeats, and yet if you buy one set you can't even make a complete scene. I have to give TLG credit for trying to spread them out in a reasonable way... it's unfortunate they never seem to get the ability to sell figures separately, but even if they could they wouldn't want to - they obviously want you to buy all the sets. Oh well...

There is still an extremely high price to pay in order to get one, whether you are paying TLG directly or not. The point is it's economically impossible for many fans who may then feel alienated by the company.

That makes no sense. I'm sorry, I just can't believe that you opened the package, immediately threw away the instructions and the box, and then took so long to build the set (and Pippen was in the FIRST STEP of building instructions) that garbage collection had already come and gone and there was simply no way to get the instructions. Ok, let's say your story is completely true and you're not just trying to get a free part from TLG; you can follow the advice already given (yes, $5.00 is a lot for a head... it's called a "stupid tax," the tax we pay when we do something stupid - and I'm no exception, so don't take it as an insult - we all do dumb things sometimes), or you can use a different head, and you can learn a lesson. Edit: and from now on, don't throw away the instructions. Ever.

My two cents... I also find it rather annoying that there are characters given away at events I couldn't possibly attend that I can't get elsewhere. Notice I said "characters" and not minifigures - w.r.t. superheroes, I'd like a complete collection of the characters - but I don't need every variation ever made. If I could get a Green Lantern from a production set that was different than the one they gave away, it wouldn't bother me. But I've seen (supposed) pictures of next years figures, and there's no Green Lantern. If someone wants to be a true collector of something (every variation of every figure) then it stands to reason they may have to pay a lot for it, but otherwise it seems silly to alienate a number of your customers for whom it would be unreasonable to travel to these events or pay secondary market prices for some artificially restricted figure. That said, I'll say things on those LEGO surveys and I'll make comments about it, but I wouldn't go so far as to start a petition (especially when I don't know why they'd make an exclusive out of the only version primary character they are going to release). I also will join in a discussion like this about it - but I'm not so infuriated that I'd start one on my own. The way I feel sometimes is "Hey, TLG, here's my money... if you don't want it, that's your prerogative."