fred67

+1 vriverajr3

Fantasy Era got me into castle. I didn't realize it was only the fantasy aspect that I liked, as afterwards, with Kingdoms, I wasn't really interested. But now with LOTR I'm happy - and hopefully it will last a few years... I'm hoping 2012, 2013 (right after Hobbit Part 1), on into 2014 (after part 2); after that, I'm thinking there won't be a whole lot of castle that I'll be interested in because I really doubt they'll do another fantasy line after LOTR, and that doesn't bother me the least. I'm trying to buy less, not more.

You still don't get it - whether it has any value is not your decision. It doesn't matter if the employee threw them out or the manager gave them to employees or even to other customers - you have no right to decide. I agree the anger should go to the jerk who opened the packets, but that's not the issue, nobody is debating that that person isn't a crook. I thought about it when writing my last reply and I think that yes, this is directly related to the choices in polling. But my purpose is not to cast dispersions on you in particular, it's in reply to your telling everyone belittling thieves to "cool it" because it's not so bad. Yes, it is. This is how it starts. When I was in middle school and high school, a lot of people I knew were just plain old outright thieves... and they said things like "the stores budget for this," or "the insurance pays for it so nobody loses anything," or "I wasn't going to buy it anyway, so it's not like they lost a sale." Going off topic, I would say the same to people who illegally copy music and movies and other software. I know many people who do it - many of them my friends, and after discussing it with me they have not stopped doing it - but they stopped pretending they had any justification. There's simply no justification - I will not "cool it" on belittling thieves, and yes, whether you want to believe it or not, the simple fact that someone, some entity (the store?) may lose a sale on top of damaged merchandise is someone being hurt by the theft, doubly so after being left with "damaged" merchandise. The people who own the store put the manager in charge, it's the manager's decision. The manager may have left someone else in charge, in which case it's that person's decision. They may very well just give it to you. They may not. It's not your right to choose.

I'm not arguing from a legal standpoint, I'm arguing from a moral and ethical one. They are not always the same. I happen to support legalizing marijuana (even if I don't personally use it), and I have actually discussed those positions with my son; it's a straw man argument. I will say it again, and I won't belabor the discussion - there is no MORAL or ETHICAL justification for stealing any sort of non-essential, regardless of how you feel about the store or the entity you're stealing from. It's simply NOT your decision to make about what to do with someone else's property. And yes, I am very harsh on the subject, sorry, but the way people justify away their unethical actions really bothers me. Lastly, there IS a victim, whether you choose to pretend there isn't or not; it is both illegal and unethical to open the packages, we can both agree on that, but if you (or someone else) gets parts they want by stealing this way instead of buying a closed pack, you ARE taking sales away from the store. But even if that weren't true, even if you were to buy the same number of packs you originally intended to, you still have no right to benefit by the extra pieces without the consent of the store (either they let you buy the separate pieces or just give them to you). It's not your property, you're not allowed to make that decision without violating someone else's rights. It doesn't matter to me that you're talking about pennies worth of property instead of dollars, the morals and ethics are the same. Edit: OK, here's the bottom line, from my point of view: you're either arguing it's not theft (it obviously is), or that it's justifiable (not unethical) to steal something as frivilous as a toy that doesn't belong to you. That's really it. I simply said I disagree with you - stealing of essentials may be debatable; stealing of non-essentials has no moral grounds - only justifications that people tell themselves to make them feel OK about it.

I might normally agree with you, but after looking at the image again my opinion stands... cheap, rushed knockoff that is obviously derivative (especially considering the "feature" they can be taken apart and reassembled with parts from other figures).

Sorry, I probably need to catch up more on this thread, but I agree - not just ships, but the boats they get in Lothlorien. That's right - and it was an absolutely beautiful ship - the kind that would make a wonderful UCS set. I'm not ready to part with that kind of cash, and I wouldn't hold my breath for such a thing, but after getting LOTR at all, I wouldn't doubt it, either. I'd always doubted the viability of POTC as LEGO. There's some kitsch and the ships were nice (but expensive, because they were really the only "good" POTC sets and are necessarily expensive), I just feel like there's a whole lot more with LOTR. A kid can get any one of the LOTR sets and be happy, but unless they had an (expensive) ship, they'd probably not be particularly thrilled with POTC. Just my two cents... I think a UCS Elven Ship from the ending would be absolutely amazing, and I wouldn't guess what's on TLG's minds... after all, we never thought we'd get LOTR at all. I didn't see any mention (although I admit to not looking completely through the thread), but the Corsair's ships would be cool.

The problem isn't the blind packaging, it's the same figures. Even the little circles that say "series 2" and "series 3" look like TLG's packaging. It's true they have some figures LEGO hasn't done yet, but it's also true that most of them are figures already done in LEGO, and others are actually very much like the ideas of Boudon Alexandre. As far as I'm concerned, though, immitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and if parents want to buy their kids that garbage, they can feel free to do it. EDIT: sorry if I'm OT. I did come to the thread looking for something more than the pirate.

The house is fantastic - a definite buy for me. As for similarities... I'm really disappointed at many AFOLs right now (not that you care about my opinion). LEGO is a profit driven business like any other, but at the same time they are one of the most moral companies out there. 100 of us could make an X-Wing completely independently and then whine that someone else "stole" their design. This is the classic haunted house look - instantly recognizable; I thought instantly of the Munsters and Addams family (both from the movies and the show) and many other classic horror movies... that's just what a freaking haunted house looks like, and they are both amazing, and they are both derivatives of the real thing, nothing else. I have this problem in software engineering, too. Sometimes code is just "obvious" from what it has to do, but people try to patent relatively simple things and causes problems all the time, whether it was "clean room" code or not. That's why you can't patent "look and feel" in software programs anymore.

I disagree. You have no right to determine whether or not theft is acceptable based on your opinion of the "giant retail chain." You can debate the morals and ethics of stealing bread to support a starving family - you can't debate the morals and ethics of stealing toys, in whole or part, from it's rightful owner, for any reason whatsoever. I submit that this kind of attitude has a great deal to do with what's wrong with society today. Are you seriously going to teach your kids to steal because it's some giant retailer you don't like, or you think has enough money already? Think, man! How would you feel if, in 10 or 15 years (assuming you don't have kids already) your kids could see the video of you stealing parts off the shelf at WalMart?

But who wants to pay a premium for all of them? I mean, those are the top five - I would think, if it were an even distribution for example, most people would want only a fifth of what's in the pack.

Ugggh... beach set makes some sense; random figures in a box doesn't. I don't get the point of it. Q: What do an elf, guy in an ape suit, space villain, fisherman, and mummy all have in common? A: Nothing.

WTF is wrong with people? The reason I don't like Walmart has nothing to do with politics - it has to do with the quality of the clientèle... a brand new Walmart opened here and within 6 months it looked like it'd been there for 20 years; the parking lot was dirty and oil stained (and interestingly populated with both clunkers and high end cars like Lexus and Cadillacs). You walk down the aisles and people have left garbage - literally garbage, like drink cups and candy wrappers, just lying on the shelves. People let their little monsters run wild... uggg. Yes, I know stuff happens at "nicer" stores, but it's all too common at Walmart... I was going to vote that I'd walk away, but it depends on the store. Then I read about the 15 opened packets in CM4S's post... I'd probably report that no matter which store. Why are people turning into such jerks? I know there's always been jerks, but so many people today are so lazy and disrespectful, it's depressing.

So I thought I'd give a little review of Legoland, FL. It was my first time - I've never been to a Legoland park before, so it was all new. We went to Busch Gardens the day before, so I can't help but compare. First of all, a couple days before we went, I googled Legoland codes, and was able to order my e-tickets online with the "kid's free with adult" promotion without needing any physical coupons or anything. The same code worked for both kids, so the total price was just $150 for the whole family of four (before tax). Kid's at Legoland are 12 and under. Compare that with well over $300 at Busch Gardens (kids are 9 and under, so both of mine required adult tickets). The park was open from 10am to 5pm, but I think hours are expanded over the summer months... just not quite yet. Luckily schools in Florida were still in last week, so the park was blissfully (relatively) empty, and lines were pretty short. Sadly, if you're planning on going anytime soon, they are out this week. It's obvious that the park was designed with LEGO's core demographic in mind; the rides are nothing special. No coasters go upside down, nor are they particularly long rides. On top of that, the rides experienced a lot of technical difficulties and were often shut down for a periods of time. I only witnessed this twice, both times shut down for 5 to 10 minutes, but talked to another parent while we waited for another problem to resolve: lightening. Nobody saw any, the sky was clear with white fluffy clouds, but a little after 4:00 they shut down ALL the major rides because of lightening. That lasted about 30 minutes. They kept some of the Cypress Gardens stuff alive, which is nice. The water skiing show features LEGO Minifigure characters waterskiing, so that's not something you see every day. We did not go to the water park. The stores were interesting - they are selling stuff there that I haven't seen for sale in a while, as well as stuff that I've never seen for sale elsewhere... none of it that I was interested in, but interesting stuff anyway, and certainly would be something a lot of people might want. The PAB selection was absolutely fantastic compared to what's available in my local LEGO Store, but instead of volume they sell it for the pretty outrageous price of $8.99 for a QUARTER pound. Still, lot's of interesting pieces, so I ended up with about a half pound. My verdict... my kids are both tall enough to ride ALL the rides at Busch Gardens, which is much more of a ride oriented park, so they were both pretty bored at Legoland. That left, for us, the LEGO creations to look at - the pictures speak for themselves; Miniland is just incredible. On the whole, with kids the ages mine are, another park is probably a lot more worthwhile. It's possibly something to do once. Busch Gardens tickets cost more than twice as much, considering no discount, but we also opted for the meal option, which gave us food and drinks all day - one of the common complaints about theme parks. I spent probably about $80 or so on food and drinks at Legoland (although I treated my Mom and nephew, who went along with us). For fun and excitement... Legoland is kind of a dud compared to other theme parks. It's somewhat less expensive, but when you consider traveling expenses and everything else, the difference doesn't make it worth it. It was OK for a one time deal, and I'm glad I did it, but I don't picture myself ever going again. Here's a sampling of the pictures; full res by clicking on the image or going to view the stream. Some of the pictures were with my phone, some with my good camera. Here's a link to the stream. IMG_20120531_161220 by FredJH, on Flickr IMG_20120531_103845 by FredJH, on Flickr DSCF1452 by FredJH, on Flickr

Working link. The motion is a bit jerky; needs more FPS. I like the trans-orange for the shooting, but cones are too big - maybe 1x1 round plates. The "set" seems to move between images - IOW, the camera's not locked down to the set. Makes it even more jittery. Not bad for a test, though.

I haven't seen the movie, nor do I read the comics, but this is a cool plane... great job, Jack.

I'd do a reasonable trade for a chrome Vader, too. I have the Hulk promo, Shadow ARF, and Chrome Stormtrooper... all sealed. I think I'd trade any two for a mint (if not sealed) Vader.

Agreed... the image that people still get in their heads, with the knee socks and all.

Been perusing this thread for a few days now and decided to post. The simple answer to the question is YES, they are worth the hype for a lot of people. LEGOman273's post is right, but it goes even beyond that. The figures spark the imagination of what you can do; I look at some of these figures and the MOC just appears in my head... Three Musketeers, The Three Weird Sisters (witches) from MacBeth, all the classic b-horror movie figures. On top of that, you get the every day city folks to flesh out your city layout (if you're into that); the skateboarders, medical personal, better policemen (IMO) than what they release in sets, computer programmers... And then there's that some of these make incredibly awesome little gifts... I've been saving graduates (a lot of kids in my extended family), I've been collecting programmers to give to people at work (because it's what we do), I've been giving Statues of Liberty to people that I know that have recently become U.S. citizens. No doctors in the family, don't know any skateboarders, but I can easily see how a lot of these figures can be used that way. On top of all that, you get the army builders... I'm guilty, too. I have a dozen elves and a dozen "evil" dwarves. I don't army build like some, but for some people these CMFs are god-sends. Lastly, as has been mentioned many times, all the different new faces and parts and torsos... outstanding. I am to the point where, after having ordered by the box a couple of times, I think it's actually more cost effective for me to just order the box. I do enjoy "feeling" the packets, but I do that even when I get the whole box in order to sort them out. I verify my counts with Whitefang's reviews; I open up a complete set for display (all 112 at the moment), keep a sealed set for posterity, and trade away and use the others. I'm the big LEGO fan in my family, but EVERYONE likes them - both kids and my wife, they always pick a few from each series that they'd like, so I end up having to get even more than what's in the box, but I get to use extras for trading. Finally, when the MOC ideas start flowing, I try to trade for extras of those figures, too. See my signature if you want to trade! My complete set of the first five series, 80 figures in four cases: DSCF0851 by FredJH, on Flickr So yes - they may not be for everybody, but people get just as excited for these as others do for other themes. I think they were a fantastic idea.

Right... we just started our third year (more or less); the first series came out just about two years ago (June 2010), so seven is, more or less, the first set of the third year. More or less. Yes, I know it's a month off.

I didn't say it didn't take time, but it doesn't take weeks of someone's time... they can test on local machines without disrupting production before doing a test production run, and really the point is that even if it takes two weeks to go through the process, it's not like people are hard at work on just that one thing, it's because they have to wait for the opportunity to test things. It's not like a designer designs a face and then sits there for a week doing nothing else while waiting for it to be tested, something like that spends most of it's time in a queue.

That may be true, but here, compared to those hobby cases, they are a lot more worth it. Those smaller cases in hobby stores can cost just as much, sometimes more, than the Stanley cases that hold much more.

Agree. I also have a problem trying to find "every day" faces when MOCing. They're all either happy as a clam, scared, or gritting teeth like they're about to enter battle... no normal "here I am at work" faces... and especially not enough female heads. EDIT: I also disagree about adding that much production time, especially in the case of non-licensed themes. Computers are controlling the printing - they don't have "re-tool" for a different face... they may have to stop production, enter new designs into the computer, and start up again. If they've got things set up correctly it should only take a matter of minutes, production wise. Yes, of course, there's art time, too. I really doubt it takes more than a couple of hours, and I'm sure the artists are able to test their designs either on some local printing device, or a good enough simulation on screen. I won't debate it's to save money, and I won't debate that TLG tries to save every little fraction they can... they have some of the highest profit margins in the business for a reason.

I think they will make another set - the Bridge of Kahzad-Dum. Then you will have the entrance and tomb (parts of the current set) and the Balrog scene... what else is there, really? I suppose you could have another set with the Watcher. Some EB members have done some excellent tentacle-y MOCs. As far as a clear character goes, I would have no problem with it, either as a promo or figure in a regular set, as I'd just display it anyway. I wouldn't expect it to be as flexible and, in fact, if they just make a single solid, unposeable figure (perhaps at least capable of holding the ring), it wouldn't bother me. Of course I realize the wearer is completely invisible, and not ghost like, but it's obviously a commonly used film/video device used for the audience's benefit.

Oh - I just want to agree that, out of all the posts here, yours was the best attempt at being objective. It's just that ... you know, if they sold EVERY figure in every box sold, then there'd be 66% more Ape Suit guys than Elves. That's hardly representative of what people want. The "wanted" list is the best place to look, I guess... it's subjective, but it's a better indicator of demand, I'd think. Still... the elf isn't even on it. Why? Maybe most people who want an elf army already have it. I also suggest that Spartans are in demand because so many were hoarded at the beginning, making it much more difficult.