fred67

Well, let's see... where to begin? I guess I'll start by thanking White Fang for another glorious glimpse of what we're in for - well done as usual! The awesome-est thing about this series: the bagpipes. Not the best minifigure, but the best new piece, hands down, IMO. I don't even have a use for it and I want it many. A VERY close second is the Aztec helmet. I can definitely use a handful of those Aztecs - but I'm still more impressed with the bagpipes. Those things are genius. The weakest thing about this series: the daredevil.. I like the hair in a new color, but I'm not really impressed. Not a big fan of tennis, either, but at least with this one you can MOC a couples doubles tennis match... not that I really would want that. This series definitely has the most number of "wanted" (although I always want them all for completeness), although, like the last series, although I do want a few Aztecs, there aren't any that I want to "army build" with. Thinking about getting a box again... I see where I can get a box for list, but it says it ships in May, not April, so I'm wondering when the U.S. release date is for sure, because it's not on LEGO S@H (for pre-order, or even at all) yet.

The problem is I haven't built all the sets I have yet; I really like the Queen Anne's Revenge (which I built), but I also have the Imperial Flagship, which is certainly more impressive. But I'd say the set I enjoyed building the most is the Medival Market Village, still. Not the biggest set, but based on the theme and quality of the build.

WOW! Thanks for the link, I hadn't seen that before. I have no problem going third party - I've happily bought from brickarms, brickforge, ME Models, and most recently, brickwarriors. I'd love to choose official LEGO first, but I'll take what I can get. As for brickanimals, the problem I see is that the dogs look TOO nice for the level of detail in minifigures. They're too nice.

It's not what method you use, it's whether or not there are any left. The hardest figures for me to find were the roman, the leprechaun, and the statue of liberty. Feeling for either the statue of liberty or the roman was easy enough - I just couldn't find them, multiple places, multiple times... even two random sets of 16 from LEGO S@H had neither. Luckily, on my last trip to the LEGO Store, I managed to find all three... but I was ready to give up on the Roman, grabbed two packs and said "these are the last two I'm checking, this is taking too long" (after searching for like a half an hour), and the first one of those two I felt the spear (no puns, please).

Fantastic Tutorial. I'd like to mention InkScape as a free alternative vector program for those of us who are too cheap or poor (or both) to buy Illustrator. I'll definitely be running through this a few times. Way to go, Ed-209!

Nice... I saw the Apple Store! I've been wanting to participate in NGLTC for some time, but don't really have anything original to add. Someday.

Well... I had a blowout week. Without going into detail, I did have a discount, and wouldn't have bought a lot of these without it. 6862 Superman Vs. Power Armor Lex 6858 Catwoman Cycle 7877 Naboo Starfighter 7956 Ewok Attack 9490 Droid Escape 9489 Endor Rebel Trooper BP 4435 Car and Caravan 5771 Hillside House 10224 Town Hall 10223 Joust 10231 Shuttle Expedition In addition, I finally (with the help of the CMF trade thread here and buying a few figures at the store) finished off series 6; the pick-a-brick wall at our newly upgraded LEGO Store had horses! So I got a handful of them, as well, using the holiday brick boxes I still hadn't used. I wouldn't have gotten a lot of these, even with discount, if LOTR sets were out. I only missed out on the Sydney Opera House (my stupidity and too long a list) and the Batman Fun Escape set, which seems to be sold out everywhere. I'm a pretty happy camper right now... I want not for LEGO... not until Series 7 CMFs and LOTR. It's a rare feeling.

As others have pointed out, they are willing to forgo profits sometimes to keep some silly ideological restriction... Noah's Ark, to the extent of the Ark and animals themselves, is a great story. I'm not religious, my kids don't go to Sunday school, but some religious stories are fascinating. Aside from the flood-and-everybody-else-dies part, an ark with various animals would be great. I also supported the Dradle idea on Cuusoo. They'd also make great gifts for people who ARE religious, and all the atheists who "boycott" LEGO because they released a religious set can kiss my hairy megablocks. I just helped build some "brand ribbon" sets for a new LEGO Store... the brick built dogs I assembled were the ugliest things ever, and certainly not to scale with minifigures. I know you were joking, but it reminded me why sometimes molded is better, especially at minifigure scale. This is why they should release "animal packs." They're just animals - they don't have to deal with the same kind of nonsense they have to deal with for licensed sets, where someone else has the license for "action figures." It's just animals... they could start with what they already have molds for and gauge the popularity. True, which is why I agree a Zoo wouldn't work, but still think animal packs - at least of animals they've already made, would be great. They don't need new animals until the old ones are proven great sellers.

+1 gogglev

Damn skippy... I meant to get eight; I'll have to go back and actually pay money... the store in my area was upgraded from a "retail outlet" to a full blown "LEGO Store," moved to a bigger location in the mall, and has a much larger pick-a-brick selection now. There's a lot of pieces I should have gotten that I couldn't fit in my three little boxes.

Finally filled my 3 Holiday Boxes. IMG_20120314_193806 by FredJH, on Flickr 6x8 plate, green x2 2x4 brick, gray x18 2x4 brick, green x27 2x12 plate, gray x15 1x3 brick, dark gray x102 1x4 plate, lime x9 1x2 brick, clear black x40 1x2 brick, clear x36 1x2x2 panel, clear x16 1x2 brick, green x1 grass x68 leaves x1 flowers x35 sprues total: 370 IMG_20120314_195751 by FredJH, on Flickr 2x4 brick, gray x18 6x12 plate, green x2 1x2 slope, green x40 2x2 brick, brown x9 2x4 brick, lime x27 2x4 brick, brick red x63 2x2 tile, dark tan x43 total: 202 IMG_20120314_201317 by FredJH, on Flickr 1x8x3 fence, white x12 1x4x1 arch, white x39 1x2 tile, lime x267 Horse, white x7 total: 325 Yeah... as time wore on I was getting a bit edgy; bought a bunch of sets and stuff and was spending a bit too much time in a LEGO store for an adult non-employee, so I just kind of threw it in the last box. Pretty freaking awesome for "free," though.

If it were 25x25 and affordable, I'd be making one myself... wall unit A/C and a space heater... I'd deal with it. But 80 square feet? That's really not that big... I had an office that was 8x10, and while I was happy to have it over a cubicle, it wasn't a whole lot more space. If I were to put enough shelves in to put all my LEGO on (even in boxes - even some removed from boxes to bins to save space), I wouldn't have enough room for a desk to build, let alone a wall where I could sort pieces. Add to that that you are away from your family... one of the reasons I can even do LEGO at all is because I can at least sit there with my wife while she's watching TV, and sometimes build with the kids. I really couldn't do that when my kids were only 8 months... my wife would have been completely insane (or, at least, more-so than she is now). Of course, I'd kill (not really) for enough space for a large LEGO train layout, and that's hopefully coming within the next few years when we move to a larger home with a full basement, but until then I keep it cramped in our bonus room, which doubles as a computer room with desks for both my wife and myself, and also a TV room (we let the kids use the living room). It's a big room, but with all that stuff, I still resort to socking away most of my sets in closets, waiting for the day I have enough room to build them. I can understand, though... if I had absolutely no where else to do it, I might go that route, but it probably would be nothing more than storage, not a place to "work," so in that case, in your (spzero's) position, I'd just store it in the attic. Honestly... I'd think I'd want at least twice as large, but even 50% larger (12x10 or more) would work a lot better. Just my two cents... don't want to be a downer, but then again I have no idea how much LEGO you're talking about either, it could work really well for some people.

I want to know what they do at LEGOland parks.

Roof Tiles; in the same "series" they also had "Doors and Windows" (6117), which I also never saw; and 6118 "Wheels," which I saw too much of.

I'm adding a "me too." I hope mods don't get annoyed. I think this is probably an old topic, and something that's often repeated on the history board. What I expect to happen with something like this is LEGO releases it and someone buys them all without giving anyone else a chance. They finally released a roof set with all slopes and I NEVER saw it for sale in the store or not sold out at S@H. I expect this would be very similar. I am afraid that TLG does not like when people can get pieces in bulk like this easily (relatively cheap and abundant) to make their own castle sets to sell. It's better for the TLG to keep us wanting.

Updated my post. USA preferred (but not required for multiples); I'd messed up some of my categories before (had figures in the wrong series) and think I have it straightened out, now. I just got another 16 of series 6 from S@H and, to date, have not gotten a SINGLE Statue of Liberty! In fact, I didn't get anything I wanted. What are the odds? That leaves me with a lot of series 6 to trade, though. I also discovered a complete unopened set of series 2. I am not collecting to sell later; just collecting as a collector - one opened for display, one closed to save for who knows what? Grand kids maybe? (yes, I'm a lot older than most of you). I discovered I somehow ended up with two closed sets of series 2, so can trade one of them. Also have 2 complete sets of series 4 because I bought a box that time; all unopened. So if you discovered you waited too long and would like to get a lot of the older ones in one shot, take a look at my post. I'm not looking for a whole lot, and not really looking to sell, but would consider other things in trade. I'd also like to remind people to set their country in their profile or state it on your trading page. While you may be willing to trade internationally, others may not; it makes it easier to scan through a large (and growing) list of posts. I don't get why people are so hesitant to have correct profiles. If you're no longer actively trading, I would suggest deleting all the content in your post to make it easier for others to scan through the posts... maybe just a short "not trading right now" comment - your post will remain there as a place holder should you come back to trading. After selling, striking through everything on your post just makes the pages unnecessarily long, IMO. I'd throw out a suggestion to mods that posts that have not been created/edited within a certain time frame be deleted or cleared. It could be some months; maybe since the next-to-last series release? I don't know, just a thought. I know... I don't really think mods ought to have to waste their time doing that, but if people don't police their own posts, it gets messy. Edit: also wonder what people would think if I came up with a trading page(*) to help facilitate trades. I wonder if anyone's done that before. As someone who has actively traded CMFs from the start, it's an idea that's been rolling around in my head for some time. Would be nice to somehow tie it to EB so people could use the straightshooter's list. (*) Edit 2: to clarify, I meant on my own website, where I could do the back-end programming.

Some of those displays from FBTB are quite cool, but eurobrick's own discussion on the subject is pretty comprehensive. I'm partial to mine, of course - the figures are not constrained as much and some of the others, and the cases are stackable and given vertical and horizontal space constraints are pretty densely packed. DSCF0304 by FredJH, on Flickr These are inexpensive container store display boxes ($10/each).

I wouldn't get any discontinued ones that people are asking an arm and a leg for, but frankly I'd suggest ALL of the latest release of sets. They are all iconic.. Hogwarts - both the main castle and the extension, the train, Hagrid's hut, the Burrow, the Knight Bus, Quiddich... Honestly, if they love the movies AND they love LEGO, they will really want them all. I know it's an expensive proposition. Short of getting them all (including Diagon Alley), I'd start with Hogwarts Castle AND Hogwarts (must have exploding bridge), then the train.

My two cents: 2009: Emerald Night 2011: Maersk 2013: ? I think we'll have to wait for next year. I don't consider things like the Monster train or the Toy Story train to be part of the "official" train line, even if I buy those kinds of sets and power them and include them when I actually set up my tracks. IOW, I consider them to be members of the LEGO train family, but I don't think TLG does in general. Even the Hogwarts trains weren't, although I guess there were conversion instructions for at least one of them.

Including what others have mentioned: - guaranteed new pieces. - much larger selection than any individual bricklink store, which can save on shipping. - certain pieces can be bought in large quantity while, on BL, it would take many orders from many vendors. - some pieces are cheaper. - VIP points, especially nice if you're not just ordering pieces, but other sets, too.

Except it's more cost effective to buy METAL rail from ME Models than plastic on PAB. Something is screwy about that.

My two cents is Green Grocer. The only one I don't have is Market Street, but that's before I knew modular would become a popular line - I bought GG because I actually thought it was a brilliant set, and have been collecting them since. GG, IMO, has a very classic look with an architectural style that reminds me more of some older classic buildings that I'm familiar with. Others might be bigger, have better interiors or two front faces (the corner buildings), but GG seems the most... realistic? I don't know. I just think it has the best "classic" look.

Oh... it would be so cool - you could do something like a LEGO Land for your minifigures! I went ahead and got this set. I really like minis. At first I was thinking "no way" for $99, but then it turns out it's only $79 in the U.S., and I had the 10% coupon from the front of the last catalog they sent, so it was only about $72. They're obviously not as detailed as the "real" ones, but they are quite good for minis, and I'd like to build a mini city since I don't have room to build a minifig scale train layout at present.

The problem is, and it's entirely my opinion of course, is the sets are nothing special at all. The stand-alone sets (Maersk and EN) are fabulous, but so were the Santa Fe Super Chief, the BNSF, the hobby train... Aside from that, we've always had stations, tracks, crossings, switches... but we've also had our choice to buy straight OR curves (now you can't even buy new curves), we also had crossings (X); 12v had electronic switches and signal lights... and there's a dearth of rolling stock at present that seemed copious in the past. MOT was fantastic, but TLG wasn't happy with the profits - we're "victims" of capitalism (I don't begrudge TLG their decisions, though, I'd rather they be profitable in the long run - I also don't begrudge capitalism in the least, but you don't always get what you want). Agreed... and I don't even have any 12v stuff, but I recognize it, looking at the things that were available for it, as being the most "comprehensive" LEGO train system. It may even be the case that we wouldn't even have powered trains right now at all if they didn't make PF cross theme. It seems to me TLG wasn't happy with the performance of trains at all when they discontinued 9v.

If you call them up they will likely send it to you for free; you can probably also do it online. TLG is very good about this, especially with current sets.