fred67

Like AkumaMax, I just have the three newest ones. The flags ARE going the wrong way - the wind pushing the sails is also blowing the flags. The ships aren't going faster than the wind. EDIT: I forgot, I also have the first micro I tried on my own: DSCF0771 by FredJH, on Flickr

Fantastic job... I spy mushrooms! I really like the waterfall and all the plants... I have tons of plants and hope to be able to use them half as well as you did.

Fantastic, very well done... great Halloween Treat!

Ordered one... it's the only way it's even remotely worth it to me. I was really disappointed they decided to to these really expensive high end architecture sets when they got me hooked on $20 sets. It's also somewhat contrary to the microscale designs they started out with. And did anyone else notice that, more or less, the smaller the actual building, the bigger the LEGO set? I mean, it's not really true, but these towering skyscapers are the $20 - $25 sets, and the houses are $60, $100, and $200.

I only just heard the other day that technic is not just a bastardized spelling of technique, it's pronounced "tech-nick." Who knew? Probably everyone but me.

Nobody said TLG wouldn't make a profit without licensed themes, but they can make a BIGGER profit with them. Don't be misled into thinking TLG is some magnanimous company that wants to spread the love around... they are a great company, but they are a for-profit company, and the last few years they've jacked up the profit margins to unprecedented levels (in LEGO terms) because they can. By my estimates the profit margins on LEGO products (while varying wildly from set to set) are at least two and a half times higher than the profit margin on most products, if not more. As a simple example, the collectible minifigures were $1.99 in the U.S. when they came out... by the third wave, less than a year later, they were $2.99. Now, aside from the fact that we're not supposed to complain (according to some people on EB, because they/you still have to pay more in their countries) the point is they were making a profit at $1.99 and increased the price by FIFTY percent. If they were aleady making a $0.50 profit (a 25% margin, although that's when buying direct and not from a third party retailer), their profit margin now is 100%. For the second point, I agree... I would love to see a LOTR theme for a lot of reasons, but I'd be quite happy if they just did fantasy 2.

Is it at all possible that he just doesn't know? I work in a TV production facility and I don't know half of what's going on. Then why did it end before they used all the options? No elves, in particular, despite the "maps" showing an elf kingdom. I personally started collecting when they were doing the fantasy theme, and I've come to realize that I only liked it because it was fantasy. I like the Kingdoms line less and less, and couldn't care any less about the Joust set coming out (except for the woman in green). I guess one thing that really bothers me a lot is the shortness of the themes... I don't know how long fantasy was around, but Kingdoms doesn't seem to have been around that long. How long do they go? Three years? I'd hope they'd do at least five or six.... on the other hand, if I didn't like that incarnation, I wouldn't be buying anything for five or six years... still, I don't see how they'd cut fantasy if it were doing so well and they still had a lot of options to explore. No. They got the information from the same article that specifically did NOT call the game LEGO Hobbit. People got confused because the LA Times article mentioned it in a paragraph with a bunch of other games that were identified as LEGO this or that, but specifically there was NO "LEGO" in front of "Hobbit." I don't know either way, but I read the article, all excited to hear about a LEGO Hobbit video game, and all we got was that there was a Hobbit video game being made... the LEGO video games all specifically said "LEGO." The Hobbit didn't. So it was either a mistake in copy, or it's more like confirmation it WON'T be LEGO.

Why shouldn't an adult be able to get it? Don't get me wrong... when I'm trying to get a bunch of a particular figure and there's a kid there looking for the same one, I'll give it to him, but on the whole, I feel like my desire for the minifigures is just as valid as anyone else's, kid or not. I don't understand how you can't understand... if you want a baseball team, you need 9; if you want a "unit" of soldiers to make a vignette of a battle, you need... how ever many is in a unit. If you're going to make a large scale MOC, you might need more. If I'm making an Elven stronghold MOC, I can't do it with just one. It may be true that I don't understand why anyone would want an army of mad scientists, but I don't question it. Define "army." I have like 15 elves and maybe 10 dwarves... but I didn't raid every box in town day after day until I got them, it took months (for the elves) and a couple of months for the dwarves, and often it boils down to that while feeling for the ones I don't have to complete my collection, I'd say "oh, another dwarf; cool." and keep it. About the same way I feel about it now. How often have I been the guy picking through the bags that have already been picked over? It's a lesson in life - you don't always get what you want exactly when you want it. I don't feel crushed because I'm mature enough to know better; I'm mature enough to know better because I've experienced real life, where you don't always get what you want (unlike, it seems, most kids today). I guess I don't get what you mean by "hoarding." Out of 80 figures released, I have two (mostly) or three (sometimes) of each (all for myself), a few extras I got because I DO pick randomly sometimes, especially when they first come out, and there are two figures in particular that I've collected a lot of... but nothing like the people getting 300 Spartans for... I don't know what, but if that's what they wanted, then fine. I've also collected a handful of ones that I give away (does that make me a hoarder?), including the monster ones (the vampire and witch) that I gave away to kids last Halloween, and the Karate guys that I gave away to people at my son's martial arts academy, and I've got a bunch of graduates now so that I can give them to people when they graduate... I honestly do not feel the least bit bad about it. So you have nothing against people collecting up to a subjective number of your choosing, and after that it's unacceptable? Noted.

I sort-of army build. I mostly feel to get complete sets, but there's always the ones that I want a lot of. So far, that's only been two figures - the elf and the dwarf, but I don't stand there as soon as the figures are released and take every single elf or dwarf out of the box. My LEGO store STILL has series 3 on display; I occasionally feel around to see if I can't get another elf. I have a whopping 15, I think. I have 8 dwarfs... probably from at least a dozen visits to the stores. I'll feel a few; if I find one I take it. I don't feel bad about it. The people that go around and take every single one of a particular figure from several stores are pretty much jerks, though... in my opinion, anyway.

I had the fortune of sitting in on a presentation given at my company by Mike Moynihan today, the Marketing VP of LEGO North America. I wasn't going to post because there was nothing really interesting w.r.t. new sets or what's coming up, it was just about marketing strategy (but I went anyway because, hey, it's LEGO!). Anyway, there were some interesting things he brought up. It's really still geared towards boys, 6 to 12. Yes, they are trying to appeal to girls again (they are not approaching it well, if you ask me, but that's a different subject). But he made some interesting points, one of which is that they are appealing to dads. Studies show dads spend a lot more time with their kids this generation than they used to, and dads can still identify with LEGO whereas, with other toys, we have a hard time relating to them (like matchbox/hot wheels and action figures). It started a couple of years ago - do you remember the ad where the father and son were building the LEGO house together? Still, he mentioned NOTHING about trying to appeal to adults other than as a way to spend more time with their kids. He discussed this as well. He admitted that TLG has been really slow on the uptake for social media, but that they haven't really had to... that there are over 800,000 youtube videos of LEGO (that's what he said... when I look it's more like over 400,000, but he may have been counting results from other countries that may not show up here)... that's more than "transformers," "barbie," "hotwheels" (+ "hot wheels"), and only about 10 have been put there buy the TLG itself, and without doing anything LEGO has more presence than the major competitors. That doesn't mean they aren't trying, they'd really like to stay on top, of course. There are more LEGO facebook pages than competitors have, there are more discussion sites and blogs... all without them having to do anything. Having just taken the survey myself, it made sense that it's going to be a growing part of their strategy. Since I'm on the subject, a couple other interesting things: going along with what I wrote above, they are trying to make sets/instructions easier for multiple people to build. I think that's great because I do family builds... most of modulars (not the pet shop) are great for three people. The other thing was why, with the exception of the "abyss" (what he called the early 2000s), LEGO has been so wildly successful... other toys appeal to a limited age range. Things like action figures and toy cars are only appealing to kids for a couple of years of their lives, while LEGO is appealing across a much longer time span, from duplo to technic (which, for the record, he pronounced "tech-nick" while I've always pronounced it "tech-neek"). Oh... about the "abyss," he explained there were a few things: TLG didn't understand that they were experts at LEGO... and not much else. They were trying to do their own video games, make their own video content, run their own theme parks... all those things were spun off to other companies. They were also trying to compete on the low end with Megabloks and losing... they finally realized they were a premium brand and shouldn't be embarrassed to charge "premium" prices while marketing a "premium" product. The last thing was they were making toys that were ostensibly NOT LEGO. They tried doing action figures, for example, and called it LEGO because you had to put it together (Kingdoms II anyone?)... but then their focus group kids were like "that's not LEGO." I wish I could show the graph of sales (in dollars, not volume). The last couple of years have been phenomenal... they really are cranking up the profit margins on products, and despite the worldwide recession, have come out ahead at every step. He mentioned that if LEGO's "abyss" happened a few years later, despite realizing the problems they probably wouldn't have been able to pull out of it because of the economy.

I may take the survey later, but honestly... how many of these have I done and I don't recall ever seeing the results or what they did about them.

You're right, my bad. Looks like this actually ENDS on Thanksgiving.

I have the same opinion as gcanik; it's really neat except the saucer section is a bit small for the rest of the ship. That's a toughie, because those quarter plates go from 4x4 to 6x6, which would be too big. You can get 10x10 radar dishes, though.

So I was watching, waiting with baited breath for some confirmation... and she references the article we already read that said nothing about the game actually being "LEGO."I really want it, it's just not confirmation of anything.

I'm withholding my kudos in a fit of jealousy. Naw... it's fantastic; congratulations on an awesome job.

Yeah. I think it's less about giving us truly unique sets and more about giving us the licensed characters, settings, and scenes from a deeply developed property from one of the best (and earliest) world-builders of fantasy fiction, J.R.R. Tolkien. I can't think of ANYTHING that I'd want to them do for LOTR that wouldn't be original. Yes, they've done towers before, but nothing like Orthanc; fortresses, but nothing like Helms Deep (if you would even call it that). Nothing like the watchtower, nothing like any of the buildings in Rivendell or Lothlorien, nothing like Mount Doom, nothing like Moria. What's ironic is that periodically we get people complain that there's nothing new in the Castle themes... another castle? I'll repeat I'd be happy with either a second fantasy era (with elves... I feel like we were robbed with elves in the first one) or LOTR... TLG will get more of my money doing LOTR, though.

Yeah, if I'm playing, I do gradual stops and starts at the train stations; If I'm leaving it running for display (like sometimes at Christmas) I leave it running at a moderately slow speed. I don't really crank it up all that high. I also have several regulators and thought that a simple way to slow down/speed up would be having isolated tracks sections hooked up to different speed regulators. Yeah, I could try to think of a high tech solution, but why? On the other hand, I'm using 9V... a lot of those people are using battery operated. I have battery operated, too... seems to me you get much better control over speed with 9V. I've seen a lot of arguments that PF is better for strength, but that never seemed like an issue for me... my tracks aren't that long. If I had so many cars it was an issue it would be laughable on my layouts.

Don't know if this should just go into the general sales thread or not, and don't know how applicable it is to other countries, so I figured I'd make it separate. BFAds.net just posted the 2011 Toys R Us scan/list. The "scan" is terrible (it's actually poorly taken photos, probably from a phone camera). The strike-through prices are what TRU says are their "usual" prices (yes, we all know they often charge over MSRP). LEGO Alien Conquest Alien Mothership (7065) $10 Off LEGO Alien Conquest Earth Defense (7066) $10 Off LEGO Alien Conquest UFO Abduction (7052) $24.99 29.99 LEGO City Advent Calendar (7553) $29.99 34.99 LEGO City Harbour (4645) $79.99 89.99 LEGO City Police Helicopter Pursuit 237 Pieces - (3658) $29.99 34.99 LEGO City Power Boat Transporter (4643) $34.99 39.99 LEGO City Space Center (3368) BUY NOW: $48.99 LEGO City Space Shuttle (3367 ) $24.99 29.99 LEGO City Special Edition Red Cargo Train (3677) $129.99 159.99 LEGO Creator 3-in-1 Hillside House (5771) $59.99 69.99 LEGO Harry Potter Hogwarts (4867) $41.99 44.99 LEGO Harry Potter the Knight Bus (4866) BUY NOW: $31.49 LEGO Ninjago Fire Temple (2507) $99.99 119.99 LEGO Ninjago Limited Edition Lightning Dragon Battle (2521) $69.99 79.99 LEGO Ninjago Skeleton Bowling (2519) $29.99 34.99 LEGO Ninjago Skull Truck (2506) $49.99 59.99 LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean The Black Pearl (4184) $99.99 109.99 LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean Whitecap Bay (4194) $77.99 87.99 LEGO Star Wars Advent Calendar (7958) $39.99 49.99 LEGO Star Wars Anakin and Sebulbas Podracers (7962) $84.99 94.99 LEGO Star Wars Battle for Geonosis (7869) $39.99 49.99 LEGO Star Wars Darth Maul's Sith Infiltrate (7961) BUY NOW: $56.24 LEGO Star Wars Limited Edition Hoth Echo Base (7879) $84.99 94.99 LEGO Star Wars Millennium Falcon (7965) $129.99 149.99 LEGO Star Wars: The Battle of Endor - Exclusive Anniversary Edition (8038) $89.99 109.99 On a side note, I know our friends in other countries have little sympathy, but one of the things that helped bring me out of my dark ages was BF sales. "Back in the day," they'd have one or two items with TREMENDOUS discounts. I got 4504 Millennium Falcon for $80; the AT-AT Walker for $75; the X-Wing for $25. (all different years/places). Had I not gotten those, I would not have started my LEGO SW collection at all (I would have stuck to trains... and they'd just killed 9V and the only trains I bought since then are the Emerald Night and Maersk Trains). Now BF has become "just another sales day" for most companies, instead of the WOW, SUPER HUGE SAVINGS day it once was.

I've been on the wagon (from buying LEGO) for the past month and a half or so... just wanting to save money, but I really think these promos are neat and was definitely ready to do some black Friday LEGO shopping anyway (our LEGO store participates in a Thursday "midnight" thing at our mall, so I may just do that), so I just ordered a couple of things to get the first one. I really love the dark red colors... is that LEGO's "New Dark Red?" Of course 1x1 round tiles are nice, too, hope to see a lot more of them.

As opposed to the non-licensed castle themes, which never repeat anything.

They were very specific, it seems, to put "LEGO" in front of games based on LEGO themes, and they didn't use "LEGO" in front of "The Hobbit," so I'm not convinced.

Let me rephrase that, then... it seems to me that the movie was much less well liked than the previous movies... on IMDB.com, out of ten stars, they go, in order: 8.0, 7.3, 7.0, 6.7. So while a lot of people were happy for a new pirates movie, I think the... fandom? just wasn't as great this time around. EDIT: Let me get back on topic, though... I, for one, will be a lot happier spending less on sets next year. I may not even buy the joust set... definitely not two. I only like the maiden in the green dress.

That's awesome, I'm really impressed. TLG hasn't made any small straight tracks, unfortunately, so the "bone" shape is about as good as you can do. Very impressive... I know the colors would be of, but some ME tracks would probably work for straights; the conductivity wouldn't be an issue because you don't need it, and the rails are separate pieces, but with the normal shaped connectors. ME Rails It's very inspiring, AussieJimbo... excellent work. EDIT: After watching again, I'm wondering if there's in IR receiver in the running version. The first few images show one, but I don't see how you could fit it into what was running (all black tender). With or without, I'm still really impressed.

I do think they "botched" POTC, but I don't know how they could have done better under the circumstances... the last movie just wasn't that popular by comparison, and half the sets - including the "big one," QAR, were from the new movie... and that after all the hype from the first three (especially the first one) had long since died down. I think, in order of popularity, the QAR would be last on the list of the "big three," IMO. I'm willing to bet the Black Pearl will do better than QAR.

No... that's right... the left side is the shield side, the lances go across the body. The only problem in this little LEGO minis is the lances aren't long enough. Imagine the type of shield they are holding... they can't possibly defend themselves holding it on the right.