fred67

Fair enough, but Tyson only fought boxers, Gracie fought people of many different disciplines and always won. I think it's interesting to note that UFC started off as a means to compare different techniques, and has evolved into... every fighter being trained in MMA... because a single discipline is not practical in every situation. From my own personal experience, rolling at the end of my Jiu Jitsu class was a very... therapeutic experience. I felt great afterwards. But it's no use discussing (or bickering) about it... Minxter needs to be more clear about what he wants. That's why I suggested an academy that would let him try different classes.

I know, right? Who's making these anyway? TLG sold out nearly immediately (in the U.S., anyways) for both series 1 and 2. Hardly a disaster for them. As a consumer, I love these guys... and I haven't bought a case yet, yet have managed to get at least two of them all through trading and bricklink. And now they're still selling like hotcakes, it just seems there's enough supply to meet demand... and at a 50% premium over 1 and 2 in the U.S., too.

Wing Tsun = Wing Chun. No matter how you spell it (or say it), that's three posts in a row that note how good Wing Chun/Tsun is. When we talk about mixed, or "taking the best," it's not at all how you describe it... many disciplines have a lot of flash, like you noted about karate, without practical use... and, in fact, most "good" arts borrow the best techniques from other disciplines... if Judo's already got the best methods of taking down opponents to the floor, there's no reason to invent new methods. Bruce Lee created JKD (== Jun Fan, as I mentioned), he realized after a REAL fight that the arts he was using had too much flash, so he cut out the flash and concentrated on the best, most practical, techniques from other arts. But I will definitely agree that it all depends on what you want to do... for physical conditioning one would do well with Thai Kickboxing; for stand up fighting defenses, Wing Chun and JKD are good; for fighting with typical street weapons (knifes, sticks/bats), Kali/Escrima would be good... for fighting on the ground, Royce Gracie proved no one did better than Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. But the best, most practical single defensive art can only be (obviously, IMO) Krav Maga.

Wing Chung sounds like a brand of Chinese food, but I know what you meant. Of course, the best is mixed, taking the most useful parts of each, like Jeet Kune Do. So, to answer Minxter's question, a good academy will teach a variety of techniques. At our academy you pay for a number of classes per week, but then can take whichever classes you want. It allows you to try out many different styles, although you need to be invited to do Wing Chun Kung Fu. They do Jun Fan Gung Fu (JKD... Jun Fan is Bruce Lee's name in Chinese), Muay Thai Kickboxing, Kali/Escrima (Dan Inosanto techniques) and Gracie Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, as well as offering a number of kids classes. I'm not trying to sell our academy... I don't even know where you are (well, I know Sweden), but if you find an academy that allows you to try different techniques then you can answer your own question.

Yeah... they were sold out online, too, I was on backorder for several weeks before getting the two that I ordered... I think I will have to order enough to display through series 5; I really like how it looks. If you go a few posts up you can see another link to those; I really like those because they're more "LEGO-ey," I guess it depends on how dense you want your display... I don't have a lot of space, those licensed ones look like they might even give enough room for a tiny MOC for each character... but overall take up a lot of space, so I'm not sure how I feel about them just yet. Although I haven't set up my second case to see how they look stacked, they DO stack, too.

I agree. I think they know we want elves, but the latest theme is too new and "real" and I don't think they will throw full blown fantasy into the mix. Plus, we'll never get Orcs because the Tolkien estate is a bunch of blood sucking leeches living off the work of a brilliant, but long since gone, artist. I mean, it's not like Tolkien used fantasy creatures created by others, right? Anyway, I think they know we like Elves, were looking forward to elves, and perhaps changed direction before giving them to us (it seemed like they were planned at one point) for some other reason, perhaps to not interfere with other themes; perhaps they thought they were getting close to getting sued... whatever, we probably won't ever know. But I do think we'll see them at some point... just not the near future.

So, as I said... first I put 21 CMF plates, 7 per row, using Elmer's Tack (although any kind would work for this lightweight task, I imagine). 21 is a terrible number for CMFs for obvious reasons, but I went ahead and loaded it up with 21 figures.

It depends on the "granularity" of your sorting and how many pieces you have, but as MinifigFreak2010 mentioned, WalMart is a good start... those plastic shoeboxes come in very handy still for me. You can often find them (at places besides WalMart even) for $1 or so a box. Great way to start organizing.

Those look pretty neat! I like they have a choice of 8 or 16, it makes a lot more sense than the baffling 15 figure cases they were selling... and they look "infinitely" stackable. I'm a bit dubious about the amount of space each figure gets, though. It looks like plenty for most figures, but my skier, for one, is wearing the skis, not holding them (as described above). I'm progressing very slowly right now (had a busy weekend... a sacrifice I willingly make for my kids, but it does eat into my "LEGO Time"). I bought some "Elmer's Tack" and stuck down seven of the CMF plates to each row of the display. I wanted to be able to move them around without messing everything up; it surely wouldn't hold through a drop or when I someday move (I keep saying that... I hate my house), but it'll keep bumps from shifting the figures around. I was hoping to build a few levels using plates, something that would completely hold together... but the height of each row is too far off from a standard plate height to work well. I'll try to get some pictures tonight, but I'm hoping what I'm talking about it pretty obvious. The only problem is that it's a maximum of seven per row, times 3 rows = 21. Not a good number to work with CMFs with 16 in a series. I suppose I could make it an even 20, which might work out better overall, by removing one from the middle row and recentering it.

It is very impressive; congratulations on a fantastic build.

Yeah... I don't think there's a perfect solution, only ones that tend to work better than others, and what works better depends on the individual. I've been thinking about sorting by color. For a long time I've argued that sorting by part is better... it's easier to find a green 2x3 in a drawer of 2x3s than it is to find a green 2x3 in a drawer full of green 2x2, 2x3, and 2x4s. But using the Stanley organizer, you'd sort essentially by both and just have all green in one box... that way if I'm working on a green landscape, I don't have to access a bunch of different drawers or organizers, I'd just have the one... but that would require a lot more compartments overall. So... the quest for the perfect system continues. I wish I had a space like TJ Avery (link to his blog article on his new work area).

I like the idea of versatility in using the smaller plates with hinged or pinned sections to allow customization, but in the long run I build for displaying and they end up on large baseplates anyway. I'm good either way, I don't mind using extra baseplates (except for the $$), and it allows me to put it together a way I like.

I stand corrected! (Although I honestly can't remember Victor Zsaz). But the question remains... are the villains so shallow that a single one can't carry a movie? I like how one villain can lead to the next (Ra's Al Ghul supporting/encouraging Scarecrow and Joker instigating Two Face), but then those characters were done with by the end.... I suppose Scarecrow could come back, I don't recall they caught him after he got a taste of his own medicine.

Agree with the others... those last two pieces I have a fair amount of because they can be very useful; that first one, though (the hexagonal one with the hole) would be unique, and it would go with unsorted pieces. There doesn't really seem to be a best way that works for everything.

It's difficult, no doubt, and everybody's situation is different... for example, I've got a bunch of those "grill" bricks (your first link), enough that they get their own drawer and actually are organized with my train stuff (I have them to make train cars, but I know where they are if I need them for something else)... The curved slope goes with curved slopes; when I get enough of a single type of piece (or single color for a single type of piece) they get separated out. Same thing with 1/4 round brick... goes with the round bricks until I get enough of them that they merit their own location.

Yeah, I don't get it... I'm the same way. Two of each and then a few more... wasn't particularly interested in Spartans, but I've got 11 elves now (and now that I have them, I will probably MOC together some more, although I'll still keep an eye out). Further, people seem to be forgetting something... series 1 and 2 were, especially in the U.S., in extremely short supply. Series 3 has been out for almost two months (more, since TRU and even our local LEGO Store started selling them early), and still seem somewhat abundant - you can still order them from S@H. If I was disappointed in the CMFs at first, it was simply because of such limited supply. I'd never even seen an S1 in ANY brick and mortar store (including the LEGO Store). S2 was in the LEGO store for a few weeks, but I didn't see them anywhere else... now I see them in Target, TRU, and the LEGO Store (and simply haven't check WalMart lately, although did not see them there last month). It's an entirely different feeling with S3, as I'm sure it will be with all of them from now on. I'm really digging S5; I don't understand why people don't like S3 all that much, but I do understand the enthusiasm for S5 (and share it). Eagerly waiting for S4 now... I've got to say, now that we see all of them, my favorite is still Cleopatra, although I'll only want multiples of the Gladiator. I love the lumberjack, but see more nefarious uses for the ax; also being a big fan of mafia pop culture (the Godfather, Goodfellas, Casino, etc., not the real one) I dig the guy with the violin case... would have been appropriate to have that guy today, in fact.

I know who it was, that's why "Ninja Guy" made me laugh... although it's not really all that wrong in some sense. I'd definitely like to see some new sets... especially cat woman, and I know this is going off topic, but why do they seem to require two villains in the movies? Batman the Movie had 1, but then the subsequent ones of that first run seemed to need two. Now Batman Begins had one, but the Dark Night had two and now you're saying the next one will also have two. Seems short sighted to me, can't they make a movie with one interesting enough? Is there really not enough to work with?

That type of labeling wouldn't work for me, either. I use these Stanley Organizers, in two sizes (one is deeper than the other). I put a label under the handle... "slopes," "1x", "2x," "technic..." Then I also have drawers of stuff, but it's usually a lot of related, but mixed, things. I also know where all my basic (2x2, 2x3, 2x4) are - I use these Sterilite drawers (not that color, though) and have one unit with three drawers for those basic bricks. I have so many different pieces, labeling the way you suggest would take forever and not work for most of my pieces. For example, I use something like this for minifigure "customization." It's not that exact one, I can't find a link to the one I have, but it's similar - one carrying case with four organizers in it; one has heads and hair, torsos and legs, head gear; one is specifically for castle themes - weapons, staves (a lot of brickforge and brick arms stuff), armor, shields, bows and crossbows... one has miscellaneous robot/skeleton parts, one has miscellaneous "other" minifig implements (tools and modern weapons, instruments). I know that whole thing is my minifig "kit," I don't need labels. The only place they'd apply is that I have a single one of these, and frankly I am trying to replace it with something else. It would indeed help to have labels... but using another Stanley organizer with the clear top would be just as good (if not better). FWIW, if anyone is interested, those Stanley organizers with the removable bins are the best, IMO... clear tops to see what's in each bin at a glance, and the bins are removable so you can dump it or take it out and really dig through it if you need to.

New AND used, usually, although that might be difficult for the modular buildings. There's no way around it... these sets are going to be expensive. I'm only missing Market Street (got in on modular one building too late), and will likely NEVER get it at the prices they are asking (new and used)... much more worth it to buy two or three new modular buildings for the prices they want.

It's an odd phenomena... now that Batman is gone, people lament the fact that it's gone, but it obviously wasn't selling well enough for them to continue the series. Perhaps if they'd stuck with a comic strip version instead of the movies it could still be going, but then they probably wouldn't have gotten a license that way (the licenses typically come from cross promotion... they don't spend much money on promoting Batman comics; for one thing, everybody already knows they exist). I know we often here about a franchise getting "too dark" for children... After having NEVER bought a Harry Potter set, I was incredibly disappointed when they were gone. We also heard the "too dark" rhetoric from LEGO apologists when the fact is there just wasn't anything new to make. After giving it some time, a rerelease of the train (another one?) and the castle (another one?) and Hagrids Hut (this is getting repetitive) worked really well for them as people who missed out and a "new generation" (well, a few years of new LEGO enthusiasts) ate up all the new sets. I think it's possible that Batman Returns (pun intended) at some point - after years of debating about how Harry Potter will "never" return, they returned, so never say never. Another one I didn't buy when I had the chance... I just wasn't into it, I try to limit the broad interest I have in LEGO because I'm not rich, so it was just trains and the occasional Star Wars... then city and modular buildings and castle... but by the time my interests were expanding, I had no Harry Potter and no Airbender, despite the fact that I thought the sets, in retrospect, were pretty neat. Ninja Guy? Yes, I'd love to see the return and, like I said above, I think if they make another movie... is there another one in the works? IMDB doesn't show anything and it's been three years since the last one. Normally you'd see something there even if it's a year or two out (often just as long as it's been announced). So... like HP, I don't think we'll see more unless a new movie comes out. Agreed... unlike most of you I am a Spongebob fan... I remember laughing at how stupid it was when it first came out and I don't think it's lost it's "edge" at all. I have a couple of the sets (granted, they were on sale) and was psyched to get the new molded head Squidward in a LEGO Store "grab bag." I'd keep an eye out on these. To be on topic, though, while I agree that, as an adult, I'd love more Batman over Spongebob, looking at the target audience, the tone of the last movie, and the fact that there doesn't seem to be another one coming along for quite some time, if at all, that's it's hardly surprising. Sad, but not surprising. TLG has made plenty of decisions that have made me really sad about the direction they took, but I tend to think they know what they're doing and it's all about the bottom line (and, in some cases, contractual obligations).

Oh, I dunno... 6 figures? A spotted horse and new animal molds... I don't think it's so terrible.

I feel them up, but I'm not that brutal with them... if I can't tell what it is, I toss it back in the box and pick another one, but I understand where you're coming from. I still don't feel bad about doing it.

No, but if you ask in the forums someone there might be able to suggest something.

Cool, and great review... the only problem is that while those boxes were pretty much the same size, they weren't the AMAC boxes from the container store, they were dice boxes from one of those gaming stores... they're pretty much identical except the top is black (although I used black bricks anyway). The circles on the ends are annoying, really... I'm just an idiot for not even thinking to get larger ones and set them on their sides. Really nice review, I will give these boxes another look (at the larger sizes). I also finally received the two boxes that joebot talked about, and they look great... but like an idiot, I didn't bring my minifigure displays (like the one in my last post) home from work today, and I work at home on Fridays, so now I have to wait until Monday (double ) My work no brain lately so good.

If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. I'd have little recourse if someone from S.A. tried to rip me off.