deraven

Welcome to EB, Yoroshiku! May I suggest you build an addition to your home out of Lego, so you have more space for even more Lego?

Hi MattC1414 - welcome to EB. Plenty of options if you just google for it, but this is a pretty popular one: https://rebrickable.com/mocs/MOC-10219/Lucioswitch81/effermans-vertical-stand-for-millennium-falcon-75192

Wow - that's fantastic! Really lovely hull shape, and the dynamic posing in those renders is very well done. But the sails are my favorite - those really stand out and bring the whole thing up another notch!

Looks good... but I totally get an Ash Williams vibe from it (which is not a bad thing)! Great job on the face/head in general, and those straps and skull piece really work well!

Purely speculative, of course, but I'm also inclined to blame the lackluster movies and their over-production of related items. Clearly that's not the whole picture, but I think a big part of it when taking into account the internal design, marketing, and production resources devoted to that. IMHO I think they're actually doing OK on balancing things like TV shows and video games (they have scaled those things back; cancelled Dimensions and Nexo Knights, etc.), but what they need to scale back is their feature film stuff. Anecdotal, but certainly everyone I know had zero expectation for TLBM and TLNM to capture the same lightning in a bottle as TLM. Folks I've talked to simply thought Batman would be amusing based on their unique portrayal of that character but without the staying power of TLM, and while Ninjago fans seemed to have reserved hope that their movie would be amazing, many didn't expect much and were still underwhelmed. I kinda think an additional wave of TLM sets in the mix would have sold better. I just hope they don't over-correct and drop the quality of the sets or get rid of the great "Expert" series stuff they've been doing (though maybe there are also too many gigantic sets which are either not selling well enough themselves or perhaps slowing sales of smaller sets as someone gets ready to take, for instance, the $800 plunge on the new MF). I mean, the new Millenium Falcon, the re-release of the Taj Mahal, the large number of sets around $250 or, heck, even $100 and up as compared to years past - that seems like it could definitely create "over production" as those higher-ticket items move slowly off the shelves and also slow sales of smaller sets if people are indeed reallocating their money towards them instead.

Welcome back from your, uh, "grey ages," Paul! Happy (Technic) building!

Wow. The whole thing is very impressive... not sure where to start! The canon fire caught my eye early on and is nicely done. I think my favorite detail overall, though, is probably those tattered bits of sail on the raft!

And the trees are the hand-painted variety as well. Nice.

Welcome (officially) to EB, conceitedguy! Perhaps you could so a NextPirates ship in the meantime? Happy building!

Welcome to EB! You're definitely in a good place to help figure out that kind of stuff! I would suggest you keep our own Lego Historian in mind as Gary is a wealth of knowledge on that, especially things that haven't seen the light of day in a long while. More info from him here, too: https://www.facebook.com/Unofficial.LEGO.Sets.Parts.Guide Happy building, and happy discovering/selling, too!

WOW. Yeah... shame about the cardboard background, but the microfigs look fantastic!

I totally agree with Cobb saying the line should be called "Garage" right now, but that leads me to my next thought: The regular Creator line with their 3-in-1 buildings of various types does do an OK job of filling out a town with more than just vehicles. So is the Town umbrella crossing over even into the regular Creator line? It's all pedantry, really, but it seems to me that the main issue may be that they simply don't have all the components that make up a town under the same single line banner anymore as they were with, say, the Legoland lineup of the late 70's to mid-80's. Interestingly, if you look at a lot of those years, the vehicle to building ratio isn't much different than it is today, and even worse if you do include things like the Modulars and regular Creator series buildings, etc..

It was more of a 1930's theme in general, but gangsters were an obvious inclusion given the era (and the need for antagonists for play value): I think the old-timey feel of both the Winter Village and Modular lines are part of the appeal (at least for me), and those are arguably offshoots of City. It's interesting how widely varied the "City" (and sub-theme) sets are when you really start going down the rabbit hole, which is probably the biggest reason it'll never die as I noted earlier in the thread: they just add some variation when needed in a lower-risk manner with sub-themes, but keep the evergreen stuff that always sells. If it ever stops selling, they'd probably just pivot away from those specific parts of the City line and focus on the best offshoot or subtheme, and the iterative process repeats. Arguably one thing I think Lego never really does is true innovation. They naturally iterate rather than taking huge risks with whole new themes or categories, but I don't think that's a bad thing even if it's not exactly exciting. Agreed for the most part, which is why I went on to say that themes like Ultra Agents fill much of that role without causing any disruption to the line in general. And I guess that's the answer to how they keep it fresh while still maintaining that core set of products that is evergreen for their sales.

It's lovely and a blast from the past! And those parts are in really good condition for their age. Happy building, and welcome to EB!

Welcome to EB (and to Lego in general), missingpiece! Sounds like you're off to a great start. Hopefully you can find some inspiration and like-minded AFOLs here who can make it even more fun. Happy building!

Yes, I have to agree with Aanchir. Even if the current line is stale, they'd not dump it without an immediate replacement... but as was noted, it's still selling well. I do agree that some kind of refresh would be nice, but they've already mixing it up with the ocean/underwater theme, the recent Coast Guard and Volcano stuff, the different locales for the Police, bringing back a mining/underground sub-line, etc.. I wouldn't mind seeing them go from World City -> City -> Future City or something like that. Switch it up with some near-future stuff with the theme as a whole... but even something like that they sometimes cover the market for with things like Ultra Agents. Some kind of refresh would be fun, but they obviously have a formula that's still working, so until they have a need to do anything more drastic I think they'll have their energy spent elsewhere.

Well, even though it is fiddly, I would use a (current) brick separator to push the pin through from the other side. Not the easiest thing to do, but it does work and won't damage anything. You can do it with just a regular axel as well, but the brick separator gives you better control and makes the task much easier. Failing that, you can use something small but not too pointy or sharp (like a ballpoint pen or the tip of a small screwdriver if it's blunt at the end) and push right in the middle of the axel (there's usually a small molding dimple there that makes it a little easier to stay on-target) and put pressure on it until it comes out just a millimeter or so. Once that lip of the pin is exposed, you should be able to get under it with a fingernail and pull it out (or at that point since the axel end is pushed in slightly, you can more easily get another axel in there to push it the rest of the way out).

I like everything about this. It works so well, with so few parts... so some solid engineering and creativity there! I think my favorite bit is the clam to the table!

Welcome to EB, DutchBlockhead! Nice to have you here with us, and if anyone give you trouble about enjoying Lego (at any age) they're just missing out on the fun! Happy building!

Great truck! Looks nice, and a solid set of features. I especially like the stairs and railing details up front. Well done.

Nice! The rings are great, and the rest of it with that almost-8-bit look, especially the sky, is nicely executed. I can hear the rings being collected in my head just looking at it.

For me it's Lego, board games, and the occasional Nerf gun (since the kids really enjoy those, and I definitely join in). But, by dollar amount, the Lego FAR surpasses the other "toys" we buy. Honestly, almost any other toy that there's interest it becomes a project to re-create in a Lego version.

Really nice all-around, but I agree that the Falcon at that scale is particularly good. Nice builds (and a fun rendering, too)!

Welcome to EB, Fabio! Plenty of inspiration to be found here, and we look forward to seeing your MOCs. Happy building!

OK... but why would you use a dangerous tool that could damage the brick or the human when you could just use brick separators as they're designed for that job? So I guess that would be my "tip" for those who aren't aware - here's an example (with the old style separators - new ones are even better, but same technique): ... let's see... if you don't have a brick separator (or 2), you can use 2x2 or 2x4 bricks on the top and bottom of the stack, put a lot more pressure on just 1 side and do the the same prying motion as in the gif above and they'll usually come apart without having to dig something in-between them.