rodiziorobs

So I am putting together an Octan MOC and would like to get some official stickers from sets that have the logo or any other related designs, but searching for them on BrickLink is impossible without searching through every single page unless you know the set number. So my question: does anyone know some numbers for sets with Octan stickers? I would prefer stickers that came with clear backing, but any at all (any size, also) will do. Thanks!

I came out of my dark age almost four years ago for my son's second Christmas. We were particularly broke and worried about what we could get him. I decided to get my old Lego collection from my parents' house (which was luckily still around) so I could build him a present. I spent a few nights thinking what I could build for a toddler that would have a fun play feature but be durable enough that he couldn't break it easily. After some test builds (it had been ten years, and I'm not sure how good I was back then anyway), I was able to put together a dump truck with a button on the cab that would activate a lever in order to tip the bed. When you pushed the bed back down, it would reset the button. It used a simple enough mechanism, but fiddling around with it to get it just right got me hooked. I remembered thinking, "man these things are so cool! Why did I ever stop playing with them?" He loved the present, and soon he was hooked and would ask me to build all sorts of cars, planes, and magnet trains for him, which I willingly obliged. Now he has a decent collection of his own, so while we build together a lot now, I hardly ever give him any of my own Lego anymore! (Nothing personal, just Business...) I'm curious to know if any of them had (or still has) a dark age, and what they think of you picking it up now?

I suppose it will go to my kids, but since my oldest is 5, I will have to stipulate that he doesn't get it (at least not all at once) until he's older and would actually know what to do with all of it. Still on topic, I read a quote somewhere (don't remember where) that said, "I hope when I die that my wife doesn't sell all my Lego for what I told her I paid for it." :)

I'll add my two cents here: I would say, go ahead and quit for awhile. If it doesn't take too much space, then keep all your collection in storage somewhere, and if it does, then sell or donate enough until what's left will fit in storage. Keep it as if in a time capsule--put it in storage and then leave it there for a determined length of time--say, 1 year. Then, with that behind you, go enjoy your other hobbies and the special people in your life. Over that year, you may find yourself a bit anxious about having locked it all away; that's probably a good thing. If you don't, clearly you are no worse off, and so you can either leave it in storage indefinitely, or whatever. After that year, whether it is a huge relief to have your Lego back or kind of a letdown, at least you'll know better at that point what role it should play in your life. But hold fast to that year (or however long you decide upon) before making a lasting decision. You stated that you are feeling guilty now, which is why I recommend giving yourself a good long time. Guilt is a powerful emotion that can lead us to make less-than positive decisions, and that waiting period will help you step back and be more objective before doing something that you might regret later on. Good luck.

Frankly, this sounds less like an official press release from Marvel and more like somebody trying to pass something off as an official press release; the organization and style seems more Wikipedia-ish and fan-written than we're used to. That being said, I don't think the info contained is wrong, I just don't believe the post itself to be authentic. Just my two bits (and I admit that maybe I'm the one that's wrong here).

Yesterday I was also having trouble, but everything pointed to a server error on LEGO's end. Seems to be working fine now.

I have no problem with each country/language claiming their own actor embodied in a minifigure. Heck, it could introduce a new front-runner, if a particular actor for a given language gets more than their fair share of voice-acting. But then, I suppose it would need to be counted separately from the live-actors. Or something. Whatever.

Got it. Looks like my definition of "classic" is much broader than BL's.

No offense intended, but a castle of this size seems a little too...established...for a roguish gang of bandits. All the same, this is a great MOC--it definitely has a very classic vibe to it. Well done! Edit: I had missed where you said you painted the corner panel on the Guarded Inn--flawless job on that! I literally would not have known LEGO had never made that piece in that color unless I reread your description.

Both links seem to be broken for me. Regardless of any official definition, I always considered Dragon Masters to be the final subtheme of "classic" castle, probably because of this: Castle poster (from '93) by rodiziorobs, on Flickr To me, "vintage" would be that part of classic where the horses were still brick-built.

If you choose to bubble wrap sections of your modulars, I would then place each wrapped section in its own large ziploc bag. That way, if pieces do come loose, they won't get lost, and are still grouped together.

We are from the planet Duplon. We are here to destroy you.

I like them fine as games to play with my kids, although my 5-yr old loses interest before its over if we string two or more boards together. I like that it easy to alter the rules to keep the game interesting--we will sometimes use a point system to determine a winner, give the various weapons different powers, and have random enemies appear when a certain number is rolled, for example. However, the thing about them is that you almost have to change up the rules, periodically, otherwise they lose their charm a bit. As far as other games, I think Heroica is probably the most creative. I just wish the Batman and LOTR games had made it to a US release--I would have liked to have given them a try, but I'm not willing to pay $50+int'l shipping for them.

I know of someone (a friend of a close friend) whose home was robbed, and all his valuables were taken, including his Lego. Luckily, he had renter's insurance, and had detailed in his policy each set and its current market value. When the benefit from the claim came, the insurance company had paid to replace all the items that were stolen--including the Lego.

The OT is definitely cheesy, the effects dated, and the acting less-than-great, but overall the series has a kind of charm thay makes it enjoyable. The story in some places is weak, but holds up well as an adventure story. The PT on the other hand has better effects, but the acting is considerably worse, wringing performances that range from melodramatic to outright bad from normally good actors such as Liam Neeson, Christopher Lee, Samuel L. Jackson, etc. Not to mention bad actors such as Hayden Christensen and Natalie Portman (say what you will). What could make a great adventure story gets bogged down with a wooden love story and political tension without the tension, the great battlefield scenes never feel like anything more than completely fake, and most importantly of all, the PT lacks that je-ne-sais-quoi element of charm that the OT had. For those reasons: ESB #1 (followed by ANH, ROTJ), AotC last (preceded by RotS, TPM). I'm cautiously optimistic about the upcoming films, but not exactly hopeful.

Oh man, my wallet is going to hate me. This is the first CMF wave that I have really had a chance to get in to, and I just counted 11 of these that are must-haves. Four of them are the Hun.

Ah, I had forgotten Selvig. Okay, then: if its a major character, I still say Thor; if its a secondary character, then it could easily be Selvig. As far as the stuff you spoiler-tagged, I don't see it happening in the MCU as we know it, unless it lasts until a Phase 4 (post-Thanos). More likely, it could be the core story after the current MCU ends and they decide to reboot, but even then I think something like Secret Invasion is more likely (and awesome).

Trans-dark green. I mean, obviously it can't be used for everything, but it is definitely my favorite. As far as more versatile colors, then tan/dark tan and metallic silver (which is great to see popping up in more sets and different pieces). My favorite retired color is old brown, and I'm sad we'll never get it back; sometimes reddish brown is just too bright.

The changes are slight, but significant. I really like the plain white legs, also, rather than printed. Great detailing (but not too detailed) on the torsos. My only complaint is that the HM's head looks squashed, like maybe his eyes are too low, but it could be the thicker eyebrows or bald head.

Wow, I have all those old magazines...but only maybe one of those sets. Just kidding, how awesome for you! Very impressive collection, must be a heck of a trip to go back through all those memories.

I always view on mobile (which is really a very pared down version, visually), so I wasn't even aware of the presence or absence of pink flowers in the first place.

Crap, with more awesome stuff coming out next year how will my wallet ever forgive me? Seriously, this is great news. Can't wait for official confirmation and set pics.

I guess I'm mostly rooting for Surtur to show up because I am still waiting for that payoff from Earth's Mightiest Heroes, where Surtur was teased at the end of season 2...and then the series was cancelled. (I also realize that Thor dies in that series--incidentally, it is Ultron that kills him--and then Amora the Enchantress saves him.) My thoughts are that Thor dies fighting Ultron, but instead of going to Valhalla, he comes to in Muspelheim as a prisoner of Surtur, who has agreed with Loki to take Thor in exchange for Loki delivering Asgard. Loki has realized that he really just wants to destroy Asgard and that Thor is the biggest threat to that happening, so a deal with Surtur helps him do both, as well as gaining him a powerful ally for when Thanos comes calling. Anyway, a big part of the movie could then be Thor's escape from Surtur's control as he tries to save Asgard from the fire demons of Muspelheim. Think of Hercules' journey through the river Styx, except that Styx is guarded by a giant cosmic Balrog whose screen time would be significantly more than just a few seconds. How would they advertise a Thor 3 if he dies? An end-credits scene, of course (this is Marvel we're talking about). It would be of Thor waking up, looking at the inferno around him and Surtur looming over him, then says, "this is not Valhalla. By what power did you bring me here?" We see Surtur grin and reveal a green stone (the soul gem), which is what allowed him to intercept Thor on the way to Valhalla, and which also gives control over him--suddenly Thor's body goes rigid, his eyes go green and he cries out as the scene ends. Probably not, but eh, it could happen. A much more likely scenario, which would reveal yet another gem. But where did they get the time gem? To sum up: Hawkeye isn't going to die (in AoU), Black Widow won't, War Machine won't (pretty sure on both of those), Iron Man might (I really don't think he will), Hulk won't, and Coulson in isn't even in AoU. That leaves Thor, Falcon (they better not), the twins (who probably won't; would Whedon really have them introduced, change teams, and then die all in the same movie?), or Nick Fury. As I understand it, Samuel L. Jackson doesn't have many films left on his contract, so he could go, but at the same time, he has stated that he would be Fury as long as they want him to, Not to mention they'll need him to cameo on AoS occasionally to keep that show alive. So to keep it to a main character, really only Thor Is left. After all, if Tony dies, what is there to stop them from bringing him back, á la Coulson? Only Thor's death would be something out of their control. They could always off a love interest--Jane or Pepper or Betty--but none of those would really be much of a loss, since Natalie Portman is easily the weakest link of the Thor movies, Pepper already died (or so we were led to believe, briefly) in IM3, and it seems like the MCU has kind of decided to look the other way when it comes to The Incredible Hulk. Another secondary character could die, but the only one that comes to mind is Happy (which would seem like a repeat of IM3) or an Asgardian, which doesn't make sense for AoU. Wow, that was a long comment. Anyway, whether or not we ever get Surtur, if a major character eats it in AoU, it's either Tony or Thor. My money's on Thor.

If someone does die in AoU, I wouldn't be surprised if it were Thor (whose "death" would be a set-up for Thor 3 and--fingers crossed--an eventual Surtur appearance).

I actually haven't built the Spikels yet (they are supposed to be my birthday present next week), but Wizwuz surprised me--he's a charming little scorpion-type monster, a fantastic parts pack, and fun alt build MOC fodder all rolled into one. I hope to pick up one or two more of him (unless the Spikels prove even better), so yes I would definitely recommend.