AFOLguy1970

I predict it will be $500 and possibly even a little smaller than the previous one. It will have a high piece count, but containing a lot more smaller parts for details (see modulars) Updated minifigs for sure. In fact, I think that was the only real weakness to the old one being on sale for so long. On the interior, I would hope they would just concentrate on DS I rather than trying to make a rehash of the emperor's throne room. They could extend the life of the Final Duel set the same way that they made sure Ecto-1 can be bought at the same time as the new Ghostbusters HQ. On the interior, perhaps they could have a control room where the Death Star gunner(s) are to fire the superlaser. These guys were not in the last set. For sure, I expect to see a conference room, the detention block, the trash compactor, a control room, the superlaser dish, the tractor beam, and the chasm where Luke and Leia cross with the grappling hook. I would hope they lose the mini TIE fighter and maybe instead expand the detention block and other spaces. A hanger bay would be nice, but it does not seem workable unless it could actually contain a "real" ship, which would make the size of the playset too big. They could resort to making a large closing blast door near the bottom, and one could improvise a space next to the build to represent the landing bay. That door would of course lead to the landing bay and be the site of the duel between Vader and Obi Wan. I guess there would be a turret or two as well.

Bought Droid Escape Pod and filled a large PAB cup at the Lego store. There were 8 people waiting for the store to open in the mall. Funny thing is that the Lego store always has people waiting while all the surrounding stores have no activity.

Do we know anything about how the distribution will be? I predict that a lot of pack feeling is going to happen, even more so than compared with other series. Mickey will be a prime target. Hopefully we can locate one before a reseller goes into the store to get all of them. We have a relative who collects all things Mickey, and I would like to get one for him. Whoever said Pan looks like Shaggy, I thought the same thing! They look how I expected them to look. They will probably sell well, but I think you will know which are the favorites and which ones are not after the packs have been picked through.

I must agree. They already shot down T-Rex, which was a much more recognized dinosaur. Also, they already made the IR in the last wave of Jurassic World sets, which had a relatively small and limited presence on the shelves.

Nice color assortment. The roof detailing is great as well.

Basically,the set had a dome and a tower. The Haghia Sophia has 4 minerets and a large dome. The building was originally a church and is now a museum. The nearby Blue Mosque has a dome similar to the Haghia Sophia and has 6 minerets. Yeah, it is quite a stretch to say that the set "copied" a mosque, although it could be possible that George Lucas received some inspiration from the buildings when ROTJ was made. Also, about that set, it was not generally that hated among AFOLs and other communities. Really most of the criticism it received by Lego fans was regarding the price.

I must echo the discontent for the Hobbit Battle of Five Armies. Before the photos and description came out, everyone was hoping it would be an army builder type set where you could buy multiples to create a nice sized army and city of Dale. What you got was a rehash of the bad guy leader, two grunt orcs, a Thorin that should have been in the Lonely Mountain set, a Bard that was already in another set-just a different torso, Dain, the other unique character whose helmet could not be modified to make other generic Iron Hills dwarves, an eagle, and yet another Legolas rather than an elf soldier or even the armored version of Thranduil. It was massively disappointing and likely the only reason most people bought it was to get the Thorin with crown and Dain. It could have been so much more........

Excellent review for a fun build! It was kind of funny that the kid wins the contest and gets the 500 stud check, only for mom to rob the bank later I guess greed has no bounds?

This does not bode well for those who buy multiple modulars or other large sets not for the purpose of reselling, but to simply create a larger version of the original model. Not everyone is fortunate enough to live close to a Lego store. So S&H would be the only way they could earn VIP points. I get that Lego wants to prevent resellers from buying up everything and cornering the market on a current release, but how do you distinguish between them and someone who simply wants all of the sets they are buying for personal use? Also, what if you have more than one kid who wants the same thing? I would rather just buy everything under one VIP number for the sake of having reward points more readily available. Even if you got a VIP number for each member of your family, wouldn't the VIP number need to match the credit or debit card?

Of course you could have old and young versions of the same character. Obi Wan, Leia, and Han Solo come to mind for Star Wars. A Lego minifg is sort of like an elf from Tolkein's world. They do not appear to age (apart from possible cracking, discoloration, or scratches), but they are not exactly immortal either. A rough owner, pet, or other unfortunate circumstances could spell the end for them.

Translated to the modulars of today, I would expect: Library=small book shop hospital=an individual doctor's practice with a waiting room, a file cabinet, and the office. Maybe a residence above the ground floor school=just one classroom with 6 desks (think Palace Cinema) and maybe a principals office, lunchroom with one or two tables, and a small play area outside

Excellent modular in the spirit of Amsterdam architecture. The bookshop and upstairs apartment are great as is the texture and color of the whole structure. The Dutch style certainly requires good use of limited space available and you captured that well.

The lesson learned from this is to not use the free replacement service unless I really have to. If they forget to put in a white 1x2 brick in the modular I just purchased, it might not be wise to use the service--just suck it up and get the part from my spares, bricklink, or online PAB. Thankfully, part issues have been few and far between. There have been some misaligned prints and bent sticker sheets, but I have quietly accepted them. They seem to be tracking account activity like this based on volume alone rather than percentages of sets that you order that have errors. The more you buy, the more likelier it is that you will have an error. Now the decision seems to be, at what point do you request the free replacement service? Misprinted tile? Probably not. Missing bag such as the Fire Brigade incident? Definitely so.

When I saw the new photos, my focus immediately fell on the park set. It is an excellent way to acquire regular townsfolk. The unique parts are a bonus to me. I sure hope this gets priced fairly.

Art Nouveau is awesome! We have not had this in a modular yet, and that would be great. I also agree that you did great with the photography and presentation of those excellent models.

If you build it (in sand green), they will come

If it was produced in modular form, you would probably get a doctor's office. The bottom floor would be the waiting room and the office, and perhaps upstairs would be the doctor's residence. Since the modular theme is much more detail oriented on the inside, I could see them doing that with a two story structure.

Just a guess........ I hear all the time that Lego is running at maximum factory capacity to cover all of the lines and sets. That means they are probably limited on the ability to make "loose" parts, thus the reason why the variety is rather low for online PAB.

I would not be a bit surprised if they made the maze out of rarer parts/color combinations and had at least one of the balls be unique to this set in order to generate more interest for the set.

The typical routine now is when a new set gets assembled, something else has to be taken apart, bagged, and placed into a plastic container with a bunch of other sets. Right now, I have my courthouse MOC, the Brick Bank, and the Mystery Machine assembled and on two shelves. I rearranged space on a bookshelf to barely allow for the Unexpected Gathering set to be place there. I have enough space for one new set next to the Brick Bank. Once that is built, then any other new set is going to require a set being dissassembled. We just simply do not have the space in our house. My hope is the next and final home will have a dedicated room for Lego and other hobbies. Then, I will suddenly have a lot of sets to rebuild. So no, it is not crazy to try and part with books or rearrange your house to get that one more set in.

My guess is that it will open the door for more PT, OT, Rebels, Rogue 1, etc. There are only so many TFA scenes that can be made, and it seems like most of the major ones are covered. They probably are not going to be able to release much of anything related to Episode VIII ahead of the movie in order to keep it relatively spoiler free.

Probably Jokerland, so I can build it with my youngest son. Although we might not have to wait until February, because the February monthly promotion is once again a Nexo-knights polybag. Not really my cup of tea.

It would appear that Lego is not considering the large volume of purchases you have made. Suppose there was an error in 1 out of 20 sets (just making up the number, I have no idea what the real percentage is). In that case, most people would only report a problem to Lego every once in a while, and many people just simply shrug their shoulders at bent sticker sheets and misprints and simply accept it (not saying that you should not). If you buy 100 sets under that ratio, then you will get approximately 5 errors in one year. Five error requests might seem excessive on the surface, but it really is not if you buy a huge volume of sets. I would contact them and let them know just how many sets you purchase. I try and buy mine from the Lego store or S@H, because the VIP account history can reflect what I am buying. In the past few years, I have requested replacements 2 or three times.

That video where the laundromat is placed on the other side is interesting. At the 6:00 mark where he is showing his whole town, I really noticed what an eyesore the back of the Detective's office is in his setting. It seems like starting with the DO, not only are the backs of the buildings without detail, but they are now not even realistic due to the attention now given to the interiors. To me, that means the DO and now the Bank are not really stand alone modulars for your town. You have to place something on one or two sides of them in order to cover up the uglier sides. The older modulars obviously had more plain back exteriors, but they were made with back doors, dumpsters, some windows, etc, and generally kept a uniform color scheme. Not so much with the newest ones.

Not a bad set, especially for those of us who have yet to acquire any Hoth scenes. There is good army builder potential even with the Han who can easily be customized into a generic minifig. I would probably go for the Droid Escape and Carbonite Chamber first, but it seems like a decent build.