AFOLguy1970

You can probably also call the store and have them hold one for you. I find this useful when driving from Fort Worth to the Dallas store.

Not a bad little set. I will pick it up eventually for Boba Fett and the Ugnaught. It appears there are no connector pins to suggest a future Cloud City set for attachment. The omission of Luke and Vader is understandable due to the recent release of Final Duel. My biggest concern would be how to get Lando and Lobot into a set? A CC duel set would pretty much focus on Luke and Vader. Other than that, there are not a whole lot of Cloud City locations I could think of that would have the required action and play features. You have passageways, the dining room, and maybe the droid scrap room.

Have you converted a stormie yet? I am still on the fence about this. The helmet restoration does not look too difficult, but the torso is a whole different matter. I really do not have the hands of a surgeon. Bricklink might be my best option in the meantime, but if Lego continues to fail to produce the generic in a regular and relatively inexpensive set, the supply will eventually decline and prices will rise.

Unfortunately, with the Advent Calendar now sold out, about the only option is going to be Bricklink or Ebay. Slave I is the only set that has one, and you certainly would not be buying that set for the stormtrooper. No upcoming winter wave sets will have this highly coveted version of the stormtrooper available either, unless you do not mind one that has "battle damage" markings on it. In that case, you will soon have a cheap set with two in it. I actually held off purchasing the Advent Calendar because I heard plain imperial stormtroopers would be available in the winter wave along with R2D2, C3PO, and Jawas. Then, I found out the were both battle damaged . I guess 3 out of 4 aint bad. As surprising as this might sound, it is harder to get a generic stormtrooper than it is to get almost any other variant produced. Hopefully, there will be a summer wave that contains one or more in a reasonably priced set.

Amazing! Something like this is worthy of being made into a set. I have always liked windmills and would love to see a Dutch styled one on the shelves some day.

If you want to have a new release right when it comes out, then yes, your best bet would be to get online at midnight or be at the Lego store when it first opens the next day. With regular release sets, you do run the risk of not being able to buy it right away if you wait too long, but they will come back. On Jan 1, I am sure the Ghostbusters headquarters and the Brick Bank will be on backorder status before too long. Then, you have the issues of site problems. The S@H site has a nasty habit of going down when there are double VIP points or new release sets. In that case, it is more luck than anything else that enables you to place the order before they go into backorder.

This year, I have started collecting meteorites. So far, there are three in addition to a small fragment from Mars that is a little bit bigger than the size of a grain of sand. I might combine hobbies by designing a modular meteorite museum using the rocks as actual exhibits.

I would not necessarily say the criticism is directed at the battle damaged stormies. They problem is it is harder to get a plain, inspection ready OT stormtrooper than it is to get a red one, a battle damaged one, a Rebels frowntrooper, a shadow trooper, (insert your favorite version here), etc. It almost seems like Lego is bent on making it near impossible to acquire one without buying a very expensive set or trying to go through a third party like Bricklink. Like someone said, all they had to do was trade just ONE of the battle damaged stormies for a regular one, and then you at least get one of what you are looking for in a cheap set. So far, I have not been an "army builder" in any way in any Lego line. However, if there is one thing I would want multiples of, it is the OT stormtrooper. Advent Calendar and ISD are now sold out, so currently the only way to get one is to buy Slave I--ouch.

Favorite new theme:Scooby Doo Favorite new set: Ferris Wheel Favorite new minifigure: Darth Vader in the Death Star Final Battle set Least favorite new theme: Pirates Least favorite new set: Tie between the Brick Bounty for the hull defect or the Star Wars Imperial Troop transport, because these are not the stormtroopers I am looking for Least favorite new minifigure: dont really have one from the sets I bought this year

If the battlepack stormtrooper's battle damage can be removed by nail polish remover in order to make a minifig identical to what came in ISD, I will buy two sets at least. If not, I buy zero. Seriously, why did they both have to have the exact same battle damage?

I definitely do not like people messing with my stuff, yet making a MOC or two is something I like to do. The boys are not allowed to play with most of my stuff since they still do not respect most toys and end up either breaking them or losing pieces. This is an expensive hobby, and I do want to go to Bricklink after every time someone has a play session with my collection. I too would not use a kragle, but my latest MOC actually contains some non Lego elements in it, and this is seen by most as unconventional. In fact, they are not even building blocks.

The Saturn V has a little over 1000 pieces, which would make this a $100+ set. It stands over 1 meter tall. which is huge for a Lego set. If the rocket is sturdy in design, I still think it has a decent chance of passing review. Like many people, I would love to own one of these. It represents a significant event in world history and makes a beautiful model. It would require a few stickers, but most people would understand. It would not seem licensing would be an issue since this rocket has appeared in toy form before. Even the Estes model rockets once featured a large model of Saturn V.

Just got back from the event at the Dallas store. My 7 year old son went with me as my guest, or should I say I was his guest. It was especially fun for him, because to him, the invite was like one of Willy Wonka's golden tickets. There were not a lot of items on sale. I noticed the Pirate Chess set at 49.99 but did not see a lot of items as far as discounts were concerned. Shopping in the absence of a crowd was nice as we got the Death Star Final Battle, a Batman keychain for a fellow teacher, a large Pick-a-brick cup, which was fun teaching my son how to stuff, and he got the 76036 Marvel set (have no idea what the name of it was). There was no early display of the Brick Bank or the Ghostbusters HQ or anything new coming out. We checked out and received the in store calendar and the gingerbread house set. When I got home, I noticed I was not charged for the PAB cup, so I will contact the Lego store today to let them know. The double VIP points were credited. It is basically no different than the promotion that runs today, except you get a chance to hit the store before it gets crowded. The advantage compared to ordering online is you get the calendar, have access to the PAB wall, and you get to inspect the items up close. If we get invited again, I would probably go. Even though it may not be the event it once was, it is nice for some of us to get a chance to do it that would not otherwise have qualified in years past.

It is a beauty, but the piece count/types will certainly kill it. They made it clear during the last review that allocation of factory resources is a consideration. Also, if it were to have to compete with anything similar in other lines, such as a pirate ship, it will have a difficult time passing review. I suspect these are the same factors that killed the Natural History Museum a couple of review cycles ago.

That part is certainly close to the look of the clock face, but it seems like if they use that, then the tower will be kind of small. I have no idea how they could do the tower scaled around that part and it would be a $300 set at the same time. If they are doing a significant portion of Westminster, that would be different. I was honestly hoping that the clock face would be brick built with moveable hands since that one of the most detailed parts of the tower. Even though it probably will not be seen from the outside, I hope there is a "bell" on the inside.

If I had $350 and had a choice of Ghostbusters HQ or buying two Brick Banks to make a bigger one, I would definitely go with the bank. The Ghostbusters HQ is nice, but I feel like I am getting more value AND more substance with 2 banks.

I actually got an invite this year--first time ever and I probably spent less money this year than the past two. Sadly, I will likely have to work that morning and will not be able to check it out. I might RSVP in case I do not pick up a shift. It does not seem any different than the inevitable offer all VIPS are going to get with S&H that day. The only real advantage would then be getting into the store before the masses arrive and as stated, get a chance to meet a few like minded people.

This has a nice design and I think Lego did well enough with the given source material. I am not too worried about whether or not Ecto-1 is inside the building, after all, if the car is inside the building, how am I going to see it? My only real critique is one already brought up. The sign on the outside should not have been a sticker, especially since Ecto-1 did not have them. A lot of sets have had a mix of stickers and printed parts lately. Mystery Machine and the new Millenium Falcon come to mind as examples. With the heavy price tag, I likely will not buy it. However, if I do have some extra unexpected money somewhere, this will certainly be considered for a purchase. I highly doubt that any new Ghostbuster sets will be made based on the first two films. There are minifigs that are depicted in other scenes. Dana is in her possessed appearance back at her apartment building. The library ghost appeared of course at the New York Public Library. Peter got slimed in the hotel on their first job. The painting of Vigo was in the museum, and I do not recall pink slime appearing at the headquarters. So I guess this set sort of represents an assortment of scenes in the two movies.

I concur about the price, as it was way on the expensive side. I would give about 4/10 or maybe 5/10 in that category. However, Smaug does drive up the playability and the design. I might venture even to max out both those categories with 10/10. The details and posable features on the dragon make it a very nice toy. There are also some good play features on the mine itself, and I do appreciate the sand green along with some other various goodies. I am a bit surprised they did not use at least a few of the chrome gold coin pieces given the fact that this is what made up 90% or more of that great big treasure mound in the movie. I saw many a kid in the store gawking at the box and the display model, and equally many an adult seeing the price and asking the same kid what would be a good alternative. Certainly, an Lego Tolkien fan would consider this set to be an absolute must, because we all know Smaug carries this set.

I think the days of the PAB box and low thresholds for the freebie are over. It is not going to be about sales. Most people will consider themselves lucky if they can find the set(s) they actually want at full price.

I agree that Lego has no obligation to compensate anyone for a project if something similar is produced after it does not pass review. I feel for Sergio regarding the Ghostbusters HQ. I really do. He even traveled to Billund and met with the designers who could not tell him anything while he was there. I too think he is still lucky to be offered a set and to have the ability to meet with the designers. With that said, this is the reason I do not enter photo contests anymore. Most people are hoping to win a prize, but few realize that you just gave up the rights to your photo by entering it, and they could use it for other purposes. They do not even have to credit the photo to you if you surrender the rights to it. I would venture to say that there is a possibility Lego designers might browse these forums from time to time and view various MOCs and designs submitted here purely for the enjoyment of others. Could they be influenced or even replicate some of what they see here? Possibly. They could even be doing it subconsciously. As far as Ideas is concerned, it seems like the best shot is to come up with an original, non-licensed, moderately priced set that will interest Lego builders.

No doubt the finished model will be amazing, but I can already hear the complaints of repetitiveness in the instructions. It is going to be four sides of pretty much the same thing, although I expect this to be one of the most detailed landmarks of all.

Problem with the battle damage is that it does not match the other OT stormies. I really had wanted to do a setup with Emperor's arrival scene in the DS, and basically the stormies need to be identical and not "damaged" for it to work. Besides, it does look silly that everyone will be damaged in the same spot. With that said, if that is the only difference in the printing, it could be salvageable with some nail polish remover and careful hands. Yes, I said it.

I will be buying the new droid escape and the carbonite chamber for sure. However I am puzzled about the new OT stormie pack. What is that black line on top of the helmets above the eyes? Are we getting something different from what came in the advent calendar, ISD, and Slave I?

I have a torso or two that is cracked and have never pulled the arms off or switched them.