Kanduu

It's just so, so beautiful ! All the detail, wow, Lego has really done it!!

Exactly, forget this Pirate/Western nonsense, Castle is the way to go! But on topic now.... I've been thinking Pirates through reading most of this thread (excluding late 1990s, which were awful, and Jack Stone was, well, a horrible waste of time...), but it depends on what you want. Ships can be difficult to moc--at least for me, and I haven't seen too many great, different mocs out there either (yes I know of a few). I like the Pirates line more than Western because it has better minifigs, both in type and quality, and many more sets (pirate, western). The Indians of the Western sets are more difficult to work with too. Not all Indians painted or dressed like that, so I'm kinda limited if I want to stay more accurate. This fewer-sets thing presents a interesting point: Lego has only produced one line of Western, more or less, and what, three, four of Pirates? And Pirates are more pricey on Ebay. So the people have spoken to what is "best." Though neither have been seen for a while.... (ooh, does this mean Castle is the best by far?!? ;-) ) For displaying the actual sets Pirates wins too. Thinking about the Imperial Trading Post , it's open, visible, but still very playable--this was an amazing set as a kid. Fort Legoredo is nice, but not nearly as crisp. I'll say that I have my pirate ship moc on my shelf, and three (small) tubs of Western stuff under my bed and in my closet. If someone were to offer to buy me one or the other, I would say Pirate, partially for nostalgia, partially because it's just downright cooler. I guess this means I'm choosing Pirates, but I certainly see good several good points for each. (Maybe I'm swayed some because I like that period of history more...) Overall, my favorite themes are, in order: Castle, Pirate, Space, then maybe Western.... --nice topic by the way, you've gotten me out of lurker-mode, and writing too much

Ok, I'm usually just a lurker on this board, and I mostly just post on Classic-Castle, but I couldn't let this pass by. Welcome to the great world of being an "AFOL" (Adult Fan of Lego). There are numerous good sites to check out, one of them is Brickshelf. There are lots of great examples of what adults build. Another is Lugnet. It's mostly known as the staple AFoL website. The big reason I didn't want this post to get past me is that it's entirely ok to think Bionicle are, um, "not our kind of thing." Some people like them, but many others think that's one more place Lego has gone wrong. (And they have, I mean, Galidor?--you don't even want to know, Roz.) I might suggest going to a Toys R Us, or online (they don't sell them anywhere else), and looking for the Vikings line. This is a reasonably new line that has become very popular with the older crowd (and I think kids too). It has more of an '90s feel to it, but is still nice and new. Speaking of Vikings, you had mentioned you remembered them from the past--those are the non-Lego variety, ie. Megabloks. This is an inferior brand, but cheaper price-wise. (Really, the color and brick-binding isn't as good with "clone" brands.) You might also want to know about the color change. All of the grays and brown are a different color than when you were collecting. (Don't get mad, we all deal with it in our own ways.) :-) Again, welcome, and good luck with this new hobby.