Off the wall

I just went back to June.....I think, well I know, there was probably another $2k before that.

I just talked to a Lego employee. Yep, my online purchases made a difference. A big one..... Whatever, eh? If we got invited, let's go have some fun!!!!!! Btw, in the past six months I've spend $1400 on line and about $320 at the store. One visit to the store, multiple online visits. Would have spent more, but the retired sets on Amazon/ebay cost too much and took up a lot of my resources.

I bought a ton of stuff this year and very little at the Lego store. The online purchases have to factor in or I can't imagine being invited..

Great review, even though there are some major elements of the design that I don't like. First of all, the bright while building elements. Having been to Paris and Prague and Amsterdam and a lot of European cities, I think something more muted than a very sterile bright white would have been appropriate. My opinion is good for lego, because now I will buy two of these and MOD one with darker, more earth tone colors. A lot of small, non-structural elements that may, I emphasize 'may', have resulted in a smaller size, if not footprint, for the actual structure. At this point, and my opinion could change once I build it and integrate it into my city, it's about my least favorite of the modular buildings.

If they do that, then I won't be there very long.

I've spent a lot in the past year buying retired sets. But, I can't see how a collector like me could spend anywhere near five grand. As a matter of fact, unless by some miracle the new Maersk ship or the Parisian Restaurant is there, I can't see spending a lot of money. My interests are primarily the modular buildings and the large count Creator offerings. I suppose my interests just aren't diverse enough for me to spend a lot of money at a Lego store. No interest in SW and a couple of weeks ago I bought the relatively new Technic mobile crane. Maybe it's similar to a left brain-right brain thing, but Technic doesn't interest me, either. I suppose I could buy another Haunted House since I converted the first one to a modular building. Or maybe another Tower Bridge before it's retired. Still looking forward to the event, though. Hope to see follow collectors at the store in Alpharetta, GA. I'll be the guy with my wife standing next to me shaking her head and saying 'just why do we need a FOURTH grand Emporium?!?!'

Wow. I'll be there.......

I'm really not into them, but I did enjoy this article. Not knowing much history about the subject, I can't comment on its accuracy. Hope you enjoy. http://mashable.com/2013/11/15/lego-minifigures/

Mine is from 9am to 10am.....I wish it did start at 8am. Since my dog gets me up at 5am, I guess I'll be ready to go by the time they open.

Btw, I'm assuming you want this to be a cheese wagon, er, school bus so I agree with DrJB that you can drop the word 'bus" off of the front.

Way back when, a company I worked for was a supplier to Blue Bird and I was frequently at one of their large assembly plants. I think I like the first design better, but the second one is more faithful to how I think a Blue Bird product would look. BTW, I can see two designs with the one on the top being the 'first' that I think looks better but isn't as faithful to the company's design style.

Good question. I rsvp'd to the event. Hope if they check my VIP card that they don't notice the four modular buildings and the 42009 crane that I bought during October were bought at lego.com and not at their store that's a couple of miles from my house. Looking forward to the event. There's a Starbucks almost adjacent to the lego store so if the line is too long (meaning any line at all), I'll just grab a grande of some sorts and head to the park for a nice walk. Cheers.

I just started with Lego a couple of years ago. So, for Taj Mahal, Eiffel Tower, Corner Cafe and Market Street I had to go to ebay and buy them used/previously assembled. All we advertised as 100% complete. Well, they weren't all complete. Fortunately, two of them were complete. CC and MS had a few prices missing but they were very common pieces and I replaced them for less than $1 total. Caveat emptor, but fortunately ebay affords very good protection to buyers. I've got some good deals on ebay, but I always have my doubts until the package arrives and I can examine the contents.

Me. My wife gave me Fallingwaters as a gift a few years back. I had fun with it and went on line a while later and discovered Robie House. Then it was off to the races. So, I didn't know about Lego until I was almost 60. Coincidentally, about six months after becoming an AFOL, Lego opened a store two miles from my house. However, I really don't like shopping malls so most of my purchases are on Lego.com. Free shipping and usually three day delivery.

Deleted.....replied to wrong topic....sorry.

If 'silly' is the best you've got, guess I'll have to buy a couple more copies of GE.

We're ALL expecting an invitation next year.

Aanchir.... I stayed at the Haywood hotel in Asheville, NC a couple of weeks ago. It's a four story corner building circa 1923 that was built by a retailer. The first department store was 'Bon Marche' and that changed to Ivey's in the late 30s. Now, it's a wonderful hotel that still announces which floor you are arriving at when you take the elevator. 'Fourth floor, women's wear'. And, in the foyer where the elevator is on the fourth floor, there is a nice display of clothing that they store sold back in the 20s through the 50s'. Ivey's closed in 1975 and the building was subsequently converted to a very nice hotel. So, with that in mind, my GE will be limited to four floors. It won't tower over everything, but it will be larger than a fire station or a restaurant. Just as a side note, I've been in 48 of the 50 states here in the USA. You will not find a better place to visit in America than Asheville, NC. I don't live there, but I may retire there. Arts, antiques, the Biltmore and a great place for foodies. Not to mention the beautiful fall foliage. Sorry for that advertisement.

Well, even if you were, that's not necessarily a bad thing. :-)

Okay, I'll return by latest GE purchase and just call what's left a resale/consignment shop. :-)

Wow, thanks, great stuff. They really have their rules down pat.

Maybe you don't. I just want the buildings on my modular street to bear some reasonable proportionality to each other. Not necessarily to vehicles, minifigs or anything else. I'm comparing building to building, apples to apples. If you are comparing a lego train station to a lego train, that is apples to oranges. A grand emporium would be larger than a Parisian restaurant. And, making it so would not take up an unreasonable amount of space. And I have no interest in making an exact model of what the lego building is based upon. But, buildings are different sizes depending on their function. You will seldom see a car dealership as large as a basketball/hockey arena. And, I don't expect an exact proportionality. Just that a truly grand emporium would be larger than a pet shop. Not asking lego to do that, but I think if I'm building my own, I need to take that in consideration.

Lego Spy Well, that's a load off my mind! Thanks much, that is a great example that even I can understand.

Thanks, Mutant Orc. Appreciate it!

I guess what I meant is that a grand emporium is going to be a heck of a lot larger than a pet store, at least in real life. Or a Parisian Restaurant. I suppose its a personal preference between wanting the city to remain as designed by lego or modifying it to reflect the idiosyncrasies and differences that one would find in a real city. And, since we've been down that road before, maybe my post is moot. PS..thanks,F0NIX, I didn't see your post until I responded to the other post. You understand!