larry marak

I think the pronounced negativity to clones comes from a fear of TLG going under financially. A few years ago this was a real possibility, though not now, thank goodness. Enough of the Lego patents have expired that any number of companies could produce new sets and components if TLG expired with no licensing expense. But because this has not happened, none of the clone companies have ever produced many of the basic parts we need for building projects. It is very hard to imagine this hobby once TLG departs the scene.

You've got my sympathy. I have two digital cameras, but no computer. I roam the internet on a msntv 2 box, which is a terminal to a subscriber mainframe owned by Microsoft. No disc drive, to way to post, no access to digital designer and other good stuff.

I have to agree with you. The story is told entirely from the humans' side. For robot motivation, look to the re-imagined version of Battlestar Galactica. The cylons were slaves. The only values they received were the human values of their creators. They realized humans were corrupt and evil. They rebelled. And they have a plan.........

I have had the extrordinary good fortune of being able to shop at the tent sale in Carlsbad California (Legoland) where the component bags of the Conneticut warehouse are being sold out to members at a rate of $8 per pound. I currently have 112 Iron Destructors in my army, besides a smattering of greenish, blueish and redish robot officers. They had a huge number of bags available from the Gate assault set surplused out, each of which contained the makings of 2 Devastators and two of those guys with the awful haircuts!!!!

You're right on target there Norrington. Megablocks is an excellent source for tiles, not only in standard Lego sizes, but also in 4x4 , 8x12 (black only, excellent for aircraft carrier builds) and wing tiles in two sizes, 4x3 and 8x4. A last additional option is the 2x4, available from both Mega Bloks and Cobi/Best Lock, which company also produces the standard public domain Lego tile sizes.

Help someone. I have a MSNtv2 web browser and can't download a pdf file...I have to reset the machine everytime I try. Is this a 9-volt kit??? Does it include an engine? Could I please have a short summary of what's included. Thank you in advance Larry Marak, post computer generation.

Those prices are terribly high. In the USA the new creator car set is about 8 Euro ($10). Does Lego have a monopoly in Greece, like it does in the Netherlands and it used to in Germany, or does it have competitors for market share in the building brick field? It does sound like Bricklink is probably a better source for you, and you have my sympathy.

You may have bought into the last gasp of the nano brick system. There were two seasons of sets, the first series was vehicles, the second include customized race cars with nano sale minifigs...two parts, head and body. The first season came with a plastic box with a large magnifying lens as part of the lid to assist in assembly, and each set included a nano brick seperator which greatly reduced pain of the thumbs when working the bricks. The pocket bloks was the final release in the series. Nanos are the only non-Lego blocks my wife, the Lego purist will handle. Because they are non-compatible, they don't give her and alergic reaction. :-}. Thanks for posting the ship with a lego minifig for comparison, it is the most effective way to express the small scale of the elements. While not lego or megablok compatible, they do allow you to make decent prop for a lego diorama.

Like a lot of others here, I chose Bionicle as the line I most wish LEGO had not created. But I have to acknowledge that it is a good source for technic elements and mecha skeleton components. While it generated quite a lot of income for the company, keep in mind that last year was the first in 6 that the company finished with a profit, so you could argue just as easily that it contributed to the company's failure by diverting production from more profitable lines. The challenge for the company has always been how to manage two parallel lines of building components, system and technic. Bionicle turned out to be the way to keep technic alive through a dark age, and it benefited from an excellent marketing system.

Apparently the Lego supply shortage may last as long as October...they've told independent toy stores not to expect new or resupply SW kits till then. To have something new to work with, I suggest picking up one K'nex brix starter set. They contain K'nex's version of technic plates, bricks and axels, and technic pins to allow connection to K'nex elements, as well as conversion plates that clip onto the center of any K'nex connector to turn them all into 4 stud Lego-system elements. Something different to do while waiting for new product.

Pirate Shores is doing very well a Legoland California. It is very much a water themed area, with Splash Battle, a water pump boat cruise, a huge out-door play pen with big bursts of water, a small unimpressive log ride, and an arcade of pay to play side show booths. They sell swim wear and towels there, and during December's heat wave, the place was full of screaming wet kids. The decorative sculptures are great too, including the first rear view male nude I've seen in the park, as a pirate gets caught taking his bath. Problem is Legoland is independent from Lego. Legoland ca has released a pirate and parrot sculpture set for the theme park tho.

Over in the U.S. market, Mega Bloks are not significantly cheaper than Lego....Lego is keeping its production prices down by shifting manufacturing and assembly to countries (China and Mexico) where $6.00 per day is a handsome wage and in the case of Mexico, where petroleum is controled by a national monopoly and kept below world market for domestic consumption. The cheap brand over here is the revived Best-Lock, which is selling Cobi branded sets at remarkably low prices.

My wife and I have the advantage of being regular purchasers at Legoland California. Often scads of long out of production elements are surplused out into childrens work bins at the Club House, and end up by the score in our home work bins. Lately we've even been able to purchase segments of a section of miniland that has been replaced with the new Welcome to Los Vegas theme area.

It was announced at the U.K. toy fair this weekend that MegaBrands is now the dominant construction toy seller in the U.K., with a 43 % market share. This appears to be the result of the acquisition of the Rose Arts company with its magnetix line's units adding to its sales figures. Still it is difficult to think of Lego and K'nex dueling for number two status in the U.K.

I suspect moving the plant to Mexico will hold prices down for some time. Mexican labor is cheap, about $5.50 per day for a factory job, Mexico is a net petroleum exporter, so oil is cheaper for Mexican factories. And neither Mexico nor the U.S. use value added taxes, which prevents one form of price inflation. On the other hand, Mexico is not that far from civil war at the moment. A lot of the general shortage of Lego is doubtless due to the factory move. Lego's competitors, MegaBrands, Best-Lock and now K'nex (yes, K'nex is now making technic blocks, plates, and adapter pins to make their system cross compatible with Lego) are not experienceing stock shortage at the movement and are getting better exposure due to the current Lego shortage.

I've heard the same. The good news is that Lego successfully renewed their Star Wars license, minus the prohibition on producing other space themed sets, so we can expect classic space to be back in production, once Lego's factories in Mexico and China start production.

Iclpete: that link is to the old style best-lock, which is now only collector's items. The company has not yet updated their website to reflect the new lines and new elements that are fully lego compatible. What I'd like to see is Oxford sets available. Oxford resembles Lego of the 80's, and besides the equivalent of the core Lego themes, they have done specifically Asian and Korean sets, such as Korean palaces and Buddhist temples and monasteries. Oxford on their site it complaining about the same things Lego does, cheap knock off's of their products being made in China.

Best-Lock appears to be marketing directly against the Lego style of product, unlike MegaBloks. For those unaware, the company reorganized and merged with Cobi of Poland, and is apparently producing licensed copies of Oxford of Korea's products, as well as Cobi products both Cobi branded (on the studs) and labeless (on the studs). Best-Lock has abandoned its old line of product, which did not conform to Lego standard dimensions, and is now using the exact Lego ldu proportions in its line. In the U.S.A., they've issued military and city lines under the Best-Lock label and also do a store brand "JustKidz" line for the K-Mart chain, an economy department store chain that also owns Sears and the Land's End clothing concern. While they've defeated Lego in court in many cases, they seem to be acknowledging Lego's 2 by 4 brick as proprietory. You will not find a 2 by 4 brick in any Best-Lock prouduct.

In the light of the coup de etat last week, are you sure the Thai army is still inducting new recruits? They might be suspicious of the political motives of new volunteers at this time. :-}.

I only really started collecting Megabloks in early 2001 and since then I've never had any sort of quality problem with them. Although, I haven't bought a Megabloks set in over a year because it seems they've abandoned the Probuilder series 2 new probuilder sets are now out, both Iraq war themed sets scaled for the use of minifigs, and they come with minifigs using the new industry standard of jointed elbows and knee for minifigs. The Pyrates and Dragons have become hobbies in their own right, especially among role-players.

I just got my first digital camera, and I don't have a computer per se, just an 8 year old webbrowser, so I can't post any graphics anywhere yet. Starting with the simpler national flags I'm tenuously trying to effectively model Hellenistic mosaics. Of course the Cave Canem plaque from Pompeii is my first effort. Currently I have sculptures of a 1950's era Rockwell Flying Wing Bomber (my dad lifted me up on his shoulders to see one when I was six) and a segment of the Battlestar Galactica (1985) showing a laser turret barbette done mainly in clone brick elements. I'm off to Iceland in 2 days and so will see some Europe exclusive Lego sets for the first time then. My wife and I were very impressed by the pseudo Egyptian mosaic panels in the Adventurer's club attraction at Legoland California. We've explored a number of shaft graves in the Valley of the Kings and the style is replicated rather nicely, sans the skateboards, videocam, and walkman's added for the kids sake.

On my webtv. browser (Internet explorer 1.6 equivalent) I see a lot of empty grey boxes around here, so I hope I am posting an introduction according to the protocol of this board. My name is Larry Marak, I hail from Burbank California in the U.S.A. and have only been into bricks for 8 months. My wife became an enthusiastic legoist some time ago and one of my duties as her spouse was to help her sort, organize and hunt for pieces from PAB's near our home (4). I am particularly drawn to Mecha's (Exoforce needs a lot of work in my opinion) and the use of bricks to make mosaics (national flags, and eventually ancient mosaic replicas) and sculptures of starships and fortresses. I'm 56 years old, married 30 years, and my other interests are history, wargaming, and world travel.