jamtf

Surely, the hype will go down some day but some figs remain hard to get, especially those that are collected in larger quantities such as the cheerleader which actually seems to fit those not much liked NBA and soccer sets that TLG marketed a few years ago. What worked for me is driving to smaller towns with at least 1 toy store and/or a retailer/wholesaler (such as Woolworth and Galeria Kaufhof in Germany) known to sell Lego products. That is where I got most of my figs. Don't go to obvious places (i.e. shopping malls and shopping streets) where everyone is shopping but go to those small, neglected, forgotten and remote areas that only serve the local population. They usually have more interesting things left that are worth buying as well. I managed to find a couple Indiana Jones sets (2 copies of Venice Canal Chase) and Spongebob sets (Mrs. Puff's boating school and 2 copies of that orange bus set) on clearance (they were all marked half off) the other day. Lucky me!

Welcome to the world of supply and demand. Since we have economically speaking a rather difficult period, some people could use an extra buck with not too much extra trouble. Even people who are not regular sellers are drawn to stores if they know that they can make easy money by buying some small figs and sell them a few days later at a premium. I am truly wondering how things are going to be let's say 2 years from now. What will these figs sell for? I mean, these figs already sell for prices between like $4 and $8 (and more) on bricklink and they are not even completely sold out everywhere. As we know, series 1 caught TLG by surprise and this first batch of figs will most likely remain the rarest of all as their supply is insufficient in comparison with the demand for them. Prices will rise as soon as all stores are emptied completely (which will soon happen if people keep on hoarding the figs and sealed boxes) and as soon as the secondary market will become the only place to acquire them. Also, the army builder figs like the ancient soldier will ost likely sell well over time, I am sure.

Whatever the origin of the ancient soldier, Roman centurion or legionaire, Greek hoplite, Spartan soldier, Trojan warrior, warrior from Mycenae, etc., I am going to hoard tons of him!

I managed to buy a shedload last Friday and even found a second sealed box at the counter of the toy store I visited. Decided to hoard the greatest figs such as the cheerleader, clown, zombie, wrestler, caveman and some others as well. I was surprised to see that they had restocked shortly after my visit on Thursday as I thought that I purchased everything they had left but it appeared that they had stored away a few extra boxes. I did not bother to ask them if they had more boxes in storage left since I feel I had my share on this batch. Don't need any more of series 1 and will leave the rest to others. I seriously think that series 1 is definitely better than series 2. For me, the only interesting figs in series 2 are the roman/greek centurion, the pharao, the mexican and the pantomime fig with the 2 extra heads with different face expressions.

Found a full unopened box in a major shopping centre yesterday. Had to pay full price but they had to call their HQ to find out how many minifigs were in since the box did not say anything about that and I did not allow them to cut the box seals. Of course, I purchased a "few" extra figs as well and in one store, the person at the cash register made a mistake and granted me 15% discount on my purchase which resulted in 11 free minifigs!

And I thought that America was the land of the free and the home of the statue of liberty... In Germany, I did not face any buying constraints (except from the female sellers behind the counter that found it quite odd that a 37 year old like me went through the box picking out the figs he wanted). Anyhow, series 1 is nearly sold out and almost everything is in the secondary market by now. TLG got caught by surprise and obviously did not expect that this product would become such an easy seller. The store owners I spoke told me that they maybe got 2-3 boxes max. at the end of May / early June. It's mid June and they already sold most of what they had. I got there a few days ago (did not have time to travel to Germany earlier due to other obligations) and it appeared that all they had left was in that last opened box near the cash register. In 1 or 2 stores, the boxes were still filled to the top and the leftovers (mainly spacemen, demolition dummies, robots, divers and magicians) from the previous box were simply thrown on top of it. Other stores maybe had about 28 - 40 bags left and that was it. What they did know is that there would be no extra supply so if they are sold out, they are gone forgood and all you can do is trade with other people or buy them online. I am sure, TLG will anticipate on the demand and provide bigger quantities of series 2. It might actually be a lot easier to buy complete boxes of series 2 since the supply will certainly be better. And of course, each store owner is a lot happier when someone comes in and decides to buy a full box. It is a definite sale and there is no more risk of people secretly taking 1 or 2 bags from the box without paying for them. The risk of theft is why these small and in demand A-brand items are usually displayed near the cash register so the store owner or staff can keep an eye on them.

In continental Europe (i.e. Germany where I found mine) they are priced at € 1,99. I think that is a decent price for a special minifig including some one of a kind accessories.

The diver is a great fig if you are into Atlantis or Aquaraiders. It is true that the stores got up to 2 or 3 boxes max. It really is no wonder that they are sold out so quickly. In a particular store, I purchased all of the 28 figs that were left (and yes, the box had been picked and there were mainly divers, ninja's, robots, spacemen and magicians ) and got the storage box for free. Basically, I decided to buy all of them just to have a copy of the original yellow series 1 box and did not even care to look at the list of barcodes. Hmm, for parts only you could turn to Bricklink although I noticed that some parts will cost you nearly as much as a complete fig (blond cheerleader hair for example). Quality issues from China again, eh? There is a separate topic about that somewhere in the general discussion forum if memory serves correctly.

Well, us AFOLs and the resellers are to blame for that. If we had not been buying as much as we did over the last couple weeks, the "real" kids would have had more chances to get a complete collection. Since scarcity of these items will get in the way, my guess is that prices on eBay and BL are certainly going to rise over the next couple months. I have already seen some of these figs sell for 5 euro's and up on German eBay.

I am highly motivated to play this game. 1) What is your experience with mafia games, here and elsewhere? I have only played one sort of mafia game called Death in the Sands of Time. That one was held last month during Eurobricks PoP month. I did not win but I really got into it and it was a hell of a lot of fun. Of course, I would defintely play such sort of game again if it were to be hosted. 2) What is your relationship with the Harry Potter -franchise? Well, I have not read any of the books but I saw a few movies. They have been on Dutch TV quite a few times and are usually being broadcasted around Christmas time. Also, I have a large Lego HP collection and own approximately 90% of the sets (rough estimate). To my knowledge the only ones that I am missing are a few of the smaller sets that came with the HP and the Sorcerer's Stone movie from 2001. I also do own a couple of loose minifigs such as Dumbledore, Gilderoy Lockhart, Gryffindor knight statue, HP, Lucius Malfoy, Marauder's Map statue, Quirell, uncle Vernon Dursley, Wormtail and last but not least, a Buckbeak flying horse.

I went to Germany twice this past week and it appeared I was just in time. I visited 4 smaller townships with 1 or 2 privately owned toy stores, i.e. no TRU, no Lego Store and no larger wholesalers such as Galeria Kaufhof or Woolworth since I expected them to be either out of stock or picked over by German collectors with only the least desirable figs left behind. Due to taking exams, I had no time to go to Germany as of early June as I had to study. But I am glad to say that I was not too late since I managed to get a good number of nurses, clowns, forestmen, demolition dummies (yes, I like that yellow guy!) and cowboys. And I have been hoarding some ninja's as well since I missed out on the ninja castle theme due to having a dark age at the time + their torsos are ideal for making custom sith lords. And I managed to get 2 empty storage boxes that had been used as a display in the stores. I hear people talking about "abuse" or "cheating" by using barcodes. Well, I am glad the barcodes were there. What's the use of buying the figs blindly (unless you think that's exciting) and ending up with lots of unwanted minifigs such as a shedload of divers or magicians. For me it is simple. If you want to buy blindly not knowing what you will get eventually, go ahead and do it. If you only want a small number of figs, use the barcode for identification. I consider myself a collector and like to know what I will get in order to avoid disappointment. People who say that buying all the cheerleaders and zombies is selfish, do not understand. It is a free market and it basically is all about liberty. Everyone should be able to act and buy the way he or she wishes. And for those who get there too late, all I can say that you were unlucky. And as an answer to those who posed the question about how I would feel if someone before me bought all of the most desirable minifigs, I can honestly say that I might be ticked off a bit but would not give up and say: done, on to the next store and do the same.

When I read all this, I just had to drive to Germany which I did today to get my first batch of collectible minifigs. I got all the ones I wanted (excluding the zombie and wrestler which are useless to me) in smaller stores in remote towns just accross the Dutch-German border. I did not bother to go to inner cities or larger shopping centres since I knew that would be bad news for sure considering the fact they are cheap impulse buys for most people. I got what I wanted and the store people told me that they had 3 of these boxes max. and that they were running out of stock. They would not get extra shipments of these items so sold out is really sold out and better luck next time. I guess that Lego underestimated the demand for these figs. Children that can not identify the figs simply buy a bunch - say 5 to 10 bags - from their pocket money to get as many different ones as possible. They simply trade off the duplicates with their friends. They are also very handy as a simple and small gift for all sorts of occasions. And of course there are the AFOLs and the parents who bought them as well.

Cats (standing, crouching, etc.) are available in black, dark gray and light bluish gray and light orange with stripes. Dogs (wolves) are besides reddish brown made in dark bluish gray and red (be prepared to pay) as well.

Name: jamtf Allegiance: Bluecoats

I would like to join. It's time to throw off that tagless existance here on EB and I happen to have a few (older) sets in my collection that have not yet been properly reviewed (if at all) which needs to be done for our community. I plan to do some reviews during the next couple months (June, July and August most likely).

Uh oh... I am very motivated to play and I have the time to play as well. I just hope that the questions are not too hard to overcome... I have not read any of the HP books and I only saw a few HP movies... partially...

I am not that much into HP movies and books but I own close to 95% of all HP sets (including 2x 5378 sealed) and also quite a few loose minifigs and parts. I think I will join the Hogwarts game providing I will manage to sign up in time for it.

So you mean that Lotso isn't the big huggie bear of that little child lying there alone crying on the bed... P.S. dirty old Lotso with his walking stick, what a pervert! Great small vignette though!

I had trouble making a good choice and decision on how to spread the 3 points wisely but here are my votes: 1 point: lego-maniac (massive entry, excellent work) 1 point: JopieK (great classic "Efteling" amusement park recreation!) 1 point: Mr Palmtree (for the classic 1989 game feeling!) Other notable entries are those of brickzone and inconspicuous... too bad we are only allowed to spread 3 points... Edit: this was post #500 on Eurobricks, finally after all those years of citizenship I have managed to become an EB knight!

Excellent work and well done Svelte! Now this sort of work should become part of Lego's MyOwnCreation sets like the 3739 Blacksmith Shop by Daniel Siskind. This last sentence really captures what I feel about what you did. Keep up the good work!

My voting is based on the fact if the entry resembles a real (small to medium) market stall with the right Persian / Arabic style and "feeling" instead of a half town lay-out or market square which is in my opinion beyond the scope of the assignment given. The larger entries should not be contesting for this BAM category but should rather be part of the "expand the theme" category. Here are my votes: 1 point: pedro 1 point: greenskull139 1 point: inconspicuous

My voting is based on the question whether I would buy the sets myself if they were offially released by TLG as part of the PoP line. It was hard to decide since there are a couple more that are really nice. Here goes: 2 points: Sandy (especially since her entry did not contain PoP parts and is entirely made up from Orient Expedition and Indiana Jones elements) 1 point: Pedro (great work) Well done and good luck to all contestants. Edit: 1 typo (multiple pointS should be written with an "s")...

Very nice! You only need two extra knights of this faction in order to recreate a full 677 set.

Wouldn't it be cool to have a classic 383 jousting knight (the blue one with the classic light grey helmet + red flip-up visor for instance) compete against the newest faction (with the newest helmet) i.e. combining 1979 classic castle with the newest 2010 style castle figs?

That's true. I did not try to enroll others for protection to avoid suspicion which was a risk as well since only 2 daggers were enough to take me out. On the third day, even 1 killing attempt would have done it since I did not want to waste a protecting vote after my decision to have myself targetted as bait. I think PrEtzel gave my initial protection to def so he was well protected that 3rd night. I think I played rather well the first 2 days and not so good on the 3rd day. Nonetheless, I still managed to take 3 people out, of which 2 went out on my 3rd and final day. Perhaps you are right there. I was so hoping to win this game and finally loose that tagless existence here on EB.. besides it's my birthday tomorrow (for real!).