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VanSandman
Feb 16, 2011
SWAP.AVI EXCHANGER

Paul MaudDib posted:

One of the first decent sets I got was the Warp Wing Fighter from the UFO set. After some begging, I also got an Exploriens Starship for Christmas the next year. My sister had a bunch of Insectiod stuff.




Nowadays they just don't seem as cool. Yeah, the Star Wars sets are awesome, the Space Shuttle set looks cool, but the Lego-original themes just seem a lot more bland.

e: What is the best way to separate the 2x1 bricks that get stuck on top of each other? I got a little brick separator but it still couldn't handle those.

I had the warp wing too. My problem with the sets like these is how flimsy they were. Oh they held together fine, but they never had the bulk and weight of the later sets.

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VaultAggie
Nov 18, 2010

Best out of 71?

Paul MaudDib posted:

One of the first decent sets I got was the Warp Wing Fighter from the UFO set. After some begging, I also got an Exploriens Starship for Christmas the next year. My sister had a bunch of Insectiod stuff.




Nowadays they just don't seem as cool. Yeah, the Star Wars sets are awesome, the Space Shuttle set looks cool, but the Lego-original themes just seem a lot more bland.


How's it feel to be wrong? :colbert: The entire insect line and alien line were completely awesome and came with tons of cool pieces.

Evek
Apr 26, 2002

"It's okay. I wouldn't remember me either."

Paul MaudDib posted:

e: What is the best way to separate the 2x1 bricks that get stuck on top of each other? I got a little brick separator but it still couldn't handle those.

Buy a second one. See the two studs on top of the separator?

The_Doctor
Mar 29, 2007

"The entire history of this incarnation is one of temporal orbits, retcons, paradoxes, parallel time lines, reiterations, and divergences. How anyone can make head or tail of all this chaos, I don't know."
My nearest Lego store has the Winter Toy Shop reduced from £45 down to £33. Soooo tempted. :(

Inspector_666
Oct 7, 2003

benny with the good hair
This new Lego ad with the dad and son making the RV and then picking up Star Wars people is the best. Also the VO is done by Space Ghost.

rickiep00h
Aug 16, 2010

BATDANCE


Inspector_71 posted:

This new Lego ad with the dad and son making the RV and then picking up Star Wars people is the best. Also the VO is done by Space Ghost.

I saw the commercial on campus in the union (on ESPN of all things), but couldn't hear the sound because it was the union. Definitely going to have to hunt it down if George Lowe did the VO.

Light Gun Man
Oct 17, 2009

toEjaM iS oN
vaCatioN




Lipstick Apathy
I was out shopping today and saw some boxes of Knex stuff.

Apparently nowadays they 1) have lego type blocks instead of just weird plastic sticks, and 2) have minifigures. The set I saw even had a minifig dude with a little minifig mohawk attached to the top of his head. Is this stuff properly compatible?

also found this while searching "knex mohawk": http://www.firestartoys.com/Shop/Custom-Design-Minifigures/TV-AND-Film-Characters/2153-Custom-Design-Mini-Figure-~-Pulp-Fiction.html

Light Gun Man fucked around with this message at 01:08 on Dec 18, 2011

Paul MaudDib
May 3, 2006

TEAM NVIDIA:
FORUM POLICE

Shuppiluliumas posted:

Well I'll take that Exploriens Starship off your hands if it's too bland for you. It would look great next to my... Exploriens Starship.

VaultAggie posted:

How's it feel to be wrong? :colbert: The entire insect line and alien line were completely awesome and came with tons of cool pieces.

I phrased that wrong... the insectoid line, the alien line, and the Explorien line were all awesome. The modern lines, however, seem more bland in comparison.

Merchant of Death
Jan 19, 2006
Cha-Ching

Paul MaudDib posted:

The modern lines, however, seem more bland in comparison.

Counterpoint, Mission to Mars and Alien Conquest.

Actual spacey wacey themes I would like to see two lines at a time, maybe 3 like we had back in the day with space police, blacktron, futuron but as long as we have 2-5 different licenced stuff going on at once I doubt we will see 3 different space themes at once :(

Synthbuttrange
May 6, 2007


:colbert: Your move.

The Shep
Jan 10, 2007


If found, please return this poster to GIP. His mothers are very worried and miss him very much.

Merchant of Death posted:

I would like to see two lines at a time, maybe 3 like we had back in the day with space police, blacktron, futuron but as long as we have 2-5 different licenced stuff going on at once I doubt we will see 3 different space themes at once :(

I think most of the themed sets today are actually like 2 in 1. Take for example Space Police 3 which was really a combination of Space Police and Space Criminals (Blacktron 3?). I would much prefer the actual fleshed out disparate lines we had back when Space Police and Blacktron were entirely separate, but I'm sure it's a money reason nowadays.

I didn't like Space Police 3 at first but the whole series grew on me, except for the "bad guys." Brick Daddy and his space limo didn't do it for me, but the Galactic Enforcer... Hell yeah.

Alien Conquest was close, but didn't make the cut for me either. The only set in that line salvageable in my opinion was the Earth Defense HQ.

What I would give for another Futuron, M:Tron, or Blacktron II line...

Nighttheii
Nov 21, 2007
hi

Paul MaudDib posted:


Nowadays they just don't seem as cool. Yeah, the Star Wars sets are awesome, the Space Shuttle set looks cool, but the Lego-original themes just seem a lot more bland.

I have both of these sets built right now. That Explorien Ship is fantastic, and is probably still my favorite set. The long wings have detachable missiles (exploring purposes only) and the wings droop down when you pull out the pins. The front cockpit does the same thing. The whole set is full of moving joints, that I feel like sets today lack.

Pirate Ken
Jul 1, 2006
I am super awesome.

Cmdr. Shepard posted:

I think most of the themed sets today are actually like 2 in 1. Take for example Space Police 3 which was really a combination of Space Police and Space Criminals (Blacktron 3?). I would much prefer the actual fleshed out disparate lines we had back when Space Police and Blacktron were entirely separate, but I'm sure it's a money reason nowadays.

I didn't like Space Police 3 at first but the whole series grew on me, except for the "bad guys." Brick Daddy and his space limo didn't do it for me, but the Galactic Enforcer... Hell yeah.

Alien Conquest was close, but didn't make the cut for me either. The only set in that line salvageable in my opinion was the Earth Defense HQ.

What I would give for another Futuron, M:Tron, or Blacktron II line...

I think at some point during the '90s LEGO realized how appealing 'battle in a box' themes were and just went with that. Parents like it because you only have to buy one set, and kids like it because, for similar reasons, within a single set you already have something to engage your imagination.

It is weird to compare stuff like Ice Planet 2002, which did not have any enemies, to any theme today that always has an enemy. Even city police! It was only a few years ago that a prisoner aspect came around.

I'm not complaining, it is just interesting to see the changes. I have a blog also about Lego analysis if yall are interested https://www.deconstructinglego.blogspot.com

l33t b4c0n
Aug 19, 2000

King of E/N

Pirate Ken posted:

I have a blog also about Lego analysis if yall are interested https://www.deconstructinglego.blogspot.com

This is both interesting and hilarious. I love how some of the sets allow for very poignant social commentary.

The Shep
Jan 10, 2007


If found, please return this poster to GIP. His mothers are very worried and miss him very much.

Pirate Ken posted:

It is weird to compare stuff like Ice Planet 2002, which did not have any enemies, to any theme today that always has an enemy. Even city police! It was only a few years ago that a prisoner aspect came around.

This is really interesting as I hadn't thought about it until now. I always disliked the battle in a box because instead of one great model we end up with two average models (like Space Police 3 Hyperspeed Pursuit).

Ice Planet was one of, if not my favorite space theme growing up (I can't believe I forgot about it when mentioning Futuron and Blacktron). I never once felt like I was lacking anything by not having an "enemy" to stimulate my imagination. Hell, I wasn't even thinking of a conflict with my lego sets. Even early city police sets, like Pier Police (http://brickset.com/detail/?Set=6540-1) that I loved to death had no conflict at all.

Ice Planet was just awesome hard-as-nails dudes (and chicks) toughening it out on a frozen wasteland to mine some space crystals or whatever. poo poo yeah, sign me up!

Gravy Jones
Sep 13, 2003

I am not on your side
The shift to "battles" is definitely interesting. I think it reflects a broader shift in tone in kid's (particularly boy's) toys across the board. I'm old enough to have grown up with the original space line, still my favourite and yeah, it was always about exploration and just being in space. Now it's all weapons and combat and good guys and bad guys.

I see it reflected in how my kid plays. It's all about good guys and bad guys and fighting and winning and special moves. I mean I'm not saying I didn't do any of that as a kid, of course I did. But for him there doesn't seem to be much else.

There's a blog for a book The Achilles Effect that explores these kind of trends in toys, especially those aimed at boys (and it has some fairly negative things to say about LEGO). It may not be everyone's cup of tea but I found it interesting. There was an entry a while back with word clouds for language used in advertising towards boys as compared to girls that actually made me kind of sad as a parent.

I have no desire to turn this this thread into "Minority Opinions in LEGO" though. It's just an interesting link if you have any interest in that kind of stuff!

Testro
May 2, 2009
Thanks for that link about the Achilles Effect - what they say in that blog post:

quote:

LEGO’s “problem” with girls is its own doing. Girls of my generation were perfectly content to play with “regular” LEGO. But since that time LEGO has moved so far in creating highly stereotyped toys aimed at boys, and drawn such a rigid gender line in its products and marketing, that it has alienated half of its potential customer base. Now they are trying to woo that 50% back with an overly feminized line that seems to consist of little more than miniature Barbies or American Girls. Maybe if they focused instead on creating a few toys that are fun and do not hew to stereotypes, or venturing away from the “kit” model and back to the freedom and creativity that a box of bricks allows, they’d get a larger female fan base.

Of course, you can still buy non-kit models and the Creator line is a great example of showing children how to use a kit to create more than one model...but there has been a significant shift to conflict sets, and that tends to push girls away. I feel quite insulted that my gender apparently can't cope with yellow minifigures and needs pretty dolls in order to want to build. It's just baffling.

Jut
May 16, 2005

by Ralp
Argh, while counting down the hours until my Rebel Cruise and Ven Class Frigate arrive tomorrow I thought I'd take another stab at trying to sort out my current collection.

For some back story, 4 years ago I had to move overseas, which resulted in me trying to carefully dismantle my collecion and organising it based on type, stacking like blocks on-top of each other, then when they got too big, separating them into type/colour. The problem is that I ran out of time, chucked the whole bunch into 2 large plastic containers and left it at that.
Every now and again over the last 4 years I've wheeled out the containers and tried to do more sorting. Today I tried again and still am barely half way through sorting this.

I didn't actually want to sort. I wanted to build the episode 1 droid troop carrier thingy, but I couldn't make it past the first page due to not being able to find the parts.
5 hours later and I've hardly made a dent.

Would it be wrong of me to hire some cheap labour and have them do it for me?

Edit: regarding the Warp wing fighter, I have the WWF, Large UFO and the large starfighter with all the fibre optics and it's by far one of the best space series. Really enjoyable builds AFAIC.

Jut fucked around with this message at 13:07 on Dec 18, 2011

The Shep
Jan 10, 2007


If found, please return this poster to GIP. His mothers are very worried and miss him very much.

Jut posted:

Every now and again over the last 4 years I've wheeled out the containers and tried to do more sorting. Today I tried again and still am barely half way through sorting this.

Sorting my legos was the most excrutiating on-and-off 3 week task I've ever committed myself to.

When I finally finished sorting everything, down to the very last 1x1 plate, I went to town building all kinds of old models I had and with ease because I knew where everything was.

Then I moved, and threw/dismantled all the models into a big bin. Now I'm back to square one.

I don't think it's worth sorting them at all anymore, I just dump the huge bin over my entire floor when I build.

GidgetNomates
May 6, 2010

I love this hobby:
stealing your mother's diary
Maybe I'm a weirdo but I really enjoyed sorting my bricks. Not that I have as many as a lot of you surely do, but I'm even looking forward to sorting a huge collection that a friend is planning on selling to me. For some reason I just find it really relaxing to sit and sort things :unsmith:

Jut
May 16, 2005

by Ralp

GidgetNomates posted:

Maybe I'm a weirdo but I really enjoyed sorting my bricks. Not that I have as many as a lot of you surely do, but I'm even looking forward to sorting a huge collection that a friend is planning on selling to me. For some reason I just find it really relaxing to sit and sort things :unsmith:
It's ok up until the point where your back hurts from being hunched over the floor for so long, your knees are sore due to lovely floors, and your fingertips are bleeding from prising apart 1x2 blocks.

Gravy Jones
Sep 13, 2003

I am not on your side

Testro posted:

Of course, you can still buy non-kit models and the Creator line is a great example of showing children how to use a kit to create more than one model...but there has been a significant shift to conflict sets, and that tends to push girls away. I feel quite insulted that my gender apparently can't cope with yellow minifigures and needs pretty dolls in order to want to build. It's just baffling.

I think part of it is that a lot of kids simply won't find the Creator sets interesting any more because everything else they're playing with, what they're watching on TV, what their friends are playing with is teaching them that conflict is all there is that's fun.

So it becomes a kind of chicken and egg thing. Is it LEGO's fault for shifting towards this kind of stuff. Or are they simply doing what they had to do to survive because it's what the market demands?

Jut
May 16, 2005

by Ralp

Gravy Jones posted:

I think part of it is that a lot of kids simply won't find the Creator sets interesting any more because everything else they're playing with, what they're watching on TV, what their friends are playing with is teaching them that conflict is all there is that's fun.

So it becomes a kind of chicken and egg thing. Is it LEGO's fault for shifting towards this kind of stuff. Or are they simply doing what they had to do to survive because it's what the market demands?



The creator sets are really quite drab to be honest. They lack things like minifigs for example, and rotate though the same loving sets year after year after year (house, car, plane, helicopter, monster etc...). Why would you want a creator set when you can have a motherfucking spaceship with tiny action figures? or a space shuttle complete with astronauts to do your own little space mission with? You don't have to have conflict to be fun, and the creator series lacks the fun element.

There wasn't much focus on conflict when I was a kid (pirate series 1 era), yes there were factions, but not half as much lore/backstory/CGI animations etc... to go with it. At the end of the day a pirate ship was much more appealing than a random box of bricks.

Edit: split my finger from the fingernail trying to pry apart two 1x2's. Ouch! gently caress that sorting lark.

VaultAggie
Nov 18, 2010

Best out of 71?

Jut posted:

Argh, while counting down the hours until my Rebel Cruise and Ven Class Frigate arrive tomorrow I thought I'd take another stab at trying to sort out my current collection.

For some back story, 4 years ago I had to move overseas, which resulted in me trying to carefully dismantle my collecion and organising it based on type, stacking like blocks on-top of each other, then when they got too big, separating them into type/colour. The problem is that I ran out of time, chucked the whole bunch into 2 large plastic containers and left it at that.
Every now and again over the last 4 years I've wheeled out the containers and tried to do more sorting. Today I tried again and still am barely half way through sorting this.

I didn't actually want to sort. I wanted to build the episode 1 droid troop carrier thingy, but I couldn't make it past the first page due to not being able to find the parts.
5 hours later and I've hardly made a dent.

Would it be wrong of me to hire some cheap labour and have them do it for me?

Edit: regarding the Warp wing fighter, I have the WWF, Large UFO and the large starfighter with all the fibre optics and it's by far one of the best space series. Really enjoyable builds AFAIC.

You lucky bastard, both those two sets look awesome. Next you need the super star destroyer. :colbert:

mynnna
Jan 10, 2004

Cmdr. Shepard posted:

Sorting my legos was the most excrutiating on-and-off 3 week task I've ever committed myself to.

When I finally finished sorting everything, down to the very last 1x1 plate, I went to town building all kinds of old models I had and with ease because I knew where everything was.

Then I moved, and threw/dismantled all the models into a big bin. Now I'm back to square one.

I don't think it's worth sorting them at all anymore, I just dump the huge bin over my entire floor when I build.

I've been at it since September. :smithicide:

rickiep00h
Aug 16, 2010

BATDANCE


My daughter loves building the Creator house (the one with the blue roof) over and over. She just cannibalizes minifigs from other sets if she wants to do a little story or something. And the car from the Transport Truck Creator set. We actually haven't really gotten to the point of building entirely new, original poo poo out of the collection since we just got things (mostly) sorted.

You know what they need? A Mom/Son and Dad/Daughter Build Together commercial. That would make me happy.

Quantum of Phallus
Dec 27, 2010

The news of LOTR themed Lego, a combination of my two favourite things ever, was the greatest announcement ever.

Jut
May 16, 2005

by Ralp

VaultAggie posted:

You lucky bastard, both those two sets look awesome. Next you need the super star destroyer. :colbert:
Believe me, I want it but I've never been able to justify the cost of the larger sets like that no matter how much I want them:( (see Millennium Falcon, Death Star the more expensive architecture pieces and the 'adult' town sets)
I'm sure I've got enough parts lying around to build the SSD provided there are no crazy unique bits though.

I wish the lego store delivered to Romania :( One of the downsides of emigrating I guess.

Jut fucked around with this message at 18:23 on Dec 18, 2011

Gravy Jones
Sep 13, 2003

I am not on your side
So with regards to the Lord of the Rings I'm thinking what this means for various actors with multiple mini-figs. Unfortunately no new Alfred Molina! I guess it's a second for Orlando Bloom and Cate Blanchette. I was going to say two for John Rhys Davies but as far as I can tell there was no Sallah figure in the Indiana Jones sets. That's just plain wrong.

VaultAggie
Nov 18, 2010

Best out of 71?
Another Christopher Lee one too; Dooku and now Saruman.

Hamburlgar
Dec 31, 2007

WANTED
Just got myself one of the Heroica sets for Christmas. I've been reading up loads on it and I'm really goddamned exited to be getting back into Lego again :D

I just know my wallet will be taking a huge hit come January when I inevitable buy the other 3 sets, and all of the Microfigs off of BrickLink...

Merchant of Death
Jan 19, 2006
Cha-Ching

Jut posted:

Believe me, I want it but I've never been able to justify the cost of the larger sets like that no matter how much I want them:(

I was like that too, but I bought the UCS Falcon in 2010 at the end of its production run and now I love the larger more complex builds from sets I buy. I ended up getting steared towards the technic sets and love them to death because at least for now each set has some new crazy way to do one or two things for me and it has taught me a lot about making vehicle chassis. I still haven't been able to master making a body studless so I am using regular bricks ontop of technic parts much like model team of old and having a blast with it. Once you start you can't stop :(! I still haven't given into the super star destroyer unless it has a significant price drop.

MinionOfCthulhu
Oct 28, 2005

I got this title for free due to my proximity to an idiot who wanted to save $5 on an avatar by having someone else spend $9.95 instead.
I've never used a barcode scanner app before, which ones work for the Lego minifigures? Or do they all work?

Jut
May 16, 2005

by Ralp

Merchant of Death posted:

I was like that too, but I bought the UCS Falcon in 2010 at the end of its production run and now I love the larger more complex builds from sets I buy. I ended up getting steared towards the technic sets and love them to death because at least for now each set has some new crazy way to do one or two things for me and it has taught me a lot about making vehicle chassis. I still haven't been able to master making a body studless so I am using regular bricks ontop of technic parts much like model team of old and having a blast with it. Once you start you can't stop :(! I still haven't given into the super star destroyer unless it has a significant price drop.

Yea, I like the more complex builds, which is why I usually go for the larger (1000+) piece sets, but £300+ is just too much:(
I guess I'm a bit different to most though in that I really dislike sets which are technic heavy. And no that's not just because they are a bitch to sort afterwards.

Anne Whateley
Feb 11, 2007
:unsmith: i like nice words
I have a ton of Paradisa in the basement. Is it worth anything besides a fun project over Christmas break?

Roblo
Dec 10, 2007

I posted my food for USPOL Thanksgiving!



I love the minifigures. They're going to be in my family's christmas crackers this year, beats some random useless crap :)


Edit: Also, i just read above. LotR Lego? you kidding?! Oh good god all my money is gone... And seeing that space limo again reminded me i really need to buy it. Will be done tomorrow.

Roblo fucked around with this message at 00:57 on Dec 19, 2011

BetterWeirdthanDead
Mar 7, 2006

by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

MinionOfCthulhu posted:

I've never used a barcode scanner app before, which ones work for the Lego minifigures? Or do they all work?

The figures are no longer sorted by barcode. They use a weird dot/dimple system now.

Google can bring up some cheat sheets, but they aren't that easy to decipher in the store (for me anyway).

Jut
May 16, 2005

by Ralp

Roblo posted:






Edit: Also, i just read above. LotR Lego? you kidding?! Oh good god all my money is gone... And seeing that space limo again reminded me i really need to buy it. Will be done tomorrow.

Sucks if your not into the licensed themes. I skipped on Pirates of the Caribbean, Harry Potter and I'll be skipping on LotR too :( Still bitter about the Pirates of the C theme, I would have loved more Pirates.

Tighclops
Jan 23, 2008

Unable to deal with it


Grimey Drawer
Well, at least I'll be able to save some more money this year. I feel like puking up in my mouth a little whenever they announce a new licensed theme instead of something interesting.

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The Shep
Jan 10, 2007


If found, please return this poster to GIP. His mothers are very worried and miss him very much.

Jut posted:

Sucks if your not into the licensed themes. I skipped on Pirates of the Caribbean, Harry Potter and I'll be skipping on LotR too :( Still bitter about the Pirates of the C theme, I would have loved more Pirates.

Yeah, I'm the same. None of the licensed themes or sets, save for a few Star Wars models, are of any interest to me. I'm surprised they are so well received by AFOL considering all the traditional themes and sets we lose out on. I never considered myself a City theme guy, but considering it's one of the only traditional Lego themes left, I find myself buying more of them than I ever did.

Queen Anne's Revenge is the only set worth getting in the PotC line. Considering their newest Pirates line was largely trash, I'm not surprised it went away. It always shocks me that they can revitalize a series like Space Police 3 but then completely dump on something as cherished as the Pirates line.

What I'm trying to say is, it frustrates me that more people don't walk through the Lego aisle and lose a little more faith in the products future when all you see are Harry Potter, Pirates of the Caribbean, Ninjago (??), Heroes Factory or whatever, etc. Atlantis was a dud for me, Power Miners was complete trash. From 2010 to 2011, my Lego spending dropped by something like 200% because there's nothing interesting to me, and I don't know what to look forward to. I couldn't be less interested in LOTR. I want more space, pirates, and castle.

On the other hand, there are still plenty of awesome models and sets you can get at a Lego store - just that the retail end of Lego is pretty much trash.

The Shep fucked around with this message at 01:44 on Dec 19, 2011

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