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I wish Lego would stop making really awesome sets that I want, that both cost 200+ bucks AND are way too tall for me to display anywhere. 
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May 14, 2020 10:11
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Darth TNT posted:Why do you find the judge inconsistent? He's been pretty consistent in his love for stories. Make your dreamhouse? Not enough minifigs! Create a boat, but use this train without altering it too much. You shouldnt have plopped down the train as the steamer-cabin! Doesn't help that I'm more of a builder then a storyteller, because I really dont care much about the right minifig's expression but do care about smart or beautiful ways to build things.
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May 14, 2020 12:24
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Sorry to bring up some politics, but if Trump succeeds in destroying the USPS, that's the end of Bricklink. No one will pay UPS/FedEx prices, not even for our precious, precious plastic bits.
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May 14, 2020 12:38
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Dogen posted:
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May 14, 2020 13:32
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veni veni veni posted:Yeah, people worried that they won't get the pirates set need to stop worrying. It'll be around for at least a year. Probably more with how popular it is. If it was just gone forever already that would be totally unprecidented. This is all very reassuring to hear. I’ve just been thinking about my favorite childhood LEGO sets more now that my wife and I have a kid on the way, and I was always bummed that I never got to have one of the pirate ship sets (Barracuda or Schooner) as a kid. Or as an adult, thus far.
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May 14, 2020 14:28
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ether posted:That's certainly true, but that love has overriden the actual challenge a few times already. I mean I get it, and it seemed like a good idea. But when one group gives you a huge icecream cone and they expect you to make a racecar out of it without changing too much you know that something is going to go very wrong. It might have been better if they'd all gotten the same vehicle to build and then swap them. I wouldn't mind the focus on story telling much, if they actually showed it a bit more. It's usually just a few pans while the judge tells us it's great story telling. Show and tell please. Regardless, it's a hit with my son who loves those crazy minifig expressions, who I guess is more the target audience.
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May 14, 2020 14:52
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Dogen posted:
Ooooh, Barracuda. That looks great in red.
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May 14, 2020 15:14
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Carbohydrates posted:It's a tremendously good set. I paid about $400 for mine, and I actually DO think it was worth it because I really like it that much, but you could also go the knockoff route. Even the knockoff monster house sets are out of print and difficult to come by... I lucked out and snagged one on ebay a little while back and it’s sitting in my build pile  Definitely excited for the new house though, and the Johnny Thunder easter eggs... Adventurers is my all time favorite lego series.
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May 14, 2020 15:22
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So the new haunted house doesn't come with the motor? That seems cheap as hell. It would probably be a buy for me but the fact it's $250 and they expect me to shell out another $70 is too much.
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May 14, 2020 16:19
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Squashy Nipples posted:Sorry to bring up some politics, but if Trump succeeds in destroying the USPS, that's the end of Bricklink. No one will pay UPS/FedEx prices, not even for our precious, precious plastic bits. I had considered this as well. A likely scenario is the USPS gets absorbed into Amazon 
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May 14, 2020 16:51
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COMPAGNIE TOMMY posted:I had considered this as well. A likely scenario is the USPS gets absorbed into Amazon Will I get a free book of stamps every month with my Prime subscription?
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May 14, 2020 17:02
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Well they will pay it, because there would be no other option. The loss of the USPS can't change people's needs to get stuff sent around the country/world. I really don't want the mail system to be privately owned, but the USPS is a goddamn disaster. If blowing it up means the end of junk mail and people are more cautious about how much stuff they ship it could be a net positive for the climate. The better solution is to rebuild the USPS from the ground up but I think we all know that is impossible in an era where literally everything turns into a partisan slapfight. Realistically, nothing is going to change. Your cheap bricklink shipping rates are safe. 
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May 14, 2020 17:12
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They will absolutely dismantle and privatize the USPS if they can and raise the shipping rates as high as they want. The new system will be less efficient and worse for the planet. This is the land of private prisons and corporate healthcare.
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May 14, 2020 17:42
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Yeah, the USPS kind of sucks, but losing it completely to privatization would be a hell of a lot worse.
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May 14, 2020 17:51
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If the USPS went away, people who don't live in a metro area simply wouldn't get mail anymore. If the USPS does go the way of the dodo, rural voters will get pissed off and demand the post office back. The new postal service will either only service rural people to own the libs in the cities, or will be required to run at a massive loss by being required to pay to have UPS and Fedex deliver things so that Republicans can still complain about big government.
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May 14, 2020 18:05
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EDIT ^^^ Grim, but I'm having a hard time arguing any of it.SkeletonHero posted:Yeah, the USPS kind of sucks, but losing it completely to privatization would be a hell of a lot worse. Without question. Amazon might be able to do an OK job, but they are already too big and I don't want them handling my mail. xzzy posted:Well they will pay it, because there would be no other option. The loss of the USPS can't change people's needs to get stuff sent around the country/world. I disagree, I think we've been spoiled by the USPS and Amazon, and don't realize how expensive shipping really is. For a decent size set, if the postage is $25, UPS and Fedex would be over $50. Even though shipping is always separate on Bricklink, at some point the shipping will be so prohibitively high that the value of sets and original boxes will fall.
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May 14, 2020 18:07
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SkeletonHero posted:Yeah, the USPS kind of sucks, but losing it completely to privatization would be a hell of a lot worse. It already basically is. There's a reason it's usps.com and not usps.gov. They run themselves. You could argue they get a lot of government support to keep them running but I seem to recall some big banks being "too big to fail" not that long ago. The usps is just another poorly run large corporation that has been struggling for many years. I hope it survives too because sometimes they are the cheapest option for what I'm trying to do.
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May 14, 2020 18:27
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The USPS is self-sustaining -- it's not funded by other parts of the government, as far as I'm aware.
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May 14, 2020 18:33
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Interrupting USPS chat to bring you a 1971 Chevrolet Chevelle This one was modeled after a car my dad's wife owned when she was young, a lime '71 Chevelle SS 350 coupe with a white top and stripes. Super fun build with some novel shaping, such as the gently sloped hood bits, the 1/5 stud recessed rear deck, and the bodywork under the rear bumper.   
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May 14, 2020 18:37
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Apollodorus posted:The USPS is self-sustaining -- it's not funded by other parts of the government, as far as I'm aware. Well except for the part where it's not self-sustaining. They've had money problems for many years now, and the pandemic has them in a position where they'll be unable to function within a few months without some help.
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May 14, 2020 19:16
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USPS going away would probably destroy or severely impact any e-retailer that was a small business or consisted of an individual seller/reseller like eBay. They’re far less expensive to ship with than UPS or FedEx and stuff in general is more likely to sell if it doesn’t have crazy UPS rates added on.
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May 14, 2020 19:36
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Carbohydrates posted:Interrupting USPS chat to bring you a 1971 Chevrolet Chevelle I like the tail lights and exhaust work as well.
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May 14, 2020 19:38
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xzzy posted:Well except for the part where it's not self-sustaining. They've had money problems for many years now, and the pandemic has them in a position where they'll be unable to function within a few months without some help. USPS was profiting in the range of $200 million a year before being saddled with onerous pension prepayment requirements that exist solely to gently caress it into the ground.
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May 14, 2020 19:44
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Here ya go: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoL8g0W9gAQ
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May 14, 2020 20:14
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E: not continuing a derail.
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May 14, 2020 20:52
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Tbh I haven't had any bad experiences with USPS in like a decade. They have come a long way from "it'll show up some time in the next 3 weeks" like it was back in the day. And like other people said, UPS and FED Ex are unaffordable for people who don't ship in bulk. They cost like 4x as much as USPS.
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May 14, 2020 23:44
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xzzy posted:Well except for the part where it's not self-sustaining. They've had money problems for many years now, and the pandemic has them in a position where they'll be unable to function within a few months without some help. It’s not USPS’ fault, blame congress. USPS makes enough to fund itself, but Congress won’t budge on the requirement they fund their retirement 50 years into the future, which is what’s killing them. Also international postal treaties subsidizing shipping from China due to the outdated expectations that people send letters and buy equivalent postage in their home country to offset guaranteed delivery. Also, John Oliver is dope, I need to rewatch the USPS episode... thanks for the link! But thanks to USPS, we have bricklink, and god bless bricklink for stuff like this:   There is a nonzero chance I go on a vintage space set buying spree... Also, drat do old legos have so many chew marks
Catatron Prime fucked around with this message at 00:57 on May 15, 2020 |
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May 15, 2020 00:46
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OSU_Matthew posted:
I had this one! This and a small red stunt biplane were my first real LEGO sets.
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May 15, 2020 01:15
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Speaking as a non-American, I think that if the USPS dies then Bricklink will still survive, although it would be a lot smaller. A huge proportion of stores are in Europe and other parts of the world. Also speaking as a non-American, god drat you lot were spoiled in the 90s with all the US-only sets and themes like RoboForce. I certainly would like this: But it's expensive buying from the US with international shipping.
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May 15, 2020 01:31
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OSU_Matthew posted:Also, drat do old legos have so many chew marks There were a lot people like me who used their teeth to take bricks apart when they were 9 years old. I'm sorry for being part of the problem.
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May 15, 2020 02:27
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ChesterJT posted:There were a lot people like me who used their teeth to take bricks apart when they were 9 years old. I'm sorry for being part of the problem. same. I wouldn't be surprised if it was contributing factor to why I needed braces. Kids have it easy these days, brick separators are in any moderate size set. I don't think I had one for the longest time. Like maybe when I got mindstorms? (And even then I didn't use it nearly enough casue I was a dumbass kid.)
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May 15, 2020 02:35
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Oxyclean posted:same. I wouldn't be surprised if it was contributing factor to why I needed braces. I’m guilty too... and I even had the very first 2$ brick separator, ordered straight from the lego club catalog. I kinda wanna see if I can find my old magazine stash to flip through the catalogs and do some bricklink shopping... Fort Legoredo here I come!
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May 15, 2020 02:47
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Pretty sure my childhood brick separator also has chew marks.
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May 15, 2020 05:42
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Sound teeth are nature's brick separator. Has nobody ever gotten say, two 2x4 plates attached together one on top of the other so firmly that the connection between them is stronger than the leverage between the separator and the base plate used to hold the bottom one down to separate the top plate? I may not have described that eloquently, but there are situations where the separator doesn't always do the best or most immediate job at separating strongly conjoined pieces. Especially the old grey one that is oversized and doesn't have the fingernail piece for getting between bricks.
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May 15, 2020 08:32
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I'm not opposed to the strategic use of teeth because lord know I do it sometimes, but most situations can be easily solved with 2 brick separators or the right angle of pressure. The only time I have felt like I've gotten Lego truly stuck was 1x1 trans cones on rods with the little ring around them. they might as well be super glued on and you could definitely break your teeth trying to get them apart.
veni veni veni fucked around with this message at 08:55 on May 15, 2020 |
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May 15, 2020 08:48
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I think in that case (transparent cone on transparent antenna) there's actually some kind of chemical bond going on so they become literally impossible to pull apart. I got one of those in a bulk lot I picked up last year and they are well and truly stuck.
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May 15, 2020 09:26
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1000 Brown M and Ms posted:I think in that case (transparent cone on transparent antenna) there's actually some kind of chemical bond going on so they become literally impossible to pull apart. I got one of those in a bulk lot I picked up last year and they are well and truly stuck. Yeah. These are the hardest to separate. I don't think it is a chemical thing, though. I've almost always been able to get them unstuck with enough effort. loving sucks, though.
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May 15, 2020 09:55
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Yeah, I think you're right actually. Not a chemical bond per se, but it's something to do with how that plastic interacts with itself. It's a different plastic to solid-coloured Lego which is why it's only an issue with transparent colours.
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May 15, 2020 10:01
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transparent pieces are made of polycarbonate, and when you have polycarbonate on polycarbonate with a high amount of friction(which only really comes into play in this specific type of instance of sliding a cone over a rod type piece), it is basically fused together short of destroying the pieces in certain cases. luckily the transparent cone pieces are generally extremely common and easily replaced, so just clip it off with like, modeling clippers or something if it can't be removed through conventional means. this also happens to be why if you stack transparent bricks, they tend to be noticeably tighter fits when taking them apart again compared to regular ABS plastic lego bricks.
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May 15, 2020 10:37
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I use 2 brick separators to lift my laptop a little bit, to give it more airflow on the bottom for cooling. Very useful.
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May 15, 2020 12:26
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