splatman

Have the pieces connected with fishing line (the thinner, the better) through small Technic bricks, that would allow you to put it back together just by pulling the line(s). Less than a minute, and it will be ready for another round of "Bluesmobile made it to the county assessor's office". It would be particularly funny if you parked it not on a siding, but on a crossing, and an 18-wheeler crashed into it. The inverse of those "truck vs. train" disasters. The first one: Double Dare meets Jaws!

I checked one of my beams (aka Liftarm on Bricklink), and there is indeed no LEGO anywhere on the item, even checking in between the holes with a flashlight outside in the sunlight. I actually thought there would be a LEGO mark, as well as a number, but Nope! No markings at all. Here's a picture of said elephant (not mine): 😀

Someone won the lottery and decided to spend the winnings on something other than yachts and cool cars.

Offer them only in sets now, maybe with the exception of the switch stands. After some time, start offering lefts and rights, and individual parts. Demand for parts to replace lost or damaged pieces won't pick up right away anyway.

Did not read every message, but I'll deposit my 2￠: Yes, sorting only by shape mans fewer containers than also sorting by color. In the quoted pic, some shapes fill more than 1 drawer, so there's some potential for sorting also by color. E.g. the 2 drawers with the 2x4 plates, you could sort the white, black, and grays in one, and the other colors in the other. The 2 drawers that have what appear to be 4x10 plates stood on-edge, they can be completely sorted by color, simply by arranging them in rainbow order in one drawer, and the white and grays in the other.

A hollow stud requires less plastic than a solid one. It's just that, apparently, no one thought of that in the first place. When the idea did come about, it was implemented into every new mold made since. There were probably already loads of 4345 molds when the 4345a molds were put into service. Since the 2 designs are functionally the same (save for some additional possibilities afforded by the hollow studs), they are used interchangeably, resulting in the 2 variations appearing in the same set. Since the molds are expensive to make, they are still used until they completely wear out. Replacing a mold early would negate any savings afforded by the new design probably by several orders of magnitude. A more everyday example: You find a car that gets better fuel economy than the one you already own, but buying it would cost far more than what you would save at the pump. So you keep the one you have until you have a bigger reason to replace it.

It's possible Mr. Corsten had obtained rights or permissions to use the logo. Much like what TLG does to produce licensed sets.

All I see is a gray Do Not Enter sign.

Build cabinets with tight-fitting doors for your containers. If you can make it work, use sliding doors. Unlike swinging doors, they will not whip up a dust cloud every time they're opened.

Part 3254c appears to be made such that it can be centered on a stud.

I'm more confused over the banana.

Whether you can return items, that depends on the seller. Check their return policy. No return policy probably means no returns. Also check the seller's feedback. A scammer will have less-than-stellar feedback.

The bricks themselves may be unaffected, but a smoke-smelling box will be turned down by anyone shopping for a MISB set.

Can these be used as straight tracks in a pinch (ignoring the curved part)?

Is there no way to modify the existing mold? Maybe block off the narrow end with a piece that makes the mold function as a wide-end-only mold, so only a narrow-end mold need be made. I'm thinking, mill a slot across where the 2 meet, press in a solid block of metal, then mill said block to make the new mold configuration. Ignore the narrow end, as you will need a new mold for that, anyway. Or, cut the mold in half, screw metal blocks onto the cut ends, and mill said blocks to function as part of the now 2 molds for the 2 halves. Certainly, this would be way cheaper than making 2 new molds.