Mellow

No, it's like finding out the masterpiece is not painted with quality oil paints but only with watercolor paints. And even though it is acclaimed as the greatest oil painting in the world. I don't have any problems with using other brands or mixing different brands to create a great model, but i have a problem with it when a brand name like Lego is used for other brands. Especially when it's used like in the article about the USS Missouri, where it was described as "built from Lego" or as "world's biggest Lego ship", which it isn't, because it is not Lego. If you think it's dumb, I don't care. But that's why brand names exist, to distinguish different brands.

Surely it wouldn't look any different when made with Lego parts, but to know that it isn't is somehow ... disappointing. Especially since the USS Missouri has been presented in press as "Lego ship" or the "world's biggest Lego model". Don't take it wrong, you've made a great job with that, but it´s like to watch the Mona Lisa at the Louvre, and than you realise that it's only a photocopy. It doesn't look any different, but it is not the original.

I think there are different definitions of "old" Minifigures. Here are my favourites: Fireman from 1978: He´s one of the first real Minifigures ever made. Please note the stickered Torso instead of printed ones since 1979. Lego Space Minifigures: There were five colors available from 1978 to 1986.

I don't disagree with that, but I can't see other reasons for that, especially when you compare the Caterham with the other Creator cars. They were all sold with similar prices. They all use specified printed/stickered parts that couldn't be used in other sets again. They are all officially licenced sets. They all have a similar quantity of printed/stickered parts. None of them comes with an higher quantity of identical printed/stickered parts. And I don't think the sales volume or profit margin of Ideas sets would be exorbitant higher than compareable Creator sets. So there can't be an economical reason for that. The only difference is that they were sold in different categories. That's why I think there must be something like an internal instruction, not to use stickers in Ideas or printet parts in Creator.

Hmm, that doesn't explain why the big Creator cars (that were made for ages of 16+) come with stickers, while the Ideas WALL.E set comes with printed parts. Maybe the reason is that Creator sets were traditionally made for creative building, and printed parts with Ferrari-logos could be obstructive when you want to build a plane or a house (for example) out of the F40-set .

Damn, it's my fault. I mistook the US-prices with the european ones. Here the actual Series still cost 2,99€, and will be increased in 2017 up to 3,99€ (if the rumors come true).

The collectible Minifigures startet at 1.99$ in 2010. Already in 2011, with Series 3, the price increased to 2.99$. That's a 50% price increase in only one year. I think the price for the first two years has only been something like an introductory price. Maybe Lego recognized that they were too cheap for the quantity they need, who knows? But it also means that the price remained stable for six years, and that's really remarkable. The price increase is long overdue in my opinion.

Hmm, another funny detail: Have you seen how that guy had problems to put the 1x1 fossil-part onto the hand of the Minifig (at Minute 2:00)? We just had a discussion about similar problems with the hiker's compass in the Series 16 thread. It seems it is not an unusual problem...

I think those are stands to prop the vehicle up. I'm glad that the first pictures just seem to be deformed. It looks much better now.

It's not really surprising to me. Raw materials get more expensive, employees want more money each year, depreciation of money means less money to invest in new things... It's only a question of time when products getting more expensive.

Something like that should not happen, of course. But you can find many traders who sell the Minifigs with opened blindbags. In such cases there´s no risk to buy in my eyes.

I think the easiest way to get complete sets is to order them on eBay. You can find complete sets for about 60€, thats about 3,75€ per figure. That´s not really cheap, but if you grab five doubles at least you will pay more. If you´re out of luck in feeling what´s inside the bags, and you have no possibilities to trade or resell double Minifigs, it is not the worst way to complete your collection. Ordering closed blindbags from some trader is surely the worst way to do that. The chance to get a complete set in one try is zero.

It´s hard to say. You can take 20 different Minifigs and combine their parts to thousands of new combinations. But that´s not my area of interest. Those boxes can be interesting as they are official combinations of Minifigs. But that´s also not the whole thing. In my case it is important to get unique (official) Minifigs that tell a little story about their character on the first sight. Additional parts can help a lot to make a Minifig to an individual. A guitar could make a simply blue haired girl to a rockstar. A plate with a sheet of music print can make a woman with a skirt to an opera singer. That´s why I´m disappointed with that actual sets, they try to tell a story ("musicians"), but they do that only very inconsequent. With additional parts I would grab those sets without hesitation.

Aah, you mean something like the Accessory Pack (850449) or the VIP Top 5 Box (850458, which included the Series 3 Elf Minifig by the way)... The VIP Box was interesting for me in some degree, because of the slight color variations of Space Villain, Fisherman and Mummy, compared to Series 3 pendents. Apart from that I don´t need any double or triple Minifigs. I´m simply a collector, I don´t want to build armies of identical Elf-, Space-, Knight- or Whatelse-Warriors. Out of my sight a Minifigure Collection Box is more interesting when coming with brand new Minifigs that have never been used before. Not to be misunderstood, I do understand anybody who wants remakes of great Minifigs, but for me as a collector they are only interesting if they differ in some details at least.

Vintage Minifigure Collection Vol. 1 (852331) Vintage Minifigure Collection Vol. 2 (852535) Vintage Minifigure Collection Vol. 3 (852697) Vintage Minifigure Collection Vol. 4 (852753) Vintage Minifigure Collection Vol. 5 (852769) Those sets included remakes from early polular minifigs, als Classic Spaceman (in four colors), classic knights and townspeople as classic fireman, classic nurse or classic mailman. I prefer sets with new and unique Minifigs instead of another remakes of classic figs. Especially since it´s not really hard to find original classic Minifigs for a little money...