Svelte

TRU will be selling the Temple of Doom set for 1/2 price ($70 from their price of $140) if anyone failed to score this clearanced from K-Mart at the end of last year. I wonder if K-Mart and Target are getting a SW exclusive if any other retailers are getting an early release?

Well, Disney itself in the UK just started dumping them at half price: http://www.brickset.com/news/?Shopping-news-(UK) In the Aussie sales I have seen almost no stock of PoP sets left and I doubt they will be restocking. These licenses are designed for big promotion and quick sales, not hanging around stores for 1-2 years like the olden days (The olden days of like, three years ago I mean )

That's pretty standard. It still works out as 0.9 x 0.8 of the original price which gives you 28% off. The one I noticed that had lowest stocks was the Toy Story Pizza Planet Truck - only 1 in the CBD and 2 at Bondi J.

Went to Sydney CBD and Bondi Junction today to stock up on Persia stuff but disappointingly almost none of that was left! Masses of everything else in both stores, including the Exclusives, Cargo Train, and Emerald Night. So clearly there is stock in reserve. Don't forget you can still order online for the extra 10% off and an $8 shipping fee for the rest of today if, for example, you missed out on the Emerald Night. I noticed in the City store that some of the Cargo Train and Fire Brigade sets had wires and some kind of lock security device on them - first time I've seen that. Went to K-Mart and noticed that the Tantives IV had the same kind of wire-gift-wrap security device. Interesting! At K-Mart the Atlantis mech thing was already at $54 although most other sets seemed at pre-sale prices (Wampa was $79).

Occasionally they do updates and it isn't available or every page leads to an error message, but all websites need to update from time to time. Even EB! I wouldn't panic about it.

My cat Sable is a proud member of LEGO Club I did, but I would have been more excited if they had the Portal of Atlantis. Funny, just before 9am I heard the Myer internal intercom pep talk about the day's events and how today was the big sale, and it was all about the customer service since they'd had some complaints yesterday. Hahaha! It was actually weird to hear them broadcasting outside the store, their loudspeakers are just too good.

K-Mart's catalogue is online for those who missed it (this thread moves too fast!) and I'm bemused by the $299 price for the Tantive IV (p 39). As it stands its still cheaper to buy it from the US. And $69 for the Hoth Wampa Cave isn't even 20% off! Weird, considering they couldn't give the Dropships away. I would have hoped we would have seen some other summer Star Wars sets too. So, a big thumbs-up for Myer from me and a big thumbs-down to Big W & K-Mart (poor Big W - is the Landspeeder the best they could do? )

Yes, the whole point of these sales is 'No deposit layby for Xmas'. It's plastered all over the catalogues. I wasn't offered the membership and I did have to remind them about the extra 10%.

I got the Myer email too and went in first thing to Bondi Junction Sydney. No Emerald Nights but plenty of other stock including at least a dozen Fire Brigades and Flagships. I even managed to score an Endor, yays! I bought a Flagship, Space Police HQ and the Smash n Grab for $269 (with discount and using a $20 rewards card) which is great value when you think retail on the Flagship is $280. Just a note for those worried about store not having stock or not even having a Myer in your area - you can order all of the big Exclusive sets online for the discount price (and pay minimal shipping). Add the code 88985486 today and tomorrow and you get an extra 10% off! Brilliant!

I just built this set and found it better than expected. The design is taller and more imposing than it seems from pictures, and I really like that so much of it is brick-built and solid (like the side rocky wall; they could have just used a BURP but instead its made of slopes). I think the colour scheme is nice and I really like the new portcullis piece. Interestingly, I didn't get *any* extra plume pieces at all, let alone 3? I wonder if sets packaged in Europe are being treated differently when it comes to extras. The biggest let-down of the set to me and the greatest disappointment is the quality of the printing on the figs. This is true of Kingdoms as a whole but in this set alone I had: - pink horse-barding where the white-on-red was not thick enough - horse-barding blurred on one side - Princess' dress looks a distinctly lighter shade of red than the torso, almost orange - back of the Princess' torso misprinted (red doesn't stay in the lines) - back of the Princess' head misprinted (lip colour floating above lip lines) - 3/4 of the dragon shields had printing issues beyond slight colour overlap (grey areas of shield piece visible in middle of shield) Really, I want to say good things about this line but the gap between the pretty pictures on the box art and the shoddy quality of pink Lion Knights, dodgy shields and a Princess who looks like they ran out of ink when doing the dress piece is really saddening me. I compared these figs with Prince of Persia soldiers and Hassansins, the Collectable Minifigs, and some pre-2006 figs and shields, and none of them had issues as bad as I see here. Have any other people buying from Europe had similar issues? I want to complain to LEGO about their crappy quality but feel stupid saying 'All your figs are horribly printed! What the hell are you doing these days?'

Yes, I'd much rather have the awesome printed horse and dark tan bush that we did get rather than another Hassansin

I'm not entirely convinced its true - can our own EB Ambassador confirm this news? The original source is here: http://www.fbtb.net/2010/06/10/new-info-on...inifigs-series/ If it does happen, it will suck. But surely there will have to be some way of identifying the packet from LEGO's internal point-of-view? If there is, some canny AFOL will discover it. Hopefully by then LEGO allows AFOLs to buy whole boxes or specific figs online rather than the stupid US 5 fig limit and blind guessing. If the purpose of these figs is to encourage social trading amongst kids, allowing people to buy whole boxes via S@H is going to have no effect on that market. How many parents allow their kids to make large S@H orders? Very few, I would guess.

I imagine it will be at the same price point as last year's and probably about the same size. I just don't want more endless variations on the 'OMG $US115!!!!11!' type discussions that went on last year when everyone should know by know that there isn't a 1:1 translation of international prices to US prices.

You should know by now that direct translation of Japanese price does not translate into $US. Let's not get bogged down in the exact same price discussions we had when Japanese news of the Toy Shop and carousel leaked last year. Thanks.

Please don't bump questions like this. If noone answered either noone knows or the answer is self-evident (the set hasn't even been out a year...) If you really want to know for certain, you should contact LEGO directly in your region rather than post messages here. Thanks.

This isn't a mix-up. LEGO told us when they released the official colour palette earlier this year that pearl silver would be changing. You're probably just the first to notice! It's from the horses mouth, people! Whilst they deplete the old stock of lighter colours, you may get some mixed assortments. EDIT: Actually, it appears that news was originally posted on The Brothers Brick last year in November via the Ambassadors forum: http://www.brothers-brick.com/2009/11/04/colour-change-2-0/ But then they later posted to say this would NOT be happening! It seems like it did, anyway... Now I'm confused too!

Yes, ZO6 has hit the nail on the head. We've had an official Winter Toy Shop with lovely mini models, we've had last year's Advent Calendar with mini toys and this year's Advent Calendar with lots more brick-built toys, but all they can come up with for TRU is a bear and weapons? Unless rumours of a new Bears vs Guns theme in 2011 *are* true

Yes. Maersk blue was produced especially for Maersk promo products. Since these days LEGO mixes its own colours, I imagine it isn't too hard for them to whip up a batch especially for a one-off run of an Exclusive set. Although the very thing that makes this easy - mixing the colour with the ABS rather than using pre-mixed pellets - will also probably ensure we end up with slightly varying shades of Maersk blue for each type of brick

Yes, I agree that the cockpit is the same as the one used for the sunroof in the Grand Emporium. And you can tell from counting the slope bricks along the edge of the front of the middle 'fin' just how high that part is going to be. This set is going to be massive! Too massive, to be honest. Even if it really is minifig scale I don't see how you could possibly display this near any other set without it looking ridiculous (apart from maybe the 10179 Falcon?) I like the smaller swooshable shuttles, even if they are less detailed, but that middle wing only looks 1 brick wide - if you try and swoosh it it may fly off and decapitate nearby bystanders For 2,500 pieces I'd love to know what the AUD price is too. $AUD500 is actually a conservative guesstimate based on this year's SW pricing. Come on LEGO! You can break your own price-to-piece ratios every 6 months! Make it $600, or push the boundaries of $700!

Yes, I've heard that this re-release is happening. Good find as always, whung!

I guess military sets are bad, but selling guns to kids is OK Seriously, what is LEGO thinking? This is utterly stupid and I hope people complain. I wouldn't mind if they had used a novelty piece (like the new space ray piece) but the standard long rifle is just sick. As for the trucks... I do like the blue and white one better more than the bright yellow version.

From hewman's tip a few weeks ago, I got my first package from the Barnes and Noble 30% off one item deal. Packed properly in a sturdy box and with the $US13 shipping for 1 item, the Fire Station set me back around $AUD85-90 (when the exchange rate was about 1.2~) which isn't at all bad. Thanks hewman! Honestly, you can't beat their shipping rates. Let's hope they don't find they'remaking a loss and stop sending overseas packages. Whilst their selection is limited, when the Star Wars sets come out they will be attractively priced from B&N if another big sale comes along (or even a 15% one which don't seem uncommon on the site) I just opened the three new Impulses (Jester, Wizard, Farmer) and put them on my desk (via S@H, not from stores). For $5 each it's kind of a sweet deal - three figs, and three animals (dog, pig, baby dragon), plus all the accessories. All you have to do is change the Farmer for something medieval to get an instant $15 add on for MMV! Brilliant!

From a Licensed point of view, neither Indy nor PoP will be back in 2011. They can't seem to give the Indy sets away and PoP had disappointing box office - those sets will be off shelves within months (although still available from S@H for a while yet). I doubt there will be more releases in any of these themes or Toy Story unless there is a high-profile movie to support sales. I have no idea of how Ben10 is doing - I imagine if it had been a staggering success we would have seen another wave in summer. Waiting 12 months after the initial release doesn't make sense to me if this really was a success Looking ahead, there's a US Licensed fair in October which should tell us more. I can't see a POTC theme not happening, frankly. In City I'd love to see a proper Hospital - by 2011 it will have been 5 years since the last one. I have no idea about Kingdoms. The Fantasy line started well in 2007 with the big castle, medium enemy tower, and lots of smaller, more realistically-sized vehicle sets, but quickly devolved into giant assault wagons and enormous battle wheels, so who knows? I think it is unlikely we'll get an Elf faction since Dragons already have the dark green/ woody colour scheme. Space Police/ Power Miners won't last next year, but there will be another Action Theme/ Space Theme to replace either one. Atlantis and World Racers will surely continue in some form.

Thanks for a very creative contest, WhiteFang! This was tough to choose but these are my top 3: 1 point to 47 Clown Entry by Fugazi (beautiful colours and great slice of a building) 1 point to 16 Spaceman Entry by Xiaan (retro classic space flashback - woo!) 1 point to 9 Forestman Entry by Sandy (great build and perfect fit which captures the idea of the contest)

That sounds terrifying yet intriguing all at the same time...