Svelte

Thanks for the amazing new pics, TheBrickster! It's incredible what a difference sharp, well photographed images make! The window detailing with the arches and the lovely chandelier are stunning!

No, it is definitely dark orange. Remember the pics from the Russian site showing 7572 with dark orange lions and arches? Or the one from the catalogue? Same colour. LEGO would not revive dark orange for TS and then use the same shade in the 7572 Sands of Time set and then invent a whole new colour for one set

Congrats Pi! You now have the coolest tag on the whole of EB! Now keep working!

It's just good ole dark orange. The Amazon photos are a little washed out. It seems to be having a revival this year as it's in the Woody's Round Up set too.

Excellent! Thanks Pi! You shall indeed receive a reward.... soon

Slowcoach!

The first person who assembles the high res images and posts them here (esp the Battle of Alamut) wins a prize!* *prize to be determined by my discretion

Do you mean the box art? The curved arches look the same generic ones to me. I think it's too early to be looking for the next one in the series

I think one of the advantages of the more basic palette (tan logs and arches, bley inverse slopes) is that it will be much, MUCH easier to build middle floors from parts, at least a reasonable looking exterior anyway. (In comparison, prices for sand green bricks are still quite high on Bricklink, even 2 years later). Dark green windows will be the limiting factor but you could probably mix it up with black ones anyway.

Thanks for the new pic, Legoliner! Some details are clearer, even at the smaller size, and the colour scheme looks a little smoother. Now if we only had the large pic at the same quality as the small one!

In answer to Siegourney's question... yes, I can use half cooked toast. It just takes a little longer to reduce the carbohydrates down to carbon than if I used fully burnt toast, that's all

I guess it would be hard to letter 'Grand Emporium' entirely with bricks... 'SHOP' does seem a little abrupt for such a classy establishment, I think

No, I hadn't seen any pictures when I did my MOC. But I'd heard whispers there was a modular building coming in a corner style with window displays, a revolving door, a mailbox, and shoppers with bags. So I kind of made up my own version of what that might look like - it was my imagining of an official set, if you likey Then legomilk posted that the new building was going to be yellow/ bley with black windows so I was kind of glad I hadn't seen anything, haha! Apart from those superficial features mentioned, I don't really think there is much similarity between the buildings The structure of the windows is completely different and the reason I didn't have a sloping roof was because (a) Sydney 3-storey Victorian buildings tend not to (b) my MOC was already substantially higher than Cafe Corner so it would have looked silly in the street. I kind of like my colour palette a little better too As for the new 10211... it does look a little subdued but I suspect that's the prelim. Tan and light bley is not the most original colour scheme - they must be amongst the most common colours now. It is nice to get the new PoP arch pieces in bley (along the top row, they are definitely not your usual inverted slopes), but the dark green windows are simply We really have been spoilt with Town pieces this year with Apple Tree, the Woody's Round Up med-blue windows, and now the variations here! I do like the fact that the second and third storeys are almost identical - this is a twist on what we've had before and it's most pleasing to see the scale return to more 10182/ 10185 proportions - the 10197 still looks, to my mind, way oversized compared to its brethren. Still, the tan and bley remain a slight disappointment after the beautifully coordinated blend of colours in Cafe Corner and the acres of sand green in Green Grocer. My feeling is that innovation in parts colour/ selection has been restricted across the board in recent years (just look at the limited part palette of the suddenly-more-expensive SW sets). So the 10211 seems a little less decadent than the earlier sets (more akin to the 10197) but I also wonder if this design is deliberate to please the American market. From the number of times Green Grocer has been discounted, either in LEGO stores or on S@H, it seems that it is not a big seller in the US and maybe the recent designs are a deliberate move away from a more florid Euro-style (a shame if this is true since they're still my favourites). I imagine it will be in line with other Exclusives such as 10197 and 10198 since they just upped the prices of those sets to $AUD299.99 earlier in Jan I doubt it will be more expensive.

From the catalogue and what lightningtiger says, not until later in the year (post June). bttw has some fire sets, but all marked up heftily which would tend to suggest this is true.

I have to say I much prefer the new PF standalone bricks with changeable batteries. They're a lot simpler and less intrusive than having complicated external PF or 9V connections for the casual MOCist. I am much more likely to use these functions if I can easily move a little 2x3 brick around than if I have to wire the whole set-up

Don't LEGO designers cook the model in a moderate oven for 24 hours to simulate a year's worth of heat? I wonder if they take out the PF components first

That I cannot help thee with. Imagine the horror of all the MISB collectors when they bust open their 10199s in 20 years time to find battery acid has eaten away their super-rare caroller 'O'-face minfig heads!

Kids today, eh? Don't you read anything! This is from Page 2-3 of the instructions Top row shows activation, bottom shows how you remove the casing and change the expired battery. The battery voltage is on the box, but not in the instructions, annoyingly.

There are instructions in the manuals with all PF light bricks to show you how to change the battery! Jamie Berard said that if left on, the battery would last about a day with continuous usage. The Exo Force batteries are different, I think they are much harder to open and change the battery whereas the PF light brick is designed to be easily changeable.

No, it doesn't. It actually doesn't have much in the way of new 2010 parts, just recolours (eg the hull, sails) which makes me think it was designed well in advance of the new palette being available to designers. The 10210 inventory is now available on BL - those BL people are pretty quick and I always stop in there if I want to see what new parts are available: http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemInv.asp?S=10210-1 Or you could just check the 1x3 catalog entry: http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=63864

It does noone any good to point fingers at other members in this thread. As an EB member, you can control your own actions and behaviour, not that of anyone else, and that's all that we as the staff ask you to be responsible for. Concentrate on that and use the 'REPORT' button if you have a problem with another member - that's what it's there for. Pointing fingers and saying 'But his or hers is worse!' is a childish response, and the site guidelines emphasise that members should act maturely

I have never had that experience, doodz. I always get charged the exact total in AUD that S@H says it will - there's never been an additional currency conversion fee.

Yes, it's no surprise, and even the recent S@H sale clearanced the Agents 2.0 sets that had barely been out for 6 months.