cerebus76

Thanks for the excellent review! You're definitely got me excited for mine (which should be here tomorrow).

Nice interview! I have to say that Clone O'Patra's reviews are some of my favorites, and some of the first ones I read here on EB. I remember when I first joined EB and was under the 10 post limit that I was really frustrated that I couldn't just click on Clone's name and hop from review to review. I had to manually hunt them down, but it was worth it! I'm into Star Wars, but my wife is into Harry Potter and Clone's Harry Potter reviews were a great way to show her sets and get her excited for future purchases.

I think he means to ask why Toys R Us marks up their prices over suggested retail price. I think the answer is that they do it because they can, and because it increases profit. Some bean counter somewhere crunched some numbers and found that they made more money by doing it that way. I don't think it's the wisest idea in an age of price scanning comparison apps on smartphones, but I'm sure that Toys R Us's customer demographic is more non tech savvy parents and grandparents who don't know better. I don't think that this will work out for them long term. In fact, I don't think that the large specialty retailer busines model in general will be viable for much longer. There is too much competition, especially online, to sustain these giant specialty stores.

The support has really picked up since this aired on Conan. I watched it get 10 supporters in the few minutes I looked at the page earlier today. I had been disappointed with the low support numbers until now. It's such a great project!

Just picked up 10188 (Death Star) on Amazon for 10% off ($359.99) That saved me $40.00 and with prime shipping it'll be here in a couple days! I had it budgeted for next month but with 10% off I couldn't wait.

Very few companies with their own store system would actively work to undercut other retailers. You want your product to have as much exposure as possible, and that means you want your brand in retail stores. In my town alone, I can go to Target, Walmart, K-mart, and Toys R Us to find Lego, and there are multiples of each store. If Lego worked to undercut those retailers on price, those retailers would have no incentive to carry Lego's product. Increasing overall exposure increases overall sales, which is a good thing for the company. You better believe that Lego could undercut those stores if they wanted to, but it wouldn't be good for business.

Very nice! I'm jealous! Nice! This is still my favorite ship!

I don't think the VIP points are added immediately. I think there is a delay and you wouldn't immediately be able to use them on your second purchase. Anybody out there who knows for sure want to chime in on this?

Like Jonwil said, the Fire Brigade is the oldest set and rumors abound that it will be going soon. You should be safe on Grand Emporium for a while yet. If you don't have the fire brigade I recommend you get it ASAP. Check brickset.com for the dates and you'll see how it generally works: http://www.brickset.com/browse/themes/?theme=Town&subtheme=Modular%20Buildings

Yesterday I picked up 9488 for the Arc Trooper (great minifig!) and 9494 (Anakin's interceptor) from target. edit: forgot I also ordered 10197 Fire Brigade from Toys R Us on 3/3 at the end of the $10 off $50 lego sale. With free shipping it wound up costing retail, which is good because Amazon is sold out.

10197 Fire brigade was released in 9/2009 and is still available, though rumors are that it is soon to be sold out, so that gives us a shelf life of close to 2 1/2 years like you said. Previous sets varied with Market street being available for the least amount of time at about 1 1/2 years. Brickset.com has the availability dates. I assume production runs may go up as popularity increases. We'll have to wait and see when Fire Brigade runs out.

Greetings! Glad to see another 30something returning to Lego. I'm in the same boat. Eurobricks is a great resource with exceptional set reviews and a great global community. The site itself can be a little hard to navigate for new users because of the restrictions put in place for folks with low post counts like you and I. You won't be able to see any profiles (including your own) until you hit 10 posts, which makes it difficult if you find a user or reviewer you like to follow them from post to post or review to review. You also won't be able to post new threads in the buy, sell, trade forum. I'm sure there are other restrictions, but I assume they mostly exist to cut down on spam. I'd check out this thread if you haven't already for rules: http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=18718 Also, This thread has some great info on other sites that are out there: http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=66856 Also, I'm sure you've already discovered the technic subforum but here it is just in case: http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showforum=115 It's not really my thing, but it seems very active in there.

Walmart clearance is always YMMV, so it may not be on clearance at all Walmarts.

I'm sure the bean counters make a lot of these decisions. Sure the die-hard folks like us would purchase new sets but we're just a drop in the proverbial bucket. I'd love to see new Lego HP sets. The wife is only interested in HP, and I've gotten her pretty much every set already.

Haha! It does indeed.

I was all set to pick up a Fire Brigade today and Amazon is sold out (only 3rd party vendors at $199). I think there was a run on them because Town Hall was being released. Hopefully they get more stock in. I wish Lego shop at home was tax free for me. Given the double VIP points and free shipping window that will be coming up soon, it may be worth getting directly from Lego anyway.

Besides what everyone else here has already mentioned, I also like toysnbricks.com for news and sales info.

Nope! Still actively available and Amazon has gotten refills of stock in several times recently. Edit: Also still available on Lego.com, of course.

I paid about $60.00 shipped, which I don't consider too much considering the prices of the new ship sets. I suggest just keeping an eye out for a good deal!

Very very nice. The speeder was definitely unexpected but very cool!

Toys R Us Canada has 25% off all Harry Potter, Pirates of the Caribbean and Ninjago sets. They have 4841 (Hogwart's Express) in stock for $82.47. They only ship to Canada though :( . Credit to Toysnbricks.com

Thanks for the tip! I thought they were loose by nature but squeezing on them a bit made them nice and tight. Now I can swoosh without worry!

Haha I need sunglasses to look at these! I like them but they are a little bright. I wonder if they would work better if they were toned down a bit on the colors.

Very impressive ships and a very impressive collection overall! I'm super-envious as I just got back into collecting.

I'll add my voice to the call for bigger pictures. This looks amazing but so tiny!