Rick

Very entertaining story CopMike. I'm sure this fig will cause quite a bit of havoc in many town displays. Not too much to comment on, besides the nice printing...

Happy Birthday KhoRne, Commodore Hornbricker, marcosbessa, and Nebsirob! May your day be filled with LEGO and cake. (I will leave it to others to post pictures of cake ).

Great modular MOC. I really like the color scheme. In terms of building style it fits in perfectly with your other stores. The corner column is great. I agree with the others that the balcony could do with a 'lighter' look.

It's still a nice fig, but I agree, not as special as the ones you've reviewed so far. Is it black (with painted white edges) or white (with black in the middle)? And wasn't this fig shown with a separate hairpiece in one of the previously released images?

I never had a good look at these before, but after reading Fangy's review, definitely the bi-plane. The use of those red Racers fenders and the gun are great details.

Since I don't know which side to choose anymore, I'm going to have to trust the majority that is forming here Pvt. Gale. Looks like we will finally learn the truth today... Vote: Pvt. Wilson Gale (WhiteFang)

Ooh, next to the cheerleader and the clown, this is certainly on my list of favorites from series 1. The beard and hair combo is great. Lucky Ambassadors

That isn't really clear with only two waves (well one 'wave' with only a single set). It's possible that the little pig farm set is the cherry on the finished cake. It may also be that they continue Farm as a small niche in City for a few years. In the latter case we should see a new bunch of sets in 2011. There's a lot of potential to the theme if you ask me, so I'd like to see some more waves. There are some excellent ideas in this thread already.

Guess it's a variation. When you first posted the pictures, it kinda looked like it was made out of white chocolate.

Well, this is getting crazier by the minute. I don't know what to make of this awkward move. There seems to be a consensus forming against you Pvt. Gale.

This is one of my favorite figs from series 1. The pompons, the torso, the skirt, it's a great fig. I just don't know what to make of her facial expression...

Finally got around to viewing the video. You did well in promoting the hobby!

I too was convinced that Perot had either lost his mind - which is still possible, but then I wonder who our sane investigator is - or was a misleading deserter, which turns he was not. The deserters are playing us, day in day out. Look at the list of honorable men we've lost in our attempts rid our regiment from the deserting scum...

MetroiD-33. Inn

I think there is a bit too much unused interior space and the exterior looks rather blocky. But I must say I really like the use of those 'Pirates' wall panels for the pizza area and the colors you used for the bakery. Any chance of seeing pictures the smaller version yet?

I'm afraid that's not possible. It's been blogged, it's final!

I really like how this turned out!

Didn't notice that, or I would have acknowledged it at least. I think any company with a group of customers that brings in 5% of sales is wise to seriously consider them. Furthermore, as I pointed out before, AFOLs are 'cheap' customers. They advertise the products among themselves and they buy right out of the factory, thus saving the margin that the retailer would normally get. I think we all agree that TLG in the last few years has really tried their best at tailoring certain products - both in exclusives and the regular lines, LUGbulk, expanded PaB - to an AFOL audience.

So you think it would be more? Sure you buy loads more, but then again, not every kid turns out to be an AFOL. I don't personally know any AFOLs in my direct surroundings, so I guess the perceived 'reasonableness' of the number also depends on your perception of the size of the AFOL community in your area. From discussions here on EB ("Lego is for kids. Don't even think TLG will listen to us") I always inferred the proportion of sales would be much lower. But the 'acknowledgment' by TLG makes it likely that something like the Exclusives line is considered worth continuing. 'Sales' usually refers to sales revenues (so €, $, or DKK amounts). My guess (see also my first post) is that 'we' constitute 1% or even less of TLG's customer base, but because of our (well, some of us at least) spending habits contribute much more to sales revenue. I also think costs made for AFOLs are much lower than for kids. There isn't much advertisement needed and exclusives are sold mostly through S@H with bigger margins/lower costs than normal retail channels. Thus, bottom line is that we spent more, cost less, and bring in quite some profits for TLG. I think that's recognized in the past years, because we see a lot of sets specifically tailored to AFOLs and some choices made for the regular lines seem to have AFOLs in mind: I'm thinking the short-lived revival of classic pirates, the new human-vs-human castle sets, and more 'civilian' City sets.

I received my copy of 'The Brick' today and on page 60 the quote above can be found. I never knew AFOLs contributed so much to the sales of the company. According to TLG themselves AFOL sales represent a little under 5% of total sales. Based on 2009 sales, that's 5% of DKK 11,661 million, which is DKK 583 million. This translates into €78, $106, or A$115 million. Now of course an adult buys more(?) and more expensive sets than a kid, but even if it's five times as much, I still wouldn't have thought 'we' would constitute even 1% of TLG's customer base.

Way to get back at Svelte for the dark-tan hair in GE. Thanks for the excellent review Ricecracker. Lots of interesting new pieces. And I had no idea that the ostrich heads could turn. So they also make a full 360, like the Evil Easter Bunny from Hell.

Great work yet again Ralph. The back of the car - with the partly exposed engine - is my favorite. And I really like the way you've covered the half-stud offset on both sides.

Makes me wonder how GE would look with a different top floor with higher windows.

This morning has really got me thinking... We've been trying to convict Pvt. Reutal for two days in a row now, but were unsuccessful at that. Now Pvt. Entaine comes forward with information that Pvt. Reutal spent the entire night in his tent. And still, two honored soldiers ended up dead last night! One was too blame himself for getting drunk, but our honorable provost guard Ian Des was brutally murdered. These facts are only lifting suspicion from Pvt. Reutal, so it is getting less and less likely that we are going to be able to convict him today. However much some of us like it, I simply don't see it happening anymore. Pvt. Perot's stories have sounded very convincing initially. With hindsight, there are two things worrying me however. First, he didn't immediately come forward in public with his investigation results and accusations but contacted Pvt. Yellman privately. If we would have convicted based on his accusations, he wouldn't be the one taking the blame at that stage. Second, him finding two deserters on the first two nights and one of them being Pvt. Reutal, makes me at least question his sanity. Apparently, he's been doubting that himself as well, considering that he tried to investigate himself tonight But, worse, his persuasion in his accusations against Pvt. Reutal could mean his main intention is just to confuse the honored men in this regiment, which is exactly what happened. Confusion among the honored soldiers of course only helps the deserters in getting away with their cowardly acts. Again, I'm not sure whether he is confusing us intentionally or not, but considering the votes against him are quickly stacking up, it may be the only way to get some objective information today. Vote: Pvt. Tom Perot (TinyPiesRUs)

I think the margin is so big because you can only pick your number 1. If - like in many EB contests - you could divide up a certain number of points among them, I'm pretty sure the differences wouldn't be this big and GE and CC would end up quite a bit higher.