TooMuchDew

I'm loving all the new 2012 LEGO City sets, especially the vehicles. I'm going to guess Pierre Normandin had a hand in the design of several of these. The amphibious fire rig from set 4430 is a strange bird though... like a cross of between a post-WW2 civilianized DUKW and a open cab modern ARFF(?) I was going to say it didn't seem to be based on anything in real life but these 2 photos prove me wrong I guess: "Vigili del Fuoco" - Fire-Service Amphibious Vehicle from Italy and "Tampa FL amphibious fire boat"

Wow Lasse, this is great! Great color, modeling (especially the stripes on the mixer) and functions. The fact that it doubles as a GBC module makes this double-WIN!

Thanks... I did a quicksearch of "Master Builder Academy" before posting and got no results in the first page of posts.

The LEGO Master Builder Academy (LEGO MBA for short) is a series of sets, guidebooks and online experiences engineered to teach fans 8+ to become better and more creative builders. Learn how to create your own sets using the world around you as inspiration, just like the LEGO Master Builders do. LEGO MBA begins in June, and preorders begin May 1st. Purchase the first set in LEGO Stores or through LEGO Shop At Home. Subscribe to receive 5 more LEGO Master Builder Academy kits this year. Watch for updates at the new LEGO Club site. Club code: LEGOMBA A copy of the email sent to former Brickmaster subscribers is posted here.

Here are all of the high resolution and official press releases I've been able to find from Disney: press release: Disney Reveals New Toys and Video Game Inspired By "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" gallery: 1200 x 1200 high resolution photos of the LEGO PotC sets Toy Fair Press Kit: Toy Fair 2011 "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" Product Fact Sheet gallery: "Pirates of the Caribbean" Event with actor Ian McShane (Blackbeard) and LEGO Master Model Builder Erik Varszegi and life-sized Jack Sparrow Built from LEGO® Bricks

The badges appear to be arranged alphabetical English: 1-Caveman; 1-Cheerleader; 3-Clown; 4-Cowboy; 5-Crash Test Dummy; 6-Diver; 7-Indian; 8-Magician; 9-Ninja; 10-Nurse; 11-Robin Hood; 12-Robot; 13-Rocker; 14-Spaceman; 15-Wrestler; 16-Zombie I certainly hope there is no such thing as "how common". There should be an equal number manufactured of each minifigure per series of 16. No chase, rare or ultra-rare figures/parts please! I'm really curious as to how these will be packaged. Would the opaque foil-look plastic used for collectible card games be durable enough to withstand customers attemted groping to try to determine the contents? Little cardboard boxes like used in the 8530-Bionicle Kanohi Mask packs or the Playmobil single-figure "Special" sets would discourage this, but seems like it'd be too expensive of packaging though I certainly could be wrong. (and I remember seeing opened Kanohi boxes stashed behind other LEGO sets in stores). The ability to purchase unopened/sealed/shrink-wrapped vending boxes of 16 or 32 figures from S@H would be awesome! This seems like a natural tie-in with LEGO Universe and a way to test the waters for possible new themes. Did anyone else think "LEGO Pogs? How 1990s" when they first saw the badges picture?

I'm excited about this set! I see multiple purchases in my future... Hopefully they will also eventually be available in the LEGO-branded stores http://stores.lego.com/en-US/default.aspx using the Universal Currency Converter at http://www.xe.com/ucc/convert.cgi to compare prices US $ 99.99 CA $ 129.99 = 103.424 USD (Canada) UK £ 68.50 = 97.6624 USD (United Kingdom) DE € 89.99 = 113.186 USD (Austria, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain) AUD 149.99 = 96.2976 USD (Australia) CZK 2499.00 = 108.783 USD (Czech Republic) DKK 899.00 = 152.027 USD (Denmark) EUR 108.95 = 137.010 USD (Finland) EUR 99.99 = 125.742 USD (France) EUR 101.99 = 128.290 USD (Ireland) NZD 199.99 = 102.268 USD (New Zealand) PLN 349.95 = 92.1000 USD (Poland) Kup do swojego pociągu w Polsce! SEK 1099.00 = 126.054 USD (Sweden) CHF 149.00 = 126.944 USD (Switzerland) For MOST countries the pricing disparity seems a bit better than it has in the past (10188 Death Star) though the difference between Poland and Denmark is almost $60 USD

Photo should be at http://cache.lego.com/2057/images/shop/sho...x150_trains.jpg