General LEGO discussion (inc. collectible minifigs)

[Denyer]

Word of warning if anyone's after LDD -- the 4.3.12 installer on the official site seems to have a very outdated brick definition file (missing various joints and more besides) and is a much smaller download than 4.3.11 -- fortunately the previous version is still available;

https://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index. ... iscussion/
https://lc-www-live-s.legocdn.com/downl ... 4_3_11.exe

Fairly easy to get to grips with.


https://i.imgur.com/e19qhHD.png

https://i.imgur.com/RiojR0w.png

https://i.imgur.com/HFUMhpD.png

[Dead Man Wade]

Got the blind-packed Disney minifigs of Jack Skellington, Elsa, Frozone, Chip, Louie, and Jafar.

[Skyquake87]

I've been picking up a few from Series 19. Generally a lively and fun set of figures and the bulking up of the accessories adds value (but one wonders if this to sugar the pill of the mooted price hike for these next year). Was amused my local Lego shop has got fed up of having to have two or three members of staff feeling through packets to help customers find the figures they want and have just labelled them all up.

[Dead Man Wade]

My local store doesn't do this. They just put them out on a table, and every time a new wave of blind-packed figures comes in, the store is swarmed by people feeling up packages. Super great if you're prone to migraines and wander in on the wrong day.

[Denyer]

Thought this was rather cool for the number of pieces;


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvBJ2KYEVVA

[Dead Man Wade]

That is pretty cool. I wish I had the inclination toward doing things like that, but I primarily do it to de-stress.

[Skyquake87]

I think seeing the amount of clever things folk do online with Lego can be a bit intimidating when thinking about building stuff yourself these days. I tend to like customising sets I've bought and adding to them. I'm still really pleased with the 2013 Castle stuff I bought a few years back and modified to represent some of the '80s setsI used to have (or wish I had). I'm particularly pleased with the pub I put together from a Hobbit set and the Lego Movie Castle set.

Recently I picked up one of those vehicle CiTY 3-set packs Lego puts out. Bit of a bargain, as the Fire Chief truck (the largest in the pack) is actually pretty cool, but on its own commands near enough the same price as this 3 pack (it comes with the small yellow digger and that blue off -road thing). No way does it feel worth its retail price in terms of volume of stuff, but it is fun to play with. Love things with lots of tools and places to put things.

I picked up the Overwatch Wrecking Ball set as well, as I thought it was funny. And it is, and it looks great on display. Such a clever and fun set. And not overpriced either.

[Dead Man Wade]

It's not that it's intimidating, and I certainly wouldn't expect to be putting together transforming Dinobots out of the gate, or anything. It's just that my interest in LEGO is aesthetic and therapeutic; I enter a kind of zen state when I'm following the instructions that allows me to calm down, and then I have a cool vehicle or something.

[elverimp]

Anyone here have the Friends memorabilia LEGO? I am planning to order one on Amazon.

[Skyquake87]

It's not that it's intimidating, and I certainly wouldn't expect to be putting together transforming Dinobots out of the gate, or anything. It's just that my interest in LEGO is aesthetic and therapeutic; I enter a kind of zen state when I'm following the instructions that allows me to calm down, and then I have a cool vehicle or something.

probably just me then :P i get what you mean - i like the feeling of .. switching off and just putting something together


I saw the Friends set - looks pretty good, but I'm not a massive Friends fan so it's an easy pass. I got the Overwatch Junkrat and Roadhog. It's brilliant. That and the Wrecking Ball set are brilliant. Got a neat Hidden Side juice bar thrown in. The colours are hideous, but I love it!!!

[Dead Man Wade]

probably just me then :P i get what you mean - i like the feeling of .. switching off and just putting something together

Exactly. When I'm following the instructions, I'm able to shut off my anger and anxiety and just go through the motions of putting it together.

[Hound]

I got the Overwatch D.Va and Reinhardt set for Father's Day and I bought the Wrecking Ball set last week and i love them. I want all of the Overwatch Lego, especially the Bastion and Gibraltar sets.

[Denyer]

Anyone after loose pieces, particularly hard to find ones, might want to order sooner rather than later -- LEGO has bought Bricklink.

https://www.brothers-brick.com/2019/11/ ... ore-192215

For those who haven't kept up with it, after the creator died the family sold to an Asian tech company legally based in Belgium. Who, whilst not exactly popular with some sellers, did a lot to update it. So this acquisition presumably gets LEGO Stud.io (modern digital building software) -- and tucked away at the bottom of the press release they're also acquiring a company that produces high volume third party bricks; http://sohobricks.com/whatwedo.html

Predictably, LEGO's already declared third party parts verboten. The anti-violence, anti-weapon stance is looking ever more hypocritical with all of the film tie-in stuff and sets with names like Skull Basher.

Also worth noting that LEGO has previously banned customers for reselling, and has just acquired a vast amount of personal data for people who do so.

[Warcry]

That's probably not going to end well for the site's users.

In retrospect, though, it seems like a natural move for Lego and I wonder how long they've been trying to pull it off. Cornering the second-hand market seems to be a really popular strategy for giant corporations these days.

[Skyquake87]

Hmm. Saw this and didn't really know what to make of it, so the above is helpful. Lego do very vigorously defend their products/ IP, and after the recent victory against Chinese bootleggers, I wonder if this stealed their resolve to do something about resale sites like this that include non-official lego compatible parts.

Didn't know they banned customers for reselling stuff. That's... curious. Will they then be looking at ebay and anyone who ever resells an old/ retired Lego set, or parts out sets to sell piecemeal...? Or sells an old childhood collection of bricks...? I'm intrigued what they're aiming for here...

[Denyer]

They lost certain key legal arguments when we were kids, and patents for a lot of parts have passed the 20 year expiry so clone brands that stick to them are on firm ground as long as they don't take logos or other IP. LEGO can buy those competitors to disrupt, of course, but more will spring up.

http://theconversation.com/how-lego-leg ... ures-43489

^ LEGO still has a tighter grip on minifigures under trademark law rather than patent, unless that linked ruling gets overturned.

Modifying (i.e. printing onto) official parts is fine, although printing trademarked logos (DC, Marvel, etc) obviously not.

With reselling they've still got no way of tracking people who buy up Amazon return pallets, supermarket clearance stuff, etc. but it wouldn't surprise if they go after resellers who carry recently released set-exclusive parts or sets in high volume. LEGO gets a lot of marketing from artificial scarcity and convention tie-ins, etc.

Having said that, there's eBay and smaller Bricklink type sites, Amazon marketplace with sets, etc.

I think the bigger threat from LEGO is that there are some things they've never managed very competently; digital building and pick-a-brick type services being amongst them. It's hard to see anything coming from this but negative publicity (price hikes, branding, banning, etc) and an exodus.

[Warcry]

On a happier note, my family's gotten into the Lego advent calendars this year -- Star Wars for me, Harry Potter for my wife and City for my son (who really likes his Lego even though he's only 4). It's fun for each of us to have a little thing to build every day, and the minifigures in the licensed ones are neat!

[Hound]

My quest to acquire the Overwatch sets continues! I've gotten the Tracer/Widowmaker set and the Genji/Hanzo set.

[ganon578]

Several Lego Star Wars sets have come my way since Christmas:

Advent Calendar 75245
Snowspeeder 30384
Anakin Skywalker's Podracer 30461
Resistance A-Wing Starfighter 75248
Mandalorian Battle Pack 75267

The Advent Calendar is nice, and there's a decent mix across the (at the time) 8 main movies. I like the stuff associated with ESB the most, since it's a little of the main road: Cloud City Twin Car, Twin Car Pilot, Mynock. And Santa Porg is adorable.

The little polybags are nice as well, with both the snowspeeder and podracer being very solid builds, and much bigger than I expected. I might just have to get the Naboo Starfighter and Poe's X-Wing next!

I've wanted a A-Wing for some time, and the Resistance one is a great build. I'm disappointed that the cockpit is EMPTY. No control stick, button panels, NOTHING. Sure, I can add parts from my own collection, but the few extra pieces it would have taken to flesh this out would have been great. Lt. Connix feels a bit out of place, since there aren't any additional playset builds in the box. Seems like a random Resistance character thrown in for good measure. And my last issue is the pilot: Snap Wexley. I don't remember him piloting anything but an X-Wing in the whole sequel trilogy, so the inclusion is odd, aside from him being a named character. Otherwise, the build is really fun and the way the missile launchers were incorporated is great. Very solid ship and a fun build. I'm tired of stickers though.

Finally, the Mandalorian set. This was what I was really going for, mainly after watching The Mandolorian on Disney+. The battle pack is fun, with a little speeder and a shooting hideout thrown in. The minifigs are great (though no jetpacks are included), and you can customize what you like on their helmets. I was surprised that rangefinders and sun visors were included for all four minifigs, so you can mix and match the looks you prefer. Overall this set is really great, but I'm not sure it's quite worth $15. This feels like it should be more like $10-12, but it's licensed Lego. Oh well.

[Hound]

I got the Roadhog/Junkrat Overwatch set! I'm so close to having them all.