the vynsane asylum

anarky wrote:Turns out it's a false alarm. Upon closer inspection this morning, I put the hip piece on backwards, not realizing it had two differently-sized holes.

you need more practice

Speaking of incorrectly assembling LEGOs, I bought that big $100+ AT-AT for my son for Christmas, and my younger sister (she's 24) decided she was going to help him put it together amidst the chaos of Christmas morning. She hadn't assembled LEGOs since she was 10 years old. Needless to say they completely assed the entire thing up and the head wouldn't attach to the body. Which of course she blamed on missing parts and what not. Seeing how big and complicated the entire thing was, I didn't feel like disassembling the entire thing to figure out where they had messed up.

He also got the TIE Defender and lost a few key bricks after dumping it out all over the floor covered with discarded wrapping paper and other gifts so that we couldn't attach any of the three wings to the cockpit.

I guess the morale here is...LEGOs are FUCKING EXPENSIVE.

Rollo Tomassi wrote:[...] lost a few key bricks after dumping it out all over the floor covered with discarded wrapping paper and other gifts so that we couldn't attach any of the three wings to the cockpit.

that's why the first page of every instruction booklet they print now has that graphic "don't open all the bags and and pour them out on the rug" and "do put them on a table".

Yes. Usually, we do them on the dining room table, but that was off limits due to Christmas Dinner preparations. Grandma (his grandma, my mother) actually got out the folding card table and pulled a couple of tupperware dishes out to dump the smaller easily loseable pieces in. Thats where the AT-AT was (pisspoorly)assembled, along with a couple other LEGO sets from that morning. But by the time the Defender was opened, the table was full of other sets. And I didn't know it had been opened and partially assembled until it was brought to my attention that some pieces were missing.

C'est la vie I guess. I wish he'd get hooked on LEGOs that weren't licensed by George "Greedy Fuck" Lucas though. My daughter likes Castle and Pharoah's Quest. He likes Star Wars. They also like Harry Potter, but I let their mom buy that for them. They got Hogwart's Castle from the other side of the family.

Also, on a complete tangent, who makes Pirates of the Carribean LEGOs and doesn't make the Black Pearl? Shameful.

Rollo Tomassi wrote:I wish he'd get hooked on LEGOs that weren't licensed by George "Greedy Fuck" Lucas though. My daughter likes Castle and Pharoah's Quest. He likes Star Wars.

use it as a lesson in value. one of my co-workers took his kids to the TRU in times sq. when they were having a Buy 2 Get 1 Free sale, and told his son, who had saved up a lot of money for this particular event, that he could get more LEGO for his dollar with non-SW sets, so he got a bunch of space police and others.

Also, on a complete tangent, who makes Pirates of the Carribean LEGOs and doesn't make the Black Pearl? Shameful.

it is odd, but since the first wave coincides with the new movie, it seems they wanted to feature the newest ship added to the mythos, and want to keep it to one flagship set per wave. there's a Pearl in the second wave, i believe.

You know what would be pretty bitchin'?

Star Trek LEGOs.

I'd plunk down $100 for an Enterprise with a saucer that opened up and had the bridge interior, complete with Kirk, Spock, and the rest. And the body section could have a little sickbay/engine room and/or transporter room with McCoy and Scotty. And a couple extra Red Shirts to die on away missions. Of course, the design of it would make displaying it problematic.

Then you could also have a Klingon Bird of Prey set with a few Klingons.

I can't LogIn at brickset.com and I can't figure out why not. I go to the Login page and type in my username and password. When I hit enter, it takes me back to the page as if I haven't done anything. Frustrating.

The LL928 story from the Comics section, here now revised and expanded for your enjoyment.

Back in the fall of 2009, I got back into Space LEGOs in a big way, and spent a few months and a few hundred bucks buying up all the old sets I'd always wanted and never had as a kid. The one set that had continued to elude me is the 928/497 Galaxy Explorer set. As one of the crown jewels of the vintage series it's very hard to come by without spending a lot of cash for it.
Well, if you know anything about the 928/497 set is that it has a few "unique" pieces in it including the two bricks with "LL928" on the side and the slanted brick with the giant Lego Space Logo on the front. In my search for the set on ebay, I discovered one person had an auction that wasn't for the entire set, but if you looked at the pics they had posted, they had ALL the unique and HTF bricks of the set. Since I have an abundance of Lego bricks that I've bought in bulk auctions, I figured I had the majority of the bricks I would need to finish the set if I had those unique pieces.
The auction was ending right during my cross country trek back to Iowa, but I had my trusty Balckberry with internet access so I could bid anytime anyplace from the comfort of my driver's seat flying down I-90. So I was waiting to bid on the set at the last minute, like you do. And it turns out the auction was ending right as I was driving thru the East Half of New Mexico. It's like the ONE FUCKING PLACE IN AMERICA THAT DOESN'T HAVE VERIZON COVERAGE. My Signal went out five minutes before the auction ended and came back ten minutes later. FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCKITY FUCK. Some douche got 50 bricks for $20 and built himself a Galaxy Explorer.

I'm still waiting for mine.

Rollo Tomassi wrote:The LL928 story [...]

I'm still waiting for mine.

many phrases can be used to describe it... the holy grail, the unicorn, 'eleanor'...

i'm wearing my Classic Space logo shirt i made on zazzle right now. i like to wear awesome shirts whenever i pick my daughter up from preschool, because it shows how awesome i am...

Rollo Tomassi wrote:...the East Half of New Mexico. It's like the ONE FUCKING PLACE IN AMERICA THAT DOESN'T HAVE VERIZON COVERAGE.

You obviously are not familiar with the section of the 60 freeway in southern California between Riverside and where it ends into the I-10.

God EP, I have never experienced that, but have arrived home in a tizzy only to find out that an ebay auction I was watching ended like 10 minutes earlier for a sadly low price.... grrrrrr.

Anyhow, I checked out the old Space Lego online - there was a lot more of it than I recall. In looking, my brother & I had sets that were released before they switched from blue & gray to blue & white as the predominant colors. We had Space Cruiser, but not Galaxy Explorer. Sadly the big wheels from our 6950 set are not there, it was one of my favorites. ><

The 6950 was one of the three "large" sets I had as a kid. I had that, the Cosmic Fleet Voyager, and the Space Supply Station base. Everything else was the small piddly vehicles.
I remember using the rocket as a tactical missile aimed at the "bad guys" way more than it was ever used as it's intended purpose to launch the satellite. In fact, I'm pretty sure I had no idea that was a satellite on top until I was much older and I said "ohhhhh...yeahh, that makes sense...."

I often see auctions for the 6950 on ebay. I've often thought about buying second one just to have a larger ground fleet. You could probably find one loose complete for around $20 if you were patient enough. You could probably find replacement tires for even cheaper.

The Lego picture in Rollo's signature makes me miss the old space Lego days. My mom says she has all my old Legos, as well as all the Legos my brothers had (and there is almost 16 years between me and my youngest brother). She already said I can take them if I want to "for the kids". I had space sets from the late 70s early 80s. My next brother had a castle and some city stuff from the early-mid 80s. My youngest brother would have had early-mid 90s stuff. I think I bought him some city sets for his birthday or Christmas, but can't remember what they were. We moved so many times, I doubt all the sets are complete.

Anyway, the new UFO and Outer Space sets look pretty nice. I already have the Space Shuttle and I'd like to get a few of the UFO sets.

We saw an exclusive Space Shuttle at the Lego store in Minneapolis (at the huge facking Mall of America or w/e). That set looked awesome - I had discussions with Jodi about somehow covertly getting it and bringing it home for later use as a Christmas gift, but it didn't come to pass.

just fyi on the large space shuttle set, 10213 "Shuttle Adventure" - there were design flaws with the eternal fuel tank that has been addressed with a service pack and updated instructions:

http://smashing-bricks.com/2011/03/11/l ... tructions/

if you contact LEGO customer service and mark it as a 'complaint' you're almost guaranteed to receive the parts pack. there are rumblings that the current version of the set is being retired in lieu of a revised version that may or may not have a different set number (10231 for the new version, vs. 10213 for the current one, reportedly).

for reference, this is the email i sent them, which has resulted in them sending me the parts pack:

To whom it may concern,

Recently, multiple online sources have stated that the set 10213 'Shuttle Adventure' had stability issues when first released, and that future editions of the set will include a revised set of parts and instruction sheet. It is also stated that a parts pack and additional instruction sheet are available to people who received the set before this running change will take place. I received this set for Christmas this past year, and while I'm highly satisfied with the over-all design and aesthetics of the set, the stability issue concerns me as I have a four year-old daughter who likes to take my assembled sets down from their shelf and play with them from time to time while I'm away at work. I would be none too happy if she were to be injured while attempting to retrieve the 'Shuttle Adventure' set from its perch - and while I will let her know not to without my supervision, that advice can only go so far. I also feel it is only fair that those who purchased/received the set before the revision was made have the opportunity to update their set to the new, higher standard design. Otherwise, it seems those individuals are penalized for being the first to give the LEGO company their hard-earned money. I thank you in advance for your assistance in this matter.