Progress and a Few Little Sets

It's been a while since my last update but I've been hacking away at sorting pieces. I'm in the middle of light gray and I only have blue and the random smaller colors left. We're so close. I hope I'll be able to build and update a few of my old sets each week. I've ordered a couple of new sets that should be arriving on Thursday, one is a Lego Movie set as I haven't bought any of those yet and the other is another City set. There is so much coming out right now for summer it's hard to have to sit back and not buy stuff. But I feel that my priority, aside from the aforementioned sets, should be getting what I already have built and taking inventory of what I want to part together that's old and what my town / city will be in need of and what I plan to build MOC. It's super exciting the possibilities. I'm currently in thoughts of how to incorporate the Castle and Pirate themes into my town / city set up because I really like those themes but do not feel my creativity lends itself to older things. I thought about maybe creating a medieval castle theme park piece and a pirate village part. I'm not big in to space so that will probably be left out except for an idea I had for some sports teams. I have so many ideas I can't imagine getting to them all but hopefully I'll be able to get to a good portion of them.

Anyway, the stuff to showcase for this week.

Set 60058: SUV with Watercraft. I thought this set would be a great addition to my mountain lake or ocean set up. More water recreation that I really like.

I haven't been the biggest fan of vehicles getting larger but I do like how in some instances they are making more vehicles that hold more than one person. It always seemed a little ridiculous when you'd get one of the houses and there would be a husband and wife but only one person could sit in the vehicle and the other either had to apparently stay home or ride on the roof.

I like the minifigures with this this set. You could really have them be anything, father and son, best friends, etc.

Ridin' the waves!

The next set is another City set that I hadn't actually intended to get. Set 60017 Flatbed Truck. The vehicle is so monsterously huge and really, how many tow trucks does a city really need anyway. But I did like the car that came with the vehicle and then I remember all the little dinky tow trucks I do have and how they probably wouldn't be able to tow the huge vehicles of now so I decided that I would pick it up. Amazon had it on sale too so that helped.

You can fit a passenger if you stick their arm in the air all weird

Our cute minifigures!

I thought this guy was especially adorable

The next one is Set 40078 Hot Dog Stand. I love food stand / cart sets, so when I saw this polybag which was apparently a free set for July orders in 2013, I had to snag it. It's super cute! I'm planning a carnival / circus set up with The Fairground Mixer and some added things, this will be great with it.

I like the minifgures in this set pretty well or at least one of them. I'm kind of not a fan of that lady's shirt and now it's my second set to have it. The Fairground Mixer has it as well. I wish there was more of an abunance of womens shirts.

Love his little gotee!

You didn't want mustard on that?!

And of course, I have to draw attention to another Lego element obsession. The bike. These were pretty rare back in the 80s and 90s and only came in white, black, and red during that time period. I was always excited to get a set with a bike. And not only does this set come with a bike but it comes in an awesome blue color I don't have!!!

So that's pretty much all for my current purchases. I did build another set but since this is already a long blog and it's a larger set, it will have to wait for next time. As stated in the beginning, the sorting is coming along, about the only thing slowing it down is the weather and keeping the Lego room cool while I'm in there. I am experimenting with many things.

Happy Building!!!!

Happy Birthday, it's the Lego Store!!!!!!

So, last entry I let you all know that I would be visiting my nearest Lego Store, which is almost 100 miles away last Saturday for my birthday. I do not have pictures of the store because it was a very open an crowded store and I feel awkward not being able to take discreet photos. I suppose I should get a Google Glass...NOT! Anyway, it was pretty cool. There were several of the more expensive sets on display, such as Set 71006: The Simpsons House,  Set 10243 Parisian Restaurant, and Set 10232: Palace Cinema. It was cool because I got a better idea of the size of each set, more so the Parisian Restaurant and the Palace Cinema because those are both sets I'd like to get and it was nice having a point of reference for their size. The Simpsons House is cool but I'm not in to The Simpsons enough to justify the price point, also because I wouldn't know how to incorporate it into my main set up. I do plan on collecting the minifigures, which are reported to be the next collectible series after The Movie Minifigures. I'm not a big fan of these two series in place of the main minifigure line and will be happy to return to the normal figures when the new Lego MMO comes out that uses the figures.

Other features of the store included a pretty decent pick a brick wall and a wonderful station to part together 3 minifigures for $9.99. It seemed a little expensive because I'm pretty sure I can part together figures with more options for less than that using pick a brick at Lego.com and Bricklink.com but I partook for the novelty and came up with 3 solid figures. So, now more details on the loot! I didn't have a lot of money to spend this trip but I came away with some good stuff.

The Loot!!!!!!

So, the first set is a first purchase from the Lego Cuusoo line. I really want to support this effort because I think it's awesome, so I plan on purchasing anything that I think I will even remotely enjoy, even if it's just for the minifigures, which is what attracted me to 21103 The Delorean Time Machine. I'm impressed with the packaging for this set. The box (which I should have taken more pictures of, is different than your regular lego box and felt way more collectible than a normal box (I don't save my boxes, I don't intend to ever sell my Legos so there is no real reason to junk up my house with boxes) so I will actually be saving it.

Back of the box shows you can choose to build one of the three different designs from each of the movies

High Quality Instruction booklet

Movie info with English and French text

The set was pretty easy to build and I went with the design from the first movie as it was the one I was more familiar with and because I liked the moving doors option. I had read some reviews that there were some issues about the doors or some of the pieces falling off easily but I found that if I handled it delicately things stayed in place. Some parts did fall off during the building process but they seem to be doing fine now.

I finally have a brick separator!!!!!

This set came with some great specially printed pieces. All the must-haves of the DeLorean. Thankfully no stickers, unlike the next set.

California OUTATIME License plate!

Flux Capacitor!!!!!!

And of cousrse the dashboard that let you know "when" you were and "when" you were going.

I love, love, love the minifgures. They are the first flesh colored minifgures I've ever had. The Star Wars sets that I won don't actually have the flush color yet, that's how old they are. Fun fact: according to the book Lego Minifigure Year by Year: A Visual History, minifigures were given the yellow skin color so that they could represent any race. Anyway, they really made the set for me, particularly because apparently this model was not built to accommodate them sitting inside the vehicle, which for someone that does not intend to use Legos just to "display" it's a little disappointing. I am considering doing a mod on it to allow for the minifigures to sit inside so it can go roaring through Legoland but that will be later in the future.

Next up is the custom minifigures that I parted together from their bin. The didn't have any wonderful accessories so I ended p with 2 red mugs and 1 pot but I was able to sift through and find some pretty cool pieces to part together.

The above figure is actually my favorite of the three. He almost ended up with brown pants and a different hairstyle but the cool jeans I randomly found off in a corner and the hair I reached in and happened to pluck out of the probably thousand head pieces that were there. I kind of have him pegged as a gamer and maybe do a local video game shop or arcade build for him. I think he's pretty cute too. Maybe he'll have to be my date on Valentines Day. XD

The above would probably be my least favorite of the two. Her pants are actually a navy blue though they look black in the picture. I see her as a teacher, particularly a French teacher in a possible school or high school build.

I see mob boss or casino owner for this guy. I love his torso and would love to use it in another planned secret build, so hopefully I can find it at Bricklink.com.

The last item today is Set 60057 Camper Van. I wanted this so badly when I saw it in the December catalog and it was a must have for me. It reminded me of Set 6351 - Surf N' Sail Camper, which I actually have from my childhood. I kind of see a "friendly" rivalry between the two men of each set. One with a clearly bigger "rig" than the other. Trying to outshine each other and whatnot. =)

I'm probably a newbie to this concept but I was surprised when I opened the box and found that there were two instruction booklets. One for the interior of the camper and one for the exterior. I think it helps to do this because it keeps the correct parts organized and you're not hunting as much for things.

Unfortunately, this set comes with my Lego kryptonite, stickers!!! I am terrible at apply stickers without them being crooked and off-center. Usually takes me a few tries and even then they aren't "perfect." I wish more pieces were pre-printed but I imagine it costs more money to do that. My sticker application was decent this time around, so it wasn't that bad. I have gotten a bit better over the years.

Big canoe piece, wondering if this is anything like the canoes in the Native American Western Sets

Interesting use of pieces. This window piece.........

Back to back with the same window piece.....

Creates awesome legs for a table. I'd love to use this with a 4 x 4 studded plate piece

Base is finished!!!!

Love this HDTV sticker! I'd love to make some of these myself if I can improve my drawing skills.

I love these! They are circular flat topped pieces. I would love to get them in different colors to use as poker chips for a casino build. Perhaps make a sticker to put on them for monetary value.

Hinged side an removable roof for easy cabin access.

Plenty of rooftop storage for the gear!

A change in life jacket design. Although the new one (left) looks more realistic, I'd feel safer in the older one (righ^_^t).

The happy couple is ready to go on their camping trip. Now I just need to build them a mountain and a lake.

All in all I'd say I got a pretty good haul from The Lego Store. It was fun seeing what it was like and taking part of the different novelties. I could see myself making a trip down there for some of the sets that have been sold out and retired online that people that are just in it for collection and selling charge outrageous prices for, but it being about 100 miles away, I think I will still do most of my ordering online.

Happy Building! ^_^

"Everything is Awesome!"

The title might fool you in to thinking that this is a post about The Lego Movie but it isn't. But that quote popped into my head today as I opened the mail and found that Lego had sent me a $20 giftcard for my birthday! How did they know LEGO was in my birthday plan?! =D So, that's what I first thought, then after an entire day, my friend informed me that she sent me a gift card from Lego.com, but for some reason it didn't say who it was from so it truly looked like Lego just gave me a gift card. I am grateful that my friend is supporting my hobby and gave such an awesome gift.

I have more content to add because some pieces I had ordered also arrived today and I have a group of stuff to add. Last year when I had attempted to start my Lego project, it was kicked in to initial gear by seeing Set 7346 Lego Creator Seaside House. It reminded me of one of my favorite sets that I always wanted from the Paradisa Collection from back in 1992 that I always wanted but never got. Set 6411-1 Lego Paradisa Sand Dollar Café. I did acquire it last year and it will be up pretty soon. Both sets have inspired the creation of a beach area on the opposite side of town from the planned mountain area, so I have been collecting as many beach or sea themed sets as I can acquire, some of which will be displayed here. This set has actually been sitting a round in my laundry room for about 9 months when my last attempt at the Lego project went on a hiatus. I fell on financial hardship and was also temporarily distracted by the present my brother brought back from Japan. Another toy love I have is Sylvanian Families aka Calico Critters in the U.S. and my brother brought back this adorable cat family for me as a souvenir. I couldn't decide between the two hobbies and eventually abandoned both to go on a video games kick. I would love to give the Sylvanian Families the same treatment as the Legos but that will have to wait until a later time. Legos are what I have room and passion for.

I love the Seaside House and it has so many great features. I love the way they built the wave crashing up and the sand castle. It always amazes me how much more detailed and in-depth is in these sets are than what you find in the licensed sets and sets from the 80s and even the 90s, although the 80s and 90s are still my most favorite decades of Lego.

A new thing that I have noticed within Creator that I have really liked is an increased use of flat pieces. In the 80s in 90s they were rarely used, hard to come by, and easy to loose. Their most common application seemed to be the 1 x 2 flat piece used as a telephone receiver or printed like a piece of mail. I've seen so many great applications for tiled floors and walkways, food, and the general smoothing out of normally studded pieces.

Another great application of the flat smooth pieces has been enabling the removal the roof allowing for full wall builds that still allow access to the inside of the building. The jury is still out for me on this one because unless you yank out a wall, you only have an aerial view of the room, or at least in this set. There are other creator sets that explore the use of a swinging wall that I like. Probably combining all methods would in the end be best. As seen in Set 31025 Lego Creator Mountain Hut, it's built with a split room, which admittedly is not my favorite but as a whole the Creator sets are still pretty remarkable.

This poor guy doesn't have any furniture!!!! That will be remedied in the future as I get into personal creation and inspiration. There is a great idea book that I picked up on Amazon.com The Lego Ideas Book by Daniel Lipkowitz that showcases some great furniture building ideas. 

A couple more beach themed sets I picked up were some mini sets. This first one I got just after Christmas. Lego.com had had it on sale for the longest time but I never picked it up and by the time I got to it, it was sold out and not looking like it would come back in stock. Luckily I found it on Amazon.com at just below it's original price plus shipping from Lego.com. Amazon Prime 2-Day Shipping is wonderful and I encourage you to get it. It can really make a difference in price if you shop from Amazon a lot and it also has a wonderful instant video collection that goes along with it. Anyway, this particular mini set is pretty cool because it gives you everything you need for a beach barbecue and some minifigures found in previous minifigure series. It includes 8803 Series 3 Hula Dancer, 8804 Series 4 Surfer Girl, and 8684 Series 2 Surfer. The set is 850449 Lego Minifigure Accessory Pack.

The last beach themed mini set I got over this last summer. Set 40054 Summer Scene. It's super cute and has an element in it that you can't find (as far as I know in any other sets. And it goes perfect with the beach them. The baseplate is not included in either of these sets, I borrowed it from Set 6411-1 Lego Paradisa Sand Dollar Café. It seemed to be only available over the summer and now goes for an outrageous price on Amazon.com. Haven't checked Ebay's price for it.

Bucket piece!

Fill the bucket.......

With water!

So, very exciting for the beach set up. I will be picking up a couple blue baseplates and tan bricks to add to the beach and sea area and perhaps adding a dock and some sort of eatery.

Happy Building!