Month: March 2012

Another dozen or so clones showed up in the mail, ready to join my LEGO Clone Army:

Here is a photo of a mix of clones I own. I actually think a majority of the clones I own are still MISB in battle packs I have yet to open:

I received some nice packages in the mail today, adding more minifigs to my LEGO Star Wars clone army, imperial army, and rebel army.

First up, more battle packs:

And next a few minifigs including Wolfpack clones. I want to get even more of these this year:

Town Hall has arrived in the Rockefeller Center store in NYC. Let’s take a look…

It’s still pretty amazing to me that LEGO is paying to have a large store right in front of this landmark:

Town Hall, and a pretty amazing view of Rock Center. Interesting to see the scale difference between these four sets:

The Rockefeller Center store:

Star Wars sets, plus Cars:

I just love seeing those three big sets next to each other on the shelves. That Death Star box has been on the shelves for years!

Technic:

They used to have a small counter here, but got rid of it.

City:

Odd that they put Town Hall at child-level. You would think a brand new $200 set would be positioned at adult-eye level. Also odd that the Super Heroes sets are shoved in the corner there. Nice to see Medieval Market Village still graces the shelves:

More City, including Bank Transfer:

Still some red box Ninjago sets in stock:

Tower Bridge is another set they put down at kid-level:

Lots of purple… Friends:

Loads of Harry Potter still in stock too. When Diagon Alley finally sells out, I think that will be a hot set on the aftermarket. Very unique to the overall lineup:

I took a trip over to the Toys R Us in Times Square NYC to check out their latest LEGO offerings…

Times Square, the Toys R Us is just to the right:

Outside of Toys R Us is a community of characters, all waiting to take their photos with you, for a small tip:

Here we are in mid-March, and TRU still has plenty of Star Wars Advent Calendars still in stock. At least they dropped the price to $35:

The main Star Wars section, a mixture of older sets and newer sets:

Still plenty of the Rebel Hoth Battle Packs in stock:

Millennium Falcons:

Pirates of the Caribbean:

Some of the LEGO sculptures that hover over customers:

Plenty of older collectible minifigs and snow man polybags:

The real gold, the exclusive sets:

Technic, and unbelievably, a good stock of Prince of Persia:

More Star Wars:

Some of the rarer sets to find in a Toys R Us:

More modulars:

The pricing is higher at this TRU because of the cost of real estate in Times Square:

They mislabeled the “Super Star Destroyer” as the “Star Defender.” But at $399, that is standard retail for this set:

I hate to say it, but in a battle, the Mega Bloks sculpture would blow away the LEGO sculpture:

City sets:

Pet Shop was priced at MSRP as well:

Imperial Shuttle has a significant markup:

Still plenty of Harry Potter in stock. $37.99 for the regularly $19.99 Quidditch Match set:

Dino:

Alien Conquest still not moving:

Super Heroes:

City:

It was nice to walk up to my local LEGO Store and see Town Hall prominently displayed in the window:

They only had one box on the shelf, with a big dent on one corner, but luckily they had more in the back, one of which I bought.

Amazing how many high priced collectors sets LEGO has in stock now:

A wall of LEGO:

Still plenty of Pirates of the Caribbean in stock:

They were preparing a special Friends-themed promotion:

Buckets of very cool pieces:

You can see the final promotional piece just below the counter – an ice cream stand:

They also got dark red 1×2 bricks back in stock on the Pick A Brick Wall:

Still have the big dragon in stock:

Plus lots of Dino:

Mindstorms and Technic:

Alien Conquest is still hanging around:

They can finally keep Super Heroes sets in stock:

Three HUGE Star Wars sets, plus many others:

The monthly mini model builds for 2012 so far:

Easter polybags:

Friends:

City:

This wedding set was out of stock for awhile:

First time I remember seeing Super Heroes magnets:

Excited to start building LEGO Town Hall #10224. At 2766 pieces, it is going to be a big build! I love the dark orange color of the building – a nice tone that should fit in well with the rest of the street.

The box, with a different orientation than the other modular boxes:

Back of the box, always interesting to see which 2 other modulars they feature:

The price… by far the most expensive modular, but also the biggest. My gut is this is more for the adult collector anyway, so going bigger may be an experiment for them.

The contents of the box.

The three manuals. Level 2 is the thinnest:

The first modular (I think) that has a single baseplate instead of two put together:

All the bags for the first floor:

A few bags for the second floor:

And all the bags for the third floor and roof:

Excited to get started!

My wife has quite the sense of humor. After a recent thrift store outing, she came home and announced she got me a box of vintage LEGO, with original box, manual, etc. She then presented me with this:

I am fortunate to have a wife who not only supports my LEGO hobby, but has a sense of humor about it. So, for 50 cents, we are the proud owners of a vintage Brix Blox set. Looks as though it is from the 1970’s, and marketed through Sears. Let’s take a peak inside the box:

The pieces are larger, similar to Duplo, but have a harder feel than Duplo, much more like regular LEGO. They fit together with a satisfying click and feel. Just basic shapes and colors. Here is the manual:

Inside you are reminded of the simplicity of plastic building blocks prior to the 1980’s, where everything is constructed from large rectangles. “Boy on wagon” is one of the more interesting suggestions in the manual:

You are certainly reminded of the imagination aspect of these vintage toys, especially when looking at “freighter or “chicken”:

All in all, it was fun to check out the set. But, I think I will stick with LEGO.

A nice package arrived today with 12 sets of #9488 Star Wars Elite Clone Trooper & Commando Droid Battle Packs. I got a really good deal on them, and really like the two clone troopers included. I am trying to find the time to take a photo of my clone army, and my fleet of Republic Gunships.