Leaderboard

Over the course of the next week or two, Jeff will release the new PERSONAL BLOG feature and a more in depth explanation of Brickpoints will be given at that time. Jeff and I have been discussing the whole Review/Content contest and we are going to make an announcement later tonight or tomorrow on a major change to the current contest. Basically, we are going to separate the reviews and the Blog/EC articles and double the prizes. This new blog feature will enable people to post their own content, then get approval from us. Instead of the current system of supplying it to us, then us converting it to suitable site material, this will make it much easier for us to get content on the site sooner and keep Jeff working on other site operations and additions, instead of converting word files. The new forum and blog setup will make the site a lot more member interactive and will enable the regular Joe to post some quality blog articles and content. As always, the site is a work in progress and we are never happy with the status quo. Look for my announcement sometimes in the next 24 hours.

So I know alot of people, myself included were thinking this year was going to be a little lackluster from a WOW standpoint. I have to say that I think I was wrong. We arent even halfway through the year yet and I must say I am very impressed. I know some of yall are hard to please and would argue otherwise. Here is your chance to chime in with your thoughts good or bad so far for the 2013 sets.

I must have the Family House .

I particularly am very satisified. There are just too many sets that I really like and will be buying before the end of the year. The ones I like the most are: - UCS X-Wing - Orthanc - Ewok Village - LOTR Ship - Jabba's Sail Barge Will add the Sidney Opera House for sure if it ends up being annouced too. A really good year in my opinion!

I like what the LOTR has to offer and Star Wars so far. My wallet does not. I'm very curious about the next SW battlepack and which direction that plan on taking those. I like what other themes are putting out, but I can't afford to spread myself so thin.

Here is a link to a similar thread that was started about a month ago. It's cool to see how we all got here IMO. Link: http://community.brickpicker.com/topic/3172-when-where-did-you-find-out-about-brickpicker/?hl=find%20brickpicker

All critters.... I am in the same boat----thinking about garage storage....but just not practical. All it takes is a mouse or 2 to eat up the boxes into nests and do their bidness all over everything...or a leak....mold/mildew smell. Not worth it. Interior closets for us. Packed like sardines. In the boxes they came in if shipped...or repurposed boxes from amzn if store bought

I caught the "Shipped my pants" on TV but not the other one. How did they get away with those and from the censors I'll never know.... Here's one I found when looking up some Monty Python.

These are pretty great. LOL.

http://club.lego.com/en-us/insidescoop/hobbit-designer/?icmp=COUS22HomeRE2ClubNewArticle Pretty cool article on the Hobbit designs.

I'd hate to bust Nicholas Groves' bubble, however...... he is not the king of the geeks!!

No need to apologize! Trust me I am still learning new things as the forum was just recently upgraded a few days ago. I am sorry if I sounded like I was complaining or something. What I was referring to is a new feature. If you look down and to the right of every post, you will see two arrows, a green "up" one and a red "down" one. If you agree with a post or want to thank somebody you can click the green arrow and that will count as sort of a point for the other member. Kind of the "likes" on facebook. If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask, everyone here is very friendly! Edit: TOK beat me to it!,

Considering the new forum and its features went online just five days ago, we all are new to this format. There isn't anything wrong about being courteous and saying thank you. Now we don't need anymore replies starting with the old "+1" at the beginning though; that is what the green up arrow is for.

And so it begins, the Death Star's price decline :)

Yes, do not pass Go and possibly someday collect $200.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXE5KYeHGDc&feature=player_embedded

Here's my two cents. If you're going to make the argument that the deal is always out there, I'm going to flat out tell you that you are wrong. Some of the members live in very affluent, upscale towns and cities. Places LEGO either sells strong or sells out. To say you just have to drive around harder is ignorance. I have gotten some insane deals, and I mean insane. 60 percent or more off is an easy thing to hit here come clearance time. I work hard at it, yes. I hit every Walmart, Target and Kmart within 45 minutes of me roughly every week or two. I like the thrill of finding an epic haul. Sometimes I'm at my 24hr Walmarts at 1 or 2 in the morning. But don't confuse things. My hard work only pays off because I live in a poor area of the U.S., one of THE poorest actually, and most people down here who are struggling to make gas, food, or rent money can't afford the high MSRPs of LEGO. So, they sit on the shelf until they have to move in the next line, and in comes the clearance deals. If I tried to replicate this back home in Atlanta, I can assure you my success wouldn't be anywhere near what I'm used to, even with more effort put in on my part. The fact is, some people will get lucky, some will get more out if they put more work in, but the true deciding factor determining your LEGO profitability aside from working captial is going to be the place, and thus the market, you live in.

It happens in July... Here is a link explaining the clearance times at Target. At Christmas, my target had a ton of Dino ones as well as cars. They made it to the 30% phase with a few making it to the 50% off phase http://www.allthingstarget.com/2012/06/15/target-70-off-toy-clearance-coming-in-july-2012/ Another likely explanation is that Target is sending them back to the manufacturer for credit instead of discounting some of the larger sets. Some stores may do that as well.

And then there's Chuck Norris...

I'm thinking this set may have a bit of a price spike at the end of the year and early 2014. The scene it is based on is from the second movie that will be released in December. Maybe this will increase secondary demand a little, not sure if it will be EOL at retail by then though?

This is absolutely friggin' hilarious as well as a beautiful work of art! Get ready to laugh! "How to challenge your dragon" by Fool on PixelJoint

Original theme song all the way! Fun Trivia = The co-writer of the 1987 theme song was Chuck Lorre, creator of Two and a Half Men and The Big Bang Theory! EDIT - The most recent theme pays homage to the original, so it gets points for that at least.

Friends sets are adorable and they're partly responsible for me getting back into Legos. When I saw the theme at first, I thought they were cute, but thought it didn't really fit in with regular Legos. Around the same time, a friend at work built his own modular house and I'm like, that's so cool, Legos are awesome. I grew up with Legos and matchbox cars and became an engineer. So looking online, I bought some regular sets for myself. Then I got the Friends Horse Stable for Christmas. Haha! I wasn't sure about it, but opened it and built it and the thing is soooo cute. For some reason, I thought the minifigs of Friends were a lot larger than the traditional minifigs, but that's not true. They coincide just fine. Different, yes, but can still work together. What's more, I adore the unique colors and shapes and such available in the Friends sets. When I think of things I'd like to build, I really like the opportunity to use brighter colors along with the traditional colors. I'm a horse person, as many girls are, and the horses are probably the best ones Lego has designed so far. What's interesting is the many different versions of horses over time. These things are a hit with girls, but some of the price points might be an issue for parents buying for kids, if they're being marked up in the future. For investment, it would have to be well-to-do persons buying for kids, or other adults. Not sure how that's going to play out in the future but if anyone is looking for the parts, there is that too. I'm buying to collect for myself with an extra set here or there, just in case.