Lego Haul - 12/4/17

I finally broke down and spend some of my Lego store credit on various bricks to continue construction on several of my buildings.  I ended up using $20 to get these pieces, and I'll tell you how they are going to be used now.

 

The Lego haul from 12/4/17

• The blue 2x6 and 2x8 plates will build up the last layers of my hospital's walls.
• The green 1x4 and 1x6 plates will fill in the gaps in the plates surrounding my Trevi Fountaion, which will be the centerpiece of my Plaza.
• Most of the white plates and both of the 2x4 pink bricks are for display fixtures in the Bakery
• All of the brick yellow plates are for the roof to the Pony Farm office
• The two 1x4, two 2x10, and the 1x1x1 corner bricks are finishing the Police Station walls
• The 6x8 dark grey stone plates build up the walkway for the top level of the Watch Tower.  So are the 8 1x1x1 black corner plates, as they will be used to secure the staircases between levels.
• The 1x3 and 1x6 bricks are for the display shower in the Plumber Shop.
• The brown 2x4 brick is for the Cargo Terminal.

I think that covers everything.  I should upload a second picture of this image with labels on everything.  Then change my bulleted list to a numbered one.  I think I will...  When I get a chance to do so.

Lego Haul - 11/8/17

My name is Paul, and I have a problem.  I can't stop buying Lego's.

The Lego Haul from 11/8/17 

I splurged last month to take advantage of double VIP point last month.  This time around, I had to make sure I got a couple of sets before Lego ran out of stock and retired said products.

I'll be paying for it when the credit card bill comes...

40261 LEGO Thanksgiving Harvest contents (left) and fully assembled (right)

First up, I got the new seasonal sets.  40261 LEGO Thanksgiving Harvest, which isn't so much about sitting down for a meal or turkeys like previous sets.  I like the harvesting and farming theme this time around.  I'll split elements up between the Grocery Store, the Hardware Store, maybe the Pony Farm and Toy Store.  It should be good times.

40262 LEGO Christmas Train Ride contents (left) and fully assembled (right)

 40263 LEGO Christmas Town Square contents (left) and fully assembled (right)

Next, there are 40262 LEGO Christmas Train Ride and  40263 LEGO Christmas Town Square.  It's easy enough to place them, as they perfectly fit in with the Winter Carnival up in the mountains.  I may have to add another 48x48 Extra Large Baseplate to that area to hold all the extra things I'm looking to add there.  I'll play around with some ideas when I unpack all that stuff out to put in the living room for Christmas.

71349 Beetlejuice Fun Pack contents (left) and fully assembled (right)

I also got some Lego Dimensions sets.  My wife and I haven't had much time to play it in the last couple of months.  With school and social engagements, we haven't had much time to sit at home, but with the weather getting colder, we'll definitely be spending more time inside the house.

I orders a 71349 Beetlejuice Fun Pack, and you can never go wrong with Michael Keaton.  While I was putting him together with the game running on my Wii U, he made a joke about being playing Batman.  It was hilarious!!  God bless the best man to ever play Batman.

 71343 The Powerpuff Girls Fun Pack contents (left) and fully assembled (right)

71346 The Powerpuff Girls Team Pack contents (left) and fully assembled (right)

When I was a freshman in college I fell in love with The Powerpuff Girls.  I thought it was an amazing cartoon.  Seeing it and the other cartoons on Cartoon Network was my preferred Friday night entertainment.  I didn't care what my roommate or anyone else thought of it.  It's not like I was cool in high school, why should college have been any different?

I got both 71343 The Powerpuff Girls Fun Pack and 71346 The Powerpuff Girls Team Pack.  Sadly, these sets are based off the NEW PPG cartoon series and not the original.  I would have preferred the original voice actors to the new ones.  Oh well.

21312 Women of NASA contents (left) and fully assembled (right)

I was quite upset that I missed out on the Research Institute.  Lego did not make enough of them to handle the extreme demand for it.  So I sure as hell wasn't going to miss out on 21312 Women of NASA.

It's meant to be a display piece, but I'm thinking about breaking it up and moving the figurines into town to carry our some roles.  Margaret Hamilton would help develop code for drones and satellites.  Nancy G. Roman would design satellites themselves.  Mae Jemison and Sally Ride...  That'd be cool if they had an astronomy lab or major telescope to research what's out there in space.  They could work with Raj from The Big Bang Theory, as he IS an astrophysicist.

40253 LEGO Christmas Build Up contents

Lastly, I got a 40253 LEGO Christmas Build Up free with my order for spending enough money or whatever.  I was curious as to what came with this set.  Since the packaging and manual were labelled "24 in 1"

 40253 LEGO Christmas Build Up manual (left) and some constructed models (right)

This set gives the impression that it's LIKE an advent calendar with a new model to build every day.  It's true, but it's not like a normal Lego Advent Calendar set.  As you can see from the instruction manual, you'd be expected to take models apart to rebuild the next one.  Going through one model at a time, I was only able to make four items.  I plan to sit down one day soon to determine how many of each piece would be needed to assemble EVERY model in the instruction manual.  It's going to bother me when I determine how feasible it'd be to do so.

Now, I'd like to think that I won't be buying any Lego's anytime soon...  But I do have a niece and some nephews to get Christmas presents for.  I've also got a credit card bill to pay...

Meh, I think I can squeeze out a few more sets before Christmas...

Lego Haul - 10/20/17

Mid-October brought along a perfect storm of Lego.  The release of 10259 Winter Village Station, double VIP points on all purchases, free sets for VIP members and meeting a minimum dollar amount, no class for three weeks.  I ABSOLUTELY had to take advantage it.  So I did.

The Lego haul from 10/20/17

I'm going to go from largest to smallest here, so let's start with 10259 Winter Village Station.

I really wanted this set because it fits in with all the other Winter Village sets I have, plus it gives whatever train set I purchase in the future a destination.  Sure, there's the one in the in the city, but there's no point in having just ONE train station.  And it's much safer (and economically feasible) to take a train into the mountains than fly in.  Seriously, I don't want to design and build a SECOND airport.

 Contents of 10259 Winter Village Station

Contents of bags 1 fully assembled

The Winter Village Station gave me a few ideas for additional city development.  Now that I have a Lego designed railroad crossing, I have a format to follow to put my own in.  The train WILL have to cross a road at same point.  It's no longer a concern now, and that's awesome.

10259 Winter Village Station fully assembled

So now I've got the Winter Cottage, the Winter Carnival, the Winter Village Store, and Santa's Workshop, plus whatever else winter related in my collection...  I may be done with getting things for the Winter Village region...  Nah, I'm sure Lego will come out with something else I'll have to get.

Grandmother and grandson heading into the terminal to check go onto the train

Next up, we have the 21024 Louvre.  This is pretty much for decoration around the house, as my wife loves Paris and the rest of France.  I'll have to order a 21036 Arc de Triomphe to finish off the trinity of Parisian landmarks from the Lego Architecture product line.  Then I'll have to find a place to put them all, since space is limited.  I can't have ALL my Lego sets and things out for display.

21024 Louvre contents (left) and fully assembled (right)

As a Lego VIP member, I was able to get the 40178 LEGO Iconic VIP set with my $125 purchase.  Totally worth it, since I got $10 of store credit for future use.  Not sure what I'll go with this.  I'd put in my Lego mall if I had one, but that'd be too much work to design and build.  I could rob some of the items from here and put them into the Toy Store that will go in the town plaza.

40178 LEGO Iconic VIP set contents (left) and fully assembled (right)

Lastly, I got a 30609 LEGO Ninjago Lloyd minifigure free with my purchase as well.  Lego's got all sorts of sets out now to coincide with the Ninjago movie.  I don't plan on getting any of those, except for the minifigures.  Lloyd here will probably remain a civilian, since he's not in combat gear, but he could be a Marine with that sword and his skillset.  I'm sure he'd be a great patrolman, and a few of his Ninjago friends are already serving in the military.  I'm fine with whatever he decides to go with his life.

30609 LEGO Ninjago Lloyd minifigure fully assembled

Lego Haul - 10/19/17

I was in Moline, IL for an all-day meeting at work last week, and since it got out early, I took advantage of the free time to hunt for Lego's in the Quad Cities area.

There aren't as many people down there as the Twin Cities, but the nice thing is that they have two Toys R Us stores.  Sure, the MSP has some too, but they're halfway across the metro area.  I don't want to drive that far and contest with traffic.

The Lego Haul from 10/19/17

I also checked out the two Target's down there too, but I didn't find anything I liked at a price I wanted at any of the stores.  I did find a couple of exclusive Star Wars items from The Force Awakens, a 30497 First Order Heavy Assault Walker and a 30278 Poe's X-Wing Fighter, so I came home with them.

30497 First Order Heavy Assault Walker contents (left) and fully assembled (right)

30278 Poe's X-Wing Fighter contents (left) and fully assembled (right)

Both of these vehicles will join all the other small Star Wars ships at the Research Lab.  I've got way too many of these things, but I just keep buying them.  Four or five bucks every here or there for a model is nothing.

I suppose I could break everything down and just use all the pieces from everything for other purposes.  That seems like a lot of work though.  And I'm sure I'd have more pieces unused than used.

Who would win in a battle?

I don't know...  I'll don't think I'll ever figure it out.  Oh well, it's not the Lego destination, it's the Lego journey.

Lego Haul - 9/11/17

My wife and I were in Target, and we FINALLY saw some 71018 Series 17 minifigures there.  I only needed three to complete the series.

The haul from 9/11/17 

Like Meat Loaf said, "two out of three ain't bad".  I was able to get an Elf Maiden and  Butterfly Girl.  Rocket Boy wasn't there.

It was easy to feel up the packaging this time around, as all three minifigures don't have the standard length legs.  Both the Rocket Boy and Butterfly Girl have shorter, child-like legs.  The Elf Maiden has 2 x 2 x 2 slope brick to represent the bottom part of her dress.  All the non-standard legs made it to easy to find the ones I did.

The 71018 Series 16 Minifigures - Elf Maiden (left) and Butterfly Girl (right)

Finding Rocket Boy should be easy enough, with his rocket-shaped costume.  The trouble will be finding someone still selling these sets.  The LEGO Ninjago Movie minifigures are all the rage now in the Lego store.  I don't think I'm going to collect that whole series, as I have no idea what to do with them.  But now that I've taken a closer look...

BAH!!  I have to go buy more Lego's!!

Lego Haul - 9/10/17

I finally got a chance to go to the Lego store at the Mall of America last Saturday.  I originally wanted to get a large cup of bricks, some minifigures, and maybe a set or two.  Then my wife found the seasonal Halloween set.  I'm around ready to check out, making one last trip around the shelves and we saw some Lego Dimensions sets on sale.  So I grab one...  but my wife egged me on.  "Get another one, they're half off!!"  Such an enabler (but that's why I love her).

The Lego Haul for 9/10/17

It's been a while since I made such a large purchase at the Lego store.  But it felt good to do so.  There's a lot to cover here, so let's get to work.

Contents of my large Lego Cup

My large cup consisted of 2x4 bricks and nothing else.  15 white, 4 brown, 12 light blue, and about 100 pink.  The brown ones were for an additional layer to my police station.  The light blue are for redesigning the Princess Play Castle, and the pink and white ones for the Bakery I'm working on.

I haven't been seeing anything else good on the Pick-A-Brick wall at various Lego stores lately, so I think it's time to do an online order for bricks.  I've got my list ready to go, so I'll probably be ready to submit it in a week or so.

Contents of the 40260 LEGO Halloween Haunt

 40260 LEGO Halloween Haunt fully assembled with the gate closed (left) and open (right)

My wife loves Halloween mostly for the fun decorative items one can set up around the house.  Lego's are a great way to do that.  This year's set, the 40260 LEGO Halloween Haunt, is a great addition to my existing Lego sets.  I think I have enough for an outdoor Halloween haunted house-type thing.  I'll have to dig out the rest of my collection here in the coming weeks to help her get everything set up.

Contents of 60150 Pizza Van

60150 Pizza Van full assembled

Lego came out with yet another restaurant/food service type thing, and although I'm firmly in the belief that I have plenty of those kinds of sets and buildings, I had to get the 60150 Pizza Van.  Why?  BECAUSE THEY HAVE PIECES FOR INDIVIDUAL SLICES OF PIZZA.  Seriously, how can I be expected to say no to that?

I've got the Restaurant, a corner deli, separate pizza place, a grocery store, a coffee shop, a couple of hot dog carts...  There are plenty of places to eat in town.  I guess one more can't hurt.

But this is the end of it!!...  Maybe...

Three-pack of minifgures

I grabbed a three-pack of minifigures to get someone to run the Bakery, and maybe a couple of medical professionals as well.  So I grabbed a three-pack with some various accessories that could be used by others in town.

There is just one problem...  The dude at the register didn't ring them up...  Whoops.

I plan to, upon my next visit to the MOA Lego store, inform someone at my next checkout and square away my bill.

Lego's sales are down right now.  They don't need me walking out with merchandise that I didn't pay for.

Contents of 71248 Mission: Impossible Level Pack (left) and 71266 LEGO City Fun Pack (right)

71266 LEGO City Fun Pack (the first two two on the left) and 71248 Mission: Impossible Level Pack (last three on the right) fully assembled

Lego has recently started the next round of Dimensions game content updates and new sets to coincide with that.  This makes existing sets available on the cheap.  There's quite a bit of content my wife and I haven't unlocked yet.  Mainly because I rarely play it without her.  It's an activity for US to enjoy.  Especially when she unleashes on all the shit to break in the levels.  She's pretty good at figuring out some of the puzzles before I can as well.

She STRONGLY suggested getting some more sets, so I grabbed 71248 Mission: Impossible Level Pack and 71266 LEGO City Fun Pack.  It allowed us to unlock a few more levels in the game, and with the characters' abilities (like Ethan Hunt's x-ray vision), we can unlocked even more content.  Yay!!

 30428 Green Ninja Mech Dragon contents (left) and fully assembled (right)

Given the volume of stuff I purchased (regardless of how much I paid for it...), I got a free promotional 30428 Green Ninja Mech Dragon from the upcoming Lego Ninjago movie.  I don't plan on seeing it, as the Ninjago cartoon series or product line has never really appealed to me.  I'm just too old for it.  But a green dragon gives me an idea...

Uh oh, I'm thinking of building another restaurant.  Whelp. 

Everything fully assembled, surrounding the Bakery

Checking my list of the additional sets I want to buy...  Yeah, I'm going to keep have to keep going back there again and again and again...