the vynsane asylum

My Fire Brigade Set arrived today!

Edit. The Fire Brigade is so awesome, I immediately ordered the Grand Emporium to go with it. I also ordered a $3.99 Police Motorcycle because I realized when they give you the 'Double points" you are one point shy of getting the next $5 redeem. So the 299 pts on the Brigade only netted me $10 instead of $15 (which I realize would still roll over until the next purchase, but still). With this purchase, I'll now have $30 in credit. Cool.

I also keep finding more and more stuff I want thats only on the website. In addition to the two trains and the Space Shuttle, I'm now eyeing the King's Joust Tournament(coming in January) and the three Winter Village sets.
My next purchase is definitely the Emerald Night though.

And Holy Crap the Executor looks awesome. When I told my son its bigger than he is, his eyes went all saucer-like. Too bad George Lucas prices that shit right out of the realm of possibility. Greedy ass.

My Grand Emporium arrived first thing this morning. Thank you Lego and Fed-Ex for your prompt, FREE delivery!!

I haven't opened either one, but seeing the two Modular sets next to each other is a beautiful sight.

Those look like some really cool sets you got.

Brickset has a couple more pictures of the superhero sets, dinosaur sets, and next year's city sets.

Black Pearl, anyone?
http://toysnbricks.com/usa-target-lego- ... ack-pearl/

Target USA is having loads of LEGO clearances right now with savings up to 50% off. Forum members cowbug and PerryShops informs us that the most recent find is the new just released LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean 4184 The Black Pearl for $49.99 (reg.$99.99). Note however that clearance prices may differ depending on location. Please visit our LEGO Sales & Deals Forum for more details.

Hot damn! If any of you guys see a $49.99 Black Pearl I'll take one! Even with shipping that's a great price.

it's really odd, because the black pearl just came out the first of this month. target clearances never make sense to me - i got three of those large Space Police sets (galactic enforcer) for 50% off each, then 6 months later it was the Black Friday special... for 30% off!

We checked 2 Targets today. No Black Pearls.

I don't know if the double points reward incentive extends into next month, so I made one more purchase today and got the Emerald Night train. Kinda wish it had a another car or two. Or that they sold individual cars like they used to.

I also opened and built the Alien Conquest Earth Defense HQ. A very cool set, but I wish they sold the little blue fighter and alien UFO as a separate set. That way you can build a decent fleet of ships for both sides. But the set had a bunch of cool bricks I don't think I've seen anywhere else, like the little laptop.

I've already come up with a backstory that integrates into the rest of the Space theme. Much like the M-Tron and second Blacktron sets, the ADU Corp. is a private contractor corporation that was specifically subcontracted to deal with an unknown alien infestation. They are looked on with disdain by the regular Space Guys (aka the Vintage Red, Yellow, White, Blue, and Black Spacemen) who are the officially sanctioned Exploration and Research team.

Rollo Tomassi wrote:I don't know if the double points reward incentive extends into next month,

it doesn't, but there are some '50 bonus VIP points' incentive sets next month - i don't know what they are, however.

so I made one more purchase today and got the Emerald Night train. Kinda wish it had a another car or two. Or that they sold individual cars like they used to.

good move - it looks like it's going to get the axe soon. i'm with you on the 'more passenger cars' thing.

I also opened and built the Alien Conquest Earth Defense HQ. A very cool set, but I wish they sold the little blue fighter and alien UFO as a separate set. That way you can build a decent fleet of ships for both sides. But the set had a bunch of cool bricks I don't think I've seen anywhere else, like the little laptop.

yeah, there are also a TON of the new 1x2 45deg. slopes with the two plates cut out of the back, one of my new favorite pieces.

I've already come up with a backstory that integrates into the rest of the Space theme. Much like the M-Tron and second Blacktron sets, the ADU Corp. is a private contractor corporation that was specifically subcontracted to deal with an unknown alien infestation. They are looked on with disdain by the regular Space Guys (aka the Vintage Red, Yellow, White, Blue, and Black Spacemen) who are the officially sanctioned Exploration and Research team.

see, i went the other way - that the ADU was the agency that made way for the exploration of classic space, futuron, etc. in my mind, it bridges the gap between TOWN/CITY and SPACE. CITY was attacked by aliens, so the ADU was created to defend CITY. then, in order to expand the amount of protection earth got, SPACE was formed to 'seek out new life and civilizations'.

I've incorporated the ADU with the Space Police. I have all of the current NASA-esque sets, but I haven't really thought how they relate to the ADU/Space Police theme. However, the gas tanker and the fire truck go together well with them.

The last three sets I put together were the Space Shuttle, King's Castle, and the ADU Command. I was trying to think of a story that involved all three of them.

Rollo Tomassi wrote:The last three sets I put together were the Space Shuttle, King's Castle, and the ADU Command. I was trying to think of a story that involved all three of them.

Only because it is Halloween....

vynsane wrote: it doesn't, but there are some '50 bonus VIP points' incentive sets next month - i don't know what they are, however.
good move - it looks like it's going to get the axe soon. i'm with you on the 'more passenger cars' thing.

Yeah, thats why I went for the older sets first. I figure since they came out in 2011, the Maersk train, Modular Pet Shop, and Space Shuttle will be around for at least another month or two.
Next up I think I'm going to get the Winter Village sets, starting with the ToyShop and Bakery. Hopefully they are some of the incentive sets.

see, I went the other way - that the ADU was the agency that made way for the exploration of classic space, futuron, etc. in my mind, it bridges the gap between TOWN/CITY and SPACE. CITY was attacked by aliens, so the ADU was created to defend CITY. then, in order to expand the amount of protection earth got, SPACE was formed to 'seek out new life and civilizations'.

I was thinking of going that direction, but I kept running into 'Prequel syndrome'. The ADU vehicles are hella more sophisticated than the vintage Space sets. And they're more sophisticated than any modern City stuff. So for me the ADU is the cutting edge privately funded state of the art equipment, while the Vintage Space guys are still working with older rundown stuff.

Rollo Tomassi wrote:The ADU vehicles are hella more sophisticated than the vintage Space sets. And they're more sophisticated than any modern City stuff. So for me the ADU is the cutting edge privately funded state of the art equipment, while the Vintage Space guys are still working with older rundown stuff.

i see what you mean about the sophistication of their technology, but that can be hand-waved. really the only vehicle that looks space-worthy is the "vic viper" fighter from Earth Defense HQ - everything else the ADU has is either atmospheric or ground-based. the fighter could be a prototype built using captured alien technology, so it was super-expensive to develop and too costly to replicate. it also requires the entire crew of the Earth Defense HQ as support team to operate it, not to mention real top-level pilots to fly it.

i also forgot to mention that i tied CITY in through the 'spaceport' sub-theme from earlier this year - CITY started sending rockets and shuttles into space which caught the attention of aliens who then attacked. in retaliation, the ADU was formed. then, after the invasion was repelled, we started to explore more deeply into space.

Yeah, thats why I went for the older sets first. I figure since they came out in 2011, the Maersk train, Modular Pet Shop, and Space Shuttle will be around for at least another month or two.

Next up I think I'm going to get the Winter Village sets, starting with the ToyShop and Bakery. Hopefully they are some of the incentive sets.

the pet shop should be around for another year at least, it just came out a few months ago. the 'Shuttle Adventure' set came out last year before christmas, because that's when i got it, but its production was halted because of stability issues. it was redesigned and relaunched (no pun intended) as 'Shuttle Expedition' sometime the middle of this year. i don't know if they expanded the availability date of that one due to the revision.

the maersk train might be the one to keep an eye on. the 'maersk line container ship' recently vanished from stores with little to no warning after only about a year or so of availability. the train might be the best one to get next if you have the means.

i just got the winter village toy shop and bakery this month to get the double VIP points and the free 2011 holiday set (part 1 of 2). hopefully winter village post office is one of the 'bonus 50 vip points' sets next month so i can be all caught up on those, and get $70 towards the $100 necessary to get 2011 holiday set (part 2 of 2).

Probably gone now, but I got two each of two different mini-packs at Target. Since they were in the Halloween section (though I can't fathom anyone giving out $4 Lego sets), they were half off. Eight bucks for two copters and two Ninjago... somethings.

anarky wrote:Ninjago... somethings.

was it this one?

http://brickset.com/detail/?set=30080-1

i've got some know-it-all at ToysNBricks.com arguing with me that certain polybag sets 'never go on clearance'.