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LEGO |OT 4| EVERYTHING IS AWESOME!

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What is LEGO?

LEGO (trademarked in capitals as LEGO) is a line of construction toys manufactured by the Lego Group, a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark. The company's flagship product, Lego, consists of colorful interlocking plastic bricks and an accompanying array of gears, minifigures and various other parts. Lego bricks can be assembled and connected in many ways, to construct such objects as vehicles, buildings, and even working robots. Anything constructed can then be taken apart again, and the pieces used to make other objects. The toys were originally designed in the 1940s in Denmark and have achieved an international appeal, with an extensive subculture that supports Lego movies, games, video games, competitions, and four Lego themed amusement parks.
Source Article





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The Lego Group began in the workshop of Ole Kirk Christiansen (7 April 1891 – 11 March 1958), a carpenter from Billund, Denmark, who began making wooden toys in 1932. In 1934 his company came to be called "Lego", from the Danish phrase leg godt, which means "play well".
It expanded to producing plastic toys in 1947. In 1949 Lego began producing the now famous interlocking bricks, calling them "Automatic Binding Bricks". These bricks were based largely on the patent of Kiddicraft Self-Locking Bricks, which were released in the United Kingdom in 1947. Lego modified the design of the Kiddicraft brick after examining a sample given to it by the British supplier of an injection-molding machine that the company had purchased. The bricks, manufactured from cellulose acetate, were a development of traditional stackable wooden blocks that locked together by means of several round studs on top and a hollow rectangular bottom. The blocks snapped together, but not so tightly that they required extraordinary effort to be separated.
The Lego Group's motto is det bedste er ikke for godt which means 'only the best is good enough'. This motto was created by Ole Kirk to encourage his employees never to skimp on quality, a value he believed in strongly. The motto is still used within the company today. The use of plastic for toy manufacture was not highly regarded by retailers and consumers of the time. Many of the Lego Group's shipments were returned after poor sales; it was thought that plastic toys could never replace wooden ones.
By 1954 Christiansen's son Godtfred Kirk Christiansen had become the junior managing director of the Lego Group. It was his conversation with an overseas buyer that struck the idea of a toy system. Godtfred saw the immense potential in Lego bricks to become a system for creative play but the bricks still had some problems from a technical standpoint: their locking ability was limited and they were not very versatile. In 1958 the modern brick design was developed but it took another five years to find the right material for it. The modern Lego brick was patented at 1:58 p.m on January 28, 1958;bricks from that year are still compatible with current bricks.
Source Article
Shamelessly stolen from Wetwired's OP for the last Lego thread.





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Click the logo to be taken to the Lego home page for the theme.


Probably the most diverse and all encompassing theme for Lego sets out there. Almost all sets come with complete instructions for three different models. Sets include things ranging from dragons to eagles, cars to jets, and houses to robots. One of the most well regarded themes going right now, and the best gateway sets to introduce someone to Lego.


One of the most popular and enduring themes in Lego history. It focuses on city life and normal city services. Popular sub themes include Fire Fighters, Police, and Construction. 2014 brought us Arctic Drillers, and Coast Guard services too.


Introduced in 2012 to much controversy, Friends was a series designed mainly to appeal to girls. Featuring unique figures unlike any other Lego series, the sets also feature bricks in very unique colors such as pastels and pink. The uniqueness of the brick colors make this a popular theme with collectors.
Don't be put off by the girly nature of the sets, as the sets are still full blooded Lego goodness, and feature many neat and advanced building techniques. It also represents good everyday life items and scenes that seem woefully unserved by the City theme.


Featuring the mini doll style of Friends, but with popular Disney characters. A relatively new line, with much more to come.


One of the biggest selling themes for Lego, the Star Wars theme encompasses not only the film series, but also the animated Clone Wars series as well as extended universe properties like The Old Republic. The cream of the crop from this line is the Ultimate Collector's Series (UCS) line. Massive sets focused on extreme detail and meant to be displayed proudly.


Featuring some of your favorite super heroes from Marvel and DC. Many sets are on the smaller side, as the big appeal of this theme is the array of mini figures. But there are some fantastic builds from them as well.


You can't keep a good ninja down. One of the best selling themes ever, LEGO took it out of circulation in 2013. But due to overwhelming demand, Ninjago made its triumphant return in 2014.


What was supposed to replace Ninjago as the main original theme, Chima got off to a rocky start in 2013. Some solid and inspired sets and unique mini figures make this a fun theme, but nowhere near the level of popularity of Ninjago. Much to LEGO's surprise. Things turned around in 2014, with a lot of really neat and solid sets.


Hero Factory returned in 2014, and the rebirth of Bionicle is not far behind either.


Heroes in a half brick! Turtle power! Tied in with the new Nickelodeon cartoon, the bodacious turtles made their LEGO debut in 2013.


Designed to recreate famous buildings in micro scale, this series appeals mainly to adults and make fantastic desk decorations. Some sets are vastly overpriced in the price per brick ratio, but some are amazing display pieces, such as Robie House.


For the truly advanced builder, Technic focuses more on the mechanical and engineering aspect of Lego. From gears and levers, to actual motors and pneumatics, these sets are both challenging and rewarding to assemble.


Technic a little too tame for you? How about building an actual working robot? Used in universities around the world to help teach robotics, the Mindstorms line has just been updated with the brand new EV3 kit.


Have an idea for a set? Upload it to the LEGO Ideas website. If it gets enough votes and approval from LEGO, it could become a real set that anyone can buy. Just look at what happened to Wetwired!


It started with one little micro world set, and then it became four. Now, Minecraft is exploding into a full fledged line, complete with mini figures!


Cute and fantastic little creatures. Each wave features three tribes, with three sets per tribe. Buy all of one tribe and download instructions for how to make a Max Mixel. Also very popular for MOCs due to the unique joint pieces.


Agents returned in 2014, and they are better than ever. A popular theme from many years ago, it features high tech spies and villains, and some ingenious vehicle designs.





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After the Kingdoms line has ended, Castle theme returns! One of the best loved themes from the 80s, fans can get their medieval brick on with brand new sets.


One theme to rule them all. Well, two technically. From Riddles in the Dark, to the Tower of Orthanc, this theme features some great builds and fantastic mini figures. Look for more Hobbit themed sets soon, including the release of Smaug!


Want to learn how to build your own LEGO sets like the pros? Look no further than the Master Builder Academy (MBA). Each set is themed to a particular style, and comes with instructions to not only help you build a model, but teach you new and neat techniques to make your own creations. Each level up increases in build difficulty, but also shows you newer and more advanced techniques to make fantastic models.



All currently available Lego themes





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In addition to all the regular themes, Lego also has sets and sub themes aimed at adult fans of Lego (AFOL) and those with deeper pockets.



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Star Wars Ultimate Collector Series (UCS): Prices range from $100-$500 MSRP
These sets are designed to represent the ultimate in detail and size for hard core Star Wars fans. The Sandcrawler shown is over 3000 pieces, and one of the largest LEGO sets ever released. Sets are generally released one or two per year, and kept in production for two to three years. After going out of print (OOP), values on these sets tend to skyrocket in the aftermarket. The white whale for many Lego Star Wars collectors is the UCS Millennium Falcon. Let’s hope they make a new Falcon for the release of Episode VII.



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Modular Buildings: Prices range from $150-$200 MSRP
Released at a rate of one per year for the last several years, the modular buildings are designed to mimic buildings seen on a normal downtown street. Beginning with Cafe Corner, a new building was released each year to keep the street growing. Beginning with Green Grocer (now OOP), the buildings started to feature extensive interior details. Like the Star Wars UCS sets, these tend to spike in price once going out of print.
These sets also feature a fantastic price per brick ratio, as sets average 2000+ pieces for only $150-$200.



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Lego Creator Expert: Prices range from $80 MSRP and up
From miniature modular buildings to the Mini Cooper. From Winter Cottages to Sydney Opera House. These sets, usually identified by their blue boxes, are timed exclusives to Lego stores and feature very detailed builds and high piece counts. These sets also spike in price in the after market after going out of print.





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One of the most iconic pieces of Lego, and what helps drive the collector craze. Not only do many sets come with unique mini figures, but Lego also releases a line of unique figures. Each series consists of 16 different figures, and it is a mystery as to what you get in each package.

Or is it? Many figure out tricks to decipher which figure is in which bag. One method is to know the dot code that is embossed on the packaging itself. This one is a bit trickier than the good ole feel method. Just feel the bag to figure out which figure is inside. The trick is to feel for unique pieces to certain figures, such as the unique wings that are on the Man Bat figure show above, or Santa's sack of toys. Is it an exact science? No, but it will help you get the figures you want to complete your collection.
There is also an active community in here for trading figures among users.



Wanting to display your mini figures? Our very own Wetwired, Lego Nut Extraordinaire has one of the coolest methods for displaying your collection:
Wetwired's Flickr Gallery of Minifigures

The frames are IKEA Ribba Frames.
 


What is the VIP program? It is a program at LEGO stores and on LEGO.com where you earn points for every dollar spent. For every 100 points, you get $5 in credit to use later at a LEGO store or on LEGO.com. Basically a free 5% rebate to use later.
Occasionally (usually October and March), LEGO runs double VIP days, where you earn 10% back instead of 5%. This is a great time to buy tons of stuff and accumulate points to redeem later.

In addition to earning points to use later, VIPs also sometimes enjoy exclusive sets like the wonderful Mini Modulars, and also get early access to new sets. This year VIPs were allowed early access to Palace Cinema, Tower of Orthanc, Ewok Village, and others.

TLDR: It pays to be a VIP member. And it is FREE.





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Below is one of the single most useful things you can own if you are into Lego.
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The new and improved Lego Brick Separator. You can buy it on its own, but over the last year Lego has been putting them in most moderately expensive sets, so it is easy to amass a collection of them.


What can you do with them?

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Easily separate bricks. Whether it be plates, bricks, or jumper plates.


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Use the flat edge to pop flat tile pieces off. Great when disassembling the Modular series.


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Use the technic peg at the top of the tool to remove axles and pegs.


But for the ultimate use of them, you need two of them for this dirty little secret:
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Use two to pull apart plates that are together, including the ultra annoying 1x2 tiles stacked on each other.





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So, now that you have amassed a large collection of plastic bricks, how do you store them? And how do you sort them?

There is no perfect or official way to sort your collection. But there are several popular methods for keeping your stash of bricks organized and neatly out of the way (to avoid fights from significant others).


1) Sort by type, not by color. If is far easier to find a red 1x1 brick in a sea of randomly colored 1x1 bricks than it is to find that brick in a sea of identically colored bricks of all sizes.
-Exception: If you have significant quantities of one particular color of a certain type of brick. It usually works out better to make a separate stash for that one brick in that one color. You will know when you get to that point. This is the preferred method of Wetwired and some others on here.

2) Organize bins by type: this is an extension of the above idea. Keep all your 1x? bricks separated in their own area, and all your 2x? bricks separated in another. Labeling your drawers/bins with what style (1x? tiles, 1x? bricks, 2x? bricks, wheels, windows, etc) makes it easier to find the parts you need quickly. Having a drawer with a pocket for wheels, and a pocket for 1x2 plates while your 1x3 plates are in another drawer just adds confusion.





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Again, it is all personal preference. Some prefer to keep their sets separate and in Ziploc bags. Some like to lump their entire collection together.

The three most popular methods (outside of custom cabinets for those lucky people) are:

Stanley Sortmaster
Small, stackable bins with adjustable pockets inside. Easy to stack in a corner or slide under the bed. Also fairly inexpensive, and easy to keep buying more as your collection grows.


Plastic storage drawers
Small, shallow, and easy to put on a table. These are clean and out of the way, and easy to label. The only issue is if you want to move the cabinets. The backs are usually open, so tilting the cabinet can result in pieces spilling out. However, if you don't move the bins much, these are very clean and easy to organize pieces.


Third is to use lots of these guys:

Separate containers for each piece type (or however else). This is nice because you can pull out only what you need, and if you need a larger bin you just dump your smaller one into the larger one and can keep expanding. Easily labelled, and cheap to buy as well. These are also nice to use when building a new set. I particularly like dumping a bag into a separate bin. It keeps things organized like they came in the box, but I still get to dig for pieces like all the psychos that mix them all.


Again, there is no perfect solution. You gotta do what feels right for you, and what you can do with whatever space you have in your home.

A gallery of my storage methods.

Or take a gander at Ryuuroden’s awesome storage drawers.

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The best thing about Lego is the infinite replay ability of it all. You can take a set apart and rebuild it, or you can take it to its logical conclusion and begin creating your own sets. This is referred to in fan circles as MOCing.


Wetwired's genius at work:
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He even got it made into an actual set!

Dark Knight Rises Batcave by Brent Waller, on Flickr

Some of Wetwired's work on display.

My Bookstore MOC:
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Gallery of images of the Bookstore

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Gallery of my Halloween diorama for 2013, which utilizes many Monster Fighters sets.


Ryuuroden’s amazing work:
Helms Deep 02 by LegoRyu, on Flickr

Aquarium Adventure by LegoRyu, on Flickr

Ruuroden's MOC gallery.
 
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These sets are ones that are usually very well regarded by many of us here on GAF. Many I will personally recommend, and others I have not secured yet but come highly recommended by other users on here. Links and prices are for LEGO USA.



76017- Captain America vs. Hydra (HAIL HYDRA!)- $19.99


70162- Infearno Interception- $29.99


31019- Forest Animals- $19.99


Mixels- $4.99 each.


Chima Legend Beasts Series- $9.99 each.





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21108- Ghostbusters Ecto-1
Why should you buy it? Because it was designed and brought to life by our very own Wetwired!
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70808- Super Cycle Chase- $49.99


70815- Super Secret Police Dropship- $79.99


76021- Milano Spaceship Rescue- $74.99





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70816- Benny’s Spaceship, Spaceship, SPACESHIP!- $99.99


10242- Mini Cooper MK VIII- $99.99


75054- AT-AT- $109.99


75055- Imperial Star Destroyer- $129.99


Modular Building Series. $149.99-$199.99


10244- Fairground Mixer- $149.99





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76023- The Tumbler- $199.99


75059- Sandcrawler- $299.99


10236- Ewok Village $249.99


10225- UCS R2-D2 $179.99


10240- UCS Red Five X-Wing $199.99


10188- Death Star $399.99


10234- Sydney Opera House $319.99


10237- Tower of Orthanc $199.99


70810- MetalBeard’s Sea Cow- $249.99





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LEGO Bionicle returns in 2015.

Rumors persist of Marvel finally getting an UCS set for the first time. Particularly the Helicarrier.

Jurassic World sets are coming. That means more dinosaurs!

A new modular building is set to be unveiled in November, 2014 for an early 2015 release. The working rumor is it is called “Detective Agency”.

And January is also bringing us this beauty:
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The only thing Fett will be disintegrating is your wallet.





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Minifig or Minifigure - The official name for the little LEGO men and women.
MOC - My Own Creation, the term used in the community to describe your LEGO creations.
Stud - The name given to the little protruding round circles on the top of LEGO bricks.
AFOL - Adult Fan of LEGO
TFOL - Teenage Fan of LEGO
TLC and TLG - The LEGO Company and The Lego Group respectively.





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(Click the pics for purchase links)
Stuff for kids and adults. Some contain exclusive mini figs inside (great for collectors and thieves), while some feature great building ideas and MOCs that many of us cannot begin to dream of creating ourselves.



















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EVERYTHING IS AWESOME!

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Great OT Phonciple, needs more LEGO Movie gifs. :p
But why did you post it in community, don't new OT's get a few days in OT?

So I will take the new OT to share my great success in easing off my LEGO addiction.
I haven’t bought a new set since the MINI, which I bought solely to display at work (BMW ;)). The odd Bricklink order has been placed since then, but nothing major.
The only thing I currently plan to buy is a set of the new Series 12 Minifigs.
oh ok, and Town Hall because I don’t want to miss a modular. Probably won’t build it anytime soon though.

On the one hand I am doing my best to save money at the moment, because we are thinking more and more about buying a place to live in rather than rent for all eternity. And the more money we have saved beforehand the better. I’m sure you will agree.
On the other hand there just is no room for more LEGO at the moment. My so’s patience would be wearing thin if I added significantly to the huge selection I have. Sadly I don’t have any place to have it easily accessible to play/build with. If I decide to build something on the weekend it will take me 30+ minutes just to get everything prepared, opening hundreds of plastic containers, distributing them in the then very crowded lounge et al. Sadly moc’ing just isn’t a spontaneous ‘I now feel like it’ activity.

I’m currently even considering selling some LEGO. Seeing as I have 30+ odd large sets that are still in NISB.

So my LEGOGAF friends, it is possible to semi-drop the urge to spend money on LEGO. ;)

Not sure if this is an upper or a downer post for the new OT, everyone will have to decide for themselves.
 

Zerojul

Member
Wonderful OT Phon, great, great job.
A little bit scary to see that I own almost every single set of the "For the truly insane. If you got it, flaunt it !" selection.
Thanks to this thread and you guys in less than a year I went from no Lego to 210 sets, 95238 pieces and 810 minifgs (according to BrickSet). That's insane. Keep'em coming !
 

Ravek

Banned
Yeah!!! OT4 is open. Can't wait to stretch my legs with all this space!!!

Great OT Phon.

Hail Hydra

Edit: theres an extra url tag underneath the Red Five X-Wing pic.
 

Andrin

Member
Wow. Absolutely awesome OP!

I'm one of those cliché people who absolutely adored LEGO when I was a kid but "grew out of it" during my teenage years. Now that I have a little money saved up and have grown out of the "toys are embarrasing" stage I'd like to slowly start collecting again. The fact that Bionicle (my absolute favourite series) is starting up again is just a bonus.

Right now I'm planning on ordering Santa's Workshop, the Winter Village Market, a couple of Exo-suits and the Metalbeard set tomorrow when the bonus holiday set is released in Europe.

Other than that I'm a huge fan of Egyptian mythology and architecture and loved the Adventure line featuring it back in the 90's. As such I'm rather sad that I missed out on the Pharao's Quest line. Are there any sets from that line that you lot can reccomend for a not too outrageous price?

Finally I have to say that the MOC's on display in the OP are awe-inspiring. If this is the talent LEGO-Gaf has keeping regular watch over this thread will be amazing!
 

Rootbeer

Banned
"First Try!"

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More like... FIRST PAGE!

Everything is awesome!

And so is this OT. :D :D

Castle and LotR/Hobbit are not listed as popular themes, time for me to cash in my chips T__T (LEGO, please focus on historical themes more dag nabbit)
 

Ponn

Banned
Wow. Absolutely awesome OP!

I'm one of those cliché people who absolutely adored LEGO when I was a kid but "grew out of it" during my teenage years. Now that I have a little money saved up and have grown out of the "toys are embarrasing" stage I'd like to slowly start collecting again. The fact that Bionicle (my absolute favourite series) is starting up again is just a bonus.

Right now I'm planning on ordering Santa's Workshop, the Winter Village Market, a couple of Exo-suits and the Metalbeard set tomorrow when the bonus holiday set is released in Europe.

Other than that I'm a huge fan of Egyptian mythology and architecture and loved the Adventure line featuring it back in the 90's. As such I'm rather sad that I missed out on the Pharao's Quest line. Are there any sets from that line that you lot can reccomend for a not too outrageous price?

Finally I have to say that the MOC's on display in the OP are awe-inspiring. If this is the talent LEGO-Gaf has keeping regular watch over this thread will be amazing!

Don't just lurk, one of us, ONE OF US.

Awesome OP Phon. I guess we are finally saying goodbye to the Lex Power Armor recommendation. *salute*

Bring on our glorious new chosen set, Brainiac Attacks.
 
Awesome OT!

...only you should add bionicle to the popular themes section (Since the page is up now)

EDIT: Oh that's a link to the shop nevermind
 

Rootbeer

Banned
I notice bricklink.com has scheduled maintenance on the 15th...

Is it possible they are rolling out their new design then?

I dig what they have done with their MOC shop. I even bought one of those cute kitty MOCs off there. It feels very modern, and I can't wait for it to roll out on the main site.
 
So fresh and so clean! Thanks for starting the new thread Phon!

So I was looking at all the wonderful pictures you posted and noticed the dirty little secret about the brick separators. I have the old version of the brick separators and do this a lot when breaking down sets, but I haven't been able to do it with the new orange versions. Am I just lame or is it true that you can't do this with the new ones?

"But for the ultimate use of them, you need two of them for this dirty little secret. Use two to pull apart plates that are together, including the ultra annoying 1x2 tiles stacked on each other."
 

Jimbro72

Member
I now have a sudden urge to buy and/or build many more LEGO sets. Great job there Phon. :)

I think this week, I shall finally crack open the Vampyre Castle and finish off my monster fighter sets having finally put together the haunted house last month.
 

Calm Killer

In all media, only true fans who consume every book, film, game, or pog collection deserve to know what's going on.
The OP lacks images. You can do Better Bone! lol.








Great as always.
 
So I was looking at all the wonderful pictures you posted and noticed the dirty little secret about the brick separators. I have the old version of the brick separators and do this a lot when breaking down sets, but I haven't been able to do it with the new orange versions. Am I just lame or is it true that you can't do this with the new ones?

You can, they just don't separate all the way.
 

Kyari

Member
NeoGAF's resident lego prize winner checking in for a new thread.

Tired of waiting for this Detective Office to show up in previews :(
 

R-User!

Member
Awesome to be here in OT 4!

Great Job Phon!

In celebration I'm going to build the Republic Gunship GUNSHIP GUNSHIP today; as well as to honor those who love Episode 2 flaws and all!!!

Also, ghostmind I failed to mention that I picked up the SUPER STAR DESTROYER a few months back, so We I would be honored if you would join us honor me with your glorious "SSD" pic.

I would hate to have to leave a garrison here with you... :p
 
In honour of a shiny new thread, perhaps it's time for a shiny new LegoGAF MOC competition??

Yes please. I love those and its been way too long since the last one.

Nice new OT! Do we go through one every 6 months or so?

I think the last one was about this time last year actually, so probably yearly. Which means 54 posts per day. Or a little over 2 posts per hour.

EDIT: Also, OP, you should add a white border to the "GAF" part of the logo. Or make the text white. The black text really blends in with the dark background.
 

Zerojul

Member
Awesome to be here in OT 4!

Great Job Phon!

In celebration I'm going to build the Republic Gunship GUNSHIP GUNSHIP today; as well as to honor those who love Episode 2 flaws and all!!!

Also, ghostmind I failed to mention that I picked up the SUPER STAR DESTROYER a few months back, so We I would be honored if you would join us honor me with your glorious "SSD" pic.

I would hate to have to leave a garrison here with you... :p

I just managed to get a Gunship at a reasonable price today (MSRP here is 140€, yikes) and I'm very happy about that. Gunship is the best thing to come out of Episode 2 IMO :)
 

DemiMatt

Member
Great OT, super psyched to hear a new modular for me to spend more money on.

I thought I was doing so well this year too.
 
posting on first page of epic OT 5 :)

edit: actually i could care less about all these OTs etc. (not meant to cheapen your work on this Phon) for all i care, we could just have ONE giant neverending OT and i'd be good with that as well ;)
 
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