The Michigan Exhibit

If you haven’t noticed already, all the rooms in the Westin hotel is named after a famous Chicago landmark! I didn’t notice it last year, i noticed it when i looked back on my notes. We’re on our way to the Michigan room, which is just as cool in the summer as Lake Michigan, i mean WOW. This doesn’t really count as a “train” but i will treat it as such. This is one of the coolest monorail i’ve seen today. With the absence of older Lego space sets, such as Insectoids, Ice Planet 2002, etc. So when i see this M-tron themed monorail, I just had to look at it! And this wasn’t some chastely thrown together type thing, this was a fully blown, fully loaded, fully fully space station! There is never a dull moment in this piece, there is always something going on. The best part is that they pull no stops in making custom MOC’s to properly treat the M-tron name; all colors and architecture compliments on the sets they are based on. That’s another thing, it must’ve costed a fortune to get all these M-tron sets, minifigures, and pieces. As if it couldn’t get any cooler, they got black lights all over this piece! If you didn’t know already, translucent Lego pieces glow under a black light, and this made the space theme that much more impressive. Kudos to the people who made this, because this was the most impressive piece in this exhibit. There really wasn’t all that much else in this exhibit that was notable, because they are more or less the same in the Ravinia Exhibit, so i wanted to keep it “fresh” as the kids say it these days, and focus more on the unique things in this exhibit. So perhaps next year, there might be a really cool Insectoids themed piece! (hint hint)

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The Ravinia Exhibit

"Our favorite train made a cameo!"

"Futuristic take on trains"At the convention, the lines were no way as long as last year, and they actually set up two registry booths, one for debt/credit cards, and the other for people who actually had cash on them which made everything slide very smoother then what happened last year. immediately after getting your ticket, you’re first reaction is to make a right where all the hubbub is, and then without explanation, you feel like you’ve been hit with a train, because this room was huge. This is probably bigger then all the other rooms combined, they had everything there, vendors, MOC’s, demonstrations, and contests. The vendors this year were underwhelming, most of them were resellers of Brickforge, & Lego products, such as weapons packs, minifigures, etc. there were not that many vendors there selling used bricks, there were only two there, and it was decent. but we weren’t there to buy cheap Lego merchandise, we were there for the creations, stuff that will blow us away, and it let us gone with the wind. There were more then i anticipated, or it might be the fact i have gotten a new camera that can take more pictures. The camera would literally "Starcraft-ish sylized cityscape"run out of batteries before it can stop taking pictures. It was just staggering what some people made, not just Lego MOC’s, but all kinds of stuff. It ranged from awesome, to downright obscure; such as movie homage, video game references, and awesome custom creations. Most of the movie related Lego MOC’s are actually train sets, and the coolest part about these is that they made their own scenery, and backgrounds to amplify the effect. Almost everyone did this, is that they actually put an Ipad in a custom stand, "Don't dig down!"and actually played the movie they are referencing. There were many video game references, such as Team Fortress 2, and Skyrim, but the most notable was the Minecraft booth. here is where people can see the best Lego Minecraft Legos, and where you can buy the sets, but at $30.00 is asking alot. good thing somebody made their own little Minecraft world, and it was amazing what you can do to with your imagination. The demonstations are just people that explain how the Lego Mindstorm stuff works, such as a robot that can pick up balls, or program in commands for it to do. Ravinia has been the biggest exhibit here, and the ones that follow are underwhelming.

Gingerbread HowseTrain YardXtreme Lego board gameStarcraft-ish sylized buildingsStarcraft-ish sylized fountainStarcraft-ish sylized buildingsLawrence of Arabia, ft. AladinIt's gold, it's solid gold baby!There is no snake here...Amazing CarOld-timey minigun!Tank

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Brick-Train’s Second Annual Brickworld Convention is upon us!

"Our good friends at NILTC."

Brickworld has come upon us, but as soon as it started, it ended just as quickly. We had a great time at Brickworld 2012, and this year it is still held in the Westin Hotel in Wheeling for Chicago. A great part of coming here for the second time, is that you can get a dollar off your next visit. the only way to get this coupon, is when you come to Brickworld, you will be given a strip of paper with all the exhibits on there; and once you visit all of them, you receive the coupon. The coupon is not a flimsy piece of paper either, it is a magnet you can put on your fridge, to remind you next year. Good thing i went to each and every exhibit, the Ravinia, River, Botanic Gardens, and River. I will cover each exhibit in great detail in the days to come, stay tuned!

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Lego Monster Ghost Train has been released!

Today i have been strolling around the various toy store to get a glimpse of the new sets i was unsure if it released or not, good thing i did! At Toys R’ Us, they are currently selling them at $85.00 USD, which surprised me because i thought it would sell for at least +100 USD at Toys R’ Us! I did some more snooping around, and the Lego Shop at Home, and the Lego store sells it for $80.00 USD, which is five dollars less then it cost at Toys R’ Us. Toys R’ Us is infamous for always setting their prices higher then it’s counterparts, such as the Lego Store, Walmart, or Target. out of all the stores, the best place is to buy it at the Lego Store if you have a VIP card, this makes it so you can purchase other items with your in store credit. I predict this won’t be a huge collectors item, and won’t be “Hard to Find!” because it is part of a line of Monster themed sets. What is a

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Does lego have to make a train every year?

It seems like people have a belief, that Lego is obligated to make a train set every year. I figured, because I found it a little bit “random” for them to make a spooky train set. I like that they are thinking out of the box, and how they are making new exciting innovations, but it doesn’t seem like they are trying. The last couple years, they implemented the Maersk train set, and the Red cargo train, and i think they are both excellent sets, but I am not certain of what they will do next. Why only make train sets? Back in the 90’s, Lego made a lot of impressive monorail sets, such as the Lego Monorail Base 6991, or the Lego Monorail Station #6399. These sets i think have one advantage over train sets, the tracks. The magic word is the tracks, they can loop, they can pivot, they can go over or under tracks, and that is the innovation. They stopped these monorail sets in the early 2000’s for whatever reason, and made more train sets. Monorails were made by Walt Disney, and he said that monorails were the transportation of the future, that instead of cars and trains, we would all be traveling via monorail. There is a sense of sci-fi and imaginations with monorail, and it think that they should start making space themed “train” sets, but with monorails. I would certainly love to see such things in the future.

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Brickworld Chicago 2012 – Update!

Spring break is here, and that means summer is just around the corner! Last year, we went to the Lego Brickworld convention in Chicago, and we are going again this year. Unfortunately we could not attend the  Brickworld Indy convention on March 10, and 12th, but we will make it to the Chicago Brickworld on June 13 – 17, 2012. Last year we had a great time there at Brickworld, saw a lot of cool models, met a lot of nice people, and not to mention the amazing train dioramas! In the Brickworld 2011 convention, i did not have many picture of the train dioramas, which was a shame because at that point i could only show you a portion of the dioramas. The pictures were blurry as well, but i promise that is going to change! The team here at Brick Trains-sets have recently gotten a new Canon Powershot ELPH 100 HS, with an 8 gigabyte memory card! To put it in English, a really good camera that can take alot of pictures. Not only that, but it can take video as well, which is something i will play around with in the future. If first you don’t succeed, try try again.

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New Lego Train Announcement!

At the 110th annual toy fair at the Big Apple, Lego has announced a new Lego train set! Not only is it a new Lego train set, it is also part of their new brand, called the “Monster Fighters” line. This line is somewhat reminiscent of the old Lego “Studio” line, with the whole monster B-movie vibe. Unlike the Lego studio however, it does not have Spiderman, or Jurrasic Park license, and this is purely going to be all creative sets. Meaning, it’s based on what the set builders want to make, not on scenes from any kind of movie. An example would be the new Lego 9467 Ghost Train! There are going to be 741 pieces, 5 minifigures, and out of those three are going to be the return of the Lego Ghost. This little guy has not been in any major sets in a long time, and Lego decided to give it the red carpet treatment. New designed ghosts, they glow in the dark, and they have a huge set based on them. This set includes 4 train cars, and some of the train cars have wings which flap when you push it around, and an airplane. It’s part of the whole “Monster Hunter” theme, but i would have been satisfied with just the train. The estimated retail price would be around $79.99, and no specific date has been given adressing it’s release date, but if you ask me i think it’ll be somewhere around October. Keep an eye out, and you can, keep two of em out.

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Year 2011 Review and hopes for the new year!

­­My goodness, how time flies! I remember like it was yesterday, when I posted my very first article, and looking back I felt like I could have done better. I could have announced new Lego train conventions earlier, I could have taken more and much better pictures of exhibits, but the most important is my writing. I feel as a blogger, I am not posting too much information, or much content. 2011 was a learning curve; I learned how to go to take pictures with the flash, which was a huge issue back then. The flash allowed no blur what so ever to moving objects, such as the Lego trains which go mighty fast. I took the same picture over and over again, but always blurred! Then I was told flash would make it better, but I was skeptical but I gave it a try anyways. And it worked! After that day I used flash with all my pictures, with the pictures that I got. Besides quality, there was an issue of quantity as well. At the time I didn’t have the top-notch equipment, but I had enough to make blog posts with, a simple digital camera with a low end SD card. This year however, we here have gotten a new camera with a bigger SD card that is able to take HD quality photographs. When it comes to cameras I know little to nothing about them, but about websites, I know a bit more. My biggest projects of 2011 was not going to conventions and taking pictures, it was creating my website, Brick Trains-Sets. As of December 2010, I was already compiling the many sets of yesterday, and the sets of today on Brick Trains-Sets with the highest quality of content, and pictures. It took us half a year to get the site up and we did! We now have, from year 1966; to 2011 we have every train set from those years up now on the site. After the big stuff was out of the way, I started going to Brick conventions, weather of not it has trains or not (but seeing it is a Lego convention, it wouldn’t be a Lego convention without trains there!) Conventions such as Brickworld, and the Great Midwest train show is a great example for this. At those conventions they had a lot of Lego swag there too, but I couldn’t take the pictures of them because of the hardware limitations. This year, 2012 we will do everything we did in 2011, but better! So stay tuned, check often for new updates on the site.

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Free Shipper ends today

Orders over 49 dollars ends today, on December 18th. This means anything you buy tomorrow you will have to pay shipping, plus you will not be guaranteed that you will receive it by Christmas. Have no fear, because Lego has announced (again) delivery by Christmas. What this deal means, you will receive your Lego by Christmas, only if you order “Express.” This deal only guarantees you’ll get it by Christmas, but NOT free shipping. Your order must be placed by December 21st at midnight, happy shopping!

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Free Shipping with orders over $49!

Just like the offer from a month ago, Lego has announced free shipping, with orders over 49 dollars! Last month Lego announced free shipping with orders over 99 dollars. Free shipping with 49 dollars or more, is simply the best deal ever! When i was writing the post about the last free shipping offer, i thought it was a bit of a steep price for free shipping, now for only over 49 dollars? that’s almost half! If i were you, i would check out the sweet deals Lego has to offer on their Shop@Home page. My prediction for the future, that instead of 49 dollars or more, Lego might do “Free Shipping” with any priced order. This Deal only goes from December 12 (today) to December 18, which is a Sunday, better grab whatever deal you can get, because those hard to find, will become “cant find at all”.

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