Subject:
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NYC shopping crawl III
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.market.shopping
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Date:
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Sun, 16 Jun 2002 08:54:25 GMT
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Viewed:
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237 times
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Jonathan Lopes and I go shopping a 3rd time for Lego, but find excitement
elsewhere:
First, we were searching for the Lego Racer with blue hubs. It's nowhere to
be found, not even at Fortress TRU in Times Square. We looked at Mary Arnold
(1010 Lexington). Mary Arnold is a cheerful upper-class "educational" toy
store; the Lego is kind of pricey. Of note: Island Extreme Air Chase, <set
1381> Vampire Crypt, <set 1382> Mad Monster Lab. These are quite spiffy. The
Dracula, Frankenstein monster and Igor are brilliant. We didn't see these
three sets at any other store today.
Nothing much to tell at Kmart Astor Place. No blue-hubbed miniature racer there.
Toy Tokyo is an interesting shop, over the sushi bar next to Love Saves the
Day (vintage toys). 121 2nd Av, just past St. Mark's Place. They sell lots
of Japanese toys and other imports and collectibles (like Smurfs.) They
didn't have any Kabaya or other Lego goodies, but they did have Lego Star
Wars pens.
These pens are bad. The seem official, but look like knockoffs. They're made
by CDM in China, and they are bad clones of minifigs inside the familiar pen
concept where you plug bead-like pieces together. For one thing, minifig
legs are fused (hey it's a pen) but it doesn't end there. Minifig arms are
too short, the body is extra narrow, and the heads are flattened! Anakin's
hair looks very cool, if unLegolike. The colors are non-Lego colors. Worst
of all, the heads of Darth Vader and R2D2 are not the same as real Lego
images. This is a terrible execution of a concept supposedly under license
from Lego.
Lego Star Wars pens suck. $12.99 at Toy Tokyo.
Also at Toy Tokyo are the Kubrick brand, and similar Teddy Brick (a bear),
Blocko Simpsons. Less said the better. An intriguing concept called Stikfas,
seen in Toy Fare a few months ago, is a generic action figure, extremely
articulated based on ball joints, with blank round features and gobs of
weapons and stickers. I got the all-black Alpha Male. They're intended for
customization, painting for a start. $10 at Toy Tokyo. (Cheaper than mail
order from the maker.)
Fortress TRU Times Square has the new Boxor Bionicle, but still no
blue-hubbed itty bitty racer. There were some *interesting* Lego pieces
lying around loose. Galidor is on deep, deep clearance. (See
http://news.lugnet.com/galidor/?n=8 for my thoughts.) They had some Island
Extreme sets including the Beach Lookout. Unfortunately, we didn't have any
great interest in the Lego there, although the line is exceptionally
complete for a retail store outside of Disney. No, what excitement was to be
had today (Jonathan had bought a $4 Metrocard Fun Pass, unlimited subway
rides for 24 hours, and expected big fun, one way or the other)
was in Megablocks.
Megablocks Dragons has shipped. Wow. They have really learned something in
the marketing department. Alas, the contents of the $30 Sorcerer's Lair set
left me frustrated, but the thrill of purchasing it lingers on. The hype is
that powerful! Must be the power of the dark side. See
http://news.lugnet.com/off-topic/clone-brands/?n=1302
Jonathan later tried to use some 2x4 Megablocks as a stone border around red
Lego bricks, it didn't look too good.
Finally, Target has cut some prices: for example Gringott's Bank 24.88, not
bad. But nobody has that blue-hubbed Lego Racer!
-Erik
P.S. I guess I'm buying Lego again. Yesterday I got an Ewok Attack.
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