When I was at the LEGO Imagination Center at the Mall Of America two sunday's back one of the managers warned me that there could be some good Pick-A-Brick coming out the following week. He was sure right. I hate to complain, but man, there was a lot of stuff. It dribbled out a piece or two or four each day over the last week. I was at the store on tuesday about noon and there were some nice new parts on the wall. I was especially excited to get the small leaf piece. I poured some 1x1 round neon orange transparent plates around them. They also had the small flower piece in pink. I didn't have many before. Now I have a nice pile of them. There were 2x2x3 white bricks and wednesday after they were gone, there were some of them in black. I didn't bother with those, but I did report them, and all their pals, to the two clubs here in town. That was one of the reasons that so much disappeared so fast. That tuesday there were some 1x2x5 transparent blue bricks. They were used in three sets and I don't have any of them. Now I have a nice baggie of the pieces. Those pieces go for 65 cents to $3.25 on Blicklink. Judy, one of the members of TwinLUG and GMLTC, was there tuesday stocking up. She is the other reason so much disappeared. Judy works at the store and gets a nice discount. Hmmm, discount, slobber. We pretty much cleaned out the bin on those trans blue pieces. There were white grill plates, 1x3 reddish brown plates, 2x2 red tiles (which they had a long time ago), and those mudguards in dark blay. They all had 1x1 round neon orange trans plates packed in around them.
Wednesday I met Brian at the store and we had lunch up in the food court. I almost always eat at Little Tokyo. They have ok chinese and you get a lot for 6 bucks. All the leaves he was hoping for were cleaned out. It's everyman for himself when it comes to bricks. Wednesday there were small palm leaves and those 1x2 digital clocks. If you turn them over it says 10:21. Numbers, they're just crazy. There were some 1x1x6 supports in dark blay and the castle crenelation in light blay. I got some of each and one of the gals at the store gave me a stack of the huge, 12x12, pink brick with a curved side. They don't fit into a cup, so they just hand them out to cup buyers. Now, what the heck to do with them. The store sells a lot of the small PAB cup. Often the best seller in a day. I never buy small cups.
Thursday there wasn't as much new. There were some trans 1x6x5 panels, some white fences, dark blay grills and 8x16 dark blay tiles. I saw some guy filling the clear panels with parts and stacking them in the cup. I asked him if one of the guys in the store had suggested that to him. Yep. I figured it was Dan. He showed me later he had 95 parts packed between and around two of those panels. He's a packin' savant. I just poured some 1x1 dark blay bricks on those trans pans and stacked them in my cup, I don't usually have the time to pack things so carefully. You have to unpack them when you get home which requires more time. I poured 1x2 digital clocks and other small parts in around them. That's good enough. I always make a stack of bricks to go into the cups lid. 4x4x2 fits right in there. I didn't get any of the large pieces, since I had a few of each. Should I have gotten more? Maybe. You never know what a stack of some part might trigger in your mind. I also got a copy of the new BrickJournal. I enjoy the magazine and read it pretty much cover to cover. I could download it and save 5 bucks but I enjoy the paper. Plus you can bring it to work and let someone else read it, or pass it about at the TCLUG meeting.
Friday I stopped on the way home. I wasn't going to but was sure glad I did. They had some trans orange cleese slopes. We've never had cheese slopes in the store. At least I haven't seen them before. The large brick with the odd shape was another freebee since it was too big for the cup. I got a couple of them. Friday they also had some clear doors and black frames. I packed cheese slopes around them to protect them on the trip home. I don't know what I'll do with all those cheese slopes but something will happen. Perhaps I can trade them to others for different pieces they want to get rid of. Judy had this idea to make $5 value baggies of parts to trade to others at the TwinLUG meeting. I didn't get out to the store for two whole days. Saturday was the TCLUG meeting. We snacked and lego'd for hours and I went home. Sunday was a nice day to stay in and putz around the house.
Monday I stopped at lunch on the way home for an afternoon off of work. I take half days to use vacation. I never go anywhere much anymore. I'd rather stay home and enjoy my stuff. They had a nice assortment of new parts. Dark brown arches, those control panels but on a black slope, trans red and trans green 1x1 plates, 1x2 trans black bricks, clock faces, those tiles with grippy bits in black and black mudguards like they had in dark blay. An exciting week for PAB that's for sure. It's nice to get some interesting parts. We've been seeing what other LEGO stores get for their PAB and we felt we had been missing out here in the Twin Cities. Not any longer. At least this week anyway. Now that I have all this new stuff I need to figure out what to build. The sad thing is I can't use any of it for the MocOlympics. That's one of the rules, no stocking up during the fight. I haven't actually played yet. I had a bye. I hope to get around to running some pics of the more fun winners, and maybe a few losers, from the first round. Too late to start tonight. Maybe tomorrow.
That's a lot of good parts ! Good luck for the MOColympics, can't wait to see your entry - I think the category you've got will be perfect to show your talent ;-)
I'm a bit sad because if I win Round 2, I will probably be against Uspez Morbo, not only an awesome builder but also a good friend, even if I got a (very) small chance to win against him, I don't feel I have the "right" to stop him from reaching Round 4... Arf !!!
PS Thanks for your support and comments, once again, it's great to have feedback by good friends !
Posted by: crimsogiger | August 26, 2009 at 07:26 PM