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Missing LEGO instructions for this set from 2015
I have 3 bags of LEGO without any instructions or boxes. The bags all say 2015 on them. I have attached a picture of the first bag. Any help in identifying it would be great!

Judging from the beige 8x8 plate at the back it should be one of the ones in this list
http://brickset.com/sets/containing-part-4624223
Without seeing any of the other bags my first guess would be this one
http://brickset.com/sets/41101-1/Heartlake-Grand-Hotel


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Why was monorail offered the way it was?
There have only been 3 + 2 official monorail sets by Lego. Three monorails:

(Space, Futuron) Monorail Transport System
(Town, airport) Airport Shuttle
(Space, Unitron) Monorail Transport Base

And two boxes of extra tracks:

an older, Space-themed one
a newer, town-themed one

(For the track boxes, the theme is mainly influenced by the monorail set they were released together with. The tracks do not have anything that makes them special for one theme or another.)
Other than these, a couple of single replacement parts could be ordered, as well.

The above three monorail sets have several features in common:

They contain a rather long (especially the Airport Shuttle, but also the Unitron monorail) track.
They contain a motorized train.
They contain two full-fledged stations.
In the case of the Space monorails, they even contain an extra vehicle.

As a result, all three sets were among the biggest and thus probably most expensive ones in their respective theme.

This always struck me as odd: When I was a kid, I loved the Airport Shuttle, but I was unable to buy an extra station or train, because there simply wasn't any. Likewise, the Airport Shuttle was the only monorail set I happened to get1 - and I presume there are plenty of children who would have liked some monorail, but never had a chance to get any of these really huge sets due to their sheer price.
In particular, I contrast this with Lego trains, which have always been offered in quite a different way:

There have been train sets of different sizes, in particular "starter sets" that only comprised a small oval of tracks and a short train.
Train sets that brought trains would usually only include a rather minimalist station (for passenger trains, often just a simple platform that did not even span the entire length of the train), thereby keeping set size a bit down.
Single train cars and engines were offered as separate sets.
Stations of different sizes were offered as separate sets.
At least in earlier years, there were also completely unmotorized trains as an alternative to the motorized ones, which further helped reduce the set price.

Hence, I am interested in the following: Is there any knowledge on why TLC decided to use a different pattern for monorail sets, by only offering very few, very big sets without any real extension sets (save for tracks)?
1: Although, I admit, this wasn't entirely the fault of the effect I focus in this question. The Futuron monorail was simply a tad too early and I "missed out" while it was still available, whereas I considered attempting to get the Unitron monorail, but ultimately did not like the set as it was designed - what's the purpose of that train (maybe that makes for a good separate question), transport its own cockpits? That seemed pointless, so I discarded the idea, hoping for the next monorail set ... that never came ...

Why design the core monorail hardware this way?

This is hard to answer without a degree of speculation, but I assume that the core reason behind the decision to design the monorail this way likely came down to cost and engineering challenges. TLG wanted to allow for a monorail train to be able to navigate inclines effectively. This required:

A cog system
An additional degree of freedom between cars compared to trains (vertical movement as well as lateral)
An additional degree of freedom between wheel sets and cars
More specific power to weight requirements to maintain speed on inclines

Ultimately, TLG landed on the fairly rigid system of a central motor and couplings that create the necessary degrees of freedom with a car on either side. This likely required the smallest number of new parts and showed implicitly that the monorail motor isn't designed and tested to work well pulling more than two cars.
Why offer only large sets and not just a basic oval?
The core features of the monorail system that differentiate it from the regular trains of the era became:

Inclined and elevated track
Stopping at particular track segments rather than being controlled remotely

Given these features, it makes sense that any complete monorail set would have at minimum:

Elevated track including ramp sections
At least 2 monoswitches. Technically, you could just have one, but that would really limit play value since the train wouldn't have any destination other than its starting point
A point of interest at the monoswitches for play value

Unless these features are included, the set might as well just be a regular train set. While you are correct that the later sets were more complicated, 6990 was basically just an oval of track with a pair of ramps and two monoswitches. I believe it included just two straight track sections in addition to these.
Given the inflexibility of the overall system (e.g. you can't just add one more car), TLG decided to include both cars in each complete monorail set and not offer any as add-on sets.
Comparison to 9V train sets
While there were many small train-themed sets in this time period, I'm not aware of low-cost starter sets. You could certainly buy a pack of 9V curved rails and a motor and work your way up from there, but the three complete sets released between 1989 and 1994 were actually fairly expensive:

1991 Metroliner (4558) - $149
1991 Load and Haul Railroad (4563) - $120
1994 Freight Rail Runner (4564) - $134

Compare these to the complete monorail sets of the same period:

1989 Monorail Transport System (6990) - $155
1994 Monorail Transport Base (6991) - $178
1990 Airport Shuttle (6399) - $140

The difference in price between the cheapest monorail and train set from the era is only $20.
Why no add-on sets?

When I was a kid, I loved the Airport Shuttle, but I was unable to buy
  an extra station or train, because there simply wasn't any.

While there weren't sets that included additional cars in the same way as regular trains, the monorail sets were generally part of larger themes that had additional sets available and were marketed together. For example, there were aircraft of different sizes and an airport marketed alongside Airport Shuttle:

The Futuron theme had many sets available as well, including another base:

Just in case my answer didn't make this clear, I really like the monorail theme. However, while being great collectors items, I believe that the monorail theme is generally considered to be a business failure. Offering two completely separate train systems at the same time with slightly different features ultimately didn't pan out well for a lot of the reasons that you cited.

Thank you for the extensive answer. Just a few comments: I am aware monorail trains are not as flexible as regular trains when it comes to adding cars. Even so, I would have hoped for at least an additional three-piece standard train (motor + two cars) as an extra set. Also, note that new monorail parts were designed later on, at the time of the Airport Shuttle (the switches, 2890 and 2889), and seemingly just "for variation", so an alternative, shorter car base may not have been totally impossible. ...

... You are right in that 6990 indeed featured just a rather short track. I also agree there must be at least two stops, but I find it questionable that in all cases, each of these stops was so large it could have been a good space base/town monorail stop set in its own right (compare again the minimalist platforms often included in train sets). Indeed, all train sets after the discontinuation of motorless trains were rather expensive, but at least you could buy an engine like 4551-1 (or even just 4546-1), tracks, ...

... some cars and a station separately. To adult collectors, it may not matter, but for a child, it can make a crucial difference whether there are several distinct sets (that are used together, but are bought by different people, e.g. parents, grandparents, or (for smaller sets) friends), or whether there is one huge set that all these people have to team up to buy together. Lastly, I don't quite buy the explanation that the monorails were embedded in other themes - that reasoning would work equally well for offering only a single, complete train set and saying it's embedded in town, anyway.

I agree that it would have been nice to have separate cars available. The motor was actually available as a service pack (5040), but it's really only useful as a replacement for a lost/broken motor without the cars. Regular trains were designed and sold as a much more flexible system.

Not really an answer, just a small point of fact.....  There were actually 4 Monorail Trains planned, a Futuron Space-Themed one, a Unitron Space-Themed one, the ever pleasant Airport Shuttle Town-Themed one, (good for cities, even by today's standards, as building a large scale Monorail using brick-build tracks and Power Functions is a little too labor intensive, and, in some cases, expensive, for some buyers), and the last one, a Seatron Monorail.  Seatron was unfortunately unreleased, as Lego's own higher ups thought that it wasn't the right time for aliens, which if you know Lego Prototypes, you know Seatron had aliens.  Ultimately, as Seatron's Monorail was unreleased, it is unknown just what size of track it had, or if it had the long or short car couplings, (yes, there were two types of coupler), but what is known is that it was a very large train itself, despite not knowing the piece count on the train itself, (of which, it may not have had the highest piece count for a monorail train), it did have one of the largest finished product sizes I've seen, including a very large globe-style cockpit on either end, a small, (about 10 studs long), presumably passenger compartment, and, most of all for those of us in the MOC community using these old trains, the central motor cover was featured in yellow, (currently, only Airport Shuttle's train had a central motor cover, in red, which has severly limited the creation of new trains with the cover outside of red-colored engines).  The Seatron was also the widest monorail, as it featured a pair of Part 2466 on either side, making the train about 8 studs wide, in comparison to Airport Shuttle, which was only 4 studs wide with the doors closed.  Either way, poor Seatron never had the chance to shine, it would've made for some pretty impressive MOCs, and overall would've made, just as it was, a futuristic cargo or construction themed monorail.  But, alas, Seatron never got to show us her glory, and thus Monorail #4 never saw the light of day outside of the set design lab she was created in.  I'm certain old Seatron, of, as I call her, #4, is currently sitting in Lego's own archives, gathering dust, she'll never move again.  Sigh, oh well, why am I telling you this?  Just look for yourself t the glory of Monorail #4, Seatron:

BREAKING NEWS!  Straight from the minds of Lego Developers, here be Monorail #5, I think....  Tell me what you think....  Hmm, kinda interesting to see the Buffaloes again.  Also seems kinda interesting that there are two different engines pictured, and both are Steam Engines, which really differ from the Engines #1-#4.  (noteworthy, there are some referances to attempts to build Steam Monorails in the real world, just like these, over-rail too).  Although, the site I got this from, Eurobricks, seems to have a link to Brickipedia, and as somebody who's browsed more prototype over on the old Brickipedia than most, I find it odd that I never saw this image, otherwise I would've remembered it....  Here you go:

Check that, Monorails #5 and #6 are seen, weird, two trains, one track, huh?

That is some sweet, sweet Lego history right there. That underwater monorail looks awesome. Definitely some MOCing inspiration from that.

That Wild West photo is an excellent find - after reading WJW's answer, I was actually contemplating asking a separate question about this, and still am (because I think it is somewhat marginal here, but deserves its own question, which would also make the information easier to find by future visitors). Would you mind posting that image as an answer if I create a separate question and ping you with a link over here?

@Craig: An interesting detail is that it actually seems to be an amphibious monorail.

There were more than 5 monorails planned actually. The fifth one was a Wild West themed one. It used the same track but had a different motor. I’m surprised that it gets overlooked since an image was released of it for brick-journal

Could you please add the image to your answer? I bet future readers would love to see it as well :)

Yeah, picture, quick please?  At least a scan?  Kinda weird though, I would have expected Wild West to have more of a 12Volt or 9Volt Style Steam Train, not a Monorail, unless, of course, it was some kind of gold mine like set with a emphasis on runaway mine trains rocketing through the mine out of control.

Hmm, you know, even better, which issue/year of brickjournal was it pictured in?

Hold on, I think I just found it...  Maybe, doesn't really like a Monorail, but I could be wrong.....  Here, I'll add another answer with the image I found, maybe that'll get some conversation going.....  (I would just add the image to this comment, but I don't exactly see a button for it, soooo....)

On second thought, I'll just edit my original answer, and see what new info comes from it.  Have fun, also, why is there no edit comment button?

@Brickticks Comments don't support images (if you don't count hyperlinks pointing to images) and can only be edited in the first 5 minutes after being posted. After that they can only be deleted.

I'd also like to see any picture for this

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Help identifying Lego bag without instructions, brown, grey, and clear bricks
Can anyone help identify which set this bag comes from?

This is a bag from the Minecraft set First Night (21115):

Ooo... that brings back good memories.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

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Lego 12v motor axle repair
I had recently got my Lego 7730 for past Christmas and wanted to use it. I bought the Lego 7864 and went to test the red motor but all I heard was the motor and it didn't move. I decided to take a look inside to see what was up and found out that when electricity went to the motor, the motor would turn but the axles wouldn't. I looked at the axles and they were bad. Does anyone know how to fix or get new ones, cause I can't run my 7730 with bad axles, as they are stripped. Help me!!!!

It's going to be difficult to help without pictures of the problem area. Can you add a photo to your post?

It's difficult to answer definitively without a photo or video of the issue, but I'm not aware of a way to easily get replacement parts for this.
I'm sure you're already aware that you can buy a replacement motor on Bricklink, but that's going to set you back at least $100.
Internally, this motor drives a pair of gears on the axles using metal worm gears. One of the common issues with this part is that the metal worm gear slowly wears down the other gear until the there is a complete loss of contact and the motor spins freely without driving the train. It sounds like this may be what you are experiencing.
Here's a diagram of the internal components:

I'm not aware of a third party that provides replacement parts for this, and I'm sure that LEGO doesn't provide them anymore. One option could be to buy the somewhat cheaper black version of this motor and swap out the axles from there.

Thanks. I will put up a picture, and I'm looking into buying a old black 12v motor for very cheap. The owner says it doesn't work so if I can't get it to work, I will take the gears off the axles and put them on the red motor. The one question I have is, how did you get the wheels off the axle in the first place, without messing up the wheel?

That's a great question about getting the wheels off of the axle. I don't personally have this part, so I can't say for sure. It may be very difficult to get these off. Hopefully someone else can offer a suggestion.


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Are these LEGO Star Wars bricks genuine or fake?
I bought some LEGO pieces from eBay, and I'm not sure if they are genuine LEGO.
I compared them with my LEGO, and every piece of my LEGO has the logo ©LEGO on it. However, only some of the ones I bought have this logo, and some do not.

You can see the © symbol on the top gun, the bottom is a gun from my own LEGO collection. If you flip them over, my gun (bottom) has some numbers (I think manufacturing number) and the word LEGO on it.  The new one (top) has nothing. Is the top gun just an older LEGO, or a fake knockoff?
Additionally, some of the battledroid torsos have the © LEGO mark on them, as well as some numbers, and some of them have just © and nothing else.

It is the same with the battledroid heads. On the left, my genuine part has the ©LEGO and numbers on the other side.  On the new ones in question (right), there is nothing.

They seem legit to me.

the "SM##" on the left gun is the identification that BanBao or Sluban clones are using, don't remember exactly which, but definitely clones.

@RaduMaris the gun on the right is the suspected clone, so your comment is confusing

@GregChabala Misread there, now I'm also confused as I've got a BanBao/Sluban set from KFC (children menu) and all their parts had the SM## on them, while all my lego pieces have LEGO in front and plain numbers on back.

I can't find an official source for this statement, but with the exclusion of a few rarities like test bricks, and perhaps a few other cases, every piece of genuine LEGO will have the brand stamped on it somewhere.
You've taken photos of pieces together that clearly ought to have come from the same mold, where one displays the LEGO brand and the other does not. That seems like solid proof that you've purchased fake parts to me.
As an example of how similar clone bricks can be, here are some battle droids made by LEPIN: https://cheap-bricks.com/lepin-05025-star-wars-homing-spider-droid/

It's hard to see, but I can make out the © on the trigger of the stormtrooper's weapon.

The picture you posted is of actual Lego. Even though your link dosen't work, I found the exact picture on other listings for Lepin.  Closer examination shows that the pictures used on these sites selling Lepin are using pictures of actual Lego.  Lepin studs are blank, and you can almost make out the word LEGO in some of the pictures on studs.  Not really surprising as they already have proven they will stoop to any level to blatantly rip people off.

I can neither confirm nor refute your statement. As you allude to, this picture is from the official product images for the Lepin 05025 set. If they are using LEGO imagery to create their own product images, that's unfortunate. I don't own any Lepin to compare with myself. OP hasn't asked any further questions, I doubt any further effort on this question will be useful.

I simply wanted to clear any false information about the "C" blasters not being legitimate Lego for anyone searching for related information and ending up here.  Seeking information on Lego is what brought me to this site after all.  It actually surprised me that no one knew about the "C" version since they're only maybe 10? years old and common.  You can almost make out the LEGO logo on the battle droid chest and the Lego specific part number on their legs. xD

The Star Wars blasters in question are real LEGO.  I grabbed a hand-full of Star Wars blasters from my collection and laid them out for comparison.  All of these came from sets I bought, brand new.  The "C" guns on the left outnumber the LEGO/part numbered version on the right.

Another hand-full of the short blasters yielded similar results, a lot of them being the "C" version.
I sorted through my battle droids and only some had "LEGO" stamped on their chest.  The ones without it had the "C" mark inside their mid-torso with the part number either on the left or right side of "C".  ALL versions had LEGO stamped inside their back stud.  All of the droids with the "C" torso had no markings on their necks. Only the droids with "LEGO" on their chest had necks with markings.  ALL droids had "LEGO" stamped on the rear of their legs under the clip. Some legs had the part number on the front, some did not.

For clarity and any doubts someone may have, here is a typical example taken from a site selling off-brand "Lego" sets using pictures of real Lego sets and pieces:

"HonestJay" indeed.

These are most likely Lego. The similarities in the molding is far too similar for these to be fake (unless someone spent obscene amounts of time creating very accurate fakes). The most suspicious thing to me is the © on the trigger section of the rifle. Other than that, they are just too identical to be a knock-off.
Also, the sheen on the plastic seems appropriate. Maybe a little bit aged on the droid head in question, but they tend to dull with age anyway. These look to be genuine.


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7938 LEGO train not working (not cargo train)
My son Joel has his 7938 train built but it's not working! Have batteries in battery box & remote control-HELP please! New batteries-assembled properly.

Hi Lorraine, and welcome. For us to be able to help you and answer your questions, you would need to provide some more details, for example pictures of the train and how it's assembled, as well as more specific information as to how it is "not working". Does the light on the remote control light up? Does the light on the battery box light up?

All the lights, light up.  Assembled correctly. New Duracell batteries in properly.

Is the remote control set to the same channel as the receiver on the train?

Yes, the remote control is set to the same channel as the receiver on the train.

I finally got it working with yet another set of brand new Duracell batteries-the fault was with Duracell!


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How should I make a future-proof table for different LEGO brick sizes?
I'm trying to decide on a table or base for my 3 year old - one she can grow with.  She is using Duplo bricks currently but also already has some regular LEGO bricks.  What kind of base will work with both so I don't have to have separate tables or bases?  Any help appreciated!!


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LEGO item number for white racing wedge with printed #3
What is the LEGO item number for this piece?  What sets does it go to?
I'm not having much luck searching for it.

Looks like it's Part 6153, either 6153apb01 or 6153apb05 depending on whether there are stars on the sides. Both seem to originate from different editions of the Water Jet, Set 6517-1.


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Towards a different sort of set-identification
I thought it might be fun for the holidays to try a different sort of set-identification.  Even though I know which set this is, it seemed like a pretty random set of bricks so I thought it might provide a brief challenge to the community.  Here it is:

If this proves to be an actual challenge I'm happy to add hints later.

I'll be honest, it is random, but that painter's palette is a dead giveaway, as it only comes from 7 sets. From there it's only a matter of trimming down possibilities.

40205 LEGO Holiday Little Elf Helpers. :)

That didn't take long.  :)

Do I get a Christmas cookie? Thanksgiving cookie is okay too. :)

I'll work out prizes for next time and some way to make it more challenging. :)

Ahhh... but I wanted a cookie!... (pouty face goes here)


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Installed EV3 software on Win 8 and it won't load
EV3 software used to work on my laptop.  Now it does not load any more.  When I double click on the LEGO Mindstorms icon.  It starts the procedure of loading the software.  Then it stuck there and won't go further.  I tried to remove the software and reinstall it.  Nothing helps.  Has anyone else got into this problem before?

A possibility is, that you lack the latest Silverlight update.
I had this problem on some Windows and Mac OS X machines recently.
Maybe you can try to install the latest version: https://www.microsoft.com/silverlight/ I think it's worth a try.

I actually have the latest version of silverlight on my computer. :(  Thank you for helping.

Have a look at C:\Users<User>\AppData\Local\LEGO\MINDSTORMS EV3\crashreports\ if there are any files (crash reports). This path may be a little bit different on Windows 8. This example is from Windows 10.


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LEGO remote control 8879 for 2016 Winter Train not working
I purchased parts 8879+8884+88000+88002 to power the new Winter Holiday Train.  Fresh out of the package the remote controller 8879 does not make contact with the positive end of the battery.
Thanks to this post, I was able to make an adjustment to the controller so that contact could be made saving me a lot of time and headache. Is there an easy way to get the positive contacts to stick out further?

I had the same problem, so I looked at the forums, but I couldn't solve it.
In fact it is a problem with the contact, so I put some aluminium foil (the same one from the kitchen) in the positive contacts, and it worked!!! Yeah, I used DuraCell...


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What alternative LEGO-compatible toys are avaliable?
My kids love LEGO toys, but we find them expensive. Often, they get all the sets of a series, but keep asking for something similar.
We have thus begun buying Mega Bloks and Kre-O, which include some very fancy stuff such as Transformers and CityVille Invasion.
I was wondering what sort of other alternative brick toys are available which are still  compatible with LEGO brick.

Don't do this. It's tacky. As a kid I would rather have the real thing and a bit less, than mass quantities of imitation product. In the long-term, if your kids' collection has a bunch of partially compatible pieces mixed in, it doesn't make for a good play experience. If quantity is what you're going for, the Classic 1500 piece set is a good place to start. Best to keep it in the LEGO universe in my opinion.

I want to underscore Mentalist's point. If the parts are not properly compatible with each other then it's much harder to build your own stuff. Even when they're the same shape, they usually don't snap together properly, and things fall apart a lot more easily

"Communist LEGO" is a comprehensive list of all the LEGO imitators and clone brands. It is an interesting read:
https://uploads.brickset.com/docs/clonebrands_v1.8.pdf
Keep in mind that, while clone brands may be cheaper at the beginning, they have minimal or no resale value, and thus can end up being more expensive than genuine LEGO. Because of LEGO's quality, reputation and popularity, you can always resell your collection once your kids outgrow them, and thus recoup the money you spent (as long as your kids kept them in reasonably good condition). Clones are hard to even give away, not to speak of selling.
Another thing to consider is safety. LEGO puts tremendous care and effort into making sure that their products are safe. This is not always the case with cheap imitators. Children often put toys in their mouths. You don't want to expose them to lead-based paints on printed items and leaching plastics.
Mega-Bloks and Kre-O should be safe as they are made by leading toy manufacturers with a long history. Their products are not the same quality as LEGO, so the resale value is not as good, but at least you know they won't poison your kids. It is best to stick with products with proven safety records rather than choosing toys just because they are cheap.
Also, you might consider the educational value of LEGO. It is not just a toy, but a system for building and learning. Math, science, coordination, engineering and creativity are all integral part of building with LEGO, and many schools and educational institutions use LEGO as part of their curriculum. So if you look at the whole package - quality, safety, and value - LEGO will still likely be your best option.
Based on your original post it appears that your children already have a good amount of LEGO, but they keep asking for more. I would suggest that you explore new activities with the LEGO they already have. LEGO provides many alternate building instructions, project suggestions, games, and lessons on their website, and there are also third-party websites, books and other materials to let your children explore the endless possibilities even a handful of LEGO bricks can provide.

Mega Bloks and Kre-O are almost certainly the best LEGO clones out there when it comes to compatibility with the actual LEGO pieces. Most of the other no-name LEGO clones are technically compatible, but the fit will be so loose that it is almost not worth it.
If you want to check them out, here are a few:

BanBao, Best-Lock, Cobi, K'Nex, Kre-O, Mega Bloks, Oxford, Tyco, Super Blocks, Guangdong Loongon

I would also encourage you to check out alternative building toys that are not compatible with LEGO, there are a lot of construction toys that kids who like LEGOs will enjoy, but may be more abstract, more architectural, etc.
List of LEGO alternatives

Today, early 2019, there are many, many brands out there that sell sets with Lego-compatible pieces. Most of them are Chinese brands, but there's also several brands from other countries.
Here's but some of this long list of brands :

Ausini (China)
Cobi (Poland)
Enlighten (China)
Lepin (China)
Mega Blocks (Canada)
Oxford Blocks / Kre-O (South-Korea)
Sembo / Shen Yuan (China)
Sluban (China)
Wange (China)
Xingbao (China)
Kazi / Gao Bao Le (China)

Lepin is a brand specialized in cloning complete Lego sets, from individual pieces & minifigs to instructions and box art. That means this brand is véry controversial and buying it may be illegal in your country. The quality of the bricks is very good, though, although Lepin sets are more likely to have missing bricks or poorly moulded bricks than Lego sets.
All other brands listed sell their own sets with their own unique designs. The quality & price varies significantly from brand to brand. Many of these brands produce real-life military designs (tanks, airplanes) that Lego has a policy of never releasing.
In my experience, Oxford provides the highest quality, and in fact may even provide better quality than Lego in some aspects. However, it's also at a similar price range as Lego and not a good option if cost is a primary criterion for looking at other brands. Kre-O bricks come from Oxford but are marketed by Hasbro and are easier and cheaper to find on Amazon.
XingBao also provides high quality sets, including some modular buildings with piece counts > 4,000. And while not without flaws, the designs of these modular buildings is on par with those sold by Lego, at a fraction of the cost. Xingbao even has a version of the Lego Ideas system where people vote for uploaded sets they want to see put into mass production. XingBao has the same mother company as Lepin, however, sort of a "legal" branch of the same company. So you may want to avoid it if you have a problem with Lepin's business practices.
For a brand that is almost as high quality as XingBao but which isn't shrouded in the same controversy, you might want to check out Enlighten. Especially their recent sets are pretty high quality. They don't sell any sets as complex as full-size modular buildings, though.
Where can you buy these brands, you might want to know? For non-Chinese brands like Oxford or Cobi, you might want to check out Ebay or Amazon. For Chinese brands, the most popular venue is AliExpress.

Some Lego-compatible sets are available on AliExpress, but it should be noted that some suppliers on that site infringe on Lego intellectual property by directly cloning Lego sets.
Parts from various resellers are just like Lego, and some are superior. Yes, superior. China has come a long way. Lego now has factories there too!

There is also a range of giant lego-like blocks that are made of cartons and plastic. Two are gigi bloks and edo bloks.

Cada bricks are good quality Lego alternative. Please relate to our Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/DOUBLEECaDA
Cada website: http://en.doubleeagle.cc/
Actually, there are quite a few reviews of Cada on Youtube.
Cheers

Hi and welcome to Bricks.StackExchange! Just wanted to check your use of "our Youtube channel" - if you're affiliated with Cada bricks, you need to declare that in a more obvious and up front way.


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Do we need WiFi Dongle to install Scratch on EV3
I was wondering if I can install Scratch program on EV3 brick without the wifi dongle.
Appreciate any insight here.

Welcome. Where are you getting Scratch for EV3 from? I'm not aware of Scratch running natively on the EV3.

No. Bluetooth on the computer you are using is necessary but you don't need a wifi dongle for either your computer or the ev3. If you are using the EV3+Scratch extension on scratchx.org, all you need is the scratch x plugin and a computer with Bluetooth (or a bluetooth dongle).
Here is a good article about how to set everything up.


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Why are the plastic bag designs different? Bag 4 looks normal, but are the rest legitimate LEGO designs?
The LEGO pieces in the bags look legit, but wondered why the bags are different. The box appeared to have been opened when I received. Just want to make sure the bags are official LEGO before I try to sell. The bags have "LEGO Group" written on them, so that's positive.

First of all, congratulations on securing a 75054 AT-AT. This is a very desirable set, and costs a pretty penny to purchase now that LEGO has stopped producing the set.
There is nothing wrong with your bags. The bags with the white band are of a newer design than the bag labeled "4". The white-band style was introduced in 2015, whereas the older style was used as of 2011. LEGO is slowly phasing out the older style in favor of the white-band style, working through remaining supplies of the latter until they run out.

Yeah, I can confirm. Just built some of the new Batman Movie sets and they also had mixed bags. Some with the white band, some without even inside the same set.


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How do I export LEGO Mindstorms programs on the Chromebook
There is now a Chromebook app to program LEGO Mindstorms.  I have multiple kids collaborating on programs for FIRST LEGO League.  Can they share the program between their Chromebooks?  I don't see a way to import or export the programs in the app.

I saw that, but the FAQ also says "Q: Can I access and share my projects directly from Google Drive?
A: No. Projects are stored in a hidden location in Google Drive that is not readily accessible for users."  So without some serious hacking, the files cannot be found.

https://education.lego.com/en-us/middle-school/explore/c/ev3-chromebook-faq

Lego Mindstorms  ...  https://www.lego.com/en-gb/themes/mindstorms/about?age-gate=grown_up

Lego Mindstorms app  ...  https://www.lego.com/en-gb/themes/mindstorms/app?icmp=LP-SHQL-Standard-Mindstorms_About_QL_Mindstorms_App-TH-MD-V5TJGYTVTX

The answer from 2017 was correct at the time. Since then, "LEGO MINDSTORMS Education EV3" software has been replaced by "EV3 Classroom" which does not have the ability to share anything and this will not be fixed. LEGO customer service has confirmed this for me via email:

With MINDSTORMS EV3 being officially retired, EV3 Classroom will not be updated to have this feature for the Chromebook or Android version.
For advanced users with root access to their Android devices: The project files can be found in #/data/data/com.lego.education.ev3classroom/files/projects
Workaround: Screenshots
   ○ Press CTRL+ALT+Capture key at the same time
   Take a screen shot of their code
   ○ This can then be saved to an email folder or a google drive

The students would still have to recreate the code each time but at least they would have that as a reference when doing so!

It's extremely unlikely that any school district would be willing to let students have root access, so it's now screenshots or switching to a real computer. The Windows version of EV3 Classroom does allow sharing.
Very disappointing, LEGO.

One of my students figured it out.  I have highlighted the buttons in the picture below.  The symbol with the arrow pointing to the box is import.  The send symbol allows you to email or store the file on Google Drive.


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Are there any reports of fatal or life-threatening incidents with LEGO?
My older kids love LEGO, so my younger kid is also very keen on playing with them, rather than only playing with DUPLO. I am however concerned that it might be risky for him.
Most pieces are either too small or too large to be, at least in my opinion, frankly harmful. It appears that fatal or life-threatening incidents may have occurred with LEGO in the remote or recent past, such as this one: Boy, 5, chokes on Lego block.
Is anybody aware of any other incident?

I'm aware of two serious incidents, but not life-threatening.
One, a young child put a rubber tire on their finger like a ring and went to sleep. This restricted bloodflow and caused swelling. IIRC, an ER visit was necessary but there was no lasting damage.
Another, a child removed a piece using their teeth, and accidentally bit through the element, which stuck to their teeth necessitating oral surgery.
I know multiple children have had bricks stick to their teeth. Always teach your children to use a brick separator or an adult, and never use their mouth or utensils (knives/forks) to pull pieces apart.
As for small parts, you should generally be safe if you follow the age guidelines. Sets with choking hazards are labeled as such.
To my knowledge, there have been no reports of fatal incidents involving LEGO toys, nor invasive surgeries.
DUPLO toys meet very high safety standards for younger children, if you're concerned. They're designed to withstand a great deal of force to prevent breakage (you could probably run them over and only get scratches), and are suited for infants and toddlers to generally handle safely.

The vast majority of lego related injuries included some variation of the following:

Cutting fingers by trying to disassemble Lego
Stepping on Lego (of course)
Quick movement of the corner of a piece against the skin, scratching or cutting the skin
Swallowing and/or choking on pieces (mostly young children, very young)
Getting pieces stuck in orifices such as the ears or nose

Basically, there is nothing majorly life threatening. I have not read or heard of any accounts of electrically operated Lego hurting people either (i.e. 9v system, PowerFunctions etc). If you would like to read personal accounts of harm from Lego, I would suggest taking a peek at this link.
Long story short, unless your child is prone to do things that are dangerous with small items, they are quite unlikely to be harmed, apart from a small scratch every once in a while. Also, all Lego products are accompanied by an age rating (not the one on the front cover) but near the fine print on boxes and instructions. There are adequate warnings and disclaimers, but of course common sense should prevail. If you know your child may get hurt, don't let that opportunity arise.
I hope that helped and answered your question. Happy building!

At about 9 years old I fell out of bed onto a constructed set. Managed to get into my parents bed and fall asleep. In the morning the pillow was soaked with blood and I got the day off school. As far as I am aware there were no lasting side effects, but ay bleeding to the head is not considered healthy.

Where did the blood come out of? A cut on your finger? Your nose? Your ears?

Back of my head


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Can you identify this yellow translucent snake piece and sets it may come from?

Piece shown here a yellow translucent snake found in stacks of Lego. Wondering what it is and what sets it may come from so I can try and locate the rest and build it. Thanks for your help

Can you provide details on its size as well?

It is part 98348 Minifig Weapon, Whip Bent with Snake Head and Pin Hole.
On this page you can find more info about this part, what colors it exists in, and all of the sets it appears in.
The part exists in this color in 3 sets: 41518 Glomp, 41519 Glurt, and in 9557 Lizaru Polybag.


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EV3 Motors not moving even though EV3 has batteries
I am new to using the EV3. I have only had it for 3 weeks.
My question is why are my EV3 motors not moving?
I know the motors are new and they are in such a good condition they could be sent back to the factory and resold, but the motors just won't move.

Last time I checked my EV3 motors didn't have wheels or legs, so they are also obviously not moving. Now if you are trying to make the motors spin and you have problems doing so, you'd need to provide us more details as to how the program you have written to make the motors spin looks like and how you have connected your motors to your EV3 so we can help you find out if you have a mistake in your code or wiring, or whether your motors are truly defective.

One thing you can do to check on the basic level is to plug the motors into the EV3 brick and try to manually get them to rotate with the on board controls. If you can get them working that way then you know for sure it is not the motors or EV3 control as the problem and likely issues with your program.
If they don't move manually try to switch up the ports and the cables to to see if any combination works or does not.
Also the more obvious piece of advice is to make sure your are plugging motors into the motor ports and not the sensor ports.

I had this happen today in my classroom.
The student did not download the program to the brick. After you write the program, you must download the program to your brick.


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How to cross reference multiple parts in sets?
I use BrickSet.com to easily find all sets containing a specific part e.g. http://brickset.com/sets/containing-part-374726. Is there a way on that site or any other to find all the sets containing two specific parts?

Someone gave the answer by editing someone else's answer to point out rebrickable's API. I've now got a simple call that fetches all the sets with one part in it, can can knock together a script to do the rest, but it looks like they have deleted the whole answer. If they come back with it I'll give them the points.

I have un-deleted the answer that was deleted by the poster. If you would like to improve on the answer given or add your own answer to explain how you achieved this that would be great.

Zhaph addition to the answer was the real solution here, but it wasn't really related to Andrew's answer I'm going to use the API and write an answer explaining how.

Although clunky you could consider using Microsoft Excel to do most of the work for you.

On Brickset search for the first part
On the top bar click CSV or (comma separated values)
Copy the text
Open Excel (I'm using 2010)
Select Cell A1
In the top right corner click the arrow bellow paste and select "Import Text Wizard..." (depending on the version this option may be in another place)
Selected Delimited and click next
On the following page select "Comma" click next
Select each row that is not "SetID" and select "Do Not Import" click finish (alternatively you can manually delete the extra rows after finish)
Repeat steps for the second part you are looking for. However Select Cell B1 instead of A1. You'll end up with two rows of SetIDs
Finally highlight both columns of SetIDs and select "Conditional Formatting", >"Highlight Cell Rules"> "Duplicate Values"

The cells that are highlighted will be the sets that contain both parts.

that will definitely work but it's not efficient enough for me.

I've previously imported them to MS Access to get querying power. A little work to set up, but being able to write those queries was helpful.

From what I can tell, there is no way to cross-reference within the site itself, but it wouldn't be difficult to write a short code to do the cross-checking for you.
I'm not a programmer or web-developer, so I lack any basic coding skills, but for someone who is more able, this would be a very simple task. After you open the page that gives the list of sets containing said part (one page for each of the parts you're looking for) you can easily find all sets sharing two parts by having your browser run a Jscript that does the following:

Generates a list of all set numbers that contain said part (one list per page)
Generates a list of all set numbers that are shared in all previous lists

Let me know if that is confusing...

Not confusing at all, I'm a programmer by day. I just hoped someone had written the code for me already :-)

Hah! You lazy bum, you :) Although my older bro wrote a more complicated script than what I described in under 10 minutes, but hey, I can't blame you for trying to save 10 minutes :)

Neither of the sites I know, BrickSet and BrickLink, have useful APIs for searching for the sets a part is in. The in-browser script you mention could be a GreeseMonkey type script but it would have to screen-scrape the target site and that sort of work can be fragile.

Unfortunately, I only understood about half of what you said =/ I would suggest asking this question on another forum about how to easily extract that information from the page so that you can run the matching script. Because I have no idea. Hopefully someone with more programming knowledge will come along....

Also, you may be able to work around that by using the tab function. That way the script doesn't actually search the page for part numbers, since every part is an equal number of 'tabs' apart from each other.

I can handle the tech, just don't want to waste my time doing it if there is a site that has already done it.

Understood :P Good luck in your search

http://rebrickable.com has an advanced search option that allows you to search for parts within specific sets, that might be able to help you.
It also has an API that returns the sets containing a specific part: http://rebrickable.com/api/docs?fn=get_part_sets - although this does require the inclusion of a colour as well. From that you could write a simple comparison between the two results. However this probably won't scale all that well if you then want to find the number of sets containing 10 specific elements.

I don't see how that helps. I have two parts A and B and I want to find all the sets that contain both of them.

Thanks Zhaph, that is very useful. I think it will be quite fast even with 10 lists because the algorithm would start with the shortest list and look for those sets in the other lists, remove any that aren't found and come out with only common sets. Your response is different enough from Andrew's that that it should be its own answer.

It's not like I needed the rep, and it was on the basis of Andrew's original answer that I went to check rebrickable as I thought I recalled it having an API that could be used for this.


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What set do these stickers belong to?
I have searched for these stickers in several places but I can't seem to find what sets they go to.

Is the bottom one a sticker or print?

I didn't find anything for the 1x2 brick on Bricklink in "Bricks, Decorated" category or the tile in "Tile, Decorated"; I'm pretty sure LEGO doesn't do stickers spanning on multiple parts any longer so that one might be a bit old. Could be not-LEGO, too.

A recent set with lots of stickers spanning multiple parts is set 10241. Are these mystery bricks LEGO or some other clone brand? Check the pieces for LEGO identification numbers and LEGO imprint on studs.

For the top item, I have found this to come from set 6338 Hurricane Harbor. Here is a photo of the sticker sheet that came with this set:

As for the bottom, please see comment to the question.


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List of parts to buy for to "upgrade" existing Mindstorms NXT 1.0 to Mindstorms EV3 set?
Is there a list of parts available I need to buy to "upgrade" an existing Mindstorms NXT 1.0 (8527) set to a Mindstorms EV3 set?

I don't know of such a list, but you can find the inventory for the EV3 on Bricklink and other similar sites.
However, it would be more economical to buy an entire EV3 set. The 31313 retail set is about $350 (USD). To buy just the EV3 brick, motors and sensors individually would be more than that.

EV3 Intelligent Brick - $190
EV3 Large Motor - $25 x 2
EV3 Medium Motor - $20
EV3 Infrared Sensor - $30
EV3 Infrared Beacon - $30
EV3 Touch Sensor - $20
EV3 Color Sensor - $40
Total: $380

It is also possible to use the EV3 programming software (the desktop version) to program the NXT brick (with some limitations, like no Bluetooth support). So, you could "upgrade" the software without having to obtain any new parts.


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Can anyone identify this blue partial vehicle build?

I know this is a long shot, but does anyone recognise this set? The pieces in the photos are all common so not much help;
Black plates
2 x 6 (2 of),
2 x 4
2 x 8.
1 X 1 round (2 of).
Blue plates
1 X 2 (2 off),
2 X 4
2 X 2
1 X 4 (2 off)
And a steering wheel and seat.
I believe the set is after the year 2000 but can't be certain.
All guidance is greatly appreciated!

From a glance it doesn't look like a set as much as something someone might have randomly put together. The two blue 1x2 tiles at the front seem odd, as do the double-stacked black round tiles.
Of all the pieces used it seems the rarest would be the blue steering wheel or the blue seat. It turns out the blue seat piece is used in 'only' 67 different sets.
From that list of sets, only one set seems to resemble this configuration, the 1572 Super Tow Truck from the Town theme, released in 1986. Step 3 of the instructions (as shown below) seems to be quite a close match.

Thank you very much for your help. I guess I was a little bit off with my date!


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Help identifying space-themed sets
I have acquired a 20 pound bag of space-themed Lego pieces that seem to belong to some special Technic set(s). Many pieces and assemblies seem way too unusual to be  acquired from a random bulk purchase by the prior owner - the pieces are themed and uncommon. I am attaching some photos for your reference. I would love to hear if any of you can identify which set(s) these may belong to, unless the prior owner totally made these up. Thank you for your help! I have spent about 20 years of my life around LEGO bricks and have never seen any pieces like these. I am stumped!
P.S. I've realized that I have a Death Star in the bag and a Captain Rex's AT-TE, but still can't figure out what the white and the yellow ones are.

Couple of observations:

Neither of these pictures shows complete sets
The parts you show in each picture most likely do not all come from the same set

From what I can see, you have the following parts of sets in the pictures, clockwise from top left:

Parts of a Y-wing (likely 9495 Gold Leader's Y-wing Starfighter ) plus parts of 7166 Imperial Shuttle

Parts of a Naboo Starfighter (likely 7660 Naboo N-1 Starfighter and Vulture Droid) plus parts of another set (the large grey wedge with the green stickers is not from 7660).

Parts of 10188 Deathstar mixed with parts of a 8039 Venator-Class Republic Attack Cruiser

More parts from the Venator Class Attack Cruiser (the engines on the left), plus a 7675 AT-TE.

Thank you so much for your help! I greatly appreciate it. The Star Wars themed Lego sets are definitely not my expertise! I only posted photos of the partially assembled parts as they seemed easiest to identify. The photos only show a fraction of the set, there is still over half a bag of loose individual parts. Anyways, thank you again, and happy new year!

Top Left
7659-1 -  Imperial Landing Craft
Top right seems to be two sets
7930-1 - Bounty Hunter Assault Gunship
and
7877-1 - Naboo Starfighter


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Are these parts really LEGO?

Hello, can anyone tell me if these yellow and red items are real LEGO parts? I have a sneaky feeling that they have made it into the LEGO pile via somebody 'selling LEGO bulk' but I don't want to throw them out if I'm wrong.

Those look like the Playmobil clip-on necklace pieces. Playmobil doesn't have the same level of part listing that LEGO does, but I was able to find this picture of the yellow one being worn.

And now that picture is broken. Disappointing.


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Why do some minifigs have grey hands and some yellow?
I have a lot of LEGO Sets and have noticed that some of them have yellow hands and some have a dark grey colour hands. Is this because some are of old design and some are of new design? Most old ones have yellow hands, though?
This minifig has yellow hands:

And this one has grey:

Hand colors other than yellow are generally used to either match skin tone in licensed themes, or to represent some sort of gloves. The police officer you mentioned is probably "wearing" some sort of motorcycle or driving glove:

When minifigs were first introduced in the late 70s, the only ones to have non-yellow hands were the space minifigs:


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Will The Scooby-Doo Mystery Machine come back in stock at retailers?
I see this set, 75902 the Mystery Machine, from 3rd party sellers on Amazon for $10 or more above retail, but it's out of stock at most retailers I have looked at.  I'd like to know if there is a way to tell if it will come back in stock.  If it won't, I'll buy it at the slightly inflated price before it goes up any further.
And in general does anyone have info about the timeline of current sets?  For example how long they continue to make them?  When they go out of stock at most places, does that usually signal "the end"?  Is there a way to know if a newer version of the Mystery Machine (or of any set) will come out soon?

Regarding the set 75902 Scooby Doo Mystery Machine - it is a retired set according to the UK LEGO Shop at Home site:

The US LEGO Shop at Home site has not yet applied the "Retired Product" label, but shows this set as Sold Out:

As a general rule, it is best to check both US and EU Shop at Home sites (one of the many EU sites is enough) as set retirement information is maintained separately for both markets. Alternatively you can look at the Brickset page for a given set, it shows availability information for all markets (though it doesn't give a definite "Retired" status).

LEGO set retirements are rather unpredictable. On average, sets are available for around 2 years - but it greatly varies. Some sets have retired after 6 months on the market (76039 Ant-Man Final Battle is a recent example). Some sets stay available for more than 5 years (10220 Volkswagen T1 Camper Van is an example of this, and so was 10188 Death Star).
As you mention - getting Out of Stock at retailers (including LEGO Shop at Home) is often a sign of a set retiring, but it could also mean a temporary shortage of product. Finally, there are sets that are produced seasonally and those will go to Sold Out for longer periods of time at LEGO Shop at Home, only to return closer to the season - for example 10254 Winter Holiday Train.
Back to Scooby Doo - I do not think that LEGO has the Scooby Doo license anymore (though they could always opt to renew it at some point) and as such, most AFOLs consider this line to be done. As The LEGO Group is a private company, outsiders can typically only guess the plans - TLG could always surprise us.
And maybe some hope: Since the Mystery Machine set has not been retired for long, at least in the US, you might still be able to find one in places like Toys 'r Us or KMart, where they typically do not get rid of their stock very fast.

UPDATE: Not even 3 hours after posting this, the set has now gone to Retired Product status on the US Shop At Home site as well:


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How do you print on LEGO clone helmets?
I was wondering if it is possible to use water slide decals to print on a LEGO clone helmet if so, how?

This question is a bit confusing. It mentions water slide decals, but then also asks about printing directly on the helmet.
Water slide decals are what their name implies; decals that can be slid on the item with the aid of water. It's not printing. They are basically very thin stickers.
Because water slide decals are so thin, they can easily mold onto non-flat surfaces. If they are larger, and the surface is very round or complex, you can score the decal with a hobby knife before applying it to eliminate any wrinkles.
But in general, yes, water slide decals can be used on LEGO pieces. The decals should come with instructions on how to apply them. You basically make them a little bit wet, and slide them onto the item from the special paper they are sitting on, then remove the protecting film from the top.
If the piece is going to be handled a lot, you should cover the decal with a clearcoat to protect it. Water slide decal supplies like clearcoat and application tools should be available at any hobby store.


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Mindstorms EV3: Patrolling a number of rooms - what are my options?
I want my Mindstorms EV3 bot to patrol a number of rooms autonomously on the same track.
What are my options?

line following, which requires a line and is relatively slow
setting a default program of moves, resulting in a collision sooner or later (missing accuracy)

Am I am missing something that is more accurate and faster?

For moving on defined path you can achieve amazing accuracy with LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3 odometry combined with good gyroscope but this still will result in a collision sooner or later.
Examples of such systems can be found here and here
Both of these systems use MICROINFINITY CruizCore XG1300L gyro/accelerometer but there are other good gyroscopes.
The only way to limit the growth of positioning error (and eventual collision) are absolute positioning methods such as beacons, artificial/natural landmarks recognition or model matching.
The state of the art in robotics is SLAM which could be implented on top of system with LIDAR, odometry and possibly gyroscope, preferably with ready-made ROS SLAM algorithms and computation on PC (EV3 is too slow). Making such system work is quite involved and may take months of work.
I'm not sure if this would be any faster than following a line though.
You can also consider following the wall, with Maze Solving Algorithms to move around the rooms.

1. EV3 IR Sensor with multiple EV3 IR Beacons
You could place beacons on different channels and move in a sequance towards them using heading/distance information. This will be limited by distance to sense the beacon and sometimes you have to search for beacon by rotating (you don't sense the beacon direction correctly if IR sensor is pointed in opposite direction).
I have tried following only single beacon - a robot on auto-pilot following other robot with beacon, or hand-held beacon. It worked ok but with limited distance.
You could also use your "setting a default program of moves" with beacons to locate after each longer path segment to keep positioning error bounded (so that you don't have colission eventually).
2. Default program of moves with line following after path segment.
You could split your patrol path into segments of fast straight moves that reach perpendicular color coded paths. Those color coded paths are only used to locate the robot and set it into motion on next fast moving segment. This is opinion based, I have not tried it. This could be the fastest option.
3. Tha Localization part of SLAM
Implementing working SLAM all by yourself is somewhere around master thesis in computer science. Maybe simplier with particle filters. Maybe harder depending on SLAM flavour you choose. It requires knowledge in statistics and profficiency in computer science.
It's easier to only make the localization part on prebuilt map but this still needs a good sensor (like LIDAR) combined with odometry and delgating computations to PC (so some network communication). Even in this setting it is big and demanding project.

Line Following and Wall Following that you and David mentioned are reasonable working methods.


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Does anyone here know how to apply for MFi product plan id to LEGO?
Does anyone here have an idea as to how to apply to LEGO to get MFi product plan id? Or how do I get to their MFi product plan form?

MFi (Made For iPod/iPhone/iPad) is a program from Apple, not LEGO. You can apply on Apple's website: https://developer.apple.com/programs/mfi/.

One needs to apply to Apple if one is manufacturing an MFi accessory. But if one is writing an ios app that communicates with such an accessory, for publishing that app on App store, one needs permission from the Manufacturer of that Accessory which in my case happens to be Lego.

In that case, I would suggest updating your question to make it more clear what you are asking. Do you have a link from Apple about this requirement? I have seen people using EV3 with iOS in their own apps, but I have never heard of anyone who tried to submit it to the App store, so I am not familiar with that process.


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LEGO Mindstorms 9797 (NXT Education base set) Software Download
Where I can download the Software for the LEGO Mindstorms 9797 (NXT Education base set)

I contacted Lego and they gave me this link for a PC:
https://fileshare.corp.lego.com/node_share_links/119233?token=7a9527d5-cd94-491c-88b3-689587eae5ae
I don't have the link for a Mac, but you can ask Lego for it.

Very nice! This should be the accepted answer. Welcome to Bricks.SE!

As of 2021, the retail version of the NXT software is still available for download from the  official LEGO MINDSTORMS download page (near the bottom of the page).
The Education version of the software is available on the retired products download page.

Or you can download the EV3 Software (Home or Education) and use this for programming the NXT (but with limitations).

The software is now available for download (Win/Mac) on LEGO Education site.


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The LEGO Logo Font
I am looking for a font that matches as close as can be to the LEGO logo font in the picture bellow:

It does not need to be outlined in yellow or in black, I can do that with my software. Also, it doesn't need to be italic as I can do that with the software too!

It would seem to me that the original design of this logo, as it was first conceived in 1949 would have been drawn by hand, without the use of modern graphics tools. So I'm not sure there is a font you could import into your Word programs and the like, but options are still available. Consider trying out this font generator that can simulate all-caps text into what they call "Legothick."
https://www.urbanfonts.com/fonts/Legothick.htm
Hope this helps.

Thank you! After some more research on the website I found a downloadable version here.

Thanks for the update. It will be useful to know where to find this font in the future.

Im preety sure Lego would of already digitized this font a long time ago. Why would they not? Its preety easy too considering the .SVG format, and 99% of computer fonts are actually vectors now too. I have no idea where to find the actual font file though. Maybe lego just has been preety good at keeping it secured in their computers?

I'm sure LEGO doesn't want people copying their font to make fake copies that look just like real LEGO.

@WilliamV.: I agree TLC may see no benefit in distributing the font. However, copying the exact letters "LEGO" (rather than writing something - anything - else with the font) is about the only thing for which one would not need the font. Any rendition would do as a base for vectorization, including all printed logos from boxes and catalogues.


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The Coffee Chain
I have been looking all over the internet, since I first came upon the Larry the Barrista minifigure(got into mini figs kind of late), for the coffee chain logo. I love the takehome cup that comes with Larry but I want to make a coffee shop with the coffee chain logo. So far, only one set has a sticker which is 60097 but I would like to know if it is likely that LEGO will be making more things using the Coffee Chain Logo?

To the best of my knowledge, this coffee chain logo was made for The LEGO Movie, and then spread to this one set. Noting LEGO's tendencies to use and re-use symbols across themelines (i.e., Octan paraphernalia, Classic Space logo, etc,) I could see some potential for them to include the sticker in a future set. Another real possibility is the long-awaited release of a City Coffee Shop.
If you are looking for ways to make such a custom shop yourself, you might consider making your own stickers using these techniques?

Here is somebody that is selling sticker sheets for $11.99 that look like:

and you get instructions for building a modular building too.


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Where did Octan come from? Why was it chosen?
I have many sets that include the Octan logo:

Over time Octan has been the name of LEGO Cities, Oil Companies, and Big Businesses. It was chosen as a successor to Esso and Shell. It became big during the LEGO Movie too.
Why was the name Octan chosen, and what does it mean or refer to?

http://bricks.stackexchange.com/questions/2488/lego-and-fuel-company-commercial-relationship/2630#2630 already discussed this actually

Octan, is simply Octane in Danish, which is a chemical in and associated with gasoline making it a sensible name for a fictional petroleum/energy company.
The LEGO Group (under pressure by a Greenpeace campaign) stopped the previous corporate partnerships, which had featured real world oil companies logos in LEGO sets, to distance themselves from the environmental protests associated with those companies.
All this can be found here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octan


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Have the model files for the LEGO Sonic head piece been released in LDD or LDraw parts library?
I am referring to the "LEGO Dimensions" video game Sonic head piece. I can't seem to find the name of the model, assuming it even exists in these libraries. I've been looking for it everywhere.

I can answer half of this question. I have the latest version of LDD and after a thorough examination of the available head pieces, I can report that the Sonic mold has not been added to the parts library. If anyone else here has the latest LDraw parts library, they will be able to answer the other half of this question.
Here is a shot of all the non-standard head molds:

Awwww. I see then. I went and looked through LDD & LDraw too, twice each, with no results. I was hoping I looked wrong or missed something. Thanks for reconfirming!

I've got it and i'm using the latest version, now in June 2019.


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Bag Identification
I have a random bag #3 from an unknown set. Bag has normal 135149 number and 2011 on it. The pieces are all light gray, dark gray, black and green!?! any ideas on what set it might be?

Welcome to this site. Bag number and copyright date mean nothing (they merely identify the bag design and give a lower limit for when the set was produced (2011 in this case)). Can you post a picture of the bag and its contents?

Hopefully pics help!

This bag is from 76003-1: Superman: Battle of Smallville, based on

Plate 6X6 in Medium Stone Grey
Technic Brick 1X12, Ø4,9 in Medium Stone Grey
Roof Tile 1X3/25° in Dark Green

and Technic 3M Beam in yellow + Plate 2X3 in Brick Yellow are also in this set

Beat me by 12 seconds! Good job, I agree on 76003.

Beat me by 40 minutes, I should have kept checking back to see if someone had answered. How did you do it?


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What technic vehicles are built to scale for 75114 First Order Stormtrooper?
From what I have, 42036 Street Motorcycle is a bit too big but still looks rideable. What other technic sets can be used together with 75114? Can you put it inside 42056 Porsche 911 GTR?

Obviously The Lego Group has not released any sets specifically designed for the constraction figures, but some sets would still be reasonably sized. I've never asked a storm trooper, but let's assume he is 6 feet tall, or 72 inches. According to Brickset's information, 75114 is "over 9 inches tall" That makes the scale for the figure about 1:8.
Now bringing in the Lego Porsche 911 GTR, we find from its description that it is "22 inches long" The actual car's specs put its total length at 178.94 inches, which I have rounded to 179. So the car's scale is 1:8.14, which would mean that it is "to scale."
Now I don't have either set, so perhaps another user can provide photos of whether this figure actually fits in the car. I suspect it would not, which doesn't upset the reality of this situation. I'm not sure that John Boyega would fit in a $175,000 car in full storm trooper attire.
If the scale still bothers you, we might work with this actor's height at 5' 9" or 69 inches. That makes the scale for 75114 1:7.7 This would definitely make the scale believable enough if all you wanted a photo of the figure leaning up on the technic model.
Additional info: 42021 and 42022 are not to scale; 42029 is close; 8070 is also worth looking into....
That gets you back to 2011. I may have missed some so please comment below if you see any I missed!


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Piece Identification, 3x6 white horizontal cylinder

I have these 4 white pieces from a large lot of pieces I purchased. Any idea what set they may be from? Most of the other sets have been Batman, Superman or super heros.

These appear in 4s in many iterations of the Imperial Shuttle, and also many of the X-wing, as well as the
MT-201 Ultra-Drill Walker and the SP Undercover Cruiser. I can't say for certain which of these sets originally contained those pieces, but this should get you closer. This list also shows sets that contain the piece in smaller quantities.

That is a
Cylinder 3 x 6 x 2 2/3 Horizontal
Item No: 30360.
In white it appears in a number of sets as listed in the already existing answer.

According to brickset, this piece is either the 3x3x6 engine or this other 3x3x6 engine piece. They are both pretty similiar, but I think they differ in the amount of studs in the tubes on the side. Alternately, you could check out their group/piece class here for the first piece that I mentioned above, or here for the second piece. I might be mistaken though, since I have that piece at home, and Brickset may be referring to the same piece, but at different angles/sides. You can check what set they come in simply by clicking on "sets" on the side bar labelled "part details". If you are checking out my 3rd or 4th link, simply click on each link that you would like to open, and click on "sets" as I mentioned above.

It must be parts from the set LEGO X-Wing 9493. Here it is on Bricklink.


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How do I unlock the surprise for advent calendar?
I bought the Lego Friends 2016 Advent calendar. It says that I can unlock a surprise on 12/4, but I can't find where to unlock it....

Same here. I guess Lego forgot... my daughter is a bit distraught

Same for the German website. My little daughter is appalled to say the least. She made me check the site several times today...probably nobody was on duty on a sunday. Woudl be good to have it prominent on the frontpage of the website.

My daughter is very upset with the surprise. She was hoping for an ani animation or similar and 'just got stupid build stuff that I've already done'. She couldn't even find the link herself.

Found it! Here is the link for the December 4th surprise:
https://web.archive.org/web/20170505135238/https://www.lego.com/en-us/friends/activities/downloads/2017-christmas-bi-1


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Long train Bridge tension and compression angles (minimum brick count)
Hello master builders.
I'm working on my first large project (and first Lego stack overflow question).
I'm making a bridge that needs to be 3 feet long. Unfortunately I don't own tons of Lego bricks.
Working with what I can find, I've built a single supporting brace of #8 rods and #4 angles. (I have the most of these in my bricks tub). Along the top (where the train track sits) are plates. Each platform connecting the plates is a 16 stud gap. The platforms are 4x4 studs.
This doesn't seem to work out the same when trying to pin the connecting beams on the bottom. Below is an early photo, I've reinforced the top to support the weight of my train, but it still bows slightly because the holes in the Technic beams do not seem to line up to the gap length. I think it's off by some percentage of a hole. (That makes me question if the top is actually an even 20 studs between the connectors)

The new design is to have more beams on the bottom and use angled lift arms to shorten the distance by some percentage between the connectors.
The question is, what angle lift arms should I be looking for? And how many variations of lift arms might work. Assume I have enough #4 and #5 rods to pin it all together.
To note, I know that a balance beam for a bridge is probably not a great plan, but I didn't find enough pieces to make two beams across my 3 foot gap.
Other suggestions for bridge construction are welcome, but I did search around a bit and either lack the right bricks or am too high off the ground to build support columns (5+ feet high)
Thank you for thinking on this and reading.

The compression member in your design looks thin to me, and the tension member oversize (assuming they are the top and bottom respectively). I would use string for tension and the technic beams for compression as the first step.
The low-part-count solution that occurs to me is going to kill the clearance under your bridge, but if that's acceptable a single column down from the centre with string/rope tension members to the end will work. You can use two columns with lateral bracing to get similar strength but better clearance, at the cost of needing more parts.

You miay also be able to do a modern single-pillar suspension design that looks exciting, especially if you're willing to cheat a bit with a non-Lego weight. You may be able to extend your beam and tie to that instead of using a weight, but I suspect you will struggle to get enough strength.

You can buy 100m rolls of string that look a lot like Lego thick string for next to nothing from sewing supply places. I have two, because the waxed string slides more easily over plastic for times when I can't use pulleys or rollers, but it's also less bendy so in low-tension situations often looks bad.


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How easy is it to sell on BrickLink as a non-dealer?
I have been looking at a few of my old LEGO sets on BrickLink and they seem to sell for a lot ($500-$1000) - the information also suggests they actually are being sold periodically.
However, I've never sold on there before. I know that with most sites like that (Ebay, etc) it's really hard to sell without any reviews/feedback and particularly for expensive items.
Is this something which is even reasonable for me to even attempt to sell on BrickLink?

Anecdotally, yes, it's fine. Depending on the rarity of the set it may even be fairly easy. My experience quite some time ago was that it was easy - I'm not sure how many people looked at my complete lack of feedback and didn't buy from me, but I found a buyer within a couple of weeks. I suggest limiting yourself to insured post and trying to be responsive to questions.

@Móż it's a set that's pretty rare and valuable as best I can tell - 10030 is the number. Looking there I see it is actually selling, too.

In general, it is considered best to first build up a reputation (i.e. feedback) by selling smaller items, before offering up rare and expensive items. When a new seller (low or zero feedback) offers up an expensive set, the following might happen:

Buyers will be afraid to purchase from you as offering expensive sets for sale by low feedback buyers is associated with scams.
You expose yourself to fraudulent buyers who are preying on new seller and try to pull a fast one (e.g. claiming something never arrived, or claiming something arrived damaged, or even returning something opened and replaced).

This is not to say that those things will always happen, but low feedback raises warning flags.
Of course, with proper research and careful shipping you can avoid all of this, and especially if you are competitively priced you might sell sooner rather than later.
Being perceived as a scammer, or being scammed yourself, is something that is unfortunately a regular phenomenon on any marketplace, be it Amazon, EBay, BrickLink or Craigslist.
So net, just be careful and do proper research on how to best cover yourself against potential scams. Selling LEGO can be a very exhilarating experience!

In my opinion, I don't really like the way Bricklink is set up for sellers and actually think eBay is much easier. On eBay, you are able to start selling right away but with Bricklink they require you to make a purchase first, Which I think is ridiculous. If anything I would probably suggest to use Bricklink to get an idea of the price and then go sell it on eBay. At least that's what I am doing. Hope this helps.


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Identify LEGO branded forklift piece
Can you help me identify this forklift type piece of LEGO branded plastic? I can't really call it a brick, though it does clutch onto two standard studs.

It looks like you are missing the spring.

That would be Vehicle, Forklift 2 x 2 Plate and Yellow Fork (Complete Assembly), but it is broken.
For future reference, searching for 'Forklift' in the 'Parts' category on BrickLink gave this result. From there finding the proper part was a matter of looking at the images.


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Mindstorm 2.0 & Chromebook?
We have a Mindstorms 2 (not the new one, last gen) and chromebooks... can we use the current software (EV3?) on our old Mindstorm brick?  If not, will the old software run on our chromebooks to program the old boy or will I have to use the old software which is still on my macbook?

There's an FAQ that answers questions regarding the NXT <-> EV3 compatibility quite well:
https://www.lego.com/en-us/mindstorms/support?ignorereferer=true
The main problem is, that the EV3 software won't run on a chromebook AFAIK. Only Windows and Mac OS are supported. If you have a MacBook you can use the new EV3 software on that one and program the NXT.

It turns out that there is indeed a version of the EV3 education software that runs on a chromebook: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/lego-mindstorms-education/jhnhfnolmcleankdkhfklakpchnccipg?hl=en-US

Oh wow. Thanks for the info! Looks like the version for iOS. That's awesome to know.


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LEGO bionicle identification
We randomly saw this creature on a Google search for "vahki" creatures. but we can't find it again and we didn't click through and find a number.

Can anyone identify this being?

Not an official LEGO set, that's for sure. As far as I can tell, it's an inspirational model for a building contest a few years back, constructed by John Ho.

heh! great. my eight year old saw it and now dearly wants to build it! any tips on assembling spare pieces? we are relatively new bionicle fans. thanks for the help! my phone can't view flicker, but I'll look when I'm on the pc.

@hazmatrec The number one way I've built up my collection is through craigslist posting of large lots of LEGO. If you're looking for pieces on the cheap, that would be the best way to go. As for brainstorming ideas, it's really just a matter of seeing what can fit where. If you're looking for inspiration, there are many LEGO builders on MOCpages and DeviantArt with... varying levels of skill, that you can pull concepts from and adapt or modify as needed.


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Ambulance LEGO Sets
I am looking for an ambulance LEGO set as I have police and fire.
Doing some research it looks like LEGO currently provides no ambulance vans/trucks and have only had a few in the past.
Are there ambulances in the LEGO line that are coming in the future or that are out right now? Looking on eBay only returned a few results.

As far as I know, there isn't an ambulance slated for release in 2017, and there hasn't been one available since 4431 in 2012:

This set can be picked up currently for as little as $30 used on Bricklink or eBay.

Considering that minifigs often go for $10 each it is like you're getting the ambulance free.  :)


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2016: which Power Functions for controllable car?
I want to make a car or truck that can be driven by a controller.
Q: what Power Functions sets do I need in 2016? Any other suggestions?

I have no Technic nor Power Functions
I'm willing to buy anything
I am at an Expert level for brick-based construction
...but know almost nothing about beam-based construction
my existing library of beam parts comes from whatever parts happened to come with brick-based sets

References from older questions:

What are the best options for building a LEGO RC car?
Does the Power Functions IR Remote Control 8885 make a good remote for a car?

If you have no technic and no power functions you will need to get quite a lot. You could buy small technic sets to get enough parts to build the moving parts and you your current collection, or buy a big set and just add power functions to it. The Customized Pickup Truck is a good starter set that has all the right moving parts, but pretty much any Technic truck/car contains steering and a drive chain that you can attach a motor to.
For steering I recommend the servo motor. As a kid I spent a lot of time making cars that would lock left or right but not flick back to exactly straight afterwards.

For propulsion you have a whole array of motor options, the biggest and strongest (but also the slowest) is the XL motor. I've seen the Customized Pickup Truck converted to full RC using two M motors.

One IR receiver can control two wires so if you're only thinking about propulsion and steering one will do.

You'll need a battery pack. I prefer there one that takes AAs because years from now AA battery will still be purchasable and may be even longer lasting, plus you can keep spares near by, as opposed to the Lego rechargeable battery which will wear out over time and not be available forever.

And finally a remote. The speed remote lets you control the speed of the motors, not just forward/backwards at a fixed speed. However you'll need some extra parts to make left/right steering make sense on there. The other option is  the basic IR remote. Either one can control two functions.


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Remote for Holiday Train 10254 Unresponsive

The remote isn't lighting up to show it's transmitting. Can't get train to run when motor is connected to IR receiver. Tried connecting motor directly to battery and it runs, albeit at warp speed. Checked all channels on both receiver and remote to no avail. Any idea what I'm doing wrong?

Possible related solutions: http://bricks.stackexchange.com/questions/4870/lego-remote-controlled-cargo-train-not-working

I'd double check the batteries and their connections in the remote.  Since everything else is lighting up in an encouraging way that seems to be the most likely place of the problem.

It sounds like you've tried everything but changing the batteries. Make sure you are using three AAA (1.5v) batteries.


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I have set from Agents theme yet the database doesn't contain my set

I started to sort my LEGO when I realized that I still have most of one of the set I bought so I tried to search the net for the set name. However, the database of LEGO wiki and BrickSet didn't have anything resembling my set. I have come here to get help from any LEGO experts to identify my LEGO set. I am almost 100% sure that it's not a fake LEGO set.

Ok - welcome. Please post a pic and we can help.

wow that was fast the pictures up its really hard to find it on the net

As a heads up, that front minifigure is from EXO Force, not Agents.

This is part of 8631-1: Jetpack Pursuit


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Bluetooth connection to EV3 from Java on Linux/Android
I would like to connect to my EV3 from PC (and then Android) via Bluetooth.
I was able to connect to NXT with LEGO-MINDSTORMS-MINDdroid which uses direct LCP commands but as far as I know the communication language for EV3 is different from that of NXT.
I have installed lejos 0.9.1-beta on my EV3 and I could communicate with it via USB and WiFi using lejos' HelloWorld example containing BrickFinder.getDefault() for connecting.
I have followed Abid's tutorial for connecting from Linux. It did not work with Ubuntu 16.04 but it did with Ubuntu 14.04. I could ssh to the brick (I guess because 16.04 uses Bluez 5 while 14.04 and lejos uses Bluez 4). Bluez 4 and 5 seems incompatible.). However BrickFinder.getDefault() still does not find the brick. (It is not clear whether this function checks Bluetooth at all.)
What should I do to create a Bluetooth connection from Linux (preferably Ubuntu 16.04) and Android?
I would like to avoid low-level bluetooth programming/direct commands as I have no experience with it and I prefer a java solution. Lejos on the brick's side is not a priority.

Does this help? http://bricks.stackexchange.com/a/5930/3498

@David Lechner I have seen this page but there was no mention of Bluetooth in the source of Peter Mitrano's project. I will check it more thoroughly.

The BrickFinder source code is at https://sourceforge.net/p/lejos/ev3/code/ci/master/tree/ev3classes/src/lejos/hardware/BrickFinder.java. It seems the .getDefault() method iterates over all interfaces returned by the Java call NetworkInterface.getNetworkInterfaces(). Once bnep0 is created I would think it would be listed here and the EV3 should consequently become discoverable. Would need to hack this code to test what the problem is.

I have found out that socket.receive in BrickFinder.find throws a SocketTimeoutException even if I raise setSoTimeout to MAX_DISCOVERY_TIME from MAX_DISCOVERY_TIME/4. Ping to EV3 from Ubuntu is working. Bluetooth communication from Android to EV3 is also working.


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I'm looking for a good LEGO Modeling Program
I've seen people use those programs that model out your own LEGO design so you and others can see how it would look. Can I get a list of a few? Free and safe are preferable. Thanks!

See also: LEGO Digital Designer alternatives

The most commonly used one is Lego Digital Designer (often called LDD).  This has the advantage of being free and quite easy to use, including automatically snapping connections together.  However, it is only available for Windows and Mac.  Also, LEGO has discontinued support for it.
There is a system of programs based on LDraw.  These programs tend to be harder to use, but much more flexible.  Some of them, like LeoCAD, are fairly user-friendly.
A recent arrival is Stud.io.  It's in open beta but seems quite user-friendly.  It also has the advantage that it integrates with BrickLink.  It will tell you how much a certain part (or your whole model) will typically cost on BrickLink, and if a certain part is unavailable in a certain color.
One caveat is that none of the above solutions has all available parts in it.  Most common parts are available in all three, but some of the less common or older parts are not.  Some parts -- especially the very new, or very specialized parts -- are not available in any of them.

Of those programs listed. Which one is good at creating instructions?

See http://bricks.stackexchange.com/questions/12/do-any-programs-exist-that-allow-you-to-build-your-own-lego-manuals for more info on making your own instructions.

Another program that you can use that runs in the browser and doesn't require any downloading is Build With Chrome.
It allows you to use a bunch of bricks to create a model. You can browse other people's models and create your own. You can save your models by signing into it if you have a Google Account.
UPDATE: 8/8/19
Unfortunately the website was removed as of March 2019

Also see: http://bricks.stackexchange.com/a/2791/789


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What is the cheapest way to collect clone trooper minifigs?
I'm thinking of building a Star Wars Clone Trooper army and I was wondering what is the cheapest way to do so considering I need a few hundred.

I would say BrickLink... But it depends on how nitpicky you are, and what types of troopers you want. For example, if you're not trying to be ultra-canon with the Star Wars universe, you can just find the cheapest version of the Clone Trooper on BrickLink, and I'm sure you can find a decent price in a large quantity from a store.
Other than that, I would suggest Craigslist. Craigslist can be iffy, but if you live in a well populated area, it can be a great resource (provided you are cautious, of course). If you buy from people who are just trying to 'get rid of all this lego' you can usually get things for cheaper. Try not to buy from people who know what they talking about, because they are collectors and are trying to make a high profit.
To sum things up, your best bet is BrickLink. If you're not a stickler, I'm sure there are some ways to slightly reduce the cost.
Here's a good place to start:
92 New Clone Troopers 3.99 ea Definitely do some poking around, but this is one of the cheapest I could find if you want to buy large quantity of clone troopers. Obviously items that are 'used' will be cheaper, but the older troopers are more expensive, so the majority of cheap clones will be new.
I know this response was a bit rambly, so please let me know if there's anything I can clarify.


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Advice on where to start
I've seen this (http://petapixel.com/2013/04/12/check-out-this-lego-slr-and-its-lego-camera-strap-and-lego-strobe/) and really want to build it but cannot find instructions anywhere.
I can see the obvious parts but where on earth would I start with the bits that are well hidden away? Has anyone got any ideas of how it could be done? Is it just a case of playing around and seeing or can someone provide elusive instructions that I've not been able to find. Before you ask, yes I have contacted the designer to no avail.
I don't have enough of the right colours to be able to play but guessing software can do that but does that produce a list of bricks I can then buy? Not played with it before.

Have you tried messaging RGB900 on brickshelf.com?

@VolleyJosh I would if I knew there was a messaging system on there. Where is it?

I do not have much specific advice for the building of the model, but to get the pieces to physically create it, I can help with.
BrickLink will be the superior tool for you to be able to create this model yourself, and then buy the pieces for it. If you don't already have a BrickLink account, you can make one at this link:
Bricklink Registration
Stud.io Download
Once you have done so, click the above link and download their beta program "stud.io" which is a brick-building software that is very similar to Lego Digital Designer (a program originally released by TLG). It is more compatible with BrickLink than LDD, and you can link your BL account to stud.io.
Once you build a model in stud.io, you can easily upload it as a 'wanted-list' to your BL account that includes all the parts you need for your model that you created in stud.io. You can follow the steps on BL to get your parts in the most convenient fashion. I have found this to be cheaper and quicker than any other alternative (unless, of course, you have a massive collection of Lego pieces).
I hope that helps.

Thanks for getting back to me. I hadn't heard of Stud.io so will give that a shot. I guess its just going to be a case of sitting and analysing all the images and slowly building it all up. Thanks for your help though


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Is there a website that has close-up pictures of minifigs?
I am looking for pictures of minifigs to use for my profile pictures.
Searching Google turned up lots of results but most have a bunch of minifigs in them which requires extensive Photoshopping. I am just looking for a website with a bunch of pictures of minifigs or maybe a database if there is one!

presumably you also want public domain or at least royalty-free images?

Yes. That's what I would like.

Brickset.com has minifies entries for the majority of sets. here's an example.
http://brickset.com/sets/60120-1
Click on the minifigs tab. Some are on a plain white background, some not.
There's also heaps on BrickLink.com
http://www.bricklink.com/catalogTree.asp?itemType=M


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How much would it cost to buy one of every retail LEGO set released in a year?
I'm curious: has anyone done the math to determine how much it would cost to purchase one of every retail Lego set released each year?
Clarifications:

I don't know if there are sets available in the United States that aren't available in Europe (or vice versa).  Assume United States with USD prices.
I'm asking about sets newly released that year, not sets from previous years that are still being sold.
Obviously each year will be different.  Perhaps consider just 2016 and 2015 (and maybe a sampling of others to see what the trend is like).

Before doing anything else, I would send JANGBRiCKS on youtube a private message and see if he'll respond. He buys just about every set released by TLG to review them (out-of-pocket, too, not sponsored). He might have a good estimate to give you. Here is Jang's Channel

Brickset allows you to export a search as .CSV and appears to include prices for all regularly available sets - this does exclude promotional sets (i.e. in-store, newspaper vouchers, magazine gifts, partner stores, or VIP/special offers) and educational sets (only available through specialist educational retailers), or pick-a-brick/model options.

Running a quick SUM() over the price columns results in the following totals for 2015 and 2016 as examples - which gives you to total for the sets that were released in those teritories - if you want you can play around with the data yourself to merge the different sets, as well as apply either an average or premium amount (based on the number of bricks) for the promotional sets:
| Year | # Sets |    UK £   |    US $   |   CAN $   |   EUR €   |
|------|--------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|
| 2015 |    771 | 12,607.44 | 16,117.06 | 18,364.45 | 14,140.92 |
| 2016 |    828 | 13,531.21 | 16,915.18 | 19,718.39 | 15,886.59 |

As you can see the total number of sets is variable (2011 had only 584 sets for example) so the total price will vary each year.

Very nice! (In case anyone else was wondering, those sums don't necessarily mean that collecting Lego is significantly cheaper in Canada with current exchange rates; apparently some sets aren't available there or there's just missing data.) It also includes a number of things that I didn't mean to include in my question (e.g. video games, stationery).  I will have to spend some time playing around with this. =)


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Sets with the most zombies
My kids love LEGO or compatible brands sets with zombies (e.g. Monster Fighters from LEGO and Cityville Invasion from Kre-O).
I was wondering which LEGO or compatible brand set has the most zombies included, in the sense of mini-figurines.
For instance, the LEGO 850487-1 set is very cool, but only has one zombie.

Searching Zombies Minifigs on Bricklink I find 22 official Lego zombies, including the Monster Fighters, Minecraft, Scooby Doo, Ghostbusters, Pirates of the Caribbean, and several Mini figures from the collections.
http://www.bricklink.com/v2/search.page?q=zombie#T=M
Most of them are one offs in the set.
The most I found was three zombies in a set.  There were two sets:
Pirates of the Caribbean 4195-1 Queen Annes Revenge: Has three zombie pirates and a skeleton which I'm not counting as a zombie:

Monster Fighters 9465-1 The Zombies Set has Three Zombies, a zombie bride, a zombie groom, and a zombie driver:

4195-1 is super cool! My kids will love it, thanks

I would probably suggest the Call of duty zombie sets by Mega BLoks. Most of them include at least 4 figures, although they are highly detailed, so they might be a bit too scary for your kids. For reference, try this site. If you're looking specifically only for the figures themselves, I suggest getting the zombie packs. For example:

or

Please be more specific about parameters of preference. McFarlane Toys released a series of brick-based sets that are high-detail and one-off. I am not 100% sure if they are Lego compatible, and the figures have limited articulation. If you are just looking for minifigs, you are better off searching a site like BrickLink. Anyway, for any given theme that has zombies (in any brand), the 'big' set of that theme is extremely likely to have the most zombie figures.

Maybe the new The Walking Dead unofficial sets, they will used for recreate the Negan brutal scene or something


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Value of LEGO bulk
I am interested in purchasing some LEGO from someone who is selling a bulk of 50, 000 bricks weighing about 90lbs. This includes about 150 mini figs, the manuals ( about 100 or so) and some baseplate.  The seller is asking for $850 and I am wondering if this sounds like a good price to pay.

Bulk unsorted LEGO shouldn't cost more than $5-$6 a pound. (Please note that this is for the US.) This DOES NOT include instructions. If the seller wants more, they will have to sort and categorize the elements and minifigs themselves, so buyers can evaluate them better. NEVER allow a seller to include the instructions in the total weight of bulk lots. They are very heavy, worth practically nothing (except for a few expensive sets) and can make you offer more for the lot than it's actually worth.

Just wanted to amplify the point about instructions: Except for very specific instruction sets they should absolutely NEVER be considered as part of a bulk purchase.

Nope. Unless they are very valuable parts. I would not pay more than 600. However, it's important to research what figures and sets/parts are in the bins. It may actually be worth that much, but I would definitely research it first. I once bought just under 80 lb of lego for $230 USD. It took many hours to go through, but once all was said and done, I had pulled out almost $400 worth of Harry Potter figures, 100$ of valuable pieces, and still had about 40 lb left over. This is why it's very important to know what you're buying. It could be worth a lot, or it could be someone trying to rip you off.

What are some examples of mini figs that have a high value?

Star Wars, Harry Potter, most figures from movie franchises. Essentially most figures from themes that are licensed products tend to me most valuable. Check out BrickLink to research exact value of certain figures.

That is probably too much, but the value of used LEGO also depends on some things we don't know, like:

What is the condition of the pieces (many/few scratches)?
Is (any of) the previous owner(s) smokers?
What's in the lot? If 80 lbs of it is red 2x4 bricks I wouldn't pay a cent.

(And note that I live in Denmark, not the US, so amounts in $ don't have a precise enough meaning to me, I had to calculate what $850 was before I could say if that was high/low/appropriate).