Since I've been ordering a lot of LEGO Bricks online recently, and receiving a lot of packages that make me smile, I've also formed some opinions, but none of them really worthy of a whole blog entry. But now that I have enough of them, I think I'll post some stuff. So here's my random thoughts on some of Lego's finest products.

• My very first order was Danju, the purple Knight released with Knights Kingdom II. I got him for the purple, because it was really hard to get a matching set of purple arms, legs, and body without just getting the whole mini figure straight off. The dark purple was nice, but the armor and visor were just crummy. I mean, really, the armor makes the average looking mini fig look chubby and bulky, and his visor isn't much better. Now I'm glad that I didn't stock up on knights and instead focused on Bionicle.
• Speaking of purple, I have tried to purchase alot of old purple elements, now that the color is obsolete. And, man, now I see why Lego took it off the line. They had way too many varieties. My favorite was the classic purple found in the Nui-Jaga and Electro. Dark purple is nice on it's own, but it doesn't quite match up with its counterpart. Then there sand purple (ehg?) violet (wha?) and trans purple (nifty, but the pieces are so expensive). I wish Lego had just kept one color and used it alot, but I guess there are chemical problems or something with the plastic, so it's a sacrifice we have to make.
• Bright, original, Mata green on the other hand is not a sacrifice we have to make. I've been stocking up on those pieces too, because it is probably one of my favorite Lego colors.
• I never really appreciated the many shades of brown, or how expensive minifigure hair wigs are. :annoyed2:
• I also never knew how many pink pieces Lego actually produced. Sure, they haven't appeared much in Bionicle, but I guess they have in girls lines that I've paid zero attention to.
• Sand green is a cool color... and going against all of Lego's no-violence policies, I ordered pieces to build a sand green tank.
• Light blueish grey is also good. Don't get me wrong, I hate dark blueish grey, and think that was the worst color change in the history of Lego. It never seems to fit as well as old grey. But I like the creaminess of the lighter version... it doesn't blend well with old light grey, but I can live with it. So ideally my tank is sand green, light grey, and light blueish grey... and I'm okay with that.
• Oh, and my tank has a missile. One of my coolest car designs included a missile that's attached magnetically inside the car. When designing my tank, I had a bunch of empty room by the wheels, so I threw in some magnets and cones and gave it a missile launcher. I wub magnets. LEGO Bricks and magnet are instant fun. I wish I had more...
• I've also rediscovered some of my old building habits. I always like using cool, unique pieces, but that was back when Lego didn't oversimplify the pieces. Nowadays, one specific part seems to only serve one purpose, and it can be harder to incorporate it in a new way. That, and they're probably oversized. Part of what I did was order older, unique pieces in different colors and try to find neat ways to use them.
• I also use Lego Digital Designer alot. That way, I can pretty much construct the whole model on the computer, and then buy the right pieces in the right colors. This helps so that I can be sure my hypothetical build would actually fit together; it really ruins a preplanned model when two pieces you thought went together actually don't, and you have to do a whole redesign. Until last week, I also liked to check the price I'd pay using LDD and the price I was paying the third party for the pieces. LDD was usually a bit more expensive, but still around the same price range. Now a set of parts that I paid ten dollars for went for $58 on LDD. Seriously, Lego, what's with the price increase? Not that I care, because I never had any ambition to actually order through LDD...
• I got my first bandanna head piece, as seen in the Pirate sets. It's a really cool design, and I almost like it more than the classic baseball caps. On the down side, the bandanna doesn't fit with the air tank (which I use at jet packs) so my minifigure form has to stay in a green cap.
• I also got my first skeleton, with a Pirate sword. Now, there've been Lego skeletons around since I first got into Lego... but I've never bought a set that included one of the skeleton figures. The closest I got was a skeleton head. It's a new age one, but I really like the design. Whoever came up with the idea originally was one smart person. I also like sticking the sword through the rib cage, so the skeleton can carry it with him but keep his hands free.
• And I got me a Lego monkey, something else which has been around for a while but not in a set I've purchased. While not as cool as the skeleton, I like the four "real" arms, and even the tail can grip a pole. I like my Lego monkey as a dangerous psycho cop, with a laser gun in all four hands and a sword held by it's tail. Now that's a formable plastic foe.
• I also got the collection of colorful parts to build my custom MOC Matoran... but I'm still waiting on a couple of masks so I'm holding off taking pictures for a whole.