Favourite Sets: 6598 Metro PD Station

I've blogged before about 6598 Metro PD Station, the flagship of Town's Rescue theme from 1996. In that post, I wrote about Metro PD as one of a couple of mid-1990s Police Stations that I wanted as a kid, but never got. It was "one that got away."

But no more! Thanks in no small part to this blog, my brother got me Metro PD for Christmas, and rather than finding myself disappointed with the set as over-hyped now that I'm an adult, it more than lived up to expectations.



Part of the attraction of Metro PD is that it comes with a full range of crime-fighting vehicles: air, sea, and land are all covered. The helicopter is on the smaller side, although it's rather standard for 1990s LEGO copters. I had 1782 Discovery Station and my brother had 6328 Helicopter Transport, both of which had similarly sized copters.

Particularly when compared with these helicopters of a more similar vintage, Metro PD's copter holds up well in terms of design, and it's mostly-black colour scheme is pretty badass. Unfortunately, however, the way the copter is put together is a little bit less stable than what I remember of Discovery Station's. Even though I haven't had it quite a month, and I haven't really played with it anywhere to the extent that I would as a kid, it's shattered on me a couple times.



By way of contrast, though, the boat is really solid. It has one police officer seemingly assigned to--one of the officers in vests with white arms, wearing a white cap, making him match exactly the two officers of 4012 Wave Cops, which came out the same year. It's a two-seat boat and an extra life jacket for whoever else rides along. In contrast to the helicopter, which still holds up well in design, though it is small, after all these years, the boat is quite blocky. My brother got 4641 Speed Boat for Christmas, and the differences between the two were striking. Although Speed Boat was only a one-man boat, it was large and powerful-looking and had rounded pieces. Next to it, this simply looked... clunky, though that was rather nostalgically attractive.



Even more dramatically demonstrative of the changes LEGO's Town scale has gone through was the jail van, particularly since I also got 4441 Police Dog Van for Christmas. Granted, there's roomed in the latter for the dogs, but even so it is a full order of magnitude smaller. Which isn't to say I disliked the older van... but it does feel *very* small.



That takes us out of the vehicles for the set--there are also two motorcycles, but while I love classic LEGO motorcycles, there is little to comment on with them--and back to the station proper.

Well, not quite.

As it happens, there are two separate baseplates in this set, each with their own building. Both baseplates have a dock on the side for the boat, which is presumably the means of transport between the two--hence the backseat and the extra life jacket. The smaller baseplate is a prison cell, with a tunnel already prepared for Jailbreak Joe to break out through.



And that brings us to the *real* Police Station. It's already been a fairly substantial set at this point, and there's still the crown jewel to look at. It's a good size, and had more going on in it than I expected. At the same time, however, it was a more juniorised build than most of the set. The large window pieces didn't bother me, but a lot of the structure is just 1x2x5 bricks. The final result is a well-designed playset that looks pretty good from the front. My main quibbles are the wobbly design caused by the post-brick constructions and the green "carpeting" brought on by the baseplate.

One of the most exciting parts of the police station, for me, was the evidence room at the top, which has a wanted poster... of one of the guys in 6563 Gator Landing. I posted about that set close to a year ago (see here) and I reflected there that these guys were probably supposed to be thieves or something of that nature--something that I'd never cottoned on to at all during my childhood. This poster would seem to confirm that suspicion.



Well, the poster could come from the captain's office too. The copy of the set my brother found did not include the instructions, which he printed off from an online copy instead. This was more than functional, but it means that I couldn't actually see the print on the poster when building the set. It's not a major problem, since it would only mean swapping the tiles. As you can see in the immediately foregoing picture, the alternative is a Jailbreak Joe wanted poster. It makes sense to me, though, that since he's already caught, that the one in the evidence room is the guy living large in the swamp.

Wanted posters aside, the captain's office is my favourite room in the station. This is partly because it's the most finished room in the station and partly because I really like the city map behind the captain's chair. It's an awesome design that I didn't know came with the set.



There are also a few nice details down in the reception area. I always wanted the keyboard and monitor pieces to the computer, and they tended to elude me over the years as a general rule. Now, of course, they're amusing to look back on a "old" technology.

I was also impressed with the coffee-maker. It's a very simple build, but it's strikingly effective, and even with all the new parts that have come out in the last sixteen years, it's not really in need of updating.

All told, I was still impressed with Metro PD Station after fifteen years of it being "one that got away" and even against the best contemporary sets it holds up fairly well, the main exception being the boat, and secondarily the van. It was a lot of fun to open a box and have a whole pile of old grey, and I really appreciated the overall smaller size of pieces. Even with the early-onset juniorisation of the station, there were a lot more pieces in the 1x1 plate range (including 1x1 plates themselves) than in more newer sets. It was an awesome Christmas.

Aquazone Breakfast News: 056 (Advent Day 12)

I realised, as I put this together, that this is actually my very first LEGO Police Station. I discussed my longtime love of Police LEGO--and the fact that, despite this love, I don't have a Police station--back in this post. I guess it's not true anymore.

Sigh. You want your first time to be special.

Some Statistics

Unfortunately, Boston has been cloudy since I've been home, so today's post may be a bit more boring than it might have been in the weather had felt cheerier. Of course, I'm talking about statistics today, so it's possible that no amount of pictures would make that better. On the other hand, I don't think I would have decided to talk about some statistics if I had pictures...

Anyway, you've been duly warned.

I've been using Excel to keep a record of my LEGO collection for some years now. I had a paper record ca. 2000 that listed when I acquired all of my older sets, which remained current until about 2003-4ish (just before the Great Take Apart), and the current Excel document was started in 2007, so it's a mostly accurate record of when I acquired my sets, a completely accurate record of what sets I have, and has also developed into a bit of a statistical chart, as I keep track of the "ratings" my sets get.

Each set is evaluated on five criteria (developed on Classic-Castle in the course of reviewing Castle sets on the official review threads): Parts, Playability, Figs and their Accessories, Design, and "Nostalgia." Obviously, these are all open to subjectivity, and since the point of the whole exercise is more or less to figure which sets are my favourites, that's not really problematic. It's been interesting to compare where sets line up with Lugnet's rating system, and it would seem that (for the most part) once you average out my five criteria, you end up with fairly standard assessments. "Nostalgia" is the trickiest of the five, because while the other four aim for objectivity (while admitting it's a biased process), Nostalgia is there specifically to provide a category to account for sets that I really like (or dislike)... and can't give any good reason for.

On the basis of these statistics, I've also calculated the averages for each subtheme. The numbers are less fair here, since I've only evaluated sets that I own, so a theme with two small (and often mediocre) sets in my collection will probably not rate as well as a theme with 15 sets ranging from small to large, which in turn will not rate as well as a set with only one or two of the largest sets (which often get the best ratings from me). However, as a measure of "favourite," I think this list is fairly accurate, and it's as good a way as any of listing them.

Some other day I might go into a discussion of my favourite or least favourite sets, but for today we'll just look at the favourite and least favourite themes in my collection. Starting at the top, my favourite themes according to this criteria are:

1. Adventurers-the Egyptian Subtheme from 1998, with a 9.85 rating
2. Black Knights, ca. 1992, with a 9.3 rating
3. Designer (the large house sets from the 2000s-2010s), with a 9.25 rating
4. Imperial Guards, 1992-5, with a 9.0 rating
5. Legoland Castle, ca. late 1980s, with a 8.94 rating

The interesting thing about this list, is that the only theme from the 3rd Millennium is the Designer line, probably reflecting the fact that the earlier sets have a higher nostalgic quotient. Indeed, both the Black Knight and the Imperial Guards have been looked at as "Ones That Got Away," and Legoland Castle and the Egyptian Adventurer line would have counted as the same if I had not, in fact, caught them.

At the bottom of the list (of 86 distinctly considered themes--not including Bionicle, Technic, or Duplo) are the following:

82. Alpha Team-Mission Deep Sea, from 2002, with a 7.35 rating
83. Soccer, from the early 2000s, with a 7.25 rating
84. Aquasharks, from 1995-8, with a 7.25 rating (technically a tie with Soccer)
85. Xtreme Island Stunts, from the early 2000s, with a 7.15 rating
86. Junior Pirates, also from the early 2000s, with a 6.4 rating

I do not think it is coincidental that the bottom bunch of sets tends to hail from the early part of the 2000s, nor that Junior Pirates is so abysmally below the rest--Jack Stone would probably be there too, if I'd ever got a set from that line. The Aquasharks are perhaps unfairly in the bottom five, mostly due to the fact that I have only got two sets, and one of them is the abysmal Super Sub, also know as The Aquashark Dart, which has a 6.6 rating.

All of this only goes to show, perhaps, that I am either too much of a nerd or have way too much time on my hands... or both. But I doubt I'm the only one out there who has done anything like this.

Ones That Got Away-Part Four

Back well over a month ago now, when I started writing posts about the "Ones That Got Away," I made it through three of the four "classic" themes of LEGO: Castle, Pirates, Town, and Space. Well, it's my list of classic themes, because in my formative years, "classic" LEGO was 1992-1994. Aquazone was an honorary fifth, but an assiduous reader of my Aquazone Breakfast News comic will note that it's never had quite the same love from me as the big four. Nonetheless, I am aware that even older fans may not see Pirates as a "classic" LEGO theme on par with the others, given its younger age.

In any case, although I talked about my "Ones That Got Away" with regards to the Pirates, Town, and Space themes, I have yet to address Castle, which is a case of saving the best for last, since Castle is my favourite branch of LEGO System.

Black Knights were the first LEGO theme I ever spent hours looking at in catalogues, and the first set I ever saved up for was 6086 Dungeon Master's Castle. Also known as "Black Knight's Castle," this set is still my all-time favourite LEGO set, if you rate things on a purely nostalgic scale. The main reason, in addition to being one of the most aesthetically pleasing castles LEGO has ever produced, is because, although I saved up for it, I never got it as a child. Nope. Instead, my parents picked up 6081 King's Mountain Fortress when they went shopping with my money while I was in school. At the time, I was just happy I had a LEGO Castle--and my third set, to boot--but I knew it wasn't the one I wanted, and as the years passed, I would wonder what it would have been like if I'd managed to get it instead.

Well, for one thing, my Lions would have been more badly outnumbered in those early years than my Black Knights were. A couple months after getting King's Mountain Fortress, I got my fourth LEGO set, 1491 Dual Defender. Those two guys would be the entirety of my Black Knight army until 2002 or so, when a partial knight in a bag of garage sale LEGO would be fleshed out with an accessory pack to bring their total up to three. As a result, the Black Knights became fearsome warriors, the best-trained soldiers in all the LEGO kingdoms. After all, how else were they to win any battles?

Unlike the other "Ones That Got Away" stories, this one has a fairly happy ending. I would eventually get Dungeon Master's Castle in 2006, thanks to Bricklink, making my Black Knights not only an iconic faction, but a true powerhouse in my LEGO universe. However, because I was out of high school and about to leave home by then, I still consider the theme as a whole, and that set in particular, to be one that got away from me... though I did catch it in the end.

6244 Armada Sentry

If the Armada line had included a second run, or even a larger first run, then my collection of Armada sets, which consists only of 6244 Armada Sentry would be slender enough to have merited the theme a spot on the list of "Ones That Got Away." As things stand, however, LEGO only ever released two sets in the Imperial Armada line, with three distinct figs, and a total of four figs overall. Less than half a dozen other Armada figs would appear in contemporary (1996 and 1997) Pirate sets.

Despite this very limited run, the Imperial Armada was a beautiful line, as LEGO's only foray into the era of the Renaissance--albeit in the Americas, under the auspices of the conquistadors. The minifig heads and torsos are excellent additions to Castle or Pirate collections (and useful elsewhere), and were never used in any other theme.



I got Armada Sentry for Christmas in 1996 from my grandparents, and I would remain the entirety of my Imperial Armada collection until the Bricklink era, when I eventually put together a second fig. In the meantime, I acquired enough of the helms to arm the Jayko Armada figs seen in this post. All told, though, my Armada faction is all of five-men strong, and remains based at the little fortified dock of Armada Sentry.

It's a lovely set, if a little one. For it's size, it contains a wonderful variety of pieces, nearly all of which (if not, in fact, all) are generally useful, including the green doors, which are exclusive to the set, and the 8x16 blue baseplate. Perhaps the least useful pieces one would find in acquiring multiples of the set are the 1x5x5 wall/window pieces, which tend not to be popular with advanced builders, but even those are far from "useless," merely "fewer uses."

10193 Medieval Market Village

As mentioned before, I had a birthday about a week ago, and for the first time in the last few years, I got LEGO as a gift. In fact, I got more LEGO than I've ever received at my birthday.

Thanks to one very awesome girlfriend, I now own 10193 Medieval Market Village.



Although I actually own the set now, I would classify it as One That Got Away otherwise, because this was THE set of the last decade for Castle fans to own, hands down, and until about a week ago, I did not really think I was ever going to quite get around to it. Though it feels substantially cheaper here in the States than it used to in Canada (though I'm told the price came down there recently), somehow it's hard to justify buying such a large set, even though I know I'll end up spending that much in two or three smaller purchases.

In any case, I'm very happy. It's mildly unfortunate that the MMV has such an amazing parts selection, because the design is so stellar that I'm unlikely to part it out any time soon. Even the two soldier figs, which are hardly rare, are unlikely to be sent away to join the rest of my Fantasy Era (Castle 2007) army anytime soon.

The Ones That Got Away-Part 3

After the two previous "Ones That Got Away" posts about Imperial Guards and Space Police (ii), given their overlap in era and the fact that I said I liked themes associated with law and order, and 'the good guys,' it will perhaps come as no surprise that today's post in that vein is about Town's Police theme.

Well, perhaps I should define what I mean by "Police theme." LEGO has never been as clear-cut with its Town sets as to what belongs in each theme as it has in Castle, for example. Back in the era I'm thinking about, Police sets were lumped (at least in my catalogues) with firemen to make the "Rescue" theme, and around 1995 it also included some Coast Guard/Life Guard types. In the 2000s, police sets were either part of the broader "World City" theme or its successor "City."

All the same, I think its clear what sets I mean when I say "Police theme." LEGO has usually had a whole range of Police sets, from small motorcycle up through larger car, helicopter, and mobile command centre, to police station. And over the years, I managed to accumulate quite a few of these--except for a police station. Hence the inclusion of Police sets in this series. Despite the vast number of Police stations that LEGO has released over the years, I have never acquired one.

Unlike more bracketed off themes like Imperial Guards or Space Police (ii), the perennial appearance of Police sets means that I never settled on a single police station as my utter favourite. Nonetheless, there were a couple that held my attention most in the 1990s, and remain my nostalgic favourites.

The first of these was 6398 Central Precinct HQ. Due to its 1993 release, it was around for a few years in catalogues, during my formative, catalogue-staring, years. It was a nice, large set, with four vehicles, including a helicopter and one of those awesome-cool motorcycles, and five minifigs, including Jailbreak Joe, who held a special status in my LEGO wants as the single Town bad guy. (It did not occur to me, apparently, that I could make someone else a bad guy... so for quite a few years my police had nothing worse to deal with than natural disasters or traffic violators, unless non-Town figs invaded.)

However, the Central Precinct did not manage to secure utter domination in my heart, because those years were not particularly Town-centric. Pirates and Castle held sway, and when I started becoming more Town-interested around 1996, another Police station was released--one which would vie with the Central Precinct for my attention.

6598 Metro PD Station had better pictures than the Central Precinct, and came out just as I was getting more interested in Town generally, and Police specifically. Besides, it also had a helicopter, and not one but TWO motorcycles! It also had a boat and jailwaggon, albeit at the expense of the car and jeep that came with the Central Precinct. Besides, it had more minifigs (8 vs. 5), and still included Jailbreak Joe! About the only thing that Central Precinct still had going for it was that I liked the look and shape of the station better, and I preferred its white helicopter to the black one with Metro PD.

Of course, you already know the ending of the story. It was a moot point which one I wanted more, because I never got either. A new Police station, with green windows (a fact my 11 year old self did not approve) came out in 1998, and although I would have settled for it, I never got that one either... and so on down to the present. I would have been happy to have settled with a mobile command centre, but I never got 6348 Surveillance Squad either. Back in the day, I thought that was a pretty amazing set, with its motorcycle and computer-filled command centre.

Although I never acquired a police station--not even a mobile one--my police force was a formidable force, with quite a fleet of vehicles. In addition to being a list slightly too long to mention here, a few of those sets will appear as "Favourites," so I'll leave off discussing them for now. Suffice it to say, however, I did remain forever without one of those cool motorcycles.

The Ones That Got Away-Part 2

It wasn't my original intent to post another of the Ones That Got Away so soon after the first, but my back-up plans tended to involve taking pictures of LEGO, and as things currently stand, it's quite cloudy in Boston, with the result that taking pictures in natural lighting is not going to make for good pictures. Although I'm considering experimenting with a light box, I don't really have what I need for that at the moment, and it's much too wet to venture out and get them--getting groceries and this semesters' books brought me back earlier this afternoon feeling like something half-drowned.

So we'll continue with the Ones That Got Away.

For Space, this theme was always Space Police--Space Police (ii) as most would call it. Even more so than the Imperial Guards, these were the ones that got away, because I never had an opportunity to buy one. I vaguely--very vaguely--remember seeing one of the smaller sets in stores while I was looking at something else, back in the fall of 1995, but Space was only just starting to legitimatize itself in my eyes as a "cool" theme. Unlike Castle and Pirates, I did not look at it in the catalogues and decide I want it.

Part of this may have to do with the fact that apart from some Star Trek (which was visually nothing like Space-themed LEGO), I'd never had much/any exposure to science-fiction at this point in my life, and even the Star Trek was a few years in the past, before we moved to an acreage in the country. Consequently, I didn't really know what to do with Space. It would be another five or six years before I got into Star Wars and Star Trek, and then into other science-fiction, but in the meantime my brother and I started to accumulate a few Space sets. He was ahead of me in that respect, having a few medium-sized sets, and representatives of whole themes I didn't have, namely Unitron and Roboforce. My largest set was 6879 Blizzard Baron, which I got at Christmas in 1995 as one of my two first Space sets.

Sometime between the arrival of the Blizzard Baron and late 1999 when I began to foray into Star Wars, I picked up some more interest in the Space themes--possibly motivated by my brother--and in looking through the old 1993 catalogue, came to favour the old Space Police. *I* say "old Space Police" because I didn't know at the time that the Space Police as I knew them were actually the second iteration of that theme, following the black-trans.red-and-blue-coloured theme closely allied with the (also unknown to me) Futuron theme. Hence, while older fans than me speak of "classic Space" (aka the Space sets of the 1980s) with fond sighs and dreamy eyes, my most similar feelings belong to the 1992 Space Police, with their trans-green elements, and red-highlighted grey-and-black ships.

Obviously, as it was the largest set, the one that I wanted the most would have been 6984 Galactic Mediator. In addition to being one of the largest spaceships I was familiar with, pre-Exploriens, it had a nice triangular shape which was not at all old to someone as ignorant of science-fiction as pre-10-year-old me was. On the contrary, I loved that shape for the same reason it is so clichéd: because it looks fast and swooshable.

I also liked the Galactic Mediator, specifically, because it came with the Admiral fig. He was sharp, with his white, green, and black uniform, but especially with those yummy red epaulets. He was the only Space fig I knew of with epaulets, and to my Pirates-educated mind, that made him a pretty classy fig. Besides, he was a policeman! I mentioned in my last post how I've always identified with the law-and-order themes, and Space was no exception. The Space Police figs looked sharp and professional with their microphones and arched eyebrows, and they sported a cleanshavenness that was emphasised by the bits of sandy/brown hair on their foreheads. It's still one of my favourite LEGO heads.

In fact, so much did I like the Admiral, that the Space Police set I was wanted most after the Galactic Mediator wasn't the impressively large, next biggest 6957 Solar Snooper, but rather one of the smallest sets, 6813 Galactic Chief. (As an aside, I have no idea why I never called him "the Chief," which would seem like the obvious name for someone who is both head of a police force and so named in a set I lusted over for years... all I know is that he's always been an admiral to me.)

In the early 2000s, having discovered Star Trek in the wake of Star Wars, and having become fairly well-bit by the science-fiction bug, I was quite sad about the fact that I had a total of 6 Space sets and none of them larger than the Blizzard Baron. I did what I could to augment this--handicapped, I admit, by the fact that I didn't want to integrate either Life-on-Mars, which was too close to Spacesport, or Star Wars into my Space world. The Rockraiders came aboard, and I made a starship out of a blue baseplate and some basic bricks, but it wasn't until Mom started coming across used LEGO at garage sales that my true Space collection started to grow. Most happily for me, one of the figs we managed to get, which I managed to acquire (rather than my siblings), was the Space Police "admiral." Admittedly, he didn't have a trans-green visor in those days, but had to make do with a trans-neon-green one. Still, he was my very own Space Police admiral.

A couple years later I discovered Bricklink, grew up, and stopped playing with LEGO in the same manner as I used. My success as an adult has been rather better in acquiring Space Police than it has with Imperial Guards. Part of this may have to do with a lower demand in the AFOL community--the "green coats" are less iconic than the redcoats. I still don't have a Galactic Mediator, hence its inclusion as One That Got Away, but I have acquired a used Galactic Chief, as well as a number of loose figs and elements, and a 6852 Sonar Security and a 6897 Rebel Hunter. Although somewhat lost in an upsurge of Explorien and Iceplanet nostalgia (after all, my first set was the Blizzard Baron), as well as a healthy appreciation for Mars Mission and classic Space, I daresay that Space Police (ii, to be specific) is still my favourite Space theme... which is why it's kind of funny (from my point of view), that my brother runs a blog about Blacktron... (Colour It Blacktron). But he always was a funny kid...

The Ones That Got Away-Part 1

In the age of Bricklink and eBay, I suppose the story is becoming less frequent of adult fans of LEGO (AFOLs) who lusted over some set in their childhood or youth, but were never able to acquire it, either because of a lack of money or being born too late. However, I doubt this story is completely eradicated, because the great old sets, due to this very interest, command a high premium in the resale market, and most fans probably go through a "poor student" or "unemployed" phase or two. Certainly, I have.

I think I'm a fairly representative fan of my generation, in terms of which sets I always wanted but could never have (at least until Bricklink). I'm in my mid-twenties, born in the late '80s, and I started getting LEGO 18 years ago, at the Christmas of 1992. Despite getting a few more sets in the following years, it wasn't until 1996 that I really started buying sets for myself on a regular basis, and not until 1998 or so that I had the allowance/earnings to do so to an extent approximating that which I wanted. However, my very second set (mentioned before as "Dr. Freestyle's" Basic set) came with a 1992 catalogue, and I have memories of staring at 6086 Dungeon Master's Castle throughout the summer leading up to my first year of Grade 1. Although I lost that catalogue sometime around when I got my third set, said third set came with a catalogue (from 1993), which would forever dominate my imagination's definition of "the epic sets that got away."

Fans older than me have memories of the 1980s and first couple years of the 1990s, but while I have a few sets predating 1992, my systematic understanding of the LEGO System's history only went back to the 1993 catalogue, so Classic Space, Blacktron (1), the Black Seas Barracuda, El Dorado Fortress, and Black Falcons only existed on the barest fringes of my mind, until I discovered the Internet, ca. 2000-1, and was able to put some context to these very old memories. In the meantime, however, the 1992-3 releases captured my imagination, and because I could never have them (by the time I had money it was faaaaaar too late), they have always been "the ones that got away."

Now, while you might have asked my younger self to name some he wanted but could never have and he would probably have given you a set name, the reality is that it tended to be a whole theme that captured my imagination, and the largest set was simply a placeholder (a "synecdoche," to use the literary term) for the theme of which it was a part. This post will be the first to examine these long-cherished themes, and see why I loved them, and how well I've succeeded in acquiring them.

Perhaps the strongest such theme that I never had were the Imperial Guards, from the Pirates line. The Imperial Guards were released by LEGO in 1992 as a red-coated replacement or upgraded version of the blue-coated soldiers who had been the pirate's nemeses since the advent of the theme in 1989. Although the pirates were very much the darlings of any game my brother and I ever played--while ostensibly still the 'bad' guys--I always preferred the Imperial Guards, part of a long-held preference for those who uphold the law rather than break it.

Of all the sets I've ever wanted, but never been able to find/afford, none have ever captured my heart so well as 6277 Imperial Trading Post. That set had it all: a base, a ship, and a boat for the pirates. For that matter, it had both pirates and good guys--including a rare example of civilians in the crew of the little ship. Most importantly to my young self, it had four redcoats, including the elusive and much-wanted admiral figure.

However, I would have gladly settled for 6271 Imperial Flagship. Though it had no base and had no pirates, it still had three of those cherished redcoats--including the admiral--and was a larger ship than any I ever owned--although, come to think of it, had I got the Imperial Trading Post, the little ship there would have been the first (and so the largest) I owned. It was not until 1998 that I got a ship... assuming that one can dignify 6250 Crossbone Clipper with that title.

Meanwhile, back in the mid-1990s, the Imperial Guards had not one, but TWO beautiful larger sets that I desperately wanted... and never had. Even today, I still don't have either of them. I have some Imperial Guards, having acquired 6252 Sea Mates at the height of my Imperial Guards era. In early 1997, I also managed to buy the last Imperial Guards release, the 1995-released 6263 Imperial Outpost, which satisfied my need for an Admiral figure. Until the discovery of Bricklink, however, that would be all the Imperial Guards I would find.

Even today, however, given the high popularity that the redcoat figs have with both nostalgicists like myself and army-builders wanting Napoleonic-esque armies, I've only upped my numbers by one. Consequently, I was happy to see the 2009 release of a new Pirates theme, including an updated version of the redcoats--although it's worth noting that finances prevented me from doing more than amassing a collection of the smaller sets. Even so, my new-redcoat army is larger than my old-redcoat army.

I still want to get Imperial Trading Post and Imperial Flagship someday, but the prices on Bricklink are not encouraging. I would probably have to spend $150 for the former, and $80 for the latter (USD), and that's assuming the prices don't climb more by the time I'm in a job where I can consider such purchases. Until then, these will always be two of the biggest "fish" that got away.