Friday, September 6, 2024

Good morning! Welcome to the last Wolmania before Apple announces the new iPhones. I'm looking forward to waffling about whether to upgrade, given I absolutely don't need a new phone, and then giving in and buying a new one as soon as they go on sale. I'm hopeful that the new ones will actually go with the rumored Zune brown design - I always unironically thought that the famously ugly brown Microsoft Zune looked really good. The "bronze" iPhone doesn't seem to have an acid green undertone but maybe Apple's saving that surprise for "one more thing".

Item 1: a link

This LEGO® is certainly Wolmanbait (indeed, it sits proudly in my Zoom background), but even setting aside the specifics I found the story of how it came together quite interesting. LEGO® lets fans submit ideas for new sets to a website where other fans can vote for their favorites - and the top vote-getters are considered for inclusion in official LEGO® releases (with a royalty paid to the submitter on every sale of the set). But getting a lot of votes is no guarantee that LEGO® will make it, and it turns out that (at least for some of the more complicated builds), the submitted design needs a lot more work before it's ready for sale.

(For the record, I'm not a LEGO® hoarder. And I'm not saying that defensively because some people think I am one. And I'm not saying that because I'm worried you will think I'm being defensive because deep down I know I'm actually a LEGO® hoarder. Because, again, I'm not a LEGO® hoarder. And that's a fact.)

Item 2: a list

LEGO® Ideas Sets Priced Above $99, Ranked:

1. Motorized Lighthouse ($299.99)
2. Grand Piano ($399.99)
3. Typewriter ($249.99)
4. A-Frame Cabin ($179.99)
5. Tree House ($249.99)
6. Jaws ($149.99)
7. Red London Telephone Box ($114.99)
8. Vincent van Gogh - The Starry Night ($169.99)
9. The Orient Express Train ($299.99)
10. Viking Village ($129.99)
11. LEGO® Ideas Fender® Stratocaster™ ($119.99)
12. Disney Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas ($199.99)
13. The Globe ($229.99)
14. LEGO® Ideas Home Alone ($299.99)
15. Dungeons & Dragons: Red Dragon's Tale ($359.99)
16. The Office ($119.99)
17. Disney Hocus Pocus: The Sanderson Sisters' Cottage ($229.99)

Item 3: a media recommendation

Item 4: word of the week

Cooee

"Cooee!", I cried, primarily in Australia, to attract attention, find missing people, or indicate my own location.

Item 5: a photograph

See ya!

Thanks for reading. If you take one thing away from this week's issue, please let it be that I have a healthy and normal relationship with LEGO®.

See you next week.