Darkblane

I agree that it may not be immediately obvious why you'd get a bicycle shop in a winter village, but bare with me as I explain my logic. Firstly, it seems likely to assume that the weather around the winter village is generally good. Obviously it snows, but only enough to coat the rooftops and the ground with a thin layer of snow instead of heavy snowstorms which cause deep drifts. If the snow was signicantly heavy in the area, then it would be an unlikely place for the village to be situated. The fact that not everyone is equipped with snowshoes, is another indication that the snow isn't that deep (as least not within the village boundaries). Bicycles aren't going to have any problems dealing with light snow. If the village did experience heavy snowstorms, they would need to have vehicles designed to keep the roads relatively clear of snow (for example a snow plough), as the one vehicle we've seen (the post van) doesn't look like it's been designed to be go off-road or through deep drifts (for a start, it's wheels are quite thin). Therefore, wherever the post van can go in the winter village, a bicycle can go. I also get the feeling that unlike the other town environments, the winter village isn't heavily industrialised. I think vehicles (like the post van) are only used where absolutely necessary, and alternative transport, like the horse and cart, are used instead. Ski's wouldn't be very practical in all parts of the village and bicycles would be quicker than walking. The other advantage of bicycles over other vehicles is that if they get stuck in the snow, they can easily be pushed, unlike a van or a car. Now I've purposefully overthought that, but then I wasn't expecting it to be queried. If you Google for winter biking, there are a lot of results, and I don't think it's that uncommon. Wikipedia even has a page dedicated to cold-weather biking. It probably depends on each country. In the UK, we don't get that much snow, but when we do, it's sometimes actually easier and safer to bike than drive, especially for short distances. It's hard to see from the photo above, as the shadows hide most of the detail, but it does contain a few different things, including a sofa, a table with lamp and a coffee machine. There's also a grate in the wall which allows the heat from the stove on the ground floor below (again hard to see) to heat this room as well. If you look at the Flickr gallery, there's a photo just of that floor with better lighting.

I'm quite happy with my second place in Category 2, considering the superb entry by Skrytsson which came first. I've used the arches as sewer technique myself (in one of my Collectable Minifigure contest entries), but only with 1x4 arches. The vertical shaft connecting the two tunnels, especially with the ladder elements, really is inspired. And I don't even know where to begin on the Category 1 entries and winners ... Congratulations to all the other winners and thanks to The Penguin and WhiteFang for running this contest and supplying the prizes.

Cat Burglar This entry is for Catwoman. Catwoman has many lairs throughout Gotham City. Most of these lairs are situated close to places she regularly likes to 'borrow' from. The Museum of Antiquities is one such location. Catwoman's lair is situated on the roof of the museum, with the museum's skylights allowing her easy access to the valuable treasures inside. Catwoman peered through one of the many skylights of Gotham City's Museum of Antiquities, watching the security guard as he made his rounds of the museum's rare treasures. As he turned to head back to his security office, she slowly prised open the skylight and made her move. Tonight, the Gotham Diamond would be hers ... As she lifted the glass dome protecting the diamond, she glanced towards the window. Shining out across Gotham's skyline she spotted the infamous Bat-Signal. It looked like the security guard had been more observant than she realised. She'd better be quick if she didn't want to get caught by the Batman ... It may not be immediately obvious that this is an 8x8 vignette as the back two studs have been made using black SNOT (which doesn't show up very well on a black background). This was to allow room for the backdrop behind the window to be added. Unfortunately, due to reflections in the window panes when photographed, this isn't easily visible in some of the photos. Therefore, in the following photo, Catwoman, the window panes and window frames have all been removed to allow the backdrop to be seen. View the complete set on Flickr: Cat Burglar

This Is Scotland Costs Other than standard LEGO parts, I used some paint, modelling putty and varnish. The cost of the amount I actually used was probably about £2 - £4. Inspiration I wanted to create something iconic and also something that I knew about. I live in the England, not Scotland, but it's part of the UK and therefore I'm familiar with what could be considered stereotypically Scottish. I also thought of creating a Scottish piper before before I saw the announcement for Series 7 of the Collectable Minifigures. I actually prefer my version due to the red tartan, which I think is more iconic, though I know my tartan isn't anywhere near as detailed as it's hard to paint something like tartan easily. Background Story Scotland is part of the United Kingdom and is known for its historic castles, thistles (the emblem of Scotland) and its tartan wearing pipers, who play the iconic Scottish instrument, the bagpipes. Vignette Front Back Side More photos can be found on Flickr: This Is Scotland

Wow, 1st and 3rd ... I'm amazed and really pleased, especially considering the standard of the other entries. Thanks everyone for voting for me and congratulations to the other winners.

Joker's Surprise Batman looked across at the jack-in-the-box as the lid popped open. He wasn't surprised to see the skull which appeared, it was the sort of thing he'd come to expect from the Joker and if all he had to deal with was a few of these scattered throughout city, then he had nothing to worry about ... There are a couple more photos on Flickr: Joker's Surprise

Last Minute Replacement Death looked across at the screaming child ... maybe he should have worn the red outfit and left his scythe at home like the elves suggested when he first offered to fill in for Santa on Christmas Eve. I realise as I post this that I could have actually replaced Death with Darth Vader or the Emperor and then it would have been Star Wars themed as well ... Also, I thought it'd be interesting to design this to match in with the 2011 Limited Edition Christmas sets (3300020 and 3300002). There are more photos on Flickr: Last Minute Replacement

I was just wondering, like the Eurobricks DC Minifig raffle, can I also enter the legosuperheroes.com contest using the vignette I've produced for this contest ... or would that be against the rules? Edit: You can ignore this question now as the deadline for entering the last month of the legosuperheroes.com contest has now passed.

I did try it without the glass and I tried a few other options like replacing the black sides with trans-clear bricks. I think the main problem is that the space is just so small between the window and the micro-scale scene, there just isn't enough light getting in to illuminate it. I think the only way to solve it would be to find a way to fit some lights into it or extend the back of the vignette so that there's more space for natural light to filter in ... both of which aren't very practical when trying to work to an 8x8 vignette. I knew when I started building it that it was always going to be a bit of an experiment to see if it would work, but if you don't try these things you never know if they'll work. Sorry for this ... Most of the other characters tend to have obvious lairs and hideouts, and other than a museum, I couldn't think of anywhere else which would be an iconic location where you would expect to find Catwoman. I understand completely if either you or WhiteFang don't think this entry meets the requirements of the contest.

Knight of the Silver Chalice Costs Other than standard LEGO parts, I used some paint, modelling putty and varnish. The cost of the amount I actually used was probably about £2 - £4. Inspiration I wanted to customize a helmet and add some kind of ornate decoration to the top of it. A cup (or chalice) seemed a like a good idea and that developed into the creation of the silver chalice and the custom wall hanging (see in the background of the vignette). I also wanted to do a vignette which wasn't an outdoor jousting scene, so chose to create a small chapel scene where my jousting champion has knelt to pray before the joust. Background Story Sir Sanguinius, Knight of the Silver Chalice, knelt before the Silver Chalice of his Order and prayed. He could here the sounds of the archery contest outside and knew the joust would be starting shortly. As he prayed, he felt the divine light surround him and knew that today he would be victorious. A knight blessed by the divine light would earn the right to carry the Silver Chalice with them as they rode and legend stated that any knight carrying the Silver Chalice would be unstoppable. Vignette Vignette Front Back Side More photos can be found on Flickr: Knight of the Silver Chalice

Aquarius Station XVII Costs Other than standard LEGO parts, I used some paint, modelling putty and varnish. The cost of the amount I actually used was probably about £2 - £4. Inspiration I liked the idea of having an alien with some kind of breathing apparatus, like face mask. From there I needed a reason for this apparatus and it seemed logical that alien needed it as they couldn't breathe our atmosphere, and underwater fitted this. I also though it was unusual to situate an alien underwater since they are usually situated in space or on spaceships. Finally, I thought I'd try to follow LEGO's approach to aliens, for example the Alien Conquest minifigures, so just created a customized head and left the rest of the figure standard. Background Story The Aquarians were discovered on the planet Aquarius, a planet entirely covered by water (yes, humans never were and never will be that inventive when it comes to naming aliens and planets). The Aquarians were an aquatic race unable to breath air without specialised breathing equipment. After the discovery of the Aquarians, a number of underwater research stations were constructed to allow the humans and Aquarians to work together and share their knowledge. The Aquarians were found to excel at maintaining and repairing mechanical structures, and specialised moon pools and airlocks were added to each station to allow the Aquarian maintenance crews to transfer between the sea of Aquarius and the interior of the stations with ease. Vignette Vignette Front Back Side More photos can be found on Flickr: Aquarius Station XVII

Uplift This is for the Cavewoman (This may not seem obvious from just looking at the photos, but hopefully the following background story explains the idea behind this vignette) There are many theories as to the origin of modern day humans. Some believe we evolved from cavemen, who in turned evolved from apes, whilst others believe in a religious intervention. Perhaps the true explanation is that we were uplifted. Uplift - The transformation of animals into an intelligent race by other, already-intelligent beings Not only would this explain the sudden appearance of our ancestors and the rapid decline of their predecessors, it would also account for their significantly increased intelligence and the introduction of religious concepts into their thought processes, for example, divine intervention and descending angels. The following photo show the vignette with the windscreen removed so that the interior can be seen clearly. The Cavewoman minifig fits lying down inside the cockpit, with the legs attached to the trans-clear brick. Check out the complete set on Flickr if you are interested in seeing the vignette from another couple of angles as well as with the Cavewoman included: Uplift on Flickr

I really like the horse's helmet, especially the round part where the unicorn horn would normally be.

ARC-003 - The Arcadia The majority of this MOC was actually built last year, shortly after I built ARC-002 (The Arclight) and ARC-001 (The Arctana). Unfortunately, due to the rear fins and an uneven weight distribution (the rear is significantly heavier than the front), I knew I had to create a suitable base for displaying it and at the time, I could not think of anything suitable. With other projects and competition entries I wanted to work on, this MOC got forgotten about until a couple of months ago, when I finally came up with the right base to display it. Equipped with a prototype cloaking device, the Arcadia was the third ship developed by the Advanced Reconnaissance Corporation for the Galactic Core. Unfortunately the original ship disappeared a few months before it was due to be put into production and the project was subsequently abandoned. Rumours that the Arcadia was stolen by the infamous rogue trader, Jarad Orgarda, and his henchmen were adamantly denied by both the Advanced Reconnaissance Corporation and the Galactic Core. More photos can be found on Flickr: ARC-003 (The Arcadia)

They're from the World Racers set 8863 (Blizzard's Peak), though I got mine from BrickLink.

I've also built a dropship :) but hopefully it's different enough from the post above me ^ The Arcangel Dropship The shuttle bay, visible on the underside of the ship, has the capacity to hold two shuttles. It currently only contains one (the red slope). Underside showing shuttle bay Dropship (7270 Parts).zip

Actually, the 30015 jet ski in this offer is slightly different to one which was previously released. Even though the bag and the instructions show the usual life jackets, the two life jackets included are actually brand new parts, with a completely different design. I've not been able to find this part on BrickLink either. The part number on the back is 97895. There's more information about this new part on the Brickset forum.

Thanks everyone, really pleased with first place for Category B and really surprised I got as high as third for Category A, considering some of the other entries. I've currently only got access to the Internet via my phone, so I haven't yet been able to get a good look at all of the entries, but I really like Titolian's entry for Category A and I know that a lot of effort went into all of the Category B entries. Thanks for all of the comments on my creations and well done to all of the other winners. Finally thanks to WhiteFang for organising these contests and TLG for sponsoring them.

Just posted my Category B entry ... took me a while to sort out the photos, but I got there in the end. I can see why there are fewer early entries for Category B this time, coming up with 16 unique minifigs is a challenge on its own, let alone then designing a vignette to fit them all in. With the minifigures and the vignette, it's a little bit more time consuming than the previous contests, so I expect there'll be a few more entries nearer to the closing date. I definitely enjoyed the challenge ... though I'm not sure if I could come up with another 16 unique minifigs, if the same contest is planned for the series 5 contests ....

Cryostasis XRB-12 looked at the cryofluid as it sprayed towards him. He'd already sealed leaks in seven other sectors and sector 54A was in far better condition than a lot of the sectors he'd checked in the past few days. Today was not going to be a good day. The facility was old, far older than any of the maintenance robots could remember, each having been assembled by their predecessors. XRB-12's predecessor, XRA-12, warned him there'd be days like this, days when it felt like the facility was about to undergo a catastrophic failure. XRB-12 prayed today wouldn't be that day. XRB-12 proceeded to load up the inventory for this sector. It was always worth checking that each cryochamber contained what is was supposed to, as there was always a risk that one of them would temporarily shutdown when a leak occured. There was always a lot of paperwork involved when the contents of a cryochamber was found wandering aimlessly around the facility. Elf Mage Description: Bows and arrows will only get you so far, sometimes you need a little magic in your life Accessories: Staff and energy bolt Soldier Description: One shot is all he needs, just make sure he knows the right target Accessories: Helmet, radio, backpack and custom weapon from BrickArms Mechanic Description: That's one wheel off, now where are the other three Accessories: Car jack and wheel Castaway Description: He's found the bottle, now all he needs is the pen and paper Accessories: Message in a bottle Golfer Description: Fore! Accessories: Golf club and golf ball Gentleman Description: A gentleman in manners as well as appearance Accessories: Cane, cloak and top hat Bridesmaid Description: Always the bridesmaid, never the bride Accessories: Flowers Knife Thrower Description: Now if only he could find an assistant who didn't keep ducking Accessories: Knives Paper Boy Description: He really needs to get a bicycle if he wants to avoid that dog from number 32 Accessories: Cap, satchel and newspaper Waitress Description: That's the third drink spilled this week Accessories: Broom, tray and cup Highwayman Description: Stand and deliver, your money or your life Accessories: Hat, cloak and pistols Hairdresser Description: 70's hairstyles are all the rage Accessories: Scissors and brush Detective Description: The detective or private investigator as the sign on his door says, never says no to a case Accessories: Fedora, magnifying glass, custom weapon from BrickArms and custom trenchcoat from MMCB Sunbather Description: If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it Accessories: Ice lolly and parasol Vet Description: Now where did that parrot go, I only turned my back for a second? Accessories: Cat and briefcase Bounty Hunter Description: You don't find her, she finds you Accessories: Money and custom weapon from BrickArms Whilst it may not be initially obvious from the vignette, all of the accessories shown on each individual minifigure are included within the vignette, though some do overhang slightly. The bases are also stored in compartments at the back of the vignette (there is one photo in the set on Flickr which shows this). Cryostasis @ Flickr

After spending the last week or so planning and ordering parts for my Category B entry, I finally got around to sorting out the photos for my Category A entry: Title: What Lies Beneath Minifig: Crazy Scientist Theme: Town / City The scientist shook the flask in his hand ... no reaction ... batch X37T-A was a failure like all of his previous batches. "Might as well just pour this batch down the sink and start again" he thought. "I mean, what harm can it do ... " The Crazy Scientist minifig stands with his flask in his left hand on the stud on the tiled floor. Also, if you're wondering why the colours in the last photo are lighter in comparision to the first two, I had to adjust the exposure so that the detail in the lower half was visible. I didn't realise how hard it would be to take photos of this model without over or underexposing sections of it. Check out the complete set on Flickr if you are interested in seeing the vignette from another couple of angles as well as with the Crazy Scientist included: What Lies Beneath on Flickr

They charge £1.25 for one, £3.50 for three. For the majority of parts you can select from, this is probably a bit expensive and you're better off with BrickLink, but if you can find some interesting parts you can get yourself a bargain. For example, according to BrickLink the average new price for Minifig, Headgear Hair Ponytail Long French Braided is £1.28 ...

Today I visited my first LEGO store, the Westfield London (UK) one and was really impressed with the overall atmosphere. It was really nice to see some of the exclusive sets (at least those I don't already own) on display, such as Tower Bridge. I didn't actually realise it was as large as it is and I'd actually consider buying it if I had room to display it. I didn't have any plans to buy anything I couldn't easily carry as I was using public transport, but I did make use of the PAB wall and the Build-A-Minifig section. The PAB Wall The PAB wall was a little disappointing as the majority of it consisted of primary coloured 2x3 and 2x4 bricks, but I did get quite a few white 1xX bricks which I need for an MOC I'm working on (which I would have bought from BrickLink anyway). I also ended up with a lot of light bluish grey headlight bricks as there wasn't a great deal of variety for small filler parts. Even so, with the aid of careful packing, I still came away with parts which would have cost me about £19 (+ P&P) on BrickLink, for only £11. The oddest part they had in the wall was the treasure chest lid in gold, but no treasure chest container (as far as I could see). I'm not sure how useful the lid is without the container as the hinge is always going to get in the way if you try and use them creatively ... I commented on the PAB wall to the staff and they said that they'd asked for more interesting parts (some plates or tiles would have been nice), but that's not what they get sent. It seems that there is a general reluctance from above to include small parts (such as 1x1 plates) on the PAB wall, probably because you can get a lot more for your money with small parts as they pack a lot better. The Build-A-Minifig section The Build-A-Minifig section was actually surprising. Sure there were lots of really common parts which you could get cheaper on BrickLink, but I was able to find quite a few Torso Suit Jacket, Pink Shirt and Magenta Scarf Pattern and Minifig, Headgear Hair Ponytail Long French Braided, as well as Torso Hospital Lab Coat and Torso Castle Ninja Wrap, which are all generally rarer parts as they are only available from a few sets and minifigs. For three minifigs it cost £3.50, but it would have cost me about £7 (+ P&P) had I have bought the same parts on BrickLink.

Wow, I'm really pleased that my Category B entry came first, so thanks to everyone who voted for it. Of all of the vignettes I've built so far, its probably one of my favourites, so it's really nice to see that you all liked it as well. I had a lot of fun building it, as it was so completely random, and as someone said in the voting thread, yes, I did have a bit of a eureka moment when I came up with the idea. I'd actually been struggling to come up with an interesting concept which used three minifigs which weren't an obvious combination and had the idea that one of them would be a dream whilst in the car on the way to work! Well done to all of the other entries and winners, especially those in Category A. I didn't actually get around to voting myself, but mookage's pilot entry really stood out for me and I also particularly liked TazManiac's gorilla suit guy entry. I'd actually considered doing something similar for my Category B entry, but couldn't figure out how to create a forced perspective in a way which would allow me to use minifigs on the ground looking up at the gorilla on top of the building. I don't think my Category A entry did very well this time, but it was an interesting concept to try out, especially as it allowed me to use the forced perspective to take this photo (which I couldn't include as part of the entry as it contained the minifig). I definitely think Dan Church's microscale ground worked a lot better than my attempt, so congratulations Dan on your first place in Category A. Last but not least, I want to thank WhiteFang / DarkFang for organising another fantastic couple of contests, and also LEGO for supplying the prizes. I look forward to the Series 4 contests ...

Package Holiday When you said you'd got us a cheap cruise around the world, this wasn't what I was expecting!