Shadows

How did you know that I call LEGO 'Betty'? :-P

It seems like a reasonable project but I'm not at all convinced that the necessary data has been collected thus far. I'm not certain that it even exists. Bottom line is, without reference points there is no way to determine scale at all. I always took the map to represent a few small islands and the western half of one larger one, making the ship very close to actual size. Potentially, it could be several large islands and a continent with the ship as decoration. There is just no way to know. Mister Phes: I'm sure you would know better than I. Have there ever been any Pirate themed maps printed that included locations of actual sets? For example, a map showing Eldorado Fortress and it's relative position to Forbidden Island? From that, or something like it, it might be possible to estimate the space that such sets would take and adjust the relative size of the surrounding land to match. Almost anything would do. Instructions page, package, comic book, those little pirate books, just something referring to real sets on a map.

First you chop down a really tall tree, making sure to select one that appears to be free of rot and fairly straight ... :-) Ok, seriously phred seems to have the answer there, and it looks like a good one. I think I'll go read up on that myself!

I have no idea what either of you just said and it makes more sense than 95% of the game movies out there already :-P

I'm going to definitely try to get in on this one with my Chinese Restaurant. I've got parts and sets flying in as we speak, hopefully enough to get this thing together. If not, I'll have to resort to the digital version :-( Either way, I'm in! City On! *y*

POTENTIAL SPOILER ZONE! GO READ THE COMIC FIRST, YOU'LL THANK ME! I'm only just starting it, but the first shot forces me to comment immediately. It's like a classic movie. Abbott and Costello! *y* *y* *y* That first shot is pure setup. You automatically know what's coming. There they are, each holding an implement of whackitude, surrounded by even more of them. What will happen? Ha! You know what will happen. Read their lines. Conflict! Conflict and blunt weapons! Pure win. In this scenario, I'm picturing Hinkley playing the part of Bud Abbott. Bud was always the smart guy, the fast talker, the man with the plan, the one who knew just how to push Costello's buttons to get the right reaction. Ironically, in this comedy team Bud was the straight man 8-

Sounds like a good place for someone to start a Bionicle forum ... another website.

I'm not really upset, it was just the first pick I'd made that ended up losing and it felt like such a good possiblity for the underdog to pull out a surprise victory. That and I really ended up disliking Tyrannus by the time Anakin, well, disarmed him, among other things. ;-)

Well sure, now that he's figured out that little problem, the answer should be perfectly clear... Notice the small ship on the map? Measure it, assume it's a mid-sized ship, say Caribbean Clipper, and scale up accordingly. All too easy... ;-) Oh, and if 20cm = 9.1in and 30cm = 11.8in, something is rotten in LEGOLAND. Without even knowing the conversion, I can immediately tell that based on the first figure 10cm = 4.55in, which would make 30cm = 13.15in, or, if 30cm = 11.8in, then I'll get a headache dividing the .8 by 2/3. Good luck! Crazy Map Conversion On! *y*

Joel McNeely - The Destruction of Xizor's Palace From the Official Soundtrack to Shadows of the Empire

Very very nice! *y* I actually like your colour choices for the contrast and realism they give. Personally, I'm a fan of any LEGO colour that starts with "dark" and the dark green is no exception. As for slopes in it, the choices are incredibly limited, but the brick palette for dark green is improving as time passes: Current LEGO available in Dark Green I look forward to the pizza shoppe and am just now getting around to trying to physically build a dark red and red coloured Chinese restaurant I did in ldraw. I think we'd make good neighbours. :-) Keep up the great work!

The sails are very nice and I like some of the detailing. A fine use of brick built cannon and the shark makes me smile for some reason. Only thing that seems out of place is that hull. Looks like something more matched to a late 19th century steamship that still would have carried sails for reserve use. Beyond that, I'd move the two slopes on either side of the cabin windows up one brick to cover the gap exposed by their angle (where they meet the window) and maybe angle the ladder lower (remove the 2 bricks where it meets the deck and replace them with a couple of plates placed maybe 4 studs closer to the cabin or simply have the ladder go straight down, I think it would fit perfectly and more naturally. Overall, nice work! *y*

In America, that's considered abuse and we call the authorities. Keep that in mind should you ever visit >:-) As for greater supply, I do think they wholesale them out to stores cheaper, inspiring a greater inventory, but that inventory never looks like it moves. Sometimes having a lot of product in store just means it isn't selling.

I wish this had ended up any Han Solo with a pistol vs. Grievous. *has visions of Raiders of the Lost Ark* Oh well, I'm still miffed that the sandtrooper lost his fight, so I'll just go with the obvious here and say that the Emperor uses the force to remove each and every mechanical part from Grievous, one at a time, until there's nothing left but his slimy little plant heart, which doesn't last long on it's own. Simple win for the Emperor.

... Sinner realises, much to his dismay, that the satisfying thud was actually Hinkley landing on, what's that? Oh, a blue bucket that is now ...

Never tried it on LEGO, anything is possible. I use them to label discs and haven't had any come off so far. I do know that I bought a huge lot of misc minifig parts on eBay once that included a figure with what appeared to be sharpie on it. In this case, the person had taken a brown head, torso and legs and drawn a little nude guy. *wacko* Alcohol took the ink off, but it took some effort. Didn't hurt the figure any, at least.

You forgot the most important part ... were the bricks ok? ;-)

I've never had real Sharpie come off anything. Highlighters and lesser brands sure, but not the real deal. As for paint, you might as well just start with a new head at that point, since you'll lose all of the detail anyway. No one has a steady enough hand to outline the existing detail on one without hitting some of the black areas. Don't get me wrong, I still think this is a rotten idea, I'm a purist and never mod anything, but I don't see why it wouldn't work out. If I did ever try doing something custom, I'd go water slide decal on blank parts.

Ok, when I read the first post I thought, "..." and then your xray followup turned it all around. Very nice! I too am a bit confused about why it won't be opened. I mean, it's nice to keep a set boxed, but the box isn't really that hot, so it's resale value based on that isn't particularly strong. Opening it won't make a lot of difference and would have saved all that effort.

1) I don't see why not. Technically, I don't think they went around the scars, I think they literally just went yellow over everything except the white pupils. I mean, can you really turn black any other colour? So hitting some of the black shouldn't matter. It'd be impossible to get that close without hitting. 2) No clue. It isn't even just the yellow, it's how the yellow tints the flesh colour that matters. 3) Very.

Vacuum cleaners are evil, designed for the sole purpose of seeking out bits of goodness and destroying them. Simple test. Put a feather or large piece of string on the carpet. Vacuum over it. Still there. Again. Still there. 15 times later, it might pick it up (only to drop it again elsewhere). Now put a penny. WHOMP, CLACK CLACK CLACK! *burning smell* First try. Same with LEGO. Every time. Disclaimer: Don't try this at home.

I have to chime in with Sinner here; I've been on the net since before it was the net and while I suspect that tubgirl is one of the many incarnations of girls in a tub filled with something up to their ... ears (cheetos, for example), I haven't a clue what a lemon party is. I do know of videogamegirl though. Whatever girl it is, and whatever system she's fond of, she always has the corresponding controllers and cables carefully arranged for maximum coverage of minimal areas. A classic!

Clue was actually a tolerable movie, but the game (Clue/Cluedo) had a plot and lots of characters. It was treated as a comedy and filled with interesting actors. Monopoly has ... Mr. Moneybags plus the cop and criminal. That's it. I mean, unless we end up with an invasion of huge CGI tokens representing everything from a battleship to a thimble, what else is there? Whoever thought this up should go to jail, directly to jail and no worries, they'll be lucky to scrape any money out of this ill-conceived plan. At least they can make products out of it. Monopoly: The Game! Wait, they've done that. Um. Monopoly: The Movie Edition of the Game of the Movie of the Game! YES! *walks off, shaking his head at the things people come up with* Could have at least picked something exciting like Yahtzee! Set it in Vegas. It's a convention of high rollers, all come together for the ultimate showdown. Nic Cage, Shia LeBouf (sp?), Sean Connery (he needs the work), Chuck Norris (just because) ... imagine the possibilities. *runs*

<cheesy announcer voice with echo effect> Toniiiiiight we bring you a 5 round duel to the death-eth-eth-eth! The world champion-yun-yun-yun ... LEEEEEEEEEEEGOOOOOOOOOO! The challenger ... Oh, I can't say it, we all know it's junk unk unk unk. Ok guys, cut the echo, it's getting annoying-ing-ing-ing. I said stop it NOW-ow-ow-ow! *storms out of the arena* </cheesy announcer voice with echo effect> I swear, the voices in my head are getting louder. *wacko* On topic: Blech. *announcer pokes head back in* You could say a bit more than that-at-at-at ... GRRR. Fine. I would never mix the two. I have never purchased a megablok unless it was mistakenly mixed into another purchase (ebay...) and I promptly sort them out. At this stage, I'm filling a box with them until I determine a suitable disposition for them. As for the hate or animosity displayed... It's a LEGO forum. We're LEGO people. A few will cross that line, and we don't burn them at the stake anymore, but anything primarily consisting of the other brand should probably be shared in a place where likeminded people meet. Much better chance of approval and acceptance. Or, as Wuhrer so clearly said, "We don't serve their kind here." Great. Now the voices are doing impressions.

If true, someone within the company lost a bet. Batman seems to be 2 sets for this year, so I'm not going to judge it on that, but the year off after poor sales should guarantee this isn't going to happen. Only chance, and it's the vaguest of one ... is there a major blockbuster dinosaur based movie coming out at the same time? Something that might inspire a short surge in sales. Even then, I can't see it being worth the investment to produce unless it's directly associated with the movie, and then it would be more than 2 sets. Nope, not happening. Mark my words.