pombe

This is incredible, and there is a lot to like (and copy). Now, I'm stalking following you on flickr. My only critique is that you should use an air duster prior to photographing your beautiful MOCs. Unless the dust is a feature of the Avalonian scenery, of course, and not a bug.

I like the aesthetic and composition of the build. I think the textures are appropriate and will be looking to copy some of your style moving forward.

TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 0: Heading Home CHAPTER 1 Priestess of the Oasis Nolana dismounted the camel and offered her thanks to the merchant caravan. The serendipitous encounter had allowed her to shorten her journey home through the desert by several days. It had been easy for her to barter her skills as a kahinat waha, or priestess of the oasis in the old tongue, in exchange for letting her join them for the leg of their travels that brought them closer to her village. After all, a healer was always welcome in the Siccus Badlands. The fact that she could sense the location of nearby water didn't hurt either. Nolana watched as the merchant caravan departed under the midday sun. The soft crunching of the sand caused by the feet of the camels slowly diminished as the caravan disappeared over the dunes. She set Korbin down on the sand and pulled out two small stones from her bag. Using an old trick to determine direction, she planted her walking stick in the sand and used the two stones to track the shadow of the stick caused by the sun's movement. West was that way. She picked up the stones and adjusted the old white throw she had wrapped around her head to protect her from the sun and set out, with Korbin at her side. Hours later, with a panting Korbin beside her, Nolana sensed water. A lot of water. Her village, known locally as Wahat Alqamar, or Oasis of the Moon, was close. She sped up her pace due to her excitement of finally being home again. Or was it anxiety? Maybe both. Nolana couldn't tell. The Maebad Alqamar slowly loomed into view on the horizon. The butterflies started fluttering furiously in her stomach at the sight of the temple as she neared her village. It was definitely anxiety. Korbin stopped under the shade of a nearby tree. He was tired and overheated. Nolana removed the throw, turned, and leaned towards Korbin. 'I'm sorry you had to go through this,' Nolana said. 'But...we're almost...home.' She glanced over at the village in the distance, trepidation filling her mind at how she would be received by the villagers. 'Yes...home,' she said to no one in particular. 'In Wahat Alqamar of Kaliphlin.' Comments and criticisms are always welcome!

Thanks everyone for the warm welcome and the kind words. @TitusV Thanks so much for the suggestion! I agree, looking at it that the door should have been rounded at the top. Somethings seem so obvious once someone else points it out, but for some reason I don't notice it during the building process. @Henjin_Quilones Thanks for the breakdown of the guilds (what happened to Mitgardia?). I purposefully wrote the introduction to be guild agnostic so I could be flexible, and I certainly appreciate you taking the time to write how my character's introduction would play into the guilds. I admit that I am still trying to catch up on the history of events. I am looking forward to reading more about the Varlyrians, since there doesn't seem to be much written about them.

CHAPTER 0: Heading Home Nolana hoisted the bag over her shoulders. Though they didn't have much, Ferenice had made sure to pack extra medicines and an old throw in there with the food. She smiled. Ferenice was always like that. Despite the fact that Nolana was her apprentice, Ferenice had always treated her more like a younger sister than a student. And they might have become sisters, if it wasn't for what happened. Nolana frowned and pushed the memories away. She looked at the hidden clearing in the Nocturnus forest and sighed. This is where they've lived for over a year since they ran away. And while it was never safe where they were, recent events have made Nocturnus even more dangerous, and Ferenice had insisted that Nolana return home. Nolana picked up her walking stick and started towards the small hovel where they kept Daegal, followed by little Korbin who ambled after her. She saw that Ferenice was already there waiting for her. As Nolana approached the hovel, she could hear the menacing moans emanating from within. 'I don't have to leave,' Nolana started, as she stopped in front of Ferenice. 'I'll have none of that 'Lana,' Ferenice interrupted. 'I've already asked too much of you. This isn't your burden to bear. In fact, I should have never let you help me' 'But,' Nolana started again. 'No,' Ferenice smiled. 'I'm the one who used the book, not you. I can't return, but the villagers will understand and take you back.' A loud groan came from inside the hovel. 'I'll take care of him,' Ferenice said, glancing first at the hovel and then at Nolana. 'You know I never meant for things to turn out like this, and I'm truly sorry things couldn't work out for you. But you can trust me to do everything I can for him.' 'I know and I've made my peace,' Nolana replied. 'About the villagers, though...I'm not sure.' 'It won't be easy,' conceded Ferenice. 'You'll have to earn their trust. Perhaps Esther can help. She's always looked up to you.' The thought of her youngest sister, Esther, made Nolana smile. She had missed her family terribly, and it would be good to see them again. But she was scared that they would reject her after all that had happened. 'Go,' Ferenice nudged. 'Nocturnus is no longer safe for you. Consider this your last lesson from me. Go back and help the villagers. They'll need it, no matter how much they distrust you.' Her teacher was right. Esther was not yet an acolyte when Ferenice and her fled. The village had lost both its priestesses in a single moment. Nolana nodded and held back the tears as she embraced Ferenice one last time. Then she faced away from the clearing and started walking with little Korbin by her side. Home, Nolana thought to herself. I'm going home.

There is a related thread discussing the popularity of Galaxy Squad and why it worked/didn't work. Some good points are made there. I agree that a strong antagonist(s) is necessary to give gravitas to the struggle of the heroes. The journey of the heroes is only meaningful if they have to undergo a transformation to overcome the challenges they face. What's handy about LEGO Space is that like Ninjago, it already has different bad guy factions: Blacktron and Spyrius. Which combines nicely with a children's TV show, since lessons about respect, honesty, perseverance, and friendship are already at the core of each episode. Science fiction, at its most fundamental, are stories about the intersection between technology and the human condition. Some of these can get pretty heady and deeply philosophical, but I think it's possible to keep the topics accessible to children, while still making it educational and enjoyable for parents.

I think you are correct, but what I'm trying to figure out is why themes that had this exact same formula, such as Chima and Nexo Knights, lost to Ninjago. What does Ninjago have that the others didn't? Essentially, I'm trying to identify/quantify what Ninjago's je ne sais quoi is and learn from it. I want to agree with you so badly it hurts. it intuitively makes so much sense. But business decisions at large companies are usually predicated on either previous success or the success of others. Most LEGO themes are updates of past themes (Ninjago = Ninja + Exo Force). Bionicle was introduced to compete with action figures. Brickheads were introduced to compete with collectible figures. New and radical ideas usually fall into the realm of startups or companies with true visionary leaders with tremendous clout (such as Steve Jobs or Elon Musk). LEGO Friends only got introduced because it was a long term goal of TLG to break into the girls toy market and only happened after failed attempts (Paradisa) and over five years of market research. Surprise breakout success does happen. And I think it's important to understand why and and if we can apply those lessons to LEGO Space, because it's my favorite theme. This. This is what I'm trying to figure out. R.I.P. Firefly Dark Matter The Expanse (saved by Amazon, whew) At the three fan conventions I've been to, there has been large displays dedicated to Classic Space and the subthemes. The last one I went to had two tables: one for Classic Space and one for Space Police I! When I trawl through the Flickr LEGO group photos there are Classic Space MOCs posted nearly every day! TLG knows that LEGO Space is popular, so what's holding them back? Well...let's see... Fans have an outlet to let TLG know what we want: LEGO Ideas. They even gave us the Exosuit (with turtle). I bought three. The question I have is why don't Classic Space submissions hit 10,000 votes more often? The good ones seem to time out at around 6-7,000 votes. I vote for every single one I see, regardless of quality! Sure they threw us a bone with Benny's Spaceship. I bought four. I suppose I could have bought more... But ultimately, my single vote for an Ideas project and my limited wallet don't constitute a large enough political voting bloc to make any significant difference to TLG's finances. The bottomline is that if we want to see LEGO Space return, we need to provide evidence to TLG that the market is there. And I'm thinking that doesn't exist and that in order for LEGO Space to return, it will have to incorporate lessons from Ninjago. Except that Galaxy Squad did that and failed. So I've hit a mental wall.

@Aanchir Everything you wrote makes complete sense. Though I will disagree with the idea that LEGO might not want a mega-hit, because I think each theme is an educated gamble by TLG looking for the next Ninjago. Instead of letting this become just another wish list thread, I was hoping to steer this discussion towards "how can LEGO Space be brought back as a theme in the business sense?". To do this, we need to look at the data that exists. We know that Ninjago is/was wildly popular. We know that Chima wasn't. We had two similar themes that went head to head with each other, and Chima lost. Why? Same with Nexo Knights. If you asked me which theme I would prefer: a) ninjas searching for golden weapons who fight via spinning at each other or b) knights who ride on horse mechs and live in a castle on tank treads, I would have voted for the knights, hands down. And I would have lost. My wallet cannot compete against the wallets of the parents of countless children. Ninjago, which started in 2011, went 4-0 against other action themes, if you throw in Monster Fighters and Ultra Agents. That is crazy good. I love Classic Space and all the subthemes. And this post is me trying to figure out in my head how to make it just as popular, if not more so, than Ninjago. I want to create a logical argument (not based on nostalgia or what AFOLs wish for), based on what we know about existing LEGO themes, that is compelling enough business-wise (it will sell like hotcakes and make a lot of monies because parents of children cannot hand over their wallets to TLG fast enough) to bring Classic Space back as a theme.

While that sounds fantastic to me, we need to step back and compare Nexo Knights, Chima, Galaxy Squad, Monster Hunters, Ultra Agents, Alien Conquest, and Space Police III to Ninjago and ask, "what made Ninjago so much more popular than all the others?". Ninjago obviously has some sort of secret sauce that the others didn't. Nexo Knights and Chima also had cartoons, but for some reason didn't really resonate with children. So what is Ninjago's secret sauce? And how can we apply it to a new space theme? Without this we really don't have an argument to convince TLG to listen to us.

I used to be like many here and wished TLG would revisit the classic space themes. As time went on, however, I've realized that really wasn't what I want. All I really want is for TLG to release a classic space printed elements pack. Just some bricks, tiles, slopes, and minifigure parts in the appropriate colors printed with the Classic Space, Blacktron (I & II), M-Tron, Ice Planet, Spyrius, Space Police (I, II, & III), and Exploriens logos. That's all I really want. If they release a separate pack with trans yellow/blue/green/red/neon green/neon orange windows and canopies (and ice equipment), that would be a bonus. I've accepted that TLG will likely not revisit these old themes because of business constraints, but I think a small elements pack is doable, especially if it is DTC (direct to consumer), available only through official LEGO stores or their shop website. See, I'm not interested in following instrucations and building new space sets. I just want the printed elements so I can MOC in the old themes that appeal to me. And this doesn't just have to apply to classic space themes. I'm sure there are castle builders who would love to see the Black Falcons reemerge in their MOCs.

Ellie saves the day! It's interesting how Yseult's version of the afterlife has a mech in it.

It's always so complicated with Koro. Except when he's killing.

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It used jumper plates connected to a Technic brick with a hole in the center. Apologies for the dust. Based on some feedback on Flickr.com, I've changed the droid arms in the middle to unify the blue segments, and I agree that it looks better.

People actually pay money to drink this stuff?!?! We discovered the plant that is used in the fermentation. You should be proud. Besides, it was good for our research funding. You stupid professor! When you made me drink this stuff, I was cast onto the mountain of failure and despair for a thousand years! BAD TRIP!!! The psychoactive effects are its main selling points. Just because you didn't like it doesn't mean that others won't.