Mr Maniac

This feels like it came right out of a Miyazaki movie! Bravo! While I've seen lots of steampunk dirigible MOCs, the shaping has always felt a little crude for me, never really achieving the streamlined look that actual airships bring! Yet you achieved it, no doubt thanks to mixel joints and a host of other clever techniques! This is definitely eye-candy for me, and I love the uniquely diverse crew! Great use of accessories and torso prints all around!

I'd say the addition of the Batman license to the LEGO umbrella is also doing a lot of heavy lifting here too, since, if I recall correctly, the only bat-like elements in the original Fright Knights sets was the original bat mold, Basil's helmet, and the dragon wings. At least now there's a much wider variety of bat accessories, which helps when it comes to, say, the helmet for Basil's mech here! (Regardless, more constraction spin-offs in themes would be very much appreciated. Like, can you imagine a Stingray mech for Aquazone? Or an Aquasharks one?)

Which is all the more impressive for those users (like me) who finds integrating Technic or Bionicle parts in a System build rather tricky! For example, I'll admit that my first viewing of this beautiful ship did not lead to realize you were using the torso of a Toa Mata for the stern! But now that I'm seeing it, it's all the more impressive for how organic it is with the remaining color scheme! Also: kudos on the usage of that trans-yellow windscreen at the front. I've built a flying boat that uses that same mold, and while I love it, I could never get the roof of the cockpit to remain flush with the rest of the aircraft. This is very sleek. Nicely done!

Kind of regret missing this one when it was initially posted, although very glad my browsing of this topic brought this post to light! As a massive fan of Fright Knights, I love what you've done here, @Oky, and mechs would definitely fit in with Fright Knights proper, especially with all those flying machines they already had! It's genuinely hard for me to pick a favorite because they're all so impeccably done! Everything from the parts you're using to the color schemes are simultaneously faithful to the original Fright Knights sets while looking much better and far less scattershot than some of the official sets! Given how popular mechs are now amongst LEGO themes, I don't think it's too difficult to see LEGO doing this if they released Fright Knights now! Well done, Oky! This is truly an impressive group of creations!

Wow! Nicely done! I think this does a great job of improving the interior of the original GWP! And without adding any new parts, that makes this all the more exceptional! The fact that it also adheres to the design principles of all Dragon Master buildings makes this even cooler! Bravo!

A fun headcanon thing worth doing if you want is imagining the new CMF version of Basil is him after having been 'corrupted' by WIlla's magic for so long. It turned him into an actual vampire (versus his more human appearance back 1997!)

Ahhh bummer, that's what I suspected. Still, pretty exciting to hear that they do have microfigs in capes and hoods! Definitely going to keep an eye out for these for any future builds or mods! Thanks for the heads-up!

The colors for this one are pitch-perfect, right alongside your stellar photo editing skills! Nicely done!

Love this, especially since it's a wonderfully sleeker design than the Stingrays' much larger flagship! I could absolutely see several of these ships flanking the much larger 6198 Stingray Stormer!

Some genuinely fun builds in this one, with my favorites probably being the Island Hopper and Jun-Chi microbuilds! You've definitely captured the essence of this theme (and hey, Sam Sinister doesn't look too shabby in a red scarf either!) (I also dig your Fright Knights tower! As a superfan(?) of this Castle faction, I really love how you incorporated the design of the tower more fully than in Night Lord's Castle!)

I've always wondered how some of the older builds and minifigures from Dino Island would look with the new Jurassic Park dinos, and I'd say this is a much more interesting update than that thought experiment I had in my head! Like @JintaiZ, I also find the water effect to be marvelous, along with that great primordial-looking flower/bush you built! It does a fantastic job creating a 'lost world' effect with the significantly expanded parts and color palette we have now, especially compared to the original Dino Island sets (although I do still adore the U.S.-based Mania Magazine's take on this locale!)

Speaking as someone in the midst of building a 6097 Night Lord's Castle MOC, I really, really like this build! There's absolutely NPU all around, from the minifig roller skates in Medium Stone Grey bordering the sword's resting place, to those 1x1 Technic Axle bricks, you've done a superb job of adding a nice Gothic texture to this build! I suppose the one question I have is whether this is actually something that can be replicated with physical bricks. I'm not familiar with all the parts used here, although some of them don't look like they have a real-world equivalent, including the hooded and caped microfigs inside the crypt, or the helmet on the statue at the top (although I could be wrong)! Either way, really great work. Definitely an example of Gothic architecture I may be citing for reference while I build my own castle!

See, NOW we're talkin'!* *(So long as they expand the amount of usable space in the basket, I won't care how they build the dragon!) EDIT: And for those curious, Brick Fanatics has some photos of Basil the Batlord the Vampire Knight's head and cape! And he's got a moustache again!

If so, I'll be curious to see where they go with Castle. So far I've enjoyed how, if you can afford it, you can buy one set and pretty much get all you need for one faction, more or less. Not that I'd be opposed to any future sets further expanding a faction (like maybe a siege tower for the Black Falcons?), although for me I'd be more interested to see what they do with some of the other factions in terms of reinventing them.

Love Basil's new weapon; it's absolutely a better fit for him than that chrome greatsword he originally had. While I wish they found a way to redesign his scepter, I've seen plenty of fun reinventions of that accessory that this axe (blood-axe?) is definitely an improvement. Now if LEGO decides to give us other updated Fright Knight torsos that mirror the older ones, I'd be all set! Unfortunately that's probably where I'm going to, since I'm not dedicated enough to buy a handheld digital scale, or whatever other strategies I've seen discussed here in terms of finding the right CMF in these boxes. Ah well, you really only need one (and depending on what I've seen elsewhere, Nu-Basil's torso might pop up again in Build-A-Minifig stations.) Now let's talk some real turkey: Do we think a future Willa the Witch/Hubble Bubble CMF would have green skin now, to match Nu-Basil's uncanny archetypal skin tone?

Oh my, this is exciting. Nu-Basil will fit right in with my Night Lord's Castle MOC I'm in the midst of right now. While I'm not sure how well those legs will work for me (they currently look like breeches), that'll be an easy-enough fix. On this, I think most people can agree on that. Now whither a new Willa CMF?

This is has gotta be one of my favorites from this summer's contest, probably in large part because of how closely it adheres to the current parts palette LEGO used for 10320 Eldorado Fortress. Definitely something that provides lots of inspiration to me for remaking Lagoon Lockup! Nicely done, @Aanchir!

The scale of these builds never fails to impress. I honestly never thought about using larger Duplo-sized bricks as supports, although given the size, it absolutely makes sense. Nicely done!

We'll see what happens of course with this once pictures are released, although hopefully this flyer looks better than the side-build from the Grimkeeper the Cage Monster set. Picked that one up on a whim because the titular creature looked great, but woof, that little plane/motorcycle is leaving something to be desired, especially compared to (as always) the illustrations in the instruction manual.

Can't really disagree with the rising cost of minifigures (as it seems to go hand-in-hand with rising costs everywhere else from my perspective), though I certainly wouldn't mind if LEGO revived this subtheme through one set. I think @Triceron was getting close to my thinking, where I could see the company maybe bringing out a revamped Night Lord's Castle, like the current Eldorado Fortress, where the broad design is similar to the original set, but with updated colors, pieces, building techniques, and maybe even newer play features. Of course this is all speculation, since there's been no rumors indicating LEGO would bring this theme back, but if current trends hold, where certain iconic sets get revived every few years, why not bring back this esoteric theme through one set?* *(Although given how there's no official word or rumors that LEGO would be bringing this theme back, guess I'll keep working on my version of Night Lord's Castle, among others )

Seeing how it's a preliminary image, I'm sure things will change once we get to a possible release. For my money I'd prefer it if we got the Lion Knights for the guard roles in this one, if only to ensure they're in more than one set (not to mention it'd fit in nicely with that Guarded Inn update. But I guess we'll see which route they go in!)

Oh my, this is incredibly charming and such a fun build! Like what Yperio_Bricks said above, your choice to mirror the positioning of each of the fantasy characters with their real-world counterparts is a very nice touch, alongside giving the wizard a cast to identify who he belongs to as a character. In any case, nicely done with the white imagination clouds too. This is what makes visiting this website worthwhile!

Looking for a bit of help on an MOC project of mine, so thought I'd post where I'm at right now. (That and photographing my version of 6087 Witch's Magic Manor is going to be an absolute bear, so I'm currently playing for time as well.) For the past few months I've been working on re-imagining (or modifying, really) all of the larger Fright Knights sets. As of right now I'm most of the way there, with the only set left to do being the big one from this subtheme: 6097 Night Lord's Castle. While my initial plans called for lightly modifying all the existing sets, using only the colors available back in 1997, along with a few newer parts in those same colors, I came around to the wider selection of new parts and colors pretty quickly after mucking around with Traitor Transport. That being said, moving in this new direction presented some fresh problems for me, since it removed some of my self-imposed guardrails. Fortunately after working on several of the small and mid-sized sets first, I created a slightly updated design language for this faction while still preserving what makes them unique for me. Regardless of these stylistic choices, there are three core tenets I've tried to implement with each set modification or MOC I've created thus far: Each set must be sturdy Each set must have some of the original play features (or an acceptable substitution) Each set must be accessible Overall, a pretty good ethos to have in place, and one that's worked out so far. But this last set has me stumped at the foundational level right now, so I thought I'd share my progress so far in order to see if anyone might have any ideas for improving matters. Anywho, you can see my idea for the initial foundation of this set below. The light bluish-grey 16x16 plate (with three 2x16 LBG plates) will form the first half of the ground floor for this castle, after passing through the portcullis and a pair of stockade doors. Seeing how this is one of the taller castles LEGO made, I want to get as much height out of my version as possible, which is why I went with that scalloped effect using overlapping dark bluish-grey plates. Unfortunately, this presents a bit of a problem for me, as I initially wanted to create a staircase (with a pair of banisters) beginning on that 8x6 DBG plate at the front, which would lead to the main entrance. Naturally, this staircase idea, coupled with the layered plates, looked better in my head than in reality. Now it looks like the slope is too small and too gradual for the staircase to be of any use, so I'm considering an increase in the height of the foundation. At first I considered using two of the 8x8x6 corner MURPs near the 6x6 curved DBG plates, but I fear that would increase the height too much, and I can't say I have any plans for making use of the available space I'd gain from that much height. After looking back at the original castle, I shifted gears somewhat, electing instead to use bricks to increase the height of the foundation a modest amount. The only problem is how high I should go. 8 bricks high seems a tad drastic, and I'd almost certainly want to create caverns or another fun detail, something I can't say I have too much appetite for. But a height of 1 brick is pretty much where I'm at now with those plates, and I'd prefer to keep the rounded edges, instead of being locked into a more angular style. I'm considering using some DBG 4x4 round corner bricks for the edges, but don't know if that would look too man-made. Either way, it's clear I need to play around some more with this foundation before getting to the fun part of building the castle proper, so I'll leave it at that. More photos here on my Bricksafe folder. If I find a foundation design that works for me, I'll be sure to add to that folder. But thanks for reading, and again, any suggestions would certainly be welcome!

Ugh, so much for notifications on this topic! Sorry for the delay @Yoggington! This is a great idea! Been spending a lot of time chewing on this topic but should be able to sketch something out that might help you and others.

Great observation here, though I think we'd need some uglier-looking mugs in the car if this was going to be a villain's car. Perhaps adding some of those early Clone Wars heads would fit the bill? Kidding aside, great work on this one @SERVATOR! Curious to know if this model is an original design, or a MOD of an existing set? Either way it looks fantastic and very accurate to the time period!