Matn

Mister Phes, I'm not here to start a mutiny. I was just sharing my thoughts. I'm more against the whole bonus points idea, which makes the contest confusing. If people really feel the need to award points to themselves, then they should do so. If everyone starts to do it, then who says I won't be doing it.

Nice rendition of this famous scene, Captain Genaro. Like many others, I find this one of the better scenes in all of the PotC films. It introduces Jack Sparrow in his own peculiar way. Your creation matches the scene well, with a couple of recognizable parts like the mast, the desk and the harbor master with the kid. The docks are appropriately untidy and the shape of the docks is also nice. The water looks a bit weird with those black edges, perhaps putting it on a couple of blue plates would make it look better. Good luck!

It's a nice little ship, Holko. It looks a bit tall, but the holes are a nice touch. The rigging also makes it look better than before. Perhaps white sails instead of golden would've been better. Nice job and good luck.

Excellent rendition of the scene, Fat Tony! The rocks looks very natural, great job on that. I imagine that the cage must've took you a while to make as it looks quite complicated. The structure of bones look perfect and certainly better than LEGO's simple version. The bridge is also a nice detail. It's the photography that really does it for me. It looks like screens from a film. The background colour, the colours, the lightning, the positioning, it all looks superb. Good luck!

Great entry, Yatkuu! The workshop is spot-on, it's the same look and feeling like in the film. The variety of brick colours certainly adds up to that, not many buildings get away with that old grey affected by the sun. The floor is also nicely done, a technique that surely fits with this building. You did also a good job with the wooden structure and the donkey part. At first I thought there weren't enough details, looking at the overall photo. I searched for blacksmith material and of course weapons. But looking at the further pictures, I've seen you managed to include plenty of them. Weapons are hanging around, that blowing thing, .... The place looks a bit too clean from above, perhaps a spider web or two and a bit more rubbish laying around would've been nice. Now the way of presenting this wonderful creation is really top-notch. The comic book style just works perfectly with this theme. The pictures and the additional effects make it look excellent. Nice job all round!

Ah, now I understand it with those bonus points and everything. I must say you've made the voting thing rather complicated, not only for the participants but I think also for yourselves. I thought the bonus points were to be added to our total points, but they are to be used for voting. And you can only award two bonus points to yourself if you have all three of them. Alright. I don't think many people will vote for themselves, I think it's an odd thing to do. There are some great entries, thanks for organizing the contest and good luck to everyone.

Ted hates going to bed. Every night, his bed gets lifted up and down. Ted thinks there's a gruesome monster under his bed. Ted is almost right. I really recommend watching the video which shows the popping up of the monster. More photo's at: Brickshelf: http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=467381 MOCpages (including video): http://mocpages.com/moc.php/260013 Flickr (including video):

True Blood is an amazing television series about the co-existence of vampires and humans. It all starts in Bon Temps, Louisiana, with Sookie Stackhouse and vampire Bill Compton. But the colourful world of True Blood isn't only inhabited by humans and vampires, a lot of other magical species wander around. In a nutshell: if you haven't seen the show, watch it now! The Compton House, where the Compton family used to live. The current owner is vampire Bill, William Compton, together with his vampire offspring Jessica. The house is in need of repair and it is overgrown with vines. The interior is filled with a couple of scenes. Bill is ready to kick the megablocks of Vampire Queen Sophie-Anne, saying why would be spoiling. Jessica doesn't know what to do with the corpse of a trucker, the poor girl only wanted a drink. And Sookie is just wandering around in the house. The fireplace can be lit with a magical lightening brick. There is a variety of antique furniture including charming sofas and an old, dusty piano, just like you'd expect in a vampire house! More pictures at: Brickshelf: http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=467251 Flickr: MOCpages: http://mocpages.com/moc.php/259829

LEGO has annually released for the past six or seven years a beautiful Creator house. The first years they were white with red. Then came the beige town house, the yellow vacation house and this year we've got the Family Home. This set has been released in July. With its 976 pieces and a price of 59,99 euro, it is an expensive building. However, LEGO is always expensive and so are these annual Creator houses. When you've got the chance to buy them on sale, don't hesitate! I've always hesitated and this is the first one I bought for a price of 40 euro. With the pieces, and instructions, you can build three models. I have chosen to build the main model because the others don't look so interesting to me. So I'm not going to talk about them, if you would like to see the others, click here. The box is filled up well, unlike some other huge boxes. There are four instruction booklets, two for the main house. On to the building. In one word: beautiful. As you can see, the designers have done a very good job on the architecture. The little pond looks nice, with a brick built duck. There's even a birdbath, a golden one, lucky birds. A patio, and a sliding door, with dark tan tiles make it even better. Above the front door is a big light. The chimney is also very nice. And little thing to nitpick about; the roof looks a bit unfinished without the upper slopes (but otherwise it wouldn't be able to dismantle the two parts of the first floor). But if you want to, it can be made sleeker when you put them on yourself. The colors match so well together! Some close-ups of the building techniques or special parts. The building of this set was pretty interesting with the use of jumper plates. There's also an upper floor. The windows here make use of the new window shutters. I wasn't fond of them at first, but they start growing on me. The problem is that they aren't put on the window itself, but on a brick with clips next to it. That means you have to offer brick space when building your own MOCs. You can take the roof apart, in two pieces. There's room enough for a small desk and perhaps a bed. It's common that Creator sets don't have decent interiors. But they've managed to put in a fireplace and stairs on the ground floor, though a fireplace in your hall. Doesn't make much sense to me. It's up to you if you add interior or not, there's plenty of room. Conclusion: like I've said, 6754 Family Home is a beautiful set. The building was relaxing, like it has to be, with some nice techniques and much jumperplates to make the windows stand out. The architecture has been done well, the amount of details is perfect. The color sheme makes this set stand out, I wasn't so sure at first thought, but blue, tan, white and red mix very well together.. And the amount of tan comes in handy. The Family Home is also a very sturdy set, it doesn't break apart when there's played with it.The only things I don't like so much are the fact that the roof isn't made perfect, but if it would have been difficult to break the upper floor in two pieces. And also the plants, they don't look so good, that's fixed fast with some proper LEGO plants and flowers. And 6754 Family Home can be considerd as a parts pack, if you are able to buy one at a low price. I use mine in my town because it goes well with minifigures. I hope you've enjoyed this review!

Congratulations to all winners! You three would have stood in my top 3, but I was too late to vote because I was still replying to the entry topics of all of the participants. You really deserved it, fantastic entries: Clark made a colourful and massive entry, Maegnus gave a whole new look and style to the magical world and Jalkow's entry is ingenious! I surely hope we won't stop seeing LEGO Harry Potter MOCs, please keep them coming!

And the first pictures of the New York Toy Fair have arrived! After a quick Google search I found this folder including photo's of the new LEGO Harry Potter sets. A quick overview with my personal thoughts: Surpise, surprise: the set has 4 minifigures! Including a new minifigure of Narcissa, she looks great with that dress, face and hair. Other than that not very interesting: just a tree. But for the same price as Dobby's Release this is an awesome little set. I first saw the picture of the box and I thought it was going to be ugly. But the photo of the set itself makes it look better. The Bus is sitting lower than the first version, but the ugly black plates breaking up the purple are still there. The front looks better though. Awesome new minifigures, including a shrunken head! It's a shame there isn't any window glass in there, but there's nothing a Bricklink order can solve. I said it before: looks a bit bland. But the set will fit nicely with the newer Hogwarts Castle I think. The figures are of course the biggest reason to buy it: new Lupin, prof. Sprout and Neville! Goyle is a nice extra.

New photos of the Pirates' theme can be seen here. They are taken on the New York Toy Fair. I liked the first film and I've seen the other two, but the theme looks better than the films! Awesome new parts and especially the lovely new minifigures are the highlights of the sets.

Those are great new Star Wars sets! I love all of the minifigures! The Ewok Attack sets looks nice to finally get some Ewoks. And I think I'll finally get a Millenium Falcon, it will be my first one. Nice design and of course awesome minifigures! The figures with the Sith Infiltrator (finally a good design) look also great. The Podracers also have a better design, my Anakin's Podracer from 1999 or something looks like nothing compared to these new ones! But I'll probably only get the Falcon. Hopefully.

I like it. I always like the Spongebob sets but I never have bought any of them! I loved the show when I was a few years younger, when I happen to bump on it I'll watch it now and then. And the LEGO sets are pretty nice, but I just never bought one. I don't know why, probably because it just doesn't fit in any of the themes I build in. But the parts and figures are always great. And, Spongebob wears a blue cape. Haven't seen those before I think, perhaps we'll see more blue capes in the near future.

Beautiful interior, turambar. It looks very much like I'd imagined the Malfoy Manor from the inside. A very cold place with a severe atmosphere. The coloured bricks certainly help with creating the idea that the Manor is already a long time in the hands of the family. The chandelier is very magical. The portrait looks great, the effect of it is nice because it's a bit more in the back of the wall. The various furnish is also lovely. I especially like the details like Dobby's place and the archway going down at the back. Great job and good luck!

Nice entry. It looks very much like the picture you have posted (makes me think I really want the American books so I can look at those nice drawings). I like the snowy details, but more of that would have been nice. The baby inside that helmet is a great idea! Good luck in the contest.

Fantastic entry, Dix! I liked it on first sight. It's so big and yet very magical and Harry Potter-like. It's like a simplified version of the film Hogsmeade shops, and that makes it better than the film buildings in Hogsmeade. The colours on the outside are very nice and I like the various details like the tiling. Very nice roof and chimney. The windows are also great. The inside is charmingly magical! The store items are great in diversion, ranging from animals to wands. I like all the browns and the little details. The second floor looks also nice and very magical, almost random. Surely there should be some magic involved keeping that in the air in real life! Awesome chandelier. The roof from the inside doesn't look bad also. Really, great entry and good luck in the contest. I wouldn't mind seeing a town full of these kind of buildings. It would be huge!

Very nice interpretation of the Shell Cottage! It's looking good from the outside, with the studs representing shells and the chimneys towering above. The dark green roof complements well with the tan and brown bricks. The interior is very charming, and as said before I sense a classic feeling here. Perhaps it's because of the many exposed studs, I like it. It's like a doll house with many room to play in. The different furniture is nice. Good luck in the contest!

Great to see you participating here Eti! This is a great entry, especially the idea of using the microfigs is ingenious. The overall style looks clean and nice, like portrayed in the book. The chairs are also looking good. I love the curved roof! Good luck in the contest.

A hard place to convert in LEGO, but you managed to do it pretty well. The first shot is really amazing, it looks like a crowded place and like there's a lot of action going on there. The overall shot breaks that illusion, but it still looks really good. The statue looks nice and so are the beginnings of the Ministry cabinets. I do have to say: the statue looks a bit too big. Perhaps you could make it smaller one day and then also adding offices on the top of it. Good luck in the contest!

That's a very nice tower design and certainly good inspiration to work my own Quidditch pitch out some day. It's very accurate to the film scenes. I especially like the second photo, it's a great action shot. Good luck!

I think you've done a very nice job using only the parts available in the newest LEGO Harry Potter sets! The colours and the pieces work pretty well for the manor. I didn't know it was based on a real building, so thanks for the information. And interior to the manor would be a nice extra. Snape apparating is really well done using just bricks, it looks pretty good. Good luck in the contest!

Amazing job, Cara! I really like it because it looks very magical. It's also compact, which is what I like about LEGO creations. I bet it fits perfectly with the new Diagon Alley set. The exterior looks nice with the flags hanging around. That window looks marvellous, a very nice curve. Nice use of that Belville figure! I also like the purple piece to represent their posters. The inside is so charming with all the various Weasley items, all of them, the toys and games, are presented very nice and are recognizable. The colours are lovely and so is the effect of the light brick above the pink compartment. I just love the details of the interior. Awesome job and I'd love to see more of this! Good luck.

Great apothecary. It's very different from the other buildings in the contest, it's more modern but it still looks very good. The green windows look very nice with the splashes of gold. The overall colours are lovely, white with a splash of green looks nice. The street looks a bit empty though, a figure or two would make it more exciting, perhaps an ill person walking down the stairs. The fact that you can open it up to reveal the entrance is a very nice idea. The interior is charming, nice book shelve and that chair is also good work. The fireplace looks also good, I love how everyone is using the light brick in their entries! Nice job on the apothecary owner himself, cutting up some unicorn horn. The piece of cloth gives a nice effect of some substance boiling in his cauldron. Good luck in the contest!

Awesome entry, Geertos13! The exterior is lovely, I like the windows on the lower floor. The angled door is also a nice touch and the dark tan steps complement very well. It's also a great idea to place the shop higher, with a step leading to its door, so you can incorporate a cellar! The interior is also charming with the various candy. I like the bowls of candy scattered around. The lollipop water is also a great idea, that dish works perfect. Overall, nice work and good luck!