ResIpsaLoquitur

So I was already building a "mom and pop" general store for the Winter Village when this contest opened, and it was decided that it had to be North Pole/mythological themed. I wanted to keep the store going, but what mythological character would possibly be running one at the North Pole? I'm betting we're going to see a lot of gingerbread houses, so who's left? And then I remembered: Old Man Winter. I'm not sure if Old Man Winter is a real mythological character, but he's a popular representation of the dry, grumpy feeling we get in a bitter winter. Fortunately, my Old Man is a little merrier than that and runs a nice (if somewhat chilly) store to sell provisions to North Polers and other visitor. Old Man Winter runs a traditional old-fashioned general store, though it gets frosted over quite frequently. He has it decorated in sparking blue lights and he's helped by an Arctic Explorer who brings supplies, a helper who gets rid of the icicles, and the Abombinable Snowman who's available for pictures with visitors. It's a great place for the Fantasy characters to stock up on tools and goods--just look at Santa with his new wheelbarrow. The roof is removable for easier access to the interior. Inside is a store full of, well, everything. You never know what's for sale at the North Pole--like any general store, it's "whatever's in this week." There's plenty of ice cream, though! Or you can read up on the latest Lego news, buy some frozen fruit or canned goods, get some tools, spare cheese for your fondue, or even some old tires. You didn't expect to be getting hot coffee from a guy named Old Man Winter, did you? The Abominable Snowman is not somebody you want working in a store full of stuff, so Old Man Winter keeps him happy with popsicles and lets him pose for pictures with visitors. He sits on a chair made out of pure ice! (Fortunately, it's padded so the Abombinable Snowman doesn't freeze his bottom.) Here's an alternate shot of the interior. I have more pictures available on my Photobucket site. I think I'm going to still be doing some mods to this set to get the colors more consistent. I've put in a Bricklink order for a bunch of white doors and windows and some blue shutters to get a colder, wintry look going. In the meantime, I'd appreciate any feedback or suggestions on this shop! I've been slowly modding this building for the last two years (and I had to buy a ton of 1 x 4 brown wood bricks) to get it just right, but there's always room for improvement. I look forward to your suggestions and to everyone else's entries!

I made one more change--I swapped out the last photo. There was originally a lumberjack and sled in that shot which I used in a prior EB posting, and I didn't want to risk getting disqualified on that. (Not sure I would, but why take chances.) I notice a lot more entries have gone up now, so any feedback that can be provided before tomorrow is appreciated!

It's driving me crazy that DDC *almost* has enough spare pieces to make a second Unikitty.

Day 24....not me! Oh well...congrats to the 80% of you who did win. This is always fun.

Well, it stinks to not win, but statistically 20% of us weren't going to win, right? It's not like we lose anything by entering. Although didn't CopMike go nuts last year and give out extra prizes at the end anyway?

Request: how about doing a Bat-Unikitty next? Mostly black, with yellow highlights.

I would love it if they'd have included Lincoln's chair and a white version of CMF Lincoln for a "close up" add on to the set. I guess that's not how these architecture sets roll, so oh well. Great review otherwise.

Nice! This looks like it would work well in a regular City scene, but you added the comical North Pole element. Very good.

Cracked is a very funny website, but of late it has suffered from a trend of "social justce" articles which seem to have shoddy research. They seem to have critiqued the news about the Research Institute instead of actually researching Lego and Friends. (I.e., they complain that Friends is too "girly" while neglecting the Olivia is a scientist.) If you read the comments on the article (sort by "popular"), a lot of readers called out Cracked and complained that Lego and Friends are much friendlier to girls than the article made them to be.

NuffSaid, I didn't win until Day 24 last year, so hang in there. (Still haven't won this year either.) I keep telling myself: I'll win when I win, if I win.

Very cute! Round is hard to pull off, but you did it.

Updates: I changed out the yellow windows for white ones to give the place a "frostier" look, and I think it's much better now. I'm debating whether I should change the shutters to blue. I like the green, but the blue might look "colder." I also swapped out some of the civilans for more fairy tale characters, so you can now see Gingerbread Man in the house. Lastly, I removed the green baseplate--the rules seem to disfavor using them. Thoughts are appreciated!

Hmm, I hadn't considered cost. I thought the Friends calendars were thematically limited--here's two Friends sharing a merry Christmas with a couple of animals. The City calendars always seem based around a story (here's a family opening presents, or some burglars who get captured) along with a play feature. Star Wars is always based on a film (or this year, the CW), so there's no story so much as a generalized collection that usually lumps characters, weapons, and accessories together. Weirdly, I think Friends may have the highest piece count this year even though it has some of the cheesier builds.

There's something Star-Warsy about today's winners. Wedge09 Snowspeeder Pilot gazumpty Microdragons Gerechtigkeitsliga papacharly keiththelegokid

There is a 100% chance that these people will win on Day 9: FinalFeature robuko Erdbeereis burlogh Yooha Jakorin Swiftsword Emperor

8 Dec's winners: Rick LEGO Maniac JEM toutouille ACPin dark secret Hammerstein NWC Lord Tyrus Man, I gotta keep reminding myself that I'll win when I win, if I win. Congrats to the winners.

Day 7: The Cobra Christian Slurpifier Petamas Legopard Dane Splat

Csacsa234 the Inventor rodiziorobs Eigenbroetler Automaton Creationskritch SandMirror38

No, I can go to the page on my phone. The copy and paste is hard because the calendar reads weird in my phone's browser.

Can somebody do it tomorrow? I'll be away from my computer and it's reaaaaaly hard to copy and paste on my phone.

Today's winners: broachpurger BrickOn Joeseidon Mr Greeble Dragonator Mr Meleca Graham Gidman

Well, that's aftermarket value. The cost to TLG is whatever plastic and printing costs the figures have. So, $3-4 US per figure, plus the Unikitties.

I assumed that today's build was like an e-web cannon for a clone trooper. Apparently it's an actual vehicle.

Isn't there a difference between your overall chance of winning and your chance on a particular day? I thought we established that the former goes down and the latter goes up. Your list there shows the former. Day 4 winners: 4MKJosh AAoNZ Kristel Peppermint_M AndersI VBBN mechamike

I can't count.