Pellaeon

I assume if there were any more sets planned for 2010, we'd have heard about them by now. But I do think that if the movie is successful and the current sets sell well, we could see more sets in January 2011, maybe to tie in with the DVD release. Past January 2011, I agree the only way we'll see more sets is if there's a sequel. That would mean a 2-3 year gap in the series, like with the Harry Potter sets. I do hope we see more; the 5 sets we have are pretty spectacular and chock-full of new parts. EDIT: Hey, got my citizenship!

Great pictures Svelte, thanks for the review. The PoP sets are pretty spectacular -- great minifigs, great parts, lovely new color (whatever it's called). There's a bunch of new fleshie faces, and the only reused ones are in the big Battle of Alamut (the merchant and the ostrich jockey are repeated in that set). Of course, I do have 3 identical Dastans walking around... the guy needs a change of clothes, or maybe a haircut. I'm looking forward to a review of Quest Against Time -- it doesn't look nearly as interesting as the others, so it's the only one I haven't gotten yet.

Micro-scale Eldorado Fortress Version 2.0 by Pellaeon flickr gallery I've been working on a refined version of the micro-scale Eldorado Fortress that appeared in my mini-golf themed PV2 entry. 6276 Eldorado Fortress is one of the oldest sets I have, and it's one of the few that's still fully built back at my parent's house. Needless to say, it's a classic set and one of my favorites. There are more pictures on flickr. And in case you've forgotten what 6276 looks like: I'm pretty happy with it, but I'm open to suggestions. I have mixed feelings about the parapets; I think the cheese slopes work well above the arch, but I'm not sure I like the modified 1x1's with clip (they seem to be a common way to do parapets in micro castles though). I also need to take the time to make a better flag -- that one's starting to look a little ragged. Anyways, comments and criticisms welcome!

Thanks for the great review! Well, maybe I shouldn't be too thankful, since it forced inspired me to go out and buy it myself. This is the biggest set I've purchased at full price in quite a long time... totally worth it. Re: the doors that don't quite close... mine close just fine. Try giving the support posts a bit of a twist, maybe? The angle of the support pieces will very slightly affect how well the doors meet in the middle. It doesn't.

Nice catch! Link is here: http://www.bordersmedia.com/coup/marwk4fri...pid=SA_20100326

The free set is 6161 "My First LEGO Set" (a 221 piece bucket), and the deal is available online.

I'll give my vote to Sorien Guard's "Dark Seedy Riverside Alley". I like at lot of the buildings people have contributed -- especially the ones with detailed interiors -- but I think there's something to be said for the "slice of life" you can see in Sorien's MOC. I like the entries that have a bit of that vignette feel. Actually, I feel like we could shuffle up the assignments and start this one all over again. I think it'd be easy to have a very different take on many of the assignments. I would suggest giving the top vote-getters from this round first pick for the next, though. And last but not least: thanks to everybody who voted for The Commons. You all get a bowl of stewed parrot, on me.

I'm seeing Quest Against Time (7572) and Battle of Almut (7573) in stock at toysrus.com again. None of the cheaper sets are available, unfortunately.

Thanks for the tip, Pi! The NewPark Mall Target now has slightly fewer left on sale.

Too poor to afford even the stew? Well, bring any dead animal you find to this old timer, and he'll grill it up for you -- for free, if you let him have a bite or two. Yum, dead parrot! (it is an ex-parrot, it has ceased to be!) Here's the kitchen staff. The chef is stirring his suspicious stew of unsavory things, while his assistant carves some fresh meat -- the fate of any rat caught in the Commons. If you bring your own mug, cheap booze is also available. There are also some tables and chairs around, in case you'd like to "dine in". Here's another shot of the queue for the stew. A few close-ups. Clockwise from the upper-left: a clumsy redcoat spills his gruel, the chef works his magic, and another (dis)satisfied customer. Top-down shot, as requested. This is a 16x16 entry (space #55 on the map). I hope you enjoyed it! Comments and criticisms welcome, of course.

Wow, thanks for all the kind words, everybody. And I was blogged and frontpaged! ... actually, Captain Zuloo gave credit to some guy named Pallaeon, but my username is hard to spell. It's 8x8. I took the picture of the flag from bricklink, cropped it down to just the flag itself, printed two copies of it back-to-back, and then taped the paper to a black lever. I hope we get to see it someday, I bet the fortress would look very impressive in a slightly larger scale. I went with 8x8 originally because I need it to fit into a 16x16 vignette. Thanks again, folks! Glad you enjoyed it.

This one.

I just saw the keyrings and magnet set at a Lego Store -- for the LGM, the usual metal loop for the keychain is stuck in his head just behind the antenna. It's probably more secure that way; I imagine the antenna might snap off if they put the ring through it. The quality on the figures looks good though, despite being made in China. Maybe the quality-control has improved... we can only hope.

I just saw these at a Lego Store -- the visor is glued on.

Heh, well I'm glad you had nothing better to blog about. Thank you very much, Ratshot! First time I've been blogged. Thanks! It is tricky to fit a lot of minifigs in a 16x16 without it looking cluttered, so I'm happy y'all think I pulled it off.

The Dwarven gyrocopter is very nice, and I love the big hammer -- the flick-fire missile works well as the handle. I'd like to redo Harley Quinn's giant wooden mallet sometime, and I'd copy your hammer design if only the flick-fire missile came in tan! Yep, me too, on brickshelf a while back: Your two-headed beast is nice, z-beam, but I think that "Crystal Master" has got you beat... yikes!

Why looked what showed up as a late birthday present! Thanks, CopMike! I'm having no trouble with Mola Ram's hat, but C-3PO had his head on backwards... Chewie made the same mistake though, and it's easily fixed.

This is turning into a Bay Area Target stock comparison thread... okay, my turn! I went to the Target in Redwood City on Thursday, and they didn't even have a spot for the sets yet. I'm hoping for better luck over the weekend.

Direct sunlight will probably give you unwanted shadows, so I've found a bit of shade can be helpful.

Wow, a "perfect entry"... can't get much more complementary than that! Thanks everybody, I'm glad y'all enjoyed it. I am very pleased with how the pictures came out... I don't have a fancy setup, so I just lucked into the perfect combination of natural light, cloud cover, and flash (in some shots). It's not a very reliable (or predictable) system, but it does work well sometimes.

55. The Commons by Pellaeon The Commons is where townsfolk, sailors, and the occasional redcoat come for a cheap meal. The typical fare is a "mystery stew", and the vendors are strictly BYOB -- bring your own bowl. Too poor to afford even the stew? Well, bring any dead animal you find to this old timer, and he'll grill it up for you -- for free, if you let him have a bite or two. Yum, dead parrot! (it is an ex-parrot, it has ceased to be!) Here's the kitchen staff. The chef is stirring his suspicious stew of unsavory things, while his assistant carves some fresh meat -- the fate of any rat caught in the Commons. If you bring your own mug, cheap booze is also available. There are also some tables and chairs around, in case you'd like to "dine in". Here's another shot of the queue for the stew. A few close-ups. Clockwise from the upper-left: a clumsy redcoat spills his gruel, the chef works his magic, and another (dis)satisfied customer. Top-down shot, as requested. This is a 16x16 entry. I hope you enjoyed it! Comments are welcome in the separate post.

Nice entry -- I particularly like the wall decor and the monkey in a fez. I think that's because your door is currently mounted in line with the wall, instead of on the outside of it... Here's an example from a review by The Brickster if you wanna give it a try:

Those are spectacular prizes, thanks CopMike! I'm particularly grateful that you announced the prizes before I went an ordered a mermaid off bricklink.

16x16 can be pretty cramped once you start adding walls (witness the community build). I like the idea of specifying large baseplates, but not specifying how the space within the baseplate is used. Look at the example KimT posted: The height off the ground and the four doorways are pre-defined, but beyond that you have the freedom to fill as much (or as little) of the interior as you like, leaving the rest defined as "exterior". The square central module looks like it's 24x24, but I assume the "room" could also be 16x16, 16x32, 24x40, and so on. The main part could be square, rectangular, round, L-shaped, or have a central corridor with several small rooms off to the side. Maybe we could pull off the same effect with 16x16 modules, maybe by pre-defining what the "corridor" looks like, and then allowing people to use any number of 16x16 modules extending off of the corridor (and you don't have to fill every 16x16). For example, a couple rooms in the Death Star based off an 8-wide corridor might look like: That's also give people the space to build fancy doors and such, since they can make the walls as thick as they need to. Anyways, those are some of my thoughts.

I'm thinking the "nougat" colors are what we've typically called "flesh" (like on bricklink). I think Light Nougat definitely looks like Light Flesh, and Nougat resembles the Flesh we've seen in many of the Indy sets. I guess that would suggest Medium Nougat is Dark Flesh, but they don't seem to match as well as those other two. Maybe it is a new color?