Berry Syedow

The price seems true to TLC's current pricing policy. Arrr, now I'm starting to ache for a new pirate theme.

Everything seems to be in order. I slightly prefer the older "box images" because the colors were a bit more muted. The brightness of the new colors is almost too much for my eyes.

Studs are one of the quintessential aspects of the LEGO Product, and yet I

...don't get technical with me. ;-) Threads are what make forums (and clothes :-P) great! In them, you

Bingo. ;-) I also like hershey bars with almonds or other types of nuts in them. Peanut M&Ms are another favorite of mine. Pure milk chocolate or dark chocolate are fine. Chocolates with coconut shavings in them are also acceptable. I am not especially fond of chocolates with cherries inside of them. The syrup tends to taste like cough medicine. :-P

This is a rather nice "set". The color combination is easy on the eyes and the build while not complex is elegant in its own way. Were this for sale I might consider picking it up depending on the price. 5/5

Fear not comrade! I am in no way affiliated with

I too like the above roof designs! There was a folder on brickshelf that contained some unique roof designs using unusual pieces... Here it is: LINK

erp, thanks for correcting me. X-D I knew naming a building miss was a little too strange to be true... ;-) I guess the flamboyance fits the spaniard. I hope to see some of these other "ideas" in more MOCs, Mr. Landlubber! And a LEGO girlfriend?! You are one lucky lad... I don't know the answer to your last question, unfortunately.

Thank you for adding to the discussion everyone. So far the consensus largely seems to be that there is a "harmonic balance" between the two. Others agree that spacey/mecha creations should be studless while landscaping and more rugged themes such as castle should have studs. I too have noticed that many castle MOCs are using tiles in the interiors. Another interesting substitute for tiles is to lay a wall of bricks flat to form a smooth surface. This is a very cost effective solution to those low on tiles. The technique has been most prominent in MOCs containing large bodies of water. Norro's MOC is an intriguing exception. He believes that water can be effectively conveyed using both studs and tiles. The madness! I actually like this technique, since it has a certain busyness about it that most moving bodies of water also tends to have...

Hurrah! Does this also mean that you'll be buying some of 2007's Castle sets?

A larger image of the 2007 Castle poster was posted over on classic-castle.com a while ago. In the background not only is a ship visible, but there also seems to be another faction to the left of the ship which almost looks like vikings... The trolls are also clearly visible... LINK

Sony, eh? I haven

Uh, like I said, it's taken from another game. An online game to be precise, so some creativity may be needed to make the "game" work. X-D The actual game is called puzzle pirates. The earlier form of the game was largely dominated by adults, but since then has opened up to the teens and tweens. The adults mostly reside on the "subscription" servers (or oceans as they're referred to) and the oldest ocean is midnight, my personal favorite. ;-) Here's a LINK to the main page and a LINK to the "y!ppedia", which contains all of the game's information. Sea Battle Here's an idea of what I was talking about (there's another picture in the above link, too): Heh, heh, you must have a LOT of space if you can do that!

B-OV-31D Ahoy City dwellers! It's been many a day since my last visit here, but I thought that I'd show you all this fabulous church (They are a part of the city, aren't they? ;-)) created by Amy Hughes. LINK: http://www.amyhughes.org/lego/church/ She's also got a few other interesting projects with some intriguing SNOT. Her main page: http://www.amyhughes.org/lego/

Ah, I hadn't taken that into consideration, Sir Dillon! I've attempted makeshift stands varying from books to duct tape (suddenly I'm reminded of an old thread...), but the main problem is that I'll budge the camera a little too much when my finger presses down on the button to take a picture. I'll have to ask for a tripod on my birthday, since it seems like the best solution at this point. I've never dabbled in paint shop pro, though I'm sure someone else, here, has. *Hopes someone helpful sees this thread*

I

That's a nice sentry box, you've built there, Mr. Phes. *y* I like this one over your previous effort, mainly because its design isn't overly simplistic. With this design you've managed to find the right balance. I will say that I thought your use of the Fabuland roof piece was a rather creative choice and I didn't think it looked bad at all. Captain Roger made a good point in the other sentry thread. Since you don't have a lot of spare time on your hands, it might be beneficial to you to build portions of a larger MOC of some sort. Plus, I'm sure everyone would be excited to see the finished product. ~Just addin' my $.02

Hmm, well if anyone's all ears, then I have a gaming format free for the taking. (Which I borrowed from another game that I no longer play regularly.) To me it's always easier and more logical to turn a "gaming area" into a grid. It's the foundation of many games after all. (literally! ;-)) The rules would be something like this: Each ship sits on a single grid (In this case micro-ships and whatnot are the best solution. If you want to be stubborn you could make GIGANTIC squares. :-P ). The objective of the ships are to either sink each other or board each other. The only way to board another vessel is to grapple it of course, so the ships will only be able to do this when they're on aligned squares and one of the members has released the grapple. The ships can only travel horizontally or vertically, NOT diagonally. There are three "sail tokens"--> "Right", "Left", and "Forward" or "Up". At this point I'm not exactly sure how the players would decide how many tokens they should each have during a "turn". I guess it could be calculated on a ratio of men to sails. Ideally each ship would be sufficiently manned, and every loss after that would slow the production rate of these "sail tokens". Then there are the cannons: Like the above ratio of men to sails, there should also be an established ratio of men to cannons. The less men you have, the longer it takes to load cannons. How long it takes to load a cannon is up to you, I suppose. The next part requires an hourglass or a timer of some sort: During an interval of thirty seconds or so(whatever you prefer) each player decides what "sail tokens" he wants to use, aka what direction the ship will go. These should be in a vertical sequence like so: A B C D If you want to release a grapple or fire your cannons then dot the left or right side of the specific "token piece" for when you want to enable that move. And to clarify, these moves will be based on their sequence. If "up" is first move on the vertical sequence, then that's the first move you make. Four to eight moves (anything within reason) will then be acted out on the grid. Both players should move their ship in sync with the other to avoid confusion. (In other words, both ships move, then stop, then move, etc.) I've never actually tried playing this with LEGO ships, but then again my house isn't spacious enough for such an event. I might have overlooked something, in which case feel free to call me out on it.

ZCerberus, 'tis been a while since I last commented on your ship (I'm beginning to think that I didn't...). I think it's coming along swimmingly so far! The use of the many different slopes creates a beautiful piece of work! The red/black/grey color scheme is a favorite of mine, too. I don't think I ever commented on your "English Trading Post", either, so I'll just say that I think it's awesome! Going off to bed, arrr...

Excellent work, Mr. LNA! If TLC released this I would most certainly buy it! Do you have an estimate, based on bricklink prices, that might give an indication to the theoretical retail value of the "Black Pearl-lite" by chance? I also like how you slanted the ship to the side in your picture. I'll have to borrow this idea in the next ship I build. :)

D'oh, I thought I already replied to this thread... The adventurers desert sub-theme is one of my favorite LEGO themes. 'Tis a shame TLC had to cancel the fun. I never received this set, so it's nice to see that you've reviewed it! The mini-sphinx is my favorite aspect of this set. I also like the tent and the vehicle quite a bit. What I remember enjoying the most about these sets, specifically the Pharaoh's Forbidden Tomb, is the playability factor. Though some older AFOLs might not feel the same way. :-P Nice review Alex. *y*

Hello, Castlegirl! This is the first time I've seen you around these parts, but like the others said, there's no need to apologize for sharing MOCs, arguably the cornerstone of LEGO communities! On to the MOC: I agree with some posters who don't think that this has the hustle and bustle of a medieval marketplace. Maybe all of the greenery is a part of it since most areas with high traffic usually turned into giant dirt roads or became paved with stones. Also, when I think of medieval market places, I imagine there being many tents set up and as a consequence, the surrounding areas becoming very crowded. 'Course I was never around when M.M.P. existed, so those ideas could be pure fantasy! Other than the context of the MOC I like the builds very much! The tree in the courtyard is beautiful! The tudor style houses are good; my favorite is the yellow blacksmith shop. I agree with Sir Dillon that the chimneys would look better in grey. Thanks for showing us your MOC and don't be afraid to share more!

Hmm, you must have incredibly steady hands! Every time I try to photograph a MOC and I budge the camera just a little the whole picture is ruined by bluriness. :-/ Not even a basic photo editor of some sort? For some reason I thought one of these was mandatory on every computer, but I guess not. *wacko* Pity I don't have any suggestions that are cheap or free... maybe someone else does?

Interesting Playmobil/western game, Brickster. I had a rather fun time playing through it. (although I've gotten to the point where the murderer is revealed, but is he supposed to be arrested?) The photography was top notch; did you use a tripod? Do you have any recommendations for photographing MOCs, incorporating the right lighting, and whatnot? I can also see why you went the Playmobil route, since building all of that from scratch would have been quite an undertaking. What theme are you considering covering in your next story?