Solitary Dark

Well done to the winners - Brilliant entries and very well deserved.

Real sweet - I'd love to see more shots with some additional minifigures - maybe the new series 6 Mechanic popping by for a Soda? Maybe he likes the waitress? Lovely colour scheme - these places are normally bright red, but your colours are far more interesting to look at.

I really like this - Tempted to make a version for my town - It would make a great addition to a modular - well done.

This is a great fun creation. I particularly like the colour variation in the brickwork and all the Interior details of the garage. Really impressive.

Too many to choose from, so I split 5 points as follows... 2 points to 4 Dix 1 Point each to 10 Priovit70 13 Cecille 14 Jameson42 Great entries folks!

Having seen the long-distance pics of the actual sets I'm pleasantly surprised - remembering that these were designed as toys, not tothe level of detail as MOC's I actually am quite impressed. I'll be having 'Gandalf arrives' as soon as I see it and will then work my way up through the sets as budget allows. My son may well end up getting the Helms deep set for a Birthday present, but he loves the look of it already. As a play theme I think it has huge potential, as these sets have barely scratched the surface of the LOTR world and there are plenty of variations of each character to be made yet. Still want a 'Prancing Pony' set - Maybe my first LOTR MOC once I have Frodo and Aragorn and one of those Horses...

I've added the shot to the first post - You'll see the windows open up to allow gusest to walk out onto the Balcony - Not good for the heating bill in winter, but great in the summer!

The View of the Interior, and how she gets out on the balcony will follow shortly - I did not get the pictures done this morning...

I used to free climb wall's like that all the time - no helmet or harness - although some helmet's have been provided and there are holds on the wall to attach ropes to. Maybe I will do another picture with a 'Safe' climber! Thanks, - see my other reply 'tiger - In my prime I would have climbed a wall like that in less than 3 minutes with no gear - not any more though! Brick on!

B-OV-22D Here is my Entry - I love the Winter Village range and have put my own spin on the series. In North Wales there are many places to go to climb and hike, and lots of friendly hostels to stay while you do so - many of them have their own Climbing walls - So I have built a version of my favourite: Outdoor Sports Centre by The Solitary Dark, on Flickr Guesthouse by The Solitary Dark, on Flickr Climbing Wall by The Solitary Dark, on Flickr Bridge by The Solitary Dark, on Flickr Interior by The Solitary Dark, on Flickr Being a Hostel you will have a bunkbed - and everyone wants the topbunk! You can find such places all around Snowdonia - what better place for the Winter Village - (And it also looks amazing in the Snow) I have not counted my bricks exactly, but have 7 minifigs and around 800 parts, and I may have to make this a permanent display on a beseplate, just so I can finish the river and put a Kayak on it! I hope you enjoy!

You swine, now I have to buy my daughter one of these for her birthday. She is in love with the hedgehog thanks to you and your review. Great review.

Wow that is amazing - I love the trolley car - I was just thinking about building something similar, but had not even considered the sloping road. So many brilliant details.

My daughter nearly picked up a couple of the smaller sets the other day but went for Moshi monsters on the DS instead. I'll be buying one of these at least for me for the colours though. And all those tree parts. Really good review too - Love the last photo.

Another very nice entry, and an original idea. I'd love to see this on a non-white background, just to help some of the details of the roof texture more visible. Well done. Do you have a Flickr, Brickshelf or MOCPages account - I'd love to see more of your work?

Oh wow, I would buy this. My favourite so far.

Love all those different balconies, particularly the Yellow floor. It is ever so slightly Mad.

Professor Tolkien wrote the books and incorporated a huge number of historical myths and legends into the backstories of Middle-earth - the reason it's called Middle-earth is that it's meant to be Earth in the distant past - Professor Tolkien was writing an Historical Novel. Most of the languages adopt old languagues syntax and words as well (i'm not an expert in LOTR, but I'm versed in this much) Putting this theme in Historical is entirely appropriate - If you've not read the books I, and i'm sure many others on here, would recommend it.

Well for very early prelims these are exactly what I was expecting - Except Helm's deep looks a bit more impressive in terms of scale than I thought it would be. (I'm liking the curved wall) This is the first theme for a while where I already want a few of the sets, mainly so I can get a whole world going. POTC and POP didnt do anything for me - But with all the castle pieces I already have I can build huge scenes for this. Now I'll have to build a Prancing Ponty for myself, and a Shire ETC..... But seriously there does seem to be a bias towards the first 2 books/films (Shelob excepted) in these sets meaning there are plenty of other scenes to plunder for later years. Given the release schedule of the Hobbit movies I fully expect this theme to have a good 3 years - It's up to us to help it last longer if we can, but realisticaly without further films/books that will be hard. (Unless PJ makes a movie of Simarillion or Children of Hurin (I think that's correct)) Oh and this is the first theme that non-lego people at my work have said they will be buying - LOTR has a big following!

I joined after after reading about Lego Universe mode for LDD. (My son has High Functioning Autism, and would live on LDD if he could, and was constantly complaining about the brick selection not being sufficient for his needs) After coming back a few times to look at various other topics I decided I'd better become a member. Then I started entering competitions and now I log in at least twice a day, once at about 6.30 am and then again in the evening when everything is done for the day. Like many other folk have said it's how I guarantee my daily fix of (one of) my hobbies. Thanks to all the admins for keeping it going, and everyone who posts far more frequently than I to give me something to read every day!

I've just been out to the shops and think the most disturbing thing about the line is the price! 3183 Cool Convertible was £15 in Tesco - The same price as 2508 Blacksmith shop from the Ninjago line. I had to talk my daughter down from getting it then and there. Sorry to go off topic but I was amazed at the price. But my 6 year old said she would choose this set over 3 zoobles, which would cost the same price. Having said that we saw at least 3 3061 Cafe's in trolley's @£30 each all with happy children clinging to them, all girls. So regardless of the debate it looks like its a success.

Again so hard, could easily have split more than 3 points but i'm giving them to the following.. 1 to 5 Darkblane 1 to 20 Oky 1 to 10 EI H Each of these caught my eye, but I could have wasily picked at least 5 others. Well done everyone!

Oh man I think this was the hardest contest ever to vote on in terms of quality of entry - some serious game was played here and every builder can be very proud of what they entered, but I finally nailed my top 3. 1 point to 4 - TooMuchCaffeine - Loved the bank design, the jack in the box and the scale of the city - really reminded me of the 1989 movie. 1 point to 6 Lego-maniac - My favourite batman movie - I loved the Shreck Cat on the building top and how much was in such a small space. 1 point to 11 Skyrtsson - Love the perspective and the angle used here Well done everyone again.

I thought this was a fascinating discussion discussion so I showed my kids the set - My son (8) and Daughter (6) are both regular Lego builders, but my son has always been more 'Obsessed'. When I showed them all of the 2012 sets and asked them which set they would most like, my son picked the Bandit hideout from the new Police line because of the Bear, the new 'Brick profile brick and the because he thought the new cabin looked like a fun build. My daughter picked the Heartlake vet, because she liked the new Hedgehog, the Pony stable and beacause she wanted to look after the animals. Then they asked if they could have a baseplate and set up the two buildings on the same street and play together. They think the bandits will steal the hedgehog and the police will have to find him - they did not care that the friends figures were different. Theyre the target audience - Then my son said he wanted the vets and the cafe in his city. As usual it's only adults who think this stuff is important!

Real life is going to stop me building my idea for the 32x32 contest (But I may get an 8x8 done) - However I had managed to finish 1 part of my idea already. Penguin + Duck by The Solitary Dark, on Flickr 2 Ducks by The Solitary Dark, on Flickr Side duck by The Solitary Dark, on Flickr The wing opens to let the Penguin board and the rockets can be flicked out by pressing the technic lever on the top. This is already getting played with a lot by a small boy in my house who has asked for all the new Batman sets for Christmas and I really hope we get to see similar vehicles in the official lines for all the villians.

Oh man that's a relief - I have a half finished entry and no time - Thanks guys!