Kumpelkante

Nice overall appearance. I have two questions: wich part did you use to pose that figs arm and how did you build that sword-holder?

i slightly disagree. I agree in that point, that TLC introduced a great number of different colours over the course of several decades. But i do not consider it a big change as they in most cases just added one or to colours a year to the then established colours, though i have to admit that the introduction of tan in 1996 was noticable but not a really big change as it was only used in western sets back then. This by the way is how new colours are introduced: the appear first in a small number of sets or for special parts like green for baseplates and brown for weapons and later spread into other themes or used as a "regular" colour. The only big change in regard to the colour palette is the update of the greys and brown or the replacemet of old light and dark grey and brown by light and dark bley and reddish brown. In that case i do agree as the differences are very clearly visible and for some builders this might be very vell annoying if bley and grey is mixed up. However regarding the introduction of other colours i consider it a series of several but minor add ons rather than a big bang that changes Lego forever.

Yes it is, it even says so on the shot taken from the catalogues. Maybe some of us (hopefully including me) will get the sets a bit earlier... maybe april/may. you just have to keep an eye open and know your good friend google

Considering the value i get, most lego sets are not that overpriced. Some are pricier than others but thats ok, as Legosets are still affordable items, as long as you dont want to buy multiples of UCS-sets. What imho is overpriced are old sets on bricklink and i do not even talk about that MISB-craziness. So instead i try to find old items that were forgotten on the shelfes or in thrift shops to avoid insane collector-prizes... but thats not an issue, that TLC is responsible for.

Well i do not think that the increase in quality of set-design needs to be a result of the internet and its new possibilities to get older sets. The complexety of sets was very low in the late 90s and early 00s. I like many others thinks that it was part of an attempt to increase the mass appeal and compete with action toys by reducing the complexety and the building time (which still isnt very much today, but thats another topic). I think TLC upped its game because they concentrated more on its core product wich is the bricks and building in general. About the DSS: every single thing has its advantages and disadvantages. as already mentioned, the prints last longer. ...if you treat the peaces well, there are some torsos from the late 80s, where the prints are torn of. With the DSS you can decide yourself, wether you apply the stickers or not. In most cases you can take them off later, but unfortunately i do not know how to "store" them if you want to reapply them again. But as it became commonplace in MOCing to build small details by bricks, stickers or prints are not needed that much anymore... except for figs, which are still printed.

Hmmm, that reminds me: how much 1x1 round plates did you order at BL and how much did they cost? just curious...

In many societies 13 is considered a "cursed" number that brings bad luck (think of friday the 13th). I assume they left it out, just like they have no 13th floor or rooms with number 13 in some hotels.

Hey, this one is a nice entertaining topic. Personally i do not think that one of the two concepts/themes is in itself weird. 1. The Time Cruisers: Yes it is a time travelling theme, and the awfuls lots of mismatching hats that are included are the way children in the 90s would have done it. Well as far as i remember i once build a time travelling thing with a friend that way. (and some of our adventures in far space did look the same when they discovered planets that looked like the 13th century on earth ) So i conclude: TC did not look that weird, when i was a kid, because it looked a bit like that we built ourselve one time or another. The sets were just not good enough to buy one. And i disliked it, because there were no new elements in it (both in terms of parts as well as new ideas like a new faction in one of the pre-existing themes etc). Nowadays i just think, that the sets are poorly executed in term of aesthetics (but i could redo their base as a moc.... and make it a lot weirder while raising the aesthetic values) 2. Ninjago: Does not like weird at all if you look at the idea of the theme. To me it looks like a homage to those campy television shows, comics and cartoons. And those are sometimes really weird, though i have to add i pretty much appreciate that . Its just multiple flavours of awsome. Ninja? Come on, "Ninja" is another word for awsome. Undead contrahents? Undeads are almost always awsome. Big Machines of Doom? Awsome! Dragons? nope, seen too often... just kidding, dragons are awsome. All in all there are a lot of awsome things in it. They are new, or at least not done in this way by TLC or not since a long time. ...and somehow they fit. Its like Power Rangers just in good, because its done by Lego. The only thing they can drop is that spinners-thing, as this seems to raise the price to ridiculous heights. I have to admit if you do not watch shows or read comics, were ninjas, undead, and several other common things of popular culture appear side by side just because they are awsome, Ninjago might seem a bit... strange and weird. But its not made for those people. They have Lego City Oh i forgot one thing: What do you think, if Lego makes a theme based on this movie? showdown of turkish star wars ...and no, it is not a spoof.

yep, thats another good reason for the change to pearl. Heck, i even have (well i threw it away the last time i sorted my collection) one of the first chrome swords from 1995 and the chrome did entirely peel off while i stored my lego in the cellar for about 10 or 12 years. The other advantage of pearl is, that pearl blends in better with the other colours Imho. So for me there are two good reasons, why i prefer pearl gold/silver instead of chrome: 1. it blends in better with the other colours 2. it does not fall of like chrome.

Yes, and thats one of the greatest parts of the next kingdomswave. But does he have a buckethelmet or a visored one? and is it pearlsilver or pearldarkgrey? Well i am not that much into civilian stuff. But i think the two more civilian sets give the kingdoms-line an edge, so that Kingdoms stands a bit more out from the other castle themes. The first wave seemed a bit too basic, with just the most necessary things for a castle theme covered by sets. There already enough said about the windmill/farm-set. So i comment more on that carriage: First of all, the two horses make this whole thing much more believable as already was mentioned. From what i can see, the proportions seem to be much more balanced than the last carriage/chariot we got. This finally might be a castle set/carriage that fits in whith my Castle-display (Castle Elswehr and some armies at the moment) and wont be taken apart immidiately. The pics of that blacksmith-set are pretty small on my notebook, so i wont say anything about that one. For the wave in general: Still needs more cavalry and a jousting set. (just kidding, having one or two of that new dark green barding is fine)

Me, I´d rather have some horses in tan/dark tan or grey first. Though i wouldnt mind gettin goats... could build a pagan sacraficial ritual then

thats why i wish for a jousting-set

As i started to reassemble my castle-armies, i was building some custom (brick-build) weapons. Thus i decided to enter some of my custom figs into the CCCVIII. These entries do not include very much customized parts (one to be precise), but brick built weapons which i am very enthusiastic about. Lets start with the realistic figure. It depicts a norman knight from 1066 as it is shown on the tapestry of bayeux. It has a brick-built lance. The shield is a used dragon knight shield which looks like it was used in many battles and resembles some shields on the tapestrie as well. pic from the tapestrie and source of inspiration Now as there are 2 entries per cat. allowed, i have to entries for the fantasy fig cat. First there is a horned demon: ...and an orkish champion, which has an halberd, with an hammer on the back. Slashing, crushing and piercing that are three ways of killing with one weapon:

Grey? Why Grey? Id rather have horses in tan and/or dark tan... Yes, it was mentioned on page 2, but i am still not convinced. Think about it: The rumors are based on ONE sentence which was posted in a city-thread in october. And as far as I know we did not get further infos or confirmations yet. However i have some ideas what we might get next wave. As far as i remember most castle themes had a siege tower and a jousting set. So this are two more sets... good for army-building and to stock up on brown parts. Maybe the dragon knights will get a boat or ship. I am not sure if TLC will release a big dragon castle as soon as in 2011. Wouldnt mind random buildings either, as this would be a good chance to pile up bley without buying too much multiples) We wont get new impulse-sets (like some poeple wish for), because they are usually released before a new theme is launched. (good figs, but bad choices for impulses however). Regarding new factions: I doubt there will be any new faction, but i think there will be some new figs and characters in Kingdoms 2011. I even stronglier doubt that there will be forestmen or even elves as they do not fit in this theme. (at least elves do not fit in this more realistic theme)

This is Elswehr Castle, which is inspired by Burg Eltz in Rhineland-Palatinate (Germany). The name is a pun played on elsewhere, Burg Eltz and wehr, which is the german term for weir. It turned out that Elswehr Castle resembles Burg Eltz less than i planned. I hope youre still impressed. The Front: The Back: The Courtyard: As there are many scenes spread across the MOC, I uploaded some additional pics, which are not part of the contest. Some Guard gambling: A herbalist (I am proud of the bag, I build for him): I won't comment on this, but feel free to do so yourself: There are more things to explore, so maybe I will post further pics soon. Btw, this is one one photos, that inspired me: Entry-folder when public Additional Folder, when public

Actually the troll still IS banging the gate (he loves to get jiggy with it way too much). However, if youre not the first one who notices it, youre the first one who mentions it. Thanks for the compliments, the gate took a little while to figure it out.

...just use your imagination (in fact each scene just shows the beginning of that assault/siege... consider the siege scene the icing on the cake)

This is my entry for the castle evolution category. A castle, of which the gate is depicted, is conquered by different faction. After each conquest the appearance of the castle/gate changes... Folder When public: http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=452483

We have piece counts for 116 of them. Using that data we have calculated that you own 19141 pieces! +350 from bricklink, +550 more from bricklink i ordered yesterday, +some, friend gave me so its about 20.000

Actually the prisoner is screaming "Viva Piñata!"

A Band of Orks raid a caravan of the emperor and take a lot of golden treasures. Back at their Camp they do not care for the beaty of treasures and works of art. Then they do not bother to buy anything as they usually take what they want. So they decide to melt that precious metal and forge new weapons and helmets from it, to replace the old and rusty ones. Fortunately the took some prisoners this time, so they can test their new tools of war immediately... Folder: http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=451685

For me it is definetely and unchallanged.... wait for it... "CASTLE"! Now it is time to give this theme the sets it deserves. There is enough effort been put into city, when it comes to set-design .

yes, there are shot, showing the outside. click on the bs-link in the post above (i mistook the reply button for the edit-button) anyway heres a deeplink http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/KumpelKante/CCCVIII/SnowWhite/snowwhite1.jpg

Folder and deeplink should work now.