Brainbox

It's up. Head over there to be chilled... :skull: Oh, apologies in advance for when you find out what your cameo entails. Lucky... I'll have to send them first! Oh, and don't edit #5 it's finished. I don't want to have to go through all that again, like I did when you sent back the finished #4. "Garanga kabuko otulo. Nik nik tarassa!" Great as new baddies are, they can't beat the Hood for sheer determination and general rubbsh-ness. The harder he tries, the more he fails. "Kyrano! Kyrano!" Trapped in the Sky is great though. I do like how the guest cast from that cropped up in the other Fireflash episodes though, as an added bit of continuity. The one you need to watch is The Duchess Assignment, solely because the voice of the Duchess of Royston is provided by Ray Barrett (the Hood). Apparantly, the voice had the rest of the cast in hysterics. Understandably. Yeah? Well... I'm trying harder than you! I would have done more, but it won't play on my laptop so I'm having to share the house computer. Why is it there's no-one on when you're busy, then as soon as I find time someone else mysteriously needs to use it... Have you come across Mad Hatter's steamboat yet? Ivy's attack is quite neat as well. Like you said, the Killer Moth cutscenes are great, as was capes.com. In fact, that whole scene with Alfred and the bombs was great. There;s also the cutscene near the end of Chapter 1 when Bats is working out what all the riddles mean, and Alfred is dusting the Batcomputer in the background. Man-Bat does look great, and I do love the propellor-hat. We so need TLG to make one of those. Well maybe it is Death in the City. I'm reading them as single issues, so I'm not sure where one collection ends and the other one begins. You didn't mention it, no, but I sense you're just rubbing it in. Oh, and you might read more than me, but I shall always be the bigger geek! Even if the front one does wobble a little as it rolls. Ah well... To be honest, I'm not surprised it broke. Seriously, it's older than me. I saw that the other day, forgot to mention it. I like it, it looks good. I think it would look better with a moustache, but for a purist choice of head it's good. Really? I hadn't noticed...

Velcome friends. I am ze Count von Brainbox, and zis is the spooktacular special edition Halloween MOC Goody-Bag. Muahahahaha! Ze Halloveen season is upon us friends, and vhat better vay to celebrate than viz a cacophany of blood-curdling creations, to chill you to your very bones. Are you sitting comfortably? Or vould you like a bite to eat first? Don't vorry, zat is just my little joke. Now... ve begin. The creature from the depths Ah yes, a dear friend of mine. Legend says zat many years ago, an explorer charting the depths of the ocean drowned after his colleague, jealous of the diver's beautiful vife, cut his air line. Unable to return to ze surface, ze diver now lurks on the ocean bed, varning avay anyone foolish enough to do as he did... Gallery Are you scared yet? Hahahahaha! The ghost captain Many centuries ago, a pirate captain zailed his crew into a mysterious mist. When ze ship returned, ze crew vere nowhere to be seen. Until night zat is! Zen, ze fun really starts, as ze deadly crew resigned to a life in death sail ze seven seas, stalking ze ships that dare to travel... Gallery No, don't fly zere you stupid-- oh, not again you foolish creature! So sorry, my pet Batbrick has vunce again managed to spill my bloodbanks everyvere. How many times do I have to tell him? Now look vhat has happened: He's spilled my precious blood all over ze photographs. Igor! Igor! Fetch the Franken-stain, and clean up all zis blood. I svear, you just can't get ze staff... Ze Wizard Zere are many users of dark magic in ze world, none more terrifying zan ze one known only as Ze Wizard... Igor! I thought I told you to clean up zis blood. Gallery The wolfman Hahaha, my favourite type of victim... ze unsuspecting one! I mean, she brought it on herself really, vandering through zat dark forest all on her own. Little does she know zat the wolfman stalks her through ze trees, vaiting for ze chance to strike. Ah! Ah! Igor, turn off ze lights, turn off ze lights. They burn! Ah, zat's better, thank you Igor. Batbrick you stupid creature, I told you not to touch the lights! Gallery Necklace Going out to a party? Got nobody to go viz? Vell you need the skeleton necklace! Igor! Igor! Someone's stolen my necklace! Quick, get him! Surprise Hmm... it vould appear zat in ze myriad of possibilites, alternative versions of my handsome self and zat fool Batbrick exist, where ve are nothing more zan... plastic figures? Ugh... But it looks as though zat idiot Batbrick is getting his just desserts, viz a big shock. Muahahahaha! Vell, zat's all for now. I suggest you all leave as quickly as possible. My bloodbanks are running low and anyone left behind vill be in for a nasty surprise. Happy Halloween! :skull:

Liking the new pictures. The bike thing really is a bit rubbish, but I suppose it's a cheap way to get a monster and a miner. The other sets are a mixxed bag. I still love the Thunder Drill, and the small drilling thing is pretty neat. The bike, like I said, is a cheap parts pack and the 'digging arms' vehicle is also quite cool. Not as fussed on the platform or the mech, although I will admit that the mech has grown on me since we first saw pictures. There are some interesting new minifig faces in there though...

Nice shiny new pics. It's great to see these sets in more detail. All of the sets are really good, I have to admit. I'll probably only get the smaller sets, but I still love the larger ones, the outpost and the ship. The minifigs are fantastic. All the torsos appear to be new (might be mistaken though), and all the chosen heads fit quite nicely. Those 'ragged trousers' legs on the castaway are really something as well. I think I shall end up buying more of these sets than I planned...

Oh, I was. As a kid I always loved tractors, so this is really something great. The chance to own an official minifig-scale tractor. Plus it's a great design, and it's classic tractor red. And the minifig in the new dungarees? Wonderful... I might get the horsebox set as well. I have a friend who's into horserididng, so I doubt she'll let me pass up on this set. The minifig pack is quite neat, there are some nice bits and pieces in there. Might get the digger and the dumper truck as well, I've always liked building machinery as well. Heck, I just like heavy machinery.

Love the Shanghai Chase set. The five figs are all great, and the two cars are wonderful. Love the new faces for the gangsters, and really the set benefits from being so simple. The Flying Wing on the other hand... honestly, I don't think I'm all that fussed. I don't know, there's just something about it that just puts me off, but I don't know what. The German mechanic looks great though, neat torso.

But... I want my Penny Plunderer. I'm not sure a sonic cannon is the best weapon for Man-Bat, it'd probably hurt his ears. Krypto the Superdog. And I assume you mean his hoverboard-thing?

And we get all the stupid key signatures as well. I play the Eb horn, and I think I've only ever played one piece of group music with a half-decent key signature. Normally it's in the region of a million flats, or a thousand sharps... It's funny... I arrived at this thread expecting friendly chit-chat about the trivialities of day-to-day life (yes, I really do talk like that), and what do I get instead? Two guys pouring their hearts out to each other. Not that I can talk, as I'm about to join in. I'm currently wishing fervently that Friday would hurry up. Why? Becasue I've got another panto rehersal. Aside from really enjoying them this time around, my current love interest will be there, and I've promised myself I'll ask her out. Watch now, I'll bottle it... Love. Who'd bother with it?

I've already read this as well. In fact, I sort of own it. I have a book that looks at the history of Batman, and there are a few comics printed in it. This is one of them. Or rather, a new version of this with greyscale shading rather than stark black and white. It's a good read, and like you BB2, I love the way Two-Face has been done here. Plus it's BTAS style, which is always great. "With the rest of the crazy people."

Sounds good. I have something much more sinister in mind. Halloween MOC Goody-Bag anyone? Watched Terror In the Sky the other day, then Almost Got 'Im and Birds of a Feather yesterday. Terror in the Sky (I almost abbreviated it, but then realised what it would spell...) was good. Still prefer Kirk as Man-Bat, but hey-ho. The Batcycle chase was very good though, really quite cool. AGI was really good, I loved it. Great concept and well executed, with just the right amount of humour thrown in. I notice also that the Giant Penny Escape was more plausable this time (as compared to the reverse polarity magnet from the original comic). And of course, God is in the detail: Joker cheating, Two-Face's double references, etc. BOAF was also quite good. Can't help but feel there was supposed to be a moral though... Didn't manage to watch any today, as I started on my TF G1 DVDs instead. No doubt about it, Peter Cullen is Prime. Harley sounds better. Yeah, fine. I've sent the final completed version of #5 out, and I'll try and get the drafts of #8 and #9 out later this week. You're right, TB5 really is a bit rubbish. It didn't have any defences against asteroids and such either. Well, no, that's not true, it had a magnetic repellant ring in the outer tube, but that's it. Which episode are you up to so far? No, he liked Alan. He just found the space stories a bit boring, and really didn't like John. Virgil's your favourite? I always prefered Scott... Yeah? Well... I'm funnier than you! I'm not just singling out comedy or even things with mild humour. There's just a wealth of great TV that's come from Britain, from sci-fi to cop drama and even more in-between. We're lucky to have lots of channels that show these great shows all the time. Oh, sorry, I got a bit British again. We sometimes call it a coin toss over here. Sorry, I keep forgetting you're not up on your British slang. I've done about 60% of the game I think. I'm going back over the levels in Free Play at the moment. I have to say, all the levels were really enjoyable to play. The vehicle levels in past Lego games have felt a bit static almost, but the five here have all been great fun. Maybe it's a psychological thing, getting to drive the Batmobile and all... All the character designs are great as well. As most of the characters have their own unique move, the designers were really able to go to town and personalise each character. Bane with his Knightfall attack, Joker's joy buzzer, Harley's hammer, etc. You know how Nightwing can use Robin's suits, and Batgirl can use Batman's? Well, when you buy her, take a look at Batgirl in the demolition suit... The fact that each chapter feels so different as well is a good thing. You feel like you're playing a different game almost, what with Riddler out to steal gold, Penguin out to take over the city, and Joker out to cause as much havoc as he can. Favourite character design though? Got to be Clayface. Um... if Detective is the first collection (which I think it is) then yes, both those stories are in. Sounds like a good haul you'll be getting there. See, I won't get any. My family won't know which ones to buy me, and I bet they won't ask... You know what? I know exactly what you mean. I don't see it like you do, trying to keep my childhood alive, as I don't think of it as dying. Heck, I'm officially an adult now (scary isn't it?) but still feel as young as ever. You can have some of ours. We've got so many cheap shops over here and they're all full of the same crap. Oh, I did. Heh, I'll keep you updated. I wouldn't bet on it! I mean, the fans have already decided mine is the better option... Ooh, nice deal. I'm a sucker for bargains as well, but I think that's just because I'm British. Hey, at least you find time to reply. I had another busy week again last week. What with college during the day, then panto rehersals and helping out at college events I'm running out of time. But I'm on half-term this week, so found time to reply yesterday. As soon as I sat down to trawl the boards, out freezer decided to break (seriously, smoke was pouring out the back of it) and tripped the circuit breaker. It took ages to get it to stay on properly, and my laptop didn't have enough battery life to sustain a proper session. What's worse is that we haven't bought a new one yet...

Last night I took part in a Lancashire night as part of the youth theatre group I'm part of. There were a variety of acts all revolving around Lancashire, my home county. After we'd done our bit, most of our cast hung around backstage messing around, but I watched the rest of the night with one of the other cast members. I think... had either of us watched it on our own it would have been mildly amusing. But because we watched it together it was one of the funniest things I've ever seen. She kept laughing, which then made me laugh. We both perfected the art of subtle, silent laughter.

They're growing on me, and I don't think they're anywhere near as bad as a lot of people think. The bike thing does leave a little to be desired, but the other sets all have their merits. The mech looks less odd in stance than in the previous pictures we've seen. The small vehicle looks quite nice, but I'm not sure about the bucket it's pulling behind. If it goes over a particularly big rock, it'll leave the contents of the skip behind, surely. The mid-sized vehicle, with the two claw arms looks pretty cool as well and the command vehicle looks alright. I was right, you know, that is a rock catapult. The Thunder Drill though is great, easily my favourite. The minifigs look pretty neat as well, and I rather like the monsters as well, even if they do look more impish than threatening. I also like how they come in different colours, and how those colours match the colours of the crystals in the sets.

Indeed... Killer Moth, for example. We need him as a fig, but an awful lot of people may not know who he is (although that number might have decreased with the game). Maybe we could get the Penny Plunderer as well.

The character often has buck-teeth. It's a part of his possible macrocephaly.

Whereas we all know that they all come alive and have little parties at night when we go to bed... This is a really neat piece of art though. Imaginative and informative. I have a mate who wants to be a doctor. I might finally have something I can use to deflate his ego.

And I've been away again. This time it was rehersals for the panto and something else (more on that later). As for Halloween creations, I think I might see if I can knock something up. Not sure what though... The sharks do look pretty neat, and I love the buoy. I can see why the boat might need MODing a little bit though, just to tidy it up a bit if nothing else. And of course, the sharks have lasers! I'll agree there. Some of the stuff I've seen on there is great. You want to write comics, eh? Funnily enough, I'd quite like to do that as a sort of aside. Actually, I'd be quite happy to write professionally sort of freelance, rather than as a proper career. I think the Mad Hatter needs some more focus though. Something really good. Am I? Funnily enough, Harley McCormack has a bit of a ring to it. Exactly what I was planning to do. So it'll be #8 and #9 next. Um... Oh, you've opened up a can of worms now... All the Thunderbird craft have their merits. Well... except maybe TB5, that was a bit rubbish. But TB1 is ridiculously fast, and look pretty neat. Plus it has that pivoting chair and the automatic camera detector. TB2 is just cool by definition. TB3 looks great (I mean, whoever heard of a red space rocket?), and TB4 sort of has the novelty factor of being so much smaller than the others. Oh, and then there's TB6 but that's even more rubbish than TB5. I was always a particular fan of the Pod vehicles as well. Maybe because there was such a wide range, there was always something new to look out for. That reminds me, I don't know if you've seen them, because I think they were before your time, but: my Lego Thunderbirds (I was going to put Lego TB, but then thought better of it ). I'm particularly pleased with the micro Mole. I was never too fussed on the space ones either, and neither was Gerry Anderson, so he tried to limit the number they did. He didn't like John either, so that's why he only participates on one rescue. Sun Probe however is worth watching just for Brains in that ridiculous cold weather hat. See, now we've got something else to talk about, episode by episode. It's not bad. I still prefer the original for it's sheer coolness and cult-ishness (I have a thing for cult TV, especially if it's British), but the new one is a good watch. There's a bit more action than in the old one, and the (sort of) redesigns are all very cool. Fair enough. The Hero chapters are great. The in-game cinematics have a good dose of humour, but it all feels very Batman. Proper Batman. The overarching story is good, and the vehicle levels (especially the Batboat one) are all great fun. The boss fight against Killer Moth is funny too, they've managed to capture the sheer patheticness of the character. I've not played all the villain chapters yet, but Clayface plays really well. His arms actually change shape as he punches, and his special attack is to throw a 1x1 of clay. Oh, and guess what Two-Face's special 'attack' is? Yep, he tosses his coin! Seriously, you need to get the game, it's wonderful. Easily the best of the Lego games. Monster Men, yes. Detective, yes, but in single issue form. The others, no. Good luck in gettting them though, I probably won't get any comics for Christmas so hopefully you'll get enough for both of us. Nah, it's Bat-tastic! Anyway, two pieces of news. You scored a great deal with your TB boxset. Well yesterday I went into town and found the contents of the Transformers G1 boxset (the original cartoons) in single DVD form. It was one of those bargain shops, and I get the impression they're selling the bits of a few boxsets separately. So, after about 10 minutes of finding all the DVDs on the shelf I picked them up. No, what did I pay? They had them at £2.99 each, or two for £5. There were 13 discs, which came to a total price of £32.99. This is about a third of the normal price of the boxset as a boxset, so I think I got an awesome deal. Now to find time to watch them all... Now, the other news. There's no real reason for telling you this, I just want to share it. I think I might have mentioned that I'm in a youth theatre group that specialises in pantomime, in a staff/crew role. Anyway, the church hall we've performed the last three in was renovated recently... and they knocked down our stage. So we moved our performance to a proper theatre, but kept the name of the church for the group. Anyway, last night was the grand opening of the new hall, with a theme of Lancashire (my home county). They asked us to perform something about Lancashire. We all thought it would be a bit boring, but we knew we had to do it, so we made something up. There were three crew (out of three, although one of them) and seven of the cast (probably about half) that got involved. We performed our bit, and it didn't go swimmingly, but never mind. Then we all sort of hid backstage for a bit, then it got a bit weird back there, so myself and one of the female cast members (yes, that's important) went out front to watch the proceedings. It was one of those things that if either of us had watched it one our own it wouldn't have been anywhere near as funny as we both found it. She kept laughing, which was making me laugh, and we were both there at the back perfecting silent laughter, turning around so as not to be seen. Anyway, it turned out to be one of the best nights out I've had in a long time. And why does this matter? Because I surprised myself by getting on so well with a cast member I've met, like, three times before. And we got one really well. So, you know, watch this space... Oh, one more thing. Do you ever get that feeling you've seen something before? I do. Hang on... it's here as well.

I'm back. First of all I was quite busy, then I got the Batman game (more on that later) and when I finally found time the other day to browse the boards my Internet was really slow, and I got a bit bored with it and gave up. Of course. I'm going to order the Bat-sets this month as well. Even though most of my birthday money will go on a camera, I think I can find money for the Bat-sets now. As for the Market, I will agree it's a must-buy, and it really is superb in every way. It's the set I've been waiting for for 14 years, even though I didn't know. Yeah, I noticed that. Do we know who the artist is? I actually meant the one with the camera, but I think your suggestion would look better. I think it's partly because everyone wants to write a Joker story. He's such an iconic character, not just in the comics industry, but generally. He's one of the best and most well-known baddies ever. And as a result, everyone who writes for DC (or comics in general) wants to have a go at a Joker story. I mean, if I wrote for DC, I'd want to do one. However, I do agree that some villains need a little more screentime occasionally. Especially as the only decent Freeze stories are the ones that are adapted from BTAS in some way or another. ... no, I don't think so. Unfortunately. And just as subtle as me. Thanks for getting them back to me. I don't think you've quite understood the point with Harvey's speech, some quick dialogue can go in to fix that. And yes, Harvey was named so for you. Issue-wise, #1-4 are public, #5-7 are ready to be turned into comic format, #8 is ready to be edited and #9 is handwritten. I've also got a few random scenes written (including the ends of Vol.1 and Vol.2), and a couple of the origins shorts at various stages of completion. That's pretty much a constant all the way through the series, save a few odd episodes. They don't really do much until near the end. I think what I most loved about it was all the technology. I've always had an interest in engineering and technology (my parents thought I'd want to be an engineer at one point, but no), so seeing all this future-tech was always great. I rather like the Firefly, shame it didn't appear more than it did. It's funny, I've got a bit of an aversion to fire, but I always quite liked the Firefly. Captain Scarlet I think I liked because it was different, a bit more adult. At the time I first watched it, that was something. Have you seen the new Captain Scarlet series, the CGI one? Nope, it was always left ambiguous. Captain Scarlet had SIG and SIR (Spectrum Is Green and Spectrum Is Red respectively), but FAB was never explained. The suggestion is it was a code sign taken from a contraction of 'fabulous', meant to mean (as it does) everything's okay. I was sat there thinking "why does he owe money to my friend?" and then I realised you meant your sister. Not really sure why I was thinking that... As I said earlier though, I got it the other day. It really is great. I'm not sure if you've got it yet, so I won't spoil it, but we'll talk about it when you do.

Finally bought the game on Saturday, and my do I love it! I honestly think it's miles better than the previous three games, and I loved them too. Perhaps it's because I'm a Batman fan, and therefore have an obvious bias, but it really is a wonderful play. There are so many great touches, ranging from the comedic to the in-jokey. I've done about 20-odd percent so far, and I'm up to the last level of the Joker chapter. The character designs are great, especially Killer Moth. They really have made him just as pathetic as the real thing. Mad Hatter looks wonderful too. The other thing I've really enjoyed are the vehicle levels. They're just so much fun! Ha... I only bought it on Saturday and I've nearly finished it.

And even the Bat-buggy, in my opinion, has potential for MODing, so all good. I just need to get them now... Hmm... I might see what I can come up with for the next goody-bag. Please yes. I would love that. SW has shown us that BPs can be done with a license theme, so give us four or five generic henchmen minifigs, maybe three or four different BPs. They don't even necessarily need to be 'Riddler pack', 'Joker pack', etc. They could just be 'mixed pack 1', 'mixed pack 2' and so on.

Thing is, I'm sure I'll be able to find £85, especially after Christmas. If my mum lets me buy it that is. However, it is without doubt one of the best designed sets I've ever seen, so many neat little details, that TLG would so often simply overlook. Plus there's all the figures. Two female figs, and new faces for the blacksmith and old guy. Mmm... How... cool... is... that... pic? You know what else would be nice? A mock-up of the Killing Joke cover in Lego form as a t-shirt. I'm not sure I agree with that, he's still a great character, he just pops up everywhere. It's kind of nice to see he isn't the big baddie of RIP at least, and he seems to play a slightly different role here than we all thought he would. I do tend to like the 'Batman/Joker different and the same' angle though, like in Killing Joke. Case in point the "I think we're going to do this forever" line from TDK. Joker is the complete antithesis to Batman, but without each other they can't exist. Batman relies on Joker to provide him with crime to stop, Joker relies on Batman to stop him without killing him. Without Batman, the Joker may as well not exist. Plus they're so close in mental states as well. If Joker manages to tip Batman, he'll fall completely and almost become the Joker, his worst enemy. Joker represents everything that Batman could be but isn't. What's in the run? I'll be able to tell you if I've read any of it then. Indeed. I was hoping to resist the temptation to look, but I accidentally came across it a short while ago. Never mind, I love it. Sent. And what's even worse is that I agree with your new comments for #4 but it's too late to do anything about it... It really is great, isn't it? I honestly never left Thunderbirds behind. There was a new showing of Thunderbirds, Stingray and Captain Scarlet a good few years ago, and I watched them all for the first time. My God, I love them. Thunderbirds is great fun, as is Captain Scarlet. Sadly, I don't have them on DVD, but it'd be something I'd definitely look into. Of course, this gives us something else to discuss as you wade through them. F.A.B.

Only a few more days, it's out here this Friday. I'm hearing generally good reviews, save for the lack of Ventriloquist/Scarface et al. To be honest though, if it's like the previous games then I'll love it. More so probably, as it's Batman, a bigger passion of mine than either SW or Indy.

Hey, better late than never. Drunk! No, I got 4 t-shirts (TDK Joker, Lego Indy, two SW), a jumper, Heroes Season 2, a pen, a box of chocolates, a watch and two hugs (yes, they count). My parents are also paying for my driving lessons, hence the relative lack of presents. I also got some money that I think I might use to buy a digicam.

10 Doctors over 45 years isn't bad to be honest. And yes, the characters and enemies change, but that keeps it fresh. More continuity? How about the in-depth stuff I could wax lyrical on for hours?

It's true...

That Orc queen/witch is a sweet figure, not least because of the neat head and green lightning staff. It's funny, it's also one of the few female minifigs I don't fancy. The Crownie Queen is also a very nice figure. I assume the crown pegs into holes in the back of the hairpiece. Hopefully they won't be too noticeable when the crown isn't in, but it's still a very cool idea. It's a bit of a shame there're no elves next year, but if that means more focus on the trolls/orcs and dwarves, then fine.