KotZ

And here is Turn 11! We're over halfway there! And if anyone still wants to join in, let me know. I've added a band (not sure why two of them are glowing...) and begun a building on the other side of the street.

Fantastic job! The siege towers are phenomenal.

Great work! I love how different the spaceships all are.

Turn 10 has been completed by CAPonBOBS! He has added a roof to the stage and a small stand behind.

Congrats, CAP, well deserved!

Everyone has been doing fantastic. Turn 09 has been completed by NOD! He has added more minifigures and has continued work on the back house.

Turn 07 has been completed by CAPonBOBS! - added some more building walls, finished Building 1's roof work facade, details to the stage. Turn 08 has been completed by KotZ - Finished off the back walls of the first two buildings.

God I would love that.

Just move them?

When you said "Fruit-wine" I figured you meant sangria, but this whole new (to me) idea of fruit wine seems cool.

Turn 06 has been completed by NOD! He has added minifigures, another house, and begun a roof for the yellow building.

After some technical difficulties on my end, Turn 5 has been completed y @Professor Thaum!

So not exactly bought today, but yesterday I arrived home after two months of travel and started building my Medieval Blacksmith, Amelia Earhart set, and the Carrot House thing that have been sitting in my apartment for like two or three weeks. AND the Fabuland figures I ordered at the beginning of the pandemic finally arrived while I was gone. So I'm quite over the moon.

Here's my thoughts on the above regarding the LEGO representation: who cares (in regards to LEGO)? Now before people slam me for saying that, let me explain. They're LEGO minifigures. They can be whoever/whatever you want them to be. I know I probably come from a place of privilege (and dear god do I hate that word/term, because depending on the environment, culture, etc., people can be privileged in different ways), but until flesh-toned minifigures arrived in licensed sets, basically me and all of my friends only aw minifigures as the solitary color they were. Now did some yellow-figures definitely look stereotyped (the Native American faces come to mind here)? Yes. Did they look horrible on the minifigures? Depends on the context or figbarfing you would do. I personally had quite a few friends of different skin colors (I'm white) and we all played with LEGO and Playmobil. Playmobil was a little more racially based due to them having figures that were skin-toned. For LEGO, it was a free-for-all. We would take any character head/body and make sigfigs or other people. Minifigs were just minifigs. There wasn't any color. I distinctly remember a black friend of mine using an Episode II Obi-Wan head for his sigfig. Keep in mind, that figure is based off of Ewan McGregor from a specific movie. And my friend was neither white nor did he have a beard. But we all went with it as that was the guy who was him. Now this is the part where I'm going to try to have my cake and eat it too, tying back to my original statement: as much as I love all the different minifigures we've gotten over the years, be they fleshtoned or yellow, be they having hearing aids or different hair, all the prints we have, the representation angle has gone too far because everything is so much more detailed now nobody can be happy. While yes, I am happy licensed minifgs get flesh colors, I almost feel annoyed with it, as now people start saying yellow=white and the other colors are minorities (minorities in the American perspective), so then people feel like they have to pick that specific minfigure part/color to represent them or people in their worlds. And then you get to the problem of having (due to just the cost of making these parts) not enough representation. For example, "This person's hair isn't right." or "this head doesn't look like me down to the stubble o scar." Of course those are extreme examples, but I've definitely felt it myself. I mean, I'd love to see a minifigure who kinda has the face look of me and the hair color and everything else. But I know it's not realistic. And this is only on the race side. Touching on Aanchir's post, my original comment still stands: who cares (in regards to LEGO)? This goes back to my idea that representation in LEGO sets should be up to the consumer. I mean I loved Bionicle, and I loved Adventurers, but who's to say Johnny Thunder isn't gay? Who's to say Agent Bolt isn't Trans? And so on and so on. Partially why I hate comics on LEGO (although I will fight you on Bionicle). So I guess my thesis is this: The more LEGO has diversified, the more it has become susceptible to accusations of being not inclusive. Because your "Stereotypical" audience is annoyed that thy don't have people look like them, the people you're trying to expand to complain you have minifigs that don't look like them, etc. I will say LEGO has done better (but can still do better) on feminine looking faces. I need more of those in my town, at least if we're staying away from the classic smiley.

"While not my original terms, I believe this is something that works for us."

Fantastic work!

Perrault drummed his fingers on the table as he thought about what was offered. While he had not gotten everything he wanted--he knew some of his asks would never pass--there was good progress, in his opinion at least. "We can agree to the singular trading post at the crossroads. While it is not our ideal scenario, we can make that work. But let us be clear: if there is any sort of funny business regarding the policing of the roads and such, we will blame the Atwi and we will sanction them and demand payment in full of lost goods. I venture to guess everyone else would do the same if such a thing happened to them." Robert looked at the map again. He made quite a show of taking his fingers (or claws, whatever minifigures have) and measuring out the map and river around Silitholina. If one has to sit through this, why not make it entertaining. He suddenly looked up at Montoya. "The town seems to be quite split equally. We can agree to the terms of our two sides holding a half." (OOC, Why not just make the town into two towns, at least on spreadsheets, papers, etc.? North Silitholina and South Silitholina. Think East/WestBerlin from post WWII)

"May I counter with no fortifications being built, but trade stations are allowed? Trade is vital for Oleon, as i is for every nation. I also believe that getting this debacle behind us involves everyone willing to begin to trade with each other, if they decide to. We are willing to work with the Atwi in trade." He then peered at the second map. "No, I'm sorry, but part of this is unacceptable. We are willing to give up Silthonia or Tarlor, but not both. Too much blood has been spilled taking them. I understand this might upset people, but that is how we feel. In addition, we are worried that us having only a sliver of land between two possibly hostile forces does us nor the citizens any good. As for Oldis' request about the border moving south, we are willing to accept those terms if we keep control of either Siltonia or Tarlor. Duc Perrault bowed his head, with genuine thanks. "That of course is agreeable to us. For your two ships mentioned, yes, we will release them. For those you are unaware of, I agree with those as well. If you don't mind, send me the names of any when you do find them, and I will make sure myself that your ships are sailing the open waters once again." "While I wish I could give you an answer you would find ore satisfying, monsieur, I sadly cannot. All I can say is that I personally do not know who owns said ship. Oleon the state does not oppose international trade, but as this is not the proper place for such a deal, we encourage the previous owner to contact whoever owns the vessel and negotiate those terms. I'm sorry this is an answer you may not like, but it is all I can say at this time." Robert took a deep breath and grit his teeth. What kind of request was this? Was this meeting a shakedown of Oleon or a way to negotiate peace. He looked at the map of the island as well as at his papers he brought with him. He then leveled his gaze with Montoya. "This demand hardly relates to Corrington's propertied reason for entering the war, which by all accounts was to defend Terraversa,. We will not seize WTC property licensed during the occupation of Fatu Hiva, and the WTC's ships are welcome to visit our ports, as are any other vessels. We would be happy to discuss a trade agreement or sorts, but we certainly don't think this should jeopardize the ongoing peace and cause more young men to march to their deaths." "Now you must be toying," Perrault responded, his voice a little harder than he had wanted. Such a thing is completely unacceptable. The people would not allow it. Foreign traders getting better deals than their own countrymen? Are you aiming to divide Oleon up to swoop in and take the remains? I hope you are not, and I don't believe you are, but it begs the question, sir." Perrault paused, remembering why he was here, peace, not war. "May I counter with some things we may find agreeable? Perhaps Terraversa remain tax free like you are suggesting but other places not. Should young men die, should families remain torn from their homes, should mothers lay awake praying for the safe return of their sons just to enrichen greedy merchants? Never!.. For the sake of the argument, say we were to agree to those terms, if we were to agree here today in this moment, these seem like difficult policies for us to enforce across the realm, determining when a ship put in due to weather, vs a planned stop etc. etc. Though, Oleon was until just this moment unaware that Corrington's warlike behavior was financially motivated, perhaps this would help." Perrault looked down at some of his papers. "Give me a moment." He quickly scanned the document. He then waived over one of his aides and pointed at various parts on it. The man nodded, seemingly agreeing with Perrault. The Duc then looked back up from his papers. "A quick review of tax records has turned up that Oleon has previously and certainly by honest mistake overcharged some Corrington and WTC ships in our port. We happen to have at our disposal here on the island, DBs to rectify the honest mistakes of the past. We will deliver a chest with DBs to compensate Corrington for our mistake and for them to divide as they see fit between the various overtaxed entities. This is of course, if all other matters are peacefully resolved."

Perrault thought it over. "These terms are good. I think these are agreeable. But, I would like to add some points: "Do these sound reasonable to everyone?"

"Please, nobody wants more fighting, Oldis. And I am not wanting to inject Mardierians from across the world here. Just the ones that were displaced on the island by this specific event. The past war is the past war. IT's over and the dead have been buried. We have this war we are dealing with, and the recent dead we need to bury, soldiers and civilians."

I am always amazed at how fast you turn out models, both digital and physical, and they are always top notch.

Picked up 8616 Vorzakh, 70410 Soldiers Outpost, 6259 Broadside's Brig, and some parts for my castle today.

Funny, I saw one in a store today on sale. I was surprised it was going for only like $100 USD.

Picked up 70410 Soldiers Outpost and 6259 Broadside's Brig today. Yay bluecoats!

"Absolutely the displaced citizens should be able to find homes. Bear in mind it will take some time to track down all the exiled Mardieran citizens of Terraversa in order to ask them which nation they want to join or be protected by."