Brickdoctor

So these are a bit old — flickr says taken in December 2012, MOCpages says posted in January 2013. But they caught my eye because I was going through all the different categories of Star Wars entries on MOCpages checking for new additions (MOCpages has a boggling number of categories so some of them literally have not been used in months, years even, which is how this MOC ended up near the top.), and I saw these great speeder bikes which had…two comments. But the photos had a little watermark in the corner, so I Googled that, and found the MOC on flickr with…two comments by other users. And I decided that despite the age, these models needed more exposure. So now you know why a six-month-old MOC is being blogged and how I found it. (And on that note, I'm sure the builder would appreciate it if you checked out his photostream, because he's got a lot of other great LEGO stuff.) Anyways, the model: I’ve built a fair number of 74-Zs myself, so I know it’s difficult to capture all the angles and curves and details in that size. James zhan has made his a bit bigger — about Miniland-scale, I think — and that’s allowed him to use those curved slopes in front, and all those different angles in the back. It’s not that these things are impossible to represent fairly accurately at minifig scale, because they certainly are. But at this scale, everything combines for a beautiful model that doesn’t look like compromises in accuracy had to be made, which in turn makes the model that much more pleasing to look at.

I guess the crossover ones aren't as popular. But the Count Saruman one was funny, somehow, with Saruman deriding Yoda as a tiny orc. Also, the Young Han Solo In Canon one was hilarious. Maybe I find it hilarious because I once tried to explain canon to a younger relative and she had a similar reaction. (It's her fault for interrupting and asking, right?) Anyways, we needed an update from this thread, so...

OoC: I hope I'm accurately referring to what I think you're describing. "Good to see you again, Doctor Daneeka. It's very impressive. My first thought is that it's a lot of lenses working with a lot of prisms to redirect, refract, and focus the light around them. The pulsating effect we now see being the result of the flickering, constantly changing light of the fires as opposed to the steady light of the sun. That being said, I know the Ji Pei have made advancements in harnessing the power of lightning, perhaps that is also a factor."

Hmm, similar, but I don't see mention of any special activities other than the 501st Legion appearance, meeting the master builders, and a building competition. (And the prize for that doesn't appear to be anything more than getting your model displayed in Miniland.) If the list of activities listed online (On LEGOLAND Billund's site) is all they're doing, I don't think there will be much for an AFOL. (Based on those activities when they were done in LLCA.)

I've been to the one in LEGOLAND California a few times. I don't know if the one in Billund is similar or not, but if it is, it's probably worth seeing once, especially if you're bringing a kid. The California one has some AFOL models on display, Star Wars scenes in Miniland, and some contests geared towards kids.* *Of note is the trivia contest, which usually gives out exclusive minifigs for winning. (The Clone Lieutenant this year at LLCA) For kids this is really simple stuff and you 'win' just by being picked to participate. For adults, I saw them once pick out a few adults and give them questions out of the Obsessed With Star Wars trivia book. But I have no idea how similar the Billund one is.

I don't know when the next one after this will be. With any luck it should be right after this one, but I might be more busy this fall, and I don't know how long this one will take. (It's a Brickdoctor quest, I assume it'll be longer than planned.)

Sort of. More like Quest 4, a prelude to an ongoing conflict.

Time for Pie to go to work. (Cue Tchaikovsky.)

He's been around since Quest 4. Yes, all these fig barfs are involved in the same quest.

I sincerely hope that there isn't another species in Heroica cursed with the TCW faces. Yes, the Mopag are involved.

I think this might be the last major fig barf I need to do before hosting my next quest: Yes, I only have one pair of Slave Leia legs. No, I'm not going to go and buy extra half-naked legs for this quest. So the grunts get leather leg armor, or something. (And a long sleeve tunic, if you can tell that three of them have tan arms instead of flesh. My fleshie collection isn't that big; I prefer the yellow 'figs.)

I look to make sure that there is some other source of light -- torches, chandeliers...

Nah, it's not like he's TinyPies.

I agree. It is kind of unavoidable that every now and then someone's project is going to get to ten thousand votes and be a concept that TLG is already working on, since TLG can't shut the project down without revealing what they're working on. And it's definitely understandable that they're already planning this out well in advance and they got there first, but I imagine that if TLG releases a sandcrawler set sometime soon, while understandable (especially if its a System set), they'll get at least a fair amount of criticism for not working with marshall on it.

I agree with you there. It seems to be common for TLG to use the black or dark bley hands whenever the correct choice is a rarer color of hand, just because this being Star Wars it looks okay, but rarer colors of hands are something I want. (Aayla Secura had dark bley hands instead of medium blue, the Emperor's Royal Guards have black hands instead of dark red [or even red would be more accurate considering that the arms are red]...)

Disappointing, for sure. This set was the possibility of a UCS set that could top 10179. (Not in iconic status, but in size, in features, in sheer awesomeness.) I guess we all sort of thought it in the back of our minds: that this one might be turned down because of how TLG and Lucas Licensing plan their sets. Someone did point out in the general CUUSOO thread (I think it was Faefrost; I'm on mobile right now and don't want to try to look it up.) that they don't actually say that it's impossible as a set concept, just that their relationship with Lucas Licensing doesn't allow them to do this as the next CUUSOO set. (I'm sure it's very possible that their contract with the Lucasfilm guys played a part in reviewing the possibility of a set for which there would be another party involved in the profits/monetary side of things.)

There shouldn't be a "flesh emperor". Palpatine doesn't declare himself emperor until after the battle with Windu that changes his face to that of OT Palpatine. We have the fleshie face from that battle in the Palpatine's Arrest set, and for events after that a grey face should be used. The CW scene... I guess it's artistic license, forming his flesh face that way. I suppose a slightly younger looking grey face is a possibility for that Palpatine vs. Yoda scene, assuming that's what you propose, and an angry flesh Chancellor Palpatine face with some Emperor Palpatine features could be possible for a CW reprint, but I don't think there should be and I don't think there will be a flesh head with emperor features in a Sith set.

This I did not know, but, according to Wikipedia, 'Padfoot' could refer to any ghostly dogs around England. So for those of us who (like me ) have not read or seen any complete Harry Potter books or movies, we could just call it a reference to, say, The Hound of the Baskervilles. (Which is not exactly the size of a murderous halfling but, then again, neither is Sirius Black who, if I understand correctly, is a man who can turn into a big dog at will.)

I see. Plus I don't think there's a weapon in medieval fantasy that seems more like the typical 'murderous weapon' than a knife. (Maybe a couple pistols/mini handcannon, but that's pushing the realistic limit of technology of Heroica's setting and seems more suited to a dwarf than a halfling.)

So Posco Padfoot is...Belkar?

I guess we all kind of thought about it in the back of our minds, that Star Wars products would probably have to start with Lucas Licensing and their discussions with TLG, but, MegaBloks, no UCS Sandcrawler.

Not to long from around this time, actually. TLG did something different and unveiled a set unusually early, revealing the Rancor Pit at SDCC in July. (And if I remember correctly, the set itself despite being part of the 2013 Winter Wave saw an early release in late December of 2012, too.) I think we had some speculation in the couple weeks before that, but nothing solid enough to even be considered possibilities for actual rumored lists. Whether TLG will do the same thing or not this year, we don't know.

Can we see him get a new outfit for that role, too?