Slegengr

These matches keep getting harder, especially since the figures in the third round seem to be pitted against similar or equivalent type characters. Based on the voting tendencies earlier, I feel like the bagpiper and the Aztec warrior would easily beat the princess and the gourmet chef had the pairing been switched. Oh, well. The matches will just continue to get harder until only one "best" minifigure is left.

Hard choices when the paired figures are fairly similar and evenly paired! Is this intentional? I like how the additional votes have almost always been an easy pick from my personal preferences.

Very nice update, Sander! I also think the colors are nice and very fitting for the Adventurers' style. The stonework and structure are neat, as are all the carvings and statues. I am looking forward to seeing the completion of this MOC from one of my favorite childhood themes! That water is particularly nice!

Very nice tower, Dathil! Slope rock formations will always look nice to me, and you built this very well. The woodwork is very nice, especially the paneling and crenelations on the top! That roof technique is perfect for this tower. The mounted head is marvelously built, both the head shaping and the antlers! I might utilize your technique in the future... We should see more AoM builds, so keep them coming! That banner is a great inclusion!

Such a fantastic scene, Eccs.! I could not comment on nearly every detail, but I really like your different buildings and roofing techniques! The drawbridge is such a nice attention draw with the lovely woodwork and paneling. The gondolas and minifigures really complete the scene nicely with a perfect depiction of Varlyrio and medieval Venice! The underlayer color variation for the water adds a lot to the realism. This build must have taken quite a while to complete to collect dust... I totally relate to this predicament with my recent build. Your end result is a nice achievement!

Excellent scene, Full Plate! Your tree is wonderful in this scene, as usual! Very nice wheat technique, though quite parts-intensive. This must be the reason I have had troubles getting tan 4L bars... The amount of foliage and elevation variation along with slight breaks in the wheat for rocks and weeds make this landscaping quite realistic! The solemn continuation to your story is well-written, and I am awaiting more.

These are just a way to see if others agree with your own personal favorites. They do not really prove a lot, but those that participate enjoy the game. As long as there are only one or two in each sub-forum, I see them as a harmless and fun way for members to interact. I personally find them much more interesting and less prone to fights and off-topic posts than the threads discussing product speculation (especially the Licensed forums). I would not want a forum to be completely cluttered with this kind of topic, though.

Welcome to Eurobricks, @arnold45! What do your LEGO interests include? Are you a collector or builder? What are your favorite themes? I am looking forward to your EB contributions.

@Borex The interesting thing is that I own five Goblins and not even one Fortune Teller. I would have liked to get a fortune teller or two, mostly for the medieval corset torso to allow for historically accurate women in builds instead of just men. The goblin is great for play, and I really like the bag piece in dark brown.

@1Panda @Borex @BrickHat Goblin appeals to fantasy builders while fortune teller appeals to historical builders. I like both figures, but I personally like the fortune teller better both for the figure and for the parts.

That is easily my favorite Ideas set to date! I am also glad to see the inclusion of the 3 seagulls.

@wgemini It looks like piece 18910 according to BrickLink and the same 18910 according to BrickSet. It is in 3 sets at this point in time, two sets in white and one set in orange.

I can confirm this from my experience. They also have a rougher surface finish.

I would guess that it does (and I think @TheLazyChicken said it fits a 1x1 plate), but I cannot confirm this since I never owned a LEGO pen.

@TheLazyChicken There is a possibility that both pieces are genuine LEGO parts. The hood may be from a LEGO build-able pen, such as this Darth Maul one. Some minifigure parts are made for the pens with studs for connection and holes to allow for the ink tube to pass through. This seems to be the case for the hood you have, and I see no reason for a clone company to want to make a hood like that if not for a pen. I am pretty sure that the stingray is authentic LEGO, as I have a number of those from the Town Divers theme. Your pictures match the ones I have.

I have never tried this connection with the large dish "lampshade" and I do not remember what the lower profile on that dish looks like, but I have combined the 2x2 dome with a 2x2 cone with a snugly meshing interface. The dome also fits snugly with a 2x2 regular brick.

This might seem unfair for me to comment when I have been building and collecting since I was 3 years old (over 20 years experience), hence I have a large collection of parts and a vast collection of connections in my memory, but I have a few tips: Build according to the size of your collection. If you find yourself always wishing you had more pieces, you have three options: find creative ways around the need for pieces, buy the pieces, or build smaller builds to fit the size of your current collection. I doubt many people started building with a huge collection, instead building up a collection over time. I also recommend building LEGO sets by the instructions if you have not done much of this. Start small and work bigger, trying to learn to build small sets from memory after enough repitition. This is the training ground for the fundamentals of the LEGO product. Moving into more realistic but slightly "illegal" techniques should not be the first goal of a builder as it will likely prove very frustrating before the groundwork of techniques is stored solidly in your mind. Start out by using the pieces in the way that LEGO designed them to be used. Always expect new techniques to come with their own set of frustrations! Another thing to keep in mind is the shape you are trying to build. Start with shapes that translate easily into LEGO form (think square rather than round). As most experienced ship builders would say (and I confirm from my limited attempts, even with a large collection of parts), ships are one of the most difficult shapes to obtain because they have curves on all three major planes (front and back, sides, and bottom) all at once. One curved plane is obtainable in LEGO form, two curved planes are difficult, and three curved planes are nearly impossible without significant compromise. Focus more on ideas and details than the grand MOC. Plan to learn and refine techniques before expecting to make the next frontpage MOC. It seems that many builders try to build a MOC on par with the huge, realistically detailed MOC that an experienced builder spent months building. This is setting yourself up for failure. It takes time to learn techniques and build up a collection large enough for scenes, and it still takes a lot of dedicated build time to complete the idea in realistic scale and detail. I can certainly attest to this, as I have techniques in my mind and collections of pieces prepared for several large ideas but I never find/dedicate enough time to build the limitless ideas in my head. My last large build took about 3 months time to complete since I only built about 5 hours a week or less during that time. I still ended up satisfied with that MOC, but it came with many frustrations and is still not on par to the dioramas produced by the greatest builders here at Eurobricks. In the end, I think the best advice I can give is that you should build for your own interest and enjoyment. Constructive criticism from other builders will help you refine your techniques and your scope of what you want from the LEGO hobby. It is also rewarding receiving compliments from other builders. If these become your primary focus, though, you will likely always be disappointed. Do not compare yourself to other builders to determine who is the better builder, but rather look to other builders as an inspiration to continue to build and improve your own techniques heading in the direction you want to head.

That would be a great way to eliminate a bunch of licensed CMFs! I wish the same would also happen with the Hazmat Guy.

Nice tower, Puvel! The wood siding technique is put to good use for this tower! The snowy landscape and gray cliff face are nice contrasts to the watchtower and really make it stand out. I also think the cliff face would look better with some elevation variation at the top, but it still looks pretty good how you have it. I like the tree with bits of snow on the leaves. The reindeer and skunk are cute additions!

Very nice watchtower, Maestro! The angles and texturing on the stonework make for a nice tower of unrefined construction! The little gatehouse completes the build nicely, as does the climbing vine. The Avalonian banner looks great!

This is an excellent swamp scene, Blufiji! The mangroves are great, and the bits of swamp foliage below them fill out the scene nicely! All of the ramshackle huts and piers are perfectly orcish! That dark green base is pretty stunning for swamp water, but I think it might look better with a bit more foliage or sticks protruding to break up the completely smooth surface. I really like how this is an orc daily life scene that has no apparent signs of war and conflict!

I agree. Many of my favorites will already be in the second round, and I have high hopes that they can win their groups then as well!

Well, the chance to see groups with only TLBM, Simpsons, and Disney figures just increased: 5 more regular CMFs and one TLBM figure in this group! I blame the random picks for allowing some great figures to be eliminated in the first round (like clockwork robot) while some that I do not prefer will make it through simply because of skewed groupings.

@timecorridor There are also bars that are 4-studs long. The 6-stud version has a thicker stop ring near one end. Both of these would be more to scale for a staff or walking stick where the 3-long version is probably scaled better for a cane.

Very interesting figures with great descriptions and interesting parts usage! These are definitely recognizable from their historical reference and I learned some new information as well! I particularly like those Greek armataloi and the Janissaries.