Kodan Black

Location: E01 Donwarr Tags: Science, Land Vehicle, Space Vehicle, Civil Building Previously... // PERSONAL DIARY // I had been called back to the Axle by our CEO pombe. He informed me that he was starting an executive club on the Axle with Bruce Vayne and that he needed me to acquire some very particular supplies. He needed pure, untainted ice from a comet for the drinks and he said that he needed me to also get him some drinks. His exact words were: "Some really good stuff!" As a scientist I know how important being healthy is so I made sure to get a large container of orange juice. Plenty of vitamin C which is really good for you! Pombe had said that this was a vital mission and that he was providing me with the latest stealth ship -- though on my inspection it looked more like a cargo tender that had been painted black. However, stealth isn't my area of expertise so I'm sure I simply wasn't aware of some of the Top Secret parts of the ship. The ship itself was pretty fun to pilot and I got the ice for pombe's new exclusive executive club, so I was sure he would be excited! ED-208 had been sent down to Donwarr to ferry around some Octan employees on one of our rovers. He was annoyed that the rover wasn't armed, but he seemed to enjoy being able to race it around. I told him that it was inspired by a very old lunar rover that wasn't armed and that he should be fine anyway as the area he was in hadn't seen any Mantis activity in weeks. There was a lot of activity on Donwarr actually as Dr. Allison was on assignment to investigate how Awesomnium responded to being tempered at different temperatures. She was working with several engineers and safety folks at an underground lab and said that it was proving to be very interesting work. She enjoyed doing things and not just being stuck in a lab waiting for mice to contract a disease or injecting them with Awesomnium. I was glad that my team was able to contribute to our corporation's success so much! Extra Pics: I know there are a lot of my "stealth ship", but for some reason I overall like the way it turned out.

Love the tank, reminds me of WWII era tanks. Nice to see the Bruce cameo too. I like the story and Sal's continued willingness to abandon his comrades at the first sign of trouble. I like the ground cover and the woman-eating plant.

I like the wall and the red robot is cool. I have to say the 2x2 tiles with stud stand out too much for me. They don't seem to have a purpose, so I'd personally rather they just be normal tiles for continuity. It is great to see some cross-corp story collaboration happening!

All my money to Bob!

Wow, so much to like here! Let me get my one critique out of the way: the shot with the woman by the computer monitors certainly makes it seem like those controls are too low. I like the smoothness of everything, something that you always do a great job on. The ship has some very nice shaping and the more you take a look at it there are small details that are just fantastic. Plus the little rolling stairs next to it is compact and well done. Really like the robot and the clamps for the ship too. Overall another very well done MOC with plenty of little details to keep you looking!

Love the speeder, just beautiful and feels like a stripped sport bike. Everything is essential and there are no superfluous parts. Really gorgeous, super jealous of it.

Love the whole thing. The story is great, you captured Big Sal's personality very well! I love that green speeder. Love, love, love it. Has a sort of Futurama/retro-futuristic look. The story is awesome. Love giant bearhead guy and sharkmouthbunny as Isundir termed it. The holo-pool table and all the action shots were great. If you stepped up the photos a bit it would really be amazing.

Yeah, I like the overall shape but the back part does look more refined. I think if the front were smoother it would look more cohesive. Especially for an executive.

I'm my own worst enemy on that some times. I even noticed this week that all the effort I put into the underside of the front of my speeder was pointless as you can't see it. I've built stuff before that I included parts like lighting in the roof but then never shot it in such a way that you could see the roof! It really can be difficult to convey effort in Lego and I think that when you do use a part in a new/weird way that people will tend to focus on that.

Great speeder, has a very SW feel -- but the good SW, not the terrible prequels. I have to say there are times I look at your builds and am impressed at how you use a specific part. I have a ton of those 1x1 bricks with the thing on the side but you used them together and made it look cool -- they blend in so well I didn't even notice what part you used at first. And those L tiles are a great tile floor usage too.

I get what you are saying. I think so long as we keep to erring on the side of caution it should be fine. Just keep in mind that being a weekly game there are times where microscale is the only option. If you have a cut-scene to a space battle, having 3+ full size ships each week is unlikely. At least, I don't have that kinda free time!

So I've debated whether I should weigh in or not but I figure I'll give my 2 cents and that will be that. I'm a bit disturbed by the use of the words "approve the tag" about some of the DP bonuses. While I understand a minimum must be met, I'm not sure based on the rules as written and the tech descriptions that I had even considered something could be "approved". 2 wing parts and a sloped brick don't make a spaceship, I get that and totally agree! However, not everyone has the same skills or parts selection and, to me, part of this game is building and getting feedback to improve. I know I'm pretty bad at microbuilding -- I just don't see the parts the same way the good builders do. I think that the only way I will improve though is to build and get feedback. If I build in micro and get a lower score, it is understandable since part of scoring is how good something is. But I think it would dissuade me from building if I was told "sorry this isn't good enough to qualify as a spaceship". I would say that outside of obvious point grabs, there really is no approval. I know that it is tough to tell, you wind up using Justice Potter Stewart's "I know it when I see it" standard instead of a firm border. And I'm against setting guidelines as I do feel that people would build up to those at times instead of being creative. I've been building for AG since almost the start and I've built in each challenge and I've seen participation ebb and flow. I worry that subjectively choosing what is "good enough" to qualify for tags would have a chilling effect and likely decline participation further.

That is a really nice speeder, you've done a lot with a small-ish number of parts. Fantastic and colorful landscape as always!

Location: F03 Forring Tags: Science, Land Vehicle, Space Vehicle, Civil Building Previously... // PERSONAL DIARY // I found myself utilizing the data we gathered last week to try and put our theories into practice. It seemed a little weird that as the currently highest ranking scientist in Octan that I would have to do so much field work myself, but our CEO pombe said that we all needed to contribute. He was also excited to have me use one of Bruce Vayne's new space ship designs. I said it looked more like an old Earth railway car but he insisted it was a highly sophisticated piece of machinery. Though I wasn't filled with confidence when pombe said: "After about 7 Alien Annihilators Bruce came up with the idea for this thing!" Surprisingly it seemed to work though and I was able to find some concentrated pockets of Awesomnium. ED-208 was sent ahead to secure a Mantis lab we had discovered while Dr. Allison was utilizing a new speeder design. Given the state of war between Octan and Mantis she was using a more subtle design on the speeder than was typical. It was a very fast and nimble layout, so I told her since ED-208 was not with her and the speeder being unarmed that she should keep the throttle open just in case. I guess she likes going fast because she said the vibrations from the speed were exhilirating. The Mantis lab seemed to be an experimental lab designed to enhance plant life with various Awesomnium soil and water. They also appeared to be using various lighting sources to try and maximize growth. CEO pombe instructed me that he had numerous uses for this technology and that he hoped we could acquire any scientific advancements and that any gains that had been discovered should be reported to him personally. Immediately. I'm not sure why, but he said Bruce Vayne would be very interested also and that he and Bruce would need a lot of Oreos and Doritos. I guess they were going to be trying some new recipe because he said there would be a lot of baking happening. Extra Pics:

The whole thing is very well done and the suit is amazingly flexible. The area by the neck/shoulder has some great parts usage and is very clever. Great build!

Very nice MOD, too bad this set STILL isn't out in the US.

I like the micro stealthy plane, reminds me of an F-117.

Love the speeders but the trunk space seems minimal. Great Hard Wares store, you have a well designed layout. Love the story as always! So many puns...

43 to Bob please!

Ok, cool. Just wanted to check.

Is there a reason I didn't get my job bonus this week or just an oversight? Just want to make sure if I did something wrong I know what it is so I can do it right next time. Thanks!

Love the lab and a wonderful story! The foliage is fantastic and the shot pulled back with everything shown really gives a sense of scale and how detailed the scenery is!

I like that little heavy duty speeder but the last pic is my favorite. Great foliage that leads into the smooth human created elements that are clearly not natural. Lovely build and pics!

Very nice and powerful looking ship. I agree that the Kawa logo integration is especially well done.

The hull splicer and capital ship are both great. I too wish there were floodlights on the mech to give it a more industrial feel, but that is merely a cherry on the grand sundae you built. Nice story too.