BrickSev

It's a very nice set. The only problem: it's difficult to put hair pieces over those mantles and after you did it's uneasy to turn their heads. I'm thinking about removing the Elves' mantles for that very reason. Overall I like that set

I didn't being its construction, yet but from the box it looks truly amazing I want to complete few little sets I have around and then I'll enjoy this wonderful piece of art. I truly believe it's a must for any Lego fan and collector, not just for fans of the movies or the historic themes. It's one of those sets you know they won't disappoint you As for the Black Gate, I'm impressed too. I think I could buy few Black Gate sets and start to build something. I know it's expensive but, thinking positive, we also get 5 Minifigures we can Mod/Moc into other characters (just to not have several copies of the same characters) and build a little army (which never hurts) a Great Eagle and a horse. It's not bad. Also, I was wondering if 79018 The Lonely Mountain could have a role in the "fortress assembly". Not as "walls" but as an inside structure. Any idea? Perhaps its style is too different compared to Orthanc.

Thank you very much, fellow Italian AFOL It's always difficult to find enough spare pieces for those projects. It seems all the best "weapon pieces" are rarely redundant I don't know if I'm just "unlucky" or I didn't find the best places on the net but I find uneasy to get loose bricks here in Italy. Perhaps it's because I hadn't the chance to check those "independent sellers" on the net. With so many of them it's not easy to find a reliable one, with a reliable shipping method etc. For some reason I always run into problems if I don't choose a trackable shipping method, maybe it's just Murphy's Law Anyway thank you again for your words.

Impressive, most impressive indeed I'm not very expert on Minecraft but I really appreciate the "Skyrim style" (I'm more expert at Skyrim than Minecraft ) I recently started to make Brickfilms (just uploaded a little one, nothing impressive, just a test ) and I'd really like to ask you few advices, if you have the time to do it, of course Anyway congratulations for your Brickfilm. Did you think about making "Skyrim" inspired video using "traditional" (namely non-Minecraft) Minifigures? Keep up the great work.

I have it and it is very nice. I have even the first Corporate tank (from 7258 set) but the most recent one comes with a Phase I Clone Trooper ( and "Clone officer" accessories) and Jango Fett. I was thinking about buying a second tank just to acquire another Jango to use for a custom project

Thanks for the info I actually saw 10223 at an online store, sold at 118€ However I thought it requires other sets in order to be turned into a castle but it is indeed a good start

It looks an impressive design With enough Black Gates (or a proper number of "loose" system bricks) it would be truly amazing. There would even be room for a little army inside (It never hurts to have an army inside your fortress ) Do you plan to complete your project?

Thank you very much The problem, and a very huge one, is the parts availability. Sadly only few of the many "spare parts" I get from sets are actually useful in "weapon design". For example I'd love so much to add a "chain gun" type of weapon to my army but I never get the right spare pieces. I should try to find them around. Anyway, what do you think about the "improvements" of the "stud shooters"? Personally I don't like the stud shooter's look. It is so "unrealistic" and it's not easy to "mod" it properly.

Hello there This is a one panel comic I just made. It's a little parody about the Bounty Hunter Bossk from Star Wars (I don't like trandoshans and I played Republic Commando so many times ) I realized the image is so large and rescaling it affected the quality of text fonts, so I'll simply post the link Allow me to introduce the "Mono-Neuron Lizard" I'm still experimenting with the software. If all goes as planned and I find the spare time, I'll start to make entire Lego comics series. I hope you'll like this little comic. Feel free to post your opinions. May the Brick be with you. EDIT: I forgot to post a little "introduction" The bounty hunter is trying to "interrogate" the space pirate but his "rude methods" don't work this time... well he is called "Mono-Neuron" for a reason

I'll do. I just got Orthanc one hour ago and even though I probably won't be able to build the fortress project, the set is impressive even alone. I suppose it will see a lot of scenes I just realized it also reminds me of those Stargate episodes with Merlin and co where fantasy and Sci-Fi met bt perhaps it's just my vidid imagination

I just received my 10237 Orthanc Tower! I can't wait to build it. From the box it looks very impressive!

Oh my! The good old Mako! What wonderful memories! Memories from the Golden Age of Mass Effect! Emotional reactions apart Your MOC is wonderful! I'm speechless. How did you make the Mass Effect characters Minifigures? As little note, forgive the "purist Mass Effect fan" in me , Shepard's rank is Commander but that's unimportant. What matters is the fact your MOC is impressive! It perfectly resemble the Mako. Did you submit to Lego ideas? Or do you plan to do? If only Lego would make the agreements to produce Mass Effect theme.

Hello fellow AFOL I'm a huge fan of Science Fiction and I love to build Lego armies. Even though I collect mostly Star Wars sets I like Sci-Fi so much I often use them to create my own stories, settings etc. One of the most problematic aspects of Lego Sci-Fi army building is for me the creation of "alternate weapons" for my Minifugres. Sometimes I want to make special weapons/heavy weapons, sometimes the Minifigures come with weapons I don't like ( the "stud shooters", for example) so making new, alternate weapons is an important aspect of many of my projects. Sadly the best custom weapons require parts I find difficult to obtain where I live (unless I "salvage" them from the sets I already built) and third parties Minifigures weapons are often sold form US stores (thus with considerable shipping costs/issues) I recently made several weapons with spare parts. I thought it would be easier to make a little video to show them This is just a starting point. What do you think? Do you have other Lego Sci-Fi weapons builds to share? This is what I have been able to do with the parts I obtained, so I had many limits. I also tried to make the "stud shooters" looking more "weapon-like" Not an easy task though. I posted this topic to brainstorm all the ideas we have. It would be nice to have several idea available in a single topic Thank you for any assistance, ideas, etc. I know there are many Lego fans who consider the making a alternate Minifugures weapons an important part of the hobby, so feel free to share any idea EDIT: [update] I made a second video to show additional Lego weapon designs. You can watch it here I hope you'll find some useful idea for your projects here

Thank you for the info Like I suspected it is a colossal endeavor. It could be a quite interesting project, though

It was my first thought. However if we compare the cost of 70404 with the cost of 10237, I feel like I'm going to pay 70404 a bit too much. Beside in order to "work" I'd need more than one Castle to create a series of walls and bastions around the tower, instead of placing the tower few centimeters from the castle's entrance. One day I'll start acquiring several castle/LOTR sets and combine them into the "ancient structure"

If I only could find Helm's deep. I also have difficulties in finding large quantity of "loose bricks". All the reliable stores I heard about ship from USA. Is there some of them even in Europe too? That was the plan I don't want to make the castle/fortress LOTR only but that was the concept which seems to be a colossal endeavor. I suppose even I won't finish it So you suggest to go with a larger area. 6/8 large baseplates, maybe? Several Black Gates and a second Orthanc should be the best option but many gates are need. Thank you everyone for your advices It's a very ambitious project but if successful it could really show a immense "Wow factor".

It seems a second Orthanc for "salvaging parts" would be cheaper but I suppose I'd need even more pieces. A very ambitious project that sadly would require a lot of resources :( and that means... decisions ahead. I think I should list my project pee priority and then decide which ones to start first Like I said this is a very ambitious project: If successful it could be a very impressive diorama, though.

Well it's less than the prices I saw. The "cheapest" I found is on Amazon UK at about 175£ and I can't find it in my country or in € (so there will be a little more for the conversion etc) I think the most needed modification would be to rise its height, just to keep the scale "consistent" I too think the Black Gate needs to be made higher. It's logical for a tower to be higher than the fortress walls but if it's too higher the fortress offers no protection I know it is going to cost a lot. I start to believe starting a MOC from scratch would cost less. Black Gate is not very cheap. Btw how many of Black Gate sets would I need for "decently sized" fortress? My instinct tells me several of them.

Hello fellow AFOL I finally ordered 10237 Tower of Orthanc and I was thinking if it would be possible to build a complete castle/fortress around it. Currently I have many ongoing projects so I'm unable to start a MOC about it but I was wondering if, in the meantime, there is a way to do it using existing sets or by modifying them. My first thought went to 79007 Battle at the Black Gate. Would it look too much "out of scale"? (Orthanc is extremely high) Also I guess I'd need several of them. I'd say Helm's deep would another nice choice but since it's a sold out set it's getting difficult for me to find it a reasonable price. Thank you very much for any suggestion and help

I agree. I'd love to have plain white Phase II Clones Troopers to turn into 501st customs It appears the closest thing I could do next year is to buy the stormtroopers battle backs and use them as base for the 501st. I know, different helmet but I don't see other options. Anyway, I think I'll give the MF turbo thank a try

The included Minifigure is interesting (I'm talking mostly about the Phase II Clone Trooper) but nearly 10€ for a single Clone Trooper is vastly overpriced indeed. Especially when for about 7€ more we get 4 Clones and a little vehicle I think the most overpriced is the AAT micro-fighter: we don't even get a proper Minifigure, just a pilot Battle Droid.

It's not uncommon for sets to get bad reviews when they are released only to become "sought after" items when they get out of production. It's like with certain movies: "professional critics" made negative reviews, most persons trust them until someone says "let's give it a look an judge it by myself" then it comes a "Wow it's masterpiece" I wish I wasn't away from the hobby when it was released. I know many collectors don't like "play sets" too much but I'm a huge fan of Minifigures and I also like to make lego comics and I'm starting brickfilming, so "play sets" don't look so bad to me You made an interesting deal, then Hangars are indeed very rare nowadays. I'd really need a hangar for all the scene, photos, videos etc involving starfighters. The only one we get is with the Death Star but it's quite limited. Beside I always consider to get the Death Star but every time I think "how many other SW sets can I buy with that money?" and so I end buying other sets. Perhaps I'm wrong

Indeed I remember all the "who shot first" discussions when the first "Special Edition" was released, so I though to add some "Lego fun" to the matter I'm glad this little comic made you laugh. Personally speaking, Lego humor always cheers me up EDIT: Typo corrected.

Congratulations for your acquisition How is the set? I has been released when I was having my "long absence" from Lego world, so I never had the chance to check its details. Also, if I may ask, how much did you pay it? I ask because where I live it's so difficult to find older, rare SW sets at a reasonable price

Well actually it's not MOC, like I said (" It's just a little thing, nothing compared with the super detailed dioramas I saw here" ) I completed the Barge and since I never liked Jabba I changed the passengers. Since also everyone shares "unusual things" on the net and I never saw a barge carrying clones I posted the video. I never, ever had the arrogance to consider it a MOC or claiming it was a master piece. I just liked the idea and I shared. That is all I was just curious to see how the sail barge would look in a "completely different" context. It's just when you complete to build something and set up a little scene. BTW, clones are not completely "stock" they have at least some "different" (a couple even customized) weapons and a backpack for the Phase I Trooper Thank you for your comment. I appreciated the fact you shared your own opinion. In my defense, I never claimed it to be a MOC or bragged about the quality of the work. Just a curiosity. Since I saw even worse things on YouTube, I thought "why not positing" it, just for the sake of curiosity. EDIT: I forgot to reply about "being fun", sorry: it's a frantic day. I was referring to the "concept" nothing more. Anyway it's clear I failed in making a proper description to tell what the video is about. I thought I did but I guess it was not clear enough. Anyway thank you again for your comment and for your time. I'm sorry if it wasn't "time nicely spent". Maybe you'll like my future, proper projects more. May the Brick be with you.