NuckElBerg

Aaah, once again, great build pombe! It started out a bit slow imo, but when the WH40K-references started flowing in, the story really took off! This was probably my favourite one though, perfect double WH40K reference! I guess they could also be based on the newer Centurion-squads, which are similar in design (http://www.games-workshop.com/en-SE/Space-Marine-Centurion-Devastator-Squad).

Really?

So, I just realized that the Kawashita logo probably is based on the Civilization V Japanese logo (which actually embarrassingly late considering that I've played that game for hundreds and hundreds of hours): Which in itself is/is based on the Oda emblem (mon): Although, I might be wrong, since the bellflower (which is used in the above emblems) were actually used by several Samurai clans (even though the Oda clan emblem is the most famous, considering Oda Nobunaga ruled Japan during the mid 16th century): Although (again) I might be completely off, and the logo is based on the Akechi emblem (which is not actually that off, considering that Akechi Mitsuhide served as a general under Oda Nobunaga (and later trapped him and forced him to commit suicide)): Or, maybe more likely, it's based on this: ...which is almost identical to the Kawashita logo (if you do a couple of small changes). I think it's a version of the Akechi emblem (since it came up as a related picture), but I'm not sure, since the website it came from is in Japanese... Care to weigh in on this Bob?

Sorry... I'm still withholding that I'm technically posting 1 hour and 1 minute before deadline (due to it being stated in GMT/UTC, which is not affected by Summer Time, i.e. we get an extra hour during summer), and all pictures and story have been up by then every week (I might have added some beginning (personal) comments after the deadline, but nothing that should affect the scoring/judging, rather it's only for the other builders' curiosity). However, I do feel bad about pushing the boundaries (this week was particullarly bad, since I essentially hadn't slept for 28 hours before starting this 15h building session), so I will try to get better (for some reason though, it always seems like I'm posting by the very last minute, even when I have started earlier... I just end up doing bigger build ). Also, if Bob wants to lock my thread by the deadline (as per his reply in my post), then I'm fine with it, just make sure it's 12:00 CEST.

@Tyrus: Thanks! However, I still insist that the unrendered pictures look better. Thanks! I actually added a comment regarding what my original idea for the underside was right after you posted: ...so, yea, I had some ideas, but I ran out of time, and then I had trouble uploading the pictures on top of that, so...

[K - D04] A Place to Call Home Location: D04, Terrial Minor Tags: Building, Kawashita Okay, had some trouble to get this online (forgive me Bob! ), but now everything is running as it should. This is another build which I thought would be small, but somehow became much, much bigger than I expected. At ~4500 pieces (of which the buildings are around 3500, it's actually one of my biggest builds to date, parts wise (however, there are lots of small parts, since it's a micro-build). I've wanted to build a floating structure for quite some time now, but other ideas came in the way. Then I got some inspiration from Turtle's excellent micro-build last week, and I ended up pursuing that thought. All in all, I'm quite satisfied with the build. However, there were some things I didn't have the time to complete, such as more details in the actual city (more trees, decorations, and possibly a road network), a much more expanded hangar-area (including coming and going ships, a larger "baseplate" for the hangar level, and more details in general), plus the underside, which was supposed to be more "Bespin Cloud City"-esque, where the bottom structure would fold up when going into landing mode. But... I guess it serves me well for not starting earlier... In this case I would actually recommend looking at the unrendered pictures (under the Spoiler-button) since the Bluerender rendering really doesn't do it justice. --//Private Log Begin. Date: 2707(38)15. Scramble code: aiufIIUHnbffka72nFKJf.//-- Except for "Honour and Glory", one of the most recognizable sayings within Kawashita is "Never consider a planet home". While Orinshi is officially the Kawashita Group capital in Andromeda's Gates, there is actually very little activity going on there. This goes hand in hand with another popular saying: "We go where the opportunities are". As a consequence of this, it used to be easy for Kawashita personnel to get a bit "travel sick" from never going "home". The solution proved to be as simple as it was brilliant. Instead of designating a planet "home", Kawashita started bringing "home" with them when moving. As such, floating cities were born. As a result of Awsomnium being an extremely concentrated energy source, it was possible to build cities which were both powered and kept floating thanks to large Awsomnium reactors. The floating cities of Kawashita come in all shapes and form. While bigger military fortifications are generally built on the surface, Kawashita's floating cities is an excellent way to move around civil personnel while still keeping them "home". Depicted above is the Hoshijiro, named after hero who gave up her life in order to save humanity. The Hoshijiro hosts ~50,000 inhabitants and can be easily moved aboard Dreadnaughts, such as the Akena class vessel. The Hoshijiro has two parts; the upper part, which is supposed to feel like any other city, complete with a large park, a monorail system, a hospital and various forms of entertainment, and the bottom part, which hosts aircrafts, land vehicles, research labs and engineering bays, and various other necessities to quickly be able to prospect new planets. While Kawashita hosts an impressive military, which is mentioned again and again, it's often easy that it's the civilian population which provides the means for the company to prosper, and for Kawashita, it's floating cities is a large part of that prosperity. --//Private Log End. Signature: Lt. Gen. Q. Scramble code: aiufIIUHnbffka72nFKJf.//-- More pictures (which I recommend viewing) under the Spoiler-button! C&C welcome!

Heh, I felt I had to read through the entire story as one before reading this, and, well... it's a great one, but from a build and a story perspective! I think it's a great combination of regular and micro-scale builds (I especially enjoyed your micro-version of Aera's bomber, which was just gorgeous and instantly recognizable ), and the story is both engaging and realistically-feeling. Great job!

Bob, please buy a Domination for Dummies for Col Brik. and a Crystalizer for Narbilu. Thanks!

Well, interestingly enough, the "3 days" option would actually probably create a situation more similar to the 7-day week with a break or so, since it makes the game more "build at your own pace" rather than "build once every week" (by which I mean that more people would accept that they don't have to build every time it is judging time). That being said, I actually voted for the 14-day option. I very much agree with John's post above. I know I can keep up this high pace now when it's summer (I don't really want to imagine the fall when I have both work and will be going back to school), but it's still exhausing, and kinda takes the energy out of doing other Lego things I would like. With a longer "week", I could probably divide my Lego time better between AG and other projects, but as of now, it really feels like you "have" to build for your team every week, and I just don't want AG to end up feeling like a chore. Plus, with a 14-day week, you actually have longer time to come up with great ideas for what to build (instead of just "churning" them out). Although, I do agree with previous posts, if the week was to get longer, the points would have to get higher (0-14 scale perhaps, in order to make judging more nuanced? ) to compensate.

Great looking vehicles! However, I'm a bit stumped that they only managed to release 9 movies over a 1800 year period... that's like one movie each 200 years (especially if they're good enough for this to be your favourite movie of all time)!

Hey, no touching Beltar, Darth Jebediah! He might have some... issues, and Q may be some sort of mastermind, but he is not neccessarily an evil mastermind, and he probably has Beltar's best in mind... (and I mean, even if he didn't, he probably has Beltar's "better" than you )! That said, great bar and micro-ship! I also love the barkeep! Well, technically, the distances in space make visual readings pretty useless, so most spaceship instruments measure other things instead. So... having it in Octan colours would probably not be a problem, just saying.

Another awsome build from you AlienCat, really loving your retro-futuristic style! The truck and the landscape look great, and the final crash really looks like a still from a real crash. Awsome!

As others have said, that first shot is really nice, it truly feels like Blackhawk explores an alien world (add the Exploration tag! )! Also, if this was your build when you were low on inspiration, well, then we truly have a lot to look forward to from you!

Thanks man! I guess as you do more and more builds, you start learning how to get around the limitations of LDD and really utilize its advantages. Still, some parts remain very time-consuming, such as working with hinges. For example, ball joints do not stay in place when you move other hinges connected to them, so you have to disconnect all parts connected to the hinge you want to move, adjust it, and then reconnect them again (for example when bending the knees in this build). Then you have to redo that a couple of times until you get it right, and then do that for each hinge, so yea, it does require some patience, but it's mostly just knowing what the limitations are so that you don't f*ck things up unknowingly. Also, I generally do my builds in one long session, usually somewhere around 10-14 hours long (this was around 14h I think), and after a while, you just get into a certain flow and stop thinking so much about time consumption. It's more "okay, now I've done this, next I'll do that", and so forth (this probably has a little to do with my ADHD as well; one (to many unknown) symptom is that when you really get into something, you have a very hard time stop doing that). Thanks Turtle! I've never used these kinds of parts before to be honest, so it was quite a thrill for me as well! Some parts of it (connecting odd angles, etc) really s*cked in LDD, but overall it wasn't that bad. As for the patience, well, my reply to Sal pretty much answers it, I would say. Haha, didn't think of that actually, but yea! Thanks robuku! Thanks Umbra! Hahaha, thanks pombe! Thanks Beltar! I try my best! It feels a bit odd, thinking that I only started with LDD a couple of months ago for the first week of AG, and that the only builds I've actually done are for AG. I still have a long way to go however, so I continue to try improving (and one day, I might be as good as, for example, Bob!). Haha, well, it was meant to be funny, but maybe not that funny! Yea, as soon as it gets some real armor! And who knows, one day it might.

I love following Starstriker's story, even though they've been a little smaller than earlier the last couple of weeks! Great little Kawashita scene, I had to sit and look at the floor for about a minute until I realized how you had done it, great job!

Another great-looking garage, and a very cool tank. I'm quite envious of your kid I must say, getting to partake in action such as this at such a young age!

D*mn, this suddenly got very serious compared to earlier builds! Still, great story and perfect seamless integration! Another great build. (Also, love the finishing "power shot" from beneath, very imposing.)

I actually like that the base is black, based on the look of Mynderis on the map. All in all, very impressive how much of a story you managed to create on an 8x8 build in a non-micro format. Great job!

Nice build! I like the shaping of the cave entrance, and the R.A.T. is neat!

Great idea combining multiple scenes into one build. I really like the first micro-scene, and the second scene with the holograms was great too. Good job!

Wow, beautiful landscape (as always) shmails! Very creative use of regular plant shafts to create those tall seaweeds! The sub is excellent too, and fits right in. Beautiful.

Beautiful temple, feels very insectoidy (that's' a word, right? ) with all the transparent-green pieces. Also, gotta love ORB!

I keep loving how you always make such small, minimalistic scenes, yet full of detail. Even in this humouristic little piece with infighting and lots of killing, there is still a certain serenity over it all. Great work.

Nice combination of vehicles, structures, foliage and that ship to create a feeling that it is really a bustling junction that you've arrived at. Great job!

The first thing I thought of when reading through this was actually how closely you've managed to reproduce the cockpit (and micro-PauL! ) from The Heart of Awsomnium, great job! Sorry you had to redo it so many times, it actually looks quite simple on the outside, but has a (relatively) complex interior (especially if you include the retractable landing gear ). Anyway, great build... nice looking terrain and cool cycle. Keep ut the good job (and tell us about Lauren, I have those files waiting for you)!