Exetrius

Cool. I have an order coming, so let's wait and see if I get anything extra too...

OMG, the Four Golden Weapons look gorgeous! Gimme that Scythe of Quakes, and those Nunchucks of Lightning too!! Megaweapon, when?

How do you mean? As in, for every 10 pieces of the same element you got an 11th for free?

We're so in sync, reference pictures and all!

Agreed, less substantial Gloomed sidebuilds overall. Maybe for the plane they could have gone for some hints of a run-down airfield, thereby tying it more to Newbury. Though, I think the buggy has some Gloomed thing under the hood, if you zoom in really closely you can see the Spring Yellowish Green under there. However, I don't see your point about the detailing and diversity of the figures. There's a diver, lighthouse keeper, tunnel technician, pump serviceman/mechanic, stunt flyer (inventor?) and two clowns, and a number of them seems to have new printed leg designs, too. To make a more fair comparison, I think we should only look at the sets up to 50 euros/dollars for wave 1. That makes 6 sets for both waves, including the Juice bar promo in wave 1. I count 7 possessed civilians in wave 1, of which the one in the Juice bar doesn't have unique prints (and uses a City torso), plus two non-possessed civilians. I count 7 possessed civilians in wave 2, all are unique, and no non-possessed civilians. So wave 1 is, relatively, a little bit better. Moreover, the designs of possessed civilians can be turned into normal civilians if you swap the heads for normal ones, so I don't really see the problem here. beach + palm tree = tropical beach. :P

Interesting new pieces and most of the sets look good and/or fun too. I can't help feeling a little underwhelmed too, though. My least favorite set is definitely the buggy, I guess I don't like the colours and the subject matter is generally not really appealing to me either. Love how Jack looks in that set, though! The rest of the sets are well-done. If I could change one thing to the wave, I would have the subway set and ghost fair switch price slots, so that the 'underground' and 'station' feel could have been a little more developed, while the fair would retain most of it's play features that are the focus of the set. Pics for reference: Define "practically the same". Indeed, they are both lighthouses, both on top on a rock, both haunted, and both inhabited by a bearded geezer. To argue that the two sets couldn't be more different within the boundaries of what they represent goes a bit far I think, but I invite you to take a closer look at their building techniques. The Scooby Doo lighthouse uses studs-up construction like every previous lighthouse, the same banded pattern, the same macaroni 2x2 bricks to round the edges, and a dish on top. Now look at the HS lighthouse. Unlike any previous lighthouse, it is built stud-on-the-side, which means that the curves are also achieved in a different way. Also: no banded pattern; the building is mostly white. Check out the top, where the light is. Completely different pieces used than earlier lighthouses! Moreover, did you notice this is the first lighthouse that is under an angle on its base? They are very different. Maybe I'm overdoing it a bit here, but saying they are practically the same ticks me off (more than it should), and it just feels disrespectful towards the designers.

I came here for the crabs, lol. I have to agree, that's a wonderfully appetizing way of serving seafood! I also really like Colonel Travilla, the whole combo works out very well, down to the broad, slightly arrogant smile on his face!

Hidden Side supplies us with many new things: 70430: Newbury Subway Station - Leaves in Azure! Ghost leg in recoloured in red, sea weed in black, and some ghost heads. 70429: El Fuego's Stunt Airplane - New energy/'splat' parts pack! One of them can be worn around the neck and is suspiciously similar to a Brick Forge piece (not complaining, though): 70428: Jack's Beach Buggy - speaking of similar pieces, I have seen a piece to make two-headed figures before... Anyway, my first impression on LEGO's take on it is.. eh, not very positive. It might be the colours or the angle, but to me the (lack of) transition from torso to the heads looks awkward. 70432: Ghost Fair - There is a ghost piece that divides the legs and the torso, which looks pretty cool That said, though, it would be really cool if all of these ghost parts (also the ones from the current wave) would come in trans clear, trans red, trans light blue, or opaque black. Imagine the possibilities!

I never knew I needed a reversed-cap-with-hair combo, but damn, it looks great! The hair on Parker looks good, but the headphones are just a bit too big.

Wow!! The list is looking better than ever! I love the grouping of similar hairstyles, such as the braided ones together, spiky ones together, and so on! One big difference I spot is the lack of hat/mask-hair combos and beards. Have you given up on keeping track of those, or do you intend to make separate lists for them? I see you have allowed bandanas, headphones and bows and cat ears here and there, but I assume you have deliberately left out any piece that shows armour or non-human features (like horns, or elf ears), correct? I think these would fit in the current list: 29478, 33660 And then these would not: 37605 , 32593, 35685, 20020 To upload files, maybe use dropbox? I personally use ShareX/puush.me, but it seems like that service no longer accepts new registrations..

Thanks, guys!

Attempt to order last Friday failed ("access denied message"), but was successful today. Anyway, I found some cool pieces available: https://brickset.com/parts/6258826/double-sphere-2x2x1-2-3-w-knob-no-15 At €1,77 this is not cheap, but current BL price starts at €5,22! https://brickset.com/parts/design-37837 (combine with https://brickset.com/parts/6199468/mini-hat-no-46 for a monochrome BB-8) https://brickset.com/parts/6218117

When I think of Nocturnus, I do see the black buildings as well, but predominantly I see the Moruth swamps overshadowed by dark and ancient trees, and the Rakath mountains, with their ever-autumnal forests. But I understand where you're coming from. Well, having studied every Nocty settlement, I can say you are right about this: I can't name a single one that is anything more than vaguely linked to a real-world type of architecture. Some towns are less strange/twisted than others, but those haven't been fleshed out as properly as the strange ones.

Thanks, Grover! I don't know if I agree with you on that, to be honest. By definition, the four original guilds have a fairly equal distribution of fantasy: Mitgardia - the Frozen Beyond, dwarves; Avalonia - Enchanted Forest, Mystic Isles, elves; Kaliphlin - Siccus Badlands, desert orcs; Nocturnus - Moruth Swamplands, vampires, orcs, skeletons. It's just that Nocty members have embraced and developed their fantasy features more than members of the other guilds. You can go crazy in every guild! Although I've made my point already, I did some digging to verify this claim, and it would be a shame to let the info I found slip away again. For every guild there are builders that really went the 'true fantasy' route: Mitgardia: Zilmrund, Ecclesiastes Nocturnus: well, basically all of them. Angeli, ZCerberus, Lord Vladivus, jaapxaap, lisqr, dubbadgrim, I Scream Clone Kaliphlin: robuko, Gabe (to avoid confusion, Flickr name: Gabriel Thomson) Avalonia: Derfel Cadarn, Legonardo, cesbrick, Henjin Quilones.

Your civilian scenes continue to impress, Gideon! With winter almost around the corner, I wish I could just walk straight into this warm, idyllic little place...

While I'd like to see that as well, I asked Rogue Angel about it earlier this year, and he was very clear about it: "We specifically unpinned the Nocturnus thread, so we wouldn't want to repin a new one". I imagine it is because 1) there is a long list of pinned topics already, and 2) it would still be a bit confusing for new members. There is the "Links to Popular Topics" thread, which now contains the link to the Nocty Settlement index, so that's something. Truth to be told, as long as there is no discussion in this thread, it doesn't warrant a place either among the pinned topics, or in the above mentioned thread. As ever, I'll be doing my best to change that.

I've already thanked you on Flickr, but thanks again!

The crowns do resemble antlers, cool! I kind of hate anti-studs as a texture, to be honest... Another point of criticism: the floor. I think it would have looked better if it were completely dark brown, or completely medium nougat, to provide better contrast to the furniture and walls. The strip of grey is a good step in that direction, though. Also, I really like the barrel rack. Keep it up, mate!

Rise from the dead, my brethren! For I have uploaded another Civil War build: https://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?/forums/topic/174193-nocturnus-civil-war-zotharians-in-the-underworld/

Same! I like it much better than the original colour combo, actually.

Thanks, Eoin! Pretty much all the (Nocty) underworld builds I have seen used shades of grey with shades of red/orange, so I thought I'd shake things up a bit with dark blue and turquoise. Btw, Nocty is full of great places like this, so come and visit!

Zotharians in the Underworld[Nocturnus Civil War] Ambush in the Rakath[Nocturnus Civil War] Onwards, to the Moruth Highlands! [Nocturnus Civil War] Turmoil in Camp Carakath Lord Raavage had been turned to dust at the hands of the 1st Corps of Zotharith, somewhere deep beneath the Rakath Mountains. While the Nocturnian civil war was still raging on in the Moruth Higlands and several other places on the surface, the 1st Corps was finally enjoying a day of relative peace, perhaps the first in weeks. Even though the Underworld was clearly a hostile place; lava lakes, blazing heat, razor sharp rocks, toxic gasses, and the ever-present chance of running into the Drow and other monsters; Exetrius could not help wondering at the eerie beauty that the place had. Also, the fact that it harboured villages and citizens, not much unlike the world above, fascinated him. Aestelle, a Hesperian elf who had who had been tasked with guiding the Zotharians through the underworld and who had studied its pathways like few other surface dweller, called him out of his thoughts. Aestelle "So.. do you look forward to meeting the Queen?" Exetrius "The.. Queen? How do you mean?" Aestelle "It hasn't really landed yet, has it? You defeated Raavage; of course you are going to meet Queen Ylspeth! What did you expect?" Exetrius "Oh, well eh... I suppose I didn't think that far ahead..." Aestelle "I hope your father has gifted you more than just white hair and a talent for magic, something like farsightedness could be helpful when being the future ruler of Zotharith. Exetrius "Ho, hang on.. I'm not --" A sudden scream from the back of troops stopped their conversation. A wave of panic broke out among the soldiers, who had started to rush to the front of the convoy. "Demon attack!!!" Exetrius turned around and saw a huge devil heading for them a high speed. Where did it come from? Was it a survivor of Raavage's battalion they fought earlier, or had the Drow of the Underworld taken notice of them? It didn't matter; the only thing that mattered was to find its weaknesses and to kill it. They would return to the surface, to Zotharith... all of them! -- A sign of life from Nocturnus! Feels good to be back, I hope it was worth the wait. C&C appreciated!

He probably accidentally entered the Spirit Realm, like Aang did.

It's been in there for more than a year, I think. As a similar case, I'm fairly sure you could pull the whole Overlord (from Rebooted) out of it, at some point. Anyway, bear in mind that exclusive availability is not really so extraordinary for the company as it is for us customers. It's simply one of their many original IP designs that they've produced, and it just happens to be in their BAM selection because it is a nice design, or because they had overstock. To find parts in there from CMF series from yeeeears back is more remarkable, imho. Also, I once found (and bought!) a single Ninja head, from the 1999 theme, brand new! There are definitely weird and nice things you can find in there.

Same!! Though it makes sense, for me the guaranteed printed decorations is one the theme's strongest assets and one of the main reasons why I like the theme. I don't apply stickers, so if the set relies on stickers to make it work, I'm not buying. On second thought, I'm not buying a lot of sets anyway, but I usually do order many printed pieces from B&P.