gedren_y

I tend to use baseplates, but they often do need to be landscaped quite a bit. I have experimented with other base types, most recently with Weapons Enchantment. I didn't even use any kind of base for my entrance into GoH. Depending on what you want to achieve, baseplates can help or hinder you. If you do want to go the irregular base route, wedge plates are everywhere these days. Has anyone tried to make a base out of just octagonal plates?

There is also a different version of the Chima armor in that pic.

4. Kristel - 1 point 19. ROOK - 1 point 45. soccerkid6 - 1 point 60. robuko - 1 point 63. Antonio - 1 point

16. Froghead - Yatkuu - 1 point 17. Attack of the Fish - cmaddison - 1 point 37. rEvolution - zane_houston - 1 point 52. Ivory Poaching - Ecclesiastes - 1 point 63.Nutcracker Mech - Classicsmiley - 1 point

53. Zaude - Yacapo - 1 point 56. Eco-City - LL - 1 point 68. Alien Autopsy - legolegolegolego - 1 point 72.The City of Tomorrow - touthomme - 1 point 83. Dark Shadows Over The Colony - Mr.Brickman - 1 point

NM, I hope you and your son have a great day. As to the Super Bowl, I have no interest in American Football (and I'm American), so I don't care who wins. In the Nestlands we prefer other sporting events. Those Brickforge Turbans also go with the Arabian Helmet, which is going for $0.75. Use the little round tops as mushrooms or finger bowls. The color you showed is now out of stock.

Okay, no vampire baddies. Just bad lighting. With the closer look at the dragon heraldry, it is better than thought, but not as good as Kingdoms. One positive note, though is that this itteration has a 'metal' border printing, which some in the AFOL community have been after. The CMF Evil Knight and CMF Heroic Knight have it, and it looks like it will continue. I actually enjoyed the look of the lion head in Royal Knights, but am not so much a fan of red, so this more angular version in blue suits me well. My dislike of red and the price held me off from buying the Kingdoms castle, I was more interested in the dragon faction there. I have since come to use some of the Kingdoms lions because of GoH, but they are in the minority of my collection. I will probably Bricklink some of the fancier torsos, but I do not want an army of Kingdoms lions. Those kind of uniform armies aren't even realistic for Medieval Europe. Also, this version uses a similar enough crown to Fantasy Era so that I may use the torsos and printed armor I have with these figs. I am also wondering if this will get labeled Fantasy Era 2. Fantasy Era simply had Castle as it's label on the packaging, and this dragon faction has red eyes and has a dragon. I was never able to get the big Fantasy Era dragons, so this is a plus. In the newest pics, you can see that the large flame is coming out of the front of the bottom jaw. I would replace that with a black tail section to give it a beard. I can say with reasonable certainty I will buy these sets, but like many AFOLs will not keep them the way TLG designed them. Remember, these sets were designed for kids to play with, while LOTR/Hobbit sets are designed to mimic movie sets. If you keep looking at these through the prism of LOTR, you will miss what is good here. And looking at these from a playability standpoint, they are superior in that respect than their Kingdoms counterparts. Even the little army builder gives you more than just figs and their weapons. If you don't like the heraldry, replace it with something you do. There are plenty of them to choose from, even third party decalers if you wish. This version of the King's castle doesn't use the lion brick, so you don't even have to do that much to give it to another faction. The bones of this King's castle look more like a fortress than the two previous itterations as well. I don't get the idea about how we should have had the Falcon crest as an enemy if there had been a return of Kingdoms. You do not invite your enemy to a joust. Those tournaments were for warriors within the kingdom, or from friendly kingdoms, to show their skill and earn the favor of the king and lords. Kingdoms seemed to be the most realistic of the modern castle lines with it's civilian elements and style of heraldry. That seems to have appealed more to AFOLs than young kids. Now TLG is delving back into fantasy with a play centered theme. The chunky wheels of the catapaults that some are decrying, are chunky so that they can withstand a great amount of play. At least these don't have the technic pin holes on the sides. That was a mistake in they made in previous themes. Action seems to be the idea of this theme, and that it carries of well.

Woah. 7891011 Overlord Way, the most by-the-book address in Overlord City.

Possible, but what is more likely is the box is still using a preliminary image. Secondly, pre-Christian Romans decorated their buildings with phalic symbols. The idea that Celts battled naked comes from a Christian era Roman drawing. Even the modern word Celt comes from the Greek word keltoi, not from any of the languages of the region. Now back to the issue at hand. Has anyone asked Fedro, who seems to have gotten the best pics, about his (I'm assuming male) experience at the German Toy Fair? Did he learn anything from the presenters about the upcoming Castle theme not apparent in the pictures?

As I and others noted in the 2013 Castle thread, there is now a 4x4 facet brick on the way. There is also a 2x2 corner wedge piece in Castle.

@rongYIREN: I'm glad you're happy with the result. These birds are runners and this makes it look fierce. Nice fix.

The gardener still looks worried. Maybe the truffles were stolen, just not by him. You Avalonians seem to enjoy your fungi.

The top right corner of this image at full size ( http://www.flickr.com/photos/61839591@N08/8431768247/sizes/o/in/photostream/) the fig in the barrel helm seems to have the white face on the box. Also in this image, the fig by the castle drawbridge looks to have a white face as well. He looks that way in this image (http://www.flickr.com/photos/61839591@N08/8431768421/sizes/o/in/photostream/) too.

Nice ideas guys. . . I would align my story with Damaximus' up till the battle of Cedrica. Post battle, we'll see who's ending becomes cannon. I'm planning my last scene to be my characters get to the ruined deserted Cedrica late, and find the body of Victor Revolword. They make sure he stays dead. I'm planning several small builds as part of my story along with the principal builds. Maybe some microscale. My new Lego order came in today, and I'm quite happy to announce that LoC parts will feature in my Challenge VI story. I only need one more LoC set and I will have my Armored Eagle Goddess and all her retinue. The giant egg she is supposed to be reborn in may take some time though, since the Duplo egg I want is kind of rare.

Did they catch someone trying to steal truffles from under the bushes? Looks like the guy with black hair is in trouble.

I took another look, and the dragon faction do have white faces. Even the box in the German Toy Fair image (top right corner) has white face dragon faction. Looks like this will be Fantasy Era 2. If this has a second wave, we could get man-bat figs. TLG has to use that mold for more than just one CMF and two Monster Fighters, right?

To those who say that the new castle looks too much like the Kingdoms castle: Have you actually looked at images of each one side by side? The Kingdoms castle octagonal corners are not towers, it is the square corners that are very open towers. You get three octagonal towers with this new castle, and the corner ones are diagonal from each other as opposed to in line. The new castle's towers also make use of the new 4x4 facet brick. The gatehouses are only superficially similar, as that they are three tiered, rectangular and use the new portcullis mold. The Kingdoms castle uses a lever action to raise the drawbridge with chains, while the new castle uses a pulley system with strings with stud ends. The strings are better attatched than the chains in the previous version. There is also a second pulley for some other unknown action. The new castle gatehouse's second tier has an outer walkway and its bottom tier is actually four studs wider. The new castle is atually deeper by at least four studs. The biggest similarity is that the side walls use panels and slopes, but there are differences there as well. This new castle has the medium dark flesh layer, which some people are decrying. I like to think of it as the remains of an older castle that this one was built on top of. This new castle also does not waste part count on a pitched roof. At the bottom of the back corner tower is either a storage room or dungeon (can't tell from the pics). There is also no barred door at the back of this castle. No rat infestation. And you get and enemy with a siege weapon for more playability. It is hard to tell but this castle may open at the middle. All in all, I find that this castle is superior than its predecessor. This one, from some accounts, may even be cheaper to buy.

@ rongYIREN: The tail cannon makes me think of what seagulls do while flying, so it should go. The ball joint should stay and give it a fanned tail. Try using these: http://www.bricklink...tem.asp?P=92692 (at least three) and with a bunch of these: http://www.bricklink...tem.asp?P=59229 with these: http://www.bricklink...tem.asp?P=48729 as connecters. The red ones can look like feathers. They might work for your wings as well. This is the kind of arrangement I was thinking of. Fanned Tail idea by gedren_y, on Flickr

Are those supposed to be pumpkins? It's cool, no matter what.

I am always happy to promote my builds, so here's the link for my Weapons Enchantment again: http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=79049 gedren_y

If you resize the image from the pic with the dragon to its original, you can get a good look at the lion faction large shield. It incorporates the metal edging look from the CMF Evil Knight's shield. I'm also glad that this theme also makes use of the crown emblem, as I have quite a few fantasy era toros and armor that have no place with my other themes. With these you can also use the Vikings and plain footsoldier Kingdoms torsos. Even some of the Prince of Persia torsos would work. Don't let the provided heraldry stop you from enjoying what is there under it.

Brickforge makes several LOTR inspired weapons that predate TLG's license. I believe this is supposed to be the Legolas blade: http://www.brickforg...ection=0&page=1 They don't have a white, but do have a glow-in-the-dark and truesilver(pearl light gray).

No, it's not. LOTR/Hobbit are licensed, and therefore subject outside design approval and timetables. TLG got in trouble when the Lone Ranger products page was online before the trailer for the movie was released. Castle is wholly in house, so they can release set information whenever they wish.

Here's my Kaliphlin mini-challenge build, Weapons Enchantment: http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=79049 Enjoy. gedren_y

The temple ruins in and around Gurree Spring are many millennia old, but in some places magic still lingers. On a small parcel of land that may have once been a wizard's conjuring room, the plants grow in a symetrical pattern. This is where fleshmage Neord Bloodmane and ice-maiden Ryssa Kend are enchanting weapons for the coming battles, drawing on the power of the land itself. Enchantment C 1 by gedren_y, on Flickr Enchantment C 2 by gedren_y, on Flickr (Ryssa is reveling in the feel of the magic flowing through her.) Enchantment C 3 by gedren_y, on Flickr (Neord is intent and focused.) Enchantment C 4 by gedren_y, on Flickr Warriors from around the Nestlands have come to see if their personal weapons could be given some magical aid. Such enchantments would be temporary, but any advantage in battle is desirable. Enchantment C 5 by gedren_y, on Flickr (Ehfrik Daffys [in dark orange] and Munruh Kihllwhit [in dark red] are hoping for armor piercing magic, or at least aid in targeting weak points.) Enchantment C 6 by gedren_y, on Flickr (Kynkayd Hernbolnd [in red] is looking to create fear in his enemies, while Hahndus Mohr [in grey] wants his weapon to shine with enhanced reflectivity to distract or blind the enemy. The Mountain Mummy is unsure of what to ask for, but showed up to see what can be done.) -------------------------------------------------- Here's some shots without the figs to show the symmetry of the plant life. Enchantment NF 1 by gedren_y, on Flickr Enchantment NF 2 by gedren_y, on Flickr Enchantment NF 3 by gedren_y, on Flickr Enchantment NF 4 by gedren_y, on Flickr (The shield in the middle belongs to Neord) ---------------------------------------------------- Some links to close up shots of the figs. Ice-maiden Ryssa Kend: http://www.flickr.com/photos/53412428@N02/8433319149/in/set-72157632657650567/ Fleshmage Neord Bloodmane: http://www.flickr.com/photos/53412428@N02/8434405760/in/set-72157632657650567/ (It is dificult to discern from the pic, but the sword is actually swirled two colors of pink and very light bley making it look like actual muscles and tendons. And yes, that is the Prince Zuko head.) Munruh Kihllwhit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/53412428@N02/8434406914/in/set-72157632657650567/ (Sporting the Prince Zuko armor.) Ehfrik Daffys: http://www.flickr.com/photos/53412428@N02/8434407922/in/set-72157632657650567/ Hahndus Mohr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/53412428@N02/8433322551/in/set-72157632657650567/ Kynkayd Hernbolnd: http://www.flickr.com/photos/53412428@N02/8434409192/in/set-72157632657650567/ (Yes that's a Star Wars head on a modified KKII fig. I think it works.) The Mountain Mummy: http://www.flickr.com/photos/53412428@N02/8434410450/in/set-72157632657650567/ (Basic, but I wanted to show off how I made the spear.) There are also a couple out of focus composition shots at the end of the Flickr set page. This camera is useless for this, but it gives you a better idea of the layout.