Gryphon Ink

The first movie of the Hobbit won't be released until December 14, 2012, so I would not expect to see any Hobbit-licensed merchandise until Q3 at the earliest. And the Harry Potter license is going away, isn't it?

I can do that. The water technique is distracting because the stacked clear plates stand out from the blue too much and look like a swarm of little transparent jelly worms rising out of the water to attack the island, instead of looking like water. I understand you were going for a frothy sea breaking on the sand, and in some of the pictures it does work, but in others it's too busy and pulls the attention away from the main features of the work. This might work better if you had different shades and colors in the water. Then there wouldn't be such a sharp contrast between the blue baseplate and the trans clear plates. But layering the water effectively would require building a couple more layers on your baseplate, in my opinion. The island and especially the building are very nicely built. I like them a lot. The water technique is interesting, but not as good as the rest of it.

I think we're pretty close to that day. 2012 will feature Star Wars, Cars, Superheroes, and possibly also POTC and LOTR (yes, both question marks, but I think at least LOTR is a good bet at this point). We hear from good sources that Alien Conquest and Kingdoms are finishing up, and of course Pirates won't be back for a while even if POTC does get dropped. That means Castle, Pirates and Space - all supposedly "Evergreen" lines - are MIA in 2012. That's discouraging to me. As a massive Tolkien fan, I'll be the first in line for LOTR sets, but I'd honestly prefer a different Castle subtheme. It doesn't have to be Kingdoms. I get that Kingdoms won't be around forever. Really, there are so many other cool Castle options that they could make, I'm sure we could combine them with the existing sets for a wonderful medieval world. I'd love to see a departure from the standard medieval knights sets towards Vikings or barbarians or Asian empires. But I'm doubtful that the LOTR sets will play well with Dragons and Lions. Stylistically, the POTC sets have a very different vibe from Classic Pirates sets, and I'm sure the same will be true of LOTR. It's funny, I haven't been into Lego for long enough to be a traditionalist, but I sure feel like one now.

Of all those, I'd go for Hogwarts, especially with the 40% coupon. It's a set I'd love to get, but I feel it's a tiny bit too expensive to justify the purchase. 40% off makes it a no-brainer. And you have the castle, so it's a perfect add-on!

I think a hardware store would be great, and I'd bet there is one in the pipeline. It's one of the things that almost every winter village display has. You could stock it with all kinds of things, and TLG could hedge if they want to and call it a "General Store" if they don't think "hardware" has enough kid appeal. It HAS to have a sled or toboggan for the kids to play on! Put a Salvation Army-style bellringer out front and maybe a small snow fort/igloo for the "secondary structure" that all the Winter Village sets have. This could make an awesome set. A tavern would be even better in my opinion, and although my first thought was that TLG would never do that, they have actually produced a couple of taverns in recent years. MMV has one, and so does the POTC London Escape set. So maybe it's not completely out of the question. I'd love an old-fashioned bookstore, too.

Went ahead and placed my order for the MMV on Amazon. Today is also the day I happened to find a Squidman's Escape set at TJ Maxx, so you know I had to have that. A great Lego day for me!

Sorry, but you're mistaken. Santa Claus has nothing to do with commercialism. He is an Americanized version of the English Father Christmas and the Dutch Sinterklaas, AKA St. Nicholas, a Christian folkloric figure named after the historical St. Nicholas of Myra. All of these figures were said to bring children gifts on Christmas Eve or on St. Nicholas' feast day, which is December 5. These beliefs go back at least as far as the 15th Century, possibly earlier (St. Nicholas lived in the 4th Century). There are some elements of Germanic paganism in the tradition as well, possibly amalgamated into Christian tradition at the time Charlemagne conquered the Saxons and forced them to convert to Christianity. What Christmas really means is a subject we can debate until the cows come home, but the fact is that Christians have been telling their kids that a mysterious supernatural benefactor delivered their Christmas presents since long before the Reformation. This has nothing to do with the doctrines of the Catholic church and everything to do with the folk beliefs of Christians. Santa, by one name or another, is actually a much older symbol of Christmas than the Christmas tree, an item that became popular in the 16th Century. I apologize to those who feel this discussion is derailing, but I really feel it's important to remember that this theme is called "WINTER Village" and not "CHRISTMAS Village". We now return you to your regularly scheduled discussion of Lego bricks.

I don't know what the next Winter Village set will be, but I do know one thing - okay, maybe two or three things - that I vehemently DON'T WANT it to be: Santa's Workshop, a Nativity scene, and the Old Stone Church. TLG's opposition to overtly religious motifs in Lego sets is not only an opinion that I respect but also something that I personally appreciate as a Jewish AFOL. I have little need for a church in my Winter Village. I'd rather have a giant Menorah-lighting ceremony down on the village green, but I understand that not all AFOLs will share my preference. My own personal preferences aside, the Winter Village should be mostly secular and nondenominational. That's the way the ceramic villages it mimics are made. They do feature some churches and Christmas trees, but for the most part they consist of houses and hotels and pet shops and toy shops and tailors and lighthouses and duckponds and skating rinks and whatnot, focusing on the joy and community of the winter setting and the "Norman Rockwell meets Charles Dickens" nostalgic vibe of a magical time that never was, rather than the religious aspects of the holidays. Look at the offerings from Department 56, one of the oldest and most popular makers of "Christmas villages": they've got churches, yes, but only a handful of them amongst hundreds of other buildings. Further down the line, if the Winter Village continues as a yearly tradition, it would not be out of place to get a little church as part of the village. But I'd rather have a candy shop, a sleigh ride or horse and carriage, a schoolhouse, hardware store and barbershop (all staples of the ceramic winter village scene) before we get the old stone chapel. And Santa's workshop never really needs to come as far as I'm concerned. I mean no offense to Christians by this. Santa Claus just isn't something that's traditional to me. As for predictions, my money is on a candy shop.

The problem with that is that they already put Barbossa out in two of the cheapest sets, including the skeletonized version of him, and they do have to limit the repeats of recognizable characters (not counting Jack, who infests every single POTC set for obvious reasons). And when you buy a $100 set, you expect to get at least one really good unique minifig and enough badguys to set up a decent battle scene, so they had to put Sharkboy in there as well as Davy Jones. It's not so much about reproducing one scene, more about giving you decent play options and putting something special in the set.

On the all-important subject of LEGO dinosaur accuracy, I'm surprised that noone's complained yet about the pteranodon. For one thing, pteranodons aren't dinosaurs. Yeah, I know, nobody gives a damn. And honestly, I don't care either. But oh, the inaccuracy!! But there is another, bigger problem with the pteranodons' wings being built completely wrong. It has two clear bone structures pointing backward to support the main wing membrane. One spreads back from the wrist within the membrane, looking similar to a bat wing model. The other comes from between the wrist and the shoulder. In reality, this bone is called a pteroid and should have pointed forward and towards the shoulder. Its function was to strengthen the forward membrane. What? Nobody cares? Then you mean to say that you also don't give a hoot that pteranodon was probably covered not in scales, or even feathers, but in hairlike fibers called pycnofibres? For shame, people. It's called accuracy! ... Yeah, just kidding. I love these dinos. The sets as a whole aren't really pushing my buttons, but the critters definitely are. I want them all for my orc army, especially the pteranodon (my favorite "dinosaur") and the raptor. My only real complaint is the dinos that are MIA, like the ankylosaurus and the stegosaurus. Let's hope for a second wave of herbivores!

That bear is just about the only thing I want out of all the 2012 City sets. And I thought of Beorn as soon as I saw it!

These are quite nice as MOCs, but the first set in particular doesn't have the feel of a TLG set. It's only partly because of the showers, but also because there aren't any play features and it's all one color. TLG would not make a standard set that was all gray, even if it is series-accurate. They would add trim in various other colors. At the very least they would have put black and brown accents in there. This set could also benefit from having one or two other characters, including an antagonist, and another mini-tableau so that you could actually stage some kind of playtime with it. Maybe pair it with a card table and offer minifigs of Starbuck and Saul, or Boomer even, so you could have one of those nice rec-room brawls. This is assuming TLG would approve of a playset incorporating alcohol, card games, unisex showers and violent insubordination. Hey, I'd buy it! I love your Viper. That one really does seem like something you could imagine TLG making.

TLG never tell you everything in the official description. There isn't any explanation for the barrel full of gold coins in the MVR, either. Why do the peasants have all this gold? Furthermore, why is one of the Dragons holding a fish in the King's Carriage Ambush set? And why a coffee mug on a space shuttle? They are all jokes and Easter Eggs and hidden extras that let you imagine further possibilities for play. And I strongly believe that the Dragonesque Falcon Knight is another one. It's not spelled out in the description because to spell it out would have limited the play options inherent in the set. But I find it a bit hard to believe that TLG simply forgot that dark green and black happen to be the colors of the second faction in Kingdoms. Nor do I think it likely that they forgot to give the Falcon a squire. I'd say "a cheesy disguise", in keeping with the old Lego tradition. Like burglars who go around wearing their prison uniforms to bank robberies, or pirates who have the skull and crossbones on their sails.

It's a real pleasure seeing how you design these amazing pieces, Derfel. Thanks for posting this very helpful guide.

Forgive me, friends, for I have sinned. I wandered through TRU with the kids today, hoping to find a couple of CMFs, and ended up buying myself one green baseplate and ONE PLAYMOBIL SET for my youngest. Sorry, but Playmobil have Lego thoroughly whipped in the category of small playsets with lots of teeny accessories for kinder to set up house with. It strikes me that this is actually the category that the new Friends theme is trying to get a foothold in. All those miniature spatulas and shop tools that I saw in the leaked Friends pics are remarkably similar to Playmobil's accessories. Not only that, but the minifigs with the one-piece legs are exactly how the Playmobil figs are made. We see a lot of cases of competitors copying Lego designs, but this is one case where TLG is following the competition's example.

One thing this set has going for it is this really sweet figure. Her eyes are great.

I bought this set for my own Smallest Kobold (age 3) a while back. My thoughts were similar to yours - SK already has two enormous tubs of Duplo that she loves building with, but she also loves my System minifigs and houses, so I thought this set would be a nice addition to her boxes of plain bricks. To be honest, it was not the greatest success. She did play with it for a while, but it didn't seem like the set added much to her playing. I think it might be because there is only a single fig in it (chickens don't count, apparently). Having only one doll means there is no character interaction going on, and with only 11 pieces there aren't a lot of jobs that character can do. I got a much better response to 6137, "My First Supermarket". This is a $20 set that has 38 pieces, including two Duplofigs and assorted interesting things like a hand cart, a scale, baguettes and a cake. Smallest Kobold LOVED this set. There's much more to build and more things the characters can do once you're finished building. I would unhesitatingly recommend 6137. "My First Zoo" (6136) looks pretty cool as well, with four animals and a car.

Even though the Revenge has a higher piece count, judging by the pictures in the Polish review it seems that the two ships are actually the same size. This would make sense, since in reality they are the same ship. I think the Revenge's higher piece count comes mostly from all the gingerbreading and the built-up stern castle. Personally, I will be buying the Pearl when I have the money. The Revenge doesn't appeal to me much with all those bone pieces and that huge stern. The Pearl is not only the iconice POTC ship, but also can integrate much better with other fantasy and pirate sets as a ghost ship or generic black pirate ship. Plus, that's a whole lot of black for MOCing with if I decide to dismantle it. I love the Pearl's minifigs, too. And, of course, the idea of paying $20 less has a strong appeal for me. I have not yet bought any set that cost over $100, and the Revenge is not pretty enough for it to be my first. I think the Pearl is a very nice set. Slightly disappointed that it doesn't come with a monkey. On the other hand, the Revenge wins hands down for anybody who wants a lot of skeleton pieces for MOCing. And I don't know anything about the play features of either set. ETA: I just have to say, right now I'm reading Tim Powers' book "On Stranger Tides", which the latest movie was "inspired by", and Holy Quantum Mechanics, Batman - if they'd followed the book AT ALL the latest movie would have been about fifty times better. Yeah, that's way off topic, but I had to throw it out there.

I think this whole thing is pretty awesome. I saw the Shinkai sub a while ago but had no idea how it came to be. Finally there is a legitimate platform for all those people who go around saying "give us new Forestmen sets! Bring back Classic Space!" Just design a set or nominate an old favorite, put it on Cuusoo, and see if the votes come in. I'm doubtful about the chances that any of the Star Wars and other licensed theme sets will be produced, though. Small production runs equal small profits, and licensing would probably eat away too much of the leftovers for it to be worth TLG's time and effort.

Yes, as far as I know no real-world princess ever got handed off to a knight just because he had the good luck of defeating everyone else in a tournament. But that's the story of this set as far as I can tell from the TLG/Eurobricks description in the first post. I figure it makes a classic story for the kids to play out, so IMO it's like horns on a Viking helmet: historically inaccurate, but cool nonetheless.

Oh, I understood that. But the premise of the set is that the winner gets to marry the princess, and conservative parent groups everywhere would be up in arms at the mere possibility of that outcome. I agree though, it's a very cool set as it is, and I guess we'll have to come up with our own subversive stories to go with it.

Wow. I think this is even better than your Starfury, even though the Starfury is of course the more famous B5 icon. Wonderful work! Please tell me you're going to try to do a White Star or a Minbari cruiser. I think they might be tough to build, but they would be SO awesome.

I love it! It's true, Pride events have become pretty tame compared to past decades, but I guess that's a small price to pay for the much greater levels of understanding and tolerance of today. (Also, it tickles me that right before seeing this MOC, I was responding to a post about the possibility of seeing a pair of women getting married in the Kingdoms theme. Hey, maybe someday it will happen!)

I would definitely buy that set, but TLG generally plays their gender politics very conservative. It will be a cold day in Hell before they release a set that shows a female knight winning any tournament, let alone winning the Princess' hand in marriage. On a related tangent, this set has me looking forward to lots of Song of Ice and Fire (AKA Game of Thrones) MOCs to come in the next couple of years.

Now that so many people have commented on the Falcon Knight, I've had some new thoughts. What if the Knight actually is a Dragon Knight? It would totally fit. The Lions and Dragons are at war, so if some hopelessly romantic young Dragon was to fall in love with yon Lioness, he'd be SOL. Until, lo and behold, the Lion King declares that whoever wins this tourney shall marry his daughter. Young Draco sees his chance at last. Taking the arms and armor of a dead Falcon knight, vanquished these many years ago, he enters the tourney as a Black Knight. At the end of the joust, he removes his armor and reveals his true identity. Maidens swoon, and many a Lion knight mutters a curse or two, but the King has given his word, and the wedding is on. And they all lived happily ever after. Duh.