Runamuck

Thanks for the info TalonCard. It is nice to see that the thread hasn’t been forgotten. Funny little show, the narrator reminds me of Garry Chalk. This is very interesting; I hadn’t thought that stage shows would hold some new names. If I remember correctly LEGOLAND in Billund also has a stage in the old pirate part of the park, but I have never seen any of the shows. Is it just me, or does Miranda Valentina bear a rather striking resemblance to the female figure included with Brickbeard’s Bounty? Admittedly we never get at that great look at her in the video, but white dress and blue pants match the figure, even the details I can make out on her torso match the figures. Sawtooth also matches the shark that is included with BBB. The female figure is, as far as I remember, called the admiral’s daughter in the set description, so does that mean that we also have an unseen admiral Valentina among the pirate characters? I was actually considering digging up this thread again anyways, since I have noticed that the LEGO wiki lists a few Pirates of the Caribbean figures from other ports of the game that aren't on my list that was based on the PC version. Morey, Palifico,Manray and Greenbeard, some of Davy Jones goons, appear in a different version of the game. Monk, one of Barbossas goons, also appears in the DS version. Considering that I have already mentioned characters from licensed sets, let’s just also mention The Flying Dutchman, Spongebob Squarepants and Patrick Star for good measures.

Thanks for the comments. I’m very happy with how the Piranha turned out. I have also gotten around to building a few more vehicles and characters. Jade Champion, older sister of Grove Champion, and former owner of the Piranha. Antonio Malochio, leader of the auto mercenaries in the original game and also Jade’s killer. Phaedra Coupe (Ford Coupe model B) Vehicle of choice for Oktoberfest, member of Auto Villains for a Meatless America. Courcheval Hacienda (Chevrolet El Camino) Driven by the rather far out auto villain Whirlwind, man. Phaedra Pony (Ford Pinto) This is the ride of the auto vigilante Inferno.

I think that the bow part is a somewhat uncommon one, but not a new one. I think it is also used in the back end of the helicopter in 3222.

I have gotten around to building a few cars for the Auto Mercenaries. Phaedra Palomino (Ford Mustang) This is the ride of the shrill second in command of the Voodoo Riders, Disco Cat. ABX AMZ (AMC Javelin AMX) I don’t think that it will surprise anyone that the driver of this car calls himself Patriot. Dover Rampage (Dodge Challenger) This one is supposed to resemble one of the cars in the intro for Nitro Riders. Note the mortar launcher on the roof. ABX Leprechaun (AMC Gremlin) Cannon fodder. I must say, it is a bit difficult to make cars like the Piranha, Palomino and Rampage look different from each other, they are rather similar in general shape after all. I don’t have Interstate 82, but I played a demo of the game when I was a kid and it got me interested in the series.

Thanks. Yes, it’s not exactly a game that was released recently; the game is from 1997 after all. My brother and I are interested in retro gaming, and this is certainly a gem among the games we have found. Maybe some information will help people to understand the game a bit better http://interstate76.wikia.com/wiki/Interstate_'76 a wiki about the original game, not too much info about the expansion pack though. Also a trailer for the game: Then again, you don’t need to have played the game to like muscle cars.

I’m not quite sure what section this would be best suited it, but I’ll put it here for now. Alright yo cool cats listen up, my bro and I have been building a few cars based on an old video game called Interstate ‘76 about combat between some smooth rides with some added firepower. The Game is set in 1976…a different 1976… The Picard Piranha (Plymouth Barracuda) That’s a .30 cal machinegun, not a tailpipe by the way. Grove Champion’s ride of choice. The Jefferson Sovereign (Lincoln Continental) A.K.A. Eloise Taurus’ beloved ride. The Dover Street Van GrooVan (Dodge Street Van) Skeeter’s ride and mobile mechanic shop. Group shot of the Auto Vigilante Guild. Skeeter doesn’t have a special face because of the cut scene graphics, stylish as they may be; don’t really give him any distinguishable facial features. My brother and I will probably make some more cars and characters later. Tips for improvement are welcome.

Looks interesting, my brother likes War for Cybertron. About Grimlock, varies from continuity to continuity. In this one he will apparently have been built on Cybertron. The closest thing to Ironhide is that Grimlock was built by Ratchet (same bodytype as Ironhide) and Wheeljack on earth in the 80’s cartoon

That Optimus is simply amazing. I like the small details, like the taillights on the feet. One minor thing, I would have preferred the original version of “The Touch”

This is one I have been waiting to do ever since I began posting Avatar MOCs. I have finally gotten the gears that I needed. The Fire Nation’s tank. A better view of the details on the top of the tank. The interior of the tank. There is enough room for a figure, but not quite as much room as in the show, where as far as I remember it has a crew of 3. And now for a few action shots. Of cause this is based on “The Northern Airtemple.” Katara thinks that she has defeated the tank… …but unfortunately for her… …the tank… …still has a few tricks up its sleeve. There are a few variants of the tanks throughout the series. One of those is the ballista version. And finally the driver. One of the men and women of the homeland forces of the Fire Nation. Originally I wanted to use the Eye patch officer as a driver, but I chose the home forces so I didn't have to make room for a helmet inside the turret. P.S. Sorry about the double post.

I think there might be variations of the cannon types in some sets. I have seen it in the Peeron inventories rather often. Oddly enough Peeron only lists non-shooting cannons for either number that this ship has. The one I have, 6290 version judging from the plans, has shooting cannons though. It could be that the former owner switched them, I bought it secondhand, but out of the many cannons I own and have seen, there has never been any non-shooting among them.

There is a little two page comic in the Donald Duck magazine that I mentioned earlier. The comic is about the LEGO version of Jack Sparrow telling about his DUEL ON ISLA DE MUERTA. I suspect from the title that it has been translated from English. It is a silly little story narrated by Jack, and Elizabeth a few times doubts that it was the way things happened. There are also a few references to the LEGO website for Pirates of the Caribbean. I know it is not exactly “classic pirates”, but I could provide a scan if anyone wants one. There is also a little contest where you have the chance of winning some LEGO POTC sets. Judging from the preview next week’s magazine will also be pirate themed, I wonder if the will be more LEGO included with that one. The back cover of the magazine is one big ad for the LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean sets and video game. It is advertising it as news, despite the fact that the sets have been out all summer.

Does anyone remember that polybag Jack Sparrow that popped up a few pages ago? Guess what I noticed in this week’s Donald Duck magazine. There should also be a little LEGO comic in the magazine, I'll probably say something about it once I have looked through the magazine.

I own this ship, and I like it. It is probably the worst of the big pirate ships, but the average quality of the pirate ships is very high so that it is not completely terrible. I must disagree about the crew, captain Roger Redbeard is the least interesting figure, since he is in about a billion other sets. I like the other pirates for having new torsos, heads and black bandanas, which make the stand out a bit from most other pirates from the old theme. I think that the ship has some flaws. I hate it when there is a clear place for a canon and they didn’t include it. Also the canon system is a bit too simplistic for my taste. The ship could use 2 or 3 more sails and maybe some rope over the top of the masts. I wouldn’t mind some doors for the cabin, but a lot of ships are missing those. At least the cabin kind off has a table inside it. I don’t mind the gimmicks too much even if they are a bit unnecessary; they are in places that usually aren’t used for anything else anyways and they function very well. It could use some mechanism like those on the Skull’s Eye Schooner to keep the cabin side from flopping around when it is being moved. I don’t like the figure head, why didn’t they use a skeleton; they had been invented by then. I like the somewhat cartoonish piratey bits of the ship. While realism is fine, the cartoonish symbols also have its quality, even if it is a somewhat childish mindset. The skull on the back is quite well made. While the plank easily falls of, it is an ok addition. What do people actually mean when they say that there aren’t enough details anyways? The ship does have some neat details in my opinion.

I will admit that I’m not very good at replying at many MOCs. The sheer number of MOCs is just overwhelming, even if it is limited by only liking certain themes. It’s often a bit random what sparks my interest in taking a better look at a MOC. Usually I can’t really add much either, but if there is something that I felt have been overlooked I might say something. I might point out errors, but I will try not to be rude about it and also point out nice parts to give it a sort of balance, and ask if there is something I would like to know how it was made. Personally I like getting a critical response to my creations. It can often give me new ideas, or help me find solutions to problems that I overlooked while building. Although I can get a bit defensive about things, I will often try respond to the comments by explaining my building choices.

I have taken a couple of pictures of my misprints and my missing print castle and pirate parts. My armless wolf pack torsos, a normal wolf pack figure for comparison, and a terribly misprinted parrot. Not all of the torsos are really misprints. The top row is fine, the second one is somewhat off center, the third has one with a brown edge instead of a red one and one with a little gap between the black background and the red edge, and the fourth row is the worst. Missing prints.

I actually have some old misprinted castle bits. I bought them on a flea market, and I suspect that they might have been taken out from the actual production. I don’t really have pictures of all of them though. Here we have a good example. One of the wall pieces is printed upside down. I actually have multiple of these. I also have some other bits from the same source that are misprinted or missing their prints entirely. I have a lot of wolf pack torsos without arms that have all sorts of misprints. Missing black background, smudged red edge, off-center wolf head, smudges wolf heads missing their eyes or a combination of it all. I have some horse bardings and horses with no print at all. I also have some all-white bicorners for that flea market, but those aren’t really castle parts. I’ll see if I can get around to taking some pictures.

I found some new pieces on a flea market yesterday, and the new bit gave me some new opportunities and a bit of inspiration. Sorry about the double post by the way. A primitive little hut, but it’s the home of a true bending master. Firebending master Jeong Jeong. Former Admiral and one of few surviving deserters from the Fire Nation. The new hairpiece was what sparked the idea, even if it is gray. Jeong Jeong’s hair is actually white, but the only white hair I have is a set of pigtails, which would probably be perfect for Yue. Some of the other bits I got were the bits for Iroh’s Fire Nation outfit. Zuko has actually has the ponytail sticker all the time, but is has until now been hidden by hairpieces. But what would these two characters be at this stage of the story without… http://img851.imageshack.us/img851/7983/img0645am.jpg Zuko’s ship. I have even some of the functions into this ship. The spike on the front folds down into a ramp The smaller boat is stored in the back of the ship. There is actually room in the small boat for two people. I have even made some interior for the ship. Iroh’s monkey statue and the dining room. Zuko’s room with bed, dual dao swords for decoration and that odd dragon shrine thing. Also the bridge. Plenty of room below deck, hiding another thing… The catapult, complete with flaming shots. It shoot quite far and high, perfect for shooting down a flying bison. Also, note the anchor, which can be lowered or raised.

Well, “The Northern Air Temple” is where the war balloon debuted. If there is one thing I have learned, it’s that it is really hard to build tiny thing in LEGO like the monkey statue. I was originally thinking about having the statue just randomly appear in the background of some photo, maybe that would have been funnier. I don’t quite understand, did I make an accidental reference to “Everybody Loves Raymond”? Now that you mention it, the proportions of the face I made for Suki are a bit similar to the chancellor’s. I know that the Unagi is too small, but it is roughly the same size as the LEGO version of the MIdgaard Serpent, which has much worse scale problems. The Unagi may be big, but it is at least not supposed to be long enough to reach around the world. Anyways, I have a minor problem; I don’t have any ideas how to build regular firebenders. I can probably do the imperial type, probably the homeland version, and easily the Shyamalan version, but I don’t have any red Vladek masks for the regular ones. Does anybody have some good ideas for a possible helmet/sticker combo that isn’t too complicated?

This list seems like a bit of a mess. You could almost suspect they, the writers, only had these castles and not much else. Let me take a look on the castles on the list. 6080 King’s Castle It’s a good castle, but it has always struck me as a bit dull. Compared to Black Monarch’s Castle, which has a very similar layout, it seems blocky and simple. I do though like the figures in King’s better; the figures in Monarch’s have terrible color coordination, red pants and blue torsos looks odd in my opinion. 6082 Fire Breathing Fortress I like it, but it has some problems. The dragon head looks out of place. The castle has a good shape, but the interior is only a dragon cave that’s not even wide enough for the dragon to stand properly. 6073 Knight’s Castle A fine castle, but it’s one of the smaller ones. The red gate looks kind of weird in my opinion. 6075 Wolfpack Tower A good set, but maybe a bit too small to really be a full “castle”. 6046 Hemlock Stronghold I don’t own this set. I’m probably more accepting of the late 90’s castles than many people, but this set looks weird, and it’s far from the only castle set with a catapult for defense. Again, it’s probably too small to really be a castle. 6098 King Leo’s Castle This castle has loads of problems, holey walls, no backside, and a bloody hole under the castle’s main building! Lots and lots of gimmicks. 4709 Hogwarts Castle Yes it’s a castle and probably a fine set (although the release time could maybe make this statement wrong), but it is not part of the castle theme. I think most people would expect this list to only have sets from the castle theme on it. 6097 Night Lord’s Castle I own it and I like it. It is very different from most castles, and that is why I like it. While I think that it is a good set, I do acknowledge that it has its faults, like missing some doors, and it should probably not be on a list of the top 10 best castles. 375/6075 Yellow Castle Genesis! It’s a fine castle, I like the figures, but it has its problems. First and foremost it’s very old and feels like it. It opens in a weird way. Personally I’m not too fond of the build, you get nowhere fast and the plans are a bit hard to follow. It also suffers from the fact that the horse hadn’t been invented yet. 8877 Vladek’s Dark Fortress I don’t own this set, but from all pictures I have seen this looks like a really good castle. It could probably use a figure or two more, but otherwise it looks really really good.

I’ve got a jar of dirt!

Ugh, I’m an idiot I should have searched for it. It’s not even that long ago that the thread was made. I should in general probably check the sci-fi forum more often. One thing that I find interesting about the comic is how closely Kazak’s people resemble the Blacktrons, despite the comic predating the Blacktrons by a year.

I did consider the viking horns when I originally built it, but I couldn’t think of a way to make them stay in the upper jaw. I hadn’t thought of the clip plates though. It already looks much better with the new teeth. I don’t know about the dragon wings at the moment, but it might be worth remembering for a future build. I think there actually were some fish fins among some of the Belville sets; they could maybe be used if I had any. I have also improved the legs of the komodo-rhinos a bit. I have also been working on some other figures: Suki and a few of her fellow Kyoshi warriors. Basic Fire Nation infantry and an officer. The colors don’t match perfectly with the troops we normally see, but you could say that these guys are army where most we see on the show are navy and marines. I went with the golden samurai “bug horns” for the officer, I tried using red Viking horns, but they wouldn’t stay in place, and since the only other red alternative was a sausage, I went with the gold horns instead. The best solution would probably be a set of red islander horns, but I doubt that they exist. A few closeups: http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/1733/img0621h.jpg http://img31.imageshack.us/img31/2376/img0622tt.jpg Katara looking at the mysterious monkey statue from “The Waterbending Scroll”. And since I don’t have to worry about spoilers, I can show you what I was building yesterday. A Fire Nation war-balloon. Prince Zuko’s to be precise. I even made a little fire inside the oven to keep this hot air balloon afloat. The lid on the top opens (yes the balloon is made out of massive bricks), and the rudder can move from side to side.

I picked this comic up a few months ago, but haven’t posted about it until now. It’s a Danish comic by Frank Madsen. It’s about Jim Spaceborn and his friends from the Spearhead and their adventures through space, where they fight the evil Kazak. The comic is nothing special in terms of story but it’s kind of cute, and it has a few interesting builds depicted in it. Has anybody heard about this one before?

Thanks for replying for me Oky, I would have done it myself, but I was a little busy building something. The Unagi does look a bit dorky if I may say so myself. The teeth don’t look all that threatening, it kind of has Simpsons teeth, but it looks even worse without them. I would have liked for the fin to extend a bit further up, but I didn’t know how to pull that off without it getting complicated. I like the eyes though. The head for Koh is a sticker I made. I was thinking that Aurra Sing’s ugly mug might be a good fit, but I don’t have the figure. Ventress would be a good choice too though. For once creepy eyes wouldn’t be a problem. I would recommend the cartoon, it’s one of very few series where I bought the DVDs of it. Does that mean that I should take spoilers into account when I am building something?

I would love to see any characters related to the Dark forces/Jedi Knight games. Especially the Dark Troopers, all 3 phases of them. An Arc Hammer set would be really cool. The various dark Jedi would be rather fun to have too. And of course Kyle Katarn and Jan Ors. Also the guys from Republic Commando, they would even fit with the Clone Wars theme. And maybe the guy with the ice cream maker from Cloud City Just kidding.