Shadows

We'd all be scared. Updated.

*stands and walks to the front of the room, glaring at what remains of the crowd* Someone toss Draggy out. This isn't the place to be discussing his paintograph skills, and we have important business of our own without his whining. (OOC: Check your jpg compression setting) Now, as for the disgraceful events of this morning... I'm not the slightest bit surprised. I tried to get you to take out the only person we could be sure wasn't a loyalist, and you idiots decided it was better to take a random guess instead! NO ONE LISTENS TO THE RIGHT PEOPLE... and the good die, day after day. But that's exactly what some of you want, and what you keep getting. Someone needs to review yesterday and determine just who it was that steered us away from killing a mercenary just like Calvin and caused the death of this poor man. *points at the rotting corpse of Fred* It wouldn't be rotting yet, it's pretty fresh... Oh shut up. I don't have to, you're not my boss here. *gives Staudie the look* Right. I'm shutting up now. Answers! I want them, and I want them NOW! We're at the brink of disaster, we've got to stop this before it goes any further or we're all doomed, and I don't really want to die at their bloody hands. Do you? Of course. Everyone is a loyalist, it's probably how you win the game ... of life. Stay alive and win at all costs, even if you have to cover for traitors to keep them from taking you down. That's the problem with mercenaries, you can claim anything you want, and be working for anyone, without identifying them, doing their private work at our expense. How easy would that be? We don't know your motives. Calvin proved that mercenaries aren't even always loyal to the side they work for when he named Marcus as a traitor. I'm sure you're broken up about it. That seems a little odd, doesn't it? I'm going to ask you point blank. Are you a loyalist? Oh, and working for a loyalist isn't the same thing, just to be clear on that. If we kill you, will it say that a loyalist died?

Why would I need another job when this one pays so well?

Absolutely no reason not to stay comfortable here. Unless they're going to leak inside information from TLG, which would go against the terms of their Ambassadorships, what do they have? We have the history, the members, and the spirit. We hold exciting contests with impressive prizes and lots of participation. We've been actively showing our appreciation for the line for years. Why would anyone choose to switch to the copy when they can have the original?

I have to wonder why I'm not in the impending poll.

No idea on where to get that many at one time. I'd actually post a request on Bricklink. If they ever made it to the Pick-a-Brick wall, someone could easily have that many and just not think to list them. I've never noticed a large demand, though I am fond of them and white epaulettes myself. Beyond that, all you can really do is just keep buying the small quantities as they appear, or look for cheap figures that include one (some of the adventurers are surprisingly cheap). I'd be lucky to scrape up 5 spares, and that's probably typical for non-dealers. Please post some pics of your progress. We're always interested in such things, and it sounds great. Despite the pith helmet, it isn't really an adventurers request. Traditionally, this is where most of the historical army builders go, unless it's specific to Wild West, which goes in history and adventure, so he's actually right in this case.

Wow. Just wow. A massive set and an incredibly detailed review. I'd give the review a 5. Lots of pics and details. I give the set a 4. It's too expensive to use as an army builder, but it's the greatest, most distracting chess set in LEGO history. I really do like the Dwarves corner a lot. I need to get the instructions to this. I don't think I'll manage to pick this one up. No space, no money. Great job, WhiteFang!

If you need to remove very slight scratches from non-trans pieces, I'd try rubbing with Brasso. It results in a very smooth and shiny piece, at least from what I've done. Still, it's a lot of hassle and I only use it to remove print from pieces that have damaged logos and such. I've heard that soaking in hydrogen peroxide helps. I've also heard that despite what people think, sometimes lack of sun exposure can cause it too, so literally a little sunlight helps. I haven't tried either.

Without even commenting on the content much, I'm going to give you a quick lesson in corporate communication, because I'm annoying like that (but trust me, it matters). Keep it short. Four paragraphs in, you've lost your reader. If it's more than a page, it won't be read in it's entirety. It's why I didn't read your full post. Write properly. Spell-check it, review it manually, try to pay attention to dropped words. I saw at least one instance of that in the bit I scanned. It's an easy mistake. You know what you want to say, so when you read it you see the dropped word, even though it isn't there. They won't. A poorly formed letter will be dismissed. Be direct, but not blunt. Calm, polite language says a great deal about the author and greatly increases the chance that what you write will be read and even considered. Anger and rudeness guarantees failure. Constructive criticism is always best. If you don't like something, don't just cut it down. Instead, explain what you do like, and how it differs from what is being presented. If possible, point out something good and something bad in each point. People are more receptive to that. Choose your battles wisely. Too many LEGO complaints involve the myth of juniorization (save it for another thread or I'll go on for hours proving that castles in 1984 were just as <insert that tiresome argument> as 1994, 2004, and now) or the colour change. They've heard it before. Pick a couple of things that are very important to you, things that they could potentially change without causing the company financial ruin, and pitch those. Find an angle. If you want a new part, explain how useful it could be in a variety of themes and situations. Sell the whole idea, don't just drop it out there and expect them to suddenly realise all of the potential it has. Beyond that, just write what you feel, then reread it a dozen times, word by word, until it's the way it should be. Take your time, consider everything you say, and then give it a shot. Good luck!

Aw, a Santa Vader and his very own Red Ghost Elf, just for me! Thanks!

I bought mine before the prices got silly. I'll admit, it seemed like a better concept than reality, but I still like it. I've had an idea for a moc involving it for ages but haven't gotten to it. I didn't get a Santa Vader card.

Glad someone noticed the hat. Ha! It's pure, official LEGO. Plus Brasso. I picked up a random parts assortment on eBay and when it came in, I found an Admiral's bicorne with an area of missing print. A little Brasso and 10 minutes later I had a prefectly white and incredibly smooth bicorne. It's amazing stuff, even though I won't do it to anything but damaged print.

An obvious way for someone to get banned. Let's not always feel we need to post the obvious. It's like giving the recipe for a bomb. Sure, most people are smart enough not to try it, but one dork will blow his fingers off, if you know what I mean.

You know, these things are more fun this way, now that I'm back to just intro/outro/pics. I think we finally found the right format and the live interview, while not perfect, works a lot better. I guess we'll have to redo all the old ones now ... Oh hell no. Forget it.

Staudie proves that point daily.

You know... that was a more fun day, despite the insanity and general mayhem.

Happy Birthday, you old pickle! Oh, heck, you can be a cucumber, it is your special day after all.

Yeah, you were investigated by Calvin, a mercenary who worked for Lord Ash, the traitor that I had to convince you people to execute! Let's see. I wanted us to kill Calvin, the known employee of a traitor. I actually suspected General Spencer, who had, in fact, killed a loyalist. Kyle, who should have been able to identify Marcus as Grim's killer couldn't be sure, despite being 10 feet away. So excuse me! Oh gee, I'm sorry, this requires some clarification. Do you have TWO night actions now or are you just a big stinky liar? You've tried to claim you could stop Marcus from killing because you somehow knew he was a night killer (a position I didn't even know existed, but you magically did), but you didn't save Grim, a loyalist. Now you want us to believe that you can investigate as well? This is becoming all too clear. You pulled the same thing the night you got mad at Dragonator for exposing your deception, and you're doing it again after distracting us from stopping a potential mercenary. Then you tried to throw suspicion on me because we both made the same joke in pm about killing each other. You're sounding desperate, my Lord. Are your plans unraveling? Nice plan, if we had gone through with dealing with Kyle, but we didn't, thanks to some traitors who have distracted us, yet again.

You make some very interesting points. If Fred turns out innocent, I think tomorrow should be "who made us split our votes/distracted us" day. I don't like that the crowd decided to take a shot in the dark here anyway, when we have at least a couple of reasonable suspects we could have considered, making better use of our opportunities.

Everything has come in twos in this game, and the other mercenary was the investigator. You connect the dots. Mercenaries aren't loyal to anyone, so I don't see how we can know what to believe out of one. Calvin was working for a traitor, but informed us that Marcus was a traitor who murdered in the night. Clearly, mercenaries have their own agenda, or he wouldn't have betrayed his boss. As for Fred, I guess that's as good as anyone, though I don't see why we would have more suspicion of him than Kyle, but this is just a "don't kill us randomly" vote anyway. Unvote: Trexxen/Kyle Vote: Adam/Fred.

I wouldn't trust Staudie's list of suspects, as it were. The mods can do titles as well. I can't speak for anyone else, but it wasn't me.

Really? I wasn't around as much that day (OOC: the computer crashplosion). Well, good job! (did she really? ... oh, I bet that was after I, uh, spent the night with Lady Suzanne to see if she did anything unusual... she didn't, dammit ) How dare I not call you bright. Do you mean... oh, nevermind. Um, I didn't mean to confuse you. What I said was that I usually spend time with you when it isn't bright, like at night. You must have misheard. I'm sorry. As for choosing, you always choose not to sleep. I don't blame you today, it's about all we've got.

At this point, I'm not making any associations, but we're getting to the point where it's guess or someone dies. I'm not comfortable with that, and I don't think anyone will hold it against us if we're wrong, given the circumstances. If he's a traitor, I'll just be glad we scored one. I remember his comments about torture being odd and confusing and that's enough for me. I don't think she's only gone with my choices, she just goes with the crowd in general. You know the kind... She isn't too bright, but so far it's helped us deal with what traitors we've managed to discover. And it's kept the nights interesting. What was that? Oh, nothing Mary, we were discussing burning Staudie to boil some soup. No, I don't know what kind of wood he is, something dense, I'm sure. Now go back to your dusting, we have business to attend to here. <whispers> See what I mean? </whispers>

ENOUGH! *Staudie jumps several feet in the air* Shadows? Shhh... I'm Rotrigous, it's acting you know. I'd have known that bellow anywhere. Uh huh. Shut up. But I'm the... *gives Staudie 'the look'* Right. Sorry. Now, we don't have a lot of time left before one of us dies. Given our previous record with Draggy, he'll kill a loyalist, he always does. We can't afford to lose one, and at the very least, we should decide just who goes ourselves. Revisiting past days and former suspicions, I think that Kyle is either a traitor or a mercenary. If he's either, we don't lose anything by killing him. If he's a loyalist, we don't lose any more than we would if we didn't vote at all. I'm going to bed shortly and this day could end before I get back, so I have no choice but to place a vote, even if it is a guess. Vote: Trexxen / Kyle. I suggest you all do likewise, or you'd better all come to some agreement (and no, we can't kill Staudie, lord knows I've tried).

Well, I guess that's possible, but there might be an extra twist to it. Night actions work unless someone counters them. I think Lord Savril has claimed to have stopped Marcus on that occasion (though how he suspected Marcus was a night killer days before anyone else is beyond me). So, for your theory to work, Friar Brown AND Lord Savril would both have to be traitors and know that they could pull that stunt, which seems pretty risky to me. I'm not sold, but I do think we need to get someone lined up here, before we trust this to random fate. Uh. I never tried asking to fail at a night action before. We can ask, but I have a funny feeling we won't get an answer on this...