Shadows

Green Grocer *wub* *wub* Town Plan *wub* 4 clearance keychains 2 cups of Pick-a-Brick which included ... red pirate rag wraps and cutlasses in old grey! Could this foreshadow a return of the Pirates line??? *grin* Store was so packed, I never did find the impulse sets, and I was looking... *hmpf_bad* Still... LEGO Store On! *thumbup*

In keeping with the spirit of Castle Month, and as stated earlier in the thread, EB News Presents is proud to feature a Castle builder and fan as our interview of the week. Curious whom? Well, you'd better go read it and see! *tongue*

We are quite possibly the most rule bendingest bunch I've ever seen. If you're proprosing 2 8x16's, yes. But they count as 2 pieces!

Welcome, Lords and Ladies, to a very special EB Castle Month episode of Ye Olde EB News Presenteth! This fine evening, we take you deep into the bowels (ewww... *sick* ) of Dragons Keep, ancestral home of our guest. I shall be your lowly servant, bringing forth entertainment and merriment ... *cough* Ok, enough of that. As I said, I'm your host, imperialshadows, Staudie will be asking the questions and generally getting underfoot, and our special guest is none other than the Lord of the Castle, dragonator. Dragon ate 'er? He barely knew 'er! *cough* Sorry. It was bound to happen. Moving on! Ah, here's Staudie now. Pardon me, ma'am, but we're producing a television show here, if you could just ... *wacko* STAUDIE! Hi boss, I mean, good evening, m'lord. Don't ever do that again. What? Dost my speech displeaseth thee? No... well, yes, but no, the point is the dress! *Staudie looks down* WHAT? Though I must admit, you've got the body for it. How did that happen? Born lucky, I guess. No, I mean the dress. I had to get dressed in the dark, and I guess I got the wrong costume. You know, it's weird, but this place doesn't have working lights, it's like they forgot to pay the bill or something. Uh huh. Or something. *sceptic* Well, looks like our guest is waiting, so I suppose we have no choice but to go on with this. Try to act like a proper lady, ok? Welcome, dragonator, or should I say, King dragonator? Ah, no need for formalities shadows, we're old friends. We go back, what, 400 years? Something like that. Wha? Bu-bu-bu... What's her problem? Corset's too tight. Hiya draggy! Look who's talking... Don't push your luck, even if you were a Lady, which you aren't... I think that's my cue to start the interview! Q. Why the name Dragonator and the tuxy sigfig? A. Well first, as some of you may know, I love dragons, and so to express this passion, I wanted to have 'dragon' somewhere in my name. I messed around with it for a while, and came up with dragonator, which I thought fit quite well. X-D My sigfig, as you say, is a tuxedo man at the moment. I chose this mainly because I needed someone to represent me, and at the time, I was working on some of my now-being-revised city, and so I made a sigfig that would fit in as the president of this city. And of course, you are always more likely to be taken seriously in a suit. *tongue* I was, however, still trying to figure out a sigfig that could represent me in other themes like castle, and anything really. This is where Batbrick found my solution recently. I particularly like his portrayal of me in his EB famous Interactive Apocalypse series, even if I am a genocidal homicidal maniac and married to someone I haven't actually met... *oh* But then again, people do sometimes call me crazy!! *tongue* I am planning on using that sigfig (or an adaption) in some of my upcoming MOC's. That is, of course, with his permission. *grin* Q. Dragons? A. :'-) As I said earlier, these noble creatures of wisdom are right up there in my standards with Lego. So many people in this cruel, heartless world simply ignore these brilliant beasts of the sky. Many, are afraid, others try to hunt them down and kill them as they think they are a threat. *angry* What nobody has tried is to simply be friends. Dragons do not want to hurt us, they are simply lonely and want a companion to share their thoughts with. But with centuries of abuse and hatred, no wonder many of them attack those that they feel will hurt them. Dragons are intelligent creatures, probably more so than most of the human race. They are great for an enlightening conversation, and are the loyalest and best of friends. I find that I have a certain understanding of them, and also some characteristics, like hoarding treasure Lego and an attraction to shiny objects. *grin* Of course, some of their habits do take some getting used to. Because of my friendship with dragons, you could say that I have become a little protective of them. So next time you consider abusing or hunting an innocent dragon, be warned, I will be waiting... *devil* I could go on about this all day, but then you might end up like that poor knight from last week... *skull* Q. How long have you collected lego? A. As long as I can remember. Like many people, I first started out with Duplo, which I still have in a cupboard somewhere. I have always collected Lego though, and as yet have not even thought of stopping. And I don't intent to either. Lego is just such a great thing to be interested in, and their is such a great community of good spirited collectors. I don't see myself ever stopping. Q. What are your 3 favourite sets? A. This is always a tough question, there are so many fantastic sets out there. Anyway, here are 3 sets I really love, in no particular order. 6086 Black Knights' Towers When looking in the older catalogs, this set was always one that stood out at me. I don't own it, but I sure would love to. The other set from this time that I love is the 6082 Dragon Knights' Castle, but I wont include that here. 7419 Dragon Fortress This set is one of my all-time favourites. It is well built has some great features for good playability and and awesome dragon! *wub* I remember I had a lot of fun with this one when I got it. There are lots more castle sets I love, and all the sets with dragons in (of course) but I think this set is really awesome too, and I do also love town sets: 10182 Café Corner This is one of my favourite recent sets, it has a fantastic design and is an inspiration for future city buildings I may one day try and build. Some excellent choices there. Q. What is your Favourite Theme? A. Another difficult question. At the moment, I would say my favourite theme is the Castle line, which is really great. I am, however, a fan of many themes. Two other main ones are City and Star Wars. One of these days I am going to get round to building myself a good city layout, just not anytime soon. *sceptic* Star Wars is of course a great theme, with some nicely designed sets. I also really love the Adventurers line, especially Orient Expedition and recently the desert line as well, and the Vikings sets are great, especially the brick-built dragons. *wub* Q. Best In Real Life Lego Moment? A. For me, that is spending time with my best mate and true lego fan iamded. We only get to catch up a couple of times a year, but it is great being able to visit and spend time chatting, building and enjoying our shared passion for bricks. Q. And, for that matter your best EB moment? A. I haven't been around the forums as much as most, and so am still getting involved, but what I really love about this community is its openness and acceptance of all types of fans. I enjoy looking at others' MOCs, taking part in some of the competitions, and generally being in an understanding environment. I don't know how I survived before I was introduced here. :'-) One highlight at the moment is being interviewed! *sweet* (I think... *hmpf_bad* ) Our pleasure. I think. *hmpf_bad* Q. What sets would you like to see TLC produce? A. More sets with dragons! :-D Seriously though (I was serious just then too), this is always hard. I am loving the Castle line, I hope they continue this, and I definitely want to see some elves! *oh3* Also they should make a good post-apoc theme; I have come to really like this under the influence of a few friends. *sweet* There is always a huge wish list for cool new sets, but if TLC keeps going as they are, I am sure I will like whatever comes next. Q. How could you decribe Iamded's mental stability? A. I could describe it in many ways. ;-) There is no denying that it isn't entirely... stable. But who am I to comment, I'm just as bad if not worse... X-D Hey, I hope you don't think I'm crazy. Cause I'm not, got it? Why wont anyone listen?! *sing* Q. Can we see your lair? A. Yeah, of course. It is in a bit of a mess at the moment, although better than it was; I'm just starting to dismantle some sets and am starting to finally sort some parts. *grin* Here is my main table. Most of the sets on this are being sorted and dismantled, so as I can work on some bigger projects and clear some space (that could just be a dream...) On the floor I am starting to sort pieces, such as the remains of Kings Castle Siege. On the white bookshelf are my Orient Expedition Sets. The boxes at the top of the picture are filled with other flattened boxes; that's what it has come to... *cry* I am also sorting instruction manuals (really, it's true, I am sorting) into clear files down here. Some viking sets up on the table, as well as... a crane? My entire Avatar collection. :-P Also iamded, my old sigfig, and my new sigfig. My Star Wars collection (well, most of it anyway). Café Corner and its guardian. Here I have some of my trains stored, in the cupboard. Also some unopened sets on the top shelf. My dream is to have a huge layout, so those trains can once again rule the shunting jards and deliver passengers. Just another of my crazy schemes. Under table storage. At the back is a box with more trains as well as lots of track, and in the rest of the space is mostly all city buildings I don't yet want to break up, so I cleared them off the table and they are temporarily down here. A small display of some of the recent Castle sets, this in a separate room (my bedroom). Lots of other Lego overflow in here as well. Finally, some pictures of my old Lego lair out in the garage. This wasn't the best place, as the pieces here are now all covered in sawdust and other things. So I have launched project save-my-Lego, quickly! I am in the process of cleaning all this and moving it... somewhere... Well, that's the grand tour over. Q. Quack-Duck-Hinklet? A. Sometimes I do worry about your mental stability Stauder, and this is one of those times... Roar-Dragon-Staudlet? I wish it was the only time I worried. Q. Am I Annoying? A. As annoying as a single m#g@bl0c%s brick in a pile of Lego. But really, your not that bad, in fact, I have enjoyed this interview. But don't take the crazy one seriously.. He's wearing a dress! Q. Who should we Interview Next? A. There are so many people who you should interview! But next, you should interview Exo-builder. He deserves your interrogation questioning. So there you have it, that just about wraps things up for this one. I must admit, it went better than I expected, despite having to drag Staudie here! *wink* If you'll excuse me, I have some pressing matters to attend to, so I must be off. Sure, but what's his excuse? You know, I really can't believe you dressed like that. I didn't even know it until it was too late. It isn't a bad colour on you, really. Yeah, and I kind of like the way it feels smooth against my skin, like ... *cough* Ok, enough of that. I think we'd better call it a day! Thanks to every one of you loyal viewers who put up with Staudie in a dress, and especially to our special guest dragonator, who not only provided the setting for this interview, but operated the cameras as well (yes, he did the pictures). Great job! *camera fades* *camera unfades* What happened to the Hinckley joke? Oh crap. Um. A man walks into a bar. He's carrying some clam cream in a blue bucket and asks for a drink. "Make it a triple," he says. Right then, a walrus charges into the room, knocking over a penguin and three chipmunks. "Give me that back, you scoundrel!" I think I know this joke. Yeah, forget it. *camera fades again*

Apparently we were off doing your interview or something, since I'm not there either. Looks like I won't be interviewing someone any time soon. *tongue*

I could, but I didn't. It just ended up looking like piles of parts. I'll summarize though, in shocking detail! The common stuff: Assorted tiles (dark red 1x6, dark red 1x4, dark red 2x2, red 2x2, yellow 2x2, dark blue 1x6, dark blue 2x2, green 1x4) 2x2 dishes, black, bley and white 2x3 dark red bricks, 2x2 dark red plates, 2x3 dark red plates with hole binoculars (old style), black 2x2 dark red corner slopes, 3x3 red corner slopes, 1x4x2 white arches, Window panes: white Shutters: green crossbows: grey and brown headlight bricks: red and yellow 4+ figures: 1 of each of 5 types, just so I can have them in case I need a joke pic (they had 2 full slots for them) Black aviator helmets (I think I bought 40 for some unknown reason), blue, red, dark tan race helmets. The unusual: By flintlocks, I meant the rifles and I only ended up with 3. Pirate rag wraps: 14 red. Cutlasses: 13, and they really are old grey Battleaxes: 3 old grey Ninja swords: 2 black pistols (not pirate): 4 old dark grey Brooms: 2 old brown Scimitars: 2 yellow robot arms: blue and bley, like 5, total ron weasely hair, 2 brown standard male hair, orange cap: 3 dark blue those ugly angled swords: 1 red and 2 yellow The bits and pieces intrigued me the most, since they were just odd and in really limited numbers, and in some old colours. It's as if they just dug into a bin somewhere and threw them all together. If I'd had time and the patience, I probably could have dug out more of the unusual stuff, but that store was insane and it was getting late. I wish I could have picked up a couple more cups of average type stuff. The 'make a minifig' was a joke. Basketball legs, misprinted heads, crappy torsos and most of it was on the floor.

I make damn fine announcements, even when I don't remember them. It's true though. Matter of fact, if one wishes to include a parts pic, they may post 4 pics, 3 entry shots and a parts pic. There. An even better announcement.

I still don't know about the cutlass in Indy meaning anything, but here's one for you ... I was at the Downtown Disney PaB tonight and there was a bin that included cutlasses (I swear, they look old grey), reddish brown flintlocks and red rag hats (and axes, crossbows, and black aviator helmets). There weren't many of the pirate parts, but I picked them all out. Where did they come from?

I sincerely hope not. I see the Factory Space sets as a hard step down from having a real line, one that is only positive when compared to having nothing at all. I couldn't see them doing that to a line that is already being produced and appears to be doing well. Simple truth is that PaB is and will always be a way for LEGO to get rid of things that they've overstocked, or think they can make additional profit on by offering it directly. Nothing more, nothing less. That's a good thing for us, it's nice to know that we can pick up Castle parts that way, but it's a far cry from Factory sets, which have historically done fairly poorly. Factory has seemed like a combination of dumping ground for odds and ends and experimental set production. They may not trust a classic style Space line again, so they try some Factory sets and hope to get enough support. Castle doesn't need that, it just needs to be continued at the current quality level. The rumoured Elves would be a nice twist. Factory sets wouldn't, to me.

It definitely includes Pirates right now. Just look down from here and you'll see a banner for Castle Month, a banner for my Pirate contest, "A Pirate's Life!", and under that are some useful links. That's the Big Billboard o' Doom™ *classic*

I was looking through my minifigs earlier and realised just how nice it would be to have a generic version of the Belloq torso in yellow for Adventurer's scenes. Then I came to the conclusion that Alexis Sanister would be good in Indy, if she was flesh toned. Then madness ensued. Here are the results: Belloq: Original Flesh and Yellow, dark tan (original style) Belloq: Original Flesh and Yellow, white for easy modification or water slide Alexis Sanister: Flesh and Original Yellow (original style) Male Mod of Alexis Sanister: Flesh and Yellow Indy Style Mod of Alexis Sanister: Flesh and Yellow I was kind of pleased with the fake Indy, all things considered. I wish I'd done it a few years ago when we really needed one, but I hadn't found EB yet and never knew the wonders of custom decals. All things in due time. As always, the colours are easily replaced, the decals print properly at 600dpi. Comments, criticisms, requests, all happily received. Adventure On! *y*

Welcome to EB, Blitz! LEGO love is a proud and noble love, never be ashamed! *sweet* Be sure to check out the Big Billboard o' Doom™ at the end of my post for some great ways to get involved in this wonderful community that you have joined!

Happy Birthday to our fearless leader and the dragon of dark yaminess (whatever that is)! May it be all you wish for and more! Always looking to scam some presents... :-P

Dwarf: This is a fun scavenger hunt. Troll: Ok... Got bike and bugle. What left on list? Dwarf: Bagpipes. Troll: Was hungry. It delicious. Dwarf: Baseball bat? Troll: Little dry. Dwarf: Brick? Troll: Heavy on stomach. Dwarf: Well, that's going to delay our winning by a bit. Troll: Bike look yummy too! Dwarf: NOOOOOOooooo!

Gleek, the monkey in Speed Racer, is as much a character as some of the others, so he had to be in there. Should I mention that the lamp post in Cafe Corner is referred to internally by TLG as a"Fabuland Standard", or would that get someone's hopes up? ;-) I don't know about pirates, but I hope the little Elven pic is an indication of a future faction for Castle. Until we see something that bold, I won't believe in new pirates. *shudders* New pirates. Just imagine how wrong they could get it...

Asked and answered previously. Please read the full thread before asking questions. You might learn something you wouldn't have even thought to ask, and get the answer you need at the same time.

You don't need to 8-| ... embrace the boobies! *sweet* Good idea on the yellow, since I had thought of them as being potential City decals. *y*

That is exactly what we have planned! Exciting, isn't it? *sweet*

Happy Birthday, diminuitive pie lover!

A single skull is one piece when not part of a minifig. I don't understand the 6 pieces part at all. If you're asking about a skeleton, it's a minifig and counts against the minifig total. If you want to use a single skeleton arm or leg, those count as a piece. Theoretically, you could use a skull, 2 arms, and 2 legs, without it being a minifig, but it would count as 5 pieces. The piece limit is the piece limit. If you have an entry that is 110 pieces, it's Large class. You can either redesign it to lose 10 pieces or go wild and add 90 more and make it something great, but whatever the final count ends up, that's the class you're in. Now that's a good question! No, row boats are not considered a hull piece. Neither are the Islander boats.

Thanks! It seemed like an interesting experiment into a potential city decal, so I'm glad you liked the way it ended up. The choker is frustrating in LEGO, because you're drawing neck detail on a torso, which throws off the angle. Using this image as a reference, I've made what I think is a more 'show accurate' decal. It's actually on the LEGO colour for violet, not straight blue, but it looks a lot more like it with the wider bands of white and belt. The choker is pretty much all I can do without just filling it in with black completely. More 'show-accurate'? I could do variations of the rest, if there were shots without arms in the way and an interest. If there are any seriously major characters that LEGO didn't produce, I could give them a shot too, with good reference material.

Actually, that isn't a mid-90's thing at all, though it's commonly thought to be. The Pirate line, from the very beginning, relied on a lot of wall panels. Eldorado Fortress springs to mind, but it didn't even start there. What everyone refers to as Classic Castle, once you get past the yellow castle, is the very model of prefab, and that was years before Pirates. The contest itself was initially planned as a single 100 piece entry, something small and accessable to everyone. After some consideration, it was decided that the success of the Impulse contest warranted an Impulse class entry, and then kind donors offered up 3 prizes, so a third class was possible. I didn't want it to be much bigger than the existing classes or someone might not have time to come up with 3 quality entries in the allotted time. Hence, 25, 100 and 200 piece limits. The term 'Large' was just meant to indicate larger than the rest, for lack of a better term. I realise it doesn't allow for massive ships, but to me that would be a different contest entirely. I'm sure we can look forward to such an offering in the future. There are certainly valid points, just not specifically for the intent of this contest. As I say, I'm sure there will be a larger contest in the future, and then those 800+ piece ships will be equally matched. Thanks for your input!

Smooth sailing here, Captain. *y*

Giant trolls count as 1 piece? If so, why can't we use 100 of them? :-D Edit (x2) by imperialshadows: Edit by Hinckley: Even in the post you quoted didn't read :-$ , there seems to be a 100th piece already...

If it contains an official LEGO torso, it counts as a minifig against your limit, but doesn't count as pieces. Accordingly, if you don't use the legs, you could use them somewhere else in your set without them counting as pieces. Ditto for the hair or hat. If you can make a figurehead with a real LEGO head, but something else as the torso, you can count all of that as pieces instead. Sure, but realise that you probably don't want one as your first image, since you'll lose the ability to see all of that when it's thumbnailed for the voting. Why not? One word of advice from experience though... make sure your main entry pic really sells it, because people rarely seem to click the link to even see the original entry post, so imagine how few will go there and then click a brickshelf link.