Shadows

Another fine episode of everyone's second favourite online LEGO drama! Sorry, but Fabuland Housewives still beats it for sheer whacking power. You get whacked in it, you don't get back up. >:-) SPOILER ALERT! Highlight to make some kind of sense of this mess.

Kids today have no patience at all. >:-( Plus I think the pm system is a bit wonky since I never got the usual, "WHERE'S THE INTERVIEW?" pm you always send the day before I post it. :-P As for the interview ... Not too bad a job, kid. Looks like the producer was right about letting you fly solo sometime, I just didn't know you were gonna hijack the plane to do it! 8-| 8-

I've dropped quite a few bids in, not seconds before, not a second before, but dead on the end time. Literally within hundredths of a second to register the same time as the ending, and it's a perfectly legit bid. X-D No, I don't always win those auctions, but I do give the winner something to think about. >:-) Oh, and yeah, sometimes I miss and end up a second early. On rarer occasion, a tiny internet hiccup and I miss the auction completely. It's a risk I don't take if I mind the possibility of losing. As for the ones I am winning lately, it's all misc lots, usually underpriced because people offer such poor pictures and don't show off the best pieces clearly. I snatch those up very cheap and love sorting out just what I've managed to get. Primarily minifigs and accessories. I have more shakos than I need currently :-P, and not enough epaulettes. 8-| While some prices are crazy, it's good to see some of the better items bought by people who really want them. I like to think that they'll take good care of them, I hope that's true. Sometimes cheaper isn't better anyway. The real sucker auctions are the "25 random minifigs" and the "1lb of LEGO blah blah" auctions. Any quality parts are already taken out, you can bet on that. What you're getting is the bottom of the bottom, the bulk filler.

If it's LEGO, it's legal. End of story. *y*

Not sure about pirate chick, but the equestrian was part of the stables element of Paradisa. LEGO seemed to have this theory that girls only liked two things: the beach with it's restaurant, house, lighthouse, etc. and horses at the stables. 8-| Girls promptly explained to LEGO that they were wrong by not buying the series. >:-( Boys didn't want them either, since girls are icky. Go figure. :-| Personally, I'd buy the whole line now if they'd issue it. *y* Still wouldn't dress like your friends though :-P

Add the first x-wing to that and you have a perfect image of the force that pulled me out of my dark ages. *y*

That might say more about the men you're hanging out with :-P

Hardcore extreme and sandy beach babe for me. Several contenders in this one, since it covers such a wide range of types. Definite points to the biker chick and the lifeguard, but alas, no vote for you ladies. Next time, consider bribery ;-)

Superstar actress *wub* it is, with Sky Lane and the green haired beauty close behind. Red Light On! *y*

Went with lacey, beach babe being a close second. You know, for a girls theme, they aren't the most attractive lot. *n*

Those aren't terrible at all. I kind of appreciate seeing some 4+ sets with real minifigs instead of the jack stone type and, while they don't appeal to me as a builder, I'm not horrified by the idea of them sitting on the shelves and selling to young kids who need a good place to start. I can't even guarantee that I wouldn't buy them for parts, if they were desperately cheap. ;-)

Round these parts we call those drug runners. >:-) Hmmm... LEGO Miami Vice! Boats, sea planes, babes in bikinis, new guns, crates, barrels, bales, briefcases of money, scruffy looking characters, babes in bikinis (worth mentioning twice), palm trees, 'Paradisa' styled houses, Crockett and Tubbs, made complete with a soundtrack by Don Henley, Phil Collins, Glen Frey and Axel F. *y* 80's On! *y*

Walked into a Target hoping for a Hogwarts or something large on a good clearance and ended up with 7009 Final Joust for $5. Not sure why it's on clearance, but it's clearly marked and now entirely out of stock. Heard that it was doing the same thing at some Walmarts. Can't imagine why such new sets are being clearanced out so quickly, especially good ones like this... :-/ But I'm not complaining! *y*

You're most welcome and I have indeed read it. There was a time in my life, long ago and far away, when I used to actually read real books, then along came interractive fiction games, and eventually the internet. Now I spend my days reading of studs, snot, and whacking. 8-| The computer revolution has stolen my literacy! *wacko*

Always glad to see another refugee from the cold, cruel, brickless world fight their way through the onslaught of voices crying out that it isn't right to still be playing with LEGO, "at your age." Put those people behind, as we all have, and come sit by the fire, in the warm glow of acceptance and understanding. Just don't get too close to the fire, ABS releases cyanide gas when it burns, and we can't afford to lose any good members. Again. *skull* ;-) Lots of results coming back in Google, including Fileplanet. An annoying place, but a fairly quick registration and completely free. There seem to be demos, videos, and other assorted things out there, if you surf around a bit. House Davion On! *y*

Some more of the cheaper castle sets as army builders. *y* Oh, and I started playing The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, which automatically gave me a pile of ideas to build. If they'd give us back the forestmen (I have plenty, but it'd be nice for newer fans) and some random villagers, I think the custom Zelda theme possibilities could be endless. *wub* *y* As an almost-related aside. Whenever I see Hinckley's sigfig with the face in some other direction, just showing the hat and yellow head, it reminds me of the classic Sierra graphic adventure series, Kings Quest. Adventure On! *y*

007 swept my votes, I'm a sucker for a good Headless Horseman. *wub* Oh, and I've read the story. :-P Literacy On! *y*

That's the spirit! *y* Now stop looking at me that way ... 8-| 8-

Ah, don't look at it that way, just think of it in terms of quality. You got 4 excellent entries, exactly like my Douglas Adams contest did. We both picked very specific themes that limited the amount of participation we were likely to get, but what we got was great. Quality Contest Hosting On! *y*

Then you leave a tarnish both on your boots and your reputation. Instead of resorting to that, find a less comfortable boot, something spiked perhaps. Then give it a high polish, and pound away. A good job done impeccibly well becomes a great achievement and a source of pride. *y*

This has been done, in a smaller form in each of the "New sets for 2008" type threads, but those are usually divided by theme. Taking the subject as a look at all of LEGO, this could be a worthy new thread (Hinckley: the thread you suggested is purely about decline in quality, which I hope isn't what we're all expecting from LEGO for the future). Personally, I think 2007 has been better than 2006, and the predictions for 2008 look better still, with the good things continuing and new ones coming. I don't think AFOLs are or will ever be catered to, but I do believe we're being considered, and that's really all we can hope for. I expect that will continue. More Castle, Star Wars (especially battle packs), Indy, the new look and feel of City: I think we have a bright future ahead, very bright indeed. One word of caution though. It would be easy to overdo it. It is possible for LEGO to produce too many good (and large, especially) sets. There will always be a collector base that can afford to buy anything and everything, but that isn't true for most, and if there are too many greats sets, it can be as overwhelming as too many bad sets in some ways and can result in the same problems that the SW line faced early on, too much stock sitting on the shelves. So I predict plenty of good things coming, but I hope we see a certain amount of restraint from LEGO when it comes to flooding us with too many sets at a time.

You have taken the first step into a much larger world! Sometimes that first trip out of the dark ages is a false start, and you drift back into the darkness. If you feel that happening, come here, into the warm embrace of the brick, and we will save you. Welcome back, friend, welcome back to the land that will always be, LEGOland. *y*

Who doesn't like dancing bikini Twi'leks? *wub* *y* As for this incredible, though dated project, I'm fond of the Bespin portions and still see things that could be learned from it. I sort of view this as the original editions of the movies, before all of the added extras (some good, some blah).

Suntory is a Japanese wine company, of all things, but at this point they also serve as the local Pepsi distributor as well as for other types of drink related products. These may have been attached to product dropped out of vending machines. We now return you to our regularly scheduled program, already not particularly in progress. ;-)

Another interesting pirate minifig review, thanks Lord of Pies *y* As for the figure ... Clearly a refugee from a shipwreck in this format, and with the peg leg he would be just an even more pathetic excuse for a miserable captain (though he looks the part better that way). Overall, a washout as a captain, but a fine enough low level pirate, serving under a quality captain in a reasonably well kept shirt, or better still, some kind of port inhabitant who loads and unloads barrels by day and gets in fights in dark alleys by night. Just in a different hat. Pirate Minifig Reviews On! *y*