Pandora

You never cease to amaze. Such creativity, and yet again astonishingly creative use of parts to create an incredibly realistic collection. I think these deserve the widest audience possible, because they are truly beautiful (even if they're bugs!)

Master MOCers Siercon and Coral amaze us again with their incredibly realistic LEGO creations of insects. Come and see these beautiful bugs up close and personal in the Special Themes Forum!

"Hello Wren, still insane I see." Nyx looks around the vaulted room, taking in the events occurring. Her eyes fall on Sphinx, as he chants over the Grey Wizard. She calls out to him across the din. "Sphinx! I am told you can speak for yourself, but that your actions are bound to Wren. I was asked to spare you if I could, and here you ask to be spared by death. I know you act without your own will, so I will fulfil the request made of me, but I am sorry that this is the way you are to be spared." "Sir Poletad, please heal whomever has the lowest health from the back row, and Emperor Phil, please attack Chaos Beast B from the front row." Nyx closes her eyes and channels compassion through her Amethyst at Sphinx from the back row.

... and yet, still wondrous!

Pfft, more Ziegfried quests! Imagine the wonder of an undead army with a former Battle Mage in command!

If you think that giving us all the choices now will prevent criticism later, you're sorely mistaken!

"Haldor, if you're happy to give away your drinks, I wouldn't say no to your Nostrum, if you still have it."

Nyx swipes Arthur's discarded Mead, and wanders off as he begins his speech. He was probably going to tell them all what they believed in again and how they were wrong. Despite never actually asking what anyone believed in. She swigs the Mead and feels the warmth inside, and gratefully accepts the Grand Zoot's Cookie and Gold from Cronk. "I really hope those are chocolate chips" she mutters as she bites into the cookie, feeling her Health rise (by 2) as she does so. Some booze and a cookie, she feels slightly less cold, even despite the fires around her. She walks over to Poletad and picks him up. "I have no doubt we will win, but I know that you won't be able to stay in Eubric once this is done. Sir Poletad, you really are the bravest little frog I have ever had the honour of meeting, and I hope that our paths may cross again in the future." She smiles wistfully and kisses the little frog gently on what might be his nose, before setting him down again and bowing politely.

Nyx casts Light on the Chaos Beast of Life from the back row.

I believe it's because: if town failed to successfully add someone to the Masons they couldn't be sure whether the reason for that would be because a) the induction was blocked by a recruitment blocker (by a scum on a town player) or b) the player they tried to recruit was scum. It means that failed inductions to the Masons may not necessarily be because the inductee was scum. Thus giving doubt.

"Actually, it occurs to me that I have but a few scratches, and I heal well after battles. Don't worry about healing me at the moment, thanks, I'll attack anyway. I'm sure you can find someone more worthy of your attention than me, anyhow. " Nyx grabs her book again and prepares to cast Light magic at Chaos Beast C, or the Chaos Beast of Life if C has already fallen from the back row.

I'd really like to play this, but I have some severe time constraints for the next 7-10 days, so if you can put up with that, I'd like to submit my application. 1) Your mafia experience Available in glorious technicolour on my profile, although you probably know most, if not all, of it. 2) If there is anything you would like changed about the rules before going in I've asked some questions, already. 3) Your opinion on pussyfooting In terms of being wary or noncommittal, it can be useful, especially in a game such as this, and so shouldn't be rejected out of hand as a strategy. We're allowed to be indecisive and discuss things, that's the nature of the game, and it's all good as long as some actual thought goes into the process.

"I can attack as planned, or I can beat someone with my Healing Staff, myself included. I leave the final decision of my action to you, Cronk."

"A good idea, Atramor." Nyx repeats her attack, focusing on Chaos Beast C.

Nyx looks askance at Arthur, his earlier outburst exquisitely fresh in her mind. "I can do more damage with my magic; my book isn't imbued. Edgar will be of little help here. He's brave, but small, and his poison is no match for Atramor's. We don't need an extra person to soak up free hits."

Yes and yes. I clearly need to be more obvious about it.

Nyx repeats her attack, but this time focuses on the Chaos Beast of Death.

Then bearing that in mind, it might be more balanced to indeed have two masons at the start as you originally stated.

I really would like to play, but I'm still wrestling with my conscience over current time commitments. I liked the idea of masons when I saw it. If it's seen as too powered towards the town at present then maybe start with just one mason instead of two, but then also lose a recruitment blocker from one of the scum teams. Would the recruitment blocker(s) the scum have block scum recruitments too? What happens if both scum and the masons try to recruit the same person on the same night?

This link has the info about last year's event in Billund, including where we stayed (which was a short walk from Legoland). Obviously the discount no longer applies. There was another hotel nearby that was also within walking distance, Hotel Propellen I think it was, plus there was the Lalandia resort, which was just across from where we stayed. Of course there's also the Legoland Hotel itself.

A big thank you to Zepher and WaterbrickDown for organising this, it was a lot of fun to read, and congratulations to the winners. Thanks to the people who voted for Nyx as badass, and for the votes for meaningful relationships too. Well two of them are with you!

Nyx repeats her attack as before.

Number – 3269 Name – Barney Bear (Bruno Bear) Theme – FABULAND Year – 1981 Minifigs – 1 Pieces – 16 Price – Price paid unknown; original MSRP unknown. Currently £9.23-£10.26/ $14.00-$15.72/ €10.71-€12.02 for used sets on Bricklink or £39.49-£64.78/ $59.91-$98.26/ €45.81-€75.14 for MISB sets on Bricklink. Links: Brickset, Bricklink, Peeron. The Box The characteristic FABULAND background provides the setting to display Barney Bear and his car. There aren't that many green pieces in FABULAND, mostly keeping to red, yellow, blue, black and white, and as a result these colours stand out vibrantly against the light green FABULAND background. The back of the box has the characteristic 'catalogue' pose for Barney, as he clutches his wrench to advertise supplies for serial killers everywhere. And he looks so innocent! The other pictures show him zooming off into the distance, and pretending to have a flat tyre to lay in wait for another innocent victim, still clutching his weapon of choice. Noticeably absent, however, are any pictures of alternative builds. None. Nada. Not one. The sides of the box have identical pictures of Barney fixing an engine the only sensible way; by hitting it with a wrench. One side has unfortunately suffered a little damage from a long lost shop sticker, and the box is a little battered and bruised from the passage of time, but nothing too terrible. Even here on the bottom of the box, the last side to have pictures on it, there are no pictures of alternative builds. Instead we have a candid shot of Barney taking a comfort break and clearing up the age-old question of what bears do in the woods. Oh, and there's a nice picture of the car, too. The Box Contents The Instructions As always with a FABULAND set, the instruction booklet is a small piece of folded paper, with a charming hand drawn picture of the set and its figure on the front. FABULAND can be seen sitting on a hilltop in the distance. Barney looks innocent and adorable clutching his trusty wrench and positioned next to his getaway car. Another lovely feature is that the instructions for these early sets are given as a cartoon, showing Barney building his own car. Admittedly this is easy to do in a set with only a few parts, but it's such a lovely way to illustrate (quite literally) how to build the set. Another regular feature is the multilingual introduction to the main character of the set. This gives the Fabufig some personality and gives you an idea of how he or she fits in in the town. As ever here's a mish-mash translation of what's said: "This is Bruno bear. He is always friendly, helpful and reliable. Or genuine and sincere and always ready to give help." There is usually a hand drawn picture of FABULAND too, and this is actually different from the one seen in 329 Bernard Bear and his Lorry from just 2 years previously. For a start there are far more Fabulanders around, most notably a panda careering across the hilltop with a crazy monkey clinging onto the attached ladder. In addition to the instruction leaflet, there's a little advertising pamphlet too, again a usual thing in these sets. Like the other pictures, this front picture is also new, and shows much less odd behaviour than that seen in 329 Bernard Bear and his Lorry, except Bonnie Bunny looks like she's been caught in some bad act, though. And I have to wonder what the cat and the lamb are doing on the top of the hospital.. Inside this pamphlet there's another, different view of FABULAND displayed in sets, plus small pictures of the sets themselves, as no potential for advertising should be wasted (which is fair enough, really). If you looks carefully at the larger picture, you can see that many eyes are drawn by Chester Chimp's antics on top of the ladder. Those crazy chimps. On the other side of the pamphlet, in amongst all the other pictures of sets, is yet another sweet picture of a little boy and a little girl building FABULAND together. And they seem to be having fun together. Equally. The last little bit of this pamphlet is a small cartoon. For 329 Bernard Bear and his Lorry we had Charlie Crow in the rain, but here we can see Perry Panda getting annoyed with his lazy companion Chester Chimp, who's content to lounge on the job. I adore these little cartoons, although it's a little weird that the cartoons themselves don't relate to the actual set. The Parts There are only 16 parts here, so not much to choose from, really. The wrench is available in loads of sets (200 or so) and mostly it's basic bricks, however, if you want the printed FABULAND brick, then this is the only set you can find it in. Additionally the curved roof is only available once each in red, blue and yellow, and obviously therefore this is the only set containing this part in this colour. Furthermore, the yellow window frame is only available in this colour at all, and only in three sets; the same other sets as before, namely 3635 Bonnie Bunny's Camper, and 3634 Charlie Crow's Carry-All. So, out of 16 pieces, 3 of them are quite rare. Not bad, really. Minifigure Hello Barney Bear, who may be a psycho killer who draws innocent Fabulanders into the countryside with his fancy car and clubs them to death with his wrench. He looks so adorable and innocent, but we know what dangers lurk beneath. Barney Bear has conveniently found himself an alibi, by appearing also in 3670 Service Station. Clever, very clever. The Build I've recreated the building steps shown in the instructions (well, as best I can with real LEGO, the instructions were drawn and subject to artistic license). Barney carefully places his precious printed grille piece at the front of the chassis, with a couple of 2x4 bricks forming the bonnet and engine. Barney next places the FABULAND vehicle door pieces on either side, otherwise he won't be able to get in and out of his car. Time to build up the back of the car; the boot or trunk depending on where you live. It's easily comprised of 2x3 and 2x4 bricks. Next thing to do is to hoist the windscreen into position. It's a heavy part for a little bear, but Barney's been working out. Then all Barney has to to is pop the curved roof piece into place, grab his trusty wrench and he's good to go! Doesn't he look adorable? From the back you can see that the rear of the car is also decorated with a yellow 1x2 brick, which makes it look like Barney has packages stacked at the back of his car. That little yellow brick makes a lot of sense there, from a design perspective; it's clear that something is needed in that spot. Having recently reviewed 329 Bernard Bear and his Lorry, I thought it would be interesting to compare the two. In only a couple of years the boxy feel of 329 has evolved into a smoother and more rounded vehicle in this set. The main differences between the two are afforded by the addition of the curved (and printed) FABULAND grille piece, and the curved roof piece. You could argue that the moulded roof removed some building steps, but really it's just replacing putting together three 1x4 bricks and a 4x6 plate. So here's Barney with his pride and joy, posed as he is on the box front. It's a cute little car, brimming with the FABULAND aesthetic, which often seems to me to be based on vehicles from the 1920's. The set number, and the reappearance of the bear, suggest that this was a sort of update of 329, and although 329 is a fun model, when it comes down to it the shape of this vehicle appeals more. Conclusion Design: 9/10 As I've mentioned, this car is classic FABULAND style, and some people really love that, and some don't. It is a personal thing, but I am a fan of FABULAND, and this car is a beautiful representation of this style. The curved FABULAND pieces - the chassis, doors, grille and roof, form the entire design here really, but I like the 1920's aesthetic, playfully recreated with bright colours. Parts: 9/10 There aren't many pieces at all, so to find two specific FABULAND pieces only found in this set, is really quite remarkable. I'm surprised, given how early this was in FABULAND's overall release, that neither of these pieces were reused at any point. Aside from the FABULAND specific parts, the others are really just basic bricks in basic colours. Minifigs: 8/10 Barney's another bear, and he's cute; there's absolutely no denying that. He has the adorable first-generation eyes and brown bears are pretty limited in FABULAND. Although the mould itself is used often, Barney appears only here and in 3670 Service Station (with Peter Panda Bear, who looks more like a black bear than a panda). Barney's brown bear brother is Bernard bear who appears in 329 Bernard Bear and his Lorry (seen above, and he's not necessarily Barney's brother). Build: 8/10 There aren't many parts, and they don't take long to put together, but it's still fun, not least because the instructions themselves are adorably displayed. By adding character to the instructions, character is added to the build. There is also something exciting about building a 30 year old LEGO set for the first time, too. Playability: 8/10 As a car, this model provides full zoomability function, and the model is sturdy enough to withstand the fiercest zooming. Having doors that open and providing Barney with an accessory allows for more scene-setting. He can fix his car, club unsuspecting victims over the head and drag them into the passenger seat and drive away. Endless fun! Price: 7/10 Really the prices currently on Bricklink are pretty high. As always, it will depend on how much you want the set itself ano/or its pieces. There are a few rare pieces and it is a cute model with a lesser seen Fabufig, so the lower end of the used prices isn't unreasonable. You may see this set going cheap on e-bay (or a local equivalent) in which case it may well be available for much less. Overall 82% This is a charming car which is beautifully representative of the FABULAND theme. It's fun, with a cute little bear who even has an accessory (in fact there were two wrenches in the box) and the model is nicely curved and smooth, but still with studs visible. It's an enjoyable build, and the presence of rare parts makes it more desirable. If you're a FABULAND enthusiast then you'll enjoy this set. Thank you for reading, comments are always very welcome. High-Res pictures can be found on my flickr account.

"More teamwork, gentleman Hoke. I like it." Nyx still grips her Diamond and this time focuses on Chaos Beast D from the back row.