Pandora

Yays. No. My brain is melting out of my ears.

Vote Tally Toulouse LePlot (WhiteFang) 3 (fhomess, Sandy, JimButcher) Ophelia Balls (fhomess) 2 (Professor Flitwick, CallMePieOrDie) Ishaq Ettaq (Wuntin) 1 (ADHO15) Roger Goodenarde (Professor Flitwick) 4 (Scubacarrot, Brickdoctor, CorneliusMurdock, Tamamono) Penelope Farago (Waterbrick Down) 5 (TinyPiesRUs, Hinckley, Zepher, KielDaMan, def) Fr Thomas Thomson (Ricecracker) 1 (Waterbrick Down) Gordon Bennett (KielDaMan) 1 (Fugazi) Jennifer Taylor (Sandy) 1 (Cecilie)

Mod Note The day will last 72 hours and the person with the most votes will be lynched. A majority vote is not required. If it is clear that a decision has been made by the group and there is an extended period of inactivity in the day thread then we might close the day early, however we will give warning.

Morning progresses. The statue is quiescent. The industrious party realise they cannot at present escape the valley, and so set up a camp upon the valley floor. Melaena scans the barren canyon for poetic inspiration, or possibly for ducks. Hans Gubernaculum is so distressed he inexplicably starts writing poetry too. Men make fire. Mehmet attends to breakfast for the group. 'Won't anyone suck my balls? My spicy scorpion balls, freshly made this morning?' Meanwhile, Ossie and Is are busy gardening and talking. 'Do you think they've listened to everything we've said?' 'Well they must have had some thoughts when they signed up for this expedition.' The knowledge that they are trapped has driven all thoughts of research and archaeology even from the minds of the scholars. Pushy New Yoiker Sheila Suxsumb is the first to speak up. 'Whadda we supposed to do?' Roger Goodenarde cuts in, 'Yes, my good man, what the dickens is all this about?' 'Eins, zwei, drei, vier, how do we get out of here?' asks Hans. 'STOP THAT!' cries the rest of the group. 'You're an Archaeologist, not a poet, for crying out loud.' 'I cannot remain here for ever. Mother expects me home,' says Ahmed Apu. Aloysius chimes in, 'Yes, Ahmed Apu. Talking of which - Nadir, I require your services again.' Is sighs and turns to the crowd. 'There is evil among you that has awakened the Dark Side of IMHOTEP and the Curse has befallen you. His power is great and controls the very living rocks of this valley. He demands sacrifice. He will not let you leave unless you can break that curse by ridding your group of the evil within. But be warned - his Dark Side demands specific sacrifice too.' 'You, as a group, must choose who among you will be sacrificed. Each day, you will have time to discuss who you think are the evil ones among you, and then you must choose. You must feed the most popular choice to IMHOTEP.' 'A sacrifice must be made by sundown.' The Rules Each player will be given a character to play, who will be aligned with either the Innocents or the Cultists. To win the game, the Innocents must kill off all the Cultists, while the Cultists need to Any Third-Party (neutral) characters will have their own win conditions outlined in their roles. Each day you will be able to vote to lynch a player. Voting should be done in the following format; Vote: Character (Player). Similarly, unvoting is to be done in the format; Unvote: Character (Player). No other format will be accepted. There is no limit to the number of unvotes. The player with the most votes at the end of a game day will be lynched. If there is a tie then the first player to achieve this vote count will be lynched. A game day will last a maximum of 72 hours. You may not vote in the first 24 hours. The day will end after 72 hours, unless the group are decided on a lynch*. After the day has concluded, a night stage will commence, which will last a maximum of 48 hours. Night actions must be sent to the host, using the initial character PM thread only, in the first 24 hours of the night stage. They will not be accepted after this deadline has passed. *If it is clear that a decision has been made by the group and there is an extended period of inactivity in the day thread then we might close the day early, however we will give warning. The alignment of lynched players, as well as those that died during the night, will be revealed at the beginning of the next day. You may not quote or pretend to quote anything sent to you by the game hosts via PM. This includes all the details of your character and role, as well as any night action results. Role claims and reporting of night action results are acceptable, but in your own words only. Do not attempt to use the structure of your role PM to your advantage. Do not play the game outside the thread. Similarly, do not post out of character inside the thread. Game tactics and roles may only be discussed in the game thread or via PM with other players. Private discussion is done at your own risk and should be treated as part of the game. Any reference to previous games or “games... of life”, potatoes, books that people may have read, and films or plays that people may have seen will be treated most harshly. If you are dead, you may not post in thread or discuss the game with any of the players. Any information you had becomes void, and may not be passed on. You may not edit your posts. You must post in every day thread. If you encounter a problem or have a question, please contact the hosts using your character information PM. No other communication with the hosts will be accepted or acknowledged. Violation of the above rules will result in a 5 vote penalty against you on your first offence, and the death of your character on your second offence. The Players The Great God IMHOTEP (NPC) Do not upset him. Address him correctly or face the consequences. You have been warned. The Guardians – Ossie and Is (Rufus and Pandora - NPCs) They are a young couple who appear to live as hermits in the middle of the Egyptian desert. Whilst not unwelcoming to the expedition party, they still very much value their “alone time” for….. playing scrabble and whatnot. Sheila Suxsumb - Played by Tamamono Sheila is a curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York city and is a world - renowned expert in ancient Egyptian artefacts. A hard-nosed New Yorker, and a woman flying high in a man’s world, Sheila speaks as she finds and gets what she wants. She’s tentatively starting a relationship with her assistant, Johnson, but she’s not ready to take his Cox yet. Johnson Cox - Played by Cecilie Johnson is Ms Suxsumb’s assistant from the New York Met and he himself is becoming well know in the field of translation and interpretation of hieroglyphs. He hails originally from the deep south, Louisiana to be exact, and so tends to be more laid back than his boss from the Big Apple. He’s just starting a relationship with his boss, Sheila, and one day hopes to make her Suxsumb-Cox. Ophelia Balls - Played by fhomess Ophelia is a member of the Royal Geographic Society in London, and is present on this expedition as a Mineralogist. She is a shy and retiring, somewhat sweet girl, know to be very studious in her nature. She produces report after report on clays and crystals, that while being completely ahead of their time in research, sadly no-one ever reads. Hans Gubernaculum - Played by badboytje88 Hans is a Professor of Egyptology at the Aegyptisches Museum in Berlin. He is one of the leading lights in ancient Egyptian architecture and has previously discovered numerous fruitful sites for archaeological digs. Unexpectedly he is exact and precise in all that he does, and he abhors sloppiness and untidiness. Melaena Stools - Played by CallMePie Melaena is a poet who has accompanied the party in hopes of finding inspiration for her flowery and insipid verses. She is forever an optimist, and her lack of creative skill is surpassed only by her complete absence of insight into her own inability to produce anything displaying a mote of talent. She is a friendly and happy person who believes people adore her and her poems. Mellifluous Murgatroyd - Played by Scubacarrot Mellifluous is a journalist for the Edinburgh Times, here to report first hand on the great discoveries that may be made during the expedition. She’s sweet, yet determined, and often uses her honeyed words to get her own way. Her articles are often more sensational than they are factual, and thus they garner a lot of attention worldwide. Jennifer Taylor - Played by Sandy Jenny is a seasoned explorer and treasure hunter. She travels the world in search of artefacts to sell on to museums for the highest price possible. When she heard about this expedition, she knew she had to be a part of it. She has a shapely figure and often uses this to her advantage. She has treasure in her chest. Nicholas Hoare - Played by Fugazi Nicholas is a young man with a bit of family wealth behind him who fancies himself as an adventurer. Despite being socially awkward, his dream was to join the expedition, find some valuable artefacts and return home with enough stories of derring-do to impress the girls. One day, one of them might listen... Penelope Farago - Played by Waterbrick Down Penny is a serious scholar of Egyptian art who originates from Pisa in Italy, but currently works at the Musée du Louvre in Paris. She is passionate about art, and Egyptian art in particular, and has devoted much of her life to its study and appreciation. Despite her serious nature, she dresses somewhat flamboyantly and is known to be very descriptive in her language. Betty Swallocks - Played by TinyPies Betty thought she was going on holiday to the south of France, but somehow ended up here. She has no idea what archaeology even means, let alone where Egypt is. She often gets confused or muddles things up and wanders around in her own little world. Roger Goodenarde - Played by Professor Flitwick Roger is really just here for a bally good time, what, what. He’s an ineffectual ex-army Captain who had to give up the soldier’s life after taking a bullet in the knee. In the army he was known to be rather oblivious to all going on around him and despite thinking he was entirely in control of his regiment, in fact his long-suffering Lieutenant had to devote considerable effort to ensure the Captain didn’t mistakenly tap his pipe out on an unexploded bomb. Patrick Fitzwilliam - Played by def Patrick is well renowned for his ability to organise expeditions and he was the natural choice when the leading lights of Egyptology declared an interest in exploring this part of the desert. Having organised so many expeditions before, he is rugged, dashing and masterful, and knows how to get his hands on the things he needs, by whatever means necessary. William Fitzpatrick - Played by CorneliusMurdock It would be foolish to venture into the wilds of the desert without someone who knows how to handle the business end of a weapon. That someone is William Fitzpatrick; skilled as a big game hunter, he’s here to tackle any aggressive creatures of the desert, or handle trouble with the locals. He’s loud, brash and aggressive, but on Friday nights he might have been spotted in the Pink Pussycat Club in Berlin wearing not much more than a feather boa and a pair of high-heels. Hugh Janus - Played by Eskallon Hugh is the long-suffering Lieutenant who served under Captain Goodenarde. A military career composed of numerous close shaves thanks to his Captain’s ineptitude have wrought this poor man’s nerves, leaving him a gibbering shell of his former self. Where Captain Goodenarde goes, Lieutenant Janus knows he must follow. And be on the lookout for trouble. Aloysius - Played by ADHO15 Aloysius is a camel. A talking camel. No, really, they exist. Aloysius has been carting other people’s stuff around the desert for more years than he can remember, but it gets him out into the fresh air and allows him to meet people and show off his collection of hats. He doesn’t usually let on that he’s a talking camel, but in these unusual circumstances he has no choice but to speak up and make himself heard. Gordon Bennett - Played by KielDaMan Gordon is the engineer of the group and works hard to keep any and all of the transported equipment finely tuned. He’s found the best way to fine tune machinery is to cover it in oil and then hit it a lot. As a result he, and everything around him, tends to end up messy. This isn’t helped by his tendency to be a little “oily” with the ladies and has earned him a slapped face on a number of occasions. Toulouse Leplot - Played by WhiteFang Toulouse is Ms Farago’s assistant from the Musee du Louvre and is almost as passionate about art as she is. He would be considerably more passionate about it if she didn’t keep sending him out for croissants and cream cakes every few hours. He works hard and spends his time relaxing by playing the violin. Unfortunately his boss’s opinion of his violin playing is that a strangled cat would be more musical and so he has not brought his violin with him. As a result, he is often tense and somewhat irritable. Percy Pantwitter - Played by Rick Percy is also a well known scholar of Egyptology at the Aegyptisches Museum in Berlin, and is forever in the shadow of the great Hans Gubernaculum. He is a petty man who delights in small victories, for instance snagging the last sausage at breakfast, but he is devoted to his studies and always strives to better himself. Father Thomas “Tomato” Thomson - Played by Ricecracker Fr Thomas Thomson is a missionary minister who has been called “Tomato” since a young age thanks to his shock of bright red hair and the unimaginative way his parents named him. Apparently, this doesn’t bother him, and he will protest as much often and repeatedly to anyone who’ll listen. He accompanies the group in the hopes of preaching and converting others to his faith. Mehmet Attabar - Played by Hinckley Mehmet is an expert cook and knows how to make the supplies last a long way. His signature dish, Spicy Scorpion Fritters has fast become a favourite of the group’s, probably because they think it’s chicken. Like most cooks, he’s a big jolly man, often seen with a cleaver in his hand. Ishaq Ettaq - Played by Wuntin Ishaq is a suave and cool guy, who’s dealt with explorers on a number of occasions in other parts of his Egypt. He’s a warm and friendly person, but he sure knows how to squeeze the most cash out of these crazy Westerners. That said, he’ll do anything for the right price. Mustafa Nidia - Played by Brickdoctor Mustafa is a beaurocrat from the Egyptian Ministry for the Interior. He usually sits behind a desk in an air-conditioned office filling out forms. He is here to oversee the expedition, at least that’s how he sees it. The rest of the group view him as officious and self-important and little more than a pen-pusher. His job is to ensure that no artefacts are removed from the dig without the correct accompanying documentation. In triplicate. Ahmed Apu - Played by Zepher Ahmed is an adolescent from the local village who is looking for some honest work. He’s happy to fetch and carry for the good rates that Ishaq Ettaq has secured for the locals. He carries heavy loads with ease, and wonders why on earth this lot can’t just carry it themselves. He’s happy to be part of such a colourful group of people, despite his inexplicable hatred of the colour pink. Nadir Zenith - Played by JimButcher Nadir is a very serious man. He takes his responsibilities seriously, including mucking out the camel. He is depressingly pessimistic about everything around him, and has the most irritating habit of always referring to himself in the third person. Reserves Bob_ zakura VolcanicPanik

Thank you to everyone who's signed up; we're excited by the response. As has been mentioned, halomaster96 you do need to pass a Mafia School game first, but I believe there are some in the pipeline. I hope you, and others, will still enjoy watching, and thank you for your interest. The sign-ups are now closed and we'll get to sorting out a confirmation thread once we've worked out the player list. With 37 sign-ups and only 24 places there will be some disappointments and I'm sorry for that.

It sounds as though I probably wouldn't, no. However, you could just remove all the horrendous pictures contaminated with my presence and post the others?

Some great answers so far guys! I'm really glad this has opened a bit of discussion about what people have enjoyed so far, amd what they have perceived to be the highs and lows of Mafia. We'll leave the sign-ups open for another day or two, and soon after we'll post a player list. Great to hear as many people are as excited about this as we are, even if some may only be spectators.

Where are your pictures, Quarryman? Hmmmm??

Number – 3315 Name – Olivia’s House Theme – Friends Year – 2012 Minifigs – 3 Pieces – 695 Price – GB £69.99. EUR €74.99, US $69.99 Links: Brickset, Peeron - not listed yet, BrickLink, Shop@Home Information from LEGO shop@home: I’ve been looking forward to the Friends line. Not really because it’s a girls’ line, but more because there seem to be a plethora of new parts and a wider variety of colours. I’d looked at the preliminary photographs, just like everyone else, but I decided to reserve judgement until I actually saw the sets in the flesh, so to speak. So when I visited the LEGO store recently.... Uhm, well, I actually found them irresistible. I bought a number of sets (oops), but really this was the one I was most excited about. Through building, I’ve found similarities here with both Paradisa and Classic Town – but is this really worth the hype? Read on to find out. The Box You cannot fail to notice the colours; having exhausted pink with Paradisa, TLG have fallen back on the next girliest colour, purple. Boy, there’s a lot of purple, but actually it isn’t too garish. Not to me at least. TLG have even re-designed the shape of the box for the new range – the front bevels downwards to the sides, and this makes the front of the box stick out a little more. It also makes standing the box upright on its thin base slightly tricky as it has a tendency to fall forwards. The box front is delightfully colourful and shows the entire set with the figures interacting. The five “Friends”, who will no doubt very soon become familiar faces, peer out from the top of the picture like a more talented and youthful version of the spice girls. An inset in the bottom left shows the reverse of the set, and again has the figures interacting with it. A further inset in the bottom right shows the three figures that come with this set. We’ll be seeing more of them later. There’s tons going on on the back of the box. We are introduced to Olivia (whose house this is, in case you somehow didn’t know), and even shown how to build her. There are a ton of insets showing the figures enjoying various features of the house, plus there’s a link to the LEGO Friends website, and there are more pictures of the other Friends (with their associated sets, just in case you wanted to buy them too) and some useful bits of information. There’s a demonstration that, similar to a number of Town sets (memorably the 4644 Marina set for me) the build is modular, and the contents are organised into numbered bags which reflect the module being built. I’m a sucker for alternative builds, and although these aren’t really alternative builds but rather a re-arrangement of the modules of the house, I still really like that it’s here. There’s also a handy inset showing a number of the new parts (and some interesting old parts), to really whet your appetite for the treasures within. Overall, despite being a rather large surface area on the back of the box, they’ve squeezed loads of information in, and managed to do so without it looking too crowded. The top of the box again shows us our three Friends figures, and includes an actual-size picture of Olivia, so you know just how big she is (and thus her co-figures are) before you buy the set. Here’s a better view of the actual-size picture, and with this you can also better see the slight patterning with butterflies, stars, paw-prints and flowers, which are actually pleasantly subtle. The bottom of the box has another picture of the set along with the usual warnings. But also an unusual warning: Poor Peter, I’ve not seen such a declaration on the outside of a LEGO box before. The left and right sides are adorned with the Friends logo, and have either another picture of the set or an advert for the LEGO Club, and this to me clearly indicates that TLG don’t actually see the Friends line as the be-all-and-end-all of LEGO for girls. Which is nice. The sides also show the rather attractive, and modern, bevelling of the box. It doesn’t serve any purpose, but I rather like this new design. The Instructions Joy of joys, the instruction booklets (for there are two) and the sticker sheet, are all wrapped up with a stiff piece of cardboard to keep them flat. My instruction booklets, as you will see, were pristine when released from this packaging. I couldn’t have been happier. The front of the first booklet shows exactly the same picture and artwork as the front of the box, and has an indicator showing that it’s the first booklet. So far so good. The back of the first booklet has a colourful picture of the five Friends holding Olivia’s house as if it were a LEGO model. Think about that too much and your brain might melt. They have the figs pretending to be the size of humans with a model of the house that they’re part of.... Moving on, there’s also another gentle nudge towards the LEGO Friends website, complete with ubiquitous butterfly. The front of the second booklet looks both disappointingly and reassuringly like the front of the first, except that obviously it indicates that it is in fact the second booklet. Steel yourself before you turn this over, you know what’s coming... Yes! The gagne-child (latterly re-named Raging Demonic Child) has had a sex-change, and is now a moderately less offensive child, not least because she’s a girl. Maybe the novelty has yet to wear off, or maybe it’s the soothing purple tones, I don’t know, but this child is sooo much more tolerable than the usual one. Let’s keep her. The inside of the instructions are laid out in exactly the same way as any other modern LEGO set I’ve built. There are parts call-outs and diagrams, and on the back pages of the instruction booklets there’s a full inventory of all the parts which stretches to three pages in these small booklets. The background to all the pages is purple. You really have to like purple. Towards the back of the second booklet there’s also what looks like a poster of Heartlake City (with the eponymous heart-shaped lake). It’s shown as a picture of a poster, but it really reminded me of the Paradisa posters that were included in the Paradisa sets. I hunted around for a while, but I was disappointed to not find a Friends poster in the box or instructions anywhere. Not that I’d put it up on the wall or anything, but just like the Paradisa poster, it’s nice to just have it. Next to the poster page, there’s a full run-down of all the Friends sets, complete with little check-boxes to tick when you’ve bought them all. Cynical, me? The very last two pages show sets from other ranges, and I was surprised to see CREATOR there. I can actually understand why; I loved the Lighthouse, and the Log Cabin, and again it reinforces with me that TLG aren’t just focusing on selling only Friends sets to girls. I’ve also included the part of the page encouraging girls to sign up for the LEGO club. It may just be a couple of pages, but I like the fact that this information is here and that TLG hope that girls may broaden their building horizons further than Friends. As already mentioned, there’s a sticker sheet, and it is shiny, shiny, shiny. There are a number of stickers, and after much more consideration than usual, I decided not to apply any. They are quite nice, though, and nicely printed; the shininess reminded me a lot of the shiny holographic stickers in Belleville, however I also remember the shiny stickers in the Lighthouse set, so they aren’t just for girly sets. Something that did surprise me was the house number. I learnt while reviewing 3675 General Store, that the stickers with numbers usually bore some relation to the set, but here the house is number 30 while the set number is 3315. I would understand 33, or 15, or 3315 would work too, but 30? Why 30? The Parts The baseplates, in line with modern sets, are small full-thickness plates that are put together to make a larger area. In fact, the size and number of the baseplates reflect the modular nature of the build. Conveniently, they are all packaged together in a bag, so they aren’t rattling around the box getting damaged. On closer inspection there are two very useful 16x16 plates, one tan and one white. Plus there are six 8x18 plates – three bright green and three... pink! Oooooh! As indicated in the inset on the back of the box, the contents are in numbered bags relating to the corresponding build. There are seven bags altogether, and within those bags there are frequently smaller bags containing the smaller pieces. As you pick each bag up, you might just glimpse some of the new moulds or see a flash of an unusual colour! I thought bags three, five and seven looked exciting (yes, alright, I got excited about kitchenware ), but I also thought bag six looked rather... pink. But we were expecting pink, weren’t we? As the build is modular in nature, I’ll show the contents of each bag as we build each section of the house and garden. So, let’s start, controversially, with bag one. Bag one builds the sitting room and, as we will find with almost every parts bag, there are structural tan pieces for the walls along with a lot of white and lime green pieces... but not all that much pink. Bag one also contains a high number of mini-bags, mainly because the legs and torsos of the figures are individually wrapped. Part of me thinks this is a bit wasteful, however part of me is happy there’s something to protect the printing on the torsos. The hair and head pieces (aside from Peter’s hair which is unaccountably in the other minibag) were all loose in the main bag. Considering the most printing is on the figures’ faces I found this surprising, but they emerged unscathed. Aside from the figure parts, the rest of the pieces are reasonably run-of-the-mill, and as mentioned there is little pink, and rather more of the slightly less palatable lime green. The first part of any build (with figures) is to put the figures together, so let me introduce you to Anna, Olivia and Peter: There are no doubt a number of pictures of these figures by now, but here are my impressions. They all have pleasantly printed torsos with quite nice detailing, and the faces are quite pleasantly printed too. It’s odd to see LEGO figures with noses, almost as odd as not having legs that move independently of one another, but not nearly so weird as having orange eyes. Orange eyes?? I thought TLG were aiming for more realism with these figs?? I don’t know anyone with naturally orange eyes. Another oddity is the colour disparity between Peter’s hair and beard. Has he gone prematurely grey and he’s decided to dye it, but gone a shade too dark? Hmm, it looks odd to me. Anna and Olivia have the much-vaunted new hair, which is of a similar texture to the hair of the mad scientist in the series 5 CMFs. Peter has normal ABS plastic LEGO minifigure brown hair. No new hair for men. Interestingly, the new female hair pieces have little holes both on the top and on the left hand side (as you look at them) for inserting crowns and feathers, and maybe flowers in future? Yes, indeed even flames can be inserted into the little attachment holes on the sides of the hair, with an interesting result. There are plenty of pictures comparing the size of the Friends mini-dolls to regular minifigs, but I thought I'd compare my own sig-fig (Pandora) with Olivia. As you can see, Olivia is a little taller (and a little slimmer ) and when the hair is swapped over, the result is far from flattering. The Friends hair is indeed interchangeable with those worn by our minifigs, but it somehow manages to make Pandora look... broader. Anyway, it's the wrong colour, so it'll just have to be changed back. The backs of these figures reveal very few details, except moulded pockets on Peter’s posterior, and the back of Anna’s slingbacks. If you look closely, you can see the copyright is for 2009 and is embossed into the backs of the figures. You may be wondering why there’s another picture of parts, and you may even notice that these parts are from the second bag. That’s because towards the end of building the sitting room, you unexpectedly have to open the second bag. On embarking on this build thinking it was all brilliantly organised into separate bags, this did not bode well. Nevertheless, some of the parts in the second bag are intriguing. The smoothly curved purple pieces are lovely, and are present in a good number. The minibag in the second bag contains a good number of the new flower and bug moulds. Here you can see you get four each of the three new types of flower, butterflies and ladybugs. The only minor disappointment is that they are all red, but hopefully new colours will become more common too. The new moulds are detailed, and the rose mould is particularly pretty. I would be overjoyed to see a binful of those on a pick-a-brick wall! The sitting room, as one might expect given the parts, is mostly neutral colours with lime green and pink highlights. This will be a general theme throughout the house, so stop now if the colour mix gives you a headache. I really like the details added by the 1x1 round bricks in columns on either side of the windows. I’ve shown the room without furniture because it actually looks like an unfurnished room. I know that sounds silly, but the 1x2 dark bluish-grey modified grille bricks really do look like vents, and the white at the top and the bottom looks like coving and skirting board respectively. With furniture, like any room, the room looks smaller. There’s a good view of the plasma television, but as I haven’t applied the sticker, the family aren’t able to watch the talent show rubbish that was supposed to be on. The lovely curved purple pieces make a gorgeous-looking sofa and comfy chair; I really do think these furniture pieces look stunning. The scale is appropriate for all the items, and with a fairly simple coffee table and vase the room is furnished. This was the point in the build where it really hit home – this house really is furnished. Properly. Not just sparsely, but fully. It made me excited to see what was next. Having forgiven TLG for not having the whole sitting room in bag one, and having carefully put aside the few unused pieces from bag two (specifically the new flower and bug moulds), I moved on to bag three. The main parts are again mostly white, tan, and lime green with very little pink, but the minibags look very interesting. Yeah there’s a brightly coloured bagful of small parts, including cherries, but looook! Medium blue cookware! And cupcake moulds, and cutlery! And a spatula! On spreading out the contents of the minibags you can see just how many new pieces there are in those little bags. I really don’t think you have to be female to get excited at the idea of giving your minifigs utensils with which to eat their dinner. I would be amazed if the MOCers amongst you didn’t get excited at the prospect of new parts, even if they are for minifigs to cook and eat with. Can you see it? The printed milk carton? I wasn’t expecting that. I was not expecting to see a 1x1 printed brick, and especially not a milk carton and especially not... well, you’ll see. The kitchen forms the front doorway to the house, and you can see the bugs at the front from the bag two minibag. There’s a window next to the door – both of which are reassuringly Classic Town in nature. The build follows the same colour scheme as before, and the pink awning over the front door is all that’s needed to give the impression of a lot of pink. The lamps outside the front door are a quaint detail, as is the further pink awning over the window. The left side is bare, and the technic pins attest to the modular nature of the overall build – that this will be attached to another “module”. Inside the kitchen, well, it’s fully furnished! The food processor is just great. There are no unconventional parts, but I found myself thinking “why didn’t I think of that?” The numerous kitchen appliances are dotted about the kitchen surfaces and I really was surprised to see an electric whisk as a minifig utensil. There’s a much-beloved drawer unit, and a sink with a plughole. From this side you can see that there’s a refrigerator, complete with shelves and salt and pepper pots on top. There’s a modest table whose surface is covered with plates (complete with a little fruit) and yet another cupcake. All in all, yet another room crammed. Here’s a better view of this delightful kitchen furniture. The utensils are hidden away! There are knives and forks in the drawers; a baking pan in the oven and the glorious milk carton? It’s hidden away in the refrigerator! You can also see the food processor better here. It’s really simple, but works so well. I will grudgingly accept that it is a little odd to only have a milk carton in the fridge, but, you know what? Who cares, at least there is something in there, and it’s a printed 1x1x1 medium blue brick! Riding the high of the kitchen and associated paraphernalia, we move on to... Bag four, the contents of which are a little more colourful than those of its forerunners. There’s more pink for a start, and a number of smoothly curved blue pieces, and a little yellow too. There’s a little less lime green, and a lot more white. The contents of the minibags are considerably more pink, however there are some interesting non-pink pieces. The gems are not a new colour in trans light blue, but there’s a cat! And a handbag! The cat is cartoonishly cutesy, as is the handbag, but they are still very welcome additions, and you never know when you might need them. The dark pink 1x1 flower edged plates aren’t new, but there’s an impressive quantity here. Again the hairbrush has been around for a long time, but it’s always nice to have one. The front of the bedroom has a lovely balustrade outside the window, and the dark pink 1x1 flower edged plates are put to good use to decorate this. The cutesy cat walks a death-defying tight rope along the vibrantly pink balustrade, and also serves as external decoration. If its cutesy look irritates, then it is (like all LEGO pieces) extremely easily removed. While the right side has a doorway to connect the bedroom to the other upstairs room, the left side has a blank wall, but then considering all the decoration (if I’d put the stickers on) and all the furniture (which we’ll come to shortly), it’s actually a bit of a relief to see a blank bit of wall. Inside the bedroom there is once again a full display of furniture and decorations. The bed looks great, and I am greatly relieved to see that TLG eschewed the idea of a pink bedspread and instead made it this wonderfully bright azure blue. There’s a bedside cabinet with a little lamp and storage for a dark pink book (yes, a dark pink book!), and the cutesy handbag sits on the bed. The other side of the room is kitted out with a dressing table and stool, complete with filmstar lightbulbs over the mirror (sticker not applied, sorry) and some scented looking pots and jars. It really does look like a little girl’s bedroom, and like the other rooms looks full without being too busy. The double window at the front of the room is a nice feature, and before placing the bed I wished they had been balcony doors, however that wouldn’t leave enough space for the furniture. Here’s a better view of the bedroom furniture, and you can see that although there’s a unifying colour scheme, that colour scheme isn’t solely pink. The dressing table includes another working drawer, and the bedside cabinet is imaginatively realised. Bag five again contains the requisite amounts of white, tan and lime green, with little pink, but there are some more interesting pieces here too. This picture shows the contents of both the main bag and the minibag too. The trans blue pieces to the far left are most intriguing, but if you draw your eyes away you can see a good number of medium blue 2x2 tiles, a few pink pieces, including working drawers (yay!), and a few more of those dark pink 1x1 plates with flower edges. You can also spot a couple of metallic silver 1x1 round plates. Put all of this together and you have another room module. The front looks a little bare as I still haven’t applied any stickers, but there are stickers to denote flowers to be placed on the side of the house. Once again the white and lime green 1x1 round bricks are effectively used as column detailing around the windows, and the majority of the pink comes from the awning over the windows themselves, and the base plate. As you see when we look inside the fully furnished bathroom, that pink baseplate isn’t really visible. The attractive medium blue tiles, interspersed with more functional 2x2 white plates, make it really look like a tiled bathroom. The shower is ingenious, and I just love the use of the trans light blue garage roller door pieces to form the shower screen. It, like the rest of the furniture, it instantly recognisable, and if you so desired “functional” too (by which I mean you could open the screen doors and place a minifig inside the shower; there is no plumbing here). In addition to the wonderfully designed shower, there’s another sink, similar to the one in the kitchen, and a toilet (every bathroom really should have one) which manages to look convincingly like a toilet despite using very few parts, and when we look from the other angle... ... you can see the drawer unit, and what would be a SNOT mirror above it if I’d applied the mirror sticker. You can also see the doorway that connects the bathroom to Olivia’s bedroom. At this point one might get upset that the house has only one bedroom, but I choose to believe that Olivia’s parent’s bedroom, and indeed the staircase to the upper floors, are situated in the cutaway part of the house, because really another bedroom isn’t necessary here and we’ve had to suspend our pedantry in a number of other LEGO sets without any detriment to the fun that can be had with them. A better view of the bathroom furniture. The sink is simple enough, but having the parts to make it is another matter; those 1x1x1 white corner panels are not that easily acquired. The pink drawers in the cupboard are as great as always, and the toilet is a much more modern design than that featured in the unusual SNOT based alternative build of 6403 Paradise Playground: Overall, the bathroom furniture, including the great shower design, lives up to the furnishing in the rest of the house. With four of the modular rooms built, the house is beginning to take shape. Bag six is the most pink of all the bags. There are a remarkable number of dark pink 3x4 slopes, and considering this is the first time we’ve seen them in this colour, that seems rather generous. The 1x2 medium blue tiles are attractive, and not that common unless you own multiple copies of 10185 Green Grocer (in which there are 27). The 1x12x3 white brick arch is not hugely plentiful in many other sets, even though it’s been around since 1994 and we must not ignore the glorious trans dark pink umbrella. It is gloriously pink and casts its pinky shadow over all the white pieces it shades. Which is great, just as long as you like pink. Given that bags one and two made one “module”, it seems fitting that bag six should pay that back and make two “modules” (although bag 7 will go one step further making 3 16x8 baseplates worth of detail). The dark pink 2x3 slopes not-unexpectedly form a roof, complete with a little chimney and a butterfly on top. It is extremely pink. This is where the majority of the pink in this set is. The 1x12x3 white brick arch gives the interior of the roofspace a charming architectural detail and keeps it from being blocky and square. The other contents of bag six are used to make a delightful roof terrace; furnished of course. There’s a swivelly sunlounger, which isn’t pink but rather tastefully composed of medium blue and lime green, and the trans dark pink umbrella casts a gentle pink hue over the white pieces of the ensemble. A further butterfly rests lazily on one of the balcony’s posts. I’m relived the new flower pieces are here in red rather than pink, even though the red somewhat jars with the overwhelming pinkness of the rest of the terrace. The shape of the flowers is a great new mould, and they feel more substantial than the old style flower sprues. It still feels a bit like TLG are trying these new flower moulds out – we’ve been given four of each one, but they aren’t the only flowers used in this set, as we’ll see shortly. Bag seven is the final bag, and it (and its minibags) contains an almost magical array of colours. There’s even dark red here, albeit in the singular form of a 1x1 round brick. Note also the white and light pink old-style flower sprues. There’s even a Fabuland flower (in yellow) and leaf part. But.. but.. we have new flower moulds now! Why are we still getting old flower moulds?? Aside from the foliage, there are also a pair of metallic silver 1x2 grille tiles which, while not being particularly rare, are still always welcome. Of note also is the bright light blue 4x4 round plate, which is only available in this colour in this set, the printed envelope tile and the 2x1 tan slope with cutout which is new in tan for 2012. The technic parts aren’t new, or rare, but they’re here.. in a girls’ set! The garden is as fully furnished as the rest of the house. The swing is imaginatively constructed from the technic pieces and I’m so glad TLG haven’t shied away from including them. Constructing the swing is not challenging, but it’s a break from the brick on brick building and it could have been patronisingly omitted. I would expect exactly the same imaginative construction in a set that wasn’t slathered in purple and butterflies, so I’m heartened to see it in a set that is. Another medium blue dish hosts a lonely weiner, and there is an instantly recognisable lawn mower. The Fabuland flower has become a large sunflower in a pot, and the 2x2 plate and tile tiling pattern continues, this time in shades of grey. At the back you can better see that there’s a BBQ here, which reminds me a bit of the CREATOR house 5771 Hillside House and the City house 8403 Family Home. This version is fairly substantial, with a large grill and hood, and the medium blue spatula is employed here as a BBQ instrument. The dark red 1x1 round brick has transformed into a ketchup bottle and of all the 1x1 round plates that could have been added to the top of the trans clear goblet, an orange one is the one that is required by the instructions, thus making, presumably, carrot juice. A further little garden area forms the front pathway, again utilising the grey shaded plate and tile pattern attractively. There are some more old style flower sprues, and a charming red post box. The idyllic white picket fence continues, separated by cute gateposts, and lastly there’s a little vegetable patch for growing carrots – presumably to make juice out of. When all the modules are brought together with the figures, there is an incredibly busy set to see. The Build The first impression you get from looking at the built set is: “wow, that really is kinda pink”, but if you look closer, and think about removing all the pink slopes and pink baseplates (which are not that many pieces really in a set this size) this could easily be transformed into... a non-pink house. This isn’t a pink house at all, really, and actually the pink feels a bit like an afterthought. It’s almost as if LEGO designed a really cool and detailed house, that looks amazing, and then someone in marketing said “well, yes, it’s nice, but it’s for girls so it needs more pink”. When the garden is put together with the fully constructed house, well it makes the best house set I’ve built out of LEGO. There are just so many things going on, and I was thinking about this – these are the details I love to see in other people’s MOCs. These are the types of things I look at while browsing the tables at LEGO shows, and often I look at some fantastic MOC or other and wish that an equally detailed set was made. And now it is. Putting the house and garden together, they flow, and they compliment one another wonderfully. The 4x4 lime green round corner plates join together to make a flowerbed... that Anna’s decided to mow... And the little pathway bit of garden now looks much bigger. From the back you can see the garden extends around the side of the house and you can see how the rooms all fit together. The doorways between the bedroom and bathroom line up, and the bases for the kitchen and sitting room extend out beyond the main body of the house. This really looks like a doll’s house, which is probably intentional. There’s easy access to all parts of the interior and although most of the furniture is facing the back, the arrangement doesn’t look contrived. Thanks to the modular nature of the rooms, if better access to one is desired then they can easily be separated back out. Indeed, as the picture on the back of the box suggested, they can be rearranged into various configurations. From a different angle there are still new things to spot, such as the detailing on the back of the comfy chair afforded by the 1x2 dark bluish grey grille brick. Again, here, you can see that most of the pink comes from the baseplates, with a little provided by furniture details like the drawers and sink in the bathroom. There are so many pieces to fiddle with that the temptation to dive in and play is almost overwhelming. Once this grand house is built, there are a remarkable number of pieces left over. Some, like the cherries, are easily just added into the set, but I have stuck faithfully to the instructions in order to provide a true sense of what is “extra”. Conclusion I really love this set. I thought I’d like it when I saw the preliminary pictures, and really thought I’d like it when I picked up the box in the store. Having built it, I love it. It really isn’t that girly at all; there’s just a bit of pink here and there. Design 9/10 The modular nature of the rooms and the open back of the house gives easy access to all the treats within. Having it separated out into builds per baseplate allows you to focus your excitement one room at a time, and the immense number of parts don’t appear overwhelming. The size of the garden is appropriate for the size of the house, and the rooms contained within are all you could really want. The colour scheme is pleasant, and if you find the pink offensive then it can easily be swapped out as there isn’t really that much of it. I actually found the lime green to be considerably more egregious, but it could have been worse. It could have been orange. Parts 10/10 There are so many wonderful parts here. I will not stop going on about the milk carton; I want moar of those, definitely. In addition, there’s the huge amount of kitchen utensils and cookware, and the new flower and insect moulds. Just so many great parts that I’ve unconventionally decided to include them in a picture here: In addition to the fabulous new parts, it should be noted that there’s a good amount of tan and white pieces here. The tan wall parts may look simplified, or even <insert that tiresome argument>, but this is a big set, and the concept of placing brick on brick will not be lost on the builder, and the same pieces are scattered through all sorts of sets over the years – they have not just been made for and included in this set. If it is acceptable to use 8 white 1x6x5 panels in 7733 Truck and Forklift, then having 6 in tan in this set is not the end of brick building as we know it Figures 7/10 I don’t really like the figures that much; give me a good old fashioned minifig any day, but really, they could have been so much worse. They are at least almost the same size as a minifig, and they do at least stand on studs. The printing detail is great and the cross-compatible hair is very handy, but I’m still not really excited by them. As has been said by others on Eurobricks, I’m disappointed that LEGO have abandoned their raceless yellow colour and made the figures blandly Caucasian; apart from the freakishly weird orange eyes, that is. Why make figures clearly intended to be more like “real” people and then give them orange eyes?? Oh well, the set is great; the figures will be going into a sorting box. Build 9/10 I had so much fun building this and I was excited at every turn to move onto the next part. There’s very little repetition, and all the steps are logical without being too simple or too fussy. The manner of the instructions was exactly the same as any other set I’ve built; there was no dumbing down whatsoever, and yet again TLG have included a small amount of Technic pieces in an ostensibly girly set. Bravo TLG. Overall, a thoroughly enjoyable build, and one of my favourites since 5770 Lighthouse Island. Playability 9/10 With the easy-access rear of the house, playability is immense with this set. Throw in the huge amount of furniture and accessories and to my mind it’s the best doll’s house ever, with the added advantage of being LEGO. Thus when I no longer want it to be a house, it can be whatever my building ability will let me change it into, or I can modify it. I may decide that a bathroom is completely unnecessary, and using my existing LEGO, turn it into a party room complete with a pool table and a bar. I may also decide that I want to play with the house and the garden at the same time and so swizzle the garden plates round the back of the house. All in all, there are far more aspects of playability in this house than in many of the CREATOR houses, and a lot of the Town sets. Price 9/10 I paid £69.99, that is evident from the price sticker on the bottom of the box. There are 695 pieces, including a lot of new pieces and pieces in unusual colours. 3368 Space Centre is exactly the same price (£69.99) and contains 494 pieces, and isn’t really a set that appeals that much to me – it has some interesting parts, but nothing I’d get too excited over. So, yes this set is a lot of money, but comparatively there doesn’t seem to be a huge “Friends” mark-up. On the contrary I would consider this set decidedly better value, and considering how much fun it has given me in the short time I’ve had it, I believe it was worth every penny. Overall 88% I look at a lot of MOCs on Eurobricks, including (perhaps particularly) the buildings and I enjoy seeing new modular buildings people have created to fit with the now-legendary Grand Emporium and Green Grocer etc, but some of the most common questions asked in the discussion threads for these MOCs are “Does it have an interior?” and “Is there any furniture?”. One of the delights of 8403 Family Home (City House) was that there was a modicum of furniture provided. There is no such lack here. This house is fully furnished, and the furniture is beautifully designed. The detailing is splendid, and it is clear the designer of this set really thought about what would make a great set first, and then what would appeal to girls second. Children are creative and imaginative, and that combined with the piecemeal nature of this set should provide fertile ground for endless variations with the pieces available here. If the pink here offends you, it really would not take much effort to swap it out, and once that is done (and possibly the handbag is removed) there really isn’t much here that’s all that girly, although admittedly I haven’t applied the stickers. Everything else about this set is as LEGO-ey as any other LEGO set I’ve built, and I certainly don’t just build Paradisa and Fabuland. It should also be remembered that this set is SYSTEM, and thus completely compatible with minifigs, who can be swapped in to replace the Friends figures if they don’t appeal. Whether you’re a girl or not, this is a great set, with a ton of fantastic features. In fact it’s so good that I’m very tempted to go out and buy another one. Thank you for reading, comments are always very welcome. High-Res pictures can be found on my flickr account.

Aww, you should have been flattered, really.

The Curse of IMHOTEP – A Mafia Game The year is 1936. Deep in the Egyptian Desert, an international group of intrepid explorers comprised of learned archaeologists, scholars and local guides embark upon an expedition in search of the lost tomb of the Great God IMHOTEP. After several days’ journey through the hot and arid desert they find the fabled tomb within a rocky valley. As they approach the tomb, a powerful earthquake blocks their exit from the valley and the group are trapped. It soon becomes clear that this may not have been a natural event – that there are sinister forces at work within the group and that almost everyone has a secret to hide... Are you brave enough to take on this challenge? Will you bring victory, and will that victory be for good or evil? There are 24 slots available in this game for advanced mafia players. The game will follow the Standardised EB Mafia Game Rules, with a few minor modifications. We intend to involve the “Vanilla Townies” in this game more than in a traditional Mafia, and hope to make the game interesting and fresh without deviating too far from the familiar set-up. To sign up, please post in this thread indicating: 1) A brief summary of your previous mafia experiences on EB 2) Indicate your availability for frequent posting for the next 6 weeks 3) Please tell us what you consider to be the best or worst EB Mafia moment. This does not necessarily have to be about you – it may be something from a game in which you have not participated but that you still found memorable.

And Christmas isn't Christmas without Fabuland! Thank you CopMike for sharing this adorable Fabuland Christmas story with us, and a Merry Christmas to you, and everyone else too!

Nyx ambles into Heroica Hall, having spent her time in the training room. She can feel the promise of power bristling under her skin; she knows, has always known, that she has the potential for great power within her, but that it will just take time and experience for it to bubble up to the surface. With that in mind she signs up for Quest #21: Family History; after all the Ziegfrieds are fellow Magic users. Spotting her recent quest-mates drinking up a storm, she slides into a seat at their table and begins to join in the festivities. Hey guys, I hope you don't mind if I join you? Nyx turns to call to her favourite Orc hostess: And Scheherezade! A round of Flaming Gumballs for my fine friends here, please! Turning back to the table, Nyx grins at her companions. I really think you should try these, especially with the dinky little umbrella on top. Let me know if you'd like me to light them for you. Larry, Amorith, I hear you're already preparing yourselves for your next quest? You know I wish you both well, and I'd love to hear the stories of your exploits when you return. And yes, even your stories Larry!

Nyx cautiously opens the doors to the training room. How did I not spot this before? There's so much shiny stuff in here! After listening carefully to all the Copper Fox had to say on the subject of Advanced Classes, Nyx had but a few questions remaining.. So, I think I'd quite like to be a Battle Mage, really, but what I'm most concerned about is.. well.. hygiene. I can still wash my hair and clean under my nails can't I? It's just I'm a little worried, after all those Barbarians are just so.... uhm Barbaric. Having been suitably reassured that Barbarians are indeed as hygienic as the rest of Heroica (mostly), Nyx returns to the main hall that she had rushed through, eager to sign up for a fresh quest to try out her new found power (and to join in the festivities with her recent questmates).

Yaaaaaaaaaaays! I've been waiting for this! As one of the original players (and the only one still playing so far ) I really thought I'd be choosing sooner, but I'm happy to be here now. Hmm.... I've been looking at the pictures and the classes for aaaages, but I think I'm only just now making a decision...

Hmm, I'm not convinced I'll be going around calling myself a Bugslayer, but thanks for the title anyway; and also for the gold and for improving my pretty Dawnstar, you've kept the weighting even and still allowed it to channel my magics, thanks! Nyx turns to her companions, who really she now considers friends, having fought side-by-side against numerous foes in the harshest of conditions in the arid desert. Barur and Amorith, you've both changed so much; I see you both as brave warriors now, but I'm not sure you were really feeling that way when we set off. I am proud to say I have adventured with you, and that we've been successful in our quest. Sylph, once again it's been good to quest with you, and I hope that this isn't the last time we do so. And Larry.... well, we've had our ups and downs but I'm pretty confident we'll be drinking together back at Heroica Hall, and I know you have a heart of gold. It's been an honour to go on this quest with all of you. OOC: I rarely type OOC, but thanks Capt.JohnPaul for running the quest and sticking with it too! It's been a lot of fun, thank you. Last note: I still have some of the treasure in my inventory (the Gold Staff) - I take it we've given the treasure back... or have we? Can we sell it??

Nyx yawns theatrically.. Yeah yeah yeah, whatever, old man. C'mon guys, let's finish this loser off so we can go laugh about all of this over a very large number of very strong drinks back at Heroica Hall. Once again it's Darkness magic on San Di from the back row.

Geez you're a bossy one! Alright, fine, have it your way, I'll conjure up a nice Darkness spell for San Di from the back row. He'll probably stab me in the throat with his spear anyhow... Nyx continues to grumble on under her breath like the petulant teenager she is..

It would appear that this round I shall once more be tending to my jaw. And my stomach. You're a mean, mean man Palace Guard and I shall delight in seeing you dead one way or another.

Absolutely; the Holiday season is a busy time of year for a lot of people (us included) so we're planning to post sign-ups early in the New Year. It's only a couple of weeks away, and it means that hopefully people won't have too many other commitments.

On the plus side - no-one got hurt. On the down side - no-one got hurt. So let's try this again, shall we? Darkness magic, MOColian Palace Guard from the back row.

No, but I did spend some considerable time running around with an arrow through the head.

Sowwy As the last few crackles of magic fade, Nyx turns to Lord Boomingham: With Sylph healing, Barur drinking a tonic and Amorith stunned it looks like it's just you and me this round, old man. Good job we're targeting different foes here. C'mon, show them you really are the King of the Desert! Once again it's Darkness magic on the MOColian Palace Guard from the back row for me.

I surely do, Larry. Same again Barkeep! Darkness magic, MOColian Palace Guard, back row. Nyx, still massaging some feeling back into her jaw, calls forth the dark elemental power she wields, and ties it to her fury to focus it on the enemy in front of her.