Izzy

That is a really cool technique Matn. I'd love to know how exactly you did it! Is that a HP poster I see?

Yeah! He's just trying to "grease the brakes". Hush now you two, you're disturbing his mojo.

The Adventures of Harry Potter, Season One - Episode Five (Eight Parts) Dobby's Demise!

Oh is that what kids these days are calling it?

Oh it's okay little man. I'll stay with you and tell you all about my life as a Conductor. I'll start with the Crocodile Locomotive.... back when Willoughby was a thriving logging town we helped the Swiss Government ..... *trails off into a looooong and detailed rant about trains and train stuff*

Where are you going and staying? There are a lot of customs (too many to mention here) that you could be aware of. But it all depends on where you are staying and such. My little sister is going over for a home-stay for 6ish months and was telling me last night about the rules for slippers. As you probably know you DO NOT wear your shoes into any house. Therefore they have house slippers at the front door which you wear about inside (they are regarded as clean) and then if you wish to use the toilet facilities or go into the courtyard there is another set of outside slippers (they are regarded as dirty) and you cannot wear your outside slippers inside either. And never stick your chopsticks straight up in your bowl, or wave them about whilst talking. This is considered very rude. That is just some stuff she was telling me about last night. Hope is helps.

Hmmm you seem awfully intent on living... suspicious. I do think someone should stay above ground in case they need to run for help. I should like to inspect this hole in the ground also. *walk towards hole and waits for other to decide still whistling cheerfully*

Oh! Thank Goodness for that. I thought he meant you had been assaulted befriended by Michael Jackson.

The final challenge for me is to resist buying another HP set (and reviewing it) but for Harry it is to find the Philosopher's Stone before Professor Quirrel does. This set can take you right into the action with it's Holographic picture, and revolving door. Stop He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named from gaining eternal life and destroying the world as we know it. Name: The Final Challenge Set Number: 4702 Theme: Lego Harry Potter Sub Theme: The Philosopher's Stone Year: 2001 Pieces: 60 Minifigs: 2 Recommended Age: 6 - 10 Price: AU$29.99 US$16 - 30, GBP 8.99 Links: Brickset Peeron Photobucket The Box: A fairly large box for a 60 piece set, measuring 19cm x 14cm. The cover art shows the playability of the set, with the revolving door in action and Quirrel about to be trapped by the spiders web. The back cover of the box, "just imagine..." Just imagine what exactly? The alternative builds are somewhat confusing to me. Harry (with his cape on upside down) and Quirrel together using the spiders web to fling Grey things into a container??? Is this an arcade game? And then Harry with an telescope anti-aircraft dementor gun??? Just imagine indeed! On the top of the box there is a great action shot of Harry and Quirrel playing 'invisible' football. Harry is quite obviously cheating with his wand out. The Contents: All the contents of the box, including 1 instruction booklet, 2 bags, a loose base piece, door frame, roof pyramid and the Holographic Sticker. The Booklet: A length ways booklet, showing the same picture as the cover art, but with a little extra of the brick owl archway seen on most HP sets. A random page of the instructions, showing steps 8 and 9. There is only sixteen steps all up. The Pieces: All the pieces set out, this set has quite a few special or rare pieces, including the Sand Green Pyramid, the revolving door and frame and the spiders web. The rest of the pieces, including many 1x1 hollow studs, and a red gem piece. Pieces of Interest: The Philosopher's Stone, or a TransRed Faceted Gem! this pieces is found in 62 different Lego sets as far back as 1998. So it is not rare to say the least but it is a nice piece to have around. The Cloaks, this set contains two cloaks, one is plain black and another black with silver stars. The latter wasn't put in the cardboard properly and is all bent over . Not sure if you can iron this piece . Fluro Orange Spider and Spider's web, this web piece is quite old but was released in two of last years 2008 Indy sets, one in White and one in Dark Grey. The Black Bat has been around since 1997, and is also available in Dark Stone of Dark Grey. I love this piece but do wish there was an upside down hanging version of it. This Pyramid piece in Green is exclusively available in four HP sets. It is quite a well formed piece, big, but not 4+ looking. Very good for MOCs. A Black Owl, the Owl pieces comes in nearly all of the HP sets in various colours, it is available in the odd Belville set also. The Holographic Picture... apparently this is a sticker but for the life of me I couldn't find how to un-stick it. So it is double sided taped on at the moment. This piece is awesome, I am super excited to see the effort that TLG put into this piece. Harry is standing still, then as you turn the pieces left or right to see him pull the Philosopher's Stone out of his pocket just like in the movie. Brilliant! Makes for extra playability. The Minifigures: This set has a yellow Harry in the old Grey Gryffindor uniform used only in 2001 and 2002. this is the old Harry face as well with his eyebrows behind his glasses. Which brings me to an interesting point about the Holographic picture. Notice anything? Quirrel. Ahhhh Quirrel. What a great (and exclusive) minifig we have here. Just look at that Turban His torso is great also, with such detail, see how the 'rest' of his turban wraps around his shoulders just like in the movie. There is no print on the back of his torso which is a shame, as he is used half the time from the back due to his double sided head. I've added a shot of Quirrel close up, just look at his features, this is a great face. I just love that mouth. When you turn his head around we have Voldemort, what a hideous creature he is. TLG have done justice to that fact, with the slits for a nose and the evil red eyes. Very cool indeed! Harry and Quirrel with all accessories The Build: the first step of the build is to place the stone and the Holographic picture on the Revolving Door Trapezoid Base and the insert it into the Revolving Door Frame. This shot is showing the stone side of the door, It has a very reflective and easily marked surface. (beware of fingerprints) Add a few pillars and the handles for the Web. Here we have four Grey inverted slopes, which are the base for the pyramid to sit on. The Finished Product: Although there aren't may pieces the height given to this set makes it feel larger than it actually is. A side shot of the set, Top view of the set, there is sufficent space to have the Web hanging down from the top of the set instead on laying on the ground. The complete set. The Final Verdict: Design: 7/10 This set is quite small, the original scene in the movie took place in a massive underground room, I think a little more effort could have been put into the size of this set. But as usual, you get wide range of colours and pieces. Build: 9 /10 Simple, easily done, the non sticky sticker was the only difficulty I had. Playability: 8 /10 A few animals, the spiders web, the revolving door and the Quirrel/Voldemort head make this set easy to play with. Minifigures: 10/10 Harry is a great Minifig to have, and this rare Quirrel fig with a Purple turban, great torso and double sided head is just too good. Definitely worth getting for him alone. Price: 8/10 This is the only set with the Quirrel fig so it is going to be a little pricey nowadays, but you get some rare pieces so I think it is quite a fair price. Overall: 8/10 I'd love to give it more because of the Quirrel fig but the lack of pieces lets this set down. Even by making the base a slightly larger one this set could have been so much more realistic. Just For Fun: I just couldn't resist using Quirrel's face for a female, that mouth... it's just too luscious. What do you think? Drag Queen or Elegant Lady?

Introduction: One of the best small sets from the Harry Potter theme, this set will bring you much joy as build, play and MOC with it. Help Harry escape from Snape or just sneak around in the secret passages of Hogwarts. Name: Harry and the Marauder's Map Set Number: 4751 Theme: LEGO Harry Potter Sub Theme: The Prisoner of Azkaban Year: 2004 Pieces: 106 Price: AU$22.99, GPB 8.99 US$ 10 Minifigures: 3 Recommended Age: 6 - 10 Resources: Brickset Peeron Photobucket The Box: The cover of the box shows a great action shot of Harry escaping down into the secret passage seemingly just in time as Snape is somehow hovering close by with his face all aglow. The back cover of the box shows various builds and a few of the moving part features of the set. The Booklet: It is quite a large booklet, and the cover of the booklet is the same as the cover of the box although it is printed length ways but when you open the booklet is is all printed width ways. I hate that . Snape looks like he has some pretty great swooshability. A random page from the booklet with steps 12, 13 and then skipping to 20??? That is because the bulk of the build is done in 1 to 19 steps, then it starts again from 1 to 13 for the movable part, and then it continues with step 21 for completion. There is another four pages of the booklets after that, showing closer shots of the alternate builds and various HP sets available at the time. The Pieces: All the pieces together (A La Svelty) As with almost every HP set, we have got a wide range of colors. Black, Tan, Red Brown (including the arches which are exclusive to this set ), Mid Stone, Dark Stone and Sand Green. The only printed pieces in this set are the Alchemy Piece and the Marauder's Map. We get a few Technic pieces for the opening mechanism for the Humped-Backed Witch to slide out, revealing the secret passage. There were no spare pieces in my set. Pieces of Interest: First of all we have two cloaks, a Black one for Severus and a Purple one for Harry. Just like the Starry Cloak from the Troll on the Loose set, this is a strange cloak for Harry to have but I shan't complain as I already have so many Black Cloaks and to have something different is good. I like to switch them around and have Snape in the Purple ones as it matches his Purple clothes. We have some plant life, a quick way to liven up any set. A really cute piece we get with this set is a great big orange spider with a cross on in its back. Just another non essential piece that livens things up. I like it alot. It is great fun to play with. Here is a close up shot of the Marauders Map, showing the writing as clearly as I could get. There is some small red writing, that on my piece is absolutely not readable, if anyone knows what it says from a Map that is printed more clearly. I would love to know what it says. As for the black writing, it says Rebmach rowel or as I have figured out "Lower Chamber" written backwards, but the 'c' and the 'h' are muddled up, and the other words are Egassap retniw or "Winter Passage" also written backwards. Very clever of TLG to do this I think. I love this piece for the fact that it is so small but has such great detail, and it is printed . Here is a close up of the alchemy Piece that is hidden behind the Statue. Like the Map piece, do these markings actually mean something? I cannot say. After much research in ancient runes, I was unable to come up with anything regarding this piece. If anyone does know of it means anything, I would love to know. The Minifigures: Firstly I'd like to show you the Statue, in the books it is a Humped-Back Witch, but the way TLG have made it is more of a Humped-Butt Witch . I love the Printed Torso and Skirt pieces with the flowing gown, no print on the back is a shame, but as statues are mostly against a wall I guess that is why it isn't printed on the back. Altogether with her lovely dark Grey head, torso and skirt I think it make a very nice looking and realistic statue, although, some Dark Grey Ladies hair would have been the cherry on top. Harry Potter in flesh is the second Minifig, he is wearing the Dark Grey Gryffindor Uniform and a Purple Cloak. A side shot of the minifig with cloak on, there is no print on the back of the torso or cloak. Here is a shot of Harry without the cloak and with his 'Lumos' wand. Is it just me or does Harry usually have a brown wand? Unless I'm mistaken and it is not a wand at all. Here we have a front and side shot of Snape, there is not print on this back either. He has a partially printed torso and pants, with a purple suit. I believe this is so it looks like his cloak covers most of his clothes underneath, like in the movies. He has light Grey hands and a sickly colored light Green-Grey (glow-in-the-dark) head. Here is a shot of his head in action, it has quite a decent glow about it for a few seconds, it fades quite quickly meaning many trips to the sunniest windows sill and back as I took this photo around 15 to 20 times each with different settings and locations and this is the best I could do with my camera. I ended up in Amelie's wardrobe to take this shot. Haha. The Build: We start the build, using all the brown pieces for the underground passages. Here is a piece that many many Lego Star Wars sets, a 1x4 brick with groove, in this case in black. At this stage of the build we get to add a bit of colour with the bright orange spider and some plant life. Steps 1 through 19 are complete, now can start on the movable part. The statues base. Here is a secret compartment for the Alchemy Piece. Maybe that is why Snape is sneaking around at night, maybe he hides his darkest most evil spells behind random statues. The secret compartment is revealed when the Statue is pushed back. But, it is behind the wall, so I'm not too sure how one's minifig is meant to get at it. The Statue is now in place, and Harry's wand is in place... Here we have the Technic piece that act as a lock for the Secret Passageways, it works with a Technic axle pin being inserted into a brick with a hole, then the Technic beam liftarm goes over that, so when a wand it inserted from the front it is a tight enough fit, so that when you turn it, the liftarm turns also, and 'unlocks' the Statue. ...Just turn it to your right and the Statue will be 'unlocked' ... ...Then you can slide it back to reveal the hidden passageways Push from the back to close it up again, the groove and door rail pieces make for smooth sailing. It glides very easily, and when in place sits perfectly inline, you would never know it was there. Here is a shot of the Door Rail piece, most commonly used on Lego trains, and the Grooved Brick in action. The Finished Product: A front view of the completed set, with the Passage open. A top view of the set with the passage open. And a back view of the set, with the passage 'locked' The complete set, including all three minifigures. As It Should Be: I have added a little bit extra to the passage ways, to give some extra room, in the original set there is no way that Snape and Harry can be on the base together without seeing each other, I guess that is why TLG have Snape hovering in the air on the box cover. Fred Weasley. George Weasley. There are no official Lego minifigures for these characters so using the parts I had I have made what will be sufficient to show you how this set should look in my opinion. With the Weasley twins, Harry and Snape. The Weasley twins would have a brown wand each and be in uniform. Severus Snape. Harry Potter. Snape would have a black cape, black wand and a pink mug. (for potions?) Harry would have a black cape, the map and lit up wand. The Final Verdict: Design: 8/10, I love the use of Technic and Groove pieces in this design, the set has a very nice castle feel about but if I have to complain about one thing it would be the fact that HP sets have SO many colors. It would look so much tidier if they cut out just a few. Build: 9/10 This is a really fun set to build, not too small that it is over before you have begun and the two separate builds to make the one set makes the set feel even bigger. Playability: 8/10 This is a great set to play with, (and as I added a bit extra, I have been playing with it constantly for the last week,) It is easy to change the smallest details and come up with something that looks completely different. Minifigures: 10/10 Yet another Harry... well I love getting more uniforms so I can't complain and this set just wouldn't work with out him. I love the fact that Snape's head is Glow-In-The-Dark, completely random but makes it fun to play with (I'm currently using at as one of the Castle Ghosts) Then there is the statue, such a great minifig to have around, with so many possibilities, I think it would look great as a fountain in a City setting, or a Carving in a Studio or anything you can think off. Price: 10/10, for such a great amount of pieces and three excellent minifigs, this set is remarkably well priced. Overall: 9/10 I just love this set, it is well priced, it had so many great pieces that can be used in MOCs and the Minifigs are Super! If you don't have any HP sets and wanted to start somewhere, I'd say this set should be it, it has such great versatility. Just for Fun:

To the end of the shed it is... *links arms with Pete and Brakes and starts a lively jaunt towards the end of the shed* *Sings* We're off to see the eeeeend.... the wonderful end of the shed!

I have run without completely stoping stopping but with a hell-o-lot of stooping for a cross country that was 5km. I thought I was going to die. Seriously! Needless to say. I don't run any further than Cutlass_Amelie is ahead of me now.

Ahhh! *yawns and stretches* Good Morning Everyone! Glad to see everyone safe and well. You are looking much better Brakes. How are your crushed parts? What say we open the big doors and let a whole lot of sunshine into our lives. We might see some way to get this beasty running even without the Crocodile's rod.

TROLL! TROLL IN THE DUNGEON! Well in this case he is in the bathroom, and He's not chasing poor little Hermy, he is just trying to wash his hands. This great little Harry Potter set is full of wonderful pieces and concepts and of course, a Troll. Name: Troll on the Loose Set Number: 4712 Theme: LEGO Harry Potter Sub Theme: The Philosopher's Stone Year: 2002 Pieces: 71 Minifigs: 2 Price: AU$20, GBP-8.99, US$20 Age: 6 - 10 Resources: Brickset Peeron Photobucket The Box: The front cover of the box show Harry chasing after the troll, while some small brown bricks fall down from a chute. (We'll get to those later on) The back cover has two other possible builds from the set including Harry on a (porcelain?) throne. The Booklet: The cover of the booklet is the same as the front of the box. A random page of the instruction booklet, building the walls. The tap is in but not the basin. The Contents: 1 base piece, 1 large bag, 1 small bag, 1 booklet, 1 small poster, 1 cloak/troll clothes in cardboard case. The Pieces: The pieces spread out, all 70 odd of them. As most HP sets are a bit of a mess of colors this one is no different with Brown, Black and Grey. It might seem like a bad thing but it is great for MOCing and building up your collections. We get some really great arches in this set, in Grey and black including a Old Grey 12 long Arch which is very impressive. Pieces of Interest: Harry's Cloak and the Troll Clothes come together in the cardboard packaging, this is a very fancy cloak for Harry to have indeed! I guess the TLG didn't want you to get a plain black one in every set so the gave us this fancy printed cloak. It's great to mix things up a bit, I like to use it as part of his costume for the yule ball! I just need a lace one for Ron. Here we have the Troll's club, consisting of a Grey bar (wand piece), a Grey cone and a 1x1 brick studded on all sides. I think an altogether piece would have worked better with this set as the Troll is a molded piece, and he suits a molded club. These little sets are great for one off pieces, I think this would have been a perfect opportunity for it. Tisk Tisk TLG. Here we have two keys, one is a spare and one is for the bathroom door. This piece is used in mainly Harry Potter sets and the rare Belville one. A very realistic looking, if not somewhat large key. Now here we have my second favourite part of this set, a Minifig Head with Jack'o'Lantern pattern. Used only in this set and a Studios - Scary Laboratory Set, it is very rare and completely awesome! And my number one all time favourite piece of this set is the Tap and Basin pieces. Usually used in Belville sets as a tap and a dinner plate, this piece is perfect for this set. I just wish there had been more, like in the movie. The Minifigures: Yet another HP set with HP himself. This set is crying out for a teary Hermione Minifig (Pardon the pun) at least, if not a Ron Minifig as well. But this Harry is yellow, so I shall be content that at not all of my Harry's are Fleshies. The back view of Harry with his fanciful starry cloak. A very freaky looking Troll, put your clothes on!!! And much better! This light blue head with nasty little teeth is brilliant. Great for Swine Flu MOCs or Zombies. With his fuzzy brown vest and elasticated loin cloth the troll is very much like off the movie and is a great monster to add to your collection. The Build: The start of the build has begun, the hinge piece for the breakable basin is in place. The door and taps are in, and the hinged chute. (Not yet) Now the tap and basin in all its glory! Bask in the awesomeness of Belville pieces crossing over. I love it and want more! Now for the chute and little brown bricks, I'm going to put this piece of 'design' down to 'playability factor' because it just doesn't make sense in any other way. WHY??? Why have mysterious brown things falling on you, in a bathroom??? This set doesn't really need this extra few pieces especially when there is no connection in the books, movie or even the set itself. It just doesn't make sense. The Finished Product: Ta Dah! We are finished, now for the fun part.... ...playing with the set! The Final Verdict: Design: 7/10 I think a slightly taller bathroom would have been appropriate as Hogwarts is a Castle, and the Troll and Harry need to be able to fit in there together. The Basin hinge design is very clever. Build: 8/10 Very easy, no surprises. Playability: 8/10 The basin and freaky chute really do add to the playability factor. You can have lots of fun either washing your wands or smashing up some porcelain. Minifigures: 9/10 I am always happy to get more Gryffindor uniforms (Fred'n'George here we come) and a yellow Harry face is a nice change. Then there is the Troll, with his brilliant light blue color, massive size and reusable head, he is a great credit to this little set. Price: 9/10 Even with the massive HP mark ups this set is still available at a reasonable prices, for all the awesome pieces you get. DEFINITELY worth it. Overall: 8 /10 Even if you aren't a Harry Potter fan this set has plenty of great pieces for use in MOCs, and if you are the one-of-a-kind Troll minifig is a must have! I love this set and am very happy with the basics. I'd like to do some work and make the bathroom more like the movie but the TLG have given us the idea and the pieces to start with, and isn't that what LEGO is all about?

Happy Birthday Mate! Hope the family spoils you rotten.

Zzz *starts to mutter in sleep* Zzz mmmm crocodile rock....zzzz uh me n susie.. Zzzz

Welcome Arthas! If you have been browsing this site for some time then you will probably already know it is unavoidable that you have a good time! But beware... EB is soooo addictive!

Zzzzz *Startles* What's that in my back? Eeeew Gary! *Pushes Grease aside and shuffles back onto fetal position and continues snoring*

Just a thought... have you tried using a reflective surface on the ground in front of him to get some light under his hat? Sometime that works... (without getting that horrible glare that shines off half the face).

Looks like it has some nice pieces...

Sounds good to me... I'll be first to... ZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzz *snorts and farts* ZZZzzzzZZZz. (You forgot the evil cornfield children)

*climbs out from under the locomotive and dusts off clothes* This wee beasty isn't going anywhere for now. If you are ready to give up looking so soon, a rest would do my old bones some good. Shall we stay here in this old shed to sleep or back out into the town?

Oh the shame! Hinkley you were right! I need to be punished.

*pokes head out from under locomotive* I don't know if this engine will ever run again, but you're right about the Johnson... you don't want to put too much pressure on it, a smooth consistent action is all you need to get it to come out easily. ( OMG!!! This is not good! IS you are a bad influence)