Grover

Being in California has its advantages with all the Lego stores nearby. I live so far from stores I usually only get to visit when traveling, which is 1-2x/year on average (I suspect this may be my only trip this year because of COVID).

No dachsund. Bummer. Overland Park KS.

They are. You can buy them inexpensively on BnP due to them being in a gold fireman statue in one of the city sets (whole body and head, too, in fact).

My order from May 20th. Still in complete after 3 piece reshipments and 6 calls. I gave up. I'm only missing a few cheap pieces now, so it's not worth my time to fix it any longer. Have another order from July 3 supposedly shipped now.

The BAM kiosks I went by while traveling (which is a real hassle during COVID) weren't open, but you could get pre-packaged minis, so I picked up two. Better than nothing, but I want to piece my own minis together!

The microscale looks good! Love the snitch!

Very nice build! You have a delightful way of thinking about builds, and a very artistic eye for lines and colors. The Nexo shield and attendant blue and white colors are fantastic, and I love how you keep a nice set of brown in the color palette. The small little stand next to the building breaks up the lines and fills out the picture. The barn style roof with its angles is great. The interior is absolutely hysterical, and very anachronistic. You do a great job with a small amount of space and fill out a lot of detail. Great inclusion of the friends pieces as well. My only critique is that I would envision a dwarven barber to use an axe, not scissors! Great job!

My lost order that was then canceled and reshipped and missing pieces? They shipped the missing pieces today, but shipped the wrong pieces. Yeah. I called to see if it was too late to stop the order, but it had been shipped. He asked if I wanted them to ship the right pieces. I told him no, I'd already spent 5.5 hours on hold on the 6 calls that I had in about this order and that the now 11 missing pieces were definitely not worth it. So yeah, sometimes the perfect storm happens, but beware that they are having some troubles at the moment.

6 - 3 points

Even if you only take one element of each type (all I ever do), a loot shot is helpful for everyone in the case that we may have missed pieces that are available. I think about half my orders come from elements I see on here!

Very nice work. I like the low sloped roof and all the snow. Looks cold and rural. Firewood is a nice touch.

I'm really enjoying these rural Mitgardian builds. The detail is great and the presentation brings out the cold, rugged life. I only wish the white tooth pieces were on swivels so the icicles pointed down. Great job!

I really appreciate B&P and make sure to tell the sales reps on the phone every time I order. For MOCing, especially if you live far away from Lego stores and LUGs, it's essential. That being said, I would recommend everyone count their pieces, since they seem to be having some trouble with orders at the moment (probably from overload). 2 of my last 3 orders came in missing 18 pieces each. One of the orders only had 100 pieces in it, so that was significant, and missed one element entirely (both of the missing element types were expensive). The other order had many more pieces, but many of the missing elements were expensive ones, so I had to call in replacements for both. I have a 4th order in that keeps sending me e-mail updates on shipment, but does not show up on my account when I log in, which is also unusual. I would recommend more smaller orders right now not only because of the parts issue but also because of shipping. My first order was lost in the mail (shipped May 27th and still not here), so TLG reshipped it (awesome customer service!), but when they did, they had run out of stock on one element, so they had to cancel it, and thus the post office robbed me of bricks. I will try and get a loot shot together here shortly. As for the reps, you get good and bad. I've had some reps that are on the ball and others that I don't know what they were thinking. I had one element that was broken into two orders that added together to the total that I wanted for some reason, and that same rep shipped me one element free as a replacement despite me ordering it and trying to pay for it. Others are super fast, get everything the first time and it's perfect. Regardless, they're all trying to do their jobs and I have always had nice people, so I try to be kind to them as well. Lego's rules are not in their control, so arguing with them about intricacies of 'licensed' or not is, in my opinion, pointless. The 'licensed' tag seems to be their way of embargoing pieces. They will use this on certain items they do not want to sell because they are too new or too low on stock, and other items that they do not want to sell because they are truly licensed. A few, like the white dove and the pig from the pirate ship, originally appeared in licensed sets (Aladdin and Angry Birds, respectively), and despite being put in non-licensed sets (like the mail plane), they remain licensed for a while, sometimes forever. Usually toward the end of a run for a particular piece (especially with Ninjago and Nexo), these pieces will be released, so just keep checking back.

What a great vig! I love the whole thing from top to bottom, and you managed to pack in a lot of detail in a small build! The angled front of the white building is brilliant, and you use the olive green to great effect. The detail work on the sand green building is outstanding with the curved slopes and cheese wedges as well. The flipper pieces (or whatever they're called) for the thatched roof looks great, and the market stall, as pointed out by @deraven, looks awesome with the brooms, which are subtle but very nice. The upside down wall with the treasure chest lids as food crates looks great. The slightly uneven cobblestone path is one of the better ones I've seen, and I like the carrot tops for grass in the back. A very enjoyable scene, and I wouldn't change a thing! Great job, and welcome to the guilds!

Welcome! Great little vig! Love the detail on the walls. Usually each build gets its own thread, and then all the links to the threads are posted here. I would suggest you put your freebuild in its own thread so you get more attention and comments. Feel free to add detail to the thread too, such as what you liked, didn't like, struggled with, would like suggestions on, etc., and if you have a story to go with it, whatever. It's pretty free form, but your build definitely deserves its own thread so it gets some attention!

Brilliant microscale! Love the upside down handbags as carts. The new rock pieces are great as the footing of the walls, and the derrick is awesome. Love the up top bit with the entrance carved into the mountainside and the chocolate frog hauling the cart!

Thanks! I had some fun with the staircase. Getting it SNOTted to make the masonry profile was easy, but getting it to turn the corner and actually frame all the bricks without a lot of gaps was tricky! Thank you! Keep your eyes peeled for future editions! Thanks! I'm glad the palisade doesn't look flimsy. I was hoping to give it the look that you described. Glad to see the lily and seagull making it onto the flora thread! I'll keep writing up some small features with my future builds!

I'll have to do a thread that's just the progression of the castle over the builds when it's all done. More than just the palisade, this reduces the vegetation, and you can see the transformation of the rocks as they are dug out as well. The ramp leading to the castle gate has begun too!

I think you do a good job dealing with a sensitive subject without making it obscene. Really, no one needs graphic descriptions of what's going on, we get it. lol The stickers look great! Wish they did some printed torsos like that. I look forward to seeing more of the outdoor pictures, too!

Very nice! I'm intrigued by the story and want to see where it goes! I like the use of the trans light blue and trans clear plates/tiles for the water. It looks very cold, especially with the snow caps. Your shoreline looks awesome with the curved and wedge plates. I wish those flower plates came in olive. I think that would serve you better here, in keeping with the cold Mitgardian landscape, but alas, they do not make them. Great use of the olive in the bush on top of the rock, though! The shipwreck looks great, you can see the hull shape and see where it was damaged. Here is where I wish that Lego made a weathered gray color, like old wood. Brown seems too new, light bley looks like rocks. Dark brown can be OK, but tends to be rare, expensive, and not produced in enough different pieces. Seems like a missed opportunity. You've got a lot going on here, and the pictures really benefit from being seen on the computer, my phone was not doing it justice. Great work!

Thanks! This is the evolving microbuild that keeps showing up and changing a little each time I do another Prenmôr build. I am hoping it is interesting to follow along as we go! I was happy with the way the diagonal staggered fence came out and glad you liked the plates holding them together! Thank you! I have to credit @Aurore for the plant and animal descriptions. I think it will be fun to try and fill in some of the flora and fauna of the lands with little entries like these. Glad you liked the rubble! It's funny, I didn't think much about it, just mixed some plates and cheese slopes together and dumped them along the base, but it seems to have come out well!

Castle Palisade | Grover | Avalonia

New freebuild for Avalonia, and another box checked for the HSS!

The Tales of Lady Gwenllian 10. Castle Palisade Concurrent with the temporary palisade around the town, a small palisade was built on the castle grounds. Temporary defenses for the castle grounds differed from the town because of the shallow bedrock that the castle would be built upon. This bedrock, and the location at the top of the rock outcropping precluded a surrounding ditch. The logs for the wooden palisade were placed directly on the shallow bedrock, and the wooden wall was shored up with rock and dirt at the base. The logs were staggered and reinforced with wooden rails for strength. Care was taken with these logs so they could eventually be reused for the castle timbers, since wood was in short supply due to limited logging rights in the Enchanted Forest (minimizing impact on the forest and pleasing their elven trading partners). To further reduce demand on timber, only the temporary housing for Lady Gwenllian's household was enclosed by the palisade, no guard towers were built, and only one large gate was constructed. Like the gates on the temporary town wall palisade, the gate was rudimentary, with two swinging doors, but unlike the town wall, this gate had a defended platform above for an extra layer of security. A wooden framed rock staircase provided access from one side, and the logs were raised along this side to provide cover to soldiers climbing the stairs. Outside of the palisade, Lady Gwenllian had begun training Gisela how to use a weapon. While some of the guards looked on from the wall and Mohatu stood close at hand, the women sparred with wooden swords and some spare shields Lady Gwenllian had grabbed from her armory. Gisela's father Staffen had sent word that their family had located the assassin who had made the attempt on Gisela's brother Bernaldo's life, and that retribution to the Varlyrian family responsible was at hand. Gisela of course, wanted to be part of the retribution for her brother, so she had obtained leave from Lady Gwenllian to temporarily return to Varlyrio. Lady Gwenllian had agreed on the condition that she take Mohatu and a small contingent of her own Avalonian guard for her protection. She was not keen on losing her new ambassador. She had further suggested that Gisela learn to defend herself, despite her ever-present and formidable bodyguard Mohatu watching over her. Never a shrinking violet, Gisela had readily agreed, although now in the heat of the summer sun, fighting the skilled and powerful Lady Gwenllian, she wondered if she had bitten off a little too much. Lady Gwenllian did not hold back and hit Gisela with the force of a kicking horse, numbing her arm with several hits to the shield. Gisela grit her teeth to push down the pain, ignoring her sweat soaked clothing and numerous bruises, focusing her anger at her family's dishonor on becoming skilled with a sword.

Super cool! I love the expansive spread of the wings. Is that build sturdy? I can't tell by looking at it, but it looks pretty solid. I totally want to use this deity in my builds in Historica now!