Brickadier General

Thanks everyone. Glad you liked it. Sorry I've been gone so long, but I've been a bit busy. Thanks. I bought it off of a seller on BrickLink. It's a non-production part. The last I checked, I couldn't find anymore on BrickLink. That little guy was $15, and I don't even want to think what somebody would charge for one now. Thanks, man. I bought the revolver off of bricklink too. The seller might still have some left.

Brickworld '08 was amazing. I traveled all the way from Pennsylvania with some of my PennLUG buddies with this being my first Lego convention...and it didn't dissapoint. I loved every minute of it and met plenty of cool new people. Speaking of which, the atmosphere is very friendly and welcoming and people helping one another to set up. I was flattered and surprised when I received nominations for best train and best individual layout. Didn't win, but being nominated was an unexpected surprise. There were a number of younger fans there, and there were some nice MOCs among them. I'd really like to go again this year, but with having to take a college summer class and working I don't know if I'll really have the time or funds to make it. I definitely won't really have time to make anything new to bring, but I have some older things that I didn't bring last year. But yes, if you get the chance I'd say go there.

You're welcome, and I'm glad you liked it. I will try to get around posting another review, hopefully soon. And I wish they were readilly available in the West. I think they've licesensed them to reproduce certain parts, but I'm not so sure about sets. I'd have to look further into that. I've seen pics of those trains before and think they look great too. I think they've been discontinued though, because the last time I was on the Oxford website I couldn't find them.

Brickshelf Gallery When public MOCPages Gallery Flickr Gallery This is my interpretation of the commercialization of Christmas. Charlie Brown, don’t listen to that thumb-sucking, blanket toting Linus. This is what Christmas is all about. ;-) In this scene, Santa is a pimp because he pimps out consumer goods industries, raking in loads and loads of cash for them (hence all the gold coins). “Halloween” has been hanged by Big Daddy Clause, because there ain’t enough room for two big commercialized holidays, so he decided he had to kill him. Christmas Master Chief is swinging around, representing one of the pop-culture icons Clause especially enjoys pimping out. After all, people can’t seem to get enough of that sweet Halo lovin’. ;-) Madame Clause has been reduced to nothing more than heroin junkie, representing the almost drug-like effect Christmas shopping has on people. For armed thugs, Santa has turned to his homies, the elves, for protection and to ensure that his lucrative business remains highly profitable. They also represent the crazy lengths some people will go to get the latest toy, like the woman who was trampled to death in a Wal-Mart on black Friday this year, probably by people trying to get a hold of a Nintendo Wiiner! Of course, for Big Daddy Clause it’s all about the Benjamins, so he was a very happy holiday hustler that day. Clause’s red guard dog has skillfully peed his master’s infamous catchphrase, while “Halloween’s” blood has supplied the final “Ho.” Where my Ho Ho Ho’s at? BrickForge and BrickArms items were used in the creation of this MOC And by the way, this MOC was meant to be a humorous interpretation, not a serious one. In reality, I’m not some zealot who goes around preaching the dark side of Christmas, which is precisely why I will wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays right now! And remember kids, you’d better watch out. You’d better not cry. You’d better not pout. I’m tellin’ you why. Big Daddy Clause is comin’ to town!...Along with Ragin’ Rudolph (a cookie goes out to the person who can figure out that reference).

(Attn. Mods: If possible, I would like to have a poll in this review similar to that seen on those who review sets. Thanks. ) I recently happened to pick up a few Oxford building sets off of e-bay to see what they were like and decided that it might be nice to also post a review of each of them for the rest of the Eurobricks community to see. Today, I decided to start off the reviews by checking out what I felt was the most interesting of the three sets. Please read further to find out more about this set, and who knows. Perhaps you too may be interested in purchasing this set! Set Name: Namdaemun (Sungnyemun) Set Number: KCH-0842 Manufacturer: Oxford of South Korea Parts: 889 Pieces (hopefully I didn't miscount) Stickers: 5 (plus 1 extra remaining after the build) Minifigs: Three Price: $41.99 U.S. before shipping from E-bay seller, A2zever (shipping was $38.99...Ouch!) Build Time: Approximately 90 minutes Background Information: Before going further, I feel it is important to explain how the set is based on an actual building, similar to the way Lego has been producing famous landmarks. This set depicts Namdaemun, a famous gate in Seoul South Korea constructed between 1395 and 1398 AD, which made it the oldest standing wooden structure in Seoul. On South Korea's list of national treasures, Namdaemun was listed at the top at number 1. However, on February 10, 2008, the wooden portion of the structure was virtually destroyed by a fire set by an arsonist, which you can see in this YouTube Video. On the back of the manual of the Oxford set is a stamp with the date of April 14, 2008, which leads me to believe that Oxford produced this set to memorialize Namdaemun. Perhaps they are even donating a portion of the proceeds to aid in the rebuilding? I can't read Korean, so I have no idea. Anyway, here is a picture of Namdaemun before the fire: The Box: Overall, the box is quite attractive, with the front featuring a nice overall shot of the gate in front of an edited-in city background. The back of the box is also quite nice, featuring some pictures of the actual structure in front of a nice drawing of it. It also features information about Namdaemun. However, unless you can translate Korean, you'll have no idea what it says. Below are pictures of the front and back: Additionally, the box is well designed. When you open it, all you need to do is pull the flap out to access the inside, so you shouldn't end up tearing it. If that wasn't enough, all of the parts are in a sturdy cardboard tray you pull out, and there isn't really very much "empty space," so the bags containing the parts will not really shift about. In addition to being economical, this is really good for keeping the manual, which is placed under all the parts, in good condition. Even though it had to ship halfway across the world to reach my doorstep, the manual remained in fantastic condition with no tears or significant bends or creases. Instructions: As mentioned, the instruction manual was in fantastic condition. You only get one manual, and it is thirty-nine pages in length. The front of the manual is virtually the same as the front of the box, and the rear of the manual is the same as the back of the box. Other than that, the manual is pretty well-laid out, and it's pretty easy to tell which brick goes where. No color confusion here. Each step has a small box showing you each piece you need, as well as how many of that piece you need for the particular step you are working on, similar to Lego's manual design. It's always helpful to know what you need ahead of time. Stickers: There aren't too many stickers, just enough to make the building a little more recognizable. You only use one of the Korean lettering stickers, and it covers 2 1x4 black tile. There is an extra one, in case the applied sticker gets lost or damaged. The other stickers are for the front of the structure only, and each covers a single brick, meaning you don't have to worry about them falling off when you take the model apart. Minifigures: The Oxford minifigures are actually quite attractive, and these represent the guards that stood watch of the gate. They're actually pretty good representations as evident by this picture. The central figure sports a robe made of a sturdy paper that comes already folded and mounted on him. The figures are wearing specially made hats to represent the style of the guards' actual headgear. As far as colors are concerned, the blue matches The Lego Company's (TLC) blue pretty closely, but the yellow is of a slightly darker shade than TLC's. Oxford minifigs can be taken apart in the same manner as Lego minifigs, but unfortunately the torso and leg assemblies are not interchangeable with Lego minifigs. Oxford and Lego minifig heads, on the other hand, are completely interchangeable. An Oxford head will fit on a Lego torso and vice-versa, which is nice since the Oxford heads look cool. Minifig hands, to a certain degree, are not interchangeable. If you look at the Lego hand (Left) and the Oxford Hand (right), you will see that Oxford's is slightly shorter. This means that while Lego hands fit in the arm holes, they will not clip into place due to their excessive (in comparrison) length. And while Oxford hands completely fit Lego arm holes, they are slightly loose. Oxford minifigs are compatible with Lego parts (as demonstrated here). However, some parts seem to fit slightly looser in the Oxford minifigs' hands than in the Lego minifigs'. By contrast, Oxford minifig accessories fit extremely comfortably in the hands of a Lego minifig. Oxford minifigs are also compatible with custom accessories, such as these pictured from BrickForge. Weapons generally seem to fit loosely in the hands of the minifig. So do most of the headgear pieces, especially the turban. However the helmet on the middle minifig was a nice fit. Overall though, it seems that Oxford's minifig parts use slightly different dimensions than Lego minifigures, as Oxford accessories fit perfectly on Oxford minifig hands and heads. Parts: A great thing about the bags in the box was how like-parts were grouped together in the same bag. It made sorting the parts all the more easier, as you can see by the picture above. That's all 889 pieces there! As you can see, the bulk of the set consists of more "basic" bricks and plates. As far as colors are concerned, the brown and light and dark gray are very similar to the old original Lego colors, and the green is a good match too. For a clone-brand, the quality of the plastic is also quite high, not equal to Lego, but very, very close. These specialized parts may be of interest to some people. From left to right; a special angle piece, a wall with "stone texture," special corner slopes (perfect for oriental buildings), and inverted slopes with "grating" patterns on them. My personal favorite would have to be the special corner slopes, and the set comes with eight of them. The Accessories come on sprues and are easy to detach. You only need the two spears and one sword for the guard. That leaves you with an extra sword and four bow and arrows. They're really nice, except they seem a bit over-sized in proportional comparison with the minifigures. The hats are nice as well. Extra Parts you will have when finished building. The Build: Two of the baseplates the building is constructed on. There is also a third and narrower one that goes in between them. These actually made the beginning of the build slightly annoying because they would sometimes want to separate from the bricks (I was building on a carpet), so a single baseplate would have been preferred. As the build progressed, and the structure became more sturdy this became less of a problem. Overall, it wasn't that complex to put together, but it did take a while to put it together, and it was a fun build. Lower portion of the structure The First Floor The First Floor with roof and plates added. Working on finishing the second floor. Finished the roofing of the second floor. Design Comments: The overall look of the building is aesthetically pleasing and is a very nice representation of Namdaemun. However, if you looked at the picture of the actual building, you would see that this model is not to minifig scale. I think that it would have needed to be around twice as large. Even with that in mind, the minifigs still look quite nice in front of it. The back of the building. By looking at the side of the building, you can really see what I mean here about this not being to minifig scale. Those are the stairs, and that hole is supposed to be a doorway. Conclusion: Build: 8/10 While there is nothing overly-complex about this set (no advanced building techniques) its sheer volume of pieces means you will be spending a long time putting it together. Design: 8/10 Again, the baseplate issue made early steps a bit of a pain, as bricks wanted to separate from it in the beginning. However, once you attach the plates to the top of the first floor, the problem is less of an issue, and the finished product is very sturdy. And the quality of the plastic is very high, making Oxford one of the most durable of the clone brands. Playability: 6/10 The completed set seems more for displaying. However, the minifigs and their weapons leave some minor room for making them duel with each other I suppose. But I still decided to not knock the playability rating lower than 6 because with 889 pieces, it leaves plenty of room for creativity in building other things. It should at least get some points for that. Minifigs: 9/10 The minifigs are really nice looking, with some pretty cool prints for the torsos and heads, and they are exclusive to this set. They also are very good representations of the real-life guards. Plus, the degree of interchangeability with Lego minifigs makes them even more appealing. Price: 8/10 Okay, so why would I rate this so high with an overall price of $80.98 US? Well if you take into consideration that there are 889 pieces and divide that number from the overall cost (shipping included), the cost per piece comes to about $0.09 for each piece. Compared to Lego, it is not that bad, and true, this may be a clone brand, the quality is still very high. Therefore, I still think it's a decent price. Overall Score: 8/10 Overall, it's a very nice set commemorating a cool historical structure from Asia with parts that could be very useful for Lego fans. There are some minor issues that I would've like to have seen done differently, mainly the baseplate issue, but it's still a fun build. Things like the high quality of the parts, part and minifig part compatibility with Lego parts, and a nice price per part ratio also make this a nice set to check out. Where to buy? As said before, I bought this set off of e-bay from user a2zever, who lives in South Korea where Oxford sets are made. Currently, they are the ONLY person on e-bay selling Oxford sets, so if you're interested I advise you check their store out, because Oxford sets are very hard to come by and seldom show up on e-bay. You can buy the set here. They have multiples, as well as other Oxford sets available in their e-bay store. I really hope you enjoyed this review, as it took me awhile to put together. I'm not sure if I'll be as thorough with the other sets reviews. It all really depends on your interest I guess. So please let me know what you think of my review, as well as your thoughts on this set. I'd really like to hear them.

Really good work, BatBrick. My favorites are the Scarecrow Wagon and the Joker's Copter (which I think looks much nicer than the official Lego version).

Great layout. That boat doesn't move around the river, does it? I ask because the river runs in a complete circle, and it looks like there is wiring underneath.

Zorro, I'm happy to see you are working on soldiers from the Napoleonic Wars. I'm expecting to eventually see them incorporated in some sort of diorama. That's an order, Private!

I've seen your stuff on flickr before Aaron. Good work on these. I've never really done modern war vehicles before, but I've pulled out my Brickmania instruction CD and decided to go with the Halftrack. Of course, I don't have enough chain link pieces...

Very cool indeed, and in such a wintry MOC, the word "cool" can't be stressed enough. I love the idea of the house being snowed in with the guy digging out, a classic comical situation rendered in brick.

Very nice creation you have there. I don't believe I've ever seen anyone modify one of the skeletons in such a way.

Happy to share them with you and glad to hear you like his work. Sorry about that Sir Dillon. I assumed since WWII is historical it would belong in History and Adventure. Is History and Adventure reserved for MOCs that are related to themes that Lego has already developed?

The John Hancock Tower and Sears Tower were both previously released as event sets at BrickWorld. I have 'em both, and I even had Adam sign one of them. I preferred the packaging on them. The Space Needle does look like the coolest of the lot and I would gripe about the price too, but I think I plunked down 20 buck for each event kit. But I don't care. lol

Thanks for the nice review. However, while I do like the figs, the specialized parts and some of the lime pieces, I'm still not sold on Power Miners. Sorry to be the negative Nancy, but someone has to.

That's a nice start to a town you have there. Continue expanding it, and keep up the great work!

Good stuff there. It's a nice big scene, with great attention to the whimsical and sadistic comical.

Plastic storage systems with all the crazy drawers and stuff can get expensive. My method is to sort by part rather than color and then to put each part in a different zip-lock bag. Glad-lock freezer bags would probably be the best for a younger lad such as your son, as they are easy to open and close. You could then look for a picture of the part on peeron or bricklink, then print it out, glue it on some cardboard/thick paper, then staple it to the bag. When I was a kid, my mother sorted our puzzles in a similar manner, except with a small cut-out picture from the side of the puzzle box. Buy a big storage container to keep all the bags in, then you have a nice way or organizing your parts. At least it's worked for me. Hope this helps. -Brickadier General

As most of the die-hard Lego town/train enthusiasts are aware, the Lego Airport Shuttle set was released in 1990. I was five that year and remember spotting it in one of the little product catalogs that used to come in sets. Even though there were also trains in there that I thought were amazing, I found the Airport Shuttle more appealing. For me, the prospect of having a Lego monorail kit was so cool, and I loved everything about this one; the great red and white color scheme of the monorail, the track, the little stations, and the fact that the track could transition from ground level to elevated...I could have track weaving over and under each other! From that moment on, I pleaded for it around Christmases and birthdays. Yet time and time again, no Airport Shuttle. However, I can't say I was that disappointed. I was generally happy with whatever I received. As long as there was a Lego set, I was generally a satisfied customer. Rest assured though, it still remained high on my wishlists. But as time passed and holidays came and went, so too did my life change. In '91 my family got a nice little Miniature Schnauzer. We wouldn't get to have her very long, because the following year my parents split up and got divorced. I would be living with my dad, and since he worked and would have my sister and I at the babysitter during the day, he felt it wasn't good to leave a little puppy alone all day. So he ended up giving her to my grandparents to take care of. Between that and my parents splitting up, the year that followed was not the happiest of times. Flash forward to the Christmas of '93. This year, I was excited since I was able to spend Christmas at my grandparent, whom I enjoyed being around, and of course I would get to see my little dog again! When Christmas morning came, I was the first to run down the stairs and went to look at all the presents and see which ones were mine. One of them was a nice big one, marked "from Santa," and as I shook it around and heard the sound of shifting plastic parts inside, I knew it had to be a Lego set. Of course, I didn't know which set it was, and I sat staring at the presents under the tree, wondering what it could be, until the entire family came downstairs. Once everyone was around the tree, the big box was the first gift I hurried toward, and I frantically ripped away the wrapping paper to see what awesome set Santa had bestowed upon me. Then I began to see the box art...the beautiful red monorail cars with their white trim in all their glory. I couldn't believe it! I remembered having asked for it so many times, yet it was the last thing I expected to see on that Christmas day. After opening it, I couldn't wait to build it and set up the track to see the monorail go 'round and 'round. My little dog sat beside me as I put things together, and not once did she ever try to go after and chew on my bricks. To this day, 1993 remains my most memorable Christmases, and not just because of the Airport Shuttle. Being able to spend it with my grandparents, see my dog, and have a great Christmas dinner cooked by my grandmother made it all the more enjoyable. The Airport Shuttle, as cool as it is, is also a reminder of that day. And although my grandparents and dog are no longer living, every time I look at the Airport Shuttle I am reminded of them. It should come as no surprise then that it is my most treasured childhood set. As a side-note, the following year I received this:

Definitely. And I'm not exactly sure how it would look, but the sloped brick that makes up the back of the horse's head has a slot and could have a plate inserted to look like a horse's mane. Have you tried anything like that?

As some of you may or may not be aware, Daniel Siskind, creator of the Blacksmith Shop set and proprietor of Brickmania custom kits has been working on a book for No Starch Press on the topic of Modern military (over the past century) Lego modeling. I'm expecting to see this WWII Iwo Jima Diorama in there. And this scene with WWII Japanese soldiers. See his Flickr gallery for more. I'm surprised nobody posted about this yet.

Very nice work. I can't even imagine how tedious it was to pack all that detail in there.

Very nice looking horse. However, judging by its size it would seem to be more appropriate for miniland scale. And that's definitely not a bad thing.

Number 1: 14. Erdbeereis1 - Murder In The Market! Number 2: 18. GloriusShadow - Taking out the Governor the noisy way Number 3: 22. Paul cantu - Prison break! As there were a number of fantastic entries, it was difficult to narrow 'em down. But I felt Erdbeereis1's entry was somethin' really special. -"The great and powerful Oz has spoken!"

She's overrated, over-hyped, overpaid, and oversexed. And her music leaves me feeling under-impressed. Just my opinion, but I find Britney Spears to be one of the perfect examples of everything that's wrong with most American popular music. But if you like her, that's alright. To each unto their own (I probably butchered that saying).

Good ideas. Two tribes would be great, like bringing the Apache tribe into the mix. They could also do more civilian oriented things for Western now. For example, now that there are cows they could do a pioneer wagon pulled by cattle. They could also do a ranch. Seeing a Lewis and Clark expedition set would be nice. Plus, now that Lego has the color Dark Blue, Cavalry figures would be perfect in this color.