Hrw-Amen

Quite amusing, I like the look of that duvet cover on the main bed, I had not thought of that idea before.

So does anyone have any theories on why there are different types of aliens in the alien ships? The commander in the mothership is the most outlandish I guess with his tentacles, but there are then two different soldier aliens, not to mention the face hugger. Do we think they represent different age ranges in alien maturity with the little face hugger being a baby and then the commander being the grandpa, or are they supposed to be different species altogether that just happen to form an alliance? From my perspective I like to think that they are perhaps all different species but from the same planet (Or at least the same system.) a bit like if you imagine that humans and neanderthals co-existing but doing it nowadays. Maybe a thrid species of 'evolved' human (Or in this case alien.) for the commander but still from the same genetic pool. Obviously the face hugger is the alien equivelant of a dog or cat? What do we think?

I have to say that I prefer yellow, but I am sure that is simply because the mini-figs were yellow when they were first introduced when I was a kid. If they had been fleshy from the outset it would not be a problem. But, they were not and so generally I go for yellow all the time. I have a bunch of fleshy heads and hands that I've swapped out just sitting there. However, like others I am looking forwards to LOtR so maybe I will have to accept flesh coloured ones for that, we will see. But mostly it is about what feels like LEGO to me.

I think the upgrade looks much better, not that the original didn't, but this is superb. I reckon every LEGO City needs one. Edit: But what happend to the air-con on the roof?

I think they are supposed to be either megaphones or radar guns depending on the situation. However if they were on a space policeman then I'd say they were a laser gun, so really they can be whatever your policemen need them to be for a good game. LEGO City Policemen armed with lasers sounds rather cool, don't you think? Maybe they have several settings. At the lowest the beam simply bounces back to determine by how much the offending vehicle is speeding, at the highest setting it simply vapourises the car!

It is always nice to see a good steam engine, but I have to say that I do like the carriage. I think a couple more would look good, so maybe next Christmas we will get to see more?

I have to say that the name 'Nut-cracker' came to mind as I was reading through this and looking at the photos. I think the hull shape looks like a half section of a nut of some kind especially in the reddish brown colour.

Good looking fleet. Do you actually use these models in any minature wargame or anythings as they look like an interesting combination.

Good to see some Dino MOCS, I have been thinking about getting some myself. Maybe these will give me the push to invest in some of the range.

Well, I disagree on the 'no-one follows the old religions' bit as I do and know plenty of others, and I was offended, but that is another arguement. I will continue to look at that teme as one of 'EVIL' adventurers ransacking and defiling religious icons and sancturies. But back on topic. There is I would suggest plenty of scope for conflict within animal parks. Where I live our town is divided practically in two by a nature reserve and only a few weeks ago, just after Christmas a man escaped from police and part of his get away was to swim up the water-ways into the nature reserve where he promptly became stuck in quick-sand and had to then be rescued by the wardens (And police he was running from.)So that sort of thing would fit well into CITY and conflict. It actually seems quite a popular place for people on the run from the law to try and hide. I can see the point about there not being a great deal of scope for building though, apart from trees with minifigs, (There is a HP set?) and possibly a place for an observations hideout, a truck, and a cafe/gift shop, maybe a bridge and a small watercraft, (One of those with the big fans at the rear.) then there is not much to build. But I suppose children are not so imaginative as adults when it comes to those sort of things.

I am no politician, but surely the whole thing is that the residents of the islands do not want to be part of Argentina, or of anywhere else other than the UK. That is what counts as far as I can see. If all the or most of the population suddenly decided for whatever reason that being with Argentina was better for them than being with the UK, then I am sure most of the public in the UK would support them with that. But they do not, so we don’t. I don’t know much about the oil industry either, but common sense would tell us that the south Atlantic is for a big part at least adjacent to south America and as such parts of Argentina. Obviously parts of it are connected to and surrounding the Falklands as well. Why can’t there be some negotiated settlement to allow both parties access to some of this if it is indeed there. Surely it would make economic sense for that to happen rather than have some military standoff and possibly conflict that neither side probably wants or can afford? (Apart from maybe a couple of politicians on either side looking to make a name for themselves historically.) I am pretty sure that most people in Argentina are no more warmongers than most people in the UK or the Falklands, so it would seem that a peaceful settlement over the oil issue with the islanders wishes taken into account as the most important thing should be the way forwards.

I don't get the that TLG have a ban on religious themes, they already have had one. They had evil explorers violating temples and disturbing tombs and religious artifacts in the Pharaohs Quest series and that had plenty of guns for those bad guys against the poor old scarabs and the like. I did not like those sets on principle, I mean what sort of reaction would a set based around someone shooting up a church get? A theme based in ancient times would be good and that could have lots of animals, (As has already been said, chariots and the like.) in it for all sorts of things that are not always or necessarily violent or harmful to people or animals yet still have a good story to tell. As for the safari theme, well surely it does not have to be about hunting trapping or anything like that. It could be an extension of the City range showing some holiday makers going to view the animals with them in a jeep/range rover/minibus type vehicle looking at them with binoculars. OK, admittedly it may not warrant a full range by itself, but you could get a handful, similar to the farm sets as a City add on.

I would like lots of sets that were smaller, cheaper and modular. As a child I always felt that I had missed out as my parents could never afford to buy the biggest sets for me. I always had the smaller ones and would dream of owning the bigger ones in the marketing material, but come Christmas or Birthday I just got a middle of the range set. Not that those were not great, I was aware of the reason why from an early age but if those sets had been modular them maybe I could have got them over time? I guess another way of doing it would be to have some kind of savings scheme, whereby people could add so much a month or whenever to save up for a bigger set but I think that would cost a lot for TLG to administer and set up. My local toy store does this in the second half of the year leading up to Christmas and it is a great way to reserve a set knowing that it is yours eventually as long as you pay off the outstanding amount. I know you could use a bank account for that, but with a bank it is not specific enough, the money needs to be ringfenced. So yes, generally I think as a child I would have supported modular sets, so I could have also enjoyed the 'bigger' models, as an adult with more cash to spend, it would still be nice but it is not so much of a problem as it used to be.

So where can you actually buy this as it is not on TLG website for shop at home?

Yes, that is right, it is 'crooked' in the spell, (Not sure what it would have been in the original though?) but the one in the shed is a definate 'crinkled' and very old and big and scary. It most certainly is not the wife! I do think it sounds like a good idea though if you have the room and facility to make it comfortable. I think I would like to extend the conservatory a bit, but I am not sure I could justify the extra on the mortgage!! Maybe the wife would then be more scary if I tired that on? Still, I hope you have a good time with it and enjoy the LEGO. Remember to post some pictures when it is full and in action!

Begone from me, O Crinkled Lips, I am Khnum, Lord of Peshnu. He who speaks the words of the gods to Re and I pass news of their affairs onto the master. Spell 36 for repelling Apshai. I think Crinkled Lips is another name for Apshai. Anyway, there is a big one n the shed.

A zoo for CITY would be good but if they wanted to keep the action theme for boys then why not do a bush type set/sets, that could involve trappers and be like the Dion one but with tigers, lions, and hippos instead of raptors. I have a few smaller animals, dogs, cats etc. Actually I don't have many rats? (Just 2?) What sets were they in, I must have missed that theme. I appear to have someow managed to get hold of lots of Harry Potter owls somehow, but I am not sure how as I m not collecting the Harry Potter themes. But there we go.

I thought about using the shed. Back when I was a young lad my father had a model railway in his shed. It was lined and everything but even them it got infested by bugs and 'old crinkled lips' and that could be quite scary at times. You had to try and banish them before going in to play with the trains. I thought about doing out my own shed for a hobby place in general but I have a massive Old Crinkled lips living in it and it requires lots of effort to dislodge everytime I want to go in there. Still, I appreciate that not everyone has room in the house, (Myself included.) I tend to use the conservatory as my hobby room. I would like to do out the attic but we have one of those ones with roof beams going every direction that you have to clamber over so it is not really practical which is a nusiance really. I guess it does depend on the type of shed you get though? I think whatever you do you need to make it secure and try to not make it too well known what you have in there, as they are never as secure as the house itself. Are you going to fitting an alarm system? Whatever happens I wish you all the best with your collecting and if you have a nice City layout with trains etc it would be good to see some pictures once it is up and running. (Minus the bugs and crinkled lips of course!)

Really like the yellow/green floor tiles, the bookcases add a nice feel and that sofa-bed design is oneI may have to use myself, very neat idea.

Overall I like the bank, the grey colours are very bank like, (At least for banks where I come from.) I thought the customer service windows were very well done. One thing that I was not keen on thought was the stairs. I felt that if you want a spiral then maybe they should be built around a central pillar which would make them appear stronger whilst also realistic. But there does need to be some kind of banister rail I think?

I have to agree here. To say you brush your teeth with a toothbrush is a bit like saying you to walk whilst walking. On a personal note I would probably not mention the toothbrush as yes, it is kind of obvious that is what you are using. But then again, I am also from the UK also. As a side issue looking at the overall picture, I was wondering where most of your students target audience are going to be? My wife is from Indonesia and she often tells me that being English I speak in a very formal manner and that I do not speak proper English like they do in America. Whilst I find that really annoying, it may have some impact on what you are teaching your students if they are looking to converse with English speakers in other parts off the world.

Yes that is really creepy, but a very good MOC!

I remember classic space being released and going with my father to buy the first two sets. I think it was the little rover with the white space man and the little flyer with the red space man. I think over time we collected nearly all of them, my favourite being the rocket launcher. However I have to say that I do not have such fond memories of these as I do the Space Police and Blacktron II sets or the Ice Planet ones. I think if I recall the reason was probably that during classic space, M-Tron, Blacktron 1 I was living with my parents still as I was still a child. By the time Blacktron II came around I had my own house and could leave stuff out, had more space and scope for MOCing. I know i bought most of the Space Police I sets at this time although they had started to disappear from the shops by then and be replaced by the second set. Still it was a good time for me and LEGO was all over my new home as it was then.

Yes, this is a really nice garage, it actually looks like a real garage as well. I love the chopper as well.

I always have had motorcycles and push bikes and love them, however I have a problem with my hip and about five years ago it got so bad that I can no longer get on or off my bikes or put them onto the stand. I am really sad as they are sat in the garden and I cannot use them. This time of year whenn it is starting to get sunny again and I am sat in the car it makes me remember all the good times I had. I have held off parting with them as I hoped to one day be able to ride them again but it seems a fading hope so I am not sure what I will do. Part of me wants to keep them anyway, but I know that they are deteriorating just sitting there and that makes me me sadder than ever.