Doctor Sinister

Yes, this is a constant issue, I always mean to update it more than I do but time is often limited - and ideas as well, I like to make sure I have good stories, not sure if I manage it or not, but I'd hate to throw a load of rubbish up there just to get some news published, if that makes any sense. I will try to put more silly stories out there for you. :-) I also had to increase my webspace allocation recently as I'd gone over on the account that holds the Tabletown site! That's all sorted now... Dr. S.

Excellent! I can't wait to see it! Really? :-$ It's so rare for anyone to give me any feedback, thanks, I'm glad you liked it. If there's any way you think it can be improved or if you have any ideas of things you'd like to see there, drop me a line! I enjoy fiddling with it. Oo-er. Dr. S.

Correct. Likewise, a CD rack would contain the CDs, a mug tree would hold the mugs - etc. But the item must not contribute toward the structure of the piece. So if you took the whole roll of tape out, it wouldn't fall apart. The item you build must be as practical as the real thing would be. Dr. S. I do, incidentally, need to credit Lt. Col. Thok for the original idea of this compo'. Dr. S.

Interesting question - and my answer would be that this would be permitted IF you used the inside of an official LEGO pen. :-P How's that? Dr. S. Thanks very much! Dr. S.

OK, it is done. There are two threads - one for entries, one for discussions. Hope I've done that right. Would you be able to pin them for me please? *y* Thanks, Dr. S.

This thread is for entries only. Discussion of the competition and entries takes place here :-) Having been encouraged following the revelation of my ridiculous LEGO coaster over in this thread, I have decided to take the plunge and sort of do the hosting-thing for a new Eurobricks Competition! Please bear with me if I get anything wrong, although I do have nuclear weapons, so there. :-D The competition is thus: You must design and build any household item you can think of from LEGO. The rules are as follows: 1) The item must be something you find around the house. And I don't just mean around YOUR house - so no weird torture devices please - it must be something that you would find in any typical house. 2) The item can be as small or as large as you like. 3) The item MUST be constructed of 100% LEGO - however ANY type of LEGO can be used - Technic, Duplo, System, whatever you like. The use of string or elastic bands is permitted, but they must be of the type you would find in a LEGO set. Decals should not be necessary. No gluing or other illegal method of holding your creation together is permitted! 4) The item in question must be practical and capable of doing the job it is supposed to do. EG: a LEGO tape dispenser must be actually useful for dispensing tape. A LEGO mug tree must be capable of supporting the number of mugs it purports to be designed to hold. This is all-important! 5) Virtual LEGO creations will be allowed entry, although if they are weight-bearing entries we may ask contestants to actually build them to demonstrate that they are practical. 6) The competition runs from now until Midnight at GMT on Sunday the 18th of November 2007, that gives you precisely four weeks to submit your entries. 7) The winner will be decided by a poll taken of your peers (i.e. it'll be put to a vote - incidentally, can I set up polls? I don't think I can yet...). The voting period will last precisely seven days from inception to closure. If there are loads and loads of entries, we might run heats, but I suspect there won't be - however it is an option. The winner will win a fabulously exclusive Doctor Sinister badge as pictured below! I mean it, I only have a few of these left and there are only about 50 of them in the world. If anyone needs a kickstart of the sort of thing I mean by "household item", ideas can include (but not be limited to) desk tidies, iPod carry cases, coffee tables, coasters, letter racks, bookshelves (!) etc. Please do not feel limited by these ideas and don't feel that just because I've mentioned them you can't use them - it's all fair game. Ideally, voting will be done on the basis of style, practicality, design and ingenuity. I am of course prevented from entering as I am offering the prize and anyway, I've already got a badge. :-D I look forward to seeing your entries! If a kind Admin' could pin this for me, I would be grateful. :'-) Dr. S.

This is the discussion thread. Entries appear here. :-) Having been encouraged following the revelation of my ridiculous LEGO coaster over in this thread, I have decided to take the plunge and sort of do the hosting-thing for a new Eurobricks Competition! Please bear with me if I get anything wrong, although I do have nuclear weapons, so there. :-D The competition is thus: You must design and build any household item you can think of from LEGO. The rules are as follows: 1) The item must be something you find around the house. And I don't just mean around YOUR house - so no weird torture devices please - it must be something that you would find in any typical house. 2) The item can be as small or as large as you like. 3) The item MUST be constructed of 100% LEGO - however ANY type of LEGO can be used - Technic, Duplo, System, whatever you like. The use of string or elastic bands is permitted, but they must be of the type you would find in a LEGO set. Decals should not be necessary. No gluing or other illegal method of holding your creation together is permitted! 4) The item in question must be practical and capable of doing the job it is supposed to do. EG: a LEGO tape dispenser must be actually useful for dispensing tape. A LEGO mug tree must be capable of supporting the number of mugs it purports to be designed to hold. This is all-important! 5) Virtual LEGO creations will be allowed entry, although if they are weight-bearing entries we may ask contestants to actually build them to demonstrate that they are practical. 6) The competition runs from now until Midnight at GMT on Sunday the 18th of November 2007, that gives you precisely four weeks to submit your entries. 7) The winner will be decided by a poll taken of your peers (i.e. it'll be put to a vote - incidentally, can I set up polls? I don't think I can yet...). The voting period will last precisely seven days from inception to closure. If there are loads and loads of entries, we might run heats, but I suspect there won't be - however it is an option. The winner will win a fabulously exclusive Doctor Sinister badge as pictured below! I mean it, I only have a few of these left and there are only about 50 of them in the world. If anyone needs a kickstart of the sort of thing I mean by "household item", ideas can include (but not be limited to) desk tidies, iPod carry cases, coffee tables, coasters, letter racks, bookshelves (!) etc. Please do not feel limited by these ideas and don't feel that just because I've mentioned them you can't use them - it's all fair game. Ideally, voting will be done on the basis of style, practicality, design and ingenuity. I am of course prevented from entering as I am offering the prize and anyway, I've already got a badge. :-D I look forward to seeing your entries! If a kind Admin' could pin this for me, I would be grateful. :'-) Dr. S.

Damn it SirNadroj, you are rapidly becoming a personal hero of mine with these MOCs! This one is just...bl**dy great! Your walruses look awesome, the scene is brimming over with action and the confidence of its builder. It's kind of depressing being here sometimes - seeing all these great models - I suffer from a distinct lack of skill. Sigh... Do you take requests? Could Doctor Sinister be behind it all in your next scene? :-D I'm kidding... Dr. S.

OK then, I'll wait to see if anyone else is interested and think about running a competition. Winner gets a special Doctor Sinister badge! Dr. S.

No, that's a view of the whole region from space - as you can see it's supposed to be 160 miles across. Tabletown (the actual town I've got in my garage) occupies just part of one stud, going by that map. Dr. S.

Really? OK, so...do I go for: a) LEGO Coaster competition. Design and build a LEGO coaster capable of safely holding or supporting a mug of tea or a can of coke. Entries can be themed, artistic, on wheels, depicting a scene or indeed as large or as small as you like but made entirely from LEGO and be actually useful as a Coaster. Points will be awarded for style, practicality, design and ingenuity. or: b) LEGO Household Items Competition. Design and build any household item from LEGO. The item in question must be practical and capable of doing the job it is supposed to do. Eg: a LEGO tape dispenser must actually be useful for dispensing tape. If you need a kickstart of the sort of thing I mean, ideas can include (but not be limited to) mug trees, office tidies, iPod carry cases, bookshelves (!) etc. Points will be awarded for style, practicality, design and ingenuity. Dr. S.

I've been working on a potted history of my LEGO town - Tabletown, and today I knocked up a small relief map of the region in which it sits: Here's a key to the region: "BestLockLand" is of course a pun on the crappy clone brand Best Lock - I own a bunch of Best Lock Tanks which are useful for providing the Mayor of my town with an excuse to declare martial law. :-D I know it's nothing special, but I really enjoy enhancing the background to my town, adding stupid news stories as and when I think of them and stuff like that - I enjoy working on the website just as much as playing with the LEGO. I know of at least one other website that does similar things, does anyone else here work out why things as they are in their LEGO towns? I'd love to hear your stories - perhaps we could set up a virtual network of cities and towns and have some kind of global history or something? Wouldn't that be great?! Dr. S.

Erm... Nice SNOT construction? :-$ :-D Dr. S.

Me too, but I think it's nice. Dr. S.

I've posted. Dr. S.

I have a suspicion this winter is going to be colder than usual - mainly based on the crappy summer we had here in the UK. Time will tell of course whether I am correct or not... Dr. S.

Apologies, I missed this post. Yes, there is congestion, the Mayor is introducing compulsory execution for all drivers with vehicle registration plates containing odd numbers. And no, none of the threads has ever broken - I have the large passenger plane hanging from four though, just in case. It seems to be very strong stuff. I'll be updating the Tabletown website later - the port area has been totally redeveloped. Dr. S.

There's loads of 'em - I'm going through them all now. Dr. S.

This is essentially what I use - you can hardly see it. But given that the weight would be supported at a really small point, I still have a concern that the weight would cause the threads to cut into the plastic over time, or deform it somehow. Dr. S.

What would you use to actually hang it? I use "invisible string" to hang planes etc above Tabletown but it's super-thin and my concern would be that it might, over time, actually cut into the LEGO plastic itself. The largest thing I have hung over Tabletown is the white passenger plane - the big one. Over time, the wings sagged so I had to reinforce them with small 1-stud wide white plates on the top, it's not really noticeable, but given that the wings are unsupported even when it's standing - I'm sure I can't be the only one with this problem. I don't own the UCS Falcon but even if I did there is NO WAY I would hang it without at least a dozen strings...and even then I'd be nervous. Dr. S.

I'm happy to pay - it's not a huge amount and there's interesting stuff in the magazine - people can't keep doing good work for free forever, I don't see this as a money-making exercise as much as someone merely trying to cover their time, expertise and expenses. I could be wrong of course...but I don't expect everything to be free, although it would of course be lovely. ;-) Dr. S.

Me too. I forgot about the fireworks, deliberately I think. Let's be miserable together... Dr. S.

I don't celebrate Halloween - ESPECIALLY since I got assaulted on my own doorstep by a grown man accompanying some children two years ago. *** Small rant now follows - feel free to skip.. *** I have a sign on the door politely requesting no Trick-or-Treat antics, but nevertheless, my doorbell rang and despite my better judgement I answered it. There were 4 or 5 kids there by my door and an adult male at the end of my driveway. I told them politely that I don't "do" Halloween and that they should respect my sign. "No, we want sweets!" shouted one of them. I pointed out once again that I had nothing for them and that since my house had been egged 2 years ago I was less than enthusiastic about this whole Halloween thing. Still the children wouldn't leave, so I tried to close my door and warned them that I would call the Police if anything happened to my house. At this moment I'm thinking about my own two small children inside the house and I'm not particularly happy with how this is going. Then this bloke comes over. "Hang on mate, they're only little kids, don't be so rude to them." He then shot his arm out and stopped me from closing the door. His face was right up to mine and he was shouting at me. I tried to close the door a couple of times but he stopped me from doing so. So we argued for a minute or so and then I eventually managed to close the door. As I lock it inside, this man says to me "Yeah, you'd better lock your door mate, I would too, remember I only live around the corner." Meanwhile, the children are banging my letterbox, making all sorts of threats. So I rang the Police, who agreed with me that this was totally unacceptable. Turns out they have extra patrols out tonight just because of this sort of thing and they turned up at my house literally 5 minutes later. They already had the guy from my description and I was asked to give my story and was asked what I wanted to do with him. I told them I was happy for him to receive a formal verbal warning - his name will be recorded and hopefully that'll be the end to it. Now, forgive me if I am wrong, but surely the whole point of having an adult accompany the children is to stop things getting out of hand? And yet instead it's the adult who gets out of hand - what a fine example to the children. Sorry if this has ruined the flow of the thread BTW... Dr. S.

I don't know but can I just say - respect to your signature - one of my favourite songs from one of my favourite albums. Sorry for temporarily hijacking your thread...normal programing can now resume. :-$ Dr. S.