Captain Nemo

Really upset at the moment...discovered my Juniors Green Goblin suddenly and shockingly has cracks on both of his arms, stemming from the hand joints. Annoying. And he's literally just been standing on my nightstand for like three weeks--nothing else. I hope this is not becoming a trend. I've been under similar circumstances before--many of my IM3 minifigures suddenly became afflicted with cracks on their torsos a few months after taking them out of the box, and I've done nothing extreme to them, like removing arms. My Scarlet Witch too has a crack on her torso that suddenly appeared--and I don't even touch that boring minifigure! Am I just cursed or is this happening to other people too?

クズリ "The Wolverine" Built for and to be displayed at Brickworld Chicago 2015, this vignette depicts the mutant Wolverine fighting for not only his life, but the life of Mariko, his lover, against the dangerous and deadly Silver Samurai. This was a creation that I had in mind for a year now, so it's satisfying to finally see it completed. I managed to pick up one of the few remaining (and rare) custom Silver Samurai minifigures, created and chromed by minifigures.pl, about six months ago--so it's been a long wait to finally build and show off my initial idea. The vignette consists of fourteen minifigures: Wolverine, Mariko, Silver Samurai, the Ninja Master, and ten generic ninjas. Additionally, because this is a large Marvel creation, Deadpool makes a cameo as ninja #7--who apparently only wants to join in, take specific aim, and hurt Wolverine in the most painful area possible! The creation heavily utilizes the Lego flower petal piece, somewhere around 2000 of them. They are used to add snow to the landscape, a technique I've never seen before, but one that seems to work very well. I was inspired to use them by the simple contrast of white and red petals, where the latter could then be used to indicate blood soaked snow. Initially I had intended to include a streak of red petals forming some symbol, syllable, or word in Japanese, which would have been flung from Silver Samurai's sword--this idea was eventually given up, largely due to space issues, but it was in large part the main push to build the creation in the first place. The elegant cherry tree was another thing I was really excited about building. It utilizes fifty of the leaf pieces in the new lavender shade. A large inspiration for the creation was the 2013 film The Wolverine, which includes a similar scene. I combined a few scenes from the film (such as Wolverine being chased by the ninjas in the snow, and the end Duel with the Silver Samurai) into one scene to create a more interesting vignette. Additionally, I kept the film's modern tone. I added in the electrical post to not only add light (which is powered by the way by LifeLites products), but indicate that the creation was from the modern period, rather than feudal Japan. The buildings are feudalistic however, and utilize the colors black and sand blue to create a mysterious vibe. The ninjas of the creation wear identical garb, with the exception of their leader, who is holding Mariko hostage. They were a big part of the inspiration to recreate the scene, and I'm happy that they add a huge feeling of foreboding danger to the overall creation. For my initial build idea, I intended to include far more ninjas than what is shown here--I wanted some twenty-five or more, to cover the show rooftops in black. Still, this is just as successful. Also notable about this creation is the unique base structure I built for it, which mimics the curved rooftops of Buddhist temples. It was a fun piece of construction, and one that adds a lot to the overall feel of the creation. It's also the first raised base I've constructed, as in the entire build stands a brick above the table it rests on, supported by four small corner pedestals. Enjoy! ~Nemo

Really Lego...really... "Throne of Ultron--Comic-Con 2015 Exclusive" Well at least there's no new figures...although it looks rather good. Edit: Oh no wait, apparently there will also be exclusive figures.

Very nice looking set. I won't be buying because of all the other awesome sets coming out, but it is spectacular. Very clean build all around. Might be fun to drive around too!

The Dark Red shield has only been used once with the first Captain America, and it doesn't look like it will be used again--at least not at this rate. It's more accurate, but I don't think it looks nicer than the bright red one--it's just too dark.

I'd be really happy if we got a new Scarecrow with that upcoming Witch hat (who by the way, I'm also super excited for, I love collecting Lego Witches). The straw hatted Scarecrow is not my favorite design of the character, but I'll admit that would look amazing. At least anything is better then getting more Lego Penguin... But first of course, before anything, this theme has a serious lack of Killer Moth going on, and that needs to be fixed above all else! I do hope we get some nice stuff in the winter wave too, or any great things before the DC movie universe kicks off and comic sets become extinct.

For my Brickworld Layout, Days of Bricks Past, I've made future versions of Rogue and Kitty Pryde:

You might get like $2 off, I think it was like that last year. Either way, I think the tickets are only like $12 when you buy at the door anyways--it's well worth the price of course!

Hopefully the figures look nice, and are not too dreary. I feel like this wave will be nothing but shades of grey and black like the MoS wave--and that's really hard to get excited about, especially when it takes the place of comic sets (which provided our arguably best DC wave ever). The brooding grey gets tiring after two sets. I would be happy if we ended up with a Leto Joker however, mostly for the hair piece. I'm not a fan whatsoever of the character design, but I think the swooshed back Dooku hair in lime green would look spectacular.

It's not too late to add things to the auction is it? I was thinking of adding one of my Sentinels (Maybe #4, he's a brat) to the auction--but the issue is I need it for my layout during public days. The Charity Auction email said something about auctioning off builds that are also on display--anyone know anything more about this process?

Continuing with my Brickworld X-Men, I've created a semi-purist Nightcrawler: The tail custom, and is made by BrickWarriors in rare Lego blue--for some reason they never seem to produce it in that color, but a few months back I stumbled upon the only blue tail they had in stock and snagged it up real fast! Goooo Nemo!

They should still have the Eco for sale--at least in stores. I just bought one from a Lego Store (in Wauwatosa) two weeks ago or so. They had a decent amount present. Interestingly enough, the store must have had 70 or so (being serious) Exo-Suits on the shelves. I think I read somewhere else on Eurobricks the fear of that set being gone...that doesn't seem to be the case, at least depending on location.

Not sure if I like it. It does have six minifigures, but I'm not impressed with the build, and I feel it could have used better memorabilia as opposed to the more generic stuffs they used. I do feel like it overpriced for the bricks, but again the figures are the best part. I'm not sure if I'll be picking this up---multiples of Sheldon's torso is really what I want.

I find the show hilarious--and these figures are perfect! Sheldon is the clear standout, with that amazing Flash torso and Green Lantern Lantern (that episode was amazing!) I know for sure I'll be spending big bucks to get a bunch of those Flash torsos, as they'll work perfectly for the gift shop of my Lego Flash Museum--whenever I get around to building it.

For this year's Brickworld Chicago, my layout theme is Days of Bricks Past. So in addition to making some very, very, very, large Sentinels, I'm of course making futuristic versions of the X-Men gang. Here are a few: Bishop (Classic), Aged Wolverine (Semi-Purist, Custom Christo hairpiece), Professor X, and Magneto Enjoy!

Meh, not a surprising choice. I'm kind of Iron Manned out--this one is indeed unique (and he looks great) but after so many other near identical Iron Man variations, I'm not enthusiastic about getting any more. I wish they would have picked a new character.

Awwww! That eBay listing makes me really disappointed...I thought for sure Daphne's alternative face would be squinty--eyed "where's my glasses" version! Oh! So many planned MOCs scrapped because of this! What a waste Lego! What a waste! Hope we get that alternative face soon!

I believe it is the shade of pink called "Magenta". I think that's the official name of said shade--at least it is called that on Bricklink.

Is anyone else experiencing slow turn out rates? The sets have started slowly--like really slowly--showing up in the stores one by one. My Walmart only revived two Dilophosaurus sets, and some Raptor ones. Target has only gotten the D-Rex and T-Rex. And likewise my Tous R Us set has gotten those and just now the 50 and 20 dollar sets--and the latter turned up some 2-3 weeks later. I hope this wave doesn't suffer because of spotty distribution.

Rather nice packs; I could see myself wanting the Superman and Aquaman ones for the slight variations. I do think it's a missed opportunity to get a new Harley however. The Dimensions sets use an awful lot of new molds--so it could have been the perfect chance to make the game accurate 52 version.

Wow! Spectacular! I love your Sentinel design--and I totally know what you mean about magenta, I'm working on Sentinels for Brickworld Chicago, and it's just a pain the the neck to get so many bricks in such rare and limited colors. Your Sentinel is a bit chibi, and he has the perfect amount of simple design, but I think that's why I love it so much. It just has so much character and its still believable as a dangerous threat. He may be improved with some sort of blast coming from his hand however--it would help make the creation more dynamic overall. It might also help to make the ground under his feet cracked.

I go with JW on most of these. I only own a few of them so far (and none of the Dino ones unfortunately) but I think they're better in general. Overall, the dinosaurs in JW are printed far better. The Dino ones look terribly lackluster by comparison, I mean just bad at this point. The comparisons between the two themes do highlight the differences between licensed and non-licensed sets however. This is most evident in the HQ and D-Rex builds. The Dino HQ is $30 less and has two more dinosaurs, although none of them are unique molds to the set. D-Rex is itself unique and of course there's the gyro-sphere too, but then again it's $30 more. I think both are equally good however. And I do regret missing out on the Dino HQ now, since the green T-Rex is my favorite version (at least until Lego gives us a JP accurate version in dark tan and dark brown--I'm shocked we didn't get this actually). Other set comparisons seem fair, aside from the Triceratops vs Raptor comparison. That Triceratops set is just too unique in itself, especially when compared to the Raptor set--it has one less minifigure, 1 less dino (but a completely unique one), and 100 or so less pieces. The Triceratops is just the oddball--unless you want to compare it to the Adventurers triceratops! I think the Dilophosaurus set beats out Dino's Raptor Chase--the new JW dino is just simply too cool, and I think there'll be a lot of uses for that gyro-sphere. In addition, the 2012 raptor included just looks so plain compared to the new ones. Pteranodon Capture beats out tower clearly--it has an extra minifigure, more pieces, a shooshable helicopter build and a better printed dino all for the same great $20 price. I'm iffy on the T-Rex sets however, since I think both are rather poor in terms of their ridiculous vehicle builds. -- In short, I think this sums it up pretty well: Dino 2012: Advantage of cheaper prices, with the largest set (HQ) arguably being the best of both themes (it also has a record of three dinosaurs). Downsides being the sorely outdated dinosaur printing, and the lack of minifigures in the sets (I was surprised to see this, as I did not remember this theme only have 1-2 minifigures per set on average). Jurassic World: Advantage of superior printed dinosaurs and minifigures. Small sets win out every time. Disadvantages: Clear price hike from licence.

Hopefully we'll also get more Dr. Who sets. I mean this is nice, but Capaldi is not my favorite of doctors--and if this is the only "set" we end up getting, I may just turn into a pass for me. The Dimensions sets are pricey in the first place, and I'm not thrilled about getting just the doctor without a police call box for like $30. Come on Lego! Give us a minifgure scaled Tardis!

Well I saw the film, but to be honest I don't think it was good.