Speedboat

Very nice! I didn't think much of the theme when I saw the sets from the first wave, but apparently it is worth a second look. I really like the clean execution of this build and all the cool little details like the water outflow and the red and tan bricks used to build the sewer section.

To be honest, I don't know yet. I thought they might make cool greebly bits, but they can't be attached to other pieces really well. If all else fails, the might land on some kind of garbage or scrap metal pile in some MOC...

I filled one large cup at each of the two stores in Munich last weekend. The selection could have been better, but I got some nice parts nevertheless.

Old Avatar: New Sci-fied Avatar:

I think my Dark Ages must have begun when I was 11 or 12. The 8880 LEGO Technic Super Car was probably one of the last sets I got. I sold this set and my precious Black Seas Barracuda a few years later and still regret it today. Most of my childhood bricks are still at my parents' place but I keep them apart from the sets I have bought over the last few years. I got back into LEGO three years ago when my interest in Star Wars was rekindled. I took a LEGO catalogue home and found the 7672 Rogue Shadow. The set immediately had my attention though I didn't know anything about the video game. I found a good deal on ebay, got the set a few days later, found the awesome AFOL community on the internet and gladly wished my Dark Ages farewell. So I guess my Dark Ages lasted about 12-13 years.

1. Build more! Seriously, in the past two years my excuse has always been that I haven't enough bricks yet to build something cool, but my collection has grown substantially during the last months, so that shouldn't be a problem anymore. 2. Buy the Hobbit sets I'm still missing plus buying all of the LotR sets from last year. I haven't bought a single one of those and would dearly regret not having them when the are vanishing from the stores. 3. Buy some more Star Wars sets. That theme is what brought me back to LEGO and I have hardly bought any of the sets last year. 4. Plan my first big diorama / display. I've had some cool ideas for something SciFi-related and hope I'll be able to start building in the next few months.

Two days ago I started reading "The Song of Achilles" by Madeline Miller. I saw it on a list with the best Fantasy/SciFi books from 2012 and was intrigued by the theme. So far it is really great!

I have had my Kindle for exactly one year now and I am more than happy with the device. Many people seem to think that the amazon store is the only possibility to buy new books for the Kindle but that's not true. I use the (free) software Calibre to archive and store my ebooks on my computer and to send new ones to my device. So it is no problem to buy ebooks from other websites, put them in you Calibre library and send them to your Kindle via USB. The software can also convert formats. The Kindle can handle the formats .azw, .txt, .pdf, .mobi, and .prc, I usually convert my ebooks to .mobi if they come in a different format and I had no problems so far. I have only this one ebook reader, so I can't really contribute anything to the Nook. So far, my experiences with the Kindle have been very positive. The only thing I don't like is buying new books from amazon directly from on Kindle. If you chose an ebook in the store and keep your key pressed slightly too long, you sometimes accidentally purchase the book. You can reverse the process but it is very annoying, especially because my settings on the amazon website are NOT set to allow one click purchases. If you plan to purchase books from amazon.com, I'd first check if it is even possible from your country. A friend of mine had problems to buy some novels form the Star Wars range, because apparently there a licensing issues sometimes. amazon.de does not offer the full range of novels and he could not purchase the novels from amazon.com even after changing his IP adress to one from the US.

Thanks for the review, Slobey! This set is one of two of the theme I'm still missing and I had initially planned to buy it in January, but there are a few other great sets on sale at the moment in my area, so I'll probably wait a while before buying this one. I don't really know yet what to make of the set yet. The minifigs seem to be very nice and I definitely want the full company of dwarves at some point plus the pieces look usefull for a lot of MOCs. But I guess these are the main reasons to buy this set at some point, at least for me. I don't even know if I would assemble it, even if the design looks pretty cool. It's just that I think other sets from this wave, especially the Hobbit hole, are nicer sets to put on display.

I don't frequent the Technic subforum very often, but in regards to the forums in general I cannot agree with you at all. First of all, why the arrogance? Your mentioning of the "Eternal September"-phenomenon and comments like "Does anyone still remember *insert very early internet thingy*?" do not help this discussion at all, because they imply younger users or people "new" to internet forums don't have anything useful to add to discussions, do not behave correctly, etc. Generalisations like these are just awful and stupid. And looking at your profile information, you are a member of Eurobricks since mid-2010, so hardly one of the founding fathers of these forums. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but you seem to lament a decline in quality since "the good old days" that apparently you never witnessed yourself, at least on these boards. Eurobricks has, compared to other messageboards, excellent discussions, dedicated and friendly users and relatively few threads that I'd consider "whiny". One of my other hobbies is tabletop gaming and if you visited some of the forums dedicated to games like Warhammer you would be amazed how the players are constantly bashing the companies whose games the yhave been playing and enjoying sometimes for decades! I have never seen anyone have this kind of love/hate-relationship with TLG. Most AFOLs seem to realize LEGO ist a business and that they are not the main target group for their products. Pointing out dislikes about new sets, themes, etc. ist still legitimate and it's not like everything LEGO touches turns into gold, there have beeen enough themes over the years that didn't seem to be doing particularly well from a financial standpoint. Pointless topics seem to get deleted pretty fast on Eurobricks, and honestly I expected this one to maybe get the same treatment when I first read it this morning. If the discussions here are not what you expected, that's fine. But the way in which you ask for recommendations of other websites here just seems rude to me.

Great MOC, Fianat! Some impressive techniques, especially on the houses. Plus the scale of the whole build is just beautiful! And I love those cute little sheep.

The contents of one large cup and one christmas cardboard box. The selection wasn't as good as the last two times I visited the store, but I got some great pieces nontheless, for example 99 of those SNOT brackets in white and a lot of those black 1x2 bricks with vertical clips.

I got the catalogue yesterday and didn't even notice the absence of Galaxy Squad! What's up with that, I was really looking forward to the theme after all the cool reviews that sprung up this week.

Thanks for the review! I didn't expect much from this set and the review confirms my initial opinion. Apart from some useful pieces there is really only one minifig in this set that I'd like to have, the regular Clone Trooper. There's no way the minifig will be available in sufficient quantities at a reasonable price. The other new battle pack is a much, much better army builder, I think TLG dropped the ball on this one.

What about using Rotta the Hutt from the Star Wars line? http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?M=sw193 He looks a bit like Slimer. ;)

Thanks for ruining my Sunday morning! I had already seen some of the stuff that was shown in Cologne and got a tad sad that I didn't attend but know I'm really angry with myself for not going, especially considering I went to Cologne a week later. Next time there'll be no excuses, this just looks too awesome! Thanks for all the pictures!

Thanks for the early review of this set! The minifigs look great, especially the Republic Troopers. Can't wait to pick up a few of those sets. The pieces for the speeder don't look extremely useful, to be honest. I think the battlepacks from recent years had better builds.

Beautiful! The door design is quite nice and you chose some interesting pieces for the snow. I don't know if it can be considered a Town MOC, but the idea and execution is very cool!

My latest acquisitions were 3 of the new Hobbit sets: Mirkwood Spiders, An Unexpected Gathering and Barrel Escape. I like all of them but so far, An Unexpected Gathering is my favourite. Still, all of the sets have a nice selection of pieces for MOCs and gorgeous minifigs. I can't wait to pick up the last two big sets (I won't be buying Riddles for the Ring) in January and will be picking up extras of the other sets, especially 79003, just for the bricks, too.

I finally built my set yesterday and I love it! I'm still missing Attack of the Wargs and Goblin King Battle but so far this one is my favourite from this wave. I'll not keep this set assembled because I want to build my own version of Bag End, but the set is beautifully designed. My favourite thing about it is the design of the round windows, especially the big round one. I'll try to hunt down a few more of these sets without the minifigs, the pieces are so great for landscaping. Regarding the minifigs, Balin is my favourite! The colours and the torso design are spot on.

Off to a promising start! If you're looking for more inspiration for the project, the Hobbit movie actually has a few shots of Dol Guldur that show the fortress / castle as a whole. Perhaps your best chance to get more castle parts would be to look for Helm's Deep or Uruk Hai army sets without the minifigs on ebay.

Very cool MOC! The landscape and architecture are pretty much spot on and I like all those little details you added to this small scene. I hope you extend it, I'd really love to see a bigger version of this!

Just the usual rating options would be fine, I think. Poor, Below Average, Average, Above Average and Outstanding or something like that. Thanks so much!

Something I totally forgot to ask: Could one of the mods be so kind to add a poll to the topic? Thanks in advance! I don't think I can add one myself.

Nice reinterpretation of a classic set! I especially like the tree-technique and that you mixed some old minifigs into your set. It's a cool set in its own right while at the same time evoking the spirit of the original. Good luck in the contest!