Aurore

@The Stad Thank you very much! So glad you noticed - and appreciate - the downspout, it was a last-minute addition because I thought the back looked too...grey. I'd love to gather the rooms to have the whole castle too! I'll probably give it a try when I have more rooms...and if I find enough space!

I recently built the small Disney castle, which put me in a fairy-tale mood. So here is something more...sugary than usual. Now I need to find a bridge to my main storyline... The main photo is my entry for the "Kiosks" contest on Brickcentral, while the tidy vignette version is my entry for the "12x12 Vignette" category of Brickscalibur. Once upon a time, far away in the heart of the Enchanted Lands, there was a city. A city of lights and wonders, a city renowned for its alluring balls and fascinating masquerades. And in this city, there was a little mask-maker who had a secret...

Oh my, new animals available on B&P, sets obviously featuring other animals announced...what a great day!

@Kai NRG Thank you so much! I'm definitely a big fan of the Nexo shields. @Louis of Nutwood Thank you so much for those oh-so motivating words, Louis! Concerning my photography effort..well, I have to confess that while it may become frustrating sometimes (so many trials, still not exactly what I had in mind!), it's still a lot of fun actually. Concerning equipment, photography has been a hobby of mine - and of my husband's as well - for a very long time. Over the years, we've hence been able to get nice gear and learn the basics on how to use it. I was more interested in nature and landcsape photography though, and now I have a lot to learn about studio and toy photography! Brickcentral is an amazing community for that, and I think most of my improvements in LEGO photography comes from there.

Does not seem so. According to brickset, the design on the left was produced between 2001 and 2008, and then the mould was updated to the design on the right. (photo from Bricklink)

Agree. And those pesky grey ones (who have not showed up in France yet!) are a danger for the ginger ones (source: European Squirrel Initiative). That's why as soon as the LEGO ones are available again, I'll order a whole army to fend off the battalion of greys and blacks I just ordered. I'm wondering whether my bank adviser would accept this as a justification for my insane LEGO expenses of the month...

So thrilling! I was able to order most of the new parts that were on my wishlist. Notably, the following are still marked as not available (at least here in France): the dark orange squirrel (), the dark orange horse (I seemingly got the very last one), the saddle, the chopsticks and the flame yellowish orange plate-with-3 leaves.

Awesome, thank you so much for the heads up - I was able to order most of the ones I wanted! I missed the dark orange squirrel (already shows out of stock here...) and got only one dark orange horse (last one in stock, seemingly).

So many nice uses of unusual parts! The tiny jellyfish with the clickit piece and the diamond part are especially clever, and the eels themselves are just perfect! Overall the colour palette is gorgeous - so vibrant. I also enjoy the shape of the build, and of course the minifigs!

A great build - the houses look gorgeous -, a great scene - the minifig posing and expressions are spot-on - and a great photography - nice perspective! Excellent work!

Such a very nice scene! The landscaping is fabulous, with those gorgeous trees, and like previous commenters I really love the colours. And I agree with @Sympatik Brick, the bird house is so cool!

Such an impressive build! The texture on the outside is absolutely magnificent, and the inside is so full of details I could spend days looking at everything! A wonderful work, Louis - and definitely worthy of its feature on the Brothers Bricks!

@Sympatik Brick Thank you so much! There are such a bunch of amazing entries to Brickscalibur, simply participating and being able to see all of this is already great luck!

@Blufiji Thank you very much! I'm really glad you enjoy the weapon rack, as is one of the first elements I built for the whole scene (along with the desk of the command room). @Niku Thank you so much! Photography had been a hobby of mine long before I re-discovered LEGO, and I have to admit I rather enjoy taking those "activity" shots! @socalbricks Thank you so much for that detailed feedback! The smoke effect is done "on set", using a facial mister. Mist allows a diffusion of light that I'm not skilled enough to achieve using photoshop! Concerning the time...well...it took me almost two months to complete this build, all while preparing the Advent Calendar and my Brickscalibur and CCC minifig entries - and working on weekdays, and decorating the house for Christmas. I'd say it was rather quick! The Moonbird Mausoleum (the build just before) and the Great Hall (the first one) had taken a little bit longer in less busy periods. PS: your question about the mist made me think of making a little "process" montage... @NOD Thank you very much! Both fireplaces can be lighted - or rather, could once be lighted, because I used old light bricks that are already KO.

@Lyichir Oooooh right, well spotted! I had not even noticed it's a tiny skull...

A "military" build to flesh out Embervale in the Historical Settlements and one day get it included in the "Avalonian Sites and Monuments: a comprehensive guide"...and also my entry for Brickscalibur's "Interior Architect" category. Here are the command room and the armoury of the castle of Embervale! (Global photos in the hidden section) The story - Chronicles of Embervale Episode : To arms! Featuring… Alrune - The Elf Maiden, Lady of Embervale, mage Dresghar - The Chronicler, her faithful uncle, erudite Evrart - The (recently promoted) captain of her guards Gram - A guard Rex - The guards’ pet tarasque Goblin guards, skeletons "So, how are you doing?" Dresghar cheerfully asked the captain. Brooding next to the window of the command room, his arms crossed and his eyes gazing into space, Evrart let out a slight sigh but did not answer. Shortly following their expedition to the druidic mausoleum, out of the blue, Lady Alrune had come up with the unfortunate idea to appoint him as the captain of her guards. Her goblin guards. Only recently had the pesky little thugs dropped the idea of eating him, he wondered how she could think they would obey him anytime soon. "Are you alright?" Dresghar repeated. Evrart sighed again and gestured toward the courtyard on the other side of the window, where a few goblins were enthusiastically poking each other with blunt spears. "I’m trying to get them through basic training, sir. Teamwork. Hierarchy. Elementary hygiene. Stuff like that." "And it doesn’t go as intended?" "Oh well, they happen to follow my orders from time to time. And they know which side of a spear is supposed to be pointed at the enemy. I guess that’s a start." One of the goblins tripped over his own weapon, fell in a puddle, and made all the others giggle foolishly. "Let’s just hope the lady doesn’t have short-term military ambitions, sir." Evrart turned his attention away from the goblins – his goblins – and observed Dresghar snooping around the command room. It was a large study located in one of the most ancient parts of the castle, reflecting the architectural style of the humans who had built the early stronghold rather than the ornate design of the elves who had later besieged it, won it, and rebuilt it. The successive elven governors of the castle had kept the room as intact as possible, going so far as to hire human workers to renovate the elaborate parquet floor and furniture. Lady Alrune’s father, who had used the place as his headquarters during all his campaigns, was allegedly the first to add his coat of arms and colours on the walls and decorate with personal items and weapons. "Do you know how to read and write?" Dresghar suddenly and unexpectedly enquired. "More or less, sir," Evrart replied after a short hesitation. "The baron I used to serve taught me how to sign my name and read simple messages." "Well, I guess that’s a start,” the elf sneered. "Now that you’re an officer of Embervale, you’ll need to participate to administrative tasks as well as military ones." Evrart rolled his eyes. "Very funny, sir." "Oh, I’m not joking," Dresghar replied with a mischievous smile. "There. Here are the books where my niece was recording her military expenditures. She’s very bad at accounting, even you can’t do worse. Give it a try!" And, still smirking, he left the room and abandoned Evrart with a pile of books and the unpleasant feeling of being snookered. First, irksome goblins, and now administrative chores. Why did he come to Embervale already? Oh, right, he had no place to live when the baron got rid of him, and he deemed the lady here as a respectable person. --- He spent the rest of a day – an eternity – struggling to decipher the tiny, tight handwriting of the said lady. He was almost concluding she had encrypted her writings, when an ear-piercing shriek shrilled. He froze, all senses in alarm. And soon, he heard the distinct sounds of a scuffle right from the next room. The armoury. He rushed out, only to find three panicked goblins trying to fend off a much larger group of skeletons. Good old stupid skeletons, wielding decaying weapons, fighting bluntly without a hint of cooperation. Not that it really put them at disadvantage against the goblins, who were hardly better at tactical thinking. Frightened eyes were peeking out from the door that led to the guards’ dormitory: the rest of the goblins, not even helping their comrades in need. And, much to Evrart’s surprise, Alrune was in the room too. Unarmed, her hair undone, wearing a white nightgown, she was trying to comfort the guards’ pet tarasque cub. He briefly wondered why she was playing damsel in distress instead of fighting, but chose to focus on more immediate issues. "Get out, you wimps!" he shouted at the hidden goblins. "Take weapons and fight!" He heard them squabbling and moaning, but only one of them hesitantly ventured out of their lair. And stopped halfway when he noticed he was alone. Exasperated, Evrart crushed a few skeletons out of his way and reached the strongest among the fighting goblins. "Gram, make those cowards come out! If any of them dares to resist, feel free to tear off their ears – or whatever else comes to your mind!" The goblin flashed him a vicious smile and headed to the door. A few squeaks and screeches later, the whole company was in the guards’ room and frantically grabbing the nearest weapons. "Leave those freaking spears alone! Take clubs and maces!" the captain yelled. "Clubs and maces, you freaking fools!" Gram repeated while dropping her own spear. And, much sooner than Evrart had expected, all the intruders were shattered. --- The goblins cheered and drank all night long, boasting at their military prowess. The next morning, their captain was in a foul mood and had a severe headache when he met Alrune for their daily brief. "I regret to say that, but I have yet to find where the skeletons came from," he reported bitterly. "Really? They simply come from the basement. I animated them in the catacombs under the castle." He recoiled, staring at her in disbelief. A silence fell. And last. "I’m what your people call a dark elf, and I’m a mage," Alrune finally stated, her voice deeper than usual. “How could you not expect me to know enough necromancy to animate a few skeletons?" "If you say so! But why the heck would you do that to attack the armoury? I mean, your own armoury?" "It was a live exercise for the goblins and you! Or rather, an undead exercise," she added with a slight chuckle he found appalling. A rather puzzled Alrune watched him leave the room swearing under his breath. She had given him a trusted position, helped him train his men – err, goblins, and yet the guy was still as grouchy as ever. Oh well, humans. Strange people, really.

Lately, I'm finding that the Harry Potter sets have a lot of value for medieval and fantasy builders - that is, especially for those who enjoy tan castles and sand green roofs. There are many little details and accessories that can be useful to liven up MOCs (books, owls, flasks and pots, ...) and despite being fleshies, most minifig parts can be re-used for yellowies as well. The Madam Pomfrey minifig who's coming in one of the march sets, for example, could be easily reused in any fantasy or loosely historical castle setting. This year's new animals from the City line are great for medieval MOCs (dark orange horse (and foal in the CMF)! kittens! squirrels!) and we're getting the saddle part for the first time in years. Hopefully all of those will be available on B&P soon! Also, you may be interested in following this thread here on Eurobricks (in case you don't already know it): Latest impact of other themes on historic themes - LEGO Historic Themes - Eurobricks Forums

Three more Harry Potter sets of the march wave have been revealed! The Madam Pomfrey minifig I was eagerly expecting looks great. I'm not impressed by the Professor Trelawney minifig, looks nice but some details of her outfit are too modern for my medieval-fantasy taste. The new trunk with flat lid appears in black (vs pearl gold in the Hogwarts trunk set), and I really like the printed page tile of the Defence against the Dark Arts bok!

In my LEGO store, customers were not allowed to touch anything in BAM and PAB stations (but they could ask an employee for the parts they wanted) and the CMF bags were behind the counter. However, the employees had feeled and sorted a few of them for those customers who wanted specific minifigs! They had not received many boxes though and had limited to one minifig of each kind per customer though - but I was able to get the ones I wanted! 7 more on their way from the online store, hoping I'll get duplicate animals!

Congratulations to all - participants and winners! This context has been such a great experience, with absolutely perfect themes to flesh out Historica and so beautiful and creative entries...

Oh wow, what a wonderful serie! The enchantress is my absolute favourite: she has a gorgeous outfit, perfect serious expression, great hairstyle, amazing printed book and page, and a crow - I LOVE her! I enjoy the evil mermaid a lot too, that teal gradient is such a great colour base! And I'm also thrilled by some characters who are yet out of my medieval/fantasy/adventure MOC comfort zone : the electrician, especially, whose outfit is spot-on - and for some reason, now I need a multimeter tile! And the carnival dancer, so vibrant, and with such a perfect expression!

What an excellent concept, and what a great build too!

@Eyrezer Your entries are great! The tiny red fairy especially...so cute! @Niku Thank you! @Exetrius Thank you! Glad you enjoy the base too - I was looking for something original that would complement the minifigs, but without being too showy...

@williejm, @Robert8, @socalbricks, @DBlegonerd7, @jtooker, @Kai NRG, @Eyrezer, and all the others, thank you very much for all your awesome feedback on the avent calendar - it has been such a great experience to share it here on eurobricks! I wish you all the best for the new year!

How vibrant, how beautiful! I would have never thought lime walls would look good with a red roof...but that farm looks fabulous! The black accents and grey lower level really compliment the bold colours. I also love the lush, original and well detailed vegetation. The continuity with your previous creations is amazing - characters from your CMF, and fungi species from your Ancient Wonder. Last but not least, so glad to read more about all your characters!