SlyOwl

Thankyou everyone, especially ImperialScouts! As am I! Pray, when are my powers to be installed? I'm away some of this week and next weekend, so ideally after that - you see, I want to make the most of being Pirate King SlyOwl :-P

Following my success in the Pirate Halloween contest, I felt rather full of myself and so proceeded to build a vignette depicting my sigfig slaughtering the different System themes that I have. It also let me experiment with new gore techniques ;-) Here's me (the king) finishing the job... Atop piles of bodies...(more gizzards!) I've finally got rid of Professor Kilroy, King Leo, Ironhook... A builder, Dash, Barney and Centauri! Also the ex-keychain mission-control guy! Enjoy! X-D

Hmm... looks like the Pirate King Cap'n has something to say here... So, Troll Warrior: Trolls are large beasties who live in caves or under bridges - the non-minifig troll is more suited to Troll Warrior, although it's more of a slave than warrior. Trolls have larger upper-bodies, sometimes so much so that they have to crawl. Verdict: *n* Ogre: Rather like a troll, but greener, hairier and slimier; verdict: *n* Goblin: Hmm... In LOTR this is used for the less civilised orcs who live in the mountains; orc is used for the un-dominated free-goblins of the North - Tolkein makes a distinct distinction between Goblinmen and orcs - "But these creatures of Isengard, these half-orcs and goblin-men that the foul craft of Saruman has bred, they will not quail at the sun" - The Two Towers; although orcs is the name for goblin (used in the Hobbit) used in LOTR, goblins are an inferior, wilder breed of orc in essence. However, goblin depicts a wider range of creatures, like the ones found in Runescape. Verdict: *n* because it is too broad. Orc: Although often depicted as black, the minifigs capture their feel and mood well. Verdict: *y* , as when I first read LOTR I thought of them as green. It's a shame Lego don't do hunchbacked figures... ORC! I would not use ork as it refers to mythical sea creature, hence orca, derived from orka. It also has too much to do with Warhammer.

Hmm...the last castle I bought was Royal Knights' Castle off eBay 3 years ago! I intend to buy 3 crossbow attacks but I'm too skint to pay for postage off S@H and Argos don't sell them X-0. I intend to get a Dwarven Mine somehow but I don't know by what means yet - I suppose I'll have to wait for it to be sold here in Engladn but by then it'll be 2008 and so will be irrelevant! :-D

Edited accordingly ;-) . Seems as oo7 quoted me, he needs to edit. So much for anything I might have wanted to say! :-P :-P As does mine!

I return the favour...to soften the blow as a gentleman. :-D SlyOwl

He's too young to have any and most likely doesn't know they exist - the oldest ranges he's heard of are Bionicle and "the Rock Raider" X-D. Actually I might have brought his attention to the BSB and SES through idle chat but he wasn't too bothered - he's a Bionicle and HP boy... In fact there are only 3 people I know in person who have any System Pirate at all; 2 had a small set each and gave Lego up years ago and the other had all the Imperial Soldiers sets and Wolf Pack/Dark Forest sets, except the CC and I've lost contact with him...he's got a pretty fortune there!

I think he means the cannon systems. As far as I'm aware, the SES system works much better than the BSB one; it's less realistic but allows a 4-gun broadside rather than just 2. The BSB system is also very cramped (and so realistic), which means the guns are difficult to fire - the cannonballs don't slide down the muzzels well. the BSB also stores its shot loose, whereas the SES stacks it, meaning it is more difficult ot access and gets thrown around in battle (realistic but annoying IMHO). ;-)

I happen to know a 7 year-old who collected all but the large ship of the 4+ sets and guess what? He loves them! My opinion differs, but although they sell well to a certain audience, Lego would be better off getting younger kids hooked on minifigs early on or putting 4+ in the same league as Jack Stone and some of the early creator sets (the ones with Creator figs)...i.e. the bin! :-X

The person above me has no sense of geography - he says he lives in Leicester and Hatfield, which are nowhere near each other! :-D Then again he has a lot of Lego and comes from the UK, so he can't be all that bad! X-D

Hmm...I like to do things the simple way...the cheap way... I was rather concerned and annoyed about the hole and so I set to work finding a cheap, easy solution without having to leave the house. Wood? Too crude. Bluetack? Too sticky. Glue? Too squidgy. Snot? Too eewww :-X :-P The answer came from an old Science-In-The-Kitchen book: Casein, a simple plastic. Casein is a snot-like substance (I did get to use it after all!) which is produced when heating milk with an acid such as vinegar. That's it! It takes around 2 days to fully dry after it has been sieved out of the concoction, resulting in a hard, pearly plastic. I took this and molded it into the hole and after 2 days it had dried, concealing the hole! A little filing and colouring later and I had a new hairpiece! I also discovered that instead of just colouring the casein with a permanent marker, that adding food dyes to the milk also affects the outcome, but I haven't experimented extensively. I've extended my tutorial, here respectively. As for the future of casein in my hands...who knows? I'm experimenting in producing molds and custom pieces in it at the moment although it is quite brittle and so I'm not too sure...do any chemists out there know how to make its properties more like ABS? SlyOwl

Would I buy it? Hmm...I dislike own-brand pieces in other shapes and colours and so no, I wouldn't. However, were the bricks to have Lego stamped on the top and be identical in every way, just much cheaper, I would. In different colours? Yes and no - only as near to official colours as theyt come. So I would buy small, complete rip-offs, where they don't even pretend the brick is their own - Megablox has their logo between the "studs" (more like blobs though) and TLC puts it on top (at least at the moment - who knows when they'll remove it to save on plastic? I.E. A Lego set in a different box! 8-|

I would have used a red one...but I don't have one! 8-| However, having it on the bottom secures it and the slope above it on the stud: the bracket holds both slopes in place well; it doesn't slide around like having it on top does.

What about obesity? :-D My creation's done now, but won't be shown until ImperialScouts posts it. Instead of a poll, couldn't each voter PM him their vote, so no-one can vote just to tie it? Or you could disable the 'show results' button until after they've posted. SlyOwl. ;-)

Here's my solution to the gaps: - Use a neck bracket! Of course it's a big parts drainer but in small quantities it works.

I'd go for the EITC; too many classic Imperialists around! :-P I am lead to believe that the EITC, although mainly a royally commissioned trading company, did have an army; yes, in POTC, but at one point it also controlled most of India. Other examples of its army's brutality are mentioned in The Ruby In The Smoke (by Philip Pullman) when they kill the main character's father in an uprising, or something along those lines... It'd be interesting to see: do you plan to use custom or official torsos?

LOTR...all 3 in a row! :-D I'm a nerd *sing*

I would never compare Lego to Playmobil in any way - they're two completely different toys! One is a construction toy, the other predominantly quick assembly and then play, but no alternative options. It's like comparing K'NEX or Meccano to a build your own robot set! Megalox (I like to use an x 'cos it makes it look more tacky) can't compete - they go for the countries where Lego hasn't quite reached, like South Africa e.t.c. There are huge markets open to TLC that they just don't enter, so whatever they produce, they can sell.

Pleeeease real mud wrestling - it'll be a nice even contest - we were born within 8 days of each other! :-D Course I'd call it rugby and he'd call it American football :-X But then I'm a big rugby player - don't need no pwussy-pads or helmets! Terms? What terms? Are there some terms and conditions I should read? Someting like... In the event of a tie, a poll lasting for 3 days will take place to decide the winner. If the votes are even after this period, a build-off lasting one week will happen and a poll to decide the victor. 'Fraid I can't do a build-off too many projects on the go...but then again if he'll win by default, I might muster something... :-/

I don't buy sets with boxes or MISB if there's a cheaper one going - I go for the Lego, not the packaging! If I were to aquire a small MISB pirate set, then sure I'd open it. However, if it was a larger one where the difference between MISB and used is a large difference (forts, large bases, ships), I'd sell them and replace them with used version, so making a profit.

It's as nice site...the colours mean its a bit hard to read though! The videos don't load on their own pages for me - there isn't even a "Loading" symbol or anything! The videos are nice though. I'm not really a big fan of Freewebs as it just doesn't cut the beef with me: it's like margerine - butter but with 7% fat...(It was funny when I first used it :-$ ) Slazza

Grrr! >:-) By my clock this poll should have ended, making it a draw at 27 - 27. As the prize is just a title, a new prize could be thought up... As for a showdown...uh...no. I'm currently building and typing with one hand as my left arm's numb from an injection. :'-). Anyway, I'm doing other projects at the moment so a draw would be ideal. In my opinion, each entry has its merits and deserves its own prize. One person's vote shouldn't seperate these two entries and so it should end in a tie (I guess I say this 'cos I don't want to lose but I don't want to discredit oo7. :-P) Who came third?

I would have given them alright but Enchanted Island made it a Perfect as it's a great parts pack and really cheap on eBay. The islanders are the "heroic" faction - able to do heroic feats and the like to survive whereas pirates and imperials don't need to... Slazza

A full 5 from me! Sounds strange? I first got this when I was 3 and it added a whole 20% to my pirate figure collection! :'-) It's an armed guy with a flag: the two main features. An oar adds a point and the raft...it's nice for a quick play but when you've got a small collection, 8 yellow cannonballs is pure gold...literally! I gave this 5, not so much for the parts, but for the great memories! I always thought the same! Brown for the whole raft would have been nice but that would have added too many colours to the theme...TLC would never have done that back in the Glory Days. Slazza ;-)

Shy? No, that should be sly! X-D America has elections? :-P And I return the favour, to tie us again! X-O Can't we just have a draw? All this voting is making me anxious! :-$