Laura Beinbrech

Back in 1988, when my brother and I were really getting into LEGO (and the basis of the world that I've currently posted bits and pieces of here with my MOCs got its start), my parents got us a big red bucket of Tyco Super Blocks, which actually enabled us to do some building/additons onto our LEGO sets (due to the relative lack of LEGO brick buckets at the time). For years, Tyco was the only clone brand I would swear by, since they were the only one I encountered who could stand up to LEGO quality (although the figures were a bit disappointing, as has been said earlier... We kept ours 'alive' by gluing them back together with model glue whenever they split at the seams... We decided that they would be a lost tribe of Neanderthals in our setting). The only other brand that could equal them in coming close to LEGO standards is Oxford (the people who make the bricks for Kre-O).

It will be for me, certainly. Otherwise, it might as well be Galaxy Patrol or something... Same here: The only way I'll be likely to buy the exo-suit is if it has the Classic Space guy (with updated helmet, of course) with it.

I usually go for overkill, at least when structural integrity is involved. That being said, I'm considering taking out at least 2 of the pins (4 of them are those 1x2 bricks with 2 pins built-in), since it is a bit difficult to take apart and put together...

Thanks guys! I was originally planning on trying to go with the hinges, but then I realized that it would be rather difficult to get everything to line up right, considering how the top of the tower is wider than the base, so I went with the pins. It DOES have an interior: I used the extra space to place some of the "floating" mini builds, and was thinking about adding a bed later (I don't have enough parts to make a Friends-style bed unless I pull one of the ones from the Dolphin Cruiser).

My wife got the Rapunzel's Tower of creativity set a while back, but was kinda disappointed that it was completely open on the back. I therefore decided to buy another Tower of Creativity set (and thereby acquire my own Rapunzel, Flynn & Pascal figures) and see if I could do something about that. Here's the result: Rapunzel's Tower Front by Hikaro Takayama, on Flickr As you can see here, there isn't too much noticeably changed on the front, however if you turn it to the side: Rapunzel's Tower Side by Hikaro Takayama, on Flickr ...You can see it is now fully enclosed. It splits apart on the seam and is held together with 8 technic pins at strategic locations. I also decided to make it so that the back wasn't an exact duplicate of the front for a bit of variety: Rapunzel's Tower Back by Hikaro Takayama, on Flickr My wife, needless to say, was quite pleased with the results. The only thing I'd like to work a bit more on sometime is the interior... The back side is relatively bare at the moment.

Well, they seem to be on about the same price per piece count point as the LEGO Friends line, at least in the US, so I'd say that they're a fairly good value for what you're getting over here...

Strangely, As a gender-nonconforming (and somewhat gender fluid) man, I personally believe that dividing toys and such into "boys and girls" sections is part of the problem of continuing sexism and discrimination in society. That said, when I was first coming to terms with being gender-nonconforming and deciding to be open about it, I just thought to myself, "gender norms and roles are artificial constructs and do not ultimately mean anything" over and over again, which got me over my initial embarrassment of shopping in the "girl" toy section. After the first few times, I realized that most people didn't even notice or care, so I just buy the friends and Disney Princess sets without thinking twice about it now. Just be confident. Anyways, back on topic, My wife and I now have Ariel's Magic Kiss set (I've drafted Ariel and Eric into the Dophin Cruiser's crew ), Merida's Highland Games and 2 of Rapunzel's Tower of Creativity. Why 2 you ask? Well, the one thing that bothered me about the tower is the fact that it's basically just half a building (which is understandable from a pricing/marketing standpoint), so I decided to get a second set to combine with my wife's to make a full, hinged tower for her (with the understanding that all duplicate minidolls, accessories and parts are MINE!). I'm hoping to get at least one of the Cinderella sets (probably the carriage, due to both budgeting considerations, and those awesome, fancy wheels are just BEGGING to be made into some kind of cool vehicle) so that I can have at least one of each princess released thus far. I'm hoping that they release sets with the other official princesses, especially Jasmine and Mulan (my favorite and the only Disney Princess with a body count )... Any word on if they are going to be releasing, say, a Merida polybag set or any other polybags at all?

VERY lovely battle mechs. My favorite is also the Pink Atemis, followed very closely by the Rabid Mole (it's just so sleek and deadly looking).

Awesome! Sweet combination of the TIE fighter window and those curved windscreens. Really nice update to the old Hydronaut theme.

Know any modern ships armed with plasma cannons as point-defense weapons, or missiles with Merculite warheads, do you? It's post-apocalyptic (although I go for a more colorful and less "real is brown" type), which fits here. Also, this is a map of the nation to which the ship belongs: Lone Star Republic Map by Hikaro Takayama, on Flickr As you can see, the Lone Star Repbublic is a pocket of free, democratic civilization surrounded by undead horrors (the Tomb Kings), Mad-Max themed post-apocalyptic raiders (the Wastes),. Mad-Max meets Poncho Villa post-apocalyptic raiders (the Mexican Badlands), and militant human-supremacists (the Confederate States of America). The only friendly factions on the map are the Federal Republic of America (whose only border territories they share are war-torn hellholes partially occupied by the CSA) and the Rebublic of Lakotah (which again, the only border territory they share is contested between Lone Star, the CSA and raiders).

Greebling is a term that originated among sci-fi movie prop makers (the ones who did the ships for Star Wars) and spread to the rest of the modeling communities (including LEGO). What it means is adding various small, detail parts that don't really serve any purpose but to add texture to a model... Mainly by looking like small tanks, electrical cables, junction boxes, grills and other such things.

Nice! I should try making something like this for my Undead faction....

Nice! Kinda reminds me of a Cylon Raider from Battlestar Galactica (the OLD one).

Thanks, Aragorn! I remember, when I first was thinking of creating a Navy for the Lone Star Republic, having some difficulty with trying to come up with a unique, but reasonably-priced uniform set for it. When the 2013 Coast Guard sets came out, with their modern-ish naval-type uniforms and the white-hulled partrol craft, I knew I had my answer (and this Corvette was the answer to what I'd be doing with the 2011 blue Police Boat hulls after I was finished with updating my two Frigates).

Thanks! The ship in the BG of the last picture is one of the Frigates I made a while back, and the Jolly Roger is actually its nation's Naval Ensign, mainly due to the fact that its navy was originally founded by reformed pirates.... (Hence the somewhat piratey uniforms and the Chief Petty Officers wearing tricorn hats and most officers wearing bicorns with skull and crossbones on them). ;) Oh, and the short, beardy fellow in the crew is a Dwarf. It's that kind of setting....

Well, the parts finally arrived (all on the same day, I might add) to finish up my latest flash of inspiration, the lead ship of the Rio Grande-Class Guided Missile Corvettes (KG) of the Lone Star Navy: Rio Grande port side by Hikaro Takayama, on Flickr Info from Jaynes Fighting Ships (2113 edition): Data: KG-01, Rio Grande-Class Guided Missile Corvette, Manufactured by Gulf Coast Heavy Industries, LLC in Corpus Christi, TX, with some technical data supplied by the Federal Republic of America and the Republic of New Jersey Launch Date: 2105 Current CO: Lt. Commander Stephanie Del Castillo, Lone Star Republic Navy Armament: Guns: 1 Forward 3" (76mm) OTO Melera rapid-fire dual-purpose naval gun, two aft-mounted BA-Industries MG-3/42 machineguns (7.62 NATO) and two bridge-wing mounted BA Industries Lewis-Lexington Heavy machineguns (.50 BMG). Missiles: Two MK-75 quad medium-range Merculite Multipurpose Missile (MMM) launchers with an effective range of 200 Nautical miles, and one aft-mounted 8-cell twin-arm box launcer for MK-7 "Screaming Mimi" 76mm short-range MMMs with 2 missiles per cell. Energy Weapons: Two M-13 "Scorcher" Close-in Weapons System utilizing a dedicated search/track sensor (white dome on the starboard side of the mast) and dual 25mm blaster (plasma) cannons primarily for point defense against missiles, aircraft and speedboats. Torpedoes: Two MK-50 sonar-guided long-range heavy anti-ship torpedoes. Propulsion: Twin John Reed 12-cylinder 1500 HP bio-diesel engines powering water jets that give the ship a cruising speed of about 47 Knots. Notes: The Federal Republic of America and Republic of New Jersey provided technical assistance from their joint frigate development project in order to both increase goodwill between their nations and the Lone Star Republic as well as strengthen their 3-way alliance. Rio Grande Bow by Hikaro Takayama, on Flickr View of the ship's bow, showing a good look at the antenna mast, with the long and short-range communications antennae, main Fire Control Radar (front and center), Furuno Navigation radar (white flattened dome in front of the Fire-Control radar), Point-defense blaster cannon search/track radar (white dome on the left) and the weather station (the dohickey on the right, which is supposed to be an anemometer) Rio Grande Stern by Hikaro Takayama, on Flickr Aft view showing the aft 7.62mm Machineguns and the armored water-tight door leading inside the ship. Rio Grande Interior by Hikaro Takayama, on Flickr Interior view, showing the Combat Information Center (CIC) with handy weapons rack and secure storage lockers for additional weapons and classified information. Forward of that is the bridge with the Duty Quartermaster's station and the Captain's Chair. Rio Grande Crew by Hikaro Takayama, on Flickr The Rio Grande with her proud crew (Captain's on the far left) Rio Grande & Hawkwing1024 by Hikaro Takayama, on Flickr ...And a bonus pic of the Rio Grande alongside the FNS Hawkwing during a joint training exercise to give an idea of the relative sizes of the two ships. Hope you guys like her.... I was having difficulty in figuring out how to make a corvette-sized ship with my blue police boat hulls (after I re-built my frigates on the slightly larger hulls of the 2013 Coast Guard Patrol boat hulls), when I just suddenly got inspired and ended up working most of a Sunday afternoon on this puppy.

I really like the blue one! I've been thinking lately about how to make some midget subs for patrol/coastal defense in my setting (as well as some pirate mini-subs), and that one has got me thinking again....

I second this.... Neo-Classic Space vs Blacktron 3 would be simply awesome!

THAT explains it... I was trying to figure out what that part was and/or what set it came from. Now that I know it's one of those big trans-clear panels yelowified, it makes perfect sense.

This is really nice (I bet getting that many classic space torsos in such good shape cost a pretty penny, too!), really fits the feel of Classic Space, but with some nice updates to the theme. I REALLY like the robots in the bottom... Some of the best brick-built robots I've seen, yet they still have that kind of "Buck Rogers"/"Flash Gordon" styling that the original Classic Space robots had.

My wife got Rapunzel's Tower (along with the last of the latest Friends collectible animal series and Stephanie's Newborn Lamb) yesterday while I picked up 3 of the series 11 minifigs... One thing that impressed me with the Rapunzel's Tower was not just the detail of the interior (and well-designed exterior), but just how BIG the set was for $40. Personally, I would have got Ariel's Magic Kiss set, but I figured we'd spent enough on LEGO for one week (that and I want to go to the LEGO store in Baltimore next weekend to stock up on PAB items and get some VIP points).

I SOOOO wanted this set when I was a kid, and was insanely jealous of one of my friends who DID get it (I had to settle for the Futuron Cosmic Laser Launcher, which I brought over to said friend's house to do battle with his Blacktron army once or twice). As far as I know, he still has it. Thanks for the review. I really wish I'd have been able to afford this set back in the day even more, but oh well...

I second this thought. Classic Space/Futuron (which I considered to be the "last hurrah" of the classic space line anyways) was one of my favorite space themes of all time (along with the original Blacktron and Space Police I), and would LOVE to have some new parts with the Classic Space logo on them.

Good job, that man! You earned it, Bob. I've just recently gotten back into LEGO (after being side-tracked by Real Lifetm and Minecraft), and I'll hopefully have a few things to post here by the end of the week.