Laura Beinbrech

Oh my goodness! If this set IS, in fact, going to be released this summer, I am definitely getting one, price be damned! I wish I'd have kept some of the classic space sets I had as a kid, and this would definitely make up for that bit of regret. This goes double if it has Wyldstyle in it.

Excellent! Especially the one with the yellow trim. Fits the old, classic (and IMO, only TRUE) Blacktron color scheme perfectly, while using current LEGO space design and build techniques.

Oh, so it would appear that Rapunzel's tower comes with Flynn Rider... Nice! I can't wait to see some pictures.

Ok, since LEGO came out with some of those wide boat hulls in a color I could use for my good-guy factions, I decided to take another whack at my Kestrel/John Gotti class frigates, and I'm rather pleased with the results: Hawkwing Port by Hikaro Takayama, on Flickr Of course, the updated data for Jayne's Fighting Ships: Data: FF-03, Kestrel Class Frigate, Manufactured by BFG Industries in Philadelphia, PA as part of a joint Naval design/construction project with the Republic of New Jersey, Corleone Shipyards, LTD. Launch Date: 2089 Current CO: Lt. Commander Honor S. Harrington, Federal Republic of America Navy Armament: Guns: Two 3" (76mm) OTO Melera Super Rapid naval cannons, two aft-mounted BA-Industries MG-3/42 machineguns (7.62 NATO) and three 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. Energy Weapons: Two MK-2 Mod 1 "Hoplite" Close-in Weapons System utilizing a self-contained search/track scanners and dual 25mm pulse-laser 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 version of this ship differs from the original Republic of New Jersey John Gotti-class guided missile frigates in that it has the BFG Industries MK-98 Fire Control Radar/Neutrino Scanner as opposed to the Corleone Shipyards Target Acquisition System (TAS) Mark-7 as well as having an additional 76mm OTO Melera naval gun instead of the short-range "Screaming Mimi" missile turret aft (hence why the John Gotti Class gets the "G" in its Hull Classification Code and the Kestrel Class doesn't) Both Classes have a commonly available DRS6D Furuno Commercial Navigation radar (for both standard navigation and deceptive tactics to fool enemy ships into thinking the frigate is a mere fishing vessel or tramp freighter) and the PRC-99 directional HF communications array. Hawkwing Starboard by Hikaro Takayama, on Flickr I also modified the torpedoes (removed one of the 2x2 round bricks, shortening them slightly, and making them look a lot better as well, IMO). Hawkwing Stern View by Hikaro Takayama, on Flickr I made some MAJOR improvements to the antenna mast as well: It now LOOKS more like a proper Military Vessel's radar/antenna mast. I also added the two automated twin-laser turrets to give the ship better AA defense capabilities. Hawkwing Bow View by Hikaro Takayama, on Flickr I also added an additional 2 Merculite missiles to each side, bringing the total number up to 8, and it looks better to boot! Updated Bridge Interior by Hikaro Takayama, on Flickr Finally, not only was I able to make the ship look better by lengthening the bridge/01 level (and using the ship windows from the Coast Guard Patrol set), but I could add a console for the Navigation/Communications officer as well. I hope you guys like this new version. As soon as I get some of the PAB parts in, I'll be doing the RNJS Tony Soprano as well. As for the blue Police Boat hulls I was previously using... Well, I've got plans to use them for the Lone Star Republic's River-Class Corvettes. ;)

I might have to get one of these: I'll most likely use that massive 12x85? hull to make a system-scale cargo ship, though.

Ah Sweet! The penguin is likely one of the few Friends animal series that I will also be getting for myself. "I shall hug him and cuddle him and call him Tux." I can't wait to see the pics for the other stuff, or for that matter, the new Friends-style Disney Princess line.

Well, even if most other people here are unenthusiastic about this pack, I'm definitely getting some (I think I'll tack them onto the Minecraft Village and Nether set order I'm getting for my wife), mainly because I happen to have a use for all those torso designs (the blue jacket sailors are used as general enlisted/lower NCO ratings in one of my main faction's navy, and the captain's jacket is the officer uniform in the same), and I could always use some more critters. Still, I hope that if it does well, LEGO might consider releasing another pirate lineup (I'm kinda hoping, what with all the Pirate-themed Collectible minifigs that have come out lately, like the Conquistador, Pirate Captain and Revolutionary War soldier, that a new Pirate theme is in the works).

That is a nice looking SHIP, Guss. I like how you combined the SHIP concept with the Vic Viper design (including making the smaller parasite ships also VV's).

Those are really excellent builds! The Doomsday looks like what would happen if a Shadow ship from Babylon 5 were to merge with the Narada from Star Trek 2009, and the Pollux looks like something belonging to the space fleet of the Imperium of Man from Warhammer 40K.

Nicely done! We don't get too many modern war/patrol ship MOCs here and it's always good to see one this nicely done. I like your solution to the Water Tight door design that has been somewhat of an issue on my own ships...

Yeah, I'd like to see some pics of the sets before passing judgement either way... Personally I'm hoping that they do Cinderella's Castle Romance set so that it looks like the version seen in Orlando's Magic Kingdom/the intro to all Disney movies: It's one of THE most iconic buildings/emblems of Disney, and I'd like to have it in LEGO form. I'm guessing, if this theme is launching in January, that we'll most likely get some pics no later than November.

I voted for Blacktron, Futuron and Classic Space. A Blacktron I set, the Alienator was one of the first LEGO sets I ever bought with my own money (I got it the same day I got the Forestman's Hideout), and I was thrilled, as a kid, when they came out with the Blacktron II sets shortly after Blacktron I was discontinued. I also really liked the designs and colors of the Futuron sets as well, although it kinda blends in with/is an extension of Classic Space (which was one of the first LEGO sets I ever got back in 1986), which is why I chose that as well (I'd be more than happy with CS instead of Futuron, especially since it's running a fairly close second to Blacktron).

Yeah, because Jasmine, Rapunzel from Tangled, Tianna, Mulan and Merida were such completely submissive doormats.... Oh wait, they weren't Seriously, this kind of attitude reflects, at a minimum, a dismal lack of research into the subject matter (at least 3 of the "princesses" mentioned were the main character of the story and weren't even LOOKING for romance or to be rescued by Prince Charming.) Granted, some of the older movies like Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Snow White DO fit your characterization, however if you look at the time they were made (Snow White was made in the 1930's, close to 80 years ago!), they were pretty fair for their day. That said, I'm actually excited for these sets. I'm hoping that the prince in Ariel's Enchated Kiss set is wearing his Naval Officer type outfit, because that would really be useful, and I'm likely to get at least one of the sets with Ariel to beef up my merfolk faction. I'd also like to get Merida's Highland Games and possibly Cinderella's Castle (depending on what the final version looks like) to represent Disney World in Orlando (Where my wife and I spent our honeymoon). I'd also get a few of the sets just so I could get some fancy minidoll dresses as well.

Wow, that looks just like some of the REAL tower cranes I saw working on the new World Trade Center in NYC last summer, great job! Also props on getting a micro-scale buldozer to look that good.

I highly disagree with this statement. For some background information, I served in the US Navy from 1999 - 2005 (did one tour in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and one tour in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom), and from the get-go I had to deal with fellow sailors of the female persuasion. First of all, I was in an integrated division in boot camp. What that meant was that while we slept and showered in different barracks rooms (adjoining each other), half the male recruits and half the female recruits would form up with their counterparts and do all other training (including eating and marksmanship) together, and only fall out into their separate living areas in the evening. I'm also proud to say that my division not only set (and as far as I know, still holds) the record time for completing the obstacle course, but we also did better than ANY other division that went through at the same time, including all-male divisions. We accomplished this by working together effectively as a team, and while the female recruits weren't, ON AVERAGE, as strong as the male recruits, they were, again, on average, smaller and more agile, so our strategy was to alternate male and female recruits, so that they could help each other out during parts that one or the other was having difficulty with (which was allowed), and we cleaned up the competition! During training, there weren't as many females in my classes, mainly because it was for electronics technician type work, and such fields are still male-dominated (which is why I was delighted to see Olivia's Invention Workshop in the first wave of the Friends sets), but we still had a few, and they went through the same exact training and sets of standards as the male sailors. When I got to the fleet, it was a completely different story: The first ship I was stationed on, the USS O'Brien (DD-975) had about 30% of the crew (100 out of 300) consisting of female sailors, and the second (and last) ship I was stationed on, the USS Belleau Wood (LHA-3) about 60% of the crew was female, and every one of those female sailors pulled their weight and served with honor, which was reflected by my first ship receiving a Naval Unit Citation and two Meritorious Unit Citations during the time I was aboard, and the second ship I was on received a Meritorious Unit Citation as well as a Battle Efficiency ribbon during the time I was on board, and BOTH ships went through arduous Persian Gulf deployments while I was aboard (the first ship's deployment got extended by about 2 months due to 9-11 happening right before we were supposed to return to our home port in Yokosuka, Japan)..... In addition to that, I've been working as a DOD civilian employee for the past 4 years, and have seen numerous female soldiers (including one of the recent base commanders) on the army base that I work on. So you can obviously see where my perspective on this subject is different from yours and Itaria No Shinkaku's: I've spent the past 13 years or so of my life in situations where men and women ARE for the most part, treated as equals and seen that, yes, it CAN, in fact, work, but I've also seen where more could be done. Much like LEGO Friends: Yes, it is a step in the right direction, getting girls into construction toys and, perhaps even more importantly, parents and grandparents to view construction toys as acceptable for girls, but more could be done (I.e. hopefully eventually phasing out the minidolls and/or incorporating the pastel colors into the main lines). As for the feminist frequency (and other feminists) commenting about women being objectified, Girl Writes What, a Youtube blogger and men's rights activist, had a good response to that in the form of her "Feminism and the Disposable Male" video (which has been shown in numerous sociology and gender relations classes in colleges around the US), which points out that, yes, under the old Patriarchal system, women WERE objectified, as valued treasures, because of their ability to bear children. However, at the same time, men were ALSO objectified, due to the fact that one man could, theoretically, father 100 children, as expendable beasts of burden, disposable cannon fodder and mobile sperm banks. Unfortunately (and this is one area I agree with Itaria no Shinkaku on), while women have made great strides in being allowed to do the same jobs as men, and having equal rights, men are STILL treated as completely disposable: I've found that the surest way to tell if a self-styled feminist is truly for gender equality or just on a Matriarchal power-trip is to ask her whether she believes that women should also have to register for selective service in order to vote or get federal grants (in the US) or, in countries that have it, include women in mandatory military conscription. If they're serious about equality, their answer will be either, yes, women should be included in registering for the draft, or that all forms of forced military service should be abolished for everyone. ...And to bring this topic back around to the ORIGINAL complaints about stereotyping in LEGO themes, this is why, even now, boys are expected (encouraged even!) to engage in toys and activities that are action and danger-oriented (toy soldiers, police and fire fighting toys, etc), in order to get them ready for the day that they will be fixing bayonets and charging up the hill into cannon fire, or giving up their seat on a lifeboat to a woman, while girls are encouraged to play with baby dolls and easy-bake sets to prepare them for the role of motherhood and nurture. As I said before, that stark division of labor was a necessity back in the stone age, when humans were merely an extremely clever snack for big cats and other apex predators, rather than THE dominant life form on the planet. Now that there are over 6 BILLION of us overcrowding the planet, and most apex predators tend to crap their pants and run whenever they come across some humans, such rigid gender roles are no longer necessary for the survival of the species, and IMO, are only holding back societal and scientific progress, and the sooner we can be rid of such outdated notions as specific gender roles, the better.

As a long time fan of the Back to the Future series (I remember when they were out in the theaters, you whippersnappers!) I voted for this project when I first discovered it on Cuusoo, and the final version has far exceeded even my expectations for the final project. The printed parts are excellent, and this set has just displaced the Dolphin Cruiser as the top of my "must have" list from the August releases. I haven't been this stoked about a LEGO product release date since the first sneak previews of the Pirate sets were released on the in-box catalogs included with 1989 sets. :D

Man, it never ceases to amaze me how you keep coming up with these awesome old pics and interesting tidbits of LEGO history.

Guys, guys! I would like to (hopefully) de-fuse this debate somewhat by pointing out that why there are, statistically speaking, differences in the way MOST people of a given gender think or interact with the world, one of the GREAT debates still raging in biology and social science circles is how much of these gender differences are based on biological factors (genes hormones, etc) and how much is based on SOCIAL factors, such as constant reinforcement by parents, friends, etc. There are compelling evolutionary reasons for why, for thousands of years, women and men have been placed in specific roles (sometimes literally beat into line) because, in the distant past when we were still mostly just really clever snacks for large predators, guaranteed the survival of the race. One specific case I pointed out earlier is the fact that, throughout history, women have been treated as valuable reproductive commodities, while men have been treated mostly as disposable cannon fodder, human shields and mobile sperm banks. Of course, now that we're one of, if not THE dominant lifeforms on the planet, those evolutionary imperatives are no longer relevant (or at least not nearly as compelling back in ye olde stone age), but it would seem that it negating hundreds of thousands of years of biological and cultural development in just a span of only a century or so (i.e. how long the women's equality movement has been around).... Personally, I don't see true gender equality being achieved for another few generations in the most enlightened countries as a best-case scenario, and sometimes, in my most cynical moments, I don't think that any of the gender issues (including gay rights, transexualism, etc) will be truly resolved until we develop bio-engineering on the level of the Culture in Ian M. Banks sci-fi novels. For those not familiar with the setting, the Culture has basically developed technology to the point that, among other things, people can consciously change gender anytime they want to (although the process takes several months to complete), meaning that since nobody has a fixed gender anymore, nobody cares at all about it anymore, or who one chooses to have romantic or even physical relations with.

While I like the overall design aesthetic of this worthy piece of mad science, being a natural-born engineer, those meshed gear wheels just have my design functionality senses screaming "That's not right!!!!" at the top of their lungs. Other than the highly non-functional traction gear, great work!

Thanks for the review! I also bought this set recently, mainly for the patrol boat (or more specifically, the hull and bridge windows) so I could convert it to a Corvette (light warship, somewhere in between the size of a Patrol Boat and a Frigate). I also really like the Coast Guard uniforms: They LOOK like proper Navy/Coast Guard working uniforms (they are almost exactly like the US Coast Guard's working uniforms, except that the USCG shirt is the same color blue as their pants), and finally give me the perfect uniforms for an additional faction's Navy. Some observations/thoughts I've had regarding this set: While I was kind of disappointed that there is nothing distinguishing the captain, aside from his hat and epic beard, although most modern Navy and Coast Guards make no distinction between enlisted and officer's working uninforms... One thing I was thinking about doing, though is using the Sea Captain from Series 10 as the officers, and it seems that they designed him with this possibly in mind (especially since he has the Royal Navy-style stripe rank designator on his sleeves indicating he has the rank of Commander). I also notice that LEGO seems to have discontinued the other version of the 51x12 Boat hull: In favor of this wider version that first appeared, apropriately enough, in the PREVIOUS coast guard patrol boat set in 2008. I'm willing to bet it's because, due to the wider beam, this version should be MUCH more stable in the water. If I can pick up two additional hulls from this set on Brick Link for a good price, I'm going to see about re-doing my Kestrel and John Gotti Class frigates (which currently use the blue hull from the 2011 City police boat)....

Don't forget also, that even though the color didn't originate with Friends, Medium Azure has been heavily used in friends, and is seeing increased use outside as well (initially it was just the ADU trooper's uniforms, but now they use it on all the "Blue" squad vehicles in the Galaxy Squad)... I personally would love to see the day that pink, lavender, and even purple are no longer considered almost exclusively "girl" colors: I found out early on in elementary school that being a boy and actually admitting you liked pink, even if blue was your favorite color, basically gave a license for all the other boys to beat you up on the playground, as well as an excuse for all the teachers to look the other way because I "brought it on myself" (this was back in the Dark Ages of the early 1980's, when teachers believed in discouraging any "deviant" behavior for the child's "own good").

Oh, I agree with you 100%: What I find interesting is that most of the friends buildings' color schemes and designs actually fit in well with the general 1950's design ethic: My brother's house was originally built around 1950, and it still has the pink and azure tiling in the bathroom, as well as the original aqua paint scheme in the bedrooms, and there are a few local diners dating back to the '50s around here that look uncannily like the Park Cafe, albeit with just SLIGHTLY less pastels (but not much)... I have actually seen pleasure yachts IRL, during the time I was in the Navy, that had almost identical EXTERIOR paint schemes as the Dolphin cruiser, so I've not got any issues with that (the INTERIOR, on the other hand, has a bit too much pink for my liking). As for the dolls themselves.... My entire LEGO collection is part of a coherent (for a given value of the word, since it is based on what my brother and I played when we were kids, so it's kind of a sci-fi/fantasy kitchen sink with cross-overs out the wazoo) sci-fi, post-post-apocalytpic setting, so I just use the minidolls as another race of aliens/mutants in said setting... Considering that they are side-by-side with Alien Conquest Aliens, CMF series Greys, Star Wars aliens, Orcs, Elves, Dwarves, Hobbits, and Kre-O Battleship aliens, they don't stand out all that much.

Really nicely done, Sci-MOCs and Ricecracker. I really like the processing ship, the cargo containers are instantly recognizable, yet believably futuristic, and the detailing on the space hulk is most excellent.

That is one WICKED (litereally) cool starship! I'd definitely hate to be on the receiving end of any "negotiations" that guy is involved with!

Actually, compared to most "girl" toys, LEGO Friends color scheme is actually VERY realistic, and while it does have SOME pink and pastels, it's not to the "pink bomb exploded with glittery shrapnel" that Barbie, Disney Princesses and other such girl toy lines are. As a matter of fact, at least one set, Mia's Magic Tricks, has NO pastel or pink colors (aside from some flowers on a table) at all. The rest of the sets tend to use such colors in a more subdued and realistic way, particularly compared to the 'competition', Mega Bloks Barbie, which is 90% pink. Of course, I came across something interesting recently, a video blog by a YouTube user known as "Girl Writes What" called "Feminism and the Disposable Male" that pretty much points out why, even now, girls and boys are raised differently from birth, and why there are so many issues, and also it essentially calls feminists of Spark's stripe on the carpet for being a bunch of hypocrites. Essentially it explains that, while the old patriarchal system objectified women as highly-valuable baby factories, it ALSO objectified men by reducing them to disposable beasts of burden and expendable cannon fodder, she even pointed out interesting facts like how, even now, while girl babies cries are responded to almost immediately, boy babies are usually only responded to after about a minute or so. Of course, she also discusses how, back in the old days, when there weren't so many humans around, this was actually an evolutionary necessity: After all, one man can get 100 women pregnant, but the opposite isn't true, and natural selection favored those societies that treated men like meat shields and women as delicate treasures that needed protection. One good case in point is that more recent discoveries have shown that the Neanderthals had gender-egalitarian distribution of the labor, meaning that Neanderthal women would be doing the same kind of dangerous work that the men were, and just as likely to die (highly ironic, considering what the feminists' favorite insult to whomever doesn't agree with them is), and as a result, when modern humans moved into areas where the Neanderthals were, we were able to out-breed them, and we all know how that story ends. She also goes on how even now, men are STILL expected to be the ones doing all the dangerous, dirty and physically demanding jobs as well as being the ones who fix bayonets and charge into machinegun fire, while women are STILL put up on a pedestal, but under the current system they don't even get the respect that they used to: Instead they get to hear about how they are all either a bunch of violent, abusive A-holes or stupid, bumbling, clueless incompetents (a la Al Bundy, Homer Simpson and Peter Griffith). While I do disagree with some of her conclusions, I do agree that (1) now that humanity is FAR from rare, the old patriarchal system is not necessary any more, and (2) until the feminists at least acknowledge that things under the old system (and especially now) are also unfair to men, then true gender equality won't be achieved... Which is something I'm all for. If you don't believe me, just ask any self-declared feminist if she supports requiring women to register for selective service (in the US) or be drafted (in countries with mandatory conscription): Her answer is, IMO, the SUREST way to determine if she's truly serious about TRUE gender equality, or just on a dominatrix power/revenge-fantasy (HINT: If she supports either making conscription mandatory for both men and women, or abolishing it altogether, then she's for equality). Similarly, ask about her opinion on assigning women to active combat roles.... The reason I bring this point up is I've met more than a few feminists who, while DEMANDING equality, did not support women in combat roles or conscription of women, often for rather contradictory reasons. As long as most of society, and the media keeps reinforcing such notions as Men are the Expendable Gender, what with 90% of the time men being the ones killed on screen, and their deaths treated as either nothing (for red shirts and faceless mooks), but the few female deaths treated as great tragedies and a way of show just how VILE and EVIL the main villain is, or the fact that men have to be doing something proactive to gain audience sympathy, while women merely have to exist, and the second a guy screws up or fails to act, the audience is supposed to hate him, but a woman can not only be a useless damsel in distress, but actually be completely incompetent to the point of messing things up for the heroes, but the audience is STILL supposed to be sympathetic towards her. As long as society, and the media, keep treating women as more "innocent" and "pure" than men, to the point where, in real life, women get, on average, HALF the prison time or fines for committing the same exact crimes as men (and trust me, you won't here any of the feminists complaining about THAT one), violence against men by women is treated as a non-issue, and in media, a female villain has to be twice as evil as a male villain to be seen as "irredeemable", you won't have gender equality. One cracked article pretty much summed it up with the following: "Obviously if you're watching a scene with a woman tied to a bed while a man forces sex on her, the final act of that movie will involve said man getting shot in the face by Bruce Willis. If, on the other hand, it's a man being tied down and forced into sex by a pretty lady, well, you're watching a wacky romantic comedy." A VERY good case in point is the movie, "40 Days and 40 Nights", where the main character is ridiculed for taking a 40-day vow of chastity as his way of observing Lent, and at the end, his psychotic ex-girlfriend RAPES him in order to win a bet, and not only does she get off scott-free AND get the money, but the guy also has to "prove" to his current girlfriend that he didn't consent... I GUARANTEE that this movie would have been BANNED, or at least generated MASSIVE protests if the characters' genders would have been reversed. On a more positive note, I've seen signs that this is starting to change: One of the best examples of avoiding most gender stereotypes and double standards in media I've seen is David Weber's Honor Harrington series of books. Granted, they are set about 2200 years in the future, but he has both women and men in all roles: Some of his most vile villains are women, as are some of his most heroic heroes (including the titular Honor Stephanie Harrington, who, by this point in the series has a large number of Titles of Nobility and Knightly orders under her belt), and both men and women serve equally on the front lines in most cases, and are equally likely to die, where it would make sense. The series also passes the Bechdel Test with flying colors as well.... So, to basically sum up this long rant, is that as long as society keeps treating women as high-value baby factories that are to be protected at all times (whether explicitly or implicitly) and men as throw-away human meat-shields and beasts of burden, you are going to see the same stereotypical toys: Passive princesses (the ultimate in high-value baby factories, especially back in the days before Nationalism and the Rule of Law when blood-ties were the only way of guaranteeing that the other kingdom would honor their treaty) girls and violent, action-based themes for boys (gotta get them used to their cannon-fodder roles early). While I did (and still do) have some concerns about Friends, and the gender imbalance of other LEGO themes, I feel that overall, LEGO has been moving the right direction in the past 20 years: I started really getting into LEGO back in 1988, and at that time, aside from a few Town sets with either the old straight long hair piece or pigtail hair piece, there were NO female minifigs AT ALL. In 1989, they introduced the first heads with unique prints, including the first female head print, which only appeared in a few pirate sets (Black Seas Barracuda and Pirate Minifigs) and two Castle sets (Forestman's River Crossing and the King's Mountain Fortress). In the 24 years since then, the gender ratio (and thanks in part to Pick A Brick, availability) of female minifigs has increased sharply, and not all female minifigs are, as one clueless feminist put it "reduced to being damsels in distress": They have had at least one female paramedic, a female garbage collector (hardly a glamorous or stereotypically feminine role there!), and they even have a female Coast Guard officer (about as close to a modern military set as you'll find in LEGO City) and female police officers (including at least one pilot). Granted, there is more to be done, but overall, I think Friends is ultimately a step in the right direction, which brings me to this point: While I agree with the second part, about just sticking to reviewing the Friends sets as one would a set belonging to a different theme, I disagree with the first part strongly! It may be my fundamentally Libertarian views, or the fact that I was assigned "Fahrenheit 451" as a reading project in High School and am opposed to censorship in just about any form, or it could be from the six years I spent in the Navy where I had to salute and show "proper respect" for officers who were too stupid and incompetent to find their way out of a wet paper bag with a map, but my policy is that you have to GIVE respect in order to GET respect. In this case, vandalism (yes, putting stickers on boxes in a store legally counts as vandalism), loudly declaiming something about which you have failed to do one shred of honest research about, and pulling the rhetorical equivalent of putting one's fingers in one's ears and shouting "LALALALA! I CAN'T HEAR YOU!!!" at the top of one's lungs is NOT the way to gain respect OR credibility for one's cause! While I do admit that some of the points made by Spark are completely valid, they are couched in so much hate and vitriol that it's like panning for gold in a sewer: You gotta go through a lot of crap to get to what's worthwhile, and I'm sick and tired of being told I have to "accommodate" others' viewpoints when those on the other side flat out refuses to do the same thing in return.