Mr Spielbrick

I be acceptin' no grog from the opposition! What are ye tryin' to do, poison us?! All the same, those banners are small works of art, very well made indeed. And they're as welcome as a scant'ly dressed wench after a long haul at sea. I'll proudly be hoistin' the one with a perfect combination of my colour and my craft. One thing... Surely the intended word on those blue banners be 'conquerors', not 'conquers'? Though of course I'll readily admit the Bluecoats really are a bunch of good-for-nothing conkers. Edit: It appears the image is too large, or so the site informs me when I try to add the Redcoats-with-map banner in my signature. How do I fix this?

Good to see you have a clear view of things, Mr Wright. There's obviously no shame in admitting you cannot handle the task of cartographer on your own. After all, that is to be expected of a bluecoat...

As a participant, I'm already fair game, but here's a good look at Mr Spielbrick, the cartographer for the Redcoats. ToR III Mr Spielbrick by Spielbrick Films, on Flickr My avatar for the Tournament of Retribution III at Eurobricks. Mr Spielbrick is the cartographer of the Redcoats. So long as you depict him wearing any Redcoat-ish torso with this face, any map or globe and preferably his simian companion Plancius, he'll gladly appear in your comic.

As a cartographer, I'm a stickler for precision, so please forgive me. Just for clarity - Obviously the old bluecoat and Redcoat torsos are accepted: Redcoat soldier: http://www.bricklink...p?P=973pb206c01 Redcoat officer: http://www.bricklink...asp?P=973p3sc01 bluecoat soldier: http://www.bricklink...p?P=973pb204c01 bluecoat officer: http://www.bricklink...asp?P=973p3rc01 ...and you also accept the new torsos: Redcoat soldier: http://www.bricklink...p?P=973pb527c01 "turncoat" officer: http://www.bricklink...p?P=973pb542c01 ...BUT... ...do you also accept this 'junior set' torso as a bluecoat? http://www.bricklink...p?P=973pb529c01 ...and this Pirates of the Caribbean torso as a Redcoat officer? http://www.bricklink...p?P=973pb880c01 ...and the CMF pirate torso as a Redcoat? http://www.bricklink...?P=973pb1245c01 Edit: ...and (how) does this dark blue PotC torso enter into it? http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemPic.asp?P=973pb945c01 (thanks for the tip, MstrOfPppts) Thanks in advance for clearing this up!

Ah, exactly the same goes for me. Those three sets have the facial expressions I personally find most true to the characters the way I know them. There seem to be two ways to get all the Turtles and an extra Ralph if you get all the sets. Only one way to get each of the other characters though, excluding of course the omnipresent Foot soldier - and including that one in almost all sets is a very nice touch. After all, you need a bit of an 'army' of bad guys. Almost like 'automatic' army building this way. Very nice that TLC have also included all the weapons, some pizza's, skateboards and even a 'sewer lid' (what's the English word?).

Aye, we're not sober yet in the morning. We saves that up for the afternoon, after the aforementioned @ss kicking. 'Cos then we comes after ye, bluecoat scum, and the Redcoats will laugh last! Har har har! Won't fill this thread with further non-sign-up-or-question posts, but c'mon, Redcoat honour had to be defended here!

Ah, my esteemed colleague-cartographer, I'm afraid you're completely mistaken. But then, that is to be expected of a bluecoat. Fits nicely with your new home, by the way, blue does. We'll chuck you all overboard and into the deep blue waters. Just thought I'd be polite and warn you in advance.

1.) Mr Spielbrick 2.) Redcoats 3.) Cartographer, quartermaster or cook, please. I know I'm not an established name on here, but hey... Now's as good a time as any to try and change that a bit, eh? Hoist the colours! (Edit: I'll make sure to have a more useful avatar uploaded by Tuesday, so people can incorporate 'me' as a character if they so desire.)

It's not brand new, but it does differ from the original photocamera. This one, probably the one Santaduckz was thinking of, has been around since 1997: http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=30089 The 'new' one has only been around for two years, and does indeed look slightly different: http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=30089b Also: YAY! for that dark green hood. Very useful for Robin Hood or other castle-type MOCs, and perhaps the rangers from The Lord of the Rings.

That's pure speculation, based upon other speculation. The set list itself hasn't even been officially confirmed yet. Let's just wait and see what happens. As it is, I think we needn't fear missing out on any dwarves between this year and the next. TLC have released all the fellowship minifigures in one wave of LotR. From the only officially revealed Hobbit play set (so that is not counting the game), it looks as though they're going to give us all thirteen dwarves as well. Personally, I can wait a few (extra) months to complete the dwarf team.

Galaxy Quest? Has that been confirmed? It sounds so unlikely, as it's already the title of a film: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0177789/ Anyway, I'm curious for Legends of Chima. The word 'legend(s)' just has that effect on me.

That's some mighty fine details you've got going on there. The Headmaster even has a Chocolate Frog on his desk, how droll! Fabulous office. Consider my gob well and truly smacked.

What makes you say that? As I understand it, PJ and co. want to emphasize characters and events leading up to what happens in The Lord of the Rings. So if anything, the extra film will flesh out that bigger story. I suppose the biggest change is that this gives Bilbo more screen time, and adding his time in the original trilogy would make him (seem?) more the main character than Frodo. Not in the Netherlands, though. For some reason, we're severly behind here. Neither the Lord of the Rings sets nor the Monster Fighters line has been available here yet, not even through LEGO's own webshop. Why? Yeah, beats me too.

Done. Nice to see this theme used as a case study for scientific research. My only small gripe is the absence of a 'further comments' option. It would have helped explaining some seeming discrepancies in my own answers, for instance. Like, I love LEGO, I love Star Wars, I think the combination results in fantastic sets, but it's not likely I buy LEGO Star Wars when buying LEGO. Why? Well, the best sets (in my opinion) are too expensive for my limited student budget. But then, I'm from a humanities department where it's all about qualitative research instead of quantitative. I know that's not always a helpful starting point. ;) Best of luck with the research!

Thanks, darkdragon! The first more or less 'moving' test footage: Please feel free to comment. (So far, we're happy with the visual effects, but the sound isn't perfect yet.)

Hello! For years, I've dreamt about making a stop-motion Doctor Who fan film. My girlfriend, a fellow Whovian, told me to get on with it already. So that's what I'm doing! The story is completed, the characters 'built' and we're working on the sets. Over the next months, we'll regularly send updates out there to anyone who'll listen. On this forum, on our blog and on Twitter. The first episode shall be The Invincible Knight. The Doctor, Amy and Rory find themselves in medieval times. In a small town, people have disappeared and there are rumours of an invincible knight, hiding in the forest... If this post caught your eye, please feel free to follow us in any way you like! Our blog can be found at http://spielbrickfilms.wordpress.com and our Twitter name is @spielbrickfilms I'll leave you with the first (admittedly grainy) snapshot of the good Doctor himself: The Doctor by Spielbrick Films, on Flickr Thanks for reading!

Whoops, haha! My mistake. Though the difference between the two factions seems more clearly defined in Monster Fighters, right?

Ah, but - as far as my memory can be trusted - that theme had no clearly defined storyline or villains. Whereas this theme is, as it says on the tin, about fighting monsters. Much more readily understandable as a central concept.

What a thorough review! Many thanks! Damn fine set, too. Takes me back to the Bellville kind of sets my sister and I used to play with. One small niggle: you say the boys don't get new hair. While the mold is indeed not new, the colour sure seems to be. It's reddish brown, isn't it? As opposed to dark brown? Counts as new in my book, but that's probably something people have different opinions on. :) Anyway, great set and an excellent review! Thanks!

Running out of ideas for a storyline or sets doesn't really seem to be the proper explanation, with a company full of creative people. Who knows. Themes (if you'd call "something with mummies" a "theme") might just as well be on the fast-return route. For all we know, TLC could already be planning to bring mummies back in a few years, much sooner than the long gap between Adventurers and Pharaoh's Quest. The whole One Wave, Then The Next Thing is a new approach. Who knows what's to come? Edit: okay, with the Collectible Minifig and the Monster Fighters, mummies might not be the best example. Pretend I said dinos, if you like.

Hm... Good observation. Personally, I've noticed something else about these themes. They're all "classics". Mummies, dinos, aliens and horror monsters. Well, you could argue the classicness of these specific aliens, though the little-green-men-in-flying-saucers angle certainly rings more classic than Space Police III, to me at least. I like this string of classic stuff. Playmobil has a wide range of playsets currently available, ranging from pet stuff to dinosaurs to dragons to Romans. The LEGO Company seems to be offering something similar with this quick succession of iconic 'characters'/monsters. A good move, I think. It's always nice to visit familiar territory after more far-out/imaginative/new stuff like Power Miners (which, as you can probably guess, didn't really appeal to me personally). With the current parade of classicness and three notable Collectible Minifigures, I'd say chances of something or other in the mythological area are better than ever. This though, is of course pure speculation, and should not de-rail this discussion. It would be a shame, 'cos it's an intelligent topic, I think. Cheers for posting this!

Today, I strolled into the local Intertoys (a Dutch toy shop chain). Lo and behold, they'd marked the Scorpion Pyramid from Pharaoh Quest down from 110 to 80 euros. Aaaand: there was a 10 percent discount on all LEGO items. So I scored the complete set for only 72 euros! Needless to say, I'm content as a cucumber.

A Brickflick & Comic Academy? Great idea! What sort of topics were you thinking of covering? I'm assuming practical stop motion techniques will be foregrounded? But what about that first step: "Hey, I've got an idea!"? If we can help enthusiasts with the execution AND the content, who knows how awesome their projects could be! As a film student who's been making promotional videos on the side, I'd be thrilled to contribute to this Academy. Perhaps I could put together some hints and tips on how to tell a story well? How to really do your idea justice, that sort of thing. Maybe I could create a post or a video aspiring brickfilmers can always return to? (I'd be the lazy bum writing a "book" others can, if they should please, refer to when doing the actual teaching.) Would something like that fit into your concept of the Academy?

Oooh! Thanks for the pics, guys. I be joinin' the lads what say 'tis golden! It looks fine to me. Everything I'd want to be on the Pearl is there. The new minifigures are fantastic, and the old ones recurring make sense to me. Let's look at it this way - does anyone think this theme is a one-year deal? It looks a lot like the Indiana Jones theme to me. This suggests sets of all four films will be released over a longer time. Captain Jack Sparrow (with and without coat and/or hat, as a skeleton and even with cannibal facepaint!), Barbossa, Elizabeth, Will, Norrington, Gibbs, Davy Jones, Bootstrap Bill, Blackbeard and Angelica all make an appearance in the very first year. That's an amazingly high count of cool minifigures of important characters, I think. Seems to me all the main heroes and villains have already been made. Oh okay, one main villain is still missing - Cutler Beckett. But seriously, this'll be an ongoing theme, surely? Personally, I'm hoping for Ana Maria to appear as a minifigure. I'd love to finally have a black female minifigure. Tia Dalma of course also counts, but her face would be very specific, not so easily used for other characters. Anyway, on-topic: love the set. Might even have to indulge in watching the last scene from The Curse of the Black Pearl as soon as I come home with the set. "Captain Sparrow... The Black Pearl is yours."

Brilliant! You've struck a nice balance between Classic Pirates and Pirates of the Caribbean. And the last line is of course great! Oh, and re: MstrOfPppts - 'El Dorado' definitely DOES rhyme with 'go' in both English and Spanish, as far as I know. So it works perfectly well the way it was written.