Etzel

Nice build! I think your wall looks really good, the small arches and the cheese slopes works very well together in your design, I also like the non-aligned 1x1 tiles which gives a nice cobble-stone effect. Can't wait to see what you have planned for phase 3!

Thanks guys! I wish I could've made a bigger scene, but I was limited by the use of only 4 8x8 trans-medium blue plates (I need to get more of those, but they are not cheap on BL). Sure thing, just did that!

The sea near the Frozen Beyond:

Before Shivering Ettu got a lift south by the Aurora of Mitgardia, he had already traveled quite far in his kayak. No other vessel is better suited to navigate the most northern seas of the world around the Frozen Beyond and Ettu is a skilled paddler who avoids all the icebergs and ice sheets. This is a free-build that is meant to be part of the Landscapes of Mitgardia, depicting the ultimate north of the guild's realm, and it also serves a bit of the story about my sigfig and his travels to the south. /Etzel

Thanks! I had the same thought about the sail so I'm happy that the dynamic look transformed to the pictures too. The shields are attacked by either T-bars or clips like this. The smaller shields doesn't sit very good though, I wish I had more of the old viking shields instead.

Thanks! I'm quite happy myself with how the sail and hull turned out to be. The hull needs a lot of plates and tiles though and I'll probably take it apart very soon to make use of the parts in other builds. It's the Mongolian/Tibetan hat from the Orient Expedition sets.

I've finished my entry in the warship category: The Aurora of Mitgardia /Etzel

The Aurora of Mitgardia patrols the cold seas around the northern lands. This ship belongs to the guild's own fleet and is one of the few that survived the turmoil of the war. Captain Ruswhal and his trained crew navigates with great precision between dark rocks and white icebergs and sometimes they even travel as far north as the outskirts of the Frozen Beyond. During their last trip there they picked up a pale and cold little man who told them he wanted to come with them to the south of Mitgardia. Apparently he had some important mission down there and Captain Ruswhal felt sorry for the shivering lad and let him on the ship. However, he would have to do something useful while on the ship so the captain put him on lookout duty. Built for the Warship category of the GNAR challenge: Shivering Ettu is now on his way south, although not in the most comfortable way. This ship was built with inspiration from the viking longships, but with no intention to make an exact copy or keeping all things historically correct. It's a mash-up of different types of ship building that would probably never work together, but I think it looks like it might still do. It feels great to be back in the guild and I hope to make more builds soon! /Etzel

Thanks for the warm welcome guys! I'm almost finished with a ship for the GNAR mini challenge, I just need to take some pictures, hopefully tomorrow, and share them.

After two years away from Guilds of Historica I think it's about time I return to the cold, but warm-hearted, Mitgardia. Here is my new character, Shivering Ettu from the far northern parts of the Clan Lands. He is an excellent fisherman who often travels to the outskirts of the Frozen Beyond to find the best waters for fishing. The ever-blowing freezing wind in the north has turned Ettu's skin pale and makes him shiver almost constantly, earning him his nickname. Ettu has now decided to traveling away from his hunting grounds in the far north to come south and aid his brothers and sisters of Mitgardia in their struggles. "I've he-heard that in t-t-the southern lands you c-c-can sometime take off your g-gloves without getting instant-t-t frostbite. That c-c-could be useful, I would like t-t-to take out a splinter from my th-thumb that got stuck last sp-spring."

Thanks for the review WF! This series is not my cup of tea, which I think is kinda sad since I really like the concept with collectible minifigs and I've collected all of the previous series. However, these Simpsons-figs (I'm not even sure if I want to call them real minifigs) are horrible! The heads are so awful! I had hopes that the bodies would be useful but now that I see them I think their design is too simplistic to fit with the normal minifigs. The accessories are quite boring too, just some recoloured ones. Here's hoping for a good Series 12 with normal minifigs!

Oh, you have? I guess I'll start looking for a way to get to the event as well.

They are "square Easter Egg" so that you can send sweets and cards to your friends and relatives during Easter (a relatively common tradition in Sweden). Cutting the wings is just a play feature. I guess CopMike stocked up on those last year since the size is quite good for sending LEGO.

I wanted to do a small quick build with the new panda minifigs from The LEGO Movie CMF series. Figured I do something that looked at bit like the Great Wall of China, but with no aspiration to make it exactly correct. Thanks for watching! /Etzel

I just think suggesting sets based on films/tv-series/videogames etc as many of the current ideas on CUUSOO are is the wrong way to go for a project that could be about creativity and originality. Of course a lot of the other ideas are based on something as well, but just copying the idea straight of a famous license is just not worth this much attention IMO.

Because the licensed ideas are just copies in my opinion. I think CUUSOO should encourage the original ideas and work from LEGO fans instead of just free riding on popular licenses. 3/7 are 3 too many in my opinion. And yes, the Shinkai, Hayabusa, and Curiosity are all examples of scientific vehicles which again shows the lack of diversity and original ideas among the CUUSOO sets. 3 licensed sets, 3 scientific vehicles and 1 exo-suit mech. Well, I just don't see how that line up helps spreading the idea of creativity and originality that I thought was the goal of CUUSOO. I'm sure the Ghostbuster set will please many fans of that license and I hope it will look good, but to me it's sort of a wasted opportunity for something better suited for the CUUSOO idea.

I thought CUUSOO had come to their senses and would stop focus on licensed ideas. Looks like it's back to the usual stuff now while the really good and original ideas have to stand back. I don't believe much in CUUSOO as it works now.

Thanks indeed! Got myself a package today aswell.

Really? Wow, I had no idea. All the "medium" colours is usually lighter than it's normal counterpart so I believed this to be the "medium lavender". I'll change that, thanks for the heads up.

We finally have a LEGO tiger, how about that?! I can't believe that for so long time we have missed out on any of the great cats in the LEGO universe, no tigers, no lions, no panthers, leopards, cheetahs or jaguars. But now we have one, read on to find out if you think it's worth getting or not. Tiger's Beautiful Temple Set number: 41042 Theme: Friends Year: 2014 Pieces: 42 + 5 extra pieces Minifigs: 0 Animals: 1 Price: EUR 3.99, GBP 2.99, USD 3.99, SEK 39.00 (From €3.49 on Bricklink) Set on Brickset, Bricklink, S@H. All right, I might not have been entirely honest when I said this was the first LEGO tiger ever. We have several tigers from the Duplo theme and also a sort of anthropomorphic tiger from the Orient Expedition theme, Tygurah. However, I believe this would be the tiger that is the most compatible with LEGO System so far. Besides, it comes with quite a few nice pieces too which was a big reason for me to buy it. The set comes in the typical bag for these collectible Friends animal sets (Yeah, I had already opened it when I decided to take some photos). The other animals in Series 4 are featured with the girls in the painting in the lower left corner, while the tiger gets a prominent position in the top right one. I think the background painting on the bag gives a really nice jungle feel for the set and gives some inspiration for what you might want to add to the scene by yourself. The back with warnings and other informations, including a 1:1 scale picture with the star of the set. The instructions are clear and easy to follow. No piece call out on a set this small. There were some ads for the new Friends and Disney Princess sets at the back of the instructions, but surprisingly none for the other animals in Series 4. Here are the pieces laid out, 42 in total divided in 12 different colours and 18 different types. A good number for the price I think, even though many of the pieces are just 1x1 round plates. These are the most interesting parts in the set in my opinion. We get 2 brand new pieces, the golden swirly tops and the Bright Green plants, and 3 pieces in new colours, 1x2 log bricks and oriental arches in Lavender and a 1x2 plate in Medium Azure. The 1x3x2 arches in this colour are exclusive to this set as far as I know, but the other pieces are available in other 2014 sets as well. It's not often we get new plant pieces (even if they have increased in later years) so here is a closer look at this one. To me it mostly reassemble some kind of unsprung fern or maybe a reed. Anyhow, it makes a great jungle plant and would also fit well close to the shorelines of a lake or marsh I imagine. It's worth noting that it comes in olive green as well in one of the new Star Wars sets, 75037 Battle at Saleucami. The hole fits a normal bar, and even though I can't come up with a good use for this immediately I'm sure someone will soon and it's always good to see pieces that are "in system" as much as possible. The golden swirly top is a nice new decoration piece. I believe it is used as ice cream and cupcakes in other 2014 Friends sets but here and in the Disney Princess theme it can be seen on top of fancy buildings and similar. I really like it and will happily make use of it whenever I see it fit. Here is the complete set. The temple is not more than an archway with a waterfall behind and some decorations and vegetation around a pond. The tiger has been equipped with a bow and has a yummy chicken leg to feast upon. The set does capture some sort of oriental/Indian feel but with so few pieces it's hard to make something that stands out. I would like to try and make a bigger temple in the same style and colour scheme, but I'm not sure if I have the time of right pieces right now. Hopefully any kid that gets the set will do a try, I do think it's a great starting set to get some inspiration for building in new types of architecture. The back doesn't really show much else than the front. Close up on the tiger's face. As all Friends animals it has these really big and colourful eyes which makes it a little less suitable for uses in other themes. I do wish that we could get all these cool animals that Friends has introduced in more "neutral" and realistic variants, but as it is now I'll be okay with what we get too. An overly cute tiger is still better than no tiger at all in my world. Another distinguishing trait of the Friends animals are their rounded shapes with big heads and feet as can be seen here in the side view. The tail is as wide as normal bar and can hold by a minifig hand, but I wouldn't recommend tugging a tiger in it's tail no matter how small and cute it is. These are the extra pieces. Really nice to get an extra golden swirly top. I wanted to show of the size of the tiger compared to a Friends minifig and here it is. I also got rid of the tiger's bow. Some concluding thoughts: I think this is one of the best sets from the Friends animal series. It has a new animal of a type we have never seen before, 2 new types of pieces and 3 more types of pieces in new colours of which 1 is exclusive to this set and an over all good value for your money. The build itself is not that much to be amazed about but it gives inspiration and ideas which is more important when it is such a small set I believe. As always with these animal sets, it all comes down to if you like the animal or not, because if you don't there is normally no reason for you to buy the set. I would say though, that this is the animal set with the best piece selection so far. I've only bought one set from each of the previous series (the Squirrel, the Hedgehog and the Fawn) but of those I must say that I like this one the most and that is because of its superior pieces. Rating: Design: 7/10 - With few pieces it still gives a lot of inspiring ideas and the little scene work well on its own too. Parts: 9/10 - 2 new parts, 3 parts in new colours with one exclusive to the set + that the rest ain't bad either. Animal: 6/10 - A bit to "Friends-ified" to me, but it's still a tiger and tigers are grrrrreat, right!? Price: 7/10 - A fair price for a small set. It would make a great gift to a birthday party or similar I believe. I can also imagine that it would be a good set for a small parts draft with a few AFOLs. Overall: 7/10 - A good buy, especially if you are a fan of the tiger, but even if you are not it's still interesting thanks to its pieces. Thanks for reading this review of mine and please leave comments on your thoughts of the set! Bonus picture: Cats love boxes!

Awesome, favourite prize and all! Thanks Micke!

$69 is the US price and sounds fair, but I live in Sweden and pay 899 SEK ($138) for it which I think is too much. Mines of Moria was indeed a useful set with a high price, but I liked the minifigs from that set much more than the one in DGB. The cave troll is not that interesting IMO, but the rest of the minifigs are. I'm happy that I managed to get that set for a good price, but I wouldn't have bought at full retail price.

I'm not sure what to think of this set. It definitely has its pros and cons and overall I guess it's an okay set, though not good enough the justify the high price tag over here. I like the parts collection, dark grey is, as Zcerb said, always needed and I like the overall selection of slopes, bricks and plates with some accent pieces like the dark red leaved trees and the brown vines. Some more pieces in cool colors as dark green or olive green would've made me like the set better though. My main critic of the set is the lack of interesting minifigs. The orcs lacks hairpieces and Azog looks just awful. Gandalf, while provides a useful torso. is just too common now and the Necromancer is also a bit boring. Radagast is okay I guess, but I'm not really a fan of his character so I doubt I will use him in any build. Another thing in this set that annoys me are all the small play features that uses a lot of small technic pieces that increases the piece count without providing any good building material, a common problem in sets today. I don't think I will buy this set, certainly not on full price but maybe if it's on a very good sale. If I do get it, I'm not sure that I would be bothered to build the set as it looks quite boring. I'll take it for the pieces, not the design, that's for sure.

Thanks for the review, Nemo! Great work! This is probably my favourite of the new Hobbit sets, with the Lake Town Chase as close second. This set seems to contain many useful parts, grey and dark grey is always needed for us history MOCers and I like that there aren't that many technic pieces in the build as many other sets today are bothered with. To be able to get two fully equipped orcs in a relatively cheap set is nice, and that makes this set IMO a much better army builder than the MEA, at least when you prefer orcs over elves as I do. Last but not least we have Beorn. The one-piece head and hair is so stupid and unnecessary and I still find it hard to understand why LEGO choose that way to go. Even the Chima minifigs got minifig heads under their masks. But, it's the second Swedish actor to be made into a minifig so he is still a must have for me.

I first thought when looking at the pictures that it was bright green leaves, which would've been great since they only come in the hard-to-find 10173 Holiday Train, but I'm leaning more towards olive green now when I've had some more looks. Too bad, could've made up for an otherwise quite lame polybag.