Morgan19

And here's a Marauder Soldier to keep The Pale Masque company on those long intercontinental flights: (Images click through to Flickr pages.) m19

The kind that can see good uses in all sorts of parts, instead of simply poo-poo'ing them right off the bat? Although I agree MB sets themselves on the whole are horrid, crappy products, I'm not above seeing the good in them. As I've said elsewhere, I'd found a ton of something called "Plasma Dragon" packs on clearance for $1 and each one had a bunch of interesting weapons like the spear and shield. They're in obnoxious colors like trans-blue and neon orange, but they come out pretty nice once re-painted, as this shows. Would I have purchased them for more than the the measly $1? No, probably not. But they were inexpensive and make for good parts once modified appropriately, and that works for me. If you want to limit yourself that's fine, but please don't knock me as a "LEGO fan" because I venture into areas you wouldn't. m19

Theme Name: Thunderhead Marauders (Castle, Pirate, skypirates, steampunk, treasure hunting, etc.) Theme Description: "Set sail for unimaginable adventures in a flying airship with The Pale Masque, captain of the notorious Thunder Marauder skypirates" The Thunderhead Marauders product line can be considered a subtheme of the Castle or Pirate lines, firmly rooted in both skypirate and steampunk traditions but with a definite Medieval influence. Pirate bases built on and around floating rocks, small scout sloops whipping through the sky, and larger attack galleons slowly making their way across the air lanes are common sights in this world. The Thunderhead Marauders are a throwback to LEGO's older sets, where the focus was only on one faction instead of a forced conflict between two factions in one box: although the Marauders are labeled as pirates by other people in the world, how they actually interact with a child's other LEGO factions would be completely up to each child themselves. Sets are split between playsets and airships, with playsets being anything from a small floating rock outpost to the Marauder's expansive mountain base, and ships as small as a scout boat to the largest flying warship galleon, the Thunderhead. The focus is on swooshability and interactivity between ships and playsets to create an imaginary world's history firmly rooted in the sky. The central figure in this line is someone known only as The Pale Masque, a man immediately identified by his terrifying skull mask and insignia. Supporting figures include various airship crewmen and women, Marauder soldiers, the cook, and cuddly black cats. Entry Images: My minifig entry for the contest is The Pale Masque, the mysteriously concealed captain of the Thunderhead Marauder skypirates. Custom elements by me are the helmet with horns attached, goggles painted silver, brown cape with painted skull emblem, and painted weapons (which used to be hideously bright trans-orange). Third-party elements are BrickForge (horns, neck armor, pauldrons, vambraces) and MegaBloks (spear, shield) items. (Click an image to go to its respective Flickr page) Marauder Soldier: >> Figure Gallery Here Set List: #1345 - Airship Crewman Impulse / 18 pieces / 1 minifig / $3.49 > Comes with one Marauder crewman minifigure, black cat, supplies, weapons rack, rifle, and saber. #1346 - Marauder Scoutship Airship / 67 pieces / 1 minifig / $6.99 > Consists of a a small scout-class patrol airship. Comes with one Marauder crewman minifigure, supplies, rifle, and spear. #1347 - Treasure Rock Playset / 101 pieces / 2 minifigs / $9.99 > Consists of a "floating rock" structure with hidden treasure alcove. Comes with one Marauder crewman, one Marauder soldier minifigure, black cat, supplies, rifles, and sabers. #1348 - Lookout Spire Playset / 243 pieces / 3 minifigs / $19.99 > Consists of a small hut-like structure built atop a tall, spindly section of mountain. Comes with two Marauder crewmen minifigures, one Marauder officer minifigure, supplies, rifles, spears, and bucklers. #1349 - Marauder Lightning Raider Airship / 304 pieces / 3 minifigs / $29.99 > Consists of a small raider-class attack airship. Comes with one Marauder crewmen minifigure, two Marauder soldier minifigures, supplies, rifles, spears, and bucklers. #1350 - Marauder Skybarge Airship & Playset / 518 pieces / 4 minifigs / $49.99 > Consists of a medium-sized skybarge-class transport airship and small "floating rock" dock. Comes with two Marauder soldier minifigures, one cook minifigure, one Marauder officer minifigure, black cat, supplies, rifles, and spears. #1351 - Marauder's Stronghold Playset / 789 pieces / 6 minifigs / $99.99 > Consists of the Marauder's ground-based mountain stronghold and docking platforms. Comes with four Marauder soldier minifigures, one Marauder officer minifigure, one Pale Masque captain minifigure, two black cats, supplies, rifles, spears, and bucklers. #1352 - The Maruader Warship Thunderhead Airship / 901 pieces / 9 minifigs / $99.99 > Consists of the largest flying galleon-class warship. Comes with five Marauder crewmen minifigures, two Marauder officer minifigures, one , one Pale Masque captain minifigure, black cat, supplies, and all weapons. >> Figure Gallery Here m19

Which one's the actual entry? m19

Interesting idea, sounds like fun! More BF products are never a bad thing, either. ;) Can the overall theme be one we've already worked within and created MOCs for, so long as the character itself is new? Or do both theme and figure need to be completely new? The wording of that's a bit confusing. if we're making a new line with new characters, what is there to be "copied"? m19

This is one I definitely won't be getting, for multiple reasons. As a representation of the "real" ship, it looks way off: squashed, deformed, and misshapen. The minifigs aren't that exciting for me either: I'm not keen on the blue guards at all). m19

Thanks! The white paint is Krylon Fusion spraypaint, but since his helmet was black and I was trying to make it match LEGO's white, I had to do some experimenting with undercoats (painting regular paint on the piece before spraypainting) to get the two whites to match. The torso's decal is just a sheet of regular transparent decal paper, like you'd find in an office supply store. m19

Apart from my usual minifiggery, I've never tried making vignettes of any sort before so these were both firsts for me. In terms of the vignettes, the first was made using only pieces from the Imperial Dropship battlepack; the second is the Rebel Scout Speeder battlepack. (Created for the current K.A.M. contest.) Galen Marek (Vader's Apprentice) Redeemed Vader (from Star Wars Infinities) (Small thumbnails so I could post all four– each pic links to its respective Flickr page.) m19

I picked it up along with the other three SPIII sets available from the U.S. TRU, and this was by far the weakest-- I honestly enjoyed the smallest $6 one better. The box art makes the ship looks much more solid than it actually is once built. As has been pointed out, there are tons of gaps and airy spaces. On top of that, all the moving parts (engines, cockpit, gold box, etc.) make the entire model feel weak and ready to fall apart. The spinnable engines (both front and back) were a particular sore point for me, as I much prefer having solid connection between areas rather than one turnable pin. All told, I disassembled this several minutes after I'd finished building it and have no plans to ever put it back together. Good for parts, but I'd have trouble ever recommending the model itself. m19

I've had this set of alternate-history Italian airship ("skybarge") crew members put together for about a year, thinking I'd get around to making an airship for them. Seeing as how that build won't be happening any time soon, I decided to go ahead and give them the VIP graphical treatment in the meantime. Et voilà: Skybarge Captain Skybarge Quartermaster Skybarge Master Gunner Skybarge Mechanic Skybarge Airmen m19

I've wrapped everything up for now: 32 figures total. The first post's been updated with direct links to all of them. m19

One suggestion I'd have is to flip the "arms" around– seems like his "hands" (the lip of the carts) should be angling inwards instead of out, like they are currently, to better simulate the angle of an actual hand. m19

Thanks everyone! Sculpey is a sculpting clay, yep. You got me there. ;) Understandable, given that they have the same head. These were created because of the contest, yes. And I don't have any plans of selling, nope. For those interested in trying their own custom pieces of figures, the K.A.M. boards have several great stickied threads in this section on sculpting, painting, and so forth. I suggest grabbing the PDFs in those links and just starting to experiment! m19

There were other people besides clones that fought in the Wars, you know... ;) And I'm rather proud that they don't look "very clonesy"-- there are too many ones out there that just take a regular clone body, Sharpie it, and call it a day. I prefer some variation to the idea. The pilot's mask is just one I pulled off an action figure, trimmed down, and reattached to the figure. The alien heads are all custom Sculpey pieces I made, sculpted and painted. m19

Anything in particular? ;) m19

32 figures total: I'm especially proud of a few of them because they're my first attempts at sculpting and painting custom pieces: Nakko Chan, Polix Gartoga, and Merai (who I'd sculpted about a week before the Home 1 pictures came out :lol:) are among my favorites. A big thanks to Kaminoan for his tips on getting started in the sculpting process! You can see them all in my Flickr or Brickshelf galleries: > Brickshelf gallery > Flickr gallery The full listing: X1 Burst Droid Garok Parovo Bomu Merai Rollan Joto Asto Nyeb Rhysa Duwen Combat Medic ARC-170 Pilot Aamaw VII Captain Ama Sacha Votreen TU-24 AEGIS Covert Ops Shirian Delmi Fenn Polix Gartoga Baron Aagdu Gnodam Sparkchaser Caelie A'mar Nakko Chan Brianin Ikini Subtrooper Axion Grenadier CF3 Bluecoat Sergeant Faulkes Casis Po Captain Obers'tik Tokomaro Karolin Muree Bonesavage m19

Belated apologies– I'd asked another staff member and explained that the faint "confidential" watermark didn't show up on my monitor until someone had pointed it out. I offered to remove them and would've, if asked to do so. m19

I think that's just the regular "anniversary" logo... m19

Looking back at the beginning of the thread, there's this: That's what, $50 USD? That doesn't seem right. Has the price been confirmed...? m19

Well lookie here... edit: pics removed - they're preliminary and has confidential written all over them. please no deeplinks (Found in julencin2000's photostream on Flickr.) m19

I'd mentioned a few pages back that I'd found it at my local TRU (in Virginia) last week and I believe I've read that others in the US have found it. If it's not out by you yet, I'd say it will be soon. m19

I built the set last night and, although the figs and cars are all nice, I have a serious case of "was this worth it?"-itis. Choosing between this set and the flying wing was a no-brainer given this has (as of now) all-exclusive figs and is cheaper, but I have the overwhelming feeling that it's not worth the price it's at. Keep in mind that's from a purely emotional standpoint and not price-per-piece; it's literally the feeling that the end product just doesn't justify the price point. That being said, both cars are fun little creations but do lack a certain "something" in the designs that makes them look a little plain, especially the black one. The five unique minifigs are clearly the winners in the set- it's nice to finally have an official non-brown Indy. m19

/signed m19

Apart from the Star Wars sets over the years, I don't think I've ever been so freaking excited to see pictures of upcoming sets... The fact that LEGO is swinging back to the core basics and naming them as such (Town, Castle, Pirates, and technically now Space) has me really excited. m19

I've got comments on all the custom figures on my Flickr pages. That one in particular is Kit Fisto's head, turned around backwards and painted black with some lighting effects. m19