Kai NRG

There's not really any discussion going on in it (hasn't been for years, that I know of), but Kaliphlin members still add their creations sometimes. Here's a link to it, for ease of reference.

Thanks Maxim! What I love about micros is that you can put some thought into every single piece... hard to do with larger creations! Thank you! Actually, it's just 4 1x1 tiles stuck sideways onto a base. Then a couple of 2x1 cheese slopes on top. They aren't attached though, so they fall down pretty easily.

Another great section! Although it's not astoundingly unique or something - as you say, just a building for rotting cocoa beans - it's still really cool, very clean presentation and the perfect amount of texture with the profile bricks and the arches! The slats in the crates are also a really neat detail!

Thanks Elostirion! Thank you! Thanks blackdeathgr! Thank you Captain! Well, the horns are supposed to be the ribs of the ship - she's still under construction here!

I'd like to see this team in action... Great humor!

Very nice build here Maestro, neat angles on the roof and great stonework! The dead vines trailing up the tower are a nice touch!

Claimed mine!

Thanks Garmadon! Thank you! Thanks Captain! Nope, just started snapping pieces together! Thanks blackdeathgr! Let's see some micros from you, y'hear?

Just claiming my medium license from the challenge with a micro shipyard! I was going to try out the 7 pieces challenge, but then I got the idea of a micro shipyard and, well, that'd be pretty tough to do in 7 pieces. C&C appreciated!

I must say, I've been taken quite aback by these developments! I suspected the blueberry juice might be important though... Looking forward to the next part!

Review: 21034 London Introduction "A mighty mass of brick, and smoke, and shipping, "Dirty and dusty, but wide as eye "Could reach, with here and there a sail just skipping "In sight, then lost admist the forestry "Of masts; a wilderness of steeples peeping "On tiptoe through their sea-coal canopy; "A huge, dun cupola, like a foolscap crown "On a fool's head - and there is London Town." --Lord Byron London Set Number: 21034 Theme: Architecture Subtheme: Skylines Piece Count: 468 Price: USD $39.99 Source: Brickset, LEGO Shop Official Image: Box "By seeing London, I've seen as much of life as the world can show." -- Samuel Johnson I guess I've got a ways to go then! But to get as close as I can at the minute, let's see what this set has to offer! In keeping with other box art from the Architecture Skylines, the London set is shown on top of a couple of blueprints. It's a very clean, modern presentation. The back identifies the buildings shown in the model. Like other Architecture sets, the box is nicely designed with an opening flap. Instructions "When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life, for there is in London all that life can afford." -- Samuel Johnson (...again) I suspect there are a few things outside of London - say, in Denmark - that might also fall under the heading of "all that life can afford" for us Fans-of-LEGO, but be the truth of the quotation what it may, it figures prominently on the inside page of the instructions booklet for this set. The front, however, repeats the same design as the front of the box. The instructions are printed on a black background, which made the first few steps - the black base of the building - slightly difficult to follow, but not too bad. On the back of the instruction booklet there's an interesting design of the skyline fading into a blue-print style outline. At the front of the booklet, before reaching the instructions, there are several pages showing large color images of the landmarks represented in this build, and including brief descriptions of each one. It was neat to see some little fun facts scattered throughout the booklet as well: Parts “A person who is tired of London is not necessarily tired of life; it might be that he just can’t find a parking place.” -- Paul Theroux Inside the box are four bags, unnumbered. Tan, greys, black, and white predominate here, though there are plenty of trans-clear pieces and a few blues and golds. A few of the parts that caught my attention were the azure flexible bits, the silver "bowl," a host of 2x1 trans-clear tiles (40, to be exact!), a light grey clip (a first for me), an azure bar joint, a few tan front-facing teeth, the olive 1x1 round tiles, light bley 1x1 curved tiles, a nanofigure in white, and an azure jumper. These were the extra pieces by the time I was done building: (note: the transparent 1x1 round tile is trans-light-blue, not trans-clear) The construction process is fairly straight forward. There were a few clever bits, but due to its nature as a skyline, there are no hidden "solutions." It would probably have taken longer, but this is the kind of set that would be pretty easy to build just by looking at the picture on the front of the box. Final Set "London, thou art the flower of cities all! Gemme of all joy, jasper of jocunditie." - William Dunbar Flower of cities or not, this is certainly a gem of a set - lovely bright colors, instantly recognizable models, and to crown it all, some really great new pieces! It's a great set to display, though I'm afraid one of these days it will succumb to my desire for 40 trans-clear 2x1 tiles... I believe this exceeds the average skyline set in length, and as you can see from the back view, it has two sections that stick out slightly. Landmarks "Nothing is certain in London but expense." --William Shenstone First stop in your lovely, because free, tour of London here - The National Gallery! Located in Trafalgar Square, this art museum sits atop the ancient location of the King's Stables. Home to a collection of twenty-three hundred paintings, the museum is broad in scope, with important works representing all the main developments of Western art! Plus, admission is free! Note the 3x2 white tile on the back. That escaped my eye as I was collecting the interesting pieces, but it's a part I'd never seen before! Next stop: Nelson's Column! "England expects every man to do his duty!" From the cement bottom to the sandstone tip of Nelson's hat, this monument measures a full 169 ft 3 in (51.6 m) - the real one, of course, not the LEGO one... Moving on, we reach what is probably one of the most iconic sights in this skyline - Big Ben. Well, officially it's named Elizabeth Tower. Not catchy! Fun fact: on top of the pendulum there's a stack of penny coins to help regulate the time. Adding one will change the clock's speed by 0.4 seconds in a day. Although I've discovered this before, and actually used it myself just recently, the geometry of the slope bricks making up the roof never ceases to amaze me! Our fourth stop dominates the skyline - appropriately, as it is, after all, the London Eye. Or, to give it its full name (as of 2015), the Coca Cola London Eye! At the time of its erection (1999) it was the world's largest Ferris Wheel, and each capsule weighs in at 10 tonnes! It's a little tricky to bend the flex tubes that make up the Eye into a perfect circle, but it breaks up the skyline very nicely. The Eye is cleverly connected to the base of the skyline with a 4L bar pushed through a couple of technic pins. And last but not least, the Tower Bridge! Another iconic symbol, the Tower Bridge opened officially on 30 June 1894, Prince of Wales (future Edward VII) and Princess of Wales (Alexandra of Denmark) officiating! It must not, however, be confused with the London Bridge, another half a mile downstream. Let the poor sailboat on through! That concludes our little tour of London! I think you'll have to agree that the designers did a good job choosing landmarks to include in this skyline. Each one of them is quickly recognizable - at least, as soon as you know what the original looks like. Plus, they go together excellently well! Conclusion What a great way to get a lot out of a little! This is one of those builds where every piece counts. The final set is solid, well-worthy of being displayed! And as a bonus, it's a great educational springboard. I learned quite a bit about London thanks to this set! Playability: 10/10 - Kidding! This set is obviously meant to be gloated over, not played with... But if I had to give it a rating for playability, it'd be 5/10. After all, you can swoosh it around. Building Experience: 6/10 - Enjoyable, but nothing too amazing and a few repetitive parts. And attaching all 40 2x1 trans-clear tiles right was confusing... Design: 10/10 - Seriously. The micros are spot on, detailed, and beautiful. And unlike my microscale creations, these are actually attached! If you've built microscale, you probably know that that's a feat in and of itself! Aesthetic: 8/10 - On the whole, this is a very pretty set, with hardly any spots for even the pickiest to find fault. I've said it before, but the variety of heights and shapes in the landmarks chosen is really pleasant to the eye. Plus, there's just the right amount of color with the bits of olive, azure blue, and gold! Price: 7/10 - Although the set is on the small side, that's just because the pieces are small, not because they are few! On the contrary, there's a lot to like about the parts selection. And then there's always the high-quality box and instruction booklet! Overall: 8.5/10 - This is definitely one of my favorite straight-out-of-the-box sets. Lots to enjoy and admire. Well designed, aesthetically beautiful, and a fun building experience. Plus, as a MOCer, I really like the idea of those 40 2x1 trans-clear tiles. - Just in case that wasn't already obvious. And so I'll leave you all with one parting quote! “London is a splendid place to live in for those who can get out of it.” --Lord Balfour of Burleigh I have a feeling that might be true in a lot of cities... Till next time!

Another great jungle build! I've really been enjoying these... and this one is no exception! Lovely vegetation, and great work on the ruins too. Good choice of color for the water! The semi-pixelated background is also a very neat idea - I feel like it works well from low angles, but clashes too much with the fine detail of the rest of the build when seen from a higher angle. But perfect job conveying a mood of solitary but not lonely grandeur with the leopard coming to drink!

This is nice and huge!! Great job, very palatial. I really like all those golden statues you've put on top! Nice touch!

Great build Garmadon, goes well with your last colorful one! The rowboat looks really good too, cool to see more variations!

Great little build Gunman! Really nice texture on that red roof!

I really wanna know where that door in the stonework under the tree goes... Very nice build Maestro, in general, great job on the weather beaten look! The line where the house meets the stones could maybe use a little something to break it up, but otherwise lovely work with all the crumbling! I've noticed the rifle on the weather vane for one at least of the other builds - great little bit of cohesiveness! Plus a creative use of the rifle!

Neat ship here Bregir, with the stilts for the higher decks. Eye-catching colors too. The shape of the upside-down shields is spot on, but then... the printing is upside-down. But I really like the subtly striped sail!

Humorous story! And is the island really named Argentia? That's awesome!

Neat build UM, great use of those tooth pieces for the awning! The design of the targets is pretty nifty too!

Looks like we might have a bit of a problem here... Great build man, the sand green and olive built into the wall really help the weathered feel. I'm looking really closely at that bigger tree to try to see what you've done and I can't seem to figure it out. But whatever it was, the gnarly angles are perfect! Great touch with the bright flowers. I need to get me some of those light blue ones, they look so good! The only critique I have is that the brown around the edges is a little distracting and makes the eye hesitate between the wood and the dirt, since they're both using the same color. If you could have used dark green wedges, it might have looked better. Just something to maybe try out on a future build. Wish we could see more pictures of this though! Edit: checked out the Flickr link. You could always post more here though!

Very nice build Henjin, the super greebly texture works well, and I really like that bending tree with the dark green leaves - great piece for the trunk there! I'm spotting all sorts of clever pieces in the wall too!

Epic job man, one of my favorites of your builds! So colorful - I love the vegetation and all the animals and the floor is brilliant! Great work on the posing and story too. I really like the map in the glass case. And the background with the lighter blue at the top is like Elostirion says - phenomenal! I stand by my opinion that the trans-clear bricks give something of the feel of the glass wall of an aquarium, but for all that, this is one of the best underwater scenes I've ever seen!

If it looked this good, I think I'd like to live near the swamp, too! Fantastic build ME, the layout of the dock/porch is really cool, and so is the arch and the sand green of the building! The last picture with the lighting is awesome! Interesting choice to present it without minifigures, but with all the other details such as fish, barrels, etc. Makes it look like it's just waiting for someone to come in and take charge!

The Secret of the 8 Provinces - Prelude The Secret of the 8 Provinces - 1st Chapter The Secret of the 8 Provinces - 2nd Chapter The Secret of the 8 Provinces - 3rd Chapter The Secret of the 8 Provinces - 4th Chapter The Secret of the 8 Provinces - 5th Chapter The Secret of the 8 Provinces - 6th Chapter The Secret of the 8 Provinces - 7th Chapter The Secret of the 8 Provinces - 8th Chapter The Secret of the 8 Provinces - 9th Chapter (you are here!) (Picture by Captain Braunsfeld... in case that wasn't glaringly obvious. ) Captain Cookie continued: Well, my lady, you know that Red Fandago had collected all the miniature ships and found all the maps. So he decided to charter a ship and set sail for the wreck. He took off his mask and changed his wig so that no one would recognize him, and as a further precaution, traveled to Eslandola and visited old Captain Argentum. _____Lady de Summer: Old Captain Argentum? Yes, my lady. You know Captain Argentum, who attacked the Oleonders and established the settlement of Nova Crablandia. His father. They had their similarities... Old Captain Argentum: So you'd like to charter my ship? Red Fandago: And I was about to say - you have a ship you'd like me to charter? Old Captain Argentum: I do, I do. As fine a ship as ever sailed the seven seas! She can boast of having put a hole through the planks of twelve Oleonder ships in three separate engagements! Not bad for a peaceful trader! Red Fandago: I'm amazed that you're interested in lending it. Old Captain Argentum: Well, my good sir, I'm not getting any younger, you know. These ol' timbers might not hold up much longer. And the truth is, my son - he's a flighty boy, you know! Always getting into scrapes. Can't seem to keep a ship afloat for more than a month. I'd rather see the Sparkle in safe hands. Red Fandago: That's me, definitely. Old Captain Argentum: Let's see. What do you do when you spot an Oleonder on the high seas? Red Fandago: Fire! Old Captain Argentum: Quite right. And what do you do when you see a Sea Rat? Red Fandago: Fire! Old Captain Argentum: Excellent! And what do you do when you spot a Corry? Red Fandago: Fire! Old Captain Argentum: ...? Red Fandago: A twenty-four gun salute, of course! Old Captain Argentum: Well said! Well said! And what is your opinion of King Fernando? Red Fandago: Fire! Ahem! I mean - Long live King Fernando! Old Captain Argentum: Your answers, sir, are excellent. My own son could not have responded better. And what, by the way, do you do when you see a crab? Red Fandago: Fire! Old Captain Argentum: ...? Red Fandago: To cook it, of course. Old Captain Argentum: Bravo! You are just the man. That is where my son trips up. He wishes to protect the crabs. It will get him into trouble one day, the foolish boy! Red Fandago: Unthinkable! Old Captain Argentum: Well then, you have yourself a deal! I wish you a prosperous voyage, and may the winds always be in your sails! Red Fandago: And in yours, good Captain Argentum! [to be continued...] A few more pictures of the forced perspective! Constructive criticism is always appreciated!

Beautiful textures and colors Maestro, and superb job transitioning from the rock to the walls of the gatehouse! The water, too, looks really somber with the black underneath. Way to represent GoH in the joust!