Sextant

I am guilty (guilty, I say!) of this same error. The fact that I had one dark blue 1x1 brick left over at the end led me to suspect the error was mine, and I had not been shorted a brick, but I scoured the exterior of the building and couldn't find a color mismatch anywhere. So thanks for helping me figure out where I went wrong. Excellent review, Oky. I did in fact LOL at the POOP joke. PLOP would be a good one too.

I suppose I'm less interested in the specific shop type of any given modular as I am in interesting builds, and things we haven't seen before. That's the disappointment of the Cinema, to me, as a missed opportunity--a two-level building at the same height of the usual three stories was good, but I was excited for an interior that included balcony or box seating, remaining open inside for a large movie screen. Two iconic building types that I'd like to see are a classical courthouse (peaked triangular roof, large-scale columns, in gray or white, set back from the street further than the other modular buildings, with those building-wide steps, perhaps incorporating an elevated statuary), and a classic two-story motel, with the outdoor stairs and covered walkways, parking spaces, front office and ice and snack machines. Since those motels are free-standing buildings, designers would have to do some clever maneuvering to fit in with the plate-connecting pin style that runs through the theme (a dumpter with the connector pin hidden in the back of it, for example), but that's what would make it fun, and an interesting change to the skyline. They did a bit of the former architecture with the Town Hall, of course, with the entryway looking like a mini version of what I expect the courthouse to look like in full scale, which dampens, but does not kill, my enthusiasm for a courthouse. I've bought them all, though, to date, and will continue to do so unless they really tank in quality. I vote for one a year, less because of finances (the modulars and holiday sets are the only ones I buy anymore) than because of shelf space to display these beauties.

As someone else mentioned, I'm a little disappointed that this is a corner building. I shall reserve judgement until I get the chance to see some interiors, but I felt like the theatre would be a great chance to do something we really haven't seen before in the modular line: an auditorium style interior, open from bottom to top, with the great staircases these old single-screen movie houses often had, in two levels (main level and balcony, with even a couple of box seats, perhaps) instead of the standard three levels. While it wouldn't necessarily be a blast to build seating for 50+ minifigs, looking at the finished result would be impressive. The square-footage pinch of a corner set makes me fear it will be like the Town Plan (which was great for the more traditional scale it was in), with seating for a mere 7 figs.

So that's why I can't find any white bricks... you used them all! Seriously, though, it's gorgeous. A cool concept brilliantly executed.

Little Too Late by Sextant Images, on Flickr

Great gag, agentofchaos! It's funny on a couple of levels, both visually and with the 'Super' wordplay. I've fallen behind. I thought I'd be coming up with a lot more Harry Potter gags, but I keep coming up with LotR (or mixed-theme) ones instead. The One Ringses by Sextant Images, on Flickr

No, I wouldn't expect it to be. I meant that I'd look forward to re-building the haunted house every year, because it'd get broken down again after Halloween. My modulars are built, out and on display 365 days a year, which is great, but it means I'm not getting to put them together. It'll be good to have something on that scale that I can re-build time and time again, like with the winter sets.

As a fan of the modulars, I definitely look forward to picking this up and using it as a Halloween decoration. I enjoy the annual ritual of building the winter-themed sets for use in Christmas decorations, then breaking them down again, so I don't have to find a permanent place for them to live. This will introduce a new holiday into the annual rotation, and a build I can look forward to every year. Perhaps a nice set-up with the Harry Potter Graveyard Duel set. Spooooky.

Unfortunately, I have no PotC sets or figs. Sorry. You should give it a shot, though, if you have the means. As far as licensed lines go, I have a very deep Harry Potter collection (I think Mad-Eye Moody may be the only fleshie-era fig that I don't have), the LotR main characters, some assorted Star Wars (though really nothing from after 2006 or so), and scattered Indiana Jones, Batman, and a few other one--offs. As far as making a grab for the mantle of comic supremacy, I can tell you that after making just a handful of these things, I'm running low on ideas. Oky has made literally hundreds of these funnies, so I'm a long way from being compared to him (or anyone else, for that matter). I just thought it would be fun to contribute to this thread that has given me a good few chuckles. I've been trying to put together another one, but, alas, the yardwork waits for no man.

Not exactly sophisticated humor, but Frodo's alternate expression gave me this idea. I had to put longer legs on Gimli so he could bend over. You shall not pass... gas by Sextant Images, on Flickr

Yes, it was more the idea of the two of them hanging out---comparing their respective worlds---that made me laugh, more than any specific thing they said. I had a handful of lines I was thinking about, but decided it was the image of them lounging in this pasture that was truly funny. I wanted to give one of them an ice cream cone or a popsicle, but I didn't have the patience to dig up the pieces. Another one for today (a fairly obvious idea, but I hadn't seen anyone do it yet): Internet Trolls by Sextant Images, on Flickr

Definitely Star Wars. It was the enjoyable builds of the larger sets that brought me out of my dark ages, but if you ask any casual SW fan (which is what I am) to name 10 vehicles from that universe, I've already got one of each of them. Now most of the sets are populated with ships I don't recognize, piloted by characters I don't know. I bought one of the Hoth sets to obtain a tauntaun, but I haven't bought any other SW sets in years, certainly since the modular buildings hit the shelves.

I can only seem to produce one of these per day. I'll keep at it until I run through my initial stash of ideas. Dumbledore and Gandalf by Sextant Images, on Flickr

Yes, that was the beginning of this comic. I thought about how I didn't have any other HP characters all dressed up, but I did have the Indiana Jones fig. So it seemed like the two of them would have to meet up to hit the town. But I didn't have anyone else with an officially issued black tie minifig, which ultimately led to this idea.

Another one from me... At the LEGO licensed character luncheon by Bryce Napier, on Flickr

After putting all 34 decals on the Mines Of Moria set, this gag came to mind. (I didn't see a similar thread in the history forum, and LotR is still a licensed property, so I stuck it here.) It's not a mine, it's a sticker book by Bryce Napier, on Flickr

I like the bowling alley idea, but for a while I've been hoping for a movie theater or a gray/white courthouse (recessed from the sidewalk with a wide steps and some statues out front). Mostly, though, I'd like something with a markedly different facade/features than we've seen so far. No bell towers, no bay windows, no awnings, no year etched into the building's face. Those were all great once, but I'd like some new architectural work. I love this line, and have all the sets released in it to date.

I finally hit post #6, so I can now contribute to this thread. I took a series of portraits of characters from the Harry Potter universe, sometimes enhancing them with Photoshop. Here is a couple of them. Voldemort portrait with Dementors by Bryce Napier, on Flickr Severus Snape portrait by Bryce Napier, on Flickr

Nice job, thomaslam2. In general with these funnies, I think what amuses me the most are the ones that give a knowing, affectionate ribbing to LEGO's quirks, like the size comparison between Scabbers and Crookshanks above, or the re-using of elements in different licensed lines, or the liberties they have to take in scale and color and accuracy to make a model work. I have some ideas percolating myself, it'd be fun to give this a go.

I didn't see this one the first time out, so thanks to Legomaster34 for dialing it back up. Instantly recognizable as a whole, of course, but the real fun is in playing "spot the reference" and uncovering all the little easter eggs throughout the model. Stupendous job!

I had to look to see if that was the same garage set I had, but I think you have me beat by a couple of years there. I had the 361 Garage set in my town. Nice to meet you!

I'm a (nearly) 40 year-old American photographer. I thought it might be more interesting to give some facts about myself by way of a countdown of my top 5 favorite LEGO sets. 5. 10174 Imperial AT-ST (2002). I'm actually not that big a Star Wars fan, but the set that first drew me back into the hobby as an adult was the 10030 Imperial Star Destroyer set in 2002. With that massive piece count, I simply had to build it. The problem was that, as a display piece, it was so big I had nowhere to display it. It ended up being broken down and shipped to my brother, where it's on permanent loan. I got the UCS snowspeeder and Y-wing sets, as well. The AT-ST was the last of the UCS models I picked up. I had been buying these Star Wars sets (plus quite a few of the regular-sized sets as well) because they were the most interesting builds you could buy at the time. But having them all out on display was making me look like a huge Star Wars fanatic, which, as I already mentioned, I'm not. When I moved from Kansas to Pennsylvania a couple of years ago, all the LEGO got broken down for the move. The only SW sets I've since rebuilt are the Sandcrawler (10144) and the UCS AT-ST. It's a quick, fun build, which doesn't get too repetitive, and doesn't need too big a footprint to display it. I'm impressed how they got it to support its weight. And it just looks cool up there on the shelf above my computer. 4. 675 Snack Bar (1979). My quirky nostalgia choice would be this simple set, which I had as a kid (and now, like all the rest of our childhood LEGO, resides with my older brother). Even back then I was more a fan of setting up dioramas than actually playing pretend with the sets, and this one had that cool snack bar sign that you could stick somewhere kind of far away from the actual set (as long as it was pointing toward where you'd eventually encounter the snack bar itself) in your town-wide diorama, which seemed almost subversive at the time. There's not much to it, but it has everything you'd need in your snack bar, down to the ketchup and mustard dispensers. Plus it had a guy in a chef's hat. 3. 10027 Train Engine Shed (2003). Like a lot of people, from what I've read, I bought way too much LEGO when I first came back to the hobby, across a lot of themes. I bought Orient Expedition sets on clearance, Spider-Man sets, Dino Attack sets, etc. Since I quickly discovered that I stink at MOCing, and my enjoyment of LEGO is building the thing that's pictured on the box, I regret buying them. Still, I'm a sucker for a minifig, so I still buy the occasional set I have no use for, just because I think the figs are cool. But as a guy who settled on town/city sets after abandoning the Star Wars line, the train theme has been more of a keeper. It fits nicely with town sets, and is one of the few LEGO things my oldest daughter would actually do with me, setting up an elaborate train circuit to run trains on. I really love the Train Engine Shed building, and it strikes me as a precursor to the modular buildings, with its intricate interior and center hinge so that it could be displayed open or as a fully-enclosed building. 2. 10217 Diagon Alley (2011). The one licensed theme I really got behind was Harry Potter, due in large part to my daughter's obsession with it. I think TLG missed the boat with it a little, though. They've gone berserk with the minifigs in the Star Wars line, creating figures for almost every minor character you can think of. I think part of the appeal of Harry Potter is similarly in its deep cast of characters, and though I'm grateful they revisited the line in the last couple of years and filled in a few major gaps, there's still a lot of characters that never saw LEGO counterparts. I actually daydream about one last blowout run of sets, taking the series as a whole to create sets like a detailed Defense Against The Dark Arts classroom with a fleshie minifig of everyone that taught there over the course of the books (Quirrel, Lockhart, Lupin, Mad-Eye, Umbridge, Snape, and Carrow), with little details around the classroom and office indicating the tenure of each of them. I'd also love a UCS Hogwarts. I've got the Diagon Alley set displayed (with the buildings from the Medieval Market Village to help beef it up) with all the individual HP figures I could cram into it. 1. 10185 Green Grocer (2008). While nothing will replicate the jaw drop of seeing the Cafe Corner for the first time, this has to be my favorite of the modular buildings, and thus my all-time favorite set. The interior, the fire escape, the bay window... all amazing to me. I have no skill whatsoever at MOCing (and not much interest in getting better at it, honestly), so my Cafe Corner and Market Street sets remain unfurnished. For myself, I see LEGO more like I do jigsaw puzzles: not an endless series of possibilities, but a set of pieces that, when properly assembled, create a larger things of beauty. So I adore these kits aimed at AFOLs that have come about in the last decade.

Hi. I'm an old man (turning 40 this year) who hasn't posted to an internet forum in about 5 years. After years of anonymous lurking here, this thread has finally compelled me to register. I've been taking portraits for 20 years, and came out of my Lego dark ages about 8 years ago. Now I'm trying my hand at combining the the two with some minifig portraiture. I've read over the tutorials and guidelines, so my fingers are crossed that I'm doing this right. ...and I see now that I have to make 5 posts before I can post a photo, so allow me to compliment some of the previous work in the thread, especially the technical skill and compositional eye demonstrated by Oky, Remus_Lupin, Hobbestimus and (especially especially) smokebelch. As soon as I figure out where I can make four more posts that don't come off like pointless spam, I'll be back with some photos of my own.