Walter Kovacs

Is no one going to look through my office? It's kind of pointless for me to do it, as I know what's in there. Also, I no longer feel the need to investigate the Firehouse. Yes it's on the list, but no firemen are in our group, and there have been no clues leading us there. The Jefferson residence, however, seems more interesting to me. There have been several clues around that family, even though they may be red herrings (since the herrings are red, does that still make them communist?). And it was one of the locations that was circled on the map. I think it's more important to search there first.

Round 2 Diana Fabray vs Ollivander Dippet Health - 5 Health - 4 Expelliarmus - 0 Sectumsempra - High - 0 High - 0 Expelliarmus - 0 Protego - 0 Protego - 0 Crucio - 1 Low - 0 Mid - 0 Expelliarmus - 0 Health - 5 Health - 3 Looking to catch his opponent off guard, Ollivander tried a Sectumsempra attack, but Diana was too fast for him, and his wand skittered off into the corner. Diving to re-arm himself, he quickly disarmed the Slytherin moments before she launched a devastating counter-attack. Looking to regroup, both combatants put up shield charms, to the amusement of all the on-lookers. Ollivander thought he saw an opening, firing a hex at Diana's legs, but before he could finish he found himself racked in the pain of an unforgivable curse. Knowing he needed time to gather his thoughts, he released his Patronus, and thought about how best to attakc the wily Slytherin. Round 3 DS when ready!

Round 1 Diana Fabray vs Ollivander Dippet Health - 6 Health - 5 Crucio - 1 Mid - 0 Expelliarmus - 0 Expecto Patronum - 0 Protego - 0 Sectumsempra - Mid - 0 Low - 0 Expelliarmus - 0 Protego - 0 Silencio - 1 Health - 5 Health - 4 Ollivander Dippet saw Diana coming from down the hall. Knowing his rival's recent dueling woes, he was convinced she would try something. He was convinced he had the upper hand. But Diana's opening curse still caught him by surprise. Trying desparately to regain his footing, he quickly put up a Patronus. Knowing how dangerous his adversary could be, he tried his new Sectumsempra hex, but only found Diana's shield charm. Thinking quickly, he flicked Diana's wand away, then silenced his foe before she could act again. Round 2 DSs, please.

I hope that everything works out for the best. Travel safe. And Merry Christmas, a bit early.

When we get upstairs, if everything looks like it is in order, I will unlock all file cabinets, drawers and doors that I have keys for. If everything is not in order, I will wait for a description. Hmm, the Jefferson case is a lot less suspicious now than it first sounded. Just for completeness sake, do I know this Miss Clark?

Does anyone know what that black, shock absorber looking piece is on each of the legs? I've never seen a part like that before. Thanks in advance.

Thanks CMP. DS sent. I've received a DS from KDM, just waiting on CF's (no hurry, KDM was quick ).

It won't make it turn. You can see a clear technic gearbox under the cannon. If that small gear turns the worm, which will turn a larger gear, then that should...raise and lower the cannon? Is that right? Someone with Technic expertise needs to help me here, but I think that's what will happen. Edit: Taking a closer look, you can see that that is exactly what will happen. The axle connected to the larger gear passes through a few liftarms. Unfortunately the droid pilot will also rotate with the cannon. I don't think I like that at all, I'd rather the pilot stay level. He has a command console in front of him, he doesn't need to look at his target. Looking at the setup, I don't see any way for the cannon to swivel left or right. Also, that Technic cannon is shoved into the center pretty well. I don't hate it as much as I did when I first saw that in there.

Sure, I'll give it a go. I don't think I've lost to you we've dueled yet.

Sure, I'll ADJ for you. Send me those Round 1 DSs.

Merry Christmas to me! Thanks KDM. I guess this means I'm going to have to break down and figure out LDD, at least enough to extract some instructions on those JSFs.

Hmm, that's odd. Typewriters usually have a little bit of variation, even when they are from the same company. I learned that in Law school. Must be a communist conspiracy. Now that I have the file, I'd like to read through it. If someone needs to search the third floor, I can hand them my office keys, though I will make sure to keep my house keys on my person. After I'm done reading, I will go up to the third floor. We covered the second floor (with water ) pretty well yesterday.

The re-release of the minifig scale TIE Fighter came awfully close. Set numbers escape me right now. Anakin's had an R2-D2 ejection function. Which was pretty worthless. I'd expect an ESB Lando to be part of a Cloud City set, but I suppose he does belong in a superset like this. Might as well add a Bespin Leia to the list, too, since she was also there during the escape from Cloud City. About the Battle of Endor. Yes we did get 12 minifigs in that set, but would the remainder of the $150 price tag be enough to get a decent Falcon? MAybe, maybe not. I'd much rather have a good interior than a ton of minifigs. But given my choice, I'd REALLY like both.

Ah, I see. The Ep II clones that came with the first RGS and AT-TE were pretty good (I own four of them), but I like the look of the printed helmet a bit better than the open helmet. It allows you to put a head with a face under there, even if it is a somewhat ugly CW face. (I've gotten used to the CW faces, but at first found them hideous.)

A fair arguement, Cam. I didn't mean to say that the switch from yellow to flesh is trivial; it certainly has had an effect. It's just that other changes I feel had bigger impacts. Petero brings up some very good points that I didn't even think of. Probably because I started collecting in the late '70s, after the advent of single model sets and minifigs. One change for the worse is the lack of alternative models in the more recent sets. It's not a huge change, but I do miss seeing those alt builds in the instructions, and trying to figure out how to make them without the entire thing falling apart (not an easy task, sometimes).

Now that would be cool. It would have to have lots of minifigs, though. ANH: Han, Chewie, Obi, Luke, R2-D2, C3PO, Leia? ESB: Hoth Han, Hoth Leia RotJ: Lando, Nien That's "only" 11 minifigs. But I think the set is projected at $150, so that isn't too far from the realm of possibility. I guess we'll just have to wait for the pictures.

Hey look. Matt decided to join us today. So are you going to help us investigate, or are you just going to stand around pandering while you watch us do all the work?

Really? I think those are minor changes in the grand scheme of things. Not that I'm complaining. I love having more expressive faces than the standard smileys. It never made sense for my spacemen to go into a pitched space battle wearing a big grin. It always made them seem psychopathic. The biggest change I've seen in the last 15 years or so has been the proliferation of SNOT techniques, and with it the increased use of Technic pieces in system sets. LEGO used SNOT before, but the techniques used recently (and I use that term loosely) have allowed for some amazing designs.

Welcome to Eurobricks, nicoga3000. It's nice to have another engineer around.

I'd like a few people go down to the basement and find the personnel records for the government workers in town. They should be in the boxes that we locked in the jail cell, which means Chief Phelps needs to go with you. I'd personnally like to go to the second floor and pull the case file for Laura Jefferson's death. I'd also like someone to type the following phrase on every typewriter in town hall: "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." in both uppercase and lowercase. Make sure to note which typewriter is which. Also make sure to get the numbers and special characters. If no one volunteers, I'll do it, but it'll take me a bit to find the file, I'm sure. Would I know if any typewriters have been bought in the last five years in Town Hall? If necessary, we could try and find Purchase Orders for them.

Actually, I just went back through my own memories. You were asked if you had seen anything strange, and you replied that you hadn't. But since you brought it up, did you hear anything odd at the farm in the last few weeks? For those wanting to return to Town Hall, at the very least I want to find teh personnel records for the government workers. that would be the police, myself, Judge Cain and Will ackerson, I believe. There might be a clue there.

Baris Offee wasn't a CW style, either. That was an Ep III set, not TCW. And any OT sets will have "standard" minifigs.

Well, we can tell a few things from what we see remember. Chief Phelps was standing directly behind (more to the side, I guess) me. Someone else is behind him, possibly James Falzone, but I can't be sure, as apparently I've never seen the front of his shirt. Near the unfortunate Mrs. Jenkins, was Ralph, Matt Liebenston and Congressman Bob. None of the other figures are distinctive enough to make out. I talked with four other people in private this morning. Perhaps one of them was our mysterious attacker, and what I said was too close for comfort. Those people were James Falzone, Patrick Jefferson, Will Ackerson and Alan Simmons. Mr. Simmons, someone asked you this morning if you had heard any strange noises earlier today, and you never answered. Care to say anything yet?

They tried to kill me! The Red Commie Bastards tried to kill me! And they've killed oneo of our loyal citizens. If I didn't hate them before, I certainly hate them now. I will not rest until we find these commies and they get what they deserve. Perhaps I've gotten close with some of my questions. I asked some questions of some of you earlier today, and never received any answers. Here they are again: Captain Ted, you mentioned that Jackie was your "new" wife. How long have you been married? I would like to look for a few things in Town Hall, but I want several people to accompany me, given what just happened. It shouldn't take long, maybe 15 minutes, tops, and after that we can move on to the Firehouse. Does anyone want to join me? Yes, I'm all right, but I'm mad as hell right now. I think it's just a flesh wound. Well, that's one for going back to Town Hall.

Except perhaps Gallidor. Those sets can be found for a song.