Adam

Welcome back! As someone who also left Lego in '08 and just recently got back into it, I feel you bro. It's good to be back, isn't it?

Is it possible for me to play this even if I was in several mafia games years ago? In any event, I could use a refresher.

Broadcasting live from the planet Mars... ... It's the J. Z. Cassidey Show, brought to you by Homegrown Honey! "Welcome, everybody, this is J. Z. Cassidey, coming to you tonight from over a million light years away. Boy, have we got a show for you tonight!" Viewers everywhere, but over a million light years away, watched eagerly. "With us tonight are author Mike Howard (Earth - Is it a Threat?), political expert Patrick McKizzley, and, although he can't be here in person, investigative reporter Adam! Before we go into further discussion on tonight's topics, let me present you with some numbers: Earth's population was nearly 7 billion before the initial invasion, but is now under 250 million. Rogues, however, have spiked from approximately 20 thousand to about 1 million. It would appear that as the amount of people on Earth go down, the amount of Rogues on Earth go up. Mike, thoughts?" "Well, J. Z., we've known about the existence of Rogues on Earth for only 20 years, and as such, we still don't know much about these hybrids. Early estimates suggested that they might be even worse than the humans - if, of course, you hold the opinion that humans are destroying their planet, and although this may be likely, their extinction can't be the best possible solution." "I don't know, Mike," Patrick McKizzley put in, "this is our third clean-up job, and look at how much good we've done on P-61 and Gammus. These tactics worked there - admittedly, neither of those planets were as advanced as Earth is, but still..." It was Adam's turn now: "Pat makes a good point. We know that this is the best route to take. Remember what happened on Gammus before we sent the robots in? The Ambassadorial Programme? That was a full-blown disaster. After carefully observing Earth's politicians, haven't we come to the conclusion that they are even more corrupt than the Gammeasians?" "We had a different president back then," Mike said flatly, "and -" J. Z. held up his hand. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! That's a whole other issue."

The original RYNO also resembles a Cordak Blaster, and the first Ratchet and Clank was released a long time ago. Agori is also a communications network and a Hindu sect, and a Vorox is a creature from the Fading Sun books (it's amazing what ten seconds on Google can accomplish). There are similarities and coincidences and all that nonsense everywhere. If there's a can of Coke in one movie, did they lift that idea off of previous movie? No.

The campaign has the same awesome gameplay as multiplayer and spec ops, but it has no story at all. That's my only complaint, though. Now I know why I've been chanting "MowWow" for the past week...

... I'm inanimate, remember? Oh, and by the way, my character will only be "guest starring" for a while.

Exactly one mile below Bob, security guard Jamie Pase sat, bored, in his chair, staring out of the bulletproof glass into the room beyond. At first, when he had taken this job, there had been some level of urgency and excitement. Not now. The prisoner hadn't so much as blinked for two weeks. Of course, any muscle movement whatsoever - if he still had muscles - would trigger the the highly dangerous cables attached to him into action. VITALS ARE NORMAL. NO MUSCLE MOVEMENT DETECTED, the computer said once again. Uh huh. Thanks for telling me what I already know. Like his vitals would be any different from yesterday, or the day before, or the day before that. Why put the guy in a maximum security cell, hundreds of miles below sea level, if he wasn't even going to move? Jamie glanced at the prisoner again. That's it, he thought. It's time for something to happen. He typed in a code and pushed "EXECUTE." Immediately, an electric charge was sent through the cables, filling the adjacent room with a flash of blue light. But Adam still hung, motionless, from the chains.

I visit the blog on a daily basis, sometimes more, sometimes less - although I'm not a forum regular, so to speak. No. There is the Town theme, which is comprised of its separate subthemes: City, Fire, Farm, etc.... And then you have Trains, which - although "town" related - is a theme separate from "Town." If this forum were expanded, then you would have quite a few subforums, since the only other themes that could be added are City, Fire, Farm, and the rest. Captain Zuloo hit the nail on the head: Classic-Town.net's simple layout, though easy to use, gives the impression of a simple site. Take TBB, for example: it clearly states the contributers, archives, and multitudes of other categories, all in nice, mid-sized lettering. There are even LEGO.com and Flickr links on the left hand column. Meanwhile, Classic-Town.net has five categories, four pages, and a friend list. Presenting a lot of information in a handsome way gets people thinking that the site is well organized and extensive. For me, this is an above average website. The only problem is that it looks small, even if that isn't true. I'm a big Trains fan, so I chose that option without hesitation. Classic-Town.net is an awesome site - but it suffers from some... difficulties that CP also faces. You guys are doing a great job!

None near me. Besides, I was hoping for someone's opinion.

I just downloaded - and played - the demo for Arkham Asylum. It's pretty cool. But I want to know if the rest of the game is worthwhile. Are there any EB owners that can give me a full review? I'd check some gaming website, but they're under "scheduled maintenance." Beating up baddies is awesome, but it can get a little repetitive, which is why I want to know how much strategy is involved.

I wouldn't call myself one of EB's Great Experts (especially since I haven't posted a single MOC) but I have been playing with LEGO Trains for a long time, and as such, I have a couple tips that may come in handy. 1) First and foremost, to echo some others a bit, your first train doesn't have to be a perfect train with heaps of new techniques and clever color combinations. Don't try to begin with something original; start with sets and instructions, then try modeling after some famous builders (e.g. SavaTheAggie, TheBrickster). 2) It's great if you have a varied collection (even if small), but try to stick with one type of track and train. Having half of your layout 4.5V and the other half PF doesn't look good and doesn't play well, so if you want to make your layout primarily RC but you have a few 12Vs, for instance, just switch out the motors and wheels. 3) Savvy builders might have tons of slopes and inclines in their layout, but making those can be difficult, especially without RC track. My track is pretty flat, and there's no shame in that. There are some systems you can use to make the perfect incline (when I find a link to the instructions, I'll put it here) but unless you have all the right parts: keep it flat. 4) Some background info is always nice. In addition to signing up for various LEGO Train sites, like this one, there are books you can look at to give you a hand. For instance, Getting Started With LEGO Trains, by Jacob McKee, is a favorite of mine. I hope I didn't copy anything that was already written down; I looked over the first post and couldn't find any of these. Oh, TheBrickster: the link in the frontpage post leads to your Brickshelf folder. EDIT: TheBrickster brought up a very fine point: in my "e.g." I didn't mean to exclude anyone; if I were to include all the great train builders on the net, my post would be a heck of a lot longer.

That information is now gone from the article (and no, I didn't edit it out). The others are right to question the reliability of a wiki: I edited the main article to say, "Pirates is an OGEL theme that has to do with Internet hacking, specifically pancakes," and kept it there for ten minutes.

Sadly, I don't think that was Brendan's intention, either. In the end, being on the news is still being on the news, no matter how that news is presented.

You don't need a camera...

Let me compile everything: After the exciting end of Season One, the group managed to escape from the core room where Robert, Zach, and I discovered our new abilities. The Apocalypse survivors trekked through the forest area surrounding the city, a region ruled by the mysterious Phantoms, a clan of Rogues. If you remember, Rogues were slightly deformed humans with special powers. Throughout this journey, we met some knew faces: Sam, the hot tempered Navy Officer; Melody, a gore loving girl; Eskallon, a dude that kidnapped Bob; and Clyde, the one friendly Phantom. Upon reaching an outcropping in the forest, the group was attacked by a gigantic creature of unknown origins. Intrepid billionaire Bob used a powerful explosive to blow himself up, thereby saving the rest of the group. Zach and Co., in the wake of Bob's death, set off to the core of the nearest city, and along this journey, I disappeared. The plot then split into four separate story arcs: the main storyline, which followed the bulk of the group; my whereabouts; the fate of Bob the brave; and Desperate Melodies (Fridays at ten!). Most of us traveled to civilization, getting attacked a few times along the way. However, there was a lot of "Melody and Zach in a tree," if you get my drift. Bob ended up in a U.S. military bunker, after being saved by his suit. And I was modified by one of the scientists behind the robots, and during that process, I became the villain of the story (everyone wanted that to happen in SWCG, anyway). Everyone converged at the closest city core, where the good guys were attacked by a huge second gen. Zach gave Robert some core and destroyed it, and as a result, destroyed himself. Dun dun dun! It isn't nearly as good as some of your SWCG ones, Oky, but I hope you get the general idea.

I'll have one up in thirty.

... And Knights, and Counts, and anything higher...

I agree! Especially the "Adam's team" stuff. It could be like the beginning of X-Men Origins, except I'm cool and have hair.

That's not how I wrote it, silly Armendariz! You certainly made that one a lot funnier than it was. Unless Zuloo died his hair red and mine orange, you've switched things up!

Awesome! So that's the butt-kicker waiting at the decoy core?

I can't wait! But could you please use "quotation marks" when the characters are talking? Without them, it's kind of confusing.

Spanking job on the roof! There is little I have to add, Matt. I suggest keeping the tiled water and stud deck; they're a nice change in a time when builders feel a need to use SNOT everywhere and tile all surfaces. However, I think that changing the blue tiles around the dock supports to teal would improve its appearance and make it look more realistic. Also, the wall is rather plain - why not add a few more of the stickers from Soldier's Fort and change the door to something more piratey? I suggest adding a bit more of an interior to the tavern, too. There's something bugging me: you have such a great entry, but you've only put one picture in your post! It shows off the MOC better and makes it a bit easier for creative critics.

This is a clever entry, my friend! Yet there are still improvements to be made. Although you have a spectacular idea here, you missed a chance with the island: just a dark tan brick with a rock and tree? Instead, I suggest using light tan plates to give it texture and make it look like sand, with some teal here and there (as waves). In fact, you might want to change the water into SNOT form and use ledges to build the little island. The pirate's seat is okay, but it would look a lot better with some tiles and a few cheese slopes. The venerable Admiral is right: some crabs, plants, campfire, etc. would go a long way. By the way, I think you're alright with the knitting sticks - those are white lightsaber blades, right?

Throughout the entire story, I was somewhat apprehensive - what would I find at the end? What did I have to criticize? But when I scrolled down and laid my eyes on the entry, I found that there was very little I could criticize, if anything at all. You have presented a fun and unique scene with great landscaping, clever techniques, and a hilarious punchline. Yet unfortunately, I have found some faults in this little vignette. I'm not sure about your pictorial background story; it may be breaking the rules. I suggest removing the links and putting up a nice overall shot as your first picture. In addition, I don't know why you put the two cutlasses and goblet in there - I think you should remove the cup and cross the swords (making them look like clippers). My last point is a continuity error: the Avenger's cape looks strange at such an odd angle with the epaulettes. In the end, Richard's Hobby is my favorite entry so far, and with those minor edits, it might earn the prize it - at this moment in the competition - deserves.