Duck

I would love this trinidiadian theme! Historicy Piratey theme, huzzar! However, I doubt many 9 year olds have even heard of the islands let alone their history, so unless TLC are making a theme specifically for AFOL history buffs, I think the Ninjago subtheme seems most likely...

Just got this set as it was my favourite within my budget. Great for minifigures, really like both sides as they all look really cool! Would have liked a bit more build-wise for my money though. 4/5. Great revew!

What an amazing MOC! 200,000 bricks... I can only dream of that many! Really original that its both historic and current day! An incredible MOC. Well done!

What an immense display! Congratulations to all involved - a much deserved prize!

Those look cool, however its a bit annoying that there are only two of each colour, which is great for variation of course (Blue or green roman soldiers would be more unique! RTW style huzzar!) but to make any substantial number of troops wont come in much cheaper than getting CMF's - They do look good however!

Spain looked unstoppable last night. In my opinion they never hit fifth gear at all during the tournament until the final - then they showed their class. Even Mata got in on the act in his five minutes of the tournament! Spain showed that they were a class above Italy, and above the rest of us. Even if Germany hadn't blown it against Italy, I think they'd still have lost if Spain were in the form they were last night. All in all, it was a thoroughly enjoyable tournament. England possibly did as well, if not better than expected, and with no expectation to win the tournament, I was able to watch it with much less bias than usual. Roll on the Olympic football!

I recently got into minecraft after resisting for some time. I like the game, but at the same time do tend to feel like I'm wasting my life playing it as for all the impressiveness that I put into my creations, I know fully well that no one else is going to pay a huge amount of attention as their generally too busy concentrating on their own projects! I do enjoy a spot of roleplay and have been playing on the "Dragonsreach" server, which I've enjoyed as it started at the same time I started playing, but then the admin declared that the buildings on the server werent good enough and restarted it... So that all feels a bit pointless now. I also tried "Lord of the Craft" in the hope of finding roleplay as its such a packed server, but I found the "levels" restrictive. Minecraft is a fantastic game and concept - its just the lack of depth that gets me.

Thanks for the ideas folks! Once my army is completed It'll hopefully feature in a brickflick - so this is why I'm not too keen on using decals as they might become too obvious. I'll have a play however! Thanks!

Hi folks, first of all I apologise if anyone feels this is the incorrect forum for such a topic? I've also tried searching but with little success. I'm currently looking into building a roman-style army - however price is being a bit of an issue. The CMF roman is fantastic but at £4ish a pop its expensive. I've managed to get some cobi roman helmets quite cheap which dont look bad, particually the centurion one. I figure customising shields shouldnt be too hard but finding romanesque torso's with a similar style of armour has me stumped - I'd prefer to have genuine lego torsos as opposed to printing and so has anyone got any suitable torsos that they can suggest that would work out cheaper than ordering the CMF's? Thanks! Duck

And so Euro 2012 is upon us. A shock win for Denmark today and a cagey game between Germany and Portugal. Yesterday saw a surprisingly cracking first match between Poland and Greece, while the Russians displayed wonderful shooting prowess against the Czechs. Monday will see England begin their campaign against France, with a less than optimistic nation behind them. Despite the pesimistic attitude which has swept the country, "Topps" have brought out a range of collectible England minfigures. Me and my girlfriend found these by chance and started collecting them. WHSmiths and Argos are the best bets for finding them. They also do a two figure set: The two figure set includes two sections of pitch. If slowly building a pitch doesnt appeal, you could just buy the whole pitch for £20 from Argos. The pitch is made up of 24 sections, , linked by lego-compatible stud pieces. Players sit on a "slider" and the game functions pretty much like Subbeuteo with players flicked towards the ball, attempting to knock it into the other goal, while avoiding it touching the other teams players. Here are the players we've collected so far! (Each player is available in both home and away kits). (Top left to top right) Young, Terry, Cole, Hart, Walcott, Cole, Jones, Lampard (Bottom left to bottom right) Milner, Carroll, Terry (again!) Some of the likenesses arent exactly spot on, but others are really good. For some reason Gerrard isnt in the lineup which is odd! Now for the question on everyones lips! Can we do anything with LEGO for this set? Well, digging my old Lego footballers out, I found that they fit quite nicely, if at an unconventional angle. Due to LEGO's general sturdiness, the players quite happily stand firm on one leg and so they dont lose balance while being flicked. The design of the game anyway hereis that the bases are flicked as opposed to the players! You can either have them in a "kicking" or "running" position. Which all in all, leads to an exciting tabletop game of LEGO football! Further information about these sets can be found here, which is also where I found the promotional images. From what I gather, Topps are intending on "Series 2" being out in time for the 2012-13 season featuring premier league players. Oh, one last thing! They have made a 1900 piece Wembley Stadium! Rolling in at £150, the cost of building it is in proportion with the real thing! Thanks for reading! Duck

This is looking great already Horry! I've been considering starting up my own colony as a brickflick series once I finally complete Brickington. I'm fighting the same inward battle with myself however about time, money and space and my lack of all three! This is looking superb however - the attention to detail is fantastic as ever and it all seems very well thought out! Keep it up!

I really like the simple but effective design of these! Great work! (But poor classic=pirate raft wreckage... )

This ship is fantastic! All those countless hours (and money!) certainly paid off! The exterior is superb, but the interior really brings the ship to life! I also like the use of the custom cannons as due to the shape and size of the ship, the traditional lego cannons would have looked weird! Nice job!

What would be wrong with a LEGO guillotine set? Spot on though about there always being a good vs bad faction. I do think that even with classic castle, there was always one group who had a slightly more imposing colour scheme, lining them up to be the bad guys. Even if we could get it to be an official "Redcoats vs Bluecoats" theme - one would have to be the "evil" faction as far as TLC is concerned I fear. And, though most kids wouldn't instantly think "This is Britain against France!" there would be enough people to take offence at for example, the bluecoats being the evil faction due to that link to their past. The most likely option would be a Europa-style theme indeed with highwaymen and other ruffians causing the mischief. Possibly an invading army could be added to the theme, but it would have to have a colour scheme which did not appear to be based on any nations historical army. It would be fantastic and I would certainly be spending my money on it... but the chances of it coming about are next to none in my own opinion...

I think that the set I am most likely to purchase is 9471 Uruk-Hai Army. The amount of minifigures seems just right - even if the scenery isnt much to write home about. I do like the factory also! Are the "batteries included" for the "light brick"? I think Gollumn looks great and is my favorite although I'm unlikely to purchase any of the sets with him in unfortunately as the spider is of little interest to me, and the Mines of Moria will be out of my price range!

I don't own BSB but I am considering converting my QAR by going along the same lines as previous posters - I wouldn't want to alter her too vastly as I still want her to be useable as the QAR. A door to the cabin is a priority however! As a compromise, she'd make a mightily good privateer vessel also I'd guess!

Huzzah indeed! Congratulations Cam, much deserved!

Congratulations new bloggers! I look forward to reading your articles!

Ahoy shipmates! As a brief break away from filming the episode, I've created a trailer which is created as a "documentary" style interview with the cast - enjoy!

I only have one of the two (and its a very recent purchase) so I'm going to be a bit biased on this one when I lean more towards QAR. However, I think the two are difficult to compare. BB is more cartoon-pirate looking while QAR is more gritty nasty pirate looking. I'd say QAR is slightly more realistic looking as a result but obviously its still not going to win any competitions for realism! So really, I do think it just comes down to personal choice as to what you want your pirates to be - cartoony or rough and ready!

Same here, I've always thought that the old ones were great, and do prefer the shape of them - but I just got the QAR which was my first taste of a newer-TLC ship and I was very impressed with the mast structure and think its much more sturdy than the older ones. I also think it would be much easier to make shorter masts with them as with the old ones if you didnt have the large base-piece as part of the mast you were a bit stuffed! Whereas with the new ones even with one of the upper mast pieces it is possible to attach it firmly to some studs somewhere. I also think that the newer style of yardarm works well! So, against all expectations I've actually gone for the new ones - I feel guilty to say it however!

Well, I just finished building QAR and I must say it exceeded my expectations! £100 is generally well out of my price range. However, after much buttering up of the missus (Oh, you treat yourself to this... you treat yourself to that...) I'd made my mind up when visiting Liverpool that I was going to buy the Black Pearl from the LEGO shop as thats more in the £80 price range which I find it easier to justify. However it was out of stock and as I'd set my heart on getting myself a ship I pushed the boat out and got the QAR. Exterior-wise she's beautiful. All the bones really set the tone of her being a pirate-ship not to be messed with! The sails are fantastic and the capstan with the anchor is a really nice touch! She may not be quite accurate of the ship on the film but what lego products are completely accurate of their film counterparts? Initially I was disappointed to see that she has stickers at the back. I dislike stickers generally but I do feel that these work well! Interior wise. Meh. Pretty bland but nothing that cant be modded! For the pricetag it would have been nice to have had an extra cannon to complete the broadside (whats with having two gun-flaps without a gun-port under them also?). Wheels for the cannons, a door to the cabin and generally a few finishing touches to the inside. In my opinion TLC got this around 95% right. A tad more fine-detail on the interior and general polishing would have got it to the 100% mark!

Not quite sure where to post this but felt it was my duty to report somewhere that Smiths are selling the new CMF on a 3 for 2 offer which is a decent deal in my opinion. Downside is that they've got them behind the counter so you cant rustle around to work out which one your getting. Note: This was at Cheshire Oaks which is an outlet store and so possibly might not be a national offer - but I'd imagine so!

I just had a vision of a bunch of top scientists in white labcoats (possibly smoking pipes) stood around watching this tiny wave move sllooowwwwllly towards the Lego boat, knocking it over. "Ah so that's how it works!" Nice find!

Well, personally I would envision this (if it happens, indeed the powers that be are the ones to decide whether it happens here) as being an additional sub-forum as opposed to replacing our beloved MOC forum. Lots of us do look over the MOC's, enjoy the variety, are inspired by the techniques and post feedback - I don't think that would change too much. This would just be a group of related MOC's telling a group-story - I think? In terms of rules and competition - that's something that I personally don't have any suggestions how it might work? I see this as more a case of those taking part contributing ships, buildings etc to our respective faction and building a story that way. After that, I'm if or how these factions would compete. Those are my thoughts!