def

I'm willing to go with Stash too. I found his vote on the first day too brash, and the situation we've seen this morning made him look somewhat more suspicious. So, I'm not confident at all, but he rubs me the wrong way. I suppose I'm just not accustomed to a fellow choosing to do people's hair for a living. Vote: Stash the Hairstylist

Episode 15: Senate Murders First off, Halle Burtoni? Please don't tell me that the character whose name sounds just like Halliburton (AKA the most evil company in America) is producing weapons or services that profit off of war... What's that? The person is a Kaminoan who wants an escalation of troop production? Well, much like the use of ethnic accents throughout the series, we don't watch this show for its subtlety. On the plus side, the Mandalorian story is over for now, and I'm thankful. Now we can get to what the kids really want: Senate speeches Padme is using her political clout to try to turn the senate against the war. Is she promoting solutions to the disputes with separatists? No, she just wants to stop producing troops. It doesn't make much sense without an 'exit strategy.' Anyway, she's working with a few senators, including Onaconda Farr, to promote peace, and are rubbing the pro-war contingent the wrong way. Padme gets bullied by one senator, Mee Deechi, while Halle Burtoni comes in to taunt Padme. When Farr drops dead, it looks like Burtoni is to blame. But would that be too obvious? An investigation is launched, and viewers are meant to hate the investigator, Tan Divo. He's got a nasal voice, a pot-belly, a comb-over, and is dressed like a fascist (ie, high collar and government arm band). Padme runs her own personal investigation, not having faith in the official investigator. The series goes into a detective noir mode, with shadowy meetings and a nighttime shipyard shoot out, followed by a fake out and some deception. It's really getting hard to judge this season, since it's going well beyond the scope of the original films. We had a zombie episode earlier in the season, and this is a straight up noir. (checking the Wookie page, I see those episodes both have the same writers too) I suppose that's the result of making a Star Wars TV show, and having that much more time to fill. Star Trek: TNG did these kind of episodes as well. If it wasn't Star Wars, I'd probably enjoy it more, but it just doesn't make much sense as Star Wars. I want to see originality and iconography in the Star Wars universe, not Hollywood homages. The fantastic premier episode was a 'heist' episode, but it didn't rely on such direct homage, and instead put a Star Wars twist on the theme, and is one of the highlights of the series so far for me. This is very bland in comparison. It was well crafted though; the lighting and animation was beautiful. And it still has the boring senate stuff George Lucas loves. Rating: 6/10 Padme has a few costume changes, and wears this exquisite head piece. Again, we haven't gotten a LEGO Padme since 1999, I think. We really need a flesh colored update. A design like this would be fantastic. Come on, TLG! Here is senator Burtoni. The animation on her was lovely, really capturing the marionette quality they had in the movies. Not a great character, and an incredibly stupid named one, but we want a Kaminoan. Halle Burtoni Tan Divo was a mixed bag for me. Though voiced by the incomparable Tom Kenny, the voice didn't quite match the face. His eyes are just a bit too big to match the rest of his design. But, I'll look forward to seeing him again. He had character, compared to the flat portrayal of others on Coruscant. Lt. Tan Divo And, reading the Wookie page, a young Mon Mothma is part of Padme's group of peaceniks. That is smart placement! I'm happy to see a minor Return of the Jedi character get some background. Mon Mothma I didn't bother with Mee Deechi, since he didn't make it through the episode. Lego Ships appearing: nothing! Lego Wishlist: new Padme, Tan Divo, Kaminoan (doesn't have to be Burtoni)

Despite many members enjoying the weirdness, professor flitwick has become stressed out (because he now has to "remember two sets of names") and is starting a campaign against this 'event'. Thanks for trying to spoil everything for everybody, professor Just ride with it all.

Well, I gotta admit, I'm surprised some of you bozos didn't knock off one of yourselves, with the crazy nonsense being thrown out yesterday. I guess I underestimated you all. Another day is another day on the road for me. Can we all agree that Chief Drake and Ian Cons seem innocent for the moment? They are the only people that we can say for sure we know where they were last night.

Ahhr, I want to see the results before I go to work, I shouldn't log in from work to read about mafia stuff

I don't know. I'm not a moderator, and defzo was not on Sesame Street

I was on an episode of Geraldo in the early 90's. He wasn't a very friendly TV host during the commercials.

You sold me. I'm buying this set. The mini-figs do the trick. Your check is in the mail.

It's gonna be hard to root out the baddies when (supposed) townies are labeling others suspicious for the flimsiest of reasons. All you're doing is reminding me why I spend my time out on the road with my boys rather than with any so-called pillars of society.

Still nameless and faceless I never saw someone question why I asked that. Can I be expected to hear everything thrown out in this chatter-clatter that's going on? A guy's gotta sleep sometime. Looking back over things, I see one person asked You know who else would say they're innocent? Innocent people. To answer you directly, I'm innocent, I'd be happy to get cleared, and start to build a town alliance. This is a big town, and it's going to be really hard going the first few days, and it's going to take some solid strategy. Finger-pointing at random is not helpful, it makes people stressed out. If anyone is lynched today, they are more than likely to be town. It's very risky to want to get a vote going. Town needs to get some people they can trust, not make shots in the dark. The mafia is going to do that already.

I'm a biker. I have to make fun of the st-st-st-stuttering cop. It's my character

Who are you again? (nameless, faceless guy) Why would you point a finger at me You don't have to like my clothes or the way I live my life, but there's no reason to question my loyalty The old "if I die tonight, x is guilty" is a classic town technique for helping the mafia, especially on the first night. I'm innocent, maybe Mrs. Boy is too. Killing you off is a good way to have fingers pointed at me, and at the same time, killing me off would send a bunch of paranoids to lynch you. Finger pointing on the first day is bad form, and not helpful at all. Mafia in the town is as bad for me and my bikers as it as for any one else, y'dig?

Oh, I'm not blaming the po-po-police, I'm saying I expect nothing from them. They've never done me any favors. Respect what people do, not the position they've been given

That was a good book! He gets a little exacerbated by creationists in it, but for the most part, I can understand why. The book focuses on giving hard evidence for evolution, if only the people who should read it would. I started reading The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Michell, and 100 pages in, it's absolutely fantastic. Set in Dejima in 1799, the single island trading post run by the Dutch in Nagasaki, Japan, it follows the daily life of a semi-religious office clerk during his first experience outside of Holland. It covers early Western-Japanese relations, colonialism, emotional innocence, and a sort of xenophilia, if that were a word. Great, and just released. Read it while it's hot

As I've always said, don't look to law enforcement to supply law and order. They've never done their job before, and they aren't about to start now. I doubt there will be any reason to vote on the first day, so I urge you kids to keep your cool think things through. We'll know better on the second day some of what's going on. Anyone can feel free to investigate me and see that I'm innocent.

PM received

Thanks! I haven't done a review in a few months, so I spent lots of time on that title image

Full size image. Without title. Earlier this year, my review of the Life On Mars Recon Mech was the least popular review I ever did. I dig the series, and was thoroughly disappointed at it's reception. ( ) Anyway, stubborn bastard that I am, it only made me like the series even more. Months later, I came across a copy of this set in an online auction, and at ¥2,000, I drunkenly bidded on it, to the consternation of missus def. Was it all worth it? You'll have to read to find out. Set#: 7316 Name: Excavation Searcher Theme: Space/Life On Mars Year: 2001 Pieces: 471 Minifigs: 3 Martians: Pollux, Canopus, and Vega Price: 2,000 yen! MSP: $50 U.S, £39.99 Peeron Brickset Bricklink The box The box imagery is quite nice. The silhouette of Mars with a landscape of Mars and the Searcher working in the foreground. Even the digital noise, looking somewhat hologram like, adds to the sci-fi effect. Full points for the box art. The back shows how to use the modular aspect of it. Dig the website image in the lower right. Yes, that's the year 2000 speaking to us loud and clear. Remember the Internet? The sets three Martians are named on the side. I like that they want to give them identities. The booklet The set comes with a brochure showing some of the other sets available at the time. Other than the rover, I have none of these, and the curiosity is still piqued. The last two pages of instructions show the unfortunately simple process of making a mech out of the set. The back shows the majority of the line; Got it, got it, need it, need it, got it, got it, got it, need it. The Pieces There are three figures, and though they are 50% battle droid, I don't hate them. Each head has individualized printing, and they have their own color scheme. So, they aren't fantastic, I wish they had separated legs, but they are alright. The heads are very cool. Also, despite the bizarre sounding names, all are named after stars, so they're educational too! A pile of bricks in exciting colors. This is a key to understanding the series. Though a sci-fi series, it is decidedly anti-flash. No electric colors a la Power Miners for this excavator. The set comes with a number of printed pieces, as well as some that could be considered pure greeble. Those beige pieces at the bottom look like they were custom made for a pipe organ. The Build The set has a number of modular builds. The first is the front cockpit, with glowy radar arm, and giant grabber. Second is a pair of legs, with hinges between the upper beige and grey. There are lock pieces on the top, and in the facing grey piece. They fit together in a mutant sort of way; they can't stand upright unless they balance on the giant claw. The next part has two florescent rocks, that have mineral looking pieces to keep inside. They go into this docking bay, which has arms that open and close to lock them in. Attaching this, the set can stand on its own feet, and to be honest, this is a pretty cool looking set on its own. You can visualize it wandering the Martian landscape, picking up rocks. Next we have the crane arm, which besides having two joints, is also on a swivel, and has a perch for a controller to stand on. It snaps in, and we have the first have of the set together. The second piece is a sort of rock-processing center. It has prongs at the front, which can enter the back of the main set, but they don't snap into place, and seem meant for positioning. The Finished Product So here it all is. It's just a bit too big to give a clear shot of all of it. It is a nice playset. The underside of it has this little hoverer, which looks a lot better than the minis including in a lot of Star Wars sets. I didn't position the prongs down as in the box art. I think this looks just fine. The front cockpit open up, and the control panel pivots to help position the pilot easier. I like the lights overhead. It's very functional! The claw is the perfect size to clamp the rocks. Vega transports it to the processor. He drops it on the ramp. And Canopus can do whatever it is he does with these mysterious red rocks. Finally, Pollux can detach from the rest and convert his vehicle into a mech for strolling around. The Final Verdict Design: 9/10 This is a really well designed set. It has a lot of details, and is also functional. To add to that, it is modular, which is rare for a set of this time. The only weakness is the color. It's a very appropriate color for an Excavation Searcher, but it's not all that stimulating. Build: 7/10 It's interesting, but nothing very challenging or shocking. Playability: 9/10 It has a purpose and a narrative built in, plus, if you have other Life on Mars sets, you can join them together with their combined modularity. Very, very smart! Minifigures: 7/10 They are not quite proper minifigs, but that's not a big problem. But it's not mind-blowing either. Very nice painting though. Price: 7/10 I think $50 was too much for this set at that time. A fair price in year-2000-dollars would have been $35. Perhaps the charge was for the unique pieces and colors. I got it for about $20, so I'm absolutely thrilled with the price. Overall: 9/10 I'm rating this on the design and uniqueness. Space sets are hit and miss in terms of design. Sometimes they are ridiculous in a great, playful way, and sometimes they are simply ridiculous. This is the opposite, an attempt to do something that seems grounded in hard sci-fi. I really lucked out on this set. The previous owner was, I can only imagine, psychotically nerdy. I bought it used, but the box was in near perfect condition, having been surgically opened. All the original bags were there, opened and resealed with a heat seal (which melts the plastic together). And all the pieces looked like new. So, he'd opened it, then stored it for 10 years, then sold it for half what he paid for it. Unbelievable. The Life on Mars series was a great experiment that proved to be unsuccessful, hence the action oriented Mars series that came out only a few years later. While it's definitely not a 'must-have' set, it's a great curiosity, a set that seems to combine the Town series with the Space theme, creating somewhat mundane sci-fi sets. I totally understand why it wasn't a super-hit with the kids, but for a nerdy guy like me, its a kind of manna. Now I just need to track down cheap copies of the really big sets.

Here's some cosplay from this week's Tokyo Game Show! http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2010/09/cosplay-tokyo-game-show/ If you check the Comic Con cosplay, it's just the same, with superheroes instead of anime and video games.

Happy birthday ISC, one of Eurobricks most valuable assets

? sculpey requires lots of thought, and moreover, skill, but it allows you to have any shape you want. If you're going to stick to established parts, you will need to be cleverer to make your figure have the zazz! to win. I bet the winner uses sculpey of some sorts. It produces great results. Nothing dubious about my first post

I think I might just give this a try! I'm not going to be using any sculpy, so I'll have to give it a lot of thought.

Wow, the summer went by quickly. Season 3 has already begun! Episode 13: Voyage of Temptation Continuing from last week's fan favorite (?) Mandalorian separatist plot, Obi Wan is assigned to guard his old flame, the Duchess Satine. Satine insists that the Mandalorian empire must be neutral in the galactic war. Like season one's Lurman-peacekeeping episode, it's kind of silly to argue when you've already been dragged into it. So, they spat, Obi Wan calls her stubborn, but is it really just their old feelings coming to the surface? Their Royal shuttle leaves for Coruscant under Republic protection, but sinister stowaways are on board, Separatist spider-assassin droids. At first, they seem like a poor choice, as they get taken out rather quickly, but then each has a pile of baby spider robots... which are useless too. But this leads to the meat of the plot: the stowaway was brought in by a senator. Obi Wan exposes the turncoat, and saves the Duchess, after some generic fight scenes. Though the story seems like it's smart, it's really, really poorly thought out. Here's what we learn: 1) Mandalorian shipping bays have no lights. Really poor design there, Mandalorians. 2) Undercover senators will expose themselves at the drop of a hat, despite the many many years it took to establish respect and credibility in the government. 3) The Jedi have no concept of 'lock down'. Despite knowing there are stowaways and turncoats, the Jedi will not increase security, and anyone can just barge into the cockpit and kill everyone. No security necessary. 4) Who calls their liberation group 'Death Watch'? Mandalorians, apparently. It's not as bad as "The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants," but it's pretty poor. 5) Assassin Droids should be called 'Assassin' Droids, because they have never successfully killed anything they were supposed to. Despite all this stupidity, the show does a last minute save, having Anakin defuse the tension at the climax. It was a very smart solution, and perfectly in character. So, not a bad episode, merely mediocre, with nothing special except the final moments. Rating: 5/10 Notice it has 0% in the 'Favorite Episode' poll. I suppose the highlight of the episode is Assassin Probe. This spider-like machine is fast moving, and has the same sort of heavy metal styling of the Assassin Droids (as compared to the shininess of the protocol droids). Add to that droids in the droid, and it's pretty cool. Assassin Probe This shuttle appeared briefly in the last episode, but very, very briefly. Most of this episode takes part on board here. It's a great design, though it only makes sense as a ship that docks in space, not as one that arrives on the planet. Coronet This is the bad guy. He was a senator, but he threw it all away. He's lame. Tal Merrik Briefly, we get to see a little more of Mandalorian costume and design. I quite like these guards. Lego appearing: None! Lego wishlist: Assassin Probe, Coronet Next: Coruscant, and more robot bobbies!

The guy's writing 42 PMs, right? I don't think he's sending them out at one time. Take your time Zephyr

I'm not asking you to call me daddy, am I A purty thing like you can call me anything you like