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Haven't you been 100% wrong every time you've ever accused me? Isn't it about time to take whatever vibe you get off of me and go with the opposite? Just a suggestion

Woohoo! Thank you, this is truly democracy in action. The will of the people will not, no, it can not be fettered. People who voted for themselves in a blatant act of copycattery? I suspect you. People who voted for me in an act of sucking up to me? I suspect you. People who voted for Carol for no reason? I suspect you. And those who couldn't be bothered to vote thereby muddying the voting record? I suspect you as well. Clearly, this is a precarious position we are in. I will do my best.

There is no chance that the role of speaker would give scum the upper hand enough to end the game in a manner of days. It's unlikely. Anyway, that being said, as long as you are a Loyal Representative, you have nothing to fear from me. I am playing absolutely straight here. It's always so much easier to be town than scum. The lying, it's hard to do, but being truthful is easy. And I will not lie to you, my fellow people. Honestly, I don't really care if I get the position or not, I think it'll be a minor difference in the game, but as I have said, I am a mere vanilla townie, so it makes me disposable in the grand scheme, and if there is some ability of this position that is of any importance, I will do everything in my power to exploit it for the benefit of the town. In fact, some of the games I've won (and lost) were because I exploited some new mechanic beyond what the host might have predicted... Hmmm... One other point: not voting for speaker should be looked down upon as anti-townie play, much like non-lynching is. You don't have to vote for me, but all good townies should be showing some cards day one. Pussyfooting is not acceptable in life-death situations! Do not pussyfoot!

What? We don't know what the role even does yet. We do know that in past games with an electable position, that person got killed a whole lot, except when they were scum. So, the best thing to do is have a vanilla loyalist apply. Preferably one who actively participates. I fulfil those criteria. It's day one, and the votes are a shot in the dark, but like always, they can be used at a future point to see what the scum's strategy is. Pierce, you know me, we go back many years. Moreover, you trust me. All the legislation we've passed together. Can you think of anybody more suited to a position of speaker?

I think it's important to have a little sense of humour before getting uppity over green text.

I fear there is an element of copy-cattery going on. Certainly, after the results of the past few cases, the average team of Octans would not want me to be in any sort of power position. A coordinated "I AM SPARTACUS!" move might be a way to quickly defuse my bid for speakerdom. Logically, I expect the earliest participators to fight my logic, do the whole, "How would we know you are Loyal?" dance, and then accuse me of being Octan for trying to grasp at power. Not simply to mimic what I have already done. Rutherford, Nottingham, consider yourselves on notice! This is a record early ping!

Well, as you all know, I am a Loyal Representative. Some might even say, the loyalist of the loyal. Not I, I am for too humble to say such a thing. As a Loyal Representative, I volunteer for the position of speaker. I am a mere vanilla player, and if the speaker suffers from 'mayor syndrome', whereupon they are murdered one after the other (see the case study of Eurobricks Mafia's, 1 and 2), I will not be a massive loss to the town. As well, I rather enjoy speaking. Speaker: Speedy (Siegfried Dixon)

Siegfried here!

Just look at my name But, seriously, it's an advance copy, in the way that a music site might have a copy of an album ahead of time

As much as we'd love to trust you can play, there have been a lot of problems with new players, plus EB mafia rules are a bit different than other sites, so playing a school game is a stipulation to playing full games.

It's funny, this movie is called Baymax in Japanese. The original title, Big Hero 6 is an American idea of a zany Japanese name, but for the Japanese, someone in marketing decided it wouldn't appeal to the Japanese.

I posted that here since you posted that there

Consider sending out a round of PMs as well. I sent one out to a lot of the people who had posted about mafia in the announcements thread, consider PM'ing those who graduated from my game.

1. What is your mafia experience here on EB? How about other sites? I played with you before. 2. What do you think of your performance in EB Mafia so far? What are your strengths and weakness? What do you want to improve? I just need to keep my temper in check with Bob. But he makes me so mad sometimes! 3. If you just graduated from Mafia School - have you read any other mafia games on EB? If so, what have you learned from them? I just graduated students from Mafia School, and I learned nothing from them! 4. Will you be able to post every game day? More importantly, will you be able to truly participate in the game (as opposed to showing up to post once and clocking out)? If not, reconsider your application. Yeah, I'm not cool, I use the Internet too much. 5. Finally, the fun question. What is your favorite LEGO theme? Modular buildings.

Waiting on the Christmas mafia to start...

As much as some people might want to pick up just one, it wouldn't be practical with the layout for Ideas sets. Ideas sets come as deluxe packages, with the books and boxes. I think the cost to produce three would add enough to make it a less attractive price overall. Plus, I think sales of the set of three would guarantee the best overall sales, even though one of the three might sell better on its own. So, money.

No handles on it, nothing to grip

Great job with them! Neither I nor the grand overlords at EB noticed the building mistake. Oops! I'll fix it and take a few replacement pictures when I'm home from work. Cheers!

I have hundreds of sets, and got over a dozen 2014 sets, and somehow I haven't seen it before. Are you sure it's "quite common"? I would have called this one quite common:

Set#: 21301 Name: Birds Theme: Ideas Year: 2015 Pieces: 580 MSP: $44.99 Brickset Bricklink The box The box is nicely laid out, with a wood grain pattern overlaid with photos of the flowers and trees where the birds naturally occur. It's a tasteful package, suitable since the content is, compared to anything LEGO makes other than the Architecture series, appealing to builders who like to display more than play. The back shows the birds' natural habitats. Looking at the front, I doubt many who aren't ornithologists would know this from the front of the box. I only know the blue jay, since it's an iconic Canadian bird, but I was unaware that Europe had its own species of robin. The box is small, but is surprisingly heavy, so I thought it was densely packed with pieces, but the main reason is because of: The booklets I should have known, since the other ideas sets I have also had square-bound, glossy instruction booklets. This set comes with one for each bird. While most of the content is unique to each book, there is an introduction and some post-ads repeated in each, repeated in three languages, which seems wasteful and redundant. Likely, they couldn't squeeze it all into a single book easily, so they decided to separate it into three books rather than two, since there are three sets, but the repetition wasn't necessary, in my opinion. Regardless, the booklets live up to the high standard set by past sets from the deluxe Ideas series. There is also a short collection of statements from the original designer of the series. Each book has a description of the bird of each book. It gives the set a very deluxe feel. The back of one repeats the box back, and collects the sets. This is my first time seeing a non-screaming boy WIN! page. It's a treat. A massive difference is that Japan has been replaced by China as the non-Euro language. LEGO has been massively increasing in presence in Japan over the last five years (for example, it's pages four and five of the Japanese Toys R Us Christmas catalog this year), so this was a surprise to me. I guess as China's economy has eclipsed Japan's already, it is the major world growth market, and it makes sense, but it's still kind of a surprise after years of seeing Japan's 当てよう！ on the back of set instructions. The European Robin (Erithacus Rubecula) The first build comes in two bags. The parts selection is all pretty standard parts. If you have a fair amount of LEGO, there is a chance you could build this without the set. The first part of the build is the base. This is an identical base to that of the second build. The robin starts with the underbelly, a real SNOT style build. When turned over, a centre block is added, to affix the sides to. A second block is placed on top, and the first wings are placed on the side. I've seen similar techniques in sets to get SNOT done, but I thought this was really cleverly made. It is truly a creative build. In back, SNOT techniques are used again, and the tail is clipped in with three separate parts, allowing you to splay them if you so choose. The other side's wings are attached, and you get a very solid block of a bird. Finally the head and breast are placed in. A stick is made to stand on, which is dropped into the base. The connection is loose, meaning that the bird will spin around whichever way the base is tilted. Since most will display it on a shelf, it's not such a relevant point. It looks really nice. A shot from below. The SNOT on this could be renamed, SFES (Studs From Every Side). It's really fantastic, cute, accurate. The tail is a little splayed here. It really has captured the dimensions of a robin. Not a North American robin, which is a little more elongated, but I've seen birds like this. Except for the red colour, it captures the feel of a chickadee. A few pieces remain. The Blue Jay (Cyanocitta Cristata) Build two also comes in two bags. The pieces, for the most part, are nothing I don't already have, but I would say I don't have much in baby blue. These pieces are new for me though. I've seen some new shapes with SNOT studs in the last two years, so these don't shock me, but their shape is a little off the beaten path, having six studs length flat, and four studs perpendicular. <edit> Apparently, this piece was in some City truck sets recently, and is therefore now classified as a "common piece," as City trucks are the most common sets. The blue jay as well starts off with the bottom, studs out. Its feet aren't nearly as developed as the robin's was. At first, it was a little disappointment, but on the finished build, it's not really a big deal. The base of the blue jay connects to the tail with a clip, and the tail is attached to a pivoting slope to help get a natural contour. It looks pretty good. The wings use a ball connection, allowing them a little movement. The head also uses a click attachment, which pivots a little, but not much. Mainly it allows the head to connect at an odd degree, not square or perpendicular. The finished product is pretty beautiful. The crest on the head, the organic angles. It's striking. Since the wings are on a ball-socket, if you move them upwards, you can see inside, but that's a complain only a non-AFOL would make. And a few pieces remain. The Green Violetear (Calibre Thalassinus) The last bird is the violetear, such an uncommon bird that my computer spell checks it as 'violator'. Both my wife and I, and anyone I showed the set to, confused it for a hummingbird. Without research, I'm going to assume they are at least cousins ancestrally. The pieces are also pretty standard overall, but I love the brightness of them. The first part of the build is the flower. It's not so complicated, but communicates what it has to clearly and succinctly. It's quite effective in its simplicity. And a few pieces remain. This finished piece should be more effective than the first two, as it's a diorama. Unfortunately, because of the slightness of the build, it's my least favourite. Probably, it is mainly the wings that don't stun me. They are logical enough and capture the shape at a glance, but I would have liked a little more depth and complexity in them. More work are spent on the bird's underside than the overside. The two-tones of green done in cheese slopes look nice. The overside isn't nearly as impressive. The wings show the back of the studs, and the back is simply two slopes. It's not a bad build by any means, but it's a bit too simple for my tastes. All Together My wife always says "Oh, great!" when she looks at my built LEGO sets, but I felt that she actually meant it a bit more than usual with this set, as it was very at odds with the mini-fig scale that she's used to. I have to admit, I feel about the same way. I have over a hundred of mini-fig scale sets at this point, and simply because of that, this set feels really fresh to me. It's something I'll be very happy to keep at my desk. The Final Verdict Design: 10/10 I need to review them a little separately, since they all have different points. Of the three, the one which piques me the most is definitely the blue jay, but, to be totally honest, is because it was so nostalgic to me. As a Canadian, blue jays and cardinals were hammered into my head as 'Canadian winter birds,' as much as robins were labeled 'spring birds.' I just feel good to have one sitting to the left of me as I type this. That said, I think there is a strong tie with the robin as to which was designed best. The violetear is substantially less interesting as a model, though I'm sure it was difficult to design on the whole, being a slight bird. Ultimately, I can't imagine most (sane) people complaining about this set. Build: 9/10 The set is non-repetitive, apart from the wings. On top of that, there is a lot of clever SNOT techniques, which change from build to build, making all of it a fresh experience. Playability: 2/10 I don't think this is a set for playing with. Price: 10/10 It has a MSRP below 10 cents a piece, so would anyone complain about that? Great colours too. Makes me think those mini-figs might just cost a little too much. Overall: 10/10 I haven't awarded many 10/10 scores. Some nines, but not any tens that I can remember. Part of it has to be that I've built so many sets over the last few years, that I've gotten a little tired (I bought 15 buildable sets this year so far) . This is fresh. It is memorable. It simply taps into a love of LEGO that I hadn't tapped into yet. It's actually new. Conclusion: This is a great set. It stands out against my collection of LEGO. If you have a deep LEGO collection, I think this would be a must have. If you are simply a fan of themes and mini-figs, it might not be to your tastes at all. One thing I can say though: if you are an AFOL wanting to get a non-AFOL, non-geek fan, a set, this might just be the one. It's charming. The Architecture series could do the job as well, but I think this is a more appealing set than many of the architecture sets, and priced a lot better too.

Honestly, this was the worst looking, worst written of any game I've done, and I appreciate that the players were able to have a good time regardless. I threw it together quickly with no plan when the hosting went up... But, based on experience, I was able to construct a passable narrative. Luckily, mafia is founded on play, not on graphics (though I'm still baffled why I was able to produce A+ graphics on day three, but not on day two or four). Thing is, the mafia games here have been in a lull recently, so I want to help keep them up, and this game was one, and I'll host again soon if need be. The game rules are the main thing, not the story, the graphics, or the wacky rules (though those help). Yeah, I should have been consistent there. Anyone I remembered from the last two games had an auto-pass, so James, Jluck, Mostly, Dave, Mencot, and Adventurer were all N/A. You all passed!

I don't think there's any perfect way to criticize, and certainly I'm less tactful than many, but in all cases, it's not a personal thing. Just keep playing, and see where it goes. My first game was a major flame out, and Tammo and Trumpet King had major blunders against me in their earliest games, and both went on to be multiple hosts and solid players. If you put in a lot of effort, the potential to make an megablocks of yourself increases, but you also have something to learn from. It really is a way to become a better player.

I did a google search of 'no double posting mafia rule' and this is the first page: More 'almost' than 'always,' it seems.

I'll take a look. But by 'almost always,' it's strange I've never seen it on the three I have experience with. All the same, if you don't really care when you're playing, well, nobody would want you on their team. That's pretty much why we have mafia school, to weed this sort of attitude out. You seem to be offended, and there is no reason to be. You didn't play well, have admitted you weren't trying, and logically, aren't going to get positive feedback. That makes sense, right?

I would simply dial back the confidence a bit. This is two games in a row I saw you speaking like you knew what was going on, and you were wrong, plus you got duped by the scum. Using a lot more 'maybe' and 'possibly' instead of 'I'm sure' and 'I bet' would lower friction with the Daves in the game, and keep you from being duped. Just don't trust yourself so quickly. Of course. And played mafia on two other forums. Never heard that rule there either. You still didn't defend yourself whatsoever, and needed the host to prod you to do so. What did you do that made you deserving of a pass?