def

Whoa, not too many of us here. Jinkies is what we say, right?

"I'm a dog." No. Thelma, because I always say jinkees. As of next week, yes. <shrugs arms>

Yes.

LEGO is Danish? You're privy to inside knowledge the rest of us aren't, so I defer to your expertise. Wonder why sets cost more in Denmark than in America....

I'm in Sapporo, so I go to the bi-annual event here. I wouldn't travel for a LEGO event at this point; I love it, but it's not so much a creative outlet for me as it is something to scratch a collecting itch. I'm more in a comics mode.

Amazon Japan has stopped selling Lego directly as of this year. Something happened this year to LEGO's sell through price that caused Amazon to shift their policy. Amazon used to be 30% less than Toys R Us here. Not anymore. This will drastically affect my purchases. "I need" sets have been downgraded to "I want" sets. The X-Wing from the new SW sets is one.

Prices are to the market. iTunes songs are not the same price worldwide either. Lego's suggested retail price is about 30% higher here. That way, most stores (Amazon, Bic Camera, etc) can advertise 30% off! and stores like Toys R Us can continue to gouge.

The new Force Awakens sets appeared in the store and There are a few I'd like, but just not that much. The new vehicles are pretty interesting though, and I had to get just one. Set#: 75099 Name: Rey's Speeder Theme: Star Wars Year: 2015 Pieces: 193 Minifigs: 2; Rey and Unkar's Thug Price: ¥3180 MSP: U.S.$19.99, £19.99 Peeron Brickset Bricklink The box There's some action, some Kylo Ren at the top. Schematics and action points are shown. And she's surfing a box top. Is that a spoiler? The booklet There is one book, cover same as the box. You know the deal. Inside, we see the instructions, plus the action features. We also see the characters of the first wave of toys from this series. They are pretty disposable to me now, but I have no doubt they will be burned in my brain by the time 2016 comes. I hate the prequels, and have seen them all ten times, so I will know The Force Awakens intimately through sheer habit. The Pieces Two bags, it's a small set. As per usual. A sticker sheet. I've moved beyond calling it The Dreaded Sticker Sheet. It is a matter of economics, they have to use them to avoid the price of this going from ridiculous to ludicrous. The set has two figs, Rey and Thug. They are nice enough. The Thug is bland enough to make me think of the bland dementors from Harry Potter, or the bland Chitari from Avengers one. The close up on the thug is alright. At least they have a face. But it's no Tusken Raider. Rey has a second face, and it's nice, but not that different from her first face. Gotta love the goggles and head wrap. This probably was 20% of the cost of the set. Got a nice sculpting, nice painting. Nice piece. And nice sculpting on the back. The Build This is the build as of the end of bag one. Fairly symmetric. The Finished Product The speeder is one of the best looking things to come out of the trailer. I think it's pretty damn cool. It's not exactly symmetrical. It's just 90% symmetrical. The lower back booster twists to push a piece to open the door. Inside, a strangely shaped box fits snugly. The box is pulled out. The cockpit is pretty damn cool as well. Open, and looking down. The side has Z-shaped piece integrating the newish blasters that have become the norm. I hadn't seen these before. They'll get no action from me since I never pew pew toys, but it's an interesting new piece. The Final Verdict Design: 10/10 This is really well made. There is no criticism of the source or the interpretation. Build: 8/10 I like the build in the nose of it, but overall, not a single technique surprised me. It's a workman like build. Playability: 8/10 I think a little tension is needed for play. This set has Rey and a Thug, theoretically a conflict, but a pretty vague one. Points given for the 'action' features which would actually be fun for kids. Minifigures: 8/10 The printing is fine, and I love the turban, but the designs are more perfunctory than illuminating. There's no Lobot here, for sure. Price: 7/10 Should be ¥2000, cost ¥3000 plus tax. Way too much for a little set. Due to oil prices and the American dollar rising, 2015 became the year that LEGO wasn't worth the cost, here in Japan, and this set suffers for that. Overall: 8.5/10 This is the most interesting design in the Force Awakens trailer. It's a speeder, and the colour reminds my of the 7113 Tusken Raiders Encounter set. There's a lot to like about it. It's not a great value, and it feels like the LEGO GROUP is testing the price points with this series. That said, this set won't break the bank, and looks a lot more iconic than any other Force Awakens set that isn't clearly based on Original Trilogy vehicles.

I've officially put in a word (through PM) of support for you participating in this game, but I don't think details should be swept under the carpet. There was a concerning issue there, and I needed to make a statement when I read it. You can review it again if you want: http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=101898&st=25#entry2044254 Please keep in mind, it was a problem. Not a bannable offence, not a blacklisting. Simply an issue that had to be addressed. I, and all the mafia hosts at EB, want games to be inclusive, and you and everybody else are invited to play. We want you to play

There was more to it than not trying to defend yourself. Remember that you said you didn't bother playing since you were vanilla town, which totally went against the spirit of the game. I hope you have a better attitude toward the game regardless of the role if you play again

This game looks pretty fun. Any time the scum team gets mauled down game-day by game-day, there's a lot of humour there, regardless of how frustrating it is to the host.

You (and Bob and Palathadric) are really kind. I suggest you be the def this game, meaning, voting day one the moment it opens, for whoever you want, and play like you expect to be killed ASAP, so you don't worry about becoming a day one lynch for sticking out too much. I'd love to play just to get praise and stroke my ego, but I do end up getting frustrated and bitchy pretty much every game, and that's not a pretty side of myself. I'm trying to focus on the positive at the moment

I really want to join to help put the number of players past 20, but the last few games I played, I was doing the same thing: playing to support more than because I wanted to play. I'm a little mafia-ed out, and need to take a break For people on the fence... Sign up! Pies is a tight host! Be part of the legend!

There is no game in the official pipeline right now. You have a chance if you apply to the current game to skip the process, but be warned, that first game is often baffling.

It is, because of too many unfortunate occurrences with newbies, but if the host felt very comfortable with it and the player had some understanding of the game, maybe the rule could be bent.

That day one thing... I casually switched my votes around. That wasn't waffly at all, because I wasn't being pressured to change, and I had given reasons. Your vote changes seemed much more so that you wouldn't be under pressure, and looked scummy. The moment Shadows suggested we lose a claimed watcher, he was a valid target. And you agreed more or less with your 'no-lynch' policy, better to lynch the watcher than nobody. That was scummy logic

I have to agree! From the outside, it seemed a very reasonable, cagey play style!

Thanks for a day of fun! I have no desire to be town leader, I just participate, and it can put me in that position. Keep in mind the last game I played, I was accused of being scum for not being the town leader fast enough. I don't mind metagaming, but too much expectation on you takes some fun out of the game. Anyway, killing me was your downfall, and I think that will be a lesson learned Lady K was scumming it right up in thread on days 3 & 4. I suspected she might be a town PR if only because she wasn't coming up as a lynch nominee. Deciding not to lynch Shadows day one until she was pressured to just started things off on the wrong foot, from my perspective.

Creator is a weird beast of a series: mini-figure scale sets of different sizes, non-min-figure scale vehicles, and basically anything that qualifies as 'miscellaneous.' This year, one of the more colourful sets appearing in the line is Rainforest Animals. Let's take a look! Set#: 31031 Name: Rainforest Animals Theme: Creator Year: 2015 Pieces: 215 Minifigs: None MSP: U.S.$14.99 Peeron Brickset Bricklink The box The box is nothing surprising, the main model, with the two alternates on the side. At a glance, the shades of green used are really attractive. It jumps out off of the shelf, especially compared to a lot of the other Creator sets, which tend to have a lot more sky blue shown. The back of the box shows the 'action' features, such as they are. They will be shown in depth as the review goes on. The booklets The books have images based on the box set. They are cleanly designed with the requisite ads and piece list in the back. The Pieces The set is relatively small, and outside the googly eye printed pieces, nothing was particularly surprising. I love the colours though. The greens are lush. Build One: the piraña The base of the fish is solid, no hollow space in this build. The set(s) uses pieces in an unusual way in places. The bridge of the nose at the front uses two of the pivoting pieces that are normally used for doors and such are stacked and used only to get a nice texture to the front of the fish. Those sorts of irregular piece usage separates professional Lego builds from amateur ones. And a few steps later, it's finished! It's not a complicated build, but it is very, very economical and polished. The fins are solid and don't flop around. The base is stable, it won't fall over. I like the curves on it. It cuts a nice silhouette. And one from behind, for completionists. Build Two: Chameleon The second build is the chameleon. The base of it is solid as the piraña is. It's quite a chunky thing. I think the colours are a little more random than in the piraña, but nature is like that, and the three shades of green play well off of each other. The legs are put on, and I think they work better than they should. The feet are just stacked corner pieces. It works though, and they are very stable. The ability of the head to tilt is smartly restricted. It keeps it from going to unnatural positions. An unused hinge keeps it from flopping down too much. This is my favourite model of the three. It's got a funky quality to it. Build Three: Parrot/frog/fly The fly is a very simple build, and cute too. Next is the frog. Again, not too many steps. The hinged back feet are a clever design. The final frog is pretty nice, and has one action feature: A gaping maw. The shape of the big green slope is very close to an actual frog's shape. Could that be its original purpose? The third build is the parrot. At first I was a little baffled by it. Where is everything going to go? Unlike the other two, this thing is hollow... But there is a purpose for this! Turns out the next step solves a little mystery. The horizontal set is turned up, and feet are put on. The next steps build a very well designed head, that snaps on top. This kind of reminds me of the parrot from those Three Caballeros cartoons. Anyway, he's built, and he's a beaut. Of the three, this definitely uses the colours the best. The wings look surprisingly organic, and can splay out like a real bird's might. And go back. This is the weird thing. The head tilts back so you can feed it, as seen on the box. The set comes with four little beige pellets. So why was the inside hollow? Well, the tail pops up and... The bird poops? I guess that's what they're going for. It's interesting, anyway. So that's the third build. It uses a majority of the pieces, and is the one with the most natural colour scheme. The Final Verdict Design: 10/10 I have to review this on what it is: a set under $15 with multiple builds. It's not mind blowing, but nowhere in the set does anything rub the wrong way. The proportions seem right, except possibly the fly. Build: 7/10 It's not boring, but it's not anything I've never done. The parrots feet are interesting, and I like seeing the snot techniques in the build. Playability: 8/10 The fish isn't playable at all. But the piraña, parrot and frog are posable. And kids love things with pooping action. Price: 10/10 I thought this was $30 at first, but upon checking, no, it's $15. I thought $30 would be reasonable, but at $15, it's a good deal. And I love all the colourful, curved slope pieces in the set. Overall: 9/10 This is a solid set, not a must have, but a set that shows what a creative, smart toy Lego can be, away from licenses and flick fire missiles. I would recommend this as a present for any young person. So, it's good. My personal favourite build was the chameleon, and my daughter liked it too, using it as a dragon to fight with Mario, until she smashed it into oblivion. It unlocked her imagination, and that's what this stuff is all about, right?

That is absolutely not true. There are votes thrown for reasons, and then there are sheepish, herd-y votes. Guess which one yours are?

Waffly is voting with zero reason, AKA you. You have only yourself to blame. Your vote is a horribly weak day one vote.

Yeah, we should have stuck to Gregory. Way too waffly. It's near bedtime here, so I'll... I just don't know?! I love day one lynches, and that one seems best. unvote Brian Vote: Gregory (Lady K) Night actions, do your magic!