robuko

Great idea for a challenge SK!

I was astounded by the quality level of the blizzard. All the guys with high MOC counts also have superb quality. You would expect it to be a trade off but I think it just reflects dedication

I analyse businesses full time and this level of return expectation is unrealistic even for high-value added industries. I think you are referring to a high gross margin but only pharmaceuticals come close to this level, and they spend 10-15 years on R&D first, which can't be ignored. Apple makes a 40% operating margin, for example. What we are discussing here is basically hoarding inventory in the hope of speculative gains, and the value add is limited to the provision of warehouse space, inventory financing, and pick & pack. There are no barriers to entry and the value add is very low, especially in the USA where real estate and finance are very cheap. In a fully competitive and rational market, which is becoming more the case, I would expect returns of something like 5% a year from this type of activity. The key question for me in this asset class is - are all the 40 year olds with UCS Falcons still going to want them when they are 50? Is it just junk when you are 60? 70? Who will be the marginal buyer? good luck

Wow, what business school was that? The Return on Equity for listed Chinese companies is around 10-15%, and that is roughly the same as global levels. There are very very few non-speculative businesses that can make a 3x type of return.

I think I've had the break I needed now. I don't think I will participate at the same pace as last year, it was too exhausting really, but I will contibute some builds when the PGTC has something special in mind. If the rumoured Space Guilds project gets up and running I will probably give that more attention just to develop my building style and storytelling. I hope I can do both. I do love the Historica project and especially all the great people in this forum, but for me the builds have got too big and complex (or the standards have got too high ) to really want to compete at a high level. I would like to see more vignette challenges and smaller builds.

I do appreciate all the hard work that so many people have put into running an amazing project, especially all the guild leaders, and Ecc and ZC for stepping up. I don't have strong views on future game mechanics, I will probably go along with whatever. The PGTC is not conflict-driven but is happy to supply the highest bidder with weapons et c. I would hate to see Kali broken apart though. I have already built in Nocturnus, Avalonia and Mitgardia styles and I am happy to develop any of them further (Nocturnus is the most fun). @CBB, I too would like to hear your suggestions, you have so many amazing creative ideas that I am sure you have a lot of great thoughts to contribute on game mechanics. ZC has put in an incredible amount of work to keep us going and is obviously someone who is totally open minded on constructive feedback. If you are serious about changing guilds, you have prove yourself in the top ranks of Kaliphlin builders already, although I have harboured my suspicions about Zakon's Nocturnus sympathies since the "lake of blood" incident

This is a win for AFOLs. Worth it on parts for MOCers, incredibly generous in minifigures, great design (of course, like all of Marcos'!) et c. I has zero interest until I saw it and now I think it is probably worth getting. Conceptually it's a bit odd though. It's designed for kids to play with, but the price point is too high even for a main Christmas present, and it's still a recession in a lot of the world. I think Alternator is right, the only way it fits is to replace the Death Star playset.

Beautiful wings. Have you seen Jordan's fabulous version?

Welcome to Eurobricks! Look forward to seeing your Batcave and Stark Mansion.

love the crazy forks and awesome detailing!

:laugh: fair point Z! There are quite a lot of awesome LCC Mocs being posted in the main history forum now too

1Tb is great. Layout not so much. Buggy.

I would love to see the FF and the Silver Surfer. I was watching the first 2 films recently, and a Lego Jessica Alba and Iaon Gruffud would be a fine idea, I don't think they need to change the cast for the 2015 film. The Thing will be hard to get in scale, he is smaller than the Hulk.

Holy bricks! That is a phenomenal build! We salute you!

Welcome, Abu. It's great to see another HK AFOL on Eurobricks!

Too awesome! My favourites are the ambulance and the green windscreen varietals.

What a great idea! Love the reversed suits, which is an affordable way to build out the range. I am eyeing the Beetle torso front and back now thinking it could be a good custom for one of the suits.

My family is still away so I am watching superhero movies X-Men. cool characters and set up. Good start. Good work by Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen. Lame nonsensical ending. X-2 kind of forgettable. Maybe the brain mutant made me forget. Patrick Stewart below par, Kelly Hu very underused. Ian McKellen on form. Lame contrived ending to set us up for: X-men the last stand. Actually a very interesting storyline and premise, turned into an utterly terrible film. The" Revenge of the Sith" of the X-Men. Famke Janssen somehow levels up 10 grades of X. Hugh Jackman gets everybody killed in a thoroughly unnecessary war where he isn't even on the right side. Wins top prize in a hotly contested field for lame X-men endings. Can't they afford decent writers? Patrick Stewart back in the game and good work from Ellen Page, Vinnie Jones and Halle Berry. Kelsey Grammer cast against type is very good. One good scene where Magneto and Prof X find Jean. Wolverine quite engaging, especially the first half, then descends into the "Hulk fights Hulkier Hulk" motif. Good directing, solid performance from Liev Schreiber and Lynn Collins is superb. I think the ending kind of invalidates the role of Stryker in X-2. X-men First Class. Rescued the franchise. Great directing, fantastic performances from Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy and Kevin Bacon, also from Bill Mliner. Wonderful sets, and a proper thought-provoking storyline - which in fairness is kind of the same as the first film, just much much better executed. Bryan Singer will return to direct the next installment in 2014, which fills me with meh :hmpf_bad: although the cast is off the charts excellent. Green Lantern - good idea, good effects, almost a good story, pedestrian directing and Ryan Reynolds is just too bland for me. Peter Sarsgaard the stand-out. And I re-watched Thor, finding the Easter Egg at the end for the first time. Hypothesis: this was a much better story than all the other Marvel films because Kenneth Branagh directed and gave it some deeper themes. Get him back for another one! Chris Hemsworth's take on Thor is either very deep or quite hilariously shallow, but anyway he manages to forget all the messages in this film by the time he makes it to The Avengers.

Wow, lots of great posts here. Wonderful to see your non-lego work, Polywen. Pigbrick, your first picture especially is phenomenal. Anticyclone, great sculpture, very creative, I really like the paintwork, which brings her to life. def, you make me miss yukimatsuri! The more washed-out palette suits your style better, although I think the Coke can should be brighter. Nice line-work on the last piece. I did not know about Osamu's Buddha, is it good? It sounds very interesting.

This is sad news. He was the creator of some of the best special effects ever, in my opinion. The hero of stop-motion. A great man, and an inspiration to many. R.I.P. :angel_sing:

My regret list - UCS MF (who would want 12kgs of plastic cluttering up their home?), Cafe Corner (too big and expensive), and all of Batman 1. I think the one I was closest to buying was the Catwoman Pursuit, so that is the winner! Somehow I thought the tumbler was too expensive at GBP50 in Japan...I thought I could get it on discount and of course it never happened.

Looks good! Slightly odd selection of suits, do I see 2 Mark VIs and no heartbreaker? It would be great if we could have some instructions for the cars too. Not making Tony's cars was one of the oddest misses of the Iron Man line, but maybe there were manufacturer licensing issues.

Fantastic! The chassis is very nicely done, and the bodywork looks amazing. You have captured the delicate balance of angles and curves of the Fulvia beautifully.

Very nice! The use of colour to bring out the texture is great. Wonderful minifigs too

@Soccerkid - Apologies. in my book you are one of the Great Lords of Mitgardia. My Lords, The desert is an infinite and lonely place, and one can be prone to visions there. This night I was visited by a ghast or vision, it seemed to me to be some kind of Drow Spirit. It said: There is another Great Lord. One who has been with us for all six challenges, although for the last two, he was banished to the Shadow Lands. Thus he could not compete, but did enter, and the entries were: Challenge 1 - Tower of Ashaba Challenge 2 - Llurth Dreir Challenge 3 - Elesee-Luna Challenge 4 - Waterdeep Challenge 5 - Netheril And for the Challenge 6 - Sword coast (Sshamath) All can be found here: www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?m=Angeli So saying, the creature put these dark visions in my brain and I cannot shake them, nor can I stop hearing the word, until I set them here to canvas. Sshamath...