Peppermint_M

Correction: Gold hands that are both affordable and in a theme I purchase.

Now for my detailed breakdown: Statue of Liberty: If she is the same old green as the trolls and suchlike I can see using the parts for dryads, Batman tAS Poison Ivy/Certain comic iterations of her, a female half orc/troll, goddess of any purpose or element that matches the shade, alien woman... Endless for the head alone. The rest of her is more statue-like than is entirely useful but I am sure I can think of something! Alien: Yawn. The head doesn’t suite the body, he needs to be skinny and spindly. The print is nice enough on the torso. Good and robot like too. Genie: I like this one , certainly, the new smoke puff lower section is nice, the lamp is lovely and the turban ornament is fabulous. Also, gold hands! Leprechaun: I love the hat, Mad Hatter (the Batman baddie) could do with a hat like that. A pot for medieval/earlier cooking is always welcome, the face is nice enough to create any sort of historic character. Butcher: A variety of uses for this chap, his cleaver is great and the meat is a welcome change to chicken. The hat can be easily re-coloured for a variety of uses. Mechanic: A great new mechanic torso, oil smudged face a re-coloured spanner and a really nice toolbox. The very best bit being the hair! Elvis like indeed. Skater Goth/Emo: Yay! They finally realised that girls skate too, as I mentioned before, this figure looks like myself at 15, my sister (when she was 15...) a significant chunk of my peer group not to mention how great it is to have highlighted hair and a nice printed torso. Oh yeah and my gig jeans! All these parts will be most welcome in my collection! Highland Warrior. Whether it be “FREEEEEEDOOOOM!!!” or “There can be only one.” This guy is great. A nice simple sword and shield and the lovely torso print, not to mention a kilt. Minotaur: Oh, he is wonderful. Yes he’s a little small for a true mythical beast but as a nice fantasy army builder figure he is great. Good details as with all figures. Space Woman: A new unique print, not a copy of the series 1 Space Hero. That wonderful helmet in yet another colour is certainly welcome. Her face is certainly no nonsense and more hair re-colours. This figure is the best so far, not only is she in a non typical role, she is just the right colour for those poor misguided parents to identify with. Lots of lucky girls are going to be able to enter the wonderful world of sci-fi and adventure!

I am not the best fan of pink, but that is awesome. The goth/emo/skater girl is cool too (also, looks somewhat like me circa 2004...). New sword! Amazing Minotaur mould, ELVIS HAIR!!

Bought a load of parts on bricklink today! When they come I shall start again with the buildings, see how I get along with what I bought. I made a sort of rough pick of lots of parts to play with and see what I can do (I just hope I bought enough!).

Oh, it was ever so sad, so sad even Tommy Lee Jones was upset... That said, it was a fantastic film, I really enjoyed it. I saw it with friends again, might go and see it with my Mum, she enjoys this sort of film. We also like the fact that there were a lot of rather attractive men in vintage uniform.... I trust you stuck around after the credits this time?

There are four types of LEGO seller on ebay. The "Getting Money from my Old Toys" is the half decent type, they sell near complete, pretty decent quality sets, figures and honestly described mixed lots. These were their old toys, they want to max the money they can make and they know how to find out how. They'll be honest about real issues and might even add the parts they are not 100% sure are there. The "Selling my Kids toys" know that LEGO gets top money, but they have no idea how to sell it. Take the risk and get a bag of crayons and megablocks or that amazing Jango Fett figure lodged at the bottom of a pile of old dirty bricks. The Set Business seller, they sell older sets and new sets for money that is slightly stupid, depending how desperate you want the set. These ones can be a little worriesome, as I know from experience that one seller who I looked at while back was selling brand new City sets as unwanted gifts of their child, shortly after the account was closed and I read a news story about a hijacked TESCO lorry... Then again, some really are legitimate toy sellers. The "la-la-la Bricklink does not exist, la-la-la" seller. Parts at semi extortionet prices, stupid little custom "sets" made up of a poorly selected figure with random parts. Ugly "custom" figures made out of "rare" parts. Aimed squarely at the newbie AFOL and the gift buying family of LEGO fan children. Of these sellers, the Selling My Toys seller is best, as they have the most know how. The bricklink deniers are bareable at times but pricing is an issue. One other thing I encounter on eBay is a "custom" set seller who sells best lock sets as custom designed compatible brick sets. Not at the price of the set (The largest Army sets are about £50 to £70) but each vehicle and part is priced at about £30, so a set made up of a tank a truck and a jeep, sold at £50 is parted out to each vehicle and makes £90... Unfortunately, the non-fan buyers who get it for their kids have no idea, it makes me sad.

Well I have two more

The stars are from my plane sticker collection. I can't recall if they are from some other kit or just a random plane sticker set (I am a fan of planes )

The Ninja Go windows are printed. So are the Toy Story sets decorated parts. Really, it seems to be a little to do with aimed age group of the theme/sets. Toy Story and Ninja Go anticipated younger kids, they are less able to stick stickers on, so they are printed. In Star Wars, the age anticipated is older, so they can sticker better. Stickers are simply a matter of cost, it would cost a lot more to print up a load of tiles and bricks, when a sticker sheet costs a lot less. You may notice that a lot of the curved parts without a flat surface being printed, even in a set with stickers. This is becase the stickers do not stay on. Back in the old days of Lego, many sets had stickers too. Star Wars sets having stickers has nothing to do with future devaluation. The oldest sets were printed (I know, I have far to many slopes spoilt by stupid logos) now it costs more to print the bricks (or they decided the cost of printing the bricks is prohibitive) and they just run off a sticker sheet. If you plan so greatly to sell your Star Wars sets, just don't open them? Or don't stick the stickers on and sell them with the set in mint condition.

Well, I have the plans for a larger wider fort/keep/gateway. Some wall, maybe terrain.

Well, house spiders and moths yes, Scorpions are a new thing!

Oh, yes, the spelling mistakes. Invalidates the point entirely. As def said, manga is a form of media, not a genre. Manga covers many more genres than most western comics, not to mention the thousands of niche titles that are published in the hundreds of phone book sized collections each week/month. One bad experience doesn't mean all of them are bad. Oh, I need to add Crest of The Stars to my manga list. Zatanna issues to the comic list and all three of the extra Sandman books outside of the orignal run to the TPB list.

What an informed opinon So, I have once again run a quick audit of my collection: DC = JSA books from the very first of the reboot right to the last of Thy Kingdom Come. The Return of the JSA, JSA earth 2 and The two JLA/JSA crossovers. JSA Presents: Green Lantern and JSA Presents: Secret Six. Loads of Elseworlds, highlights being Batman: Thrillkiller and Elseworlds Finest. The Nail and Another Nail. New Frontier, All the Sandman and books and both Death books. Emperor Joker (superb book), Justice, Kingdom Come, Batman Other Realms and Batman Dark Knight Dynasty. Green Lantern Secret Origin, Vanishing Point, Tiny Titans 1-3 and more others than I recall. Non DC The Best of Tharg's Future Shocks, Alan Moore's Futureshocks. Orbital vol 1 and 2, Chimpanzee Complex v.1. Top10 book 1,2 and the 49ers, Smax. Sky Pirates of Neo Terra. Robotech To the Stars, Robotech Macross saga vol 1-10, Zoids vol 1-9. Manga The Big O, complete series, Full Metal Alchemist 1 (waiting for an omnibus) Azumangdaiho omnibus. .Hack vol 1-3. xxxHolic and Tsubasa in an unknown quantity, a handful of Beet the Vandel Buster, Cyborg 009 complete, Pluto vol 1, Van Von Hunter 1-3 and there are some more there I am sure... As for webcomics. I read Escape from Terra, Quantum Vibe, The Zombie Hunters, Freak Angels, Girl Genius, Hark! A vagrant, Dresden Codak, Buttersafe, Brawl in the Family, Rich's Comix Blog, xkcd, Starslip, Shortpacked!, Iregular Webcomic and Our Valued Customer probably counts. So yeah, I dropped some webcomics and everything else grew!

Now, the writing of FMA was genius. The Manga-Ka did the sort of research someone writing a serious novel would do, its a sort of steampunk-ish early 20th century world with a complex history. One thing that this writer did was plot out and actually plan the entire story. No "sure why not" things to extend it beyond it's natural life (like Naruto and Bleach and such do). If you are ever in need of a read, Full Metal Alchemist is worth it. As for Wildcat, he's a cool character who soon possibly won't exist...

That would be Naruto, Bleach or One Piece. Needless to say I have stopped follwing any series at the moment. Beet the Vandel Buster was the only one like those three I read and the artist is ill and it has been postponed. Full Metal Alchemist ended, it was fantastic and amazing and I loved it all. Pluto was finished before I began. I have sort of drifted from anime and manga, I may start collecting Appleseed and GITS books, seeing as DC comics are going down the pan. At the moment my future purchases are going to be back issues and those great finds you make in the clearance bin, those good books in the long boxes at comic cons and the odd TPB you find in the second hand bookshop. I am trying to pick up more books with Wildcat and Blackhawks.

Gasp! I have been reading that from year dot! I actually have the first print volume signed by Paul and Warren (IN PERSON *geek out*) Yes, Freak Angels is very good, but it ain't Batman, heh. If you are easing into comics, try finding ones compared to your favourite books, or even better ones written by your favourite authors. These will introduce you to comics with the familiar trappings and tropes from regular books. Our, jump in and the deep and and hope you can swim! Like I said, most libararies have a pretty decent selection. Other books I can suggest is Kingdom Come and Justice, one is a very good book, the other a very good series. Another word of advice, most trade paperbacks collect a single story arc. Not many of them carry massive reliance on you reading all the books or following every super hero. There are some little flags for a continuing story or a events from the past, but not many in my experience. You know, it is very hard to direct someone who has only just got into comics, I've been reading so long that I am familiar enough to be able to read pretty much any. Sending you the wrong way can put you off for years, I know because the very first Discworld book I read was Fifth Elephant, a book most of the way into the series whole and a sub-series and therefore utterly confusing! It put me off for a at least a year! (Luckily I read Soul Music next). Oh def, it is no matter. I really did try reading Marvel but the moping and story telling methods got on my nerves. I put it like this: In the DC Universe if a kid randomly gets super powers one morning, they shout "yahoooo!" at some point and then spend a long time figuring if they want to be a hero or a villan. (Unless the DEO or The Demon's Head want them..) in Marvel they mope about being a mutant...

Both tower and gateway are the main line of defence for Ddraigdirio from the Lion Kingdom. The solid tower is built from local rock and good strong hardwood arches over the gateway. Troll hewn blocks make for a strong wall. In these times of peace, the gateway remains open with the guards simply keeping an eye on those crossing the border on their way to the city or nearer villages and hamlets. Here we see Sir Gwynfor escorting Lord Vye the Dragon and Balder the Fourth Bat Lord from the neutral port town of Finch. Lord Vye has returned from his father’s funeral and the Coronation of his elder brother. He is eager to see his family in Casddraig, the capital city. Lord Balder returns from a visit to King Lucan in Regis, he brings good tidings and letters to King Lucan’s sister the Queen Lucretia. Well, I tried again, this one is much better I think Although my parts selection somewhat necessitated the smaller tower I was quite lucky to find the iron gates fitted the gap in the gateway. I listened to everyones tips!

Find out what your local library has, read it all. Voila. That is how I did it, one wonderful summer (gasp seven years ago!) I started reading them after being directed to the section by the guy running a comic book drawing class. While I have moved from drawing to writing (and hoping) the favourites I made that summer have stood me well. Morrison's run on Animal Man is by far the best example of his work. While I am rather more partial to Alan Moore's Future Shocks and his Top10 books. If Batman is the guy you want to read well, I give you the attention of my sister. The Long Halloween is one of her favourites, Batman Black and White is a series you should also pick up, many stories and styles but always about The Bat and his world. Otherwise, find Batman books which collect a stand alone mini-series or a big number 1 on the spine and go on from there. You are also in luck, everything re-sets to 0 in September. "Everything that ever came before" will be wiped off, a new order will be written within the comics (or that is what DC keep saying) so Batman goes back to 0 in two months time. If you want to move away to more characters, start with a team-up book like JLA and learn a little about them with the added bonus of a character you do know/like. I'm afraid all my favourites are "Elseworlds" so the context of the characters and their world is vastly different to the well known versions. Else they do not feature Batman as Green Lantern and Wildcat are my two favourite characters.

Thanks for these sterling tips. I have taken down the old MOC and I have begun building a new one. With a new and nicer pathway laid out, I am working on a little outline first, then some nice simple tower. A quick question, is it an absolute no-no to use the angled pre-fab "tower" parts with the arrow slit cut out? I ask simply because I do like the shape they provide in an otherwise flat faced tower.

Ah two of the three Ps! Pink and Pastel In the years of Paradisa I was just a wikkle little one and was still storming through Duplo, chasing the Zoo van stealing Lion with my police motorcycle. Belville was the girly theme aimed at my age group but I was less than impressed with it (Aquasharks rule!!!). That said, a playground has been the one major feature towns, cities and villages missing from LEGO city these days. I think this set could have done with a partner set or expansion impulse boxes though, it feels a little lacking, not that modern day parks have much more equipment... A fantastic review and I need to steal you to take pictures of my MOCs

Thanks for all the tips guys! I was thinking of taking it all down and starting with a new purpose build, not a border gateway but some kind of tower or keep. To begin with, my idea was to use tan and dark tan for the Dragon Knights, but the price is prohibitive... It would look yummy though wouldn't it?

Will expand the photo layout tomorrow, I have plans for a few more like them too

Here stands the gateway between Dragon Lands and the DMZ before the Lion border. Some travelers have their credentials checked by a guard before being let through. Well, where do I start? I am not happy with this at all, I have never been much of a building MOCer, things that go are more my cup of tea. It started off as a pair of towers I built and then I felt like linking them together. So far so terrible. I have no clue where to start improving, as I was trying to go with a more grounded castle, living in South Wales I am more familiar with real castles than the fantasy creations or even those on the continent. Raglan Castle, Chepstow Castle and Caerphilly Castle featured greatly in my childhood and bank holidays recently. Their structure and construction influence my building in the variety of parts and shades used. But, well the resulting build is not the best. Can anyone make practical suggestions I can use to improve? I adore making vehicles but just once I would like to have a castle to my name...

Ah, that doesn't look like a LEGO set indeed. I can't give you an exact brand, the figures look Sluban like (the curved leg tops)but it could be any number of generic brick clones that trade under a number of names.

That seems like a very good idea. Legofan4ever88, if this is a problem or you wish to discuss any issues, please PM me. Thread Locked.