Hinckley

Sure.

What are ya, daft?

The rules are simple: Create a Harry Potter-themed avatar Make it your avatar. Post it in this thread. Three winners will be chosen randomly to receive special tags for their profile. Have fun! Here's mine:

I don't think it's necessary. There are a ton more Star Wars characters in the abundance of OT, ET and Extended Universes, fan fiction, etc... but Harry Potter characters are limited. I think they've all been mentioned already. Except for Kreecher. Let's just assume we'd like to see all HP characters made. I think too many topics like this have popped up and the discussions get too splintered, and in my opinion immature and hard to follow. I don't have a desire to see this here. Sorry.

It's not strict. Add 3 more. It's fine.

Go for it. Please read the rules. Well, if you can read and write those questions, you should be able to find the answers in the rules. They use the same words you have just used. Doesn't have to be winter, has to be a building, from the books.

My first bit of advise is don't take it so seriously. Being disturbed by this is a waste of your energy. Oh well, there's plenty more to choose from. Read the rules. Yes, make it. But why are so many people going to build Quidditch fields, pitches or stadiums? There's already a Quidditch set! Use your imagination and create something new! People will most likely pass over entries that resemble existing sets and vote on something else. Be unique. Learn how to read. The rules are there for a reason. Read them! Especially if you have a question.

You may have noticed the new skin and the Winter Break Contest, but did you know that December (and the first week of January) is Harry Potter Month here on Eurobricks? Surprise! Stay tuned to this thread for more little surprises.

Not to be harsh, but shut up.

The titles of the thread should be "WINTER BREAK: Name of Creation" not just "WINTER BREAK." It would be very hard to tell the entries apart if they were all under "WINTER BREAK" only. And, I believe I know Jeanne. I used to attend NILTC meetings. As the rules state, if the entry was made before the announcement of the contest, it doesn't qualify. Sorry, Jeanne. You'll have to post something new. Please read all of the rules first. Thanks

I thought that was a joke. Overhang of what?? Oh, the 32 x 32 baseplate... hmmm... Well, I deleted that rule. Sigh... Minifigs count as 4 pieces. Hair or hat, head, torso, legs. 4 pieces each. Are they holding a wand? Five pieces. Pieces are pieces so they should be counted as pieces...

Thank you for posting the pic here. Much appreciated. Added to the first post and front page.

New LEGO Collectible Minifig Series 4 Thanks to Tribolego for bringing us the news from http://www.superspeelgoed.nl. Wow. Discuss it here And, vote for your favourite Collectable Minifigures Series 4 poll!

Azkaban is a non-Hogwarts building, so yes. But, you can't enter an MOC that was created before this contest was posted. No custom stickers please. That could be an unfair disadvantage. Not everyone has that skill to create or capability to print specialized items. Cool! A father-son team! The three characters mentioned in the contest description do not have to appear in the entry. Since the contest focuses on the buildings, there is no need for any characters to appear in your entry if you don't want them to, or don't have the figs. As the rules state, any location in the books that isn't Hogwarts. Again, the trio don't have to be part of it, please be patient. You don't have to repeat questions. I am busy, but I will get to them. Please, that's very annoying. And the rules are very clear: Not Hogwarts, 1000 pieces. Don't overthink it. It's meant to leave few restrictions. Perhaps the title of "Winter Break" is unclear, but it's more about us being in "Winter Break." You can build any place any character in the books ended up in during any season. You can build it on the morning of February 1st if you want to. No need to declare intentions beforehand. No custom minifigs, stickers, printed tissue, etc... Only official LEGO parts. The reason is, not everybody has the software or hardware necessary to create good customs. Is this not clear in the official rules? I'll make sure it is. This is the second time someone has asked... There is no minimum size. Canon? You mean official JK Rowling stories? The answer there would be yes. It should only be something from the books, not from fan fiction or whatever other non-canon source there would be. Do you want to make something up? I guess that would be all right. I'll think about this and discuss it with the staff. I suppose creativity is a good thing. Is the user info covering them on some screen resolutions? I will move them then... Cryin' won't get you anywhere. Get out your bricks and build!

Harry Potter Winter Break Contest! Build a structure from the books that is not Hogwarts Harry, Hermione and Ron found all sorts of trouble during Winter Break and they usually found it in places outside of Hogwarts. Places like Hogsmeade, Diagon Alley or the Dark Arts haven of Knockturn Alley. Show us one of their adventures by building one of the shops or restaurants from these three locations. You can also build one of their homes or the homes of any character, or any location that appears in the books that isn't Hogwarts. Prizes 1st place-10217 Diagon Alley 2nd place-4842 Hogwarts Castle 3rd place-4841 Hogwarts Express Check out the official rules and discuss the contest here

Harry Potter Winter Break Contest! Build a structure from the books that is not Hogwarts Harry, Hermione and Ron found all sorts of trouble during Winter Break and they usually found it in places outside of Hogwarts. Places like Hogsmeade, Diagon Alley or the Dark Arts haven of Knockturn Alley. Show us one of their adventures by building one of the shops or restaurants from these three locations. You can also build one of their homes or the homes of any character, or any location that appears in the books that isn't Hogwarts. Rules Must be built with LEGO bricks, no clone brands or custom parts. 1000 piece limit. No digital entries are allowed - only actual brick-built entries. Contestants may submit a maximum number of 5 pictures per entry. Entries should have a link to a picture folder (non-resized pics, close-ups and stuff like that for the rest of us to enjoy). Max picture size for deeplinked pictures is 800 x 600 pixels. Posts with larger pics will be deleted. No webcam or phone pictures - The pictures must be undisturbed - make a studio, anything but a table with a cat in the background. No Photoshop enhancements outside of sharpening, brightening, color correction or other image adjustment. No added text or effects. Entries must be new. Any entry published online prior to the start of the contest will be disqualified. Contest entries must be posted before the 1st of February, 2011. Only one entry per person. Create a separate thread for each entry. Subject should start with WINTER BREAK: (which means it should end with the name of your creation. Format "WINTER BREAK: Name of Creation" All entries posted until the end date of the contest are considered Works In Progress. All entries not living up to the rules on the end date will be disqualified Entries must be something the whole AFOL community can enjoy. Please, avoid nudity, excessive gore, or other offensive content. Prizes 1st place-10217 Diagon Alley 2nd place-4842 Hogwarts Castle 3rd place-4841 Hogwarts Express

These pictures are way over the size limit posted in our site guidelines. You are also in the wrong forum. I encourage you to look at our guidelines and search the website and forums forum to familiarize yourself with our posting standards and guidelines. Please reply to acknowledge you have done so or PM me with further questions. If I don't see acknowledgment or receive a PM, I'll send you one. Aha! You're trying, I see. Good. Here are the links to the threads I referenced: Index of Tutorials Site Guidelines

Thank you!

We had already addressed this. And forgive me, oh wise one, I had just spent four months in Malaysia.

No indication of that. But, it's a great idea! I guess it would look better if I applied stickers, but I don't so

Some requested pics (which have been added to the review as well) The new sword piece (I know somebody said the name somewhere but I can't seem to find it ): Side shots: I also added a poll for this set too, so if you haven't already voted on it, please do so. Thanks

Name: Cursed Cobra Statue Theme: LEGO System/Pharaoh's Quest Year: 2011 Minifigs: 3 Price: USD $29.99 Resources: Bricklink, Brickset Packing, instructions, DSS It is, once again, exciting to see the Adventurers return. This time they have a new logo, a very creepy mummy. The premise of this theme is that the evil Forgotten Pharaoh, Amset-Ra, has returned from the dead to conquer the world. His cursed statues have been guarding six treasures that will give him the power to conquer the world. The packaging and logo reflects the premise well. The box is typical of LEGO box art nowadays which means, no alternative builds on back. This set also includes a DSS, as well as printed pieces. Just a warning: I never apply the stickers to my sets, so you won't see them in my review. In this case, the lack of stickers does leave the look of the structure somewhat lacking. Front of the box. Back of the box. The bags aren't numbered and there's only one instruction book, and the unfortunate DSS. New molds This set doesn't contain as many new molds as the last one I reviewed from this series, the 7327 Scorpion Pyramid. But there are a couple of gems here. This is not a new mold, but I'm excited to see this classic piece produced in dark orange! That's going to make a brick facade in my FABULAND town, for sure! Again, not a new mold, but a new printed pattern. Glad to see they didn't use stickers for this piece. The new scarab shield piece, this time, in pearl gold. This is an excellent new mold and I'm sure we'll be seeing it used in clever ways in a lot of new MOCs. This TECHNIC piece may not be new, but it's new to me. Minifigs There are new characters this time. Johnny Thunder has been replaced by Jake Raines. Dr. Kilroy/Dr. Charles Lightning has been replaced by Professor Achibald Hale (who does not appear in this set). I've conducted a bit of research but can't seem to come up with the name of the female character here. Maybe somebody knows? The Mummy here is cool with a new printed headdress. Mummy torso front. Mummy torso back. Jake Raines torso front. Jake Raines torso back. Mummy legs. Female torso front. This is an excellent new torso with many uses across themes. I'm glad the torso is definitely female but "generic" enough to be used in a variety of settings and time periods. Female torso back. New dark tan printed Pharaoh headdress. I think this is an excellent piece with a lot of character. Although it adorns a mummy warrior in this set, I can see it being used for a more prominent ruler in someone's MOC or LEGO story. Female face. Back of female face, she gets scared sometimes. Front of Mummy head. Back of Mummy head. Family portrait. Say "cheese!" Click! I don't like the Jake Raines character. I think he looks like a bad Elvis impersonator. The sideburns with the hair look odd to me. I think LEGO was trying too hard to make a dashing hero. The mechanic in the Scorpion Pyramid is more dashing. That is my personal preference. How can there be an Adventurer hero without a fedora? Less sideburns, more fedora, LEGO!! The build Just like 7327 Scorpion Pyramid, this set was built to have a lot of play features. It's on a much smaller scale than the Scorpion Pyramid, so there aren't quite as many traps or surprises. The main attraction of this set is the cobra. Secondarily, we get a little tan structure and a car. Overall, I don't think this set was as successful with action and playability as the Scorpion Pyramid. In particular, the articulation on the snake is incredibly weak leaving it difficult to pose for playtime. Other recent themes like Atlantis, Aqua Raiders and even as far back as Vikings have had much more success with the great articulation of their creatures. The car Nothing particularly exciting here. There are some good dark red elements, but that's about it. Here are some in progress shots. Jake and whoever this babe is, let's call her Jackie for now, are certainly ready to kick some Cursed Cobra megablocks. Dynamite, shotgun, revolver, shovel. They'll beat it senseless, shoot it up and then blow up whatever remains. The little pyramidy-like do-hickey Meh, what is this? Sure the treasure had to be hidden somewhere, but it seems nothing more than a platform for the snake-wielding mummy to attack from. I think it would've been great if Jake and Jackie had been downgraded to motorcycles and the extra pieces had been used towards more of an obelisque that the snake could've blended in more with. I like the idea of these "cursed statues" blending in more with the stone. The scorpion blended in all right with the pyramid, but the snake ends up just kind of wrapping around this tiny structure. Here are some in-progress build shots of the little thingy build: Nothing even hidden inside... The cobra The cobra certainly has the potential to be cool, but it just ends up too flimsy to pose well. The articulation points are great, but the ball hinges leave it too flimsy for cool action poses. Here are some in-progress build shots of the cobra: These are definitely cool pieces in cool colors. The set is a decent parts pack. This makes an excellent snake body and I like the pattern. However, it's the ball-joint connection that makes the snake fail, in my opinion. If click-hinge joints had been used instead, I think this would've been a much more successful set. If the cobra is attacked, the tail detaches and flips around leading the predator away from the rest of the body. What the hell am I talking about?? LEGO has always been pretty good and making cool brick-built creatures. I particularly like the head of this snake. The teeth and lower jaw make it ominous and threatening. It'll be fun to feed him some minifigs for lunch! Uh-oh! Looks like he's got a little Jackie on the menu already! Cool articulation, but it took me way too long to balance the snake for this shot and it fell over a second after I snapped the picture. Aw, he's so cute when he chases his tail. This is the yoga move known as "The Cobra." Yes, a snake that does Yoga. Not so threatening to Jackie and Jake. They're a little bored with the whole story and definitely not being eaten. Ho-hum Things get a little better when you connect the snake to the pyramidy do-hickey. He can pose around that a little better because something's holding him in place and providing a little more balance. See? Not so bad. The snake is about ready to strike. He looks ominous, imposing and dangerous. This is even better. He's on his way to have a little Jakey-snack. However, this fell over several times before I could get the shot. The snake doesn't attach to the structure very well and the portion of the snake past the attachment point oftentimes knocks the whole things over. It doesn't help much to use it this way, but it's more likely to get a cool pose out of the snake. However, it did take longer, because it kept knocking everything over. While I'm at it, this snake-juggling goofy mummy isn't too scary either. What's scarier than a mummy? A mummy wielding poisonous snakes?? I guess, but that sounds needlessly complicated. How to improve it? Well, turn the mummy's head around. The one red eye poking through the bandages is more creepy than the goofy smile/snarl and the two eyes exposed. Then, make the snake a little less conspicuous by posing it as part of the statue. Looks harmless enough: Just a solemn snake statue over a decrepit mummy with a cool headdress. Ominous, but more cool than creepy. Uh-oh! You got too close! The statute and the mummy are both alive and they're coming to get you! I think this is what was intended with the set, but you don't see anything on the box or instructions to pose the snake in a certain way to be the statue. I'm sure kids can figure this out on their own. I guess I'm being picky by expecting more in the story or expecting a definite way to pose the snake where it looks like a statue before it reveals itself as alive. Couldn't it have easily looked like an obelisk? This is much more threatening! Let's see these creatures really make life hard for our heroes. Hell, let's just see 'em rip them apart. You trespassed on sacred ground, kids! This is what you get! OK, OK. So, the set is fun to play with. Summary review Playability: 6/10 (Flimsy, flimsy, flimsy! Good articulation, but not very poseable. A limp snake always spoils good play time.) Design: 8/10 (I like the look of the snake. I think the design of the remainder of the pieces in the set should've been utilized to support the enchanted snake statue idea. I like the pieces and the car is all right. Good colors and pieces. The minifigs are definitely cool.) Price: 7/10 (Like the Scorpion Pyramid, the price point seems a bit high to me on this one.) Overall: 7/10 (Sorry LEGO. You didn't knock it out of the park like you did with the Scorpion Pyramid. The set is average, nothing special, but some parts and figures. Stronger articulation would've raised the score significantly.)

I'll finish this tomorrow, guys.

I'm pretty sure it's reddish-brown oil, but you can pretend whatever you want.

Get blogged on Classic-Town much?