Carbohydrates

That would be amazing. That's really what the diver in Series 1 should have been! They could have cast the helmet in that speckled copper color they use for trolls or whatever. Man, I really want one now.

Thanks! They're these ones for 52mm, used with a Nikon D3000 with its 18-55 kit lens and an SB-900 flash. edit: Now that I think about it, the three photos I ended up using were shot without flash, though.

I know this is implausible, but I'd buy an iPhone just for this.

I made this for the fruit-themed contest thread before I realized that it was a raffle. I might not have put so much effort in had I known beforehand! Oh well, as long as I have, might as well show it off some. It's based around a Lowell / Bram sphere, except I wanted to try making one fully tiled. I didn't use a sphere generator or anything for this. I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out! I was also testing out my new macro filters, and I must say I'm very pleased with them! Red's kinda tricky to shoot well, but it came out very crisp.

I'm thrilled to be able to participate in this. I figured the best way to win an apple is with an apple, and even if I'm not the lucky chosen one, I'll still have an apple! More: 1, 2

I design in a very abstract sort of style. I start with the most difficult or iconic part of a MOC and build around that. If I'm trying to capture a certain shape, I'll "cheat" pieces into floating in the place they would need to be to get the look I want, then I go back and connect it together. This sort of building really isn't feasible without LDD and similar rendering tools to help me. I haven't designed a MOC without the help of a LEGO CAD program of some sort in about five years. Maybe more.

No kidding. If they made individual passenger cars for the Emerald Night, I'm sure they'd sell a boatload.

How perfectly succinct. I'm half tempted to sig that. edit: Why not!

They did a wonderful job of avoiding it last time, by releasing the American Indian sets under their own subtheme and never having them and cowboys in the same set. I wouldn't worry about it!

Can't scan instructions, but howzabout an LDD file for ya? whitehouse.zip

Oh, absolutely signed. Think of what LEGO could do with this theme, now that we have wonderful things like: - Dark tan and dark brown - Better minifig printing, both for torsos and holsters on legs - More appropriate accessories (dynamite bundle, whips/ropes in various forms, Adventurer-style crates, etc) I eagerly await the triumphant return of Western!

Absolutely terrific MOC! It stands out very nicely, particularly with the texture you've chosen for the sidewalk tiling. Could I bother you to perhaps take a photo of the Lifelites installation inside? If it's not too much trouble, I'd love to see how exactly you've integrated it! Thanks!

Reddish brown in particular was pretty wildly inconsistent for a period. If any of you have a Cafe Corner handy, have a look at the brown bricks that make up the back walls. The shades of brown range rather dramatically there. I've experienced a little of the same with dark red, though not so drastic, and dark green. I'll have to take your word about dark blue - I really don't have many bricks in that color.

I like it a LOT! But, I must say, I liked it more in the first photo when I saw two arms on one side and one on the other, before I realized he had a fourth tucked away there. In other words, I kinda liked the idea of a slightly asymmetrical beast, as if mutated to that size with a couple of side effects. It looks great either way, honestly.

This was mentioned offhandedly before, but it's the main thing I'd like to see. It would be easy to do as it doesn't require new molds and would be beneficial for LEGO as it would simultaneously complement Castle, Town/Farm, Western, and every other theme that's used horses. I would LOVE to see horses in: - Dark Brown - Tan or Light Yellow - Light Gray Also, we know that different colored manes can be done (since the brown horse oft has a black mane), so how about a white horse with golden (yellow, tan, light yellow, whatever) mane?

The use of plain, featureless white with light gray roads gives it a very 'sterile' feel, like in a dystopian futuristic sense. In fact, 'dystopian futuristic' and 'white' brings Mirror's Edge to mind, but this is a wholly different style yet. I actually like the effect there a lot, and the trans-green really adds to that other-worldliness! I'm not sure it was intended that way, but it's incredibly cool.

That's the question that struck me as I was reading that, too. If I had to guess, I'd imagine it just wasn't a big deal to them. The article states that they misjudged how AFOLs would react, which means to me that they didn't even really consider that a color change would cause a big impact at all. So, looking at it from that perspective rather than ours, why not tighten up the colors a bit as long as you're re-doing your color palate anyway? edit: I suppose I misinterpreted your question a bit there, sorry! I'm glad they acknowledged the poor implementation and reaction, though. When this happened, it was actually so frustrating to me that I attribute it as the #1 thing that put me into my little 5-year dark age there. It even still bothers me, as a collector of Western and other themes that use the old grays and brown, that I can't modify these sets with my current collection without having to buy old bricks, of which there's now a finite source. It's even more frustrating when I'm designing a model in LDD (which is what I do 90% of my MOCing in) and I find that some gray elements in the model are only available in new gray, and some only in old. I've gotten a lot more "over it" now, and I do prefer the new shades of gray and brown, but I can't help but wish the color change had never happened at all. That all said, I think there's one thing the we can be incredibly grateful for! This event opened LEGO's eyes to the AFOL community and its influence a lot more than in the past - the article states that LEGO's community team didn't even exist at this point. Without this event transpiring, would we have seen the sudden birth of amazing Exclusives targeted at AFOLs, like the modular houses or legendary Emerald Night? It's difficult to say, but it's certainly food for thought.

Well the game may be no good, but it's done us the favor of inciting your review. I just about lost it at the end with the callback to the line about the flagpost.

I really don't think LEGO would make a Crusader fig. Then again, I didn't think they'd make Nazis and then Indiana Jones came along, so you never know! I'd buy a few of that Strongman just for his glorious mustache, by the way.

Hm, the near-lack of contrast between the light pink and white is surprisingly harsh on the eyes. Good thing there's some red and green to help balance it some. Also, seems they're not really into that whole "pants" thing in Paradisa, even among local business owners!

Absolutely! I displayed the Toy Shop with the contents of the City Advent Calendar last year and they looked terrific together.

Bricklink has been very reliable for me. Of the couple dozen or so orders I've placed (for parts and sets, new and used), I've only had 2 'issues' - one time, I received a minifig torso with a crack in it that wasn't listed in the description. The seller resolved this by crediting me back 3 bucks or so, plenty enough to cover the cost of the part. Another time, I received a large ($100) set in 'used' condition and one single piece was the wrong color - a goblet was gray instead of trans-clear. I didn't care enough to do anything about this particular incongruity, though. I think Bricklink is just safer than eBay overall because it's run by people who are every bit as much into this hobby as we all are. It's a bit more of a closer-knit community sort of thing, so you're dealing with people on the same wavelength as you. Also, Bricklink is VERY harsh to sellers who mess with you by ignoring you or not fulfilling orders. Three mistakes like that and they're banned from ever selling again. This sort of heavy-handedness seems to keep people nicely in line.

They really are bizarre, though. I mean, you could make a case for the 1 x 1 x 5 because when you try stack 1 x 1 bricks that high, they tend to twist around on you and look uneven, but there's really no excuse for the 1 x 2 x 2.

Oh, my mistake then! I really like this contest idea, since my idea has me building in a style I don't usually try. I'll be entering this for sure!

Yes indeed, as explicitly stated as the 4th rule!