David Thomsen

I actually avoided this forum for a long time because I didn't know what MOC stood for... it's not an easy thing to google. Things like TLC and S@H were kind of self explanatory though. And SNOT and BURPS... I would never have guessed. In my world, there are no bad guys - the pirate AND the soldiers are the protagonists, just on opposing sides. I think this is because I have an equal proportion of soldiers and pirates. If I had half a dozen pirates and a hundred soldiers, I think I'd probably have to set the pirates up as the protagonists. And vice versa. Actually, if they introduced a Trading Company faction, they would probably be the bad guys... exploiting workers and resourses and that sort of thing.

But now it needs to be edited for... never mind.

This is unlikely to be of interest to many people, but it has always struck me how you can always tell an MOC from a genuine Lego set by lots of little details. Things like, for example, how on Brickbeard's Bounty there are two dark green fang pieces near the bow, even though they appear to serve no function whatsoever, either aesthetically or functionally. They have always bothered me, but without them I don't think the ship would be the same. And you'd never see them on a fan creation, just because fans tend not to think so far outside of the square as Lego designers seem to. Or take something like Green Grocer, where every inch of the front is crammed with as much fine detail as possible, whereas a modular building MOC will mostly be a blank wall with a couple of windows on it. While some models would look better for being made by fans (for example, the 2009 Garage could thoroughly benefit from having proper walls) but no longer look like an actual Lego set, I think a lot of MOCs could benefit from some of the methods and techniques of Lego designers. So... how do you design something so that it looks good enough to be sold as a Lego exclusive? What do you avoid, and how do you avoid it? What give a good Lego set the flair that brings it to life? And so on. (Note that I'm not suggesting that authentic Lego sets always look better than fan creations - the very very best designs are the fan ones that simply blow your mind)

Interesting topic, although I wish everyone would say why they like or dislike particular sets... for example, I don't have Squidman's Pitstop, but it looks pretty good to me. Out of the ones I own... My best: Medieval Market Village. I love 'civilian' sets that aren't part of the main city range, and the buildings in this look so perfect. I like the minifigs, the accessories, the detail... I hope there are more medieval sets like this in the future. Maybe one with... Forestmen? Second best: Fighter Plane Attack, with its beautiful vintage aircraft. My worst: Loot Island. A big chunky island baseplate with hardly any way to build on it, and for some bizarre reason, the instructions have you bury the treasure ABOVE the hold in the ground, even though it seems like it was custom designed for this very purpose. What the huh? Second worst: The Temple of Doom. The trap door gets stuck, the plastic axles on the wheels mean the carts don't roll on their own, and sometimes the minifigs hit their heads on the large bucket and get stuck.

Yeah, I avoid the official Lego message board. I get the impression that half the people there are Lego staff payed to look like cheerful customers. They always end their sentences with exclamation marks. "Yes, I like the new city sets too! The great thing is how they can be combined with other themes! Like yesterday, I bought 7093 Skeletons' Prison Carriage and combined it with my 7635 4WD with Horse Trailer to make a horse trailer drawn by skeleton horses! Do you like the castle range too?" I think they have to assume you're nine years old. Anyway, I think it's universally acknowledged that people always like to play as the 'bad' guys. I've seen dozens of people dressed up as Imperial Storm Troopers, but none as Luke Skywalker. No one ever wants to dress as Luke Skywalker. Maybe they did some customer research, like "Hey kids, would you prefer to play as some PIRATES searching for GOLD, or as some SOLDIERS studying MATHEMATICS for thier NAVIGATIONAL EXAMS?"

I've been thinking this for a while now. I think everyone is saying Indy is over because everyone else is saying Indy is over. We don't know all of the sets that will be coming out in 2010 yet, and there's absolutely no proof there won't be Indy in the second half. And considering how well TLC hid the Imperial Flagship from a horde of Lego Pirate fans who were searching for it day and night... I think it's entirely possible no one will have a clue that new Indy sets are in development for the next five months.

Unfortunately I don't have the Fire Brigade yet, so I'm having to extrapolate from the reviews of other people... but I think I'm going to have to go with that set out of the three. I think my favourite feature is that all three firemen have civilian hair as well as their fire hats. That just does it for me, somehow. And then there's the civilian woman with her satchel, included with the set even though she has nothing to do with the fire brigade... and the dog who completes the street requirement of pets and animals. And the fire engine showing that these sets aren't all about architecture, they're just like ordinary lego sets taken to an extreme adult level. Yes... the fire station. Hope I get it soon...

I voted, unsurprisingly, for forestmen... I never had any as a kid, but they look so imaginative with their castle lairs hidden inside trees and rocks. I think I would prefer collecting the range as has been discussed, with one large Exclusive set a year rather than many small child-oriented sets. I wasn't actually following the 'fantasy' castle range until I saw MMV in a shop and HAD to have it. I'm hoping that exclusive sets will become more common in the future, like one or two a year for castle/space/pirate/city.

Just found pictures of the Farm 2010 sets... I like the pigs and the pig pen, but I don't know if my farm really needs another tractor. I like how the red roof on the pig pen matches the roofs (rooves?) of the other farm buildings. I wonder what the stud on the back of the pigs is for though. I can't imaging pig-mounted lasers being a great idea. I had an idea today for a farm vehicle that might work... a crop duster. I don't know why it didn't occur to me before, but there are planes for every other professions... police planes, hospital planes, postal planes.... why not a farm plane? The set I'd like to seem most though is a farm cottage. There are hardly any residential buildings around, and I think a farm cottage would be perfect.

Side wheel, just because I think it looks more elegant that way. I think done properly it could be one of the best looking sets ever.

I think if you looked hard enough, you could find anything on the internet saying anything you wanted. This seems like an example of that. Still, I wish I knew who wrote that, and why they wrote it.

Uncle Vernon's face has appeared in a couple of sets... and so has 'Sherpa Sangye Dorje' from set 7417. I think it's just that most faces are unsuitable for the City so they only borrow the most generic looking faces from other themes. I like to think that they're getting savvy about developing cross-themed pieces though, like the black corset that appeared more or less simultaneously in both MMV (castle) and Shipwreck Hideout (pirates). You can't say there wasn't some cross-theme co-ordination at work there. And some of the Prince of Persia pieces look perfect for Indiana Jones. This is all just wishful thinking until anything is proven, of course. But it only seemed like wishful thinking when I was hoping for a new Imperial Flagship...

I wasn't going to bother commenting, but every time I try to picture these Ben 10 sets on the shelves of my Lego retailers, a little part of me dies. I know Ben 10 is popular, I sell the DVDs at work, but this isn't going to work. Proper Ben 10 toys are much better than this, and much cheaper. There go my hopes that this range would at least introduce us to some interesting new pieces.

Sadly I missed out on Western the first time it came around. They were released before I had a full-time job and could buy whatever I wanted, but after I was young enough to badger my parents to buy stuff for me. Looking through the range now, it looks like I missed out on some really great sets! I'd defnitely consider buying them if they revisited the range and the sets were good enough. Here's a wish list of things that would impress me: * Instead of just having blue coats, there could be blue AND grey coats, with some good army-building packs. They wouldn't be identified as the Confederacy and the Union in the same way the the soldiers in Indiana Jones aren't identified as Nazis, but it would quite obviously represent them. * Steam trains. A passenger carriage, a mail carriage (including the soldier's pay for bandits to steal) and a carriage transporting artillery. Maybe one with horses. * A gorgeous paddle steamer. If they do an Exclusive for this range (and they seem to do at least one for every traditional range these days), I'd like to see either a paddle steamer or a nice train. (Except they've already done Emerald Night, so a steamer would be more novel) * Detailed buildings with removable floors and proper walls. Not like some of the city sets where the walls are represented by a couple of pillars. * Civilians. If the range is populated entirely by soldiers, bandits, law-makers and Indians, then I lose interest. Contrary to what Lego thinks, it can actually be quite fun to play as the civilians. To fend off bandits and Indian raids, to find yourself caught in a skirmish between battling armies... much more fun than plain old Good Guys Versus Bad Guys. The same applies to Castle, City and Pirates. (Space is trickier, since it's harder to justify civilians travelling around in expensive space ships. Most science fiction stories involve explorers or fighters, not civilians)

Signed. I missed out on Western the first time, I'd love to have a second chance.

Heh... I like the vivaciousness of this scene. The amount of colour really makes it look alive. I really liked that I could tell what they were doing without reading the commentary - like, I knew that guy was spiking the punch before I read it. It's a good MOC that you can tell what's happening just by looking at it. My thoughts: * What if the piñata looked more identifiable, like a colourful parrot... * What if the back wall had pillars, or maybe more decorations, like candle holders... * Tiling on the floor? Um, that's all I can think of. If you could squeeze in another floor, you could make it epic...

Here's something to ponder over... the face of this new minifig! Atlantis 8057 Underwater Scooter. Doesn't it look amazingly like they have the future of the Pirates range in mind when they designed that face? Huh? Huh? I know which set I'll be buying if I need an additional pirate for my crew... (Other than that, I'm not at all interested in Underwater Power Miners Atlantis)

I was not all that impressed with the buildings... the barn for example has no walls at all. I realise it would be very expensive to supply enough bricks for an entire barn, but four pillars? They could have done better. However, since it's a large city set that isn't a fire station, police station or hospital, I think it's worth getting just for the novelty.

I love the idea of this MOC, and not just because I was going to do some short stories a while ago about Pirate School. I think it would look good with a fence along one or two sides, and a gate where it crosses the path, just to make it look more like an enclosed school ground. On the rocks in the background you could have a mast where people learn to put up sails... A pity there isn't a mortarboard piece so you could represent someone graduating. Of course, with the right pieces you could design your own mortarboard...

Indiana Jones, just because I love the Indiana Jones movies more than anything else. I love the vintage cars and planes that come with the sets, also the range of minifigs. Also, unlike things like Harry Potter and Star Wars, it hasn't changed dramatically since the first sets were introduced. After that I'd have to say Star Wars. I'd love to have the enormous Millenium Falcon set. I lose interest after that. I like the Toy Story movies but it's unlikely to be an ongoing range, so I'll pass on it. Also there are so many characters that belong to other companies that will never be made into Lego toys. I may get the army men, just for the novelty, but that's it.

It would have been nice to see more angles of this, even if it isn't sunny outside yet. If the pub is made out of an old ship, you could easily use ship parts to make it more interesting. Like, what if you took a sail from Brickbeard's Bounty and made it into a shade? I also think there's a lot room for the pub to be expanded... the building itself is almost as small as an 8x8 entry, there could be more seats, a table etc... I can't see behind it, but it would be cool if there was a cellar in the rocks under the building where casks can be stored. Also if there was somewhere for people to tie up their boats... Anyway, these are just some ideas for you to play with.

Imperial Flagship is a 2010 set. The pictures of it are 2009 pictures.

Yes. I inflated it to get a better look. Ah, well. At least the sails are a new print, and so is the Captain's Daughter. And the hull pieces haven't been that colour before. There are a few new pieces still.

Ah, thank you! I've spent ages trying to find an image of the inside of the cabin. Hmm... so it's a jewel in a cone. I was sort of hoping there would be at least one new mould in this set, and this 'poison bottle' had my imagination going... I guess they call it 'poison bottle' because 'booze' isn't kid friendly enough. That looks like a new map, though, and NOT the map to the holy grail. So that's good.

In one of the images, the chef is actually in the prison. In another, he's standing precariously at the far corner of the ship. My story for him is that he gets into the hidden stash of the captain's port and creates trouble somehow, so he has to be thrown into the brig until he's sobered up. While he's in there, Brickbeard tries to persuade him to do small favours like getting hold of the key to the cell. As I said earlier, I'm replacing the chef with the maid from Medieval Market Village. She looks the part and this way when the ships battle there won't be this awkward figure who's on the crew of the Imperial Flagship but looks exactly like an angry French pirate. Also, as a chef, she'll be the only woman on the Imperial side who knows how to use a knife. There are too many 'daughters' in this range who have no particular skills. I'm curious... how long have the Lego Ambassador's on this forum known about this ship? Thinking back, I remember a few hints now and then, but I disregarded them as wishful thinking. Incidentally, does anyone know what this 'poison bottle' is?