Zarkan

Well, I may have road plates, but unfortunately many of them have a stud row cut off! This happened when I was young and was trying to squeeze a 3 by 3 layout into a play table. It didn't quite fit, so we cut 8 of the plates so it could. It wasn't exactly my brightest idea, and I almmost imediately regretted it. *sad*

Wonderful city, SalvoBrick, especially considering that its much harder to make a large layout from scratch than to just mostly use official sets. It seems that the only thing that isn't original is the construction vehicles and some of the trains. Very impressive! *y* Plus, your building and vehicle designs are awesome, combining the detailed feel of the Cafe Corner series with the simplicity and compactness of classic town. I think this may be one of the best town layouts I've ever seen. ;-)

Layout Well, after many years of work, my town layout is finally complete! Actually, my latest layout only took about a week to assemble (most of the buildings were semi built and in bags), but my actual town has gone through many stages of evolution since I first founded it when I was young. Back then, it was only 2 by 3 baseplates big - now it spans over 5 by 3 baseplates big. It’s really not that big, especially compared to many of the layouts I’ve seen here and on other sites, but I’m proud of the work I’ve put into it. ;-) Now, with the intro out of the way, onto the tour! To start off, here’s a general shot of the entire town. Norville is a coastal village, so it attracts many people to its beach and restaurants in the summer months. Here’s the small seaport. It really just consists of a large platform with three docks coming out of it, plus a tiny management building. There’s plenty of cleaning supplies over in the corner of the seaport, and a wide variety of boats float here – a private racer, a diver team’s boat (which is currently in repair), the local fire station’s new boat, and a large coast guard boat. The beach is particularly active right now (the seasons are different in the lego world), and a lot of people are here. Some teenagers are playing a game of volleyball, and the handsome lifeguard is making sure that the kids in the water stay safe. Over by the local pizzeria a local racer is ordering Papa Pizza’s special tomato and basil pizza. There’s also a couple teenage girls chatting over pizza at the parasol table – I think they’re talking about the lifeguard! Oh, and then there’s Larry, the pizza delivery guy. He’s off to deliver a pizza to the mayor of town himself! Better not mess this one up, Larry! Here’s the grocery store, bank, and the brand new post office (which eventually will be paired up with one of the new City Mail Vans for super fast delivery). Don’t mind the awkwardly parked police truck – the police chief just stopped to buy a box of donuts. Frontal shot of the bank. It recently went through a major renovation, nearly doubling its size. Right now a worker is unloading some brand new bills shipped all the way from the Lego Federal Reserve. Next up is the finest location in Norville – the Breezeway Café. This renowned restaurant attracts many rich people during this time of the year, and is especially well known for its wonderful pasta and deserts. Oh, and there seems to be an illegal street race passing by right now. Legoland in general is quite known for these – must be all the racecars people have. These are two of the three houses in Norville – most of the people that spend time in Norville live in another area of town. There’s a couple policemen passing by right now – looks like they’re after those reckless street racers again. This is the large construction yard, where a new building of some kind will eventually go up. At least, that’s what the town counsel promised. However, there’s been rumors going around that it’s only there because the counsel wants to show off the brand new construction vehicles! Right next door is the local news station, LTV-9. The news crew is about to take off in their helicopter to cover the street chase going on nearby. The footage will be broadcasted by the giant TV tower, which is the tallest structure in Norville. The mayor’s house. It’s the only house in town that has a garage and patio – they’re some of the special perks mayor George gets for running the town. Right now his life Laura is gardening, and their cat Binky is playing in the grass. Here’s one of the largest buildings in town – the Octan gas station. A crew of mechanics is fixing up the mayor’s second car. I wonder where he’s going to park it when the job’s done… The third of the restaurants in town is a little MCDonalds drive through. It’s well known that Andy (the sole worker there) can make an order faster than the entire staff at the large but shabby MCDonalds restaurant in neighboring Jenkinstown. Last but certainly not least, here’s the brand new Norville Fire Station, which can be seen in more detail in this forum topic: Norville's New Firestation. Well, that’s it for now. I hope you enjoyed my tour, and my town. This is about as big as it’s ever going to get until I’m an adult and can really invest some money into making a modern lego town. But, I’m still pretty proud of it. :-)

Imperialshadows, you have outdone yourself again. I was laughing through the whole thing - and I often don't laugh at things at all, even if I think they are funny. *wacko* Yeah, I know, I'm weird, but still, this was great. And I loved learning more about the true Batbrick. Looks like he really is something beyond a caped crusader wanabe! :-P

Nonono, not alcohol! Doesn't everyone know what happens when you drink too much? You start mistaking Best Lock for Lego and Neo Shifters for Bionicle! (or even worse - Shifty for classic castle!) *wacko* :-P Eh, well, happy birthday. ;-)

Well, I finally got to open Lewa Nuva, since my mom had purchased him for me a few weeks ago (at my request) but I had to pay the money off before I could open it. :-P The final analysis? He's the best of the Phantoka, hands down. No real design or logic flaws at all, unlike Pohatu and Kopaka, and he has a lot of cool pieces and a decent mask. Plus, he's just plain fun to play with! *y* On a side note, has anyone else here noticed that the 2008 joints are stiffer when connected? I mean, stiffer in that they don't move quite as loosely. Because this new way of doing the pieces may have been the reason why one of my Tanma leg joints has partly snapped. >:-(

Another fine review, Dunamis. ;-) I really love these two sets. It seems that a lot of thought was put into them - the designs are fantastic! I won't be getting them, of course (blame the budget), but if I had the money these would be a must have. Not just because they are awesome, but because I would want to help ensure that TLC continues this line and others like it. :-)

Batbrick, you have made an amazing MOC. Everything about it is just awesome, from the superdetailed interior to the proportions to the minifigures... I could go on and on. *wub* I think the best part is that you've designed it so well that I could actually see TLC doing a kit like this. I'm sure it'd sell well! And I agree, the 2005 Police station is underated. I think the only real flaw is that it is on a rocky baseplate, but I don't think that it would be too hard to move it to a normal one. However, with a design like yours there's no need to do that. ;-)

A fine town indeed, especially considering that it's basically 100% original. You've even got a mecha bay! :-D Of course, the purple train is my favorite part. Now if only TLC would make one.... 8-| :-P

Yeah, I know the firetruck roof isn't that great, but I had to make do since it was the best that I could find in my collection. Thanks! ;-)

FD B-PV-1A; Helicopter V-A-1E; Fire Apparatus V-LF-3B I’ve been working on my town layout for some time now, trying to get the best look possible. Usually, that just means swapping the baseplates and building locations, possibly adding a new vehicle or small building over time. Lately, however, the biggest change to my layout has been the opening of the brand new Norville fire station, almost completely build from scratch. I did this mainly because I was sick of having the awful Blaze Brigade town Jr kit as my town’s fire HQ. Most of the parts and all the vehicles from the kit went into making this new MOC, as well as a lot of other pieces from my collection. ;-) Overall View: Here’s the front of the station, showing off the garages, helipad, and the automatic sliding door. I made my firestation with an automatic door like the one in the recent City set mainly because I didn’t really have a choice. I didn’t have any suitable doors in my collection that I could spare, so I decided to use a window from the town Jr set instead. Back view of the firestation: Interior: Level one of the interior is pretty simple – just a computer desk with a chair and a couple racks for equipment. I may improve on this later. The doorway on the right leads to the garages, obviously. Here’s level 2, which is mainly the firemen’s resting area. A couple bunks and a simple desk with personal belongings take up most of the space, although there is a doorway on the right that leads to the helipad. Level three is the most detailed – it is the control center, after all. Two computers, alarm lights, and a phone for emergency calls help my firefighters keep Norville safe. Oh, and there’s also a coffee cup on a little table. It’s mainly just there to fill up that empty space in the control center. Here’s the roomy garages, which have more tools in the back and plenty of space for two vehicles. Unfortunately, the fire truck’s trailer doesn’t fit, so it’s kept outside. Ah well, can’t have everything I guess. X-D Oh, and here’s a quick shot of the roof. Nothing special, especially since the big H-pad is stolen right from the Town Jr firestation. Vehicles: In addition to making a brand new firestation, I also redesigned the helicopter and “fire truck” that came with Blaze Brigade (the fire car also included was actually decent, so I left it alone). The helicopter’s basic shape remained the same – the main things I did were add water hoses, improve the tail boom, and change the controls. Now the helicopter actually looks like a fire helicopter – which is fortunate for my town. The fire truck is a whole different story. Being the piece of cramped, unrealistic, <insert that tiresome argument> crud that it was, I had not choice but to start from the ground up, lengthing it with a brand new trailer and adding needed features like a roof. :-| The trailer has plenty of storage spaces, as you can see in this photo and the one above. The main vehicle part is now solely a pumper engine. Well, that sums it up. My new fire Station may not be a work of art like the recent City fire Station or others that came BEFORE Blaze Brigade, but at least it’s a decent improvement over my old one. Stay tuned (possibly for a long while) for my improved fire boat, which completes my new Norville fire force! ;-)

I think it really has to do with the fact that TLC is finally learning to listen to all their customers and really wants to try to do what is best for the company as a whole. Sure, many of us may disagree, but you have to look at things from a global aspect as well as local. Of course, we can really be glad that TLC is talking to us at all. Back years ago, during the "dark ages", TLC kept trying to cash in on all sorts of quick money making possibilities (sports liscenses, Galidor, etc) instead of actually listening to their customers and working with the worldwide community. I think they've learned from their mistakes now in that area, and I too am happy that TLC wants to explain to us what they are doing. ;-)

Why, spiderman of course! Who can't love the classic web slinging, wall crawling teen geek-turned-superhero? ;-) Speaking of which, the new animated series they're showing on WB really rocks. Spectacular Spiderman had a lot better series premiere than The Batman, and they're introducing so many classic characters without going overboard that I can't help but love it. *sweet*

*gasp* Could it be? A female minifig in a CITY SET?! 8-� This set wins just for that. *y*

Bleah, I've seen clone toys a lot better than this. Those bikes would be great in a sci fi theme, but in a police theme they really don't jibe with me. *n* Funny though, this kit seems to really reflect the socialistic way of thinking down in those parts. It reminds me more of a military enforcement HQ then a regular police station. Maybe it's just me, but I dunno. 8-|

Gah, how I missed this contest until now is a mystery.... *wacko* Anyway, my choices were KhoRne, Klaus-Dieter, and skelliesgang, in that order. Here's my explanation for my choices: Town/Space: A lot of great entries here - I especially liked the postmen ones, but when I saw KhoRne's hobo, I just had to vote for him. That has to be one of the coolest little creations I've seen in a while. Hilarious.... :-D History-Adventure: Some great entries here too. But Klaus-Dieters wins out because it has such a great theme and is executed so well. As yoda would say, vegetable stand on! *y* Licensed Themes: I wasn't really sure on this one, but skelliesgang's moc won out, because I could really see TLC making a villians Impulse series with sets like this kit. *sweet* Great job everyone, and may the winners of this huge contest enjoy their prizes! ;-)

I thought the general rule was that movies based on video games are crud? :-P

Eh, he still looks okay to me. I'll probably be getting him long after he comes out. He seems to have a lot of great pieces! And I missed out on the original Takanuva, so I'll have to go with this. :-) It was automatic. Winners were randomly choosen out all the club magazine subscribers. I guess the suprise of it was intentional. :-P

Well, it does have those new double hinges.... :-/ Thanks for the review, even though it wasn't much (not your fault). I think Mars Mission just wasn't made for Impulse sets like City was. :-P

Yeah, but that's not even the worst part. After these hoarders buy all the clone packs in a store, they take the minifigs out and sell them for 5 dollars a piece. Then, they also list whats left of the battle pack (minus the weapons) for like five dollars. And people STILL buy this stuff! *wacko* :-P

Today I raked pine cones. Yeah, boring isn't it? :-P But, I'm getting paid for it, so that's good. :-)

Well, Super Paper Mario was a lot more enjoying today than it was yesterday, now that things are heating up. The boss battles were really enjoyable, and chapter 1-4 gave me that dungeon crawler feel that levels in the first two games did. Not bad, not bad at all. ;-)

Eh, I hated it. Besides the fact that it relied so much on references to other movies for the humor, some of the characters were really annoying (zebra anyone?) and there wasn't really any character development at all - just a recuring gag for each of the characters (giraffe = medicine obsessed, for example). *sad* Eh, I'm still waiting for Dreamworks to make a movie that I laugh at. :-/ I'm not counting the claymation movies - which are awesome - because they were made by a sub studio owned by Dreamworks, so they weren't direct creations of Dreamworks. I'd love to see more from them. *sweet* Anyway, yesterday we rented Spiderman 3. Like the first time, I fully enjoyed it. Despite a cliffhanger with Peter Parker and Mary Jane's relationship, plus sligtly less time to develop Sandman and Venom than I wanted, it still was a great movie. ;-) Funny, while many refer to the love story part of the spiderman movies as chick flick stuff, it's always been a part of the comics since day one, and I quite enjoy it. It really gives a personal side of the characters that you can't quite get as well when Spiderman is bashing baddies. :-)

Awesome! That tumbler is simply amazing - far better than TLC's official version coming out this summer. They should have hired you to design their set. ;-) I don't like the batwing that much - mainly because it doesn't have an enclosed cockpit, but it's still very original, so thumbs up to that as well. *y* Now, how about a Bat-copter and bat boat? I'm sure you could do great on them. :-)

I'd go with influence. It's hard not to dislike megabloks when your father is very stingy on the subject, especially when you're at such an easily influenced stage of life. :-P Eh, but what can I say. I guess I'm just one of the few that doesn't mind mixing themes if the result is cool. :-/ ;-)