Inconspicuous

I'm sorry my words weren't too reassuring. I completely know what you're going through, because I had to watch one of my cats die on the floor. It's horrible, and no one should have to go through it. Hang in there JCC.

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll look into the bog some more next week. It's a cut and sharpied lever. Thanks for all the nice comments, everyone!

I'm really sorry to hear about Cirrus. I've had 5 cats in my lifetime, two are living. Of the three that are gone, two lived to be 14 and one lived to be 19. I know exactly what you're going through, and you seem to be handling it very well. Like you, a cat was the first member of the family I lost, and I know it was really hard, especially when you've spent most of your life with the animal. Although nothing gold can stay, look at the bright side; his passing could open up new possibilities. Once my dominant 19 year old cat passed away, a friendly neighborhood cat lived with us for a few years, and we had a great time with him.

After a week of hard work, I finally present my Small Entry- Meeting Yoda. This famous scene from The Empire Strikes Back was Luke's first encounter with the great Jedi Master Yoda. Yoda says some funny and meaningful remarks, and has a comic battle with R2-D2 over a flashlight. In honor of Episode V's anniversary, I gave the scene a go. Scene Recreation: Here's a (poorly) Photoshopped recreation of the exact scene as best as I could. The only major difference is that here, Luke is standing. I found it impossible to get him to kneel in a way that looked good and was accurate, so I just stood him up. Overview: Here's the entire vignette. It's hard to tell, but the four corner pockets are filled with "bog" water. This didn't turn out exactly how I wanted it, but I'll probably change it later. Base: Here's the base of the vignette without Luke's camp and the minifigs. The green jumper is for R2. That curved log took me a ridiculously long time, but ended up looking pretty good in my opinion. Luke's Camp: Here's the several parts to Luke's camp. R2's charger is more prominent here than in the movie, but you can see in a few frames that he's plugged into the "lamp". Also note details like Luke's blue food ration tray and the gear box Yoda rummages through. Top: There's only a tiny bit of overhang of the trees and the container. Here are moist cotton balls used as fog; this is the other bog method I tried. More pictures available here, and all pics here are clickable for a larger version. Thanks for looking, and good luck to all my fellow competitors! Inky

Welcome to the forums! Is there a particular reason why your username is "Odyssey"? Is it a reference to Homer's great work, or does it have another story behind it?

I realize that people might not tell me, but it's still worth a try anyways. The desperation of the situation is really starting to remind me of the Winter Toy Shop fiasco, except that I'm caught on the other side this time. We can't win all the time, but I hope you understand that I'm trying my best to get my hands on some of the figs, even if it seems unlikely.

I was dead serious. I'm going there in a week for a classical guitar convention, and if I could leave some room in my suitcase, dismantle the box, and take the bags home, then I would. What exactly do you find so funny?

I called my local Toys R Us again today, because they said they might be getting a shipment today. It turns out that they had gotten a new one, but had already sold out by the time I called. Does anyone in the Austin, Texas area know of somewhere I could buy a complete box? I'll be visiting in a week.

I can try calling back tomorrow. They said they might be getting some in stock, and perhaps I can use that policy against them (thanks for bringing that to my attention!). They said there was a "16 figure limit" since that's how many there are total. I'll try my luck. Blondie-Wan, I think that Artanis I is correct here. With so many places being sold out already, I find it unlikely that they would get them later, especially with a second wave awfully close. I'll keep that in my mind though, in case you turn out to be right. I don't know of any small toy stores around that would sell them. Generally, at least in my experiences, small stores have prices that are quite high. Shipping costs on such a big box turn me away, so that would be my last resort. Thanks so much for the quick and useful advice Asterios, Blondie-Wan, and Artanis I! By the way, does anyone here live in Austin, Texas and know of a place you can pick up a box? I'm going there in a week, and I might be able to leave room for one in my suitcase.

I'm sorry if this has been brought up before; if it has can someone steer me in the right direction? I'm looking to buy a complete box. My local Toys R Us and Lego store won't let me buy one (if they even had them in stock), and the local Targets and Walmarts don't carry them either. Any ideas on where I could get a complete box?

The colors are nice, but otherwise, I'm not liking it that much. The formatting throws me off, especially not having the pinned topics separated. I also think that the subtitles to topics are too small. I'm sure I'll get used to it, but currently, I really don't feel like spending that much time on the site.

Congrats! Today I had lunch in San Juan Bautista at a lovely cafe. There was beautiful music, authentic Mexican food, and crazy cool gardens with blooming cacti. I also went to two parties, giving me a total of 6 I've attended in the last 4 days.

Wow! The wait has gone by fast! I really look forward to this game, whether I play or watch alongside. Cool mini Hogwarts! 1) I've been interested in Mafia since I learned to play it in person on a camping trip four years ago. I've played it person a good handful of times more, but even though I won several as scum, I don't see it as a great achievement (I feel that playing it in person takes less time and things don't develop as much). Here on Eurobricks, I've played in Prohibition and Dystopia. As you'll probably remember, I was greatly misguided in my first game, and made the terrible mistake of voting you off. I thought I would get a chance to redeem myself in Dystopia, but I was killed this first night, after I correctly guessed a scum on Day 1. I also played in the Prince of Persia bloodbath, and survived a couple days. Last, I followed Mystical Castle, Infection, Imperial Soldiers, and have read over a few older Mafia games. 2) I've been in love with it ever since it came out! When I was a little kid, I had a Harry Potter themed birthday way before it became popular. The worker at the cake shop said it was the very first Harry cake they had ever made. I've read all 7 books, a few of them twice. I also own Jim Weiss' audiobook series and have listened to all the books at least once. I've seen all the movies to date and own three of them. Growing up, Lego Harry Potter was one of my favorite themes, and I owned a large handful of sets, including the first and third Hogwarts Castles and the Chamber of Secrets. I have very fond memories of playing with the sets, including driving around my Knight Bus while playing the soundtrack from that scene in the movie. I've played through some of the video games and know my basic spells, potions, creatures, and characters. I've loved Harry Potter for years, and I don't think that love of mine will ever fade away.

I'm not sure, but here's another one! I've actually seen this video on TV in India several times during the holidays. Well, it's less obvious with a PoP avatar, but yes.

I stumbled across this funny magic parody the other day. It's incredibly funny for magicians, but non-magicians should get a kick out of it too!

Must.... enter.... small and medium.... *faints* Simply amazing prizes! The White Mandos are an incredible addition to the prize pool!

I'm sorry, I should have made myself clearer. I was talking about the Watto's Junkyard Index- it's showing up blank for me.

Is it just me, or has the "recently updated" Contest Index mysteriously disappeared? "Dangerous and disturbing this puzzle is. Only a Jedi could have erased those files. But who, and why, harder to answer. Meditate on this I will."

If you use artificial lighting, it's pretty much guaranteed that your pics will have some yellow, but that's nothing a tiny bit of photo editing can't fix. Can you post one of these yellow images here?

Wow! It looks really good! I'm so glad they finally are continuing the series. After a disappointing first wave, the Guggenheim and Fallingwater showed us what they're really capable of. The set looks pretty good, and is obviously quite accurate. Thanks for the pics!

I like the lava a lot, especially the use of the bush as the burst. The falling effect is good too. You're actually incorrect. You can clearly see at the end of this video that his second arm is chopped off, meaning that all his limbs are robotic. Darth Vader can't shoot force lightning.

As Ricecracker has said, it would cost too much money to host them here. Deeplinking isn't hard, it's just a matter or practice. I'm sure you'll get the hang of it. I've used the uploading directly a little bit, and I don't think it's that much more convenient anyways.

I thought I would have time to post a last minute entry this morning, but I missed the deadline! I probably wouldn't have won anyways though. Well, my votes are: 2 Points to Fugazi- A simply breathtakingly amazing entry! The tiling and wallpaper is simple impeccable and gorgeous. The colors are so perfect, and it has a healty dose of humor too. 1 Point to graznador- Very funny! The sea creatures and expressions are priceless, and the story is quite believable, with the recent oil spill. Honorable mention to Skalldyr for the entertaining and magic related vig. Awesome work to the all contestants!

I just died and went to heaven. The magic is building.

I just saw the movie, and all I can say is WOW! I was excited going into it, but it turned out even better than I had thought. The time traveling was impeccably executed, the action sequences were brilliant, and the overall plot was genius. The problem about most time travel movies is that the time gaps are too large, and paradoxes are created. The Sands of Time just undid things, instead of creating loopholes, which avoids pretty much all of the confusion associated with time travel. The action sequences were great, with all the parkour and battles. I loved the spike Hassansin who guarded the temple! And the overall plot was great too. The characters' motives were very good, and the message behind it all was decent as well. In terms of the connection with the Lego sets, the designers did a satisfactory job. The minifigs are spot on, but everything else is slightly distorted. The Fight for the Dagger set seems like an excuse for some Persian architecture, since the scene isn't particularly memorable, and definitely doesn't occur the way Lego implies it does. The Ostrich Race also seems to imply things happen a certain way, even though they don't. Desert Attack is relatively accurate, except for the specific Hassansins included, as it's been stated before. Quest Against Time is accurate if you discard the front half, and Battle of Alamut is just downsized, yet still pretty accurate. Lego could have included other details like Seso's throwing knives or Dastan's older brother, but I'm still happy with what they decided to include, and the great job they did! Overall, I'm just bursting with happiness at the amazing sets Lego brought us and the incredible movie behind it. I have a feeling Prince of Persia month has greatly biased my opinion, but I honestly don't care. PoP 'till you drop!