Dunjohn

Currently Power Miners, though I wish Exo-Force had never ended. From my kiddiehood, I have very fond memories of Blacktron II. I tend not to go for licenced sets due to the expense, but I have gotten three Toy Story ones and the Indiana Jones motorbike chase set. I have no full Star Wars sets, but several small promo ones that came free with a newspaper last year. I prefer to buy vehicle sets rather than scenery. It's a balance I need to redress, my MOCs tend to suffer for it.

Yeah, exactly. Working with what I had was the tricky part (and to be honest, it made it a bit more fun too), and trying to make it look like it was moving was about the limit of my abilities. I'd have liked to make it look like it was surging and oozing around, as well as simply flowing. As for the water, it's pressurized! With science! It works perfectly that close to lava! ;) TLC normally don't put much focus on environments in their sets, which made this set in particular easy to modify. I'll probably be picking at this for a long time to come, trying to get it just right. Looking forward to what Mantaman comes out with, make sure you post pics!

Don't worry, dude, I'm sure you have just as many nieces and nephews as I do

Watched an old communist-era Polish movie named Duże Zwierzą a couple of days ago. 'Bout a retired guy who adopts an abandoned circus camel and the pressures that brings from the community. Very good, very sad, it's been a long time since I've watched a movie where the plot twist is that there isn't one. Certainly made a change from action movies. Avatar's going to be a trilogy, is it? Hmm. Major deja vu here. Almost exactly ten years on, technologically pioneering, perfect mix of action and emotion, profound message, a society that thinks it's independent but is actually being watched and manipulated 24/7, a whitecollar hacker who realizes he's actually The One and destined to save humanity from being biological batteries for the M.... wait, is that last one in Avatar? Oh, never mind, I'm sure the two sequels will be brilliant.

Lavatraz: I love it, it's awesome, but it has some really, really confusing things going on. The whole thing is built on a series of red base strips, and that along with the name makes everybody think it's constructed over lava. However, logically, it must be built on rock: it comes with a wheeled vehicle, the cage has no base supplied, and you can "mine" out the side to get at some crystals. There's also a separate water cannon that's meant to clip onto the "lava," The cage section couldn't be using lava as a floor because Eruptorr could probably swim right through that. However, like zero1312, I figure lava would just be cooler. I forgot to take any "before" pictures, so here's a link to Lego-Freak's review: http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=37310 Also, a caveat: I don't "do" stickers, bud. The Whole Thing Here it is, fully assembled. As well as the lava, I modified some of the machinery, but kept the set basically the same and stayed within the same area size. The only part I didn't touch up was the little vehicle, which no longer makes any sense anyhow. There were some bizarre mechanical oversights on Brain's part when he designed this place, so I extended a small bridge out behind the crane to give access to the controls, and put clips on the corners of the cage walls so that they actually, y'know, work. I also swapped the yellow soft drink cans for Coca Cola; who the heck goes to the centre of the Earth with a crate full of Fanta Lemon?? The Lava River Here's what's beneath one of the platforms; I can't remove the other one because it's now built into the rock. All the pieces are lined up right-to-left to give the impression of flow, and I used diagonal pieces to make it look like it's streaming around the supports. I'm not convinced that that sells the idea, though. There's also a gout of lava shooting up through the platform. Mind your step. The lava under the cage, continuing the right-to-left flow. However, by now I'm running out of orange plates so I'm really scraping the barrel. Here's the rock. Much more solid and sturdy than in the official set, and less square. I took out the exploding mechanism since it no longer makes sense without the wheeled vehicle. It's oozing lava: my idea was that the rock was once a lava upsurge that cooled and solidified, but it still active beneath the surface. Was I thinking too deep here? Again, this is me using every scrap of brown that I possess. Anybody who saw my Ghostbusters MOC will be familiar with that line. And this is the back of the rock. The rock is roughly triangular, so the Miners had to add a support column themselves. The lava here is red because those two orange studs were literally the only orange bits I had left. So my excuse here is that this is cool lava, and I added some brown to emphasise that. Kinda makes sense, since the rock itself is cooled lava. You can also see where I extended the platform out behind the crane, but it's nothing major. And finally, the redesigned water cannon. Since it can no longer clip onto the "lava" like before, I attached it to the platform using connectors that allow it to go up and down, and these new hydraulics naturally necessitated the addition of a fancy new lever. I also replaced the grey slopes with green to make it more Powerminersy, and added pressurised water tubes and lava heat shields on the base. And that's basically what I wasted my Sunday doing.

I just got this set in town today, and yeah, that "lava" is a tad disappointing (as is the set size. I really must stop thinking sets are going to be bigger than they turn out to be, I keep getting disappointed). I might try to fix this up as well. Just one thing, though.... have you any idea what the "exploding wall" under the can dispenser is for? 'Cuz I'm stumped.

*sigh* Up to this point, I had still been hoping that "Hero Factory" was still just a working title. It really is awful, but I guess we're stuck with it now. It was a slim hope to begin with, I know. The video was nice, even so. And I do like that the line keeps its Bionicle roots. I may not be a Bionicle fan, but I've always respected its place in the lineup.

I gotta admit: I despise the superhero comics genre in particular, and since it's so pervasive, it's tainted my opinion of comics in general. So I don't read many. That said, I have read a few. I went through an X-Statix phase a few years ago, it was almost a parody of the superhero genre but eventually became just another part of it. Years and years ago, I read Marvel Heroes Reborn and collected every issue. It's largely due to that series that I now hate superhero comics, but while I understand that the guy behind it isn't exactly respected in the industry, I still see it simply as a magnification of what I don't like about them, not as an exception to the rule. I read Watchmen when the movie came out (though I didn't see the movie). I just wanted to see what all the fuss was about. It's good, it deserves its reputation, but I just read it once and moved on, mission accomplished. I don't read much manga anymore, but I used to. The last series I read right through was Death Note, which was excellent up until you-know-what happened and still good after that. I liked Sgt. Frog until it jumped the shark. I don't normally go for shoji stuff but I loved Mahoromantic and read the whole thing. I don't really read any dailies regularly, though Dilbert's good. I also really like Pooch Cafe and Garfield but they're in newspapers I hate reading, so I don't see them much. Historically, my fave would be Calvin & Hobbes. Webcomics, none.

Actually, so did I in mine. One was bagged separately, one was in with the other stuff (can't remember if it had its own bag too). This wasn't Toys'R'Us, this was some chain in Italy. As for parts not meant to be in the set, when I ordered missing parts for an Exo-Force set, they sent me two additional Storm Trooper helmets. And in the Fireman's Car set for the Daily Mirror promo last November, I got the criminal's head with the gold tooth instead of the correct one. Not sure if either of those really count, though, since the former isn't a real set and the latter was incorrect, not extra. Is every single box weighed? That's a huge volume; I'd assumed that random cases would be selected to detect errors accross a full run. Doesn't seem economical to weigh every box, then rip open one that has a random extra Ahsoka figure.

... "Titans will clash?" Now THAT's an inspired tagline

I don't even see the red x's, just a big space. What are you using to upload these?

I see some colour variance in the purple bricks. 'Course, Lego aren't innocent of this either, but it's still a shame. Yeah, the sets are nice and all, but my alliegence to Lego prevents me from getting them. Probably not fair on the Megabloks guys, but any money I spend on non-Lego is money I could've spent on Lego....

I'm building this set as I type (well, not literally; I'm using my fingers to type and I haven't mastered the art of building Lego with my teeth yet). I'd wanted to get Lavatraz but the shop wouldn't take the generic gift voucher I had so I could only afford this. Rather enjoying it so far. Lots of lovely greebley exhausts, vents and intakes on the top. What the heck they're all needed for.... Some nice bits I didn't have, nice chunky design, great minifigs, decent price.

Yeah, sorry for giving that impression :) When I started listing them, it was shorter than I'd thought, too. She does look cool, whoever she is. And if she's a spirit or something possessing the sword, that's probably fine (like how Midna "possessed" Link's shadow). But if the sword starts chatting to Link, joypads will fly....

Wow. Some nice ones. The big red thing looks like a crippled Transformer, but it's still got some interesting things going on. And the creatures look a bit better this time 'round. And I'm not that big into minifigs but even I'm impressed by that armoured dude.

Wind Waker - talking boat Minsh Cap - talking cap Link's Awakening - talking statues The trouble is more because Nintendo likes to give Link a sidekick ever since he went 3D. Half the time, it's a real person, like Navi, Linebeck or Midna, but other times, they take the lazy way out and make it an object Link carries around with him. They do this in Mario too, with the FLUDD and Peach's parasol. Bugs me. And the Master Sword is so iconic - and iconic as a cold, mysterious item - that the speculation about what's going to happen to it has me a tad worried.

I've been listening to a lot by a Russian artist named Glukoza recently. Kind-of a ravey, poppy sound. Probably really shallow, but I can't understand a word, and it's satisfyingly thumping. Up to now, I only knew the Russian for "yes" (da) and "no" (nyet). Glukoza's taught me "wedding" (svadba). I should be able to survive over there now.

There's a forum I go to (not Lego-related) that had an interesting near-death experience. Frequent server problems (down for long periods, even days at a time, pages failing to load, posts failing to upload once typed etc) meant they had to take it down for a month and replace it completely. In that time, most posters upped their participation in other, rival boards. When the forum returned, it had changed completely, with many basic features gone and new ones difficult to understand or see the point of. Most - literally, most - regulars didn't like it and didn't return. Over the last while, gradual changes have been made to restore some of what was missing, but the user base is way down. It's the product's official site so a newer generation of poster is gradually developing, replacing the veterans, and the site will probably recover, but the damage is done. What could kill EB? Gimme time, I've only been here a couple of months.... I believe the broad affection for Fabuland is the weakest area in this site's defences

I'm not a Bionicle fan. I had been keeping an eye on this, but maybe someone with a better eye for Bionicle could enlighten me: Are there any differences between this and the old line, other than thematic ones? The feet look bigger and more manga-esque, but mechanically? Right now, to me, it just looks like Bionicle rebranded.

Very cool. I like the size of the room. Very cramped and claustrophobic. The minifig himself feels a little jarring, though; the head seems too comical for the tone, and the simple blue torso feels a little anachronistic. I was thinking Henry Jones' outfit from the Indy sets could look like a classical nightgown from the right angles. Otherwise, very cool.

Yeah, I'd seen the teaser pic, and it is a masterclass in the art of teasing. I'd also noticed the odd appearance of the girl. To be honest, I'm nervous about them messing with the Master Sword. It's one of the very few constants across a series that has had numerous reboots. And for the love of Zeus I hope it won't talk, Nintendo are starting to run out of inanimate objects they haven't made talk yet.

Such an awesome minute. I had a big grin on me for the whole thing. Incidently, I keep forgetting what the movie's called; I saw it in Poland with subtitles so I think of it as "Terminator: Ocalenie." I think the movie had some big flaws. John Conner is the chosen one? This isn't the effing Matrix, John Conner was never a chosen one. Obvious Matrix contaminations littered the movie that were never part of the Terminator universe. And how do the machines know about Kyle Reese? However, despite all of that and more, I really did enjoy it, it had good action and the Marcus character, despite being a little shallow, was very watchable. I don't go to the cinema much. Ocalenie was the last film I saw in one, back in July, and I don't know what the one I'd seen before that was. Watched Disney's Pinnochio over Christmas. Very old-fashioned, very boring, but nice to have on if you're doing something else at the same time.

Hmm. The non-technological lines. Bad sign.

Hmm, looks interestinger than I thoughted. I'm afraid my Toy Story budget is depleted after Buzz, RC and Army Men, but this guy'd be next in line if I had the funds. I think he looks better than Buzz, who turned out very blocky. That's thanks to Zurg's simpler character design, but still, this looks like something I could stand on the top of the TV. By the way, are your LGM heads as loose as mine? They don't have a regular neck slot and my guy's head basically slides off.

Yeah, I've seen these in Forbidden Planet, but to be honest, I think they look awful. I've never been interested in getting them. Nice to hear they work with Lego, but still, no thanks!