LucasLaughing

Thanks for the feedback; those are really good suggestions! I like your idea especially of the electrical box and the stand lights; they would have given it even more of an "under construction" feel without looking sloppy. Thanks! I was quite happy with how Sgt Brintt's pose turned out. I find one of the ongoing challenges and pleasures of building is coming up with ways to make the minifigs look more life-like, with posing and such. Now if only I could find a good way to make a prone sniper...

I think you have a very good point; although I wanted to leave the identity of the assailant a mystery (I figure commandos can get away with a lot, but probably not with assaulting a superior officer) I think some more details would have helped to draw the audience in. I'll keep that in mind for my next build... Thanks! As always, I appreciate your comments and thoughtful feedback

LOL, nice! I've never been up to date with the "sportsball" so I hadn't heard of Chris Andersen, but those are some sweet tats.

Good work! I like your story/writing, and the landing platform is excellent! Those 1x1 technic bricks work really well for the corridors.

Thanks for the kind words! As to the stormtroopers, the story I had in my head was that they normally wouldn't be patrolling this area, but the LT sent them out to try and blow the Commandos' cover. However, they didn't know exactly where the Commandos were, just the general area. I think sometimes I spend a lot of time planning the stories in my head, but they don't always translate as well onto the page :blush: Thank you! I had a lot of fun with this one, and I'm proud of my first brick-built alien bird Lol, I didn't notice your response until I'd already typed out my response, but yes, that's exactly what I was going for! Thanks! You're right, I was surprised at how fast I ended up going through my foliage bin. You might be right, it is fairly dramatic, but in my experience there is no shortage of idiots walking around ... there must be a shortage of stranglers Thank you! I've been having a lot of fun researching the Stormtrooper commandos and the more elite Imperial Units. Sample conversation from this month: Girlfriend: What are you reading? Me: A West End Games reference book, made for their tabletop Star Wars game, all about Imperial tactics and the organization of ranks! Girlfriend: I love you, but you are weird. Thanks Lobot! I looked at quite a few pictures, both still frames from ROTJ and shots of the Redwood forests in California where they filmed it, so I'm glad the 'feel' came through!

Thanks! I really appreciated your comments - it kept me motivated to finish my marathon posting session. Thanks! I've found the trick to getting good photos in light like this is to use a tripod ... I have a little $15 mini-tripod I use for stuff like this, and it really helps. Thank you!

Thanks for viewing and for the kind comments! Thanks! I did have to do quite a bit of head switching for this one ... it's a good thing I keep my minifig heads organized by expression Oops, I missed that detail ... maybe the LT has powers like the Hulk, but not quite as impressive. "Don't make me angry ... you wouldn't like my eyebrows when I'm angry..." Thanks!

Note: this is the final entry of a 3-part story. Part 1 - Pulling Rank Part 2 - Into the Wild Gathering around a fire to tell stories may be as old as soldiering itself. We all want to believe our own stories, but sometimes we get too caught up in our narrative... ...and we fail to notice that the audience is leaving ... ...one or two at a time ... ...until we find ourselves alone in the dark. It's dangerous to be alone, in the dark, on a hostile world. Please understand that this isn't my story. I heard it from someone, who heard it from someone, who heard it from someone. When these events allegedly took place I was with my entire squad, being debriefed by an ISB officer. This can be verified. If one cared to look into it, one would find that everyone on base had an airtight alibi for that night. This is not my story. I can only pass on what I've heard: how the Lieutenant came staggering into the base, pale, bleeding from a very shallow cut that crossed his entire throat. I don't know what words were whispered to him in the dark. I don't know if those words made a difference. Our shuttle left Endor that night. --- Behind the scenes: I finally got my hands on some transparent baseplates after finding a mosaic set at a rummage sale. A campfire scene was the first thing I thought of, and I'm very happy with how the effect turned out!

Edit: This is part 2 - the freebuild here helps to set-up the story. Damn, damn damn. It was a bad situation, very bad, and then it got worse. The troopers crashing through the brush flushed a bird from the trees. One of the troopers raised his blaster, tracking the bird. If he fired.... ...then the Sanyassan Marauder we'd been about to capture would probably open fire. If the Sanyassan aimed its weapon towards the troopers... ...then I was going to have to take it out. And, if I fired my weapon this close to the line of stormtroopers, they'd start blasting everything in sight, including my team, and probably each other. Damn. And the day had been going so well.. We'd been dropped off the night before, several klicks away, and by sunrise we were in position. We'd set up along the main path that ran between the edge of the forest and the grassy plains. "Bull's eye," "Crash" and I were in one group; "Romeo," "Tiger," and the Sergeant were set up a few hundred meters away. Our objective was to capture a Sanyassan Marauder. We knew they were hostile - they'd captured and killed one of Pfilbee Jhorn's survey crew. We also knew their base of operations was a primitive rock fortress out on the plains. But, we didn't know how many Marauders there were, or what weapons capabilities they possessed. The problem with stone castles is the rocks block scanning rays, so our probes can't tell us what's inside. Stone also tends to hold up surprisingly well against laser bombardment, so it wasn't as simple as just ordering a TIE Bomber fire mission. No, to get intell we'd have to take one alive. Endor is a beautiful planet; it reminds me of home. As the sun came up, and the song of strange birds filled the air, I felt more peaceful than I had in a long time. Although we'd seen Maraduers go by in pairs, trios and groups, we didn't spot a solo one until mid-day. Romeo confirmed that there was nothing coming down the path near their position. I could see quite a ways from my vantage point and it was also clear. My finger tightened on the trigger, ready to fire a stun beam... ...when suddenly the creature bolted off the path and hid behind a tree. We all prepared to fire in case it had spotted us and was about to attack. That's when Romeo radioed that we had stormtroopers on the path. Damn. There's no way this is a coincidence. We'd had a run in with an officer the day before; sending troopers to try and blow our cover must have been his way to get even. So, now here we were: The trooper about to fire on the bird... ...the Sanyassan about to fire on the troopers... ...and us preparing to fire on the sanyassan. That's when the trooper behind the would-be hunter kicked him in the aft and told him to keep moving. I breathed a sigh of relief. Five minutes later, the Sanyassan walked slowly out from behind the tree, and I shot it in the head. Stun setting, of course. While Sgt Brintt radioed the stormtrooper patrol to let them know there were friendlies on the ground, Crash shouted up to me. "Hey Birdman, climb out of your nest and give us a hand!" Finally, I had a unit nickname. I climbed down with a grin. --- The third and final part of the story is here: War Stories

We arrived on Endor in the afternoon and set-up our gear in a half-finished hallway in the temporary base. Corporal "Romeo" Pax and Staff Sergeant Brintt were cleaning their weapons and I was checking my ropes and climbing gear. The rest of the team was off gathering supplies and handling last minute details. That's when trouble arrived. They say not to judge a holo-book by it's front projection, but this guy had FOC written all over him (that's "Fresh Off Carida" for you new recruits). Not only was he wearing his full battle armor inside the base; he'd apparently also assigned himself a stormtrooper security detail. Still, we tried to give him a chance... "Good afternoon, sir." Romeo called. The Lieutenant ignored him and stalked toward Sgt Brintt, who was still seated and cleaning his weapon. "There's an officer on deck - get on your feet, soldier!" Sgt Brintt stood ... slowly. "Now drop and give me 20!" Sgt Brintt looked past the LT and spoke in a calm voice. "Sir, we're working under the orders of Captain Parth, who is acting upon the authority of General Brickdoctor. The Captain has ordered us to be ready to go by 1100 hours, and this soldier believes that an unscheduled PT session would prevent us from meeting that deadline. Sir." The Lieutenant's threats and insults were shouted at such a volume that he failed to hear the sound of metal thumping on metal,so when Sgt Brintt suddenly straightened up and saluted, the LT wasn't sure what was going on. He figured it out pretty quickly. Captain Parth spoke in a low growl. "Staff Sergeant Brintt." "Yes sir?" "I want you and the men to take a 10 minute break ... elsewhere," the Captain said. "Yes sir." We walked around a bend in the hall, far enough that we were out of sight, but still in hearing range. I spend time with some rough crowds, but I hadn't heard curse words used that frequently, or that creatively, since boot camp. 10 minutes later, a pale and shaken Lieutenant walked quickly past us and we went back to work. "He wont be giving you any more trouble," Captain Parth said as he left, but I had a feeling we hadn't seen the end of this particular officer. --- Part 2 of the story is here: Into the Wild Part 3 is here: War Stories

Wow - this is fantastic! I love how the foliage has been blown over -it seems like a simple effect but it works really well- and the tree with the exposed roots looks great. Also, very nice job on the TIE bomber, especially some of the weird angles like on the bottom missile launcher. I'll admit sometimes I come to a MOC with a lot of writing and just end up skimming it, but both your story and your writing style are excellent. Awesome imagery - spot on! Again, great writing. Your character's thought process and internal dialogue/argument seem very realistic and sincere, and as a fellow writer I appreciate the effort that goes into a well thought-out story like this one. I'm definitely interested to see where your story goes next - keep up the awesome work!

Nice work! The tree trunk turned out well; the vine and leaves coming off of it definitely make it look more natural. Your predicament with tree size vs saw size reminded me of this photo from early logging in Washington State: http://www.puyalluptribalnews.net/assets/images/1994.123.54.jpg You could also try out that pose

Lol, love it! This build is awesome; well done sir! I really like the Inquisitor TIE - it has a very sinister feel, and the Phantom turned out beautifully. You also do a great job on the little details, like the shirtless mechanic and the tires used for barrels, that make the hanger seem very authentic. Again, good work!

Thanks! The idea of a movie is tempting ... I do have a little brother who does music composing ... maybe this summer when I have time off work! Good eye! That's actually just a bit that ended up unfinished when I ran out of time Thanks a lot! Reading comments like yours definitely inspire me to keep building, and make the (many) hours of work worth it Thanks LegoFjotten! I'd been looking for an excuse to use my small amount of dark orange for a while, so when I read that Sullust had a surface with colorful rocks, I knew I was in luck

Thanks for the comments and feedback everyone! Excellent - we'll need all the help we can get once we track down the traitors. Thanks, I was really happy with how the stream turned out! Well, I guess now we know who to track down . Thanks for the compliment, though! Thanks! I did a dumb thing and tiled the whole hall before I decided where the minifigures were going to go, so then it was a bit of work going back and fitting in jumper plates Thanks guys! The story-telling aspect is one of my favorite parts of SoNE, and definitely something I'm enjoying. Thanks! The rocks took quite a bit of work and rebuilding, but I'm happy with how they turned out. And don't worry, I'm sure the identity of the traitor will be discovered soon Thanks! Yep, those are supposed to be blaster holes on the wall behind the troopers. I had to do the layers because I ran out of dark bley bricks, but I ended up really liking how it looked

Cool looking ship, and the lava looks good too! I would have liked to see a few more photos, maybe some close up shots?

Hang in there, trooper - help is on the way! At least you wont run out of ammo in there. --- I like the astromech with the laser beam - that's a cool technique.

Trooper, disregard that last transmission - that was a rebel on the coms. It's possible that we had a blue-on-blue casualty, but this is war, these things happen. Right now, we need you in the sky shooting down those rebels! I'm trying to remember how long ago it was when I could still keep track of how many lives I've taken. There's only one that keeps me up at night though ... --- Great build! The in-cockpit perspective looks really cool and I'm loving the story too!

Wow, amazing build - you do a great job portraying the action! For some reason, this reminds me of the original Half-Life computer game...

Awesome job! You do a great job capturing the chaos of a close-quarters battle, and I like all the thought you put into the story as well!

This is great! I really like the multi-tiered effect, and your technique on the walkway and railings is very well done.

Great work! I like your use of different camera angles to help tell the story. Your details are spot-on as well; from the blast debris in the corridor to the security cameras by the duty station, this looks like a very well thought-out build.

Well done, sir! I also like the greebling, although I agree that the weapons storage looks a bit "messy." The lava behind the window is a really nice touch!

If we're going to re-take our base on Sullust, it's vital that we secure the command post. To do that, our troops will need to fight through to the heart of the base, potentially giving the rebels time to escape. We need another way in. There are hundreds of miles of tunnels and old lava tubes forming a labyrinth under the surface of the planet. The odds of randomly finding the right one are extremely low. There is a vast amount of machinery dedicated to keeping our Sullust base habitable: air filters, purifiers and exchangers connect with miles of ventilation shafts and pipes to keep the air breathable. That’s good news for us; machinery requires maintenance, which means access hatches and schematics. Because we’re breaking into our own base, we can pull up the complete schematics from the Imperial archives. It doesn't take long for us to find a way in. As I follow Crash (the origin of his nickname is a whole other story) into a rift, I'm trusting that he's able to decipher the complicated diagrams and schematics. We walk through the pitch-black lava tubes, illuminated an eerie red by our optics; Crash leads the way at several tunnel junctions, and after about 10 minutes we arrive at a pressure door. So far, so good. We pass through the pressure door, and shimmy our way down a pipe. I'm thankful for the upgraded Shadow Trooper armor - I don't think I'd want to do this in a regular Stormtrooper outfit. As we reach the bottom, we find ourselves in another cavern. The tight spaces filled with pipes and the loud, low rumble of nearby machinery remind me of my first tour, on the Vigilant. Crash says it's not totally clear from the schematics, but he's pretty sure nothing horrible will happen if we pop open this maintenance hatch without turning off the machinery first. Once again, he's right, although it takes both of us to pull the hatch free. I follow him into the airduct, and then immediately wish I hadn't. Straight ahead is a double-bladed, industrial fan. Crash says not to worry. The trick is to take off our helmets, drop them down with our weapons, and then inch along on our bellies until we reach the next duct. No worries... Crash makes it. My turn. I want to clarify that the look on my face isn't fear; the lower blade is actually sucking the skin on my face downward, while the upper blade pulls my hair up. It's only a few feet across the shaft, but it's a long few feet. Finally, we make it into position. It looks like the rebels are using escaped prisoners to help guard the halls. They must be stretched thin, trying to cover as much ground as possible before our reinforcements overwhelm them. Imperial troops have entered the base. We're carrying slug-throwers. They're much heavier than blasters, and they carry far less ammo, but they can be fitted with sound suppressors. When we open the door to the command center, we catch the rebels totally by surprise. They assumed they'd hear a blaster fight if anyone tried to take out the guards in the hall. We neutralize the armed prisoner, and put the rebels in hoods and binders. It doesn't look like they had much success slicing into our systems. I keep an eye on the door while Crash logs onto the main computer. Something about the room feels wrong, and as I'm standing there it hits me: whoever killed the tech at this duty station must have been standing right about where I am. And the two Stormtroopers were killed by blaster fire from inside the control room. As Crash uses the computer to lock down the doors and get the security cameras back online, I get a sick feeling in my stomach. I think the attack on Sullust was an inside job. -------- Once again, this turned into a larger and more sprawling build than I first intended. This time, though, it is more interconnected. All the pipes and caves that look like they attach in the pictures actually fit together. UPDATE: here are some pics of each individual level. Surface Upper lava caves Lower lava caves and ducting Halls and command center

The TGV looks great - I'd love to see it on some wide curves!