deraven

Those are a lot of fun. The Leeloo was not something I expected to see, but it's great!

I suppose I'm in the middle- as its own set, it looks nice and I will most likely pick it up. As a Winter Village set, I don't care for it at all (same with the other "fantasy" ones). Again, as their own little seasonal theme, sure, but it basically feels like we're not getting any Winter Village sets and that's disappointing. As mentioned above, this is even worse if you already have the earlier sets as more elves is uninteresting, and they're wasting more parts on yet another big tree. And what's with the computer? That's neat and all, but why do the elves have it, and exactly what era is the Winter Village (or Fantasy Land) supposed to be at this point? I'm sure there's some narrative to this set I'm missing that a designer video may clear up. Lastly, while I don't really care how things are labeled for myself, how is this an 18+ set? The build doesn't look advanced at all, the theme does seem like something that would jump out to an older buyer, and that packaging and positioning seems to further separate it from the Winter Village line in general when that might be a draw for completionists (or other folks just looking to pick up this year's set as has become traditional for them). Seems like a strange choice to me.

Just lovely! The characters are fantastic, and I really like those flowers, and the overall build captures everything so well. The desk with the pigeonholes with mail and keys is great, too. Bravo!

Welcome to EB, Josh! Looking forward to seeing some of those MOCs. Happy building!

Very nice. I like the interesting point being made with the pointlessness of it all.

Yeah, it really bugs me that mold/sprue marks have become much more prevalent than they used to be, but as others have said that does look legit unless the plastic texture, clutch, etc., seem off.

Welcome to EB, Eric! Nice to have you finally signed-up as a posting member. Happy building!

First let me state that there's no right or wrong here with regard to how much time is spend on "hobbies" right now. Let's say someone is a healthcare professional working a COVID ward in a hospital and after numerous 18-hour shifts they find Lego helps them decompress, so they've been doing more than before. I would say that they're still doing plenty that's "important" regardless of how much time is spend on forums. On the flip side, if someone who has been on lockdown for months, by themselves, laid off from work, etc., is spending more time with their Lego hobby to keep themself sane, that's perfectly valid too. Personally, I'm spending more time with Lego in general than I was before the pandemic, but I've also been working more and under more stress, but it's not drastically more than before and it's not at all because I've had more time available. Some of the added Lego time has been doing more sorting since that is almost meditative, but I'm also doing more building. I'm being more mindful to spend time on things that are enjoyable, and since I'm working 95% remotely now (as opposed to about 20% before) I'm at least saving my commute time which offsets some of the additional work time. The added flexibility of working from home is part of what has increased my building time by, for instance, allowing me to work on a MOC for a bit at lunchtime. Still, it's mostly that I'm choosing to carve out more time for the hobby because it's good for my mental wellbeing.

Welcome to EB, LIVEnannino! Happy building (and engineering)!

This is wonderful! I'll have to take a look at the model file and spend more time on it later, but you've got some fantastic shaping going on and it's amazing how tight you've got everything fitting. That red stripe is lovely, and I think you've got a good mix of detail/greebling and sleek lines. Great build!

Looks great! It had a nice updated-classic feel and you've got a great level of texture for the walls without overdoing it. The inner courtyard feels a little small, but I like what you've included there. Looks great with the moat and start of the village, too. Nice build!

Quite good. Better than the original! Love the bot rowing itself with the spoon.

So many features, and I like that you're staying true to the solutions used in the real thing rather than just a "standard" Lego technique. And those are some tough curves to capture, but you've done a great job of it. Just lovely to see!

The only folks I've really heard of that were "banned" were abusing the Replacement Parts service, not doing actual Bricks & Pieces orders. Replacement Parts is for if you legitimately have a missing or damaged brick or other issue with a new set and they send you what you need for free. Bricks & Pieces is just a retail purchasing option and there should be no issue there. You may want to also look at Bricklink or Brickowl depending on what you need.

Welcome to EB, Sascha! Looking forward to seeing your creations. Happy building!

Welcome to EB, Bricky Joe! Always good to have another Rock Raiders fan around. Happy building!

Welcome to EB, in de-lurked status, Vdog! Nice to have you with us. Happy building!

Nice! Always good to see the ol' finger hinges being put to good use. I wonder if you could add a curved slope at the front of the hull bottom, or put a modified 1x1 plate with "tooth" pointing forward from the stud at the front bottom to make a bulbous bow? Of course, no reason to push for extra detail/realism there since the fantasy aspect of this is the most fun anyway. I like your use of the modified 2x3 plate with the inverted clip there in the hole to hold the front guns. Those great little details make it even more fun to look at. Thanks for sharing!

If you put a Technic half or 3/4 pin in one of the holes in the seat pointed in, it helps to keep the minifig more secure. I don't like the look of it, but depending on the need it can help. And the chrome isn't a problem... in moderation. (Moderation is always the problem! )

This looks great and like a lot of fun! The overall design and color scheme is nice, and I like the hatch + stairs feature - very cool, and functional!

I honestly like the original version a little more - this one feels a little too plump or something. But even with that personal opinion, this would still be the 2nd best version I've seen only behind your first. The whole Forbidden Planet setup to go with him is absolutely wonderful. Really great build!

That fence looks great! I think the gate now looks a bit out of scale with it (feels too small), but maybe making the stonework above it a little more elaborate would help? But that's purely subjective. Nice technique and a big improvement over the earlier version.

Your numbers look about right. I think the key here is that there's no 1 minifig scale that's "correct" as minifigs have such an odd shape/aspect. I've found that I always need to take some artistic license when going for minifig-scale if it's going to anything more than a static display piece. Often it's as simple as having the interior scale squashed or reduced a bit to make up for the girth of the minifigs (for instance a store with fewer aisles than it would normally have, or a vehicle that seats fewer minifigs that it would in real life while maintaining a good exterior appearance, etc.). Occasionally I'll scale the exterior up a bit if interior features are important to try to maintain, but more often than not it's a little bit of change to the exterior with more modification of the interior. Happy building!

This is delightful. So much interest and character in such a small build. Nice job on the ship overall and nicely posed with the tentacles.

Neat! Something a little different. I like it. Nice choice of colors, and those chrome gold highlights are great. Also nice to see I'm not the only person who thinks those Technic chairs work well for minifigs too.