rodiziorobs

I'll suggest that maybe the cactus 'arms' are more like handheld gauntlets that cover part of the arm, similar to this Ninjago piece:

I think the Cactus Girl is the only one I really am curious about. The others may be worthwhile, as well, I'll wait and see.

The microscape is great, and I'm usually a sucker for microscale ships, too. I look forward to your next chapter.

Cars 3 Valerian

Is it being officially discontinued then? This rumor has been thrown around so many times since Day 1 of the theme's release that I don't believe it.

Thanks @Sephron13 for the pics! I started out really not liking this wave from the prelims, but I think it's growing on me. Some sets more than others, of course--I still think the turtle doesn't look quite right, but the mammal sets look better; I will probably try and get both. Thanks also for the shot of Noctura's tower with the wings down--I haven't seen any other pics that show that, and I think that really helps make the set look more appealing. By the way (I don't remember if anyone else has mentioned this), official descriptions are up on shop.lego.com, along with pictures, with the sets listed as "coming soon: Jan 1 2018". One week, folks, one week.

Drat. I mean, uh, Bah! Humbug! (ah, that's more like it--more in the spirit of the thing ) Well, better luck next year I guess. I still look forward to what the prizes would have been, and you winners make sure to report if you get a chicken box!

Jumanji (2017)

Woah, creepy. The egg piece for the eyeball is a nice touch.

I was expecting to see one or two...but then there were three, four...five...and even more? And they are all so good! The color schemes on all of them are ace (The Azura in particular), but the curved fuselage on the Red Arrow is impressive. Reminds me of a Concorde.

Wow, with the strength of the other entries I didn't expect to get anything--I was quite surprised to find I tied for third! The other winners truly deserved it, and it was fun to see the entries from everybody! @Peppermint_M, I'll take the tag; I think it will look great next to my others. Thanks again for putting this fun little competition together.

The blade part has been around for awhile, mostly (if not exclusively) in Nexo Knights, although Emily's is a different color: Nocturna's staff is made from standard parts, plus the new diadem parts.

5 days left... 89 people haven't won yet, 30 of those still will: if your name hasn't come up yet, you still have a 33.7% chance it will. Looking ahead, the odds will continue to drop at a growing rate until there is less than 10% on the last day:

Shobuda entered the building slowly, brushing past the creepers and vines near the garden entrance. "Otousama," he called. "Otousama, are you at home?" "Yes," came the reply, "I am over here, tending to the anthynia. I found some kuwagata larvae destroying the roots, and I..." The older man broke off as he stood and saw the young officer before him. "Why, Shobu-kun, have you been promoted?" Shobuda beamed. "Yes, father. I am a captain now." The older man smiled as the young man continued, "and we are going back! At long last!" The older man's smile faded instantly. "Going back? But...why? W-w-when?" "Reports have come in saying the zone is safe. Our departure date has not been announced, but Octan is already preparing. Our forces have been commanded to be ready at a moment's notice. Your presence in Kawashita's science branch would mean much toward discovering new species and..." He trailed off, as the older man turned away wordlessly, squatting to perch himself at the edge of the small fountain in the center of the greenhouse. "Are you not proud?" Shobuda asked. "I am proud, but my pride is overshadowed by worry." "You need not worry! The Kawashita High Command has assured us..." "And that is my worry!" The younger man stood in surprised silence, interrupted only when the older man asked, "for what noble deed did they advance your rank, musuko? For bravery and honor in conflict and battle?" "...Yes," Shobuda started, beaming again despite himself. "What conflict? What battle?" Came the retort. His question answered by his son's resumed silence, the old man continued. "There has been no conflict since the Gates were locked, and armed competition has been outlawed in this solar system. Why reward you now when the conflict has been over for months?" Again, the younger man remained silent, his proud grin becoming replaced with an angry scowl. "I presume many of your compatriots have also been promoted?" Shobuda gave a sharp nod. "The danger is real my son. Not danger of war, of sabotage, or of any human creation, but of greed. I believe you worthy of your promotion, Shobu-kun, but I do not believe your superiors would grant it to you upon merit. I see that they would rather buy your allegiance, that they may use you to enrich themselves." Incensed, Shobuda stood unflinching. His father slowly turned to face him, and when their eyes met, Shobuda could take it no longer. "You are an old man, and know nothing!" he cried. "The world has changed much since your time! You will sit idly by and watch, with your old ways, while I will inherit a new future!" "My son, please reconsider..." "No. I am going. I will prove myself and you will see! You stay here and waste away, I have worlds and riches before me!" Cursing under his breath, Shobuda turned and stormed out through the arbor. The older man sat silently, sadly, for several minutes. When he came to himself, he stood up wearily and returned to his work, collecting the kuwagata grubs in a basket. He had a game of Go in the afternoon, against an old ex-marine friend from Mantis. He would be delighted at the gift. C&C always welcome. Here are a few fig-less shots:

I was at my local LBR store last week, and lamented to the assistant manager about the Elves sets not being out yet--when he told me they would be out in two weeks (or even sooner--he suggested they might break street date early!) I was shocked. I'm saving some of my Christmas $$ just in case. I figure if the sets don't look worthwhile in person, I can easily find other stuff to spend it on.

Its interesting that the best "video game movies" tend to not be the ones based off of games themselves, but those that play with the concept of the game--i.e. Wreck it Ralph, like @Oky said, and movies like Scott Pilgrim or Live. Die. Repeat. I don't think they are actually video game movies, but they come close enough. As for actual video game movies, I don't think there are any great ones. There are a couple I like, but they are more of guilty pleasures than actual good movies. For example, Prince of Persia is an underrated B-movie with an A-list cast. I can't attest to its faithfulness to the game (never played it much), but I enjoy it all the same. It's worth it just for the scenery-chewing Ben Kingsley. Warcraft did the impossible by making the Orcs look genuinely real. Not just cut-scene 'real' either, but lived in, earthy. Unfortunately that (and the wooden acting) made the humans look like really skilled cosplayers by comparison. I still enjoy the movie as a whole, but its easy to see why it was generally panned. Probably the reason I like Warcraft despite its many flaws is that I'm a sucker for high fantasy movies, and genre films of any quality tend to be few and far between. That being said, I could get behind a Zelda adaptation, or a classic like Chrono Trigger (which would probably work best as an anime series, honestly) or, if we're really reaching back, Dragon Warrior in all it's 8-bit MIDI glory. Even if they weren't great, I'd probably enjoy them anyway. If they ever happen. All the buzz for Ready Player One seems positive, but that's usually the case for any blockbuster, even the lousy ones. Also, it isn't an adaptation of a game, either, so the odds are more in its favor.

The Fantastic Four rights are messier than the X-Men rights, though. We might still never see a F4 movie (long explanation below): Sorry for the double post. This part below was not part of the spoiler above, but I can't edit that at all now, so it seemed simpler to repost it as a separate comment. ***** F4 related villains such as Doctor Room, Super-Skrull, Galactus et al should be fair game. If Marvel shows us they can do Thanos justice, I would love to see how they use those other baddies. (Particularly Kang the Conqueror! Do it, Marvel!) As for X-Men, I hope (at least for now) that they keep them separate from the MCU. When they decide to reboot, I'd be okay with their inclusion, but I feel like the MCU has come far enough without them that to include them now would be a weird fit.

Ah, so here's the other thread. I couldn't find it earlier and ended up posting in the other one. Half the winners chosen, half to go! The 131 people who have yet to win still have nearly a 55% chance, and the odds don't dip below 50% for another three days. Fingers crossed! Edit: for the record, there is also a 6.3% chance of having your picture show up on the calendar (compared to 11.8% from the first of the month).

I wondered the same thing, although if one is happening this late in the year there is no way I could get anything ready in time. @wildly The contests were to build an original creation that fit the theme. If you google "site:eurobricks.com winter village" (without quotation marks, obviously) it will pull up everything on EB that is related. You can try using the site's search as well, but even mods have before said that using google does a better job. In the past each entry was required to put "Winter Village" in the topic title so you should be able to find lots of builds for inspiration with those keywords. Also, welcome to eurobricks!

#7, #8, #11: 1 point each Thanks for running this contest, good luck to all entrants!

Excellent! Everyone's odds just got a little bit better...

Well we're one-third the way through already! Time for a little stats... I counted 206 entries (someone can feel free to check that though), and there will be 144 winners. From the start everyone had nearly a 70% chance of getting something. 48 people have already won, and 96 more will win out of the remaining 158 members, so everyone left still has about a 60% chance of winning.

I also feel like this wave is a bit lackluster, especially compared to the previous waves. The buildings don't seem as impressive as the Treehouse or the Starlight Inn, for example, nor the animals as well-designed and charming as the dragons were. That being said, Nocturna's tower looks like the only must buy me. Nocturna looks to have some great parts for customizing of evil minidolls, there is a new print for Farran (for me at least), the fox looks like the best of these new giant pets, and as others have said, loads of teal and other great pieces. I'm guessing its probably in the $60 range, which seems reasonable. Probably the only other set I would get is the eagle set. It looks like a good value for what is probably $10-12. By the way, have we had any confirmation the teal color is the same as the old teal that Mark Stafford "killed"? I have bunch of that color from 90's Rock Raiders sets and the Technic Competition sets, and it would irk me incredibly if the new color was *just* off.

I tend to agree with @MAB on this one, as far as opportunity cost: is there some other set that £300 could go toward that would be more worth it? In my mind, yes; there are many big-ticket sets available now that are amazing and have a good value (of course the modulars, some TLBM sets and a bunch of TLNM sets, for example) for which I would be more willing to part with my money rather than a marked-up set. Also, I fully expect that TLG will revisit the HH someday. Maybe not an exact copy like with the Taj Mahal, but something similar; the concept of a haunted house is too popular (for buyers and probably for designers, too!) to think TLG would never make another large HH set again. I have no inside information here, just a hunch. Maybe it won't happen soon, but I'm sure it'll happen eventually. Only you can know. Don't be in such a hurry to buy that you overpay. Also, ask yourself how important BNIB actually is to you--would you be okay with used if the savings were significant? Those questions can help you determine what the real value to you is.

Right. The spongy ones are soft and gauzy. You can wad them up and when they unfold they look the same as before. As @Aanchir said, the others (stiff/starched) show their creases a lot more. I haven't really noticed a difference between Traditional/Shiny. Maybe I don't have any shiny ones