rodiziorobs

Uh...how?

undermined

Now I need Kross Bowsomething to show up as a character in the second wave of sets.

died

students

30 to StarHawk3, s'il vous plait.

defenestrating

The Arendelle set looks like it has lots of nice parts, even though the set itself is somewhat lacking. Probably not enough to justify the price, I bet. Also, I like the Cinderella juniors set. I had wanted to pick up the original coach but never did, and now this one has the same parts I wanted with some others, as well.

Series 7: not bad, overall. Police: cute but I have no interest in them. Castle: other than the brilliant horse, the others are meh, but still good parts packs. Musical: the drum kit is inventive, but the others don't do anything for me. Too much yellow. Series 8: woah! There are some hilarious and totally unexpected designs here. Firefighters: good, but the hydrant design is the stand-out here. Pirates: I need these. Every one. The one with the eye patch is particularly great. Dentists: I really need these. I don't even know why! Maybe because it's a tribe that is so far out there. Same goes for pirates.

Scorpio is coping with misspellings on B08.

Location: B08 Tags: Vehicle, Land Vehicle After Scorpio had successfully planted mines in the outer limits of M.A.N.T.I.S. controlled space, he was sent to Greater Direstan. He wasn't sure exactly what his mission was, but for some reason he had to drive a vehicle of some kind. Apparently this was of the greater good to M.A.N.T.I.S., and who was Scorpio to complain? His D.O.R.I.S. had malfunctioned in the previous week, causing him to not send in a report. As a result, he got to cruise around for part of this mission without it. He was driving M.A.N.T.I.S. Amphibious Terrain Navigation and Intelligence Speeder, or M.A.T.N.I.S. for short. Scorpio guessed that its designer had intended for the acronym to spell "M.A.N.T.I.S.", but was less than skilled at designing acronyms. Scorpio had been under impression that the corporation did a better job screening for these kinds of things, and decided that an accountant must have intervened at some point in the naming process. Week 19 by rodiziorobs, on Flickr Week 19 by rodiziorobs, on Flickr Despite its nomenclatural shortcomings, the vehicle itself was a pleasure to drive, with its twin pontoons and jet-powered propellors, it skimmed swiftly over the water, yet could easily move onto ground. If only the designer had taken things like trees into account... Week 19 by rodiziorobs, on Flickr More pics in the spoiler, C&C welcome!

The zombie chef has bloodstains on his torso, but it appears to be from butchering as no other zombies have it that I have noticed.

This exactly. I get a bit ruffled when people tout (for example) butt-kicking female superheroes as if it were the biggest step forward for gender equality; while there is definitely some good there, it also signals that in order to be successful, a woman has to act "like a man", thus reinforcing two unhealthy stereotypes. But, to the matter at hand: I think LEGO has done a pretty good job addressing gender balance. Obviously, their goal is profit first, yet they have chosen to include characters of the opposite gender in both their boy- and girl-oriented product lines*, and have done so since the beginning: Nya in Ninjago, Farran in Elves, Unikitty and Wyldstyle in TLM, and the female characters in Chima (I haven't paid much attention to that theme, so I don't know much other than that there are a few). There also seem to be more women minifigs in City and Police themes, where the fact that they are women is understated--they are just people (well, Lego people). Also, it seems like Ultra Agents has included both male and female characters as hero or villain on a fairly even balance, although I also haven't paid much attention to that theme either. Did they have to include these characters? For profit's sake, no. Boys and girls tend to gravitate toward characters of their own gender, and so adding a female ninja or male elf doesn't make sense on a purely profit level. Yet they did. Could they include more? Absolutely. I feel like the most telling part is that (for the most part) these characters feel genuine, and not just check-the-box sort of quota-filling characters to appease those who worry about gender balance and to avoid backlash from consumer protection groups. Like they would have included those characters in their products anyway. And while they still have a way to go, I feel like they are getting better. However, I take issue with their marketing. In commercials, it is always two boys who are excited to open their Airjitzu flyers, or two girls who are playing together with the Elves' treehouse. I feel like these sets themselves are intrinsically gender-neutral, yet by showing only boys or only girls playing with them, it shuts out the other gender. My sons think the Elves sets look neat, and my nieces like Ninjago. Yet what sets do they ask for as presents? The kind prescribed by Marketing. Even though they would each privately enjoy the sets "designed" for the other gender, they don't want to be seen playing with a "boy's toy" or "girl's toy" because Marketing has branded them as such and made them taboo. I would love to see commercials where both a boy and girl can play with these kind of sets and have it not be a big deal. Maybe these commercials are out there (?), but I just haven't seen them. *I tend to dismiss licensed themes such as Disney Princess or Super Heroes, as what LEGO produces there is not completely in their control.

never

That was what I was thinking about Wolfpack Tower; I see no resemblance at all. I also wondered if it were the factions except I don't see the yellow castle as really having factions.

tempers

The orange banners on the top of fortrex have a stylized lion symbol with the numbers 375 and 6075 above it--a little homage to the Yellow Castle and...Wolfpack Tower, of all things. The same image is on some of the blue panels as well. It's kinda cool, but I don't see why the designers included those specific references Also, I am not sure about my earlier assertion that the girl was holding pages from a book--on looking closer, it does look like a gaming device. Weird. I am still not sure I will buy any of these--I do like them, but I don't know if I like them enough to actually spend money on them.

I think she is actually holding pages from a book. The new mold looks like it holds a 1x2 tile inside. I am guessing that missing (or stolen) pages is a part of the story somewhere. Also, slightly off topic, I am going to guess that the bull knight torso piece (or variant of it) is used for Giant-Man next year in the Marvel SH sets.

absent-mindedly

splatters

Unsteady

pretentiously

Great parts usage with the hex dome and lighting effect, and the story was a lot of fun to read.

basest

I agree that Wallace and Gromit would be fantastic! I have recently been longing for a CMF series of Discworld characters.