Yatkuu

6. Winter Village: Winter Town Hall by sdrnet – 3 points Great composition. 13. Winter Village: Farm by Emma – 2 points Sweet techniques and overall great looking scene.

19. ROOK – 2 points Nasty looking bug ! 38. burlogh - 1 point Cool combination 43. Hammerstein NWC – 2 points Total badass!

37. rEvolution - zane_houston - 3 points Best mecha I have seen. 15. Chicken Moonbase – vecchiasignoraceppo – 2 points You did not just build a MOC, it’s a new theme!

5. Freighter over Ice Planet Biodome - Lt. de Martinet Brilliant execution. 8. Iron Giant – cmaddison Incredible! A microscale scene with emotion! 27. Research Base Kappa - J4ke The color scheme really caught me. 62. Factory Defense – Darkblane Great build and as always a perfect photography. Darkblane rules! 72.The City of Tomorrow – touthomme The title says it all.. amazing!

Hello everyone, While we all patiently wait for the next CMF contest on EB*, here is a 16*16 vig that I built for a contest on Brick Fanatics. Before you all start shouting...I know, I know... there is something a little unrealistic about this scene, dogs are usually not allowed to attend lineups. What can I say... my son really wanted to add one. Number three, step forward. by Yatkuu, on Flickr I don't know if I got lucky.. but I bought my first batch of CMF Series 9 and I ended up with 4 cops out of the 10 bags that I (blindly) grabbed. Anyway, this "accident" gave me the idea of this funny little scene... I hope you guys like it! *Hey, White Fang! It's time to wake up mate!

Very good, brilliant effects too!

Ladies and Gentleman... we have a winner! If anyone is interested in the tragic story of this ship, here is the wiki link: Amoco Cadiz. Well done Flying Ace and thank you for this great feedback. I did not know about this "Wild Kratts" show, I just watched an episode on youtube... and it's good! I love how the bad guy explains that he has "rhino-dozers" so he can dig up trees and flatten things to build parking lots. This is pretty much the same type of reasoning I had in mind for the Stinkers, pointless destruction of nature for their own profit.

Thank you for the explanation, I know very little about these Education sets. As said before I was only trying to argue that the ecology theme was no stranger to LEGO. Of course this action theme idea is very different but I think that down the line they do share some common ground. The use of renewable and alternate energies is one of the key points of the good guys. Wow, now hold on a second. I never said my theme was meant to teach kids that the use of fossil energies is pure evil. I don’t know how you got to that conclusion but it was never my intention to portray something like that. “Left environmentalist propaganda”? Really? To give you a little extra background info on the genesis of this project the use of fossil energies was at first only a way to visually differentiate the vehicles of the two factions. The prominence of large exhaust pipes, oversized tanks.. as opposed to sleek and modern designs. Now if you see this as a critic of modern society that is relying too much on fossil energies I think you are reading more than I ever intended to tell. I think the analogy given by Ardelon is very good. The “Castle” theme is no more a pro-monarchy lecture than this theme is about radical ecology. You know, if we start dissecting these themes too much we will always find something to say. Another example… how come did no one complain about the fact that Chima is using wolves, ravens and crocodiles as the bad guys? What did these poor species do to deserve such a treatment? I don’t know if our different cultures could explain our different perception of this but it is an interesting point. I presented this theme in the exact same fashion on the French forum Brick Pirate and it certainly did not generate such a controversy! I started designing a base of the Marshals but never finished it. It was a mix of a lab and a bio-dome. For the bad guys the oil tanker/aircraft carrier is indeed their mobile base. Thanks for the great input! I like the idea of the nuclear powered vehicles! How about a Delorean - no, wait, LEGO is already making one! That’s an interesting point. Machines would have the advantage to be “nameless enemies”. My only concern with this is that you need a minimum of characterization for a theme to work and I’m not sure we could achieve that with machines. In other word you would need to have machines with personality. Let’s take the example of Battlestar Galactica if the only enemies were the basic "toasters" Cylons it would become boring as hell in a heartbeat. That’s why they added the humanoid Cylons.

You are misinterpreting my words. Of course it is different, I never said it was similar or comparable to this action theme idea. Doctor_ocks stated that this whole concept was too real for LEGO - I was only trying to argue that on the contrary the ecology theme is something they are willing to touch within the right context.

Thank you for the feedback, I'm afraid we disagree on a lot of things but at least I'm glad you like the models! I think you are missing our point of the good versus bad dichotomy. The fossil energies are only one key point of the bad guys identity. The general idea is to portray a faction of individuals that do not respect the nature in extreme ways. In other words, driving a huge SUV that pumps fuel like mad isn’t making you a bad guy in this reality. Dumping oil in the ocean and cutting down trees for the fun is. If you fear that people might feel offended by the reality depicted in these sets I'm afraid the problem is not with the sets, it's with the people. In a way it reminds me the controversy with Jabba's palace. The issue is not with the set itself, it's with the people who see the set as an insult. What about this? http://education.leg...-challenge-set/ I'm not making this up, this DACTA set is called "Green City". I would also make one last point regarding the question whether LEGO should do this or not. Anyone who thinks this is inappropriate for LEGO, that it is not their role or purpose, please remember that the concept of this “open call for ideas” is to gather feedback and ideas on new territories. Our idea is meant to be something different than what LEGO is already doing. By nature it is going to challenge some boundaries so please try to consider this with an open mind. Instead of having a debate around what makes this idea wrong why don't we try to elaborate of what would make it better?

The Scorpion Pyramid in the PQ series had one.

I have had slopes with cracks.. the cheese seems the most fragile ones. My worst experience with cracked bricks is with my Empire State building on display on my desk at work... I built it once and never took it apart, there are at least 5 bricks with noticeable cracks.

Frog power!

Thanks for the nice comments! You can still do it! Let's show everyone how batrachians can kick every other animals' a$$!

Hello everyone, here is my entry in the FAPC contest... the X-512 Starfighter, better known as "Froghead". Frogs in Space by Yatkuu, on Flickr I am a big fan of Karf Oohlu's "Froggies"... so this contest was the opportunity for me to try sending some of my own frogs into outer space. I didn't know if the fighter alone would be eligible for the contest since it's smaller than 16*16... so I also built a small moon base to go with it. Froghead fighter by Yatkuu, on Flickr Best of luck to all participants and thanks to the EB staff for the organization! *Edit* Re-ordered the pictures.

Holy cow... what a build. The photography is equally incredible.

Excellent creation, very unique. The white background does not do justice to the build but large scenes like this are already very difficult to shoot as it is so I'm not sure it could be done differently. My only suggestion would be to perhaps add the movie logo in the top left corner, as a way to "fill in the blank"?

Interesting debate! I don't really have an opinion on this myself, but I'll just share some food for thought!

Thanks again, great feedback guys! I never considered the possibility that such a theme could be subject to negative media backlash... I mean, it's basically the "Agents" series with an eco twist. Again, I think it all depends on how you present the subject. The "trigger points" we have listed may not be the wisest, fossil energy versus renewable might indeed ruffle a few feathers - in particular coming from a company that produces plastic. There are many ways to educate the kids to the problems of ecology, down the line it is up to LEGO to ponder this carefully. I don't think they are too afraid of a little controversy, they did stand their ground with Friends. Well... I think that's really too bad. Why couldn't the kids be educated to more than just building creativity? I think action themes can and should be more than just plain good versus bad fighting. Let's consider a recent example - Pharao's Quest. I loved the series, it's the first theme that got me into buying all the sets... BUT I did have a major issue with the theme, the story was completely stupid! LEGO makes an Ancient Egypt theme and the best story line they can come up with is Tomb raiders shooting at Mummies? Would it really hurt to take this as an opportunity to tell a bit more about real ancient history? It does not even have to be at the expense of the story line, for instance, the sets could have shown in the instructions some fact sheets showing where the designers took their inspiration - the Sphinx, the great Pyramids...

Hehe, nice try but that's not it! "Zodiac Coma" is an anagram for another ship's name...

Let he who never thought of making a small extra cash out of LEGO cast the first stone! That being said, making living out of it is something else entirely and as many have pointed out very risky - after all it's only ABS. As for the point of taking advantage of other people's passion... I try to be cool and tolerant about all this, no one of forcing you to buy anything. The only thing that bugs me is when I see so many sellers in LUG meetings... merchants of the temple, to quote another verse.

Thanks for the feedbacks, some very interesting points! In response to Faefrost & Crownie, I fully understand your point that such a theme could be perceived as politically engaged but I think it all depends on how you want to present it and how far you are willing to go. Even in the middle of debates between radical ecologists and people held as responsible for the pollution of the environment it is always possible to find some common grounds - some basic principles. For instance, I think it is a no brainer that humans should be respectful of the planet, the flora/fauna. Nobody in his right mind could say otherwise (at least not publicly...) Just like the thieves from the City sets these bad guys are completely dumb, they don't have any political agenda - they are just stupid and venal. Granted, this theme is not the answer to a very complex problem the human kind as a whole is being faced with but I'm hoping it could serve as introduction material.

Hello everyone, I have started a discussion in the action forum to share the idea I have submitted to LEGO together with my friend Pixel Fox - check it out here. We would love to have some feedback from the community on the feasibility of the theme... I'm afraid some people may have missed my post as the action forum is kinda flooded with contest related discussions lately!

Lol, you have an interesting perspective of your own job! I can't really say if it was out of laziness but one thing is sure, they were very supportive from the start. I was told that some people in the editorial team did not believe the project could work... but the editor in chief stood by our side nonetheless. Lessons learned for next time, do a kind of proofreading of the scenes!

errr... omg, that's what happens when you work under pressure! That's just another goof... not intentional at all! I can't believe no one from the journal noticed this!