Svelte

This really is astounding work! The colours and detailing are just perfect, and I love the wintry landscape. 7 months of work and 15,000 bricks... is this purely a display project, or are you using it in some way for your degree?

Happy Birthday, TinyPies! Have a great day!

Thanks Rick! I was pleased with the proportions. I wanted it solid, but imposing. I think my Department Store suffered from being too high in the end, so I was pleased to refine height on this one. PoP Exclusive? Hahaah! Yes, I can see that. I only used the arches from the Emporium, since I hate to break up big sets for parts (I never put them back together). I think there's about 50 white arches all up. The gold domes and dark tan bushes came from the PoP sets but everything else was basically either made up of Apple Tree Houses, spare white bricks from my parts collection, and a series of Bricklink orders I've been making this year (dark tan plates, pearl gold, white pillars etc. It was great to use up all these parts I'd been buying from BL in one fell swoop! Thanks Sandy! I like to keep a LEGO feel in my MOCs, so the sophistication is not so much in the build (although there are some nice techniques) but in the colour composition and overall feel of the building. No decals! The yellow torso is from the Star Wars Visual Dictionary and the shimmering silver-white vest is actually a Speed Racer torso That was absolutely the intended effect... travelling in India a few years back I was amazed by these massive arches which seemed so deep and the vaults of which even changed colour with the light as you walked through them It's the Peruvian Idol from the Indiana Jones Temple Escape set. Uh.... *hands Holodoc a rock* Thanks for your kind words, Etzel! Only the arches come from the Grand Emporium, but sure, buy one if you want I really ought to start getting a commission on Berard-related sales.... Whilst you're at it, can I interest you in this shiny old lamp? *Mwahahaha!*

Clone O'Patra is right, it's a Fabuland saddle. I picked it up in a BL order on a whim about a year ago, so I'm glad to finally put it to use! It's not a new technique, but it's surprisingly under-used. You need a lot of spare headlights for it! There isn't really an interior, although it would be possible to make the back wall panels removable. The idea was more to suggest how Princess Tamina could access the enclosed balconies at the front. Adding too much clutter to the top floor also would interfere with the sharp relief of the arched windows, so I chose not to worry about it. As above! Yes, if only they had these invented these lovely pointy pieces *before* they made a giant Taj Mahal in which every arch detail is the wrong shape Thanks, TheBrickster! I had to dismantle 2 Grand Emporium roofs to free up enough white pointy arches for this creation. It's a parts-hungry monster!

Oooh, sign me up, Cracker!

** Please note all pics are links to high-res flickr versions ** On his quest to pursue the mysterious Dagger of Time, Dastan journeys to the Persian fort of Alamut to rescue the Princess Tamina. To do so he must pass through the ornate Alamut Gate and encounter the denizens of the bazaar within... Hero shot of Dastan all camelled up as he passes through the ornate arch of the Alamut Gate. View of the upper part of the Alamut Gate, showing the three top domes and the recessed balconies built into the Gate wall. This MOC explores Arabic architectural detailing using the new pointed arch and dome pieces. It is loosely based on a gate from the Amber fort of Jaipur built by the Mughal rulers of India. The recessed arch detail on the front of the gate. The Gate is built almost entirely in 4 colours - white, tan, dark tan and pearl gold - no black, bley or red-brown pieces at all - even as filler on the inside! The only exceptions to the four-colour rule are the blue half-Technic pins which hold the flower motifs in place. Front-on view of the Alamut Gate. Side view, showing modular connection and wall detail. An intricate mosaic plays on the repetition of a single form - in this case, a headlight brick! On the rear side of the gate, customers and merchants haggle in the Alamut bazaar. Detail view of this more informal arch on the interior of the Gate. Overview of the Bazaar. A snake-charmer teases a deadly cobra from its basket with a tune from his flute. The stair visible in the back of the stall leads up to the balconies seen from the front. A woman and her son stop to watch the performing monkey clapping cymbals together a little discordantly. The lady tosses a coin into the monkey's cute little upturned fez. 'If you cheat me, I will kill you!' This desert ruffian intimidates a seller of second-hand pots, bottles and curios. A Persian cat looks away disdainfully. Back view, front on. Bonus top-down shot of the lovely domes and tiling on the roof of the gate. A picture of a gate at the Amber Fort in Jaipur which I used as referebce when planning this creation.

I'm sorry to announce that due to a lack of interest, the pilot Teacher's Pet program has been shelved Thankyou to all those who were interested - in appreciation for the effort you made to sign up, you can keep your tags for a week or two as a reminder of your enthusiasm to be a 'Teacher's Pet'. Perhaps if interest increases, we may revisit the program next year for a launch around 1 April once again. Thankyou.

That face does indeed add a new level of meaning to the word 'fleshy'

Normally there are 2 big release periods for S@H when most of the product is available - Jan and June - but LEGO has individual deals with retailers and countries about exactly when the sets are released - they are normally spread out month by month.

Happy birthday, CopMike! Have an amazing day!

Judging from conversations over the internet, its due out in stores in April. Not to mention the fact it states APRIL in the Australian/ NZ catalogue out in Jan. Honestly, I don't know why people keep on asking about this Fire Brigade at TRU? How odd! Is that some kind of belated April Fools?

I've got a fair amount of these new Prince of Persia minifig pieces and I haven't noticed any issues so far, whereas the Trident issue I noticed almost immediately. Didn't you say you had problems getting these pieces in your figs hands? Maybe the extra force needed is causing the peeling. I don't know why that would be, perhaps some variance in width.

Instructions for the sets are now available via S@H Customer Service (all except for the Market set, oddly) http://us.service.lego.com/en-US/BuildingI...ns/default.aspx

Hahahahah! What a great April Fool's joke. Hilarious!

Well, that's not a very promising start if you can't follow a direct request and say what colour tag you want Attention to detail is key for a Teacher's Pet!

Hmmm, a fleshie 'blow up doll' face, interesting... How big is Lotso, anyway? I bet there's a spin-the-face function on the orange dude. I can't see why it would be assembled so oddly otherwise. We're getting more trucks and cars in this line than most CITY ones

Poor Iz Hopefully one of the locals can offer you some overnight accomodation if you are still planning to go.

Is 26 pages the longest chapter of anything, ever?

Hahaah! I noticed that too after the pic was taken

OMG! *grabs gems* Who wants to investigate?

I have a strong urge to remove the wolf's tooth and plug it into the mouth of the wolf statue which is missing one I'd also like to stick the wolf's head on the floor back on the wall in its logical position.

Hmm, I didn't realise that there would be interest from current enrolees On the other hand, it has been almost a year since you did your 8th review... I will have to confer with the other Teachers. At the very least, I don't think you can have both a silver tag and an apple. You may have to choose between them.

Peaceful pastelly pink Mandalorians.

Thanks JCC! We'll wait for more shows of interest before posting any more info.

It's designed as an intro course so you're probably too far along... it's not envisaged that you do both programs at once.