Svelte

I had a busy busy work period last week so didn't post much. Also, TheBrickster did ask us not to post just for the sake of posting, and I feel the switch puzzle/ airplane visit was better left in other hands, so I was content to listen and learn. 24 characters in one thread is a lot, so maybe people were just being mindful of not spamming. Now that we finally have a body - woo! - things are hotting up again

I'm not sure what you mean, Mr Fang? Did you mean it looked odd or the construction was odd on the back poles? I can't say I noticed anything, but this set is dismantled at the moment! Yes, this is correct. People reported that the Batman gun was marked by minifig hands etc, whereas the standalone piece is much sturdier. I think the mould is slightly different too.

The dark red of arterial blood could easily be disguised by the inky depths of the black, black coal. But anyhoo. We should ask ourselves - why is the body here? Was it left here as a message? A warning? Or was the killer in a hurry to get away? Would we have even noticed it if the plane hadn't spotted it in the air? Apart from George's guess about who the person is, do we really have any confirmation that this is indeed Jennifer Chamberlain? Once we are done here, I suggest we search the rest of the train. I need to feed that poor pony who probably has a severe case of the munchies by now, and so far we've only looked at the engine and tender. I sincerely hope that whoever set all those nasty traps around the train shed and farm hasn't come back to the Train while we were off gallavanting like a bunch of hysterical tourists and booby-trapped everything Personally I'd like a shower and change of clothes, the stars on this tank top are starting to wilt and drop off. Any volunteers to soap my back? Anybody?

I share those sentiments. The great thing about this set is that it's rock solid. The handle is a fantastic feature and unlike the ISD you don't have to worry about bits of the exoskeleton popping off. It really is swooshable. For that reason, I don't even mind that it's smaller. The overall shape is great and it looks impressive. As has been pointed out, if you don't like the interior, there is plenty of capability for modding - take out the gun section and the bomber compartment (I find this the weakest element anyway as the bombs get stuck) and you can easily build your own interior - either into the ship itself or as removable modules.

Great idea to have one central topic for this issue! Light bluish grey has been at variance since at least 2007. 7094 King's Castle Siege contains several slightly differing shades. Some people seem to think that there are two or 3, others report more colours. It is mentioned somewhere in EB around the time of release, I will have to dig and have a look. Perhaps it goes unnoticed since it is a lighter shade. Dark bluish grey again shows marked variation in colours, as anyone who has taken pieces from sets of different years for MOCing purposes (such as landscapes) can see. I suspect there has been a change in the colour mix over the years. The 7631 Construction site showed marked colour difference between the 1x6x5 panels and ordinary bricks so this issue is ongoing and seems to be related to ABS colour density. Reddish brown was one of the early offenders and we still see problems - see my 7097 Trolls Mountain Fortress review for an example. I found the 08 Castle sets which had a mix of tiles and bricks to display similar inconsistency. The nadir was the 10182 Cafe Corner set as documented by Dunamis in his review with bricks of different sizes varying from pale coffee to normal reddish brown. One thing that perhaps isn't strictly a quality issue but is definitely a change is the colour of dark red. It now has a distinctly brown tinge to it and isn't as vibrant as it formerly was. I only noticed it this year when comparing smaller curved slopes from 10193 with older identical parts, but it made me compare with other sets too. I think this change was introduced in the first wave of Clone Wars sets in 08 and it continues on. I have CW sets produced at that time from the US & Europe so it seems a phased change in both markets. In comparison, the Castle & Indy sets from early 08 which contain a lot of dark red (slopes, 1x2 plates, headlight bricks) are noticeably brighter than dark red bricks produced since the middle of 08. On the up side, the colour seems to be generally more consistent (10184 Town Plan's cinema was a bit of a mess). However the pics of 10197 showing the upper dark red floor also seem to show a fair bit of variation. Dark blue has also been similarly refined. It was especially problematic in 2007's 10190 Market Street and this is well documented on EB. Newer sets which use a lot of dark blue (such as Agents and some Clone Wars) seem to have improved. I will try and take some photos but as everyone knows it can be really hard to capture digitally what the eye picks up so much more readily.

Thanks! It's too cute to dismantle, I suspect it will be sitting on my shelf for a while to come!

That's what I thought too! CGH's was kind of a spoiler for this set, since it's so much superior to the 10197 version

Trans yellow plus dark blue couch = trans-neon green? This is a great little MOC-MOD, thanks for sharing!

Thanks for the review! This set kind of looks like a MOC of the mostly white-and-bley Speed Racer Grand Prix set crash-landed into an Exo-Force mecha hangar, but the figs are amazing. The Mon Calamari are so cute! Who can resist those clammy orange skulls and bulging fish eyes?

Is there a spent casing lying around that anyone can see? If there is, perhaps it will tell us something about the gun from which it came. If there isn't, perhaps it's a sign she was moidered elsewhere and the body dropped here. Perhaps instead of rolling her into the undergrowth, Arin would like to come into it and roll around with me - looking for clues, of course. I would also like to pry open that locket around Jennifer's lovely yellow neck. What's the bet there's a portrait of her secret Town Council lover inside? Grillin' George, I'm lookin' at you! Didn't the train also originally stop because the coal was moist.... moist with blood, perhaps? Bloodily moist with the moistening blood of this mostly bloodless corpse? Just a thought. Perhaps Jennifer has been with us longer than we thought...

Clever idea with the reversed Imperial hat! The bush shots are evocative, but I think you need to work on your decals. They look a little rough and could use a bit of polish. Maybe one of those Clone skirt things modified would work as a groin plate, too... Anyway, yay for a very original entry!

Well, she seems pretty glamorous for a corpse. Even in death, she managed to keep that Marcel wave in her hair We Belgians appreciate a good-looking corpse. I am pleased to note that she has managed a rare feat in death and kept control of her bodily functions. Even better! Arin, my dearest, still peckish? If this poor benighted coal-tenderer is indeed dead, then one of us should say a few appropriate words before we exhaustively search her pockets and roll her into the undergrowth.

Wow, that's terrible! I didn't expect them to mark such an expensive set UP, that's for sure! Will probably go on sale for "$100 off - now only $350!" which is a pretty sad showing. It shows that Lego is clawing on to their margins and not passing discounts on to retailers.

An interesting distinction, and I can kind of see why you might draw a line that way, but I don't find it fully convincing. For a start, if the Adventurer sets are based in the 1930s, then aren't the characters living in that era a part of History themselves? Adventurers are certainly not contemporaneous with City/ Town, so the era as a whole becomes a part of the Lego version of historical narrative. Just because in the sets exploring that time Lego chooses to emphasise archaelogy and exploration over other social history of the time shouldn't exclude it from being regarded this way. There was a lot happening in frontier USA other than cowboys, Indians and bandits, for example - but the narrowly focused Western sets focussing on those areas still make your cut. Time Cruisers is different in that it seems to exist outside a timeline and constitutes a kind of 'temporal tourism' where visitors are moving back and forth between disparate eras - Adventurers is not like that at all as the characters are grounded in a cohesive era and living distinct if literary-cliched lives as adventurer explorers. If you're going to be that strict about the definition of what constitutes 'History' (perhaps pre 20th Century as I suggested above?), then surely a whole lot of Castle lines based on fantasy elements don't meet this criteria. To be honest, Adventurers seems more 'historical' to me than themes which rely on Norse myth, LOTR stylings or 19th Century Gothic Horror (such as the Batlord Castle subtheme), which could even possibly be more regarded as Sci Fi! You could end up with a situation where 10193 Medieval Market Village is allowed as it has some semblance of reality, but everything else from 07 onwards - bearing much more resemblance to literature than to real life - is partitioned as Fantasy.

Yes, remember about how I joked months ago about Hoth being a Toyworld exclusive? And then it ended up actually being Endor? Fingers crossed with the Castle sets anyway.

It probably just means Exclusive for the July sales. Big W said the same thing about the Castle sets last year and as we all know, they are everywhere. (Same marketing with SP3 and the Venator at the moment.) The catalogue doesn't mention them as being Aus exclusives either, nor did that list that came with the magazine. I wouldn't panic yet

That was my initial thought too, as it seemed the Western theme didn't seem any more of a 'pure historical' than the Adventurers line. Perhaps part of the resistance is because Adventurers was a long-running theme still regarded very fondly and with an emphasis on beautifully detailed architecture styles which seem more 'Historical' than action-based, whereas Action themes tend to be one- or two- wave wonders with limited fan bases and an emphasis on vehicles. Maybe 'History' only includes themes up to the start of the 20th century? That could justify the split. However it would be a little weird, for example, if something like WW2 MOCs were supposed to be posted in 'History' but an Egyptian temple being explored by Johnny Thunder had to go into 'Action'. I guess the Dino line of Adventurer sets muddied the issue, as they don't fit in a historical context. I don't doubt there was much discussion amongst the staff before this decision was made, so perhaps they could share more of their reasoning.

*glares icily at the competition* Let's feed one to Ruffy first and if he lives then share 'em round.

No, Jimbeee, noooooooooooooo! Whose pert young form innocent staff camaraderie will Schmelt enjoy now? On the upside, Arin's chances just improved enormously. Have a good trip!

As Schmelt's alter ego, I look forward to the day that the endless reams of kitchen accessory products released by TLG are recognised as a valid subtheme in themselves I'm surprised we don't see more MOCs utilising the potential of frozen icy-pole figs, deformed yet flexible moulded cakes in Duplo scale, Belville Arctic landscapes built entirely from butterflies and love hearts, or Brick Testament like parables where ordinary minifigs worship the oversized kitchen scale god and his enormous, leering visage. If even cutlery can hold moulded studs, where does it end? The new games range may well end up in Other Themes, but if the focus is specific enough, and the theme innovative enough, maybe it could sit somewhere alongside the other gaming forums, even if traditionally they wouldn't go together. I guess we'll see how much innovation and inspiration we see from the board game format, but the early buzz seems positive.

Speaking of which, where will something like the new games range sit? Still in Other Themes? (That unloved child!) And will there be staff changes to assist in running all these shiny new forums?

Siegfried, I love how you've illustrated this thematic change through an exploration of various Cafe Corner mods and mocs. What a great example! It probably raises just as many questions as it answers about the limits and boundaries of acceptable categories , but as a statement of inclusivity (the translation of a high end Creator exclusive into various unexpected manifestations), this is a great introduction to the ambition and scope of the new Sci Fi forum.

Hahah, it's back I see! I think there's something about the expression that crazed expression which just amuses me Hope you had a great day!

I am pretty sure the old inventories are cleared out by now, but the colour problems persist. Having just built 8037 Anakin's Y-Wing, I can say that both common pieces (plates, bricks, tiles) are just as problematic as the specialised pieces produced for the 09 lines (such as yellow half-cylinders etc). The same situation applies for 7641 City Corner bus. The two main shades seem to be not-so-dense yellow (the 'glowy' colour) and yellow with a slightly blackish tinge - duller but still suffering transparency issues. I think we're stuck with these shades now, which is a great shame. Thanks for your review though! I thought from the catalogues that the earlier Creator release would be in scale, so it's interesting to see that it's not. It's a shame as that would have been a nice synergy between sets in the theme of different sizes.

Let's hope they don't crash into those beautiful Sierra Nevada mountains in the distance and end up having to draw short straws to work out who's first on the menu. Bonjour, my flying friends!