LucasLaughing

This is a beautiful build! I like how you did the wings, especially the slopes leading to the wingtips/cannons. You should check out the Nar Eurbrikka subforum and build for the Empire - we can always use more talented troops

Yeah, the ferry is disappointing if you're expecting something like our full-size Washington State Ferry boats, but if you drive north a bit to Guemes Island, their ferry looks pretty similar: Here's a I took of the 5 minute ride across

Another great build! It was long, but it didn't feel long while I was reading it so you're doing something right I really like the lab machine in the first picture, and Octapedia is a great idea...

40 credits to Bob please

Thank you! Thanks! I've been wanting to use those boulders for a while. Thank you! Thanks - every now and then I get to put my creative writing degree to good use. And no, I figured Kevin was talking to Pres. B; John is much more tactful and polite. Thanks!

Those are really cool Ma.K mechs - I especially like the grey one with what looks like a red eye in the center, and they've all got some NPU. My only criticism is that the landing pad looks pretty crowded, and a lot of the white details on the models are lost in the white background.

Location: I06 - Yetornius Tags: Octan, civil, spaceship Hi Sir, it's Kevin! From HR! Well, yes sir, of course I've heard of caller ID! No, no problems here sir. I think Yetornius is an excellent location for our auxiliary human resources compound. The Feng Shui here is amazing ! Well, sir, I'm afraid progress on that particular issue has been slow. Danny - I mean, Dr. Long, says psychic phenomena are extremely difficult to research. Of course, sir. I completely agree! Dr Long suggests that progress might be quicker if she could simply dissect his brain. That's right, sir. She says it would be extremely easy to make his death look like an accident, and she's thought out a lot of scenarios that would prove fatal to him, while keeping his brain intact for study. She forwarded me eighteen pages of suggestions, which I'd be delighted to pass on to you for review. Ah. I see. No, sir, I don't disagree, it's just... Well, sir, his unconventional attitude seems to be spreading to some of the other employees. No, sir, not just the dress code violations. Well, sir, just a few days ago several employees were caught trying to find pornographic images of whales! When I brought them into the office, they claimed they were just helping him with research. No, sir, I can't imagine there was a legitimate scientific reason for it! Yes, sir, I understand, it's - Yes, sir. Very good, sir. Of course, sir, I'll keep you informed. I hope you have a great - Oops, I guess he accidently hung up! Hmmm... Hey CLAPPIE? Greetings, Kevin! CLAPPIE, I have a job for you, but ... it needs to be secret, okay? Just between you and me? I love secrets! -----------

Looks great! I really like how most of the buildings are non-square, and/or positioned at an angle to the baseplates. Sweet rolling stock, too.

The vehicle certainly looked alien, and witnesses swore they'd seen a hideous creature fleeing the area after the crash. All nonsense, of course. There are no such things as aliens. The inspector pulled reflexively on his ceremonial red Inspecting Gloves as the Sniffer did its work. Certainly, there was a rational explanation for all of this...

Hey all, I will not be able to do a large "commander" type build for this episode, so I would happily turn command over to any other high ranking Imperial who wanted the responsibility.

Thanks! Thank you! I've been wanting to start digging more into the story of the early disappearances, and some of the unsettling artifacts. And yes, I was quite pleased with the clever double meaning for my title Thanks! I know, I hesitated to make an awesome MANTIS ship, but all of my white parts are still in my "needs to be sorted" bin

Cool little speeders! I like the "hot rod" look of the one Beltar is driving, and your minifig posing is excellent throughout - it gives the scene a very dynamic feel.

53 credits to Bob please.

Thank you! I was trying out different settings on my camera - quite a few ended up totally black, but I liked how that one ended up. Did I get my tags messed up? I figured the turtle rover would count as the land vehicle, the MANTIS ship as the spaceship, and the little octan flier as a way to move between my two plot points Thanks! Thank you - and yes, I'm hoping CLAPPIE will be back to stay

Hah, I love it! I'm glad to see that Octan supports local community radio

This is great - I think you captured Kevin's character perfectly! Also, nice twist with the tie in to Pombe's story - I'm interested to see where you go with that one

Sweet ship - you always manage to get a lot of interesting angles worked into your designs. I like the microscale outpost too. I'm thinking your asteroid building process was probably similar to mine: Step 1 - disassemble SoNE build, which contains all of the brown pieces Step 2 - rebuild into asteroid, once again using all of the brown pieces

Thanks! I'd been wanting to see if I could work the Blacktron jetpack into a build, and finally got something I was happy with. MANTIS does have some cool ships, but mostly all my white pieces are waited to be sorted and put away, so I had to go with something different this week Thanks guys! I picked up some black poster board to use as a background, and that's made it a lot easier to get a "space" background. Thank you! I'm hoping to start working on a more cohesive story, and CLAPPIE will definitely be one of the main characters... Thanks!

Excellent mech, and I dig the microscale ship too!

I've really been enjoying your flashback vignettes - great story and great builds! I think the bedroom is my favorite in this one - so many great details, like the bedside lamp and the guitar under the bed. I think I need to stock up on some more Friends sets - you're getting some excellent parts usage out of them

Location: E11 – The Fascini Cluster Tags: Octan, Exploration, Land Vehicle, Spaceship Lu's Log - 11 Oktobrinali 3815 I'm on the far outer edge of the Fascini Cluster today, mapping one of the larger asteroids and seeing if I can repair a malfunctioning “Turtle” rover. CLAPPIE, please confirm that the rover's seismic cannon has been deactivated. Roger that, Lu. This rover is as helpless as a human. Alright buddy, let's see what's ailing you... OCS Axle calling Lu, urgent. This is Lu, go ahead. Lu, we've got eyes on a M.A.N.T.I.S attack craft nearing your position. Copy that, you want me to see if I can get the Turtle under cover? Uh, negative. It appears this ship suffered a Gate Transit Anomaly. We just had a pair of Sentinels do a flyby, and they confirmed it's unoccupied. A Gate Transit Anomaly. I shudder. We lost a lot of good people exploring Andromeda, before our scientists perfected the G.A.T.E. system for ships. The incidents all started the same way: a ship would enter a gravitational anomaly, intending to travel to a different system. What happened next varied, for reasons that are still unknown. Sometimes, the ship would appear at the other end with no sign of the crew. Sometimes, the crew would appear without the ship. Sometimes parts of the ship and parts of the crew would appear, all tangled and intermingled. Usually, though, both ship and crew would simply disappear. That's what happened to my parents. I think a lot of us who lost someone that way held out hope that they'd be discovered as we explored more of the Andromeda Galaxy. So far, though, there's been no trace. The voice from the Axle pulls me back to the present. Lu, in about 20 minutes that ship is going to smash into an asteroid. We want you to fly up, and see if you can take control of the ship before that happens. As they fill me in on more of the plan, I have to admit: it might work. Technically, my Lo-Grav Exploration Sled is rated for short space hops, and the gravity on this asteroid is low enough that reaching escape velocity will be easy. When I ask how I'm supposed to get into the ship, I'm told that, like most ships, this one uses OctanSoft flight control software, so if I can get my CLAPPIE unit within a few meters we should be able to exploit a diagnostic “back door” in the program. Finally, they assure me that several Octan ships are headed my way – they'll arrive too late to grab the M.A.N.T.I.S craft before it crashes, but they should be able to rescue me if anything goes horribly wrong and I end up drifting in space. The ship appears to be a prototype M.A.N.T.I.S ship, so I can see why the Axle wants it. They'll tear all the secrets they can out of it, and then sell it back to M.A.N.T.I.S for a hefty salvage fee. Lu, can we keep it? Maybe... I mean, no. No, just worry about getting us inside. CLAPPIE goes silent as he interfaces with the ship's computer. 10 minutes later.... Uh, CLAPPIE, how's it going? Very well, thank you. How are you? Looks like rain today and -- -- 2 minutes remain. CLAPPIE has incredible processing capabilities, but they're not infinite. I can tell when CLAPPIE is using most of it's resources, because it reverts to it's basic OctanSoft personality, just like on our first mission when it was trying to analyze the alien artifact. Finally, the canopy opens. This is a sweet ship. I try not to think about the things her original pilot left behind, and what the fate of that pilot might be. It's a tight fit in my hazard suit, but it works. Okay, systems online, powering up engines, we are good to go. Show me the stars, Lu! Alright, CLAPPIE, hang on to something! More pics/info about Turtle rover:

Great tank, and I love Kodan's inner monologues and his (complicated) relationship with Dr. Long!

Congrats Goatm and Wick, and thank you Beaver for moderating another excellent episode!

Please transfer all my credits to Bob.

Lol, yeah .... I'm sure it uploaded its consciousness to the mainframe at the last second Thanks! It had been way too long since I put an entry up, so I'm glad I was able to get something together. For the spinning effect, I just stuck a transparent one of these: into its head and spun it around with one hand while I held the camera with the other - it took about a dozen shots to get a few that I was happy with