Minifigures Online series 14

The new Halloween themed Series 14 has arrived in Minifigures Online!!!

And it is with a nice twist, the Monster Trials.

This is a short version of the Lost Creations versions, in that you only need to defeat 2 levels and the boss in order to get two random pieces of Series 14 figures.

To access this, you need to find `Golden Tickets`, each one granting a single run.

Of course, this also means a LOT of new achievements have arrived, for a full series, so my percentage drops as we grind further through the game and try to gain more of them done.  I just hope my local toy store comes through and has managed to score me a box, hopefully more news this week!

Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox

Produced in 2013 and based on the fantastic comic series, The Flashpoint Paradox is one of the most important stories from DC in the last decenium.

The story starts when Barry, together with the Justice League, overcome The Rogues who are hired by Reverse Flash. 

But as Barry tries to `run it off`, he launches back to another reality, one where good and evil are mixed up, Bruce wayne died in the mugging causing his father to become Batman, and a war between Atlantis and the Amazons rages.  A war that is decimating the world of the humans, with London at it`s epicenter.

Barry finds himself here stuck without powers or the existance of The Flash, but with his mother alive.  As he realises time has been changed, he tries to recreate his accident that gave him his powers with the helm of Batman, and after succesfully doing so, he tries to restore the timeline.  But he learns another speedster is tapping into the Speed Force, making it happen that he needs to find Thawne.

Together with other heroes they travel to London to interfere and try to stop the war, but the heroes and Barry are swiftly defeated.  As he watches one after the other fall, he faces off against Reverse Flash and learns the truth: he had travelled back in time to save his mother, resulting in time to be rewritten.  Batman shoot Thawne, and Barry uses his access to the Time Force to stop himself from saving his mother, and restoring time.

Though this is drawn in the `american style`, which doesn`t look as slick as the japanese anime`s, this is truly a classic.  A very important storyline, that even gets touched upon in the The Flash television series, it`s a recommendation for all superhero show lovers!

Lego Classic Build: 4731 Harry Potter Dobby`s Release

This is it, the very first Harry Potter set I bought for myself!  

Sure, I`ve been showing off some classic builds with HP sets, but those where `used, complete` ones we bought for the Smurf, and had to be checked before giving it to him to avoid drama queen moments.

But with the my intrest in the series growing, this is one used, complete I bought for myself (the kid has the later version), and as I said earlier this week, the yellow figures have a certain attraction on me. 

A small set at 63 pieces, with 2 minifgures, this was released in 2002 making it one of the older sets around, and considering I found it under 10 euro makes it okay.  That`s another benefit of the older, `yellow` sets, they come a lot cheaper then the `flesh` ones (whom, I admit, usually look better).

The minifigures in this particular set are of course Dobby, that irritating house-elf we get to meet in the Chamber of Secrets for the first time, and his tyranical master, Lucius Malfoy.

The whole scene is build on a black 8x8 plate.

Compared to the more recent version, this one actually is more `play fun` being riddled with secret compartments.

Small books, on printed tiles, are hidden under a flip over bench seat, while a potion (another printed tile) hides in a compartment in the wall.

That compartment is accessible through a sliding away panel.

Next we go on building the walls of the vignette, by including windows in it.

Sand green and tans are present in all the older sets, making them rather stand out.

Flames are added as the small scene is completed.

All the hidden `treasures`:

And the full build completed:

I`m defintily keeping this set on display, even though I don`t have any plans to MOC around it, or build a display for it.  It`s the sentimental value, being, well you know, the first one I bought for myself :-)

Inspirational Lego 33

The final day before the hectics start again of trying to get the Smurf back in motion and ready for school, the start of a new soccer season for the kid, and after the initial dust settles the return to routine for the coming 10 months... yep, school holiday is on it`s final day.

Okay, which will start for me tomorrow with yet another trip to the hospital, but chin up, and let`s look at some great builds I came along over the internet.

The first is this very impressive, totally modular spaceship.  Like the traditional Lego Space sets, this vessel `splits up` in various other, smaller auxilliary vessels.

The Monkey King is a great looking sculpture that was featured this year at Brickworld, it`s pose is just gorgeous.

Another great, and cuddly, sculpture is this brown teddy bear.  Though is stepping on a Lego brick is any indication, I would refrain from actually falling asleep on it...

This huge Frozen castle is full of gorgeous little details, and I really adore the look of those white pinetrees.  How Friends and regular Lego figures get mixed in harmony.

This bee and flower is elegant in it`s design, feeling like the `green animals` Creator set in it`s looks.

This mythological temple feels like it stepped right out the mytholgy world of Minifigures Online!

This Ant-Man `sketch` is the latest in a series by the builder, who tends to make those of most superhero figures, and is another piece of art.

Char`s famous `Red Comet` gundam, an awesome piece of building!  I really drooled over it.

The Lone Ranger might not have been the best box office scoring movie in history, but it dit give us some very nice Lego sets with great elements.  This indian camp has a fantastic Native American look, and is very elegant in it`s design.

The final build for this week is the Exodus of Moses, a biblical inspired build in which Moses let the slaves to freedom by splitting the sea, only to have it come down crashing on the Egyptian pursuers.

And that`s it for this week again, hop by next monday again for more great finds from the internet!

Arrow season 1

In a few weeks, the fourth season of this series is upon us, featuring even Constantine amongst the supporting cast.

Well, I just finally managed to finish the first season...

The first of the DC based series to come to the CW channel (back then still called CTV), this is featuring Green Arrow, who even though a member of the Justice League was before this series a bit like Iron Man was for Marvel before the succes of his first movie: a B-list character.

And no, I`m not going into the whole Hawkeye / Green Arrow debate, I just like a decent superhero movie or show, no matter from which publishing house they hail.

The series itself is really a sort of set up and origin story for the character, as we learn how Oliver Queen returns home after having been missing at sea for 5 years.  It turns out he was on a chinese island, where he learned to survive and transformed from a playboy millionaire son into a fighter for justice, but one not afraid to kill.

Slowly, he starts amassing the core of his team around him, for this season this is Dingle, his bodyguard / partner, and Felicia, his computer expert / operations manager.  On the line across, John Barrowman (Captain Jack) is just fantastic as the villain Malcolm Merlin, even though his motivations, while extreme, are understandable if you ask me.  He is not out for power or wealth (he has that) but for revenge on the population of a city that let his wife die on the street.

The Arrow discovers a plot behind a list his father gave him before dying, and a project called The Undertaking that also involves his mother.  Together with his team and the help of detective Lance, he tries to stop this... and fails as the cliffhanger shows.

Not a bad show, bit slow in build up compared to that other DC show that spinned off from it, The Flash, but it isn`t to shabby at all.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - J.K. Rowling

It was so far the best of the movies I saw, and the best of the books I`ve read. Which isn`t really fair, as I started reading them last week and this is just the second one I`ve read lol.

But I must say, I`m getting really hooked by the books more and more...  Maybe if my knees are better, I should go run around in the fields with a broom, as Quidditch is picking up as an official sports.

The book is slightly longer then the first one, at 250 pages, but it`s from volume 4 that they really pick up in size.  The great thing is some light twists in the books, that aren`t in the movie.  Change of locations for events, those kind of things, and a lot more Lockhart "action".

Yeah, he was a charlatan, but I really dig the character, and he will be the reason I`m going to do a MOC based on the second movie just for that...

Final WiP Rivendell

This is going to be the final work in progress post on the Council of Elrond set display I`m building, which I hope to have finished before FACTS end of september.

Okay, so `hope` is perhaps a bit exaggerated, as the only thing I need to do is dig up some more light blue transparent `cheeseslopes` to complete the waterfall...

When we left off last time, the build had the base of the cliffside added to the display plate, so the first thing that I did was adding a `top` to the cliff, and then placed the actual set on that, as well as started work on the back mountainside and the the waterfall.

The small walkway as we can see in the movies and videogame is put at the side of the cliff, this is the place where the Lord of the Rings videogame figure is going to stand, being the Elrond from the last great war.

The waterfall will be made by using SNOT to the side of the mountain, with the use of sideways connectors.

The second level is attached the same way, going for a slight `knack` in the flow.

A black wall is placed behind Arwen, to create the illusion that there is a passageway leading to the place the Council is taking place.

Next up is the build up of the backside of the display, using a lot of greys mixed and matched (hell, no real mountain is monotone in colour either).  This is build around a `skeleton` of regular bricks in all sorts of not much used (by me) colours.

The mountainside gains height, going a decent piece above the council pergola.

The waterfall is made up with clear cheeseslopes, going `bleu-er` towards the bottom as the water crashes into the stream.

The stream itself is filled up in a way I like the most personally, and which I have used in a lot of builds.  Basically, using transclear whites for the surface, and lighter (and dark) blue transparents to give depth here and there, for this stream mostly where the water churns a bit due to rocks and such in it.

Next up,I`ve put down a tree at the waterside, using the same style, though not exactly the same build, as the one that came in the set to keep continuity.

As the ground work gets some bumps to add some more visual appeal, stems are planted all round to show a tall grass at the bottom of the mountainside.

Elrond watches over his domain

The only thing left to do now, is insert a few light transblue slopes in the waterfall near the bottom, and set up the light box to take some decent pictures, and then this one can go of the `goals` list as it is completed.  Work on that other display I wanted finished, The Burrow, has also progressed to the point it is as good as done, but I`ll show that in a post tomorrow or so...