Inspirational Lego # 95

Okay, so that wasn`t the best of mornings, getting involved in a highway carcrash (as a passenger).  Body aches and all, and still got a bit of the shivvers as I must have had a great guardian angel.

But that means I got to put my mind to other things, and what better way for that then a nice selection of awesome Lego builds.

Starting this week is this awesome Viking layout, wuth a war party, a fjord for the ships to moor, and a very awesome waterfall.

This colossal Dwarven war machine gives me memories of ny Chaos Dwarf earthshakers to be honest.

Next, we have an excellent rendition of a Wildcat fighter plane from the second world war.

A lovely Ferrari 308 is the next build.

I actually been to the Globe theater in London, and been a fan of the building for ages.  This recreation is just fantastic if you ask me.

Game of Thrones is slowly becoming a popular Castle subtheme for moc's, and here we have a depiction of the burial of Khal Drogo.

As you might know, Ice Planet was my favorite space theme when I was a kid, and I just adore this magnificent beast.

A great regiment of historical Landsknechts, I am such a fan of those sorts of historic builds like Bricks from the Past or HistoryLUG creations.

A fantastic micro scale safari landscape, making great use of not so common parts.

The final build this week is a scarab spaceship, with it`s heavily contrasted colours of brown and transparant light blue.

And that is it again for this week, hope you enjoy the selection.  I`ll go hopping on some busses now, way safer.

Star Trek Intrepid

Scots in Spaceeeeee!

Star Trek Intrepid is a scottish made Star Trek fan series, consisting off one large 47 minute episode, two shorter half hour ones and a handfull of shorts.  

Plot

The Intrepid, together with the civilian registred Ariadne, are in charge of protecting a new colony founded on the planet Chiron.  While there are struggles between the colonists on the one hand, and Starfleet on the other, they have to band together when the Surai seem bend on conquering the planet.

Add a secret agent to the mix who needs to decide where his loyalties are, and the appearance of captain Picard, the crew have their hands full.

Opinion

I liked this series a lot, as compared to some other ones out there, this captain is heavily flawed.  He had to blow up his predecessor for the safety of the colony, and is wrecked by guilt when facing Picard.  

The special effects are well done, and the story line is showing the internal struggles within a crew nicely, without one character being overbearing versus the others.

Rating: 7.5 / 10

Warcraft

While it took 12 years between "idea" and "in the cinema", past summer the Warcraft movie was finally upon us.

Now, as a once fanatic player of WoW, I was curious about the movie for sure.

Plot

Based around the first game of the franchise, the movie details about the arrival of the Horde on Azeroth, migrating from the shattered world of Draenor.
The orcs immediatly start to carve out and ravage territories, while the Fell, an evil sort of magic channeled by Gul'Dan, drains life from the area.  This causes Durotar, chieftain of the Frostwolves, to question the source and sources of the dark power. 

In the meantime, the alliance is gathering in Stormwind to fight the new thread, unbeknowst they will have to pay dearly...

Opinion

Visually, this is a stunning movie, with a lot of recognisable settings.  The inn at Goldshire, Stormwind, pre-darkness Karazhan... memories of nostalgia flooded my mind.

But unfortunalty, story wise it`s more a collection of cutscenes from the videogame, and I just can`t warm to the male lead.  The same problem I have with him as Ragnar Lothbrook in Vikings, there you have this fierce looking bloke with soft eyes and a voice as honey... instead of a croaking, rasping one that would make him truly scary.
But it was a nice visual 2 hours of entertainment, and while it may not be a superb classic, it was darn good fun, and that counts for a lot in my opinion.

Rating: 6 / 10

The Haul Report # 54

Another week, another haul

But it isn`t spectacular at all this time, probably being even the smallest since I started doing this on a weekly basis.

You see, I only spend an amazing 12 dollarcents for two Asajj Ventress lightsaber handles and some stamps to get them from the USA to little old Belgium.

I got the figure recently (see last week) to exchange it with the kid, and that way he has the lightsabers to go with it (I had red bars a plenty).

Yup, ubercalm in other words...

Skillzcon 2016

Today a small delegation from BeLUG, consisting of Inge, Wilfried, Tom G. and myself attended Skillzcon to spread the love for LEGO.

Located nearby Leuven, this is a more localised event, which was rather nifty.  That way, you get to meet the (mostly gamer) scene of the area.

The hall was roomy and well-lit, and we had a nice selection of local traders, some clubs, artisans and gamers.

Our booth

The event had some activities like a quiz you played with an app of your smartphone.  We had someone ending 3rd... and if that person had listened to what TARDIS stands for, or which war was fought in 1937...

But the great thing was this gave some of us a chance to relax, and others a chance for a nice face-to-face talk, something that just doesn`t come to pass at Brick Mania`s or larger cons.

It was a lovely day, I think they had about 50 to 100 visitors over the whole event, which I estimate that it will gradually rise over the years... and the fact the big MCM Comic Con was this weekend didn`t do any good either of course.

The Loot

I behaved, and bought nothing bar "bodily necessities" which led to a hilarious scene with a coffeemachine.  And of course, the event brick for the 2016 Brick Badge.

Classic Lego Build: 6506 Precinct Cruiser

Another entry in the Cuty line of sets I`ll be build reporting in the short future, this one is a small police car from 1989.

Now, at around 30 pieces, it's nothing spectacular, and it comes with a single police officer minifig.

The car is based on the small chassis piece that was quite prominent near the end of the 80s, early 90s, in Lego sets, and the wheels are attached to it.

White plates, doors and hubcaps are used to build up the lower body work of the vehicle, and the steering wheel is placed inside the car.

We put the front window and a rear fence on the model next, together with some small detailing.

All that`s left to do is add some small transparent pieces for all the lights... and the car is done.

As you can see, a very simple little vehicle, but it might look okay in your city for the retro feel.  But considering the amount of police themed sets Lego keeps churning out, with yet a new range coming in 2017, I can imagine it isn`t high on "must have" lists in displays... as it is such a simple little build.

Quinnsville phase 2

Right on time for Brick Mania Antwerpen next weekend, I`ve completed the second plate of my Pirate village of Quinnsville.

While it collects a couple of the smaller builds I`ve been publishing the past few weeks, it`s build around them to accomodate the plate with the earlier "phase 1" into one bigger town.

Things such as the dock to rest the boat in, the city life teeming around the houses, that kind of stuff basically.

And an oversight of the full town "together". 

She will be torn down after the convention and the parts recuperated to go to Middle Earth builds, but it has been a fun project to do in 2016 for certain.  Never again though ;-)

Quidditch Through The Ages - J. K. Rowling

The second book from the Hogwarts Library boxed set, and another one for charity purposes.

This 100 page book details the rise of the popular sport of Quidditch

Plot

The book takes at first a look at various wizard sports, and from where the Quidditch game was born.  We learn how the various positions and rules came into being, and about the history of the sport over the centuries (oh, and Flanders played the finals of the very world cup).
As the game becomes shaped as we know it, we also take a look at the various famous teams around the world, and how the other continents picked it up.

Opinion

This was a fun read, bit of like a background book to the whole fictional (well, back when it was written at least) sport of Quidditch.  It's enjoyable, with a lot of humour.  While you get through this rather fast in the end, it was nevertheless a nice distraction.

Rating: 7 / 10