Classic Lego Build: 4801 / 4811 Defense Archer

Today's build report is one from 2000, from the Kingdoms I range within the Castle theme.

It's one of those sets that nowadays would be a polybag, counting only 10 pieces and a figure, but came in a small box back then.

The minifigure sports a fine moustache, and a gorgeous torso.

The base of the build are two green plates of 4x4.

On top of these, a turntable is then added.

Two bricks with a hole on the side are added to place the crossbows in, while a crossaxle slot technic brick goes above for the shield.

And the full set completed:

This is a truly simple set, yet it has it`s charms and some great elements with the torso and the shield in particular.  You can find these pretty cheap usually, and I tend to pick them up over and over again.

Has the con saturation point been reached?

As people will know by now, the Hascon convention, which should have had it's first edition next sunday, has been cancelled.

Now, this is actually the second one this year that has been called off, after Antwerp Convention beginning of july, so has the saturation point been reached in little Belgium?

Now, there are a whole lot of theories about the why and how that these have happened, but as I`m not an organiser, it's not my place to tell about them, nor voice an opinion.

But it did get me thinking (yes, it hurts), namely if the conventions seem to be reaching saturation point, and we are talking here about attendances over the thousands, might that mean that Lego events become next in line?  Has the public been getting it's fill of these sorts of events?

Well, first let me have a look at what I see might be benefits for the Lego events...

1. It's popular right now.  Face it, Lego is THE toy brand at the moment on the market, and has been steadily rising since the past 4 - 5 years now.  But any AFOL will agree, this grow cannot last forever, and most estimate a "bubble pop" between 5 to 10 years.  Personally, I feel it will fall back a bit when the Lego Movie generation, now around 10 - 12 years old, enters their Dark Ages, generally known as puberty.  But the good thing is, we are locked firm for at least half a decade still.

2. There is plenty to do.  Almost every week you can attend something somewhere these days.  For example, if you look at the BeLUG calendar, there are events planned through the whole of september, and that is not including the smaller local events where I have no knowledge of.  Though I'm working on that, and have more, let's call them agents just because it sounds so cool, in the field filtering me data at the moment.  Expect it to grow even more during 2017 :-)

3. Entrance is cheap.  Events charging only a single euro of entrance for a nice midday out with the children, that's a bargain.  It's also one of the attractions of such events, as you don't have to spend whole weekends just to be able to see everything.

But, for me, there are also some downsides to the current event agenda.

1. There is plenty to do.  Yes, every week there is something to do, but will people keep visiting all those events all year round?  Traders might start to think it all gets to much, and not everyone is willing to shop for stuff every week over and over again. 

2. I've seen that before.  Along the same lines, most builders "tour the circuit" and proudly show off their builds to all the people who want to marvel in them.  But for the regulars, comments like "that was at xxx as well" are getting heard.  Not to mention that we as builders might get tired of taking build A or display B along every time.  This might result in people stopping to do the effort, display only at certain events, and others fall short of exhibitors.  Not to mention the family if you are gone every weekend.

3. Entrance is cheap.  Venues know that Lego is "the bomb" at the moment.  And I heard stories on the grapevine of venues notching up their price because it's a Lego affair instead of a bridge tournament or such.  This then causes a spiral in which entrance fees will have to be raised, causing the public to dwindle a bit, and you get in a vicious circle.


Conclusion

Has the Lego event saturation point been reached?   In my opinion, no... but only as in "not yet".  The cycle at the moment seems to be that people see how succesfull events are, and they want to try a local one.  These usually take off (if you aren`t to overambitious at least) but that causes others to try it as well, and so on and so on.

This results in a calendar filled to the nooks and crannies, and then it can only get closer to saturation point.  I saw it happen with english wargame shows, with local Magic tournaments... and then the question will arise: will organisers clasp the hands together and "merge", or will they fight a battle for survival?

Only time will tell...

Genesis of Aquarion

The latest mecha anime I watched, this 26 episode series is the original one of the now 3 series counting Aquarion franchise.

It details how the whole story and the vectors, driven by emotions, are first encountered, and the legend of Apollonius.

Plot

When Cherubim attack the earth after a millenia long hiatus, a wild boy named Apollo is recruited by DEAVA as he has the seemingly unlimited power of the Solar Wing.  Gen Fudo appears all of a sudden, a warrior of old and takes command of the institute, guiding them to battle the Shadow Angels.
Slowly it is revealed that this wild boy is indeed the reincarnation of the mythical warrior Apollonius, and gradually his control over the Aquarion increases, until he is ready to take on the source of evil.

Opinion

While the series has awesome music, great animation and the Aquarion is a cool mecha, I wasn`t to wild about the story.  Heck, I love it`s sequel, Aquarion EVOL (where this "crew" makes a return in the story) far more.  I guess it must be the tone of the light hearted moments and filler episodes, which where way stronger in the following series of the franchise, resulting in them their being sweet, while in this series being more of an annoyance.

Another problem this series has is the obvious Apollo does all moments.  This is true with most Mecha series, the main hero being the saviour, but in Genesis of Aquarion the secondary characters seem more of a burden then additions to the main story and hero.

Rating: 5 / 10 but only because of the music

The Haul Report # 45

Hey all, and welcome to another weekly report of stuff that arrived for my collections.

Or as this week will show, also for the kid's collection, who is my number one trading partner.

I finally managed to hang up my Lord of the Rings videogame promotional poster, as I found a frame for little money in the local Kringloop.  Getting a big bag of Megabloks bricks for 2 euro is a bonus, as I have a LOT of plate filling to do the coming weeks.

I also received my Lego online store order, containing 16 polybags of the new CMF series and the seasonal Vampire.  Unfortunatly, Lego didn`t pick that greatly for me, as I ended up with only a single pirate and a single arabian guy, two "rank and file" models that really caught my attention in this series.

A BrickLink order came in as well, mostly 1x1 tiles that allowed me to progress a lot on a mosaic I`m doing, just waiting for another small one now to actually complete the moc.

On the other hand, this BrickLink order did allow me to complete the second baseplate of Quinnsville, as it also had the parts for the final module.  I`ll be showing that build in the near future, when I have the time to lay-out the complete pirate town as she stands now, ready for Brick Mania Antwerp.

A few Facebook purchases fell in the mailbox as well, this first lot of figures costed me under half a euro for a figure, and it included as "gems" for me the Lake-Guard, the Toy Story alien and some Castle and Ninjago figures, so that was a nice one to grab.

I also got a Jar-Jar Binks through FB, which was a trade token with the kid, as he wanted to give me a Frodo for it.  We often do this, as he got some Tolkien sets in the past, cares zilch about them, and just wants Star Wars figures instead, so I often scour the internet with his "want list" of figures to trade.  Well, it's not that I'm hearthless, but his mum and I decided he has to learn he doesn't keep getting everything for free.  By learning him to exchange things for things he wants, he gets a bit of a better insight that you won't get all you want tossed in your lap (he's being 11 in two weeks btw).

A small order of custom pieces by BrickForge, from their 30 under 30 program arrived as well, including once more some freebie stuffsies (the flamer, the utility belt and the spade).

The final collecting item is perhaps something entirely different: I had some work done on my Saint Seiya tattoo in progress, with the ice crystals being placed now.  All that remains to be done now is bordering off the designs, and shading it all in to one big sleeve using dark blues and dark purples.

Well, that`s it once again, a nice week of collecting stuffsies, and until the next one!

J. R. R. Tolkien mosaic

Well, there are things you just *have* to build if it's in your area of intrest, and this moc mosaic is just one of those things.

As a humongous fan of the works of Tolkien, I just couldn't resist trying my hand at the iconic "logo" of J. R. R. Tolkien's work, the stylised letters that adorn the sides of all his books.

It's build on a 32x32 plate, and can now serve as the lovely background for whatever moc, vignette or display I'm taking along to conventions, and the fact those mosaics are dead easy to transport and set up is a great bonus.

Hope you like it!

Captain America: Civil War

The latest gem from the MCU, the film raised high expectations because of it`s shared title with possibly one of the best ever Marvel crossover titles.

While the story is radically different from the comic version, this is a great piece of entertainment for sure!

Plot

When Crossbones tries to steal a highly toxic gas in Lagos, the Avengers interfere.  Unfortunatly, this goes accidentally wrong by the Scarlet Witch'es doing, causing many civilian casualties.  As a direct result, the Sokovia Accords are drawn up, in which the Avengers would come under control of the United Nations.

During the signings though, it seems as the Winter Soldier planted a bomb, destroying the building in Vienna and causing casualties amongst the high dignitaries, including the king of Wakanda.
Soon, the mysterious Black Panther hunts Winter Soldier, and even with Cap`s interference they are caught none the less.  While Iron Man backs the accords, Cap opposes them fully, leading to a shism within the Avengers.
A mysterious man called Zemo is working his scheme in all secrecy though, and it is soon revealed that he seemingly wants to reawaken five other, upgraded, winter soldiers to bring down an empire.
As Cap and Bucky want to travel to Siberia, a mighty hero battle ensues on the airport, putting heroes of both sides against each other, but in the end and thanks to Black Widow, they both escape.

They travel to Siberia, as does Iron Man and Black Panther.  They find the other winter soldiers slain, and then learn the truth as Zemo shows footage of how Bucky assassinated his parents.  Tony and Steve battle it out, but Cap gets the upperhand and disappears with Bucky.

Opinion

While not as truly epic as the comic line of the same name, and the Sokovia accords having come about by other means then how it happened with the Registration Act from those books, this still is a good movie.
High paced chases, spectacular battles and effects, and the drama as loyalties are being torn apart make it the crowning gem of the franchise so far. 
Add to that the humour of Ant-Man and the appearance at last of Spider-man, who plays a far bigger role then was expected at first, and you have a rightfull blockbuster for this year.

Rating: 8 / 10

Brick Vehicles - Warren Elsmore

Another Elsmore book, who also did the lovely monuments books and the likes, this volume focusses on vehicles build from our beloved bricks.

Not that that is a suprise going by the title of course ;-)

The book follows the usual sequence, starting with an explanation of terms, brick dimensions, where to get parts and the likes, then moving into the various modes of transportation, including chariots, ships and up into space.

This is reflected with a collection of great looking builds included with some words of explanation.  These have some really stunning things amongst them, like The Zwarte Zee tug or the Montgolfier airballoon.

It also features literally a ton of instructions of not to hard to build, and not to many ultra rare parts for all kinds of vehicles for your own cities and lay-outs.  My personal favorites are probably the F1 car, but also those typical London canal ships you see everywhere in the city.

A very handy book to have in your Legobrary, so look around and get it when you come across a copy of it, you won`t regret it in the slightest.

A Long-Expected Party

Finally I build a "habitat" module for our BeLUG club project "LEGO: Mijn Hobby" (my hobby).

And it actually took quite some brainstorming before settling on "what" I wanted to represent in it...

Now, the full technical details on what they have to be like can be found here on the BeLUG's blog Club Projects page, but the general idea is that you make something what you love about the Lego hobby, being it making mosaics, trading, collecting, just playing... whatever your imagination fancies.

So I kept churning ideas in my head, and then I finally got it.  I came out of my Dark Ages due to Lego having a Lord of the Rings line, so I thought nothing better then depicting the very first scene of the epic work, where Frodo sits by a creek and reading a book.

Yeah yeah, I know in the movies there is the whole prelude with the battle, but the "adventure" begins at this particular moment.

I wanted to create some forced perspective in it with the sun at the top, the blue sky meeting the gentle sloping hills of The Shire, and the creek that flows away into the horizon.

To that end, I also downscaled the tree (it had to fit within the box's dimensions).

I must say, I'm actually really cool with how it all turned out, it was fun to do and now I`m on par with the Club Projects builds... for now ;-)

Civil War Battles

As someone who always had a soft spot for the ACW or American Civil War, I recently been watching the 7 episode Civil War Battles documentary series.

Produced about a decade ago, it was narrated by Dale Reed and follows the historical flow of the North vs South war, putting the Union against the Confederacy.

While the screen quality might look a bit dated, not being made for widescreen television, it does feature great re-enactment scenes for the various battles that are featured, and half a dozen historians provide comments on the events.
It details not only the battles, but how the generals, usually inexperienced commissions, often blundered about, or how the way of warfare changed with the advent of trenches, ironclads, logistics...

It`s a really good series to watch if you`re a military history intrestee, and I definitly enjoyed it!