MFZ: Alpha Bandit 0.3

Joshua has posted an updated set of playtest rules for Alpha Bandit.  Read them, give them a run, and see what happens.

For those that are curious, there is some discussion on the fourth page of this topic as to what "scale" should be used.

Random Mechs 4

Here's a few mechs to open up the month of December.

Pan-Asian Knight by Empty Sandbox.  A little on the small side and looks a little fragile for MFZ.

T53 Heavy Defense by Caballero.  This one's beefy.

Ninja by Othelarian.  This one relies on LDD to create a physical impossibility.  It looks pretty neat though and is roughly in scale for MFZ.

Cylon Praetorian by Roboslob92.  Simple, clean, awesome.

I'm Still Here :) by 1000Nuglets.  Similar to the Cylon above, but just a little flashier.

New Lego Commerce Sites

In my ongoing attempt to help you spend your money on more and more Lego, I bring you a few more online commerce sites.  :-)

Apparently there is a site called Brick Owl that is similar to Bricklink.  There's also a minor controversy surrounding the new owners of Bricklink.  The New Elementary says it so much better than me so I'll let him explain.  And then there's this site called Bricksy.

There's also a new site based around trading minifigs.  I know we're not big into minifigs as a community, but this could help you get rid of some that are taking up space for others that may have usable parts you need.

Have fun!

Lego Shopping / Black Friday

For those of you in the United States, or have access to shipping from the United States, there are some great deals going on right now for Lego in the days leading up to Black Friday.  I really should have brought this up last week but I've been too busy bargain hunting.  The two that come to mind are a couple of one day sales.  The 70707 Galaxy Squad Eradicator Mech for $22, and 31004 Fierce Flyer or 31002 Super Racer for $8.  I'm going to point you at the Toys'N'Bricks forum and tell you to join.  They have a sub-forum just for chasing deals!  Right now the Black Friday sales don't look like much.  There are a few things here and there but the majority look kind of average.  The sales right now are better.  So get out there and start bargain hunting!

Purity: Creatology Mini Blocks Review (Part 2)

As I posted in the first half, these are the remaining packages I need to review.


This is the Off-Roadster set with 31 pieces.  Here you can see the minifig, instructions, and package.

On the right you can see the back of the package that shows all of the sets that are available.







As before, we have a serial numbered piece.  There are a couple of Clip Plates and a Bar Plate (open ends).  The 1x1 Round Plates w/Bar beg to be used in something.

This set comes out to $0.10 per piece.






This is the Hovercraft set with 33 pieces.  I think the piece that intrigues me the most is the two part steering wheel.  And can someone explain why a hovercraft needs wheels?

This set comes to $0.09 per piece.

Here we have the Space Drone set with 40 pieces.  I see a Clip Tile!

This one is $0.08 per piece,









The Questions:
Can you build a frame, or frames, right away?  No, I'm not sure you can.  (-5)
Is it below, at, or above the golden ratio?  Two of the sets are below.  (+5)  One is at the ratio. (0)
If you can't build a frame right away, does it have parts you should be able to put into use right away?  I'd say yes.  (+5)
Does it have more than a handful of immediately useful parts?  No. (-5)
Score: 0 (B) / -5 (B-) . The Hovercraft and Space Drone are "B"s.  The Off-Roadster is "B-".  These would be good for building up a library of pieces.

Review: 30270 Kraang Laser Turret Polybag

Here's a review of the Kraang Laser Turret polybag from the TMNT line.

The bag and instructions.  These are available for $3.99 at Toys'R'Us.

The minifig.  That head could make a good head for a frame.  The light blue color of the body is also interesting if you can find a way to use it.

The Parts.  Straight out I see an octagonal Bar Plate and four Robot Arms.  There's also a Lampholder and, one of my favorite pieces to work with, a Black Technic, Liftarm 1 x 2 with Bar.  You also have enough pieces to make four "people" in 6P scale.





The Questions:
Can you build a frame, or frames, right away?  Yes.  If you accept a small frame that's more on par with 4P scale.  (+5)
Is it below, at, or above the golden ratio?  Above.  (-10)
If you can't build a frame right away, does it have parts you should be able to put into use right away?  Yes.  (+5)
Does it have more than a handful of immediately useful parts?  I'm going to say yes. (+5)
Score: +5 (B+).  It's a decent set that could provide you with a small frame and some "people".  With either a few more pieces or a lower price point it could be really competitive.

Thriftshopping

"Mantisking, can we go thrift shopping?"  (Not Safe For Work language in that link.)

Yeah, yeah, I know, cheap pop.

As I mentioned before we're doing work on the house and moving things around.  One of the things we're doing to make room is getting rid of things we don't want, need, or have room for.  This has led to a lot of trips to Savers.  The last time we went I decided to go in and have a look around.  I ended up stumbling across a bag of old Bionicle parts.  Turns out it had 100 pieces for only $1.99.

 That's a fair amount of axles I didn't really need.

On the right side are smaller feet pieces that Soren and Wordman have been using to great effect.  Across the bottom row are three shield like pieces.  In the middle left are four pieces that could be used as a body for a frame.  And those claw-like pieces in the middle right column are pretty neat too.

More of those smaller feet, and the "body" pieces.  And, hey, rubber bands.

In the bottom row are more pieces that could be the body for a frame.  In the right-hand column are three shovel like pieces that could act as armor or shields.  The two pieces on the left in the middle could act as HtH weapons.

All in all, it was a pretty good haul for the price.  So the next time your near a thrift shop -- Goodwill, Savers, etc. -- take a peek inside.  You might find a great deal.