Single Set Challenge, One More Time

Since we've had a lot of people try the Single Set Challenge since I first posted the idea in 2012, I figure we should take a look at what has produced.

The archive topic on the Hangar forum.

A search for "SSC Lego"on Flickr.

A search for "Single Set Challenge" on Flickr.

A search for "singlesetchallenge" on Flickr.

I'm thinking of starting a Flickr group just for Single Set Challenges.  Anyone interested?  I'm also thinking of making it a permanent page here on the blog.

Spotlight: Cole Blaq 2

Apparently Mr. Blaq has done more of these since I last blogged about them.  I'm going to retain the formatting from the last time to preserve a sense of continuity.

Titan FX.07.  The new Star Wars: Rebels lightsaber handle as a gun plus the robot head as an actual head are neat.

Titan FX.08.  Looks like another scout unit to me.

Titan FX.L.  An armored beetle.

Titan FX.10.  This looks like it could be a Rooftop Racer.

Titan FX.11.  The Necromancer's Crown from the Hobbit sets is a very nice touch.

Titan FX.12.  I think this is my favorite of the bunch, so organic looking, I'm reminded of the Alphas from Edge of Tomorrow.

There are more but I'll save those for an Intercept Orbit post as they're spaceships.  I look forward to seeing what else he builds for this series in the future.

Women in the MF0 Community

That is the title of a topic on the Mobile Frame Hangar forum.  It's a very interesting and important topic, that's why I'm bringing it to your attention today.  I've commented on it.  Soren's commented on it.  More women means a larger community, which means we'll have more players.  And doesn't everyone want more people to play against?  Read the topic, think about it, and make a comment if you feel like you have something constructive to add.

Polly Want A Baggy 4

Another year and another look at what polybag offerings the Lego Corporation has for us.  Once again this information is taken from Brickset.

30277 First Order Star Destroyer, 30278 Poe's X-Wing Fighter and 30279 Kylo Ren's Command Shuttle should all make for decent IO ships or starting points for IO ships.  As might 30346 Prison Island Helicopter, 30421 Ninjago Polybag, and 30471 Helicopter.  (Of course I've already reviewed Poe's X-Wing.)

30371 Knight's Cycle, 30372 Robin's Mini Fortrex, 30373 Knighton Hyper Cannon, and 30374: Lava Slinger from the Nexo Knights line along with 30422 Another Ninjago Polybag and 30446 The Batmobile could all make for interesting Frame designs.

30347 Fire Car, 30348 Mini Dumper, 30349 Sports Car, 30472 Parrot, and 30474 Reindeer look like they might be good parts packs.

This year doesn't look as good as previous years in terms of polybags, but there are several sets without pictures in the lineup.

Another Look Back

Let's take a look back at the past year.

Once again I'm kind of burnt out.  Not surprising as I'm ten posts up on the previous year, again.  And I managed to take an entire month off too.  I'm still holding my slightly more than three posts per week average for the second year in a row.

The Central MA gaming group continued to meet this year.  We managed six games together, including a big one at PAX East.  We also added a new player and may be adding another two next year.

I managed 82 reviews this year; 1 book, 2 model, 2 aftermarket manufacturer, 5 Mega Bloks, 9 Kre-O, and 63 Lego.  That comes out to an average of 6.8 per month.  Which is an increase of 0.5 reviews per month.

I'm now north of 350K views, which is roughly another 90K views since last year.  Thank you to everyone for that.  My Flickr stream is over 1 million views which I must thank everyone for as well.

I got to attend PAX East 2015, meet a great group of MoF0s, and play an awesome game.  I'm really looking forward to 2016 even though everything that was planned with Dark Clouds Blogs has been postponed until 2017.

See you next year!

Review: Star Wars Poe's X-Wing Polybag

Since I saw Star Wars: The Force Awakens over the Christmas break I figured I'd review one of the new sets from the movie.

Bag.  I picked this up at Target in the checkout aisles
for $3.99 which gives us a $0.06 Price per Piece.

Instructions.

Parts.  Lots of Plates in this one.  Plenty of Clip Plates, 1x1 Round  Plates, Wedge Plates, and regular Plates.  Some 1x1 Cones, Antenna, and
1x1 Round Bricks too.  A few Cheese Slopes and Jumpers as well.

Build.  I made a quick walker 

design for this one.  2Rd + d8 

(double guns) 1G (extra legs) 2W.

The Questions:
Can you build something -- a frame, station, or starship -- right away?  Yes.  (+5)
Is it below, at, or above the golden ratio?  Below.  (+5)  (The Golden Ratio is $0.10 per part.)
If you can't build a frame right away, or choose not to, 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?  Yes.  (+5)
Score: +20 (A+).  A good score, but I'm not feeling this one.

Non-Human 22

Merry Christmas -- for those of you that celebrate it --here are a few "presents".

'Vantage' Medium Armored Transport - deploying drones by pine lego.
Three medium sized drones -- they look to be roughly six studs
tall -- and a honkin' piece of terrain that carries them around.

Moonraker by [tenz].  This one may

be a little big, but it looks interesting.

Cubit by SeanMonster.  This one's on DeviantArt, I could download a picture but it

comes out a little large so you'll have to click through the link.  It also has a surprise.

'Reaper' Drone by Malicious Cheesecake.  Made specifically for MFZ.

Bio-Mechanical Strider by Legohaulic.  I know this is way too

big for MFZ, but the color blocking, spacing on the parts, and

parts choices are fantastic.  This one's a learning opportunity.