From the forum:

A Lego Jambalaya is a box full of parts that gets sent around to various people. Each person takes out stuff they want and puts in things they don't need.

I'd heard of such practices before, and it had long been something i'd been interested in participating in, so earlier this year I signed up for the current Classic-Castle one, with the good news that I was near the top of the list. With the box having toured Canada from May onwards,it was sent to me my boat (read: a carrier pigeon would've been quicker!), and the box arrived today; a treasure chest full of Lego goodies.

Arches, bricks, wheels, minifigs (and assorted weaponry!) slopes- pieces ideal for Castle MOCs and all things that could've been bought specifically of course. I took out quite a bit, none of which I ultimately needed, but all the same, pieces and elements that I think will be useful in the future. I probably put more back into the box than I took out, because having the box is  a good way of getting rid of some pieces you don't need. I'm still sorting out my collection- a task for all eternity- but I was more than happy to donate panels and columns, pieces I prefer not to use. Additionally there was multiples of minifig heads and torsos, as well as duplicate animal pieces that I either have too many of or don't use. I also included two copies of 5614, currently unavailable in the US, I'm generous like that.

I think in total there's about twenty people on the list, so keeping the box going is undoubtedly the main priority- a good metaphor to use would be to say it's a giant game of pass the parcel. It only arrived this morning, but already i'm hoping to have it sent out tomorrow morning as soon as possible by airmail. It's got to go to New York before continuing it's tour of the US. I'm interested in knowing whot akes the parts i've putten int the box, but the sharing and non-trading is an exciting idea, and if someone can find a use for the black dragon i've put in, well, it's an idea that works.

I mentioned a while ago my intent on entering the CC Battles Contest. i've had my entries completed for over a week now, but I finally got to photographing them today. It's my first year entering the annual contest, but it was exciting (and difficult) trying to build something more focussed towards action rather than structure. As such structures kinda feature heavily as backdrops in both the entries, but I like how the battles turned out, and they're both completely different from each other.

Attack on Widmore is a purely a classic-castle battle with Forestmen attacking a Crusader fort, separated only by a river. The idea originally was to have trees bridging across the river and the actual fort a lot more crumbled and overgrown, in a state of neglect, but now it kind of contrasts with the greenery across the river, which I like. The fort has a small interior too. It's completely unnecessary given the criteria of the contest, but i'm weird like that. The river is SNOT too which I think is a first for me, but I like the smoothness of how it turned out- it's something i'll be doing again.

The Battle of Mortia on the other hand is a lot more in keeping with that of the current Lego Castle line, with necromancers and skeletons- it's also got a lot of the newer colours too such as the dark-green. Generally i'm a fan of neither, but it was fun building in a new style and colour-way to what I usually do. Originally the battle was going to be below and over a bridge (again with dark green), but I needed somewhere for the Necromancer mastermind, so the tower was included. It wasn't going to be as high either, but, well...I got carried away.

At this stage i'm not sure if there will be a third entry or not. A lot of my bricks have been used and the thought of de-assembling and sorting those two entries frightens me completely. The contest ends on the 5th of April though, so I may build a smaller entry yet. It depends how forthcoming new ideas are.

 

The annual Battles Contest was announced over at Classic-Castle by Josh Wedin last weekend.

I'm always building (or more often than not sorting bricks), but contests and competitions like this and the Colossal Castle are always good excuses to bring out the bricks, especially with prizes on offer. Not that winning is everything, and it's foolish and egotistical to aim for success anyway, but it's always a good chance to show off what you've got and soak-up the entries and ideas of everyone else. I know that in the few year i've re-developed my interest of Lego, I have learned a lot from these kind of contests.

The closing date for entries is the 5th of April, and forgetting all other current commitments, i'm hoping to knock out a couple of entries, embarassingly, ideas i've been plotting for a while. But i've started all the same, two entries in fact, and while it's easy to spend an entire day at the weekend building, it's difficult going back through the week or finding time and enthusiams later on, much like my new bad habit when it comes to videogame as of late. Then there's the constant problem of finding myself out of specific bricks or colours solved only by a binge-spending trip to Bricklink, but all hobbies are expensive, right?

I hope so. 

One of the few Lego websites I continue to visit regularly-Classic-Castle.com- has recently announced it's annual Colossal Castle Contest, now in it's fifth year. Course, little reason is ever needed not to build something out of Lego, but contests and events like this are great for bringing out the community- a perfect mix of both inspiration and friendly competitiveness that means everyone benefits in the long-run.

I entered last year for the first time, and was pleased with my efforts back then, but a lot can happen in a year and I now think that I can knock out something a lot better. In fact, i'd like to think in the past few months i've already succeeded, but i'll try not to get too big-headed just yet. I'm not studying at the moment but being back at work it's near-impossible trying to get everything done- when I read the announcement last night I was a little hesitant to enter. But after a day of thinking and throwing out ideas, i've decided to enter after all, and i've just been to Bricklink for some extra pieces critical to the overall idea- hopefully it'll all work out nicely. Starting is the other big problem of course. It's relatively easy to conjure up ideas and draw them accordingly, but it's always pretty intimidating once you go to actually start building, especially if you've got a big baseplate to begin with.

I'm hoping to start this weekend, irrelevant of if my order arrives. The deadline is the end of December, but with Christmas and such I want it out of the way pretty quickly. And besides, once you've finished your own entries, the real joy is to be had from merely standing back and viewing everyone else's, an activity, which will, of course, subsequently inspire for the next year.

The contest begins this Thursday!