American flags for your creations!

[Col. Whipstick]

This is the 2nd time I've had to write this, had an entire page of the history and the damn pc froze! >:-(

Now, where was I? Oh yes, it was only a matter of time before I made a thread for American flags. After the big 5 Europeans it made sense to feature the main colony and New Europe itself. And despite this website being so poorly named 'Eurobricks' a good many of us are from the English speaking and other colonies, myself included and for that matter most Brits would rather catch a cold than reffer to themselves as Europeans :-P

Now, as to the choice of American flags, I tend to do these thread batches in numbers of 3 or 6 and in the case of the United States I chose 3 flags typically American but decided instead of simply adding stars to make another 3 alternative American flags. For the initial 3, here is what I chose:

Firstly, the flag of the Grand Union is a great flag because it points out that the Americans aren't Americans until they have won independence and during the War of Independence it's much better to consider them Rebel British. The flag of the Grand Union highlights this with the use of the Union Jack (older version) accompanied by the 13 stripes fighting for independence. George Washington used this flag and it is ideal for MOC's set at the time of the war. It also highlights the evolution of the United States from Great Britain and that today it is still considered a powerful English speaking nation in everyway assuming the role of the British Empire 100 years ago. One point about this flag however is it's striking similarity to the flag of the British East India Company for which I shall make a seperate flag to point out the difference.

Our 2nd flag is the Betsy Ross which I find very attractive and is the start of the American style we've come to expect though this flag has been very influencial in the design of many flags and is symbolic of the New Republic and independence in the New World, not to mention that the flag of the European Union is no doubt heavily influenced by this one. Unfortunately this flag is the first flag of the United States and it's limited lifespan means it only flew in peacetime so it's unlikely to make it onto wartime MOC's.

The next flag really is my 4th flag and I didn't intend to make it except as a request from Phred for his USS Constitution. This is the flag of the US at the time of the War of 1812 against Great Britain but what makes it truly distinctive is not so much it's 15 stars but rather it's 15 stripes. By 1818 the Americans had gone back to the traditional 13 stripes which has stayed constant to this day.

The 3rd and now 4th flag is the one with 25 stars, in reality this would have been flown in the 1830's, at the dying days of our lego era and in all likelyhood the lego western enthusiasts may have more use for this one as well as the alternative flags coming up. The orignal 25 stars looks a little untidy at the time Arkansas joined the union so mine is a little neater. I also felt it interesting given that the US is now 50 states to have something representing the halfway mark.

Now, to represent alternative choices I've designed the well known Confederate Navy Jack which most people tend to associate as the actual flag of the Confederacy as well as the first official flag of the Confederacy which in it's own way is an attractive and kinda revived version of the Betsy Ross. Lastly the Lone Star Republic has joined the others for it's American design despite Texas being an independent republic for around 9 years. Whilst these flags might seem more western and 19th century than pirate era one has only to remember than Santa Ana was the Napolean of the west and his Mexican army closely modelled the French in dress so suddenly the Texican rebels and later Texans aren't such a stretch of history as they may first seem.

Well that concludes our American thread. In all likelyhood the next flag thread will feature one off flags and popular requests rather than have a national theme to it but in the meantime I hope you enjoy waving your red, white and blues... For more information and reading, which I always recommend, please visit the link:

List of American Flags

[zouave]

Very nice job. I especially like the confederate flags. *wub*

[Mister Phes]

The flags for the northern half of the New World don't seem to be as popular as the other regions... Why could this be?

[Col. Whipstick]

The flags for the northern half of the New World don't seem to be as popular as the other regions... Why could this be?

Well here's the really interesting part, I posted these flags here absolutely ages ago and there was no comments, zip, zero, zilch, nada... I think you get the idea. Then lastnight as I meant to at the time I thought about sharing this thread with the Western people over there in 'that other forum' because they might have more use for it. In reality though I still think American flags are appropriate to our time period, whilst not Golden Age they are certainly Napoleanic Era.

As for the reasons of being unpopular - I put it down to the usual anti-American psychosis one finds throughout the western world and particular from European insecurities that there haven't been almost any reception to these flags originally. Though I expected some of the American members of the forum themselves to say something and as it is here, if something doesn't get more than 3 replies on it's first day it's usually on the second page and out of sight/out of mind by day two.

Also, some people will have a bee in their bonet about the Confederate flags regardless of the fact there is no political agenda behind what I put here but rather historical variety. One wonders what the response would be if I created a 'Swastika flag'. I think it's safe to say especially given the name - Eurobricks that the majority of the members here are European so American flags aren't going to be half as popular. Given the amount of members from the colonies however one wonders if we shouldn't rename ourselves 'Worldbricks' or 'Planet Brick' or something.

Edited January 3, 2008 by Col. Whipstick

[blueandwhite]

One wonders what the response would be if I created a 'Swastika flag'.

With the recent release of the Indiana Jones line and the popularity of WWII MOCs amongst some builders, I think there might be a pretty positive response.

[Capn Frank]

With the recent release of the Indiana Jones line and the popularity of WWII MOCs amongst some builders, I think there might be a pretty positive response.

That is true.

I'd maybe post it in the theater forum and explain why it's there. X-D

P

[Col. Whipstick]

That is true.

I'd maybe post it in the theater forum and explain why it's there. X-D

P

In the end of the day one shouldn't have to offer excuses for the creation of any flag, it's simply offering variety of use. The nazi's are part of history like it or not the same as any other group or fraction and people can't simply tear those pages out of the history book because they have a problem with it. If we all did that there'd be nothing left of the book because everyone has some dislike or cause against someone else. It's just the relative recency of WW2 that makes people all that more phobic. I'm surprised people haven't wanted to keel-haul me for making American flags, they are like that these days. And quite right - it could have some good use with the Indy stuff as well as WW2 MOC's, though the later idea bores me some to be honest.

I must confess that I'm a little hesitant to design flags that aren't relevant to the 1400 - 1900 period simply because I don't want the other lego groups swiping all our flags that were made for Pirates and creating a shortage. Again... hardly anyone uses these designs so far so perhaps it wouldn't hurt.