Mylenium

Eurobricks Knights
  • Content Count

    867
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by Mylenium

  1. Mylenium

    Botanicals Wish List

    Depends for what you need them. If you really just want decorations you could put them together yourself or buy sets from alternate manufacturers. Basically everything you listed already has been done one way or the other, just not in genuine LEGO. Personally I would primarily just want more packages that introduce recolored elements, as ultimately that's what I want them for. I don't really need a bunch of kitschy plastic flowers catching dust in my home. With that in mind I would basically support everything that brings those elements. With the LEGO Dreamzzz and Donkey Kong sets also already having those new rounded leaf elements i would also at the very least predict that we get to see them in new flower sets just like we may see the little fern element as calyx leaves. From where i stand that's basically all that matters. Mylenium
  2. I don't think you'll have much luck with that. Our German Brickmerge.de site would be an option to track retail prices for reasonably recent sets and extrapolate from there, but other than that I think this is one more case where gut feeling beats mathematics. Again it's the problem of sample size. Highly coveted expensive sets just don't sell en mass every day and you can't determine much from a few random sells, least of all with how different the markets in different regions are. Mylenium
  3. That site is complete nonsense. Lots of fancy talk about AI and ML algorithms, but at the end of the day none of this has any meaning. Basics of statistics: Sample size is the main determinant for any form of extrapolation and where there's not enough samples, there can be no reliable prediction/ estimation. Or in other words: They're pulling pricing valuations out of their megablocks. Mylenium
  4. Do I smell a bug with the JPEGs not having correct DPI flags? Have you actually checked them locally in a decent image viewer (XnView etc.)? Mylenium
  5. Cloth is a highly anisotropic material and unless you create a special shader for it it will always look kinda garbage. This is indeed a case where you'd probably need a reasonably complex layered shader/ shader network in Blender or your favorite 3D app. Mylenium
  6. Mylenium

    TIght arms on minifigures

    It's plastic. From thermal micro warping to components in the plastic degrading this could be a number of factors. After all, it'S ABS and the Butadien and Styrene components are not the most chemically stable polymers. Their sulfur atoms can dissipate/ migrate an d then the polymer chains shorten and get brittle. Rinse repeat for pigments decomposing or auxiliary mediums in the plastic evaporating over time. It's not made for eternity even under the best conditions. Even if you store them at the "ideal" 11 deg C and 55% air humidity there will be long-term effects. Mylenium
  7. At the end of the day it probably simply boils down to the same points as to whether one would be willing to use standardized bricks from other companies. Personally I'm a purist and stay completely away from that. Not in the sense that I'll say the "Hail LEGO!", but rather that once you start to get into this it muddies up the waters too much and the headaches aren't worth it. I only have so much space to store stuff separately, anyway. And in a way I find that fixing shortcomings and deficiencies of LEGO with custom parts/ alternate parts is a bit lame and just taking shortcuts. It's not that I for instance wouldn't love to have direction inverters for upside-down building, but whenever I see people sneaking in such stuff from "Chines company X" into their otherwise clean LEGO models it still makes me cringe. Therefore for me the only valid use of custom parts or alternate parts on LEGO models is really just two scenarios: a) Filling in bulk with large models, but only with identical pieces that also exist as genuine LEGO. b) Adding details to models and minifigures, but only for personal use and enjoyment. There is of course room to interpret any of this and I'm well aware that the situation for train hobbyists, medieval knights, military and a few other scenarios is so dire that they just accept doing their own thing in those communities and creating the missing elements themselves/ using alternative pieces is just accepted practice, but I would just not do it. Mylenium
  8. You graphics driver apparently isn't really working correctly, which seems to be a common issue with Windows 11 and RTX cards in particular. You need to spend some time straightening things out like fiddling with the NVidia settings and possibly installing different driver versions, in particular using a studio driver instead of a gaming driver. As a first step I'd also enable Windows 10 compatibility mode to bypass the new GDI model. Mylenium
  9. Mylenium

    The old colours, and later service packs

    I don't necessarily think that. I'm pretty sure the discussions about (re-)introducing some sort of "warm grey" are just as prevalent among the designers as they are here. At this point it's just that it would muddy up the waters so much, it's probably not worth it. It would only make sense if for instance Architecture was a much bigger theme and/ or they found another excuse to have more shades of grey like for building rocks in Star Wars and Ninjago. Ultimately it's not that they are doing military models or any such thing where you need a ton of subtle shades to represent different camouflage colors. That being said, even if they were open to creating such a color I'd still have much different priorities and would other colors to be done before that... Mylenium
  10. Mylenium

    Odd Size lego boxes

    That info is not much use without the actual production codes. The assumption would have to be that you simply ended up with a batch from a different factory like a palette of European sets having found their way to the US. Perfectly possible. Another hypothesis to throw around would be that they re-printed those boxes at a different local print shop when they ran out of stock on their regular formats. Printing machines, especially specialized ones for card board have size and weight limitations and clipping off a few centimeters and fitting the designs could be necessary if you're going e.g. from a 1.6 m wide to only 1.4 m wide. I'm sure there's a real reason to your mystery, but i doubt you'll ever find out unless you look it up into LEGO's internal systems or ask a production manager who was around at the time... Mylenium
  11. Mylenium

    The old colours, and later service packs

    Nope. No. LEGO's suppliers will happily provide them with every color they desire. I'm sure e.g. LyondellBassell (formerly A. Schulmann) and others on LEGO's list would no doubt easily be able to re-create the formulas and/ or create the same colors using new compounds. It's not rocket science. A few mixtures thrown together here, a few spectrographic measurements there, some test runs and long term durability tests. And keep in mind that some competitors have the "old grey" and other deprecated LEGO colors in their sets to this very day. It really boils down to the company having made a conscious decision and never having looked back, no matter what the myths and conspiracies haunting the Internet claim otherwise. Mylenium
  12. I have one, but even when I bought it used (good condition) LEGO hadn't produced Tan plates for two or three years. I'm with the others, though. If you really need base plates there are other brands which offer much more color variety and even ones with printed on textures and their quality is more than adequate. Of course LEGO could decide to produce Tan base plates tomorrow, but given on how limited a basis base plates are even used these days in sets I wouldn't count on it. Took them forever to bring back the White ones last year and could well be another five years before they switch colors again. Mylenium
  13. Mylenium

    Any comment for lego 10311 orchid?

    It's pretty okay. Here's my take on it: https://myleniumsbrickcorner.wordpress.com/2022/06/21/mr-green-plastic-thumb-lego-creator-orchid-10311-and-succulents-10309/ Mylenium
  14. Mylenium

    LEGO AND AI

    ... of which you then have to manually sort out 99.99 percent. Your statement doesn't make any sense. May be so, but with a few thousand elements you still get trillions of combinations. And the point really is not whether a human or an algorithm can slap together a few hundred models. It still comes down to verifying those designs with simulations, human interaction tests and so on. You can do that already. It's called ERP and PPM software. Those may of course be based on their own AI algorithms, but they bear no relation to the actual design process. AI has no magical powers. If the underlying model is based on wrong assumptions and insufficient data, it would make wrong decisions. Duds like VIDIYO would still happen, even if the AI decides. And when it comes to such things I long have been of the opinion that it's much more important to have managers with balls and reliable gut feeling. All the analyses in the world can't avoid that someone somewhere has to make a few tough decisions. Could it? Perhaps. Generally, though, I feel that the task is much more complex than everyone seems to think. As per my previous replies to other posts my impression is that nobody gives much thought to how you actually would train the AI to produce functional LEGO models and then use that same approach to verify the designs. Those things are completely unrelated to synthesizing shapes and pictures with a generative AI. I also already commented on the minifigure stuff and to add to that, I don't really see the value of what an AI could do that an experienced designer couldn't do. At best I would see those AI-generated designs as inspiration or reference, but to really turn them into actual minifigs you'd still have to put in the extra work. Amen to that. That's why companies still build prototypes of huge machines, aircraft, cars, engines etc. that cost them millions during development. You can simulate such stuff all day, but you only know how it actually works once you put it in the physical world. Mylenium
  15. Mylenium

    LEGO AND AI

    I don't think so. If the shoddy stability check function in Studio is any indication, it is doubtful they have anything advanced. I would even doubt they actually run their models through the simulation tools in a CAD program. At the end of the day it's probably quicker to just build prototypes, given the nature of the task. Current AI models are hugely dependent on the number of available samples. By that standard, even a few thousand official minifigure designs are a measly number compared to millions of regular images and if you figure in the fact that some elements have only been used on handful of figures at all, any AI algorithm will struggle to even properly "learn" how to use some of those bits correctly. Mylenium
  16. Mylenium

    Are classic themes dead ?

    Arguably that's LEGO's own fault/ problem. Competitors are selling castles, pirate islands and big ships by the bucket without media tie-ins. We're talking 70 Euro sets with 1200 pieces for some of them. Perfectly attainable as "starter sets". It's only in the LEGO world where things are that dire. Mylenium
  17. Mylenium

    Lego and Temperature

    Nothing to worry about. It won't melt. UV light is a much bigger threat to your stuff as it will inevitably cause the materials to degenerate. The point of keeping things within a certain temperature range with plastics is to avoid micro-warping and/ or in reverse not not lose thermal tension warping intentionally built in. For LEGO both can matter in terms of clutch power and friction when putting elements together. That said, LEGO is being way too cautious. Most ABS types can handle 60 degrees C without any sign of changing notably. Things only get a bit more critical after that with the gloss changing, but even then there's still lots of room before they actually begin to show signs of their structure changing. We're talking more long-term effects here than just a single day of summer heat... Mylenium
  18. Mylenium

    Are classic themes dead ?

    Absolutely. And by extension people seem to be oblivious to the fact that buying LEGO back then was a bit more special. Shelves were stacked differently back then and LEGO wasn't everywhere dominating the market. You had to be more proactive to even get it. Perhaps that colors people's perception as well as they may be under the impression that with LEGO occupying one third of a lot of toy stores there must be room for some of those "classic" themes to come back when in fact back then they were their only regular offering and they just sold what they had without thinking too much about it being special or something like this... Mylenium Yes, of course. Not every vintage car is a classic and the same applies here. Mylenium
  19. Mylenium

    Are classic themes dead ?

    I think you have to put it into perspective, though: A 200 million per year company in the 1990s vs. a 6 billion annually company now. I think that in itself is a point. Advocates of classic themes probably get a bit worked up over not getting their share when in their mind "LEGO could do it easily". That is of course true to some degree (they have the money), but at the same time also not true (inner workings of a big con-glo-mo and overall strategy). that doesn't invalidate any other argument in this debate, but perception really plays a big part, not just with that nostalgia thing... Mylenium As long as there is no clear distinction what constitutes a theme, sub-theme, sub-sub-theme, limited run special super duper edition or whatever you'll not get a satisfying solution to that problem. I don't think there needs to be, as most of this discussion on whether a theme is dead or not to me really revolves around that "...in the style of..." thing. People want to rebuild their classic space stuff or expand their collection, but I doubt that many would care what it's actually called as long as the parts usage, color schemes and overall design approach are similar. Mylenium
  20. Mylenium

    Are classic themes dead ?

    You can easily do the math with a bit of research outside the LEGO bubble. An industrial designer takes x amount of money to design the outsides of a fancy coffee machine. An illustrator takes x amount for a single image or page in a comic. A marketing agency takes x amount to write texts and do photos. I as a 3D and graphics artist take x amount per day for some shiny CG pictures. An OEM manufacturer takes x amount to build molds and produce a few thousand pieces of plastic if you want him to. You could continue this quite a bit, but at the end of the day it's not rocket science. You just have to invest the time to do the research. A theme like VIDIYO that had tons of new molds and graphical elements cost them easily at least 300 million. That's a minimum of 20 million development cost and the rest is actual production, manufacturing and distribution. Even if you spread it out across multiple years and consider that LEGO makes billions every year that's not chump change, given that you need to consider that at the same time they have cost on other themes to keep them running. You could repeat this for every theme and then you see how those numbers in their annual reports begin to make sense. And when you see that in 2021 VIDIYO wasn't even listed separately in those reports as a stand-out theme, you know how hard it fell on its face. Combined with anecdotal observations of full shelves, sets being still available BNIB en mass two years after cancellation and the insane discounts this stuff was/ is sold for you can only conclude that it was a total stinker. Mylenium
  21. Mylenium

    Are classic themes dead ?

    Nope. It's 2023, not 1984. I could elaborate on this endlessly, but that could end up offending too many people. Classic Knights, Western or whatever ain't coming back and that is that. Mylenium
  22. Mylenium

    Lego Buying Formula

    Not really. And it's not that you need to even cook up something convoluted like @SpaceM. At the end of the day it simply comes down how much you want/ need certain parts and how available and accessible they are. Just like MAB I study the inventories and digital building instructions and then simply go by gut feeling. Thinking about this too hard and trying to be "economic" is just driving you insane. You end up obsessing about fractions of a penny and never commit, which at the end of the day could even work against you when you miss the window of opportunity when the prices were most balanced (not necessarily lowest). I have quite a few such situations where I could kick myself in retrospect not having bought a set when it was around and now have to get its pieces the hard way on Bricklink... Mylenium
  23. This could be a million things, but I'd assume they are completely legit. A few things to consider: LEGO have been thinning out walls and supports with new parts revisions they have been dialing down the pigment amount and also messing with the base ABS mixture they continually experiment and use different pigments older bricks may use mineral-based pigments and fillers like chalk that are simply more opaque in-machine pigment mixing causes variations, anyway Mylenium
  24. The UCS Falcon was never LEGO-exclusive. It was only "exclusive" to some retailers. And those will simply offload it to other resellers when stuff clogs up shelf space. Normal practice in the retail space. Similarly, most LEGO stores are independent franchise operations (here in Germany they are GmbH, meaning LLC) and in theory they could sell their stuff for any price. They may just not be able to do this in reality because they sold their soul to LEGO and no doubt the contracts are pretty strict. Still, even they will eventually filter surplus stock to secondary markets if they can't sell it themselves. the rest is probably that grey area in-between where just driving over the border into another country changes the formula. Perfectly possible that you could load your van just on a day trip from Germany to The Netherlands or similar. Sets that are exclusive here could be sold in regular toy stores over there. And of course reputable sellers have all sorts of connections to other sellers and exchange stock all the time. Mylenium
  25. Mylenium

    Follow up on lego banning me

    Depends. The real point probably is that it's cheaper than having to deal with tons of returned products every time a 1 x 1 plate is missing. You know, they'd have to reimburse the vendors and all that. Anyway, here in Germany you have the right to "cure the contract", in turn meaning you are entitled to have your defunct stuff repaired or replaced. It's also a common rule under EU law and while consumer protections in the US may not be as stringent, I'm sure there is some rules that at least cover scenarios where a product is completely unusable, which based on the OPs story would be the case with a damaged actuator. Mylenium