glenbricker

Hey everybody, DarthKy and I worked together to make this high end non-ship set concept for LEGO Ideas. (Please note this submission has expired) We also tried to re-imagine Redbeard, Anne, Rummy, and "Steve" from the classic LEGO Sets. We certainly hope you will check it out. Skull Cove: Redbeard’s Return. Captain Roger Redbeard once terrified the seas with his crew aboard the The Black Seas Barracuda but he has not been seen on the high seas for over a decade. Nobody knows exactly what happened to him, many assumed he finally met a bitter end, perhaps finally caught by the Imperials...some claim he retired and lives quietly on his untold riches. His closest friends and allies however know the truth. Redbeard, surrounded by his loyal crew, still rules the great pirate fleet, a shadow empire, from the security of his stronghold, Skull Cove. This set seeks to create a top of the line pirate stronghold operated by a cadre of pirates inspired by classic LEGO pirates. The re-imagined pirates includes the classic figures: Captain Roger Redbeard, Rummy, Anne, and “Steve.” The Crew Captain Rodger Redbeard. In the passing years the Captain's beard has grown and streaks of white have crept into it. He may not be as spry as he once was, but he is as cunning and quick witted as ever, coordinating strikes against the merchant lanes while continuing to foil the Imperials. First Mate Rummy. Rummy has long been Redbeard's right hand man. Now he operates the ingenious communication network that keeps Redbeard's pirate armada working in concert. Rummy is also a legendary spotter and look out. He can count the number of cannons on a ship before most of the crew can even see its sails. Anne. Anne has served as Redbeards Quartermaster, leading countless boarding actions upon ships beset by the Black Seas Barracuda. She is an expert marksman and sword fighter, equally at home on the deck or in the ropes. "Steve" Steve is a bit of a mysterious wild card, coming and going as he pleases. The crew is not even certain if "Steve" is his real name. His unequaled skill as an artillerist however has earned him a permanent opening as the master gunner in Redbeard's ranks. On many occasions the astounding accuracy of his cannons has spelled the difference between victory and defeat. Note: This project has expired so voting is no longer available.

ARg! Sorry I should have put [MOC] at the front of the Topic Title, but I cannot figure out how to change the title now that it is sumbitted. If someone can tell me how I would be very appreciative. I have been thinking of doing this project for years. But I was always too busy and could not quite figure out how it would work. Trying to cram a lot of curvy color into a Lego build can be pretty daunting. And then on top of that, making it as complex and "Modular style" on the inside as possible. I had a real blocker though. I wanted one of the figures to have a Lute...how do you build a Lute in Lego. Well, this kept just taking up brain space, kept distracting me. So I finally brought it up with my friend Alatariel. We turned it into a personal Iron Builder challenge. And that really just broke ope the dam. Even the Lute itself, just 3 elements was a collaboration that brought out the best of our styles. All in all this is probably one of my favorite personal builds. I keep working on the Cabinet though...cramming that much detail into such a tight space is a real challenge. The dimension of the bed worked out perfectly though and the dead space under it really allowed me to add a lot of detail on the back. Getting that ring in the middle of the "diamond" takes up a LOT of real-estate. This last piece is a "zoom in" on the Lute. If you are familiar with Patrick Rothfuss and his Kingkiller Chronicle series of books, well, this is where I got the idea for building a Vardo. They are real things. But reading the books is what got me wanting to build one. The guy on the Left is a "portrait" of the Author that I figure fans might get a kick out of. If you really like this you can vote for it on Cuusoo

We don't have any formal instructions yet and we are going to wait for review to decide on how to approach that subject. As for build to order, I will have to ask DarthKy about that. He is building this IRL so he might have something to say on the subject.

DarthKy and I have been working on a modular based on the Wayne Manor and using the Modular footprint in order to restrict the design to a reasonable scale. We have also tried to fill it with various references from the comics, movies, animations, and the 60's TV show. To make the design more fun we have have built it up on four quarter baseplates allowing the design to be opened up. Batman References I hope the true Batfans out there will appreciate the various references we have integrated. I have here two images of references followed by their descriptions so if you are of the mind to try to figure these things out on your own, go ahead. I admit, some of them are a bit esoteric. Image one references A. Grandfather Clock A Grandfather Clock is in almost every incarnation of Wayne Manor. In most continuities it is the access to the Batcave as well. In this case, we are not able to use it as the access as a figure is quite broad. Note that the Clock is set to 10:48. Setting the clock to this time unlocks the entrance and is the time of day the fateful mugging occured. B. Man of the Year Award In the Lego Batman 2 Game, Bruce Wayne beats out Lex Luthor for the Man of the Year Award. C. Painting of Bruce Wayne on a horse with a dog at his side This is a double reference both to The Dark Knight Returns and Ace the Bat-hound. Bruce Wayne is rarely seen with horses, but he does have horses in The Dark Knight Returns which grants Batman a significant advantage at a critical point in the story. So this is a just a subtle reference to one of Batman's epic tales. Ace the Bat-hound is, as the name implies, is a dog who aids Batman. He originated in the 1950s but did not transition the Crisis. He has re-appeared in Batman Beyond, Krypto the Super Dog, and Batman: Brave and the Bold. D. Armor and Sword Display We have based this build off of a display in the 1989 Batman movie by Tim Burton. Hopefully the picture speaks for itself. E. The "Waynes" Of course everyone has their favorite Robin. We have tried to include an acceptable presentation of each in this wall portrait. The line up from Left to Right: Dick Grayson, Damian Wayne, Bruce Wayne, Tim Drake, and Alfred Pennyworth. It does not play though 100% but I tried to make the ties and kerchiefs color compatible with the super hero personas. The above image was generated using Mini Mi as a base followed up with photoshopping. Image Two References A. & B. Gray Ghost Fedora and Action Figure Batman the Animated Season 1 Episode 18 "Beware the Gray Ghost" is one of the greatest episodes of the any Batman cartoon. . It introduces a childhood hero of Bruce Wayne, the Gray Ghost who is voiced by none other than Adam West. It also includes voicing by Bruce Timm, the series co-creator. Batman's Gray Ghost Collection To further expand the significance of the Gray Ghost to all things Batman, the Fedora re-appears in Batman Beyond, utilized by Bruce Wayne as an impromptu disguise when Inque catches a ride to the Batcave...That's right, we even have a Batman Beyond reference. Bruce Wayne dons the Gray Ghost Fedora as an impromptu disguise C. A Foil The Wayne's are returning form "Mask of Zorro" on that fateful night. Zorro is also one of Bob Kane's inspirations in the creation of Batman. D. & E. A Book of Gotham Nursery Rhymes and Blueprints to Building by the Alan Wayne Trust These are references to the Court of Owls. F. Shakespeare Bust A Shakespeare Bust with a "pez action" head conceals the button that opens the Batcave in the original television series. G. Man of the Year Award In the Lego Batman 2 Game, Bruce Wayne beats out Lex Luthor for the Man of the Year Award. (I realize I mention this twice. I will update the picture to get rid of it shortly) H. Detective Comics #27 in Plastic Case The issue that introduces Batman to the world! The Batcave Our Batcave design is much more conservative than most you see: The "left" quarter of the batcave is dedicated to Batman's infamous trophies: The T-rex The Joker Card The Giant Penny Mr. Freeze's gun Green Kryptonite the "right" quarter of the batcave showcases Batman's equipment including a chamber for his suit. It you like the design please consider giving your support to our Cuusoo project. We realize the scale is a bit...impressive, and the license is, of course, in play, but we would sure like to get this concept to review regardless of production possibilities.

I tried to do Ldd2Povray after the update to LDD 4.3.8 today and I get an error. Something to the effect of Part ID 2412 not in current brickset version. Then the whole thing fails.

If you want projects to be sorted by type then you will probably like my new system, it is still in beta, but all projects above 200 have now been cataloged into at least one category. I will be adding better search and exclusion features as time goes on but here is the early "draft" No IP Projects Popular Media Projects "Real" Subject Projects Lego Properties Projects

You have some good ideas. I agree with them to the point that I have sumbitted a few of my own, very similar ones directly to Cuusoo. Make sure to submit your ideas to the knowledge base so that they see them as they are technically your primary audience. If you want to make a stronger case though you should delete your arguement for why the changes are "needed". That sounds like illogical advice but the argument is just your opinion and it distracts from the discussion of your changes. As you can see, comments are about your initial argument instead of about your content. Fact is, Cuusoo is not broken. It is designed to allow people to submit ideas for Lego sets and for some of those ideas to inspire actual Lego sets. Figure out what your actual goal is and write it goal positive rather than opposition negative. It sounds like your goal is to add structure and make certain projects more visible. Few are going to argue with you against adding structure. Of course granting more visibility to any one project, or type of project, is inherently a statement that it is more worthy which again, is your opinion so be careful there. As for projects being shelved for later, well, yes, there are huge problems with at and there is an alternative. Resubmitting the idea. If the community really likes it, they can keep sending it to 10,000. This is really just something that Lego users are going to have to live with if they want a system like Cuusoo to exist. Lego plays with its cards lose to the chest. So they can't say "you can't submit a project about "X" because we are working on it." So some projects are going to get to 10,000 and fail. Here is the big issue. Why can't you shelf a project for later? Well, have you ever seen anyone not buy a product "today" because they "know" a "better" product is coming out "tomorrow." It is a common economic force. Certainly overwhelemed by instant gratification but there you have it. Any indication of future product has a pressure on current product. Again, you have some good idea, some need some work. I would remove the part about various levels of support because that is, again, putting your own value system into the argument which weakens the document as a whole. Of course we are not the audience for this, Cuusoo is, so like, I said, make sure you send a copy to the knowledge base. Good luck.

Your argument is one that has upset me from the beginning of my experience with Cuusoo which is why I started blogging. It is clear however that AFOLs are not showing up to support the projects you want to see succeed. I have factual data and a campaign that supports this claim. It is all well and good to complain at the projects that reach 10,000 by reaching outside of the Lego community, but those are the only people voting on Cuusoo in any acceptable numbers. FOLs tastes vary just as much as non-FOLs so the small community of FOLs hanging out on Cuusoo are not getting any projects to 10,000. This is not Lego's fault, Cuusoo's fault, or the fault of the IP related projects that get to 10,000. As this is a one vote per person system, the failure of non-IP projects to get ot 10,000 is the fault of the FOL community alone. Mission Brick, what have you done to promote these project you want to see reach 10,000? Have you shared them with your FOL friends? Made your family vote for them? Posted them on your social networks? Have you supprted every project that you think is an "interesting AFOL set" or just the ones you would like to buy? Did you support the FOL campaign (http://blog.brick-he...o-campaign.html). Even if you have done all this, complaining about the success of another project gets you no closer to your goal. If you think there is a problem then be part of the solution. Save the snark and use that energy to promote a project.

I totally agree with you Duke. I have pushed a lot on this actually (to the extent that anyone outside the company can). I don't kid myself that anyone goes to my site to search for Cuusoo projects (or casual users to be sure) but I am working on this issue on my one site of Cuusoo with the cross support system and a planned interface for searching by themes suggested by people other than the project creators. Most crazy is an atempt to create an algorithm that can identify better projects based on performance and qualities rather than static values. That is the fun one.

For the most part I think Cuusoo is whatever its community of supportes makes it be within the Limits that Lego enforces. I take point with you saying "it has too many problems to work as the final version." It appears to be working perfectly well to me. People support projects, Projects get reviewed, Projects made into Products. That is the stated function of Cuusoo just like the function of a car is to deliver humands and cargo from one location to another. You can be dissatified with aspects of it but Lego Cuusoo has never defined any operating performance qualifications for them to meet. The Broken factors are thus likely your own opinion on what Cuusoo should be doing. I think you might be interested in the FOL Cuusoo Campaign I am pushing though: http://blog.brick-he...o-campaign.html as it is about people taking action within the system to direct it to their own ends. As for the Western Town, noncompete clauses also prevent you from openly endorcing future products and not killing it is walking the line (hense the Frisco at 1k: http://blog.brick-he...-to-10k_21.html). Despite the Lone Ranger performance there is still discussion of a sequel to the pont that contracts were written with them (with the actors at least) and this likely keeps Lego's hands bound going into the future for quite some time to come. As for kids participation, do you mean in submitting projects? They "can" and they cannot be cause of a Legal issue oustide of Legos hands. A minor may submit a project though their parent/guardian. A minor cannot submit a project on their own because you cannot make a binding legal contract with a minor and that is what you are doing when you are submitting a project. knowledgebase is the new website for feedback and rulliness

Duke is right, thanks for answering the question. Running the Blog, Coding for the blog, writing articles for Brickset, and various other activities (I am running a Lego gaming event this weekend) often distract me from the random post I leave (sorry). If you would like to ask me a question, and have me see it the best place to do it is on my blog either in resonse to a posting or using the contact me link on my site. Thankfully someone brought your question to my attention directly. The data is 100% accurate as of, maybe a month ago at this point. I need to update my code base to account to keeping the data fresh but given that it is based on all user data until a month ago, and that we have not noticed a severe change in user activity, it is likely still very accurate. I accessed Cuusoo (same as everyone else can), optained every iota of data I found interesting into a database then I coded against the database. These numbers are not even appoximations, these are based on every account at the time the process was performed. Of the people with accounts that support a project on Cuusoo, 64% support 1 project only, 77% 2 or less, 88% 5 or less, 95.5% is 12 or less, 98.5% is 25 or less, 99.5% is 50 or less and the top 0.5% of supporters is Kilo reserves for the kilo-supportes and the like. Here is a posting where I talk about some of the applications intended for said data: http://blog.brick-he...ekly-crowd.html

@ Another Brick I think you are perhaps reading too much into my statement of "Good". By Good chance I mean "Good." It is not great but very few projects have a "Great" chances of getting produced. I won't be gobsmacked if it fails to reach production but I am more surprised by anyone positive it will fail. You compair FTL to EVE but I have stated the differences between the two projects. To reiterate, The user base of EVE ONLINE is probably larger than FTL but we have made the FTL project more accessible to the existing market and outside markets. The Rifter is one of MANY MANY ships in EVE and was very large. Its singular nature and scale reserve it for a display piece of distinguishing collectors with marginalized appeal to people outside the EVE community. The FTL ships are small thus easy to display and swooshable with the intent of being a collection of three ships choosen by the community to ensure community appeal, more play options given multiple ships to interact, and keeping costs and footprint low to expand the market further into the casual gamer demographic. Being small with a low price point increases the attractiveness of the set concept to people who have a generic attraction to sci-fi and space ships with little to no familiarity with FTL. Though they are both based on space ships, the direct comparison to FTL is moot. Like comparing the market for a pair of Speedors and the Ninjago Ultra Sonic Raider. The Ninjago fanbase is larger but the small Speedors are aimed at a much broader demographic. As to your claim of not knowing about FTL, well sure. You are not the target audience. Your precense here indicates that you are likely really into Lego. AFOLs make up a minority of the projects supporters. The VAST majority of people going to Cuusoo go there to support a subject that is important to them, that they would enjoy in an accessible physical format. Lego does not need Cuusoo to target the AFOLs, AFOLs are already buying Lego, the Lego that Lego has been Legoing since Lego began to Lego. They got that part down to a science. Do you really think that Minecraft and Back to the Future are targeted at AFOLs? Curiosity? Not at all. This is Lego picking and choosing the markets that it wants to remind that hey, This is the best freaking toy in the world. Identifiable market by the way means that it is easily defined and accessed. The primary market for FTL content is FTL users. You can reach the audience easily, you just go to Subset games and say "here." It is synonymous in many cases with IP. The Less identifiable the market, the more work you have to do to understand it and reach it. For instance, who would buy this outside of Lego fans: http://lego.cuusoo.c...iew/33733.��The list is expansive. People into Asian Culture, people who like plants, people who like art, people who just want something unusual on their desk. Each of those groups are all over the marketing globe and all of the them subgroups within subgroups with no single point of access. This tends to make the market larger but harder to pin down, harder to advertise to. Who know really though eh? Cheers! @Duke, I think your opinions are very good ones. A pink bunny in a mecha suit is certainly much more of an attention grabber than some more Lego space craft and the miniature space craft market is certainly a big factor. Lego does not share that data though. For all we know, before FTL even gets up to bat there could be a quiet agreement that Lego not produce any other IP's Space Craft? Another fundamental issue is the strength of the FTL IP at the point that brick would hit the market. Every project has hurdles it must surmount. We will learn more about Cuusoo and Cuusoo about itself as we go. And again, like I said, it is hard for me to no be biased about this project, so take anything I say with a grain of salt.

Hi everybody, It is a bit weird to see all this activity about what I have said. Didn't really think anyone cared. Wow, there is a lot of content here so please forgive me if I overlook something in all the of it. Ok, first ShaydDeGrai, Thanks for posting the link. "Inevitable discovery" is a great corellation. I will probably use that term from now on if you don't mind. I would like to point out though that I don't think that any project that uses minifigures is inherently doomed. There is for instance Super Hero Racers: http://lego.cuusoo.c...deas/view/42554 which puts super hero minifigs into character themed tiny cars. In this case, the set concept is distinct enough from Lego's franchise standard that it equates to a new and marketable idea. As for FTL. Cuusoo is literally targeted at discovering niche communities and using fans to find the products that appeal to those communities. That is a stated goal. BUT Cuusoo is in Beta of course and there is very limited data on what Cuusoo will and will not go with in producing a Cuusoo product. There have only been three products selected for the global market. Minecraft, BttF, and Curiosity. Minecraft is also a stated exception to the normal run of things as can assumed be any project that "legitimatly" completes its 10,000 run in so short a time. This is not an assumption, Lego recognized the active market on Minecraft and spead up production.... So, we really only have two "normal" projects that have reached review and production phase: BttF and Curiosity with an obvious interest in Portals as a property as well. That is not much "yes" to go on to make any approximations in either direction. We have a few rejects based on Brand Fit: Winchester, Serenity We have some buisness and Legal whats?: Dark Bucket A contractually prevented option: Modular Western Inevitable Discovery: UCS Sandcrawler Legend of Zelda: Basially a parts list and then....Eve online: Rifter. The Case for the Eve online: Market issue. Also stated on a TV interview the scale of the ship came up. So, only one case has been turned down due to Market and only two "normal" projects passed proving a "good market." There is not a statistically good group to play with. (btw, this is an address to the market issue, I accept that FTL could fail the Brand Fit, but that is another discussion) The comments that quantity of people interested is more important that intensity is absolutly correct. It is far better to have a lot of people with the minimal interest to buy your product than a handful with intense desire to buy your product. Kickstarter is a great way to walk the line on this however but that is a digression. This was part of our strategy though. "Many" fans called for the deluxe/UCS/minifig scale version of EACH ship! The are the fanatics but I even doubt that the majoiryt of them would be willing to actually pay the price. We instead designed this set to be idea for casual fans of Lego and FTL. Big enough to be easily identifiable, small enough to be easily displayable, and cheep enough that we could accomidate a few ships to get as many fans as the models to buy into it. Any comments regarding the general AFOL community vs FTL are a bit moot. Cuusoo is driven by non-afols. It is driven by fans of "X" that like Lego, not FOLS that like "X". 64% of users come to support a single Cuusoo project and never return. Quite frankly any speculation about how likely a Lego FTL supporter is to buy an FTL product, either way, is also totally speculative. We have many people siting interest but that is more likely based on their willingness to post on random web sites ranter than propensity to purchase. Nobody here or anywhere else has polls on these people and I doubt the veracity of the feedback given to Lego by supporters anyway. It will take better and more resourced people then me to figure that out, as well as how big the market is for generic micro-scaled ships are in a medium that already is well occupied by Star Wars. In the end there are simply too many unknowns. We can't tell how many units Lego is looking to sell at what profit margins to what markets. There will be at least three more reviews before FTL has its day in the sun and that will certainly help define things quite a bit. By then we will have a much better frame for comparison. I think that FTL has a legitimate shot at production: Identifiable market, possible submarkets, viable product scale, viable brand fit (if a little violent), simple license (two guys with a kickstarter). If it does fail I would say that it would help to greatly define the barrier to production. Than again, I can't claim to be unbiased in this: I really love Crash's work, and for another, I am an eternal optimist. Sorry if this is a bit jumbled, doing a lot right now. Regardless of its outcome, I am proud to have been associated with this project which I think has comported itself with dignity and professionalism through its entire lifespan. Cheers Ha! Oh man, I need to update my signiture.

Finally! I was beginning to wonder when this thing was going to come out. Now I am certain though that people are gong to be telling me about it all the time with my Corellian defender project

Sorry I have not been responsive. I thought I was following this post but I guess I was not. Thank you for the compliments. Your right about Amon, he is very incomplete. I origianlly had aosme designs for the face but they were taking too long so yeah it was a copy/paste. I will fix it eventually but I got busy on my Star Control ships/figs and that has been a time suck. Yeah when I saw The Metalbending cops I was like Hey! They are wearing Panaka’s hat!