AndyC
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Everything posted by AndyC
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There's very little (if any) profanity in the Bond movies, it gets into some tongue in cheek double entendres and the attitude to women (particularly in the older films) is horribly dated but the films themselves were frequently Saturday afternoon pre-watershed entertainment in the UK without any editing. And pretty much every gadget-laden car is inspired by the Aston Martin from Goldfinger.
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I'd be surprised (and disappointed) if it wasn't the DB5, it's by far the most iconic Bond vehicle* and would seem to have a bit more "play" value than the more modern Aston Martin's, which have toned down the gadgets a bit. *Well that isn't a Lotus Esprit!
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What are the limits of PoweredUP (number of motors connected etc)? What compatibility options will be available for those of us with a large amount of existing Power Functions parts? Are there plans for motors similar to the current Technic offerings (M, L, XL, Servo etc)? Will the communications protocol details be shared, as they were with PF? The current app seems very kid-focused and geared around pre-existing sets. Will there be any other offerings, perhaps similar to the Mindstorms software, that will be more suitable for AFOL use and for use with custom designs?
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I believe it's one of these: https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=2853&idColor=86#T=C&C=86
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The building itself is nice, with some clever part usage. There are some lovely little interior details as well. The car feels unnecessary (even more so than the Palace Cinema limo) though and I really hope this doesn't mark a permanent end to good old smiley faces in the modular line as I'd much prefer those over the new style faces.
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Every suburb, no matter how lovely it looks from the outside, masks deep and dark secrets. And Heartlake City is no different. Just what dark and mysterious things pass through the mind of our Friends? If we take a look into Olivia's Basement, it all becomes a little too clear: Stephanie may well have regretted buying Olivia the Dexter boxset for her last birthday. Olivia loves her chainsaw, so good for dismembering bodies.
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The closest thing would be the Paradisa line, which introduced pastel shades and was intended to bring girls into LEGO along similar lines to Friends. And it flopped.
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Brilliant, always love to see Friends in unusual circumstances and that's such a creative design.
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Blimey, that's crazy - I had no idea the parts had become so expensive. Really glad I bought three of these at the time....
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Alternative to hinges in LDD?
AndyC replied to Lego Otaku's topic in Digital LEGO: Tools, Techniques, and Projects
Alternatively, the mixels ball joints might be useful as long as the rest of your design helps constrain the sideways movement. -
Sometimes it's also to help make sure you're following the correct orientation when there are a lot of rotated steps with a similar, but not entirely symmetrical model. Much easier to follow if one end has a bright blue plate on it.
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End of support for LDD
AndyC replied to Lasse D's topic in Digital LEGO: Tools, Techniques, and Projects
The problem with DbM, as I understand it was less to do with the selection of bricks (by necessity of production it is always going to be limited in comparison with Extended Mode), but rather that the sheer cost of having to manually fulfil each order made any sort of profit margin razor thin. Ironically, the people like us were not overly interested in the premium attached to that custom process and were much more likely to use LDD to design something then obtain parts through the second hand markets. Unless they could find a way to fully automate such custom products, which seems unlikely, any sort of DbM scheme is unlikely to offer tem suitable ROI. I hope they can find a way to make LDD a good revenue stream, as it is a fantastic tool, but I'm not holding my breath for it. -
Future of LDD: Next Lego Digital Designer Update?
AndyC replied to minchellabrick's topic in Digital LEGO: Tools, Techniques, and Projects
From what I've heard in the past, one of the conditions for getting a new part design (with the exception of some licensed pieces) is getting a certain amount of "buy in" from different teams to confirm that the design is actually useful in more than a single situation. So, I'd assume that if designers from different teams have been playing around with a possible new part, it's probably quite likely they've got a few useful cases lined up that they put into sets once it becomes available. This is also why there sometimes seem to be odd gaps in parts, it may just be that nobody has ever found a compelling need for a 1x1 with bar or even that they just couldn't convince other teams of a need for one that couldn't be accomplished by existing parts. -
Also you're discounting the benefits an unsuccessful submission can have for it's creator. Imagine that I submit my first Idea and it's not very good, it's one of those "obvious failures", and maybe it doesn't do that well. However I do get some support and some feedback that helps to guide future submissions. The next project I submit might just be one that makes it. In contrast, if all "obvious failures" are immediately discarded, the feedback I get is effectively "You're not good enough for Ideas", so maybe now I don't bother at all.
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What you think of the Star Wars EP VII Sets after watching the movie..
AndyC replied to Darth Dino's topic in LEGO Star Wars
Yeah, most likely the design was changed near the end of production. Perhaps the original just didn't look right on screen, so the tilting wings were added to give it a more familiar look and the colours tweaked to make it stand out better. Expecting any toy manufacturer to wait until after the movie is finalized to start design work is just foolish, the hype (and potential sales) would be long gone by the time it gets onto the shelves. -
Well I got some slightly odd looks at work when I mentioned the Friends advent calendar looked better than the Star Wars one. Although I think everyone is already convinced I'm nuts anyway!
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I notice that with that gif they also seem to be pushing "original" ideas, so I think TLG are all too aware that the license heavy skew is causing some issues.
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Wow. That is just stunning. So many brilliant details, every time I look I see something new and every bit is just beautiful. Fantastic work.
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Unfortunately there is very little you can say that is likely to change their mind, because anything you could say is exactly what someone would say if they were scamming TLG and trying to get access to do so again. It's also why you're unlikely to get a definite reason for the block on your account; if they told a scammer it was because of X, the very next step would be the scammer ringing up with a very carefully constructed explanation of X to try and get the account unblocked. Leaving it vague reduces the possibility of a customer service rep being duped into allowing a scam to continue.
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More BTTF sets seem unlikely, if they'd been planning any, they'd surely have timed an announcement with all the buzz around October 21st.
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I still think that's too arbitrary. Even two pieces of the same size may have vastly different effects on pricing and production capacity depending on how molds are currently in use, the colours required, whether they already have surplus parts produced and/or whether existing production runs could be slightly extended to produce parts etc. Trying to second guess the effects on production capacity (particularly when you have no idea when a project might reach review stage) is a bit pointless. It's better to let people be as creative as possible, attempt to manage the expectations of review success and del with the occasional disappointment than to restrict things to the point good ideas are never submitted in the first place.
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In all honesty I suspect that TLG and the BBC had already come to a decision on Doctor Who appearing in Dimensions before they specifically announced the Doctor Who projects would be allowed on Ideas again. They already had an idea of how popular it was and must have known that inviting submissions was bound to lead to a successful review soon enough.
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[MOC] Batmobile - Batman's vehicle from 1989 + mini-diorama Gotham
AndyC replied to Kalais's topic in LEGO Licensed
I think maybe because the windshield is a little too steep and the front a little too square. It's a really, really difficult shape to pull off in Lego at such a small scale though and is still instantly recognisable. A great little build. -
Possibilities of Importing New Elements Into LDD Without Angering Lego
AndyC replied to Plokman's topic in Digital LEGO: Tools, Techniques, and Projects
If you're looking to play around with custom pieces, you may be better off with one of the LDraw based tools. They're often not quite as easy to get into as LDD, but the file format is open so you can add custom pieces as required. -
It's a pretty big assumption to make that using greener plastics would necessarily mean they'd deteriorate with age or have compatibility problems with ABS. Maybe the only noticeable difference would be that they don't yellow over time....