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notaromantic

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Everything posted by notaromantic

  1. notaromantic
    Thanks Xon, I truly appreciate it. Having built this in LDD, and FYI, I'm not an LDD user (yet.), so I'm not familiar with its parameters, but - could you clue me on that front trim that hugs against the center pillar and extends to below the roof. It seems to be a one-brick wide pillar that is centered in front of a two-brick wide pillar, so I'm assuming beneath it, and part of the pavement, is a lbg 1x2 jumper to anchor and center it. And yet, it seems nothing else is able to anchor it on the way up, as it is centered and therefore aligned different to the rest of the build. Is it anchored again, up top, beneath the roof using a mixture of tiles, to separate it from the plate above it, and then another jumper somewhere, in order to snap back in to the plate above it that makes the bottom of the roof.... I hope that made sense. You know, I'm not a novice builder, and I've solved many of these riddles on my own, but this is stumping me for whatever reason - I guess I'm thinking there is a more stable way to have accomplished this, but perhaps there isn't. But it was a long and taxing day, maybe I'm not seeing, or thinking of, something obvious. ^ Hey Actor, nice to meet you as well. It seems what I enjoy doing the most, in terms of LEGO, is modifying existing sets, and I have a few more I've done in my own way - both as a means to try building things I've seen, and as a way to practice techniques, solve a puzzle, whatever. The grocer, I BL'd and did in Dark Blue w/ a Dark Red/ White awning, and it just took off from there - my foray into building versus collecting. I'll post some pics soon enough. I've been meaning to for awhile, but alas, I get myself into something else altogether and away I go. You know... I do enjoy your avatar. The Bard is one of my favorite CMF's, and Hamlet occupies a very prominent space in both my being and my bookshelf.
  2. notaromantic
    Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus. The one thing I carried out with me from that book, which, essentially has not so much to do with man vs. woman, but rather, with the inherent differences in individuals; especially this: Sometimes a person venting their frustrations over something, is not asking for answers, nor for ways in which they can "fix" their problem, nor for it to be fixed, or for another to fix it for them. They are just venting. I, personally, fall into the category of heavily modifying my sets and buildings, and I have no hesitation in dismantling something official, nor in changing the colors of it if I choose. I don't save boxes, nor do I care if something is 'mint', vs. used. But I do sympathize with, and understand the "collector" mentality - those people for whom a purchase is a sacred thing, and for whom an archive of sorts, when it has been purposely altered away from its initial inception, or even that has been in someway removed from its as-purchased condition, in some way has also lost its historicity, its authenticity, its purity. As here, they don't want to know how to repair it; especially not already before they are to purchase it NEW... Sometimes, yes, I do agree that some of us can be finicky with our LEGO. And, yes, I too sometimes roll my eyes upon those who seem to complain about nothing at all substantial. But here, I believe it is very warranted. And likewise, there's no getting around that this set was meant for display - it could be anyone's MOC, now proclaimed complete and ready for exhibit. But, really, is it? Would any of you, as builders yourselves, settle with this being your final statement for this particular work - As is, out the door to a convention? Point being, how many of us would leave that rear wall, and be content displaying it as our own? I don't purchase official sets, nor do I build and display official sets. But I do feel for the collectors who are seeing that rear wall for the first time, and are having to swallow the fact that, according to their own collector's principles thus far, they are unable to do a thing about it. It looks unfinished to me. Almost undisplayable for a finished set - solely, because of that rear wall. I really have no reason to be disappointed - but I am. Its going to be talked about forever, everytime a picture of the set, or the actual set is viewed. Pity, for such an anticipated and somewhat historical LEGO set. Real pity.
  3. notaromantic
    Ooh, so Hellboy/ BPRD.
  4. notaromantic
    Hey Xon - Great thread. Its taken on a life of its own. The building I'm most taken by, and one I'd perhaps like to mod myself in the future, is the movie garage. Could you post a few more pics of it, alone, and at couple of different angles? Thanks ~ Edward.
  5. notaromantic
    ^ tkatt, how you doing? You know you were an inspiration to me about a year or so ago with a build of yours. Anyway, that inspiration was partly cause for a new project, but I have yet to photograph/ reveal it yet, but I wanted to thank you. In the near future, I'll throw some pics up and give you a nod. But, on track, as much as I love monochrome, even in tan, it does need a contrast/ compliment of something in there. What, where - not sure... And, I really don't think it was too great of an idea to sort of hijack this thread this way. Ya, its just one post, but those replies to your question may take us all far away from the initial purpose/ focus of this thread. You need a new topic, if only for this question, which I'm sure many of will want to ask: Elevator? How does it work? And OK, my first concern - for an elevator, one is obviously going to want to see it work. Do the figs go in through the front entrance? Can you see on as they ascend through the windows? And more importantly - where do they come out?
  6. notaromantic
    The vagueness of your post is bothering me. If it is not some kind of inside joke, then please, feel free to enlighten me. Because I am into "this sort of thing", LEGO, and I think not only does the piece capture its idea wonderfully, the feel of a Portugal avenue, but one of the first things I thought was: Wow, snaillad is developing a style that is completely all his/ or her own... I knew, instantly, that the same builder of the Piazza Maria, was the same builder as this. And really, no different than any other art, music, or literature, success with LEGO is really chalked up to whether or not someone has succeeded in realizing a vision, was able to provide an idea with form. And further, when a work is recognizable as belonging to a certain designer/ creator, well, what is more of an achievement than that... Nice work, if you ask me.
  7. notaromantic
    I think it looks great; the water against the sand is lovely. However, with that said, I think the base/ frame that you have installed around it detracts from the beauty of the piece. It should mirror the scene, is my thought, tan to continue the tan of the beach, and blue to continue with the water - or - altogether it should be a different, complimenting or contrasting color. I'm not critiquing your work, only the displaying of it. It gets lost as is, meaning that without a framing device that says "This is a frame, a window into the picture...", one is not sure if the scene/ work is incomplete, or if the existing frame is rather, not a frame at all, but maybe a part of the scene's architecture: A boat in a small, square, and enclosed pool conjures up feelings of claustrophobia rather than freedom, for instance. I need to know that there's an ocean out there. If you like it as is, by all means leave it. But if it is for competition, to wit your aim is to be noticed, then perhaps a different color approach to its base would give it better focus...
  8. notaromantic
    Well, I'm assuming that someone with over 1900 posts is familiar with BrickLink. Get on there, and like a peeper into any market of interest, browse where the CMF's are trending in price. I don't collect figures like I once did, but every now and then, I will check in on certain figs, or I will run across the trending selling price of a fig while looking for parts, etc.. and I am always amazed at what some of the CMF's are commanding these days, that, only a year ago, were still relatively low. But then again, with LEGO being at a high, it might not be the best time to be buying in. But, I know, the human whim is non-negotiable with when piqued. If you're gonna do it, target the highest first, look for sellers dumping in lots, listing mistakes, and be weary of clone-brands. And chances are, the same characters you find yourself adoring, for whatever reason, are those same rare and expensive, HTF figs - they are, for those same reasons, to many others also.
  9. notaromantic
    (Raises head.) My gosh! - we all live in labs, don't we...
  10. notaromantic
    If you were a minifigure, would you glue yourself together? ____________________________________
  11. notaromantic
    No. Because, like asking if McDonald's will ever end, LEGO is now a permanent fixture of our established culture - only if our culture ends will either ever 'culturally' end. However, where to many that makes sound business sense, after time it actually reverses itself. A company like that can become so intertwined with the demands it must satiate, placating the global partners it now has, and designing, producing for the machinery of it all, that it no longer has an identity away from that, nor can it really "do its own thing anymore....". Not without the approval of the many. So LEGO will not end. Even as a business. No. But, like all 'big business', it does run the risk of transforming into something that is thereafter a certain point of accommodation, only LEGO by name. Capitalism, sadly, only really has one good side. And some would argue, even here, that that is happening now, as we speak. But LEGO, as a secondary market, will continue to thrive. Even if LEGO ended today, it will remain nostalgic for anyone who is currently a toddler well into their own old age. And of course, that doesn't begin to factor in LEGO as an artistic medium, whatever age one is: An MOC-er can be an adult, or an infant, for whose to say more on the validity of our purpose than are we? And post-apocalypse, if everything is not incinerated, will be a perfect market for found LEGO... As a futuristic nomad, I'll gladly sacrifice the weight of one more weapon, in order to carry a bag of LEGO instead. There'll be peddlers, caravans, black markets, all over again as a new society ferments, as there always is, and because plastic is immortal, as is the human capacity to solve and build, there will be LEGO there, I can assure you. So, though in soul, or trademark, it might die, LEGO will never end. Besides, think about this: There is not another word for it - which is a pretty good indicator of thing's social longevity.
  12. notaromantic
    Ooh, very Wallace & Grommet-ish. - And that's a good thing. He, Wallace, falls head over heels for his own antagonist, while at a Halloween ball; but unbeknownst to him, she is not in costume at all. But of course, Grommet sensed something peculiar about Wallace's new amore all along, for long after Halloween had passed, her decor and dress had not changed in the slightest. I will never look at a jumper the same again.
  13. notaromantic
    Well, perhaps an itty bitty, bitty, witty part of the reason, now I'm just guessing though, from way out in left field, maybe, that Series 1 Zombie is so expensive now, is that at the time of its release, Spring 2010: ... only 2 of every 10 people or so considered themselves interested in zombies; really. And of the two, one was probably an old school horror fan, and the other was a reader of The Walking Dead comics. Post AMC's October 2010 debut of The Walking Dead series, only months later, that number, of zombie fans, rose considerably; overnight. And zombie fans have continued to increase every year since, in relation to the viewers of the show. And they run the gamete, don't they? Zombies are everywhere these days. Everywhere. So - all these people looking for a Series 1 zombie now, versus those who were 5 years ago, are doing it for the exact same reasons, probably, that you too are. Demand has exceeded supply. But - I believe that is exactly a toy company's perogitive, is it not? To keep a pulse on whatever is beginning to boil way down within that cauldron of "pop culture"... For instance, keep an eye on the Ghostbusters franchise. Because its "bubbling" right now. They're already coming out of the woodwork, and when the movie hits, the exact same process will repeat itself. In case you haven't noticed, there's a hungry public out there, they are insatiable and they bore easily. And they respond to movies and television. They need something new, something novel, to chew on each year. ... And those 'things' gotta' come from somewhere. From the underground. The underground gets picked-off all the time by consumerism; and then it distorts it, and it disposes of it. Same process is happening to LEGO as we speak. And - Series 1 Zombie is both; a "double threat". It is both LEGO - and, it is zombie.
  14. notaromantic
    Reminds me of Kafka's "The Trial", or just about most Kafka, I suppose. A Lego Machine-World would be cool. How about: Bureaucracy
  15. notaromantic
    "Available" and "Affordable", of course, being very different matters. And really, they're not really "available" at all. Good luck...
  16. notaromantic
    That's cool. It could also be used as the seed for a NASA kind of control room. - That bridge between Town and Space. You know, as a kid, I recall we weren't too interested in recreating the exteriors of space vessels, but rather, the interiors. I recall several cardboard boxes being outfitted with walls to make rooms, and each of them splashed to the rim with control panels, and control desks, buttons, levers, vents, screens, etc..., all big enough to play an action figure in. I wish I would saved a few. Kind'a reminded me of that...
  17. notaromantic
    Nice museum; especially your pillars, the staircase, and the orange and gray floor... I do mostly facades, because I'm just not into "interior-ing" right now, so alot of my own side-walls are gray, too. But, I think, you should consider - this would really, really look nice if you extended your orange and white exterior, and landscaping, to the sides as well. Think about it... because its a very successful stand-alone kind of piece. And I like the Angus, btw. You're a guitar player, right...? Me too.
  18. notaromantic
    Having a few good orders, followed by a few bad orders: Yea, that's a typical BrickLink experience. And actually, if all they have been so far is just tardy, you've been pretty lucky. Since Lego became "trendy" again, I've seen so many new sellers want to operate a store, and yet, so many of them fail to become familiar with the catalog, i.e. parts, and especially colors, that becasue of inaccurate listings, my few bad orders every now and then have turned into a very regular experience. Missing parts, wrong parts, other buyers' parts included in my order, parts listed that aren't there it turns out, and by Crom, if you happen to be a rare color collector, new sellers seem not to know the differences between them - and they don't really seem to be too concerned after the fact, that you may have needed Trans-Green or Trans-Neon Green, versus Trans-Bright Green, or that you wanted Mearsk Blue, not Medium Blue, or that Glow In The Dark Trans is not the same as Glow In The Dark Opaque, or that Lime is not Light Green, or that there is definitely a difference between shades of Pink... My advice - If you are in need of a very certain key part, in a very certain color, and in a very certain quantity, contact the seller to confirm things before you flush out the order in order to meet a minimum buy, or before you add too many needed items to the initial item. I've spent hours shopping in certain stores, adding items for a project or two, after finding a rare or HTF item listed, only to find out afterward that that item was listed wrongly, or that it was mistakingly still listed after it had been sold to another buyer, or that it just wasn't the actual part to begin with. And sometimes, I didn't find that out until after I had received the order. And some sellers will lay out a garish amount of stipulations in order to purchase from their store, while leaving you, the buyer, none in return. Not to be a downer, but the last year, for me, has been full of incidences like this. Before that, not many at all... Send an e-mail to each seller before you order - the good ones will return it right away, will be helpful, and will accommodate you. If someone doesn't even check and return their messages, its a pretty good indication of what kind of experience an actual order with them will be like.
  19. notaromantic
    Personally, I really love the clutter, and the color, that real living spaces have. Showroom spaces, of which some people actually reside in, you know, that minimalist kind of denial - well, this is none of that. I like the splashes of objects, the chaotic kind of working palette, the feeling that this is a nest for whoever lives here, a place of something actually happening. Favorites: The two-tone gold staircase. The bathtub. Frogs of every color. The dishes in the rack. The model ship. The clock. There's so much. I'll be looking for a while. Thank you.
  20. notaromantic
    I agree. ^ Very 'uncommon', if you ask me. Not only very apparent, what it is - but also, what it is doing. You captured that scavenging state of mind that any animal 'sniffing around' can't help but exude. A back-hair of studs. Cool. I like - I like it a lot.
  21. notaromantic
    I love this thread. I want you to know that. And I want you to know - also - that, yes, it was me who derailed the shipment of your pieces. But, it was only in order to keep this thread going. All joking aside though, I really have found this thread fascinating. Perhaps it is because, I too, enjoy nothing more than in Bricklinking, peice-by-peice, hard to find sets. The chase - frustrating as it is, overwhelming at times, why, it becomes the one aspect of the process you began to miss the most once it is all over. Quite the soap opera. And then, what else is there to do - but to get yourself into another.... I actually enjoy alternative parts. They seem to be the constant reminders of the those impossibilities of life that can't be swept away, but only integrated into one's existence. So, with the VW almost within reach, what's your next fascination build? Do keep us in the loop.
  22. notaromantic
    Is there a reason why you did the review, then? Just curious. I mean, I'm not a Lego Friends fan - not because of anything in particular; it just not my interest area, you know. But now, acknowledging this, in no way am I going to do an in depth review of a Lego Friends set to have posted online, either. Its like having Marie Osmond do the audio play-by-play for a playoff game. Now, I'm sure there are many out there who would not mind, and even some that find the prospect entertaining. (And this is nothing against Marie Osmond, who for all I know, is more versed in sports than I.) But, in the end, there is really no point in it. Its a train wreck waiting to happen. Marie Osmond fans aren't getting anything out of the deal; Marie Osmond, herself, may not even want to be there; and, it does a greater injustice to the playoff game's audience, who, unable to be there in person, were really, really jazzed for some more detail/ perspective into the game... Minecraft, it seems, is already such a misunderstood line to many Legoers, and non-Legoers alike, that I think it makes it more imperative that any Minecraft review be done by someone Minecraft-savvy. I want to learn about Minecraft, as a non-Mincecrafter, and thus, I look to reviews such as this to educate me - not to share in someone else's ignorances about it. Thanks for the great photos, though.
  23. notaromantic
    I was excited to open the topic after seeing your title. Great idea. But I gotta tell you - it feels incomplete; or that, at some point, it went in a wrong direction. Its missing something - and its missing a something that it needs. I'm not sure. But I have to tell you, I do this with my own stuff. I mean - I'm not saying this to critique you - but I am looking at your construction as I would my own: And that voice, in my head, that artistic thing we present our objects to, and then hope to appease - it is saying to me that this is not yet there. But I don't know exactly why... The color? The exposed brick? The nose? I don't know... This is where, in my own building, I retreat. I stare. And I stare. And I stare some more. Until some new possibility presents itself. And then I deconstruct, and I build again. And I do that until I'm satisfied with what I see is what it should be; and that my form conveys what it should convey = It's idea. If you feel it is done, then it is. But the Easter Island heads are such iconic images, it is natural to receive, and thus you should expect, more intimate kinds of critiques than you would a different kind of Lego build. People are familiar with them. And they have a 'reverence' about them. Simplest way to put it: If you hadn't told me what it was - I might not have guessed.
  24. notaromantic
    This is the worst review I've ever read. It really is. Did you have a terrible day or something... And then decide to kick the proverbial dog: This set. And its not that I'm a Minecraft fan at all; at all. I'm in no way, yet, familiar with anything Minecraft. And perhaps I do not even disagree with your final ratings of this set. Its just the general tone of your review. As if it was something you just did not enjoy doing. And, if you admit you are not the target audience: Then why do it at all? For an official Eurobricks review, it seems very biased for some unknown and personal reason on the part of the reviewer, and really, it is useless for anyone curious about what Minecraft or Lego Minecraft may be. It tells me almost nothing except that in no way does the reviewer really enjoy anything regarding Minecraft. The slot of "Review: 21121", in my own opinion, would've been better left to someone with an actual investment either 21121, or the review process itself.
  25. notaromantic
    Starting isn't usually the issue. Stopping is. But really, like any collection, it is entirely subjective. You threw out a very general question without providing any of the crucial parameters for such a question - namely: Your own interests. How does one then answer such a question? What draws you into contemplating this collection? And, what do you want out this collection? What are your Lego/ minifig interests now? - Perhaps you should start somewhere there...
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