Ronan Dragonov

"Would I rather be feared or loved? Um, easy. Both. I want people to be afraid of how much they love me." Michael Scott, The Office – The Fight

I should think not - it's my own invention. Yes, I rather like the chain suspended cross.

I don't play much anymore aside from vehicle swoosh tests. I suppose over the years I internalized active play - creating storylines about the MOCs and minifigs. Building (MOCing) is my purpose so I collect bricks, not sets.

I prefer the sleeker, menacing (i.e. armed), and powerful (check out those props!) design of 7774 - it's ROV even has a hangar to park in when not in use. However more realistic 4888 may be, I find its design boring in comparison. I can see the point of the poster who criticized the "overused technic cannon" - I would add the flick-missiles found in other sets to that category. Clever or elegant weaponry for vehicles has never been within the purview of TLG. Even disarmed I'd say 7774 wins.

To borrow from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, "We are gathered here today to pay final respects to our honored dead. But it should be noted that this death takes place in the shadow of new life, the sunrise of a new world..." or more accurately the sunrise of infinite worlds created in LEGO brick. Dan Jezek's contribution to the LEGO MOC community cannot be overstated. He will live on in BrickLink and all the MOCs that are created with parts from that site. Requiescat in pace

Get some DVDs and lean into it. The Great Brick Sort of 2008 (~38,000 bricks) took me two weeks and 4 seasons of Seinfeld among other DVDs.

Not Napoleon just set in that era. Napoleon was actually of average height for the time.

Scrap the official sets, organize your parts, then MOC. I found BrickLink indispensable for planned MOCs - buying the exact parts I need - not so much for building up a general inventory. As for building up a collection buy official sets you like. Whatever you're interested in MOCing buy official sets of that - buildings, vehicles, Star Wars. The parts from those sets naturally lend themselves to creating MOCs of the same theme.

Thanks for the kudos everyone. There is a real compass in the cockpit from Aquanauts 6175 Crystal Explorer Sub. The only place this bird floats is on imaginary water.

I don't keep a MOC too long after completion – I photograph it, transcribe it into LDraw (if not too big), then scrap it. I photograph the “unbuilding” of a MOC not transcribed into LDraw so I'll have a more complete record of its design. As for building with scarce parts I either accept the challenge of completing the MOC with what parts I have or if I can't compromise my design I turn to BrickLink.

I just finished Jack D. Hunter's The Blue Max (and devoured half of its sequel The Blood Order today.) The 1966 film based on it really took the story in another direction. As written Bruno Stachel, for all his faults, isn't the purely malevolent villain seen in the film.