anothergol

The LDD isn't really known for sorting parts very well, + it's listing a big part of the history of Lego, there are much much less parts still produced. The only Lego parts that aren't needed are all those compounds, that Lego probably produces only to reduce costs or make it less boring for kids to assemble.

It takes a pro to perfectly remove prints, though. My few attempts, using eucalyptus essential oil, have failed badly. Plastic got burnt, and while the prints were removed, there was still a "relief" left of them.

Good news, if you were to build those pyramids as they are today, you'd just stack up bricks in tan. But if you wanna show them smooth like they used to be, then you don't want tan, you want white. They really were covered in shiny white limestone.

Remember that Lego used to sell small packs of specific pieces, like cog wheels, electrical wires & such. In a way they still do, much less. But really, I'm fine with Bricklink, it's so perfect (it used to be messier) to me that I'd be Lego, I'd have an official Lego Bricklink store & close that broken Bricks&Pieces. Lego is clearly not interested in selling parts, they aren't even promoting Brick&Pieces, it feels like you're cheating the system when you access it. They probably do it to stock out remaining parts more quickly. But if Lego was really interested in selling parts, they could easily add a "request/wanted system" (wait, Bricklink has that too), and (re)start the production when enough people wanted a part. I'm sure we will eventually get to this system, from a tiny producer (like for minifig accessories), even though those won't be cheap. Until then, as I once told some asian guy who contacted me (he had plans to do pretty much what Xingbao did), the chinese should simply take a look at Bricklink's top more expensive parts, the top wanted unexisting colors for existing parts, and do cheap bags of that, as assortments. Oh you can also buy individual parts in bulk, in some shops on Ali. Never did, because I don't know which manufacturer it is behind these, & if the colors really match Lego's. But I've already seen parts in unexisting colors there. I'd really like finger hinges in modern gray. Funnily, the 2-fingers one does exist in LBG, and never got its counterpart. Lego kinda went back to finger hinges, for the recent books in Nexo. If they are ok with those hinges (& they work fine), they should do plate version of them.

My view on stickers: Lego should just add a waterslide version of the stickers in the box. Doesn't cost much to produce, looks better, and gives a second chance if you screwed up a sticker. But I think printing everything would be fine, only if unprinted versions were buyable at Bricks&Pieces. Because (for MOCers) that's 1 big reason to hate prints: when the only version of a part in a specific color is a printed one.

But don't they already? The only problem is that they believe the market is smaller children, thus those "boxes of bricks" are dumb selections of dumb parts in dumb colors, for 4 year olds who wanna build a wall with a window & a door. There is also actually an existing architecture building set, but you really gotta like white bricks at silly prices. This said, it wouldn't work for MOCers like me who do everything 3D. I'm more than fine with Bricks&Pieces/Bricklink combo, I only wish 1. Lego was really selling all new parts. Can't tell if they're not interested selling, or if they do it on purpose for sets to be bought more. But waiting over a year for a new part to appear, that plainly sucks. I nearly purchased fake 2x2 wedge plates on Ali, thinking that Lego would take years to produce those. Turns out they just appeared in a Ninjago set.. but how many months until they can be bought individually? 2. they wouldn't let prices inflate by stopping the production of some parts. There's a story of those 1x1 technic bushes that once appeared in black & are now extremely expensive. The designer of a Lego Ideas MOC really wanted to feature these again in his set, Lego said no, so they sometimes do this on purpose. Here I think it's an opportunity for the chinese. China copies luxury items, and many Lego parts have become a luxury item. As I wrote, there are some parts in Kaneda's Bike that, alone, cost more than the whole set. My post doesn't seem to have been filtered. The sets aren't secret, they're well known since they have been so far pure Lego MOCs that you could buy the instructions for. https://www.flickr.com/photos/arvobrothers/ Interestingly, the Xingbao version has chromed teeth, and some rather stupid prints on the front. It says "blood pool" next to.. the blood pool. Perhaps it's some reference that I'm missing, but it looks more like "chinese guy added some random english words" just like we would have added a random cool-looking chinese ideogram. They have also released cars & stuff from other MOCers. Not much interested in those but they look nice. These sets are also a nice travel in the history of Lego btw. Quite ironic that the only chance to see an old "fingers" hinge & many other retired Lego parts, today in a proper set, is through a chinese copy.

Yeah that saddened me. The Simpsons theme was pretty much the only Lego theme I collected entirely (mainly because there are only 2 sets & minifigs). It sucked that the second batch of minifigs covered the whole family again, and not these key characters. I didn't know they had already made Deadpool. And that was in 2012? Weird.. How has this not changed their vision since then? I can't imagine much worse than Deadpool as for "kids safety". Deadpool ok, Barney/Moe not ok... well.. The SImpsons is rather kids friendly, I mean, it's not South Park.. ..which reminds me that we also got a not-Lego South Park theme, thanks to McFarlane! I don't know what it's worth, though. Makes more sense for South Park than it did for Game of Thrones mixed with realistic figures. Game of Thrones, in Lego... if only..

But why? Oh, and they already do, kinda. "Deadpool the Duck" is, directly or indirectly, a much worse license than Alien, for children.

I knew it'd be moved to where it wouldn't be seen, but really, it was a discussion about Lego. Because I'm sure it's gonna force Lego to adapt.

Talking minifigs, I wonder why Lego hasn't updated them yet. Ok, I would be Lego I would absolutely think twice before touching the minifig, but.. the minifig kinda goes against the rule of swapping parts. The legs & head are ok, the problem is the torso. We've all removed arms from torso's as kids, and it didn't always go well, because they're not designed to be removed. Why can't Lego just rework arms for pin-connetions? I don't see the problem, and it would make arms easily swappable, and torso's more hackable, while visually nothing would change. Sure the minifig is an icon that shouldn't be touched, but it already is, kinda. Oh and talking about the basic parts that Lego still has to do: wedge tiles! I think Lego really has to do them, because clone brands have them, and it's painful to see a Cobi [talking minifigs, god theirs are horrible] tank looking much better than what could be done with Lego (& also be made of less "compound" parts than Lego's). And don't get me started on how better Mega Construx's cover tiles are.

The last few days I've had one of the best brick-building experience I've had with Lego's, and it wasn't Lego's. Or it was, originally. I'm talking about the Arvo brothers's stuff now made available by XingBao. I know it's a touchy subject here, but well, it's not Lepin (or is it?) and they actually paid the authors, for once (well, they most likely didn't pay for licenses of the original themes, but strangely no one seems to have any problem with that). Anyway: I'm not gonna review them, a dozen people probably already have on Youtube. I'm just gonna say, I'm gonna recommand them a lot. The chestburster is absolutely a must-have, the Bubble Bobble dragons as well. Kaneda's bike, yeah, but only if you're a little masochist. So, those things are probably the first in a big change, I think, for AFOLs. Lego would never have produced these. To start with, they would have rejected the themes, except for Bubble Bobble, but that one would have required a lot of luck on Lego Ideas. Then, they are chock-full of illegal connections, weird techniques, they're pure MOCs. Well, Kaneda's bike has even more to do with a model kit (& I believe it's going too far in that matter), requiring cutting & glueing. So, why I think it's gonna change things? There is certainly a market for these. I've thought "I'd buy this" a lot more time seeing MOCs on Flickr, than seeing Lego official sets, and now it's becoming a reality (sure, the Arvo brothers were already selling their manuals, but some parts in their inventories alone cost more than the kits). Either Lego cares about adults, or they don't. Can I imagine Lego doing not-kid-rated themes? Probably not, or maybe as a subsidiary brand (I doubt it). Would Lego go for a theme that, while not allowing illegal connections, would go back to the 80's durability, to give us better-looking but more fragile sets? Would Lego completely give up & focus more on what still makes them unique, the minifig? Looks like what they're already doing. I don't know how Lego is gonna react, but there's definitely a market. Perhaps it's so tiny that they just don't care, but I know where my money will go, if more is released like the Chestburster. That upcoming Millennium Falcon.. One can dream it will look like Marshal Banana's MOC. The Chinese would make that real. Will Lego's hold up to that MOC, and still fit their rule book? We'll see.. Lego made a weird choice with Brickheadz. It's typically their version of Funko POP's & others.. but limiting that to kids-friendly stuff, that makes it a lot less interesting IMHO. I've seen a lot of "Brickheadz" on Flickr that I'd buy.. but here again, it's not Lego that's gonna produce them.

I'm not seeing it either. If it's region-locked, it's weird since you can pick your country from any in the list. Pretty interesting if that allows us to shortcut the 8+ months waiting time for most new parts. Here I'm not interested in minifigs or animals though, but more little key pieces & recolors.

But you need to order large quantities, no? I couldn't find any link or whatever telling about ordering 200+ parts, btw.

I really wish the chinese who are gonna produce the Arvo Brother's stuff would produce this one.

Thanks, I made that one. I wasn't gonna try making real skylines because it's really frustrating to build at that scale when you have a model. And the contest allows imaginary skylines, so I believe the best looking ones will be imaginary ones. Sadly, in the comments someone posted this video in which one of the judges says that what he expects to see is real skylines.. The not very well defined rules (or rather, well defined but not well respected) have been a problem for the recent mini building madness contest, as you can read by the comments here. https://www.lego.com/en-us/rebrick/contest-page/contests/mini-modulars Basically, the big winner (of a great prize) was totally unoriginal & half a copy of existing ones out there, and wasn't respecting the rules either, which pissed of many who had build really original ones. Can't say that going digital with parts in non-existing colors is a problem though, since I won a prize with digital builds in that contest. But it's a bit weird because, if you can go fully digital and fully imaginary, it's clearly what will give the best results, so it's a bit unfair to those who won't. But that's only if the rules don't favor real builds of real buildings, and that's the big unknown. The unoriginality problem will be one in this contest as well, if one of the (probably) dozen of Eiffel Tower or Statue of Liberty wins. Copying or not (2 Eiffel Towers in the contest already share the same base), many entries will probably look the same since there aren't that many ways to skin a Lego cat at this scale. I already count 3 San Francisco bridges as well. What if someone basically mixes the best of existing entries, and wins? It's not gonna end up pretty. At the end of the day it's only a (fun) contest, though. I think Mini Building Madness was taken more seriously because of the value/rarity of the prizes.

It's most likely because you had "Jurassic Park" in your titles, and a bot found that. Still worrying that Flickr lets this pass without even checking.

"it reinforces stereotypes of people with dwarfism as mythical creatures", "We would love to see positive and realistic figures that show people with dwarfism as everyday people, with regular jobs and families" wtf, I know I'd rather be a mythical creature than an average joe with a regular job.

Yeah but half of the time you lose everything. I always take screenshots of my entire order before placing it, because Lego's shop has been broken for ages. Most likely because of the localization. Maybe it's fixed now, but it has been broken for years, so I wouldn't trust it.

the flower part in LBG from the Apollo set is already available

Yeah, it's not like there had already been 12 other Apple store projects on Ideas (& none of them as shitty as this one). And proof that it's not just about the idea, they got votes ranging from 200 to 10k. Yes, one reached 10k. But as much as I would love to say that the build matters, sadly it's more about pimping the idea than the build or the idea itself. ..which is why I'm really wondering how Ideas hasn't gotten its Bricky McBrickFace time yet.

I've done that in several MOCs, it works fine, it's just the LDD that has a collision problem there (even with a bar I had the same problem in the LDD).

I would so love one of these, like that Apple store, reach 10k as the result of internet trolling. How hasn't this happened yet?

Sometimes CMF parts get reused in sets (I love the paint roller and I hope it'll be made in LBG again), but I'm pretty sure they will keep using the "old" raygun in new sets, considering it has been re-designed in 2014 (god knows why, the old one looked better IMHO) I don't even know yet if the new ray gun's tip is bar-compatible, is it? Or it really has zero connectivity besides its handle?

That's another thing I noticed exporting to Sketchfab, things look a bit desaturated. While I used quite some sand colors, the results are still weirdly desaturated & I had to compensate with a saturation filter for one of them. That said, the part colors in LDD, Stud.io & POVRay renders can be extremely different, I've noticed. Like, "sand green" appears nearly bright grey, not at all like real parts.

Not Lego but I wish it was