SpacySmoke

Discussion topic for my Action Themes Halloween contest entries. The Monster's Lair (built for the Creature's Lair contest) The Monster's Lair by mista_carrot, on Flickr When I think of a classic creature's lair, I immediately think of Dr. Frankenstein's lab. I didn't just want to do the typical tesla coils and lightning bolts (not that there's anything wrong with that), so I turned to my other hobby as a source for inspiration: video games. More specifically, Capcom's Darkstalkers, which is a fighting game with classic monsters as the characters. If you're into classic monsters then it's a fun game with some cool takes on their stories. Anyway, this MOC takes a lot of details from Victor's (the Frankenstein Monster of the game) stage: the castle setting with the pillars and arches, the tiled floor, the style of the machinery and the red chair. The Monster's Lair 3/4 View by mista_carrot, on Flickr The Monster's Lair Overhead by mista_carrot, on Flickr I was unsure of how I was going to attach the electricity infusion thingy to the wall. At first I was thinking of some complex technic attachment, but in the end, a simple hinge did the trick. The Monster's Lair Back View by mista_carrot, on Flickr Peace Celebration (Monster Bash contest entry) The picture above is actually of the first version of the entry which did not contain any of the Fighters (except for Major Quinton Steele's head). I didn't read the rules as thoroughly as I should have and just assumed I could make a party with just the Monsters. With that line of thinking, I figured they should be partying over the deaths of the Fighters. The Fighters' weapons are hung on the walls as trophies and the Monsters are drinking and dancing the night away. Then there's this: Which is Steele's head mounted on the wall. Since he is the "big game hunter" type character, I figured it would be fitting for his head to mounted on the wall as the ultimate payback. After I posted the above photos I reread the rules and learned of my error. Thus the above became the "bad ending" version and I started reworking it to make a "good ending". (Of course, whether it's bad or good depends on your point of view.) The "good ending" version only needed slight reworking. The story then became that the Fighters give up their weapons (literally giving them up to the Monsters) and the Monsters in turn promise not to harm humans. Adding the Fighters made it better IMO; it makes the party more lively. Some shots without the figs: See more photos on my Flickr photostream.

Hmm... just reread the rules. My entry doesn't really have the Fighters partying with the Monsters (at least, not their entire body hehe). Does it have to have the Fighters present?

EB Monster Bash Contest Entry (Good Ending) by mista_carrot, on Flickr Peace Celebration! The Monsters and Fighters make a truce and the Fighters give up their weapons for good while the Monsters promise not to hurt anyone. To celebrate, they all gather at Lord Vampyre's mansion for an epic party. EB Monster Bash Contest Entry (Good Ending) by mista_carrot, on Flickr EB Monster Bash Contest Entry (Good Ending) by mista_carrot, on Flickr See more photos on my Flickr stream!

Happy Halloween! This is the Monster's lair. The design is inspired by one of my favorite fighting games, Darkstalkers/Night Warriors, which is a Street Fighter-esque fighting game but with classic monsters as the characters. If you are familiar with the game, I think you'll see a lot of familiar details from Victor's stage. Basically, much time has passed, and the scientist has long been dead. The monster still lives though, thanks to his ability to store life energy within his body. He does, on occasion, need to be recharged and does so whenever there is a lightning storm. Every night he goes out and defends the old castle and lab from the vile Monster Fighters who wish to destroy him! Hope you enjoy it! See more photos on my Flickr page!

Twinkie + VW Camper Van = TVWINKIE CAMPER! For the uninitiated: a Twinkie is an American snack which is a yellow sponge cake filled with cream. This build was inspired by an old Twinkie commercial from 1996 where a bear sees a yellow camper in the woods and thinks it's a Twinkie. The bear rips open the top and upon only finding people inside says "Hey! Where's the cream filling?!" Unlike the commercial, this camper actually does have "cream" inside.

I think it's an awesome model, but... If it weren't posted in the entry thread I wouldn't have guessed that it's supposed to be a combo of the VW camper and a starspeeder. Maybe modify the front to look more like the camper?

Is it okay to create a setting/background out of Lego that goes with the vehicle, like a forest scene or city scene? Or should it be on a neutral background?

I had a similar haul from the Schaumburg, IL store yesterday and they had the 1x2 trans light blue tiles and omnidirectional bricks too! They had most of the good pieces in boxes off to the side just waiting for spaces to open on the wall. Someone had already taken most of the trans light blue tiles, though. Probably my best haul ever!

Thanks for the kind comments everyone! I'm not fond of them either, but there's a couple of reasons why I used them. I'm trying to approach it like official Lego vehicles, and also I felt the other wheels were either too big or too small. I wanted the bottom of the serving window as low as possible and unfortunately these wheels seemed the best without them being too small. I wish they had made these wheels 1 stud thick instead of ~1.5 studs; the way they stick out bothers me and it forces you to use the mudguards to make it look normal. One of these days, I do want to make instructions, but I honestly don't know if and when I'll be able to get around to it. Too much real life stuff going on... Thanks! I'll take whatever support I can get! Much appreciated!

It's been a while, but I decided to revisit my first AFOL MOC and redesign it with all of the knowledge I attained over the last three years or so. Some things I felt were fine; for the most part, it looks the same on the outside. Most of the changes were for playability, detail and efficiency. So what's new? Here's a brief rundown: New headlight/grill design. I feel this is more accurate than my old design. Note that the bumper is raised; on these types of trucks, there is usually a very high clearance between the ground and the front bumper. Redesigned roof. Instead of removing just the skylights, you can now remove the entire roof which is much easier. New hinged wall; this allows easy access to the interior and really makes it a fun playset. It also makes it easier to see the interior details. Easier to access the driver. My first design had the driver "trapped" in; you had to take apart the roof to get the driver in or out. Now you can easily remove the roof. More accurate interior with more space. I SNOTted some panels to open up the food prep area. The sink is also better integrated. Food trucks typically have these loooong cutting boards where they prep the food. Just a basic profile shot of the truck. Thanks to the new 1x1 round tiles, I've added some drinks to the icebox. The back is the same for the most part. Here you can see the hinges for the fold-out wall. Once you remove the roof, you can swing the side wall out and/or remove the roof for the driver compartment. Here you can see the new sink, food prep area and flat grill, all based on a real food truck layout. The snot panels really add some extra space. The new improvements make it way funner to play with and access the interior. C&C welcomed and if you are interested, it is on LEGO Ideas: https://ideas.lego.com/projects/937

I have number 02586; bought from the Lego Store in Northbrook, IL, USA. They were the first store I called (there are about 4 Lego Stores in my area) and they seemed well stocked on August 2nd when I bought it. I too, find this topic interesting, especially when paired with the location of where it was bought. It seems the numbers are truly dispersed and randomized throughout the world so far. On a side note, this is my first Technic set since coming out of my dark ages. It hit all of checkboxes on what I was looking for in a Technic set, plus the fact that it was a limited edition didn't hurt. Much different than the ones I had when I was a teenager, and the complexity and engineering is amazing.

If you're going for accuracy, 4483 is the one to get. After getting 8129, I was a bit let down that it doesn't look as good and the non-printed leg joints make it look a bit plainer than it should. However, 8129 is still a great set and they did improve the build so that it is much sturdier than 4483. If I had the choice though, I'd buy more 4483's every time.

I was putting my Mr. Freeze into the Arkham Asylum set and it made me realize why they didn't put a second face on his head. When in a freezing environment, Mr. Freeze doesn't need his helmet, so he's actually the equivalent of a bald minifig...thus, no second face.

Good job! That's one impressive alternate model. Yeah, it's not accurate but I think it still looks fantastic and I can tell you put a lot of thought into how it was built. I am impressed with the results considering your limited brick selection and you've got some interesting building techniques in there! Can't wait to see what else you build when you have even more bricks to play with!

Do we have to use minifigures? Can we brick-build the superhero?

Just wanted to share a little story: I was feeling up packets at my local Lego Store when a mother came in and asked one of the employees about finding a certain CMF. The employee was too busy to help her look, so she told the mother that she could feel the packets "like that guy is doing" (meaning me). The mother came up and started feeling the packets as well. I asked her what she was looking for, and she said she wanted the manbat. I told her to feel for the wings or the hairpiece and that if I came across one I'd let her know. Immediately after that, she just said "Thanks" and then walked away to look around the store. Honestly, I was kind of irritated by this. If I'm going to help you look for a figure, one that you apparently really want, you might as well try to find it as well; there were a lot of packets to go through! In the end, I never came across a Manbat nor did I get through all the packets. I wasn't sure if the mother even wanted the minifig anymore since she was still looking around the store. As I was paying for my figs I saw her finally go back to the CMFs. I didn't feel bad for her because honestly, we may have found a manbat if both of us had been looking for it instead of just me.

Nice! Great presentation and I love that purple speeder! Neat idea for the giant astromech too! That's awesome and great use of that canopy.

My entry for the Astromech Workplace Contest: Tatooine Droid Repair Shop Somewhere in Mos Eisley, a rodian named Grategg runs his own droid repair shop with his faithful astromech, R2-T9. While Grategg fixes and examines droids at his workbench, R2-T9 mans a control panel used for scanning droids and operating the oil bath. Exterior shot. Interior overview. R2-T9 mans the control panel at the left. Grategg is repairing a medical droid at his workbench. Old R1 and treadwell droids are waiting to get examined. Grategg also has his own power generator and converters salvaged from old starfighter engines. A support column was removed for this picture so it's easier to see everything. R2-T9 operating the control panel. Also a good shot of the treadwell and R1 droids. Grategg repairing a medical droid at his workbench. See more photos on my Flickr photostream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/swafr/sets/72157630920812194/ Lots of cool entries so far! Good luck everyone!

Just got the game and figure last night! The debrickifier gun appears in the game, same build and everything. It can deconstruct shiny black bricks in the game, hence the inclusion of the 3 black bricks with the figure.

Thank you for the great feedback! And if you supported it on Cuusoo, double thank you! I really appreciate it! Wish I could rename the topic though, since these types of ambulances can be found in other countries. Seems they are technically termed "Type III" ambulances.

I've had this model on my shelf for almost a year now, and I've always wanted to revisit it and try and fix some things that bugged me. I hated that I couldn't have a minifig sit on the bench next to the stretcher in the back, and I felt the front and back lights could be done better. So a couple of weeks ago I decided to build a second ambulance and try some new things. Then I updated the original with an orange stripe and some other changes. Below is the result! As you can see, I built a paramedic version and updated the vanilla one quite a bit. You'll notice I did two emergency light variations, each using different building techniques. I also eliminated the need for stickers to complete the stripe. On the red one, I tried adding additional lights next to the rear doors, since this is very common. However, this makes the build slightly less stable. The door designs are pretty much unchanged. Removable roofs just as before. Overhead shot of the patient compartment. A passenger/EMT can now sit on the bench next to the stretcher. Turning the 1x4x3 panel on its side was the answer. Hope you enjoyed the updates! Thanks for looking! Support this project on LEGO Ideas: https://ideas.lego.com/projects/17901

The cape is crumpled because of how the figure is packed. The plastic tray holding the figures conforms to the shape of the figure, so the cape gets smashed against the figure in the package.

Better photos: Original on left. No change noticeable. Original on left. Banana seems to be a slightly different mold; note the two circles on the banana on the right. Original on left. Silver leg on new one. As I mentioned in my edited post, torso print quality is different but could be better or worse depending on your point of view. Original on left. New figure has black hat and silver fish. Original on left. New figure has gold scorpion. I appreciate the idea behind this set, but the figure choice and changes are pretty disappointing.

Found this set today at the Downtown Disney Lego Store. $14.99. It's as underwhelming as I thought it would be. Here's the differences from the originals as far as I can tell: Elf - no change Gorilla suit guy - no change (Edit: banana has some different mold markings; there's two small circles on one side of the banana.) Space Villain - light silver leg instead of dark; torso print quality looks worse. (Edit: I took a second look and the quality may not be worse...It'll depend on your tastes; the new one has finer lines, so at first glance, details such as the black lines are harder to notice. Also, this may just be a natural printing variation which could vary from figure to figure...won't really know until I see other people's sets.) Fisherman - Black hat instead of dark blue; silver fish instead of sand green. Mummy - Gold scorpion instead of dark red. Bad cell phone photo, sorry:

$9.99 in the US.