pombe

Thanks! The suspension/steering mechanism holds up quite well, actually, given that it's two clips at the wheel and two studs (from opposite ends ) on the Technic bracket. As you might have guessed, it's more for display and doesn't really roll all that well (it's a bar instead of an axle at the wheel). It can be a bit fiddly to set up, since it's got four wheels that can be turned in different directions and can each go up and down. As for modularity, the inspiration for it is NASA's actual Mars rover concept, which itself is modular. Thanks!

Spoiler to see more and the 4 wheel independent suspension and steering. Comments and criticisms are always welcome!

I find your posts worth reading, and I appreciate the fact that you take the time to explain your arguments well, both with examples and a fair perspective which I find to be often insightful. What I think the others are getting at is that the spirit of this discussion is that some members are looking to vent and commiserate, but you are looking to debate.

I wanted to like Speed Champions when I first saw them. I bought several sets, and I have to agree with the points above about their use of advanced techniques and their introduction of new parts. They really do have great building experiences. However, after I had built them, I looked at them again...and they seemed off. I mean, the pictures on the boxes look great, but I realized that the angle of the photo made them look better than they really are. And then I understood why: all the cars were too tall. A minifigure, when standing next them, should be taller than most cars, especially sports cars which tend to be lower in height. I get that minifigure proportions don't reflect actual human proportions and some allowances should be made, but these cars are taller than the minifigure. And then another thing started to bother me. Speed Champions are supposed to be based on real world cars, cars that can seat two people side by side. In other words, they need to be 7 studs wide. So they were too tall AND too narrow...no wonder they looked off. Check out this link for a LEGO car blog: https://thelegocarblog.com/tag/7-wide/ to see how one extra stud makes such a huge difference for LEGO minifigure scale cars. I hope that one day, TLG will start putting out car sets where the cars are 7 studs wide and no taller than 10 plates, which seems to best approximate the size that LEGO cars should be compared to a minifigure. Until then, I guess we'll have to leave this to the realm of MODers and MOCers.

Oh, look! They've opened a Walmart in Stormhaven! EVERY DAY LOW PRICES!!! That's WaYmart, not WaLmart, you stupid professor! ROLLBACK!!!

I think part of the issue is due directly to nostalgia. I grew up in a time where there were no licensed themes (other than maybe Shell or Exxon for Town), so original themes will always appeal to the child inside of me. Kids today who are growing up with many licensed themes may feel differently when they reach my age. That said, as a fan of Star Wars, I was ecstatic when the first Star Wars sets first came out. However, after having seen the nth version of the x-wing (or y-wing or slave I or millennium falcon) for sale, i will admit to having Star Wars fatigue. I love Star Wars, but not enough to care about how the new x-wing is different than the slightly older x-wing and how that compares to the x-wing slightly older than that one. I know there are fans for whom these differences matter a lot, I am just saying that the nuances of the repeated Star Wars sets are lost on me. I do want to thank TLG though. Recently, I got to do something I haven't done since I was a child: build some classic space sets and explore the carpeted terrain of another nameless planetary body.

I love UniKitty and her delicious cartoon. Too bad the episodes are gated behind Cartoon Network which makes it difficult to watch (I said 'screw it' and bought the DvD...I know...archaic). I think YouTube has each episode for $0.99 and the whole season for something fair. The antics of her and her crew are ridiculous awesome. One of my favorite moments happens in a Voltron-esque episode in which they merge to form a giant robot, and Richard forms the robot's appendix.

You may have said it before, but I think it bears repeating (hopefully no actual bears were harmed during the repetition). Great job on the Starfleet Voyager! I've picked up two of the Juniors sets (thinking of grabbing more...but I want to wait until they release more wave 2 information in case there's more Classic Space goodness up ahead), but I only bother opening the Benny half of the set. I have two Emmet halves unopened. I am trying to think of a way to use that large printed panel for other sci-fi projects, but even using multiples of those panels won't compare with a simple greebled wall for a sci-fi interior.

@danth These are fantastic! You know. I would be happy if Classic Space returned as a small evergreen line, with just 2 or 3 small sets ($15 or less) each year. BUT!!! Have each set designed (with instructions) such that multiples of each one and/or different ones could be rebuilt (in different configurations) into something larger like what you did. I would really really be happy with that. That way, I think 1) the financial footprint of Classic Space would be small enough for TLG to consider it as low risk, 2) it would satisfy a segment of the AFOL population, and 3) it would allow for those who want the larger set experience to purchase them indirectly through purchasing multiples of the small sets to create larger ones designed by TLG.

Great cockpit design! I'm working on one myself to do the whole Millenium Falcon cockpit hyperspace scene, also. I'm curious how you did the space and hyperspace effects.

I saw this on Flickr and crapped myself instantly liked it.

I agree with the criticism. I didn't want to go trans clear, since I wanted some color, but I didn't want trans neon green or trans green, either. A trans brown would have been perfect, but I decided to just go with what I had on hand. I added things that would fit in the hollow area of the bricks to help give it some color, but it didn't turn out like I imagined in my head. Here's a quick snapshot of the crew from the front, including a sneak peak at the Dark Ruby.

Chapter 1: Sewer Rat Cleff Jiwa was out of breath, his breathing ragged as he ran for his life. His right foot splashed into the sewer sludge and almost slipped on some sort of mush, the contents of which he'd rather not think about. After a short slide on the mush, he regained his footing and kept running. The smell was awful, but that was the least of his worries. Who sent Lash after me? No one was supposed to know! It wasn't even that much! Cleff was just a low level Black Sun enforcer, sent to collect protection money from various establishments from Nar Shaddaa's Red Light Sector. Sure, he took a little more than he was supposed to, which he skimmed for himself, but it was just a few credits, nothing more than a rounding error. Pew! A flash of red from a blaster bolt just missed his head and glanced off the sewer wall ahead of him. A ladder! [ Cleff saw a ladder leading up to the streets of Nar Shaddaa to his left and ran for it. Sure, it would take him some time to climb it, but he was definitely dead if he continued to run in his current path. Almost ther... Pew! Pew! Instead of jumping up and grabbing a rung of the ladder and climbing to safety, Cleff felt his body give out as it fell, out of his control, and splashed into the contents of the sewer. His final thoughts were of just how awful everything smelled and tasted. The bounty hunter, Lash, hovered over the body, holstering a pair of silver LPA NN-14 blaster pistols. ++++++ Sindeen was never more glad that her suit could switch to its own air supply, though the outside of the armor would need a thorough cleaning when this was over. Her suit was a customized version of the imperial jumptrooper armor, something she created for herself before she left the imperial army. The combination of her rank as a stormtrooper captain and the fact that she was the daughter of a famous retired general offered her many perks in the imperial army that she took full advantage of. The suit wasn't as advanced as what the Mandalorians used, but it was more robust and easier to use, and replacement parts were much more available. She spoke into the comm in her helmet to address her crew, "Target secured." "You have a funny way of saying 'dead', captain," the droid, FISS, replied. "Just arrange for a pick up," she replied. "I'd love nothing more than to traipse through the sewers of Nar Shaddaa and drag a corpse soaked in sewage back to the ship. Consider it done." Sindeen frowned inside her helmet. Not for the first time, she realized that she has never met a droid who wasn't snarky. She reminded herself, again, that she would look into how these things were programmed when she had some time. "Uh...Captain?" Karek, the pilot of her crew, uttered. She hated that 'Uh'. Karek only used it when something wasn't right. She let him continue, "Go on." "I've been monitoring imperial channels and there's a lot of chatter right now. From what I can tell, there's been a huge battle at Jakku. The Seeker...isn't that your sister's ship?" Sindeen's sister, Pom, had followed her footsteps and became an imperial stormtrooper. The last time Sindeen saw her sister was when Pom had gone home to Muunilinst to visit their father. She had tracked her sister just to check up on her. A chill went down her spine, "What about the Seeker?" "It's been lost. It seems the navy lost a lot of ships," Karek replied. "Prepare the ship. NOW!" She yelled as she flew towards where the Dark Ruby was docked. Comments and criticisms are all welcome!!!

A rare hologram of Captain Sindeen Be and the crew of the Dark Ruby, taken on Nar Shaddaa. Previous attempts at taking holograms have been scrambled. Investigations have identified, from left to right, the droid F1-S2 (FISS), an unknown Jawa, former imperial stormtrooper captain Sindeen Be, and former imperial TIE pilot Karek Ghannik. Reports indicate that they are smugglers associated with the Black Sun crime syndicate, though this may actually be a front for bounty hunting activities. They are to be considered always armed and highly dangerous. And since it is suspected that they are using illegal activities (smuggling) to cover up legal activities (bounty hunting) they are likely keeping very dangerous secrets.

NICE! This is an excellent parts pack. The flippers and surfboard are what I'm looking at, along with the harpoon and oar. Also, who can't use more barrels? Finally, shells...there's got to be something I can do with a lot of those... Thanks for the heads up!

My figbarfing has already begun. Now I'm going to make some constipation noises. Hhhhhhnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnngggggghhhhhhhhhhh.

Next stop: the ruins?

This MOC had been sitting on my desk for the better part of a year without being photographed, because I couldn't come up with a way I liked to display it. Then @soccerkid6 posts his beautiful Dwarven Ballistas in GoH and blew me away so much, I copied his terrain to present as the base of my MOC. A Castle MOC inspired a Space MOC? You bet. More pics below:

This is why we have moderators/regulators who can exercise discretionary authority. Each subforum has different levels of traffic that naturally will vary over time. In one week, subforum X may see 100 new MOCs, while subforum Y may only see 1, so one size will not fit all.

The classic space red astronaut is Santa? Why not? Bad Blacktron! Pardon the horrible photo, but I won't have a chance to take better ones until after the deadline. Given that the awards are determined at random, I hope it's okay to replace the photo after the deadline with a better one.

From what I've read, it seems that AFOLs tend to visit EB for four things: 1) news (official stuff like images of upcoming releases, movie trailers, reviews and community stuff like contests) 2) discussions (includes speculation and wishlists, as well as non-LEGO related stuff) 3) MOCs (includes comics and brickfilms) 4) games (mafia, rpgs, etc.) yay! games! go play one now! Forgive me if I've missed a category. I don't think games need to be front paged, unless one is about to start where it can be treated like community news to inform members. Also, MOCs from games would fall under...MOCs... So I think a front page that balances news, discussions, and MOCs could help keep EB diverse and maintain all interests equally.

I hope they team up to find their families. Maybe Irissa will learn how resourceful and dependable humans are and the humans learn that cyclops have the same values that they do and aren’t that different.

I’m glad that people are enjoying the story. @Gabe @en_zoo Thanks for the criticism! I agree that the outside doesn’t match the interior. This was due to my lack of vision. I built the interior and dome first without knowing what the final building would look like or how I would connect them. Also I will focus on terrain for future MOCs. I’m only now understanding how the terrain gives a building some context.

I love it when themes cross MOC genres. Especially great is that horse. I'm going out on a limb and guessing that he is making a knight piece for a giant chess board that will show up in another Kaliphlin MOC.

Your WIP is incredible, but that's normal for you. I don't know if vines grow on rocks, but I do know they grow on houses and other plants, so I guess if they can find a foothold, they will just climb. However, given that it is immersed in water, some sort of plant/fungus/algae makes sense to have colonizing whatever surface it can find. I also agree with @Basiliscus in that the Nexo Knight shield looks out of place.