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Elysiumfountain

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  1. Elysiumfountain
    Thank you so much! :) (Sorry for the late reply, I don't think I had the notifications turned on for the post and didn't realize there was a comment!)
  2. Elysiumfountain
    Welcome to the Olympic Gardens! I'm by no means an engineer, but I started out wanting to create a beautiful domed European-style modular. There was going to be a tower, and a balcony, and an arcade along the front, to enhance my city layout. I got to the bottom of the dome and it did NOT translate well to the tower portion. The angles were terrible! So instead, I pivoted and turned it into a garden pavilion. And I like the result so much better! Some of my favorite parts are the planters holding the cypress trees. The main portion is a technic piece that makes a really cool textured planter. I'm a big fan of gardens and fountains, so there's tons of flowers and greenery in the finished build, and a main fountain up on the level with the pavilion. The cow horns near the bottom of the model (under the arches) were originally supposed to be teacups, but I didn't realize until too late that the pieces were too big for the gaps until later. So it's just a cool bit of statuary now. I plan to try and recreate this MOC in real bricks soon, as soon as I can order new bricks. It has more of a diorama style footprint than I normally do in my MOCs, so I can display the finished model on my shelf. There's tons of little details hidden in the scene as well, such as animals and lost coins, and bees everywhere. The flower bushes in the planters at the top of the stairs utilize a cool little piece with three studs, where I inserted the vines and green wolverine claws. The koi tiles are my absolute favorite, so I knew I had to include some in the build. I also like to make up primary stories to go with the MOCs I build, and for this one, the lady gets a text to meet her friend the artist at the park for a portrait painting. I also like the little grapes in the garden pavilion, they give it more of a pastoral atmosphere that I like to see in real-life gardens. The only thing that's really silly is that the balustrade on the side is a bit off center compared to the main balustrades, but that's something I can tinker with more when I build it in real bricks. Thanks for reading, and I appreciate any comments! :) Edit: I've created a time-lapse of the digital build, you can see it below: It took a lot longer to edit than to take all the photos, video software likes to keep crashing when you add 2,766 photos to it and try to shorten the frame length all at once!
  3. Elysiumfountain
    Presenting one of my newest MOC redesigns, the Hidden Oasis! There's kind of a longish story behind this one. I started building something that was kind of similar to it for a LEGO Ideas entry way back in the day, in 2019-2020 ish. I've always been fascinated by Egyptian architecture and Ancient history themes, and I also have this weird thing where I tend to choose a single piece and see if I can build something around it. The teal flower petal was the factor for this MOC. I saw it and was thinking about ancient Egyptian hypostyle columns and the stylized lotus capitals and thought "ooh, maybe I can build a column around it!" I ended up building the hall around the columns, and then expanding to include a base with kind of a musty ancient tomb atmosphere. I also have a fondness for trying to replicate water features in my MOCs, so I included a garden area in front of the temple with date palms, lotus blooms and papyrus. The original iteration of this MOC was actually larger than what this final model turned out to be. It was really ungainly, because I made the pools perpendicular to the temple, rather than horizontal like I ended up with in the final version. So there was this nice compact temple, and then this long mess of plates sticking out the front that made our real brick version impossible to carry around or display properly! So this new version is a bit more stable and a lot more compact, which I like. The original version also had this really cool lotus roof structure to the right of the hall. I was inspired by a movie I saw back then that had similar roof styles. I don't have a picture of the older MOC which is a shame, but when I was redesigning it, the roof on the lotus tower was a little too hard to replicate. (I should also mention that we moved in between iterations, and the version I'd created in real bricks was disassembled, placed in a bag, and then I had to reassemble it. Problem was, I only had a couple of pictures and the original digital file was corrupted. Lesson learned, always have backups! Reverse-engineering a MOC from an exterior picture is hard.) Another favorite feature of this MOC are the two Anubis statues guarding the staircase. I'm normally not the greatest at creating brick-built things like statues, my brain just doesn't work spatially to create the right angles and curves and things. But I think they're quite cute, especially the little ears! The date palms too were really fun to design. They are surprisingly not as unstable as they look. In the real brick model that we have on our shelf at home, they stand up pretty steadily and only break if I really knock it around in transit. (The fez pieces are sturdy, plus there's a bar inside the cone that holds it in place pretty well). As you can see the real brick counterpart is slightly different. Small differences in pieces and things like that. The digital version is the more spruced up version that I will eventually fully create once I modify the brick version, just have to order a few more pieces. Currently I've been adding more treasures to the interior of this digital design's real brick counterpart, the sarcophagus piece comes in really handy for that. And it makes for a good sort of display for my old Pharaoh's Quest minifigures!
  4. Elysiumfountain
    Having seen the Botanical Garden photos, I am in love! So many cool little details, and it looks so pretty. I definitely want to add it to my city, I think it could fit with a little bit of tinkering.
  5. Elysiumfountain
    @omerai Thank you so much! There were definitely a few times I had to figure out different facade decorations when things I thought were great turned out to be full of collisions lol. Overall though it was a great process to go through. Especially since I am really bad at angled roofs, those are tricky!
  6. Elysiumfountain
    @A_Forest_of_Lego Thank you so much! :)
  7. Elysiumfountain
    I haven't built a MOC in quite a while, been a bit busy with work and everything else. And the inspiration doesn't come as often as it used to when I was younger. But this January I decided to sit down and build a really cool MOC for a contest. And I thought, I enjoy Victorian architecture a lot, why don't I build a Victorian cottage? (I mean, technically it's a house but cottage sounds a bit more charming). This was a really interesting model for me to design. I actually started with the balcony and the tower, and then built downwards from there until I reached the baseplate. From there, (because it was all in one step in the stud.io file at that point), I ended up separating the entire model piece by piece, and building it again from the ground up! I am definitely the type of builder who will build everything at once and organically flow into a completed model. Only to find it is in one big step with no indication of how I got there. Wasn't going to fly for the contest, since we needed to build instructions. When I started building, because it was actually going to have more of a rectangular shape with a porch in front of the tower, I made one of the gable ends longer. But that really made the roof angles wonky. So instead, I decided to make it more or less the same on either side, which worked out in regards to the gable ends. The shell design over the windows on the tower went through several iterations before I found the one I liked. To add further complication, the whole model was then split into three parts, built again from the ground up, and instructions were made for those three parts. There were a few part problems to work out along the way, this step was incredibly helpful. The submodels were then reincorporated back into the final model with an accompanying 628 page instruction component. And of course part problems cropped up everywhere which meant the instructions had to be formatted again a whopping three times! What a journey! I think I definitely know the model inside and out by now. The most challenging part for me was working on the roofs. I am definitely not the best at coming up with angles and figuring out how to make those work, it definitely took a lot of time and a lot of trial and error. There was also a hilarious mishap at one point realizing that the detailed, hinged roof that I intended to be able to open and close would not open at all, and instead it just crashed into the porch roof. Which prompted a redesign to a more doll-house open wall style build. Oh, and there's no toilet. Which is a bit of an inconvenience for whichever minifigs end up buying this house, but it's nothing a little redecorating can't solve. The furniture was pretty fun to create too. I'm not the best at coming up with fantastic unseen-before techniques, so a lot of it more basic. It was a great experience to be able to build this model. The idea was rather spontaneous, and I settled on the Victorian house theme because I've always loved Victorian architecture. I especially loved the Monster Fighter's Haunted House, and I wanted to create something that had somewhat close to the accessibility of a dollhouse while still having the stability and bulk to be a stand-alone display model. There was quite a bit of trial and error on the trim, some of the pieces clashed in ways that the program wouldn't detect until it was too late. But overall, I'm very satisfied with how the build turned out! This MOC I've currently entered into the Bricklink BDP Series 1 contest that's currently ongoing, and it has just entered the voting phase. If you like this model and think it would be a great set someday, I'd encourage you to vote for it here: https://www.bricklink.com/v3/designer-program/series-1/212/Victorian-Cottage Thank you for reading! :)
  8. Elysiumfountain
    It looks like it got moved to "Members Only" because of the discussion of leaks. It prompted me to sign in when I went over to look. I love how a lot of replies are people who simply cannot believe it isn't a MOC
  9. Elysiumfountain
    Of course! It came from a book I read somewhere, but it got incorporated into the lingo in our household, along with "toot the bad cone" (also from the same quote excerpt).
  10. Elysiumfountain
    My roommate is a trumpet player and that's the part that makes him mad about the set, we don't even get the loud pretzel in there!
  11. Elysiumfountain
    It's looking like a sort of greenhouse or herb garden for the pizzeria.
  12. Elysiumfountain
    I didn't realize until I read the article that the second floor of the pizzeria is a tailor shop. Another interesting detail that I'm curious to see the interior of now.
  13. Elysiumfountain
    If that is indeed the actual thing, my first impressions: - I like the sign above the marquee, that's kind of cool. And the inverted doors. - No clue what is going on with the pizza restaurant's roof. What is that up there? Looks like some weird greenhouse. - Kind of reminds me of the Fire Station, and I want to see the interior before making any further judgements Edit: Looking at the picture further, I love the singer's dress! And is that a new instrument mold? Looks like a bass that the mining on the left is holding.
  14. Elysiumfountain
    My indicator is just waiting until the Eurobricks notifications in my inbox start piling up. When it's 2-4 replies, I know it's a day with no announcement. When it's 30 replies, THEN I know people have seen it.
  15. Elysiumfountain
    Those are awesome! I'm so glad for the Orient Express one! If my project couldn't make it, at least another did!
  16. Elysiumfountain
    Heck yeah! That's the type of MOD of that building I've wanted to see! I really like the addition of an extra floor, that's the sort of thing I'm planning to do with it eventually.
  17. Elysiumfountain
    I love the way that layout looks! The little alleyway there enhances it, makes it look like a secret little passage. Plus the patrons of the PR can make silly faces and wave at the people on the terrace
  18. Elysiumfountain
    It's weird for me to think that I haven't actually bought a modular since 2012 when the Town Hall was released. That's quite a long gap in between, I think this is the year I expand that portion of my collection.
  19. Elysiumfountain
    Okay, I think I know what to do. Either two of them to make it mirrored, or two of them and add another middle floor. I personally want to mod the second floor to be a large dining room, and put a door to the terrace on that far window, I think that would be cool.
  20. Elysiumfountain
    After reading the reviews, I'm already starting to imagine what could be done with two. Not least of all expanding the floors height-wise...
  21. Elysiumfountain
    Haven't bought any modulars myself since Town Hall. Kept telling myself that if I was impressed enough by the ones coming out that I'd buy one, but the past few just didn't do it for me. I think this might be the one to do it for me though. Pleasantly surprised at the orientation, though it works better that way, I was imagining the reverse and wondering how that would work.
  22. Elysiumfountain
    Have a confession, I totally forgot all about the next modular for three months and came back to all of this and was like oh, surprise. Reading the rumored description I was fine until "turquoise roof" and now I'm worried
  23. Elysiumfountain
    Yes, someone else backs up what I've been saying for months! The amount of projects that make it to review may seem higher, but proportionally it's the same amount as it has always been. There's just a lot more submissions than there used to be in the past. Over the past five years it's jumped from what used to be maybe 10-12 per day to sometimes 30-40 on really busy days. Lowering the number of votes or increasing the amount to make it to review, I think, would change the proportions the wrong way. The 1% that make it would still be the number you have now, the amount that make it to 5000 would drop and dump all the rest of the projects into those that make it to a few hundred or less and then stop, regardless of quality (and sometimes those are really good Ideas that get hidden). So the top would stay the same, the middle would be squeezed smaller, and the lowest category would grow. Where have I seen that before... One funny thing I noticed though was that at least in the beginning, there was a sort of thing as a weekend. As in there were two days during which the Ideas staff must have had their weekends, because the new projects wouldn't be updated for a couple days. Which used to be the best if you could get your project in before then, it would be up on the first page for more than a few hours at least, and people would see it before it got buried. Then of course when they came back from their weekend, there'd be a backlog and a bunch of projects would flood the site. Admittedly, it's still like that on Saturdays, usually there won't be any new ones released on that day, but Sundays there have been at least a few.
  24. Elysiumfountain
    @Amicus1 Yes exactly. And then the capital is placed on top with a bar sticking through it.
  25. Elysiumfountain
    Ooh that. So much that! A lot of it, in my opinion, has to do with demographics, how well known a poster is, the type of project, all that stuff. The fact remains that Ideas is always like the lottery in some ways. I mean, yes, you will always have several thousand projects that will always be at the bottom, and never make it past 100 or even 500. The other three brackets are made up of decent to fantastic projects that never gain much support beyond a small initial push, great projects that gain a lot initially and then trickle (some of these make it to 10k over the years). And then the top bracket which just seems to fly up there instantaneously (whether because of IP fanbase, the power of social media sharing, etc...) Not implying at all that the ones that shoot up are not good projects, there are all different levels of good or bad in all of these brackets. I think for me the only thing that makes me a bit miffed is when people suggest raising the number of supporters needed as if the above proportions have changed. They haven't entirely. I mean, yes, there are more projects making it to review, but there are also more projects overall being submitted all the time, which means the brackets stay the same, the total population has just increased. When I first started on Ideas (six years ago I think? I don't know, I'm old) you would possibly have twelve or fourteen projects approved per day that would go onto the pages. And there were days when nothing new would be posted, which did give the newest projects a bit of a boost since they weren't buried on the page for at least a day or so. Currently, there's a whole lot more being approved (I should know, supporting each and every one takes so long in the mornings sometimes! And yes, I'm one of those people, but there's a reason for that I promise). So nowadays it can be as high as forty-five projects in a given day, everything gets buried, and the time span required to get the initial support shrinks rapidly. It's a race to keep the projects from being buried. That was an extremely long-winded explanation but that's my experience. My only gripe with the raising the requirements is that because more projects make it through, people seem to assume that the top bracket has expanded while the others stay constant or shrink, which is not the case. All brackets are expanding. Like the universe!
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