Ravelino

Thanks everybody

I understand..had to have something to nag about it just looked too good! Still funny though..you ran out of wood so you filled it with gold

Hello everybody! As title implies I'm a 29 year old AFOL from Holland(The Netherlands). I've been playing with Lego since before I started making memories, and like most have had a Dark Age for about a decade starting in my teenage years, and after 5 years of building up my collection and polishing up my building skills I've decided, after recently losing my job and having a lot of spare time on hand, to actively contributing to the community and further hone my skills by letting others view (and give feedback) on my creations! EB seemed like the best place to start because of the variety of themes, nationalities and high level activity every day(even during the low-season)

Beautiful ship and sail indeed, and that elemental looks so alive! I've always been impressed with your brickbuilt figurines but I didn't know it would be this detailed on minifig scale as well I also like how the ship's deck is "filled" with cargo..makes it all look that much more realistic(despite the big white elemental in back blowing the ship to movement lol)

Astonishing building! Lovely color sceme and I like the techniques you used on the scroll bricks with bars, the mid section with the chests and the front and back section with 1x5 brown arches on top.. I'm not so sure about the gold "fillings" on the front and back of those brown sections though..Maybe some more gold details coming down from those gold Friends horns to break the brown up? All in all very impressive piece...I'm looking forward to your next build and ofcourse that medieval display you've been taunting us with

I really like those minifigs! How did you make those? Just kidding.. Very detailed MOC of that scene Even if you used generic figures, that Aragorn kicking the Uruk helmet and that smoldering pile of death is instantly recognizable to a fan of the movies The crossing from plains to forest is also nicely done with those trees

Nice upgrade to the Big Boomer! My only issue would be the fact that the cannon itself looks made of wood but hey it's fantasy let's say the wood is magically enhanced to withstand blasts! Too bad TLC doesn't provide us with black or dark brown barrels that size

Maybe this helps people recognize it.. Nice rendition of the Dooms Slayer, it looks sturdy enough to be quite posable The shotgun is nice although it looks a bit big for him(like most Lego minifig accessories do btw)..personally I would make the visor translucent by using a 1x2 trans blue plate and 2 trans blue cheeses Would love to see this in real bricks, I hate how Olive Green and Sand Green are depicted in LDD although I think IRL the bright orange you used might be too bright

Sure why not? If you try to incorporate some cool Japanese culture Yōkai certainly must be on top of your list... Question is if TLC wants to come that close to "actual" cultures(since they clearly want to steer well clear of religion and "realistic" war and if they are afraid(and rightly so) making changes to that cultural aspect to fit the narrative of Ninjago and to keep it childfriendly might start commotion within the Japanese (and maybe global) fan communities. To answer your second question any cool Obake or Bakemono (like your Kitsune(Foxlike) but also Tanuki(Raccoonlike) and the Bakeneko(Catlike) but also Tsukomigami(Spirited tools) and Mononoke(Spirits who I believe aren't necessarily Yōkai but anyway lol) would be nice ..and I think things like Kappa and Tengu are unmissable too since they are the most commonly known Yōkai outside of Asia. All together though I think it will be up to us MOCers to try and include them since they are heavily religion based creatures..it would be like having Lego Azrael Baal etc and I don't see that happening either but nice idea!

I know the problem..my old computer even crashed every now and then just browsing too quickly through the elements at one time...my new one still does whenever I "blow up" a large project just to show someone how many bricks were needed would I build it IRL The minifigs alone already add that much "real feel" to the MOC I gotta say the front gate does look better without the cannon although it didn't bother me at first..

I just hope they come up with something to build up your villages and (generic) armies supplying the customer with a few fairly brick intensive buildings ie Millraid and that 3739 blacksmith like houses for a butcher or a new inn, some castle and wall sets that hopefully boycot the use of those huge window walls or BURPS as much as possible, and ofcourse lots of smaller army and people builder sets with some machines/vehicles/animals for the €15-€30 euro range and army builder packs ranging from €5-€15. I'm not even hoping for a MMV like thing with two houses that'll cost too much just one or two €40-€60 sets per wave so it can be a large present for people who can't afford the €90+ castles and still want to build up some city walls or castle gate. Ofcourse a CMF line in such a theme wouldn't be too farfetched then would it?Imagine 16 different historic minifigs in one box maybe even from different era's but why not just different Knights, maybe some solo vagabonds or (anti)heroes, some (lesser) royals, peasants, merchants, maybe a butcher or a hunter, etc? infinite possibilities And if you do some kind of mix up make it look cool and not childish and completely beyond absurd like Nexo Knights Yes lego is for kids, but my 8 year old cousin rather plays with my old 80's Knights or my own "Space-Knights" than with the Nexo Knights minifigs because "they look more like real people even though you have ghosts" Anyway looking at the Ninjago Movie sets and the increased quality of the Modular and even the other themes..IF TLC decided to do a medieval/historic theme in the upcoming years I think there would be enough in it to satisfy both the younger and the older children and maybe even us critical AFOLS

Nice little scenery, I really like the setup with the helmet shield and spears propped against the rocky walls and the way my eyes were drawn around the entire moc because of the double triangle shape from the front. From the bushes on the left my eyes glided up over the rockwork to the first two trees in the background, down to the minifigs on the road up again along the rockwork to the second pair of trees to finally drop to the olive tall grass on the right pausing at every little detail looks fantastic but indeed a bit flimsy(in fact I think 99% is not connected at all) I read you were just trying this out for the first time so may I suggest trying to connect the piles somewhat here and there on 1 side only(looking at the pictures the backside isn't meant to be a viewpoint so you could start there and just cover up the other sides with SNOT techniques) and maybe add a couple varieties of other slope sizes to make it more interesting to look at, now it's like "Hey! Nice technique!" and then when you take a second look it's kind of all the same(although the anglework is differentiating the fact that you used mostly 1x2x3 slopes aside from a 1x3 slope here and there is very obvious at first sight and so you'll skip to another detail without admiring the entire shape of the mounts which I think is the beautiful part of this approach to rockwork. The path doesn't bother me that much, especially with the minifigs on it but I think if you replace the two brown 2x2's and put maybe one in between the two grey sections of cobblework like a mudpool it would look completely natural without adding too much to it My only real problem would be the border, I'm not really a fan of the things in general (although some people have really turned it into an art I believe they look nicer on brickbuilt mozaiques and "paintings" than on scenery MOCs even though I admit it adds stature to smaller vignettes making them 'pop out' more), but when used I feel it should be distinguished from the rest of the MOC In your case for example by having no studs shown unless meant to as a decoration(ie a pattern made of holed studs or something) and have the same dimensions or at least compatible variations as opposed to eachother which you already have, bvut I notice your border is 1 brick wide at all sides except at the back where 2 black looking (but in fact dark gray) wedges are placed against the border making it look like the border invades the scenery(thinking back maybe that's also what jakbar meant with too much color in the pathway..but my complaint comes from exactly the opposite view, there;'s too little contrast between the rockwork path created by the wedges and the border(in the picture at least) My two cents on this one: simply placing some black tiles on top of those black slopes should do the trick. Minor points, overall it's a very intriguing MOC especially regarding its rocky, barren setting it's depicting and aside from 4 minifigs discussing and their gear lying about there's nothing going on..exactly the right amount of life per square stud for my taste

Very impressed and inspired by these useful tutorials...might surpass DC's Detailed Guide To Building A Medieval Village "effect" on the Medieval MOCing community(if it hasn't already, imho you two are [at least almost] as famous and brilliant builders as he came to be) Some of the techniques explained(or techniques with similar effects) in these tutuorials I've seen before in MOCs and haven't figured out until you came with your solution to it like the middle eastern floors or the slanted and technic rockworks; Not only does it improve the angles of the intricate and slope intensive technique, it also spared a lof of those expensive large grey slopes to get that spiky cliff look (over a 100 stud length it saved me 200 euros using 1x2 regular bricks instead of those 1x2x3 [inverted] slopes) and you also inspired lots of my ideas based on how you approached some other aspects(especially furniture, carts/wagons and how to cover up the corners on diagonal placed walls) The fact that you two (despite being brothers and thus I guess would have a very similar "Lego-experience") have such distinct and recognizable projects making the variety in building techniques that much wider helps with keeping it interesting enough I want to check for updates every week. Keep up the great work!

That is one massive and beautiful ship! I second every single compliment given and then some! My favourite part must be the angled transom WHICH CAN BE OPENED to have a full view of the stern's interior without removing the top decks! I don't know if that last part is your invention or if you copied it but I'm gonna copy it from you if you don't mind because that is just brilliant! only thing I liked less is the color use of the bow and the grey deck on top of it but I can imagine those where the bricks you wanted to wait on and couldn't because of the inspiration-filled building sprees(I have those some times too and then you have to break down half the moc to replace 40 elements or less and you don't want to bother yet until you have it all sorted out) and I feel your figurehead looks a bit "simple" as opposed to the barrage of beautiful details in the rest of the ship.. overall a great first real MOC I should say

Thanks for focussing on this set, I didn't even know it existed and it has a black falcon! Like other people also noticed it's only $40-$55(depending on box status) on bricklink...good luck parting half of it out for under that price Edit: sorry just viewed another pic it's regular gray so annoying those color mixups in some photo's

Nice fort, would love to see some minifigs bustling about and some basework to contrast with the stark grey walls and bring some life into it though

Very nice ship, I especially like how you did a brown(s) colored deck and accents on the inside to complement the stark black with grey accents on the outside and ofcourse the NPU on the blasting of the cannonballs. The brickbuilt figurehead is also one of my favourite details along with the skull and axes. I feel the rest of the stern could use a little more detailing for my taste especially since the transom itself is so flat/bland black and gray with very straight lines (maybe some grey round 1x1s around some tubes like you did at the bow? Overall nice black ship which is hard enough in itself and you've got some good pictures of it as well!

Mine is like a bit of a mix of the above stories. I have always been creative in expressing myself(I am known to have a drawing pencil in hand since 2 years old) and I was very priviliged to be born into a family who could afford and thought Lego not only fun but also educational so when I was a toddler I "inherited" into the collection of my brother(mostly early and late 80s city and space and a few mid and late 80s Knights) and added to it as the years went with my own sets(mostly late 80 to late 90s Knights but here and there some city and special themes too).. a very early MOCer, my sets would last 1 to 2 days after building until I started raiding them for elements to use in my fantasies...as life got more intricate going to high school I stopped asking for lego for birthdays etc as my curiosity lead me to other hobbies and things to spend my parents' money on so my Dark Age kind of crept on me as I just couldn't find the time to organize our collection(which was already considerable as I remember(looking back on when I got which sets) having a 1000 brick average per year running well over 10 years well, and my own allowance was usually spent before I could save up for the few cool sets Lego still produced so building sprees died off to thoughts like "I know I have over 20 of this element somewhere, how come I can't find any?" by then I had taken up making music as my main hobby Then, some five years back, my younger cousin showed me a new modular he bought (I think it was Parisien Restaurant since that is the one set we have in common aside from Castle and CMF stuff..I'm more a Castle/Space/Licensed guy he's more of a City/Creator guy)along with the rest of his Lego Town and that got me surfing the web looking at masterpieces like the MMV and some of the MOCs that were created during and after my 10 year Dark Age by great artists like Derfel Cadarn, Legonardo etc. Before I knew it I found a MISB MMV for under 170 euro, a once opened and built Tower of Orthanc for under 250 euro(which was still too much but I was in between houses and living with my father at the time so I didn't have to pay rent) and some Fantasy Era and latest Castle sets in MISB or good condition mainly to build up some armies with the new prints. I already wanted to join the CCC two years ago when they had the Space/Knights theme going on; I even made a space rendition of the 6074 Black Falcon's Fortress and a castle rendition for 6959 Lunar Launch Site(both sets I to this day regret not owning) and even took pictures which I never posted though because I wasn't a member of CC.com yet and because I wanted to compete with the best entries(everyone wants to be a winner or at least have they idea their builds have the chance of winning which I believed my builds didn't). From there on I went full ballistic again, lurking EB, CC.com Brickshelf and a few Flickr pages while sorting and adding to my collection with older and new sets and BL orders for those massive amounts of standard bricks and honing my building skills until it got to the point where I now thought I should really join in the AFOL community. My recent loss of a job has given me plenty of time to complete sorting (and cleaning/replacing older elements) my collection out and finish some of those half started projects mostly left as is because of the lack of time or necessary bricks to complete them. and I have started building my first great project (a Sorceror's castle on a peninsula defined by one huge "white" tower overlooking the sea and a rivermouth; pictures of the WIP and the completion of the first fase, the basement, will be one of the first MOCs I will be posting here) And me and Lego are reunited again like we were never separated lol...

Nice contest to get me building some post medieval minifig sized vehicles..good luck everybody!

Let me start my first post by congratulating you on another masterpiece...I've been following the online lego community for a couple of years now and have seen more than a few ships created by you and have to admit you are one of the few builders who inspired me to start hoarding bricks for my own large vessel. This one ranks among my favourites if not for the "new-ness" of the techniques used (I've seen very similar techniques used by you in your former ships) then because in this one they seem to blend together so smoothly as you obviously polished up those techniques added a few new ones and combined them perfectly in my opinion. I agree I have seen better rigging, but hey that's a hazard of trying new things and especially not wanting to repeat yourself too much. No no no, your eyes are lying to you! Although I hardly want to call my fellow countryman and inspirator a liar in my first post here, I do have to agree on the cabins interior part, specifically the top 2 tiles on the bed(they look like 1x3 tiles at least), since as far as I know Lego never produced those in regular brown. Nevertheless stunning effort to work around reddish brown building a classic ship that size and still so brown