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astral brick

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Everything posted by astral brick

  1. astral brick
    Given that it was a rhetorical question, it is saddening to notice that there are sci-fi elements everywhere but where they belong, id est Space. Although Mars Exploration sets are very nice, they represent the final nail in the coffin in relation to a hypothetical Space renaissance. In fact if even Lego City is now embracing "light" sci-fi elements in its catalogue, then there is truly no hope for a new Space line. So the big picture is pretty clear, hard sci-fi is dedicated to Star Wars, and I can't help thinking of how many potential great Space sets will never see the light of the day because the designers don't have the chance to express their imagination, being forced to replicate pre-existing models taken from some movies.
  2. astral brick
    Apparently the future of Lego Space is Lego City. Literally down to earth. Did the designers lose the ability to dream?
  3. astral brick
    I am seeing these interesting considerations in the thread and I can't help wondering if anyone at Lego will ever bother, I am not saying to ponder them, but at least to read them. And the same goes for many other threads in this forum. Saddening thought.
  4. astral brick
    Thank you very much for your help! Especially for point no. 4, it was really difficult to identify the part.
  5. astral brick
    Can you please help me to identify the following parts in this video https://youtu.be/KJysoLiCCqE#t=1m51s 1 The thin black liftarm with the oval shape (between the 1x2 thin liftarm and the 3x3 L-shape one) 2 The yellow part next to the four red ones 3 The black part next to the 1x2 black liftarm 4 The small grey part next to the black bar
  6. astral brick
    What an interesting analysis! Thank you for this exhaustive summary, I lived what you define the "Classic Era" and the post 90's recap regarding my dark ages was a very compelling reading to better understand Lego's evolution to the present day. In my opinion this post should be pinned.
  7. astral brick
    Excusatio non petita accusatio manifesta?
  8. astral brick
    Very interesting article and very sad but true checklist. Regarding the so-called "negativity", I think it would be important to distinguish between unacceptable pathological hate behaviours, often connected to the internet 2.0 (or whatever is the current "version" of it) and constructive criticisims, which should always be welcomed by TLC, because they come from a very long-time appreciation towards the brand. From my point of view a relevant part of afols' negative judgements originates from what we are used to admire on a daily basis from master builders' flickrs, the bar has been raised too high due/thanks to them, so it is extremely difficult for Lego to match up the current level of complexity of many mocs keeping, at the same time, a reasonable price, which in any case would be (or perceived to be) too high for many potential buyers. We are living a golden age of ease of information access, but against this illusory democratization the social inequalities have never been so strong.
  9. astral brick
    Isn't this already happening? I think of modular buildings. There is a huge difference between a democratic outcome and the current top-down approach.
  10. astral brick
    I am starting to think that the evaluation could be something similar to: number of pieces + licence no/yes (economic feasibility of it). Moreover I am afraid that the uncertainty related to the acceptance of some themes (ie "mature" ones) can play a role even in the final decision and not only at the beginning of the procedure. Perhaps Lego should make the previous considerations about a submission in advance, thus saving designers' and potential supporters' time.
  11. astral brick
    It has always been Lego's pick (which is fair enough, it is their business after all). This is already happening. And the true slap in the face is having ten thousand supporters disappointed instead of one (the designer), if only the decision could have been taken at the beginning of the process instead of its end. I think it is way worse to give false hopes to a designer, especially if he has reached the necessary votes.
  12. astral brick
    TLC, which, in fact, already has the final word about the approval. Yes, and the outcome would be to speed up the process.
  13. astral brick
    Let's face it, the current Lego Ideas' process is long, complicated and frustrating. In fact, given that a submission could be considered acceptable and given that, after months of waiting, the project could reach the 10000 votes, TLC's final review can eventually crush supporters' hopes. Maybe the way to go is represented by the recent Ten Years Anniversary Fan Vote procedure. Preselected submissions, only one vote and a few weeks to choose the winner. What do you think?
  14. astral brick
    I know, but we were talking about mature themes wishes, weren't we?
  15. astral brick
    I would like to see a modern military aircraft line, starting with the F-14 Tomcat or the F-117 Nighthawk.
  16. astral brick
    Interesting Lego's marketing decision, probably they are literally running out of (good) ideas - pun intended - and, at the same time, they show that they are listening to the afols' complaints through a consolation prize. In any case I appreciated the choice and I hope they may repeat it in the future. Although I am not fully convinced by its design, I gave my vote to Nathan Sawaya's reduced version of his iconic model. I wish that TLC could dig out maxvf1's Macross' Valkyrie, which got the 10k supporters, but I have no illusions about it.
  17. astral brick
    I was able to watch only the first two episodes and the finale, anyway I liked it. I am not much into reality shows, but this one was both compelling and instructive. Probably thanks to Brickman's suggestions, the showrunners managed to offer to the general public an interesting insight into afols' world and advanced Lego buildings, some models were really impressive (by the way, I noticed in a short clip that one design was clearly inspired by Jk Brickworks' Idea Pursuit of Flight, I hope that Jason Alleman was properly quoted in the inherent episode). Moreover I appreciated that the overall atmosphere was far away from the trashy arguments and trivial tones usually connected to this kind of tv productions. I definitely look forward to catching up on the episodes that I missed and if there are any participants who are reading this thread, I would like to thank you for the good tv show that you contributed to produce.
  18. astral brick
    Thank you very much for the detailed information and for the alternative model. Anyway I was referring to the truck next to the excavator.
  19. astral brick
    Nice moc. What is the black part used for the truck frame?
  20. astral brick
    I would like to see a Great Ball Contraption. Not necessarily an Akiyuki's huge set, but something smaller, with the possibility of being used both in loop or linked to another Gbc. The potential of this modular design could be endless, not to mention a hypothetical crossover with Mindstorms.
  21. astral brick
    Very interesting considerations. Given that there are various types of art forms, with different levels of costs, perhaps the intrinsic limit of Lego is its ambivalent nature, a commercial product which has transcended into a way to express imagination, id est art. Middle-class art probably, restricted by the number of parts in the artist's collection (although this aspect could also represent a resource to encourage creativity). Again, really good analysis.
  22. astral brick
    Yes, this is an essential point. I wonder if high level afols are willing to share their knowledge with the public. Some do it, even for free, some don't. But in the latter case, can we blame them? Another rethorical question, whose answer is no. And precisely for the reason that you have mentioned, they are artists, they don't have to explain anything to anyone, and if they do it, they take the risk that their works could lose part of their "magic". Nevertheless, releasing the instructions implies that many people would not limit themselves to appreciate a picture - and maybe forget it the next day - but they would try to reproduce it, spending time and money to buy the missing parts. Therefore the piece of art would be enjoyed on a totally different level. Isn't it the greatest satisfaction for an artist? As an afol, are you willing to share your specific techniques with other people?
  23. astral brick
    Before starting a flame, it is a rhetorical question, and the answer is, of course, no. Still, I cant help thinking of the amazing models I admire every day on flickr and the failed Ideas (due to lack of votes or non-approvals) lost forever, and I wonder if those afols realize that making one last effort to create instructions or to record a brief video tutorial could give their works the immortality they deserve. However, remembering Andy Warhol's controversial lessons, if there is the technical possibility to reproduce a piece of art, can we still consider it art?
  24. astral brick
    Which is, in fact, what is already happening. We are witnessing the birth of a self-regulating market. I am in agreement with you. Precisely. Your ending summarizes the whole point of my original post.
  25. astral brick
    And I really would like to know what is the logics behind the choices regarding licenses' purchases. Macross was just an example among many others. Starting with the classic ones, such as space, castles and pirates. About the latter case, I am curious to see what is going to happen to the pirates' idea which reached the ten thousand votes.
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