the enigma that is badger

BrickArms continues to make 2010 its biggest year yet with another release of brand new accessories and other items - BrickArms 2010: Duck and Cover! Included in this release: Brodie Helmet Modern Combat Helmet Shaun UK Zombie Fighter with custom printed torso Spy Pack with Exclusive Limited Edition Golden Gun Zombie Defense Pack 2010.1 World at War Chrome Pack Modern Chrome Pack 2.0 Scifi Chrome Pack 2.0 Blade Chrome Pack 2.0 Will has also expanded the color options for the previously listed BrickArms headgear: M1 Steel Pot Helmet: Gunmetal Stahlhelm: Gunmetal, Tan, and White

Sorry about the delay in this reply, but I did make sure to make each prize pack as cohesive as possible. Yes, there are more than a few Buildable Ammo Chain Links in each pack with U-Clips in several colors (including Bronze) to connect them.

While I'll wait for official and/or better images of final versions of these sets to comment more specifically, I will comment on the basic theme: in the parlance of our time, WIN I was a HUGE fan of the original Adventures theme, and it's absolutely fantastic to see LEGO return to it in a way that's clearly a nod to that concept but updates it in some fun ways with some neat stuff, especially minifig and minifig accessories-wise. I was definitely in the "The Indy line was ok, but I really wished it was classic Adventurers" camp, and with the Indy license apparently over, I'm VERY glad to see LEGO still running with the 30's adventure serial concept!

Just wanted to say thanks for all the folks who like what Will donated for this contest! Eurobricks has been such a wonderful, fun place for me both as a member and in my work for BrickArms, I really wanted to express my gratitude to both the EB staff and the whole EB community by making the prizes for this contest extra special, especially for the fact its the first of its kind of Eurobricks! Good luck to every in their entries!

Just to make one point clear, Mr. Mandalorian is 100% perfect correct that Will intends BrickArms products to enhance and supplement the LEGO building experience with custom products in an aesthetic and genres (particularly modern combat) LEGO hasn't, doesn't, and would likely never pursue. You're quite honestly unlikely to find someone with more respect for LEGO and the quality of its products than Will, and that's the reason why you'll never see anything from BrickArms with a stud or could ever be mistaken as brick. And certainly, given it's a multinational corporation, nothing custom is ever going to compete with LEGO on any level! Every custom vendor is just a speck of dust next to TLC, and that's just fine to Will; he's just happy BricksArms has been as accepted as it has and that he can support his family doing what he loves! That said, while Will does cut and inject his prototype molds in his workshop, the BrickArms production molds are professionally tooled and molded. Again though, comparing that scale to the globe-spanning production facilities LEGO operates, and you're back to the drop in a bucket! ;) Returning to the key issue at hand, I have samples from a large number of clone and pirate brands, and while quality does vary, even at their best they can't hold a candle to LEGO. At least for myself, it's the quality and creativity inherent in the LEGO brand that made the company successful and continues to do so, regardless of what clone products exist in the market.

Funny you should mention that. Remember how I said how much fun Will has had trying out fun new minifig designs with his new printer? Just a teaser . . . for now . . . .

Glad to hear you guys dig everything! In a recent interview, Will hinted that "duck and cover" was a key to a few new upcoming items. That's all that can be said for now!

BrickArms continues to make 2010 its biggest year yet with another release of highly anticipated accessories! This release includes the following brand new BrickArms accessories: - Heavy Scifi Rifle - Plasma Blade - Needle Gun - Energy Pistol - Photon Pistol - Mk2 Frag Grenade - Gunblade - Chainblade - Scalpel - Syringe - Bayonet - Claymore Sword - Glaive - Cricket Bat Some items are not available in all colors as of yet, but Will plans to make those accessories available as soon as possible. For those keeping track, this is the third major release for BrickArms this year . . . . . but it won’t be the last! Fans of BrickArms and custom accessories can look forward to even more great things from BrickArms before 2010 is over!

Here's something neat related to this printing: the color of the BrickArms accessory underneath the printer has a great effect on the final color of the printed item. All of the following items where printed with the exact same pattern; all the differences you can see are due to their starting color: *Photo by Catsy* The starting items, left to right: - Chrome Plasma Blade - Dark Grey Dadao - Tan Machete - Dark Grey ("Dark Bley") Machete More interesting examples of this can be found in other pictures on Catsy's photostream

Will uses a set pattern repeated over a large surface. Spread some accessories out, spray on design, flip accessories, spray the other side, and voila, camo printed accessories! There's of course a lot more to it than that (especially for the printed minifig parts), but that's the basic concept! It's an inkjet printer, but I'm not aware of the exact product name. It's a really big fancy thing that takes up a pretty good space of Will's workshop, but he absolutely loves what he can do with it in terms of printing his own custom minifigs and accessories. I'll be visiting BrickArms HQ at BrickCon, so I'll see if I can talk Will into sharing one or two pictures of it! With process Will is currently using, each item gets a unique pattern applied, that pattern depending on how it is placed on the printing surface. Will could create jigs to hold the accessories and apply the same paint scheme to each item (like is done for the standard BrickArms custom figs), but for camo items, having each one unique seems appropriate!

The initial color of the BrickArms accessories differs from test to test. Will has tried out Tan, Dark Tan (a brand new color!), Chrome, and a few other colors to see what might work best. As for the minifig parts, the initial part is a LEGO minifig but the custom printing is 100% Will. Too early to say! Like I said above, camo printing is still in the testing stage, and Will's just not sure how he's going to introduce these into the BrickArms line-up. Individual items? Included with a custom fig? A special pack? All fun ideas that Will's considering! Yes! The system Will is using to print these accessories and figs is such he can plug in nearly any camo design into the printer and apply it to the items. I'll pass those design ideas onto Will and maybe he'll give them a shot!

Will's been experimenting again with his new inkjet printer, and here are the results: printed camouflage minifigs and BrickArms accessories! The minifigs: The accessories: As of right now, these are just tests, so questions related to if/when/how they'd be added to the BrickArms line-up are a bit premature for the moment. Still, if they're something you'd like to see from BrickArms, definitely feel free to post here to let Will know!

Given TRON sets aren't that likely from LEGO and Will Chapman's also a huge fan of that film, here's something cool that TRON fans might dig in the absence of actual LEGO product:

Will and I are both HUGE fans of the original TRON, and when I forwarded a shot of updated identity discs from the new TRON Legacy film to him, here's what resulted: Will created these by injecting the Chakram prototype mold with high-quality Glow-in-Dark ABS then printing over the resulting accessories on both sides with black with his inkjet printer to get the glowing edges effect. As of right now, it's just a fun test of both a new prototype design as well as Will's new inkjet printer, so I really can't say if and/or when it'll ever be available on the BrickArms website. Still, if it's something you dig, please feel free to post here to let Will know!

As a TRON fan who decades ago wore out the clam shell VHS my family once had, I'd frankly LOVE to see a line based on TRON. That said, I'm not sure it would necessarily be as popular with the core audience of LEGO. If it happens, I'll be certain to collect them, but I won't be holding my breath.

Now that brings back memories! You definitely captured all the characters with those figs; I'll have to dig out a few ancient Nintendo Power issues and reminisce!

If you took the time out from your vacation to let me know, the least I can do is pass that request onto Will! Thanks for the feedback!

Thanks for all the feedback! I'll definitely pass on everything that had to be said to Will! Really, that's the whole point of BrickArms displaying these prototypes: as they're still works-in-progress, your feedback definitely has an effect on what you'll see next BrickArms!

I am sorry about that! Honestly, that was a truly beautiful display, and both Will and myself would have loved to provide you with all the Muskets you needed! Quite honestly, we weren't expecting the tremendous response they got! Yes, should Will decide to pursue mass production of the Musket (and with just how popular it is, that's very likely!), Brown and maybe even Dark Brown are the two most obvious, useful colors for it to be available in. The reason the Sawed-Off Shotgun (and M1 Carbine) aren't available in Brown is that the production mold used to create them includes many other items that aren't necessarily useful in Brown. So rather than run that mold in Brown and be left with many, many Brown MG42s, Will decided to just to a limited run in Brown to make enough Brown M1 Carbines and Sawed-off Shotguns to include with a custom fig. However, with both the Kar98 and Musket so popular, its likely Will might pursue another Brown-centric production mold, like the one used to produce the M1 Garand and Lee-Enfield. Should Will include the Sawed-off Shotgun and M1 Carbine in that mold, then he'd be able to offer them in brown with no strange "off-color" extras! First off, Will would never copy the detailing of a LEGO accessory; he respects LEGO too much to do something like that (regretfully, the same can't be said for others), and besides, since he has the ability to design new things himself, it's just more fun to create something new! As for the flintlock vs. caplock, Will did give that issue considerable thought, and ultimately, the caplock just looked more attractive on this particular item. Ultimately, on the minifig scale, it's a small detail (but neat!) detail that really shouldn't prevent you from using the Musket for any Pirate, Colonial, Napoleonic, or Civil War era MOCs.

The barrel of the Musket is slightly wider than the standard grip size, but a U-Clip can be attached and not have it break or be overly-stretched. If you used that type of attachment for a longer period of time, you might need to gently pinch the fingers of the U-Clip to restore its grip strength, but beyond that, it should be fine! During the design process, Will did try a width that was grip size, and the Musket just didn't have enough heft to give a sense of a larger, heavy item muskets really were. Of course, Will is also considering high-quality, flexible plastic U-Clips that are extremely durable, but that's another story . . . Posing with rifle-grip style weapons is always interesting given the limitations of the minifig arm, but experimenting with the Musket, I've found all sorts of neat ways to pose the fig that resemble firing and bayoneting, especially when you add a BrickArms Monopod to the grip. Utimately, it's just as posable as the LEGO rifle and other similar BrickArms accessories (M1 Garand, Lee-Enfield). Thanks for the feedback!

Comparing the listings of Warehouse19 using the XE currency converter, there's only a little difference, and that may be more a factor of the exchange rate and cost of importing the items. You might also try Minifigforlife, the BrickArms UK seller who ships internationally as well. In terms of what's available from resellers, some items, like the BrickArms custom minifigs, can only be produced in small numbers such that Will can only keep an adequate stock for BrickArms. He has been considering starting internationally shipping again, but with the issue he previously had with lost and missing packages, if he were to do so, it would most likely be International Priority.

Will prefers to take his time with mass producing BrickArms accessories to ensure they're the best that they can be. Sometimes that does mean a bit of a wait, but the quality of accessories has definitely shown Will the process of displaying prototypes and using fan feedback to tweak their designs is definitely one that works! In terms of when the Bayonets will be available, not too much longer actually! Dan Siskind of Brickmania had pre-release Bayonets for sale at Brickfair, and it was clear they were VERY popular. Will does plan an update to the BrickArms website in the not-too-distant future (can't be more specific than that!), and I think you'll be very happy with what will be included!

The HLC and Viewfinder are based on the laser cannon from the anime film Akira: Interesting! The main issue with the current design is actually that Will feels it's a bit oversized (longer than the BrickArms M1 Garand and Lee-Enfield). It's possible that when Will resizes it, you may feel it's closer to a Winchester. Ultimately, given both rifles are so similar in appearance, on the minifig scale and aesthetic, I'd say the BA Lever-Action could easily fill-in for both!

Giving this thread a bump as Will has created a prototype mold using an updated design for the BrickArms Musket! Notice the new detailing in the hammer of the Musket! Still, it is still a work in progress, and any and all constructive feedback you have will be great appreciated and taken into consideration!

Some images of the new BrickArms prototypes and exclusive items Brickmania had on display and to offer at Brickfair 2010! First up, the new prototypes Will unveiled at Brickfair! Kar98 Rifle Heavy Laser Cannon with removable Viewfinder The Viewfinder is a separate accessory that connects into the HLC using the same slot-tab system as the MG42, Combat LMG, Ammo Drum, and Buildable Ammo Chain Tab. Here's a shot of the Viewfinder unattached: This system means you can mix-and-match accessories in all sorts of neat ways! Here's two fun examples: Z-5E Pod Gun The barrel is fully-grippable, allowing all sorts of neat building opportunities! Lever-Action Rifle Will actually only cut half a prototype mold for the Lever-Action as it was immediately obvious the item was oversized and the design needed to be revised. Still, Will thought folks would enjoy seeing the design as well as just how well his new CNC can cut! BrickArms also unveiled a new ABS plastic prototype of the BrickArms Musket which can be seen in this thread in the Classic-Pirates Forum In terms of neat new exclusive items, Will provided Dan Siskind of Brickmania with these fun items: the BrickArms Stahlhelm in White and Tan! As of this moment, Will is still considering whether or not builders would be strongly interested in having those color options added to the BrickArms website. Please feel free to post if you'd like to see the BrickArms Stahlhelm in White and/or Tan here! Dan of Brickmania also had several new production BrickArms accessories available for sale at the convention, and you can look forward to several fun additions to the BrickArms line-up in the near future (that's as specific as I can get)! Any and all constructive feedback you have is greatly appreciated!