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AmperZand

Eurobricks Dukes
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Everything posted by AmperZand

  1. AmperZand
    Three duergars (evil dwarves) with a dwarf skeleton:
  2. AmperZand
    Inspired by Wardancer's thread on Drow Elves, I decided to post pictures of my Evil Dwarves. From left to right: Duergar (evil dwarf) that I MOCed quite some years ago, Duergar I MOCed more recently, skeleton Dwarf and TLG's Evil Dwarf from CMF S5 (http://www.lego.com/en-gb/minifigures/characters/dwarf2-1fecb238602e414a8519e40c05ed6fab) but with a third party axe and no shield. The skeleton Dwarf is newly MOCed. His red axe head is supposed to pick up on his red right eye, while his brown shield is meant to pick up on the brown eye-patch covering his left eye. Side view of the skeleton Dwarf showing the arrow in his back that killed him. Questions? Comments? Khazad-dum?
  3. AmperZand
    Neat MOC! Or should I say "rock MOC"? "The Night: Nights In White Satin" Nights in white satin, Never reaching the end, Letters I've written, Never meaning to send. Beauty I'd always missed With these eyes before, Just what the truth is I can't say anymore. 'Cause I love you, Yes, I love you, Oh, how, I love you. Gazing at people, Some hand in hand, Just what I'm going thru They can understand. Some try to tell me Thoughts they cannot defend, Just what you want to be You will be in the end, And I love you, Yes, I love you, Oh, how, I love you. Oh, how, I love you. Nights in white satin, Never reaching the end, Letters I've written, Never meaning to send. Beauty I'd always missed With these eyes before, Just what the truth is I can't say anymore. 'Cause I love you, Yes, I love you, Oh, how, I love you. Oh, how, I love you. 'Cause I love you, Yes, I love you, Oh, how, I love you. Oh, how, I love you.
  4. AmperZand
    This thread http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=67887&st=975#entry2483976 is your friend.
  5. AmperZand
    TLG doesn't have its own stores in Japan but a chain called clickbrick operates LEGO stores under licence. I haven't been to Japan in a couple of years, but here are pictures of two branches from back then: Inagi, Tokyo: Yokohama, just outside Tokyo I've also been to three LEGO stores in the UK (Westfield, Westfield and Bluewater), one in France (which had a supply chain problem), one in the US (Chicago), one at the airport in Copenhagen (which was a rubbish store) and quite a few Toys R Us stores including the one in Times Square, NY. The LEGO section of John Lewis on Oxford Street, London used to be pretty good with some life-size Star Wars characters but I haven't been in a while and don't know what it's like now. Unfortunately, I don't have pictures of any of these stores. .
  6. AmperZand
    Have you tried FireStarToys? They sometimes have BW parts in colours that BW themselves no longer carry. The downside to FST is that they're really expensive.
  7. AmperZand
    The illusionist appears to have a brick-built wand. There's nothing wrong with it of course, but you could have used the CMF magician's/Mia's wand: http://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=87994pb01&idColor=11#T=C&C=11 If you sourced the parts for your MOC through BrickLink, you might not have realised that that wand existed because BrickLink's name for it doesn't include the word "wand", so a search wouldn't have revealed it. Silly BrickLink!
  8. AmperZand
    That's essentially correct though importing (ordering from abroad) and possession of IP-infringing products may be liable to civil (or less likely criminal) action depending, in part, or your jurisdiction. While it's true that the manufacturers and distributors are more obviously culpable, they're based in China where IP laws are routinely disregarded or unenforced and venal officials turn a blind eye to IP infringements. For IP owners, an alternative to going after the manufacturers/distributors directly is to reduce demand for their products. And one way to do that is to scare consumers with the threat of legal action. Even if such action wouldn't succeed, the prospect of finding oneself with ruinous legal costs would act as a deterrent. Disney/Warner Brothers wouldn't have to win the case. They would just have to cause financial hardship to a few people and publicise it. That tactic would work best in the US where legal expenses are particularly high and losers in civil cases don't pay the winner's costs (as they do in the UK). So if you're outside the US, you're probably safe, but I still wouldn't tempt the hand of fate.
  9. AmperZand
    There are some truly impressive collections in this thread! Some are purist, others are not. If I had any bootleg minifigures, I certainly wouldn't post pictures of them. You never know when Disney (Marvel) or Warner Brothers (DC) are going to set their lawyers/rottweilers on you. You might imagine that they wouldn't for a few minifigures, but you might also have thought that of recording companies and people who downloaded a couple of dodgy tracks and yet they did a few years ago. Action against intellectual property infringement should be proportional to the financial loss incurred but often isn't. Lawyers and the legal system - especially in the US - are excessively heavy-handed and punitive. And I wouldn't bank on the anonymity afforded by EB, Flickr or anywhere else. Unless you're using proxy servers to hide your identity or only ever registering and uploading from a publicly accessible IP address, you can be traced.
  10. AmperZand
    A MOC doesn't have to be big to be "serious". Some of the most creative MOCs are actually quite small. Before you start building, develop a rough idea of what you intend to build and how big. Then have a look at source material such as images of the type of building/vehicle if it's real world or stills from movies/TV if not. Google Images is your friend. Then decide on any special features, parts or construction techniques you wish to include. After that, amass the pieces you think you'll need but don't get hung up on preparing all your bricks in advance. A lot of MOCing involves trial and error and it's almost inevitable that you won't have all the bricks you'll need at the start. BrickLink is the best way of getting the additional pieces you require. Try to find BrickLink stores with large inventories and don't hesitate to get extra parts that you may not wind up using; there's a good chance they'll come in handy later in the build or for future MOCs. Some people design their MOCs using CAD such as LDD and get all the parts ready before they start building, but I'm old school and prefer to create as I go.
  11. AmperZand
    I did some googling and discovered that Bela has cloned Aira's Pegasus set including the pegasus wings. However, the wings I have aren't cloned; they're genuine LEGO. I got them from a BrickLink seller with a long and impeccable feedback record from whom I ordered other LEGO parts that all seem fine. The wings were sold as new, i.e. they came directly from LEGO sets, and all four wings have the LEGO mark on them in very small along with some code numbers. I think I figured out what the problem is. I tried the wings with various clips and they're fine with some but not with others. I suspect that LEGO parts are made within certain tolerances and that the bar of pegasus wings are at the upper end of the diameter tolerance. That's fine with most clips, but when a clip is at the bottom of its tolerance range, the two parts aren't compatible.
  12. AmperZand
    I bought some pegasus wings from the Elves range (these pieces: http://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=20313&idColor=95#T=C&C=95 and http://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=20312&idColor=95#T=C&C=95 ) on Bricklink. They're genuine LEGO pieces but I found that the bar along the side of the wing is too thick and can't be held by regular LEGO system clips. The wings don't stay in place. The slightest movement or contact and they just pop out. Is this a known issue or are they supposed to be that way?
  13. AmperZand
    That's true but amazingbricks already posted that one. Although not mentioned, I assume that both you and amazingbricks were including Spidey's new web piece. Bingo! There is no corner of Bleeker (or even Bleecker) and Second Avenue in New York City. They don't intersect, but Bleecker and Broadway do: https://www.google.c...!7i13312!8i6656 Now instead of the real life New Yorkers you can see in that Google Maps photo, imagine Hobgoblin chucking pumpkin bombs and Ghost Rider blazing in to save the day! There are no other modifications in the pictures that are worth mentioning. Well done to everyone who spotted one! Since taking the pictures, I've given Ghost Rider a Hellfire Shotgun. It's just a black shotgun - and no, it's not purist - but it does suit him. If you have modded this set, please post your pictures below.
  14. AmperZand
    Correct on all four! You have a talent for this, PickleDanMan. There's a trivial modification in the omission of the two little fires where, presumably, Hobgoblin's pumpkin bombs hit the ground after missing Spidey. There are also a couple of minor modifications which I didn't expect anyone to spot due to the low resolution of the pictures. One is the black 1 x 1 round plate fitted to the hole in the connector that holds the front wheel of Ghost Rider's bike. I'm surprised that plates weren't provided with the set for that purpose as it works just as well for a #2 connector as it does for a #3. The other - which can only just be seen in one of the pictures - is a trans orange disc (part 4278409) on the underside of the bike's front assembly (step 31, page 45 of the instructions). Yes! I was wondering how long that would take to spot. What about the other street's sign? The same as in the set?
  15. AmperZand
    The hazard sign is a modification but only to the extent that I added it. I didn't create it. It's a LEGO design from another set. There are still a few modifications that haven't been identified. Some are subtle but others are pretty conspicuous. Can you spot them?
  16. AmperZand
    Correct! You can't see it in the picture, but the manhole cover has an NYC (New York City) sticker on it which, if you know your LEGO TMNT sets, is a clue to what else might have been added or replaced. But there are modifications even beyond those changes. The search goes on...
  17. AmperZand
    Angled in the middle? Correct. I used a #3 connector instead of the #2 supplied to give it a Chopper Motorcycle appearance. I tried #4, #5 and #6 but they didn't look right. Extra flames above the rear wheel? Correct. Small flames by the handle bars? Correct. New handle bars? Correct. Again, I wanted to give the handle bars more of the swept outward look of Chopper Bikes. Well spotted, PickleManDan! But there are more mods. Can anyone find them?
  18. AmperZand
    Correct on all three! But there are a lot more. Can you spot them? Apologies. I put them on Brickshelf which is behaving erratically. I've now put the pictures on a back-up location. They should be OK. Please let me know if not.
  19. AmperZand
    Completely agree for the same reason. I've been an AFOL since 1993. My ABS and cloth parts from the '90s are fine. I doubt stickers would be. If not kept in perfect conditions, I suspect the adhesive would have dried and the stickers come off. As I hope to be an AFOL for decades to come, I don't want to find myself with sets that look tired due to their ageing stickers. If you apply a bit of window cleaner to the part with a cotton bud, mopping up almost all of the excess, you can place the sticker and move it around until it's in exactly the right spot. Then press down from the middle of the sticker outward to squeeze out the remaining fluid and any air bubbles. In the UK, I use Windolene. I don't know if it's available in Ireland. Me too.
  20. AmperZand
    J. Jonah Jameson here. That dastardly villain AmperZand has been modding LEGO sets again! This time, he's gone too far. He's changed set 76058 Spider-Man Ghost Rider Team Up and we want to undo what he's done. Can you spot the differences between the set designed by LEGO and AmperZand's version? Readers of the Daily Bugle would sure appreciate your help. Note that both pictures below show AmperZand's version. LEGO's original can be seen here: http://brickset.com/...t-Rider-Team-Up Pictures © Peter Parker 2016
  21. AmperZand
    http://www.eurobrick...topic=7167&st=0 http://www.eurobrick...00#entry2058714 Leave the yellowed parts in a solution of hydrogen peroxide and Vanish Oxy Action Crystal White in a clear, glass jar (no lid!) in direct sunlight for a few hours. That should restore them to their original whiteness. Then rinse in water and dry.
  22. AmperZand
    If you're willing to go non-purist (i.e. use 3rd party pieces), Brick Arms used to do round and hex bases for minifigures. I'm not sure if they still do, but there is a physical and online store located in the Netherlands that sells the round ones: http://www.brickizimo-toys.com/en/minifig-stands/594-minifig-stand.html . Hope that helps.
  23. AmperZand
    Excellent! Not just a MOC, that's a work of art.
  24. AmperZand
    Is one of the reasons that you're a FOL that you're particularly prone to the IKEA effect ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IKEA_effect )? Or to put it differently, if sets came pre-assembled, would you value the completed creation less? I suspect I would and not just because I enjoy assembling them. I like things more when I have to put a bit of effort into them (such as assembling a set) which doesn't make a great deal of sense.
  25. AmperZand
    Very nice, Evgeny! Are the leg, body and face printing custom or by LEGO? If by LEGO, which parts are they?
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