KDog

New comic: "Blank Attack (Part 3)" http://www.drunkduck.com/Lego_Space/?p=440523

Yeah, Dougie was a red shirt. And so was that one dragon, too, I guess. This story has two more parts, I believe. I've got to try and make time to both plot out and photograph two more stories this weekend, or else you're gonna be getting comics made from recycled panels next week. ;-)

Blank Attack (Part 2) is up! http://www.drunkduck.com/Lego_Space/?p=439931

Look, I just politely asked a favor that I hoped someone might be able or willing to grant. I didn't realize it would be such a time-consuming or difficult process to recover a file. Thanks for the response, but no need to get preachy with me.

It can't be recovered as a deleted file? Like with Back2Life? I know it would be asking a lot, but I would certainly be grateful. If you were able to recover the file and copy and paste me the text even.

I sent a PM to another user today that had information that took me hours to write, then the other user accidentally deleted the message. And my sent folder has nothing in it. Is there a way the message can be recovered? Can a mod please help me with this ASAP? Thanks! Kevin

Don't worry, there's two or three more parts to this.

Nope, never. That would make for less interesting comics. ;-)

Blank Attack (Part 1) is up: http://www.drunkduck.com/Lego_Space/?p=438083 This is the longest comic I've ever done. Makes up for that four-panel comic I did a few weeks back! lol I think the reason it's so long is because I shot the pictures with just a general idea of the plot in my head instead of having a script in hand, so the pacing was different and I wanted to use most of the photos that I took. The creation of this story was all very spontaneous. I shot this one at my cousins' house because they have all these Lego sets I wish I had, such at the Mega Core Magnetizer. I love all its features and how huge the thing is. It's awesome seeing the pictures of minifigs standing next to tires that dwarf them.

I know, time is moving at a snail's pace within the comic. There's a reason why the stories have to be arranged like they are, though. Valkyrie hasn't shown up in about 20 or so comics, but I might be doing a Blacktron-centric story featuring her before the story where she meets Schwartz. Schwartz hasn't shown up in two weeks and won't be in next week's comics, which I think is the longest I've gone without showing him. On the plus side, some of the lesser seen characters are getting the spotlight. The line-up of stories looks kind of like this now: Next week you'll see what Scouse's M:Tron team has been up to in his absence. After that will be a Blacktron story and a Space Agency story (involving a lot of the Space Agency characters you've already met, including Schwartz and Galanos), although which one comes first I'm unsure. I'm still doing a story about Schwartz's robot, although I'm not sure if it will be before or after the story about the date. I once said that I would have all my initial storylines wrapped up in 100 comics, but I just kind of laugh at that idea now! There's a lot of dangling plot threads, and I introduced a couple more recently that came to me suddenly. I've actually scolded myself not to start any more until I wrap some others up. I'm glad you appreciate my quirkiness. I've been told I'm able to surprise with the twists and turns I write, and I certainly have an offbeat style, so I'm glad if it's going over well. ANYWAY, The final part of "Not So Bad a Kidnapping" is up: http://www.drunkduck.com/Lego_Space/?p=437353 I just had my largest number of hits at my comic page in one day yesterday (650) and it wasn't even an update day! Yay!

I got burned by a Bricklink seller recently who sold me what was advertised as a complete Polaris I Space Lab, but it was anything but, missing several pieces and having many extras of others, including pieces not even in the set. The seller did not respond to my complaint, either. I decided to make the best of the situation and use the collection of parts to build a different base. My initial goal was to create something I could use in my comic strip as a character's home. What I ended up doing was making a base that I hoped would fit the design style of the late Classic Space/pre-Futuron era. I already favor more old school building techniques, and they were right at home here. This base was also inspired a bit by designs I've seen for underwater bases, mainly the "Looking Glass" station in the show Lost, as I had just watched an episode featuring it before building this set. The base does maintain the look of a house a bit, which is intentional, since I incorporated living quarters and might use this set as an abandoned outpost that my character Galanos will be using as his home. I don't have the digital camera so had to use my girlfriend's cell phone camera. I apologize that the pictures aren't as clear as the ones I take for my comic are. Taurus 9 Listening Outpost It's hard to see here, but the lower windows are blue and black, made to look like the blue windows and have sun glare bands on the top and bottom. There is a launching platform for the small ship and a little control post for it outside. The control post also stores weapons. You can see the lower control room and upstairs living quarters here. A closer view of the interior. Not the greatest shot. There's two swiveling chairs and two computer terminals, with plenty of stylish white corners and curves. Airtanks can be stored along the wall. The three astronauts work in shifts, retiring between shifts to an upstairs bed, which is next to a computer for personal use. A closer view of the ship. A lot of details are lost in these pictures, but it's loosely based on the Blacktron Invader and the general characteristics of other small and open Classic Space ships. I might post a couple of additional shots once I have access to the digital camera.

Haven't thought that far ahead.

Yeah, I'm very unimpressed. I thought Lego would offer something different than what they would ever offer in stores, or include a minifig that wouldn't be available in wide release until later (like a ToD set with Shorty or something). This just feels like a set that didn't make the cut for retail. It doesn't even represent a real scene from a movie. I have someone trying to get this set for me at SDCC, but I'm not going to be too worried if he doesn't. And if I do get it, I might end up selling it. I dunno.

Thank you, DSR. But I will explain how Scouse went from being abducted to being where you've seen him in this storyline.

Not So Bad a Kidnapping (Part 5) is up! http://www.drunkduck.com/Lego_Space/?p=436166

I use Corel Paint Shop Pro X. While I did pay for it, it's still the poor man's version of Photoshop. Yeah, I'm a big fan of cats, and went back to the "scritchies" thing on purpose. And I just had to incorporate the collapsing bridge mechanism!

Which punchline? "Victory!"?

I think the placeholder was a faux pas, but regardless, what's wrong with having multiple reviews of a set? People have differing opinions.

I would love to put out a book of the comics. It would be nice to have them there to read all in one volume, on the bus or on the train or on your couch. And I'm pretty sure it would sell. (Although I would need to redo the first 55 comics for better image quality! Hopefully the PNG comics that I'm doing now would look fine in print.) But even if I didn't use the word "Lego" anywhere in the book, I imagine Lego would take issue with the book. I have heard that they are lax when it comes to unofficial books, though. There are other collections of comics (granted, not using Lego's set designs) and books on how to build Lego creations. What I am doing is very similar to Twisted Toyfare Theater in Toyfare Magazine, which uses known superheroes and other characters and tells stories that are both humorous and parodies of the more serious properties to which they refer. Toyfare even sells book of just their comics, but I don't know what the arrangement is. In the end, yes, it would help out a lot to sell books, especially with all the time I put into doing the comics, but I think I have to keep doing it for fun if I don't want to bring down copyright wrath. There's also other potential problematic issues (song lyrics, etc.). What's most important to me is the joy I get out of telling the stories I have in mind, and I want to be able to continue to do that. If I make no money from it and it's not painting anything in a bad light, then hopefully I can avoid negative attention. I do hate having to worry that someone is going to come down on me about something. What would be awesome is if one day Lego approached me to do comics in my style for their Web site or their magazine or something. I think it would be cool if they created fiction that appealed to their base of adult collectors (but that kids could enjoy, too). Lego could say, for example, "We want a series of photo-comics telling stories and giving characterizations to the new Pirates line for 2009," and that I would do. Granted, I would need samples of the sets to do so. :-D

Not So Bad a Kidnapping (Part 4) just went up: http://www.drunkduck.com/Lego_Space/?p=434749

LOL, thanks, but you're too kind. :)

I was looking at the Polaris I Space Lab set today ( http://brickset.com/detail.aspx?Set=6972-1 ) and thought it strange that all three minifig astronauts in the set had blue uniforms. This was in an era when most big sets had a combination of astronauts in different colors, which were blue, yellow, red, black and white. Granted, some medium-sized sets that came with two minifigs had them in the same color. I recall a few sets that had two yellow astronauts. Futuron eliminated the all-white astronauts but retained the other colors. In any case, I wonder if Lego intended the different-colored uniforms to represent different departments, much like Star Trek did. In Star Trek - The Next Generation, command and engineering had red uniforms; security and ship's operations had tan uniforms; and medical and science had blue uniforms. The Polaris I Space Lab seems to be a dedicated scientific research station, so perhaps blue represents the science field in Classic Space? Then again, the color of the minifigs might just have been more of a design choice by Lego. The mostly white Polaris I set has blue highlights and the three identical astronauts make it look really awesome.

Nude comic! Not So Bad a Kidnapping (Part 3): http://www.drunkduck.com/Lego_Space/index.php?p=432818

I'm hoping for an Empire State building.

I just had to point out that I had a dream about this MOC last night! I guess it's a testament to how much I love this temple, because in the dream I bought it (or one) from you. In the dream, I came home to find this huge box on my porch and excitedly went inside to open it. I was surprised to find that the core of the set was some kind of Lego one piece building, like those in the old Fabuland sets, and that you had built around it. But it didn't matter because the temple looks so awesome. I think th dream stems from the fact that I wish this was a retail set that I could purchase.