Jump to content

MAB

Eurobricks Archdukes
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    8,650

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Everything posted by MAB

  1. MAB
    This is also part of the problem. Thomas is interesting for kids up to 3/4/5 years old. Which is why if Lego did anything with it, it would be exactly as before, large pre-molded Duplo parts. There are of course many good LEGO systeMOCs using custom decals for the faces, but I doubt LEGO would ever go for things like that, there just wouldn't be the market for it.
  2. MAB
    That is something really important. If you are not enjoying a MOC, stop and have a break from it. Build a few more things from instructions before trying again, especially if they have a technique you want to replicate in the MOC. Sometimes it is even worth buying instruction booklets (or using the online versions, but paper copies are easier to "read") if you don't have the set, if there is something in that set that you want to try to repeat. You don't need to build the whole set, just look at how others do the bit that you want to do.
  3. MAB
    If the designs are really that poor, what would be the point of including more than one design? As to 70403, I believe you are looking at it through the eyes of an adult. My son (8) has that set and loves it. That "pointless" structure is (i) a prison where the dragon knight keeps the princess, (ii) the wizard's tower and cave beneath, (iii) a bridge from which the dragon knight throws things or shoots at the king's knights, and sometimes the bridge gets hit by rocks shot from the catapult and falls down, (iv) hidey-holes underneath where either other dragon knights hide, or the king's knights hide when they attack to rescue the princess, or a hiding place for treasure and (v) the staircase itself where the knights often battle it out. And it is quite simple, so easily rebuilt if the dragon crashes into it. All that, plus the dragon, for a fairly low price point. Remember that designers work to a price point. I have no doubt the structure could have looked a lot better if it had another 350 pieces. But at double the cost, would it have been worth it by doubling the play value? Probably not.
  4. MAB
    White. You'll get much better all-round light if you have white walls.
  5. MAB
    Practice, practice, practice! Get a polybag and build it, without looking at the instructions. Build something out of 100 2x4 bricks. Now get 100 2x1 bricks. How would you improve what you have built? Then get 100 1x1 bricks and improve on it again. You might start off with a nice shaped object, but as you continue you will add detail. Then add some small plates or cheese slopes, etc. It is important to think about shape and form first (along with stability of the underlying structure), detail later. Build a MOC of something that is interesting to you. Take a photo, then tear it down. Build it again and take a photo. Tear it down again. Rebuild it again. Look at the photos, is each one getting better? You don't need to use LDD. In fact, I think you are better off not using it. You learn about stability and clutch much better when building for real.
  6. MAB
    Now there are a few of each of the main characters, I find you can mix and match the legs and torsos between them to create a bit of variation in a small tribe. You need to pinch some heads from Friends characters for head variations. This is for my daughter of course, not for me :-)
  7. MAB
    My kids used to spend hours playing with them, on the carpet rather than on the track, so I can understand not including track. They were much more cost sensitive then too. I doubt they'd have kept the molds for them.
  8. MAB
    Round 63 ... I wish there was a none-of-them option!
  9. MAB
    ^ and ^^ The Elves minidolls are very easy to sell if you are realistic about pricing, and some of the Elves exclusive parts also sell well. It is quite easy to recoup quite a bit if you sell on the stuff you don't want. That's true. I'm just sorting a mixture of used Friends sets. I've sorted the Grand Hotel (great for white and tan) and Jungle Rescue (browns, tans, dk orange and some foliage). I always thought the hotel was really purple, lavender and gold, but the amount of white is amazing, you just don't see it.
  10. MAB
    You might find that they refer to your child as an infant rather than a child. They could also refuse to give it to you for safety reasons, as it is not suitable for a baby and you could sue if the baby choked on the parts.
  11. MAB
    If you are willing to use the fairly frequently used colour pallette (pinks / purples / azure bricks) in buildings, then yes, they are a good source for parts. As always with sets from any range, check the inventories before buying.
  12. MAB
    Would you be willing to pay more for those sets, since they are then essentially designing two sets, so increasing the design costs. Speaking as a parent, I often get annoyed by box art showing how a modular kit looks when combined with loads of other sets. It gives kids the wrong impression, and parents see $$$ signs flashing before them.
  13. MAB
    Fo course, it is probably too big in diameter for what you want, but there is this ...
  14. MAB
    And by the same reasoning, how many figures should we get in the SW universe, or POTC, or LOTR. If they did it, I would expect most people would want the key characters, and not to have to buy loads of CMF to get the key characters. That is why it would be better served as a one-off small set than a CMF series. Although personally, I doubt there is much interest from kids for that to happen as a widespread release. A smaller release for selling to nostalgic adults is more likely.
  15. MAB
    Groups of 3 would have worked, ---> 128, the 64, 32,16,8,4,2,1. But it is fine as it is. Using 6 has just reduced the number of rounds. Sure some apparently popular characters have got lost in round 1, but they will have lost at some stage if not round 2 then probably 3 or 4.
  16. MAB
    And he's all over the Eurobricks banner.
  17. MAB
    Bunny suit for me. I'm not a fan of the jester - he added nothing much (except a change of colour) that wasn't already available with the nicer coloured red and white jesters.
  18. MAB
    We also have a few photo frames - just a backplate made up of plates, then a layer of 1xX plate all around three edges, then a layer of 2xX plates on front of that, and they hold the photos in the groove. The kids decorate the 2xX tiles as they please.
  19. MAB
    Android tablet stand, key holders, raspberry pi case (and another for a smart TV box), and various arduino cases. Also a night-light for my son (although that one used non-purist LEDs as lego's ones are too expensive).
  20. MAB
    A hint for the next round ...?
  21. MAB
    People would probably be interested in all of the ones that haven't been made by lego.
  22. MAB
    I doubt kids care enough about it to make them money. And if adults did, then they'd probably be better off doing a one-off minifigure heavy set rather than a CMF series. I cannot think how I'd fill up a series of 16 with characters from Wizard of Oz. And I doubt people would want multiples of the main characters.
  23. MAB
    Although they overlap in some subject matter at the periphery, I doubt Elves and Castle overlap much when it comes to marketing and themes available at the time. Elves seems to be firmly in the "girl" section, even though some boys and men like it.
  24. MAB
    I agree with this, I don't think LEGO thinks making (Classic) Castle sets is a risk at all. They have done it on and off for years, with changes in identity from time to time. The risk is to keep on doing the same old thing year after year. There becomes no reason for people (and especially parents) to buy new sets if they are essentially the same as the ones they bought last year, the year before and the year before that.
  25. MAB
    It was used by LEGO in the 1980s (eg in set 375) and is known as the pony ears technique (after where it was used). I think it had gone out of favour (by them) but they have started doing similar things again recently. MOC'ers often don't care as much, often connecting bricks or plates in less than LEGO legal ways.
×
×
  • Create New...