Peppermint_M

Alright, feedback is of course going to be flavoured by my own personal likes in spacecraft: Further angles and rotation on the engines would make it really stand out; while the friction hinges are a great way to add one angle, a multi-rotated "off grid" (that is not squared) build makes it next level. So the V shape is cool, but dip them so they are no longer exactly level with the body of the craft and it is a cooler look again. That can be achieved with use of technic bricks and pins. Colour would be my next thought: breaking up the solid dark bley with even light bley or more red would allow definition to the segments and shapes. Of course, there are a lot more flat silvers and other metallics available now in parts and shapes that make great "outlining" for the build but keep the more military look. (I am a huge fan of Chris Foss spaceships, so my spaceships are more vibrant...) but that is going to be a case pf building up a collection of buying new parts. The stud-less look is always a slick choice, but I like a few mechanically greebles peeking out from what would be smooth panels on the craft. So, all the studs don't have to have a tile on, switch some out for a clip and a lightsaber handle, or a pair binoculars with screwdrivers in. Or even just grill tiles. The studs are hidden, but it looks a little more detailed. I hope this helps, I supposed the next stop for ideas is to look at the other builds out there and ask the builder what they did.

You can deeplink a photo from Flickr, or share with BBcode. Johnny Thunder's Pyramid Mystery by peppermint_mecha, on Flickr in your photostream, use Share, go to the BBCode option, choose a size that fits or limits on the forum (under 1200 pixels on one side is a safe bet) and copy the code. Paste it into your post To deeplink, select the Download menu, choose "All Sizes" it takes you to a page with the image and all sizes available. Click the size you want and copy the URL. Paste it into your post.

So, Bricker might help. It is a good database of sets from other brands, so you may have some luck here. It is very easy to get mixed up! My father used to argue that LEGO sets had individual roof tiles in the 70s, until I found the BettaBuilder set he was talking about

It has been a very long term trend that started at least five years ago. Themes that are current (aka, products are available) are more active. The activity is predominantly discussion of new and upcoming products and related leaks. Absolutely high class MOCs or MOCs with extra recognition (like those related to known properties, contest winners etc). Also, currently in society and online there is an attitude that any sort of criticism/disagreement, even some comment that is not 100% "right on!" positive is an attack. So people are reluctant to say anything. All I can suggest is maybe asking for specific advice on areas or techniques used in a MOC. Maybe bring up a part of the design you struggled with or are unsure of. I know from personal experience; every time I tried to share advice on improving a MOC I simply was told in return "it is my style"/"that is not my style". So I gave up on that.

Okay, Brickset might be useful. Space has many pages. Otherwise, Bricklink might help, if you backtrack by finding a part that was in the set and then finding out where it appeared in the right colours. After a quick browse, I cannot find a match, but Classic Space was before my time, so a set that I dismiss may be the one you are looking for. Hope you can ID it!

Absolutely stupendous build! I have been watching all of Monty Python on Netflix (I can't say how many times I have watched all of it. It is too many to count) This is excellent

A good LED or White Light is also an excellent way to check colours. When I am building, the space is currently lit with neon-tubes with a more yellow light (I will fix that eventually) so I use the phone flash assistive light feature (Or Flashlight/torch) on certain bricks. It is useful to figure colours apart.

Frontpaging is an automatic process from "featuring" a thread now. Any staff and the sub-forum regulators can feature. In future contests I might ask other staff members not to promote any one MOC entry, but I felt it served to promote the contest at this point, especially across platforms now that there is an EB instagram that has a good following. I also felt that the fact that in looking through the voting thread which lists all the MOCs in one post (A post you need to check through to come across the correct numbers to vote for) serves as a chance for people to cast votes for other entries as well as the "promoted" one they intended to award. In fact, very few 3 points were awarded, most people cast 2 and 1 or even three 1 point awards. Like I said, maybe in future contests I run, I will request in the staff section and of the regulators that they wait until the conclusion of voting to feature MOCs that are entries. It is a forum wide contest that had front page posts and an announcement. Any posts by moderators in their specific sections are just as likely to be ignored as an announcement and front page post. If there was anything else that "popped up" I would be getting complaints from people who didn't like a pop-up or didn't care for the contest.

Nope, not on my part. I thought it was a terrible thing from the start. Those who thought me and my ilk were overreacting are now much quieter as time goes on.

If you upload to an image host instead of Eurobricks, you can have a much larger photo in the post. It certainly deserves a larger image!

I am happy that everyone enjoyed the gardens planted around Eurobricks, I hope to have more contests in the future for everyone to enjoy,

Time to discover the winners of the contest and these fine prizes: 1st Place: 31105 Townhouse Toy Store, 40376 Botanical Accessories, 40375 Sports Accessories, 40312 Street Lamps and 40309 Food Accessories 2nd Place: 31093 Riverside Houseboat, 40376 Botanical Accessories, 40375 Sports Accessories, 40312 Street Lamps and 40309 Food Accessories 3rd Place: 31098 Outback Cabin, 40376 Botanical Accessories, 40375 Sports Accessories, 40312 Street Lamps and 40309 Food Accessories First Place: Herbalist's Garden by Aurore Joint Runners Up: Noctura's Garden by Kristel and Early Morning in the Water Garden of the Midnight Star by Kritch The votes were tied for the second/third place. If you would prefer one or the other prize could you post here to let everyone know? If the winners could PM me a name and address for the prizes to be shipped, they will be posted soon! Once the tags are on the server I can add them to your profiles, which goes for everyone who entered. I hope you enjoyed this contest, it was lovely to see all the creative gardens. Thank you for participating

Before, it was independent and fan-run, so it was something like a flea-market or bazaar of the wonderful. Now TLG have bought it: So they want a shiny megacorp sales box. Turning it from "protecting the fans" to, Build our investment regardless of how it affects the fans.

It was down to each seller to register for VAT. In the UK at least, your business has to register for VAT on transactions, but if you are selling on a small scale, (yard sale, gumtree etc) then it is not taxable. It looks like it will now be requisite for all. Which sucks if you are a small-fry selling off unwanted parts/figures from the odd set. I once again state that I think there will be issues on the sale of lisenced figures in the future.

VAT in the EU, but in the US the sales tax is set by the state . It will vary depending on your location and will not be a flat cost across the site.

Now the latest: No one can use the term Bricklink in a shop name. Bricklink is now a TLG trademark. Taxes.

Locking now! I will get the votes tallied and have my numbers checked by another staffer or two.

You have to also take into account that the Eurobricks way of classifying and organising themes is something that we came up with and still deal with "organically". When I have met with TLG people (from execs to store staff) and I get to talking about my community role, I have to explain what we call Action Themes. I am unashamedly a big fan of these kinds of theme. I mention the current active series and a few of the "classic" themes to give a basic idea. However to TLG there are other factors at play which decides everything about a playtheme in development. These don't even match between similar themes.

I think this will gain a lot of appreciation in the Historic Forum, so I will move it across. It is an excellent build. Thanks for sharing

I uh, I'll move this to Scale Modelling. Historic is a lot more Castle than aviation...

They're in excellent condition for the dates! I only came across these when I spent time on bricklink looking at parts on variations on white. I have never seen them in the wild.

I found the link I posted a while back.

The name "Big Bang" is a TLG in-house term. Any theme that has a marketing push with multimedia extras and a story added in with get that name. So, Elves and Hidden Side, Monster Fighters, Exo-Force, Ultra Agents... It is also applied to themes that are not "evergreen", which I must mention: Ninjago is now an Evergreen theme. A lot of the subthemes of Ninjago would never had been marketable without the veneer of the familiar characters; Steampunk/Dieselpunk is hard to market to kids unless they are already familiar with it. Chuck the ninja on it and it becomes appealing. It is a lot cheaper too, to use one banner to cover a lot of different "themes". Want to have a modern and grounded Arctic Survey style theme? City Arctic covers you without having to faff about with launching a new internal brand. If anything, it is the IP Licenses that "hurt" other themes. Star Wars is easier to market to kids than coming up with a new Space or Sci-Fi theme. Harry Potter can shift the castle-like sets. The audience likes that familiar brand already, so it takes less effort (and money!) to create and sell a product based on it. So no, "Big Bang" themes are not a bad strategy, but as far as I can tell, the purest form of them is just not happening anymore.

I'm pretty sure if the focus drifts to the show alone, it would go into Media. Some of us consumers purchase a product without any influence or contact with associated media, so I don't judge a set or theme on the plotline of a cartoon that squarely aimed itself at children. The constraction figures were weird. The game was fun enough with flywheels but I couldn't make sense of the cards. The armour and banners were my favourite parts of the theme.

Is this about the media or the sets? If you have to focus on the cartoon, I will happily move this thread to the appropriate location.