MetroiD

With all the hyping up going on in this thread, it'd better!

Well in that case I suggest you roam the forums - as Rumble noted, there's quite a bit of quality photography to be found here, including outdoor / garden photo shoots. Enjoy

Those are some really fine photos there. Great work on a really great idea, I'm looking forward to seeing more of this!

Viva la revolucion!

It was about time! Things need to become more serious around here, it seems that all we talk about these days is bricks. Hello Kitty!

I'd be interested in all the Technic you have. And Star Wars too. I figured that it's never too late to catch up on what I've missed. Perhaps Belville too, it would be absolutely brilliant... although I guess that's too much to hope for. Or... dare I say it... the rarity that is Galidor?! I'd really love to make a tabletown layout out of Galidor and Technic, I think they make a perfect match. Just drop me a line and let me know if there's anything in there for me... Got bikes?

True, but if it's all MOCs, not COTEs, as you put it, then why invite people to "comment and criticize" in the first place? Simple - at least to me - it's because most of us are actually looking for that constructive feedback in order to improve the MOCs. Once again though, feedback needs to be constructive, not observations that have more to do with taste than anything else.

I meant that Big Mac sailing this big boat on his own with only Phred by his side sounds like a bit of an April 1 joke... Not that all those crew members being fed to the sharks is an April 1 thing in any way.

Careful not to sink your boat while manning the crow's nest! Is it just me or has April 1 come a bit too early?

Well I personally have always imagined that a proper sea fortress should look like the one Guybrush lands next to just after the start of Curse of the Monkey Island... But then again, that's just a big giant wall of stone, so I guess it's not of much help anyway.

Hey wait a sec, I just hit 100 blogs last week!!! What does that get me then? P.S.: Cam, we all know what's been happening to the rum. Or rather - who's been happening to the rum...

I'd say you hit the nail on the head there. We AFOLs do sometimes tend to become suckers for accuracy, detail, SNOT-ness, NPU usage, greebling, etc., and during the process we seem to forget that it's actually the enjoyment of it all that really matters at the end of the day - or at least that's how I perceive LEGO building / MOCcing. Once a project becomes a chore and finding solutions is not an inspiring and fulfilling way to channel one's creative energy, then I'd say that the border has been overstepped and I'd really question whether it's worth the effort. In that sense - to return to def's initial idea here - I believe it's really best when fellow AFOLs appreciate each other's different views and takes on things, while trying to learn from one another, instead of criticizing / bashing approaches that they're not comfortable with. There's a very clear difference between constructive criticism and "Criticism gratia critiquis" (? ) just for the sake of it. @ Cpt. Dan: Thanks for the kind words I fully support your view that those three should be considered as separate components to the building process, but I tend to bring scaling and dimensions together since they focus more on the "accurate portrayal" side of the story. That said, there are also tons of creative and detailed ways to solve the problems associated with them, while helping enhance the MOC's looks, so...

Do I sense a new title there? As to the topic at hand - I definitely believe that it doesn't only apply to SW / Sci-Fi creations - if anything, with Town & Trains accuracy tends to become an even greater issue because, at the end of the day, things that City / Trains creations are based on actually exist in real life and not just on movie reels... Yeah that came out wrong, but I'm not bashing SW or Sci-Fi, just bear with me! The thing is, at the end of the day you can go for 1:1 perfection only by using LEGO and not modifying your bricks at all. Which will soon find you stuck in a terrible mess since more often than not the proper, 100% realistic proportions, can only be achieved by using scales that vary greatly from the 'regular' minifig-scale, no matter what you perceive that to be. So you either must end up creating an architecture-worthy MOC and be happy that you've managed to pull of an exact replica - or decide for yourself which are the parts you'd be willing to compromise in order to ensure that the MOC still fits the scale and comes as close to the original as possible. For example, I don't believe that there's any way of packing all the details from an original car or train model in 6-wide. Which is why MOCcers take a representative approach - and use the respective object's strongest visual features as leads, on which they base their build. The same applies here, at least to me. As long as the MOC looks like the real (or movie-real) thing, and makes a conscious effort to deliver in terms of quality and visual aesthetics, it will surely grab my attention. Yes, of course, perfect replicas can really turn out jaw-dropping, but they require a perfect eye both for scaling and dimensions, and for detail - and I find that it is often a case of sacrificing one for the other, which is not really to my taste.

Yep, that's the way it works now that the survey is no longer hosted on the Kids' Inner Circle.

New expressions, accessories and prints. All of these make them perfect for MOCcing. I don't care about the minifigs being "collectable" per se, I have not kept them intact in their original from. I am using the torsos / faces / hairpieces, etc. as required for the scenes I want to portray.

Congrats to the winners; and a huge thanks to CopMike for hosting this. Our Ambassador rocks! On a sidenote - over 180 entries were posted, which I think could be a new record for EB raffles?

That about sums it up, methinks! Luverly set, and a definite must-buy!

I finally sat down and built my container. Voila, I present to you "The Black Box". I've been playing around with different designs for corrugated texture and this was the best one... naturally, the upper part just had to dismount at the exact moment I was photographing the thing :) So it may not really look like it, but it fortunately did turn out a surprisingly sturdy build. What does it contain, you ask? Well, knowing me, I'm sure you could have easily guessed... that inside is another black beauty. A bit of wishful thinking for me there, but who knows, I might just end up receiving a container that holds my dreambike some day

Here's one of my favourite corporate portrayals in brick form, I really think the logo looks awesome.

Tim's corrugated galvanised iron really looks awesome; thanks for sharing peterab! I've been trying to come up with different versions of corrugates steel / iron myself and applying those in my container build (CopMike's raffle). So far I've gone through quite a few, but most lack the proper 3D effect of corrugated sheets so in my last version I'm planning on using Technic axles lined up tightly next to each other. I'll try it out and see if that works, although it should make for a bit of a messy build. @ lt: When's your train show mate? I'm looking forward to your layout; don't forget to make a video

You did, by not deeplinking what could have been a potentially confidential image of the Pet Shop which is yet to be announced

Ooops! I totally forgot about good old Homer... If this is him, then I guess that's the perfect excuse for LordKain to continue with the next vig featuring the skater minifig representing Bart