Brick Miner

i really like what you have done here. i would love to see more AFOL build in the LEGO style of construction, rather than these multi thousand piece classic-castle style buildings and ships. your photoshopping looks really really nice, so great job there. the gun blast and helicopter twirl is very effective. however, i think the colors are a little bland if you are looking to make this look like an official LEGO release. i do think that by adding the blue coats (a icon very symbloic of the pirates theme) you loose a lot, instead of adding. its kinda tricky to juxtapose such iconography, and do it well. because those torsos are so visually connected to LEGO pirates we get a feeling of disorder. something i would not recommend, and brings this MOC even farther from an offical LEGO release. i do like all the small features, very key in building in the LEGO SYSEM style (1995-present anyway). also, a key element in official LEGO themes (from this era) is the underlying story... and how that story plays out, and how each set (in the sub-theme) progresses that story. this story concept is something LEGO started dabbling with in western, and fully fleshed out in each adventurer sub-theme. your story here seems a little weak, however that could be because we are only seeing one set in a whole new sub-theme of the adventurers. this is all the more reason to keep releasing these MOCs. EB members may be having a hard time realizing what this set is about, without having the other sets (aka, having the other story elements). so keep em coming !!! - BM

wow, BEST EVER !!! i am very obliged !!! this is my first LEGO web design :-$ :-$ :-$ and for an offical announcement, im back !!! the comic convention was great and my first trip to LEGOLAND was an equal. LEGO had a pretty large booth at the convention i attended, with lots of cool oversized master-builder type constructions. i took lots of photos of both, and will try to post some images in the next few days. we got some awesome photos of wildlife attacking the miniland USA at LEGOLAND. giant birds and dragonflies... pretty funny stuff. reminded me of HG Well's Food of the Gods. - BM

best MOC ??? or best EVER, including official lego releases ??? im mean, the BSB is a master piece... and just being BIG doesn't make a ship the best.i think the overall visual appeal on this MOC is certainly weaker than either the BSB or SES. however, massive props go the builder/builders of this MOC, size is impressive... that much is true. - BM

hey now, you weren't supposed to see that yet :-P anyway, i've changed the emoticons,... one small thing i could do while on the road.

hello everyone... just had a few "community" type things i wanted to share. first of all, i'll be away from EB for about two weeks, as i go on a business trip that is doubling as a vaction. so, don't get worried when you don't see any new "BrickMiner" comments, topics, and MOCs !!! hehehe... the great news is that the vaction part includes my first trip to LEGOLAND, california !!! cool, hu ??? i've been told i need to check out the pick-a-brick while im there. needless to say im very excited !!! secondly, many of you may have noticed the "admin" joker card under my avatar. well, i've been graced with the pleasure of re-designing the History and Adventure Forum skin. its nearly ready and looking great !!! i want to go public with the new look around the 1st of august, but may not be available until mid-month (as i have another buisness trip the first weekend of august,... needles to say, it's been a busy summer). in any case, i'll miss the community while im away (serously, i get so much enjoyment here !!!), but can't wait to get back (for obvious reasons stated above,... im excited !!!) - BrickMiner

yes, i would agree that set design is a most important factor in determining a quality set or theme.its almost like you have to look at "historical accuracy vs. fantasy" as an isolated factor. removing all other variables from the equation to determine which you like better. in a controled environment, where set/theme design has been meet, and realism and fantasy are the only two variables, that is where the question comes in. -------------------------------------------------- after re-reading snefore's post, i find yet another quality point. here is an excerpt, as to not repost the entire thing... this is great example of when fantasy would become too much !!! introducting too much fantasy, to the point where the authenticity of the theme is lost, is too much.- BrickMiner

well, the way i was looking at it was graphically... i was picturing a horizontal line, with a slider (note: im a very visual person). on one side of the line was "historical accuracy" and on the other side was "fantasy." i was gauging were my slider fell. not near the middle... mine is more toward the fantasy side... if your slider is somewhere near "romanticism" (by the way, i've always loved that term, but don't use it much, as a lot of americans think im talking about LOVE when i do) then maybe your closer to the middle, where the two meet !!! - BrickMiner

you bring up some awesome points in this post snefore !!! i love hearing about the comics overseas !!! although im well versed in amerian comicbook culture, i admit to knowing nothing about the foreign books.the story about the Red Knight is of particular interest. the progression of the series from realism to far-fetch-fantasy this is almost what i have been observing. i guess. i mean, i wasn't even consious of it at first, but it seems to make sense. LEGO started out with more accurate castle history lines (as Norror mentioned), then saw more fantasy as pirates were introduced... then both series mustered up more fantasy when dragons and skull islands were introduced. finally, classic castle ended somewhere near frightknights. LEGO saw the same progression as the Red Knight comic series did. its most evident in the castle theme. the comic book writer had no where left to take the series but to fantasy... interesting. although you avoided the topic of the thread, great post snefore !!! this is the kind of discussion i love,... enlightenment - BrickMiner

now we have a dupicate thread about the WW !!! the current discussion could have continued right off the other thread... if anything, that wasn't my intention or "line of reasoning"... i felt like we had beaten that horse to death, and it was time to move on from "why the WW was canceled" !!!i guess i might have over explained myself, and what "line of reasoning" lead me to my ultimate question (and purpose of this thread). i really wanted to explore how much fantasy people allowed (and like) in their LEGO creations, before it became too far fetched !!! it really had nothing to do with the WW in particular, no more than castle, adventuers, pirates and vikings. the current discussion is suited more for the pervious thread, in which this one was inspired. when i wrote this one, i knew there could be many tangent topics, which is why i made the ultimate topic of the thread in very large text. i guess, im still learing a thing-or-two about a sucessful mind-bending post. however, i don't think we need to get past this WW delima to answer the question, and openly discuss about the topic of this thread... "which would you rather see, historic sets or fantasy"? - BrickMiner

well, they are more fantasy then LEGO allowed, and that was my purpose in using them as an example. jack sparrow was an undead skeleton, and the black pearl was manned by undead, making it a kind of ghost ship. even more astounding, in the second movie davy jones is a squid-man with shark-henchmen.the more fantasy you allow, the more possiblities you unravel. this includes set design, minifigs, etc... thats all my point was there. i would agree with all of this. as i think (for example) the Fright Knights were too much, however, having a dragon appear in a castle set is just right !!!you know, this brings up a point about MOCs too. maybe its not LEGOs level of fantasy that is as interesting, as what people allow in there MOCs. i favor MOCs that are visually appealing and mentally intriguing on a creative level... rather than a historically accurate level. true. what caught my attention was fantasy. thanks for making a clarification there yoda !!!

so, i recenlty created a mocpages.com page. i wanted to share the link here, and encourage anyone and EVERYONE to give me a review or a rating. any contribution to the page would be appriciated !!! http://www.mocpages.com/moc.php/19088 thanks in advance guys !!! - BrickMiner

recently in the Wild West thread we were discussing why the line failed, and if the handling of the politically sensitive "cowboys vs. indians" clich

well, many thanks to you for writing such kind words yoda !!! i would be honord if WW fans everywhere took my work so seriously !!! only, i can forsee problems there... im sure somone would take credit for them.oh, and im not sure where they would get the nessesary stickers for the model either. i used three programs to get the finished product. LDraw, Adobe Photoshop, and Adobe Illustrator. thanks for the good words snefore, but as a background for what ??? im not sure what you mean. well, my next MOC is even more ambitious than this one. im planning on creating a whole new WW subtheme. complete with new iconography and background/foreground imagery for the box design. it will all be based on the traditional WW theme design (and traces of that will be apparent).im planning on all new minifig designs with the new MOC. it seems that when LEGO introduced a subtheme, they also introduced a new line of minifigs. the pirate's islanders are a good example, or the WW indians. i plan on following this concept though to the end with my new WW subtheme, Ghost Town. needless to say, im excited !!! BrickMiner

hey everyone !!! i've recently finished the digital instructions for my recently publicized MOC, Gunsligners Saloon #6758. i really wanted to share these, cause im really happy with how close to "official" i could get !!! i was going to post these in my already existing GSS #6758 thread, but felt there was enough discussion worthy stuff here to warrent an independant thread. comments, critizisms, and discussion (as always) WELCOME !!! these instructions may be of particular interest due to the table/chair/magnet system that was featured in Gunsligners Saloon... maybe of some interest to "mechanism" freaks like me. unfortunatly, no minifigs are represented here... for me to include them would have taken some work in adobe illustrator that i wasn't ready to get into. basically, the reward wouldn't have been worth the effort at this point. it took me a little longer than i expected, before i could show these off... i had a little trouble with brickshelf. see, i've jumped on the bandwagon and signed up for a brickshelf account recently. but a brickshelf moderator kept deleting my MOC instructions before making the folder public !!! i contacted the BS support by email... it was my understanding (after reading the entire TOS) that only offically relesed LEGO catalog and instruction scans were banned, not MOC instructions made with software. well, i get a response saying (in fewer words) that a moderator thought my digital creations were an offical LEGO document !!! as many of you know, my goal is to come as close to an offical LEGO release as possible with my MOCs and MOC presentations. im adding instructions to my list... so, let me know what you think !!! here are a few select pages... and here is a link (to the now cleared) brickshelf folder... http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=192771 - BrickMiner

ok, i definietely agree with this !!! LEGO is asking the same questions as hollywood is, concerning where popular interest is, most definietly. i just didn't like the idea of people saying hollywood (and when i say hollywood, i mean motion pictures in general) is the dominate force in entertainment... and all other forms of entertainment follow suit. that is to say, if hollywood makes a pirate film, everyone wants pirates... i don't like that train of thought, cause i don't think its true. and don't want to give that much emphasis and credit to movies. its just not right, and LEGO is a powerful enough product, that it can make its own trends. case and point. if LEGO has a good idea, that is sucessful... they should run with it !!!-------------------------------------------------- HA !!! hip hop LEGOs. now that would be the end of the company that i once knew !!! preach on about the WW yoda !!!-------------------------------------------------- yes, i agree. and made this point in an earlier post.it seems that LEGO could have taken a more fantasy inspired route with the line, and could have avoided such political issues of "cowboys vs. indians." i think there was so much potential. its just too bad, cause the cowboy line had wonderfully designed sets. -BrickMiner

your reveiws are always the best, and crack me up everytime Norro !!! i think these are all linked in the pinned "castle index" thread right ??? i think that is the appropriate place for the "reference" guide you speak of Brickster. however, it would be great if these posts linked to that thread too. just to promote it, im not sure how many users check it. and it could be (and should be) a valuable resource for older threads. - BrickMiner

wow that kraken looks spectacular... wonderful job !!! id love to see it placed to a digital background... vs. some vikings of course !!! then i think it would deserve its own thread... it might get lost in here, and not recieve the attention it deserves. on topic, i agree that the kraken should have been an offical released, however, im not too fond of the giant. - BrickMiner by the way ghoulrealm: great avatar and welcome to EB !!!

you know, im still not convinced hollywood has anything to do with the popularity of LEGOs lines... you mentioned vikings did well, and i can't seem to remember more viking movies than westerns in the past couple years.i am pretty excited about the new pirates of the caribbean movie opening this weekend though... i only wish LEGO would have taken the fantasy approach to their pirate line, like disney has with their movies. i think all the historical LEGO themes would be more popular is LEGO took a lot of fantasy liberties... again, vikings is a successful line in this aspect as well. and the ghost town western sub-theme would fall into this category too !!! - BrickMiner

this is such a cool name !!! has a great ring, and doesn't seem forced !!! great (no wait, awesome) job !!! where were you when i was looking for western minifig names !!! http://eurobricks.hosting.ipsyn.com/eurofo...?showtopic=4557

these look amazing if they are spray painted 8-

shoot, i see my comment was not received in the correct tone. :-$ <=== yes, im a little embarassed. and i admit, i wasn't here for these "member titles" threads. so i did not learn from mistakes learned there. can anyone share a link to the thread... i am curious.although, im sure most people want to forget :'-) - BM

gylman, if this sudden change in opinion is due to my last reply... i was very obviously joking... the "you started it" was obviously poking fun at the underlying "worry" that everyone has. it

HA !!! i never would have guessed !!! does this also explain your signature's appearance ??? you've done a wonderful job of hiding your camera's flaws !!! or at least, done a great job (artistically) of working with what you have !!!i have to ask if you are using highly USED bricks ??? the interlocking of the bricks around the door area (on the lower floor) seam a bit weak. making for a less attractive presentation. also, i just noticed on the upper arch too. the only reason i bring this up, is that i know (along with creating a quality MOC) you are going for quality presentation. this is apparent in your taking thoughtful photos, and designing artistic backgrounds. i don't think i agree with the mansion size as others have mentioned, i would concentrate on "features" as you have already identified. by the way, since you are calling this a WIP, are you looking for suggestions... or are you just sharing your progress ??? the reason i ask,... in your 2.0 version you identified and successfuly fixed a lot of the problems YOURSELF... very note worthy !!! - BrickMiner

and you stared it !!! :-P :-D :-D :-D :-P

it sounds like people are diggin this "tag" idea... cool, cause i like it !!! this brings up a point... should there be FORUM tags, or THEME tags...currently, snefore (and others) have a space tag... which works cause it seems to cover both a THEME and a FORUM. same goes for pirates. but what about the "theater" and "history" forum (along with others)... which both cover mulitple themes ??? that is to say, should there be a batman, starwars, sponsebob, avatar, spiderman, castle, adventuers, wild west, and vikings tag, etc... or simply, "theater" and "history" tag ??? any thoughts ??? personally, i favor the later - BrickMiner