Bonaparte

Our member Grogall posted official HR pictures of all The Lone Ranger sets. Have a look and discuss here.

Great photography! I especially like the way you did the 2nd picture (of the Spaniards rowing to the island). Makes me forget this is LEGO as it so realist it could almost be a movie scene.

That's a good point. The rock needs more attention, I agree. That's on my to do list!

After some delay, here's an update of my WIP fortress:

The wig of the revolutionary soldier is something that Pirate fans (myself included) have wanted for years. Finally it's available

Official HR pictures of the Collectable Minifig Series 10 have surfaced (thanks to Grogall). Go here in our forums.

Interesting overview of techniques. Thanks for sharing!

End of 2012 Serge Belsack from BeLUG did an interview with the Belgian LEGO Certified Professional Dirk Denoyelle. It was written down in Dutch, but has now been translated especially for Eurobricks in English so we can all enjoy the interview and find out what it means to hold the exclusive title of LEGO Certified Professional. Enjoy! Link to the interview in our forums

End of 2012 Serge Belsack from BeLUG did an interview with the Belgian LEGO Certified Professional Dirk Denoyelle. It was written down in Dutch, but has now been translated especially for Eurobricks in English so we can all enjoy the interview and find out what it means to hold the exclusive title of LEGO Certified Professional. Enjoy! Interview with Belgian LEGO® Certified Professional Dirk Denoyelle - What exaclty is a LEGO Certified Professional ? There are different ways to define a LEGO Certified Professional - also known as an "LCP". Personally, I consider it to be a quality label. An LCP has to comply with a certain set of criteria. You need to have built up a business using the LEGO "platform". You need to be able to prove a high level of quality in your work. And you need to incorporate the LEGO values. The latter is pretty hard to measure, but one of the consequences is that we do have quite a lot rules about dos and don'ts. There are quite a few types of jobs we can not accept. It will not come as a surprise that we are not allowed to build anything related to sex. But the list is a lot longer than that... - How many LCP's are there ? There are 13 LCP's today. 5 in the US, one in Canada, 4 in Europe, 2 in Asia and one in Australia. You can find their names and websites through my website, www.amazings.eu. The best known are probably Nathan Sawaya and Sean Kenney, both based in New York City. In Europe you find René Hoffmeister, Matija Puzar and Duncan Titmarsh. And me. Dan Parker from Seattle may be less famous. But just the fact that he employs 23 people is pretty significant, I think. - Do you 13 know one another ? Are you ever in touch, do you meet ? There is a summit every year, one year in Bilund, the next in Enfield (US Headquarters). Most of us do their best to make it there. It's a pretty expensive journey. The meetings take only 2 or 3 days, but we pay for airfare ourselves, and we can't get any other work done for about a week. But I find all LCP's very nice and interesting people - there is one woman, by the way -and I think I can say that I am friends with all of them. As an example, I could not imagine going to New York without stopping by at Sean's. - Are you employed by LEGO, or self-employed and thus suppliers to LEGO ? We definitely have our own independent businesses. And we are CLIENTS, rather than suppliers. Big clients, even. I am not allowed to give you any numbers, but we buy our bricks where also Merlin and LEGO In-Store buy theirs. And putting the 13 of us together makes us responsible for a more than substantial part of their workload. It also happens, of course, that we are supplying to LEGO. When they need a special kind of building, they do find us, on occasion. In some countries this is an important part of an LCP's income (UK, Australia), in other countries it's a very small part. - How does one become an LCP ? Does LEGO find you, or do you have to ask ? Haha. You probably have noticed that LEGO usually is not the asking kind. The procedure is about to change, but in the old days candidates had to apply with the right people within LEGO (Tormod Askildsen and Jan Beyer). And then, together with the current LCP's, they checked if the criteria were met. In the near future, it could be that more initiative could come from LEGO itself, in order to install new LCP's. But alas, I am not allowed to give more details. - Is there an acceptance test ? No. You just have to have a good application. For the "business " aspect, I would suggest one delivers a good business plan. For the "Quality" aspect: What have you ever built ? Or if you are not into building MOC's (Beth in Chicago is into events): what do you do exactly, and how is that outstanding ? Then you will have a phone call with someone from Tormod's team and some LCP's. Well, that was when I joined. The new procedure is going to be slightly different, but I'm not allowed to go into details. Changes are not going to be about what you do and how well you do it. Changes will probably be about where to apply, and who can apply.... - Do you get your commissions from LEGO, from fans, or just anybody ? Or do you need to market yourself ? Now you're touching the hard part: find customers. I guess it's the same for whoever runs a business. A pastry shop invests in window dressing, seduces customers with tasting sessions, or low prices. Other companies spend tons on advertising. Others work with social media. It's no different with me. I do exhibits from time to time. Via my other profession - I am also a comedian - I meet a lot of people in the business world. I talk to them about my LEGO activities. I have websites. I'm on Facebook. The LCP's feature - pretty well hidden, but we are there- on LEGO.com. Some inquiries do seem to come out of nowhere. But many times I can trace the enquiry back to a previous job well done, or a conversation I had with someone. Or it was LEGO that referred them to me. Even LCP's refer to each other. Sometimes an AFOL sends a request. There is no regularity in any of it... - Do you need to show building plans to LEGO ? Do you make up building plans before you start building ? No on both accounts. Once a month I give LEGO an overview of what I'm working on. Now and them I send them a picture, if something special was realized. For most projects I make no building plan at all. Only mosaics are an exception to that rule, because I often have them built by my co-workers. But the heads are all by my hand entirely. If I would have to make building plans first, I would loose a lot of time. I think that virtual building is only good when you need other people to actually build the thing, and preferably more than once. But that rarely happens in my business. - How do you get your bricks, and at what price ? That is probably the main advantage of being an LCP: we can order straight from Kladno. The limitation is that we can only order what is in catalogue. No Q-elements either. Something which can be quite stressing. Take the lime green 1x1 plates. I had a stock of about 1000. I designed a giant mosaic, a parody on a painting by Rubens: 4,8m x 3,6m. There were about 6.000 extra 1x1 lime green plates needed. I ordered them, to find out they had become Q. I could have searched the internet for them. But I preferred to just alter my design... Which took a lot of time ! - Do you work alone, or do you have assitants ? Well, Amazings.eu IS a company, and companies like to grow. So I work with some co-workers on a project basis, them being self-employed as well. They help out mainly with mosaics, and architecture models. - How does it work financially ? Does LEGO pay you ? How are prices determined ? LEGO pays me only for the pieces they commission to me. In a good year we are talking about 5 mosaics or so. About pricing: as any company, I added up my costs (bricks, workshop, computers, labour cost...) and derived an hourly fee from that. For some pieces, the heads, I have a very unique position in the world. Exclusivity is worth something as well, so that hourly fee is higher. In some cases it's just a matter of question and demand. What is a client willing to pay ? And do I want to do it for that amount ? I just try to avoid to really take advantage of my clients. I recently had someone who had a budget of 25.000 Euro's. That would have been way to much for the job he wanted me to do. So I DID take an extra margin, but charged only a fraction of that 25.000... Honesty is an important value as well, even if you know the client is loaded. :-) - Are LEGO Certified Professionals involved in designing LEGO sets ? No, except for Adam Reed Tucker, the man that started LEGO Architecture. He is kind of a special guy within our LCP group, because he does not do many commissions. He basically does LEGO Architecture. And he is the thriving force behind Brickworld in Chicago. - What are the rules you need to follow ? Is there anything you can't do ? This is a subject that makes many candidates draw back from their application. The limitations imposed upon us usually are discussed thoroughly at our yearly summits. Not as if we have a problem with the principle behind those limitations. But sometimes we just don't see the reasoning behind them. I can't give details. But just a few examples of don'ts: building a Supermario without written permission from the IP holder (IP= intellectual Property) AND (probably) LEGO itself. No commissions for advertisement agencies, as we are not allowed to make models for advertising campaigns. No sex, but also no alcohol (which means: no Belgian beer in LEGO !). No custom sets - except in some very specific occasions. No use of the LEGO logo as such. Again: in most cases, the reasoning behind this is clear and understandable. LEGO is a toy. It is meant for kids. It has a positive connotation all over the world, and we want it to stay that way. But in some cases we get a " no, you can’t do that”, because that is the easy answer. So we don't do the job - and the client finds the AFOL next door to do the job in stead. Which can be a little frustrating.... - Anything else you want to share with us ? Yes. I want to stress the fact that in my opinion, the LEGO Certified Professionals are not "per se" the best LEGO builders in the world. I have seen truly amazing creations made by AFOL's at their events and on websites. Also here in Belgium, with the BELUG guys and girls. The main difference is that for AFOL's, it's a hobby. For us, it's a job. - Thanks ! after Serge Belsack, BELUG, dec 2012 You can have a look at Dirks work on his website amazings.eu. Feel free to comment on Dirks work, ask extra questions or just post feedback on the interview in this topic. I'm sure Dirk will be around!

I rarely spend as much time in a topic as I did for this one. The amazing pics kept on coming and I guess it took me 20 minutes the look at everything. Your MOC is simply stunning, With tons of much details and a clear love for architecture and trains. You are a great builder but also an entertainer!

You are doing things that I thought would have been impossible on this scale of ships. Yet, here's proof it can be done. I'm talking about adding such detailed interiors, removable walls, etc. You make it look all so easy while I know it is quite the opposite. My deepest respect! Any chance you would consider coming to the Eurobricks event (in Germany this time) with some of these ships to show them IRL?

Amazing, so many high quality entries I know running a contest like this is a lot of work, preparing the contest, processing all the entries and votes, etc. A huge thanks to Si-MOCs for running this contest!

Does this help (comes from our testforum which runs a database from some time ago): Hi, my name is Trenton. I live in the Everett area of Washington State. I got into LEGO only recently, being attracted by the Collectible Minifigures line, and then spreading along to other themes, though CMF's are a huge part of my spending. I have been on Eurobricks for almost a year now, and I love it! I have been becoming an active part of the Reviewer's Academy, as well as gotten obsessed with the site's mafia games. I have 4 reviews up, and played in 2 mafia games. I encourage you to give everything linked a look to see how I have grown on the site. My first topic can also be seen here Check out my reviews! All are Reviewer's Academy passed! Bronze Level 8805 Collectible Minifigures Series 5 7049 Alien Striker 4738 Hagrid's Hut Silver Level 853195 Brick Calendar Expect More Reviews After the Holiday Season!!! My Mafia History - Isaac the Janitor in Pandora and Rick's Mafia School: Police Infiltration- Vanilla Townie- Lost upon Conclusion, final remaining Town member- Confirmation Thread - Day 1 - FabuGirl in Shadows' "Trouble in the Streets of Gotham!" Bloodbath- Lost as a loyal Superhero On Night 1- Discussion Thread - Day 1 - Trisha the Veterinarian in Darkdragon's Heartlake Heartbreak Mafia- Town- Lynched Day 1 due to an unintentional claim. - Confirmation Thread - Day 1 This will be updated after each game now.

That's great news! I've added you to the eventees list

Wonderful ship, I'm very existed about the overall shape and all the details! Only thing that I'd adjust is the stern: The outer windows I'd leave as they are, but the ones next to them I'd put one plate up. The middle window I'd put 2 plates up. That'll give a lot more dynamism to the stern. Now it looks a bit flat and lifeless. Also I'd remove the blue round tile (unless you plan to cover it up with a decal).

I might add that in a phase 2. For now I'll finish it without as the fortress needs to be ready for an upcoming event. So time is limited Thanks everyone for your nice feedback Here are some updated pics showing the latest progress of the fortress:

Hola, I just saw these on our frontpage and was immediately sold I'll buy a bunch of these and use them as storage containers in my new pirates fortress. These are really multi-theme and all round useful. Great product!!

Thanks for the nice comments! I haven't decided yet if this will be a bluecoat or redcoat fortress Here's an update:

Pictures of the new Castle line are surfacing everywhere these days. Here's a good view of the new castle: Discussing (and more pics) is here.

After years of building ships I finally started building my fortress. I'm getting inspiration from the Eldorado fortress (my #1 LEGO set) so I've called the project "Eldorado 2013 XXL". Here are some WIP pictures: Oh, and it's all modular for easy transportation:

I just spoke with Holodoc on the phone about this (as he's our interface with the Kirchenbauerhof). He'll call the Kirchenbauerhof and get back to us.

Hi all, Together with Holodoc and Copmike we have worked out a schedule for the rooms. For all those in the 'shared rooms' your room-responsible will contact you via PM with his bank account details so you can pay him 100 Euro. This includes the room for the entire event and buffet breakfast. People who are not in a 'shared room', being room Cecilie, room Dfenz and room Legostein, are requested to contact the Kirchenbauerhof and book/pay their room straight to the Kirchenbauerhof. Of course we will help you in case of problems. If you didn't yet sign-up it's still possible to come to the event. I'm pretty sure there are still several rooms available at the Kirchenbauerhof. If more people pop-up who want to share a room we are ready to assist you with that. 1/ Pool Rooms (paying 100 Euro per person to your room responsible): Holiday Flat 1: - Holodoc (=room responsible) - Aredhel - Teddy +1 - Peppermint_M Holiday Flat 3: - Bonaparte (=room responsible) - Steven - Snefroe - Ecclesiastes - Quarryman Apartment 1: - Copmike (=room responsible) - Lasse D - marshal_banana - Eiker86 Apartment 2: - Vincent Kessels (=room responsible) - Redhead1982 - Cwetqo - Scubacarrot 2/ Non-Pool Rooms (book and pay directly to the Kirchenbauerhof): Holiday Flat 2: - Dfenz, Bfenz, Alfenz, Amfenz Twin Room 10: - Cecilie - Ace Single Room (booked): - Legostein 3/ No accommodation at Kirchenbauerhof (taking care of own accommodation): - Rolli +x (to be confirmed - taking care of own accommodation) - GRogal (taking care of own accommodation)

Holodoc, Copmike and myself just had our conference call for the 2013 event. We worked out everything related to the rooms and we'll post it here soon (expect it in ~1 week) after we confirm some details. Those details include getting confirmation from 2 room responsibles whom we contacted via PM. Once the rooms info is posted you can pay to your room responsible who will next sent the total for the room to Holodoc. The Doc shall pay for the group in one go (except for the special family rooms of Dfenz and Cecilie who can go ahead and pay straight to the Kirchenbauerhof once we post the details). The people in the 'pool', so everyone who needs accommodation except the Dfenz and Cecilie rooms, will pay for the accomodation 100 Euro's per person for the entire event (this includes buffet breakfast). We added a few euro's as a 'solidarity buffer' in case of rooms not getting entirely filled to avoid some people would need to pay more. If we have money left in the end we'll use it at the event for drinks for the group, special giveaways, etc. After everything is worked out related with the rooms we'll start sharing more details about the program. Also that was discussed and we'll start some work in that area.

I'll have a skype call with Holodoc and Copmike soon, once the Doc manages to install skype. I hope to have the skype call in the coming days. Most important item of our call will be the rooms (we'll post our proposal/outcome here after the call).

At this moment 22 members have signed up for the event (list and sign-up topic is here). We'll book the rooms mid-January, so if you plan on joining please sign-up soon. After mid-January you can still join but you have to take care of the accommodation yourself by contacting the Kirchenbauerhof. For our 9th event we go to Gunzburg, Southern Germany on Thursday 6th, Friday 7th and Saturday 8th of June 2013 (so most of us will arrive on Wednesday late afternoon and go travel back on Sunday morning). We will stay at a very nice place with a variety of apartments called Kirchenbauerhof located 3 km from LEGOLand Gunzburg near the famous river Donau. You can read all about the event in this topic.