fred67

To add to 19, while you can get away with using two 1x3 pieces, a single 2x3 would be nicer. Also, for 21, I don't think a 1x3 is necessary (although i wouldn't complain); if they were just going to do 1 new profile brick, it HAS to be 1x1, and to make it work arbitrarily, one side needs to match the left of a 1x2 profile brick, an adjacent side needs to match the right, and the other two sides need the straight horizontal line like the back of the 1x2. That would make it work anywhere you are using profile bricks, and even corners (although another one that swaps the profile sides would be necessary).

I am now.

I would do neither, actually. I throw away cracked pieces, but if the torso were merely cracked on something like Mr. Gold, you'd have to be crazy to throw it away - someone would buy it for a lot of money, even if not full price. But something like a basic 2x4 in a common color is not worth the effort. So the answer is "somewhere in between." For the record, I buy a lot of used pieces for filler - all of my CMF displays have as much hidden behind the colors of the display as they do the display - so unless the bricks are so damaged they won't snap together at all, they can be useful. So, if anyone's got a lot of junk bricks they'd like to get rid of, let me know.

Wow, fantastic work! About how long a process is it to get from point cloud to a usable element?

Very nice! I've been wanting something like this and a cylon ship in midi scale, but I love the minifigure scale ship (and love the use of tires as engine exhaust). Nice.

No, you're doing just fine, sorry for the (apparently) botched analogy. Noise is what you don't want - it just gets in the way and distracts from what you do want. I was suggesting that 84 supporters number might be a little low, because every single project, no matter how terrible, gets a handful of votes from friends and family (i.e. mom and dad, obviously, from some of those ideas). It might work out on average, but the first month should have a higher standard. Removing them wouldn't help my browsing anyway, I go at least once a week and browse all the recent submissions until I encounter the ones I'd already seen. In fact, while I'd like it to better, I'd like a lot of things in life to better that are never going to get better because of the variety of human nature. People will always abuse sites like Ideas in the same way that people will always abuse Ebay, and abuse anything they can abuse. I'm getting all existential waxing philosophy and psychology here, so I'll stop. Anyway, while I wish it was better, it's better to leave it as is and cast a bigger net than tighten the net and potentially let some good projects go away. Perhaps we should be able to ignore certain submitters (if we can already do that, somebody please tell me how).

Agree with greenmtvince; I was a backerkit supporter for metal rails, but even earlier this year I was buying the new plastic rail right off their website. If I had any extra money, I might buy some more to help them out now, because I know I'll want more plastic (as well as metal) in the future anyway.

Hmmm... something like BrickQuest with random figures. I don't know if I'd buy it (except in hopes of some cool fantasy figures), but it's an interesting idea.

Yes, there could be less than half as many and all you'd do is keep increasing the signal to noise ratio. The other thing you missed (besides saying the average days in a month in a normal year), is that projects all somehow get a couple dozen or so votes... friends, mom and dad, who knows - the worst of the worst still manage to get a handful of votes. But that doesn't continue past the first few days.

I let SilentMode know about the problem. He's been very good at fixing things. I would suggest fixes to the other site, but they require contacting them via facebook, which is one of my problems. The problem with reddit is that it's forum based, which isn't much better than here; there do seem to be a lot more active traders there, though. Thanks for the link.

I had that experience! I guess my current trade was one I just "accepted." But I had another offer that I didn't like, and couldn't even counter it.

I get that a lot of people like it, and in some ways it's much nicer to use than bricklink, but I actually find building my wanted list awkward, and it seems harder to set a global filter to North American (or whatever region). So some things for me just really don't seem as intuitive as you all are suggesting. While bricklink's interface is outdated and under-engineered, I think brickowl's is over engineered, and that makes doing some things slower and more awkward than it should be, IMO. So I really can't say I have a preference. ... and the forums SUCK on both sites.

There are threads where people mention things like that, but this thread seems mainly centered around storage and sorting of all the pieces, and people sharing what they've done and looking for ideas on types of containers and storage systems. In any event, storing sets is not really quite the same subject, but I don't mind discussing it. I personally like to keep sets as sets, so I partially break them down (if needed) to fit into "shoe box" size Sterilite containers (larger containers for some larger sets); often multiple sets will fit in one container, in which case I use gallon freezer bags to keep them separate. Some people will completely disassemble sets for storage out of fear that the stress of being always connected will weaken clutch power (or even that bricks will crack over time). I'm obviously not one of them.

Buying products from companies Y and Z doesn't preclude you from being a fan of company X, it just means you're not a zealot about it. I own two Megabloks sets... are you going to say I'm not a fan of LEGO, I'm just a fan of building with plastic bricks? Because I have over 100 times more LEGO sets. Besides, it's not that I "liked" it, it's that I liked it better than not being able to get those figures at all - it's that there was no alternative offered by LEGO. I'm again not arguing that that makes it ethical or moral, but I sill believe it's much less "bad" than buying products from third parties that compete with LEGO/Marvel or LEGO/DC IP. I realize those companies do that, too, and that's a shame, but it seems to me they're offering a whole lot more.

Yes, the Monkey Island one is great - vitreolum is amazing, everything he's ever posted on Eurobricks has just been an incredible display of artistry that I honestly have not seen anyone else do with such consistency. I'm floored and completely jealous of his LEGO building skills. The ship is very cool, but you have to know it's of very limited audience. And the castle you linked to? Absolutely wonderful.... but also seems like far too many pieces to be successful. May I suggest, though, that we don't do this? We don't all post a handful of sets to demonstrate what we like? If anyone cares about ideas then they've seen pretty much every submitted project. I go once a week or so and browse until I see the ones I've seen before. I've seen all of these projects. Yes, there are good ones, ones that quite possibly deserve a chance more than the ones where the creator was merely good at drumming up social media support, but a lot of the really amazing ones are just not tenable as ideas sets.

I'm one figure short of completing the set, but I just noticed the cheerleader has a hole in head (or hair, actually). I'm wondering why. It seems kind of far back for a tiara or crown.

Yes, TLG has jacked up prices a lot lately. The lonely mountain set was absurd, but the latest city sets are absolutely outrageous.

I have to add to the last post that, while I agree with the sentiment for the most part, the fact is we're not entitled to the figures we want. Nobody needs minifigures, they're a luxury, really, so there's really no justification in violating IP rights. I do feel a little guilty about it, but at the same time I don't see it as a "loss" for the IP holders, either. If I could anonymously give them a buck for every figure I get, I'd do it. I also don't think there's any difference between customizers and the knock-offs as far as violating IP is concerned, but it depends - if they start with a licensed figure and customize it to better represent the character (or a variation), then everybody got paid, no problem. If they start with a non-licensed figure, then they're just as guilty as violating IP rights as the Chinese companies. Can anyone claim that it's OK just because the volume is lower? The only difference is the quantity of violations - it doesn't make it "right" for the customizer.

They both do more than just CMFs, but not everything; swapfig also has most polybags.

I agree with anothergol on a few points - The Vespa is cool, but I wouldn't buy it; it's the kind of thing I'd rather just see instructions for. I disagree with the silliness of any of the projects. The flower is really cool, IMO, but after you build it, then what? Not everything needs to be playable, but it's less interesting than looking at, for example, the mech ideas set on display. I also think Howl's Moving Castle is quite cool, but most people wouldn't recognize it (I've seen the movie, and if I just saw the MOC without a description, I wouldn't have put the two together). I think the Castle is phenomenal, but I won't vote on 3k+ piece sets because even if they made it, you're talking around $300. That's why I think people should only support sets that they would actually buy. I can see TLG thinking they'll sell 10k, and then they only sell a couple thousand of them because when push comes to shove, even people that thought they might buy it will balk at the price. Which brings us to the moon landing, which I don't think is silly, but again, if I'm going to spend a lot of money on something like that, a fictional scene (as opposed to the Discovery sets and some of the earlier ideas sets) is not something I'd pay that much for. So - I've seen ALL of those on ideas, and while I think they all have some merit, and are cool MOCs, I didn't support any of them. They are only going to make so many sets, so I prefer voting on the things I REALLY want to see as sets and not just cool MOCs, something I'd buy, often things I'd buy to give as gifts to non-AFOL adult friends just because they like the subject matter (like Ecto-1).

The train is pretty bad, IMO. The wheels are like what they used on the mini Hogwart's Express, and it's really not good - but I agree it's got interesting parts. The dark green slopes and red windows are interesting, and I surely wouldn't mind getting them for "free." Now, I've never done the monthly mini build - my kids were never that interested and are now too old, but it looks like some cool parts on that angler fish, too. The wing pieces and the tail are interesting.

I love it. You have a unique talent for building - I honestly think you should become a master builder or better; while I appreciate "artists" like Nathan Sawaya, your unique building style is far and above what I think of most LEGO "artists." While the mausoleum is fantastic, my eyes are drawn to the twisty tree in the back. It's really masterful, you're truly talented in the medium of LEGO.

I agree and disagree... it's definitely wrong that they should profit from someone else's IP without any compensation, but at the same time you can beg Marvel/DC/TLG to take your money to make a figure and they won't do it. I want to buy real LEGO. So that is my line, really. I know nobody "owes" it to me to make the figures I want, and I don't know about what is going on in other people's minds, but if I see something interesting my first choice is to buy it in LEGO, but if LEGO doesn't (or won't) offer it, while I feel a little bad about buying Chinese, I don't feel as bad as I would buying the Chinese version of what I would buy from LEGO. My Superhero Display currently has over 50 "real" DC/Marvel figures in it, I have a few more that I haven't displayed because they're not quite as iconic as I'd like, and I have the legitimate Hulk Buster Smash set ready to put those figures on display (I need to build a new display for it). Then there's the Fantastic Four (the only knock off superheros I've bought). I don't even put them in the same case, they have their own little display. So now with about 60 legitimate figures and four Chinese ones (not even knock offs, because TLG never made them), while I know it's not my place to dictate how much profit a company should make (it's only my place to decide to pay it or not), I figure Marvel/DC/TLG are happier with my buying over 90% of my superheroes stuff from them than not. I do not like when these companies make knock offs, but I do not think it's as bad as when it's IP that TLG is not making. I look at it this way: I can buy a Hulk from TLG, or from some Chinese company. If I buy it from the Chinese company, I'm depriving TLG and Marvel their due profit. If I buy something TLG doesn't make, I'm not depriving them of a sale. It's still not entirely ethical, but it's not the same. EDIT: I agree this is not a worth it/not worth it topic, it's an ethical/unethical topic. I also wanted to add that when there's some exclusive figure, like an SDCC figure that I didn't get, and a Chinese company makes it, I personally would not buy it. But at the same time, I do see it along the same lines - people would be more than happy to pay TLG for it, but if they can't, they can't. The SDCC real figures will still be valuable. Again, TLG doesn't owe it to me or anybody else to make the figures we want, and if they don't it doesn't mean it's ethical to buy it from a third pary, but I just don't see it as being "as" wrong when we're not depriving TLG or Marvel or DC of anything. EDIT2: If Marvel/DC want to set up websites where the "feeling guilty" can give them money for the IP, I'd be all for it.

Pretty sure it's a mini train, like the Emerald Express, not a "real" train. I suspected that from the first time I heard about it, and the set number bears that out.

I'm also pretty sure this year's "Christmas Train" will be a mini.