Basiliscus

I'd like to thank all the nice comments so far, I am proud of this creation if I don't say so myself! I am glad you all like it too! I don't have any at present but the creation (not the backdrop, however) is still intact. I will take some pictures some time this week and post them for those who are interested. I agree with this. I had thought for some time about what to put at the front, do you have any suggestions? I tried to do something that wouldn't interfere with the swivel of the gun but couldn't work out what to do. If anyone has any ideas I'd be willing to try them, provided I have the parts of course! I think I shall, thanks for the link!

I've been a fan of your work for some time now Dr. S, and this display is particularly cool. I love the fountain and the town hall (?) front, it looks like one of the props from a movie scene! Keep up the good work mate.

imperialshadows pretty much sums up what I think very succinctly. Well put mate! Having looked at the vehicles in more detail, I particularly like the SNOT details on the yellow jeep. There is a lot more to that creation than meets the eye. If you wanted some advice to improve the vehicles, I would add something to the roof of the blue van, the main body is great but the roof is a little bland - perhaps an aerial or an extractor fan (like you see on some UK vans) would help break it up a bit. But that's only nitpicking because the 3 of them are really well-built!

These are quality! A while back I tried to create a go-kart but that red one is particularly cool - just like the real thing!

This is so simple but it has a nice rugged look to it, like it could survive being thrown around off-road. The modifications to fit a minifig are cool too. Changing the front grille to gray certainly makes it more realistic. I like it!

There is a form of 'realism' in these creations I can't quite put my finger on. Whatever it is I really really like it. I can imagine these as being real minifig buildings - perhaps it's the small details like the windowsill flowers on the house or the air extractors on the roof of the estate agents. The alleyway is extremely realistic - when I look at it I imagine dogs barking for some reason (probably this happens in most films ). The minifig positioning is excellent too! This would make a great 'move' type scene! Well done!

Thanks mate. I really love Mexico and it's history (and food!) so it was kind of a natural choice. I also did a little bit of Spanish when I was at school and enjoyed it. I enjoy history and have lots of books on the Aztecs, so they might appear at some point too. El Presidente is modelled on the various Latin American leaders who have surfaced over the years, I am quite pleased with the style - I feel he looks Hispanic! Usually I just imagine what would give the best shot and model the scene to fit. For example in the scene with the red carpet it is made up of 2 baseplates, if you were to pan the camera left or right you would see my carpet! Sometimes I assemble a scene thinking it is substantial enough to get one decent photo but I then have to expand it when I realise it's not big enough. It can be tricky, but I like the effect.

Hi guys, technically I have been registered for this website a long time, but this is one of my first recent posts. For those who are interested, I nearly came out my dark ages back in August 2006 (when I registered) but didn't Anyway, in January I officially came out from my dark ages and have been relatively busy constructing various MOCs. Some of you who read Calvin's Legoland Times may have seen Legaña featured there. In this post I present to you some of the town MOCs I have been working on. Legaña is a Hispanic nation so everything has Spanish-sounding names - I, however, am not a native Spanish speaker so the words probably are not very accurate! Hopefully, the pictures will be links. Firstly, the flag of the glorious nation. Made from bricks, naturally! The link should take you to the whole folder. Second, the Hospital in Santa Maria. Well actually, builders constructing it! I need to order some parts from Bricklink to finish the roof and I hope to do that in the next week or so. Next up, El Presidente giving a news conference. El Presidente (The President) is called Pedro Cuahchic and came to power in a coup in February. This link will take you to the gallery (when moderated). More on El Presidente now, this time him arriving to meet his ministers on the red carpet. This link will take you to the gallery (when moderated). Lastly for this post, El Presidente receiving a speeding ticket whilst driving his new sports-car. This link will take you to the gallery (when moderated). In case you are wondering, the reason there are so few pictures is because I have a medium sized collection at present and I enjoy building dioramas where only Lego is in the photo (i.e. no carpet etc). Most of the dioramas are constructed so that this is possible for one angle only, and it gets boring to see the same photo from the same angle only zoomed in or out a bit. Once my collection expands (and I have space to build, another limiting factor at present) then I should be able to take more photos when I build something more substantial. Hope you like it. I'd appreciate your thoughts and comments.

May I present to you the River Patrol Boat, 'Pez Espada' (Swordfish...I think!). The duty of this craft is to eliminate criminal activity in the rivers surrounding my town, Legaña (if the special 'n' doesn't appear properly, please let me know). The Brickshelf gallery Please let me know what you think of it. EDIT: I almost forgot to give credit to the prolific Keith Goldman for the roof of this boat. I reworked (read: copied ) his design from the Skyweb Tower.

And imagination can still draw sources from essentially real-life sets! My favourite types of films are those which have a historcical basis but take a few liberties, like in the original LEGO Pirate line, compared to those which have a large fantasy element, such as in the Viking line. It is all a matter of opinion. I don't think the Islanders were a step in the wrong direction, I believe they added variety to the theme. While most think of pirates as being a Western European theme, I would see it more as something of a colinisation affiar - involving natives. ---------------------------------------------------- I voted realistic because I think that the fantasy spoils it for me, I like historically liberated (If that makes sense - LoL). TLC could implement Mesoamerican civilisations and show the human sacrifice, canibalism, populations ravished by disease, slavery, forced labour etc, but this would be badly implemented. But so would having a giant feathered snake representing Quetzelcoatl chasing Spaniards through a jungle. The best way would be a civilisation whose architecture and way of life resembles mesoamericans, but without the horrific reality which could be potentially portrayed. Think semi-realistic Islanders, with more buildings and different types of warriors. Mesoamerica offers plenty of potential for a flamboyant semi-realistic LEGO series.

And I would also agree. I see LEGO as a medium for people to express themselves and produce models of what they enjoy. There must be a differentiation between films and LEGO, even if people make MOCs of films. I would hope most people agree, but sometimes I can watch a film and think of ways to make certain buildings/ships/characters in LEGO, and so it could be claimed that film encourages me to build with LEGO, and reinvigorates my interest in it. In my opinion most times films inspire people to do MOCs. I'm not a fan of POTC because of the large fantasy element, but if people post a fantasy MOC it shouldn't be classed as a failure since someone just copied a movie, it takes much work to get an accurate representation of anything in LEGO. People should be pleased it encourages interest in the genre. Again, I agree. Any influence from any medium (be it films, books, drawings) is all good for the LEGO community because someone may make a MOC of say a POTC ship, then another person may look at the ship and see a new building style/technique which may then influence them to build a ship of their own imagination incorporating this technique, making it better. --------------------------------------- So in a long-winded way, I'm trying to say any influence is good for the community, and in a roundabout way MOCs influenced by other mediums may themselves influence further, greater MOCs. Phew, long post! *sweet*

Thanks again everyone for the warm welcome, I'm sure I'll get a chance to know you all better over time!

Thanks guys! :-) I study Applied Physics at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow. I'm on a placement just now but I'll be reunited with my Lego next weekend! Woohoo! LoL

Sorry guys, but Castle it is for me! I grew up in CC, and it still has a special place in my heart! Although the recent lines have really let the team down! My favourite were the original Royal Knights, although I have many a Black Falcon, Crusader and Forestman! Although I do enjoy pirates too, I am not overly keen on the dominance of Western European ships, now if the Pirates line did Oriental or African piracy, I'd be right in there! X-D

I would say it's up to the user what he/she wishes them to be! It's conveniant that blue and red could be based on French and British respectively, but Prussians and Austrians also frequently wore blue, so really there's plenty of scope for the user to manipulate! As to what TLC intended them to be, who really knows, I doubt they were supposed to be accurate representations as this tends to be avoided by them in my opinion. Still, they make good army builders! :-)

Helden, I must commend you on the undertaking of this vast project! I am very interested in it, and have a few questions: Firstly, I am planning an Aztec-esque style culture, based on Islanders and a few unique surprises. Although your start date is the mid-1700's, would they still be eligible for entry (considering their dominance was gone by almost 200 years)? Also, considering they would probably not have guns and cannon, how would combat for them be defined? Would 'canoes' be a new ship class? LoL I may try a few things, such as cataraman (sp?) based catapults, but I'm just curious of its implementation... Also, I do like pirates but would like to create a few unconventional designs, for example Korean turtle ships (I know these would be around 150 years old by your start date!) or Barbary corsairs (this is at early development stage so no promises! LoL), so would they be able to join the Pirate or Freelancer faction? Or is more conventional designs preffered? Apologies if this has been covered, but I'm just new here! :-D

Hello everyone! The above description is probably how I feel about my Lego hobby (it's a Dr. Seuss quote by the way!)- after around 7 years of 'Dark Ages' I have decided to rekindle my interest in all things LEGO! Myself? I am a 20 year old student from the UK. I enjoy Castle, Pirate and occasionally Space. My other hobbies are football (of which I help run a team) and military history (which I am constantly reading!). I have been 'lurking' for a while, reading posts on forums but I decided to take out a Eurobricks account and contribute! I am away from home until next weekend, but rest assured I will be raiding Bricklink and expanding my collection. I hope this gives you a bit of background and hope to hear from you all at some stage!