Yatkuu

Indeed, I should have done my homework better! Too bad no one noticed this at the newspaper either... Maybe you can tell yourself that these pictures are from the LEGO alternate reality, and as a consequence the images are mirrored...

I did not know about this project, I guess it's inevitable to have similar ideas on such mainstream themes. The CUUSOO project seems to be a lot more Sci-Fi oriented though, what we had in mind for the Marshals is something a lot more contemporary.

A few weeks ago, the Belgian newspaper “Vers L’Avenir” contacted me with the very cool idea to create a 2012 retrospective… in LEGO form. Twelve vignettes to be delivered in a timeframe of approximately 4 weeks… I knew I could not do this on my own so I reached out to an AFOL I am a big fan of… Designholic. We had pretty tight timelines to produce this, while I took care of the builds, Designholic took care of the photography, setup and Minifigure casting. We were free to pick the subjects we wanted so we tried to select topics from various areas, some are Belgian specific, others made the headlines around the world. While we would have preferred to only show fun and positive events, life is unfortunately not only made of good news, I want to make clear that we do not mean any disrespect to the people who were affected by some of these events. January 2012 by Yatkuu, on Flickr Credits for the mini sunken Costa Concordia must go to Bricks for brains, his creation gave me the idea of this setup. February 2012 by Yatkuu, on Flickr March 2012 by Yatkuu, on Flickr April 2012 by Yatkuu, on Flickr May 2012 by Yatkuu, on Flickr June 2012 by Yatkuu, on Flickr July 2012 by Yatkuu, on Flickr August 2012 by Yatkuu, on Flickr September 2012 by Yatkuu, on Flickr October 2012 by Yatkuu, on Flickr November 2012 by Yatkuu, on Flickr December 2012 by Yatkuu, on Flickr These pictures are used as the season’s greetings card of the newspaper, you may check the final result here. They managed to blend the LEGO vignettes with actual pictures from these events; they really did a great job there! If you want to know a bit more around this project, the paper also published an interview of us (in French) … there is also a short video where you get to see a little more the different builds. Thanks for watching and best wishes for 2013!

You might recall that a little while ago LEGO made an open call for ideas for a new action theme oriented towards 7-9 years old boys… Well… together with my good friend Pixel Fox we worked hard on a pitch and we would like to share it with the community today. (to this day we have not heard back from Kim or LEGO… but who knows, maybe someday...) We call it “The Earth Marshals”. Earth Marshalls by Pixel Fox, on Flickr A group of eco-defenders – the Earth Marshals - is patrolling the planet looking to bust the evil polluters a.k.a. “The Stinkers”. Lead by the adventurous Victor Goodwind, the Marshals are a multinational multidisciplinary team comprised of scientists and engineers. They are mandated by various governments to stop this evil organization. These bad guys are mercenaries lead by the corrupted businessman Sebastian Mudflow whose only goal is to exploit natural resources to get rich, even if it is very often at the expense of the planet. We submitted our idea to LEGO together with the above artwork just before the deadline on 15 November, but since then we worked a little more on polishing the idea and presentation so here are a couple of additional views from the different vehicles that we designed. Note that the two factions' logos are also personal creations - the EM logo was designed by Pixel Fox, the Stinkers' logo is from my wife! Earth Marshalls by Pixel Fox, on Flickr The idea behind the design of the Juggernaut is absolutely brilliant and hilarious, Pixel Fox explained me that it was a "freshly cut tree propelled machine". In other words, this vehicle cuts trees for the sake of being able to sustain the activity of cutting down more trees. It's immensely pointless.. but is completely in the spirit of what we wanted to achieve with this theme with dumb bad guys who do not care about the consequences of their actions. The "Hazmat" outfit looks excellent in red... please LEGO hear us! Earth Marshalls by Pixel Fox, on Flickr I don't think LEGO ever tried to produce a trimaran... seriously, wouldn't it be awesome? Earth Marshalls by Pixel Fox, on Flickr The inspiration for the "Zodiac Coma" (I wonder if anyone will figure out why we named it that way) is a mix of aircraft carrier and an oil tanker. Here are the main “trigger points” of this series: · Clear dichotomy between the good and evil · The good guys respect the nature, rely on renewable energy sources – wind turbines, solar panels... · The bad guys use fossil energies, their only goal is getting rich... regardless of the consequences. · The Marshals vehicles present modern and epurated designs, possible color coding : white, earth green · The Stinkers use large and angular metallic vehicles, prominent exhaust pipes, possible color coding : dark red, brown, dark tan So... do you think we stand a chance?

A contest that is mixing-up 3 series… mmmh…lots of possibilities! I have been toying with a contest idea for a while… I may as well mention it here, maybe it will spark an idea. How about we organize a contest in teams? I’m thinking teams of 2, each builder comes up with 1 vignette that is supposed to complete the other one. Each vignette would be made to display 1 CMF, putting the 2 together would reveal an interaction between the figs (for instance the Space marine fighting-off the Alien queen…) Of course we would have to agree upon vignette standards in terms of size and pictures.. since in most cases the vignettes would not be physically connected but rather combined by superposing pictures… This idea still needs to be polished but I really like it because it would force more interactions between forum members. It’s not just creating something on your own and posting it, you need to find someone willing to collaborate with you. We could also imagine to extend the contest to LDD buildings too, having one builder using real bricks and the other using LDD.

Damned, that's a good point... I should have done my homework better. Thanks for the feedback! Wow, that's completely demented... love it! Thank you, the kid in the loft is also my favorite bit.. for some reason I can't think of a normal and cute way of using that Teddy bear, I always end-up using it in the most creepy scenes.

8.) by Toutouille, 3 points. Great shot.

Congratulations Nick, I know for a fact that CUUSOO is an endeavour that really puts your will to the test. You managed to keep the project going for a very long time and that alone is already a feat to be commended. Enjoy this moment and I sincerly wish you the best with the review, no matter what happens this one is already a part of LEGO history.

I know, it's a little weird isn't it? I think it's a common issue with non LEGO fans, they don't really understand the time it takes to come up with a idea, a design and ultimately a MOC! You want to film me building a MOC? Well... sure! you think you have enough tape for that? Not to mention that it's going to be one boring show... LEGO is not really an action oriented hobby... but they want to show "how it's done". The video would be played at high speed or in short "move forward bits" (here is an example that I did with them). But it also means we are looking at simple and relatively small MOCs, creations that you would be able to reproduce in 10-20 minutes.

Hello everyone, I was contacted earlier this week by a journalist from the Belgian newspaper group “Vers L’Avenir”, they want to do a paper for the year end on “2012 in LEGO”. They are looking for 1 or several people willing to spend a bit of time to build a couple of scenes inspired by the highlights of the year. The idea is to write an article about it but also “film the builders in action”. I’m not really sure how this could play out as right now it’s a little blurry. All I know is that the topics could be picked by the journalist or proposed by the builder. (I was interviewed myself by these guys earlier this year for my “Winchester” creation on CUUSOO, they wrote an article even filmed me at my place – it’s serious) Note that this offer is targeted at Belgian AFOLs only, preferably French speaking in order to match the target audience of the paper and also because the journalist would likely need to interview directly the people taking a part in this. While I am myself interested by the offer I can’t do this on my own – producing 5-6 MOCs for next month is just not possible for me – the timing is really tight as they want to issue the paper mid December. The purpose of my message here today is to see if anyone would be interested in getting involved in this – either as a collaborative effort or possibly on your own. It’s all going to depend on who, when, what… first step would be to get in touch and discuss the options. Feel free to PM me or post your questions here!

Thank you all for the feedbacks! Thanks MrDarthLord. Indeed the fear is palpable, and if you listen carefully you can also hear the mother screams coming from the room below! Ha, that's an interesting point, one you should probably discuss this with Dave on Bricks of the Dead.. he's the one with the zombie PhD and I'm sure he would enjoy the conversation. Thanks for the feedback!

Hello everyone! It's been a while since I last shared a MOC on Eurobricks... so I might as well post 3 new builds to compensate! My friend Dave from Bricks of the Dead asked me a while ago if I could produce a series of MOCs that would represent the different kinds of "modern Zombies"... well, it took me several months to complete this challenge but here it is now. Part 1 - The Voodoo Zombies Trilogy of the Dead Part 1 - The Voodoo Zombies by Yatkuu, on Flickr Trilogy of the Dead Part 1 - The Voodoo Zombies by Yatkuu, on Flickr Part 2 - The George Romero Zombies Trilogy of the Dead Part 2 - The Romero Zombies by Yatkuu, on Flickr Trilogy of the Dead Part 2 - The Romero Zombies by Yatkuu, on Flickr Trilogy of the Dead Part 2 - The Romero Zombies by Yatkuu, on Flickr Trilogy of the Dead Part 2 - The Romero Zombies by Yatkuu, on Flickr Trilogy of the Dead Part 2 - The Romero Zombies by Yatkuu, on Flickr Little Timmy, hiding in the attic. I'm really proud of this one! Trilogy of the Dead Part 2 - The Romero Zombies by Yatkuu, on Flickr Part 3 - The infected human Trilogy of the Dead Part 3 - The infected human by Yatkuu, on Flickr Trilogy of the Dead Part 3 - The infected human by Yatkuu, on Flickr Trilogy of the Dead Part 3 - The infected human by Yatkuu, on Flickr If you are interested in learning more about the different kinds of zombies you should check check their full story on Bricks of the Dead! These builds features customs by Citizen Bricks (tiles & heads), BrickArms (various guns, machete), Brick Forge (broken bottle, golf club, scythe) and Brick Warriors (Desert Eagle). Thanks for watching and... happy Halloween!

Viva la vida was my favorite brick film... Until I saw this. This is INCREDIBLE, it is LEGO as I see it in my head when I dream, you made these bricks alive.. I think the song's title is appropriate, you are a magician.

Congratulations to the winners! errr... can we now go back to a less pinkish forum theme, please?

What is truly incredible in this thread is that Aanchir managed to confuse 2 collectible Minifigures!

Cool! The shape of the mech felt familiar... Then I noticed the space crusade board and it hit me, a dreadnought!

Hello! For those of you who have followed the story of the Haunted House set release on the French Shop@Home I wanted to share with you the final chapter of my exchanges with the Customer Service. Just to remind you the circumstances... during the week-end of the release, the set was sold by mistake for 139,99€ on the French S@H. I live in Belgium so I could not buy the set at that price - for me, the price shown online on the Belgian S@H was 179,99€. Instead of quietly purchasing the set as I initially intended to do, I wrote to the Customer Service to express my disappointment and ask them for a commercial gesture. At first they kinda politely blew me off, they claimed the set had never been sold at that price, then they admitted that the erroneous price had been displayed for a while without admitting more... finally after 4 emails they now fully admit the mistake, they confirm that all orders made at the wrong price have been honored.. and that in compensation for my disappointment they are going to credit my VIP account of 300 points (15€)... and they wish me fun building the Haunted House that I will surely order soon. So, that's a happy ending for me! I honestly do not care much for the 15€, I essentially wanted them to come clean regarding their screw-up and do a small gesture... so, thanks LEGO. I'm glad I did not give up on this one, I just did not want to be resentful towards them because this hobby is just too important for me. I know that some people here on the forum did not think I had the right to claim anything - an error is an error, period. Fair enough, but I do have very high expectations towards LEGO and I believe we should all expect from them nothing but the best in class service. For that, I'm more than willing to play my part and provide them with feedback, positive or negative.

Thanks for the constructive feedback guys, I just wanted to comment on what you have said. First off – I’ll give you that I have probably over-reacted on my last posts (I’m sorry if I upset anyone btw). As mentioned, I have had my share of bad news with LEGO, I usually keep my cool but this last episode has been the straw that broke the camel’s back. LEGO is for me as for many of us a question of passion, it’s not always easy to be reminded that down the line it’s still just a business. I have no right to claim for LEGO to sell me a set at a price that is by their own admission a mistake, but I do believe I have the right to ask for their consideration. When a customer service admits a mistake and only say “sorry” that does not cut it in my opinion because between the lines I really read “better luck next time”. Saying “sorry, it was a mistake” is how you justify your screw-ups to your boss, if you want to make amends to your customers you first and above all assure them that it won’t happen again and then you put your money where your mouth is and you offer some kind of compensation in the hope that you can restore the trust. Based on the feedback I have received so far from LEGO, I see nothing but hollow contrition and that’s not good enough for me because I expect better from them. I agree with you when you say that there are no such things as “must have” anymore - you don’t like the price don’t buy… sure, it’s all good common sense. On the other hand I would still like to believe that some good business practices should remain. In cases like this, when it is obvious that the TLG is being sloppy and disrespectful of their fan base I believe it is our role as well to remind them that we are not just their fans, we are also their customers. TLG is doing good as a company, better even. We have all read how they managed to increase their profit in a market that is in crisis. Way to go, I’m happy for them. They create great products and they are rewarded for it, it’s all for the best and I’m sure we all want to keep it that way. On the other hand if nobody speaks up to tell them when the overstep the line they’ll just keep doing false steps and in the end it’s going to be bad news for everyone. Customer feedback - positive or negative - is always good, it’s what keeps a company sharp and on the edge. Being passive does not send any message.

Althought the bottom line of the debate is the price of the set, the essence of the discussion is not about that, it's about the lack of consideration they have for their customers. Also note that we are talking about 2 adjacent countries of the Euro zone, two markets that probably have more in common than a lot of other ones. I honestly never paid any attention if sets are usually priced differently on the French & Belgian S@H but I seriously doubt it is the case (except perhaps for sales?) because it would not really make much sense from a commercial stand point.

lol, thanks man but that's a lesson I don't need to learn! Of course I would have bought it at that price. I live in Belgium, I can only buy from the Belgian S@H. The price issue happened in France.

That's not "fair", it's the very minimum if you don't want to end up being sued. Again, I beg to disagree. You may choose to ignore your rights as a customer to expect a fair consideration from LEGO, I don't. Also, I never said LEGO should honor all pricing mistakes to everyone, although you have to admit that this could be an interesting ethical debate. Fair point, LEGO is not forcing anyone to buy their products. My grudge here is that we are talking about a set that is aimed for a good part at an older audience, and I can't shake the feeling that they use it as a justification for boosting up their prices - and that is unreasonable to me. Just for the sake to illustrate my point, at 179.99€ the HH has a price per piece ratio that is by far superior than every modular. 179.99€ - price /piece = 8.72cent Fire Brigade 149.99€ - p/p = 6.72cent Pet Shop 149.99€ - p/p = 7.38cent Town Hall 179.99€ - p/p = 6.5cent At 139.99 the HH would be a p/p = 6.78cent That being said, I do not have a problem with the price of 179.99€, never said I had, I even mentionned I was about to buy the damned thing! My expectation here is for LEGO to play fair and have a commercial attitude towards their customers who caught them red handed being sloppy with their pricing and communication. I'm not sure why but I think some of you guys cut way too much slack to LEGO.

I thought it was obvious, I'm only asking a fair deal which is to be allowed to buy the set for the price my French AFOL friends were allowed to. Now, onto your comment, I wouldn't exactly say I "haven't bought anything"... the 40€ difference is pale in comparison to the amount I spent in LEGO over the past few months... And that is I think a valid point for a lot of ALFOs, it's not because most of us have the means to buy ourselves the LEGO we want that we should be squeezed to the last drop. There's a difference between "you pay for quality" and "let's see how much we can force you to pay".

I heard that story too but I did not see any official communication about that from LEGO. In any case my situation is a bit different though, I did not buy it yet. I was about to quietly validate my order @179.99€ on Saturday when I found out about the price difference, I therefore did what any sane person would do, I cancelled my order and I emailed them right away. It is supposed to be an online shopping platform, not a lottery.

My goodness, I had no idea the issue was systemic. Thanks for sharing. I am obviously pumped up with this story, perhaps a bit more than the average bloke but that's for personal reasons. I have had more than my share of disappointment with LEGO this year - you might recall a certain story about the Winchester on CUUSOO? Anyway, that story is completely irrelevant here. Regardless, I think I do have a valid point here. A point that LEGO seems to completely miss, so I wrote them a third email this morning, I may as well paste it here: Remember that this whole thing did not start last week-end. They also managed to screw-up the official announcement of the set back in June. And we are not talking about an error that would make them loose money like in the examples you provided, had the set been sold for 50 euros I would have felt sorry for them and not even thougt about complaining. So yeah, I’m not letting this one go just yet.

^^ this. How does that make everyone who paid 179.99€ feel? (Happy for you DanSto! )