The Unofficial LEGO Builder's Guide

A while ago I posted my thoughts about one of the new parts that has found its way into the new series of X-Pod sets. And as much as I like the X-Pod concept, I recently picked up a couple of new Racers sets that are just as much fun and wouldn’t you know one of them also includes the new slope.

My favorite one from this series is seen on the left (Flame Glider - set #8641). The car on the far right is the Street Maniac (set #8644). Of course, the car in the middle is set #611, all thirteen pieces of it. What an amazing difference the styling of 4-wide car models has undergone in the last 30 years.

What excited me the most, beyond the realistic look and feel of the new cars was the fact that they were 4 studs wide, but most definitely not scaled or designed for minifigs. I think the minifig has really been a mixed blessing for LEGO over the years. While it’s given them a small character(s) to inhabit a make-believe world it has also given them some models that appear to have been entirely designed around this little unrealistic figure who is nearly as wide as tall. The fact that these new Racers are nearly the same size as the old Police Car that was my very first LEGO set is truly wonderful. It shows me that great LEGO sets are still (and have always been) possible with or without the minifig as a driving force in the design process.

Later!
Allan

It’s amazing how fast an hour can fly by. I was doing some reshoots tonight
of photographs for the book and in the course of an hour I managed to take
about 20 shots, of which only one will probably make it in the book.
Shooting the black and white images has turned out to be a bit of science
mixed with a whole lot of black magic it seems. It’s amazing that (at least
with my camera) the black and white shots look best at one (sometimes one
and a half) stops over exposed. You’d think that would wash out the grey
bricks, but on the contrary, it seems to wash out the background (lit with
full spectrum daylight bulbs) and allow the pieces to ‘pop’ out of the
image. I don’t think there’s a Pulitzer in my future for these pics, but I
think they’ll look great printed in black and white for the book.

Later,
Allan

I picked up a couple of the 2005 X-Pods yesterday. I’m a big fan of this series of little sets. I think it still has great potential to continue to grow as a budget-priced series that anyone can afford.

What really got me excited about the Orange ‘Arachno Pod’ set (#4413) was the inclusion of 4 of this piece:

Slope 30 1 x 1 x 2/3

I think it first appeared last year in the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Locomotive. If you haven’t seen this part in person yet, imagine the smallest slope you’ve ever seen (probably a 1x2 45-degree?) and then imagine one even smaller. Basically, it covers the stud it gets mounted on and that’s about it. It’s just about 2 plates high, but just.

Despite its tiny size I think this piece still qualifies as one deserving of ‘classic’ status. That is to say I think this element looks like it could have existed for years, fitting in with any other slope elements from years past. It’s not particularly a one-use element, though I think finding uses for it will be both interesting and challenging.

I suspect I’ll pick up a few more X-Pods this year to get more of these pieces, but will probably buy some indivually off Bricklink as well. Although looking at the prices currently being charged for them, I’m not sure that’s the most economical way to go about it. LOL

Regards,
Allan B.

Yet another stage of the book is complete now. The major writing/editing phase is done and chapters are now heading off to the copy editor. In some ways it’s tough going through a chapter again (each time it comes back from an editing phase). But on the other hand it’s both refreshing to read through the material again and good to know it’s hopefully getting better on each pass. It’s amazing to read through a section you thought was brilliant a few months earlier only to find a particular sentence or phrase that no longer resonates with the genius you remember.

So each pass of each chapter turns out to be as much work as I had expected but is ultimately worth the effort. Paragraphs are tighter, illustrations get rerendered (and then rerendered again) and so on until it’s ready to submit yet again.

Regards,
Allan B.