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I have absolutely no qualms about painting, cutting, gluing, sanding scraping, etc.
etc. parts I have plenty of, or just don't like. Johnny Thunders, Qui-Gons, and
Willa Witch's are all customizing-fodder. OTOH, I won't touch my pre-1995 Castle
figures. I learned my lesson after coming out of my DA and trying to reconstruct my
old sets after discovering the new ones weren't that great. I found a bunch of
brown-shirted peasants, but no Wolfpack members. I had scraped the wolf symbol off,
having been completely unimpressed with the 'Pack when they debuted in the 90s (they
were partially responsible for driving me into my DA). Come 2005, no doubt I will be
wailing about how dumb I was to kill off all but one of my Willas when she is
outnumbered 30 to 1 by Princess Storm clones, heehee...
As for orcs, I have tried to sculpt an original headpiece (like the Jar Jar head) out
of Super Sculpey. The plan was to make the piece, make a mold and cast copies of it
to make an army. But I stopped after realizing I had just made a pretty good
Tasmanian Devil (TM) instead. I plan on trying again when I finish up some other
projects.
My take on the customizing question is, if you feel comfortable losing the piece
you'll be modifying, why not? If you're not happy with a piece as it comes out of the
box, why not alter it to make it more satisfying to you? OTOH, as I mentioned above,
there is the "value" question for better or worse with all toys nowadays, not just
LEGO, especially for adult MIB "collectors." I don't consider myself either fully a
TOMB ("tear-out-of-mint-box"--a term from the GI Joe newsgroup) Raider, or a MIB
collector, but a bit of both depending on what I want/need/have at the moment. All
my old (pre-1995) sets are now back to their original form. I did this for a number
of reasons:
1. they're better designed (IMO) than the new sets and are better self-standing
models
2. nostalgia
3. to reaffirm that I have a collection that is almost complete (I like how the
models look when everything is built and arranged in a diorama)
4. to sell or trade off any duplicates to finance future purchases
However, from what I've seen of the new sets, their "collectability" is limited by
the fact that they just aren't (in my opinion) as well-designed as the older sets,
and so I tend to take any duplicates of the new sets apart for parts which more than
occasionally do go under the knife. Plus the fact that since these sets are still
widely available to MIB collectors at or below retail, if you're speculating, you'd
have to wait decades before the demand exceeds supply. I can't wait 30 years to get
my satisfaction, I want to play with my toys NOW!!!
Anyway, it seems a very personal thing. I think you have to decide for yourself if
radically modifying a piece so that you lose the original, but gain a new original,
is worth it. Good luck!
binky
"John Carroll" <johnc@digitalacropolis.com> wrote in message
news:G17G7H.I9A@lugnet.com...
> O.K. What is everyone's opinion on painting lego? I am currently debating
> painting a few minifig heads olive green for an Orc Army. I have everything
> (except the heads assembled) I have been trying different heads but to no
> avail. Has anyone else tried making orcs? as far as I can tell TLC doesn't
> make any green minifig heads. I have tried the mummy head a bunch of blue and
> d.grey space heads and the othe podracer's head they all look cool but don't
> look right. The mummy head looks best but doesn't make me think orc. anyone
> tried stingrays heads I don't have any but I doubt that they would look right
> tho the face is really cool. maybe for a demon army. Has the custom lego
> direct ordering started yet (and how does that work)? I would like (maybe) a
> mummy face printed on a bellville green (I think that bellville has pastel
> green peices). I wish they would have custom minifig designs. As long as all
> the screens are of current sets it souldn't be dificult. OR maybe a private
> promoset. ahhhhhhhhh
>
> my opinion which hasn't gone into practice yet cause I not 100% sure about it
> is: that with heads paiting would be o.k. cause there are no green
> minifigheads available. Well LMKWYT
>
> John
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In lugnet.castle, Bianca Nebab writes:
> I have absolutely no qualms about painting, cutting, gluing, sanding scraping, • etc.
> etc. parts I have plenty of, or just don't like.
I agree! I think the next level of creation IS customization. An earlier
comment about waiting for Lego to come out with stuff? Some things will never
come. Lego was built on the foundation of non-war toys. The fact that they
came out with fright knights is a waver in their dedication to this.
Unfortunately, I wouldn't expect to see any tanks rolling off their production
line anytime soon. So, in the meantime, paint, cut and hack away! I have over
20 dragons. Painting some is no big deal and here is why:
1. Dragons are powerful. They give the bad guys to much advantage.
2. In the AD&D world, there are several colors of dragons representing good
and evil. by painting some in the good colors, this allows me to add a whole
new angle to an army. No longer are JUST castle walls needed for safety.
3. Let's be honest, customized figures are cool! Look at the guy on Ebay
selling all the Marvel characters. He makes big bucks off of 'em!
So, customizing Lego gives you a whole new dimension into expanding your world.
Isn't it their motto: Play Well, The only limits are your imagination.
I have also made some custom trumpeters for my castle. They are cool looking
to and give the castle that more 'realistic' feel (as far as people go).
Note: The gold dragon does have wings. They're just not painted yet.
Brian K>
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>
> Note: The gold dragon does have wings. They're just not painted yet.
>
> Brian K>
In the AD&D world, gold dragons didn't have wings to begin with, they flew by
magic alone.
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> come. Lego was built on the foundation of non-war toys. The fact that they
> came out with fright knights is a waver in their dedication to this.
Huh? How is Fright Knights a war toy? Yes, they take the Royal Knights
as prisoners, but the Forestmen were being captured by the royal guys (not sure
which ones, Crusaders maybe) 10 years before Fright Knights. If LEGO was
wavering their non-war policy, FK wouldn't be the first example. Castle and
Pirates have been about wars for a good while now. And the new Star Wars, how
is that a non-war toy? I think they were meaning that they wouldn't be making
any modern war toys. The modern LEGO is firmy centred around rescue and extreme
sport.
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