Saber Scorpion

Check it out!

Check it out

(On an admin note, why aren't you using your old account) I forgot the information and didn't care to look for it. Maybe I will trie again. Thankyou for reading!

Personally, I strongly disagree with you. The SW theme is my favorite license and possibly one of the best. + How does the new Han In Carbonite look cartoony? And Boba has been seven ft. tall the whole saga with an exception of 1&2.

Hey, your mosaics are cool.

The best of my Halo 1 creations, my Pillar of Autumn was built on a whim, when I noticed that the three wedges on the front looked like the front of the Autumn when put together that way. The end result turned out a lot more accurate than I ever really imagined it would. Follow this link to see the full review: Saber-Scorpion.com

My Customization Philosophy Concerning cutting, gluing, painting, molding, and decaling of standard LEGO parts as applies to Minifig and Model customization. A lot of fellow LEGO builders online tend to either like or dislike my creations based on their own concerns about what should and should not be allowed when creating a LEGO MOC. Well, I have my own feelings on the subject as well, and so that we can understand each other better, I have made this page detailing my LEGO-building philosophy (or policy, if you prefer). I simply ask that you, if you have any qualms over my LEGO building methods, please read through this page completely. I've been part of the online LEGO building community since around 1998, and over that period of time, I've made a few observations about my fellow LEGO builders (especially AFOLs, or Adult Fans of LEGO). First of all, they usually fall into one of three categories... First there are the Classical Purists, who are often hard to find and only support building LEGO models with official parts, yellow minifigs, etc. On the complete opposite end of the spectrum are the Minifig Customizers, who are willing to use their knife, clay, paint, stickers, and more in order to get the desired results on their minifigs (LEGO people). However, they usually build ONLY minifigs, not actual LEGO models. And finally, there are the Liberal Purists, as I like to call them. They seem to be the most common these days, even though they are also the most hypocritical. They support using only official LEGO pieces and dislike cutting, painting, decaling, etc... and yet, for some reason that continues to confound me, they are often willing to use peach-skin minifigs, official LEGO stickers, and even some custom non-LEGO parts (weapons, usually) from such places as LittleArmory, BrickArms, and BrickForge. This last group is the main one I am trying to communicate to with this page. Due to the fact that the Minifig Customizers, as professional as they may be, only customize minifigs and seldom build actual LEGO models, they usually form their own distinct communities, apart from other builders. You'll find your Purists and Liberal Purists at places like Classic-Space and your Minifig Customizers at places like MCN: the Minifig Customization Network. The problem in my case is that I do not fall into either of these two distinct groups. I enjoy building LEGO models AND I enjoy customizing minifigs. So I find myself between groups, and I feel like I need to explain where I stand. So without further ado, here are my own precise policies on LEGO building... On Minifigs First of all, I customize my minifigs. While standard LEGO minifigs are often times sufficient, they usually are NOT sufficient to accurately recreate characters from existing subjects like movies and video games. For instance, try to make an accurate representation of the Ninja from Metal Gear Solid without using decals... one that you can show to a random gamer and he will actually recognize who it is supposed to be without being told. In most cases, this is nearly impossible. Personally, I think there is nothing wrong with using decals on minifigs, since it is the very same thing that the LEGO company itself would do if they made official LEGO sets based on that franchise. Does LEGO use existing pieces from previous lines to make new ones? Not a chance! Part customization using cutting or clay is much the same. When LEGO needs a special new piece (or even sometimes when they don't), they make a new mold for that piece. Take, for example, the helmet on the minifig to the far left in this photo. It was made specifically for Lando Calrissian in the Jabba's Sail Barge set. So far it has been used for nothing else, and it has only been included in that one single set. So why can't we make special helmets too? Furthermore, I would like to ask you purists a question: how many of you actually use the blobby, cartoony KK2 swords like he's holding there? The ones that all of the Knights Kingdom 2 LEGO minifigs use (and most of the Vikings)? They are unrealistic, hard to pose, too big, and look utterly silly. If I'm guessing correctly, you probably hate them, like most Castle builders do. So why not cut them up? Then you can make things like a Roman-style sword (like the gladiator is holding) or an Orc-style scimitar (like Gothmog is holding), which are far better-looking and more useful! Is it really such a huge loss of a LEGO piece that you probably aren't going to use in its normal form anyway? I don't think so. Heck, often times today, LEGO uses the same customization methods anyway. Take, for example, the Ferrari pit crew guys and the international soccer (football) team figs. They both come with blank torsos, and the builder has to apply the decals themselves! This is the same thing that minifig customizers like myself simply do for our own minifigs, like those shown on the right. We simply use our artistic talents to make the decals ourselves. LEGO also uses new cloth elements whenever necessary (such as the oversized shoulder pauldrons on their Sandtroopers), so why can't we? Admittedly, I try not to over-detail my model with cloth elements in order to keep it from turning from a LEGO minifig into a Barbie doll. This also loses the point of building with LEGO, as the minifig is no longer useful for sitting in a LEGO vehicle, which is, in my opinion, the very point of making a custom LEGO minifig in the first place. If you're not going to build vehicles and you would rather use cloth for your minifig's entire outfit, why not just customize action figures or dolls? In short, while minifig customization is sometimes unnecessary and can be avoided, it sometimes is necessary to create the desired effect, and it really is nothing more than the LEGO Company itself does anyway. Besides, custom minifigs, when done professionally, can be awesome works of art in themselves... as long as you don't take it too far and start making dolls instead of LEGO people for LEGO models. And if you do not have the right equipment for creating decals, or you are not good at it, or if minifig customization is simply not your thing... that's fine, but don't fault others for doing what they enjoy and taking their LEGO hobby in a different direction. Or, in my case, both directions. On Models Now, customizing an actual LEGO model is an entirely different game, and different rules apply. First of all, cutting up LEGO parts in order to achieve the right result on your model is a no-no. The entire point of building with LEGO is to build your model as accurately as possible using the existing parts. Admittedly, LEGO makes new parts when it needs them, but if you're willing to do this yourself, then why bother using LEGO at all? Why not use model kits or something similar? LEGO minifigs have a much more limited range of parts and applications, but you can usually achieve any desired result with regular LEGO parts when building a model, if you are just inventive enough and have the right pieces. I admit that I once cut a LEGO part for my model of Metal Gear RAY (shown here), but I have greatly regretted it since then. Especially since, ironically, LEGO soon came out with a part which would have made the customization unnecessary (the two of them are shown above). Indeed, this is often the case, as LEGO sometimes does release their own, official version of the very part that the "cutters" were trying to generate in the first place. One of the most common part customizations performed for models is cutting a LEGO rod pieces slightly short. One day, mark my words, LEGO will probably release a rod piece that is about 3-studs long, and then all of those customizations will be rendered unnecessary, and indeed, hardly "customizations" at all anymore. I'm not saying it justifies them, but it's true. Stickers (decals) are also sometimes applied to models. While I sometimes use a few decals on my models, I draw the line at the point where the decals become the model itself. These days more than in the past, the LEGO company often uses stickers for things like headlights and technological details, where ACTUAL LEGO headlights or LEGO "greebling" would have been far preferable. In my opinion, this is going too far. Again, if you are going to use stickers for all the details, why use LEGO at all? Why not buy a model kit that uses such stickers anyway, and get a more accurate overall shape? If you're going to build with LEGO, then use LEGO, not stickers. Otherwise you're losing the point. And yet, in a move that I find completely baffling, many LEGO customizers that fall into my "Liberal Purist" group are willing to use such decals on their models, just because LEGO made them. Most prevalent are the use of Exo-Force stickers, which many Space and Mecha builders who otherwise despise all decals are willing to apply to their own custom models. Much of the time, these are the same individuals who find my use of my own custom-designed decals to be abhorrent. Personally, I find this to be highly illogical. If one is willing to use decals that LEGO made for their lines, then what could possibly be wrong with making your own? In my opinion, it adds a greater level of artistic personalization to your model. I don't go so far as to add great quantities of detail using simple stickers (though this is often what the Exo-Force ones do), but I do like to include a few custom faction emblems, like LEGO did with most of their Classic Space lines. That is my policy for using decals on models. Summary In summary, this is my policy in short: - For minifigs, anything goes that is necessary to achieve the desired results, so long as your LEGO minifig can still be used for its intended purpose and does not end up looking like a doll. - For models, only official, unmodified LEGO parts should be used, or the entire point of building with LEGO is lost. For the same reason, decals should only be used for minor details like emblems and not as a substitute on major parts of the model that LEGO parts could be used for. In conclusion, to you Purists and Liberal Purists out there: I hold no illusions that this page is not going to change your mind or make you build differently than you want to... although I would appreciate it if you would now consider at least giving other methods a try. But mostly, I simply ask for you to give my creations and those like them the same level of respect and credit you would to builders who do not use decals. Just because builders like myself do not build using the same methods as you is no reason to lower your rating of our creations or simply dismiss everything we make. LEGO is, in essence, still just a toy, and we all play with it in the way that we enjoy. - Scorp

Hm. Someone e-mailed me about this topic and mentioned that I should take a look at it, so I decided to come defend myself. I should have known the one making the nasty remarks would be Chuck, who apparently still won't give me a fair chance. Come on, Chuck, can't you give me a little credit once in a while? And to be frank, I agree with what Starwars4J said, you need to reign in the ego a bit. Unlike you, I don't claim to be better than anyone, not even you; I'm just continuing my hobby of building LEGO, just like you. There's no reason for you to bash me at every opportunity... No, please don't become a decal-hater like them, MicVash. At least hear me out first. First of all, I only use extensive decaling and cut/mold/mutilate parts FOR MINIFIGS - NEVER for actual models. This is a little thing you may have heard of called "minifig customization." There are many LEGO builders out there who take their hobby in this direction - have you ever been to the Minifig Customization Network? http://www.minifigcustomizationnetwork.com/ In the cases where I DO use decals on my actual LEGO models (vehicles, etc.), I always limit their use to faction emblems and other things that I cannot do with regular LEGO pieces. I try my best never to use them to add details such as greebling that could otherwise be created using regular LEGO parts. For more info on my policies, I have made a page here: http://www.saber-scorpion.com/lego/faq_philosophy.php Personally I consider using a few custom-drawn decals, if done well, to be a great artistic addition to any creation. Call it my "style," if you will, but don't hate me for it. Secondly, before you go comparing my creations to all of the other Halo builders out there, please understand that many of my Halo models are quite old, made four or more years ago, and back when I built them there were almost no other Halo LEGOs on the Internet. So over time I have been improving and re-building my creations to keep up with the compeition, as you can see by looking through the tons of images in my Halo gallery at Brickshelf: http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/SaberScorpion/Halo - and thus I have improved my skills over time. A good example of this is my LEGO ghost: http://www.saber-scorpion.com/lego/halo_ghost.php - scroll down to the bottom of that page and look at my old models, then compare them to my new one, which is one of my latest creations. Hopefully this will help you understand. If you would like to see some examples of what I consider my best models, check these out (most of them are made for my little sci-fi universe called Nova Refuge, as the original poster of this thread pointed out): The "Vampire Cat" Fighter: http://www.novarefuge.com/lego/other_vampirecat.htm Grimm's Army Vulture Fighter: http://www.novarefuge.com/lego/grimm_vulture.htm Grimm's Army STEG Mobile Command: http://www.novarefuge.com/lego/grimm_steg.htm Yavakaro Goryo Aerospace Bomber: http://www.novarefuge.com/lego/yavakaro_goryo.htm The "Kampilan" Walker (Mech): http://www.novarefuge.com/lego/zygbar_kampilan.htm The "Manegarm" Walker (Mech): http://www.novarefuge.com/lego/xarkon_manegarm.htm Slashrim Sovalok Beast: http://www.novarefuge.com/lego/helexith_sovalok.htm BattleTech Daishi (DireWolf) Mech: http://www.saber-scorpion.com/lego/mechwarrior.php StarTalon Fighter/Walker (B-Wing set alt. model): http://www.saber-scorpion.com/lego/sw_startalon.php Imperial Voidfighter (built for an FBTB contest): http://www.saber-scorpion.com/lego/sw_voidfighter.php Star Wars TIE Defender: http://www.saber-scorpion.com/lego/sw_tiedefender.php I tried to pick out the more impressive models, but you can see all of them at my site, of course: http://www.saber-scorpion.com/lego/ Thanks for taking a look. And as always, keep building!