hjmediastudios

N13OS (CrashSanders) did the original design, and it'ws great. I can only take credit for the rendering. I've tested it with my stash of Galaxy Patrol minifigs, and it works fine.

I can't leave the States, so it's a "cool, but maybe later" type of thing. I have some commitments in the near future that preclude any sort of job.

And here are some images and video of the latest set idea: Falling from the Sky by HJ Media Studios, on Flickr Drop Pod Main by HJ Media Studios, on Flickr Lineup by HJ Media Studios, on Flickr

I'm not trying to hew excessively close to present-day military doctrine; I'm just using what I know and considering the cultural context of the future. Sure, there might not be a logical reason for every service to have its air element, but tradition, legislative pork-barreling, and so forth will undoubtedly contribute to such conditions in the future.

Just like today's military (or America's military, at least), each service has its own air elements. There's no "Space Air Force," though; the closest to it would be the Navy's Starfighter Command, which handles all the space-to-ground bombers and dogfighting.

Yes, I know there are a lot of Lego Tumblers out there, many of them to the same minifig scale as mine, but none of those other Batmobiles have the sturdy construction (this can survive a six-foot drop; many of the earlier prototypes could not) and the huge wealth of play features. In ascending order of coolness: 1. Extendable Bat-Wings pop out of the sides. 2. A hidden jet thruster emerges from the back panel, like in the Dark Knight film. 3. The top opens, allowing full access to the comfortable interior. 4. Deployable Bat-Missiles pop out of the hood. 5. Deployable Bat-Missiles spring into readiness from hidden panels on the sides of the Tumbler's body. 6. In the event that the Tumbler becomes destroyed, the front portion of the Tumbler... <em>get this</em>... actually transforms into a fully functional, completely playable Bat-Pod motorcycle. The back of the Tumbler. Not much to see here. A Bat-Thruster slides out of a hidden panel. Charming, right? Freud would have a field day. Cop-out? Yes. Cool for my little cousins that playtest this? Yes also. Demonstrating the awesome, movie-accurate feature of being able to place figures in the Tumbler! Seats two comfortably, as Mr. Wayne is demonstrating now. All six of the Tumbler's hidden Bat-Missiles pop out of the structure of the vehicle. I know one of the missile sets is hidden, but that's not important. The Bat-Missiles were the last things added to the Tumbler, before I was literally unable to cram any more gadgets into the limited space I had available. And now for the Batpod transformation: Phase 1: The hood lifts up to grant access to the separable Bat-Pod component Phase 2: The Bat-Pod detaches from the main body. It's held out by a single Technic pin, so it's easy to pull out, but it's surprisingly durable and acts as a completely functional set of front wheels for the Tumbler. Phase 3: Now completely separate, the Bat-Pod unfolds... Phase 4: ... And the transformation is complete! Seat a minifig on the Bat-Pod and go for a ride. Note that I don't have a Batman minifigure (yet), so Superman will have to stand in. And that's about all I have right now. Questions, comments, etc. are greatly appreciated, and building instructions should be up soon.

There will be two more alien species; I'm working on one now.

No, they'll stay normal red. That is, unless Lego wants them changed to produce them. Here's Privates Fank and Chang with the results: Armor show by HJ Media Studios, on Flickr

Right on. I made this in Blender, same as my other stuff. Version 2.63a, with Cycles render at 300 samples.

I'm considering changing the Space Marines color scheme to either dark red, red, or "classic" sand red. Which do you prefer?

Wow, that's a bit bigger than mine, but I like it. Keep up the good work? And yes, I'm working on a game with a team from Croatia- although I do know game development, they're handling the programming and I'm holding down the art of things. The shot above isn't a mockup; it's just a render using a game environment I'm working on. The final game is a top-down tactics game.

I'm making a tutorial about creating digital minifigs using Inkscape, GIMP, and Blender.

And here's an update, a POV shot showing a level in progress from the game. Not the gameplay itself, but the environment. You are a Space Marine by HJ Media Studios, on Flickr

I'm not entirely sure where this should go, but Licensed Themes seems as good a place as any! You wanna race? by HJ Media Studios, on Flickr Closeup on Flash: Flash by HJ Media Studios, on Flickr And on Quicksilver: Quicksilver by HJ Media Studios, on Flickr Any thoughts? I'm not a DC fan, so any comments on Flash on how to improve him would be greatly appreciated.

I went to my local Target and bought the last Series 7 Space Marine. (I confess, I broke down while waiting for an entire Platoon to arrive off Cracklink.) There was one left out of an entire two-box display. The next day I went, every CMF was gone, so there must be a huge turnover rate.

I am planning to make all the antagonists aliens, to protect against Lego's often-nebulous rules against violence. I think it's one thing to have human (and alien) Space Marines fighting a vicious and clearly non-human alien race, and that puts any violence there is firmly in the realm of science fiction, but if the enemies are human, it brings it a little closer to home and might disturb some kids... or so Lego's line of reasoning might perhaps go.

Just a question- why are no digital entries allowed? From my experience, it's just as hard, if not harder, to create a good-looking custom minifig in Blender as it is to make one in physical bricks, given the unique skill set required and the difficulties inherent in 3D work.

I'm working on something that doesn't necessarily involve magic, and I also want the system to be simple to grasp- if possible, it should be possible to get the basic idea after 10 minutes of basic explanation. I will incorporate some aspects of the Heroica RPG rules into what I'm tentatively titling BORPs, but I've got a decent system already for basic combat.

So, I'm developing a custom Lego wargame to replace the Brikwars rules my gaming group has grown increasingly frustrated with. The infantile tone, the lack of support for supernatural powers and role-playing game-style stuff, etc. have all made us uncomfortable with the Brikwars ruleset. We've tried BOW, the Bricks-Only-Wargame, but the lack of flexibility was too much of a drawback. So, I'm creating a rule set that hopefully will blend a bit of both games and pull in some new stuff to create an entirely new wargame suitable for any situation, from vast armies with simple statistics to highly-detailed role-playing game adventures. I currently lack playtesters, so I'm asking this: If I came up with a simple battlefield, released a pdf of the rules, and set up a play-by-forum type of thing, would anyone here want to playtest it? If there's no interest, I'll look somewhere else, but given the popularity of the Mafia games and so on, I think there's no reason I couldn't try to set up a forum wargame.

I got this set yesterday, and I have to say it lives up to every positive review I've seen. It would not be an exaggeration to say it's one of the best sets in recent memory.

This must be a regional thing- I have the entire Marvel line and 20 Chitauri footsoldiers off Bricklink, and every minifig, bar none, is of great quality. I did have a problem with cracking in a few 1x1 round tiles, but luckily there were replacements included in the set.

I don't mind double-faced figures, but it really bugs when they don't provide hair or a helmet or something to cover up the back of the head. I don't want my minifigs walking around looking like some freakish genetic mutation.

Brickset says 341, but I'm pretty sure the figure's (no pun intended) closer to 500.

Lovely. This may sound crass, but to me walking into a Lego store and walking out with a bunch of yellow bags is the closest you can come to buying happiness.

I don't think it's overkill; I just got on a roll! And the Christmas tree line is (as far as I know) unique to me; I've frequently referred to especially difficult exams as Christmas Tree Tests because I'd rather... well, you get the picture.