simonwillems Posted February 23, 2009 Posted February 23, 2009 It all started on a quiet friday evening in july: The police was called to a street where some people were carrying stolen streetsigns around. Two officers in a patrolcar were dispatched to the scene. After a friendly little chat with the two men things got pretty rough because none of the two persons would hand in the streetsigns they took earlier. The little argument turned into an incident when the policemen decided to arrest the thiefs on the spot. The struggle with one of them alerted some people from the surroundings who had a score to settle with the council, because the mayor had only just decided that their houses had to make way for a new freeway. Things got heated up and the two threatened police officers called for asistance, held the spot for a few minutes but then had to run for their lives after the angry mob had grown substantially. And now, half an hour later, one passing car is set ablaze, another one is being pushed over to it's side and disassembly has begun on the initial patrolcar. The backup finally has arrived: four patrolcars, a van, a commandvehicle, a waterthrower, the dog squad, and about two dozen policemen (four of them on horseback) are now ready to take back the streets while stones are raining down on them. "O.K. men, line up: we'll shows this people who's boss!" Newscrews came out of nowhere, not only on the ground the action is covered live, but also from up in the sky.... "Look out for the man in the green coat with yellow cap! Allright, it seems we scared him!" "Where did that pirateflag came from?" "I don't know but let's wave it to make our point!" "Burn baby, burn!" "Raise your shields men, and remember: no mercy!" "That's one less troublemaker, hand me the cuffs, please..." Just 23 minutes later things were back to normal, all protestors got transported to the policestation where trial awaits them, the stones got picked up, the fire was put out and the refuse services came in to clear the mess... More pictures (of the blue waterthrower) in this Brickshelf folder I hope you like it! Comments are welcome and so are any questions. Quote
Kakihara Smile Posted February 23, 2009 Posted February 23, 2009 RIOT!!!! Hahaha This is very cool. Be really awesome to do with some more scenery. The guys in the back flipping the car are funny :) Quote
Klaus-Dieter Posted February 23, 2009 Posted February 23, 2009 That's a great (and regrettably even not unrealistic) story with a great layout, simonwillems! I really like this scene! The waterthrower looks very well designed! It's really a pity TLG does not release some riot and SWAT sets! The many policemen and police vehicle and the many protestors make your layout looking really realistic! I originally wanted to create something similar to that, too - but time is always that short. Well, let's see. Perhaps I've got time in the end of my semester holidays and then I'll create some kind of a SWAT attack. Very well done! Btw: I have a lot of batons, too, but regrettably no shields. How did you design your police shields for your riot policemen? Klaus-Dieter Quote
MetroiD Posted February 23, 2009 Posted February 23, 2009 (edited) This is a really well executed scene... you've obviously put a lot of thought into it and definitely brought some action to your LEGO world! I must say that it does look scarily realistic! However, I just can't help but notice that somehow the minifigs' smiles just don't go along with the theme of violence. This may be a bit off topic, but let me explain what I mean: Weird as that might sound, there never were any "baddies" in my LEGO world back when I was a kid. The criminal would relax and have a cup of coffee at the police station's lobby room along with other officers while Majisto would chat with the King's Knights and reflect on the dragon's recent exploits in helping out local population. Yes, I know it sounds naive and it pretty much ruins the sense of having a castle or a police station in the first place. I guess in hindsight I could say "how childish of me", but I have to admit that to this day I think more or less the same way when I build LEGO. It's just that the world's pretty messed up as it is and bringing violence to life in LEGO makes me feel a bit sad. Just a few personal reflections... Edited February 23, 2009 by Asya & Bobby Otters Quote
Derek Posted February 23, 2009 Posted February 23, 2009 That pirate flag was random. Very impressive scene, those are quite the rebellious rebels! Quote
The Green Brick Giant Posted February 23, 2009 Posted February 23, 2009 Very nice, that's what Boston looks like after the Red Sox win a World Series. ;) Quote
simonwillems Posted February 23, 2009 Author Posted February 23, 2009 (edited) Thanks for the nice comments! That's a great (and regrettably even not unrealistic) story with a great layout, simonwillems! I really like this scene! The waterthrower looks very well designed! It's really a pity TLG does not release some riot and SWAT sets! Thanks! Well, Lego actually designed a riot police unit once: as part of a Dutch soccer series this Stadium Security set was released. Too bad I never got around to buying it... Btw: I have a lot of batons, too, but regrettably no shields. How did you design your police shields for your riot policemen?Klaus-Dieter The shield design is quite a simple one, I just bought a lot of these and an equal amount of these, sticking them together leaves you with a usable shield. This may be a bit off topic, but let me explain what I mean: Weird as that might sound, there never were any "baddies" in my LEGO world back when I was a kid. The criminal would relax and have a cup of coffee at the police station's lobby room along with other officers while Majisto would chat with the King's Knights and reflect on the dragon's recent exploits in helping out local population. Yes, I know it sounds naive and it pretty much ruins the sense of having a castle or a police station in the first place.I guess in hindsight I could say "how childish of me", but I have to admit that to this day I think more or less the same way when I build LEGO. It's just that the world's pretty messed up as it is and bringing violence to life in LEGO makes me feel a bit sad. Just a few personal reflections... I understand your worries: as a kid I lived and played very peaceful but now that I am studying Criminology at university I realise that the world is, in a way, not as cheerful as we would want it to be.... While building layouts and scenes like this I like to depict reality. This is what a riot looks like and the waterthrower (the reason why I made this scene was to display that car) is based on a real life machine. Just my thoughts... Very nice, that's what Boston looks like after the Red Sox win a World Series. ;) Well... I have never been to Boston, but that must be a cosy and happy place to be! Edited February 23, 2009 by simonwillems Quote
KimT Posted February 23, 2009 Posted February 23, 2009 Reminds me of this, which I did a while back. I found using fences to be real 'powerful' Quote
MetroiD Posted February 23, 2009 Posted February 23, 2009 I understand your worries: as a kid I lived and played very peaceful but now that I am studying Criminology at university I realise that the world is, in a way, not as cheerful as we would want it to be.... I do know what you're talking about, I've done some Criminology myself (to be more precise, Asya, my girlfriend, has - as part of her curriculum in Law, but I do believe that I've also learnt a thing or two :D). What I was saying was that I like to think of LEGO as my own resort from some of the aspects of the surrounding world which I'd like to deal less often with ;] Quote
Zorbas Posted February 24, 2009 Posted February 24, 2009 Very nice layout simonwillems and sure captures the whole riot atmoshpere! The waterthrower looks great. Excellent colour choice. I too agree that the shields look perfect. Btw, this topic just brought images in my mind from last Decembers's riots here in Greece. Days full of tension and anger. Quote
simonwillems Posted February 24, 2009 Author Posted February 24, 2009 I found the picture again that inspired me to build the waterthrower, here it is: All riot police vehicles are blue here in the Netherlands, a darker blue than the standard Lego blue, but who cares? Quote
Basiliscus Posted February 25, 2009 Posted February 25, 2009 Firstly, simonwillems, I'd just like to say what a fantastic MOC! I really like your fig placement in this one, the uniformity of the police line contrasts nicely with the rabble making up the rioters. I like the car being toppled over and the guy on top of the car - very realistic! The inclusion of mounted police and attack dogs are nice touches. But, I'd love to see this on a SNOT road with some background buildings. If this sort of scene interests you, it'd be great to have some buildings in the background and a road in the foreground to add more LEGO to the scene. It's just that the world's pretty messed up as it is... That I do agree with, unfortunately. ...and bringing violence to life in LEGO makes me feel a bit sad. But I don't understand why it makes you sad? I understand your comments about LEGO allowing you to get away from the negative aspects of real-life but I see LEGO as a tool to produce artistic interpretations of real-life events. But I accept your viewpoint regardless. Quote
Darth_Legois Posted February 25, 2009 Posted February 25, 2009 I found the picture again that inspired me to build the waterthrower, here it is:*snipped* All riot police vehicles are blue here in the Netherlands, a darker blue than the standard Lego blue, but who cares? You could use Dark Blue LEGO Bricks. But there's not much choice when it comes to building police vehicles in Darkblue... Anyway I could've sworn I already replied to this topic? Maybe I repiled in the wrong topic [To many tab's open] Anyway as I said [going to say?] "Nothin' like a good old fashioned LEGO riot!" Quote
MetroiD Posted February 25, 2009 Posted February 25, 2009 But I don't understand why it makes you sad? I understand your comments about LEGO allowing you to get away from the negative aspects of real-life but I see LEGO as a tool to produce artistic interpretations of real-life events. I guess it's got something to do with my perception of art in general, since I define art not as something which is supposed to make me think, instead I like art to make me feel. So I'm really not too much of a fan of stuff that depicts violence just for the sheer sake of it. The way I see it, "L'art pour l'art" just ain't art when its sole message is "Look at me and reflect on how bad bad bad this is". Of course, that's the way I feel about it and I appreciate you and simonwillems here accepting my point of view, but then again - everyone's entitled to their own way of seeing things and that's kind of the beauty of it all, right? All of the above has nothing to do with this MOC and I apologise once again for flooding the thread with my personal views. Once again - the scene is REALLY well executed and very thought out, which I like a lot. Quote
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