The Energon Pub

The advantage of having so many white bodied generic Autobots is that the frosted coloration of the adhesive labels is hardly noticeable on the torsos. (I can't quite say the same for poor Sandstorm.) Unfortunately, there are surprisingly few Transformers with white torsos to take advantage of the situation.

these came out pretty nice my friend. any luck improving your decal technique?

wulongti wrote:these came out pretty nice my friend. any luck improving your decal technique?

Not yet. I'm somewhat ambivalent about moving to anything more permanent like waterslide decals. Although these labels look less professional, there is a benefit to being able to rip them off at the end of the day and apply a new one if I decide to make a different character or redesign the label.

What's really tantalizing me now is the transparent sticker set a Brick Forge:
http://www.brickforge.com/store/product ... 361&page=1

None of those decals really seem appropriate for what I'm doing, but I want to know how to get in on that action. I wonder if begging would work...or maybe if enough Kre-o geeks show the demand for chest and face decals, it might change the mind of the boys and girls at Repro-labels.

Tresob wrote:

wulongti wrote:these came out pretty nice my friend. any luck improving your decal technique?

Not yet. I'm somewhat ambivalent about moving to anything more permanent like waterslide decals. Although these labels look less professional, there is a benefit to being able to rip them off at the end of the day and apply a new one if I decide to make a different character or redesign the label.

What's really tantalizing me now is the transparent sticker set a Brick Forge:
http://www.brickforge.com/store/product ... 361&page=1

None of those decals really seem appropriate for what I'm doing, but I want to know how to get in on that action. I wonder if begging would work...or maybe if enough Kre-o geeks show the demand for chest and face decals, it might change the mind of the boys and girls at Repro-labels.

those brickforge sets are pretty snazzy

I imagine that they are limited by the die cut though to the shape of a lego fig. Would that shape work on a Kreon? I'm guessing that the upper corners of the chest by the shoulders would go uncovered. (just noticed the other sets like shields and the like so maybe they can do other die cuts)

I'm guessing that BF is lego only?

was just going through brickforge.... and I can't help but wonder if they would be interested in having a Kreon subsection w/ your stickers and my upgrade parts... I have to believe that if they could manufacture the parts that I've designed then they would be a heck of a lot cheaper than getting them though shapeways....

wulongti wrote:
those brickforge sets are pretty snazzy

I imagine that they are limited by the die cut though to the shape of a lego fig. Would that shape work on a Kreon? I'm guessing that the upper corners of the chest by the shoulders would go uncovered. (just noticed the other sets like shields and the like so maybe they can do other die cuts)

I'm guessing that BF is lego only?

Eye-balling it by placing two torsos next to each other, Lego is slightly more narrow at the top and wider at the hips...it is also a slightly longer torso.

The BF stickers wouldn't quite fit squarely on a Kreon...but most of the images that Hasbro stamps on a Kreon torso don't fill the whole space anyway. (And most of the ones I've bought weren't even stamped on evenly.)

But, of course, most of the accessories and extra-bits that BF sells would be hand for extra robot parts. They would be quite handy for expanding an arsenal.

UPDATED:
I don't see why you couldn't pitch your parts to Brickforge. After all, the legs and arms are just as Lego-compatible. The only issue would probably be intellectual property rights. I don't know if they would give you a cut or merely buy the rights to the parts from you or what. They might want to stick to their own original inventory to avoid legal entanglements. You can always make a pitch, though.

UPDATED AGAIN:
From their FAQ:

Unsolicited Materials
We receive dozens of suggestions, ideas, photos, drawings, etc. from fans all over the world requesting various custom minifig & brick accessories. While we can’t possibly make them all we warn that any communication or material you transmit to and through the Site by electronic mail or otherwise will be treated as non-confidential and non-proprietary. This simply means that if you ask us to make a compatible brick-scale platypus, we are under no obligation to offer credit or royalties if that idea were to ever make production.

Tresob wrote:Eye-balling it by placing two torsos next to each other, Lego is slightly more narrow at the top and wider at the hips...it is also a slightly longer torso.

The BF stickers wouldn't quite fit squarely on a Kreon...but most of the images that Hasbro stamps on a Kreon torso don't fill the whole space anyway. (And most of the ones I've bought weren't even stamped on evenly.)

But, of course, most of the accessories and extra-bits that BF sells would be hand for extra robot parts. They would be quite handy for expanding an arsenal.

UPDATED:
I don't see why you couldn't pitch your parts to Brickforge. After all, the legs and arms are just as Lego-compatible. The only issue would probably be intellectual property rights. I don't know if they would give you a cut or merely buy the rights to the parts from you or what. They might want to stick to their own original inventory to avoid legal entanglements. You can always make a pitch, though.

UPDATED AGAIN:
From their FAQ:

Unsolicited Materials
We receive dozens of suggestions, ideas, photos, drawings, etc. from fans all over the world requesting various custom minifig & brick accessories. While we can’t possibly make them all we warn that any communication or material you transmit to and through the Site by electronic mail or otherwise will be treated as non-confidential and non-proprietary. This simply means that if you ask us to make a compatible brick-scale platypus, we are under no obligation to offer credit or royalties if that idea were to ever make production.

So I sent an email over to BF asking them about their production runs, telling them a bit about what I'm doing, asking how they would feel about doing Kreon helmets, that sort of thing. I never really expect to hear back from anyone when I do this though.

But I got an email from Armothe saying that they are big fans of Kreon, especially the blind bags and that their accessories fit just fine onto kreon minifigs. He sent me a pic illustrating as much that I have attached here. He also sounded interested in what all I'd been working and said that they use shapeways for their prototypes

I doubt this is going to go anywhere but how cool would it be to work something out with them and have them start offering my kits through their site? (and maybe your sticker sets too?)

Whoa... an idea just popped into my head of me doing character specific kits (like devi for example) and then you doing a repro-label style sticker sheet to go with it to provide detailing and what not. Aah to dream... lol

wulongti wrote: But I got an email from Armothe saying that they are big fans of Kreon, especially the blind bags and that their accessories fit just fine onto kreon minifigs. He sent me a pic illustrating as much that I have attached here. He also sounded interested in what all I'd been working and said that they use shapeways for their prototypes

I doubt this is going to go anywhere but how cool would it be to work something out with them and have them start offering my kits through their site? (and maybe your sticker sets too?)

Whoa... an idea just popped into my head of me doing character specific kits (like devi for example) and then you doing a repro-label style sticker sheet to go with it to provide detailing and what not. Aah to dream... lol

It always helps to bring something to the table with this sort of networking, and having already created a model, you've shown that you aren't just an idea guy. Idea guys are a dime a dozen. It's the doer-guy that people keep an eye out for. So keep making those parts, man!

BTW, I made my lego-step today. I have to double check the proportions...(being more of an idea-guy than a doer-guy, I was using a kid's ruler to measure the lego wedge on my desk). I'll have to send you the file so you can see if it seems usable.

Tresob wrote:

wulongti wrote: But I got an email from Armothe saying that they are big fans of Kreon, especially the blind bags and that their accessories fit just fine onto kreon minifigs. He sent me a pic illustrating as much that I have attached here. He also sounded interested in what all I'd been working and said that they use shapeways for their prototypes

I doubt this is going to go anywhere but how cool would it be to work something out with them and have them start offering my kits through their site? (and maybe your sticker sets too?)

Whoa... an idea just popped into my head of me doing character specific kits (like devi for example) and then you doing a repro-label style sticker sheet to go with it to provide detailing and what not. Aah to dream... lol

It always helps to bring something to the table with this sort of networking, and having already created a model, you've shown that you aren't just an idea guy. Idea guys are a dime a dozen. It's the doer-guy that people keep an eye out for. So keep making those parts, man!

BTW, I made my lego-step today. I have to double check the proportions...(being more of an idea-guy than a doer-guy, I was using a kid's ruler to measure the lego wedge on my desk). I'll have to send you the file so you can see if it seems usable.

hehe yeah, a kids ruler isn't going to cut it for this kind of stuff. measurements have to be precise to say the least. hopefully the notes I sent you this morning will come in handy

Or if you want to leave it to me I'll tweak your model during my lunch break to fit w/in the measurements I've taken.