DISCLAIMER: All of the following are opinions. Opinions CANNOT BE WRONG; that is much of what makes them opinions. You may not agree with me, & that's fine. Please be respectful. If you must disagree with me in writing, make your argument with facts & logic; don't just bitch me out without concrete arguments to back up your opinion. I would do the same for you or others, & I expect that level of respect.

That said, if you are still interested, read on...

Things you might want to know about me:

* I am opinionated. I am unapologetic about this.

* I am only just getting back into bricking. Please don't be TOO harsh with criticisms.

* I am so old that when my Dark Ages began everybody I know of used the word "Stiction", or maybe "Sticktion". I never knew which way to spell it. It is a portmanteau word combining "sticky" & "friction". Nowadays, that same concept is boringly called "Clutch". Back in the day, we all used to complain that MEGA BLOKS had too much Stiction, compared to LEGO. I have never, until very recently, heard anyone complain (Wrongly!) that MEGA BLOKS don't stick together well.

* I use inexpensive point-&-click cameras, though my current one is over 10Mp, so pics should turn out OK. I will try to light the images well, etc., but I am not a photo or editing pro, by any stretch of the imagination.

* I capitalize both the M & F in MiniFig, & both the S & F in SigFig, but I have no idea why.

* I usually call MiniFigs "little LEGO dudes"

* I will most likely never have a SigFig. The MiniFig I used for my icon, Ogel, was just one I had laying around that I thought looked kinda cool; I had no idea who Ogel was until after I used him. I was just tired of having the "noob smiley" on my profile.

* I generally use the term "brick" universally when referring to bricks, blocks, pieces, elements, whatever.

* I often use the term LEGOs, even though I know it is incorrect.

* I prefer LDD to LDraw. The interface is so much simpler, ergonomic & intuitive; these things make it better for me. However, I use LDraw (for now) because of the propensity of others to use it. I hope that the interface can be made less "clunky", or that something better comes along.

* If you hate "Clone Bricks", & find that you happen to have some, of any brand, I will gladly receive any & all of them that you GIVE to me. XD (I gladly accept free LEGO, as well, of course.)

Things I like:

* SpaceSHIPs; As in big starcruisers, more than smaller fighters & the like. Small craft are useful, but I prefer huge, interstellar brutes.

* Industrial MOCs; I like smooth, sleek stuff ok, but I really like purposeful, utilitarian, work-a-day vehicles & equipment.

* Unusual colours; as long as the colours are appropriate, use them. I have driven white, red, green, blue, yellow & orange heavy equipment in real life, & I've never even seen them in grey, but all I ever seem to see in LEGO loaders & such is shades of boring grey.

* Hovers; I see them in the occasional MOC, but not as often as I would expect. Hover tanks, hover bikes, hover cars, hover trucks, hover ambulances, hover jeeps, etc. These are for me.

* Realistic-looking MOCs; by this I mean images that are grimy, rough, industrial, worn, nitty-gritty type places. I want scenes to look like they really would, & factories, hangars, bunkers, refineries, service corridors, etc. are not clean & smooth everywhere.

* Dark futures; postapoc, zombie, tentacles, wasteland, blighted landscapes, swamps, & more. The point is to be creative, & I think this is one of the few remaining dreamscapes left, now that most of the sci-fi ideas have actually come to pass. The tech is here, but the settings are only (yet) in our imaginations.

* Juxtapositions; I like it when creators give it a twist. It can be a single flower growing in a postapoc burned out city. It can be a hellmouth with tentacles jutting forth into a quaint park or garden. It can be orkz wearing festive, bright yellow overalls. Whatever, I always like when there's a little something that makes me ponder the absurdity or obscurity of it.

* Studs; I feel that they usually give a more "industrial" or "tangible" appearance. Some things can, or even should, be smoothed over or SNOTted, but many things definitely would, or do, benefit from being left studded. EXAMPLES: This one is more studdy while This one is more studless. One is not necessarily better than the other. It's all down to opinion. An example is that I much prefer the white one, but only because I personally don't like the colour blue.

Things I dislike:

(WARNING: This is the section that will very likely tick you off! You have been warned!)

* Plagiarism; man, I have seen a lot of posts lately about "such-n-such tried to pass of so-n-so's work as their own". Really, people? Really? The point of bricking is creativity. If you can't build it yourself, what possible benefit do you get from claiming it? You can't be proud of it. You can't reproduce it. You can't share your pattern for it, since you never had it. If someone compliments it, it doesn't reflect on you in your own mind, so there is no sense of pride or accomplishment. WTF, people?

* Dissing on Clone Brands; there are numerous other companies out there, many of which have bricks every bit as well made as LEGO. They are universally less expensive, equally as usable for expressing creativity, & several of them put out very useful pieces (especially SNOT) that LEGO does not.

* HALO "MOCs"; while the story arc is fairly riveting, the gameplay is meh, & very unoriginal, including the vehicles. There are other sources of jeeps & other vehicles. There are thousands of other games, movies, TV shows, books, comics, etc. to garner inspiration from. There is absolutely no cause for otherwise creative builders keep to beating the "LOOK! I made a HALO vig" dead horse. Besides, if you want spiffy HALO MiniFig stuff, just go buy the awesome (And well made!!!) MEGA BLOKS Halo sets. Better yet, forget about HALO for awhile, & use your imagination & create your own story line! They are called MOCs for a reason. (There are exceptions to this, but they have to be SPECTACULARLY impressive. You know it when you see them.)

* Star Wars "MOCs"; this has so been done, so please just stop. The first 3 movies rocked hard enough to forgive the last 3, & I quite like the cartoons. The problem lies in the lack of creativity inspired in SW MOCs; these sets already exist, & don't need to be remade. In truth, it is impossible to MOC with a SW theme, as it is not your creation, but George's (GOC?). The sets have awesome pieces, so if you actually want to create, instead of just rehash, use the pieces for your own designs. That's far more impressive. (There are exceptions to this, but they have to be SPECTACULARLY impressive. You know it when you see them.)

* Vic Vipers sometimes; Yes, I know and respect the two main reasons to do them. I know they are a huge tradition that lots of people enjoy. And yes, I know that many of them are an homage to a wonderful guy who is sorely missed in the community. My "problem" with VVs is the thousands of them that are out there that shouldn't be. Many of them look awesome, and could only look good as VVs but there far too many to count that would actually look much awesomer without the prongs on the front. I'm going to use a truism to make my point; just as not all females have a body for pr0n, not all fighters have a body for prongs. Basically, if you are building a Vic Viper just to do so, try it without prongs, and also maybe without all of the fins at the back. You may well find out it looks better with a "stubbier" nose. EXCEPTION: NoVVember; in NoVVember, all bets are off. In NoVVember, even baby prams should have prongs and wings. (^_^)

* SpaceSHIPs with wings; capitalSHIPs, motherSHIPs, jumpSHIPs, dropSHIPS, destroyers, frigates, freighters, fighters, construction modules, shuttles, pods, GARC racers, space-campers, flying saucers, battlestars, arks, etc. If it never enters atmosphere, why the frell does it need or have wings? Stop that; it's just ignant. (Obviously, this is not true of intra-atmospheric craft.)

* Fig-barf; please no MiniFig-only pics. We want to see them doing something. We have all seen hundreds of these; I can't be the only one bored with them. It doesn't have to be much, either; I have seen absolutely brilliant 8x8 vignettes. Please, no more boring ol' "This is my Fig wearing [whatever]" photos.

* Proto-barf; MiniFigs showing off after-market extras, or pics of the accessories, themselves. This includes guns, capes, armour, etc. We all know where they come from & how to get them, so lay off. This is just another type of "MiniFig-only scene" I mentioned just above here. I freely state that there are greatly impressive after-market pieces, from numerous vendors. That said, they only serve to enhance a good pic, vignette, bignette or other MOC. They are not impressive enough to warrant their own set after set after set of just them, or of MiniFigs dolled up in them.

* 4-wide automobiles; planetwide, people ride next to each other. There are very few, if any, single seater cars (with the notable exception of many racecars). A MiniFig needs 4 studs wide to sit & place their arms. Cars & trucks ought to be a minimum of 8 studs wide, or 6 with windows or other open configurations, and 6-wide can also be made using jumper plates.

* False LEGO Purists; get off your high horse. If you use AreaLight Customs, BrickArms, BrickForge, BrickMoc, BrickTW (profile or pool), Brick Warriors, Clone Army Customs, Combat Brick, Custom Crazy, EclipseGrafx, FireStar Toys, Guild of Bricksmiths' kits, Hazel/HAZE-???1/4cm™/Amazing Armory, HCF LEGO 3D Products, Hobo's HALO armour, Jonatha?'s Battlefield Bricks Shop/SRX Industries, LifeLites, Little Arms, Little Legends, mingles, minifigcat.com/, MiniFigMaker, Minifigs.Me, Minifigs4U, MiniFigShop, www.minifigures.co.uk/category/minifigures-store/, MMCB, PEDRO-79/United Armory, Planet of Hoth, The Brick Creator, Tiny Tactical, TOYS711, Unknown Artist, or any other after-market supplier, you are not a LEGO Purist. Let me be crystal clear; if you have EVER outfitted a MiniFig with an after-market weapon, tool, helmet, cape, piece of armour, piece of clothing, etc. you may as well have used clone bricks in a MOC. There... is... no... difference. Get over yourself.

* Lack of organisation; this is about photostreams containing hundreds of photos, many of whch are clearly of the same subject, yet are not arranged in any kind of sets. Nothing wrong with doing it that way, I suppose; it just seems very odd to me. If I find my way to their page, but then have to go through everything in the stream 1 by 1, I just move on.

Ways I AM a "purist":

* Scale; I only build for MiniFigs. Personal choice; there are a lot of totally awesome micro, etc., MOCs out there, but they are just not my thing.

* Spirit of the Bricks; ONLY bricks & related. Bricks, their packaging, their cast off sprues, edges of decal sheets, etc. are all OK. Parts from non-brick toys or models, etc. are not OK. Again, this is my personal choice, & I certainly don't mind if others use outside sources.

* Possible exception to the above: Lighting within MOCs; When the time comes, I will have to see if I can work brick lighting in or not.

* Definite exception to the above: Stickers & Decals; I don't much care where stickers come from, especially things like customs specifically for use with bricks, basic warnings (stripes, biohazard, nuclear & similar), lettering & numerals.

* Hrm...: This is a maybe; I might find it in me to make pieces LEGO et al simply don't make, such as this.

Ways I am NOT a "purist":

* Brand of brick; Which ones do you like? Which would you never use? Doesn't matter. They're all fine with me. There are hundreds to choose from -= AS I POSTED HERE =-. (Please go look; it is quite an interesting compilation.)

(NOTE: There are numerous brands that are very similar to LEGO, but not compatible in size. I did not include any here that are not "fully" compatible with LEGO. Several of the "non-compatible" ones are, in fact, compatible with each other.)

(BTW, there is a very nice website dedicated to clone bricks, found here @ My Clone Bricks.)

(Also, some in-depth reviews of various clone sets can be found here @ Commander Cottontail's blog.)

* Brand of after-market add-on; AreaLight Customs, BrickArms, BrickForge, BrickMoc, BrickTW (profile or pool), Brick Warriors, Clone Army Customs, Combat Brick, Custom Crazy, EclipseGrafx, FireStar Toys, Guild of Bricksmiths' kits, Hazel/HAZE-???1/4cm™/Amazing Armory, HCF LEGO 3D Products, Hobo's HALO armour, Jonatha?'s Battlefield Bricks Shop/SRX Industries, LifeLites, Little Arms, Little Legends, mingles, minifigcat.com/, MiniFigMaker, Minifigs.Me, Minifigs4U, MiniFigShop, www.minifigures.co.uk/category/minifigures-store/, MMCB, PEDRO-79/United Armory, Planet of Hoth, The Brick Creator, Tiny Tactical, TOYS711, Unknown Artist, etc., doesn't matter.

* Modding; cut 'em, melt 'em, glue 'em, fold 'em, spindle 'em, mutilate 'em, whatever, doesn't matter. I have never done this, but I am not averse to it. OTOH, with all of the amazing construction techniques available, especially when using cross-brand combinations, I can't see ever needing to mod a brick.

* Source of brick; Brick, System, Technic, Creator, Bionicle, Duplo, MindStorms, Architecture, Hero Factory, Power Functions, Racers, ProBuilders, CliKits, MetalOns, licensed sets, whatever, it doesn't matter.