Thoughts about Premolded Creatures?

Mikael-o · Post by **Mikael-o** » Thu Oct 11, 2007 6:01 pm

Hey y'all ..

I'm wondering what people's thoughts are on premolded creatures. For instance, I've seen some displeasure with the new Big Troll not being posable enough, or brick built, and also the same with the new Dragons.

However, the classic Horse and Dragon that we all know and love were less posable than these and had minimal articulation.

From what I can recall, the Viking creatures, being completely brick built and posable (albeit with Bioniclish peices) wasn't too popular (although I love the dragons myself).

So what do you all think? What are the merits of Brick Built vs. Molded? How posable should figure/creatures be? Which works better for playability or roleplaying as children or adults? What gives more personality to the creatures?

I'll weigh in with my own thoughts after I give people a chance to contribute!

Kel.

Old_School_Fan · Post by **Old_School_Fan** » Thu Oct 11, 2007 6:09 pm

Personally I believe both have their positives and negatives. For one, brick built beasts have great articulation, and are fun to build/play. Pre-molded have the advantage of sturdier detail, giving them a bold look. Some unfortunate disadvantages of brick built, such as the viking's beasts, are that their joints wear away after time and become loose, making it harder to pose or stay in one place. Of course a negative of pre-molded is that they have limited mobility.

In my opinion it all comes down to how each is carried out. I can think of a couple examples of both pre-molded and brick built that I enjoy very much.

Brickzone · Post by **Brickzone** » Thu Oct 11, 2007 6:40 pm

Hmmm... well, I don't know about the troll, but I think the Castle '07 dragons are reasonable, after all, the parts of them do combine with other ball&socket/ratchet/technic pin pieces. I think the use of "creature bits" that combine together interchangeably is reasonable - even non-creature bits from Exo-force or whatever can be used with them. I haven't experimented much myself so far though. Certainly better than the bionicle/technic Viking creatures, although I think the serpent was good (again, as well as bricks/bionicle/technic it was those ball/socket joints - they are prevalent enough now that I think once one has the knack for them they'll be useful in customs - I certainly have enough parts now).

As regards the troll, well, it looks like its more a one-piece thing. It would be better I think if the arms, legs, head, came off and were all articulated even if they were still special bits.

Post by **Athos** » Thu Oct 11, 2007 6:51 pm

Brickbuilt creatures can be very well done and give us access to animals that we wouldn't otherwise have. I think brickbuilt creatures don't look right (too blocky and/or robotic)when placed next to minifigures or other molded animals. At the same time, however, molded animals are often too inarticulated to the point of being almost unusuable (i.e. Harry Potter troll).

Steve

Emperor James · Post by **Emperor James** » Thu Oct 11, 2007 8:24 pm

hate them all. i do like horses though, they just work that way.

Asterios · Post by **Asterios** » Thu Oct 11, 2007 8:47 pm

the Dragon from the Viking Fort is one of my Favorite Creatures although i do wish it was a bit meatier and bigger wings.

oh Sava wheres my Red Dragon

on a side Note the Aqua Raiders II Shark is awesome,now that is a Shark and not that itsy bitsy solid junk.

leaf_of_lire · Post by **leaf_of_lire** » Thu Oct 11, 2007 8:50 pm

Emperor James wrote:hate them all. i do like horses though, they just work that way.

I agree with you completely.

Tower of Iron Will · Post by **Tower of Iron Will** » Thu Oct 11, 2007 8:52 pm

Old_School_Fan wrote:Personally I believe both have their positives and negatives. For one, brick built beasts have great articulation, and are fun to build/play. Pre-molded have the advantage of sturdier detail, giving them a bold look. Some unfortunate disadvantages of brick built, such as the viking's beasts, are that their joints wear away after time and become loose, making it harder to pose or stay in one place. Of course a negative of pre-molded is that they have limited mobility.

In my opinion it all comes down to how each is carried out. I can think of a couple examples of both pre-molded and brick built that I enjoy very much.

Very well said. The horses have been around long enough to be like family. But that's not to take away something that's brick built well using more standard bricks than say the viking dragons (like Lord Sava's dragons).
-Tower

Aliencat · Post by **Aliencat** » Thu Oct 11, 2007 9:06 pm

I like premolded animals if they're not too big of course. Bigger things should be brickbuilt.

Post by **Athos** » Thu Oct 11, 2007 9:24 pm

Aliencat wrote:I like premolded animals if they're not too big of course. Bigger things should be brickbuilt.

Funny picture.

Steve

RebelRock · Post by **RebelRock** » Thu Oct 11, 2007 9:26 pm

I think a lot of people just have resistance to new designs. A lot of the AFOLs that complain about things like the new troll are just stuck in a nostalgic rut. To them, older elements are acceptable because they were introduced when they were children. What they don't think about is how in the future, the designs being made now will be classic to people who are kids right now.

Not to say that all new designs are perfect but speaking from my own personal experience. I bought the Dwarf mine a and ended up liking that big troll after not liking the initial photos of it.

As for the Dino Attack Tyrannosaurus, yuck. The really large creatures should be brick built.

Lord Insanity · Post by **Lord Insanity** » Thu Oct 11, 2007 9:34 pm

I have to say for smaller animals (horse size and under) I prefer the molded pieces. I really like the new brick forge cows, sheep, and pigs. Now all we need is a chicken and we can finally make a good farm. (It really amazes me Lego hasn't done those animals themselves yet.) For larger animals like the dragons, I prefer them to be brick built. The larger size allows the detail that you really can't do with something the size of a parrot.

As for the new troll. Well the shoulder and wrist joints that they have are the most important ones to me. The lack of a wrist joint was my only major complaint to the large Adventures creatures. Granted I would rather have a rotating head and bendable legs too, but if Lego can't afford to make fully poseable creatures at least they gave us the (IMHO most important after shoulder joints) wrist joints.

Asterios · Post by **Asterios** » Thu Oct 11, 2007 9:42 pm

RebelRock wrote:I think a lot of people just have resistance to new designs. A lot of the AFOLs that complain about things like the new troll are just stuck in a nostalgic rut. To them, older elements are acceptable because they were introduced when they were children. What they don't think about is how in the future, the designs being made now will be classic to people who are kids right now.

Not to say that all new designs are perfect but speaking from my own personal experience. I bought the Dwarf mine a and ended up liking that big troll after not liking the initial photos of it.

i disagree i'm an AFOL and i always look forward to something new since alot of older stuff is well not quite there,like some people were worried that LEGO was going to reuse the Rock Monster Mold from Rock Raiders,now thats ugly and should be called a BURP.

RebelRock · Post by **RebelRock** » Thu Oct 11, 2007 9:45 pm

You don't necessarily have to disagree because I never said all AFOLs.

Asterios · Post by **Asterios** » Thu Oct 11, 2007 9:48 pm

you notice in this pic not 1 Rock Monster in the lot;

more pics here;

http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=275225

as it goes i'm probably gonna sell the lot plus with some other Rock Raider vehicles i couldn't fit into the pic and inst. and boxs,problem is finding another Rock Raider nut