MCN News

MCN Shield Design Contest 2

Since our first MCN shield contest was such a great hit one year ago, MCN is proud to announce the 2nd MCN Shield Design Contest, which begins today!

The rules are as straightforward as last time around. Basically, all you have to do is to come up with a flat 2D design for the new Knight Shield (available here) by using this template. We are looking for designs that best epitomize originality while at the same time retaining a certain mercurial Lego-esque feel, with the eventual winner being determined by a panel or MCN mods. Grand prizes will be awarded!

Here are the rules:

1. Each person is allowed a maximum of 3 entries, each of which must be submitted via this form. (failure to observe this rule can result in disqualification in this contest).

2. The design must be applicable to the Knights Shield. Template can be found here.

3. The following entries are accepted: hand-painted, computer program-aided or hand-drawn and scanned.

4. Contest deadline is 15 October, 2006. Winners will be announced at the end of the month.

Prizes:

The Grand Winner will receive a special custom-made minifig, either designed by the winner himself/herself or by Redbean at the winner's request. This fig will be an absolutely unique sig-fig that will not available anywhere else (just like MicBean from the previous contest).

Two runner-ups will receive an actual Knights Shield printed (by water-slide decals) with their own winning designs. This is also a collector item that is not available anywhere else.

If you have any other questions regarding the details of the contest, please post them in this thread.

Ladies as Minifigs

Because of the slight chubbiness (which we all find cute) of a minifig, making a custom female character with a 'figure' is usually much more challenging than doing a male one. Therefore, the latest section of my article on Conceptualising a Minifig deals with the elusive art of making a female figure:

Although, as is always the case, what is written is inevitably subjective and represents only my personal taste, beginners may nonetheless find it useful as a general guide to the thinking behind the process. The full article can be viewed here and comments and further questions are welcomed as always!

RB

Recent Posts?

MCNStore Update - Silver Items Now Available

                    

Update

Hello everybody,

First of all, I'd like to take this opportunity to apologize for having been absent from this community for so long, as well as to assure those with a sensitive soul that I am indeed well and have no intention of forsaking the customization world in the foreseeable future.

The truth, however, is that I have been away for too long and I don't deny that... but at least I have good reasons for doing so. Firstly, my real life job had lately been taking a great toll on me, which unfortunately translates to having less time to spend online. Until this sorts itself out probably in two months or so, my presence will likely continue to be limited.

Secondly, and this may be good news to most of you, in order to provide better services in regards to the sales of my custom accessories, I have been working closely with armothe to relocate my distribution hub to the US. I am happy to annouce that Red Bean Studio has now finally and officially arrived in America. This means shipping rates will be much cheaper and US checks will be accepted from now on. The URL of the new shop is located here, but visiting us at the old address will re-direct you there also. Please continue to support us in the future.

So as you can see, my absence is not totally inexcusable. However, just to show that I haven't at all forsaked the art of customization, I have just uploaded my latest Sabertooth figure (with an all-new custom hairpiece) to show that I still enjoy doing what I do best. Comments, as usual, are welcomed.

And lastly, a big round of applaud should go to Ramus for updating our server and fixing the speed issue which had been troubling us for so long. Thank you for not forsaking us during that difficult period of time. As I understand, more changes (positive ones) are going to come for MCN in the future, I hope we will all stick around to enjoy the future of MCN as well as the art of customization.

See you all around!!

RB

First Pic of Batman and Two-Face

The following picture was brought to us by onerois on the forum:

Please join us on our discussion of this set here.

2006 Lego Catelogue

From 1000steine.de:

Clicking on the picture will bring you its full content, but sadly, Batman is still a CG.

Torsos and Arms and Legs Oh My...

After much work and colaboration from some of MCN's finest customizers we are proud to present to you... MCN Template Central (The mysterious button on the left that has never worked)

Here you will find an ever growing database of templates available to download use for your designs.  Browse the categories to find the right template for your project. Each template is free of charge and available for public download, all that is asked of you is that you give proper credit to the designers when you use them in your designs. They deserve it!

As with the other section releases, public submissions are not yet enabled.  We are working on getting the system to that point.  For now, browse & enjoy.  

You can discuss any questions or comments you have here.

Minifig Accessories Section Open!

Minifig Customs Section Open!

Attention: The new Minifig Customs section is now open to the public! Here you will find completed minifig MOC's on show for the world to see. No more bookmarking 100's of Brickshelf galleries and spending too much time searching through piles of galleries just to find that one cool custom fig.  The MCN Minifig Customs section will allow community members to post their completed MOC's (Including description and decals).  This is the next step in taking MCN past the bounds of a simple online community and on to being The One Source for All Your LEGO Customization Needs. Currently the public submittal feature is DISABLED.  Feel free to check out, browse and comment on the new section.  As soon as we have the bulk of the bugs are worked out we will be allowing public submittals. Tell us what you think here.  Here this week we will be posting more or Red Bean & Kaminoans customs to flesh out the gallery.  Every fig & decal previously available from RBS should soon be available.