Comments on: Lego exoskeleton maker seeks your votes for official kit-status

By: Brad Zimmerman

Brad Zimmerman — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 16:24:00 +0000

I agree with you, although my default assumption when putting data online – unless it is on my own server – is that Facebook, Google, LEGO, now think they own it and can sell it or do whatever they want with it. I consider this before posting stuff.

By: Malachi Wolfe

Malachi Wolfe — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 06:13:00 +0000

If it’s so worry-some to give LEGO your ideas for free, why not just create a PDF kit guide? Listing which pieces are kit dependent, which kits to get them from, and links to LEGO’s site where you can buy parts in bulk (Does LEGO still offer this?)? This would cut down on the production of very specialized kits (getting a kit already in production just so you can get that rare piece for your robot gives you *everything else* in the kit, after all, and extras to boot). Granted, it’s always every person’s dream to have one of their ideas made into an actual LEGO set, but let’s leave the merchandise worship out of the equation- because, if we don’t, I start to think about when people will start creating kit diagrams that have embedded 3D drawings of each piece so you can just print the ones you don’t have down at the local make shop (like I can do in seattle. yay local make shop.). Sorry. Just that BoingBoing loves the make crowd so much, I’m surprised I don’t see more pushes in that direction. I, for one, would love to tell my kid “You want new legos? There’s some recycling out back. Melt down one of the milk cartons, bring it to the make shop and print it your own damn self.”

By: Anuj Chitale

Anuj Chitale — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 18:59:00 +0000

Nothing can beat the classic themes. But one area in which the new is better than the old is Technic. Stud less Technic makes it possible for much compact models & greater functionality.

By: robdobbs

robdobbs — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 16:38:00 +0000

I came to post this link. It got my vote.

By: sweetcraspy

sweetcraspy — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 16:17:00 +0000

Fair enough, it’s just something to be aware of. If a creator has a characteristic style or an established fiction around their creations, they should be careful about what they give LEGO for free.

By: Brad Zimmerman

Brad Zimmerman — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 15:42:00 +0000

I do not believe that anyone submits MOCs or projects to CUUSOO thinking they’re going to get rich. I think they do it because they think their design is awesome and hope that others do as well so that LEGO will make it and sell it and that others will get to make “their” project. At worse, it’s a chance to show it off a bit and at best, it’ll get made and maybe they can even parlay it into becoming a Certified Professional or perhaps getting a chance to promote their side-business selling sets/LEGO bricks and/or to start selling sets/pieces full-time.

While many might see the latter – selling sets/bricks – as something “for profit” - I suspect it is more along the lines of “enough money to buy more LEGO sets.”

By: sweetcraspy

sweetcraspy — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 14:48:00 +0000

It’s worth noting that the CUUSOO terms and conditions are pretty bad for the creators. The creator explicitly assigns LEGO all of the IP rights for anything a submitted, even if they don’t manufacture it. They can copy elements or make derivative works without crediting the creator. They do license the creators to use the designs on a personal level, but that’s all.

By: MarlboroTestMonkey7

MarlboroTestMonkey7 — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 14:37:00 +0000

Beautiful

By: SamSam

SamSam — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 13:35:00 +0000

Ah. I missed that, I guess.

By: PeerKreuger

PeerKreuger — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 13:01:00 +0000

Cuusoo is actually a Japanese initiative. Funny how you think you know Japanese better than the, er, Japanese.

By: Frederik

Frederik — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 08:26:00 +0000

Yup, look at the steampunk dino posted a few days ago.
http://boingboing.net/2012/04/08/steampunk-lego-dino-with-a-ba.html
Allot of what you would think were purely pirate parts, used totally differently.

By: Mike Hatton

Mike Hatton — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 08:26:00 +0000

@Joshua Ochs - Haha, it’s funny because he’s using robot arms with teeth in them to make claws and you are complaining that a claw part is just a claw… The irony truly is delicious.

By: Warren Elsmore

Warren Elsmore — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 07:51:00 +0000

And if you’d like to see the real thing – Peter (along with 100 other LEGO artists) is showing this as well as many of his other amazing creations at The LEGO Show this coming May holiday. More details at http://www.thelegoshow.com !

By: Joe Seatter

Joe Seatter — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 03:51:00 +0000

The biggest pieces I can see are the round 2×2 domes and the disks near the end of each arm. I agree with you about the newer sets having a lot of large custom pieces that are hard to repurpose and take a lot of the imagination out of the toy, but this is the opposite of that. Yes, many of the pieces come from the newer sets (like the claw tips), but they’re all tiny and at least in the spirit of the older sets, where you got a lot of small pieces that didn’t have any really defined purpose, and make what you wanted out of them.

By: Rick Barkhouse

Rick Barkhouse — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 02:07:00 +0000

Love the little grey minifig hands embedded in the feet :)

Full size pic : http://www.flickr.com/photos/legoloverman/6877342842/sizes/o/in/photostream/

By: spejic

spejic — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 01:13:00 +0000

Looks nice. I bet the instructions would be hell.

By: Mister44

Mister44 — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 00:58:00 +0000

I’m being sarcastic because of the rather hypocritical email supposedly sent to someone from Lego in response to that new LEGO book a kid wrote on how to make Lego guns.

By: conversational

conversational — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 00:38:00 +0000

I used to feel disappointed that Lego moved out into so many areas that weren’t Space, Castle and Town, but actually it has brought a much larger fan base and more innovation in pieces and colors. There is still a very active City fan base as well. There are postings on Cuusoo such as this City Vehicle Transport Semi that, although not as professional of a picture, appears to be fully articulated and designed to fit into the City style.

By: SamSam

SamSam — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 00:35:00 +0000

Um… You never saw the castles with knights? The pirates? The spaceships with lasers?

By: princessalex

princessalex — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 00:27:00 +0000

I recognize dozens of individual parts on this kit from others my boys have bought and built. And, taken apart and turned into something else. Again and again and again . . . The place I recognize those claws from is Jaba’s Sail Barge kit, being used as the internal parts of the Pit of Carkoon.

My boys (ages 9 and 11) were quite impressed when they saw this. And, they recognized parts from MANY kits . . . including ExoForce and Lego Technics, among others.

The point is, this kit IS made from hundreds of individual parts. It’s just that the parts have been getting more technical over the years. Not everything someone wants to make can be made with brick-shaped pieces, after all.

By: ridestowe

ridestowe — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 23:57:00 +0000

i thought for sure most of those images were cg renders, but turns out it’s just an excellent photographer with a great studio setup, and a very clean lego model.

you have my vote

By: Theodore Heathe Lane

Theodore Heathe Lane — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 23:47:00 +0000

I was about to post that D;

lol at least I’m not the only one :)

By: Mister44

Mister44 — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 23:45:00 +0000

I love it – but it might be a bit too war-like for LEGO. Maybe put a pick ax in it’s hand so it is a mining suit.

By: enthusiasticpoutine

enthusiasticpoutine — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 22:42:00 +0000

Reddit pointed out the Tachikoma a couple of days ago. I would heartily endorse it, but it most likely would slam into licensing issues.

By: Hanglyman

Hanglyman — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 22:24:00 +0000

I agree and have been saying the exact same thing for years (heck, I don’t even like that they gave the Minifigs expressions other than the basic blank smile), but I don’t think it applies in this case. Granted, the claws do look a little weird, but the rest of it appears to be just a very clever use of lots of small basic parts, many of which can be seen and identified if you look closely enough.

By: Brainspore

Brainspore — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 22:22:00 +0000

I’d rather see a Barbie / Ripley operating it.

“GET AWAY FROM MY WARDROBE, YOU B*TCH!”

By: marukosu

marukosu — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 22:13:00 +0000

I sure hope LEGO isn’t planning big things for this Cuusoo project in Japan. The name basically means “shiiit” in Japanese.

By: Gutierrez

Gutierrez — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 21:42:00 +0000

I just want to make a plug of another awesome Cuusoo project. A motorized walking and rolling Tachikoma. You can waste a good deal of time browsing the projects and seeing the amazing designs people come up with.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dargOslomMA

By: Timothy Gould

Timothy Gould — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 21:31:00 +0000

Sorry mate but you’re more showing your ignorance than your age. As the poster below points out that’s made of hundreds of tiny parts, very few of which are designed for robots of any size (the claws alone have 12 pieces each including fingers made from the arms of small robots).

By: Bram

Bram — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 21:04:00 +0000

I doubt this model has a single piece bigger that a 2×2 brick. It’s built up out of lots of little tiny detail pieces that can be re-purposed for plenty of other creations. I can see at least 12 pieces in each claw…they can definitely become something else.