Bricks in Motion
We are a friendly filmmaking community devoted to the art of stop-motion animation using LEGO® and similar construction toys. Here, you can share your work, join our community of other brickfilmers, and participate in periodic animation contests!
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Hm, he does have a point. Do you think we could still incorporate bits of the plasticity of the world into the films, but still have general realism?
Well, I quite like the idea of self-awareness. But it shouldn't be everyone, and certainly should be used very sparingly. It can be funny if done right, but, as Pritchard said, if everyone uses it it becomes gimmicky. So aside from the odd reference (I'm thinking something along the lines of this) and maybe one or two Wall-breaking characters, I think we're good with being "realistic".
What about Arcadia/Arcady instead of Coronum as the main Castle kingdom? Arcady is traditionally an idyllic and wealthy fictional kingdom, so it could work.
Arcadia or Arcady could work for the main castle kingdom, it would be a lot better then Coronum.
Or, you know, Morcia and Ankoria are nice.
It's not like they would tie in with the Knights' Kingdom film I have in preproduction or anything 
Then there's also all those smaller kingdoms, like Orkosan where Santis came from or Tolonjay or the Moorelands.
Obviously these are already 'existing' kingdoms which is where the problem is. But if Knights' Kingdom could tie in with the BFCU that would make things cool for me, at least.
I think they shoudl tie-in anyway, but Morcia and Ankoria should be separate kingdoms, least of all because Ankoria gets flattened by Vladek totally-not-a-Kanohi-mask (see, I know my Knights Kingdom lore 
). Having them tie-in would be great, though, and having the smaller kingdoms like Orkosan. I found some pictures of concept art for the theme: http://lego.wikia.com/wiki/Morcia
Can anyone remember the names of the other kingdoms? Talonjay was Jayko's, but I can't remember the last two. It seems that finding the story info for this theme is extremely hard, and I chucked most of my '04 LEGO Club magazines years ago.
EDIT: Banteras and Aldendan! That was it. Whoops, they were on the same page 
It's pretty sweet that they had so much depth to the story of the Knights' Kingdom, it's really awesome the detail they put into it. The maps are useful for sure.
I wish the third year, with the Rogue Knights had been this fleshed out. Year 2 was amazing, but year 3 fell a bit flat and that killed the theme. Such a shame. I wish I'd bought some of the minifig-scale sets too. I used to get all of the action ficture sets instead, but there's very little I can actually use those sets for.
So geographically, where does your Knights Kingdom film happen/how would it tie to the BFCU? Don't give away any spoilers or anything, though.
I really think year 3 was unnecessary, it kind of lost something by that point. Oh well. 1 and 2 were perfect though!
I'm not really sure, to be honest. This was something I've been thinking about making and I've just now started doing a bit more 'research' and actually plan to make it. I intended for it to just be a random film, not for any reason or to fit into anything else, but then I realized that it could fit perfectly in the BFCU. I'd imagine it would be a mythical land that follows as close to the actual story as I can.
I'm referencing old LEGO.com stuff on WayBackMachine (Ask Danju, the Book or Morcia, etc.), the comics in the back of every set (which, for the big fig things, are actually tailored to each knight individually with slight differences), and most likely the wiki page for Knights' Kingdom.
Where was I going with this...
Oh yeah, I really don't know. I don't recall what was agreed on for historical themes and if they were in the current day or they were supposed to be historical or what, so it pretty much depends on what everyone else thinks about that.
I think everything just exists in the same universe and timeframe, so you could go for a big sea journey from modern-day Hong Kong and end up in Arcady (the crown kingdom). Equally, you could take a shuttle from Cabrickal City and fly to Mars or some other theme or new made up world. It makes it easier if we don't try to create any kind of official timeframe or geography, except for the former if we were to say that a certain film was a prequel or definitely ancient history, or something like that. That's how the old LEGO videogames used to be, like LEGO Racers and LEGO Island, which is the same kind of spirit I think we're trying to capture (in terms of creativity, though tone can vary).
For example, the first animation I'm doing has four yetis fighting an ice-powered vampire, and it's all very myth-and-magic but in the Minifig thread, I showed the Ice Vampire has some high-tech-semi-magic armour. It's a mix and a mishmash.
Oh yes, those video games, I get exactly what you're saying. That sounds great to me, makes it feel more LEGO-esque.
I ran across this on the Ask Danju site and I though it was interesting.
Who exactly is the "sorcerer"? I know that he (come to think of it I don't know if the sorcerer is a he or a she) has some sort of connection to Vladek. Who is he & is he Vladek's master? Or is he like the Shadow Knights?
Danju:
The Great Sorcerer is a fiend of legend, a being of vast magical power who once sought to take over every kingdom in the land. Only the First Knight Orlan, with the help of the Shield of Ages, was able to thwart the villain’s conquest. Whether the Sorcerer still lives, or what his connection to Lord Vladek may be, I do not know…but surely Vladek must have gained his dark magical power from somewhere.
I wonder if The Great Sorcerer could be one of those characters that could show up, or at least be referenced in, more than a single brickfilm. Depending on where the story goes I doubt The Great Sorcerer would show up in my film just because it's not something that would fit into "canon" that well (canon for this is really abscise because of the wide variety of information available on Knights' Kingdom, I'm not entirely sure how much I'm counting as official canon). At the least, I'm sure he'd be referenced in passing and could be an interesting person to add to the list of characters, if only for the sake of not having a reason not to have him exist.
I’m confused. If the castle was so heavily protected, how could Vladek escape the castle?
Danju:
He may have used magic, or perhaps he knew of secret passages and tunnels long forgotten. I myself have begun to wonder if he was aided in his escape by someone – or something – else.
It's interesting how misleading/obscure/mysterious a few of the answers are, it really makes things a lot wider and adds more space for expanding the story without straying from official information. I like it.
That Great Sorcerer needs an alias. Like, he could appear in other brickfilms for a while under a different name, and then eventually be revealed to be Vladek's master as well. Maybe he's not even a sorcerer - his tech's so advanced that people in the Castle world called him the Great Sorcerer, since they didn't know about technology.
I'm going to make a guidebook soon, but here's what I have as far as worlds go. Feel free to add to or make suggestions to change things:
Today's world: The world of today, which features the City (and the like), Agents/Alpha Team, X-treme Team, Ninjago and everything else that could easily be present-day. It's also the centre of the BFCU, from which all the other 'worlds' can be accessed (so you can't skip one and go from Castle to Space, you have to go through Today). Locations here can mimic real-world locations, e.g. I have plans to do an animation set in Japan. Immediate space exists here, such as the Moon and the CITY Space launch programmes, and there are some supernatural elements (e.g. vampires, a few gods, etc.) but I'll get onto them later.
Adventurers also exists in Today's world, as there are relics from all the other worlds scattered across Today's world, (e.g. Castle relics in England, Space relics in Nevada/New Mexico, Ancient world relics in Egypt).
Castle world: Must be accessed by sea, special forest paths (for places like Tuskwood and Breach) and magic. The Castle world features all castle-related themes, which have been split down into smaller kingdoms and principalities. Recognised kingdoms are Arcady (crown), Morcia and its four sub-realms (Orkosan etc), Antrozia (Fright Knights), Wyvendale (anything with a dragon emblem), Tuskwood (I'll post more on that later), Breach (again - more later) and any new realms that people come up with. This can include dwarf, elf, troll and goblin kingdoms, and any other kind of fantasy kingdom you can think of.
Space: Accessed by space-travel and holes in the space-time continuum. CITY Space/Moon Mission stuff counts as Today's world, but as soon as you get a bit further out, you're into Space. Here, we have everything: Mars Mission/Life on Mars, every theme with Tron in the name, Ice Planet, UFO, Insectoids, all the Space Polices, Galaxy Patrol, and so on. There are also thousands of alien worlds to explore: where do the aliens from Alien Conquest come from? And the Alien Avenger, Evil Robot and Evil Mech?
Ancient world: Accessed by magic, and time-travel technology. While some gods and monsters manage to exist in Today's world and (being gods) can go back and forth whenever they like, most exist in the Ancient world. This is basically modelled on ancient Greece, Egypt, Scandinavia and the Americas (pre-colonialisation), and all the myths and legends from those times. Gods are all real and aware that other pantheons exist. Some get along, but most don't, though they tend not to go to war. There are heroes as well, like Heracles and Perseus, and they all exist at once.
Wild West: Accessed by desert. Deep in the west of the States, the Wild West still exists. I have nothing else to say on this one, since I only just thought of it. A little bit of steampunk can exist here too, though not on a massive scale.
Chima: Hidden in the Fertile Crescent, only those who carry a Relic of Chima can find it.
Cloud Cuckoo Land: Sorry, but I had to include this. I'm super-excited for The LEGO Movie, and I think Cloud Cuckoo Land would be a great addition to the BFCU. That's not to say that we should integrate everything from TLM though, and definitely not the story, but how can we leave out UniKitty? This has to be accessed by air travel, since it's up in the clouds.
On top of that, there are themes like Dino, Racers, Pirates and Aquazone (and the rest), but I haven't thought of how to integrate them. There could be a Prehistoric world, but I think Racers should (like the videogames) be another way of getting all the worlds to come together, though making such an animation would be a pain.
Thoughts?
I rather disliked the Knights Kingdom theme for having ridiculously colourful knights. Also, there were only four knights. You have an entire kingdom, but only four knights. I don't know what's up with that. I much prefer the mostly uniform castle knights with their consistent colours and randomly assorted soldiers, which was good for building up an army, whereas KK made it looks like you had these weird colourful clones.
You have an entire kingdom, but only four knights. I don't know what's up with that.
Actually there were loads more, it's just that those four were the elites. They were the four, of however many there were, that teamed up to save King Mathias.
I know what you mean about the colours, although I rather liked that. Besides, LEGO isn't meant to be historically accurate.
Ah, I remember Knight's Kingdom II... good times, good times. I was quite an aficionado back in the day (course, I was about 8 years old at the time). Reading all this has made me feel rather nostalgic.
Anyway, I like the idea of having sub-kingdoms, provinces, etc. so I thin KKII is good for that. Also, the different symbols and unusual colours of the Knights are good for making various different factions. And the different colours are good for making some weird, wonderful, and wacky knights (I might actually just go and do that now...). And we can always throw in KKI (I have several of those sets too), and the Western Kingdom from Castle (2007), and the kingdoms of, erm, Kingdoms. And not forgetting all of the Classic Castle factions as well, although I'm not sure if people would have much of that (I don't really have anything from beyond the early 2000s, save for one or two small Dragon Masters sets which have a lot of missing/broken parts...)
As far as Troll kingdoms go, I have had an idea for one for Mr. Vertigo's universe, although I'm not sure if it's strictly castle as it's located on a group of tropical islands. The goblins/trolls are lead by the Grand Emperor Augustus Thelonious Owmyarm Jellybean-Flapjack Trollianous IV, Emperor of Greater and Lesser Koboldania, Defender of Trollkind, Annihilator of the Oppressed, Oh Hear His Name and Tremble, etc., etc. (I posted a picture of him in the Minifig critique thread a while back, but I shall post him here again)
The trolls themselves are somewhat hostile to outsiders, but they aren't really evil and just prefer to be left alone. This wouldn't be much of a problem if they didn't have a monopoly on Troll Coffee, which is said to be one of the most delicious beverages in the entire universe. Since they are extremely reluctant to trade with anyone, opther rulers have been sending loads of trade envoys or secret agents to steal the secret behind Troll Coffee, which has led to some rather awkward diplomatic relationships.
THAT IS BEAUTIFUL
Tropical islands are fine, just remember that you have to go by sea. Perhaps they could be a bit further across the sea than some of the more tree-ish Castle realms?
I'd like to create the spy entry of this series. Tons of ideas flowing.
Bumpity-bump time.
I was browsing teh interwebs and came across the newer 'Adventures of Max' videos, which seem to be along similar lines to how I envisaged the BFCU Interactive Adventure.
Anyway, more on-topic, it got me thinking about a lot of the issues from when I was originally trying to start this project, and I think one of the main problems was the expectation that it would immediately grow to be something massive. Enthusiasm from people involved is one thing, but looking back, it was far too much of me to expect everyone to be as enthusiastic about the project as I was, and to have the time to put into it that I did. If this was ever to start up again, a 1 to 2 minute video for all the 'Phase One' brickfilms would be a far more realistic expectation and would be more likely to get off the ground, though even that runs a high risk of simply not happening.
The other main issue is related to how I seemed to want to construct it: rather than having a heaviy interconnected storyline, which would possibly have been a better way of encouraging collaboration, I was far too focused on an interconnected canon for people to cherrypick their stories from. I don't think I realised at the time that that wasn't really what I was even looking for. So if I attempted this again, I think I would try and find a central story for people to build their brickfilms around, rather than say "here's a bunch of characters, here's a bunch of worlds, make you own stories". While that might have worked further down the line, none of the brickfilms in the BFCU playlist (which I can't seem to find) actually gave any indication of how they were connected to each other or what kind of a world this was overall.
This sudden random post isn't me suddenly wanting to restart the BFCU just yet, as I'm currently extra-busy with other projects, but it's been interesting looking back at where I was over a year ago and seeing how even in that short amount of time, my approach to brickfilming and to collaboration has changed. If anyone else wanted to take a crack at this though, I would be more than happy to share some of my notes, but I'd strongly advise you to bear some of the lessons I've learned, that I've mentioned in this post, in mind.
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