Re: Brickfilming Discussion Week 9: Modding and Mega-bloks
I think Megablocks and BestLock and other knock-off brands are lousy. Once, I got a Best Lock fire truck set...and the bricks were of such poor quality they wouldn't even lock together, and I was unable to finish it. I will, however, use their figures and accessories from time to time, as they are more detailed than Lego figures (sometimes, anyway).
As for custom lego accessories and such, I am fine with using brickarms weapons (though not often because of the price), as long as it is necessary. For example, say I need a shotgun. Brickarms has a shotgun that you can recognize as a shotgun. However, If I need a knife, I use a Lego knife, instead of Brickarms, because it is not necessary to get an extremely detailed(and pricey) Brickarms knife. I do paint over Lego accessories from time to time (hats, swords, etc.), but usually only if I have them in large quantity and don't need 50 in the same color. I don't like breaking Lego, as it pains me to do so and I am afraid it will look bad, but I have done it once or twice. Usually, though, my altered Lego come from an accident, like me sitting on one by mistake, so I will use those.:P
I'm pretty much okay with everything you listed except for Mega-Blocks. Literally everything else could add to the story and Brickfilm in some way, but Mega-Blocks/Imitation LEGO only serve to give films a cheap feel for me. There really is no substitute for the real deal in my mind.
But like i said, everything else may be used in some way that can enhance films. Like others stated, Magic Portal greatly benefited from using the non-LEGO elements as a way to juxtapose the characters into the real world. It was SUPPOSED to look out of place and strange.
But I think that several other Brickfilmers have used non-LEGO elements to great effect. Captain Bulldog comes to mind as a great example of how to do this right.
(Speaking of Captain Bulldog, does anyone know where I could find the second part of his "Pilgrim's Son" Brickfilm? It seems to have been blocked due to using copyrighted music, and it's one of my favorite brickfilms so it would be sad to lose it.)
Indeed, it has been removed, which really bums me out, because I only recently discovered his channel, and instantly became a huge fan of the "Pilgrims" series, so when I finished "Pilgrim's Son" part 1, and saw that part 2 had been taken down, I was all like, "NO! Now I'll never know how the most epic brickfilm series about pilgrims ends!" I really hope he returns and re-uploads it: his videos are awesome!
-Carl Denham, King Kong (2005)