Where are they now?

It's been a while since we migrated to this forum, longer still since we shifted to MOCs pages, or even back with our somewhat spontaneous companies roleplay and having employees and for me, personally, building my
first XT armour for JakTheMad.
Wow, it has been a while.

So, I figured why not get everyone to give a run down on what they're doing now, not just in realm of LDD, since many of us (me included) don't actually do anything on LDD anymore, but in our lives in general, since I feel like many of us from from early days are reaching more or less the turning point in our lives when society stops seeing us as children (or them blasted rebellious teenagers ) and instead as this mysterious thing called a responsible adult. This is also open, of course, to those who are already adults and have been since they joined us in our little group of mech builders

I guess I'll start us off...



So I'm probably one of the longest serving members of the group that's still around; if Andrew still checks the forums he doesn't post, and I'd say it's safe to say that Jak and Chuck are gone. I help facilitate the move to MOCpages, being the first I know of to follow Andrew over and being the one who actually made us a group. I like to think I had an important place back in what I guess would be the Golden Age of CBMC/XT and subsidiaries, but the aim of this is to talk about now, not to get all nostalgic (which I might end up doing anyway, please bear with me  ).

Currently I'm doing my VCE, which is the certificate you get down here in Victoria, Australia, when you complete high school. Next year I'll be going to some university hopefully studying software engineering or something like it. I feel like I'm getting pretty decent marks and I shouldn't have a problem getting into the course of my choice.

I'm still a gamer, on both PC and PS3 (hopefully I'll be getting a PS4 soon so I can play me some inFamous Second Son) and currently I'm playing League of Legends (it's just this little MOBA thing, not many people play it  ) and finally got my hands on Arkham Asylum (having already played City). Also playing Diablo 3.

As for Lego, I still have my boxes of it sitting in my bedroom, though untouched for a year or so now, and there's the odd creation on display on a shelf, which is mostly out of lack of a better place to store them to be honest. I've considered going back to LDD sometimes, but I don't have the time or energy to pour into creations, I've got new a creative outlet now.

Games design is that outlet. Primarily I've been learning to program in Lua and using the Love2D game engine to create little projects, however I've only just managed to get one to a playable state, and it's really nothing spectacular. I'm contemplating running a tabletop RPG for some friends, and have been running Nerf events (yes, I do mean the foam dart blasters) which has been a form of game design, trying to come up with intuitive and simple, yet deep and engaging rulesets is quite enjoyable. Storytelling is also something I like to do, but I find that it's the inventing of these systems and rulesets and mechanics that I enjoy the most.

In the future I'd optimally like to design and program games, though since many of the development studios in Australia have been getting shut down that seems unlikely in the 'normal' way. Going indie would be really interesting, and I would like to try it, but I don't feel it would be stable as a primary income, so I'll probably end up doing software engineering as a day job and then hopefully manage to create a game worth selling in my spare time. And hey, perhaps it'll involve mechs.

Thanks to all of you for supporting my building and storytelling in this rather niche medium of ours, especially to Jak for first bringing me into the group and to Andrew (and Chunk) for actually somehow creating this group to begin with and helping it move through all of it's stages. And I've got thank Richie especially for somehow actually remembering much of the LT lore, it is kind of awesome to see someone mentioning some fictional piece of tech and to realise, "Oh wait I made that up, somehow I was interesting enough for someone to remember that".

ED
CEO, Legopolis Tech

Edit: Sorry for the wall of text, but I can't really shorten it into a tl;dr summary.

I'm pretty much The opposite of ED. I joined the Mechaniers just before the Golden Age came to a close. Little did I know that it was already in decline. I'm just stubborn enough to keep the flame of mech-company roleplay burning. Now but a tea-candle compared to the short-lived bonfire it once was. I have a huge tub of legos, but I almost exclusively work in LDD, because my lego collection is virtually SNOTless and not conducive in the slightest to mech-building.

Ironically, Since joining the CBMC/XT Collaborative, I've actually developed more in shipwrighting than mechaniering. Meanwhile, I faithfully await the return of our Messiah of Mecha, the one and only Chunkblaster, as well as any activity from BiO and Arik. I'll wager that I'll be the last among us to outgrow Lego Mechaniering; I'm just that stubborn.

As for my current life, My Lego career is hindered only by my quest for higher education. I'm persuing a degree in aviation at my local community college. After that, I'm going to US Marine Corps Officer School to become a pilot in the Marines. I chose the Marines rather than the Air Force or the Navy, because my dad is an ex-Jarhead. He was a Chemical, Biological, and Nuclear weapons specialist in the 3rd Air Wing during Operation Desert Shield. When I make it through Officer School, I'll have the bragging rights to say I outrank my own father .

Yadda Yadda Yadda,

Your Co-Worker, RichTheWolf 257 =^.^=

Well now, this looks like it'll be interesting to respond to.

I've essentially fallen away completely from LDD and Lego entirely. I think I tried hopping into LDD once, to try and recreate a mech from Hawken, but got bored pretty quickly.

IRL, I got a job around 8 or 9 months ago, and have stuck with it consistently since, even moving positions once. It's an entry-level thing; cashier/cart-pusher at a grocery store, BUT it's the nicest grocery store in our city and part of a huge, growing chain on the East Coast, so I'm in a relatively good position compared to people who have to settle for McDonalds or Walmart. I'm planning on sticking around this job for the foreseeable future, as they offer scholarship programs and have frequent opportunities for entry-level management positions.

I'm currently finishing up my senior year in high school, which for me (being the slowest homeschooler on the planet) involves a frenzied rush to finish all the courses I've been procrastinating on over the year. Once I'm finished, I'll be taking a gap year instead of going right off to college, and during that time I'll be focusing on work primarily, maybe even getting to a point where I'm working full-time, I don't know yet.

As for gaming, I'm most active on Steam; you've probably seen me playing Warframe a lot. I still do Minecraft, but much, much less frequently. I'm still mapmaking, but I don't see myself working on many projects longer than the next year or so. I also recently reinstalled Spore, the first game that I ever became heavily involved in the online community with, but again I'm not likely to be starting any projects with it.

In the future, I'm hoping to pursue game design as a career, much like ED. I've taken some basic C# programming courses, but my main facet of interest is level design. At this point, I could really go anywhere with my interests, but I have no clue which path I'm going to take.

@BiO: Hm. That grocery store you described sounds a lot like Publix here in the Southeast. Good place. Worlds better than Wal-Crap. Unfortunately, usually slightly more expensive than Wal-Crap too. Also, HOMESCHOOLERS REPRESENT, YO!

Might as well join in, too:

I haven't really done anything in LDD since I last posted in the WIP thread, but I do have some ideas that I really want to try to build. I guess I'm just having a hard time finding the motivation.

Been working at a law firm doing clerical stuff for about two years now (not my chosen field, but it pays the tuition and car insurance).

Highschool's been over for about a year for me now and I'm working on my Computer Science degree at the nearby state college (although highschool was technically half-college for me since I was dual-enrolled and took all my classes there). After I finish that up next Spring I'll probably transfer to UCF (GO KNIGHTS!) in the Fall to get my Bachelor's. Hopefully by that time I'll have enough experience to get a job in my field. Finals for this semester were just yesterday, but even though I'll be working full-time over the Summer I still feel like I'll have more free time since it's not being taken up by homework and two 8-hour days of classes a week.

I tend to be on Steam almost once a day and I can be found on there, BF4, and pretty much anywhere else as "Klushots." Oh, and speaking of "anywhere else," I plan on buying a PS4 sometime within the next few months, so come July I'll hopefully be found playing the Destiny beta on that.

Klushots wrote:

come July I'll hopefully be found playing the Destiny beta on that.

And we'll never see you again. Amrite?

RichTheWolf257 wrote:

Klushots wrote:

come July I'll hopefully be found playing the Destiny beta on that.

And we'll never see you again. Amrite?

Pretty much, yeah.

Actually, I have too much life going on for Destiny to take it completely over. That and I don't have a monitor in my room (yet...), so it'd be on the shared TV meaning that I wouldn't really be able to marathon (heh) it anyway.

Hey guys, know its been a while but here goes:

Ive been around since Chunk started CBMC on the LDD "Creation lab" and after I saw he was going to enter "War World" I wanted to see if he could teach me a few things so I joined up as well, a few months afterwards (I think) I moved over to Mocpages where I found this very "interesting" group of people called the "Elite Mechanierers" (now the Elite Mechaniers) and thats where I really got into building with LDD. After experimenting with a few things I finally found a sort of style that I liked and after building like 2 or 3 "good" things I sort of got less interest. After Chunk's visits to Mocpages where more sporadic I decided that there really wasn't much of a point anymore because I based my own creations off of inspirations that his gave me.

Where I am now?

I recently finished my Freshman year of high school and due to the "enforcement" of my parents for the "need of a strong education" ~My dad, I really haven't had much time for anything. My plans are that I would like to get into a high ranking university where I can achieve a major in Computer Science or Softwear engineering. I took the APCSA test this year and after I take a few more classes over the summer I think I should be doing pretty well in it already. Unlike Andrew and David though, Im more interested scientific and business purposes for Computer Science rather then game designing, but, who know, I still have a few more years before college.

For gaming, I still play minecraft, but not as much recently. I have sort of got bored of video games, none of my friends play much and I see them as just something thats taking up my time. I think I may stop gaming entirely after the summer, but again, who knows.

Anyways, cya guys.

~Brick

Soooooo I finally remembered about this forum, and decided to come on. I have been totally inactive for more than a year (maybe a year and a half?) and during that time, i have managed to lose every mech i made when my computer fell out my window (long story). I currently got really into anime, and have watched a lot of Naruto, Bleach, Attack on Titan, Madoka Magika, A Certain Magical Index (also Scientific Railgun), and a few others. Also watched all of Dr. Who, Lost Girl (yes, the one with the bisexual succubi), Helix, Warehouse 13, a few others, and am currently watching Game of Thrones. I also have developed a habit of making up storylines for pictures I draw, such as lightning demons and such.

I recently job shadowed at Ebsco with a interface designer, and found that it is my cup of tea. I noticed that a few of you are into game making (or at least level design and programming), and I just want to tell you that im into character creation, which I do so much, even in class, that my teachers are threatening me with detentions. :DI really like it and its just a habit.

I'm in my sophomore  year of high school right now, so next year I will have to focus on college. I'm thinking something to do with art and design. I live near Turbine Inc HQ (the gaming company which makes all the DC games), so I might attempt to get a job there at some point.

As far as building things, Ive kinda stopped that, keeping the characters I like, (mainly, a Bionicle Moc named Zephyr), intact and just keep all the extra pieces around. I dont like LDD that much, but I guess I could make stuff if i wanted to. I've kinda lost the will to do that though, like most of you.

If you are still reading, congrats. You are awesome.

Anyway, bye for now.

~Kirill

Ps: I'm always watching, though I may not post anything. I really don't want this community to fade, because I joined it at the end of the so-called Golden Age, where a lot of people were still active. I have somehow managed to grow attached to you guys, despite not really participating here very often.

PPs: I'm also really into gaming, with 2 copies of skyrim (yes, 2), halo's reach, anniversary, and 4, minecraft, and Warframe (dont play that very often), as well as garry's mod and both portals. For minecraft, I usually play on the benderscraft server in kit pvp, just in case anye who reads wants to play with me.

I ain't gone. I'm just not here.

So all sorts of upheaval has been going on at my end. Yesterday my mum passed away from cancer, after going into hospital only 3 weeks ago - things progressed too rapidly for any kind of therapy to help. Now it's just time to pick up the pieces and get on with exams.

In slightly happier news () I do still build with LEGO, tending more towards Bionicle and my ever-favourite theme, Steampunk. Also playing a lot of the Pokemon TCG, and a hell of a lot of League of Legends (Hecarim OP).

Don't really build LDD anymore, I've got enough bricks IRL, and some of theme are, *gasp*, sorted.

Anyways. That's my short life story, and probs the last time you'll hear from me outside of Flickr/MOCPages. :p

-JAK

@Jak:
I don't really know what to say... I was never good at these kinds of situations. Just know that you have my condolences as well as (I'm sure) those of the rest of this small forum..

@Jak
Firstly... I have no idea what to say either. But I'm sure Klu is right and all our feels are with you.

Too bad we're on different LoL servers (I somehow doubt you're on OCE).

You've sorted real Lego!? All hail our new mighty king of bricks.   

Good to hear from you one last time, Jak.

@Jak: Ditto to what Klu said.

First of all, you have my deepest symphaty and condolences, Jak. It's always hard when you lose a family member, but I hope you'll stay strong!

On other things about me, I got a decent job at the Police (office work and I'm not a cop...) recently so I don't really have much free time (6 hours a day or something...) these days, but I usually check on the forum at least once a week, just to see what you guys are up to! I didn't give up on LEGO nor LDD, so I still have a little time to always mess around with my models, some have improved quite a bit and I got lots of new builds and techniques(I'll post some in the future...sometime...probably...).

My condolences to JakTheMad.

I just recently moved (yay big Army), so I have not had as much time to work on things as I have wanted. I have my real bricks again, but it is either Trains, Alien Conquest, or Galaxy Squad. My next real brick item will most likely be Benny's SPACESHIP! After that I intend on making a steam locomotive for my wife. I do not know when or if I will do any of my mecha due to cost and the convincing that it would take for my wife.