Ramblings about design stuff because I do design stuff

Lego OFUM. by Huinesoron on 2018-06-18 15:11:00 UTC Reply

No, sadly I haven't found a literal Lego OFUM build (though that sounds kind of cool...). Instead, I have... a crackpot conspiracy theory!

The Lego Elves brand is actually a stealth Lego OFUM.

This is the Elves theme, and straight away you can see that it's stuffed with Mary-Sues and fangirls. Protagonist Emily Jones is prime OFUM material; check out her profile:

Emily is a smart, quirky and creative girl, who is mourning the loss of her grandmother. She is shy in new situations, but quickly finds her place in a group. She is very fond of nature, faithful, a bit of a dreamer and just impossible not to like.

Power: Love

Strengths: Smart, practical and super creative.

Flaws: Gets a bit insecure and clumsy when she finds herself in a new group (especially when they are all elves..).

It actually gets worse from there... she's friends with a stereotypical team of element-aligned magical elves, who all have ridiculously sparkly cute animal friends (actually, because of product turnover, they have multiple CAFs each). So far, so generic... but check out the purported villains of the piece:

Cronan, Ragana, and Noctura... or, as I like to call them, the Elves in Black Leather: Elrond, Galadriel, and Miss Cam herself.

(Okay, we'll need to pilfer a lighter hair for Galadriel, but other than that I think they're perfect.)

Still not convinced? Then check out 'Noctura's' (ie, Miss Cam's) little pets:

She has rainbow mini-Balrogs.

Case closed.

hS

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Ramblings about design stuff because I do design stuff by twistedwindowpane on 2018-06-20 23:20:00 UTC Reply

FREAKIN' BUY SOME AND REPAINT THEM! I WANT TO SEE IT! DO IT! YES!

Hehe, anyway... I love the villain designs. I actually like all the designs, but obviously a Mary Sue can be a Mary Sue and still have a good design. But I still love the designs. (I do character design stuff a lot, so that's usually what I notice first.)

I dunno, but I have a particular sweet spot for Ragana because I've seen her before in a LEGO catalog and I at the time had a villain role for myself in one story where the outfit I had had was very similar to hers, even the same black-and-green color scheme and with my old Scratch avatar's orange (which is close to pink) hair. So yeah, when you posted this, I still had a little lingering feeling of "mine" over her.

Cronan is cool, typical warlord fare with an interesting... eye motif? That's not a path most would take, so props to Lego. Noctura is great with... is one sleeve longer or are her arms being consumed by darkness? I hope it's the latter because that's cool. I love her haircut and expression and tiara and oh my God everything is so pretty. Looking at the pages, I don't know about all the CAFs and minor critters, they're just kinda cookie cutter, but the designs of the Elves are rather aesthetically pleasing. Except Skyra... I can't tell what she is, but if she were drawn for me and explained, that might satisfy me. Oh that's a cape thingy, okay. Now I like the design.

Now the real exception is the two humans. They're also very cookie cutter, which I guess combined with Emily's description means they Could Be Anyone. They could be you. They could be me. Most importantly, they could be the viewers. So yeah, typical audience insert protagonists.

TL:DR: Love the Elf designs. Everything else is pretty cookie cutter, but the Elf designs blow me away. Also, Ragana is sooooooorta mine-ish. Sorta.

-Twistey

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What else is secretly a fanfic? by 61516 on 2018-06-20 02:27:00 UTC Reply

Warhammer 40,000 is clearly a massive crossover, and Harry Potter is a Tom Brown's School Days AU.

"Secretly"? by Thoth on 2018-06-20 03:04:00 UTC Reply

40k doesn't even try to HIDE that. I mean, have you SEEN the Navigator Houses? :-P

You can practically smell the Dune influence in Star Wars by Larfen J. Stocke, esq. on 2018-06-22 05:07:00 UTC Reply

At least, in the early ones. Smells like spice and hot air.

Except Dune is way, way darker with drugs and instead of the Force the main character (a kid with a four-lettered stereotypically English name) is getting battered with every possible future right into his skull.
I should read Dune. (nm) by 61516 on 2018-06-22 03:02:00 UTC Reply

I should probably read OFUM. (nm) by 61516 on 2018-06-19 11:38:00 UTC Reply

You probably should! by Huinesoron on 2018-06-19 15:32:00 UTC Reply

It's good! ^^

Or, if Middle-earth isn't your speed, you could try one of the other OFUs. The only trouble is, if you want a finished one, there... aren't very many.

I've just been and updated the Wiki to list all the finished OFUs I could find, and... well, <a href="https://ppc.wikia.com/wiki/OfficialFanfiction_University">there are six. That's taken from both our own records and Miss Cam's list. So yeah... if you want to read the LotR, Harry Potter, Hetalia, Discworld, Dragonball, or Pirates of the Caribbean OFUs, there's good news for you! If not... I hope you like cliffhangers.

(I hope to one day be the first person to finish an OFU sequel. Of course, to do that, I would have to actually start writing OFUDisc 2...)

hS

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Wow! by Snowblaze on 2018-06-19 08:15:00 UTC Reply

What a coincidence! Has anyone worked out the names of the mini-Balrogs yet? I definitely want one too!

[Is nerd-sniped] by Huinesoron on 2018-06-19 13:48:00 UTC Reply

Right. There are seven ~~Shadow-Bats~~ mini-Balrogs in the theme so far: the five I included, plus these two, who don't have official pictures yet:

Irritatingly, they don't make a rainbow; I'm colour-blind, but I'm pretty sure they line up like this:

So who are they? None of their purported names (or, as I like to call them, secret identities) appear on the lists of minis, but... what if they're nicknames? Hippo could be one of the minis for 'Fellowship', for instance - Felloship, or Followship? - and Molo could be Carmollen, the mini of Cormallen.

But Phyll? Furi? There's nothing in Middle-earth even close to those.

Perhaps instead they're seven of the ten members of the fellowship.

: Ahem...

Sorry, Lord Elrond, the NINE members of the Fellowship... but which?

Well, Molo and Phyll simply have to be minis Merry and Pippin, the Urple Bandits - look at the colours, and their names even start with the same letters! I feel like Hippo must be a Sam mini, too - look at that happy smile! D'aww.

Four to go. Is the Frodo mini being driven crazy by the Ring - or is Crase more of a Boromir? Does Vespe's war-paint make him a mini of Aragorn, or of Legolas (who I can absolutely imagine spending an OFUM arc going full Maladict and thinking he's in 'Nam)? Myzo's colour-change makes him a shoe-in for Gandalf the White (perhaps he's a mispelling of Mithrandir?), and Furi's adorable rage fits nicely for Gimli... which means Vespe is more likely to be a Legolas (since those two are inseparable), and the fact that we've got the other three hobbits means Crase should be Frodo.

So there you go - the question you never thought would be answered. ^_^ And with a bit of browsing the mini lists, plus a little creative thinking...

OR

Sham - Froedo - Glimi - Legoles - Mythrandir - Merrry - Piphin

: You're not very clear on the concept of 'undercover', are you?

Oops. Er... sorry, Miss Cam. _{I'm going now.}

hS

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Thank you! (nm) by Snowblaze on 2018-06-20 11:14:00 UTC Reply

Seconding wanting the mini-Balrogs! =D by S.M.F. on 2018-06-18 17:30:00 UTC Reply

Also, uh, unrelated but... our conversation that's gone off the front page now: are we continuing that? ^^;
Oh my god! by Thoth on 2018-06-18 17:03:00 UTC Reply

Rainbow balrogs! I want! :-P