Alden51/Alden51's Preview Page

Hi all!  As of right now, I have a few months before I can post any projects on Cuusoo, but in the meantime, I would love some feedback on what I have so far for these projects.  I will be slowly releasing more pictures and information about the models I have built/am currently building over the course of the next few weeks.
These projects were done primarily in LDD.  Now I know some people (myself included) don't give a moment's glance to your everyday, lazy, run-of-the-mill projects done in LDD, so I wanted these to be different.  However, since I'm not terribly artistic, and have little or no experience with Blender and other 3D-programs, I decided I would still try to use LDD as the medium with which to present my ideas.  Sometimes it was horrible.  Sometimes I had to cut corners.  Sometimes I had to give up ideas entirely because of my limitations.  But overall I have been pleased with the results so far.  I do hope you will be, too!
Enjoy!
~Alden51
==Kid Icarus==
I started this project a while ago because, although I knew there were already a few projects on Cuusoo based on Kid Iccarus: Uprising, I didn't think any of them really did the game justice, and I wanted one that did.  I don't think I'll ever be abe to bring it to its full glory (the game is just that awesome; I highly recommend it!) but I wanted to at least get something that had a chance of becoming a set, which by the looks of things the other ones really didn't, though I did love them for trying
WARNING: if you are planning on getting the game (which you should be) and are not already familiar with the story, the following information may contain spoilers, though for the time being I will try to keep them at a minimum.
===Characters===
The characters were one of the best parts of Kid Icarus.  They were all so unique, so well developed, that they really helped the story of the game really come to life.  (Plus, they're some of the first Nintendo characters to be fully voice-acted, or even speak at all. :P)  Above you see The hero, Pit, and his doppleganger, Dark Pit, or Pittoo, as everyone else calls him.  Below is Magnus, the only human character strong enough to take on the Underworld Army alongside Pit. Below that are Medusa, the Goddess of Darkness who was the final boss of the original NES Kid Icarus; Lady Palutena, the Goddess of Light and Pit's mistress; and Viridi, the Goddess of Nature. 
===Weapons===
Though my ideas do have a strong emphasis on characters and set designs, as most Cuusoo projects do, I wanted to focus on something special from Kid Icarus: Uprising, some aspect that made the game unique.  It was an obvious choice: the dozens upon dozens of different weapons you can wield.  I decided to spend a huge amount of time creating brick-built LEGO renditions of every weapon in the game.  However, I quickly deemed this impossible, not just because there are far too many, but because I haven't even unlocked all of them yet.  I have, however, made a sizeable number of them, which keeps growing bigger and bigger as I steadily make more.
But not only did I want to create so many weapons, I wanted to be able to utilize them in such a way that was more than just getting specific weapons in specifiic sets.  One idea I had was that each set could include an extra figure of Pit, Pittoo, or a Together-mode Fighter, and one random weapon.  Weapons could also be released in packs, like Kanohi masks in the veeery early days of Bionicle.
In the picture to the right is the first batch of weapons I made.  They are, from left to right: Palutena Bow, First Blade, Ancient Staff (which is obscured due to lighting), some random palm (with palms it really doesn't matter which; they're all made the same in Lego :P), Drill Arm, Standard Orbitars, Tiger Claws, EZ Canon, and... I forget what staff that's supposed to be. :P
In the picture to the left are some more weapons, from left to right: the Dark Pit staff, Silver Bow, Samurai Blade, Volcano Arm, Ogre Club, and Raptor Claws.
===Sets===
I have already shown you a glimpse of one of the largest sets I have designed, Palutena's Temple. (See below)  Here is one of my smaller set designs I am currently building: The Ring of Chaos.  I will not disclose information about the level (so as to avoid any UBER spoilers) except that the set includes a single ruined building and the wooden door in the area with the fountain where you first meet Magnus, and the minifigure lineup includes Magnus, Centurians, Pit's Body (with the Darkness Bow), a little farm girl, and a dog.  This set, though admittedly based on a dark area well into the game, is a favorite of mine, mainly because of of its small size and high play-value, both of which favor production at a reasonable price.
In the design of the weapons and some of the characters, some accuracy of details was admittedly sacrificed.  However, this was almost always for the purpose of simplicity, or because any closer to the original would be virtually impossible, or just to keep the general feel of the originals.  I'm hoping that everything slightly altered in this way will still be at least recognizable.  Also, the decals are not what I envision in the final product, they are simply the best I can do at the present time.  Please don't go hating me for either of these shortcomings!
==Metroid==
By this time, this is not the first Metroid Project to appear on Cuusoo, and I have a feeling it won't be the last.  Much as I love Zurtech's Project, when it first appeared I was already working on this one, so I decided to try and finish it anyways, if only to double our chances of having one reach 10,000. 
===Samus===
So anyways, to get started, here's a close look at the heroine of the series:
Okay... maybe that's a little too close.  let's try a little further back: 
I went through more than half a dozen iterations of Samus Aran before I managed to narrow the list down to the four on the right, and then finally settled for the second one to the right (see below).  I also created the two on the left: Zero-Suit and Power-Suit sans Helmet, so I could incorporate them in a later set design (not finished).  
===Samus's Ship===
This could be a set in and of itself, so I guess it belongs below, but I felt it was deserving of its own category:
The design was primarily based on the ship from Super Metroid, bu I am working on other variants as well, such as the ships from the first and third Prime games (not finished).  The hatch opens up, so you can put Samus inside, and I will say viewing the ship in LDD, either through her eyes (not shown) or though the front viewport, is pretty cool:
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===Friends and Foes===
Okay, so admittedly we didn't see very many friends until Fusion and onward, but I did try to make a lot of the various alien foes Samus has fought, from scurrying canon-fodder to the vilest of bosses.  
In the screenshot on the right, you can see four different variations of the classic crawling Brinstar enemies (color scheme based on Zero Mission & Other M; I have yet to decide which variant I like best).  In the photo below and to the left, you see, from left to right: a shriekbat, the eyeball crabs from Brinstar Depths (a.k.a. Kraid's Lair), Space Pirates from Zero Mission, Fusion, and Other M, the three-eyed fire-crawly thingies from Norfair (you know, I should really look up some of these names...), and-  OH NO, NOT YOU!!!!
Devastatingly difficult enemies aside, here's a photo of two classic bosses every Metroid fn should recognize instantly: 
That's right, Ridley and Kraid are here!!  Ridley is a rather simple build, but I had to build him twice, because the first time my scale was way too far off.  He is fully poseable, as he uses many Bionicle/Hero Factory components.  Kraid was a challenging and extremely fun build, and i am rather pleased with teh results: he's freakin massive, his head turns, his mouth opens so you can insert missles, and he even fires projectiles one by one from his stomach when you pull a lever in the back (at least, that's how I planned it to work; sadley I lack the parts required to actually test it).  Here are some more pictures: 
Together, these two are 730 pieces, over 600 of them belonging to Kraid.  This means a set with Ridley would be way cheaper (and more likely to happen, as he is featured in more games) but who wouldn't want a Kraid to go with him?
===Sets===
I was always a fan of the old LEGO Harry Potter sets, back when they covered just the first two books/movies.  I loved how the different pieces of Hogwarts all came together, and it was a pretty good marketting tactic too, encouraging customers to get a copy of every single set.  With this in mind, I thought about how in the classic games, areas were always divided into segments by those familiar blue hatches, and then it hit me: each set produced should include a one-way hatch that you could connect to hatches from other sets, allowing you to create your own little labrynth like the ones in the games.  However, these hopes have since faded away, now that it is known that CUUSOO cannot directly create entire series.  But I've included a picture of the prototype anyways:
Of course, as for the sets themselves, I have already mentioned Samus's Ship and two of her greatest antagonists, which would  be pretty good stand-alones in their own right.  But in addition to these, I am working on several familiar locales from my favorite parts of the series, including a save room/item room, the entry point to Brinstar for the first game, and some Chozo Ruins (not finished).  Here are some pictures of what I have so far: 
With the Brinstar Entry point, I have not yet decided wether or not to make the eyes of the statues transparent.  Both trans and non-trans eyes are shown in the picture for comparison.
The difficulty with the save room is that I want to have a mechanism for the green light to circle Samus, just like in the games (or in this case, Zero Mission) but I have yet to find something suitable that meets my expectations; you can see a few of my early attempts in teh background of this pic.  I haven't been working on this much since it is a low priority, but I will get back to it... eventually...
[My Chozo Ruins designs are not ready to be displayed yet, but will be revealed shortly]
That's about it for now.  More info and photos coming whenever I have them!
==Iji==
Photos and info coming soon!
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