Episode 135

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Dave

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Misc. News:
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About this Episode:
When Bricks of the Dead was still the unnamed LEGO zombie comic of my feavered imagination, I knew I wanted to do a scene where my characters got out of a building via a fire escape and ended up in an alley. My dreams are finally realized.

Zombie Cliché Lookout:
What kinds of things happen in alleys? Muggings, assaults, coat-hanger ab– uh, let’s skip that last one, shall we? At any rate, good things don’t tend to happen in alleys, so putting characters in one is an easy way to up the tension a bit. This generally results in a big tragedy or a big fake out. Unfortunately, it’s never quite clear which one until the end.

57 thoughts on “Episode 135”

  1. Coat hanger abs? I got thoz. :3
    I love how people say “Be quiet” its kinda implied in certain situations.. I’m sure not even Stew is stupid enough to start yelling out his favorite things to do whilst playing in a pull of chocolate pudding.

    • Hah, I guess it’s just one of those things that people say even though they don’t need to be verbalized. Like “It’s cold out” and, “Boy, you’re really tall.”

  2. Fan-freakin’-tastic fire escape. Kudos.

    • I wish I could take credit. That’s the back of Green Grocer.

      • And the back of these fantastic sets don’t get enough credit. I think its great you used it. The back of Petshop is just awesome.

        How many of these do you have? I am about to get another one…not sure if it will be the firestation or the Grand Emporium…leaning towards GE.

        BTW BrickVoid…that ladder drop is nothing. Hanging from the last rung would be just over 2 feet, relatively.

        • I’ve got Cafe Corner, Green Grocer, Fire Brigade, and Grand Emporium. I’m hoping I score Petshop for Christmas or something. I’m really digging that basement door on the back of it. Super cool.

        • “I’m really digging that basement door on the back of it. Super cool.”

          I have GRAND plans for that coming up. It shall be my Opus for 2011! 🙂

          Also there is a trap door that leads from the basement to the bottom floor once you use the cellar entrance. Really interesting design.

        • I can’t wait to see. I didn’t realize there was a trap door as well. That could be useful, although I don’t really shoot inside the buildings.

        • “That could be useful, although I don’t really shoot inside the buildings.”

          It would be challenging but fun. It simply can’t be left alone. I can see this merry band of survivors using it.

        • i wish i had some of them too bad there $150.00 a set freaking INSANE where do you work dave you must have ALOT of money.

        • I’m getting ready to part out and buy the cafe corner and/or green grocer on BL. I’m thinking I can do Cafe Corner for $180…we’ll see.

          Seeing how much it will be to weave it into my already parted out bulk bricks.

        • ” wish i had some of them too bad there $150.00 a set freaking INSANE ”

          Its high but its worth it. lego pieces are incredibly well made. A brick from 1981 will still fit perfectly with a brick from 2011. I spend $150 on the Petshop and don’t regret it one bit. I spent a few nights building it. Great stress releiver and it sits proudly next to one of my book shelves.

        • I’m really glad I got Cafe Corner and Green Grocer when I did. I missed out on Market Street, but I’m not too worried about that.

          Regarding the price, yes, $150.00 is tough to swallow. That said, the part to dollar ratio in these sets are very, very high. Also, they’re very well designed buildings.

        • Yeah…market street is weird. Kind of a Spooky Munsters look to it.

          Dave you ever done the part out thing on BL and combined it? I’m needing a way to inventory everything I own…seems lugnet is the way to go.

        • No, I’ve not done that yet, although I’m sure it’s just a matter of time. I also haven’t tried to database my collection. I can’t even imagine trying to pull that off.

        • “I also haven’t tried to database my collection”

          I am doing that right now before it gets out of control.

          It actually doesn’t seem too difficult if you have your BL order history. If I can get a $1,200 item down to under $200…me = win.

          If I can get this to work like I am reading you can easily compare your inventory against sets to see what parts you need to complete the set and you can also see what sets you can build with what you have. Now I would never want to part out petshop, creator houses, police units etc so I would never inventory them. But my BL orders and extra sets I just bought for parts…I’ll add that all in.

        • I can definitely see the advantages of it. The stuff I’ve bought over the last few years could be organized by set, but stuff older than that… not so much. I have a ton of stuff from childhood, but much of it is missing, so few complete sets. Plus I don’t exactly remember every set I had as a kid. I’ve also made a few trips to Pick and Brick, inhereted a small collection or two, etc.

          Long story short, it’s a daunting prospect.

        • Hah. Somehow I think he’d negotiate it higher than twenty.

        • i really wish i could get one but i can barely afford a $50.00 set once a year.lego is very reliable toy i think one time i found a brick from 1969 it was all yellow but it still fit!if i had a modular building i would use it ALL THE TIME!i will probably NEVER be able to afford one unless i try your crazy complicated part out thing…but i found a set that is pretty much as good as one…but it has 2 buildings…can you geuss what it is? you might recognize it Dave.(hints.1.two buildings2.a charecter came from it.)go ahead guess.

        • reply to this for answers of my question.p.s. i found it on BrickLink for less than half the price.

        • Settle down; I’m just getting in this morning.

          Let’s see, if it the one with the pizza place and bike shop?

        • “i will probably NEVER be able to afford one unless i try your crazy complicated part out thing”

          GRANTED I am still learning how to do all this but parting out thing but after two nights I have come to the conclusion that using programs and various XML formats thereby weaving them into sites like peeron (and 3 other sites I signed up for) is a useless way to go. I had my excess inventory compared to a couple sets I wanted then as I was filling my carts via bricklink I realized I didn’t trust the accuracy of the various programs which if its even off by a few parts it would be a huge problem when building. I finally gave up after an appalling 9 something hours last night.

          So…the best way, IMO, is to upload your inventory to the BrickStore program, print it and do manual side by side sheet comparison’s. Cost you an extra hour but sometimes the longer way is easier.

        • If you didn’t want to use Bricklink, I would imagine you could probabyl build an Access database of the collection fairly easily, starting from a generic parts list from Bricklink or the like.

          Populating the dataset would be a bitch on wheels, but once everything was in there maintenance would be fairly simple.

        • “If you didn’t want to use Bricklink,”

          Well…that is where things can get incredibly complicated but for brevity…

          Some of the programs compare your inventory to parted out lists for sets then creates a wanted list for you to painfully use on bricklink. I realized I didn’t trust this after I realized I was missing those green bricks on Green Grocer. Just my opinion here…but those are pretty important bricks:)

          So I am using Brickstore to keep track of parted inventory and manually comparing lists on bricklink in lieu of trusting other programs/sites. Then I will manually create a wanted list and go from there. I really want Café Corner and Green Grocer but if I do this the easy way I can just drop $1600 and get both. Nuh uh.

          Personally I blame Dave for using Green Grocer and making me go on this obsessive journey.

          *glares*

        • Hah. If you were in my shoes and were sitting on this incredible set, you’d use the bejesus out of it too.

          It’s a hell of a shame these two sets are so hard to get these days. I hear Cafe Corner is worse, because the dark red roof bricks are insanely hard to come by and haven’t been produced in ages.

        • ” I hear Cafe Corner is worse, because the dark red roof bricks are insanely hard to come by and haven’t been produced in ages.”

          Very true. But you know…I might just pass on them and use a different color brick. After all it is Lego so…do whatever. Maybe I will switch out for Blue or Black. I’m doing this to be creative and collect, not resell so it wouldn’t matter I guess.

        • Dark blue would probably look really sharp on Cafe Corner, and black would certainly be a reasonable substitute.

        • Bah….i’m just going to go buy Grand Emprium tonight.

          Café Corner will just be on my never shrinking project list.

        • Excellent! I really, really like Grand Emporium. I think it might be the best looking of the bunch.

        • picked it up last night at the LEGO store along with too much other stuff. I think I just funded the boardrooms car notes for a month. : (

          but really

          : )

        • Hah, I know the feeling. I’d be dangerous if I had more money.

      • If you don’t have everything easily accessible via bricklink order history or complete sets….oy….

        Sounds like a good way to have your kiddo earn $20 when he gets older! : )

        • I wonder if there’s an app for cataloging your sets. That would likely be the quote-unquote “killer app” for many people.

        • That would indeed be killer.

  3. How on earth does Murphy get himself off a ladder that high off the ground without injuring himself? For that matter, how did any of them manage to do it? It’s even odder when they show characters in movies climbing up fire escape ladders like this and they clearly don’t reach all the way to the floor or alleyway.

    • Being limber and fit? People have jumped from higher, hell I’ve jumped from higher. Didn’t injure myself one bit. Felt good actually.

    • The question is: How did Murphy manage to get out of that small window with the big rifle attached to his backpack? 😀

      • Hah, you’ll notice I didn’t show him squeezing through.

        I imagine he probably had to pass his large items through separately.

    • The ladder is just about the height of a minifig off the ground. If you figure the average height of a minifig is six feet, that’s not such a bad drop, especially if you know how to land. One could also dangle themselves down further, reducing the drop even more.

  4. Hmmm, that box ont he left in panel 3 looks full of potentially useful items — Chekhov’s Armoury?

    • Hah, one can never tell.

      • Then someone will say why aren’t they looting it already? Oh …. Wait! 😀

        • Well these characters are pretty well armed right now. Of course if anyone drops or loses their shit…

  5. I can’t wait to see what they do once the start to get on the move.

    • Me too!

  6. YAY they left i wonder if it’s on the real estate market yet i hope it does’nt go too fast :D(remember when i said i might move in there if i there wrere’nt a zombie apocalypse inside)
    anyway i took your advice from the comment on episode 131 where you told me too get a cool jacket went into my lego bin and found the coolest jackets i had pictures will be up when i get my lego sig-figs’s hair back from my friend (he’s had it since christmas 2010 i let him brrow it and he lost it then found it he told me he would giveit back when they moved something so he could get to it sand it was moved gonna ask him today oops rambling sorry)and when my camera arrives.

    • In a zombie apocalypse the real estate market is bound to take a hit. Tough for home owners everywhere.

      • But the twinkie market will sky rocket.

  7. I would look for nutty bars instead of twinkies. Quote,”know what they call twinkies in mexico? Little submarinos.”

    I love that movie.

    • “nutty bars”

      Dude….is there anything better? Those are twin packs of flavor goodness.

      • I haven’t had one of those in ages, and now I’m craving it.

        • now you know how i feel every day. love’em. that and a good zombie bashing.

        • I can’t stand eating them any more.. Use to be the only things we got at this house for desert like food… Haven’t had icecream if forever D:

  8. So….is that zombie on the ground going to stand up and shamble after them?

    • We’ll just have to wait and see.

  9. Personally, I think that’s just a dead guy on the ground… But of course, this is a zombie comic…

    I know it’s not your design, but I still like the fire escape you have here.

    • Oh I like it too. Putting together that set I knew I was going to have to use the fire escape.