Meet a member: Riverwind
Posted by Huw,
Since starting our 'meet a member' series last week I've been inundated with volunteers and now have enough material for the next two weeks, at least. Thank you to everyone who's responded. Please allow me to clear the backlog before accepting any more!
Today we are heading to Russia for a chat with Daniel, aka Riverwind, who's a freelance designer.
How long have you been visiting Brickset?
I've been a member since around 2009, and I visit it every day.
What's your favourite/most used feature of the site?
Definitely the Sets I own, which is a collector's delight, and the sets I want, to keep track on what I'm going to get. And, of course, the site updates for sets: I just LOVE to open Brickset and see a new set, or even a new theme added, check them out and add to wanted list, if I like them.
What is your first LEGO memory?
My first LEGO memory is very clear and vivid. I'm a 3 years old kid, and my father returns from abroad with a foreign gift... It was a 6648 Mag Racer, a small set, but it blew my mind. A toy, that you can assemble, disassemble and build something else!
I built it right away, on our living room floor and didn't understand it at that time, but that was how I discovered my life-long passion. I clearly remember that I couldn't wrap my head around how can these pieces fit together so perfectly. The working suspension pieces were my favourite, too bad LEGO doesn't produce them any more.
I'm pretty sure my dad was getting LEGO not just for me, but for himself too, and that was awesome, because we spent so much time together building and creating. Actually, almost every set I got from my dad is bound to a special memory.
Did you have a dark age and if so what caused you to emerge from it?
I have had a period in my life, around my twenties, when I wasn't purchasing any sets and wasn't following closely LEGO news and new themes. I can't really call it an actual “dark age”, because I didn't lose my interest in LEGO, I knew, that one day I'm going to dive into it again.
The reason for the break was that the LEGO themes of that time weren't very appealing to me, except Power Miners and Space Police 3 (I got 1 set from these themes). However, looking back, I think I've missed a lot by not appreciating enough such themes as Agents, Castle: Fantasy Era and Pirates. I wish I got some of that sets when they weren't retired.
The theme, that really got me back was Ninjago. I wasn't a big fan of the Pilot season sets, but eventually I started to see some cool looking sets in the new seasons here and there, especially those, which are quite “steampunk”: 70747 Boulder Blaster and 70605 Misfortune's Keep, After that, I got a lot of sets and Ninjago has become one the largest parts of my collection.
Which set or theme has been most influential upon you, as a LEGO fan?
Definitely the 90's Space, including all the subthemes, like Ice Planet 2002 (My favourite), Spyrius, Exploriens, UFO, Insectoids. Ironically, these were the themes, which I got the least amount of sets, so right now I'm trying to compensate it by monitoring closely Ebay and Bricklink.
I was obsessed with everything space-related and sci-fi, and I still am. Funny thing, Star Wars sets didn't influence me a lot, because I have never been digging licensed themes. I love Star Wars, but... In LEGO I just prefer non-licensed theme, that's just my taste.
The second place in being the most influential upon me is, another funny thing, the Time Cruisers theme, often called “a theme made from leftovers”, and viewed as a not very good theme. But for me, time-travelling is another favourite topic, and as a kid loved the bizarre looks of these sets.
The third place is shared between Adventurers and Aquazone.
What are you building right now?
I've just finished building 70431 The Lighthouse of Darkness. As I've mentioned, I'm mostly a fan of non-licensed themes, so I love Hidden Side, although, not each set is perfect. But the Lighthouse of Darkness is one of the best, it has this classic “spooky lighthouse” feeling to it. I love imagining scenes around my sets, and it's just perfect for this. Also, I can't wait for the new Ninjago season.
How do you store your LEGO?
Most of my old LEGO is stored in pieces, sorted by type and colour. I don't have a box system yet, so I just keep them in zip-lock bags, carefully stored in a large box.
The new sets, which are assembled, are kept on the shelves of several large cabinets, behind closed wooden doors. If you'd walk into my home, you wouldn't know there's even LEGO in here. But if you'd start opening the cabinets... This one is filled with sets from top to bottom... And this one... And this one... Yeah, this guy is really into it!
There are two reasons for that I keep my sets like this: First, I like my home to be somewhat “minimalistic”, so I'd rather open my cabinet and take out a set that I need right now, than always have it on display. Second, I hate dust. I mean, I HATE dust, especially when it piles up on my LEGO. And cleaning my sets frequently is too much of a chore to me.
I also have my boxes, I open both covers, make them flat, and put inside each other – like this you can store a surprising number of boxes in a relatively small space.
Do you build MOCs? If, so what?
Unfortunately, I don't build MOCs as much as I'd love to. As a kid, I used to build a set, take it apart after a few days, pour the pieces into The Pile, and build something my own. But today I'd like my MOCs to look at least decent, with nice color scheme, but as a mildly perfectionist, I can spend so much time on something really small.
I can't settle for something that looks not too close to what I imagined. I use “Studio”, and when I build, I have dozens of variations of some sub-assembly I'm currently working on, experimenting, changing, adding and removing something, until I make it perfect.
But there's something, that I'm really excited about: I'm currently working on something big for submitting to LEGO Ideas. It's on a pretty early stage, and I've already met a lot of difficulties trying to make everything perfect. Hope it'll turn out awesome.
What is your favourite part?
So hard to pick! I think, I'm gonna go with two. First, x276 “Sun Disc with Molded Minifig Head” from the Adventurers theme. It's just so “Indiana Jones”! And it's golden, what more can I even ask for? I always loved the treasure kind of pieces.
Second, 6024px1, “Baseplate Raised 32 x 32 Canyon with Blue Underwater Print” from the 6195: Neptune Discovery Lab. I know, raised baseplates are controversial, but I like them. They are unique, have nice printing, representing the theme, and for me they are just cool!
What theme would you like LEGO to produce?
Any new non-licensed theme. I'd love to see the return of Space with a new subtheme.
What is the availability of LEGO like where you live?
LEGO is widely available in Russia, but unfortunately, it's not available to order and purchase from LEGO.com directly, so no VIP points and such. We have our own retail chain, which officially represents LEGO, “Mir kubikov” (World of bricks). In addition, you can buy LEGO in any large toy store or in countless online shops.
Do you have any interests or hobbies other than LEGO?
I'm a huge videogame fan, I love immersive single-player story-driven games. Also, tabletop games, live action role-play games and such.
I admire science in general, mostly astronomy, astrophysics, quantum physics. I'm not even an amateur in these subjects, but I just love to read about them.
I'm into painting and writing as well.
Are you a member of a LUG? Which ones?
Sadly, no. Maybe, I'd love to join one, but there aren't many LUGs around. Sometimes I even think of starting my own.
Have you been to a LEGO event? Which one(s)? Do you have a favourite?
And again, sadly no. I dream of going to a LEGO event somewhere in Europe, maybe even in Denmark (oh, and visit Legoland!) but I haven't had a chance yet: all my trips abroad weren't tied to any Lego event, and were just regular tourist vacations.
Thanks Daniel!
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17 comments on this article
I also hate dust! All of my sets but one are displayed behind glass so it's not an issue. If it doesn't fit in my case, I lose quite a bit of interest. It's why I never pursued sets like Welcome To Apocalypseburg or anything else with a huge footprint - if I can't fit it behind glass, I don't want to deal with owning (and dusting) it. The one exception is Ninjago City, the set so beautiful and perfect that I'll deal with cleaning it off now and again to have it out on my desk.
I also love LEGO's original action and sci-fi themes. Utterly tragic that original space themes have largely been so gutted by the existence of Star Wars.
Thank you for letting me know I am not the only one keeping all my sets in zip-lock bags dismantled!
I've had my fair amount of vacuum cleaning the dust and insects from all my 8 Dioramas (3m long) in the window of the toy shop were I created them.
I understand the people wanting to see their sets displayed, but this is not for me.
Oh, zip-lock bags are absolutely essential for storing Lego (in pieces or whole) while keeping it dust-free.
@Carbohydrates said:
" If it doesn't fit in my case, I lose quite a bit of interest."
Same here! If sets won't fit in my deep Billy bookcases with glass doors I don't buy them. That might include missing out on Pirates of Barracuda Bay: I'll have to check its measurements :)
@Huw said:
"If sets won't fit in my deep Billy bookcases with glass doors I don't buy them. That might include missing out on Pirates of Barracuda Bay: I'll have to check its measurements :)"
Yeah, same! That's my exact setup as well. My top shelf currently holds the original Black Seas Barracuda and I'd love the new one to compliment it. If you have the same shelf I do then you know a set as large as the BSB already takes up an enormous amount of it (approx. 1/4 of the total height of the entire Billy shelf), and the new one is taller still. Tricky, tricky!
I forgot to congratulate @Riverwind for having the option "Contact" available on the profile.
The last 3 members presented by Brickset didn't bothered to have it which I find strange since the meaning of these articles was to know each other and possibly to contact in case of questions or sharing know how.
I, too, hate dust on my LEGO models, but unfortunately I do not have display cases, just simple shelves. Nice photo, by the way!
@Carbohydrates said:
"Yeah, same! That's my exact setup as well. My top shelf currently holds the original Black Seas Barracuda and I'd love the new one to compliment it. If you have the same shelf I do then you know a set as large as the BSB already takes up an enormous amount of it (approx. 1/4 of the total height of the entire Billy shelf), and the new one is taller still. Tricky, tricky!"
My Billy shelves are just over 12"/30cm deep so the Pirate set should fit. As you probably know, Ikea discontinued the deeper Billys and the current version isn't really suitable for LEGO displays.
@Huw said:
That might include missing out on Pirates of Barracuda Bay: I'll have to check its measurements :)"
Do like me, keep it NISB and display the box ;) I feel a huge vintage vibe from it <3
Very similar tastes especially Ninjago which kind of snuck up as my favourite theme and is definitely the larger part of my collection these days (just recently added the city of stiix, I especially like the larger sets) Adventures, Pharaoh's Quest, Monster Fighters, Hidden side and the 90s space themes like Blacktron and Spyrius make up the bulk of the rest as I also prefer the original themes to licensed ones.
Is the username "Riverwind" a reference to novels by Margaret Weis and Tracey Hickman? I'm a huge fan of those books.
I have similar tastes, I tend to avoid licensed themes and love Ninjago!
Thank you for the tip on how to store LEGO boxes! Much appreciated.
@eggshen said:
"Is the username "Riverwind" a reference to novels by Margaret Weis and Tracey Hickman? I'm a huge fan of those books.
I have similar tastes, I tend to avoid licensed themes and love Ninjago!"
It is exactly this! Dragonlance novels are my most favorite! By the way, Ninjago has so many dragons, and I assume you also have sets with dragons? :)
@Riverwind said:
" @eggshen said:
"Is the username "Riverwind" a reference to novels by Margaret Weis and Tracey Hickman? I'm a huge fan of those books.
I have similar tastes, I tend to avoid licensed themes and love Ninjago!"
It is exactly this! Dragonlance novels are my most favorite! By the way, Ninjago has so many dragons, and I assume you also have sets with dragons? :)"
Excellent! I definitely have a bunch of Ninjago dragons, I hope to eventually build a MOC of the dragon version of The Overlord. I found a very cool version of him by BrickKnight on youtube, I just haven't had a chance to get the pieces yet :-)
Now I feel like pulling out Dragons of Autumn Twilight and rereading all of them.
Great interview! Thanks for the idea about boxes. I might keep a few like this.
I wish Mir Kubikov had more stores with Pick-a-Brick in them!
@eggshen said:
" @Riverwind said:
" @eggshen said:
"Is the username "Riverwind" a reference to novels by Margaret Weis and Tracey Hickman? I'm a huge fan of those books.
I have similar tastes, I tend to avoid licensed themes and love Ninjago!"
It is exactly this! Dragonlance novels are my most favorite! By the way, Ninjago has so many dragons, and I assume you also have sets with dragons? :)"
Excellent! I definitely have a bunch of Ninjago dragons, I hope to eventually build a MOC of the dragon version of The Overlord. I found a very cool version of him by BrickKnight on youtube, I just haven't had a chance to get the pieces yet :-)
Now I feel like pulling out Dragons of Autumn Twilight and rereading all of them. "
Thanks, I've checked out the video, it's awesome! Also, yes, that's what we should do, re-read the Dragonlance :)