Meet a member: MOMAtteo79
Posted by Huw,.jpg)
Today we are catching up with Matteo aka MOMAtteo79, an application analyst in Italy who's also a victim in intellectual property theft by Lepin:
What is your first LEGO memory?
I remember seeing a LEGO set (6386 Police Command Base) in the aisle of a supermarket and falling in love with it… then I had to convince my uncle that it was the perfect gift for me and that it was also a good price, although it probably wasn’t!
Did you have a dark age and if so, what caused you to emerge from it?
Yes, like many AFOLs I had a long dark age. The last set I built was 8865 Test Car and after that I just bought some magnets at the end of 00s. Then in 2013 I just had to buy 21103 The DeLorean Time Machine because I was a great fan of the films. After that I always thought to get back into Lego and bought and received some small sets as a gift. I really emerged only in 2017 when I started working on some MOCs
Which set or theme has been most influential upon you, as a LEGO fan?
I always wanted to have a LEGO X-Wing even in my dark age, but, as I said, I got back into LEGO with the BTTF licensed set. Then I got the Ecto-1 and I wanted to make other iconic vehicles. When I received the New York Architecture skyline I started thinking about TV and Movies inspired architecture styled set.
Anyhow, one of the first big set I bought with the money of the instructions I started selling is the 10240 Red Five X-wing Starfighter.
What are you building right now?
I’ve currently run out of good ideas! You are welcome to suggest somerthing!
I recently released an architecture style Mario Bros. Level and I’ve seen that other builders followed the idea releasing their Mario MOCs, so I guess I’m not the only one constantly searching for a fresh start. I might try with other franchises or start making something original.
How do you store your LEGO?
I think that IKEA is the way: I bought two PAX wardrobes with glass doors for the bigger sets and I think I will go with 40cm Billy for the others. I’m glad (or at least my wife is) that have a basement where I can put those. I don’t have that much spare parts, most of them are just my childhood sets and I keep them in a couple of IKEAs plastic boxes.
Do you build MOCs? If, so what?
Yes, I built some iconic vehicles from Movie & TV, but mostly architecture sets, both skyline and landmarks inspired by pop culture too. You can see them on Rebrickable and Flickr page.
I’m proud to say that I was the first that started making many skylines out of movies and shows, and after seeing my work other people around the world like Ben began doing this too. I definitively need a better social media manager though!
I liked the idea of microscale (not so much space and fewer pieces) and I wanted a way to have them connected and not just having separate micro vignettes or vehicles, like most of the creations you can see online.
What is your favourite part?
I don’t have a preferred part, but as a microscale builder that needs to depict things that already exist on the screen I’m always looking for the correct part/color combination, so I can say that the cheese slope 54200 is great as it is available in a ton of different colors.
What set would you like LEGO to produce?
I want a UCS DeLorean!
Do you have a presence on Instagram, YouTube or elsewhere?
Yes, as I said I sell my instructions on Rebrickable and I show my works on flickr and Instagram. I also partnered with Mocsmaker.com so they sell instructions AND bricks (original LEGO ones) for some of my creations.
Unfortunately I found that Lepin was interested in my works too and started selling some of my MOCs, such as my microscale Hogwarts Castle without telling me anything. I found one of my MOC designs even on Amazon and I couldn’t do anything.
Do you have any interests or hobbies other than LEGO?
Yes I like videogames, and of course I’m also a binge watcher, but with my 4 year old daughter there’s always less time for hobbies, but for a good reason!
How long have you been visiting Brickset? Been a member?
I’m a member since Feb 2017, I registered shortly after coming back into LEGO as my major hobby.
What's your favourite/most used feature of the site?
I like to keep my collection up to date; reading reviews and news and it’s very useful to share my wanted list for my birthday or Christmas with friends and family…
Are you a member of a LUG? Which ones?
Yes, I’m a member of the Italian LUG MarcheBrick
Have you been to a LEGO event? Which one(s)? Do you have a favourite?
In the last couple of years I wanted to go to Skaerbaek, unfortunately I couldn’t yet. Hope this year!
Thanks Matteo!
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18 comments on this article
That's madness, the fact that a company can just waltz in and take someone else's intellectual property w/o consequence. Anyway, on a more positive note, all the MOCs featured here look very nice, and for such a small scale, the Hogwarts one is really incredible :) Enjoyed reading
I love your microscale movie/videogame skylines!
Yeah, that Lepin stuff is just insanity. I'm not downplaying the horribleness of the "theft of intellectual property" aspect, but it's just so bizarre.
At any rate, for whatever it's worth, I absolutely adore that Mario skyline level you built, there. That is awesome.
I am glad found you, and I like your Skylines! Yes the world is full of thieves.
Monthly on LinkedIn a lot of people working for chinese toy companies want to "be friends with me" .
And last week I found a scam website selling a 5.000 parts castle I have on my website-portfolio with 17$. They stole all my pictures and they even have reviews from "customers". It would be funny if not so sad...
Congratulations again !
A UCS delorian. Me likes!!!
Great! I bought your instructions for Hogwarts Castle on Rebrickable and it turned out to be a really pleasant building experience, as good as official LEGO sets. Very well done!
@Huw this isn’t on this topic, but a couple of hours ago, I read and commented on your Featured set. Now it isn’t there....? Not sure what happened.
Ma si de Citanò? Po esse che te so visto da Megacomics?
Are you going to be opening these back up for new people who are interested?
@ MOMAtteo79, While stopping Lepin is likely impossible for an individual, it should be possible to stop Amazon. I would be surprised if it ignored a ‘cease and desist’ letter from an IP lawyer in the relevant jurisdiction.
Nice interview! I also got back into LEGO with the 21103 Back to the Future Time Machine, but I think we will never see an official UCS DeLorean - this was a product idea that achieved 10k supporters and was rejected by LEGO, some years ago. BTTF and DMC are now forbidden IPs on LEGO Ideas.
I love the micro scale Hogwarts Express - a perfect mini rendition of the train and station.
@DFX:
While it could potentially happen, it won't come out of the Ideas theme. Any project that gets approved is added to the restricted concepts list and any project that's too similar in design, or in licensed IP, is rejected out of hand. But Minecraft, BttF, Ghostbusters, Doctor Who, and Adventure Time are all IPs that were accepted under the Ideas banner for a single set and ended up being licensed for release of more sets outside of Ideas. In fact, all five IPs have no less than two additional sets each (though most of these are from Dimensions).
@orzo said:
"Ma si de Citanò? Po esse che te so visto da Megacomics?"
XD
So annoying Lepin!!!! Can’t LEGO get rid of those little stealer.
@Zander said:
"@ MOMAtteo79, While stopping Lepin is likely impossible for an individual, it should be possible to stop Amazon. I would be surprised if it ignored a ‘cease and desist’ letter from an IP lawyer in the relevant jurisdiction."
Unfortunately Amazon (de) wants a lot of info and registrations ids that I can’t get... I really wish I could make enough money from the instructions to pay for lawyer :)
@PurpleDave: You are right, LEGO has released other sets outside of Ideas theme, so maybe there is still hope for a DeLorean with RC functions.
@DFX:
Some, but slim. BttF's popularity pretty much dropped off on October 22nd, 2015, the day _after_ they arrived in the future in BttF II. I've seen a few bits of merchandise pop up since then (including a 3-pack of really tiny die-cast DeLoreans that I just found last week), but I barely ever see BttF t-shirt designs posted, and very few people are still trying to make DeLorean MOCs. I would _LOVE_ to see a UCS-scale version (especially if it includes the parts needed to make all four versions), but I'm not holding my breath.