I too have been away from the forum for many months and I'm trying to catch up with a few things. One of the most important to me was Sir Pleamo's excellent 3D work, that I have just recently had the time to try. I've just read all of this thread and although it's been quiet for a long time I think it's well worth reminding other members about.
First of all a huge big thank you and well done to Sir P. for his excellent and time consuming work on his project that we can all benefit from. I'm hoping to do more design work now I've got the hang of it with sketch up. Mainly as I don't own many of the parts myself it makes it so much easier than trying to guess what it would look like.
So how can we help? There doesn't seam to be much progress with the collectors club. Is there anyone who still talks to Geobra? Could we send a petion / letter of support highlighting the possible benefits of including more sys x parts in new sets.
I would have thought it would be easier to create basic parts that can be used over and over again than to designing from scratch a new "clip" building for every new theme. For instance the pirate island lighthouse, if it was made from a part like Sir P's curved wall then the same part could be used for the fairy tale castle, knights castle and as Sir P says modern structures.
(I'm sorry I can't remember who brought these points up)
It was mentioned that sys x could be called a building toy like lego but Geobra doesn't want to go that way. Yet Geobra must recognise that collectors do want to extend their buildings as they do extention sets for the fire station, police headquarters, palace new hotel etc. So there must be a market for it otherwise 1) they wouldn't release the add ons and 2) the big buildings would be made from more "clip" parts.
How can we help support this idea to convince Geobra that is better to go with sys x than clip? Could we ask for more extensions in the new DS range when they consult us? Could we suggest a general add on pack with just one type of part in it that can be used for all these buildings. eg a floor pack or a wall pack, smaller sets with just new windows in?
Again we need to convince Geobra that their spares department could be as big as the preboxed toys if they would let it.
I'm sure most parents when considering buying toys go for things that will last - that means a good range of toys and extras in a theme, so their children wont get bored. Kids like to collect things so give them more expansions to their buildings and they'll buy more furniture sets, more klickies to go in them etc.
I've just had an idea while writing this! Would it help if we all sent them a design based on one of our favourite sets but slightly customised nothing too fancy but to show how we would like to extend or combine their buildings. something simple the average family could build themselves if they had the parts. (wasn't that mentioned as part of the collectors club a sharing of designs?)
Everyone has mentioned a problem with the holes. I often cover mine with rugs. The trouble is if you fill it in with another flat top clip how do you get it out if you change your mind. It's got to have a small hole in it so you can prise it out. The 5302 mansion has blank plates that fit into the standard wall column - the connector that's 2 x 3 holes along the flat side. These or a shorter version could be used on some of the wall joints. There's also several flat end plates used in the shop sets that clip onto the end of walls to cover up the holes. They don't bother me too much as I like the flexibility of the system.
Well that's all I've got to say for now, I'm off to beg for some more parts.
