Here is the first interview of the new interview series on Classic-Bricks. Today I have interviewed Isaac Snyder. Well you may know him as soccerkid6, the Mitgardian Powerhouse builder. So go ahead and read the interview:
Brickington: Hello and welcome to the first Classic-Bricks interview.
Isaac: Thanks for the interview.
Brickington: Ok, I see that you are a member of Eurobrick’s and participate in Guilds of Historica (GoH). How does that work? Has it improved your skills? If so, how much has it?
Isaac: Guilds of Historica is a community castle project that was started to get the Historic forum more active on Eurobricks. It ended up getting big enough to have its own sub-forum. Basically you create a character and join a guild, there are four to choose from: Avalonia which has lots of forests and plains, Kaliphlin which has deserts and more of a middle eastern style, Mitgardia which has snowy mountains, and Nocturnus which has swamps and more of a dark atmosphere. There is a leader of each guild who can give titles and positions to the members and often host contests that are guild-specific, there are also challenges that are for all guilds. Every build is scored and adds to your guild’s score.
There are lots of amazing castle builders in GoH that are very willing to give tips on how to improve your MOCs. I joined GoH when it started in 2011, so I was still pretty new to MOCing and the feedback I received helped me tremendously.
Brickington: How is it being a Mitgardian? Do you ever feel like migrating to another guild?
Isaac: Mitgardia is a great guild with quite a few active members. In GoH it’s perfectly acceptable to build MOCs located in guilds that you aren’t a member of, you just have to include a little backstory of why your character is there, so no, I’ve never regretted joining Mitgardia. Especially with all the amazing builders there like: Sirens-of-Titan, Ecclesiastes, Cara, Torgar, and kabel.
Brickington: I also notice that you are a member of classic-castle, do you participate in the Lands of Classic Castle (LCC)?
Isaac: Classic-castle was the first LEGO forum I joined and what really got me into MOCing, and I do participate in LCC.
Brickington: What do you like better LCC or GoH?
Isaac: They both have the advantages, it somewhat depends on your taste. GoH is more fantasy based, and I think it pushes more for better building and photography than LCC. LCC is less fantasy based and it has guilds (not like the GoH guilds) where you can be a hero, mason (builder), trader, or magician, it also only has four teams, but one of which is the Outlaws who obviously are not as united as the others.
Brickington: Are you a member of any other LEGO sites?
Isaac: Yes, I’m a member of Toysnbricks which has a great coverage of LEGO sales in the USA.
Brickington: Do you go by soccerkid6 on every website? Also, why that name?
Isaac: Yes I do. It was the first name I used for anything web related and I was quite into soccer then, the six just sounded good with soccer. It’s been awhile and I’ve thought of changing my username, but I’ve gotten pretty used to it. As a sidenote as I’ve been asked several times what teams I like, I don’t follow soccer, I just play it.
Brickington: Tell me about your website.
Isaac: brickbuilt.tk is my website which I made mainly for hosting images. This way I don’t have to pay for pro on Flickr and it allows an easy way for people to find my builds. I’m still in the process of updating brickbuilt as my old website was legocreator57.tk and I have to put all the old builds up on brickbuilt. I also have a featured section where I feature builds by other people in the LEGO community and a section for set reviews, though I haven’t done any of those yet.
Brickington: Now on to your MOC making. What themes are your favorite to MOC? What is your favorite moc you have built to date?
Isaac: Castle, as could be easily guessed by a look through my builds. Castle is what got me into MOCing so I’m quite fond of it. I also really enjoy a good sci-fi build and have tried a few though I’d like to do a lot more. GoH and LCC always have great contests going though, so my ideas for building things outside of castle usually get pushed to the bottom of the list. My favorite MOC so far is The Fortress of Cameria, it probably won’t be for long though as I try to improve with every build.
Brickington: Which themes do you MOC the best?
Isaac: I’ve had way more experience in Castle than any other theme so I’d say that’s what I’m best at now. I want to do some more sci-fi, town, and try some pirate themed builds as well.
Brickington: Where do you get inspiration for your mocs?
Isaac: Either through other builds I see on flickr, classic-castle, or Eurobricks, or the many contests that always seem to be going.
Brickington: Who do you like to consider your mentor in moc making?
Isaac: There’s several people: first Sirens-of-Titan who was the leader of Mitgardia till just recently, ZCerberus has also been very helpful, and AK_Brickster on classic-castle. There’s tons of others that have given me inspiration.
Brickington: How old are you? Do you consider yourself good for your age?
Isaac: 16. Obviously I’m somewhat biased as to how good I am but I think I’m probably in about the 70th percentile so to speak, mainly because most people my age haven’t really gotten into MOCing and the online community. I think a bigger factor than age is how long you’ve been in the LEGO community and actively MOCing.
Brickington: What other interest do have?
Isaac: Soccer obviously, reading good books, playing cards, and medieval times.
Brickington: Do those interests effect what you buy and build in LEGO?
Isaac: Somewhat, I like to read stories set in medieval times and that sometimes gives me ideas for MOCs.
Brickington: Well thanks for doing this. Is there anything else you would like to add?
Isaac: If you want to become a better MOCer get in the online community and listen to builders that know what they’re doing. Don’t feel like you always have to change something if someone says to, but think about the suggestion.
BBricks 