1589 Mommy Dearest.

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I’m pretty sure there are earlier times when Nina’s accident comes up, but this is the one I always remember. It’s actually some of my favorite times in the archive. Well worth reading again if you need a refresher. I foolishly started reading past the point I remembered and sat here for an hour remembering why I’m in love with these characters. Also looking at some of the comments and thinking about how some types of commenters seem to have the same voice. I wonder if they are the same people or just have similar mindsets.

The other day I got a list of all the parts you need to make the haunted house Lego set I want. Then I looked in my containers to see what I already had. They aren’t completely sorted, so I can’t be sure exactly, but I have a lot of the grist bits that make up the base of the structure. Also almost all of the fiddly tiny bits, like single studs, that you always get extra of in other sets. They aren’t in the right colors, but they are in colors that work as far as making a dilapidated house is concerned. Unfortunately I don’t have enough parts to complete the thing, and some of the parts seem to be discontinued, but I think I can get around that in various ways. Some of the parts aren’t listed on the lego site, but I know they still make them. The Scooby Doo mystery castle set has several of the parts in different colors, I just don’t know the numbers. Once I find out what they are I can look them up properly. Either my list has typos, or lego changed part numbering at some point. Some colors aren’t available anymore, but here are similar colors you can buy in bulk. The pricing is pretty reasonable. I did a rough estimate and you could buy all new parts for a little more than what the set originally sold for, minus the figures. It would be at least $300 dollars cheaper than buying the actual set. Plus, I already have a lot of the parts, as I said, so even less really. I took what I had handy just to see how far I could get with what I already own. I was able to make part of the bottom floor. Honestly it looks like an abandoned structure. I had to make substitutions even with the parts I have to get as far as I did, so it looks… bad. Some of my bricks are so old the colors don’t match, or they are badly discolored. Which actually kind of works.
Seeing the floor space in reality makes it seem much smaller than how it looked in my head. I’ve noticed that things often seem bigger in my memories, even stuff I own that are new. I got out my one ghost minifigure, which I haven’t looked at in a few months, and was surprised by how small it seemed. I have lego figures around pretty much constantly, but for some reason I remembered it as larger. Isn’t that weird? Anyway the finished house is, like, 2 and a half or 3 stories tall. The biggest problem I can see right now is roof tiles. The main roof parts are discontinued as far as I can tell. It seems insane, but I couldn’t get Lego’s site to even show me modern alternatives to the parts. Maybe it was just a glitch. If not then I don’t have nearly enough tiles to make the roof work. I have 5 or 6 of the actual main part, but that’s it, and a few in off colors. I think it takes 56 of them though, so that would be a real problem if I can’t find a way to get them. I did all of this in the span of about 2 hours, so my research is preliminary at best. It’s possible that the part in question is actually easy to get and I just couldn’t get the listing to work.
I’m working out a whole little yard and fence addition to the house, in my mind, as well. I’ve got a large baseplate that I can sit it on and it would look really cool if I fenced it all off and put some old looking tree parts around. Like a full abandoned house. It would be really cool to finish it before haloween, but I don’t think I’ll be able to. Even with the parts I have it will take some time to get all the other ones. Maybe by next year I’ll have it all gathered up and can show it off. I’d like to further modify the design so it looks less empty than the original set. Anyway, I’ll keep you posted because I know you’re all super interested in my insane Lego project.
You know… I think that roof part appears in one of the Jurassic world sets in a medium gray… I must have the wrong part number for them. They must still be using them. I feel like the Disney castle would use that part too. I must just not have the right information…

39 Comments

Your art has improved since that storyline, by the way. I mean, it wasn’t bad then, but you seem much more fluid and comfortable now.

I agree this comics art has evolved nicely. Though I do have a bit of a soft spot for some of the earlier stylings. I always thought it was cute the way the female characters took on a bit of a mousy look whenever they faced directly towards the panel back when I suppose Jackie couldn’t draw noses straight on too well.

I am not sure whether you are familiar with it, but there is a whole ebayesque page for second-hand lego selling and buying, called Bricklink.com
You can buy whole sets or just parts as well. When you are looking for individual pieces it is generally cheaper than the lego store (buy quite a lot) and you can buy discontinued parts as well. It might worth a try =)

I looked there when they issued the fail holiday sleigh design and looked for actual reindeer models to make my own. Putting together a set of eight is not cheap.

I dont’ think she’s dumb as rocks.. Kind of gonna bel ooking down on her for saying that now.. more so from just a brief conversation.
How someone acts, giddy, or non chalent isn’t a good measure of intelligence..

Plus Librarianship is a service job, gotta be pepper

I agree with you! i don’t find her dumb as a rock but rather cute and endearing. i don’t know it could be just me but this really doesn’t seem like something nina would say.

While there are multiple types of intelligence (see Theory of multiple intelligences), she seems to score a bit low in three of the ones our society usually deems most important; Verbal–linguistic, Logical–mathematical, and Interpersonal (though she might score a bit higher in the third one).

I know that Mrs. Melville must be related to Alexandria–unless they’re different Melvilles–so hearing about this new relative will be quite the enticing tale!

I wonder if they’re related to a fellow named Herman? Perhaps he’s their mousy ‘ol city cousin’.

[Just to lighten the mood a bit with a double reference.]

Jackie, the haunted House is recent enough that there is a list of the parts with numbers in the back of the instruction manual, which is (should be anyways) available from the Lego website in PDF form for download.
Yep, Brickset has the links to it, the manual is split into 3 parts, if you are not going to print it is doesn’t matter which version (paper size) you DL, and you’d just need the last part that has the list.
http://brickset.com/sets/10228-1/Haunted-House and hit the instructions tab below the picture.
Also besides Bricklink there is BrickOwl which is a newer competitor to Bricklink. Also some parts may be available from https://wwwsecure.us.lego.com/en-gb/service/replacementparts and check the buy pieces link. You may wish to check the prices between the 3 places for the best deal.
You can also type the either the part or element number into Brickset and see what other colors it’s been available in and which set (and get the LEGO element ID for the specific part color combination).

Background… foreshadowing. That’s some awesome writing, right there, kids — take notes, class. This is where the picture gets kind of wobbly and the color fades out, and the flashbacks start. At least, that’s what acid always does to me. My guess is, Kia was responsible for/injured in/killed by the accident that changed Nina’s life.

@Jackie– In re the Lego thing: you sir, are obsessive. Not in a bad way (I’m OCD and ADHD — and that combination sucks), but in the sort of way that keeps you improving your art and refining your writing in the comic. Your Lego obsession is a symptom that indicates you’re not satisfied with something, maybe the strip isn’t going the way you want it to; but I’m more inclined to believe it’s a reaction to your health issues and frustration with the restraints they place on you. Your mind has set a stretch goal in one of your hobbies, but it’s one that you can achieve with a little work. Challenging yourself like this is the sign of a healthy mind. The best part is, when you do complete the Haunted House, your brain will lay off for a while and revel in its own success. Cool for days.

Case in point: I’ve mentioned before that I collect music — instrumentals and oldies. There’s an album — a collection — I’ve been looking for, for a year or so. It was the 31st and final disk in the series, went into a very short pressing cycle, and has been out of print for twenty years. I can’t find any for sale, but poking around on the Interwebz, I can find previous sales for prices from $250 (used) to $360 (new) U$D. That’s nuts, I’m not paying that much for a bunch of ’60s tunes. Hell, I could probably put the thing together out of other collections I’ve got lying around… hmmm. And that’s just what I did — I wound up buying yet another collection on Amazon.com for the single track I didn’t already own — there was only one track I already had. I changed the MP3 album cover to a picture of the album I found online. It’s as if I ripped the album from the original disc — I certainly won’t be able to hear any difference.

And now my brain is happy for a while.

Hey, it’s the random commenter that liked John and disliked Carol the other day- not sure if you remember though.

So as I’ve been following, I’ve been thinking on why I chose those two for what they are, and I think that I like John simply because he is so chill. He does his work well, maintain what feels like a happy divide and balance between work and life, and is capable of clearly drawing lines when they call for it instead of getting dragged into every drama or conflict that exists out there. Also, he’s one of the few characters that I feel treats everyone with respect, something that I feel is surprisingly absent with a considerable amount of the cast.

I think the last part is also why I disilke Carol. Carol feels overbearing, and has both authority and the will to abuse it. While she does genuinely care and is nice to her friends, she doesn’t feel like she’s very pleasant to those that aren’t. Her early interactions with Reggie and Wes are what really struck out to me, and while Reggie is a jerk so that didn’t bother me too much, her scenes with Wes did.

That’s interesting, because I think Wes is the bigger jerk. We’ve seen Reggie’s positive traits, but the first thing I think of about Wes is the way he talks about women.

I’m always anxious for another page of this Comic. Sometimes, when I just feel like I’d like a refresher, I’ll go back to the beginning, and it’s just so wonderful the way that your prose flows within the plotlines that you’ve spent YEARS weaving. You’re amazing, and I just wanted you to know it!

Well, there’s always the possibility that the library is getting money for having hired this stupid girl, as this girl seems like she could easily have a disability.

I was thinking more along the line of a cheerleaders routine that was overenthusiastic that went very very bad.

The enthusiasm went to 11?

Now we need a picture of Nina in complete cheerleader outfit being sanguinarially enthusiastic…
Crave?

@Crave:
Did You see the Lego Hyrule castle from twilight princess, yet?

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