45735 replies to this topic

[CW5X]

Here's me. Still alive again. Itching to get back to work on Silver Star which I'll be able to do on the 22nd of May after my final folio hand in and exams. Looking forward to that time and getting back into it but will be on here pretty sparsely again until then. I guess it's always fairly quiet around exam time but there seems to be quite a few projects going right now which is nice.

[SCM]

Guys, Quick Picks have been around since 2015. O_O It feels like it was just last month the section was added but it's been over a year! That's crazy. 

[BGTKing]

Unfortunately nobody really utilizes them . I was hoping more people would post construction photos to drive traffic to their threads.

[Spaghetti]

I feel kind of bad because this site really only has around 20 recurring members at this point in time, which is rather sad to me. I feel really bad for not posting any new projects. I'll get to that soon.

[SCM]

Wait... there's around 20? I thought there was only around 5 or 6, 7 tops. Anyway, in case anyone is wondering, my avatar is a picture of Skrillex cooking. Go ahead and look up "cooking with Skrillex" on google images. There are tons of images about it. The thought of Skrillex - especially Skrillex - on stage with dubstep roaring while making a delicious pizza the classical hand-tossed way and with fresh ingredients is just so hilarious to me... Usually when I laugh it's a little smirk and no actual laugh but with these I'm just like BWAHAHA!".... Anyway, I found out today that Skrillex was handcuffed for playing his music too loudly. *insert the 'are you ****ing kidding me' rage face* 

Edit: This has got to be the most innocent thing I've seen a musician get arrested/almost arrested for. "Skrillex almost got arrested." "Drugs?" "No." "Violence?" "No." "Threats?" "No. He cranked it to 11." "Wow, I never would've guessed that." 

http://ll-media.tmz....x-twitter-3.jpg

(Skrillex - the guy who got me into dubstep and other EDM genres. The guy with a badass, catchy name and the III icon - which I still enjoy. The guy with the awesome hair. The guy that nobody listens to anymore... yeah. I guess I kinda feel bad for him. I mean, if I ever went on stage with the wubs I make [keep dreaming, SCM] for a few years and life was looking good and stuff just to one day lose almost all of my fans would be.... pretty devastating, it would feel like a huge betrayal... from my perspective.) 

Edited by SCM, 01 May 2017 - 05:14 PM.

[Connector1o1]

I feel kind of bad because this site really only has around 20 recurring members at this point in time, which is rather sad to me. I feel really bad for not posting any new projects. I'll get to that soon.

This brings me to one of my fears... I've seen this site decline a lot recently and I am quite scared for its future. K'nex aren't really relevant anymore, and it makes me extremely sad. I never really got to complete a coaster I was extremely proud of on here, and now most of my friends aren't even active so it's even harder to get myself to build something.
I still build now and again though, it's been tough though with both my mom and my dad being diagnosed with cancer. So yeah life's been busy.

I have been working on my launch coaster here and there though, but sadly this will be my final project. I don't have much time to work on K'nex especially with college creeping up on me. But we shall see

[SCM]

*Responding to Connector's post*

This brings me to one of my fears... I've seen this site decline a lot recently and I am quite scared for its future. K'nex aren't really relevant anymore, and it makes me extremely sad. 

 

I share the same fear. SSC has been a big part of my life since 2012, and to see it go down like this... it's like a big part of me has died. I miss it when a lot of people were on here, where it felt like a community. Now, it's a ghost town. It's so lonely here. I remember talking to other members in the chat, the chat where you could change your post colors and edit your posts and use the /me trick... where you could go onto SSC and there would almost always be someone in the chat to talk to. I remember staying up from 9:00 PM until 2 or even 3 AM in the Chatbox, just jabbering away with some member(s). Not just the chat, there was a lot more comments on construction threads and other parts of the forum. There's not much incentive to post here anymore; with everyone we are familiar with gone, there's not much motivation... (no offense to the new members on here, you guys are doing great). I wasn't in a good place in those years, but if I had to choose between being okay but SSC being a ghost town and being not okay and SSC being active... honestly, going through the hell I was in would be worth it to see this place back in shape. 

 

I never really got to make a complete coaster I was extremely proud of on here, and now most of my friends aren't even active so it's even harder to get myself to build something. I still build now and again, though, it's been tough with both my mom and my dad being diagnosed with cancer. So yeah life's been busy. 

 

I hate to see your life going in this direction, Connector, especially since you're a really nice member who flat out doesn't deserve to have gone through stuff you've been through, including this.  

 

I have been working on my launch coaster here and there though, but sadly this will be my final project. I don't have much time to work on K'nex especially with college creeping up on me. But we shall see. 

 

If I'm thinking correctly, is it the one with the figure 8 loop thing from RCT3? 

[CW5X]

I guess a lot of people on here have got older and busier. I know I haven't been as active but that's because I barely had any time to do anything worthwhile. It usually picks up a bit in the summer though so hopefully that should happen again but whether contests will happen again is questionable which is a bit of a shame.
I like what's happening with the Facebook page though and the regular posts there. They remind me that the site has plenty of things to look at and get excited about which I still do so that's a plus. I'll be back fully for a few weeks at least around late May. Maybe longer depending on placements.

[Rollerfreak987]

I guess a lot of people on here have got older and busier. I know I haven't been as active but that's because I barely had any time to do anything worthwhile. It usually picks up a bit in the summer though so hopefully that should happen again but whether contests will happen again is questionable which is a bit of a shame.
I like what's happening with the Facebook page though and the regular posts there. They remind me that the site has plenty of things to look at and get excited about which I still do so that's a plus. I'll be back fully for a few weeks at least around late May. Maybe longer depending on placements.

+1 for me. I should have some content after I get back from CP in 3 weeks. Maybe I will do a trip report. Should be back to K'nex in August I'm hoping.

[Old_Hag]

Yeah life kind of just happens to everyone, and no one has come to replace the people that it's happened to. In my case, I got an internship away from home so I'll be living on my own in an apartment, so I won't be able to finish the coaster that's been in my basement for a year already now. Anyway, The fact that SS sets are pretty much unknown and the newer set (the son of serpent I think) is prohibitively expensive really has limited the influx of new members. I think we'd need a knex coaster video to go viral on Youtube to get a high volume of kids interested in this hobby. I think it was BranRDs best of the best videos that first made me aware of this site, but I can't remember for sure.

Edited by Old_Hag, 04 May 2017 - 12:10 AM.

[SCM]

Yeah, I see what you're saying. What you're all saying, and one day I'm sure it will happen to me, too. Those BranRD videos were the first knex videos I've ever watched. Before seeing them, I always thought that X-ties were for building benches for invisible midgets to sit on. *chuckles* I was honestly surprised to find out what they were actually used for. 

Edit: v (below) 

 

 

If K'NEX expects to survive, they better start making some better products.

 

Yea varily. More affordable prices wouldn't hurt... Son of Serpent = $1,000; 6-Foot Ferris Wheel = $500, Web Weaver = $69 .. Although I must say that Web Weaver looks totally sick. The graphics and stuff, and it is to my understanding that the coaster car pushes itself. Still, K'NEX really needs to not take shortcuts and to not use the least amount of pieces possible. *looking at Electric Inferno* Okay, I'm sorry - well, not that sorry tbh - but that's just sad. It looks so flimsy. BRB.

 

Edited by SCM, 04 May 2017 - 05:14 PM.

[BGTKing]

If K'NEX expects to survive, they better start making some better products.

[sean9782]

If K'NEX expects to survive, they better start making some better products.

Are they not doing well right now? Or do you just mean in the area of amusement rides?

[BGTKing]

Doesn't seem like stores carry much inventory. Usually a whole aisle of LEGOs. A couple boxes of KNEX.

[Rollerfreak987]

Doesn't seem like stores carry much inventory. Usually a whole aisle of LEGOs. A couple boxes of KNEX.

I've always noticed that. You'll see a whole aisle dedicated to LEGO but maybe a few K'nex sets in an undesirable location of the store. A lot of the times I see the micro sets on the clearance rack.

I think it just has to do with brand recognition. Everyone knows Lego, but K'nex? Very few.

[SCM]

You guys are using the 'L' word. I am quite shocked and disgusted, dear sirs... really, though, Trevvy ^ said it perfectly. Any store I'll go to, if they do have K'nex, it's right by the toilet plungers. 

Edit: @Spaghetti and sean9782; I miss it when they sold the more badass micro sets like Serpents Spiral and Vertical Vengeance. Those two were my favorite. SSpiral offered a lot of red rods, too, and I love red rods. 

Edit 2: @IOA; I wonder if choking hazards has something to do with it to? I'm no expert on the matter (because the job of choking little kids with knex pieces would be really f***ed up) but I'm sure that micro pieces are less likely to cause any lawsuit. Of course, I'd hope that parents would wait until their children aren't trying to eat everything... maybe the kids like less complicated instructions, too. IDK about anyone else on here, but I like a little challenge with instructions. Makes me think ahead and stuff. 

Edited by SCM, 05 May 2017 - 02:24 PM.

[Spaghetti]

I think we'd need a knex coaster video to go viral on Youtube to get a high volume of kids interested in this hobby.

Where's steel when you need him?

 

All K'nex needs to do to return is re-release the normal SS. Sell it for a reasonable price too, like around $100. That and one of Ryan's videos would really add to the community.

 

EDIT: also pls stop making micro sets i haven't brought any micro knex since 2015

Edited by Spaghetti, 05 May 2017 - 10:36 AM.

[sean9782]

Where's steel when you need him?

 

All K'nex needs to do to return is re-release the normal SS. Sell it for a reasonable price too, like around $100. That and one of Ryan's videos would really add to the community.

 

EDIT: also pls stop making micro sets i haven't brought any micro knex since 2015

The new sets they keep releasing look pathetic.

[IOAgeek]

It costs less and is easier to make the micro sets compared to the standard size sets, especially making those SS trains had to be a pain to construct. Little kids probably want smaller pieces to make it easier for them to build the knex coaster consider, how short they are as well. I am sure their parents help them out building it though.

Edited by IOAgeek, 05 May 2017 - 01:39 PM.

[KirbyCoast]

Anyway, The fact that SS sets are pretty much unknown and the newer set (the son of serpent I think) is prohibitively expensive really has limited the influx of new members. I think we'd need a knex coaster video to go viral on Youtube to get a high volume of kids interested in this hobby.

Clockwork just recently passed over one million. Now that I think about it that was actually what got me into custom K'nex coasters, and eventually this site. It seems like most people who see the videos just want to buy the k'nex pre built and are too lazy to actually build anything themselves, and even if they say they want to start most people just forget about it. I think this type of thing is more strictly for coaster enthusiasts because most people won't care about realism and attention to detail, and they are be fine with the more unrealistic new sets.