The Brothers Brick

40 years ago today, the first five-year mission of the starship Enterprise began. Five television series, ten movies, and many books and video games later, Star Trek is still boldly going. Brendon Griffith celebrates with a microscale model of the N.C.C. 1701 U.S.S. Enterprise.

An unknown builder celebrates the wise words of Spock with this sculpture.

If you think about it, every LEGO model builder is an architect in their own way. Minifig-scale house builders are no exception. Check out these various houses built by LEGO Frank Lloyd Wrights. Special thanks to Bill Ward for taking pictures.

Calum Tsang’s Sweep Building, built for a train layout, is subtley curved to fit around a track. I really like how the rectangular tan section compliments and contrasts the the organically curving gray section. And is that Joe Vig I spot in there?

J. Michael Collace* puts ornate Bellevile arches to good use with his French Quarter Bourbon**. This creation shows how much life some minifigs can bring to a creation.

*The image cuts off after the “e” on Collace, so there might be more to his name.
**The image cuts off after “Qu,” but I’m pretty certain it’s meant to be “Quarter.”

I’ve already featured Taylor Plazak’s New Dreams on Unique Brique Techniques because of the curved roof, but I can’t resist featuring it here, too. I just really like how this building looks. The colors really compliment each other, and the near studlessness gives this creation a futuristic look. I wish I could live in a house like that.

Back in May I blogged Japanese builder Hiron’s MS-09F Domtropen from Gundam. Over the last several weeks he’s posted three more awesome mecha:

RMS-108 Marasai (info):

ATH-Q58 “Blue Knight” Berserga DT (info):

Heavy Metal L-Gaim (info):

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ComputerandVideoGames.com is reporting that the development studio responsible for the two LEGO Star Wars video games is now working on a LEGO Batman game:

The next licensed LEGO game from veteran UK developer, Traveller’s Tales will be based on the massive DC Comics superhero, Batman, CVG can exclusively reveal today…. When we contacted Traveller’s Tales the studio as expected declined to comment on LEGO Batman, although further delving led us to development director, Jonathan Smith who when asked about the game told us that considering the studio’s long running partnership with LEGO, “we will definitely will be making more LEGO games in the future.”

Sweet.

Via Destructoid (now with bonus pug in Batman costume!), which also has a nice video review of the new LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy.

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This past weekend brought sad news about the death of Steve “Crocodile Hunter” Irwin. As Bruce blogged over on VignetteBricks, the LEGO world has responded with several fantastic tributes for this great conservationist, family man, and entertainer.

Melody Brown:

rogueyoda:

k-hatch:

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Roger Stroud’s mecha diorama reminded me of another great mech-themed diorama I saw a while ago, and then again in some recent BrickFest photos. It’s about six months old (before I started blogging mecha), but I found it thanks to Bill Ward’s careful titling of his BrickFest pictures.

Without further ado, here’s Adrian Drake’s “Forest Sentinel”:

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I like vignettes because they’re like miniature dioramas. Regular-sized dioramas are equally awesome, especially when they involve a mecha. I’m just noticing W. Roger Stroud’s work for the first time, mainly due to a very cool diorama he recently posted to Brickshelf:

Roger’s diorama also includes several excellent support and diagnostic vehicles, so check out the gallery on Brickshelf or his page on MOCpages.

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Three LEGO themes might be considered mecha themes — Roboforce (sort of), Life on Mars (a couple sets), and Exo-Force (definitely). For those of you unfamiliar with building mecha with LEGO, each mecha uses an underlying structure called a “frame,” created by the builder or by someone else. (Several recent builders have been inspired by Soren’s Gundam frame, and many micro-mecha have been inspired by Squieu.)

Brickshelfer nnenn uses a frame from either Life on Mars or Exo-Force to create two really cool mecha:

Blaigon:

Snira:

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I was amused by Danny Rice’s recent undead chocobo, and I’m no less entertained by Legokinsfolk’s skeleton centaur:

(Legokinsfolk has posted various versions of this centaur, including a king, wizard, and soldier, so be sure to click the image to view the full gallery on Brickshelf.)

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Here ye, here ye! A group of brickfilmers, including Lewis Chen, award-winning director of the film Repent, Zach Macias, 3rd place winner in the Fame, Infamy and Glory contest, and myself, 2nd place winner in the Fame, Infamy and Glory contest, have gotten together and begun a community project code-named Project Divinity. We are seeking better-than-average stop-motion animators, digial model builders (good with Ldraw), and voice talents. For more information, please go here, or check out the Project Divinity website. Those especially interested in voice acting should check out this thread.

Here is a synopsis:

Joel is a shy young man. When his student film becomes a success, he defies his parents’ wish for him to become a lawyer and pursues his dreams in film making. With the inspiration of a mysterious woman, he rises to fame in the film industry. But then, at the peak of his career, Joel’s life goes awry when he suddenly loses inspiration. With his job on the line, Joel must go on a world-wide journey of a lifetime to regain that to him was so precious.

This is your chance to be a part of a monumental project, so don’t hesitate if interested!

Lore Sjöberg of Wired News has written a hilarious article proposing what the “ultimate blog post” would be for various popular blogs. Suggestions include “AMD, SCO patent MP3 over TCP/IP, sue ATI, EA. Microsoft probably responsible somehow” for Slashdot and “A kitten licks a puppy while the puppy licks a bunny” for Cute Overload.

So, dear readers, what’s the ultimate blog post for The Brothers Brick? Extra credit to anyone who creates or links to an actual LEGO creation that reflects your idea of the ultimate TBB blog post.

Okay, go!

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Bentcreations has posted a sweet Viking Hut on Brickshelf. It uses the viking warrior and wolf from set #7015. The landscaping is especially well done.

The Viking Hut:

Here’s the Viking Hut Gallery

Derek Schin created a fantastic trophy for the recently held Brickfest. Lucky winner!

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Lego Cad-wizard Timothy Gould has actually touched his bricks this time. A good thing too, since it resulted in this nifty little corporate chopper:

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Soren puts a Belville fig to good use as a nurse holding a giant syringe:

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