The Brothers Brick

My first model in about a year is one for the Steamwars contest. It’s a steampunkified pod racer. Yay!

The Darling Apollo, here in the Machina Nosejob edition, is a craft without equal. Made of the finest wood and iron, it’s not only a beauty a look at – it also pack a mighty punch. The immense engines gives it a power of nearly five horses combined, but due to it’s hovering nature it handles terrain much better than the land-based creatures. At such dizzying speed the vehicle’s controller must be sharp-witted, precise and elegant – all prerequisites fulfilled by gracious driver Trenton Telgaard.

You can see more of it on flickr. Prepare to race!

Name: Harvey Milk
Dates: 1930-1978
Biography:
Harvey Milk was a city supervisor for San Francisco, California, and one of the first openly gay politicians in the United States.

After moving to San Francisco in 1972 with his partner, Milk opened a camera store in The Castro district. After running unsuccessfully several times, Milk was elected to the Board of Supervisors in 1977. He was instrumental in defeating a proposition that would have banned gays and lesbians from teaching in California schools.

In 1978, Harvey Milk and San Francisco mayor George Moscone were assassinated by a disgruntled former supervisor named Dan White. Despite the fact that White had carried extra ammunition and crawled through a window to evade security, he was convicted of voluntary manslaughter instead of premeditated (first-degree) murder. White was sentenced to less than eight years in prison.

Learn more: Wikipedia

The 1986 novel Hardwired recounts the adventures of Cowboy, a smuggler who rides around a post-apocalyptic landscape in a high-tech hovertank.

I like pretty much everything Kaitimar builds, so it was great to find him on Flickr recently, where he posted this great tank inspired by the novel.

(Via YSAB.)

Nnenn’s recent spacecraft have had a decidedly “buggy” look (though others have compared these to Invid or the mobile armor mode of RX-110 Gabthley from Gundam).

Name: Dred Scott
Dates: 1795-1858
Biography:
Dred Scott was an African-American slave who sued for his freedom in the antebellum (pre-Civil War) period of United States history. Born as the property of U.S. Representative Henry Taylor Blow’s parents, when the family had financial problems, Scott was sold to Dr. John Emerson. Emerson traveled frequently, including to states where slavery was illegal.

When Emerson died in 1843, Scott became the property of his widow Irene, whose brother John Sandford became the executor of her late husband’s estate. Attempting to follow the principle “once free, always free” (since he had traveled to states such as Wisconsin and Missouri), Scott sued for his freedom in 1846, financed by his former owners, the Blow family.

After 11 years of lawsuits, the United States Supreme Court handed down a decision, ruling that no person of African descent (regardless of their status as slaves or free people) could be a U.S. citizen, and could therefore never have the right to sue for their own freedom.

In the meantime, Irene Sandford Emerson had married a noted abolitionist, who was unaware that his wife owned one of the most famous slaves of the era. Irene’s new husband returned Scott to the Blow family, who were now living in Missouri and could therefore emancipate him. In 1858, Dred Scott died of tuberculosis, only nine months after earning his freedom.

Learn more: Wikipedia

I often think (and I’ve mentioned it often enough here on TBB as well) that the simplest ideas seem to yield the most beautiful results. Sure, complexity has its place, but paying homage to a lowly but beloved 1×2 printed tile is sheer genius.

But then again, we already knew that about Jon Palmer.

The Very Reverend Brendan Powell Smith keeps the faithful masses opiated with more installments of The Brick Testament. In this month’s episodes, David kills a few thousand foreigners and steals another man’s wife.

(Reader discretion is advised.)

Preliminary pictures of the new LEGO Agents theme are surfacing. Click on the picture to see all the sets in this theme.

FINAL UPDATE: LEGO Agents sets are now available from the LEGO Shop online.

EDIT: Image removed from Eurobricks at the request of The LEGO Company.

UPDATE: The LEGO Agents sets were revealed officially at Toy Fair New York 2008. Ace Kim of FBTB was there to capture lots of great photos (click for photoset):

Name: Albert Schweitzer
Dates: 1875-1965
Biography:
Dr. Albert Schweitzer was an Alsatian theologian, physician, philosopher, and musician. Early in his life, Schweitzer gained a reputation as a noted theologian with the book The Quest of the Historical Jesus. Schweitzer lived a life that expressed his philosophy, which he summarized as “Reverence for Life.” In addition to opposing war and violence in all forms, Schweitzer was a strict vegetarian.

Having already earned a doctorate in philosophy in 1899, Schweitzer decided in 1905 to travel to Africa as a medical missionary. By 1913, he had earned his medical doctorate. In that year, he and his wife Helene founded a hospital in Lambaréné, Gabon, where Schweitzer spent most of the rest of his life. As a renowned organist, Schweitzer earned money from performances (along with the proceeds from his books) to fund the hospital. A strong opponent of colonialism, Schweitzer frequently criticized the “crimes” and “oppression” of Europeans in Africa.

After World War II, he joined Albert Einstein and Bertrand Russell in opposing nuclear weapons and testing. In recognition for his lifelong commitment to his peaceful philosophy, he was awarded the 1952 Nobel Peace Prize.

Learn more: Wikipedia

The brick-built lettering alone makes this very cool house from Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, as built by Ed Diment, worth sharing with the world. Of course, the minifigs and interior are wonderful as well.

This might only be the second post to highlight this builder’s mecha, but Stogelley is quickly becoming one of my favorites. Does Izzo have a secret twin?

(Thanks for the tip, Andrew!)

Alex Eylar created a concept of minifig assassins, each with a distinct psychotic nature and style of operation. Check out his MOCpages gallery for vignette shots and profiles of these plastic killers. Who’d you hire? I prefer the White Rabbit; he’s got style.

Lukas‘ latest is a bright yellow, very swooshable racer with a low profile and awesome stripes.

Building a geodesic dome is a complex engineering challenge. Jon Palmer tackled the challenge a while ago with his “Shpleem Dome”, and has just shared instructions on how to build your own. Head on over to ZEMI and read all about it.

Name: Aung San Suu Kyi
Dates: Born in 1945
Biography:
Aung San Suu Kyi is a pro-democracy activist currently detained as a political prisoner by the government of Myanmar (Burma). Elected Prime Minister in 1990, she has intermittently been under house arrest ever since, despite calls for her release by world leaders, human rights organizations, and even the United Nations.

As a Buddhist, Suu Kyi has advocated a non-violent struggle for democracy in the face of the military dictatorship that has been in power since 1962. Suu Kyi won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1992 and remains under house arrest today.

Learn more: Wikipedia

I sometimes feel like I haven’t been paying attention or something when I discover a builder I haven’t heard of before through one of the many LEGO blogs I read (LegOficina dos Baixinhos, in this case). Today’s discovery was Astuanax, whose Lord of the Rings creations are jaw-droppingly gorgeous.

Check out the city of Minas Tirith (above) and The Beacon (below):

I’m sorry to say that I really only look for LEGO pictures on Brickshelf and Flickr, so it was wonderful to find Horace Cheng on Flickr earlier today. (Remember his awesome Flappters?)

Anyway, Horace doesn’t live in Hong Kong, but he’s captured a couple iconic vehicles I remember from my visit there in 1989 — a natural gas delivery-man (above) and rickshaw (below).

Name: Martin Luther King, Jr.
Dates: 1929-1968
Biography:
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was one of the primary leaders of the civil rights movement in the United States during the 1950s and 1960s. Beginning as a Baptist minister, King led the struggle to end racial injustice, including segregation.

Inspired by his Christian convictions and the non-violent philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi, King organized acts of civil disobedience, including the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955 and the March on Washington in 1963, where King delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. In 1967, King voiced public opposition to the Vietnam war.

On April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee. He left behind his wife Coretta Scott King and four children. Mrs. King carried on her husband’s work until her death in 2006.

Learn more: Wikipedia

(About the minifig itself: morgan19 and at least one other builder who I can’t find at the moment have posted identical MLK figs, but in my defense, I’ve had this minifig lying around unphotographed for at least a year. ;-) )

The wonderful little scene above, featuring William “Bill” Bones, caught my eye recently on The Brick Time blog, so I went a few posts back and discovered a very cool diorama of the Admiral Benbow Inn — the inn where Jim Hawkins lives in Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island.

Click the picture to check out the full gallery on Brickshelf:

Chris Giddens (Flickr) has recreated the Classic Space set 6929 Starfleet Voyager from 1981. Would it be sacrilege to say that Chris’ version is a marked improvement over the original?

Charlie Co. (aka Tim) continues to post great World War II creations, including a trio of adorable pinups sure to give comfort to little plastic Allies.

Inspired by Keith Goldman, Jon Palmer (Flickr) is starting a series of vignettes starring another real-life LEGO fan, Aaron Sneary.

In Jon’s first vig, Aaron chooses the items he will take on his journey.

Name: Stephen Bantu Biko
Dates: 1946-1977
Biography:
Biko was a South African anti-apartheid activist who founded the Black Consciousness Movement. As a young medical student, Biko formed the South African Students’ Organization, a group that fought for the rights of Black, Indian, and mixed-race (“Coloured”) students.

Despite being banned by the white apartheid government, Biko continued his political activities. On August 18, 1977, Biko was arrested. On September 12, he died in police custody.

Learn more: Wikipedia

After 9 months of building, Mark Kelso has finally completed his epic model of the Invisible Hand. It spans an amazing 231 studs long and weighs 30 pounds, I can’t begin to imagine the cost. I have seen the various stages of this model from the many work in progress photos Mark has posted over time. The finished model is beautiful, studless, and full of details. Congratulations on a project well done Mark!

Brickshelf user snyderman built a robotic machine head inspired by Terminator. It features moving eyes and jaw independently controlled by two motors.