Monthly Archives: July 2008

Vipers, ChiefLUG, the LEGO Zombie Apocafest, and Brickcon 2008

Update: Zombie Apocafest 2008 went off smashingly at BrickCon 2008, October 2-5. Don’t miss our full coverage here on The Brothers Brick:

Register for BrickCon 2008The pre-registration price for BrickCon 2008 goes up from $40 to $50 next Tuesday, August 5th. If you’re still thinking about joining Nannan, Josh, Keith, me, and lots of other Brothers Brick readers in Seattle this October, now’s the time to register!

If you’re still on the fence, here are a couple building challenges and contests to whet your appetite.

ChiefLUG Initiation

ChiefLUG will be extending initiation to anybody who builds a LEGO Viper from Battlestar Galactica. Here’s what ChiefLUG founding member Ryan “Chief” Wood has to say:

ChiefLUG is a superrad group of Lego fans dedicated to veggie platters, crazy group builds, being awesome, and pretending to be half as cool as KeithLUG. You might be familiar with our work.

To join ChiefLUG, you just have to build and bring a Viper, like the one above designed by Andrew Lee (more photos). Creative color variations are encouraged.

The Brothers Brick LEGO Zombie Apocafest

Not to be outdone by some upstart KeithLUG wannabe, KeithLUG itself, or a bunch of reasonably well-adjusted Train/Town builders, we at The Brothers Brick are sponsoring the first ever large-scale LEGO Zombie Apocalypse. Think Shaun of the Dead. Imagine Max Brooks’ World War Z in LEGO.

Naturally, we’ve recruited some of our favorite twisted LEGO minds to contribute, including Rocko™ and Justin Pratt:

There will be free swag for participants, of course, including prizes in various categories (such as Best Building, Best Vehicle, or Best Minifig) the quality and quantity of which will be determined at our whim between now and October.

To make the display easy to integrate, we’re asking participants to follow the modular building standards exemplified by Cafe Corner, Green Grocer, and Market Street. Well, basically anything featured on Brick Town Talk — with a zombie twist, of course.

Since I can’t find any documentation on what the “Cafe Corner standard” is, here’s my take:

  • Building stands on one or two Baseplate 16 x 32 with Square Corners.
  • Two connectors on each side of the building: Technic Brick 1 x 2 with Hole placed on studs #10-11 and #22-23 (from the front of the baseplate).
  • Floors can be any height (though 9 bricks high appears to be the standard).
  • Curb at edge of baseplate built from 1 x n light gray tiles, and sidewalk built from dark gray tiles, seven studs from the curb to the building (curb + sidewalk = 8 studs).
  • Building can be any size (though 16 x 16 or 16 x 32 appears to be the standard), built eight studs back from the front of the baseplate with an eight-stud “alley.”

(Please correct my description of the standard as necessary, and I’ll update this. I can post the standard separately too, if there’s interest.)

We’re talking about the apocalypse here, dear readers, so variations are certainly allowed. We’ll also do our best to integrate larger structures (like Justin’s bombed-out office building). We respect zombie diversity, certainly, but I really love the old Harry Potter troll as the basis for my own zombie horde.

And don’t forget survivors. And their multifarious modes of transportation.

So, if you’re coming to BrickCon, we’d love to include your contributions to The Brothers Brick LEGO Zombie Apocafest. Bring whole buildings, or partially destroyed buildings. Bring a truck. Bring just one zombie. Whatever. There’s room for one and all at the Zombie Apocafest!

Big, mean and hunched

Doc Grok and Henchbot by Al Mac

Allister McLaren (CaptainUnderpants) has been slowly building up a series of large and awesome LEGO action figures which somewhat evoke Danger Mouse to me. Henchbot (the big guy) is his latest but do check out Doc Grok (also pictured) and Sgt. Destroy.

LEGO Universe video from Gizmodo & Kotaku continues to tease

LEGO Universe remains fairly mysterious despite this video from Gizmodo and Kotaku (click through to view):

This is the first time we’ve seen any kind of real in-game footage, and the short video (and article) also provides some insights into how the game has been developed with input from LEGO fans.

(Nice to see LEGO Certified Professional Robin Sather in this, and I think I caught a glimpse of Tormod Askildsen too.)

10188 Death Star speed build video

Okay, so it’s really an ad from LEGO for the upcoming LEGO Star Wars 10188 Death Star set, but it’s still really cool to watch it getting built in a time lapse video from BrickWorld 2008. ;-)

Remember, the Death Star is currently available for pre-order, and will ship by September 16.

Miffy by Legokinsfolk

When I saw this at first, I thought it was another Sanrio LEGO creation from Legokinsfolk. However, it turns out to be Miffy, a picture book character created by Dutch author Dick Bruna.

Legokinsfolk’s version is spot-on, with an interesting technique to create the head.

Izzo goes to town

Izzo admits that of the hundreds of LEGO creations he’s posted over the last few years, only a handful haven’t been mecha. As much as we love Izzo’s amazing robots, it’s nice to see him change things up.

His latest batch of creations includes a trio of modular buildings. My favorite is this gray building with a green roof:

Here’s Izzo’s full lineup of buildings so far:

RAMMosaurus!

Mike Psiaki joins the RAMM fun with a brachiosaurus in RAMM livery:

And a bonus Jurassic Park helicopter:

Glenflight A-450 “Buzzard” fighter by Scotty

Reminiscent of the planes from Crimson Skies, Scotty‘s Glenflight A-450 “Buzzard” looks almost microscale, but it actually fits a minifig:

Crown Knights never pay a bridge toll

What happens when Crown Knights wielding a Shiny Sword encounter a troll who demands a toll to cross a certain bridge? Fedde illustrates the fate of the poor troll:

Now you too can be a part of the RAMM Revolution!

Let’s be honest. Nick Dean has taken a certain amount of flak about how he’s managed the RAMM theme he created.

The key criticism is that Nick has only allowed certain people to build RAMM creations, with strict rules for those who do.

Nick is now opening RAMM to anybody who wants to build LEGO creations inspired by the future Royal Austrian Mechanized Military.

To celebrate the revolution, Nick is holding a RAMMtacular contest, with a custom built Kojote scout car as first prize.

The contest is open to anybody, and runs between now and September 30.

Four scooter shops by Jamie

Jamie “Morgan19” Spencer enters the Scoot-a-bration contest with four great scooter shops.

Catch Up and the South Hovel:

Roamin’ Holiday and the Silver Lining:

Check out more pictures of all four scooter shops in Jamie’s Brickshelf gallery.

Great balls of fire

Fireball by Peter Morris

Peter Morris has a constantly growing squadron of starfighters each of which is a superb piece of design. His delightfully compact latest tx100aFireball09 is my new favourite, not least because he’s designed it in the hard-to-use dark green. The ground crew is a lovely touch.