The Brothers Brick

In another last-minute entry for the Reasonably Clever Brick Science contest, Moritz Nolting gives us “Doctor Dank” and his submarine lair.

Here’s the fairly fishy Professor Dankervoort:

And the lair as it would appear to an intrepid agent bent on infiltrating the mad scientist’s domain:

Don’t miss more pictures in Moritz’ Flickr photostream or the full gallery on Brickshelf.

On my 50-minute flight from Dublin back to Heathrow last month, I had a fascinating conversation with an older gentleman from Mumbai. I don’t normally strike up conversations with strangers on the plane, but he had so many interesting stories to tell I just sat there next to him with rapt attention. 82-year-old Kishore was born in what is today Pakistan, fought for India’s independence, fell in love with the girl next door, lived everywhere from Singapore to London, and today flies around the world touring exotic locales.

As we began our descent and Kishore turned to his newspaper, he nudged me and pointed to the back of the paper, featuring a full-color story on LEGO’s latest collector’s set — 10189 Taj Mahal.

My fellow traveler didn’t know about my love of little plastic bricks from Denmark, but he was so happy to see a familiar sight from the country he was so proud of that he had to share it with me. In moments like that, I’m reminded that LEGO is one of those things that connects people from everywhere in the world.

Okay, one more post from me and I’m off to build my 10081 Sandcrawler ($40 off!) that arrived in the mail today. ;)

The second issue of Spanish LEGO fan publication Hispabrick Magazine is now available for download (in regular and super-high-res flavors).

In this issue:

• Arvo brothers (right, with Iron Man)
• Adrian Florea
• Modular amusement park rides
• Review of LEGO Agents 8636 Deep Sea Quest
• And much, much more

With plenty of great photos and even several articles in English, there’s a lot to see in this issue. Be sure to check out all 67 pages of LEGO goodness in Hispabrick Magazine 002.

Eurobricks has a newer version of the images of the Power Miners sets that’ll be released in 2009. At this point the designs may still be preliminary, but this picture appears much more legit than the catalog scan that we have seen earlier.

Milto recently unveiled a couple of really nice bikes. I did a double-take. At first glance, I thought they were real…

Mike Crowley has built the cutest little jawa. Now he’s coming after your droids…

We’ve featured Brickshelfer edulyoung several times here on The Brothers Brick, often for rather complicated, large-scale sculptures.

This time, I’m highlighting edulyoung’s LEGO creations for their beautiful simplicity:

Somewhere between minifig and miniland scale, edulyoung’s characters are truly unique. The woman’s costume deserves a closer look:

Based on the striped sleeves (and the text in the instructions), I’m fairly certain she’s wearing a Korean hanbok. Anybody out there know what TV shows or novels edulyoung is depicting with these LEGO creations?

For those of your rightfully envious of all our great prizes and giveaways for Zombie Apocafest 2008 at BrickCon next month, there are even better prizes to be won for our GO MINIMAN GO Photo Contest. Remember, the contest is open to everyone over the age of 18 worldwide.

Here are just a few of the great entries readers have submitted so far to the GO MINIMAN GO Photo Contest pool on Flickr.

Entries from Alex Eylar (left) and Alan Chia (right).

Entries from Peter Edwards (left) and Aaron Andrews (right).

I’m seeing quite a few submissions that skip one or more of the requirements, so here are a few key points from the contest rules. ;)

• Tag your photo “GO MINIMAN GO” on Flickr.
• Identify which category your entry is for — 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s.
• Add your photo (only one per entry) to the group pool.
• Let us know about your entry with a link to the creation and which category it’s for.
• If you can, please add one of the GO MINIMAN GO logos to your photo. (If you can’t, let us know in your submission and we’ll hook you up.)

For those of you who prefer your pictures moving, Gizmodo is also hosting the GO MINIMAN GO Video Contest, in which you can win amazing classic sets like 928 Galaxy Explorer and 375 Yellow Castle.

To get you inspired for Gizmodo’s contest, be sure to check out the videos by our very own Nathan Wells, David Pagano, and Nate Burr.

Here’s Nathan’s gorgeous salute to 30 years of the LEGO minifig:

By the way, did you know that the various minifig parts LEGO has released over the past 30 years can be combined in over 8 quadrillion possible combinations? Find out more fun facts like that on GoMinimanGo.com.

If you have a question about our GO MINIMAN GO Photo Contest, just leave a comment here. Happy building, and good luck!

Adrian Florea applies various interesting techniques to his first-ever LEGO pirate creation.

The roof consists of slopes on their sides, a rounded walkway curves around the tower, and the dark green doors from the minecarts in 7036 Dwarves’ Mine make lovely awnings over the windows:

For a first-time creation in this theme, there’s a lot to like. Be sure to look through the rest of the pictures on Brickshelf.

In 1941, Konrad Zuse built his Z3, the world’s first “Turing-complete” computer. (That’s four years before ENIAC.)

In this vignette for the Reasonably Clever Brick Science contest, Moritz Nolting puts Zuse in front of his shiny new computing machine:

Ralph Savelsberg takes a break from 1/36-scale airplanes and modular buildings to build a Fairey Swordfish torpedo bomber.

As a carrier-based biplane, the wings fold up:

Here it is with wings extended:

Ralph’s Swordfish is actually meant to accompany Ed Diment’s HMS Hood (which we’ll be featuring here the moment it’s done!).

Paul “Polywen” Lee’s take on the poster for Watchmen doesn’t expose us to blue LEGO hindquarters, but that just means we get to see the full glory of Dr. Manhattan:

Via Gizmodo (way to go, Paul!).

Reader Giom sends word of an eight-legged LEGO Technic walker he built inspired by the “kinetic sculptures” of Theo Jansen:

For comparison, here’s a cool video (which happens to be a BMW ad; oh well):

QuéLUG member Marc-André (aka Bazmati/Bazmarc) has built a fully automated Wall-E using LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT and Power Functions:

I love the movement on Wall-E’s expressive eyes.

Thanks to reader William for the tip!

Jarek’s nifty power loader model looks like it can handle some serious weight-lifting with those powerful looking arms. Far from clumsy, a creation like this takes some skilled and nimble craftsmanship with the brick, something that Jarek has mastered well. Check out the gallery for more pictures and in-action shots.

Michael Jasper is one of our favorite builders here on The Brothers Brick. He has recently updated his Characters gallery with major contributors to the sciences: Alfred Nobel and Carl Zeiss.

Teikjoon builds some pretty fun, quirky stuff. I’m loving this Coast Guard quad, dubbed the FARQUAD. The Brickfa technique works perfectly here.

I guess I’m on a Space roll today. HaseO recently posted a rather unconventional space craft, called the Danjō. The angles on this thing are sweet!

Uspez Morbo has come out with a sweet-looking ship, with lots of nifty greebles. It’s been christened the Dire Wing…

Most very large yellow and black mecha stomp around and build stuff in futuristic cities. Not this one by Redondo Fuentes (Flickr | Brickshelf)!

No, this one stomps around and blows stuff up.

Excellent use of the Space Skulls stickers!

(Another hat-tip to Fisch and his friend Forest. ;-) )

Rodney Bistline has been posting some great dioramas recently that feature a “Space Action Hero.” It would seem he can’t land his little swoosh fighter very well, but we keep seeing him in interesting new — albeit sticky — situations.

In Rodney’s most recent adventure, Space Action Hero lands in an alien tree (more on Brickshelf):

In an earlier escapade, our Hero crashes on an alien planet (Brickshelf):

What I like so much about both scenes is the alien in each diorama:

(Hat-tip to reader Luther/Fisch!)

Quite possibly the most anticipated new set of 2008 is now shipping from the LEGO Shop. (No, no — not 7979 Castle Advent Calendar!)

Yes, that’s right, 10188 Death Star is now available and shipping from the LEGO Shop online.

3,803 pieces. 24 minifigs (counting brick-built droids). 399.99 USD. Time to empty your wallets, boys and girls!

If nearly $400 isn’t your thing but you still want a LEGO Death Star, 10143 Death Star II™ is still available at 199.99 USD. ;)

Stefan’s XR-21 may be a “short-range space interceptor,” but it’s blue color and lovely lines evoke (at least for me) Syd Mead’s Spinner from Blade Runner:

Heavy helicopters seem to be popular lately — you know, those big ones that go whup, whup, whup.

McZargåld of CATpit Construction treats us to a tiny little helicopter named “Aggresseur” that I suspect makes an adorable little buzzing noise.

Vive la France!

I’m breaking an old rule and a brand new one here. Brothers Brick debutante Heather (Flickr) shows the boys how to do it with her super detailed Doll’s House. In break from tradition I borrowed its name for the blog post because, quite frankly, it’s awesome.

Credit to Shannon Ocean and Mastergongfu for the heads up.