The Brothers Brick

Nnenn and Peter Morris present a challenge for those of you that love Gradius and LEGO, or who just like pointy two pronged starships.

To quote them:

Novvember is Vic Viper month! nnenn and peterlmorris invite you to try your hand at building a MOC based on the classic starfighter from the Gradius series of video games.

Join the Flickr group to check out previous MOCs and concept art. There are a few guidelines, but they’re very loose. Creativity is king. Help us make Novvember the month of the Viper!

As a longtime lover of variations-on-a-theme I’m more than happy to support them in this quest. Go build a Vic Viper!

Nathan Proudlove presents a great green van featuring the Brothers Brick. I wonder if it can fit 7 minifig Brothers ;)

Here is our final installment of the incredible prototypes that we drooled over at BrickCon.

Being primarily a Castle fan, I was most excited by the Long Sword and Rapier:

Another historical weapon that should be popular with the Pirate fans is the bayonet, attached via an extremely versatile U-clip:

I also fell in love with the Sawed-Off Shotgun and the miniscule Derringer:

I know Andrew has already shown off the Derringer. But it’s so darn cute, I had to do it again!

Last, but not least, is another weapon that is close to my heart. The long-awaited Paintbal Marker:

Not content with the sharks with frickin’ laser beams in 8633 Speedboat Rescue, Hobo4Evar attaches a number of other potentially deadly accessories to the new shark:

If he doesn’t get you with the missile pod or gatling gun, that second-hand smoke is sure to kill.

SlyOwl‘s entry for the Forbidden Cove Castaway Contest uses so many interesting techniques it’s hard to pick just a few to highlight:

The skeleton parts evoke a truly ragged sail. The narwhale in the water takes a moment to recognize, but once identified, SlyOwl’s brilliance is unquestionable. The reindeer head on a stick is, well, interesting.

Oh, and the goats are adorable.

Dan Rubin has taken a novel approach to spacecraft and produced a spaceship which is neither armed, nor human. His Emissary’s Ship uses unusual shapes and an atypical colour pallette to give an alien feel to this alien vessel. I’m particularly partial to the seamless change of symmetry from the tri-fold nose to the bi-fold rear.

“Big Daddy” Nelson Yrizarry has this to say about his latest sculpture, Off the Air:

This MOC reflects one interpretation of the nature of television as it is today. Simply stated, you are controlled, and what you want to see is moot. 

You control what you want to see and what you want to hear on TV. You control the action. You control your life. 

Don’t let anyone else (especially anyone on TV) tell you otherwise.

Will Chapman from BrickArms took the summer off from work to try focusing exclusively on custom minifig accessories.

Starting with BrickWorld 2008 in June, each LEGO convention has revealed more and more new products and prototypes.

Thanks to the extra time he has now, Will has been churning out more prototypes in his garage than we can count — particularly for those of you eager for World War II accessories.

For your Allied minifigs, the Bazooka M9 (with M6 rocket) will pack a serious punch:

On the Axis side, the German Panzerfaust 30 anti-tank weapon and MG42 machine gun will complement the MP40 SMG and C96 Mauser:

One of the most intriguing new prototypes is the U-clip (“U” for universal). The U-clip can connect any two objects that can fit into a minifig hand.

The potential applications seem infinite, such as attaching a bayonet (also a new BrickArms prototype) to your Lee-Enfield SMLE, a Combat Knife (again, new) to your M4 Carbine, or simulating an M203 grenade launcher with a black LEGO lightsaber handle:

Between our earlier coverage and the Zombie Apocafest, readers should already be familiar with the Lewis gun and Combat Shotgun:

The current Lewis gun prototype solves a minor issue with the earlier version (the drum tended to pop off fairly easily) by attaching the drum to the gun with a clip-like stud. This does make the drum more secure, but it resembles T-21 blaster from Star Wars a bit less with the drum removed.

A couple of the more unique new weapons include a game-inspired gunblade and a Derringer:

The MGL (multiple grenade launcher) will enable your minifigs to take on Decepticons and Predators alike with ease:

Finally, fans of Western movies get two iconic pistols — the Colt Navy 1861 revolver and the M1917 revolver (which looks a lot like the Colt Single Action Army “Peacemaker”):

For those of you wondering when we’ll see all this great stuff in production, here’s the final word from Will:

The next mold (in black and/or bley) will include the Combat Knife and Combat Shotgun for sure, and most likely the MGL, Lewis Gun, and Paintball Gun, but the lineup is still being decided. Look for that mold in early 2009, perhaps even by BrickFest 2009 in Portland!

The swords and Colt Navy will most likely be added to a silver mold, sometime soon as well. I’m still coordinating the layout for it. The other items may be limited-edition “garage releases”, as time permits. All will eventually see production.

Did he just say swords and paintball guns? Yes indeed. Look for a preview of those in the next few days from Josh. ;-)

Paul Lee steps into the Reasonably Clever Spooky Star Wars contest with this orange beast — the Cthulhu Terrain – Pumpkin Transport:

From concept through execution, Paul’s walker has “Winner” written all over it.

The latest minifig character by Michael Jasper is photographer and conservationist Ansel Adams:

As with so many of Michael’s great brick-built accessories, the tripod itself is wonderful:

We mentioned the new accessories from BrickArms during BrickCon, and picked them up at their booth the moment they opened.

The newly released M21 Sniper Rifle isn’t substantially different from the hand-molded prototype we previewed a few months ago, but it’s great to see the final version in production.

My M21 is being put to good use against zombies by Sgt. Doyle from 28 Weeks Later:

What came as a bit more of a surprise for me at BrickCon, though, was the new Lee-Enfield SMLE rifle. The Lee-Enfield was the official rifle of British Commonwealth forces from 1895 to 1957, seeing action in both world wars.

I’d been making soldiers with BrickArms prototypes all day, so I gave my shiny new SMLE to a member of the British Home Guard:

I’d also used prototypes of the new BrickArms Baseball Bat in the hands of my zombie-hunters, so I forgot to take pictures of the production version. Thankfully, Zack Newright saves the day:

Speaking of prototypes, in the next couple of days we’ll have a full preview of the cool stuff Will’s been cooking up in his garage. Stay tuned…

Tommy Armstrong from Brick Engraver has been cooking up something rather cool — custom-printing on LEGO bricks:

Tommy can print just about any design on white LEGO, including standard bricks, plates, and even minifig torsos, as modeled above by GO MINIMAN GO and BrickCon minifigs. Note the high level of detail on the four issues of BrickJournal.

Tommy was kind enough to send along a rather sizable number of samples to BrickCon 2008. If you were there on the last day, I hope you got some of the GO MINIMAN GO minifigs and 2×2 tiles we handed out. Thanks Tommy!

We’ll be sure to post the news when Brick Engraver announces that they’re taking orders for what is sure to be one of the coolest additions to the LEGO customization world.

Personally, I’ve been waiting for this for a long time!

Ed Diment has completed his minfig-scale HMS Hood. Packed with incredible details, this is my favorite of the big ship builds, which have included the USS Harry S. Truman and the Titanic, among others.

The working derrick on the main mast is powered by a 9-volt system:

Here’s a close-up with a minifig, which gives you some sense of the massive scale of this ship:

The highly detailed superstructure is worth a closer look:

Ed built a full complement of boats to go along with Hood:

Even photographing a LEGO creation of this size is a challenge of its own:

Ed was also gracious enough to answer a few of our questions:

The Brothers Brick: How long did it take you to build it?
Ed Diment: 7 months.

TBB: Does the curve stress the bricks?
Ed: No brick stress needed, it is all stepped plate and tile on its side.

TBB: How many bricks did you use?
Ed: Just under 100,000.

TBB: How much did it cost?
Ed: Difficult to say, some of the LEGO goes back 30 years, but if you were to buy all the brick new about $15,000.

TBB: Where do you keep it?
Ed: In sections in my LEGO room. Nowhere in the house is big enough to display it.

TBB: Are you going to keep it together?
Ed: I’ll be keeping it together for at least a couple of years. A couple of museums have expressed an interest, so perhaps longer.

TBB: How much is motorized?
Ed: All four turrets are motorized with power functions for rotation and elevation. I’ll try and get some pictures on YouTube.

Thanks, Ed!

Check out Ed’s HMS Hood photoset on Flickr for 184 pictures — including work-in-progress shots that show how this amazing creation is constructed.

See anything interesting in Jarek‘s newest creation at a glance? Take a second look and you might notice the shift from minifig-scale to microscale between the foreground and background!

Indeed, Jarek is using forced perspective in his latest work, and he does it superbly.

Tyler Clites (Legohaulic) presents two unusual creations dealing with the deviant wonders of science. His newest work is a Frankensteined version of the Slave I from Star Wars (built for Reasonably Clever’s Spooky Star Wars Contest).

His other recent work is a mech owned by the twisted Dr. Kringe. You can now see a video clip of the builder discussing this creation on LAMLtv!