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The big news from BrickFest 2009 may be more details about 10194 Emerald Night, but there’s more to come in the next few days. ;-)
In the meantime, attendees have begun uploading photos of displays and events.
Bill Ward already has 160+ photos online, while Mark Neumann and PurirideVry have uploaded quite a few as well.
The BrickFest pool is also getting refreshed with this year’s photos, so be sure to check it out — and add your photos if you haven’t!
The first LEGO creation that Jon Hall has posted to Flickr is a LEGO version of the ornithopter, or “flaptter”, from the Miyazaki film Laputa: Castle in the Sky:
I love the shape, and the use of the clear canopies as wings is excellent.
Thanks for the tip, Horace Cheng! Don’t miss Horace’s own Laputa flaptter here on The Brothers Brick.
I sometimes feel I have a bad habit of blogging LEGO diesel and steam trains even though I’m a big fan of electrics. Esben Kolind has helped cure me of this with his fantastic Copenhagen metropolitan train. Most impressive of all, in my opinion, is the accurate taper of the sides achieved by (in his words) “extreme use of SNOT“. I can’t argue with that. I’ll also use this as an excuse to exercise some parochialism and link to Esben’s Queensland Tilt Train. Check out the movies.
Thanks to Rodney Bistline for the (non-space) heads up.
You can count on Ed Diment (Lego Monster) to build one megasized spaceship for the 30 year anniversary of LEGO Space. Unlike other SHIPs, the Sapphire Condor can deploy a remote controlled ground vehicle. Of course, you have to see it to believe it; check it out in the video below.
You can read more about the creation including a backstory and notes from the builder on the Neo Classic Space blog.
Over on Flickr, Larry Lars has posted an entry in FBTB’s pod racer contest that I love. It’s a mash-up of a pod-racer and a spinner from Blade Runner.
He’s done a fantastic job with it, capturing all the little details from the original. I think that might even be Edward James Olmos in the driver’s seat. It’s too bad she won’t live!
The forthcoming LEGO Trains set 10194 Emerald Night got an early announcement last month, but the original plan was to announce it at BrickFest 2009 (happening right now in Portland, Oregon).
AFOL-turned-Designer Jamie Berard takes his turn in front of the camera to officially unveil 10194 Emerald Night to LEGO fandom:
Jamie is of course best known as the designer of amazing sets like 10182 Café Corner and 10185 Green Grocer
. If Jamie was involved in the design of Emerald Night, it’s sure to be a wonderful set!
10194 Emerald Night has been available for pre-order from the LEGO Shop online since February, and is scheduled to ship on April 15, 2009.
A few key points from the video:
Check out a second, slightly longer video of Jamie, Pierre, and 10194 Emerald Night on YouTube.
To coincide with the unveiling, the LEGO Group has also released the following additional details about the changes to the LEGO Trains system:
As a follow up to the LEGO 9V Train Communication lll, there is one change we would like to inform you about concerning the LEGO Transformer.
Due to future legal requirements and to provide a more environmentally sustainable solution, we have decided to update the current LEGO Transformer #9833.
The new Power Functions Rechargeable Battery Box #8878 that will launch in mid-April 2009 has been designed to use this new LEGO Transformer #8887. The current LEGO Transformer (#9833) will not work with the new Power Functions rechargeable battery box and will gradually be phased out.
Below is a list of the LEGO Power Functions accessories used across multiple LEGO lines which are used with the new #10194 Emerald Night Train:
#8882 Motor
#8884 IR RX
#8870 Light
#8878 Rechargeable Battery
#8879 Speed Remote Control
#8887 TransformerLook for more information on these items on www.LEGO.com in early to mid-April 2009.
Tormod Askildsen, Head of LEGO Community Development
So, what do you think of the new LEGO Trains system? Did you see this in person last night at BrickFest? Sound off in the comments…
Recently an article was published on guardian.co.uk (one of the world’s leading online newspaper sites) condensing the history of LEGO in an objective but heartwarming fashion, highlighting its current success amidst the sweeping economic crisis. Click here to read it.
Never mind the recession – Lego is now so popular that there are 62 little coloured blocks for every person on the planet. Yet only five years ago this family business was on the brink of ruin. Jon Henley reports from the Danish town where it all began
This comprehensive yet condensed article touches on all the significant historical events in LEGO from Christiansen’ production of the wooden duck to the upcoming new LEGO board games. Also included are interesting facts about LEGO. Did you know that the company estimates about 250,000 adult LEGO fans around the globe and that the fastest time to build the 3104-piece UCS Star Destroyer by a team of five is only 1 hour 42 minutes 43 seconds?
Matt Hamann (Jaster) has built an adorable steampunk walker. It’s a six-legged tank, that would be a pretty decent creation, if it weren’t for one thing… it can walk!
He’s motorized it, and it sort of toddles along the table. Check out the video. I just love the way it clomps around, it’s like a six-legged toddler or something.
Our love affair with StarCraft-inspired LEGO continues, as does my enjoyment of the LEGO StarCraft creations by Matt De Lanoy (Pepa Quin):
For more pics, check out Matt’s LEGO Protoss Probe photoset on Flickr. Thanks for the tip, Andy!
When Twitter goes down, the scale of sadness around the Web is epic enough to warrant a Fail Whale. Bjarne Tveskov (tveskov) gives the Twitter Fail Whale the LEGO treatment in what is sure to make the rounds on the ‘net faster than a tweeting cheetah on speed:
Naturally, you can also follow Bjarne Tveskov on Twitter.
The much-anticipated LEGO Star Wars set 10195 Republic Dropship with AT-OT Walker is now available from the LEGO Shop online.
Yes, yes, I know — I’m a couple days behind on this…
I’m not sure whether it’s the unique color scheme or the shape, but I find Cole Blaq‘s Soylent Scream menacingly beautiful.
More photos of Soylent Scream on Flickr.
Jarek (Jerrec) combines a LEGO Power Functions motor and remote control with 8960 Thunder Driller to rather amusing effect:
On the smaller end of things, Scratel (Wojciech Scrat) has built a microscale version of Thunder Driller, completing with working drill:
See more photos of the Mini Driller on Brickshelf.
I can’t wait for the new LEGO Space Police sets coming out later this year (August, maybe?). Gorazd Vahen (kaitimar) seems to share my impatience, as he demonstrates with a pair of excellent vehicles he designed himself.
The Spike is being pursued by a police cruiser. Gotta love that orange stripe.
Tim (Roguebantha) has built an entry for the FBTB Podracer contest that’s sure to strike fear into Mumra’s heart. It looks like it would fit in with the vehicles from the old TV show perfectly. I love the claws, and mouth detail, and basically everything else about it. The engine pods even retract and attach to the body!
