The Brothers Brick

Pierre Fieschi goes mega micro with his terraforming Forward Command Base. The cockpit sold me.

If I ever own a castle I’m going to make it fly through space too. Bartosz Kacprzyk (the oneman) has inspired me. But watch out for dragons.

The good people at GHL are running a contest:

To kick off our marketing and promotion efforts here in the Dominion planet of “Earth”, we at Galactic Handling and Logistics have decided to hold a contest, since the initial brain-scans and surveys have concluded that Terrans are a competitive bunch and best motivated by “free stuff”.

There are two Pro flickr accounts up for grabs and contest closes on the 31st August 2010.

Peter Reid (legoloverman) has gone arm crazy. So much to look at and steal.

This set has just been unveiled at San Diego Comic Con, and we have photos, a video, and the press release below. The video should be working at 3pm EST. It isn’t yet, but hopefully will be soon.

Obi-Wan's Jedi Star Fighter VIDEO

10215 – Obi-Wan’s Jedi Starfighter™
Ages 14+. 676 pieces.
US $ 99.99 CA $ 129.99 UK £ 94.99 DE 99.99 €
Blast off into The Clone Wars with Obi-Wan’s collector-series Jedi starfighter!

Now, you can build the ultimate LEGO version of Jedi general Obi-Wan Kenobi’s Delta-7 Aethersprite-class Jedi starfighter! Larger and more detailed than any previous Jedi starfighter model, this limited-edition collector vehicle is equipped with twin laser cannons, a full cockpit interior and a wing-mounted R4-P17 astromech droid dome that rotates. With a buildable display stand and plaque, it’s just the thing to pursue bounty hunter Jango Fett across the galaxy or battle swarms of Separatist fighters in space! Measures 9 in (23 cm) high on stand, 18″ (47 cm) long and 9″ (22 cm) wide when built.

• Ultimate Collector’s Series Obi-Wan’s Jedi Starfighter!
• Equipped with twin laser cannons!
• Features fully detailed cockpit interior!
• The dome of Obi-Wan’s wing mounted R4-P17 astromech droid rotates!
• Includes display stand, plaque and label sheet!
• Model can be detached from display stand!
• Measures 9 in (23 cm) high on stand, 18″ (47 cm) long and 9″ (22 cm) wide when built!

Available for order directly through LEGO® beginning
November 2010 via shop.LEGO.com or via phone:
US Contact Center 1-800-453-4652
CA (English) Contact Center 1-800-453-4652
CA (French) Contact Center 1-877-518-5346
European Contact Center 00-800-5346-1111

Since there’s a lot of crossover between LEGO fans and general geekiness, it seemed like a good idea to mention a few of the LEGO-related attractions at that the Xanadu of Nerddom: Comic-Con International. It’s tonight through Sunday at the San Diego Convention Center.

If you’ve got tickets, I’ll assume you already know most of the where and when, this is just a quick & dirty guide for all things LEGO.

LEGO: booth #2829. Smack-dab in the middle of the convention floor. On Wednesday evening, the upcoming Obi-Wan Jedi Starfighter set will premiere and be on display for the duration of the convention. Licensed theme sets for sale, LEGO electronic games, play tables, and the line for a chance to win the exclusive set (CubeDudes by Angus MacLane). Angus will be available for signings on Fri. from 2-3pm and Sat. from 12-1pm. The new Hero Factory buildable costume characters will premiere on Sunday.

BrickJournal: TwoMorrows Publishing booth #1301. Magazines and compendia for sale, hassle the ever-popular Joe Meno, and see if he’s arranged for another batch of fans to display their creations.

There are also more LEGO oriented panels this year and they’ll be going on every day except Saturday:

• BrickJournal, Thur. 2:30-3:30pm, room 7AB. A discussion for and about the LEGO fan community moderated by BrickJournal editor Joe Meno, featuring awesome builder Brandon Griffith, LEGO: A Love Story author Jonathan Bender, LEGO certified professional Nathan Sawaya, and LEGO community operations boss-man Jim Foulds.
• DK LEGO Star Wars, Fri. 10-11am, room 7AB. DK is releasing a new series of LEGO Star Wars books, and this panel will feature authors Ryder Windham, Daniel Wallace, Gus Lopez and Pablo Hidalgo as well as illustrators Chris Reiff and Chris Trevas. They’ll discuss the making of the books and provide some some sneak peaks. Panel attendees will be entered to win some of the featured books.
• LEGO Universe, Sun. 11:30am-12:30pm, room 5AB. An official LEGO panel to promote LEGO Universe, the new massive multiplayer online game. The panel will include members of the development team including creative director Ryan Seabury, senior director Mark Hansen, media coordinator Chris Brubaker and videographer Ryan Baier in a addition to a few others who haven’t been revealed yet.
• LEGO Hero Factory, Sun. 1:45-2:45pm, room 6DE. Sneak peak of the new Hero Factory line of constructible costumed heroes from LEGO. Designers of the line will be on hand to provide some back story and a preview of the accompanying TV series. I don’t usually check this sort product promo panel out, but I figure because of the controversy surrounding the discontinuation of Bionicle and its replacement by this theme, I should find out what the fuss is about. I’ll be there.

If any surprises turn up while I’m at the convention I’ll do my best to keep you posted.

This creation by Shamisenfred isn’t a duck or a penguin or anything else that’d make sense in the context of an underwater bird mecha. It’s an ostrich wearing a hardsuit.

Since I don’t own any of the new ostriches yet, I’m not sure whether the heads simply detach, or if tools are involved. In order to suit my purist heart, I’ll assume that the head was easily removed and affixed onto this body. There’s just something about the ostrich wearing goggles and a snorkel that really amuses me.

Lino Martins‘ newest creation looks like a lionfish scupture, but it’s actually a deadly bounty hunter ship. The bounty hunter stores his bounty on the ship’s poop deck, how embarrassing for the poor guy frozen in carbonite!

Sorry Guy Himber, no disrespect intended in that pun!

Brian Kescenovitz (mondayn00dle) is another builder who probably has more works featured on our blog than not. What makes this creation unique is the combination of an emotionally arousing scene and backstory (yes, a Lego creation can be more than eye-candy). The rust stains on the rare Bionicle mask of the hardsuit mirrors the stains of blood and adds to the twisted setting. The hardsuit also seats a complete minifig.

Brickshelf user sheep shows us that good things can come out of LEGO’s DesignByMe program. This microscale rendition of Brandenburg Gate in Berlin doesn’t need fancy parts to make it look realistic. In fact, it looks like a possible addition to the LEGO Architecture line. I love the use of fences for the Greek columns.

As much as we try not to populate the blog with every creation by a single builder, it’s difficult when that builder keeps making blogworthy MOCs from different themes each time. Tyler Clites (Legohaulic) recently ventured into the world of Disney with his Cruella DeVille’s Rolls Royce. As usual, Tyler’s minifigs are also innovative; I never made the connection that Two-Face’s hair also doubles for the hairpiece of this classic Disney villain.

For the record, I purposely refrained from blogging Tyler’s Organibot for the above reason. You should still check it out if you haven’t seen it.

Rick Theroux‘s minifig scale Tumbler rivals the one by Brent Waller. The giant balloon tires and the windshield decals are two of my favorite details on this creation. It’s always a bonus to know that Batman can sit comfortably at the controls.

Thanks for the tip, eclipseGrafx!

David Pickett (fallentomato) presents his best brickfilms animation showing Lego bricks morphing into different objects. Each change from one object to another consists of many brick-built transition states that are shown for only a fraction of a second, and the results are well worth it. Check out more descriptions and behind-the-scenes info about the video on David’s website.

We don’t normally point out reviews of new Lego sets, but this review of 8128 Cad Bane’s Speeder by Eurobricks member Inconspicuous is very well done with great photos. The set should be available on LEGO Shop at Home this August.

Ray Kwan builds the Hong Kong Coliseum complete with working lights and an illuminated interior. I recommend checking out the gallery for shots of all corners of the building, which features some nice modern city details.