Monthly Archives: March 2011

Want some candy?

The stuff in this bowl looks completely edible and will probably fool your non-Lego friends. Great work Lasse.

Stairway to heaven

It’s been a while since I posted many Black Fantasy creations, but that doesn’t mean the theme is dead in my heart. This diorama called Ascension depicts two space marines escaping the infestation pit through an ascending catwalk to the helipad. After making this, I noticed that I’ve used shades of the three primary colors red, yellow, and blue as color accents, which seems like a terrible idea by itself but may have worked in this case.

Literally twisted

I’m always happy to see innovations in MOCs. This creation by Alex Mac puts a twist on the traditional concept of a western duel, literally. I can imagine the bullets spiraling from the guns of the shooter to his opponent. You can see more pictures including the technique on MOCpages.

M.A.S.K.!

It looks like Alex Schranz (Orion Pax) loved M.A.S.K. as much as I did. It was ones of the many toy lines my parents refused to buy for me as a kid. Alex’s model incorporates many of the play features found in the original toy, as well.

M.A.S.K Rhino

Welcome to the jungle

Ciamosław Ciamek‘s diorama takes us to the jungle, and not just any jungle, but the primeval brooding wilderness of Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. If you suspect the men on the steamboat are being watched, you’re probably right.

Cleanup on aisle 5th

Series 4 Minifigures are popping up in stores right now, and Chris McVeigh (powerpig) has gotten his hands on them and featured the perhaps most favorited hazmat guy in a brilliant photo.

More than just a minifigure.

I think it really goes without saying that Morgan190‘s custom minifigures are simply brilliant. It’s nigh impossible to pick a favorite.

He’s posted some fantastic ones in the month of March, so rather then suffer the consequences of choosing, I’ll just gather them here.

MAK “2rD” – Wüste Kröte

Adrian Florea has managed to sneak away from work long enough to share this excellent creation with us. I’m not sure if it’s based on an actual Maschinen Krieger model, but it certainly fits that style. It’s a tough style to render in the brick, and this is a great job.

MAK "2rD" - Wüste Kröte

Nannan talks about Lego and his creations

I was recently featured in an article in The Dallas Morning News, what’s relevant is a video they shot of me talking and showing some of my creations in my Lego room. You can see the disproportionate amount of black and bleys I have compared to the other colors :)

Flower power

I must confess to being completely exhausted at the moment. Still, I wanted to post this dropship by Nate Daly. Maybe it’s because it’s in one of my favorite color schemes, or the little pop open flaps on top, or just the heavy and armored feel working for a dropship.

"Hyperion" Class Dropship

Also, check out this starfighter, which I missed in December.

Tonka goes heavy

Fedde’s (Karf Oohlu) Tonka Heavy Assault Truck is far from its tame Brand-name counterpart. This armored vehicle of destruction is jam packed with cannons, missiles, and turrets to clean up a ground army.

Brick Adventure 2011 wrap-up

The annual Hong Kong Lego convention called Brick Adventure took place in late January of this year, and you’re probably wondering why we’re making an event wrap-up post almost two months later. Despite the late timing, we don’t want you to miss out on seeing many of the unique Asia-themed and high-quality models worth mentioning late than never. The article below was written by Matt Hocker (Brickadier General), who nicely summarizes the exhibit while pointing out some of the highlights of the show. You can see more pictures on Flickr.

For the past six months, I’ve been living and working in Mainland, China. With my Lego collection still in America, I’ve been going through ABS withdrawal. Thankfully, Hong Kong has a relatively large AFOL base and, as fate would have it, one of their exhibitions (Bricks Adventure 2011) coincided with my vacation. Having never been to an international event before, I didn’t know what to expect. What I found was that the Hong Kong Lego fans were very welcoming and organized a wonderful show, filled with wonderful creations. While there, I definitely got my Lego fix and then some.

With this being its second year running, Bricks Adventure is an annual Lego exhibition run by the AFOL group, Legend Bricks. Unlike American events, which are usually four day affairs, Bricks Adventure was held over a whopping ten day period (down from a 17 day period last year), and the show was open to the public every day. In 2010, the exhibition drew in 13,000 visitors, while 11,500 showed up this year. Considering that the event was seven days shorter, this year’s attendance was actually stronger than 2010’s.

With thirty-five participants, Bricks Adventure was run on a relatively smaller scale than many events in Western countries. However, don’t let the seemingly small numbers fool you. Truth be told, this dedicated group of AFOLs churned out a slew of awe-inspiring MOCS and, clearly, the emphasis was on quality over quantity.

A wide variety of themes were represented, which kept things fresh and held one’s interest. A personal favorite of mine was the collaborative Japanese train layout by Andy Bear, William Wong, Alynn, and Schneider Cheung. They did a fantastic job of making a cohesive display, filled with tons of detail. There was also another wonderful collaborative train layout, featuring European inspired buildings. One particularly interesting building was the Paradisa hotel, which made excellent use of curves.

Other fantastic collaborative displays consisted of the themes of World War II, castle, and pirates. The techniques employed in crafting the hull and masts of Arzlan’s Chinese junk made it a MOC worth drooling over. The castle display was also fun to look at, especially with its splashes of humor here and there, such as the girl tossing a pig to a swarm of hungry gators in the castle moat.

Mechs were well represented. For example, Icedpluscoffee had impressive renderings of the “twins” from Transformers, as well as an APU from The Matrix Reloaded. Although he wasn’t present at the exhibition, one builder from Taiwan (Tsan-Nien) still shipped two of his mechs over to Hong Kong for display. Now that’s dedication!

A word also needs to be said about Schneider Cheung, who can crank out awesome studs-out sculptures in what seems like no time. For me, his most memorable pieces were a Chinese New Year lion head and seated Buddha, which was placed within the Japanese display. He also had some MOCs that looked good enough to eat…literally!

Overall, being able to attend Bricks Adventure was a more than memorable experience. For many Hong Kong AFOLs, this was the first time they were able to see their displays set up, and it was an honor for me to share in their enthusiasm. Without a doubt, Hong Kong’s Lego fans are as lively as the city itself, making an event like Bricks Adventure well worth visiting.