Who is she? Mary Anne of Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel
Monthly Archives: August 2013
Fans of LEGO wanted.
TBB regular Tim Zarki (spook) is embarking on a design project this semester which pertains to how we interact with our LEGO collections and how to make that interaction better. He doesn’t want to give away too much information right now, but in these preliminary stages he has created a quick survey. It only took me a few minutes to complete, so if you have a spare moment and would like to help out a fellow LEGO maniac in his studies, please complete the survey via the link below.
*UPDATE – Tim has now received the 1000 survey responses that he required so has closed the survery link. Thank you to everyone that helped him out, I know he appreciated it!
Now why didn’t I think of doing projects based on LEGO when I was in school?!?
Meet Mr. Mietek
This fascinating character built by Rafal P. is sure to be an attention grabber with all the interesting parts used from head to toe. Never have I thought such a disarray of parts can be combined to create such a convincing character.
Trolls on the march!
This gigantic siege tower, by burlogh (burlogh) is awesome. My character in the Lands of Classic Castle roleplay is troll, so I have to cheer for these guys! I love the how it is over-sized to fit the giant trolls and the scrap-wood look is great. The landscaping is spot-on and the dinos as motive power are frosting on the cake. That Cave Troll looks happy that he isn’t pulling anything this time!
Trains with a twist
In the last four weeks I’ve been travelling through the US. During my trip I attended Brickfair Virginia and now that I am back home, I’m slowly going through my photographs to pick some highlights to share with you. Joshua Brooks (JBIronWorks), whose father built the ‘Defense of Little Round Top’ diorama I blogged a while ago won the best train award at the event with his General Haupt locomotive.
Like his father’s diorama, this also has a US civil war theme. The locomotive was named after General Herman Haupt, who was the Union General in charge of the United States Military Railroad, which was used to supply the Union Army and to transport casualties to hospitals safely away from the front lines. To me it doesn’t look as though it is a super-complicated model, but I like the overall look and the history.
The Western train by monstrophonic wasn’t at Brickfair, although I wouldn’t have minded having a closer look at this diorama with my own two eyes.
The train itself is nicely done. Like most good dioramas this one seems to tell a story. Was the derailment an accident or was it caused by train robbers?
Iain Heath twerks his way to LEGO Internet infamy
We all know that Iain Heath of The Living Brick is the master of capturing the latest moments in pop-culture history in LEGO. But I would posit that he has gone too far!
Apparently, there was some sort of awards show for motion-picture musicals or something recently. Proving that the event I had never heard of before was indeed supposed to be family-centric, the daughter (age 20) of “Achy Breaky Heart” singer Billy Ray Cyrus danced while the son (age 36) of the dad from Growing Pains sang a popular song. I’m told by multiple people on the Internet that the problem was that these two children of beloved celebrity parents did not act like the pure-hearted children that they should be!
I have not brought myself to watch any video footage of the atrocity inflicted on the world (on par with the worst things happening elsewhere on the planet), but I’m told that I should find the whole thing distasteful. I’m shocked and saddened that an upstanding member of the LEGO building community would stoop so low. After all, these are children’s toys. Think of the children, Iain! The children!
The Joker Rampages through Gotham
With what just might be the scariest LEGO Joker I’ve ever seen (and as a mech, no less), this model by oLaF appears to be only one part of a multi-stage diorama collaboration between several builders. I can’t wait to see the whole thing, but in the meantime, this segment is worth taking a look at by itself.
TBB Cover Photos – Oh right...it’s August!!
So apparently we were all having too much fun at Andrew’s month long beach party at his villa in Ibiza to realize that we forgot to update our Cover Photos for the month of August. So our most sincere apologies for that oversight…but honestly, I am just going to blame Keith and his margaritas, Nevada boys know how to mix a drink apparently!
So without further ado I am happy to announce the cover photos for the month of September (and the tail end of August).
Josh picked this photo by Tommy M for our Facebook page. Josh figured we could use a little steampunk/floating rock love. The fact that Tommy’s photo is wonderfully edited and fit Facebook perfectly helped too.
I was left with the responsibility to choose the photo for Twitter. There were several shots that I really liked, but unfortunately didn’t jive well with the Twitter avatar. In the end I choose this brilliant shot by Jonas. Not only are these two wonderfully created models, but the composition of the photo meshed perfectly with the Twitter layout
So thank you again for everyone continuing to contribute to the flickr group. Keep up the with your submissions, and keep in mind quality over quantity!
I promise that we will remember to update the photos in October…hopefully 4 weeks should be sufficient time to recover from Keith’s margaritas.
Lego H0R-N3T Starfighter
This new creation by f@bz is the bee’s knees. With the pun out of my system, I can comment on the unique color scheme of this creation, which looks surprisingly good. The builder has also made use of some parts not traditionally seen on space craft, like the lizard tails above the cockpit. I don’t like how it seems to look from some angles, but I quite like this profile view, and expect if looks good in person.
A Reflection of Silhouettes
This striking silhouette study by Flickr newcomer LoctiteGirl is very eye-catching. I don’t know if we have ever highlighted the first posted creation by a builder before, but this one is definitely worthy. I really like how the primary silhouette is defined in outline with a “reflection” on the foreground. This is some simple, elegant work.
Unofficial LEGO Monty Python sets that you’ll never see in stores
It’s no secret that I love Monty Python, so it’s really no surprise that someone like Rifiröfi would be able to successfully appeal to my vanity in order to share his own LEGO Monty Python creations. The thing is, Rifiröfi LEGO recreations of key scenes from Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Here’s The Rabbit of Caerbannog, with its “nasty, big, pointy teeth!”
Fortunately, the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch is at hand to assist King Arthur and his brave knights.
But one of my favorite scenes is when *SPOILER* Sir Bedevere establishes that Connie Booth’s character is a witch because she weighs the same as a duck.
Okay, fine, I can’t pick a favorite scene. Here’s the Black Knight.
Finally, no depiction of Monty Python and the Holy Grail would be complete without the French knights and Arthur’s assault on their castle.
Check out all of Rifiröfi’s LEGO Monty Python scenes on Flickr. And since I’m in a mildly self-aggrandizing mood, you can take a trip in the wayback machine with me and visit my own LEGO Monty Python photoset on Flickr. (For the record, I think Rifiröfi’s scenes are way better than mine — some of the earliest LEGO photos I posted online back in 2004.)
A Renaissance man’s workshop
Captainsmog‘s vignette featuring a character based on Leonardo da Vinci is an example of a creation that shows lots of fine details and techniques that beckons one to explore every corner of the build.
