Mark Stafford, of Cthulego fame, has built some great minifig-scale characters using regular parts instead of minifig pieces (previous post).
Recent updates include a “Clockwork Knight:”
And a “Sea Knight:”
Yearly Archives: 2006
Japan, 1977
I found this in my mom’s Flickr and had to post it.
Awwww, aren’t I cute? (I do have LEGO photos from that era — I’ll have to dig them out and scan them.)
（七五三の時の写真かな？）
Katou Danzou
Name: Katou Danzou (加藤段藏 かとうだんぞう)
Dates: 1503-1569
Biography: Nicknamed “Flying Katou” (「飛び加藤」), this legendary ninja is shrouded in mystery. One legend says that he swallowed a bull in front of a crowd of people.
Further reading: Wikipedia (Japanese only).
Oda Nobunaga
Name: Oda Nobunaga (織田信長 おだのぶなが)
Dates: 1534-1582
Biography: One of the fiercest and most feared daimyo of the Civil War (Sengoku) era in Japanese history. Born to a regional nobleman, Nobunaga spent most of his life as a warrior. By the time he died (by his own hand, after being surrounded by enemy forces), he had conquered nearly all of Japan.
Additional reading: Wikipedia (English), Wikipedia (日本語).
Vignette to go, please!
Japanese LEGO builder Sugegasa has been credited as one of the earliest builders in the popular vignette form (little creations on 6×6- or 8×8-stud bases).
Sugegasa takes this form to a new level in his V-pod — a vignette that fits in an X-Pod container (via VignetteBricks):
Moko’s Cyborg and Ray Gun
HIRO’s Factory
I recently received a link to a Web site called HIRO’s Factory. HIRO has a LEGO page filled with wonderful creations. What’s really cool about HIRO’s LEGO page is that many of the creations tell short little stories — all presented without text.
I’d like to highlight a couple of great creations that reflect uniquely Japanese inspirations.
Here’s a cool little police station:
And a tofu shop:
I’m looking forward to seeing more creations from HIRO in the future!
Plastics
Flickr user Kaptain Kobold recently posted a recreation of an iconic scene from The Graduate, “Mrs. Robinson, You’re Trying To Seduce Me:”
Pratt’s Microtank
Two Vignettes from Sugegasa
Sugegasa has recently posted two uniquely Japanese vignettes. (Bruce credits Sugegasa as one of the earliest builder of LEGO vignettes — the “haiku” of LEGO building styles.)
Japanese bathtubs are smaller and deeper than American bathtubs. You wash off outside first, and then you soak in the water. Many bathtubs have hot water heaters attached directly to the bathtub (kind of like a hot tub), and some of the more old-fashioned bathtubs have chimneys, like this one in “Chimney Bathtub” (a continuation of the long-running shiritori word game):
A wonderful wintertime tradition in Japan is to sit around a kotatsu and eat mandarin oranges, or mikan. Kotatsu are low tables skirted with a quilt and a heater underneath. Mmmm…toasty… In this vignette, one of Sugegasa’s recurring minifig characters sits at a kotatsu eating mikan and watching TV:
Minifig Communists
On one end of the belief spectrum, we have my Aztec, Norse, and Greek minifigs. On the other end, we have a bunch of communists.
First up, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin:
Next, Leon Trotsky, Maxim Gorky, and Joseph Stalin:
Ho Chi Minh, Mao Zedong, and Kim Jong Il:
Karl Marx and Frederick Engels:
Finally, Ernesto “Che” Guevarra:
Radagast the Brown by Cyin
Brickshelf user Cyin (CAI on Classic-Castle.com) has created some really unique minifigs based on the lore of J.R.R. Tolkien.
Here’s a new one, Radagast the Brown:
And since I haven’t featured him here before, Cyin’s wonderful Tom Bombadil:
