Monthly Archives: June 2008

Light-up Iron Man minifig by Brickmodder

This isn’t a Photoshop job:

That’s right, Brickmodder has added 7 LEDs to a custom Iron Man minifig. (Custom decals by Jared “Kaminoan” Burks and Chris “Uubergeek” C.)

Here’s Mr. Stark in action (with weapons by BrickArms):

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Exploring cryptozoology and exobiology with Mike Stimpson

I just love Mike Stimpson‘s work. His LEGO photography is unparalleled, and my favorites are of course the classic photographs he’s recreated.

His latest photos are inspired by the mysterious life-forms that may or may not exist around and above us:

In a more serious vein (as many of Mike’s photos are), Mike has recreated the photo of a South Vietnamese monk lighting himself on fire:

For those who’ve not noticed, Mike has a whole separate Flickr account where he shows exactly how he set up each shot in his amazing series. Definitely worth checking out.

Where can Paul Lee’s 800-pound Gorilla go?

Answer: Wherever it wants to, of course. Also, I suspect Paul Lee‘s hard suits weigh a bit more than 800 pounds.

Here’s Paul’s Gorilla Hard Suit in an urban combat environment:

And here it is on Mars:

Transforming mecha by squieu

One of the several Japanese mecha masters, squieu has a mecha building style characterized by a coarse look achieved with using small parts all over (see a prime example in his recent work Chu Chu). Here we highlight his recent transformer mecha; check photos in his gallery for more pictures on the transformation.

This doll packs a punch

Brian Kescenovitz‘s newest creation is a combat hardsuit called the War Doll. For a small model, this deadly machine has details all over, with the most impressive one being the opening mechanism of the control center, which nests a pilot minifigure. Way cool

The Dragon heats up the cold void of space

Brickshelf user czekoladowyboss‘s newest build is a massive microscale space battle-ship called the Dragon. In addition to the bold red and black coloring, some other distinguishing features include the ribbed patterns and the docking bays for its smaller companion vessels. Check out the full gallery for some more great details.

LEGO Indiana Jones video game almost redeems Crystal Skull movie [Review]

We blog a lot of video game LEGO on The Brothers Brick, but I think this may be our first LEGO video game review — and the reason I haven’t blogged as much the last few days, heh heh!

After playing both the LEGO Star Wars games, I was really looking forward to LEGO Indiana Jones, and I certainly wasn’t disappointed. The same can’t be said for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, which I really enjoyed the first time through, but didn’t hold up the second time I saw it. Oh well. Fortunately, George Lucas didn’t write the video game. ;-)

The basic mechanics of LEGO Indiana Jones aren’t that different from LEGO Star Wars: In story mode, you play as one or more characters with specific skills, destroying things in the game environment to earn points (studs) and uncover piles of LEGO bricks, which you can build to progress the plot or find treasure.

However, instead of a lightsaber, you’re armed with Indy’s whip and fists of plastic. Indy can also pick up items, such as weapons and tools, to perform other actions — dig stuff up, fix things, turn clockwork, and so on. While you’re in story mode, you might not have all the necessary skills to find everything hidden throughout the level.

In free play mode, you’re assigned a random collection of characters that give you all of the tools and skills you need, and it’s your skill that determines whether you find all the treasure, including subcomponents of the level model.

I played the game on my Nintendo Wii, so I had the option of swinging my remote to flick Indy’s whip and shaking the remote and nunchuk to build things. Call me old-fashioned (I prefer “old school”), but I chose to use the buttons assigned to these actions instead, and was grateful for that choice.

My favorite thing about the recent LEGO video games from TT Games (formerly Traveller’s tales) is the developers’ humorous take on the Indiana Jones story. I won’t spoil the laugh-out-loud moments for you, but rest assured there are plenty in the game.

In terms of value, there are 18 main levels in the game, and it took me about 30-45 minutes to complete each level in story mode (being fairly thorough along the way; I only failed to get “True Adventurer” status on one). That works out to a fairly short game for someone like me who prefers 100-hour RPGs like Final Fantasy VII, but that’s not counting free play mode, which at least doubles the value. I’ve only started free play, but I’ve already unlocked all but two of the playable characters, and I’m starting to work my way through the extras.

Overall, I’m very pleased with LEGO Indiana Jones, and would recommend it not just to those of you who’ve played LEGO Star Wars. There’s a lot of value in the game, and more importantly, it’s really really fun to play!

LEGO Indiana Jones is available for the following platforms:

Apologies for the lack of visuals in this post. I don’t have a way to take screen shots on my Wii, and I figured a picture of me slumped on the couch in my sweats wasn’t something you’d want to see. ;-)

Party in the big castle

The Eggplant Wizard cooks up a party inside this giant castle on Eggplant Island. The dynamic features such as the towers and arches are an instant hit, and the view from top is nothing short of beautiful. But from that upfront sign hanging over the cliff, you know this is the place where a valiant knight is reflected in the number of rounds he can down. Let’s party!

LDraw – the original LEGO CAD

One of my side-interests (originally my main interest) in LEGO is CAD or virtual building using the LDraw system first created by the late James Jessiman. When you have a small collection of parts it is a great way to ‘build’ models that live up to your imagination rather than being limited to your supply. LDD provides one means of creating virtual LEGO models but if you take the time to learn it the older LDraw provides a much wider pallette of parts and more powerful tools than LDD. Best of all the two programs can share files with a bit of tweaking.

I realised today that many TBB readers may not be familiar with LDraw so I thought I’d take a brief moment to promote it. Most discussions takes place on LUGNET but to make things more accessible I created a Facebook group and Flickr group too. Hopefully I’ll see some fresh faces at one of these places. The LDraw website (and organisation) organise regular challenges and contests too so be sure to check them out.

NB. The image above is by Jan Folkersma and is the winner of the LDraw Scene of the Month contest from January 2007

Two scenes by Sir Nadroj

We feature two unique dioramas by the ever so prolific Jordan Schwartz, depicting a Victorian-esque sci-fi laboratory, which serves as the backdrop in the first part of Jordan’s fiction story called Journey to the Center of the Earth. The working lights on this creation are purchased from Lifelites.

Next is a creation called Bar of the Future, featurng a crowd of whimsical bar aliens.

Registration now open for BrickCon 2008, October 2-5 in Seattle [News]

If you’ve never been to a LEGO convention, you probably don’t know what you’re missing. Even if you’ve seen thousands of pictures, it’s not the same.

BrickCon is my hometown LEGO con, held each October in Seattle. Registration is now open, and I’d highly recommend signing up today to come to our fair city this fall.

Naturally, the big draw at any LEGO con is all the LEGO! You might see creations like Kevin Blocksidge’s “Victorian Floating Rock” or a War of the Worlds tripod by Lino Martins:

Maybe you prefer Town creations, like “The Real Cafe Corner” by Alice Leber-Cook, or huge Castle battles:

Of course, BrickCon isn’t just about LEGO. Where else can you have your picture taken with Josh, Shannon, Brendan, a dude in a kilt, Robin, John, and The Keith?