Most people know how much I love my Trolls, but I never thought of this. Nolnet has his Troll tossing some dwarves for your entertainment. He’s pretty good too. Hasn’t dropped that many…
Monthly Archives: October 2008
Dwarven Forge
Lego-Adam just posted a Dwarf blacksmith and his nifty work area. It comes across as very refined and well thought out. The simplicity of the wall details really jumped out at me.
Creepy minifigs
Jamie Spencer (Morgan19) came up with some creepy minifigs for the Halloween minifig contest on Fine Clonier forums. These figs use a combination of custom and standard LEGO parts in creative ways and each has a unique eerie personality.
Click the picture below to access the Brickshelf gallery for quick viewing, or you can check them out in Jamie’s Flickr photostream for captions.
Next BrickFest to be held in Portland, Oregon March 26-29, 2009 [News]
As I mentioned briefly at the end of Nannan’s post about BrickCon Day 3, the original LEGO fan convention, BrickFest, will be back in March 2009.
Here’s the full story from event organizer Steve Barile (no relation to Steve Witt, having delicious fries at right):
Where: Portland, OR at the Oregon Convention Center, Hall A
When: March 26-29, 2009 (setup: Th, convention: Fr-Sn)
Hotel: Red Lion Hotel (mention BRICKFEST for room block rate)
Who: All AFOLs!YES, it’s that time again! Join us for the 3rd Portland BrickFest back at the OCC Hall A and the RED LION, and all the Burgerville you can stand to eat! From all the AFOL feedback we have received asking when the next BrickFest is, we are expecting a great turnout from all the familiar faces, as well as all the new AFOLs that have joined our community in the last couple years! Wow, I can’t believe it been two years!
It’s easy to get to the OCC & Red Lion: ~$2 for a MAX light rail ride form the airport; so no rental car needed. Once downtown MAX is free, so enjoy the many fine restaurants and microbrew pubs that make Portland a fine place to visit!
SEE YOU THERE!
Steve Barile
Q&A
Q: Has BrickFest changed formats?
A: Nope! We believe that the current BrickFest format works great and we are keeping it the same. Of course we strive to make the event the best possible and make tweaks as needed.Q: Is there a public expo this time?
A: Yes, there will be a public expo on Sunday afternoon only, same as last time. BrickFest is for the AFOLs; there is no rush to set up the displays, so have fun attending sessions, arranging and rearranging MOCs, and goofing off!Q: Will there be workshops and sessions?
A: Of course! There are so many topics to discuss and share and MOCs to see, we’ll be expecting many of you to volunteer to give talks and host round tables etc. — one of BrickFest’s assets is the sharing of the tribal knowledge.Q: When can I register?
A: Registration will begin January 1st 2009 (for book-keeping purposes), but mark your calendars, I already rented the OCC!Q: Is Christina Hitchcock involved?
A: Christina is completely behind BrickFest ’09 and will be taking an advisory position.
BrickFest 2007 was only my second LEGO convention, and I had a fantastic time hanging out with the friends I’d made at BrickCon 2006:
BrickFest 2007 had one of the most amazing LEGO Castle displays I’ve ever seen:
Erik Varszegi unveiled 10179 UCS Millenium Falcon at BrickFest 2007:
I’m not sure I’m ready to begin planning another Zombie Apocafest (which might have to wait until BrickCon 2009 next October), but I’m really looking forward to attending BrickFest as an out-of-towner.
Check out the action from BrickFests past in the BrickFest pool on Flickr.
SlyOwl has lit the Beacons
It craws on eight legs
A few days ago Adrian Florea (Olog) posted a motorized steampunk battle machine, one with aesthetics blended into a clever mechanism inspired by Theo Jansen’s walkers.
See it in action!
GOGOGOLEM
After winning his freedom, Earth Golem went into business for himself, starting GOGOGOLEM Professional Movers, specializing in the relocation of castles, stadiums, shopping malls, skyscrapers, office blocks, parking garages, nuclear power stations, hotels, churches, temples, hospitals, swimming pools, apartment buildings, restaurants and factories.
I really don’t need to say anything more about Teikjoon‘s latest vignette.
LAML announces LAMLtv [News]
BrickCon 2008: Andrew’s wrap-up
How do I put this? BrickCon 2008 was amazing, but just a little bit more stressful than years past, as I demonstrate in this photo by Adam Hally:
Nevertheless, it was the best LEGO convention I’ve ever been to! Highlights for me included:
- Zombie Apocafest 2008
- Nannan crashing at my place
- 10193 Medieval Market Village
- A chance to have great one-on-one conversations with guys like Mark Larson, Joe Meno, Jonathan Bender, and Kelly McKiernan
- Paul Hetherington’s “Casa Baron” winning “Best of Show” (hey, it was part of the zombie layout; I can be proud)
- LEGO Playthemes Creative Director Matt Ashton autographing my 7979 Castle Advent Calendar (photo by Nannan below), which he designed
Various bloggers have posted their observations about the con:
- Read more about the Zombie Apocafest on Valve’s Left 4 Dead Blog.
- Listen to Wayne Hussey and Daniel Brown on LAML Radio, and hear from Bill Ward about recording for LAML Radio.
- Read Hillel’s thoughts on admitting he’s a “LEGO geek” (hurray!) and see tons of great pictures on the Jackson Fish Market blog.
- Read about the “Minifig Beauty Pageant” on Model Building Secrets.
I love seeing the looks of wonder and amazement on people’s faces as they find something cool that they never thought could be made from the little plastic bricks they have lying around their house. But I tend to find the public hours a bit overwhelming:
Of course, as attendees get home, they’ve started uploading pictures they took at BrickCon. Abusing the HTML list tag even further, here are a few that I’ve found so far:
- Adam Hally
- “Arpy”
- Ashley Glennon
- Brandon Griffith
- Brendan Mauro
- “Brickfan”
- “Cartoondude”
- Caylin Feiring
- Derek Schin
- Don Solo
- Heather “LEGO Girl”
- “House of Fur and Fir”
- Joe Meno
- Josh Wedin
- Lino Martins
- Mark Neumann
- Mark Sandlin
- Lonnon Foster
- Ryan “Chief” Wood
- Steve Witt
- Ted Godwin
- Thomas Wunz
- The Tomster
- Trevor Van Aalst
And with that, I’m taking a week off. :D But fear not, dear readers! There are plenty of other LEGO blogs to sate your LEGO appetite.
I can’t wait for next year. Until then, build on!
Mech Bay Zero
Whew, back to normal blogging! We’ve missed highlighting a few non-BrickCon related creations over the weekend, but we’ll get to them.
Aaron Andrews (DARKspawn), who’s normally a castle builder, switches fancy and builds a big mech bay instead. It’s sufficient to say one might say that he’s been up to building mecha all his life, but that’s just because this Aussie builder is incredibly talented. Enjoy the creation before Aaron surprises us with something else!
Life on a different scale
Let the Con roundup begin…
Making its debut at the recent Brickish Association’s (the UK LUG) STEAM event is this fabulous hospital by Yvonne Doyle. The hospital was built as a collaboration with Steven Marshall and Pete Reid (Mr. Doyle) and is scaled to Steven’s ambulance. With a fully decorated interior (check out the wallpaper) and other lovely finishes like the detailing at the side of the windows this model really is a thing of beauty.
Zombie Apocafest 2008: Children, avert your eyes!
Zombie Apocafest 2008 just wrapped up at BrickCon, and I spent about an hour taking pictures.
Front and center in the display was Ryan Wood‘s beautiful watchtower:
Josh, Nannan, and I awarded “Best Zombified Building” to Paul Hetherington‘s “Casa Baron”:
Paul’s building has a full interior, including comfy chairs and a working elevator. We loved the art deco details, many of which incorporate organic shapes:
The similarly unanimous choice for “Best Zombified Vehicle” was Andrew Lee‘s awesome truck:
In addition to the Zombie Defense Weapons Packs donated by BrickArms, the good people at Valve (the studio that brought us Half-Life and Portal) sent along a bunch of Left 4 Dead T-shirts and a great billboard:
Valve even invited a bunch of people to tour the Valve office on Friday night, where Lonnon Foster posed with Gordan Freeman (photo by Don Solo):
The LEGO zombie display wouldn’t have been possible without the organizational genius of LEGOLAND California model maker Gary McIntire — who even spent the plane ride up to Seattle creating custom zombie heads.
At least 35 participants contributed nearly 30 original buildings, dozens of vehicles, and hundreds of minifig zombies and survivors.
LEGO Certified Professional Dan Parker contributed a super-detailed mall, complete with a LEGO Store, baby store, Spencer’s Gifts, and food court:
Will there be a Zombie Apocafest 2009? Undoubtedly.
In the meantime, check out the full Zombie Apocafest 2008 photoset on Flickr.