Brent‘s last-minute entry for the Picking up the Pieces ApocaLEGO Contest on Flickr with a radio transmitter powered by several forms of alternative energy:
Click the pic to read Brent’s back story about these survivors 100 years after the apocalypse.
I love the microscale Jabba’s sail barge in this diorama by Tim Goddard, with dark gray “cheese slopes” that evoke the doors that open on the side of Khetanna. What sets this piece apart for me, however, is the Sarlacc sliced down the middle:
Via MicroBricks, though I lay claim to the provenance of the phrase “Cross-section Sarlacc FTW!” :D
While working on custom decals for a trio of Final Fantasy X-2 minifigs, Jamie Spencer combined his decal designs in Photoshop with scans of the minifigs he’ll be putting them on, resulting in a rather cool effect:
Rikku, Yuna, and Payne never looked so good. I can’t wait for the finished minifigs.
Karwik (Noddy) took a sharp turn in his noggin and built this amazing hot air balloon model using 100% LEGO products. While I see that rubber bands from LEGO sets were used to secure the string pieces, I have no idea where that transparent ball with the LEGO logo came from. Nevertheless, it’s amazing and I love every bit of it.
Update: Zombie Apocafest 2008 went off smashingly at BrickCon 2008, October 2-5. Don’t miss our full coverage here on The Brothers Brick:
The pre-registration price for BrickCon 2008 goes up from $40 to $50 next Tuesday, August 5th. If you’re still thinking about joining Nannan, Josh, Keith, me, and lots of other Brothers Brick readers in Seattle this October, now’s the time to register!
If you’re still on the fence, here are a couple building challenges and contests to whet your appetite.
ChiefLUG Initiation
ChiefLUG will be extending initiation to anybody who builds a LEGO Viper from Battlestar Galactica. Here’s what ChiefLUG founding member Ryan “Chief” Wood has to say:
ChiefLUG is a superrad group of Lego fans dedicated to veggie platters, crazy group builds, being awesome, and pretending to be half as cool as KeithLUG. You might be familiar with our work.
To join ChiefLUG, you just have to build and bring a Viper, like the one above designed by Andrew Lee (more photos). Creative color variations are encouraged.
The Brothers Brick LEGO Zombie Apocafest
Not to be outdone by some upstart KeithLUG wannabe, KeithLUG itself, or a bunch of reasonably well-adjusted Train/Town builders, we at The Brothers Brick are sponsoring the first ever large-scale LEGO Zombie Apocalypse. Think Shaun of the Dead. Imagine Max Brooks’ World War Z in LEGO.
Naturally, we’ve recruited some of our favorite twisted LEGO minds to contribute, including Rocko™ and Justin Pratt:
There will be free swag for participants, of course, including prizes in various categories (such as Best Building, Best Vehicle, or Best Minifig) the quality and quantity of which will be determined at our whim between now and October.
To make the display easy to integrate, we’re asking participants to follow the modular building standards exemplified by Cafe Corner, Green Grocer, and Market Street. Well, basically anything featured on Brick Town Talk — with a zombie twist, of course.
Since I can’t find any documentation on what the “Cafe Corner standard” is, here’s my take:
(Please correct my description of the standard as necessary, and I’ll update this. I can post the standard separately too, if there’s interest.)
We’re talking about the apocalypse here, dear readers, so variations are certainly allowed. We’ll also do our best to integrate larger structures (like Justin’s bombed-out office building). We respect zombie diversity, certainly, but I really love the old Harry Potter troll as the basis for my own zombie horde.
And don’t forget survivors. And their multifarious modes of transportation.
So, if you’re coming to BrickCon, we’d love to include your contributions to The Brothers Brick LEGO Zombie Apocafest. Bring whole buildings, or partially destroyed buildings. Bring a truck. Bring just one zombie. Whatever. There’s room for one and all at the Zombie Apocafest!
Allister McLaren (CaptainUnderpants) has been slowly building up a series of large and awesome LEGO action figures which somewhat evoke Danger Mouse to me. Henchbot (the big guy) is his latest but do check out Doc Grok (also pictured) and Sgt. Destroy.
LEGO Universe remains fairly mysterious despite this video from Gizmodo and Kotaku (click through to view):
This is the first time we’ve seen any kind of real in-game footage, and the short video (and article) also provides some insights into how the game has been developed with input from LEGO fans.
(Nice to see LEGO Certified Professional Robin Sather in this, and I think I caught a glimpse of Tormod Askildsen too.)
Okay, so it’s really an ad from LEGO for the upcoming LEGO Star Wars 10188 Death Star set, but it’s still really cool to watch it getting built in a time lapse video from BrickWorld 2008. ;-)
Remember, the Death Star is currently available for pre-order, and will ship by September 16.
When I saw this at first, I thought it was another Sanrio LEGO creation from Legokinsfolk. However, it turns out to be Miffy, a picture book character created by Dutch author Dick Bruna.
Legokinsfolk’s version is spot-on, with an interesting technique to create the head.
Izzo admits that of the hundreds of LEGO creations he’s posted over the last few years, only a handful haven’t been mecha. As much as we love Izzo’s amazing robots, it’s nice to see him change things up.
His latest batch of creations includes a trio of modular buildings. My favorite is this gray building with a green roof:
Here’s Izzo’s full lineup of buildings so far:
