Yearly Archives: 2009

Mark forms the chest and the head

As well as all the other parts of Voltron. I always loved Voltron when I was a kid, and Mark Sandlin‘s rendition using a TeknoMeka frame is a fantastic representation. This model looks great, even if the show hasn’t stood up to the test of time.

And yes, this Voltron does divide up into the individual lions.

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The Brothers Brick now has a Sister!

It is my pleasure and honor to introduce the latest addition to The Brothers Brick family, Caylin Feiring! Caylin is, and has been, a pillar of the Lego fan community for many years. She is a long term member and moderator at Classic Castle. She’s very active in her local area LEGO Users Group, Sealug, and has become a vital part of BrickCon, where she is known as the “Prize Goddess”. She’s also very active on a plethora of other fan sites. You may know her by the username “Plums Deify”.

Caylin is very articulate, has a great eye for excellent LEGO creations, possesses an evil sense of humor, and has a unique perspective on the LEGO fan community. I greatly look forward to having her as a contributor here on TBB. She is a good friend, a great member of the fan community, and I believe she will make an awesome addition to TBB.

Welcome Caylin!

Anatomy of a warehouse

With my latest model I went public with what I usually keep private: my building stages. Since the photos and comments were up I thought it might be interesting to share this process with TBB as an example of how I (and I imagine many other people) build something.

In this case I wanted to build a structure to go with my Ol’ Brittania train. Since I’ve been fairly stumped for ideas lately I searched for a few Hornby models for inspiration and asked my Flickr friends what they thought I should build. I promptly ignored their advice and went with the least popular design.

I then made an LDraw rough draught of the building to try to get the basic layout and proportions as well as the most prominent details. I also wanted to get an idea of how many dark orange bricks I would need to build it to see if I had to order any.

Following comments from ‘the commitee’ I proceeded to make a slightly more refined model with some of the details included. You can see that the roof has been vastly improved and the entire model has become one brick taller.

For my final work-in-progress (WIP) stage I substantially altered many of the details and added still more. It should be noted that at all stages so far the model doesn’t have a back. At this stage I also learnt that the model was a) not a model of what I thought it was and b) not at all valid in its current form. I then conspired (away from the commitee) to remedy this for the final, secret, version.

Finally I spent many hours of back-ache transferring the CAD to brick and adding on all the final details (as well as a back). I changed the design from a coal drop to a small railside warehouse as I’ve always wanted to build one and it made more sense. I also altered bits of the design to allow various components to pop out for added playability.

And thus a model was born. I hope I satisfied the commitee as well as everyone else. Have fun spotting what has remained throughout the design process.

It looks like a star to me

This is something you probably don’t see on LEGO spaceships: vines. Check out the Shooting Star by Space2310.

RSG Mecha

Sometimes, we’re all about a great creation here, regardless of photography, lighting or scenery. Sometimes, it’s the presentation that counts. Check out this backlit diorama that Kidthor just posted over on flickr.

The mecha itself has some great design details too (like the shoulders), so make sure to check it out solo.

Warner Brothers announces LEGO movie [News]

Variety recently reported that Warner Brothers has brokered a deal with LEGO. They are making a movie. Did you see this coming? I sure didn’t.

Here’s what Variety has to say:

WB is toying with plans to develop a movie around Lego and its popular building blocks.

Scribes Dan and Kevin Hageman are penning the script for the family comedy that will mix live action and animation. Warners is keeping the plot tightly under wraps, but it’s described as an action adventure set in a Lego world.

Apparently, LEGO has been approached about making a movie before, but has always turned the idea down. This time, things seem to be different.

Directors and producers in town have attempted to make a Lego movie for years, approaching the Danish toymaker with various ideas, but Lego turned down most of them because it’s highly protective of its brand.

But the company sparked to Lin and the Hageman brothers’ embrace of core values Lego wanted to include in a film, especially “a fun factor, creativity and that imagination has no boundaries,” Lin told Daily Variety. The film’s been in development for more than a year, with the scribes and producers making several trips to Denmark to work with Lego’s execs on the concept.

Also helping is the long relationship Warner Bros. has had with Lego over the years. Warner has licensed characters like Batman, Harry Potter and Speed Racer to Lego to integrate into playsets, and through TT Games, the videogame publisher that WB bought in 2007, has produced the popular “Lego Star Wars,” “Lego Indiana Jones,” “Lego Batman” and, soon, “Lego Rock Band” titles.

Read the whole article here.

Thanks to Richard for letting me know…

So, what are your thoughts?

This mini-tank changes everything

Well, everything about it changes. That’s the same thing, right? Geoff Herndon built it, but he was inspired by вrickart!san.

Jordan explores the Future that never was

Jordan Schwartz takes us for ride in with this swoofty retro futuristic stretch limo.

New York, New-ew Yoooork

I suspect most of us with an interest in town layouts eagerly await Jonathan Lopes’ latest updates. It’s been a very long wait since his last one which seems to be because of a major redesign. While Jonathan’s LEGO buildings and cars ~~may not always be perfect (whose are?)~~ are very good what sets his layout aside is his attention to all the gritty details you see in a real city. There’s no shiny plastic perfection here, just the dust, decay and dirt of a real city. Check it out and check it out closely.

Edited for clarity

Iron Mountain Legion Attack Helicopter

Ever since I built this helicopter, I’ve wanted to build another meshed-rotor helicopter. I also wanted to combine the two windscreen pieces I used, before someone else beat me to the punch.

I built this to accompany the Iron Mountain Legion Tank, that I posted recently. Like the tank, this is destined for a diorama I’m working on with a friend, for BrickFair. Unlike the tank, this is motorized. In fact, I ran the motor for most of these photos, to try for a bit of motion blur, which I think worked out well in some shots.

A reminder, don’t forget to come check us out at BrickFair! We should have some awesome displays!

Zombie Apoc 101: how to make a super-cool Post-Apoc vehicle

With BrickCon coming, I’m sure many are interested in creating vehicles for the Zombie Apocalypse display. If you like what we’ve featured in the past, you should check out Jordan Neves‘ article on how to make your own unique and original apocafied vehicle.

By the way, I recommend Jordan’s blog as a supplement to foster a well-rounded knowledge of the LEGO community.

Tales of a Sir Thanel the Newb: Getting involved in the online community

Within a few days of going to my first LEGO Users Group (LUG) meeting, I decided to get involved in several of the online venues where adult LEGO fans get together to show off their creations, talk LEGO and learn about the hobby from each other. It was quite an education. Here are a few tips that might be useful for newer users of any online LEGO forum, but especially those that host pictures. These may also serve as good reminders for veteran users.

My sigfigs will be there to walk you through it. Or the sigfigs are a transparent device to add some graphic interest to an otherwise text-heavy post. Whatever.

Sir Thanel’s 13 Edicts

Lurk. Spend some time exploring, looking around, and learning the etiquette before deciding on which online community to join. Especially before starting to make comments.
Read and think before writing. Read titles, descriptions, captions and other comments before leaving your own. It may have already been covered. On Flickr, for example, each photoset has a description of the entire set, which might give you the background or story, while each picture might have less information. The answer may already be waiting for you. Even if you really WANT to say something, if it would be repetitive, don’t do it.
Limit the number of comments and questions. Try to keep it to your 1 or 2 most important. Otherwise the builder might become tired of responding. Most veterans are happy to answer honest questions and are online specifically to promote the adult hobby, so they appreciate curiosity about their creations, but it can sometimes be a little overwhelming. One of the most common questions is “Instructions please?” (with varied spelling) The answer is usually “No.” Most builders had a challenging enough time building it in the first place, much less meticulously documenting each step. Some do it for fun, but they advertise the service. Part of the fun as an adult is figuring out how to do it yourself.
When you assume, it makes an ass out of you and me. Be careful about including assumptions in your questions or comments. “I didn’t know LEGO made a Smurf sets!” would reveal your ignorance, because, well, LEGO hasn’t done a Smurf theme and it isn’t a set. Whereas a more general “Where did that curved head piece come from?” or “Smurfs!” about the same Smurf creation would hopefully give the creator an opportunity to explain how it was built with standard pieces, or about the custom accessories they used.
Be specific. Instead of a very general “How did you do that?” or “Where did you get that?”, try to describe in detail and as specifically as possible what you’re asking, like “How did you connect ___ with ___?” This especially applies to sites that don’t allow a person to leave notes ON the picture.
Keep it on topic. Make comments about the picture or topic in discussion, rather than about yourself or your own crazy agenda. Avoid leaving comments like “I did this AGES ago!” with a link to your creations, or otherwise shamelessly promoting yourself. It’s a little rude. Likewise, if you think a discussion is pointless, what’s the point of making a comment saying so?

Follow group guidelines. Various sites or groups have specific purposes or rules. Read them to see if the group is for you and what the expectations are. One of the most common violations on Flickr is people putting too many pictures in group photo pools. Limit the number to your one or two best, three max.
Be gracious. If people leave constructive criticism of your creations or photos, accept the comments. If it’s just mean, screw ’em! You can ignore them. On Flickr you can even block them from commenting on any of your stuff in the future. It’s not worth starting flame wars. If there’s a discussion thread you find annoying, don’t visit or leave comments, it only serves to keep it alive and rewards the most common denominators.
Don’t pester people to trade or sell to you. Most online LEGO communities are not for buying, trading or selling. There are specialized sites or subsections of larger sites for those kinds of activities. If a particular builder or user is interested in trading, they will usually have it on their profile pages or a link to their website. Many of the LEGO specific forums have links to various places to buy or sell. The equivalent of calling your friends and telling them your dog had puppies and you’re looking for a good home for the puppies is OK. That’s usually done by either directing people to an eBay, craigslist or bricklink sale or very rarely by people posting something on one of their more close-knit sub-group, rather than trying to complete the transaction on a large forum for everyone to see.
Remember the children. If you are under 13, you are too young for most adult forums, especially those hosted in the United States. It’s illegal here for adults and kiddies to play together online. Minors are ironically (and disturbingly) the most revealing about themselves online. Kids, don’t use your entire real names as your screen names. Don’t give your age or birthday. Don’t offer to give adults your address. Don’t post all that information on your profile for everyone to see. Very, very bad ideas. Parents, please talk to your kids about how everyone on the internet is a stranger. Remember the stranger talk? Have it.

Give credit where credit is due. If someone inspired or helped you somehow, give them props. Recently I posted a poor quality photo and two different Flickr users took the photos and enhanced the quality, then re-posted them (Right: bluemoose‘s version), giving me proper credit as the initial photographer under their picture and also leaving a little note to let me know. They did the right thing, so instead of being mad, I was pleased that I could see more cool details.
You have the option of being discrete. If you don’t want to publicly embarrass somebody about their spelling or don’t want to get into an online fight, try sending an e-mail. As an international community, this comes up quite a bit with attempts at bilingual communication. Sometimes people aren’t young or stupid, their language just has different (often more sensible) rules than in English. Flickr has an especially handy FlckrMail (FM) feature that allows quick private communication.

Call for mommy. Most forums have moderators and administrators who are responsible for keeping things civil. If things seem to be getting out of hand, let them know. It’s in the interest of the whole online LEGO community to be the exception by playing well. Don’t assume that they’re monitoring everything either, this is just their hobby too and they have other things they need to be doing.

As most of you could tell, my experiences are based almost exclusively on Flickr. The other contributors to TBB have been involved in the online community for years on a wide variety of sites such as MOCpages, Brickshelf and the numerous theme-based groups or specialized forum, which are mostly pre-Flickr. Some even helped the growth of Flickr as a LEGO fan hub. I, however, am new and selecting my web involvement based solely on personal taste.

Go forth and play well.