Max Yang (ArtiFex Creation) has been keeping up his animated reviews of many of the recent sets. Unlike traditional reviews, Max shows you the brick-by-brick construction process of each set, leaving you with the experience of almost having built the set yourself.
It seems like fans of medieval LEGO have really started expanding beyond the traditional castle, with complex dioramas and market town scenes. Ryxe contributes a verdant English village, complete with a wonderfully detailed church, graveyard, and public house.
Notice how Ryxe builds the structures at an angle to the landscape and each other — the town isn’t all straight lines that reflect the underlying LEGO studs. I don’t recall too many town scenes that incorporate this much landscaping, with a stream or small lake and a large outcropping of rock.
See more photos in Ryxe’s photostream.
I recently took advantage of the free shipping going on right now to pick up 21101 Hayabusa, the second project to receive the necessary votes and become an official LEGO set through the original Japanese version of LEGO CUUSOO.
Given the space fever I currently share with many of you, I thought I’d let you know what to expect if you order it yourself.
The instruction booklets for both of the LEGO CUUSOO sets I’ve bought (the other being the Shinkai 6500 submarine — the very first successful CUUSOO project) have included lots of information about the real-life vehicles that inspired the sets. The Hayabusa booklet is bilingual (English & Japanese), and available in several additional languages from the LEGO CUUSOO page.
As I learned from the LEGO Hayabusa booklet, the real Hayabusa was a Japanese sample-return spacecraft launched in 2003 that rendezvoused with the asteroid Itokawa in 2005. Five years later, Hayabusa returned to Earth carrying particles from the asteroid. The spacecraft sported ion engines — you know, like TIE fighters! The mission’s project manager was Junichiro Kawaguchi, who made it into the set as a minifig.
One of the things that’s so interesting about the LEGO CUUSOO process is seeing the differences between the original LEGO fan’s design and the final design as a LEGO set. According to the press release earlier this year:
The original Hayabusa model on LEGO CUUSOO was built by Daisuke Okubo and achieved 1,000 supporters on the Japanese-only version of LEGO CUUSOO in the spring of 2011. LEGO model designer Melody Louise Caddick designed the final model, refining earlier concept models based on Daisuke’s original project.
The final model does look very different from Daisuke’s original design (above). I have to admit that I do appreciate the details and overall shaping introduced during the official redesign, proving that a collaboration between a regular builder and a professional designer can yield great results.
The build itself is fun though fairly basic, but what innovative techniques can you really expect from source material that’s basically a box with wings? My greatest disappointment is that the spacecraft’s body is built from yellow bricks rather than gold — the only (pearl) gold piece is the radar dish that serves as the reentry vehicle on the front. Then again, I suspect that chrome and pearl gold might be expensive colors to produce, given their overall rarity.
I recommend this set as a display model for collectors; this isn’t a set that you buy for the parts (I certainly don’t intend to take it apart and sort the pieces into my collection). Nevertheless, I think 21101 Hayabusa is a must-have for any fan of realistic LEGO spacecraft. The set goes for USD 49 from the LEGO Shop, and includes 369 pieces.
While some other LEGO conventions have individual builders reserve their own table space, BrickCon is all about large-scale collaborative displays. Each year since 2008, The Brothers Brick has sponsored a display, ranging from a highly coordinated zombie apocalypse to our anything-goes celebration of all things Japanese.
Last year, we tried something even more anarchic than a zombie apocalypse — a totally unstructured experiment in planetary colonization — which we think came together fairly well, so we’re going to try it again this year, as “Numereji 2422”.
As we said last year:
Our hope for the Numereji 2421 display at BrickCon 2011 is that the contributors will be free to create their vision of what kind of community would develop from a group of crash survivors isolated for a generation, and how their reconnection with other space travelers would play out.
We worked up quite a backstory and suggested lots of inspiration last year, but many potential contributors said they didn’t really get the concept until they’d seen the actual display at BrickCon (ah, the consequences of an experiment in anarchy!). Here are a few links to help refresh your memory:
Naturally, there are many other opportunities to contribute to a display in whatever way works best for your building style or preferred theme. Here are a few of our favorites:
| Theme | Description | Info/Discussion |
|---|---|---|
| Numereji 2422 | The official collaborative display for readers of The Brothers Brick. Do you have space fever? Will you be a peaceful colonist, a rogue smuggler, alien trader, or the long arm of the galactic law? You decide! | Right here, or on Flickr |
| Bricks of Character | The notorious Iain Heath & Tommy Williamson are at it again, bringing together LEGO and all your favorite characters from TV, movies, and video games — as long as they’re not minifig-scale! This year’s Bricks of Character display also includes Heather Braaten’s Darlings, a memorial to a beloved LEGO fan we lost earlier this year. | Info | Discussion |
| Castle | BrickCon is famous for its massive, sprawling, and still somehow well-coordinated castle displays. Each year, LEGO Castle builders up the ante with taller spires, bigger armies, and more integrated motion. I can’t wait to see what Josh and his team pull together this year. | Classic-Castle.com |
| The Dark Side | Most LEGO models are meant to be appreciated in the light. But Roger Hill’s “Dark Side” display brings together all the LEGO models that glow in the dark and blink their lights. Given how hard it is to photograph LEGO in the dark, these are models you’ll definitely want to see in person. | Contact Roger through BrickCon.org |
| Microscale | Coordinator Steve Oakes shared a wonderful vision for the Microscale display at the SEALUG meeting yesterday. In addition to the usual Micropolis modules and mini-trains, this year’s micro display will include a microscale version of BrickCon itself, complete with tables, stanchions, and Miniland-scale attendees! So, build a tiny version of whatever you’re bringing to BrickCon, along with a Miniland version of yourself to admire your own tiny creation. Awesome. | Contact Steve through BrickCon.org |
| Superheroes | With the release of official DC and Marvel Super Heroes sets from LEGO, now’s the time to bring all those LEGO superheroes and supervillains together — LEGO Avengers (and others) assemble! Sean Forbes is coordinating this display, which isn’t just limited to minifig-scale models. Bring your mosaics, statues, vehicles, and anything else inspired by comic books. | Contact Sean through BrickCon.org |
See the full list of themes & collaborations — from Architecture to Town/Train — on BrickCon.org.
Not sure which theme, collaborative display, or category your LEGO creation fits into? For example, does a microscale space fleet go in Microscale or Space? (Probably Space.) Read over the full list, and then just ask us and we’ll get you pointed in the right direction.
Important: Regardless of whether you choose to contribute to one of the group builds, it’s still important to register your LEGO models (MOCs — My Own Creations) as well as yourself. Registering all the MOCs you plan to bring ensures that coordinators know how much space we’ll need. You can’t just show up on Thursday morning with a six-foot spaceship! This really wasn’t an issue until last year, but BrickCon has grown to over 500 registered attendees, and only registered MOCs will be guaranteed table space.
The BrickCon 2012 private convention kicks off on Thursday, October 4th — that’s less than a month away!
If you want to guarantee yourself an engraved brick badge, swag bag, and other benefits of pre-opening registration, now’s the time to do it. Registrations after next Saturday, September 15th can’t be guaranteed these goodies.
Still not sure you want to come? BrickCon is our favorite convention because of its relaxed atmosphere, fun (non-LEGO) stuff to do around the venue, and the great people we get to hang out with each year.
Of course, the heart of the convention is the LEGO itself. Be sure to check out the BrickCon photo pool on Flickr to see photos of LEGO models, people, and events from years past, as well as pics of creations you can expect to see there this year.
Register today, and we hope to see you at BrickCon in a few short weeks!
Simon Liu has been having some fun with blacklights and transparent LEGO pieces, and to great effect. This space portal glows ominously as it prepares to engulf a ship. This is different sort of example of what Andrew was talking about the other day with adding more variety and interest to models via means other than simply the construction itself. Here, for instance, the blacklight (and good photography to capture its effect) makes all the difference, taking this model up a huge notch.
These Lego headphones by Ryan (eldeeem) fooled me as the real thing.
Franko Komljenovic finally posted images of his long work in progress. He says that it’s still not done, so we can expect some more interior images. The hull looks pretty finished to me though, and I especially like the stern made of arches and the tilted windows on captain’s cabin.
I don’t know what the Hurricane Liger is, or why it deserves a monument, but I’m glad Cade Roster (Apocalust) gave it one.
The LEGO Halo group over on Flickr is hosting a contest that challenges LEGO builders to design their own sets to counter the fact that one of LEGO’s competitors has the Halo license.
Théo (Titolian) joins the fray with this fake LEGO Architecture set. It’s an interesting little structure, wonderfully presented and immediately recognizable.
(And please, dear readers, do not suggest — as several on Flickr already have — that this would be a great LEGO CUUSOO project. Ain’t gonna happen…)
A while back, I reviewed Olivia’s House for the Friend’s line. I mentioned then that I might just have an infatuation with the new line, and I’m pretty sure that’s still true.
At the time I reviewed the set, I enjoyed the functionality of it, and was inspired to build something similar. What came of that inspiration was Olivia’s House 2.0.
My main goal for this was to have it come apart, just like the set, though mine admittedly goes back together just one way. I kept some aspects of the original set, too, like parts and designs from the bathroom and kitchen, and the design of some of the extra pieces.
The whole thing ends up being six rooms with two major hallways and a grand staircase, along with an attic. I had a ton of fun building this, getting everything to look exactly how I envisioned it. Eight months to finish it.
You can see more pictures of each individual room and module, along with some of the different smaller builds, in my flickr gallery.
I am familiar with the mecha designs from Armored Trooper VOTOMS despite having never seen the anime. It is on my “to watch” list…but in the meantime I will just swoon over this brilliant LEGO model of the Scopedog by Brickshelf user tattun.
You simply have to check out the full photo gallery!!! There is a staggering amount of detail and additional equipment that tattun has integrated into this. Absolutely brilliant work!!!
Huge thanks to FateHeart for the link. I tend not to visit Brickshelf very often, so would have surely missed this had you not sent it to me!!
EDIT: There are just so many brilliant photos of the model, that I just had to add a few more :)