Monthly Archives: June 2013

Friday Night Fights (Round 9)

Welcome back fight fans, to Sin City Nevada for another concussive edition of Friday Night Fights! Tonight’s bout has all the makings of a barn-burner between two up and coming fighters in the hotly contested Super Flyweight Division. Let’s go to the tale of the tape:

Fighting out of the red corner…from nowhere in particular…LowestFormOfWit and his Seneschal.

And fighting out of the blue corner…from the files of the Young Spacers Association Blog…Jeremy Crouch (Marchides) and his Crone I-V 3

As usual, constant reader, you are tasked with deciding the outcome of this pugilistic endeavor by way of comment. On the last edition of Friday Night Fights, Tokyo madman Ryuhei Kawai just barely squeaked by his opponent to the tune of a 4-3 victory. Sorry Taz, you can’t vote for yourself in this arena.

Oh, and now for the boilerplate: these are both MFZ models, for the MFZ game. Promotion-promotion, yadda-yadda-yadda.

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New LEGO set 10234 Sydney Opera House unveiled at BrickWorld [News]

UPDATE: 10234 Sydney Opera House is out now for LEGO VIP Program members, and will be available to everybody on September 1st.

The big LEGO set being revealed this evening at BrickWorld in Chicago is 10234 Sydney Opera House. Designed by Jamie Berard, this new LEGO set recreates the architectural masterpiece that overlooks Sydney Harbor in Australia. Due out in September 2013, 10234 Sydney Opera House will include nearly 3,000 pieces and cost $320 in the US.

Here are all the official details from LEGO:

10234 Sydney Opera House™

Ages 16+. 2,989 pieces.
Recreate Australia’s architectural masterpiece!
US $319.99 CA $379.99 DE 279.99€ UK 249.99 £ DK 2499.00 DKK

Recreate one of the 20th century’s most distinctive buildings with the Sydney Opera House™ model. Build the unmistakable shell roofline, waterfront forecourt and more with this authentic representation of Australia’s most iconic building. Employ a variety of new and advancedbuilding techniques to recreate the complex forms, angled walls and subtle detailing of the real thing! Collect lots of dark tan LEGO® bricks including the rare 1x1x2/3 stud and 1x2x2/3 stud slopes, as well as a 48×48 stud baseplate in blue for the very first time!

Build this model of a UNESCO World Heritage Site!

Includes hard-to-find dark tan LEGO® bricks, tiles and sloped bricks!

Collect the 48×48 stud baseplate, available in blue for the very first time!

Sturdy construction allows the model to be handled and moved!

Features advanced building techniques for complex forms, angled walls and subtle detailing!

Measures over 11″ high, 25″ wide and 15″ deep!

Available for sale directly through LEGO® beginning September 2013

Here’s a video of designer Jamie Berard talking about his new set:

Don’t miss the other big announcement of the night: LEGO approves Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity Rover CUUSOO project

Ever-awesome lime, and teal... on a train

Thanks to his great building and photography skills, Peter Norman (swoofty) is no stranger to this blog. His latest masterpiece has ever awesome lime and teal, so pretty much ticks every box. Note especially the use of negative space and texture to mimic the triangular panel on the original.

Bushido

BioRays says that the inspiration for this came from Gundam and “HF Brain Attack hero core”. I know what Gundam is, can’t say the same for the latter. But I also know an eye catching build when I see one. The colour scheme is downright fantastic, and the complexity of build makes my brain hurt a bit.

And I am always a sucker for a good ordnance loadout.

This LEGO Songbird from BioShock Infinite will tear your bricks apart

I really enjoyed BioShock Infinite a couple months ago, though I’m still not entirely sure what to make of Songbird. Imagine Rigney may not either, but he’s made this monster (friend?) out of LEGO anyway.

Imagine has also included lots of action closer to the floating platform that I’m having trouble calling “ground,” with Booker DeWitt and Elizabeth running away from Songbird while the twins stand by and Vox Populi round the corner.

Thanks for the tip, Jordan!

Distant Thunder -new vehicles by Aleksander Stein

Aleksander Stein has not been building as much lately as he used to in previous years, and it has been a while since we last blogged one of his models, but that only serves to make it more exciting when he does post photographs of new models.

His latest, which he aptly calls ‘Distant Thunder’, shows a selection of vehicles participating in a military operation. Fictional military vehicles have rarely looked this realistic. The types of vehicles and the presentation remind me more than a little of photographs from the war in Afghanistan.

TRIBUTE NNENN – July 2013

With the success of the R-Type Build Challenge we have continued with a new challenge for this month. But I am here to talk about what will be going down next month. The month of July is all going to be about nnenn, a builder whom is probably one of the most influential ever to have graced the interwebs. Sadly it has been just over 3 years since he passed away. But despite that fact, his work continues to inspire new builders to this day. So we thought it would be fitting to pay tribute with our 10th monthly build challenge…

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to select any of nnenn’s countless starfighers and build a tribute fighter based on the design. Whether you want to build a copy with a fresh paint job or a redux with your own personal twist is entirely up to you.

Rules will be simple:
-Running July 2013
-Build a tribute fighter based on/inspired by one of nnenn’s models
-Post a link to the source fighter in your description
-Of course, cut, modified, and clone parts of all shapes and sizes are acceptable, if not encouraged
-Don’t be afraid to use colour…nnenn certainly never was!
-As always we will allow renders, but I strongly encourage you to build with actual bricks for this challenge

So for next couple of weeks I want you all to pour over nnenn’s photostream and get inspired, because we need to make this the greatest monthly build challenge yet! (Of course be sure to set aside enough time to build your Thunder Force fighters too…)

New LEGO Lord of the Rings sets out + free shipping & Jor-El minifig [News]

Russell Crowe was on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon promoting Man of Steel a couple nights ago, and Jimmy brought out some of the recent Jor-El toys depicting Russell Crowe in the movie role. Russell Crowe said that his son’s favorite toy in the whole world is the LEGO minifig, and he’s very happy to have a minifig version of his dad now.

Of course, the Jor-El minifig doesn’t actually come in any sets, but you can get it for free. The LEGO Shop’s June promotion is a free Jor-El minifig for orders over $75 or £50. LEGO is also introducing free shipping “every day” on all orders over $75/£50.

But first, all of the summer 2013 LEGO Lord of the Rings sets are out on both the LEGO Shop website and Amazon.com (links below go to Amazon, where buying anything goes to support TBB; scroll to the bottom of the post if you want to get them from the LEGO Shop, with the Jor-El minifig).

79006 The Council of Elrond includes Elrond, Arwen, Frodo, and Gimli, with 243 pieces for $30.

79007 Battle at the Black Gate includes Aragorn, Gandalf the White (previously only available as Gandalf the Grey), the Mouth of Sauron, two orcs, an eagle, and 656 pieces for $60.

The big set from this batch of new LEGO Lord of the Rings sets is LEGO LOTR 79008 Pirate Ship Ambush with Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, the King of the Dead, two Dead Men of Dunharrow, a Corsair pirate, and two orcs. For $100, you get 756 pieces.

Finally, LEGO LOTR 79005 The Wizard Battle includes Gandalf the Grey and Saruman for $13 — a nice little set for two such major characters.

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UPDATE: Presumably to make room for all the new Lord of the Rings sets (in their enormous warehouses, ha!), Amazon.com has discounted a number of sets from The Hobbit as well:

20% off 79003 An Unexpected Gathering (My review: Best. LEGO set. OF ALL TIIIMMMEEE!!!)
24% off 79010 The Goblin King Battle (Josh’s review)
22% off 9473 The Mines of Moria
13% off 9474 The Battle of Helm’s Deep

(Watch to make sure you’re not getting ripped off when the prices change, or when the sales start going to third party sellers on the same page, for a much higher price.)

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With apologies for the visual repetition and a reminder that clicking through from TBB goes to support the site, here are the Jor-El links:

LEGO Shop link for US readers:

LEGO Shop link for Canadian readers:

LEGO Shop link for UK readers:

1957 Ford Taunus 17M P2 deLuxe by mijasper

Most of the LEGO models by Michael Jasper (mijasper) that we’ve featured here over the years have highlighted minifigs with perfectly scaled tools, furniture, and other brick-built accessories — every one featuring Michael’s brilliant parts usage (far and above merely “nice“). It’s still wonderful to see Michael build something a bit bigger, if only just. This model of a 1957 Ford Taunus certainly doesn’t suffer from immensity, but Michael still manages to pack it full of detail.

The black-and-white color scheme on the car contrasts beautifully with the elderly minifig Michael has included for scale. Of course, no model he builds would be free of NPU — note the brackets in the wheel well and tan windows as seat backs inside the car.

Ronald Vallenduuk’s BR 55 locomotive is a black beauty

I am a stickler for scale models and I love comparison pictures between the model and a photograph or a line drawing of the real thing. It will come as no surprise then that the beautiful BR 55 steam locomotive by Ronald Vallenduuk (Duq) caught my attention.

The comparison shows that the proportions are spot on. I also had the fortune of seeing this black beauty and its many details with my own two eyes at a Lowlug meeting last weekend. Since photographing a black model is not easy, the details are a bit more difficult to see in photographs, but I can recommend looking at the flickr set. The locomotive is powered by a Power Functions L-motor carefully hidden in the firebox, with a battery box and IR receiver in the tender. The locomotive is 8 studs wide, which may be bigger than many LEGO train lovers like, but it can navigate normal LEGO train curves without any difficulty.

As an interesting side-note, the connecting rods are custom pieces made by Benn Coifman from Railbricks. The surface finish of the parts suggest that they were 3D-printed, as they are not completely smooth, but the fit is impressive.

Massive Lego model of the Normandy SR2 from Mass Effect

Ben Caukins spent the past 7 months constructing the Normandy SR2 from Mass Effect, proving yet again that he’s not afraid to build large curved ships. The ship measures almost 4 feet long with a wingspan of 19 inches. It will be displayed at Brickworld this weekend in Chicago. You can check out work-in-progress pictures on Flickr.

LEGOberry 3.141592635

Many years (a decade?) ago a LEGO computer case did the rounds of the internet[1]. Sadly I can’t find any pictures of it, but I can assure you that Jim Devona’s (anoved) LEGO Rasberry pi case is at least 100 times smaller. And if you want one yourself, Jim has kindly put up instructions for it.

[1] There have been many since, but this particular one was the first I was aware of that found widespread fame on the internet. It was not pretty :)