It’s been a rough winter all around, though I am glad most of our snowy adventures do not involve storming a tall tower. Isaac S (soccersnyderi)’s little build is quite clever, and I do appreciate some of the techniques he used here. It definitely avoids being a boring tower, and I like the cold feel of the whole build.
Bravo!
Iron Builder contestant Jimmy Fortel is killing it right now (see what I did there?) with this LEGO-ized version of a classic shot (see what I did there, again?) from the 1976 movie Taxi Driver:
For obvious reasons, tracking down the original image is left as an exercise for the reader. And remember: You’re only as healthy as you feel…
Buried a bit in the press kit for 71016 The Kwik-E-Mart was the official unveiling of the next Collectible Minifigures from The Simpsons. The series seems to include some cool accessories, including an X-ray of Homer’s head.
Can you name all the characters in this series?
LEGO unveiled a second set from The Simpsons today, 71016 The Kwik-E-Mart, which will be available later this year.
Click through for the full album.
As a child of the ’90s, The Simpsons was my favorite show, and naturally Lego was my favorite toy. My reaction to the combination of the two was ambivalence; as much as I still love Lego and hold nostalgia for the golden years of The Simpsons, their merging still feels somewhat unnatural, a feeling continuously reinforced by the uncanny valley nature of the bulbous cartoon heads on classic minifig bodies.
All that said, I’m excited for this set. I don’t believe Lego has ever tackled the inside of a convenience store before, and the set is chock full of nicely designed accessories and a plethora of printed and stickered details. But enough of my reaction based on a set of photos, here’s the press release;
71016 – The Kwik-E-Mart
Ages 12+. 2,179 pieces.
US $199.99 – CA $229.99 – DE 199.99€ – UK £169.99 – DK 1699.00 DKK
*Euro pricing varies by country. Please visit shop.LEGO.com for regional pricing.Visit The Kwik-E-Mart—Springfield’s favorite convenience store!
Welcome to The Kwik-E-Mart—your one-stop shop for convenience foods at inconvenient prices! This highly detailed and iconic LEGO® version of The Simpsons™ store is packed with more rich, colorful details than a Mr. Burns birthday cake has candles! Walk under the huge Kwik-E-Mart sign and join Homer, Marge and Bart as they browse the aisles filled with beauty products, diapers, dog food, pastries, fruits, vegetables and more—including Krusty-O’s and Chef Lonelyheart’s Soup for One. Then head over to the refrigerated cases where you’ll find Buzz Cola, chocolate milk, various other drinks and snacks… and frozen Jasper! There’s also a Buzz Cola soda fountain, juice dispensers, coffee machine, arcade games, ATM and stacks of Powersauce boxes. At the counter, Apu is ready to tempt you with a variety of printed magazines, comic books, cards, tofu hot dogs, freshly expired donuts and his ever-popular hallucination-inducing Squishees. At the back, there’s a storage closet complete with rat and an exit. On the roof you’ll discover Apu’s secret vegetable garden, while outside this amazing model features bright-yellow walls, 2 phone booths, a stack of purple crates, and a dumpster area with ‘El Barto’ graffiti, opening door and an iconic blue dumpster that also opens. You can also remove the roof and open out the rear walls for easy access. This set also includes Snake (a.k.a. Jailbird), who loves nothing more than stealing cars and robbing the Kwik-E-Mart—but this time Chief Wiggum is hot on his tail in his police car. Capture this bandit and return peace to the town of Springfield and the amazing Kwik-E-Mart. This fantastic set includes 6 minifigures with assorted accessory elements: Homer Simpson, Bart Simpson, Marge Simpson, Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, Chief Wiggum and Snake (a.k.a. Jailbird).
- Set includes 6 minifigures with assorted accessory elements: Homer Simpson, Bart Simpson, Marge Simpson, Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, Chief Wiggum and Snake (a.k.a. Jailbird)
- Features opening rear walls, a removable roof with secret vegetable garden, Kwik-E-Mart signage, light-blue walls, dusty blue floors, turquoise welcome mat, shelves, refrigerated cases, counter, Buzz Cola soda fountain, juice dispensers, coffee machine, 2 arcade games, ATM, crates of Powersauce bars, surveillance cameras, rear storage closet with a rat, cheese, rat hole and an exit door.
- Shelves feature beauty products, diapers, dog food, pastries, fruits, vegetables and more—including Krusty-O’s and Chef Lonelyheart’s Soup for One
- Refrigerator cabinets feature a variety of beverages including cans of Buzz Cola… and frozen Jasper!
- Counter features a cash register, magazine and card display, lottery machine, hot dog oven, donut display and a Squishee dispenser with 2 Squishees
- Also includes Chief Wiggum’s police car featuring an opening trunk, removable roof and space for 3 minifigures
- Accessory elements include Bart’s spray can, Marge’s shopping basket, Apu’s broom and Chief Wiggum’s cuffs and truncheon
- Snake (a.k.a. Jailbird) is exclusive to this set for fall 2015
- Removable roof features rare, dark-orange bricks
- Lift off the roof and open out the rear walls for easy access
- Drink a Squishee and get that sugar-high feeling!
- Apprehend Snake before he robs again!
- Stock up with overpriced convenience goods
- Discover frozen Jasper!
- Relax in Apu’s utopian vegetable garden
- Have a donut…. mmm, dooonuts!
- Kwik-E-Mart measures over 5″ (14cm) high, 14″ (38cm) wide and 10″ (27cm) deep
- Police car measures over 2″ (6cm) high, 2″ (6cm) wide and 5″ (15cm) deep
It isn’t all that long ago that we blogged the muppets by Andreas Weissenburg (grubaluk), but his talent is not limited to building wacky characters. When I was a child, my cousin, who is at least ten years older than I am, had a fantastic series of LEGO trucks from the late sixties. They were six studs wide and had steering mechanism which worked by pivoting the whole front axle, by turning a brick mounted on the roof. This was a fun feature and the trucks had a more realistic size than the four-stud wide minifig scale ones that I had, so I remember being a bit envious.
Like the updated classic sets by Are Heiseldal, Andreas’ six-wide trucks have a similar character as these older sets, but with new parts and clever details. Despite its somewhat primitive nature, I love how he has recreated the original steering mechanism. These look like a lot of fun.
Current followers of Manga will recognize this as the Terra Formar, a humanoid evolution of cockroaches that lives on Mars (…hmmm, ok). I’m terrified enough of the domestic variety, so this is the stuff of nightmares!
This LEGO version is the work of our favorite Japanese builder Moko, who decided he should pit it against one of his other bug-eyed creations, Kamen rider. At first, Kamen Rider does well by delivering an effective wound to the thorax:
But then he decides to karate-chop off the Terra Formar’s head. Big mistake! Because as we all know, that move is basically ineffective on cockroaches and their kin. The thought of this brute running around headless for two weeks is just too horrible to imagine. Hopefully Moko’s next creation will be some kind of giant boot.
It was apparently an Interstellar sort of evening last night. In composing my last post, I ran across some other things I wanted to share, which conveniently finishes the first stanza of Dylan Thomas’s beautiful poem.
Endurance by ウィル
Do not go gentle into that good night,
TARS by Yong Hoon Yoon
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
TARS by Je hyung Lee
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
More Interstellar builds for you to check out:
Iain’s Lander on Miller’s Planet
SPARKART’s TARS
Riskjockey’s Ranger
tsower’s Ranger
ウィル’s Micro Endurance
Kill Bill is one of my favorite movies and I love this poster by Jared. It even features a brick-built Hattori Hanzo signet on the katana.
Meanwhile, Young’s Lego presents this beautifully photographed and edited image that captures the epic battle between The Bride and Gogo with her deadly ball and chain weapon.
I never thought it’s possible to build such a realistic minifig-scale Cacodemon from Doom, but Jarek with his skills for crafting minute details has proved me wrong. This vignette would make a killer desk-buddy for any Doom fan who also likes Lego.
If you didn’t read the title and didn’t know we’re a Lego blog, I bet you probably didn’t think this poster of The Thing by Matt Rowntree was created with Lego bricks. Although most of the background features scattered pieces, the overall appearance still convincing. Check out MOCpages for photos of the setup.
Lego Wild West just got real in this pictorial diorama by Montgomery Burns (Kris_Kelvin ). The earth-toned shades of the ground add a layer of texture make this a build distinct from most western dioramas that use only tan as the color of the ground. Check out more photos on Flickr.
It’s no secret that we here at TBB are big fans of Interstellar. Given a choice, we might even replace the Lemur with TARS.
We’ve seen jp_velociraptor‘s beautiful Ranger, and he’s posted a follow up with the Lander vehicle in just as much stunning detail.
If you haven’t already, I would also highly recommend securing your copy of the movie, which releases on Tuesday, March 31. You can support TBB by reserving Interstellar on Amazon.