Kyle (Slushey) knows how to move cargo in style. I can picture his heavy crate mover scooting around spaceports, transferring goods bound from Aldebaran to Alpha Centauri.
Posts by Andrew Becraft (TBB Editor-in-Chief)
LEGO Star Wars Advent Calendar now available from LEGO Shop [News]
For the three of you out there who didn’t order the new LEGO Star Wars Advent Calendar from Amazon.com, it’s also now available from the LEGO Shop online.
It’s the same price as from Amazon ($40), and you get VIP points.
Series 5 Collectible Minifigures shipping from LEGO [News]
The LEGO Shop online has just posted their ordering page for LEGO Minifigures Series 5.
As usual, you’re limited to 16 minifigs, and you don’t get to stand in the store aisle and feel them through the bags, but it’s a guaranteed way to get your hands on these right away.
UPDATE: Jason Junker has posted a handy guide to identifying Series 5 minifigs by touch.
Yo ho ho
Adding a pirate flag to a big stompy mech just makes it that much more awesome, as Kyle Vrieze (bermudafreze) proves with this gun platform. The white on the legs, red missile tubes, and judicious use of stickers/decals all add little splashes of color.
When you leave the house determined not to see it again, you will come home safely
Stefan Käsmayer (-2×4-) captures the essence of a samurai house, complete with a well-tended garden and secure wall. I’m especially impressed with details like the slatted windows and stone base of the wall.
Mobile Suit Gundam Wing
Mike Szita (OrangeKnight Studios) has been building a series of microscale mecha from the Gundam universe over the last while, and he’s just posted a group shot of the squadron that shows off their variety.
Mr. Kim’s flying restaurant from the Fifth Element
Niek Geurts of MrBrick.nl recently posted a lovely LEGO version of Korben Dallas’s favorite restaurant from The Fifth Element.
While I love the boat’s hull and all the details Nieks has included, his technique for adding the background is just as interesting:
I wouldn’t have expected that taking a picture in front of a computer screen would turn out so well!
Echinoidea lacuna
Classification: Bio-mechanical space probe
Purpose: Exploration
Armament: Light
Designer/engineer: Kahan Dare
This little “space urchin” by tadashistate incorporates two missile launchers under its gorgeous green skin. The minifig hands form two rows of formidable spines.
Short Horn APC – Engineering Variant
I love non-combatant variants of military vehicles. Thomas Coleman (Malravion) designed his Short Horn APC a while back, and recently posted this new version.
The shaping of the underlying vehicle is nice, with great angles and lovely light-gray highlights, but the crane, cargo net, and bulldozer blade add even more visual interest.
Thanks for the tip, Evan!
Fu-Bugchu
Some aliens might be good mainly for getting splatter kills, but others look like you might want to play a nice game of contract bridge with them instead. I like to think this mustachioed alien by Nathan Proudlove has the sophistication to represent the latter. Or he might just know Kung Fu and be more interested in kicking your butt. Who’s to say?
Collectible Godzilla
Obviousness doesn’t necessarily diminish awesomeness, as Steve’s man in a dragon costume proved. The first thing I thought of when I saw the Lizardman from the Series 5 Collectible Minifigures was, naturally, Godzilla. While the Pacific Northwest takes a break from being first in the world to get them for a change, Bobofrut gets to be the first to post a Collectible ‘Fig Godzilla (at least that I’m aware of).
Via MicroBricks.
New BrickForge Shock Trooper armor & printed accessories [Review]
As readers will have noticed in our LEGO News feed last week, custom minifig accessory vendor BrickForge has just released a new batch of items, including a new “Shock Trooper” armor. We ordered a couple batches, and I managed to find enough sunshine in the Seattle “summer” to take a few pictures.
The armor comes in a sort of steel color that’s rather lovely, along with black that has a similar metallic sheen. Neither color really matches typical colors available for minifig legs and torsos, but they combine reasonably well with neutral colors like bley and black. BrickForge also offers two printed variants, with an eagle on the gray and a flaming skull on the black. I’ll be interested to see how other customizers use these helmets and armor, but I focused on their inevitable use as ODSTs from Halo. Armor for a squad of six will run you a bit over $20.
One of the few areas in which BrickForge and BrickArms overlap is in items inspired (a safe assumption, I think) by the Halo universe, so minifig customizers have a bit more choice in this area. I like to mix and match custom parts from everybody, and I have to admit that I personally prefer the BrickArms versions of these sci-fi weapons (including the previously reviewed BrickArms minigun). I think the combination of the BrickForge armor and BrickArms weapons is undeniably awesome — “better together,” as I always say.
I cracked myself up by putting one of the troopers on a BrickForge scooter, which my wife dubbed the UNSC “Shrew”. I was amused enough that I would like to share this little masterpiece with the world. You’re welcome.
As fun as a couple squads of Orbital Drop Shock Troopers might be, I had the most fun putting together the Avengers — inspired by the blue helmet with an A and the big American shield that begged themselves to be equipped on a classic Captain America. Wolverine (with BrickForge “Savage Mask”) and Thor (BrickForge hammer) quickly followed, supplemented by a HAZEL-helmeted Iron Man, official Spider-Man, and my old Hulk.
The ODSTs and Avengers were distracting enough that I didn’t get a chance to do much with the test tubes, bottles, martini glasses, and other new glassware BrickForge has just released. Briefly, they complement official LEGO items nicely, and I’m highly entertained by the idea of minifigs squaring off against each other in tiny bar fights with broken bottles.