Brickmodder has created an absolutely awesome R2-D2 minifig that lights up and burbles when you touch the stud on top of his dome.
Read more about this amazing custom creation on Brickmodder.com.
Via FBTB.
Posts by Andrew Becraft (TBB Editor-in-Chief)
LEGO Star Wars: Visual Dictionary now shipping with ceremonial Luke fig [News]
DK’s new LEGO book LEGO Star Wars: The Visual Dictionary
The book is 96 pages long and includes an exclusive Luke Skywalker minifig in ceremonial garb from the end of A New Hope.
(And by the way, it’s only $12.86 from Amazon.)
Pancho Villa Raid by Brian Williams
For his latest LEGO Indiana Jones creation, Brian Williams looks for inspiration to The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles .
The five-foot-long diorama features dozens of awesome mini-scenes and techniques, including gunrunners, leaf springs on the locomotive, proper horseback riders’ legs, and lovely sand-green cacti. Check out the full photoset on Flickr.
Thanks for the tip, Austin!
BrickCon 2009: Andrew’s wrap-up [News]
Like years past, BrickCon 2009 was both exhausting and exhilarating. Bear with us as we travel home, sort through photos, and put our thoughts in writing. I’ll update this post over the next couple of days, along with a full write-up of Zombie Apocafest 2009.
In the meantime, please enjoy the photos we’ve all been uploading. I dropped my camera on its lens first thing this morning (Khaaan!), so Thanel has kindly given me permission to upload a few of the photos we took together of the zombie layout.
Thanel acted as The Brothers Brick’s official photographer for the weekend, and has pictures of just about everything.
- Day 1 (setup & socializing)
- Day 2 (opening ceremonies)
- Day 3 (most of the LEGO creation photos)
- Day 4: Wacky Racers
- Day 4: Dwarf Toss
The BrickCon pool on Flickr is the best way to find all our event pics in one place.
As much fun as running the zombie layout was, the highlight of the weekend for me was winning “Best of Microscale” for my micro Battlestar Galactica hangar. My look of surprise was both genuine and absolutely ridiculous.
Here’s a quick roundup of BrickCon follow-ups from around the Web:
- Kevoh kisses and tells
- I’m not famous enough for a photo with Sir Nadroj
- Alex Eylar will never be blogged again
- Patricia Heaton talks to Jimmy Kimmel about BrickCon
- Ochre Jelly gives us hope that the LEGO fan community isn’t all snark and drama
- LAML Radio interviews Bill Ward about BrickCon
- Shannon Young attends Croatia Fest
- Steve Witt chimes in
Announcing LEGO Pirates 10210 Imperial Flagship, available Jan 1, 2010 [News]
UPDATE: As of January 1, 2010, 10210 Imperial Flagship is now available from the LEGO Shop online.
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A new LEGO Shop exclusive set, LEGO Pirates 10210 Imperial Flagship, was announced at BrickCon 2009 earlier this evening.
Here’s the full announcement from LEGO:
10210 Imperial Flagship
Ages 14+. 1,664 pieces.
US $179.99 CA $229.99 UK £ 139.99 DE € 149.99Build an incredible classic sailing ship!
All hands on deck! This amazingly detailed and realistic historical ship has three removable sections. The main hull contains 4 firing cannons, ammunition crates, muskets, torches, cannonballs, a prison with a rat, a fully-equipped ship’s kitchen, working anchor, moving rudder and a saw shark figurehead. The front deck has an opening door to the inside of the ship and sails with masts and rigging. The back house deck has opening doors to the captain’s chambers containing a map, poison bottle, organ and a treasure chest full of jewels and gold. The Imperial Flagship has 6 opening windows, a telescope and sextant and 3 deck lanterns. Includes 9 minifigures: the ship’s captain, his daughter, a pirate captain prisoner with shackles, the ship’s cook, a lieutenant, and 4 soldiers. Measures 29.5” (75 cm) long and 23.6” (60 cm) tall. Ages 14+. 1,664 pieces
- Includes 9 minifigures: the ship’s captain, his daughter, a pirate captain prisoner with shackles, the ship’s cook, a lieutenant, and 4 soldiers!
- Amazingly detailed and realistic ship features 3 removable sections!
- Main hull contains 4 firing cannons, ammunition crates, muskets, torches, cannonballs, prison with a rat, saw shark figurehead, a moving rudder and a fully-equipped ship’s kitchen with fish, turkey legs and a carrot!
- Raise and lower the working anchor!
- Open the front deck’s working doors and play inside!
- Imperial Flagship is equipped with masts and rigging!
- Open the back house deck’s doors to reveal the captain’s chambers complete with a map, poison bottle, organ and even a treasure chest filled with jewels and gold!
- Features 6 opening windows, a telescope and sextant as well as 3 deck lanterns!
- Measures 29.5” (75 cm) long and 23.6” (60 cm) tall!
I’ve uploaded a full gallery of high-res photos to Flickr.
10199 Winter Toy Shop now available from the LEGO Shop [News]
With much relief, I’m pleased to announce that 10199 Winter Toy Shop is now available from the LEGO Shop online.
For $60, you get 7 minifigs and 815 pieces. The set also has some great microscale detailing inside the shop.
No luck yet on 6299 LEGO Pirates Advent Calendar, but rest assured we’ll be talking to the team from LEGO about this at BrickCon this weekend.
How to get from Sea-Tac Airport to BrickCon at Seattle Center for $4.50
Last year, we posted an offer to connect people coming in by air based on their arrival times, enabling people to share transportation. That was before Seattle built a light rail line that’ll get you from the airport to Seattle Center for less than five bucks. Oh, and you get to ride a monorail along the way.
Mark Sandlin‘s Infothingy has the details:
For the graphically challenged (and to help people find this from the interwebs):
- Catch the Link Light Rail Connector Bus at Bus Bay 2, near Baggage Carousel 1. It will take you to Tukwila International Blvd. Station. This bus is free.
- Take the Link Light Rail train into Seattle. ($2.50) Stay on the train until you reach Westlake Station, which is the last stop.
- Go up the escalation and into the Westlake Center mall. Go to the top floor of the mall to the Seattle Monorail station.
- Take the Seattle Monorail to Seattle Center. ($2.00)
Be sure to click through the graphic to a great discussion of other useful ways to get to BrickCon for cheap — more money for bricks!
Dalí + Halsman + Balakov
Mike Stimpson (Balakov) takes us into the strange world of Salvador Dalí with his latest photo, a reenactment of Philippe Halsman’s Dalí Atomicus.
As always, the setup shot is nearly as amazing. Mike writes:
This was rather difficult, and wet. It took two and a half hours to set up, and 15 seconds before the set was destroyed by the chaos that ensues when you turn a hosepipe on a carefully balanced Lego scene.
That is so unbelievably cool.
What is the sound of one me talking? This is the Colbert Report!
Tommy Williamson (GeekyTom) recreates the complete set for Stephen Colbert’s The Colbert Report in Miniland scale, complete with trophies and bookshelves.
Check out all the photos on MOCpages and Flickr.
Nation, watch for Tommy at BrickCon in his Stud shirt.
Zombie Apocafest 2009 BrickArms Defense Pack debuts in 72 hours [News]
Why yes, that is a BrickArms Cricket Bat and M1 Carbine.
Thanks to the generous folks at BrickArms, we’ll be giving away a bunch of these to those of you who contribute to Zombie Apocafest 2009 at BrickCon 2009 later this week. Each Zombie Defense Pack will include a prototype cricket bat and M1 carbine, along with other great stuff that remains Top Secret.
The cricket bats in particular will be in short supply outside these packs, and there will be a limited number of packs, so be sure to build something awesome.
Weekly LEGO news roundup for September 26, 2009 [News]
It’s not so much that this was a slow news week, but that most of us have been too busy with last-minute preparations for a certain LEGO convention happening in just a few days to blog everything. Anyway, here we go.
- BrickCon: If you’re coming to BrickCon, be sure to check out our post about last-minute logistics.
The house that May built: James May’s LEGO house has been destroyed. Worse, a LEGO version of May’s cat Fusker built by a LEGO fan was stolen from the house.- LEGO movie: It seems The Adventures of Clutch Powers is not the rumored LEGO movie. Phew!
- BrickForge: We’ll be giving away a bunch of BrickForge’s new helmets at BrickCon.
BrickCon 2009: Last-minute logistics
Well, if we haven’t convinced you to attend BrickCon next week, you’re pretty much stuck following along at home, so we’re moving on without you. For those of you who’ll be joining us at Seattle Center a week from today, this post includes a bunch of important information — especially for first-time attendees.
Past attendees will also notice that this is largely an update of last year’s post. Please forgive the repetition.
Fill out your MOC cards by September 28
MOC cards identify your LEGO creations for fellow attendees and the general public. They also help theme organizers like Josh and me plan for how much space is needed.
Fill out your MOC cards on BrickCon.org by September 28 to ensure that they’re printed on the nice card stock that will help them stand up next to your amazing LEGO creations.
Remember, only “registered” LEGO creations (ones with MOC cards) will be eligible for the various awards given out by BrickCon.
By the way, unless you want to spend the public hours explaining what “SNOT” and “MOC” are to kids and their parents, avoid “AFOL-speak” in your descriptions. Seriously.
Bring stuff for the draft and Dirty Brickster
Drafting a LEGO set allows you to get parts in large quantities that you might otherwise have to buy individually (from, say, Bricklink). Read more about how the draft works on SEALUG.org. If you want to participate, the draft set for BrickCon 2009 is 5972 Space Truck Getaway
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Dirty Brickster is a LEGO “white elephant” gift exchange. Bring something that would be worth $10-20 to the recipient, wrapped.
Pack your LEGO creations for travel or shipping
Before you stuff your LEGO into your carry-on luggage, consider reading the LUGNET post by Duane Hess and the Classic-Castle.com article by Lenny Hoffman about packing and shipping LEGO.
Wouldn’t you rather spend your time socializing and integrating your pristine creations into the display instead of rebuilding them?
Unload your LEGO at the venue
You should soon be receiving a message from BrickCon organizers with details on when, where, and how to unload your LEGO creations at Seattle Center. Last year, the loading dock was only available during the following times (we’ll update this as the 2009 times are finalized):
- Thursday 8am – noon
- Thursday 5pm – 9pm
- Friday 8am – noon
- Sunday 5pm – midnight
Given the limited space (it’s a tunnel), please only use the loading dock if you have massive amounts to unload.
Give us a tour of your LEGO room
One of the most interesting things about LEGO User Group (LUG) meetings is getting to see another LEGO fan’s building space.
If you’d like to share what your LEGO room looks like with fellow BrickCon attendees, bring a few good photos on a thumb drive for projection during the con.
Build!
With a week left, you still have time to build something and bring it for one of the many collaborative displays. Here’s a list of the various themes planned for this year’s convention:
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See you next week!