The new LEGO Pirates fan community at ForbiddenCove.com is certainly inspiring some wonderful pirate-themed LEGO creations lately!
One of my favorites so far is “Castaway t’ Neverland” by SlyOwl:
Brick-built creatures populating the desert island include a gull, hummingbird, crabs, and monkey. Note the horns for breakers and the microscale ship in the background, as if off in the distance. Brilliant!
Carlos Méndez sends word of this cool R2-D2 he motorized with a Power Functions Motor:
I suspect that there isn’t a living person on the planet — whether they speak English as their native language or not and whether they even know who Kenny Rogers is — who doesn’t know the lyrics to “The Gambler.”
Nathan Proudlove certainly does:
(Now I have that song in my head for the rest of the evening. Better than the Chocobo’s Dungeon soundtrack, I guess…)
nnenn continues to astound and amaze with his unorthodox shapes (and techniques, on occasion). This dropship — with perfectly fitted rover, naturally — may be my favorite nnenn creation in a very long time:
Why, build miniland-ish figures of the Pet Shop Boys, of course! Click the photo to see two versions (1985 and 1994) of Ochre Jelly‘s figs:
Brenden Wilson of Masoko Tanga recently interviewed talented young builder Lukas Winklerprins.
Lukas talks about the difference between the hardcore adult fan community of a few years ago, discovering that world, and the much more diverse LEGO fan community today:
The starting group in toy chat rooms, LUGnet, and ultimately Classic-Space was started by men pretty much over the age of 30…. We weren’t aware of this more intense way of building until we were old enough to get on the internet and realize we could participate too….I realized how much people really cared and how much work other people put into the hobby
And on building microscale:
Once you toss the minifig out the window [*shock* -AB] really anything can be made…. it lets extraneous parts get unique uses and doesn’t destroy my collection. It also allows for a myriad of unique shapes unrestricted by gravity or that pesky thing known as “common sense.”
Read the full interview on Masoko Tanga.
Despite Lord of the Rings, despite the miserable prequels, and despite Battlestar Galactica, there’s still a part of me that still can’t get over Star Wars. I’ve joked that my Star Wars geek lives in my limbic system.
Apparently, Lino Martins‘ Star Wars geek is much more deeply embedded, in his medulla oblongata. With this fantastic large-scale A-wing, Lino lets his geek run wild:
The clean, rounded lines of the A-wing are notoriously difficult to replicate in LEGO, but at this scale, Lino has been able to include critical details like the angled tail fins and the gap in the nose.
BrickCon is just around the corner. In fact, if you don’t register before September 8th, the price goes up to $60 and you won’t be guaranteed personalized stuff like engraved brick badges.
My contribution to the LEGO Zombie Apocafest display we’re organizing is an auto repair shop and a fire station in a diorama that I’m currently calling “The Outbreak”:
Zombies converge on the residents of my modular buildings as they attempt to fight back. The architecture may have been the focus of my building energies for once, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t neglected some good, old-fashioned minifig action:
Please see my Outbreak photoset on Flickr for a ton of pictures.
Occasionally, a builder will seem to emerge — fully formed, as it were — onto the LEGO scene. Kevin Crimson Wolf Fedde has posted more gorgeous LEGO dioramas in the past two months than I can count, though we here at The Brothers Brick only became aware of Kevin when Nathan posted his Dragon Temple.
In this diorama, a group of explorers attempts to find the legendary Shangri La. Note the blending of the white with the gray and subtle details like the caves:
Also not to be missed is Kevin’s “Desert Hideout”:
For lots more, check out Kevin’s photostream on Flickr.
The last time I blogged Pete Reid, I got to quote Paradise Lost. No such luck this time, but that doesn’t mean that Pete hasn’t been up to his usual greebly tricks in the last month.
Pete’s latest is the MkII Hover Loader:
In addition to the loader, every spaceport needs a variety of support vehicles:
Of course, Pete is best known for his amazing re-imaginings of Classic Space vehicles, including new vehicles LL-408 and LL-117:
Pete has completed the landing gear to his liking on LL-497 — which is as good an excuse as any to feature this beauty:
In Kristian‘s imagination, aliens are rather clumsy while landing their flying saucers and aren’t especially known for their hygiene:
The slime is rather amusing, and I can’t help but chuckle at the poor guy who didn’t manage to get out from under the saucer’s landing gear.
While we’re at it, here’s the sort of great zombie scene we’re encouraging Brothers Brick readers to bring to the LEGO Zombie Apocafest at BrickCon in October:
(And true to his “birdboykristian” user name on Flickr, Kristian also has some really great ornithological photography in his photostream as well.)
Richard A. McCarthy (RichardAM on Flickr) gets into the pirate spirit with this shipwreck scene:
Richard says he prefers standard blue baseplates to represent water, but I love the wave effect he’s achieved by building the water with sideways bricks (also known as the unfortunately named “SNOT water”).