About Andrew Becraft (TBB Editor-in-Chief)

Andrew Becraft is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Brothers Brick. He's been building with LEGO for more than 40 years, and writing about LEGO here on TBB since 2005. He's also the co-author, together with TBB Senior Editor Chris Malloy, of the DK book Ultimate LEGO Star Wars. Andrew is an active member of the online LEGO community, as well as his local LEGO users group, SEALUG. Andrew is also a regular attendee of BrickCon, where he organizes a collaborative display for readers of The Brothes Brick nearly every year. You can check out Andrew's own LEGO creations on Flickr. Read Andrew's non-LEGO writing on his personal blog, Andrew-Becraft.com. Andrew lives in Seattle with his wife and dogs, and by day leads software design and planning teams.

Posts by Andrew Becraft (TBB Editor-in-Chief)

Hunkering down with legomocs

Flickrite legomocs enters the Picking up the Pieces contest with this great scene featuring a group of survivors building a bunker:

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Enter the Pantheon of Eternal Solitude

Capturing the lines of Classical Greek architecture at minifig scale is challenging enough, but Mastergongfu has done so quite nicely at microscale:

Thanks for the e-mail, mastergongfu!

ImpreSariO takes flight in his Tin Goose

Reader John Rudy sends word of a great Ford Trimotor airplane from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom by ImpreSariO

Don’t miss ImpreSariO’s other entries in the Klocki Indiana Jones Contest, including this great scene from The Last Crusade:

Light-up Iron Man minifig by Brickmodder

This isn’t a Photoshop job:

That’s right, Brickmodder has added 7 LEDs to a custom Iron Man minifig. (Custom decals by Jared “Kaminoan” Burks and Chris “Uubergeek” C.)

Here’s Mr. Stark in action (with weapons by BrickArms):

Exploring cryptozoology and exobiology with Mike Stimpson

I just love Mike Stimpson‘s work. His LEGO photography is unparalleled, and my favorites are of course the classic photographs he’s recreated.

His latest photos are inspired by the mysterious life-forms that may or may not exist around and above us:

In a more serious vein (as many of Mike’s photos are), Mike has recreated the photo of a South Vietnamese monk lighting himself on fire:

For those who’ve not noticed, Mike has a whole separate Flickr account where he shows exactly how he set up each shot in his amazing series. Definitely worth checking out.

Where can Paul Lee’s 800-pound Gorilla go?

Answer: Wherever it wants to, of course. Also, I suspect Paul Lee‘s hard suits weigh a bit more than 800 pounds.

Here’s Paul’s Gorilla Hard Suit in an urban combat environment:

And here it is on Mars:

LEGO Indiana Jones video game almost redeems Crystal Skull movie [Review]

We blog a lot of video game LEGO on The Brothers Brick, but I think this may be our first LEGO video game review — and the reason I haven’t blogged as much the last few days, heh heh!

After playing both the LEGO Star Wars games, I was really looking forward to LEGO Indiana Jones, and I certainly wasn’t disappointed. The same can’t be said for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, which I really enjoyed the first time through, but didn’t hold up the second time I saw it. Oh well. Fortunately, George Lucas didn’t write the video game. ;-)

The basic mechanics of LEGO Indiana Jones aren’t that different from LEGO Star Wars: In story mode, you play as one or more characters with specific skills, destroying things in the game environment to earn points (studs) and uncover piles of LEGO bricks, which you can build to progress the plot or find treasure.

However, instead of a lightsaber, you’re armed with Indy’s whip and fists of plastic. Indy can also pick up items, such as weapons and tools, to perform other actions — dig stuff up, fix things, turn clockwork, and so on. While you’re in story mode, you might not have all the necessary skills to find everything hidden throughout the level.

In free play mode, you’re assigned a random collection of characters that give you all of the tools and skills you need, and it’s your skill that determines whether you find all the treasure, including subcomponents of the level model.

I played the game on my Nintendo Wii, so I had the option of swinging my remote to flick Indy’s whip and shaking the remote and nunchuk to build things. Call me old-fashioned (I prefer “old school”), but I chose to use the buttons assigned to these actions instead, and was grateful for that choice.

My favorite thing about the recent LEGO video games from TT Games (formerly Traveller’s tales) is the developers’ humorous take on the Indiana Jones story. I won’t spoil the laugh-out-loud moments for you, but rest assured there are plenty in the game.

In terms of value, there are 18 main levels in the game, and it took me about 30-45 minutes to complete each level in story mode (being fairly thorough along the way; I only failed to get “True Adventurer” status on one). That works out to a fairly short game for someone like me who prefers 100-hour RPGs like Final Fantasy VII, but that’s not counting free play mode, which at least doubles the value. I’ve only started free play, but I’ve already unlocked all but two of the playable characters, and I’m starting to work my way through the extras.

Overall, I’m very pleased with LEGO Indiana Jones, and would recommend it not just to those of you who’ve played LEGO Star Wars. There’s a lot of value in the game, and more importantly, it’s really really fun to play!

LEGO Indiana Jones is available for the following platforms:

Apologies for the lack of visuals in this post. I don’t have a way to take screen shots on my Wii, and I figured a picture of me slumped on the couch in my sweats wasn’t something you’d want to see. ;-)

Registration now open for BrickCon 2008, October 2-5 in Seattle [News]

If you’ve never been to a LEGO convention, you probably don’t know what you’re missing. Even if you’ve seen thousands of pictures, it’s not the same.

BrickCon is my hometown LEGO con, held each October in Seattle. Registration is now open, and I’d highly recommend signing up today to come to our fair city this fall.

Naturally, the big draw at any LEGO con is all the LEGO! You might see creations like Kevin Blocksidge’s “Victorian Floating Rock” or a War of the Worlds tripod by Lino Martins:

Maybe you prefer Town creations, like “The Real Cafe Corner” by Alice Leber-Cook, or huge Castle battles:

Of course, BrickCon isn’t just about LEGO. Where else can you have your picture taken with Josh, Shannon, Brendan, a dude in a kilt, Robin, John, and The Keith?

And don’t forget the adoring fans (that’s the back of Michael Rutherford’s head):

Oh, there’s also free stuff. Here’s Steve Barile winning 10181 Eiffel Tower:

When the con is done, here’s how we ship Nathan Proudlove back to Manitoba:

If you’re still not convinced, you might want to check out our past coverage here on The Brothers Brick:

So, what are you waiting for? Register today!

Gorazd Vahen patrols the desert

Gorazd Vahen‘s “fist vig” features a very cool little vehicle:

Also check out the Jeep in dark grey:

I’m always impressed when somebody has the patience to rebuild one of their creations in an alternate color scheme.

Izzo’s Navy Impulse

The shape of Izzo’s latest mecha is highly unusual, with a pointed “nose” and tons of wings:

Looking beyond the obvious, note the use of snowshoes in the backpack/engine! More on Brickshelf.

Spinnenartiges Tier by Scotty Whitesell

Scotty Whitesell‘s builds just keep getting better and better.

The leg design on Scotty’s “Spinnenartiges Tier” use motorcycle bodies in a completely unique way:

Here’s a bonus Scotty-bot — an automated loading robot dubbed, appropriately enough, “Longshoreman”:

Skyfishing with Commodore Simon Melville (ret.)

Of his latest creation Jehkay writes, “Retirement could not keep Simon from flying. Along with his former comrades Laurence Banneker and Rachel Banks, he continues to plow the skies.”

Here’s Commodore Melville (not to be confused with tangarine-farmer Kozo Ichikawa) aloft in his skyfishing vessel:

Important features:

Gutting sink
Meat lockers
Pheromone pods
Military-grade thruster pods with hoverthrusters