Nelson Yrizarry is on a vignette-building roll. His latest depicts what happens to a interstellar mycologist runs afoul of some exo-fungi.
Could these nasty mushrooms be related to a certain spacey pest?
Posts by Andrew Becraft (TBB Editor-in-Chief)
Good LEGO blog, bad LEGO blog [Editorial]
It’s been nearly two years since I last broached the subject of “LEGO blogging etiquette” here on The Brothers Brick. And though I can’t claim that we follow all these guidelines ourselves all the time, I think it’s worth revisiting this discussion every so often.
After my conversation with James Wadsworth in LAMLradio #18, I’ve been thinking a lot about what makes some LEGO blogs “good” and what other blogs might consider improving. This is all just my own opinion, but I’ve been at this for almost three years, so I hope you’ll indulge me for a bit.
Give the builder credit
Giving proper attribution is one of the most important aspects of referencing a created work, whether it’s a painting, poem, or photo of a LEGO creation. When you blog someone’s LEGO creation, make an effort to find out what the builder’s primary “home” is online, and then link to it. Do a quick search and see if you can use the person’s real name instead of “L3gof@n20O8”. Real names make the Internet more human.
There’s very little that bothers me more than seeing a LEGO picture on some random blog or Web site with a description like “Check out this awesome pic I found!” No name. No link to the builder’s Web site, Brickshelf gallery, blog, MOCPage, or Flickr photostream. You know what? Ethically, that’s stealing, and legally, you’re probably breaking copyright law or the photo’s license.
Give other blogs credit
The “via” link is another critical component of general blogging etiquette. If you see a LEGO creation on someone else’s blog for the first time and you want to highlight it on your own, by all means, do so. But be sure to say where you found what you’re blogging.
Add value
Opinions are good. Well-informed, well-written opinions about LEGO creations that point out something the average reader might miss are even better.
Avoid irrelevant or internal discourse. Not to pick on some of you who’re probably reading this, but “I’m hungry” or “Hey guys, why aren’t you posting anything here?” aren’t really interesting to your readers. ;-)
Link generously
The World Wide Web is built on links (a series of tubes, if you want to get technical). There’s more to linking than what I’ve already suggested — not just linking to LEGO builders’ sites and including “via” links.
Try going the extra mile and linking to other relevant sites. A link to a builder’s blog is always a nice gesture, but your readers probably really want to see the person’s LEGO creations. Be sure to link to their Brickshelf gallery, Flickr photostream, or MOCPage.
Add permanent links to other LEGO blogs. Maintaining a blogroll in your side bar tells your readers who you read, and tells your fellow bloggers that you read and support their blogs.
Yes, every link is an opportunity for the reader to leave your blog, but if what you’ve blogged or what you’re saying is interesting, they’ll be back. Also, bloggers who are using tools such as Google Analytics or Technorati (see below) will see that you’ve linked to them, and will likely reciprocate.
Interact with the rest of the LEGO fan community
There’s a whole world of LEGO fandom beyond the blogosphere. There’s nothing wrong with having a blog and posting the cool stuff you see on sites like Brickshelf and Flickr, but consider joining the broader conversation taking place among LEGO fans through online forums (under “LEGO Communities” in our side bar), offline LEGO users groups (LUGs), conventions, and so on.
We have the technology
Take advantage of all the tools and technologies that are available to you in this marvelous age (though I’m still disappointed we don’t have flying cars). Here are just a handful of the geeky things I find indispensable:
Earn the right to advertise
The costs of hosting your own Web site (such as Brothers-Brick.com) can add up over time. If you’re hosting your own LEGO blog, by all means, put up affiliate banners, ads, or whatever you need to do to pay the bills.
But if you’ve just started a new blog on a free service like Blogger and you plaster your blog with all manner of advertising and sprinkle your posts with Google ads, you’re clearly not in it for the love of LEGO. You might even be a splog. That’s not going to earn the respect or readership of LEGO fans (and I’ll probably remove you fairly quickly from our blogroll).
It’s not about you (unless it is)
The purpose of your LEGO blog may be just to post your own creations somewhere. Doing that is great! If you want to specialize in something, though (I don’t think there’s a Clikits blog yet), the focus of your posts should be the creations and their builders, not you.
In a sense, you’re driving traffic away from your LEGO blog, but like I said earlier, if what you’re saying is interesting, your readers will be back.
Do one thing and do it well
This is something we’ve failed at miserably, but in doing so, we’ve succeeded at something else. I started this blog to highlight my own minifigs, turned “Dunechaser’s Blocklog” into a general minifig blog, started blogging non-minifig creations, and then brought on additional contributors to cover various themes. We’re now an “everything LEGO” blog, but we’ve been doing that for long enough now that “everything LEGO” has become our mission.
For those of you considering starting a LEGO blog or who’ve just gotten started, decide now what you want your blog to be, and then stick with that plan. Setting up a blog on any of the free services is super-easy, and blogging is such a freeform medium that it’s easy to lose focus. But sticking with one theme (say, Space or Bionicle) or one type of LEGO creation (such as vignettes or microscale) will likely earn you more respect, credibility, and readership than trying to be an “everything” blog from the start.
Keep at it
There are only a handful of current LEGO bloggers who have been doing what we do for longer than a year or so. Sadly, most LEGO blogs only last a few months. Azumu of BINGO and Bruce inspired me to start blogging back in 2005, and they’re still updating their blogs regularly.
It’s understandable to get bored or burn out, and you’re certainly under no obligation to stick with something you no longer find enjoyable, but if you’re reading this, you probably want your blog to be successful. Being successful at LEGO blogging over the long term requires, well, sticking with LEGO blogging over the long term.
Innovate
Ultimately, the success of your blog will likely hinge on whether or not you’re doing something original. Perhaps doing the opposite of everything I’ve suggested here will result in unforeseen success!
So, in the interest of innovation, what ideas do you have to make LEGO blogging better? Have I missed anything? Am I flat out wrong?
Let’s discuss.
Make way for the bad guy.
Album covers are a popular subject for LEGO creations, but it’s not so often builders create movie posters, as ImpreSariO has done.
That’s Scarface above, with One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Rocky Balboa below:
My favorite, though, is Forrest Gump:
(Via Klocki.)
Kratos, God of LEGO
Minifig customizer Amanda (Brickshelf | Flickr) recently uploaded a great custom Kratos from the PS2 game God of War:
(By the way, people ask all the time whether the fan-created things they see on this blog are for sale, and the answer is almost always “No.” I would’ve highlighted this minifig regardless, but the answer in this case is actually “Yes.” No, I’m not getting a cut of the sale.)
Human Transporter of the post-apocalyptic landscape
Treaded wheels, check. Cannon, check. Gun-toting human, check. Auto-balance gyroscope, check. From the twisted mind of Rocko emerges a Segway capable of tearing up the wasteland of the future.
While we’re at it, remember the nice lady in this scene? Here’s the bike she was originally going to be riding:
Oh yeah.
Blake’s 7 Liberator by Ed Diment
Here’s one for all you readers in the UK. ;-) Doctor Sinister sends word of Ed Diment‘s Liberator spaceship from the classic BBC TV show Blake’s 7.
Making anything that’s not bilaterally symmetrical is a tough challenge, and Ed accomplishes a ship with three nacelles very nicely.
As an American who grew up in Japan, this was the first I’d heard of Blake’s 7, but now I’m intrigued…
Fedde makes LEGO go *boom*
Smoke and other ethereal effects are particularly difficult to accomplish in LEGO. Fedde‘s skeleton crew demonstrates how just a few white and clear pieces can imply explosive action:
The backpacks are also very nice.
Horace Cheng flaps to a clear win
Horace Cheng enters the Reasonably Clever steampunk contest with “Motte” — and he gives the world a lovely animated GIF to sit up here and cycle at the top of the page. Yay!
Piece of Peace: UNESCO World Heritage Sites in LEGO Part 2
Almost exactly two years ago, we highlighted the Piece of Peace exhibit in Japan, featuring UNESCO World Heritage sites built from LEGO by Japanese Master Builder Kazuyoshi Naoe (photo by SkylineGTR).
Now, a second exhibit (complete with an official blog) has been opened at the Parco shopping complex in Shibuya (an area of Tokyo), and photos of the amazing models have been turning up everywhere since the exhibit first opened in Shibuya on February 1st (the exhibit is now in Nagoya, until March 24).
Check out some of the World Heritage sites featured in the exhibit.
St. Basil’s Cathedral (photo by SkylineGTR) and Horyu-ji Pagoda (photo by Hirotaka Hatayama):
Shirakawa Village (photo by Yuki Koga)
The Acropolis (photo by Koji Hachisu):
Mont St. Michelle (photo by Hirotaka Hatayama):
And what a difference two years makes! I had to dig all over the ‘net to find the handful of pictures I used in my post, but here are just a few of the places where this event has been covered so far:
- How Many Studs to LEGOLAND
- Pootling
- MicroBricks
- Koji Hachisu’s photostream
- Hirotaka Hatayama’s photostream
- Yuki Koga’s photostream
- eddie’s photostream
- BINGO
- レゴ系
- わたしらしく
- Norio Nakayama’s photostream
- SkylineGTR’s photostream
(Photo of Sagrada Familia by Hirotaka Hatayama.)
For more information on UNESCO World Heritage sites, you can peruse the complete list on UNESCO.org.
Finally, I leave you with the tag-line: “Pieces of piece — the more the better.” Indeed.
Winners of the 6th annual clickbrick Original Model Contest
Japanese LEGO store clickbrick holds an annual contest, in which creations are limited to 16 cm x 16 cm x 30 cm. We covered last year’s contest here, and winners have just been announced for this year’s contest.
Like last year, Sachiko Akinaga of Let’s LEGO has complete coverage of the contest in Tokyo in her Brickshelf gallery. Here are the winners:
First place: “Catbus on the Roof” by Pisatake:
Second place: “Mally’s Cafe” by sidewinder9r:
Third place: “Jumbo Parfait” by Sachiko Akinaga:
Fourth place: “That Trembling Feeling” by Azumu (previously on TBB):
Fifth place: “The LEGO Trains museum is under construction” by TN Factory (more pictures):
Be sure to check out all the pictures of the entries in Sachiko’s gallery
ZED’s Autobot Ka-50 “Black Shark” Transformer
Constructed for a competition on the Russian-language LEGO fan site DoubleBrick.ru, Brickshelfer ZED‘s Ka-50 “Black Shark” helicopter transforms into a “Night Hunter” Autobot:
Decorated in Ukrainian livery, ZED’s Autobot looks ready to leap into action and protect humanity.
The Brothers Brick interviews Chris Giddens and Mark Sandlin [Interview]
There’s been more than a bit of speculation about the upcoming fan-designed Space sets (a couple more pictures), so I asked Chris Giddens and Mark Sandlin a few questions.
Andrew Becraft: Let’s get the easy questions out of the way. Are the two of you the fans behind the designs for the forthcoming Star Justice and Space Skulls sets?
Chris Giddens: Yes. I did the Star Justice set, and Mark did the Space Skulls.
Mark Sandlin: It’s been confirmed on articles in Brickjournal and Gizmodo.
Andrew: How much does each set cost and how many pieces are in each?
Chris: Cost has been announced at $99.00 for the sets. The Justice set is 895 pieces. The Skulls set has 956. I don’t know know if LEGO will make a combo pack that’s less than $198, but it’s a possiblity.
Andrew: Fans have noticed the clear similarities between “Star Justice” and Chris’ Pre-Classic Space (PCS) sub-theme, and between “Space Skulls” and Mark’s 3vil sub-theme. Now that we know you designed these sets, can you explain why they just aren’t called PCS and 3vil?
Mark: “3vil” doesn’t really translate well, unfortunately.
Chris: PCS meaning Pre Classic Space doesn’t have a whole lot of meaning to the general public. That and 3vil are kinda AFOL stuff that we get, but doesn’t easily communicate what it is on the box.
Andrew: Can each of you describe some of the highlights of the sets you designed? What’s your favorite feature?
Mark: I don’t really have one single favorite feature, but we both tried to put playability into the sets. We wanted to make sets that were fun to play with, not just a pretty model that sits on the shelf.
Chris: The Star Justice set was designed to give a Classic Space building experience. Base, Ship, Rover, Scooter, Robots, and Energy Collection. There are simple play features, rotating radars, rockets, opening cockpits, and the like. Each part is reminiscent of a Classic Space era set, but updated with today’s parts. I’m fond of the Cosmic Peace Keeper ship, it’s fun and whooshy (that’s a technical term… sorry for the confusion). Oh and I like shooting skulls. They’re bad.
Andrew: How closely did you work with LEGO set designers to finalize your initial designs?
Mark: There was a LEGO designer on staff who reviewed our sets to ensure that they met build standards and weren’t fragile. Fortunately LEGO put a priority on preserving our designs, so what you see is little changed from the original designs.
Chris: We had 2 different LEGO designers build and review our sets. The second designer had been with the company since the 80’s and had worked on Classic lines of space. He actually finalized our models.
Andrew: When did you start working on this? How long did this process take from start to finish?
Chris: The idea was mentioned to us sometime in 2006. Paal Smith Meyer and others from LEGO were kicking around the idea of doing playthemes in factory. Minifig based sets. January 2007 was about the time it was “official” that we were doing space and we began looking at pieces for our palette. We started building concepts through March and April. Initial plans had this set coming out much earlier.
Mark: LEGO first asked us if there were special pieces we would like to have in LDD. Unfortunately a lot of the pieces we wanted were special use parts, or were scheduled to go out of production before our sets were scheduled.
LEGO doesn’t produce every part in every color all the time. Each year, there is a palette of parts that are produced in certain colors, and we have to work within that.
Once we had a palette worked out with LEGO, we hand-built our models at home because LEGO was still preparing the LDD palette. Once the palette was ready within the LDD program, we rebuilt our models in LDD and sent them to LEGO. The models were reviewed by the LEGO designer, and our sets were finalized in summer 2007.
Andrew: Okay, I’ll bite the bullet and ask the question everyone seems to be asking. Why are there stickers in the sets instead of printed pieces — especially the minifig torsos?
Chris: Printing parts is expensive. If you print a part that’s going only in one line of sets, you can’t spread that cost out because of it’s limited production. We hope the space sets sell a buhjillion copies… but factory sets usually are limited runs. We had the choice of either blank torsos or do stickers. Stickers were the best option. We talked to LEGO about these issues and they agreed that stickers were the way to go. We would use stickers IF: A) we could make them B) They would be on transparent film so they could be used in other applications other than our sets C) we get enough color to make them look cool and D) they would be a part available somehow on LDD or factory so kids who can’t afford our set can still get in on the action by building a small LDD ship and adding stickers. LEGO talked internally about this for a while and made it happen.
Mark and I sketched out some ideas and his mad Illustrator skills whipped em out and there ya go. The minifig torso is very expensive to produce… and you add printing it’s even more. If you note, they stopped putting the noggins on the minifigs.. to try and cut some production cost.
Mark: Like Chris said, printed parts are VERY expensive to produce, particularly minifigs. The most expensive part LEGO produces is the printed minifig torso.
We were given the option of using printed parts that existed in LDD, like the 2×2 computer slope that appears in a couple of our sets, or any existing printed minifigs in LDD, like the plaid shirt torso, or maybe a torso with dungarees printed on — not very spacey. Or we would have been stuck with blank minifig torsos, which would’ve been pretty boring.
LEGO also said that we could have stickers, and we could help design them. In an effort to get some more classic space style in our sets, we decided to go with the stickers. Chris and I sketched up some ideas, and I rendered them in Adobe Illustrator. We sent the designs to LEGO, and they made the stickers that will be in the sets.
I know a lot of people are disappointed by this. We would have liked to have our designs printed onto the minifigs, for sure. Unique printed parts were not an option. We did the best we could under the circumstances.
Andrew: What other constraints were you working within during the design process?
Chris: Pieces.
Mark: Even though LEGO offered us the ability to choose a few parts, the LDD palette is still very limited. I sometimes would encounter “gaps” in the basic brick, like certain sizes of plates or bricks in the colors I needed.
Chris: That became even more limiting as we went through the process…
The release date being pushed back had some parts removed from our palette causing some redesign in the Justice set (fairly heavy redesign). Not all parts that are “specifically spacey” are ones LEGO sees as a mass production/bulk brick, so there were limits on what we could build. Also, LDD doesn’t like some connections we AFOLs like.
Andrew: Will you be designing other sets for LEGO?
Chris: No idea. If they call I would certainly give it some thought!
Mark: We have not been asked to make more sets at this time.
Andrew: Have they given you job offers as set designers? Would you take it if they offered you a position?
Chris: No, no offers. I’d take a position if I could stay here and work from home. The commute to Denmark is killer. Mark and I have wives, (and I have a kiddo too), I don’t think uprooting to Europe is in the cards, but we haven’t come close to an offer.
Mark: No, there haven’t been job offers. Personally, I don’t think I would accept an offer like that at this stage of my life, because it would mean moving to Denmark. I’m married and mid-career as a graphic designer, so it wouldn’t really make sense for me to do so. However, if I were a single guy just out of college, I’d definitely consider it.
Edit: Oops! Forgot to link to a podcast interview with Chris and Mark as well, by Tom McDonald: