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)

Monty Python Vignettes by Bloody Jay

I’m not quite sure when he posted these, but Classic-Castle, FBTB, and EuroBricks (etc.) user Bloody Jay has created a fantastic set of four Monty Python vignettes that fit together:

Clockwise from the left, I presume these are “The Ministry of Silly Walks,” “Smoke Shop,” and the vicious gang of keep-left signs at the end of the “Hell’s Grannies” sketch. I really like the construction technique he used on the keep-left signs and the fire hydrant. I also like how it’s mostly studless. My one critique is that it would have been nice to see another vignette in the fourth “quadrant.” There’s certainly enough source material!

(I really hope I get the Monty Python DVD box set for my birthday next week…)

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Space Vikings

And for my last post of the night, I give you Space Vikings:

I was inspired to try putting various things into their helmet holes by Classic-Castle forum user TwoTonic Knight’s Wild and Crazy Viking. I’m quite proud of the results. Heh heh…

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Brandi Carlile

Local girl Brandi Carlile is hands-down my new favorite singer. Don’t let her great looks or the widespread hype dissuade you from giving her a listen. Since this is a LEGO blog, I added her to my Music folder:

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Norse and Napoleonic Minifigs

My 7018 Viking Ship vs. the Midgard Serpent arrived from Amazon.com a couple weeks ago, and I also won an eBay lot of fourteen Imperial Guards and Imperial Soldiers minifigs. Last weekend, I set about making several new historical and literary characters. First up, George Washington:

And from left to right, Horatio Nelson, Napoleon Bonaparte, and Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington:

I also made Erik the Red (not “historically accurate” with the horns, I know) and Beowulf:

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Another Interesting LEGO Idea from Japan

Bruce has explained how the vignette “genre” seems to have begun in Japan about a year or so ago. I recently got a comment from Japanese LEGO blogger kazzen, and perusing his blog for a bit I found a second blog in which he sets forth a fairly interesting idea — a diary illustrated in LEGO.

“Illustrated diaries” are a type of diary in which you draw your diary entry. They’re fairly popular in Japan, especially among kids. (In fact, keeping a daily diary was part of my homework at the Japanese school I attended while growing up in Japan. I still have several years’ worth of illustrated diary entries in a box somewhere. I dug them out a couple of years ago and found that I had meticulously drawn several of my early LEGO creations for posterity.)

So here’s how it works:

  1. Create a category in your blog called “LEGO Diary” (or create a new blog for your diary).
  2. Recreate interesting events in your daily life in LEGO.
  3. Photograph your MOC.
  4. Post your pictures to your “LEGO Diary” category or your diary blog.

That’s it!

In all honesty, I don’t have time to maintain much of a LEGO diary, but I thought this was a good enough idea to pass on to the English-speaking LEGO community as well.

Kazzen has created a LEGO diary portal (“I just wanted to use the word ‘portal,'” he jokes), and if there’s enough interest among non-Japanese LEGO fans, perhaps someone can do the same in English. (I could do it easily enough with another blog, but a “real” Web site might be better.)

Well, if you’re interested in trying this out, I’d be interested in hearing about it! :-)

The Brothers Brick is funded by our readers and the community. Articles may include affiliate links, and when you purchase products from those links, TBB may earn a commission that helps support the site.

“Evolution” by Michael Jasper

Heh heh… Nice.

The Brothers Brick is funded by our readers and the community. Articles may include affiliate links, and when you purchase products from those links, TBB may earn a commission that helps support the site.

NWBrickCon 2005

So NWBrickCon is going on two blocks away from where I’m sitting as I type this, but I won’t be able to go. The weekend also looks chock full of house-hunting activities, so I won’t be showing up for the public display times either. Oh well…

The Brothers Brick is funded by our readers and the community. Articles may include affiliate links, and when you purchase products from those links, TBB may earn a commission that helps support the site.

“The Bachelor Pad” by Nelson Yrizarry

Nelson Yrizarry adds to his collection of fantastic vignettes with his latest — “The Bachelor Pad:”

From the shag carpeting and lime-green couch to the wood-panelled wall and lava lamp, this vignette has it all!

The Brothers Brick is funded by our readers and the community. Articles may include affiliate links, and when you purchase products from those links, TBB may earn a commission that helps support the site.

“Blocklog” Explanation

When I named my blog, I did so because I liked how “Blocklog” sounded like “Block Blog.” But recently it’s been bugging me that everybody else calls individual LEGO pieces “bricks.”

Perusing some Japanese LEGO blogs today (links in a new section on the right), I figured out that Japanese LEGO fans call LEGO pieces “blocks” (ブロック). Now it all makes sense! Growing up in Japan, all my friends called them blocks! It just never sunk in that they’re called “bricks” in English. Oops…

Thus “Blocklog.”

The Brothers Brick is funded by our readers and the community. Articles may include affiliate links, and when you purchase products from those links, TBB may earn a commission that helps support the site.

Brick-Built Aliens

Twenty years ago or so, my brother and I spent our free time alternating between building giant castles and giant moon bases. To populate our spaceports and star cruisers, I designed several alien/robot heads and stuck them on my space torsos. My parents wouldn’t buy me a digital camera in the ’80s (heh heh), so these are recreations:

(The image is a link to the full gallery.)

The Brothers Brick is funded by our readers and the community. Articles may include affiliate links, and when you purchase products from those links, TBB may earn a commission that helps support the site.

Vikings are Useful

Japanese Brickshelf user MOKO is famous for using parts in unusual ways (among other things). MOKO’s latest creations use parts from the new Vikings line:

Can’t wait to pick up my Vikings…

The Brothers Brick is funded by our readers and the community. Articles may include affiliate links, and when you purchase products from those links, TBB may earn a commission that helps support the site.

RSS Feed

You can now subscribe to Dunechaser’s Blocklog as an RSS feed. Click the Subscribe! link in the navigation area on the right, or go to the following address:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/DunechasersBlocklog

The Brothers Brick is funded by our readers and the community. Articles may include affiliate links, and when you purchase products from those links, TBB may earn a commission that helps support the site.