Perhaps the return of Arrested Development put the idea of a tiny teddy in Karf Oohlu‘s (Reformed Cthulhu) head. Perhaps it’s just a coincidence. Regardless, the teddy bears in space helmets are adorable and funny, and the “Tiny Teddy” name is associated with hilarity in my mind.
I’ve parsed through everything submitted to our Flickr group for photo submissions for The Brothers Brick Twitter and Facebook cover photos. As a reminder, here are some tips for photos, from the first month we ran this little contest. There are a lot of great photos in the pool now, and as of last month, we’re no longer looking only at submissions from within the last month. I had the honor of making the selection, this month, and I must say that it was a tough choice, our readers have certainly brought their best to this endeavor, and I hope that continues.
Without further ado, here are my choices, and a little bit about the reasoning behind them.
For Facebook, I’ve selected “A cola for Bucky,” (above) by Caleb Angell (.bricko). This photo is already cropped to about the aspect ratio we need, and it still reads great. It’s a nicely compose image, which tells a story, and also leaves the viewer asking questions and drawing connections, and it’s well built. The lighting in the scene is interesting, and well thought out. Finally, the lower left corner is conveniently bare of anything that would be a loss to obstruct with our logo.
For twitter, I’ve chosen this lovely photo of greebles, (above) by Blake Foster (New Flickr Layout Sucks!). Obviously, I am a great fan of space builds, and quality greebling is one aspect of a good space build. This build also strikes a nice balance between smooth, flowing, areas and functional looking greebles. This photo was taken of a work-in-progress, and is thus something we wouldn’t normally blog (at least until the creation is complete), but the portion in the photo looks great, and the fact that it’s attached to an incomplete creation doesn’t stop it from being a great cover photo.
I got the press packet for this last night, with an embargo until 5am today, because the new LEGO Star Wars set 10236 Ewok Village was unveiled at an event in the Czech Republic this morning. Time zones are a pain, but I’d say this set was worth waiting to take a look at!
This set really captures the feel of the Ewok Village from Return of the Jedi, from the massive tress to the raised walkways. It’d also translate well for dioramas of Kashyyyk, and really anything else with trees. There appear to be play-features galore, and a brick-built rope bridge that’s detailed enough to make any adult builder proud. It also appears to have about a million minifigs, if you’re into that…
Make sure to check out the designer introduction video, with the awesome Marcos Bessa, too!
Here’s the official press release from LEGO:
10236 Ewok™ Village
Ages 12+. 1,990 pieces.
Recreate classic scenes at the Ewok™ Village!
US $249.99 CA $299.99 DE 249.99€ UK 199.99 £ DK 2,099.00 DKKTravel to Endor™ and visit the treetop home of the Ewoks. Just like in Star Wars™: Episode VI Return of the Jedi, this recreation of the Ewoks’ forest dwelling is packed with cool functions, including the tree-trunk hideout, secret Lightsaber stash, spider web, net traps, slide, catapults and an elevating throne. Use the rammer function to take out the Scout Trooper’s speeder − just like in the movie! Realistic details include rope walkways, vine and leaf elements, kitchen, food storage area, bedroom and a planning room. The Ewok Village set is the perfect addition to your LEGO® Star Wars collection. Includes R2-D2™ and 16 minifigures with weapons: Luke Skywalker™, Princess Leia™, Han Solo™, Chewbacca™, C-3PO™, 2 Rebel soldiers, 5 Ewoks™ (including Wicket™, Teebo™, Chief Chirpa™ and Logray™), 2 Scout Troopers and 2 Stormtroopers™
- Includes R2-D2™ and 16 minifigures: Luke Skywalker™, Princess Leia™, Han Solo™, Chewbacca™, C-3PO™, 2 Rebel soldiers, 5 Ewoks™, 2 Scout™ Troopers™ and 2 Stormtroopers™
- Features tree-trunk hideout and secret Lightsaber stash, spider web and net traps, slide, catapults, elevating throne, speeder rammer function, kitchen, food storage area, bedroom and a planning room. Speeder also included.
- Weapons include a Lightsaber, 3 blaster pistols, 2 blasters, 2 blaster rifles, 2 spears, bow and a crossbow and also includes 2 staffs
- Collect hard-to-find Endor Princess Leia, C-3PO, Luke, Han Solo and Wicket Ewok minifigures
- Measures over 1″ (35cm) high, 21″ (55cm) wide and 13″ (35cm) deep
Available for sale directly through LEGO® beginning September 2013 via shop.LEGO.com, LEGO® Stores or via phone
These new little “Skyskipper” space fighters, by ROOK, really are the bee’s knees. They’ve got a fun, sleek, shape, and a nice clean color scheme. The part that really got me interested, though, was the nesting of parts for the cockpit canopies, to give an integrated feel. In fact, when I saw the first thumbnail, which had closed cockpits, I thought there might be a new canopy piece involved.
A Pigs in Space reference is the best I can muster, for a post title, with a newborn napping on my arm. Regardless, this new offering from John Moffatt really caught my eye. The underlying ship is nice, too. Though I suspect this may be a case of photoshop, rather than true forced perspective, I still enjoy it.
I also, don’t see a big deal with the new Flickr. I was able to navigate the non-mobile site from my phone, and grab the links needed to write this post. I hope the building public will keep on posting!
Mark Stafford (lego_nabii) has just posted a photo of an awesome model, built by one of his fellow designers at LEGO, Luis Castenada. Luis built an awesome custom Marine from StarCraft. Obviously, the head is not an authentic Lego piece, and a few parts have been painted, but that doesn’t stop this from being amazing. Here’s hoping that LEGO will wrest the license away from Mega, and release some sets like this.
Tyler (legohaulic) brings us a fantastic WWII fantasy creation. Turret Man punches you in the face with awesome! I’m a huge fan of this style of alternate history/science. I even managed to sit through Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, for the vehicle design, Tyler does a great job of capturing that 40s vision of what the future could hold. Check out his concept sketch for the model, too.
A. Yates (A. Yates Industrial) brings us a robot that helps prove that there’s no bad color in the Lego palette. Plenty of builders out there leave colors like pink only for deliberately “girly” creations, rather than making widespread use. Here, we can clearly see that pink has a place, beyond just ships and mecha with female minifigs at the controls.
![LMF-6 [Labor Force Mechanicals] 'POCKY'](https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/media.brothers-brick.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/8679752332_3eed00cfaa.jpg)
UPDATE: 10237 The Tower of Orthanc is now available!
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I just received word from LEGO direct that they unveiled this new set in Portugal, yesterday. I’ve looked through the official photos, and I have to say, it looks pretty cool to me. There seems to be a lot of detail, and the brick-built Ent is a great addition. I also know that I, for one, am pretty excited about the shields and armor with white hand-prints on them, though I also must confess that I don’t actually know if they’re new for this set. Here’s the press release from LEGO:
10237 Tower of Orthanc
Ages 14+. 2,359 pieces.
Build the The Lord of the Rings™ trilogy must-have model!
US $199.99 CA $249.99 DE 199.99€ UK 169.99 £ DK 1699.00 DKKFinally, collect one of the most instantly recognizable and iconic buildings of The Lord of the Rings trilogy: The Tower of Orthanc! Build all 6 highly detailed floors filled with fascinating movie-related details including the attic, library, alchemy room, Saruman’s throne room, entrance hall and dungeon. This exclusive model stars in some of the most iconic scenes from The Lord of the Rings movies. Swoop down with the Great Eagle and rescue stranded Gandalf the Grey from his tower-top prison after his defeat at the hands of the white wizard, Saruman. Build the powerful, tree-like Ent, with poseable limbs and cool swinging arm function, then attack the Uruk-hai and Orc Pitmaster while Saruman and his servant Grima Wormtongue take refuge high in the tower. The Tower of Orthanc is a must-have model for any The Lord of the Rings collection! Includes a Great Eagle, buildable Ent figure and 5 minifigures with weapons: Saruman with kirtle outfit, Grima Wormtongue, Gandalf the Grey, an Uruk-hai and the Orc Pitmaster.
- Includes a Great Eagle, buildable Ent figure and 5 minifigures with weapons: Saruman with kirtle outfit, Grima Wormtongue, Gandalf™ the Grey, an Uruk-hai™ and the Orc Pitmaster
- Features 6 highly detailed floors with lots of functions, including a folding staircase, LEGO® light brick palantir, opening entrance doors and a trap door
- Weapons include 5 staffs, knife, sword, shield and a long axe
- The attic features a folding staircase, the 3 staffs of the missing wizards, the 2 keys of the Two Towers, 2 maps and an Uruk-hai helmet, shield and sword
- The library features 2 books, 2 torches, 2 maps and 2 skulls
- The alchemy room features 2 torches, a bomb (being produced for the Battle of Helm’s Deep™), 2 potions, bottle, skull, gunpowder keg, pot, cauldron and a long axe
- Saruman’s throne room features lamps, 2 bookcases with 3 potions, map, letter and the powerful palantir with a LEGO light brick
- The entrance hall features opening doors, trap door, 2 large banners, chandelier, statue and 2 axes
- The creepy dungeon features a chain, 2 bones, 2 skulls and a rat
- Buildable Ent features poseable limbs for holding a minifigure and a cool swinging arm function
- Attack the tower with the cool buildable and poseable Ent!
- Swoop to the rescue with the Great Eagle!
- Activate the LEGO light brick and make the palantir glow!
- Set the trap door and banish unwanted guests to the dungeon!
- Prepare the bomb for the Battle of Helm’s DeepTM!
- Swing the Ent’s arms to smash or grab things with the poseable fingers!
- Measures over 28″ (73cm) high, 8″ (21cm) wide and 6″ (16cm) deep
- Ent stands over 9″ (23cm) tall
Available for sale directly through LEGO® beginning July 2013
Here’s the designer interview video:
Finally, if you like this 2-foot-tall official set, don’t miss the fan-built 7-foot-tall LEGO Orthanc.
I spotted this a week ago, and failed to get a post published until now. I still think this creation by Nick V (brickthing) is worth sharing, though. I’ve been seeing a lot of Disney/Star Wars mashups, since the announcement that Disney was acquiring Lucasfilm, but this is the first I’ve seen in LEGO. Darth Vader meets Mickey, I love it!
Sometimes, a creation just jumps out at me as an ideal contribution to a theme. This ship by Chris (ironsniper), is an example of just such a creation. The color scheme is sharp, and has the right among of pop. The shape has tons of compound angles, curves, and even protrusions, it’s just lovely.
