The pod racer contest on From Bombs to Boulders From Bricks to Bothans recently ended with some amazing entries. You can see them all in the contest thread. If you’re a member on FBTB, stay tuned for the exciting rounds of voting!
Justin Vaughn (Mainman) has been using Bionicle parts from 8978 Skrall to create this novelty space faction called the Hellionic Conclave. The primary features of these diabolical creations highlight the interesting shapes of Bionicle elements mixed with the standard System bricks.
Above: Devil’s Talon. Below: Juda’s Tongue
Below: Fiend’s Eye and Chiron’s Arrow
Full gallery on Flickr.
The Portuguese LEGO Users Group (PLUG) is planning an event called An Adventure in the World of LEGO, an exhibition held in Lourinhã, Portugal from April 27 – May 3.
PLUG (Portuguese LEGO Users Group) will organize a major Exhibition – “Uma Aventura no mundo do LEGO” (An Adventure in the World of LEGO).
It will be held in Lourinhã, 63km northwest of Lisbon, in a Hockey Club Pavilion (something like 8.600 sqf or 800 sqm), between April 27th and 3rd of May, 2009.
Lourinhã is also know for its Jurassic findings and is considered as the Dinosaurs capital in Portugal. Thus the inspiration for the event poster and some exposed dioramas.From Monday until Thursday, between 9am and 6pm for schools – it is expected that the event will attract around 5,000 young attendees – and between 8:30pm and 11pm, for general public. Friday and Saturday, between 9am and 11:30pm. Sunday, between 9am and 6:30pm.
PLUG will present more than fifteen thematic tables of MOCs and LEGO Sets, including City, Town´80s, Star Wars, Western, Adventurers, Castle, Classic Space, Model Team, Creator, Bionicle and TECHNIC.Besides the exhibition, there will be numerous activities, like several types Sets building and contests between PLUG members or visitors.
In the end, there will be also a trip to LEGOLAND Windsor for two adults and two children, to raffle among visitors.Just for you to know, Portugal is a country on the Iberian Peninsula, the westernmost country of mainland Europe and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west and south, and by Spain to the north and east.
The Pick A Brick at LEGO Shop at Home has increased its parts selection from 1000 to 1496. On the other side of the coin, prices for these parts have increased by up to 300%. Is this all a joke? For once I hope not, but see for yourself.
What used to be the Young Spacers Association is no more. The bloggers have taken a turn for the past and switched to blogging all things castle. Praise be on this most honorable revival of antiquity, embrace Ye Olde Youthful Castle Connoisseurs Blogue!
Recent administrative decisions at FBTB, formerly known as From Bricks to Bothans, has resulted in a complete makeover of the website and forum now dedicated to the coverage and discussion of the Power Miners theme. The staff of the site feels its previous focus on Star Wars resulted in continued decrease in membership and quality of the community and believe that the new change will regain some of the popularity lost over the years. Visit From Bombs to Boulders today to see the most up-to-date coverage on Power Miners!
Every once in a while, a master builder joins the online LEGO community from out of the blue and brings along a slew of eye-opening creations. In my recent perusal of Flickr, I came across a new member who prefers to be addressed humbly as Donut. On the other hand, his creations are nothing of the modest kind – they are the works of a master. In my curiosity to press for the truth, I initiated a conversation with the builder that ultimately bore the fruit of this insightful and inspirational interview.
TBB: Tell us about yourself, how long have you been building?
Donut: I believe I was a kid when I got my first LEGO set, it had those cool minifigs in red, blue, and yellow that wore round hats and flew around in planes of all kinds of shapes. I feel like it’s been thirty years. I’ve been building since then until the LEGO sets themselves told me that I was too old. I was no longer 6-12 years old and that meant I can’t have no more bricks anymore. I was so overwhelmed with sadness when I gave away all my LEGO to my thirty-year old neighbor who said he had a son who loves LEGO, though I’ve never seen him. I felt so alone in the world without my bricks.
TBB: How did you get back into building?
Donut: I couldn’t bear to live a life without LEGO, so I rummaged the house and scavenged a handful of leftover bricks in all nooks and crannies. I secretly built in the closet in the basement every moment I can spare. I thought that if I’d been caught, it’d be worse than having cheated on my girlfriend. Eventually, I engineered a secret compartment in my house to store my bricks.
TBB: When did you decide to publicaly reveal your hobby and what inspired you to do so?
Donut: Well, not to sound gay or anything, but I came out of the closet just recently. I have to admit that the story was pretty embarrasing now that I think about it. I had been at work one day 
and was experiencing the most boring day of my life. Since the economy went bad, we were getting less and less customers to invest in our Margaritaville-brand magarita mixer. I was sitting in front of my computer thinking nothing but LEGO. All the while I wanted to search for LEGO on the internet. I thought that if I’d been caught, it’d be worse than having downloaded pr0n. In the end I caved in temptation, so I googled for LEGO. Lo and behold, there were all sorts of websites with adults and LEGO, it was like everyone was doing it back in the Sixties!
TBB: How did you feel afterwards?
Donut: Man, that was the best day of my life! When I came home I took out all my bricks and built for more than 48 hours non-stop. I wanted to share my creations with the world and see what everyone else is building. It was a shame I never took photos of my creations. I can say with certainty that there had been thousands of MOCs in my years of behind the scenes building. Although I’ve only built less than a dozen new creations this week, they’re all uploaded onto my new Flickr account.
TBB: In our last question to wrap up the interview, what have you concluded from your unusual experience with LEGO?
Donut: If Yu-Gi-Oh was a minifig, he’d be saying “never stop believing in the heart of the bricks!” Phrases like that catch on when you have kids who watch cartoons. But in addition to that, I also want to say to never believe the age markings on the LEGO boxes, because you can never be too old to build. That’s what I love about these bricks, man: I get older, they stay the same shape. I love the smell of bricks in the morning. It smells like victory. Recently someone saw my LEGO room and told me that this is madness, but I screamed to his face “this is LEGOland!” and kicked him into the nearest uncovered manhole on the streets. From above I told him my momma always said “life is like a tub of LEGO bricks. You never know what you’re gonna get”. So until then, hasta la vista, baby.
Our friends at the Jørgen Vig Knudstorp blog always finds ways to parody our favorite chief executive officer of LEGO. For the April Fools bonus, we get an extra dose of Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen along with Jørgen at no extra charge! Enjoy this special comic made by John of Brickspace.org. Speaking of which, you should definitely check out his regularly updated blog.
As the rest of the country waits for the promising effects of the economic stimulus, Bricklink sellers have long been enjoying their own stimulus in the growth of sales. Fueled by hot demands of collectors and brick addicts worldwide, sales keep getting bigger and bigger. Nowadays, sellers pack more and more into each order, which translates directly into larger profits. Indeed, when it comes down to the package, size does matter.
Nevertheless, as sellers lavish in their hedonistic trade, one must question how they manage to escape the guilty conscience of dealing addictive ABS in plastic baggies to bankrupt adult LEGO fans and even to underage kids and teenagers, who would gladly spend the last cent of their meager allowance on minifig accessories than on textbooks and school supplies. Ironically, this highly exploitative act is fully condoned by the government, so it can’t be that bad after all. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some big orders to attend to.
In this very special episode of LAML Radio, our hosts James and Aaron talk about the creations that inspired them the most in the past month. Do you think you’ve seen them all? I bet you haven’t! Check out the podcast summary of what you’ve been missing out on.
Contrary to what you see of me as a LEGO builder, blogger, seller, collector, and ambassador, I actually run a double life as a high ranking member of the mafia, and I work the night shift to clean up the streets and run various errands. Of course, you know this can’t be true, or can it? In either case, I can’t tell you too much of what I do. I’ll leave it to you to judge the authenticity of this picture that speaks a thousand words.
