Tom Snellan presents a beautiful snowscape at the entrance of a dwarves’ mine. The most impressive feature is definitely the sculpture of the giant dwarf (pardon the oxymoron), which very closely resembles its minifig counterpart. I also like the combination of using droid arms and arch bricks on the tree, which adds a realism that either alone can achieve.
Martin Latta used only the pieces from 7685 Dozer to build a pod racer. This is a perfect example of what creativity can achieve even with limited parts. You can see more in the Theme Bending Contest, which ends on March 31st.
Right now, you can get 7595 Army Men on Patrol for $8.97 on Amazon. Free shipping for orders over $25 and no tax for most states. This sale may not last long, so build your army now.
TJ Avery built a gigantic model of the Pennybacker Bridge for TexLUG‘s display at South by Southwest last weekend. This impressive 14,000 piece model supports its own ~40 pound weight without external supports or glue. Check out the Flickr set for more pictures.
Two weeks before their scheduled release in April, the new LEGO Prince of Persia sets have found their way first to Toys R Us online. Three out of the five sets are now available at MSRP, and with free shipping over $100, this makes for a great opportunity to get these new sets early!
UPDATE: you can use the code 935009 (exp. 3/21/10) to receive $10 off on orders over $50. However, this cannot be combined with the free shipping offer.
UPDATE: the sale on the Clone Walker was short lived; it is no longer valid.
Good morning Amazon! Today you can find some decent sales including the soon to be out of production 8014 Clone Walker Battle Pack for $8.54. In addition, the 8086 Droid Tri-Fighter has been further marked down to $17.54. I take my words back, but I still abide by the belief that these sales could end at any moment.
Unfortunately, you can only buy up to three copies of each, but that’s enough to qualify for free shipping on your order.
Occasionally I see enlarged versions of LEGO pieces, but this brick-built part 4360 by Angus MacLane is too cool to pass up. I studied all the pictures on the Flickr set and each detail is dead on! Needless to say, we’re a bit late to blog this because I thought it was the actual part from the thumbnail.
A girl appeared on a German TV show to identify Star Wars minifigs, not through any conventional way of referencing Peeron or Bricklink but by using her mouth! I’d say that’s a pretty useful skill to have, don’t you think?
Via Boing Boing.
My latest creation is a good example of what happens when a builder gets carried away with a simple concept. My simple concept was to use blue bubble domes as microcolonies, which grew into a large mass that I am calling The Death Ring (see story on Flickr).
The large dome is constructed from stretcher hoses that maintain the shape without central supports. The smaller domes contain glow-in-the-dark disks that give off an eerie light in the dark to simulate the glow of the bioluminescent spheres in space. The size of the model may look deceptive due to all the small greebly bits that play with your sense of scale, but the actual diameter is 1.5 feet.
I recently came across a quote by Ace Kim, the admin of FBTB, who said “a good picture of a terrible model will look better and be more appealing than a terrible picture of a good model.”
To a degree this is very true, which brings us to this interview with Fredo Houben (Fredoichi), a LEGO builder and graphic designer from the Netherlands. Granted, his models aren’t terrible — in fact they’re actually amazing.
What contributes to our enjoyment of Fredo’s creations is not simply the way he puts his bricks together but also his flawless presentation. As a bonus in this interview, Fredo goes through the steps he uses to edit a mediocre photo into a polished image.
The Brothers Brick: What do you like to build and where do you get your ideas and inspirations?
Fredo: Well, I mostly build in the sci-fi theme. Think of starfighters, multiped walkers/mecha and near-future vehicles. Occasionally I step out of that realm and do something else with the brick, but it’s sci-fi that I enjoy the most.
I find it fun and interesting to vary and play with scale, though I don’t make the biggest things out there.
I really like the challenge of building in a smaller scale. As for ideas and inspirations, I have a lot of interest in the design aspects of things like video games, movies, animation and Japanese toys, and that’s basically what gets things going.
TBB: When did you enter the online LEGO community and have you had a dark age? If so, how did you rediscover LEGO?
Fredo: I uploaded my first MOC on Flickr in 2008, since then LEGO is part of my life again. I say again because I stopped playing/building when I was 12 years old. I’m 36 now, so yeah I’ve had quite a dark age. Back then I played with LEGO day in and day out ever since I was 4. I had quite a collection by the time I was 12, but I lost interest in it and other interests took over like my Amiga, music and games. I felt pretty bad about it because I really enjoyed building, so I tried to come back to it a couple of times, but it didn’t feel the same anymore so I moved on.
Fast forward 23 years later, I all of a sudden felt the urge to do something with LEGO again. I work as a visual designer and I love toys and was thinking how I could create my own models and toys. Just do something else instead of design and 3D on screen… LEGO seemed perfect. I got extra motivated when I stumbled on some amazing work from a couple of builders on Flickr. Seeing stuff from Soren Roberts, Peter Reid, nnenn and Adrian Florea really gave me a good look of what you can do with the brick. These guys use parts in such a creative and different way and all have their own visual style. I had a lot of ideas, so I got my old collection from my parent’s attic and bought some new sets and just started.
More of our interview with Fredo after the jump: Continue reading
Seemingly another well-designed mecha, the Element Commune by Tyler Clites (Legohaulic) features interesting color accents that give it a defining look…
It wasn’t until I watched the accompanying video that I saw it walks! This is the first walking biped mecha that also boosts aesthetics, and to think many of us are still trying to get our mechs to stand up long enough to photograph…
Kevin Murney (legorevolution) apologizes in advance for ruining your childhood with this disturbingly apocafied rendition of Toy Story. The creation features Psycho Green Car, Gas Mask Woody, and Buzzsaw Buzz. I will not say more, I think you get the point.
