I may or may have mentioned it before, but I’m a bit of a sucker for a pretty ship. You can take the girl away from the sea, but you can’t take the sea away from the girl. (And, coincidentally, yesterday was the USS Constitution’s 214th birthday!)
But I digress. Luke Hutchinson‘s newly posted ship is just stunning. I love the lines of the hull, and the details. It’s always in the details.
The end, that is, of October and Jamie‘s fabulous advent calendar. I want to present this week’s batch, with my top two favorites: The Broken and Take your Cthulhu to Work Day.
The other figures from this week are below:
October 19
October 17
October 16
October 15
This little treat was posted for Classic-Castle‘s Microscale Castle Contest by Toltomeja.
The presentation on this is quite lovely. All of the focus is on the castle, foregoing the need for landscaping. It just works for this build!
I saw these minifigures this morning and was just…impressed. I LOVE the combinations TheBrickAvenger‘s got going on to represent pirates.
According to the description on the photo, these are contest entries for “A Pirate’s Life for Me” on LEGO Contest Network.
This group of characters can be seen in action here:
The saga continues as Jamie Spencer releases his terror-filled fury of minifigures day by day.
I’ve highlighted a few of my favorites from the last week that I particularly enjoyed; though, choosing one or two is exceedingly difficult. But the Mimes of Moria made me laugh; great timing, considering I just watched all three (extended edition!) films while recovering from surgery.
See what else has been creeping about this last week:
October 15
October 12
October 11
October 10
Each year, Classic-Castle runs a number of contests. Right now we’re in the middle of the Mini-Castle Contest, a sort of precursor to the massive Colossal Castle Contest. You’ve still got until October 31 to enter!
In the meantime, I invite you to check out some of the competition. Ru Corder has posted this lovely micro-scale landscape/castle mix-up. I’m in love with the timber fence-line.
Part of the joy of the advent calendars is the surprise of not know what comes next. Jamie‘s calendar continues to do just that. I particularly like today’s play off Dorian Gray. I expect the Bonemeal Hag to appear in her own Grimm fairytale.
Click for October 1-4!
Aaah, BrickCon. That magical time each fall when hundreds of LEGO fans descend upon the Exhibition Center in Seattle for a relaxing weekend of fun, friendship, and sleep.
Wait. I’m kidding. Sleep never enters the equation.
BrickCon has morphed quite a bit for me from my first event to now. I began attending BrickCon in 2005 (it was NorthWest BrickCon at that point). The ENTIRE event fit into the Rainier Room, which now is just the general assembly room. This year marked my seventh BrickCon and ninth overall event.
Time flies when you’re having fun, right?
What’s also changed quite a bit for me is how I experience BrickCon. In the beginning, I was simply an attendee. I registered, I went, I showed off my MOCs, and I went on my merry way. I’d help out coordinating the Castle display when I could. But in 2009, that changed. At one of the SEALUG meetings, it was mentioned that they needed someone to coordinate prizes. “I can do that,” I thought. So I stepped up.
So there’s the story of how I became Prize Coordinator for BrickCon. I can blame (thank?) Sean Forbes for the “Prize Goddess” moniker, and that’s the one that stuck.
Determining which prize goes what, where, and to who is an entirely scientific process, but not really. It’s taking a look once again at what I have to work with and spreading it across the four major ceremonies that have door prizes (Opening, Keynote, Awards, Closing). Making sure those are dividing properly and separate from what goes to the public is important, too. Part of my job ensures that any incoming prizes are dividing amongst the various pools, too, so that one event isn’t too overloaded. I try and keep Closing as short as possible, too, since by that time people typically are packing to head home.
This year we added a sort of “Santa Claus” prize pool for public and private hours. During the public hours, volunteers would wander around the crowds and hand small sets (provided by the con) and kid’s t-shirts (provided by the LEGO Store in Bellevue) to the kids. Watching their faces was amazing; the look of disbelief was typically first, followed by the giant smile. There was some suspicion that the gifts were completely free, but it was pretty easy to work around. Anyone who passed out those prizes had the same smile.
It’s incredibly busy working with the prizes. In terms of BrickCon, if it didn’t involve prizes, I typically had no information or clue about it. My focus was prizes; I needed to be available to receive incoming donations and prep for the next assembly. I had enough time in between assemblies to enjoy spending time with my friends and enjoying BrickCon for what it is.
Thanks to Joe Meno, Andrew Becraft, and Bill Ward for their photos!
I had to do a double-take with this one. The thumbnail looked like it was just a lovely presentation of a small-ish lantern. But it was lovely, so I looked, and realized I was actually looking at a LEGO creation.
Luke Watkins said this was a random creation that took very little time, but I definitely appreciate the build and the thought that went into the presentation.
I’d apologize for the amount of pictures in this post, but I’m not going to. I’m afraid that Jamie might just create a figure to come after me in my sleep. I’m compelled to post all that are available.
And let’s face it: these are AWESOME.
Jamie has started his annual Halloween advent, and the results are frighteningly spectacular, as expected. I do hope you continue to watch for his daily installments. They’ll get you in the proper Halloween mood.
Ah, such fond memories. Playin’ pool, with the crack of the balls, the silent concentration with the angles, and the furious cursing when the ball doesn’t go were you wanted or intended. The howling frustration when you lose and your buddy gloats about their win.
Anyway, I digress.
Bruce Lowell‘s posted fifteen fabulously colored and numbered balls, along with a lovely LEGO pool stick. The little chalk-square is a lovely touch. Can’t forget the chalk.
