This comic book backdrop by Thorsten Bonch (Xenomurphy) is an impressive exercise in scale, using the large-font logo of the infamous fictional tabloid as the setting for two lesser-known characters from the Spider-Man franchise to duke it out.
Category Archives: LEGO
LEGO CUUSOO Ghostbusters Ecto-1 set revealed [News]
Another new set unveiled at ToyFair in New York City this morning is 21108 LEGO Ghostbusters, featuring the iconic Ecto-1 car and the four main characters from the first movie. The final design in the official set retains the level of detail that Brent Waller built into his proposed design.
The set includes four unique minifigs with all their gear:
21108 LEGO Ghostbusters will be released in June 2014 for USD $49.99.
Read the official announcement on the LEGO CUUSOO Blog for complete details.
LEGO 70810 MetalBeard’s Seacow set unveiled at ToyFair [News]
A new LEGO Movie set 70810 MetalBeard’s Seacow has been officially unveiled at ToyFair in New York City. Looks like there’s a different version of MetalBeard in this set from the previous set, which works for me. I must say, I’m pretty excited about this set (though not as much as I am about Benny’s Classic Spaceship, of course).
[EDIT] This set is now available to LEGO VIP members (a free rewards program) at LEGO Shop at Home.
Here’s the press release and photos:
70810 MetalBeard’s Sea Cow
Ages 14+ 2,741 Pieces
US $249.99 – CA $299.99 – DE 249.99€ – UK £169.99 – DK 2,199.00 DKK
*Euro pricing varies by country. Please visit shop.LEGO.com for regional pricing.Help our heroes escape the Micro Managers on MetalBeard’s Sea Cow!
Shiver me timbers, the Micro Managers are approaching our heroes and MetalBeard aboard his wacky Sea Cow ship. Climb the mast to keep a look-out. Fire the powerful shooting cannons from the side of the ship to repel the Micro Managers. And watch out – one has flick missiles and the other can shoot a net! Raise the anchors, spin the rear propellers and steer the ship to safety with the mini version of MetalBeard at the wheel. Includes 4 minifigures: Benny, Emmet, Vitruvius and Wyldstyle, and 2 figures: MetalBeard and QueasyKitty.
Battle 2 Micro Managers with The LEGO® Movie MetalBeard’s Sea Cow with mini version of MetalBeard, 4 minifigures and cow with wings!
• Includes 4 minifigures: Benny, Emmet, Vitruvius and Wyldstyle, and 2 figures: MetalBeard and QueasyKitty
• MetalBeard’s Sea Cow features chimney, 2 anchors, 4 back propellers, 2 huge side turbines, lanterns, 2 gold keys, 2 bottles, bottle with printed ship, box with 4 black coals, hammer, wrench, shovel, gold crowbar and a barrel with 2 rammers. Plus cannon and ammunition deck with 6 cannons and 2 boxes with cannon ammunition (12 pieces), and boiler room with 2 flint guns, 2 flint pistols and 2 swords. Also features captain’s room with treasure chest containing 6 gold coins, 2 red jewels and 2 green jewels, 2 blueprints, 2 maps, globe, sextant, ink vial and quill, and a portrait of MetalBeard
• Also includes a cow with wings!
• The large Micro Manager features fold-up wings with hidden flick missiles, 2 claws and fold-down satellite dish
• The small Micro Manager features a net shooter
• Weapons include 2 flint guns, 2 flint pistols and 2 swords
• Steer the ship with the mini MetalBeard with sword and treasure chest
• Fire the cannons on both sides of the ship to fend off attackers
• Take off the funnel to access the cannon and ammunition deck
• Open the top to access the captain’s cabin and check out the maps, treasure chest, MetalBeard portrait and more!
• Open the doors to the boiler room to access the weapons
• Turn the exhaust to raise and lower the anchors
• Rotate the giant side turbines
• Place a minifigure on the fore mast to operate the mounted guns
• Keep a look-out from the crow’s nest
• Get the fire going below the huge funnel
• Make the rear propellers spin and speed away
• Watch The LEGO® Movie to see all your favorite characters in action
• MetalBeard’s Sea Cow measures over 22” (58cm) high, 24” (61cm) long and 7” (19cm) wide
• The Micro Manager (large) measures over 3” (9cm) high, 4” (12cm) long and 4” (12cm) wide
• The Micro Manager (small) measures over 1” (5cm) high, 2” (6cm) long and 1” (5cm) wide
• Mini MetalBeard measures over 4” (11cm) high, 5” (13cm) deep, and 5” (13cm) wide
• Double-decker couch measures over 3” (8cm) high, 3” (10cm) wide and less than 1” (2cm) long
Available for sale directly through LEGO® beginning
March 2014 via shop.LEGO.com, LEGO® Stores or via phone
Here’s the full set of photos:
Friday Night Fights (Round 36)
Welcome back fight fans, to Sin City Nevada for another round of Friday Night Fights! I told myself I was’t going to get all sappy and do a Valentines Day Fight round …. but awesome MOCs are awesome MOCs, regardless of the occasion… plus I love bots. Let’s go to the tale of the tape:
In the red corner Nathan Proudlove (Proudlove) gives us free hugs with Lovebot:
In the Pink corner, Chris McVeigh (pwerpig) transformers my heart with his Valentron:
As usual, constant reader, you are tasked with deciding the outcome of this bout by way of comment. On the last edition of Friday Night Fights, the SpaceSHIP spectacular Iomedes blasts off to victory 12 to 5. Tune in next week for another action packed edition of Friday Night Fights!
Dinosaur Thrill Ride
TBB newcomer Tim Schwalfenberg drops in with this roller coaster thrill ride that is both a bit of a fright, and a delight to look at:
I really encourage everyone to take a close look at this one, there are just some fantastic tricks I’ve never seen before – especially the track made from tile and hinges. And if you look real carefully you might be able to find the three prehistoric baddies roaming around.
And I think Tim was really able to capture how I would look riding through this park.
When winter arrives, this is where I want to be
City of the Kings
Citroen car of the future
What would it look like if you crossed a Citroen car with a Tron Light cycle? F@bz answered just that with this concept build:
I’m a total sucker for funky lit builds – and he has done a wonderful job using Lifelites inside the car to light up the wheels and the headlights. But it’s not just the lights that make this build super slick – check out some of the neat slope usage to round this baby out especially that 45 degree offset white windscreen in the back.
Epic LEGO Movie Diorama by South Korean Fans
Creative quad OliveSeon have unveiled a spectacular diorama based on the recently released LEGO Movie. Collectively, this group of four South Korean fans produce some of the best dioramas in the fan community. Their latest incorporates numerous official sets while cleverly expanding upon them to capture various scenes from the film.
Volleying doom for doom
During World War II, the Allies fielded approximately 50,000 M4 Sherman medium tanks. But ignoring the hard lessons that the Soviet Red Army learned about German armor on the Eastern Front, the United States and its Western allies delayed production of better-armored tanks with bigger guns until very late in the war. That bigger, better tank — one that could go head to head against German tanks — was the M26 Pershing. However, only 20 Pershings saw combat, between February and May 1945.
American 3rd Armored Division veteran Belton Cooper argues in his 1998 book Death Traps
After more than a decade on the web and a dozen LEGO events, one of my failures as a builder is that I tend to build first for static display and photography rather than functionality, and it takes a couple of iterations before I go back and give my models a bit more of an interior life. I’ve tried to improve this over the last year by adding internal details to my vehicles like a removable engine in my Shermans. But I still struggle with tank guns that elevate and depress properly. I’ve now addressed this shortcoming with my latest tanks, including this Pershing, my Soviet KV-1, and a couple of my newer Stuarts. Given differences in turret design, the challenge has been that each tank has required a different solution to achieve an elevating gun, ranging from guns that pivot on Technic pins to ones that go up and down on simple hinge bricks. It probably shouldn’t be this hard…
Strangely perhaps, my favorite detail on my Pershing is the set of stowage boxes on the sides, which are half-stud-offset in two directions to leave half-stud gaps between the boxes and a half-stud lip at the edge of the tank. You can see this best in this comparison shot, which shows just how much lower and wider the Pershing is compared to the older Sherman — a difference that made the Pershing simultaneously harder to hit and more agile on rough terrain.
Finally, here’s a quick little build I tossed together to showcase some of the rarer BrickArms elements that I’d picked up around BrickCon last year — an original American version of the M3A1 Scout Car that I posted last summer in Lend Lease program Soviet livery.
I managed to pack all of the following custom elements into this tiny little armored car:
- BrickArms M2HB .50 caliber machine gun (prototype)
- BrickArms M1917 .30 caliber Browning machine guns (x2 prototypes)
- Citizen Brick US Army Ranger torsos
- BrickArms brodie helmets
- BrickArms M1 Garand rifles (x2 overmolded “Reloaded” version)
- BrickArms M1917 printed crate
- Citizen Brick diamond plate tiles
For those of you curious what “overmolded” means, it’s an injection molding process in which a second color of plastic gets injected on top of another, bonding the two together. Will Chapman of BrickArms has been experimenting with the technique for a year or two, with absolutely beautiful results. But don’t expect to see this in large quantities anytime soon — Will hand-injects each batch in his secret laboratory. Josh and I had the privilege of visiting the BrickArms workshop last year, and learned first-hand just how labor-intensive the overmolding process is. Nevertheless, some of the overmolded items are available for sale from BrickArms resellers.
KG2.5 – ARC Omelet starfighter
I’ve been avoiding blogging this for days now, as I expected one of the space bloggers to pick this up, but I can’t let it go by… I’m not exactly sure what dirt Gold Member has on Ryan Wood (Lights), but it has to be something juicy to make Ryan build this for him:
The curved bits wrapped around the ‘yolk’ is just fantastic, and just enough greeble to satisfy the eye. And of course probably the best use of stretcher I’ve seen (look closely!).
British Rail Class 27
When I think LEGO customization I think of minifigs, but there’s an amazing subset of train builders that go to a whole new level. Case in point, Carl Greatrix (bricktrix) has built this wonderful diesel locomotive from Birmingham Railway Carriage and Wagon Company (BRCW):
Not only is the build stunning, but the sticker work, lighting system and built in DCC is nothing short of brilliant. If you aren’t squeamish – Carl has posted a picture of the inside guts of his Class 27 train.