Vimal Patel has built a sweet LEGO Technic version of the the A-Team’s iconic van, and it’s remote controlled.
Vimal’s also filmed this awesome video of it in action (though I wish it had that classic A-Team music, but I’m guessing Vimal doesn’t want to get sued).
This review is about an unusual item, namely one made for storage of LEGO rather than building with it. Sarah Kirk, the owner of Swoop Bag, sent us one to check out some time ago. My apologies to Swoop Bag for the delay in reviewing it.
This is actually a rather interesting product. Similar to the play-mats that LEGO made back in the 70s, the Swoop Bag is a combination play-mat and storage bag, designed to transform from storage to play-space and back again.
It consists of a 44 inch, round canvas mat with a nylon draw-string encased in a sleeve around the edge. The sleeve doubles as a containment “wall” when the bag is in play-mat mode. Place a pile of LEGO in the middle of the mat and build away. When you are finished simply pull on the draw-string and the mat folds up around the brick and transforms into a handy storage bag. It makes picking up a pile of brick surprisingly easy and hung up on a hook, ready for the next build session.
Pros:
The bag is very sturdy and it can hold quite a bit of brick. I dumped in an 18 gallon bin of brick (unsorted, of course) and it held it just fine. My six year old son was able to operate the bag, open or closed, in about 20 seconds. The sleeve around the edge is a lot better than the old LEGO play-mats in that the cord is almost completely enclosed. The cords on the old mats got in the way and tripped kids up. It also comes in two sizes now. We only reviewed the larger one but the smaller one looks like it would ideal for travel. The bag is also machine-washable.
Cons:
It is designed for a child’s collection of brick. It is perfect for my kids’ collection of LEGO but doesn’t have much use in my collection. This isn’t really a “con” so much as a design limitation. The price may also turn off some buyers. The large bag is priced at $48 USD, which is a lot to pay for something to keep your kid-brick in. The smaller bag is $26 USD.
Overall, I really liked the Swoop Bag. It is sturdy, makes clean up of “play brick” a snap, and my kids can do it by themselves. Obviously a lot of time and thought went into the design of the bag and it shows. This is a high quality item that will last for years. While the price is high, the ease of cleanup makes it worth it. If you have “play brick” and it gets used on a regular basis I would recommend checking out the Swoop Bag.
A new style of collaboration was introduced to the Flickr Lego community when a group of builders (myself included) simultaneously posted creations depicting a tribe of polar bear warriors. Check out our creations on the Flickr group and learn how to build your own polar bear.
Three Finnish brothers, Sandmaenchen, Blaitteri, and Erythron from Hovinet.com spent over 7 years to create this 146 min Brickfilm with 110,000 pictures. You can read more about the plot summary and stats on Bricks In Motion.
At the end of December, Kyle Wigboldy (thirdwigg) posted a LEGO Spitfire fighter plane from World War II that has the most functions I’ve ever seen in a LEGO plane.
Kyle spent about six months on his Spitfire, and the finished model has a wingspan of 112 studs and is 96 studs long. Not only is the Spitfire model gorgeous (too many LEGO Technic models are just skeletons in odd colors), it also includes lots of functionality:
The YouTube video shows off all the moving parts.
Read Kyle’s full writeup on Thirdwigg.com, and a more complete review on TechnicBRICKs.
Alex Kobbs of Kooberz Studios posted his LEGO Portal video back in December, but it looks like we only featured the behind-the scenes video. I recently finished Portal 2 again, and Alex posted about the video on Flickr, so now seems as good a time as any to highlight the main video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6V0R8Qpjl8Q
Since this is Part 1, I wonder when Part 2 will be out. Can’t wait!
Eight months ago I built a spaceship and my son Tate decided that the pilot should be my wife Trish. I thought that sounded like a nice idea, and since I didn’t want any family member to feel left out I decided to build one for each of us. I built both my son Milo’s, and mine within the following two weeks. I even did a substantial upgrade on Trish’s in the meantime. But considering Tate came up with the idea, the poor little guy had to wait eight whole months for his very own. (I am such a horrible father :P)
So to reward his patience, I tried to go all out on his. As a result I built quite possibly the craziest vessel to ever come out of the .Tromas Shipyards. He ended up with not only a rockin’ starfighter, but it converts to a mecha as well.
I am still trying to talk them all in to taking a family swoosh-portrait, but in the meantime…
I also just realized that I am going to have to build another ship for our bambino that is due in March…a father’s work is never done :)
After what seems like an eternity, I am finally getting to my review of 79010 The Goblin King Battle. I don’t like picture-heavy reviews so don’t expect any of my own. I will be talking about three aspects of this set: part selection, minifigs and set design.
To begin with, the part selection in this set is very good. I’m a castle builder at heart and this set is chock full of castle/fantasy goodness, as you would expect from a Lord of The Rings set (yes, it’s the Hobbit, but you know what I mean). There are tons of dark grey slopes and such, lots of brown bits and loads of decorative bits such as bones, books, weapons, jewels, etc. There were around twenty pieces that used stickers. The majority of those were tiles with various wood grains. I would have preferred that those were printed, but I know that LEGO is mostly going with stickers these days. The only piece that really suffers from the sticker use is the 2×2 tile/scroll that the Goblin Scribe is supposed to hold. If you actually have him hold it, his hand messes up the edge of the sticker. Printing would have been a much better choice for this piece. However, overall I was mostly very happy with the parts selection.
Secondly, the minifigs are a fun assortment. Naturally LEGO dispersed the 13 dwarves throughout all the sets. In this one you get Ori, Dori and Nori. You also get Gandalf, the Goblin King and three goblins. The three dwarves all very decent figs. I really like their torsos. Ori’s hairpiece is a bit boring since it simply Ron’s hair from the Harry Potter line in brown. The other two are unique to these figs. Gandalf is the same as the one in the small cart set. LEGO lists it as different figure but the only difference is that this one has a sword. The three goblins are each unique. This surprised me. I was expecting all three to have the same torso. They have the same heads, headpiece and two have the same legs. The goblin scribe has stubby legs. That just leaves the Goblin King. He is obviously supposed to be the highlight of the set. I was rather under-whelmed by him. I am a fan of the giant trolls and such but the Goblin King leaves something to be desired. He is going to be hard to use for anything else. I hope someone does (and I have some plans myself) but there are some design elements that are really going to get in the way. The main issue is his crown. It doesn’t come off. You can remove the three spikes but the base of the crown is part of the figure and seriously limits the versatility. The snarling expression and printed hair down the back are also issues but they are easier to work around.
Read the rest of the review after the jump!
Eurobricks is holding a Micro Sci-Fi Contest this month (the trophies themselves are noteworthy examples of the genre), and at mid-month we’re already starting to see some really nice entries.
Ryan H. (eldeeem) enters the fray with this gorgeous biodome on an ice planet, complete with a resupply ship hovering above.
Notice the Modulex bits attached to the side of the freighter as containers. LEGO produced Modulex as a tool for architects in the 60’s until they spun off the company in 1965. Early Modulex bricks even have the LEGO logo on the studs, just like System bricks.
Over the years, LEGO builders have figured out various connections between the two systems (officially not compatible with each other), and Ryan has collected all of the ones he’s aware of in the following photo:
Post-LEGO Modulex with an M logo continued to be available until fairly recently (the company is a successful signage company today), and it’s always interesting to see what new ways LEGO builders incorporate them into their models.
I’ve always thought that the majestic locations of Middle-earth would make for a great set of microscale dioramas. Last week, we featured George G’s Helm’s Deep, and today I’m pleased to highlight this beautiful Minas Tirith by diegoboy. I love the angling on the great stone outcropping in the center of the city, and parts like minifig ski poles and steering wheel bases add wonderful detail.
diegoboy recently used his micro Minas Tirith as part of a forced-perspective backdrop for a scene titled “The Ride of the Rohirrim.”
…because it is too big to fit out the door.
Ryan McNaught has built quite possibly the coolest helicopter ever to be created with LEGO. His Erickson Air-Crane “Elvis” has been created with over 100,000 LEGO elements, and was built in only a month! Those of you lucky enough to be attending Brickvention will be able to see it in person this weekend.
I was having trouble deciding which photos to include in the post, so please be sure to click through the photoset, but this engine detail shot puts a gigantic smile on my face.
The only thing left to say is; let’s see a swoosh pic Ryan!
I watched My Neighbour Totoro for the first time just after Christmas. I wish I had seen it years ago, because it was absolutely wonderful. So seeing legorobo:waka’s model of the iconic Catbus was right up my alley! I love the somewhat simplified/blocky style…and that smile is just spot on!
But the coolest feature is definitely the movement:
Check out the full photoset for all the views.
