For its Season 4 bout between the Greek god Zeus and the Norse god Thor, the hugely popular YouTube channel Epic Rap Battles of History turned to Forrest Whaley and his team of stop-motion animators to give it the LEGO treatment. And the result is hilarious! Make sure to check out the entertaining behind the scenes video too.
[WARNING: Some profanity]
Greetings and Salutations, Dear Readers!
Another week has flown by and I am so excited to be able to talk with you again! I am still getting used all the holidays they celebrate here at TBB. American Thanksgiving was this week. The jet was kept pretty busy flying all the contributors back to their homes in time for the holiday.
I’ve been told that TBB celebrates major holidays from all over the world. They say it’s part of the job and someone has to do it. It’s nice to see them relax since they work so hard.
I was pretty excited about all these holidays but apparently lemur interns aren’t eligible to use the jet. Someone has to stay here to water the plants. Nannan was nice enough to move his collection of carnivorous plants into the hallway outside his office so that I could feed them there. I said that he didn’t need to do that, I was fine just caring for them in his office. He must not have heard me because he just locked his door and ran off to board the jet.
Oh, I don’t have to worry about the plants in Mr. Dan’s office either. He is the head of the legal department and is pretty busy all year dealing with the lawsuits. No holidays for him. Besides, his plants are all dead anyway.
On to your questions from last week!
Ieyasu has recreated legendary Martial Artist Bruce Lee in his iconic yellow track suit, as seen in his final movie, Game of Death. The builder doesn’t mention it in their description but I think was built to honor the fact that today is Bruce Lee’s 74th birthday. I really appreciate the posability of this figure. That, and the fact that the builder has included a backdrop that compliments the build without being distracting, puts this creation on the top shelf.
Hello again, Dear Readers!
It’s the TBB Intern Lemur, here to answer your questions and do what I can to give you some insight into LEGO, the fan community and TBB! Give me a minute to catch my breath. I’ve been cleaning the bottom of the pool here in the TBB compound. It’s way easier to do when they let me drain it, but Carter was getting in his laps and Caylin said it needed cleaned immediately. They don’t call her the ‘Goddess’ for nothing! When she says “jump”, you jump. Even if it’s into the deep end. She was right though. It did need cleaning. The weekend pool parties get kind of nuts around here. I’m mostly done, except I’m not sure how to get Iain’s boat up off the bottom.
Oh, that reminds me. I was right about last week. I got a serious talking-to about mentioning a certain other person’s personal water-craft. Won’t make that mistake again. Anyway, I’m taking a break now, down in Ralph’s basement lab. He doesn’t take much notice of me so the lab is a good place to get away for awhile. Especially when I’m trying to answer your questions. There are some scary things going on down here, but I just pull a blanket over my head and try not to listen to the maniacal laughter. It’s all good, as long as you don’t taste anything while you are down here. That was another mistake I won’t make again.
So, on to your questions. Boy, there were some good ones this week!
Several members of the LEGO fan community have built tributes to the Veterans of their Armed Forces and we would like to take a moment to recognize those veterans today. While today is set aside as the official day that many nations thank the men and women who have served, The Brothers Brick would like to thank all of our readers and their families who have sacrificed to serve their countries. Thank you for your service. Your sacrifice cannot be repaid.
Our own Simon Liu has built a tribute with poppies at two different scales.
Nick Sweetman has built a lovely cascade of poppies in honor of Armistice Day.
Tyler Sky has built a tribute featuring Snoopy and Woodstock. For those who don’t know, Charles Schulz was a veteran and regularly honored Veteran’s Day and Armistice Day in his Peanuts comic strip. Quite a touching tribute.
Out of respect for those who have served, please keep political debate out of the comments. Comments trolling or bashing those of differing political persuasions will be deleted. This is meant to be a time of remembrance and respect. Please honor that.
Greetings, Dear Readers! Â Allow me to introduce myself. Â I am The Brothers Brick’s intern and I have been given the honor of answering the tasty mail that you send to us.
I am a green-tailed lemur from the island of Madagascar and am very happy to be working in the TBB compound. Â This “mailbag” feature is my own invention. Â I got the idea after noticing that the lovely paper that I was given for lunch had messages on it. Â When I asked Master Andrew about them, he said they were from our readers and that I could eat them. Â The messages that is, not the readers. Â He said the other contributors were too busy to deal with the mail, but that I was free to do as I pleased as long as the coffee was fresh and his Bugatti Veyron was washed.
I plan to answer a few questions each week. Â In this first post I will answer some common questions we have received. Â If you have questions that you would like me to answer, either serious or silly, real or imagined, please ask. Here we go!
Will you sell me the models featured on The Brothers Brick?
Unfortunately, no. Â With few exceptions, they are one-of-a-kind creations and are not owned by The Brothers Brick. Â You can always contact the builder, via whatever website they are using to host their pictures, and see if they are interested in selling their work. We do not sell contributors at this time either. Please stop asking about Simon. We are keeping him.
What is an AFOL?
AFOL is an acronym that stands for Adult Fan of LEGO. Â It is a broad term that applies to anyone over 18 years old who is a fan of the LEGO company and/or its products. Â Similar terms are ALE (Adult LEGO enthusiast), AFFOL (Adult Female Fan of LEGO), TFOL (Teen Fan of LEGO), KFOL (Kid Fan of LEGO). Â There are many kinds of AFOLs including those who build their own creations, those who collect sets, those who customize LEGO elements, etc. It also can stand for Adult Fan Of the Lemur.
Are the contributors of The Brothers Brick actually brothers?
No. Â One of us is a sister.
Thank you for your time and messages! Please leave any new questions in the comments below. Josh is having one of his ‘episodes’ and won’t come out of his office. Once he recovers, I will ask him to create me an email address.
As holiday season approachs, No Starch Press is kicking into high gear with a slew of new titles for LEGO fans. Their latest offering is Steampunk LEGO by well-known LEGO builder, innovator and steampunk enthusiast Guy Himber. This 200 page compilation features the work of over 90 individual builders, and includes just about every notable LEGO steampunk creation of the past five years.
Physically, the book has a definite steampunk feel about it. Its blue and gold hard cover sports a full-color dust jacket (shown here) and all the pages have a high quality satin finish that enhances the sumptuous graphic design. The material is presented in the form an ornate Victorian scrapbook, complete with notelets and other trinkets mounted atop a variety of textured vintage backgrounds.
A cornucopia of building styles are covered here. And while the majority are mini-fig oriented, microscale and life-size builds are reasonably well represented. Entries are 1 or 2 to a page, and organized into logical chapters focusing on different categories such as trains, vehicles, automatons, weapons, sea vessels, airships and even floating rocks. There is also a pleasant ‘interlude’ in the center, showcasing Guy’s memorable Cabinet of Curiosities collaborative project.
It’s been barely a year since No Starch Press released Beautiful LEGO, a coffee table book packed with carefully curated images of LEGO creations, conceived and organized by New Jersey graphic designer and LEGO builder Mike Doyle.
Unlike many of their other LEGO themed titles, which are targeted squarely at the AFOL community, the book had the potential to appeal to almost anyone with a passing interest in LEGO (ie. almost anyone on the planet). It soon started showing up on the shelves of regular book stores, and has since become one of their best sellers. So the rumors of a sequel came as no surprise…
Beautiful LEGO 2: Dark replays that winning formula, with some interesting twists. The first thing you’ll notice is that it’s weightier: this version is about 50 pages longer and sports a proper hard cover. Some folks will be pleased to hear about that change, although as a coffee table book, I kinda find this one harder to handle.
Mike has also cut back heavily on builder interviews (just 4 this time round, compared to 9 in the first book). I’m sure some AFOLs will see that as a loss, but I think it makes sense for a work like this to focus on the images first and foremost. For those curious to learn more about specific builders, every image is labeled, and the Contributor index contains all the necessary URLs.
Then there’s the subtitle, “Dark”. With this book, Mike applied what he calls a “thematic filter” to the curation process, targeting specific classes of build. It’s a bold move, but gives this sequel a much stronger identity than merely “hello, here are some more great builds”. Admittedly “dark” is a rather broad theme with many possible interpretations, but I think it still pays off. The builds range from the serious, the creepy, the political, the darkly humorous, and even just darkly colored.
As for the individual builds and images, Mike delivers again with another 300 pages of gorgiously photographed creations, from over a hundred different builders, that will be appreciated by both AFOL and non-AFOL alike. Everything is organized into chapters such as “Creepy Crawlers”, “Skin and Bones” or “Future Shock”. And a wide variety of building styles and categories are covered.
To achieve a harmonious effect, some of the models were specially reworked or reshot by their creators, and Mike also re-tuned some of the images too (for example, applying neutral backgrounds). The overall effect is definitely moodier than the first book – and that means it’s literally darker. The builds in this tome also skew to the more complex/detailed end of the scale than in the first one. So you’re gonna want to read this one under a decent light!
For the sequel, Mike also chose to include a small selection of digital creations. This is definitely a controversial decision, which Mike acknowledges and explains in his Preface. But the digital creations are clearly annotated as such, wherever they appear.
Like its predecessor, Beautiful LEGO 2: Dark is a beautiful object, that shines a flattering (low wattage) spotlight on the LEGO building community, and in a way that makes that world accessible to the general public. I’d recommend it wholeheartedly to anyone who enjoyed the first book. And I really hope this becomes a series of books. If it does, I cannot wait to see what theme Mike decides to cover next!
Beautiful LEGO 2: Dark goes on sale everywhere November 20th, and will retail for USD $39.95.
2015 may well be the year of Mouse Guard, as it celebrates it’s 10th anniversary and – as we previously mentioned here – Seattle’s own ArchLUG will be unveiling a big collaborative Mouse Guard display at Emerald City Comic Con in March. Of course you can expect some pretty amazing architecture in this display. But how are they going to recreate the Mouse Guard characters, you might ask? Simple, with Bricks of the Mouse Guard, that’s how! And you can get in on the action too.
Following on from his wildly successful Munchkin Bricks project, Guy Himber of Crazy Bricks has just launched a new project to bring you Mouse Guard themed LEGO accessories.
Backers have the opportunity to receive a set of mouse heads in various colors, and a set of matching accessories (including a flagon that looks like a must-have for almost any Castle enthusiast). And as you might imagine, there are all kinds of stretch goals that will unlock additional items in additional colors, and even a fully equipped custom Mouse Guard mini-fig with pad-printed torso. Other goodies include BrickArms crates, printed bricks and even original artwork by Mouse Guard’s creator for top-tier backers.
Rewards start at $19, and the project will be accepting pledges for the next 32 days, so back it today!
Contributor Iain Heath was able to sit down with President Barack Obama during TBB’s monthly junket to Washington DC. The President himself requested the interview citing a desire to “come out of the sorting bin” in regards to his Adult Fan of LEGO status. He also wanted to make it clear that the First Lady, Michelle Obama, supported him in this decision. We look forward to covering the Commander-in-Chief’s involvement in the LEGO fan community and hope to highlight some of his creations here in the near future.
UPDATE: The original video has been partially censored to comply with some half-baked legal threats made by the organizers of an event that had been mentioned in it. Some people apparently have no sense of humor, and dealing with such people is too boring and tedious to be worth the trouble, so the video was edited to shut them up. As the old saying goes… THE SQUEAKY WHEEL GETS THE OIL.
BrickCon took place last weekend in Seattle and attracted a healthy crowd of over 400 attendees and over 13,000 public audiences. While it has been 4 years since my last BrickCon, I was happy to reconnect with a lot of people and meet new ones, however briefly, during those 4 days. Below is a summary of my experiences and my favorite displays. Our other contributors will cover some of the collaborations in more detail.
During the set-up days of Thursday and Friday I saw a constant array of new MOCs cropping up on tables as well as bumping into familiar faces. Some of my personal favorites include Breann Sledge‘s Dino Rider featuring an elaborate Rulon’s head that uses gears for teeth. Brian Cooper‘s Teknomecha v.2.0 shows modern changes over the decade-old v.1.0. Some small models also caught my attention including Brandon Walker’s sleek and sturdy space transports or the hilariously mechanized slaughterhouse by Brendan Mauro as part of the Space Vikings display.
I was impressed by the setting of the ceremonies inside a theater. The set that was unveiled at the opening ceremony was 75060 UCS Slave I. Here is my on-site video review of the set.
The public attendance at BrickCon is extremely high. Outsiders had to squeeze through shoulders to get a peek at the displays. Fortunately the balconies served as nice observation points. Not all the builders are able to stay near their display and tolerate the din from the crowd, but that’s what competitions and presentations were for. A life-sized RC R2-D2 and mouse droid by Shawn and Lara Steele entertained the crowd.
My favorite creation was Paul Hetherington‘s townhouse, which features an immaculate modern design and a fully decorated lit-up interior. Paul also won Best in Show (for the 4th time) with his Mouse Guard display.
Some other things to take a gander:
Of course, there are many creations worthy of your attention that simply won’t fit in a wrap up post. You can discover them in the photos from the BrickCon group on Flickr.
The folks over at Merlin’s Beard are hosting a tournament and you can get in on the fun! For some time now they have been fighting among themselves in what have come to be called “The Brawls”. Think LEGO Castle Fight Club. Now they are holding the first Lands of Roawia Rival’s Tournament and the contestants have been chosen from the ranks of the Brawlers.
“But how can I get involved since I’m not one of the Brawlers?”, you ask. Good question. You can follow the tournament by filling out their March-Madness-style bracket and posting it on their forums. The winner of the bracket challenge will win their choice of two prizes. If you want to get involved in the Brawling and perhaps be in the next Tournament, you can sign up for that as well!