This was on the top of my “to blog” list before the power went out last Thursday. What I like so much about Patrick Yrizarry’s microscale Edo castle is all the detail he’s packed into it, from the moat to the gate and the courtyard full of trees of various shapes:
Here’s an angle that shows off the gate:
(Via Bruce’s new blog, MicroBricks.)
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For the past five years, LEGO specialty store Click Brick in the Odaiba shopping district of Tokyo has held an “Original Model Contest.” (Via mumu’s I Love Cute LEGO and VignetteBricks.)
You can view all of the entries in Sachiko Akinaga’s Brickshelf gallery, but Edge informs us that the winners have been announced. Here they are:
HIRO’s “Friends”:
kobachan’s “I’m Sorry Matsui”:
Mokuami’s “Brace Yourself! General Dokuro’s Tower”:
My personal favorite, Pisatake’s “Meeting Totoro at the Bus Stop in the Rain”:
Azumu’s “Dancing Cat”:
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I think I’ll start something new: Every so often, highlighting a blog I like.
Since I just blogged custom minifigs (the humanity!), it seems only natural that I highlight Xeuren’s American Comics Lego Archive. Back in December, I highlighted Xeuren’s blog on Pan-Pacific Bricks. And I quote:
You’ll never see modified minifigs on my other blog, but in the interest of objectivity, I absolutely must highlight Xueren’s American Comics Lego Archive blog.
Well, both Josh and I have blogged custom minifigs at this point, so that first bit no longer applies.
Xeuren updates his Brickshelf gallery irregularly, but if you want a near-daily dose of comic book-inspired custom minifigs, check out his blog.
Spaces are tight and land is at a premium in Japan. Sure, there are enormous construction projects like the Akashi Kaikyo bridge (the longest suspension bridge in the world), but most projects are on a much smaller scale. Always a nation that solves just about any problem with technology, a company named Chikusui Canycom manufactures construction equipment and utility vehicles the size of golf carts and riding lawn mowers (which they also make).
Always one to build just about any real-world vehicle in LEGO, Masahiro Yanagi has recreated several of these — what other word can I use? — adorable vehicles (click for full gallery with individual pictures and action shots):
Moko recently posted a cool little vehicle Lukas called “bike-ish”:
What’s not in Moko’s Brickshelf caption is that this is based on a hover-bike currently featured in a Nissin Cup Noodles ad (in Japan, of course) that uses footage from a new project called FREEDOM by Akira director Katsuhiro Otomo. Here’s a six-minute clip from YouTube:
You can also watch more footage on the official FREEDOM site.
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Continuing our autumnal theme, mumu’s wife presents a lovely scene with a persimmon tree, tea, a pair of cats, and a lady in a kimono:
Check out the beautiful obi (sash) on the woman:
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With three other guys picking up some of the slack over on The Brothers Brick, I’m hoping I can get caught up on the Asian-themed LEGO creations I’ve missed this summer. Bruce gets me started with a great little food cart from Brickshelfer kobachan:
I’m not sure what all the letters on the carts sides are, but the first letter is O (お), so I’m thinking this is an oden stand. Oden is a hot pot or stew that includes ingredients such as daikon radish, potatoes, carrots, chikuwa (fish cakes), boiled eggs, and konnyaku (yam cakes). It’s popular in the autumn and winter, and even in modern Japan you might be able to find a street stall serving steaming hot oden to keep you warm.
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Masahiro Yanagi builds wonderfully realistic vehicles and buildings, in addition to whimsical creations inspired by space and science fiction.
Recent updates to his Brickshelf gallery include a patrol craft for the Japan Coast Guard called Yukigumo:
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There once was an old woman who could bear no children. One day, she was washing clothes at the river, when all of a sudden she saw an enormous peach bobbing toward her on the water. The woman was poor and she thought, “That peach will feed me and grandpa for many days.” She caught the peach as it bumped against the shore and carried it home, where she used her biggest kitchen knife to slice into its bright pink flesh.
So begins the tale of “Momotaro,” or “Peach Boy” (well, with a little creative license by yours truly). “Momotaro” is quite possibly the most popular Japanese children’s story. Now, go read the rest of the story!
Back? Izzo has recently recreated Momotaro and his ragtag band of animal warriors in LEGO minifig form:
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Darkness falls and the air becomes still. Old ladies fan themselves on balconies and small children run through empty lots catching fireflies. Neon signs and distant fireworks illuminate the night sky, but deep in a bamboo grove on the edge of town, only the full moon’s grey glow shines on the stone graves.
Other children, braver and older than those exclaiming over tiny lights in jars, edge out from the bamboo. They whisper, they shuffle forward. From behind a tomb, a ghostly figure emerges, cloaked in blue flames (vig by Izzo):
Scenes like this play out all over Japan throughout the summer. Well, maybe not with blue flames. Sort of like a haunted house outdoors, I have fond memories of going over to friends’ houses for kimodameshi (肝試し), or “test of courage.” We’d tell scary stories until it got dark, and then the parents and older siblings would disappear while we drank soda and ate candy. Once we were suitably, uh, energized, we’d head out into the dark, tittering with anticipation (vig by inago100):
Our destination wasn’t always a graveyard, but those were favorite places for kimodameshi. Surrounded by tombs in the dark, with nothing but a flashlight to light our way, we never knew what was around the corner. Inevitably, an adult or older brother would jump out from behind a tree, a grave, a wall, a bend in the path and scare us half to death (vig by Moko):
Silly “haunted houses” at the mall and in school gymnasiums here in the States pale in comparison to the fright of seeing a “real-live” (heh heh) ghost float out at you from behind a grave for the very first time. My own kids (when I have any) better watch out — I have a few tricks up my sleeve…
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New Brickshelfer SCoallier kicks things off beautifully with a lovely bonsai tree:
(Okay, I know I’m seriously behind. I have a dozen or more news items and creations I’ve bookmarked to blog here on PPB. I’ll try to catch up once work settles down a bit. Sorry readers!)
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I recently helped Linus Bohman with some ideas for a cool little space ninja vehicle. Here’s his Shin-nyu, a “long range infiltration and assassination craft” (shin-nyu means “infiltrate” in Japanese):
Be sure to click the picture for the full gallery — lots of great details on this one. Here’s the pilot of the Shin-nyu, Danzou the Reaper (Danzou is named after a legendary Japanese ninja):
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