The LEGO Shop online has just posted their ordering page for LEGO Minifigures Series 5.
As usual, you’re limited to 16 minifigs, and you don’t get to stand in the store aisle and feel them through the bags, but it’s a guaranteed way to get your hands on these right away.
UPDATE: Jason Junker has posted a handy guide to identifying Series 5 minifigs by touch.
As readers will have noticed in our LEGO News feed last week, custom minifig accessory vendor BrickForge has just released a new batch of items, including a new “Shock Trooper” armor. We ordered a couple batches, and I managed to find enough sunshine in the Seattle “summer” to take a few pictures.
The armor comes in a sort of steel color that’s rather lovely, along with black that has a similar metallic sheen. Neither color really matches typical colors available for minifig legs and torsos, but they combine reasonably well with neutral colors like bley and black. BrickForge also offers two printed variants, with an eagle on the gray and a flaming skull on the black. I’ll be interested to see how other customizers use these helmets and armor, but I focused on their inevitable use as ODSTs from Halo. Armor for a squad of six will run you a bit over $20.
One of the few areas in which BrickForge and BrickArms overlap is in items inspired (a safe assumption, I think) by the Halo universe, so minifig customizers have a bit more choice in this area. I like to mix and match custom parts from everybody, and I have to admit that I personally prefer the BrickArms versions of these sci-fi weapons (including the previously reviewed BrickArms minigun). I think the combination of the BrickForge armor and BrickArms weapons is undeniably awesome — “better together,” as I always say.
I cracked myself up by putting one of the troopers on a BrickForge scooter, which my wife dubbed the UNSC “Shrew”. I was amused enough that I would like to share this little masterpiece with the world. You’re welcome.
As fun as a couple squads of Orbital Drop Shock Troopers might be, I had the most fun putting together the Avengers — inspired by the blue helmet with an A and the big American shield that begged themselves to be equipped on a classic Captain America. Wolverine (with BrickForge “Savage Mask”) and Thor (BrickForge hammer) quickly followed, supplemented by a HAZEL-helmeted Iron Man, official Spider-Man, and my old Hulk.
The ODSTs and Avengers were distracting enough that I didn’t get a chance to do much with the test tubes, bottles, martini glasses, and other new glassware BrickForge has just released. Briefly, they complement official LEGO items nicely, and I’m highly entertained by the idea of minifigs squaring off against each other in tiny bar fights with broken bottles.
Magnus the Great’s lineup of minifig colorsets probably won’t qualify as a “creation” to some people but it is quite mesmerizing. I find myself just staring at them.
I am a big fan of minifig combat but it is seldom done correctly. So few people know how to properly pose a minifig. However, this scene, by Jamerco, is just about perfect. I love the chaotic feel of the battle and the sense that this is a moment frozen in time.
Jared Burks shows us in video how to do the basics of customizing a minifigure including using Brasso to remove print and applying waterslide decals. He showed this video at Brick Fiesta along with hundreds of custom minifigs. To learn more, check out Jared’s Minifigure Customization book.
Minifig customizer The-Bricker combines chopped-up bits of BrickArms, judicious use of paint, and a lot of glue for a really great commando fig.
Custom minifigs frequently don’t stand up to closer examination (and often look best in person), but don’t miss the photo’s large size for all the details.
It’s been almost exactly two years since I last did an in-depth review of any custom accessories, for a number of different reasons. I’ve been crazy busy with work (yes, TBB contributors all have “real” jobs), but more importantly none of the stuff from the accessory vendors has really excited me enough to highlight here myself.
But I think the new Minigun from BrickArms is different enough and awesome enough for me to share my enthusiasm with all of you out there.
Will Chapman sent The Brothers Brick a batch of the new items, and I’ve been enjoying them ever since.
I’m not currently set up for photography, so Catsy has kindly agreed to let me use his pictures for this review. Thanks! For all of Catsy’s review photos, see Flickr, and for his own review, see the BrickArms Forums.
First, the Minigun is the most complex single item BrickArms has produced to date. The weapon itself consists of three separate parts, with a body, barrel, and handle. Each kit comes with both exposed barrels and shrouded barrels for the end of the gun, plus a “buildable ammo chain” — 14 different parts in total. For buyers used to BrickArms’ usual $1 for most items, this complexity should explain the $8 price tag.
Second, the various holes, attach points, and modularity of the Minigun translate to a wide variety of ways to put it into action, including for vehicles and fixed defenses.
Third, the Minigun’s modularity also translates to some interesting color combinations. It’s currently only available in black, but Will sent us about ten different colors to play with, as he did for Catsy, whose “overheated Minigun” below combines gunmetal, trans-red, and trans-orange.
My own version hands the overheated brass Minigun to a Victorian gentleman in an oversized stovepipe hat, for an excellent steampunk effect. (Pics to follow at some point…) I’m looking forward to these other colors becoming available to everyone.
Finally, BrickArms has released production versions of the Raygun and Tactical Sword, which have been in circulation as prototypes for quite a while.
I highlighted the Raygun prototype a couple years ago, and the production version doesn’t disappoint — though minus the lovely swirl effect in the early prototypes you see in the photo (right). The Raygun and Tactical Sword are $1 each and are available in all 10 current colors.
An important change to the way BrickArms is selling their products as of this month is that all sales go through resellers. Prices appear to be comparable to buying directly in the past, and products are now available in more countries.
Officially due out June 1st, the Minigun, Raygun, and Tactical Sword are already available from most resellers now.
Though low-res and group shots of Series 5 Collectible Minifigs have been circulating for a little while, I think this is the first set of “solo” shots at a high enough resolution to make out details and therefore be worth discussion.
Photo hosted by Unknown User2596 (provenance unknown).
We don’t know what the official names are yet, of course, but here’s a list of the sixteen minifigs that the series contains:
Following his amazing GLaDOS from Portal 2, Brandon Bannerman (Catsy) miniaturizes a turret to minifig-scale (or near enough), alongside an adorable custom Chell fig, complete with ASHPD.
For all of you out there who’d like your own turret to keep you company during the long twilight of civilization, Brandon has kindly posted instructions.
Another interesting thing about Brandon’s design has been watching it evolve based on feedback from fellow builders. See the earlier iterations here and here, together with the comments that inspired the final version.
If you’re a minifigure customizer or just interested in making your own custom minifigs, BrickJournal is presenting a book on minifigure customization to be released in May 11. Written by Jared Burks (Kaminoan), the 84-page full-color book is available for $8.46 if you pre-order it from the publisher. Meanwhile, you can download a preview of the book.
Ah, the life of an artist. Glamorous, with paintings selling for millions upon millions, right? Eh, probably not. Unless you’re Picasso, this poor minifig probably won’t see his works reach seven digits in his lifetime. But that’s glamorous, right?
All he wants to do is pay for his fantastic flat, that he just cleaned. But he missed the red pigment. That’s going to stain.
I love the detail in this. The coat rack, especially, and the half-finished sculpture. Bravo, Walter Boy.
