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.
I was looking through flickr user’s Sydag’s new aircraft models earlier, and was shocked to discover that we’ve never featured any of his stunning airplanes here before. Sydag has been building some of the best small aircraft to be found, including this latest pair of Hawker Sea Furies, decked out for the Reno Air Races. Be sure to check out the other photos of them, as Sydag’s included lots of terrific details like folding wings and a de-cowled version.
While I’d love to highlight all of his planes, this lovely version of Porco Rosso’s plane from Miyazaki’s film grabbed my attention in particular. It looks spot on, and the display is wonderful.
One of my favorite vehicles designed by Hayao Miyazaki is the gunship from Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind.
It’s no secret that Iain Heath (Ochre Jelly) and I share a LEGO Ghibli passion, so I was pleased but not surprised that he celebrated the release of The Secret World of Arriety (written by Hayao Miyazaki, based on the classic children’s book The Borrowers) with a lovely Miniland Arriety.
Check out Iain’s write-up about the build (with a bonus micro-review of the movie) over on The Living Brick.
Our final Hayao Miyazaki tribute for the evening — and last post title in Japanese, for now — is this scene from My Neighbor Totoro
The sleeping Totoro in the second scene underneath the main one is well worth a closer look:
Leo Chu (Bad Leo) takes a bunch of angular bricks and creates one of the most irregularly shaped entities in Hayao Miyazaki’s universe — the castle in Howl’s Moving Castle.
Unlike builders of previous LEGO versions of this castle, Leo places his in a lovely scene, complete with laundry drying in the wind. Like the other Hayao Miyazaki LEGO models I’ve posted today, Leo’s build is one of the top 12 LEGO creations in the Hong Kong contest.
Ericmok delivers even more Miyazaki goodness with his microscale rendition of Laputa from Castle in the Sky.
My favorite visuals in many Miyazaki films are the clouds, and Eric’s LEGO version of Laputa is one of the few to include this key element of the movie.
One of my favorite moments in Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
But the scene at the end of the movie is no less moving, built here in LEGO by Alex Hui, another top-12 entry for the Ani-Com Hong Kong LEGO contest.
I’m less convinced by the chunky Mehve, but the lit Ohmu tendrils and historical scenes on the side of the display more than make up for it.
UPDATE: Alex has posted a video showcasing his LEGO model:
In addition to the large-scale, theme-specific collaborate displays that BrickCon has become known for throughout the LEGO fan community — from sweeping Castle landscapes to Great Ball Contraptions that would make Rube Goldberg envious — BrickCon 2010 will also feature several new and returning favorites.
If you’re still thinking about attending, you only have a few days left to register and guarantee custom-engraved bricks in your registration packet. If you have registered, don’t forget to also register your LEGO creations by filling out MOC cards. MOC cards help theme organizers plan for the necessary space, and more importantly make your creations eligible to win convention prizes.
Each of BrickCon’s group builds is designed to be accessible to every registered attendee (sorry, no contributions during Public Hours), regardless of how big or small your LEGO collection is, and whether or not you’ve even started building yet!
Zombies are so last year (and the year before)… The Brothers Brick’s official collaborative display this year takes its inspiration from the history, mythology, and pop culture of Japan. In keeping with the organic way we’ve put together layouts in years past, we’re not asking you to follow any particular standard, timeline, or even scale. We’ll have life-size ninja weapons, a minifig-scale rendition of the village from Seven Samurai, Ochre Jelly’s wonderfully unique homage to Hayao Miyazaki, the return of Mecha Godzilla, and whatever else inspires you to build something that’s … Big in Japan.
If you’re trying to think of an easy way to contribute something, consider building small for Big in Japan.
A Micropolis module isn’t parts or time intensive, and it’ll bring me one step closer to my dream of a microscale LEGO map of the entire Japanese archipelago. (I’ve built seven more modules after posting Micro Tokyo there on the right.)
Please sound off in the comments with what you’re planning to bring for Big in Japan, just so we don’t end up with three Mount Fujis.
Debuted at Bricks by the Bay earlier this year, Bricks of Character is “a Lego building theme featuring brick-built models of well known characters from film, television, literature, history, politics, or even just your imagination. Anything so long as it has personality, and isn’t just posed mini-figs” (*ahem* not that there’s anything wrong with posing minifigs).
Read more about Bricks of Character in the official announcement post on The Living Brick.
BrickCon 2010 is sure to be a lot of fun, but it’s also going to be bittersweet for many of us.
Following fly-ins at BrickWorld and BrickFair, the Vic Viper Fly-in at BrickCon will be the last fly-in to memorialize the influence and legacy of Nate Nielson, who died in a car accident earlier this year.
Though Nate lived here in the Pacific Northwest, nobody in the LEGO fan community had ever met him in person (or even knew his real name), but we all said that this was the year we were going to convince him to attend BrickCon. That can’t happen now, but members of Nate’s family will be in attendance, taking in our tribute to this legendary builder.
I’ll be coordinating the fly-in, but Keith Goldman — who was so instrumental in organizing the earlier tributes to Nate — will also be attending BrickCon, and I’m sure I’ll be leaning heavily on his experience.
I’ve personally invested a great deal of my own building energies lately in preparing an invasion force for Operation Bricklord: Europe at War.
“The setting is a battle-torn town with a canal running through it – much like the fictional town of Ramelle at the end of Saving Private Ryan, for those of you who are familiar with that film – in mid-late 1944, almost immediately post D-Day. Therefore, little details like planes with invasion stripes and such would be extra accurate!”
Iain Heath is a building fool — he’s created a myriad of iconic pieces of some of Hayao Miyazaki‘s greatest films. But now he’s gone and built the master himself:
All of these are scheduled to make an appearance at BrickCon, as part of the Big in Japan display!
Iain Heath knows what I like. Hayao Miyazaki is my favorite director, and Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind is easily my favorite animated movie — more so because I love the manga version that Miyazaki continued writing and drawing for ten years after the movie was released. Naturally, I prefer it in the original Japanese.
I’m sure you won’t begrudge me, dear readers, taking this opportunity to remind everyone that this is precisely the sort of wonderful LEGO model we’re looking for as part of the Big in Japan display at BrickCon.
I’m not doing this on purpose, I promise. Right after I’d blogged Howl’s Moving Castle and Nausicaä, I saw this flaptter by MooseBot over on the left side of the page. I blame technology.
Hurray for Miyazaki!
