Peer Kreuger (mahjqa) brings the finest examples of the wonders achieved with Power Functions. His Tachikoma think tank from Ghost in the Shell not only walks but also rolls and steers. In addition it features moving eyes and arms, all packed in a compact and beautiful design. Visit Flickr for more photos including pictures of the chassis.
This image is currently going viral around the net, what do you see in each group of blocks?
Alex Jones’ (“Orion Pax”) Back to the Future DeLorean looks like an actual diecast model rather than a Lego creation. Despite the spray-painted hull, it’s still a legit build due to the skillful customization job.
He let something fall. It’s a Truffula seed. The last one of all! You’re in charge of the last of the Truffula Seeds. And Truffula Trees are what everyone needs. Plant a new Truffula. Treat it with care. Give it clean water. And feed it fresh air. Grow a forest. Protect it from axes that hack. Then the Lorax and all of his friends may come back.
The Once-ler’s house is brought to you by Jason Allemann‘s girlfriend, who built this with his advice and collection.
Via The Living Brick
Tia Dalma’s haven of witchcraft was one of the eerier scenes in Dead Man’s Chest, with Jack Sparrow and company slinking through the murky woods to consult a medium. This scene by flickr user Walter Boy captures a bit of that uncanniness, and is a great model besides. The dark tan, dark brown, and dark green merge together well to give this diorama more ominous tones, and the dark background is an excellent choice.
Advance just released their latest classic LEGO commercials! Town fans get twice the love this time, with two commercials, and the third features Belville. Each of them has their points of interest but my favorite this time is the one for the City Precinct. Gotta love controversy!
LEGO SYSTEM 1993 City Central Precinct
This was shot in Los Angeles and features a storyline that generated a lot of Grand Theft Auto-type controversy. It features a thief called Max who steals a car and is pursued through the city by police. In the end he escapes and we see the police precinct set from above. There were no CGI effects here – everything was built from scratch.
LEGO SYSTEM Belville 1994
Belville was an early attempt from LEGO to move into the girls’ market and is still available today. This spot is a somewhat surreal girls’ fantasy universe with lots of horses and mum and dad are still perfect sweethearts. The only time you see a boy is when the girl pushes him out of the picture.
LEGO SYSTEM TOWN 1998
This was done before we had 3D graphics so we used 2D animation. The spot features two ‘live’ animated figures while the rest are static mini-figs. At 00:10 and 00:16 we see the chopper in the air without any hands holding it – something that wouldn’t be legal today.
Marvel has revealed the first pictures of some of the upcoming Lego Avengers sets. The sets and minifigs look good except for Iron Man, who must have been modeled after a bobblehead version :)
Via Brickset
This Gadget Mobile by Alex Jones (Orion Pax) is quite true to the cartoon vehicle I remember from my childhood. Not only does the van look accurate, it also transforms, just like the one in the show! I’m not going to lie, these customized Bellville and Technic figures creep me out a bit, but Gadget certainly looks like Gadget, and that’s what counts.
Pacific Coast Highway Lug (PCHLug), in association with FBTB, is hosting their 101 Challenge, and this month’s theme is Podracing. For contest rules and prizes, click here! To post your entries (or check out who’s entered), head on over to the Flickr group.
Best of luck!
In this fourth installment of classic LEGO commercials by Advance, we have Black Monarch’s Castle, a journey through time and space and, lastly, an adventure in Egypt inspired by Indiana Jones.
LEGO System Black Monarch’s Castle – 1988
This was an extremely simple set-up — it was just the castle set depicted on the box transferred to a studio, just LEGO trees, a cardboard hill and a cardboard background. We made the background the same colour as the box to create the playful effect when the box appears. Notice the name of the play-theme 00:15 “LEGOLAND”, back then it was a LEGO category and now as you know its a world wide theme park.
LEGO SYSTEM Intergrator 1996
Still the most expensive commercial we’ve made at Advance, this was a huge project. The ad was inspired by LEGO Time Cruisers. We travel through the boxes into three different LEGO worlds but time stops in the ‘real’ world. When we return to the store, the cleaner hasn’t moved. Actually the cleaner also played the pirate in the striped top you see at 00:14. The casting for the pirates was hilarious, we had ten different guys show up with amazing costumes. We built the LEGO city in the desert at night and shot the next day, I slept in the truck that you see. The set almost blew away in a desert storm during that night.
LEGO SYSTEM Adventure 1998
Set in Egypt and heavily inspired by Indiana Jones. What looks like a huge set was built entirely in LEGO filmed with extreme close-up lenses. And the boy was shot on bluescreen. What’s interesting here is that in the boy’s room 00:26 we see lots of toys that aren’t LEGO – LEGO is almost taking a back seat and that would not happen today.
Forbidden Cove is running a multi-week Seed Part contest, where the entrants have one week to build a creation using that week’s Seed Part–and it can’t be whatever the part actually is. Week one was a classic flared helm; this week is a minifig’s chair piece.
Here are some of my favorite entries from week two, in no particular order:
Rapture of the Deep by Guy Himber
Once Cap’n Jack, Always Cap’n Jack by Bluesecrets
Enemy in Sight by Marco den Besten
