When you see a spider crawling around, is your first inclination to use the power of your shoes? What if I told you you could be snuffing out the next ace arachnid guitar player like Grayson M‘s Sid the Spider. He looks frighteningly awesome, right down to his studded jacket, sharp-looking shoes, and classic red and white guitar. He even has a golden ring on one of his left legs; that’s so eight-legged metal!
Our readers over the age of thirty may already know the secret to winning over the hearts of that special someone. For the rest, this is what to do. Be sure to don a khaki trench coat with the sleeves pushed up to the elbow. Hop into your late 70’s model Chevy Malibu and head over to their place. Once there, hold a boombox similar to this one built by Chungpo Cheng high over your head and with the volume turned up all the way, stand outside their bedroom window and play some Peter Gabriel, but preferably not this one.
The end result should either have the person you most desire running longingly into your waiting arms or it may land you one hell of a restraining order. There really is no “in between” scenario with this stunt. But either way it would be totally worth it.
Our friends at Citizen Brick have been cooking up a new batch of brand new, pad-printed, custom minifigures for Black Friday this year. They kindly sent us the full assortment to share with everyone ahead of their availability on Friday morning. One of the things we love about Citizen Brick is their cheekily named product names, and this batch is no different, with “Party Rights Enthusiasts,” “Painting Enthusiast,” and many more — all cleverly named but instantly recognizable.
Read our hands-on review of the latest Citizen Brick minifigures
It should come as a surprise to no one that I am an expert bassist. And by expert I mean I can play that one riff from “7 Nation Army”. Over and over again. For like nine hours at a time if you request it, and I sincerely hope that you do someday. An array of cool petals would only make the experience that much sweeter because variety is the spice of life, after all. As enriching as that would be for all of us, despite my best intentions, I don’t think I could look as cool as Zinnia Superfuzz while doing it. She’s a new creation by Eero Okkonen and everything from her stance to her rocking flower power clothing and awesome yellow bass says she’s going to take expert to a whole new level that would put me to shame, I’m sure.
Still, if you care to be dazzled, I am also fairly proficient at that one intro riff from “Smoke on the Water.” Just putting that out there.
We’ve seen excellent Walkman-themed LEGO models in the past, but this one by H.Y. Leung is an absolute cracker. The cassettes are beautifully put together, and the parts choice and shaping on the headphones are particularly good. The buttons on the tape player’s side are relatively simple, but accurate to the original piece of hardware. And, whilst the cable doesn’t appear to be “purist” LEGO building, its messy tangle adds immensely to the build.
If they can build a Freddie Mercury like that, there’s little doubt AlexParkDesigns is a fan of Queen. Although the model is simple at first glance, there’s so much to admire about the parts usage to be impressed with. Let’s start with the inverted rubber tires which seamlessly join the torso armour from buildable figures. For a split second, I thought I was looking at a Technic tooth bar, but the lapels on the jacket are brick built with 1×2 slopes on a 1×6 plate. Who says you can’t live forever? Well, at least you can be immortalised in LEGO bricks with this perfect pose.
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen Freddy in LEGO form, as TBB’s own Iain Heath brought us an excellent larger-scale LEGO Freddy Mercury figure back in 2011.
When thinking about LEGO brick built characters, a few names spring to mind and LEGO 7 is absolutely one of them. His creations seem to prove themselves, time and time again, and I find myself really looking forward to any of his new works of art. There is just so much to love about his newest build, Animal Music Box, that it’s hard to pick where to begin. This handiwork is booming with colour, expression and simulated sound. As this is an all inclusive show, the speaker stacks and attached lighting rig frame the background banner superbly, leaving the band to focus on the music. Though there is a lot going on in the main image, he has been kind enough to break it down into individual elements too.
So, lets delve into the box itself before getting onto the plethora of characters found within.
You can feel the Synergy emanating from this bright and cheerful Jem set by Samuel Hatmaker. You may remember him as the creator of the popular Golden Girls project on LEGO Ideas (It reached 10,000 supporters but failed to pass the review). This time, he has built a complete playset that includes four separate pieces capturing all the glamour, glitter, fashion and fame of the 80’s hit cartoon, Jem & the Holograms.
A LEGO builder’s mind is trained to see creative possibilities in the most obscure elements. Jens Ohrndorf’s lateral thinking has come up with a perfect practical application for the 1 x 1 white plate with black square print. His beautiful metronome lines up the printed bricks to create the tempo selection gauges at aesthetically pleasing single plate intervals. Along with other neat choices like the winder key give the build the intended feel of a real world object.
This guitar can definitely bring on some sweet rhythms. Builder Letranger Absurde built this LEGO replica of a Collings AT-16 guitar for a LEGO club contest, and I have to say I just want to grab it out of the picture and play it. Look closely, and you can see the tuning pegs are created by spoon elements. I really dig the gaps in the guitar box, as well as the crutch element at the bottom for extra detail. Strum on, Letranger!
Apocalypse is never a valid reason to stop enjoying your favourite tunes. Look at Emmet who keeps his chin up when the world around has almost been destroyed. British LEGO fan and builder justin_m_winn peeks inside Emmet’s hideout equipped with high-end stereo. This two-layers vignette has a lot of details smoothly mixed together. A room like this would fit somewhere inside 70840 Welcome To Apocalypseburg set; just imagine Emmet shaking up all of his neighbours with Everything is Awesome!
Emmet isn’t alone in keeping his chin up during the impending LEGO apocalypse. Justin has also built “Apocalypse Benny” (with his robotic arm) a wonderful display vignette, using super-rare pieces from original Classic Space sets.
When Ralf Langer put together his excellent LEGO headphones and tape cassette, all that was missing was something to provide the tunes. Now he’s filled the gap with a brick rendition of the innovative 80s hardware that reinvented how we listened to music — the Sony Walkman. The colour scheme is a perfect match for the 1979 original, and the details down the side are simply spot-on — don’t miss the use of a silver ingot piece and grille bricks to recreate the volume slider, the offsets so the buttons stand out from the casing, and the nice deployment of the “back-to-back grille tile” technique to make those tiny square holes. I also love that silver stripe separating the blue from the grey — excellent attention to detail.
