Christmas At Hogwarts

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Christmas may be over, but the surprises and wonderful presents keep coming. I opened my Flickr (sorta like a present) to find this inside this morning. Builder Legopard has built a perfect representation of Christmas at everyone’s favorite school of witchcraft and wizardry, and it’s as charming and wonderful as it is in the movies. Everywhere you look it’s packed with details, check out the bookmark on the mantle, or the melted wax on the candle next to it, just so much to love.

Mario Kart

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As I mentally prepare myself for a trip to Los Angeles today I’ll remind myself that it’s not OK to throw turtle shells or banana peels at my fellow motorists, as much as I may want to. While the “rules” of the freeways of the greater LA area don’t allow this, I’m sure there will be plenty of exchanged harsh looks and perhaps a couple gestures. But in my head I’ll be Mario, skillfully maneuvering through traffic, looking for the finish like. Just like this wonderful depiction by builder polywen.

Hugin & Munin

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I love it when a MOC teaches me something. I’m not super knowledgeable about Norse mythology, but admiring these wonderful ravens by builder birgburg lead me to read the caption on the photo. According to it “In Norse mythology Hugin (thought) and Munin (memory) are Odin's two ravens. At day they fly over Åsgard and Midgard. At night they sit on Odin's shoulder and whisper in his ear what they have seen.” I was never aware of this and I love it. And to think I was just going to make a stupid “attempted murder” joke, shame on me.

Minimal Heroes

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I love this. With a literal handful of parts builder SPARKART has recreated a key moment in my favorite movie of all time. Is there anyone out there that doesn’t instantly recognize this as the throne room from the end of Star Wars A New Hope? While the whole thing makes me giddy, it’s the silver lower leg of C-3PO that puts it over the top for me. Yes, in ANH Threepio has a silver leg, look it up.

The Great Deku Tree

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The Great Deku Tree from The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time holds a dear place in my heart, and I suspect in a great many of yours too. It’s the first dungeon of sorts that many of us conquered, at least in a 3D game, and beyond the training ground that is Kokiri Forest. It’s that first satisfying completion of a large task in the game, and rewarding. It also happens to be my favorite game franchise. Builder Julius von Brunk has recreated this icon in bricks, and it has all the feels I could want.

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Knight's Hall

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Medieval times had their fare share of hardships. Yes, everything was lit with candlelight. Sure, guys in metal suits were always trying to take your castle. Of course large swaths of the population might be killed off by disease. But if you were fortunate enough to actually live in a castle what a wonder it must have been. I mean who wouldn’t want to spend time in a space like this one from builder Lego_fan? I want to eat some food at that table or play a game or read a book by that fire, right now!

A Visit from Saint Nicholas

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Bert Van Raemdonck captures Saint Nicholas delivering hope at Christmas time. Saint Nicholas was a bishop in what is modern day Turkey he lived from 270-343 AD and much of what we know of him focuses on his generosity.  A brief bio of what we know can be found here. The miter (a bishops pointy hat) is excellent captured using the classic roof piece 3049 , as is the crozier (a bishops staff of office, which often resembles a highly stylized shepherds crook) using the gold plant piece. 

The Gingerbread Express

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The holidays means a lot of things to a lot of people, and a great many traditions. One in our house is a mild obsession with gingerbread. I’ve made no less than four batches of gingerbread men this season, I just ate one while my tea was steeping this morning in fact, and the bag is taunting me as I type this. We’ve built houses in the past, but never anything even remotely as whimsical and wonderful as this train by builder Tim Lydy. It’s adorable, and looks delicious.

A Host Of Robots

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What does one call a collection of robots? A gaggle? A flock? I’m going to propose the official word to represent a mechanical gathering, a “tinker” (make this happen, I’m counting on you all). Builder Rogue Bantha has assembled quite a collection of robots here, and has invited us all to pick our favorite. This is really no small feat, and despite staring far too long at this image I’m afraid I’m not up to the task. I cannot pick just one, so I’ve decided not to, you can’t make me (remember this day when our robot overlords come, when I was inclusive and did not play favorites).

Christmas Cookies

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While we are up to our 5th batch of cookies this year, we haven’t made any of this style (but the gingerbread men have been so yummy) but there’s still a couple days before Christmas so who knows what might happen. And while they might be tasty, I seriously doubt they’ll be as cute as these cookies from builder buildings blockd, which are as adorable as they are filled with Christmas spirit.

Veronica Winter

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Builder vitreolum gave no indication of who this is in the description, so it’s up to me. Meet Veronica Winter, Santa’s personal assistant and aspiring pin up girl. While Santa isn’t terribly supportive if her aspirations, she is the best assistant he’s ever had. Before she came along mail was occasionally lost, milk and cookies might not be readily available and “the list” was never quite up to date. But as much as Veronica loves her job all she really wants is to be pictured on the nose art of the sleigh, something I never new was needed, but I have to agree that would be pretty awesome. Her attempts to prove her worthiness tend to just embarrass Santa, who has given her more coveralls than anyone needs. And Mrs Claus is at her wits end to say the least. When things calm down after Tuesday she’s gonna “have a little talk” with Veronica.

Doc Ock

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Fun fact: I worked on Spiderman 2. Not so fun fact: I spent most of the time working on a single shot that was when this guy showed up and some metal panels got pulled off the wall, blink and you missed it. Doctor Octopus, depicted here by vitreolum, is one of those villains that everyone knows, but no one really “knows”, you know? He’s actually a pretty complex character, who just happens to be a mad scientist with mechanical appendages hell bent on proving his genius while smashing Spiderman.

A Seriously Armed Canard

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When you hear “pusher canard” I’m sure a certain percentage of you would think “huh?”, the rest of you are plane geeks. This rear propeller (pusher) aircraft with front mounted elevator (canard) from builder Red Spacecat is ready for some serious sky warfare. With enough firepower to orbit Arnold Schwarzenegger, this looks ready for total sky domination.

The Tower

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This tower has an interesting story. It started as a dark creepy tower, but over the month or so builder MinifigNick worked on it it magically morphed. I’ve endured a UK winter, and I know exactly what Nick means when he says it was an “antidote to the dark wet winter evenings”. LEGO was my therapy when I was there too, it has pretty magical healing properties.

The Stranglers

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I’m afraid that latest band featured by builder redfern1950s2 didn’t get much airplay here in the US, and back then before global connectivity if they didn’t play you on the radio, you didn’t exist. The only song from The Stranglers I’m aware of is No More Heroes, but being a kid of the 70’s and 80’s I’m guessing they’ll have some more offering that will be in my wheelhouse. Time to do some catching up.