Hubba Hubba

Wait a minute, didn't I just blog something from vitreolum? Yeah, this morning, it was a graveyard. This is a heck of a gear change from graveyards and dragon attacks. But it's Saturday night so, what the heck. On with the show!

Burger, Fries, Lemon Coke Please...

I've stated my weakness for a classic greasy spoon diner here before. So it's no mystery why I find this latest Iron Builder MOC from Pepa Quin so appealing. But this goes beyond just sentiment here, this is an outstanding build. Look at the simulated seams in the upholstery done with half stud offsets, the classic metal bands around the benches, the bolts on the base of the table and the condiments, this is stunning work.

The Graveyard

How can a MOC be fun and ghoulish at the same time? There's something really charming about this mini diorama by vitreolum. Clean architecture, nice proportions, pleasant color use and interesting silhouette. But then you notice you're actually looking at a graveyard, oh and Death is sneaking up on that poor dude, with a cutlass.

Blockheads

For weeks builder davekaleta has been churning out what he calls Blockheads, and they're adorable. I love when a builder starts their own mini genre or form factor, like Angus' CubeDudes and Heather's Darlings. I've been enjoying seeing these and look forward to more, like a rhino and and a hippo and some dinosaurs (hint hint).

Scourge Of The Gray Dragon

Normally if you heard the phrase "it's a dragon attacking a village, setting it on fire" you would imagine a MOC with 5-10 thousand pieces, but not if you're Grantmasters. There's what, 32 pieces here? But it tells the story so well with clever part use and construction in a tiny and effective micro MOC. That dragon is awesome, and as for the villagers...well, I suppose that's what you get for building your village out of flammable materials. 

The Droid You're Looking For

R2-D2 certainly had a way of getting into trouble didn't he? Luckily for him he also had a way of saving the day, so that sorta makes up for it. On this fateful day though, the Jawas got the better of him. But he was reunited with C-3PO, and then it was off to the Lars homestead, and you know the how that turned out. Nice build I Scream Clone.

Through The Mirror

This was one of those "wait a second, that's LEGO?" moments this morning. It's also one of those "AHHHHH" moments. I don't know what it is about mirrors and the human psyche, but we're perpetually crafting disturbing images and stories about them. And thanks to Pepa Quin we have another legend to contemplate, I'm going to name her Mildred, and she continually judges your water temperature.

1951 "Woody"

There is nothing more quintessential California than a "woody". As a golden state native I've grown up seeing these from time to time (no, they're not parked along every beach in Malibu) and they always make me smile. Sir Nadroj has captured it's essence superbly here, and of course the surfboard on top is the perfect finishing touch.

Wasp

Builder Tim Lydy continues his pursuit of the perfect female figure at this scale, and it's coming along great. He may not be fully satisfied with the final results, but I'm smitten. I understand his position though, artists often are their own worst critics. But I assure you Tim, the pose, forms and composition of this shot is stellar, I look forward to seeing more.

Tilt!

Growing up in the 70's meant I saw plenty of these at the bowling alley (literally, there was a bowling alley right around the corner from my house). And while I did sink plenty of quarters into the Playboy pinball machine (what can I say, I'm all boy) my favorite machines didn't crop up until the 90's. I shudder to think how much money we dropped into those Star Wars and Addams Family machines. Thanks for the nostalgia Ethan!

Ghost Rider

This is the awesome convergence of Bionicle, System, comic books and mad building skills. Meet Johnny Blaze, AKA Ghost Rider, he bargained his soul to save his father, and now fights evil while his head is a flaming skull. Now I don't want to start rumors, but building skills like this are uncommon, you don't suppose dennis qiu has struck some kind of bargain do you? Let's hope there's no hellfire involved though, LEGO melts at 221º.

Book Of Nightmares

Yeah, this is the stuff of nightmares. Builder 6kyubi6 has crafted a MOC scary enough to make the strongest soul shiver in fear. Can you imagine opening a book just to have this reach out for you? This was built for the LUG'Est Black & What Flickr group.

Old Man Of The Forest

OK, the previous post might have conjured up some undesirable mental images, so let's get things a little closer to the reality of my physicality. Take for instance this stunning orangutan by AnActionfigure, I too can hold a small stick with my toes.

Rei's Plugsuit

As is usually the case when a cool anime MOC is posted, like this one from nobu_tary, I have no clue who I'm looking at. And of course doing my due diligence I Google it so I can at least post with a minimal amount of knowledge. This morning I learned about plugsuits, and I have to say if I could work out a way to control my computer, or better yet my motion control slider with one of these, I would look totally awesome here in the studio wearing one of these skin-tight beauties. Wait, where are you going?

The Crocs Of Nocturnus

This is a fun, quirky little MOC by Dubbadgrim. It may be a bit silly and out there, but that's what I like about it. It's got great texture, nice proportions and lots of fun details. It's also got an interesting footprint with a tiered and stacked sideways constructed base that I don't recall seeing before.

Beer Wagon

Car builder extraordinaire Lino M is back with another stunning MOC. This time it's based on another Tom Daniel classic over-the-top hotrod, Beer Wagon. I remember building a Monogram model of this one as a kid, and I remember my mom being not so sure about the subject matter. Then she saw Mr. "Gasser" and suddenly this one wasn't so bad.

Harley "Bagger" Rat Bike

Have you ever heard of a custom style known as rat bikes? It's where you customize your bike, but go for a practical or unfinished look. Usually it's primer, sometimes there's rust, but they're all meant to ride and they all have personality. These aren't show bikes, they're cobbled together from spare parts, made functional (and presumed legal), gassed up and on the road. They're the product of love, and so is this 1/10th scale rat bike from bricksonwheels, gritty magnificence.

Sirius

I don't know how I missed this back when it originally posted in February, but thankfully ER0L posted an updated picture. This is the yacht Sirius, and it's beautiful. Due to a predisposition for motion sickness I generally don't do much boating, but I can certainly admire the aesthetics, and I've always loved wooden boats. And I have to say, those deck chairs are inviting.

Bonsai

Can a MOC bring tranquility? It can if it's one as brilliant as this bonsai by Grantmasters. The term NPU (nice part use) gets thrown around a lot, but I have to use it here. That trunk is gorgeous, and do you know what it is? Say hi to Groot.

Firefighting Drone

I would genuinely like to see something like this, actually a feet of these, deployed in strategic spots all over my native state. We basically have two times of year in CA (or at least we did) wildfire season, and mudslide season. But since we haven't had any rain in forever, the state is essentially one big tinder pile right now.