"Tree? I Am No Tree"

When I first looked at the parts selection for LEGO Star Wars 10236 Ewok Village I thought "you could build a pretty big tree with this". But when builder JK Brickworks saw the selection he thought he could build a pretty big Ent with it, and did just that. This is an alternate model for the set, and it's pretty impressive. The face is a little goofy for my taste, but overall it's pretty awesome. There's also a video, LDD model and instructions on his website, check it out!

Apple Tree

I always enjoy seeing what a really good builder can accomplish with standard parts and strait forward connections. This apple tree by retinence is build entirely studs up and with nothing more complicated than plate, bricks and slopes. It's likely a bit fragile, but you can say that about most brick-built trees. 

Detective D. Spy

Surveillance is everywhere these days (which makes shoplifting even more baffling to me) and has apparently made it's way to the insect world. Yes, you mischievous little woodland creatures and swamp dwellers, you are being watched because this camera-toting dragonfly by Brickthing is on the job. I really love all the detail on this fragile MOC, especially the hands for spines and Mandalorian helmets for eyes.

Elysium

For Rent:

Lovely levitation property in the blue sky district. Live in the lap of luxury in the clouds in this exclusive, fully equipped for an active lifestyle. In addition to the full-featured two story home the property can also lift it's own stores and materials with a permanently mounted crane and maintain global positioning through a twin thruster system. Keep the sky pirates at bay with the automated defense system.

Available in mid December. For more details contact clmntin.E

Live From The Jellydome!

BrickCon is over, but I'm spending some extra time in Seattle with the great Iain Heath. We and a few other AFOLs are going to do a LiveBuild from Iain's house, the Jellydome, starting at 5pm PST tonight!

Join us as we build...something (we're deciding what to build now)

Mouse Guard

Attendees of BrickCon 2014, including myself, got to see this amazing and beautiful MOC from four-time best in show winner Paul Hetherington. While it's not on the scale of some of his previous winners (he really referred to it as a "small" MOC) it is still pretty grand. But scale means nothing to me generally, what this MOC has is charm and personality. It's perfectly proportioned with excellent color and top notch technique. A well deserved win Paul.

In Space No One Can Hear You Stick

The space madness that is SHIPtember may be over, but beautiful craft continue to be revealed. This epic cruiser by builder VolumeX not only spans 137 by 62 studs, but boasts a truly staggering number of stickers: 438. It would be incredibly easy, especially when dealing with those kind of numbers, to overdo it on so many levels. But that's not the case here, this vessel is stunning front to back and top to bottom.

"Dead Or Alive, You're Coming With Me"

Not only am I so ancient that I saw RoboCop in the theater, I was lucky enough to catch a preview screening (and I hadn't even heard of it, ah the days before internet). Needless to say we were blown away by the Verhoeven classic. This MOC by paddybricksplitter is faithful to Rob Bottin's design, but adds an almost chibi charm to him. Great pose-ability too, makes you just want to grab him like an action figure.

Kaboom

This MOC by BMW_Indy is one after my heart. Not so much for the nuclear explosion (but really, who doesn't appreciate a super big bang?) but for all the gear depicted. My late father-in-law was a government camera guy. He was in charge of shooting space launches for the 30th Space Wing and dealt with all this gear. And of course my connection to the motion picture industry and being a camera gear nerd is no secret. The attention to detail and accuracy here is splendid. I love the "behind the scenes" feel of this, and the humor. This just might be the best thing I've seen in weeks.

"There Was Nothing You Could Have Done Luke Had You Been There..."

I love a MOC picture that makes me look twice. This one by markus19840420 is so carefully reconstructed from the pivotal scene in Star Wars that it almost looks like a still from the movie as a thumbnail. I especially love the sandcrawler, which is built with a great care to look like scene in the movie. And Threepio's silver right leg, nice touch.

Thanks for the head's up Vince

Mustafar

Just last night some colleagues of mine were discussing the shared disappointment in the Star Wars prequels. Then I see this absolutely phenomenal MOC by migalart this morning and I have to question my loathing for them. I have to admit do like some of the vehicles, locations and characters from episodes 1-3, but I probably wouldn't have counted Mustafar among them. But I find myself wanting to watch Obi-Wan and Anakin's epic duel once more. The lava work on this is hands down the best I've ever seen, and the whole thing is on a scale that's hard to believe. Click through for more pics including one for scale.

Special BrickCon Issue Of BrickJournal!

Excitement is growing here in Seattle as the first day of BrickCon kicks off. And what better way to get going than to reflect on the past and present of the convention with a special edition of BrickJournal? And wouldn't it be great if it was free? Well, the fine folks at Twomorrows and Joe Meno are doing just that. For the next two weeks you can download this special issue and see just what all this madness is about. 

Be careful around page 28, there's some surly characters and disturbing images, just sayin'

Tinkling The Teeny Tiny Ivories

I don't know the whole story about this MOC, but it has some history. Scrolling back through builder edguy20's photostream I can see it was actually produced as a very limited run, and frankly amazing, custom kit. This presentation of an already stunning MOC takes it to the next level.

Snowspeeder

Well, the rebels may have had some trouble converting the T-47 Airspeeder to the cold, but builder Steebles seems to have had little trouble converting it to a MOC. And it's at a desktop scale that I just love. This is one of my favorite ships, and this is one of my favorite interpretations of it.

Seattle Here I Come

The trunk is packed, my suitcase is standing by, my camera bag is waiting. It's time to fly to Seattle for a week of brick debauchery. I have a limited amount of swag so if you're there find me and I might still have some. I'm also planning to do at least one live event so stay tuned!

The Wheels Of Steel

DJ, artist and LEGO aficionado Arran Hearn has updated his Technics DJ setup and there's a really cool video to go along with it. I've never actually touched a real DJ setup before, but I've done my fair amount of damage to my own turntables and records over the years.

New Fangled Communication Device

I may not be so old I remember phones like this, but I do recall with surprising clarity the days of the rotary dial. That dread and grumbling when you go to call a friend with a lots of 9's in their number. But I must say if it was getting to use a beautiful device like this MOC from edguy20, it may not have been such a bad experience.

FK ANTROTTA

Well, SHIPtember is coming to a close, and that's when the big guns come out. Builder and SHIP evangelist S--MOCs has revealed his beast and it's pretty epic. The main thing I love about this vessel is the attention to detail in areas of little detail. Even areas with simple planes are subtly and expertly panel lined and broken up, for scale at any distance.

Watch It, She's Got A Hammer

It's been 30 years since this iconic ad made a big impact (pardon the pun). Back then I had no personal computer allegiance. I used whatever I could get my hands on since I didn't have my own. I later became an Amiga user, then moved on to PC. About three years ago I made the switch to Mac, and haven't looked back. JK Brickworks totally nails the look and feel for the ad, with a bit of a modern update. That Apple logo is amazing.

Y - Thank You

I can see that being on the receiving end of builder Steebles' gratitude is a good place to be, his boss got this phenomenal mini Y-Wing as a thank you gift. It's amazingly detailed for it's scale and the display base is a perfect compliment. Makes you want to do something nice for him huh? Like feature him on your obscure and lame blog, yeah, that's it!