Standard Equipment

You know, I've never given much thought to the "mudflap girl". I grew up seeing her on nearly every 18 wheeler in the country, and since have seen her on hats and shirts and stickers and so on and so on. With a quick google search I discovered she's the product of Bill Zinda, who came up with her to promote his trucking products. And she's been going strong ever since. And now we can enjoy her curvaceous silhouette in bricks thanks to builder bricksnoir.

Mudflap Girl

Star Wars Evolved

Our pals over at FBTB have announced another awesome contest. Inspired by all the familiar but new ships we've already seen from The Force Awakens, they're asking you to pick a ship from the Star Wars universe and update, or 'evolve' it. Head over to FBTB for all the details. You have until January 16th to enter, which means you can even wait until after you see EP7 for more inspiration.

By the way, this is the coolest contest poster I think I've ever seen, nice job Don!

One Ends, Another Begins

I had the honor and burden of judging the last Iron Builder, in which CMaddisson emerged victorious. But no sooner does one end, than the next epic struggle begins. This round pits Legonardo Davidy against 6kyubi6, and what a round it will be. Both builders have unique and very different styles, and the seed part (the musketeer sword) should prove to be a challenge to both. Let's all sit back and enjoy the action.

Retro Television
You may feel a slight pinch...

Oh, and Spongebob Squarepants has always been a fixture in this house, in fact I hung a Spongebob ornament on the tree yesterday. So I would be amiss if I didn't post this awesome MOC of Gary

Meorw!

Tadano Mobile Crane

Way back when I built a lot of Technic. Not really my own MOCs, but I did buy a lot of sets, especially the big ones. So I have a somewhat vague idea what went into the engineering behind this behemoth by builder Engineering with ABS. But I'll emphasize vague, because even the largest LEGO produced set pales in comparison to this mechanical marvel. Just check out the specs in the bottom picture, it's really impressive. Click through for more pics and specs.

Tadano AR-1200M Mobile Crane 03
Tadano AR-1200M Mobile Crane 01
Tadano AR-1200M Mobile Crane 07

Большой Космический Аппарат

I didn't even know I could read Russian.  When I saw this beast of a creation buy Timofey Tkachev, I said, "Dude! That's one huge spaceship!"  Turns out that's what the title means with a little help from Google Translate: Large Spacecraft

It's a fascinating design, with all sorts of complicated angles and components.  If you scroll through the photostream, you'll see some WIP shots that show parts of the internal structure.  I'm not sure if it's inspired by a movie, video game, or just Timofey's keen imagination, but whatever the language: Awesome!

спереди-справа-1

сзади

NERDvember is almost over!

Well folks it's almost over. But the good news is if you still want to build, you still have three days. So what are you waiting for?

I'd like to give a big shout to one last sponsor, BRICKSTUDS and my buddy Brandon Griffith. STUDS is a series of collector cards featuring AFOLs from around the world. I have the distinct honor of having a card of my own in series 1 and I'm very happy that there will be some packs in the prize packages this year.

The clock is ticking, it's a four day weekend (at least here in the US) and you're out of excuses. Break out the bricks and get building!

Sisyphus Kinetic Sculpture

JK Brickworks has come up with a crafty LEGO version of everybody's favorite boulder pusher from Greek mythology.  Doomed to an eternity of rolling that huge rock up a hill, only to watch it tumble back to the bottom, Sisyphus probably shouldn't have tried to outsmart Zeus.  That never ends well.  Check out the video to see the cutaway and all the interesting technic bits inside.  You might just end up watching it over and over and over...

Sisyphus Kinetic Sculpture

Viper: F78 Freya's Mercy

Mark Stafford has come up with a nifty Viper design, just as Nnovvember draws to a close.  What really caught my attention was the cockpit detail shot.  But the beefy guns and saucer wings create some dramatic visual interest as well. 

There's still time, boys and girls, to build your own!  Pascal will be stitching together a poster of all the Vic Vipers, so follow his instructions if you want to be a part of it.  Unless you're still recovering from a Turkey Coma or Black Friday shopping...

005-Pilot

004-Side

Ryuk

I happened into the room while my son was watching Death Note a couple months ago. I was impressed with the art style and concept, and fascinated with this guy, Ryuk. He's almost like Jiminy Cricket's alter ego, getting into your head and wreaking havoc mainly because he was bored. The series is dark, very dark, but strangely beautiful, much like this bust of Ryuk by builder Combee

Disc-overing "Discworld"

Honestly, I've never heard of Discworld, the late Terry Pratchett's imaginary world, set on a platter-shaped land set atop four elephants which, in turn, are riding the back of what must be a massive, massive turtle. (Tortoise?)  Just as much as I know about Star Wars and Star Trek and even Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, it's exactly the opposite for Discworld.

So please don't ask me about the backstory of this group of fellows, termed "The Ones Who Meddle With the Fabric of Reality," by Finnish AFOL Eero Okkonen. There's something magical about this bunch, and not just because they're wizards (I think). 

It takes a particular skill to make MOCs look both stone-faced and alive at the same time, which Eero achieves by simultaneously using the traditional 1x1 headlight bricks for eyes and then other wildly disparate elements, such as Chima wings , to fluff out those lovingly-crafted beards.  The magicians' accoutrements are also perfectly color-coordinated, with their dark red / brown / red fabrics, Friends stars, X-Pod dishes, and, hey, does that gorilla have a banana that incorporates...  bananas? 

Discworld should really be called Discoworld.