Shedding Light And Casting Shadows

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From the moment I learned about the products from Brickstuff I was intrigued. From the moment I used the products they graciously sent I was a fan. And from the moment I met the founder Rob, I had a friend. Brickstuff lighting products have been our go-to here at the animation studio and have played a critical role in our scale lighting needs. I’ve reviewed several of their kits and have never been less than totally impressed. Just watch either of these videos and you’ll see the care, quality and creativity that went into them.

Today I learned that LEGO was partnering with Light My Bricks, the company that outright pirated Brickstuff’s designs, for their exploration of LEGO branded lighting products. You can read more about it in this article by Brickstuff. I don’t want to don the hat of social justice warrior, but I feel this is just way out of line, and while my reach is admittedly limited, I want this to be known. Please take some time to read the article, and if you are so inclined, let LEGO know this is just not cool.

The Magic Bus In The Wild

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What do you do when you’ve trekked hundreds of miles and you stumble upon an abandoned bus in the Alaskan wilderness? Well you move into it of course. This is the way over simplified version of the fascinating tale of Chris McCandless, and his ill fated quest to reject society and live off the land. Builder Norton74 has crafted this awesome recreation of the “Magic Bus” as Chris dubbed it.

Because These Balls Aren't Going To Move Themselves

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I’ve always been fascinated by great ball contraptions, or GBCs. They’re wonderfully complex design to do a wonderfully useless action tickles my Rube Goldberg fancy. Builder and mechanical evil genius (ok, not so evil) JK Brickworks has crafted his very first GBC, and of course it’s a wonder to behold. Watch the video to see it in action.

Were You Ready For Some Football?

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Football season officially ended Sunday with the super-est of bowls, and while I’m not really into sports, I can appreciate how much my friends are. Take for instance my buddy Brandon Griffith, who crafted this beautiful replica of the Vince Lombardy trophy. Brandon’s team the Titans didn’t make it this year (so close) but I’m sure he was still watching the game with enthusiasm.

Outhouse

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There have been countless technological advances in the past century, but few are as taken for granted as the modern bathroom/toilet. Within as few as three or four generations, less depending on just how rural you are, an outhouse, like this one by SuckMyBrick, was simply the place to do your business. And it just takes a short visit to a outdoor event or construction site to relive just how terrible it was as you are forced to use a “modern” porta-potty.

The Space Bar

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You’re a space trucker, looking to unwind after a long week of hauling bio-cells. Where do you go? Why, the place where everybody knows your name: The Space Bar. This MOC by Pixel fox is really fun, with tons of detail. I love the bubble-lamp things, and all crazy characters and stories going on (my favorites are the little spider thing at the bottom, and the guys jumping over the railing to save their friend).

Showdown On Arvala

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Like a great many Star Wars fans, I ravenously devoured The Mandalorian, and it’s been so refreshing to have the feels of Star Wars back. There’s a certain intangibility to what makes something feel like Star Wars, but no small part of it is the roots on which it’s built, the inspiration that fueled it. It’s clear in the first minute of episode one that The Mandalorian is heavily inspired by the classic westerns, which were in turn heavily inspired by the classic samurai movies, and A New Hope drew much of inspiration from those as well. By the end of the first scene I was hooked, and so was everyone else. Builder Marcus19840432 is clearly a fan, having skillfully crafted one of the key early moments in season one, the showdown in the outpost on Arvala. For spoilers sake I will say no more and if you haven’t seen the series yet, what the heck are you waiting for?

Starfighter!

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John C. Lamarck , aircraft builder extraordinaire has once again found his way into our Nerdy hearts. He has built an excellent rendition of Lockheed’s F-104 . For those uninitiated into the world of aircraft geekery let me give you the quick tour. The F-104 was designed by Kelly Johnson’s design team in the 1950’s (Johnson is most known for working on the P-38 Lightning, U-2, and SR-71 Blackbird). Known as the “Missile with a Man in it” the 104 was design as a supersonic interceptor design to intercept and destroy soviet fighters and bombers. Starfighters were in service in the USAF, allied air forces and NASA from 1958 until late 2004 (USAF retirement was significantly early). The 104 set several aviation records mostly in climb to altitude speed. Seen here is an excellent rendition of the CF-104 built under license by Canadair for the Royal Canadian Air Force. John captures the curves and the sleekness of the Starfighter amazing well. I love the use of the classic tire to capture the exhaust cone, the air inlets are rendered very well at this scale and the custom decals are fantastic. The one limitation of this scale is the biconvex airfoil cannot be captured. The leading edges came to such a knife edge that unware ground personnel often received very bad cuts on their heads when bumping into the wing.

Pegasus

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Semi-embarrassing Idiosyncrasy time. Whenever I speak the word “Pegasus” I am overwhelmingly compelled to do it in the theatrically heroic voice of Hercules. And not from the inexplicably spirally Disney movie, more like the terrible Trans Lux cartoon from the 60’s. And yes, I did it the first time I saw this magnificent sculpture by Grantmasters (and no, I’m not ashamed).

That Little Space Movie

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I’m still mentally sorting through Rise of Skywalker, I enjoyed it, but it’s a lot to unpack (and I mean a lot). In the mean time I sit on the solid foundation of my fandom, thanks to being the perfect age to have experienced this little movie, Star Wars (maybe you’ve heard of it?) Builder NS Brick Designs has crafted one of the classic posters to my favorite movie of all time, and this edit incorporating aspects of the poster makes it pretty much perfect.