The Personal Stereo That Rocked The World

I consider myself lucky that my lifespan happened to be sliced out of history where it is. I’ve seen so many things: The transition of film to digital, the rise of the personal computer, the connecting of the world through the internet, four different television formats and so much more. I was just discovering music when bands like Run-DMC, Van Halen, Micheal Jackson, Beastie Boys, The B-52’s and so many more were at peak popularity. And I was there for this, the Sony Walkman (and it’s many, many copycats). These days everyone in the world has every song ever recorded at their fingertips whenever they want, so it’s really hard to imagine how this simple device rocked our world. We could take our music with us, wherever we went, and blast it without disturbing others, it was awesome. Thank you Ralf Langer for a little bit of nostalgia.

The Fly

In my youth I wanted to be a make-up artist, or at least a creature effects artist. And the timing for this was actually pretty good. While I was in high school and honing my craft, there was a boom in make-up effects (seriously, look up the movies from 1982-1986, it was a golden age) and this film came out the same year I graduated. Builder captainsmog brilliantly recreates the moment the Brundlefly emerges from the unit, shocking.

The Stranglers

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.

Rock The Casbah

I went to high school in the 80’s. So things like the rise of MTV, Micheal Jackson, Madonna and Duran Duran are irretrievably interwoven with those most formative years, and I consider myself lucky. I was never much into pop music, but bands like Madness, Kraftwerk, Beastie Boys and Devo were on constant rotation in my Walkman. Another band was The Clash, brilliantly created here with their breakout hit Rock The Casbah by builder redfern1950s2. Their counterculture and social commentary lyrics resonated with my generation, and I still listen to them today.

Light Cycle

With the upcoming LEGO Ideas Tron set everyone's got the classic 80's movie (and it's somewhat recent sequel) on the mind. Builder JoePerez_Lego_Artist was so inspired he built this amazing Light Cycle and rider. This shot looks like a pretty good image for the poster of the movie, ready for some 80's action.

Nerdvember Prizes From LEGO!

I was going to wait until the one week mark to post this, but I'm so excited I can't. Check out the prizes from LEGO! This year's theme is "80's" and to celebrate we're giving away three sets from iconic 80's movies, namely Ghostbusters, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. First place is going to get a Ghostbusters HQ, Second place is going to get a Snowspeeder and Third place is going to get a Speederbike! Thank you to LEGO for sponsoring Nerdvember! Check out this post for more details and get building!

BY THE POWER OF GRAYSKULL!

Builder Alex Jones aka Orion Pax is back and seemingly on a one man crusade to recreate the toys of my (and many other fella's of a certain age) childhood in LEGO form. His latest build is what looks like an almost 1:1 scale recreation of HE-MAN and his best pal and trusty steed BATTLE-CAT stars of the "HE-MAN and the Masters of the Universe" cartoon.  Alex has faithfully recreated the furry pant wearing hero of the 80's - The recent release of the Batman - Clayface playset making the tanned complexion of HE-MAN possible. The detail on Battle Cats armoured mask in particular makes it almost indistinguishable from the rigid plastic version many of us owned way back then. Although I'm personally not a fan of sculpting, he's done a fantastic job of recreating HE-MAN's face using a Buzz Lightyear head as a base.

As a kid I loved Tuesday afternoons at 4 o'clock for my taste of Eternian action with a dose of morality at the end for good measure. I hope Alex gets round to giving Skeletor and Panthor the same treatment soon!

E.T. Goes Home

Like so many films of the 80's, E.T. helped shape me as a filmmaker and artist. It's a remarkable story told by an army of exceptionally talented artists. This wonderful diorama by builders ~The Steads~ depicts the uplifting but heartbreaking end of the movie, when E.T. says goodbye to Eliot and his family and climbs aboard his ride home. Admit it, you cried.

"If It Bleeds, We Can Kill It."

The Predator was not only a really fun, badass, creative and original story, it had one of the best creature designs ever. I mean for a "dude in a suit", it was absolutely awesome. Builder Takamichi Irie has combined high skill, creative parts use and a clear love of the character to build this guy at a scale I wouldn't have thought possible, at least with this amount of detail.

There Are Three Rules...

1. No bright light. Bright light hurts him, sunlight will kill him.
2. Don't get him wet. Don't give him any water to drink, don't give him a bath.
3. No matter how much he begs, don't feed him after midnight.

A wonderful tribute to an awesome 80's classic, Gremlins. Nicely done John_Toulouse.

Pixels City

I didn't see the Adam Sandler movie Pixels. It was so universally panned by critics I decided to pass. But if it was good enough to inspire this much building by OliveSeon, perhaps it's worth a look. Like Sandler, I'm a kid of the 80's who dropped many a quarter at the arcades, so I'm sure there's going to be some cool nostalgia to be had. 

Rad Robots

I'm a kid of the 80's. You guys read about what it was like when the arcade was king, I was there. You hear Adam Ant on the Spotify, I bought the record. You mock break dancing, I did it (did I just say that out loud?) And when we thought 'robot', we thought of the likes of these MOCs by breaksbricks72 (and of course Star Wars). They're inspired by the Tomy Omnibots series, and they're totally bitchin' dude.

Sandra Loves The 80's

I'm a kid of the 80's. I wore parachute pants, listened to Duran Duran, watched MTV when they had music and kept my eyes on the skies for ICBMs. The proportions and color selection of this sexy bot by DViddy were the first thing that caught my eye. But it's the inclusion of a classic Sony Sport Walkman (which I also had) that put this over the top for me.

The Thing

So what's the deal? Why am I showing the poster to John Carpenter's The Thing? Look again, it's BRICK! This seriously phenomenal build is for the MOCathalon over at MOCpages by builder matt rowntRee. This is one of my all-time favorite thrillers, and to see it like this gives me a happy. Click through to see how this amazing and pretty huge MOC was done.

Big thanks to elbarto for the head's up

Johnny Five

Movies in the 80's were pretty rad. Yes, you have some epic spectacles these days, but back then they were REALLY hard to make, and far less movies had a "2" or "3" or "4" after the title. One particularly hard to make and original film was Short Circuit. Yes, it's a little cheesy, but Johnny Five was a mechanical achievement that still boggles my mind. This bust by Shannon Ocean does him justice, and I really hope this build gets bigger and better with time.

Ah, Childhood (Almost)

While I consider myself a kid of the 80's, it's more from the standpoint of young adulthood. It's when I got my first movie camera, when I fell in love with movie magic and when I became, well, me. Technically I'm a kid of the 70's, Which means Stretch Armstrong, Star Wars and lawn darts. I was a little old when Transformers came along and GiJOE shrunk inexplicably. But tucked away in this room is something that became an influence in my adult life, a View-Master. Reverse engineering stereo images as a kid thanks to my handy viewer, I developed a deep understanding of 3D. Now I use that knowledge from time to time in my other career, movie nerd.