BoxCars - My little twist on CubeDudes

Here's a bit of bandwagon-expansion. I've started building little cubic vehicles for CubeDude style characters. I call 'em "BoxCars".

Above is the Bat BoxCar, modeled after the '66 Batmobile.

I've also bowed to pressure and made a new Serenity Model...

...cute, isn't it?

LEGO Red Devil Mosaic

What did I build over the Memorial Day weekend? A stylized image of the Humboldt Squid in LEGO brick.

Other than the eyes and frame, all the bricks are transparent. This gives a nice "Stained Glass" feel to the work. As a bonus, the image works from both sides - perfect for setting in a window somewhere.

This is a companion piece to my larger Octopus Stained Glass Mosaic.

Click on through to see more photos on my Flickr Stream.

Keychain Experiment: Update!

Time for another photographic glimpse into the wear and tear on a LEGO Keychain.

Well, the paint is just about gone, but the plastic still looks brand new.

I realized I should have been documenting the wear and tear on the backside, so here's a shot of that...

Be on the lookout for some new developments in the Keychain experiment series very soon!

Photo Set Reviews on Flickr

I know these aren't the in-depth reviews you were hoping for, but as a bit of filler there are three new photo reviews up on my Flickr Stream. All three at Toys R Us "sneak peek" sets due out at general retail later in June.



7566 - CITY - Farmer Impulse Set


7953 - Kingdoms - Jester Impulse Set


7949 - Kingdoms - Prison Carriage Rescue

Collectible Minifigs at TRU

Thanks to my lovely wife, I now have almost two boxes worth of the new LEGO collectible mini-figures. The "official" street date for these in the US is June 17th, but some (most? all?) Toys R Us locations have been putting these out early, along with the first waves of the new summer sets.

What am I going to do with all of these guys? Heh. Don't worry - I have plans.

(And, yes, eventually some of the parts will end up in the Buy-Me-Mizer.)

Keychain Experiment: One Month In

This week's update on the Rock Monster Keychain experiment brings us to a full month of wear-and-tear.

Compared to last week, there's not much change. The grey paint on the body continues to erode, but the plastic bits still look intact.

2010 LEGO Advent Calendars

Thanks to Amazon Japan, we have a first look at the 2010 LEGO Advent Universe. (Actually we have a very close look as they posted set contents. But if you want major spoilers you'll need to go looking for them yourself.)

We'll have two themes to look forward to. As expected, we'll get the inevitable "CITY" theme...and we'll also make a return to Castle with the rebranded "Kindgoms" theme.

No word yet if LEGO will keep their promise to make both themes available to US customers. Fingers crossed!

Keychain Expermiment: Damage Potential

So what sort of damage am I expecting to see on my Rock Monster keychain? Well, let's take a quick look at my last keychain. Mr. Freeze....


(Click to Embiggen)

Pretty rough, eh? His one surviving arm is shattered, his legs have snapped off at the hip, his backpack is missing. Even the silver has worn off from the chain.

How will Rocky survive in comparison? He has fewer parts to deal with...but when/if those parts do break...

The Keychain Experiment

While I was visiting TwinLUG last month, I picked up a new LEGO keychain at the Mall of America. In tribute to the recent Brick House story arc, I selecteded a Red Rock Monster. (He was on sale, too. What a deal!)

It seems I'm always needing to replace my keychain. I've been through a Pirate, several Exo-Force guys, and most recently a Mr. Freeze. They start out so very nice, but end up mangled blobs of plastic.

Maybe I have too many keys. Maybe they're just substandard LEGO.

I noticed this morning that the process has begun anew on the Rock Monster. His paint is rapidly wearing away...although the plastic parts still look okay.

Here, I took a photo with my phone. (Click to embiggen)
I figure I'll post an update on his status every once in a while - let's see how long this one lasts.

Clockwork Ostriches

Just a little bit of fun with the new LEGO Ostrich.


Click through for the full set on Flickr

Ostrichsized - The Trendy Emo Band

Click for more photos in my Flickr Stream

Annnnd.....you can now get this image as T-Shirt from the Reasonably Clever Cafe-Press store!

Photo Review: Luke's Landspeeder

Photo Review of LEGO set 8092 - Luke's Landspeeder

This one's been out for a while, but I just now got my sets from shop@home. (Limited Edition stuff makes me SO grumpy...)

There's one huge selling point for this set - minifigure updates to the classic New Hope cast. I broke out the "vintage 2000" figures for comparison photos. Click through for all the fun on Flickr.

Arecibo Message in Mosaic and 4D

Here's my latest building self-challenge - render the arecibo message in LEGO form.

A basic mosaic (at left) wasn't much of a challenge. 23 rows by 73 columns is small for one of my mosaics, and the image itself is as basic as you can get. I decided to follow the Wikipedia article's lead and add some color to help showcase the various portions of the message.

Sure, it's interesting enough as projects go, but why stop there? I spent some time trying to think of a new way to show the message.

Eventually I realized that if I build the message studs-to-the side I could show the image two ways - in the 23x73 grid, but also as a continuous stream of data, allowing the viewer to walk along the length of the message and view it as it was beamed into space...one bit at a time. I would capture the dimension of time...and show the message in 4D!

The first step was to rebuild the mosaic.

I used trans-clear plate for the "zero" bits - mainly because I had a ton of them on hand.

I decided to keep the false colors seen in the flat mosaic for the "ones". It adds a touch of visual interest to the long string...and also helps show where in the message you are. The proportions are bit squashed - LEGO plates aren't in a 1:1 aspect ratio. But The image is still legible, particularly with the studs-out mosaic next to it for comparison.

As you can see in this photo, you can disassemble the "compact" version of the message into the original data stream. The rows can be reconnected end-to-end.

This photo shows the start of the code. You can follow the full message by walking along the length of the model.

1679 LEGO plates were used to depict the message - each 3.2mm tall. The total length of the 4d-configuration is 5.37 meters, or 17.6 feet.

To see more photos, check out the full set on Flickr.

Set Photos - 20014 March/April Brickmaster 4x4

I received my March/April Brickmaster promo set in the mail yesterday.

It's decidedly meh. No new parts, no clever building techniques...just a pretty average creator set.


Photos are up at my Flickr Stream...click through to check out the set for yourself!

LEGO Set Photo Reviews: Star Wars Minis

Here are the two new Star Wars Mini-ship impulse sets. Found 'em at Target last night.

30050 LEGO Star Wars Republic Attack Shuttle Mini

30051 LEGO Star Wars X-Wing Mini
(Comparison shot with the 2003 version of this kit.)

LEGO Item Review - Atlantis Notepad

Not really a LEGO "set" - but still worth a look. This is an Atlantis-themed Promo item I picked up at the Schaumberg,IL LEGO store a few weeks ago. Click through for a few more photos.

LEGO Atlantis Notepad Promo 4586603

LEGO Set Photo Review: Duplo Farm Animal Mystery!

Many in the LEGO community are excited about the upcoming "Mystery Mini-Figure" collectible sets. I know I am.

But did you know LEGO is already testing out a Mystery Assortment? It's true! And it's DUPLO!

30060 DUPLO Easter Impulse

Take a gander at this Spring/Easter Impulse set. You get three DUPLO bricks (two yellow, one green) and one of five mystery characters.

Yeah. Four pieces.

For three bucks.


Beyond the silly price point, there's another fatal flaw with this set. The figure is supposed to be a mystery, right? Well, if you flip over the package....

...You can see what's inside. This bag, for example, has the calf in it. (Click to enbiggen)

I suppose this was done to keep people from ripping open the bags to make sure their kids get a full set...but at that point, why not just make bags for each animal?

It's a puzzlement.

The final mystery, though? What a farm animal is supposed to do with three DUPLO blocks.

Here's my solution:

Anyway, if you want to see more photos, the full Flickr set is here.

LEGO Set Photo Reviews

I stopped at Target last night and they had stocked their Easter Impulse Item row - and that means new LEGO mini-sets!

There were two new CITY sets, two Star Wars Mini-Ships, and an interesting DUPLO mystery bag.

For starters, here's the two CITY impulse sets. Click through to see more photos!

30002 LEGO CITY Police Boat Impulse



30010 LEGO CITY Fire Chief Impulse

A Portrait of Dorian Bley

This is my first full-scale experiment with Lenticular LEGO building.

There are more photos in my Flickr Gallery for this project, including my earliest test boards.

New Cube Dude: Spider Jerusalem

Here's a little guy I built as a distraction from all the LEGO sorting I was doing this weekend.

Spider Jerusalem rendered in the Cube Dude style.

(Created by Warren Ellis & Darick Robertson
from the DC/Vertigo series TRANSMETROPOLITAN)

I think there's something troubling about seeing anything Warren Ellis had a hand in creating presented in a standard developed by a man from Disney/Pixar.

But I just had to build him anyway.