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.

More LEGO Atlantis Photo Reviews

Thanks to a recent LEGO Shop@Home order I'm finally caught up on the first wave(heh) of the Atlantis theme.

Check out my flickr stream for photo reviews of 20013 - Brickmaster Micro Neptune Carrier and 8079 - Shadow Snapper.

Arvo's LEGO Polaroid

The nice thing about LEGO creations is that if you like someone else's, you can usually make your own copy.

Case in point: I had a friend lusting after the Arvo Brother's LEGO Polaroid MOC. With a bit of luck (and leveraging the fact I have a metric ton of brick on hand) I was able to come pretty close to duplicating their build to make a gift of it.



Trying to figure out the techniques used to make this model was a decent challenge, and I dare say I learned a few new tricks in the process.

You learn by doing, sometimes.

LEGO Stained Glass Octopus

Ever have one of those ideas you just *have* to get out?
I was inspired to build something like this on December 22nd - took a couple of days to design it, and put the final bricks in place this morning.

Click on through for higher res and other angles.

Pirate Advent 2009: Day 24

Pirate Advent 2009: Day 24


Treasure Chest and Pirate Booty

After yesterday's dip into evil, I wasn't sure what to expect behind the final door of the 2009 Pirate Advent Calendar. Severed LEGO Monkey heads? The rest of the skeleton from Day 23? A still-warm LEGO heart?

No, instead they gave us the alleged root of ALL evil: Money.

A treasure chest filled with Pirate Booty - a nice selection of Transparent Gems and a lump of gold ore. It sure beats the lumps of coal Santa should have brought these naughty pirates!

But for a grand finale of the Advent Calendar...this is still pretty weak. They could at least have thrown in some gold LEGO coins.

So. Time to wrap up this year's Advent Madness.

How did LEGO do with this limited-release Pirate Themed calendar?

Well, I doubt anyone will complain that it wasn't Pirate-themed enough. From Brickbeard the Pirate Captain to the lovely Mermaid Lass, LEGO found enough swag to fill the calendar.

The problem was that some of the swag was pretty weak. Consider day 10's "Barrel of Crap" and day 20's "barrel and oar": hardly impressive hauls. Considering the difficulty of getting one of these calendars and their already-high price point, I found myself going "is that it?" more than once.

On the flip side, there were some impressive mini-figures to be had. The Pirate Lass, the Castaway, the Mermaid...all had to find figures with quality decoration and accessories. (Provided you're willing to count the mermaid's tail as an accessory, anyway.)

In my role as "grumpy old man who talks about LEGO", I tally this year's calendar up as follows:

Excellent Days: 7, 11, 14
Good Days: 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 9, 12, 13, 21
Okay Days: 3, 15, 17, 19, 23, 24
Weak Days: 8, 16, 18, 22
Crap Days: 10, 20

Giving the overall calendar an average of +7, a solid mark higher than just "okay". That puts this year's Pirate theme firmly in the WIN column.

Way to go LEGO! That's 2-for-2 on this year's calendars!

Will we see another Pirate adventure in 2010? Will we return to the Castle universe? Or will we take a dive and explore Atlantis next winter? Or maybe...just maybe...will we explore SPACE?

I don't know about you, but I'm looking forward to finding out!

MERRY CHRISTMAS everyone!

CITY Advent 2009: Day 24

CITY Advent: Day 24


Chimney, Stockings and SANTA!

Wow.

They did it. LEGO actually pulled off a CITY advent calendar that didn't suck. I'm stunned.

And happy.

Oh, sure, there was that weirdness with the cop sub-theme early on. And the Janitor was kind of iffy. But overall the full calendar worked together to create a nice little pile of holiday mini-sets.

What really sold me on the win this year was LEGO's decision to have Santa hiding behind the final door. We haven't seen Santa in a CITY advent since 2006 - and today's set is a nice upgrade to that year's offering.

Looking ahead, I haven't heard what LEGO has in mind for their 2010 Advent calendar(s). Will we see yet another CITY themed countdown?

Right now, I'm thinking that might not be so bad.

Merry Christmas, everyone.

Pirate Advent 2009: Day 23

Pirate Advent 2009: Day 23


Sinister Altar

I know it's a Pirate themed calendar and all, but...wow. This is a pretty evil looking mini-set.

I'm not sure why a disembodied skull is creepier than the full skeleton from yesterday. The setting certainly is a factor - and it leaves me wondering what the LEGO designer who put this mini-set together was thinking.

"I know! While all the kids are dreaming about the presents they're about to unwrap, let's remind them that there's a fun secret friend inside everyone! You just have to peel off the skin!"

Well...okay. He probably wasn't thinking that.

But now you are.

Happy Holidays.

CITY Advent 2009: Day 23

CITY Advent: Day 23


Christmas Tree

Day three of the Lumberjack theme - and the next to the last day of the CITY Advent calendar. We can pretty much expect something Christmas-y tomorrow - LEGO has yet to fumble an Advent calendar THAT badly - so today's mini-set is really the last of the possibly-screwy CITY themed items.

But...not this year. This year we get a satisfying end to the lumberjack theme with a very nice brickbuilt Christmas tree. The build isn't very complex, but the use of 1x1 rounds as ornaments works well. Plus, the trans-neon-green wand as the star is an inspired touch.

In America these days there's an ongoing debate if Christmas trees are "better" if they're natural or artificial. LEGO neatly bridges that gap by giving us a plastic tree that, in the LEGO world, is as natural as it gets.

Looking back, 2007's Advents both ended with Christmas trees. That we're seeing a tree today just might mean big things for tomorrow's door.

(And what of 2008? Well, that CITY advent ended with a snowman and snowball throwing kid. Which, you might recall, kicked off this year's calendar. It's a little bit of cyclic nonsense that I wish I had noticed earlier in the month!)

Only one more door to go. It's almost like Christmas eve! Except it isn't. It's actually Christmas Eve Eve. Which sounds kind of redundant, so I won't bring it up.

Pirate Advent 2009: Day 22

Pirate Advent 2009: Day 22


Skeleton and Snake

He's an undead warrior from Davy Jones' locker with an appetite for human flesh. She's a slithering reptile from the depths of the amazon with a taste for Brie.

CAN THEY GET ALONG?

CITY Advent 2009: Day 22

CITY Advent: Day 22


Lumberjack Supplies

Oh good! Yesterday's Stephen King moment was a false alarm! Turns out our Axe Wielding Maniac was just a friendly lumberjack!



And what possible Holiday Link could a lumberjack have?

Oh, please LEGO...let my guess about tomorrow's set be on the mark...

Toybox of FAIL: Thunder Charger

Please take a moment and read the Toybox of FAIL Disclaimer. Thanks!
-=-


Thunder Charger

Jing Zhiwei toys continues their run of LEGO knock-offs with a small helicopter model. A very familiar helicopter.

In fact, everything about this bootleg should be familiar to long-time FAIL readers. Why? Because other than a company name-change from BRICK, this set is identical to the one I reviewed back in March of 2009.

Take a look at the packaging:

The same part count. The same graphics. The same fonts. The same goofy log cabin in the background shot...

And remember the badly translated slogans?

Well, check out the top the new box...



"But what about the toy?" I hear you ask. "Surely it's a bit different!"

First the BRICK version:


and the latest:





Oh. Wait. They are different. And the Jing Zhiwei version is even crappier looking.

I would have passed up this review all together, but my photographer would have been mightily irked to have suffered through building and documenting this piece of crap for nothing. So now her suffering becomes yours.

You're welcome.

---======-----
As always, many thanks to Joe from The Undiscovered Playthings for sending me this set to review.

Photos of the Jing Zhiwei Thunder Charger are © 2009 Alyska Bailey Peterson /
PointyKitty Studios

Pirate Advent 2009: Day 21

Pirate Advent 2009: Day 21


SHARK! SAWFISH!

I'll admit it. When I first saw the box art for the Pirate Advent calendar I thought there was a slim chance we'd be getting one of the super-deluxe sharks from the Agents line.

I knew it probably wouldn't happen - there's no way LEGO could cram the larger shark into the standard Advent spot...but still, I hoped.

Today's door isn't a bad consolation prize, though. Sure, it's a "Sawfish" and not a shark, but this particular fish hasn't been seen since 2002, cast in black plastic in an Agents Alpha Team set. If you wanted things in a more nautical grey, you had to go all the way back to 1997 when it was a common feature in town Diver sets. With the color change from old-grey to new dark bley, this makes today's cretaure a one-of-a-kind accessory.

Sounds like a win to me.

CITY Advent 2009: Day 21

CITY Advent: Day 21


Man with Axe

So on day three of the race theme we...hold on.

We're not due for a new mini-figure until tomorrow. So what's with the axe wielding maniac?

LEGO got their wires crossed! They were looking for holiday inspiration and ran across a family spending their winter alone in a hotel!

Pirate Advent 2009: Day 20

Pirate Advent 2009: Day 20


Pirate Escape Pod

Oh, LEGO, how you toy with my Holiday Cheer.

Yesterday, you shocked and delighted me with a seemingly bonus minifigure. Today, you crush my spirits with a two-piece microset.

Oh, sure, it fits the overall Pirate theme. And both the oar and the wooden tub are uncommon parts.

But, come on. I paid how much to have this set shipped to me from the UK? And the best you can do, less than a week from Christmas Day, is two lousy pieces?

If anyone needs me, I'll be over in the corner, weeping quietly.

CITY Advent 2009: Day 20

CITY Advent: Day 20


RC Car and Race Accessories

Day 20 of the CITY Advent - we've entered the home stretch. Other than the early stumble with the Police Barricade sub-theme LEGO has been doing a good job of making this year's calendar a fun holiday experience. I have to admit: I'm impressed.

Today's continuation of the RC Racer sub-theme is another quality entry, too. What's the fun of having a RC car if you don't have anyone to race against? Today's accessories work well with any of the previous day's characters to give yesterday's kid a bit of a challenge.

Sure, the parts are all fairly common and there's not a lot of building to be done...but sometimes you don't need either of those to make for a decent accessory pack.

I do wonder where LEGO will take things for day three, though...