Evolution of Swag: Ominous Fotress Edition

Non-Lego, but eh. First.

Elsewhere on the internet, I follow a blog that led me to this image:



Now my initial reaction was, "that's pretty cool", but on second thought, and I am always one to ask myself this, where have I seen this before?



Rainbow Brite and the Star Stealer (1985)
I admit to having seen this film multiple times.



Metropolis (1927)



Laputa / Castle in the Sky (1986)



The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (1998)



Spirited Away (2001)



Steamboy (2004)

Where are the Brickarms

In the Tile Every Damn Stud era, these minifig scale models by Brickshelf user "Nyu" stand out as quaint. Each of them can be seen in this Brickshelf folder.











Excuse me, did you perchance say, BATTLE TRAIN?



I am currently making a historic military MOC in a similar scale, so these have been pleasant inspiration. Perhaps these obscure lo-fi builds from yesteryear can be accommodated by obscure lo-fi music from yesteryear. Hmm.



How is that for impressment of taste?

Lego Kidsfest 2011, Pittsburg

Via Mark of Classic Game room. He does say "legos" quite a bit, but you'll have to deal with it. Mark and the CGR is really the only media outlet I follow when it comes to teh vidya gamez. I think gamer culture has degraded from the nerdy pastime into the mainstream wannabe-geek entertainment hub it is today. Poo.

About four minutes he features some of Peter Morris' starfighters, which for me is the highlight. Some of the fighers in the video:



click any of the images to see his starfighter photo set.



Classic Game Room on Youtube.

Peter Morris' flickr.

Brickworld 2011 part 1: my heart is slowly dryin up

On the cover of Modest Mouse's 1997 sohpomore album are the towers of the Westin hotel in Seattle, Washington. The convention, BrickCon, is held in Seattle Washington. The convention, Brickworld, is held in the Westin hotel of Wheeling Illinois. These bits of trivia seemed a lot more connected in my head but appear kind of stupid written up, so disregard this paragraph, play the awesome song, and skip to the cluttered convention photos.



I gawk-awkwardly came across the tuii effectors throwing back pepsi throwbacks and hovered around their collaborative display.

"Camp Twee" found itself in an event advertised as a "train drag race" but ended up more of a contest of stamina and control. Those lacking found themselves hurdling Matt's locos off the track and into their competitor's boxcars. A wee kid ran around the table yelling to the operators, "Slow down! Speed up!" and the word "biff" saw regular use.

Say, you look familiar.

I also talked briefly talked with Marcus Schultz of the upcoming custom kit producer Brick Battalions (site under construction). I respect his determination for pursuing the WWII themed kit market despite competition from outfits like Mechanized Brick and Daniel Siskind's Brickmania, the latter of which also had a booth on site.


I also admire the builds themselves, I'm not a military equipment whiz but Marcus' work seems to utilize smoother and more modern techniques than that of Brickmania's. Particularly this piece Wehrmacht Armor, love the 2 x 2 flag/flap on the turret. He spoke of more soon-to-be available products soon to come around, when their site is up for use I'll be sure to do a feature post.



Some rather attractive steam engines:


Not the least of which is Matt DeLanoy's take on the Southern Pacific GS4.

lol trains on a space blog

This model is based on a design from the Portal video games. No, for real, I mean it.

Kyle Vrieze's light blue mech. We talked some about something and then caught the unveiling of what some referred to as Dano's latest MOC. It will be available in September for mass-consumption for people who like Star Wars or do not have enough plates.


Frank Lloyd Wright-looking haus. Granted, that style of architecture lends itself well to reproduction with Lego blocks, still an impressive display if not technical. The color variation in the red roof tiles, probably a result of age, weathering, and lapses in quality control, is a neat effect.

Winged things, of one kind, and another.

Flying Slabs

I don't know where Aaron Williams came out from (he joined flickr early 2010) but his stuff his amazing.


Tony Hafner. Class.

That blue one is my favorite "starfighter" MOC this side of Peter Morris. What has become of the mealy-mouthed?

Historic

Yuri Gagarin - 50th anniversary of the first manned space flight.


Space Shuttle Columbia - 30th anniversary of the first Space Shuttle launch.

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/glenn/news/pressrel/2011/11-017_yuri_prt.htm

Erik, the Flamboyant Fanboi on Idols and Communication

Of Chris Gidden's and Mark Sandlin's designs, respectively. Giddens and the Grand Admiral are some of the older space-head hobbyists, theirs were among big names like Lenny Hoffman, the Ryans Wood and Rubino, Tony Hafner. Back in middle school I didn't have pop-stars or sports heroes to look up to, but there was Dennis Coh and Daniel Jassim and Paul Brassington , Soren, Zhang, Clites, Psiaki, Florea, and too many others to call to mind.

God you're geeky.

Moving on, join us as we continue to pledge fanboism to this new Theo kid, seeing as this is the third recent post featuring his stuff:



His MOC's are well done and colorful, unlike the drab post-RAMM military spewing from most fledgling builders in flickr. Aesthetically quite similar to Tim/Spook's stuff, both the build and the presentation, two areas Tim excelled, perhaps even pioneered some in. Oh yeah, and they both like mechs with tiny feet.

Tim/Spook, Lukas/Gladius, Dale/Unit 186, Otto and Dean were all young teenage builders who exemplified the fact that this wasn't strictly and adult's hobby. I mean, we are working with a children's toy here. Inspired by them, about four years ago I started to put up my own crap and shake off noobishness and kiddiedom.

Parent groups and educators might argue that the internet is a dangerous place for kids, and I agree with them. But if dabbling in an online community that was originally started by pockets of geeky middle-aged men has helped to teach me one thing, it is how and how not to represent yourself in the faceless flustercluck that is the internet.



Damn that's a lot of links. Pleh

evolution of SWAG

Enter the late Nnenn: (active 2006-2010)



Enter Fredo: (active 2008-present)



Enter rongYiren: (active 2008-present)



Enter Rodney: (active 2007-present)



Enter Theo: (active 2009-present)



It's trending yawnsome. *yawn*

Returns

Lenny Hoffman, a very prolific space builder from several years back has some new robot themed build on his flickr stream. Check 'em.



Also returning from a hiatus is smod, who had posted some cool stuff a year back or so. However he says that he's moved beyond the plastic hobby, and this post is more of a farewell:

"The little boy inside me who loves his Lego has pretty much gone so this is probably the last MOC you'll see from me in a long time. but on a brighter note I'm thinking about turning this account into a more art orientated one.. we'll see."

I look forward to seeing some of his art-related uploads in the future.

Yukikaze, I guess.

Zak Hale (AKA Chaos Unit 178) has built a MOC that, for the first time in quite a while, made me want to go blog it straightaway. As you can tell if you're reading this, I did.

The Manticore will Mant your Core... wait, what?

I've been on a bit of a building kick lately, and today I finished a starfighter just in time for the "Show Us What You Got" contest that the Starfighters group on Flickr is holding. I present to you, the Manticore. In the immortal (huh?) words of my crappily written backstory that I tacked on at the last minute, 

The Manticore modular combat platform was designed to fill several roles with one ship. Its powerful twin magnetically-vectored plasma drives enable it to be both swift and agile while carrying diverse loads. Various weapons packages, cargo - even evacuees from damaged ships - can be carried using the modular coupling system between the ship's forward prongs and under the cockpit. The Manticore seen here has been fitted with a heavy antimatter cannon mounted for an assault mission. The plasma cannons on either side of the ship also pack quite a punch in dogfight situations. 

Now I have to go finish that essay that I forgot about until today.

Oh, and our own Jacob has also built a fighter for that contest that I will now link to in really tiny text so that he can't blog it. Muahahahaha.

EDIT BY JACOB: TRY ME, BRAH



by MEmory

EDIT BY DEAN: I'M NOT A BRA!

EDIT BY JACOB: THAT ISN'T WHAT I MEANT. GOOD SIR, YOU NEED TO UPDATE YOUR KNOWLEDGE ON THE COLLOQUIAL VERNACULAR.

EDIT BY DEAN: I KNEW THAT WASN'T WHAT YOU MEANT. GOOD SIR< YOU NEED TO UPDATE YOUR KNOWLEDGE OF SARCASM.

EDIT BY JACOB: MY CHARMING FRIEND, I TOO WAS EXHIBITING SARCASM OF TEH HIGHEST CALIBRE. WE COULD CONTINUE ON LIKE THIS FOREVER, IF YOU WISH, BUT I GROW MOST TIRED OF IT. ALSO, USE THE CAPS LOCK INSTEAD OF HOLDING DOWN THE SHIFT KEY.

EDIT BY DEAN: EXCELLENT DEDUCTION, MY DEAR WATSON. BUT CAPS LOCK IS OF THE DEVIL.

EDIT BY JACOB: I'M HOLMES, YOU'RE ROBIN.