What happens if we don't have an holiday themed post?

Toby Hein finished his starfighter. It's pretty great. I too have recently received an amount of dark tan 2 x 2 tiles (Rockefeller PaB) that I'll have too put too use in the new year.



m_o_n_k_e_y put together these bots:



He cites Soren as an influence but I think it is evident that his own style shines through.

Black and Bad

There are a lot of cool things going on with Shannon Young's recent SHIP; 123 studs longs, it is. But all length is wasted if space is not utilized well, and in this area I admire the repetition of texture.

Also worth noting is the absence of color blocking, Young seems to take not heed of the brand-name Homeworld striping that has become more or less standard with Lego capital craft. Some red is spliced in with the greebling, and interesting enough is only visible when viewed from the top and bottom. Viewed from the side, no red is visible on the ship:



I would like to pretend this is because the sides are more armored than the top and bottom sides, but then another part of me would argue that there are no ups and downs in zero-gravity and start a kind of internal nerd-cred duel. Geek-induced schizophrenia attacks etc.

"Didn't you ever read about the battleschool games in Ender's Game?"
"Physics need not apply in science fiction. Notice how the capital ships in The Return of the Jedi are all aligned to the same plane in the battle of Endor..."
"Yeah, maybe not in bad sci fi."
"Jedi wasn't terrible."
"Wicket."
"Yo that dude was cool."

The "Ozymandias" was built around a technic structure for integrity, as is shown:



Lastly, I love how this work just screams, "evil". In addition to lack of smoothness, the color scheme sure works to convey menace. Looking into relics of my childhood, surely red and black can mean nothing but malevolence:

So the Rock and Roll contest over at Lego Steampunk has indeed turned out some pretty cool creations.


Erth&Fiya's Batmobile entry for the wheels of Justice contest over at FBTB was featured here recently. He continues the Batman trend with his, uh, Cyberpunk Bat-train. Certainly not the mainstream idea of steampunk, but it is refreshing to see someone bending the boundaries a bit. It looks good on the old blue tracks.



I adore the checker pattern on Psakaru76's "rail castle". Kind of a simple build, but as a rolling block of armor it doesn't need to be complex. The special 4 x 6 plates are utilized well. The catcher on the front is a bit illogical, but in form I find it similar to a knight's visor, adding to the medieval flair.

One of these things does not belong*

let's play a game!









Well sheesh who knew cyber punk forklifts had such an appeal.

*hint it is the star trek borg themed one

Lightning, the Sequel

F-35 lightning II by Simon T. James.



Aww yeah man, we don't need tiles.



Pretty slick, as is this Batmobile by flickr user erth&fiya:



Falls into the the "doesn't look like lego" category.

THE POWER OF MAGNETS

On of the things I admire about Shannon's stuff is his forsaking of "advanced" techniques as a gimmick in favor of things that actually look good.



He also does good with colors. Subtle asymmetry done right. Not to say that technique and design cannot be combined, as Rob "Dasnewten" shows:





Rob just might be my favorite builder of anything space. Not too many colors, not to many shapes. Although I do prefer this particular model without the stand.

Speaking of colors, Wimbe incorporates the four main neutrals as well as two shades of red on this neat mech:



Catch the use of torsos on the shins.



Don Solo, whose diorama I featured previously, took some photos of the accompanying rover. See them here. It utilizes a cool technic assembly that raises and lowers the chassis.

Armored Trains

Prepare yourself, for I am about to defer again the blogging of Lego for that of niche strangeness that suits my fancy, but I assure YSAB will be back on track with our favorite precision-molded blocks. I'm building an armored train of my own with the stuff, so here's some stuff I found inspirational. The fellow fan of Lego might find it an interesting collection, as might the random internet wanderer.

Lego Steampunk is holding a Train/Floating Rock competition, and while steampunk is a great premise, it is more likely to see quantity of MOCs built in the theme rather than quality. Here's to hoping that it brings out a similar turnout to that of the Ma.K. Starfighter contest that saw so many great entrants.


An armored train seen in the Miyazaki film Howl's Moving Castle. If I might allow myself to be obsessive and critical, I offer the opinion that this particular design doesn't jive with the rest of the war machines in the movie. The sloping armor, the reasonable barrel length (as opposed to the smoothbore nubs on the battleship of the same faction) and overall plausibility clash with the fantastical/turn-of-the-century theme, such as the quirky airships and ornithopters. But what the hell, it's a cartoon fantasy movie.

A German armored train from the second world war. After the war sloped armor would be teh n0rmalz and all the cool kids would be doing it. It was then deemed ruined by hipsters and in protest the Leopard 2A4 was developed, which was essentially a box on treads with the sloped armor swapped out for titanium armor.

Mind you, a handsome box with a 120mm armament. But back to static tracks:


An armored train from another Miyazaki work, Laputa / Castle in the Sky that seems to take heavy influence from the German design. Darn it if more combat vehicles shouldn't have pink/peach yellow camouflage.









I might coin the term, "rivet-punk".

Here's the Russian WWII era "MVB-2".
In pictures I've found of armored trains, most of them looked pretty DIY-grunge, but the MVB-2 has an amount of aesthetic value. Kind of submarine-like; the protrusion halway down the vehicle looks akin to a conning tower.



Seriously, what's with the pink and yellow?

Hey that's not official

System? Bionicle? Fabuland? Jack Stone? Clickits?



No sir, them Rabbids is illegitimate. Regardless, it's a spiffy Star Wars: Episode I pod racer design, although exhaust from the center engine would probably blast the 'Bids in the face. That might explain their expressions.

By Jocelyn.

Say those figurines remind me of this bro with very little brains:



Now that's some cool joint Christiansen-Milne swag, though Disney probably got in more than his fair share too. Look at his expression, he's either sugar-high from too much honey or he's trolling. He extends one arm as to shake paws, but what he intends with the other is a mystery. Respect.

How much do these go for on Bricklink?

Bartosz is a Boss

I blog pretty much everything he does.



I mean, this is really cool, right? It reminds me of Jon Hall's work, with the sleekness traded for a bit of jank. It's grunge on wings. Here's a work of Hall's:



Don Solo made a cool space windmill, accompanied by the sweetest rover you ever did see. Trans purple!

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?