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.

Jumping on the Cube Dude bandwagon

I know I haven't posted the overdue comic for today - I got sidetracked actually building something for a change.

Have you guys seen the latest Flickr LEGO fad? It's a great concept from Pixar's Angus MacLane called "Cube Dudes" - little not-quite-miniland scale creations with a very distinctive look and flavor to them. Check out the Flickr Pool here.

Anyway, I've built a couple, with a few more in the works. Here's my favorite villain, Sinestro, in Cube Dude form...

and my second attempt, the Black Knight from Monty Python's Holy Grail....before...

...and after.

Anyway, I did manage to find my workbench again, so should have more stuff to post tomorrow...including the missing comics.

Updates and such

For those of you waiting for this week's updates...you might have a bit longer to wait than usual.

I'm in the last minute stages of prepping for CONvergence, and we leave for the convention tomorrow.

I'm working on a last-minute LEGO project that I hope to display, along with Tom, Crow, the Forrester Mural and some other things. I'm bringing several cameras, so there should be some interesting stuff showing up my Flikr Stream if you want to keep an eye on it.

I'm also finishing up sets for the next arc of Brick House - hence the delay there.

Anyway, I'll be back in town, and hopefully back on track, by next Tuesday.

In the meantime, check back occasionally - I'm bringing my laptop so I should be posting *something* over the next few days.

Finally, for those of you who are grumpy about all the recent interruptions to your free entertainment - after this con I'll be officially out of cash for a few months, so I'm more likely to be around and working on the site.

Anon comments disabled

Thanks to continued crap from Anon posters, I've had to turn that option off. You now need to have some sort of ID post.

Sorry, but this is why we can't have nice things.

Upcoming feature!

Hey guys. It was a busy holiday for me - I didn't get nearly as much work done for the site as I had hoped...on the other hand I'm not feeling nearly as burnt out on the whole concept as I was a week or two ago.

One of the new features I have planned for 2009 is thanks to an old friend of mine - a friend I made back in the days when I was running The Island of Bootleg Toys. Fellow Bootleg-Enthusiast Joe dropped me a line to let me know he was resurrecting Bootleg Action figures: The Undiscovered Playthings - updated into a new blog-format with all new reviews and content, as well as an archive of his past reviews. We got to talking, and of course I expressed interest in any LEGO-themed Bootlegs he could spot.

Well, Joe found some good ones. Not just "compatible" knock-offs, but blatant rip-offs that have stolen unique LEGO parts. Feeling my knowledge (read: obsession) with LEGO might make for a more in-depth review, Joe has agreed to send some of them my way.

This teaser picture Joe sent me shows just a few of the sets I'll be looking at in the coming weeks - but even this low-res shot shows some really tacky things like the "Brick" logo in the LEGO style and the "Star Wars" set with the Life on Mars aliens.

As always, these reviews will be written with the intent of making sure you don't buy these sets - trust me, the last thing you want to own are a bunch of knock-off LEGO bricks. (Did MegaBloks teach you nothing?) I'll risk the brittle plastic, lead paint, and mental anguish for you. Although I might just share a bit of that mental suffering.

Anyway, look for this new feature to start up in late January! In the meantime, be sure to stop by Joe's Blog for the latest in Bootleg News!

Holiday Episode

Read the comic here.

Merry Christmas to all my readers - may today be happy for you, no matter how you choose to celebrate it. Heck, have a happy day even if you'd rather not celebrate. Everyone could use a happy day once in a while.

Brick House picks back up tomorrow.

Guest Starring at S-Team...me! (Sort of)

Ian warned me about this, but I didn't want to wreck his reveal by acknowledging it too soon. The "Mysterious Guide" character appearing recently in S-team is indeed meant to be a quasi-cameo of yours truly.

Ian and I have a long history of sharing characters with each other, but this is certainly a first for me...

Now, why I'm apparently dead and dressed in tacky white, that's another question entirely. Something you're not telling me, Ian?
(Ian says I'm NOT dead, just Meta.)

Crap in a hat

You know that cool Castle version of the LEGO advent calendar I was hoping to use this year?

Not going to be released in the US.

The fan community is trying to change this, but honestly, I don't see that happening.

Not getting the Wizard impulse set was bad enough. I was ready to buy six or seven of these.

Damn damn damn.

Someone else's Contest

For those of you wondering why I haven't posted a new Contest yet, it's because I've decided to enjoy someone else's for a change.

That's right, I've been sucked into

Click the picture to read all about it. (Pops)

Steampunk has been on my mind a lot lately - I was playing around with it a bit when Ian sent me a LDraw Model he had been working on. Then several of my friends emailed me about this contest. I knew I had to enter.

My entry will be ready in the next couple of days - I just need to finish up the engine area and do a bit of detailing. Look for the big reveal this weekend.
(And here's hoping no one else submits a much better rework of the same ship before then!)

Anyway, no new Reasonably Clever Contest until this one has run its course. We'll start something up for the Feb/March timeslot.

Episodes 278 and 279

Read the comics here and here.

It really is a nice barricade. Finding a use for it this early in the story was a bit of a pain. At least I didn't have to animate it as part of the Legion of Barricades like I did last year...

As to strip 279 - I can't take credit for the LOLCAT. No, the blame honor for that twist rests squarely on the shoulders of my close personal friend Angie. She made the comment, and I just ran with it.

I was just going to make fun of how out of scale the Belville animals are with the standard LEGO-mini.

Honest.