Heretic Pride

Yes I know, updates have been sparse as of late and it's oh so uncool to beat that proverbial dead horse about it every time. Rest assured, they'll be no equine beating 'round here anymore as we have no horse left to beat. The last time I saw the Masoko Tanga horse it resembled a styrofoam tray of supermarket mince-meat. I thought for today I'd try something different, so I present to you my adventures with "the-Shelf's" random folder button and my discoveries both good and weird.

I found this rendered TA-138 German Jet Moc which is quite lovely. I myself have tried building fighters based on similar design but have met with no success as I could never get that weird barrel shaped fuselage right. The no-frills wings look fantastic, a great rhombus shape with no fancy crap to spoil. From the same historical vein there's this German Flak cannon, its extraordinary level of detail and accuracy actually classifies it as gun-porn. It's a shame half the pictures are so tiny. This tiny VTOL craft is pretty fancy looking but I think its lack of bulk brings it down. Particularly in the turbines, they look great at first but they don't hold up to close inspection. I much prefer the engine cowling design on this other VTOL craft that I found. Sure its not exactly sleek and streamlined but it's a good example of innovative parts usage. The ski-feet landing gear apparatus is adorable. This Phantom chicken walker may not have cute feet but it makes up for it by looking totally bad-ass. Though I can't help think that the poor lighting maybe strategically masks a few design faults. Regardless, I really love those jet engine looking things and the antennas.

Have you ever found yourself watching Revenge of the Sith and wishing for a tiny horribly burnt, scarred and limbless ABS Anikan to clutch in your sweaty palm and stroke reassuringly? Well just enclose your cherished Anikan minifig of choice along with ten dollars USD in a self sealed envelope care of B-Shelf user Legomanics and he'll do the rest. Your Anakin will be crafted with the finest of dollar-store cigarette lighters and even comes included with a certificate guaranteeing depreciation. And according to Keika03 "if Anakin was still Anakin, the galaxy would be.." something like this rather cute little viggnette. Good to see that under good-Anikan's rule Galactic sanitation, public transport and public time-pieces are supported.

Here's a great L-Draw model of everyone's favourite trundling death machine, the mammoth Tank. It's the version from that one Command & Conquer game that every one forgot about that's actually pretty good. Those slanted windows fit well and the way those arches curve over the shoulder and hip joints is simple yet really quite effective. Nice toe-hydraulics too. No matter what anyone says it's a true fact that we all need a strange robot walking cat at some point in our life and and anyone who says they don't lacks a soul. However it goes without saying that said robot cat lacks whiskers, an esential part of any cat be it organic or arterficial. If robot cats aren't your kinda thing maybe robotic spiders are more your kind of thing? Bounding straight from arachnid to Marsupial we have a robotic Mech Kangeroo by B-Shelf citizen Izzo. I get a feling of Deja Vu from this Moc like I feel like I've allready talked about it here and before. I just don't know, maybe I'm loosing my mind and tomorrow I'll wake up and my walls will be white and padded. Next there's a cool Alien head that looks like it has dentures. Despite being limited to a diet of mushy-peas this alien is quite cool just like this rather funky and poseable bot. Take note of the swept back robo-hair style. Here's some wheels for you whether you like 'em modern or steampunk and I adore this odd-fighter. I think it's the weird round orb-y cockpit shape combined with the cool wings that does it. Lastly, I discovered this really cool piano and an L-draw render with possibly one of the worst names of all time. Prove me wrong folks.

What Planet is This?

I remember when I was a kid reading a book about future predictions that was written in the early seventies and being amazed by it. Then just last week I rediscovered the same book and was blown away by it once again. For example do you know that by the year 2015 we'll be living in cities on the moon and using magnetic tape to record sound, data and audio? I also discovered Paleo-Future which is a fascinating little blog that specialises in showcasing the future that never was. Simply put, a collection of future predictions from as far back as the 1880's. My fav would have to be Quasar and it's curiously named buddy "Maid Without Tears" M.W.T doesn't look like the kind of robot that would be content with serving tea as snapping spines clean in half looks more like its kind of thing. Quasar is slightly less intimidating due to looking somewhat like a piece from a snakes and ladders game. Don't let that catch you off guard though because rest assured it's probably the brains behind the robot revolution against humanity. Don't drink that tea, lady! This amusing post shows off some Parisian artwork made in 1910 envisioning what life would be like in the year 2000. I love how in the future personal flying machines and drive-by wine waiters co-exisit so happily and how mechanical arms will do everything for us.

Another one of my discoveries was the exceptional conceptart.org which is incredibly useful for dissolving particully stubborn builders block. The concept art ranges from pictures of freaky genetic freaks of nature all the way to intergalactic starships and Mechs. And now it looks like it's time for a word from our sponsor.

Tired of your old cramped Moonrover and the way that it stuggles to accend the sides of even the feeblest craters? Do onlookers laugh at your outdated Starcrusher-battlecruiser that takes hours to disintergrate a single planetoid? Or maybe you're just in the market for a new family starwagon? Here at honest Frank's Intergalactics we've got a huge range, I guarentee it that I've got a good deal for you right here. Just take a step into the lot.
The Y-24 Spiral is quite a dreamy piece of geometry suitable for your next bombing raid, cosmic assault or freighter escort operation and it's only had one previous owner, a Mr Paul Cyberhawk who only used it on Sundays to take it out on planetary assaults. That's not your kinda thing eh? Well if you're looking for something more in a giant arachnid killing machine well I've got just the ticket for you. The Lime-Quad is just what you're looking for with only one previous owner a gentleman by the name of Mr. Shine. It features excellent rear suspension, leather trim and it's one of the easiest Spider Mechs on the market to park thanks to the abdomen mounted rear vision camera.

Now come over and have a look at this here Starfighter, what a beauty we just got this in on Thursday off a bloke by the name of Jeremy. It's called the Avarice and its got an excellent warp-drive that'll take you from here to Jupiter and back in the blink of a Morlocks eye. Some people say those old geared thrusters are a little dodgy on these early models but I wouldn't listen to them. But if you're looking for more of an anti-fleet starfighter I'd suggest the Spiteful Dagger from Alan-Industries which features quite a lovely paint scheme and comes with bonus optional extras such as sunroof and external heavy blaster pods. Just don't put excess weight on the struts as they tend to bend on these older models. I know your type, you're looking for a freighter for heavy hauling aren't ya? I shouldn't be telling you this but out the back we've got some new stock out back that you might be interested in so let's just say it fell off the back of a truck shall we? Well go no further then a genuine Patrick Patwood series Spaceship Parts Freighter which is a quality piece of machinery. Check out the sleek skeletal H-Superframe and the roomy bridge which features an excellent view and for a small extra charge I'll throw in a coat of aero-shine to protect that lovely finish. So how about it, interested in buying anything so far? Well, come back anytime then..

A drum role is required for the introduction of next segment but since we've blown the intire Masoko Tanga budget on elaborate sportscars and labor saving mechanical arms you'll just have to imagine one. Start those drums right now as I announce this weeks Award 'o' Shame winner which was sent in to me via anonymous email. Some person by the name of tomm has decided to grace Brickshelf with pictures in glorious of a weird blue thing which is either some kind of adult toy or a salad eating utensil. After further perusal of his gallery I discovered something that everyone should experience at least once in their lives. Tiny custom Mythbusters Minifigs which are quite accurate and quite creepy. Congratulation tomm, enjoy your award. Feel like getting involved in the spirit 'O' shame? Anything done by the Lego Community or by TLC is elegible for the award, if you wish to dob something in please shoot off an email to me or leave a comment below with the details or url. If you're nomination is chosen you might win an exciting prize like a monogrammed Jpeg image or maybe even an enveolope full of irrelevant newspaper clippings. Wow.

The time has come and we've reached the end of another post, whether you've been a long time reader or if this is your first time I'd like to say thanks. And tonight whether you be with partying with friends and family, drilling for oil on one of our nations many oil-rigs or serving time in one of our nations fine penitentiary's have yourself a happy new year.

Pushing the Sky

Many apologies for the delay, my Internet connection has always been similar to that old couple in the beaten up flintstones-era car dragging a caravan at a whopping speed of 30 in the fast lane. Well that was my Internet, but now imagine that same car but the caravan is full of bricks and that the wheels mysteriously vanished a couple hundred miles ago. In short, 20.0 kbs Dial-up is a curse so terrible and vile that I wouldn't even dare bestow it upon my worst enemy and I miss my 40.kbs. Anywho, just yesterday I got to do something I've always been longing to do, I got into a plane which then climbed to about ten thousand feet and then the door opened and I stepped out of the side of it onto the little platform and jumped. Skydiving's a completely amazing and disorientating experience, nothing like weightlessness but probably as close to it as you can get without spending a few hundred thousand dollars I reckon.

Anyway, onto the Lego, the lame-parts space-defence contest deadline has been extended to the 23rd of September which is good news for both the lazy and those who had a legitimate excuse. (who are also lazy) Be sure to check out the competition as there's some fantastic entries.

Luke's Wipeout inspired Orbit Racer is undeniably blocky but I think that's a main part of its charm. It's been quite a while since I've played Wipeout so I'm assuming the hinged panels on the wings are either Airbrakes or maitience hatches but whatever they are they're a fairly nifty and practical addition. I like the cockpit choice but I feel that the nose could be a little sharper. Peter Morris's Wraith has got a nice nose on it and some neat looking thrusters but the wings look a little uncoordinated. Kind of looks like a Star Wars version of a Wraith Dart from Stargate which makes it a good wing-man or adversary to the Buzzhawk which is also by Peter. The gears as thrusters arrangement looks really good as the gears do a way better job here than any cylinder, axel or wheel could. I love the mowhawk but I'm sure the blasters could do with some fattening up. In a similar vein we have the Jethawk from Adam Nies, it's got a nice colour scheme and I really love those compact winglets and their accompanying blue tipped thrusters. The Grey Gosling by Roy T Cook looks like some kind of bizarre amalgamation, it's a ship with a front like a semi-trailer and a rear end like and grey fluffy cloud, which is actually pretty cool so go check it out.

I've heard plentiful praise awarded to the Pc game Crimson Skies in the Space community so I finally gave in and picked it up. If you haven't heard of it, it's a Flight-Combat Pc game set in an alternate 1937 where nations and continents have been split into warring factions and where sky pirates and lawmen roam the friendly skies in a wide assortment of blimps, zeppelins and bizzaro fighters. I finally buckled and picked it up just yesterday but unfortunately it won't work properly for me as it doesn't get along with Nvidia graphics cards.
Problems regardless the combination home & hanger Zeppelins in Crimson Skies struck me as beautiful things both in design and concept and would be pretty amazing in Lego form if done well. I did some sleuthing and discovered that it doesn't take much research to learn that Lego Zepplins are fairly rare and illusive beasts. There are a handful of smaller ones but there's only one big one out there and that's Ash's rendered Daryabar. My research also confirmed my initial assumption that there are too many words for them, zeppelins, airships, dirigibles or a blimp or whatever you want to call them. Back to the first point, big blimps are in short supply but there's slightly more smaller ones out there thanks to that rare Adventurers balloon peice that's restricted to modest small Zepplins due to it's size. It's fairly obvious why there's a shortage of Airships, one being the obscurity of the aircraft and the second being all in the challenge of tackling the balloon and making it look good. You can't just sweep the problem under a convenient balloon shaped rug, because after all a Zepplin balloon would just look like a strange looking caravan wouldn't it? The midsection or waist of a big balloon could be easily done as with plates and click hinges to produce a big hexagonal cylinder preferably with tiles over its surface to make it nice, smooth and balloon like. That's the easy part done, the hard part lies in capping off the ends off smoothly. Take the Darybar's ends for example, they've been capped but the technique used to cap them doesn't look very balloon like.
Moving onto new ground there's two Mocs that I know of out there that aren't Zeplins but similar to the original Crimson Skies multipurpose Zepplin vein, those being Adrian Drake's Dewy and Nathan Proudlove's Mistral. The thing I like about the Mistral is that it has a ton of great details like the spikes surrounding the gunner the mass of pipes and of course not forgetting the bike sitting on the flight deck and those lovely big steam boilers. (Huzzah for Roborider wheels!)
The Mistral proves it's worth as a lovely steampunk craft but on the more whimsical side of the divide there's the Dewy which serves as the giant roasted chicken fighter-carrier of the skies. Like the Mistral, the Dewy has a great amount of detail both exterior and interior and looks great. The large scale application of the built up plate technique used to build the hull is simply fantastic. Perhaps this same technique would be perfect for the balloon on a big airship?

Now come on people, get your building caps on and let's see some great Lego Airships!

Wicked and Weird

I recently journeyed to see Transformers, I know it's been out for a while now but my laziness is beside the point. It was allright, some unessacary silly bits mixed in with some really great bits and visual candy and maybe a wee bit too long but very enjoyable none-the-less. Afterwoods I got back home at about two 'o clock and immediately started rummaging around my room for the G1 and G2 transformers I owned as a kid. Unfortunately, Lady time has not been kind to them as they're all missing more than their fair share fair of various guns, limbs and other choking hazards. Regardless, they're still great for swooshing around ones desk with the all important accompanying engine & shooty sound effects even if they look like they've all been mugged.

Speaking of Transformers, Florea Adrian showcases his amazing Decepticon Shellshock Moc. I've always admired Lego Transformers, I think it goes with out saying that a lot of skill and patience must be invested in the model to ensure a balance of quality between the two forms. There's not much I can say about this that hasn't already been said. The Halftruck is a lot better than any Halftruck moc I've ever seen and would look completely at home in a WW2 diorama. The detail is brilliant as the front grill and towbar looks simply outstanding and I love the rear turret gun.The robot mode is quite awesome but it doesn't really have much character to it. Maybe that's just because the aesthetics of the more realistic and sleeker style of movie transformer don't lend themselves to as much character as the old bulky transformers from days of old.

One Moc that is simply not getting near enough love is Kev Levell's Hornet smuggling ship. It's easy to guess where the inspiration for this ship came from but I think there's plenty of variance and original touches in the design to diferententriate it from everyone's favourite Firefly class transport. For example the wedge slope forks on the wing tips are a homage to the Reaver ships in the series which had the same kind of thing going on. Though I think the engines are a little weak as to me they look more like last minute additions rather than a central part of the design. It would have been much better if the booster was incorporated into that lovely round and bulbous bee-rear-end. Despite the lack of thrusters on it I do like the stinger on the end as it adds a tiny bit of character to the ship which is good. The landing pads look really great but unfortunately due to they're size and complexity it doesn't look like they're retractable or fold-up-able which unfortunately means minus minus points in my book. This ship doesn't disappoint with smuggling compartments as it has a fair few. That Golden C-3po that's hiding in one surprised me as I had no idea that TLC had started making them chrome gold plated as opposed to the dull pearl-cream C-3po's of the past.

From Jerac a strange looking mechanical beasty known simply as Mechos or the Biterer. I don't know weather it's supposed to be organic or man-made but to me it looks vaguely like somekind of Alien Hybrid from the Alien fims that happens to be packing a pretty wicked pair of dentures that could easily fit around an elephant. Not forgetting the simple but effective red eyes that perfectly add alot of menace. I really like the design of those flat feet too, they're neato.
Zach brings us his unusual and interesting Microscale siege ship, The Oktober. All around it's a nice simple working design but maybe a bit too plain. I really like the orange on this but it's more of random splodges rather than a focused coulorscheme. I think a large scale ship would be great with an orange paintjob like this. As it's a colour that's usually confined to small creations and not given large scale application due to to uncommon nature of bulk orange bits I think. The slopes look nice on this but the bridge sticks out like a sore thumb and really needs a bit of trimming down and sleeking up. The engine design is really boring, dead boring. Much could be done to improve it, even a few bits of pipe and tube running alongside the axles would do visual wonders.
Yet another Slam variant, this one by Sir Bugge is shrunken down to pocketsize.Excellent use of that Dino midsection, it fits in quite smoothly. I really like the big nose mounted minigun on this, the little dog in the corner with the nasty bark. I can just imagine these things flying in formation a big swarm, like big metallic piloted space locusts.

The widespread occurrence of a global Lego building phenomena hit me the other day, one of which to my knowledge, shockingly goes without community acronym or title. (Gasp..) There it is, somekind of mind bogglingly complex part that you've been working on to perfect for the last few hours. One more piece and it's finished, the tiniest bit of excess pressure results in profanity when the Moc flings itself into multiple corners of the room. Usually the Profanity and shattering are a few seconds apart, the common builder will sit in dead stillness with whats left of the shattered remains lieing in his or her hands. It takes a few seconds of realisation and eyebrow twitching before the profanity kicks in. There is also another variant of this that has the same end result but occurs when one tries to alter something on an allready perfectly good finished model. There is no name for this global occurance and there is no cure, we're in the dark here people..

Riders on the Storm

Apologies for the recent updates drought lately, it seems it's been a fairly busy and hectic part of the year for a lot of us recently. Anywho just a quick post today, a short wrap up of the last week or so's recent Mocs and the usual ramblings you've come to expect from me.

With the sheer overabundance of fighters doing the rounds pretty much everywhere these days it's always pleasing to see variation in the standard fighter-formula rear it's head every now and then. Bernard Wiseman's Jet Trainer is one of those, it's not one of those all-too-common armed to the proverbial teeth starfighters you’ve seen a million times before, just a simple jet for learning the basics. All those budding ace pilots had to learn in the first place didn't they? All those young and starry eyed Starbuck's, Skywalker’s and Yeager's all had their training wings firmly affixed at some point. If you can't tell all ready, I really like this little trainer. I love the way the fins are arranged around the central thruster, simply beautiful! Nice wings too, that ugly clunky nose could do with a little cosmetic surgery though. And notice the neat pop-out landing gear and the simple but effective double-seating pill canopy. It even has a ground crew and a refuelling station, such detail is a definite plus in my book. The ladder is great, I must remember that design for my own devious usage. We defiantly need more Mocs like this, how about some more Trainers and perhaps even some support craft like re-fuelers and ECW craft? Where are the top-secret and horribly unstable test aircraft piloted by handsome dare devils with a devil-may-care attitude and an overpowering stink of dollar-store hair gel?

Remember that scene from Aliens with the oblivious Jordan family cruising onwards towards certain doom in their trusty family surface rover that looked like the bastard off-spring of a moon-rover an armoured car a big-rig and the family sedan? Yeah, that's the first thing that came to mind when I first set my eyes on Yoder' lunar Pick-Em-up Truck. It's packed with some very nice features, for example check out the extremely cushy interior. And as a plus there's plenty of room in the back to store stuff, not just stuff but a lot of stuff; boxes ,toxic chemical waste, Alien eggs. You name it, it can carry it. (Maybe..) Excellent sticker use there with the familiar yellow and black caution markings on the steps and the exo-force ident-numbers stuck on the roof. Excellent!

Also in the Rover category we have Legohaulic’s Moon Jalopy. I was expecting a run down crank driven rover when I read the title, but instead I was greeted with quite a sleek and sporty looking moon cruiser. Jolly good show old chap!Be sure to check out Jerac’s very swish devolved X-Wing. I love the idea of this one, literal reverse engineering of the original X-Wing to make it look like it flew out of something steam-punk related. Gotta love those nifty flippy flappety wings. Also in the Moc cards this week Nathaniel Mollen’s extremely nifty PCS L.A.M.P made an apearance, great rounded wings there and a nice unusual shape.

Twin Layers of Lightning

I have to agree with Brenden's sentiments on Children of Men, it's quite an amazing movie and if you haven't seen it already or are planning to, get your hands on a copy immediately in any way shape or form. Some brilliant ideas and concepts combined with awesome visuals and a hero that's as far detached from the gun-ho Rambo stereotype as can be. Without spoiling anything, I can safely say that I really thought that the open-ended ending was quite wonderful and unique. Want it to be a happy ending with smiles, chocolates and roses? Or would you rather an ending on the opposite end of the spectrum? It's open ended, make up your own mind about what happens next, that's what I really liked. On a whole, the detachment from the usual Hollywood clichés was quite refreshing

Also in cinema news this week, Terminator 4 and the possibility of the subsequent spin-off Sarah Connor chronicles have been announced. Two camps have developed on this, those who have already started lining up outside the cinemas and the grumpy old farts like me who think the series should have ended after the second. I loved the first two movies; the second one's my favourite film of all time. The third was a fun movie but I don't really consider it part of the Terminator mythos. But hey, I have the power of human choice and my disposal. I'll always have the first two films to worship, I can just plug my fingers into my ears count loudly to myself and ignore subsequent (and blasphemous) instalments. They can butcher the series but the originals will always remain! Who knows, they might even do a good job on this proposed forth instalment.

Enough of my ranting, onto the building blocks. Mysterious B-shelf sculpturer Arvo shows us all a thing or two about sculpture with an amazing baby Chestburster model. Just look at that awesome tail, the various tubes running down the sides and into the head are extremely well done and visually effective. And just take a look at those teeth, sharp and deadly, excellent parts placement and usage there. Not forgetting of course, the blood dripping off the side of the platform which is totally gorgeous in every way. H.R. Gieger himself would be proud. Not stopping there, check out his super street bikes which are apparently based from designs from the movie Akira. They come in three flavours, the red streamlined and street-savvy Kaneda design.

If that's not your thing, there's the slightly more rugged looking Tetsuo model available in either tan or white, the colour scheme's not the only difference, all-though similar, both have slight physical variations in their designs. I like how the detail includes the throttles on the handle bars and even extending to visible gages and switches on the tan variant. Everything flows so well, there's an absence in rough and blocky edges as these things are so amazingly sexy and streamlined.

Jamie Neufeld brings us the newest addition to the grandiose Vance Quatam's garage, the Quantum Super Thunder Galactic Robo Fighter: Atomictron 7. Very cool, I love the use of the X-pod for the head and that combination Punk/ galactic-crimefighter mohawk atop it looks marvellous. By the looks of it, those white cylinders on the back suggest that this Bot's even packing a jetpack. Gotta love those rugged and tough ribbed boots too.

The tiny pitter-patter of multiple feet on metal grating is becoming an all too familiar sound these days with the sudden rise and popularity of multiped spider-mechs in the community. There are quite a few noteable examples out there but Onosendai's one really stands out for me, as opposed to the usual scrawny and delicate design favoured by most Spider-Mech builders, Onesendi has decided to go against the flow. In this current WIP, the metallic arachnid in question is beefy and well armed and yet maintains quite an attractive and slim figure. I really love that turret, great use of Bionicle parts on that. Nifty use of life on mars canopies as leg armour too. Can't wait to see it finished.

Jerac brings us a nifty idea with his good and evil fighters. If I had a choice, I think I'd rather have these guys hovering above my shoulders than a boring old devil & angel combo any day. The sense of scale is great, I like them but I feel that the evil fighter looks more like some kind Mech or weapons platform. But then again, maybe that’s a good thing. Going against the grain and challenging the usual fighter design and all that. It would be interesting to see this idea applied to other styles of Mocs; Mechs, Capital ships etc, etc.. Town fire-stations? Who would dark Firefighters be anyway? An organised gang of tax-funded arsonists? The mind truly does boggle.

On an ending note, here's a quick little Moc from Chuck, The Gi Templar Hardsuit. The gun is a bit oversized, looks like it wouldn't take much for the poor fellow to loose his balence and topple over. I like the mace, it's pretty cute but purely decorative. Is it just me, or am I the only person in the world who was taught at a young age to refer to maces as 'Bommy Knockers'? Weird..

Secret House Against The World

I'm about to lock horns and engage in mortal combat with a mighty beast, the sorting beast who is well amongst many a builder. I've been putting off this battle for what seems like ages simply because I'm a terrible procrastinator. All I want to do is build, which I do manage to do but it tends to get a bit frustrating at times. Example? All I require is a simple light grey 1x3 wedge slope. Simple, no? Now, with everything sorted this would take about two seconds or more commonly a simple and quick 'vulture-ing' procedure to remove the part from another Moc. In my current un-sorted state, this process usually begins and then concludes with the discovery of the elusive piece under my foot and a wasted twenty minutes. If things continue at this rate, I'm going to need a team of professional Sherpa's and a flock of specially trained part-sniffing mountain goats just to find a single 48x48 baseboard.

This week in the building community further evidence has surfaced that suggests Nnenn is not actually human, but some kind of freaky building robot from the near-distant future. Not just one excellent new Moc, but several excellent new Mocs have emerged in the last week or so.
My favourite would have to be the Hazulukoth Flying Carnivorous Earwig. Those shapely wings are simply gorgeous, it's those tan blocks of colour that make 'em great. I think the single thruster fits into the design neatly but I'm not a fan of it. When I imagine the whole thing in flight the single thruster makes me think that the whole craft would be rather unstable at best. Oh yeah and the kill-tally detail, I'm in love with the kill tally detail. Very cool stuff.
Next off the Nnenn assembly line we have the Jula mobile defense platform. I can't remember exactly if the Soviets had any spider tanks in Red Alert, if they did, they looked just like this. The whole thing reminds me of a soldier drone from the first Starship Troopers movie. Excellent use of those Alpha team canopies, nice armour too. There's only one thing that bugs me, the lack of an eye. In my opinion, soulless metallic killing machines just aren't complete without some-kind of evil glowing HAL-esque eye-of-death.
We also have the very funky looking X-wing Evolution and its partner the extremely groovy and unconventional Padarion fighter. The squadron markings on the wings look absolutely stunning and I really like that Swan neck cockpit design. No doubt, by the time you have finished this paragraph kind reader, there will already be a dozen new Nnenn Mocs posted. So keep your eyes peeled!
One cannot fail to enjoy Arpy's little yellow bubble car that makes life better. Oh yeah, that it does in spades. It's such a simple and effective design, perfect for mass application on any Moonbase layout. I always like seeing bubble domes in Mocs, they always manage to look good. The boosters are in the same style as the rest of the craft and fit in well but one cannot help feel that they look slightly tacked on and last minute.
In the blue corner we have Big X's aka Danny Rice's Sharkbot, weighing in at a meaty eight grams and packing quite a nasty bite. Some fancy footwork present in the foot design, why the claws are unnecessarily capped off with mini-fig hand remains a closely guarded secret. In the red corner Rodney Bistline's Space Squid. Hailing from the depths of some dark moon crater Space Squid is the master of the infamous sucker punch and head-clamp techniques. Also well known for excellent use of those weird grey technic tube bits that only ever seem to find use as starship greebs. It'll be a tough match but my money's on the Sharkbot, it's just those teeth for the win you understand.

Onto the Odysseus WIP by B-shelf user b3rl1go, as some of you might know I've been watching this thing with intense interest over the last few months. Good to see continued effort on this thing which is inching its way towards what will be quite a glorious end result. I admire that lovely big neon-green eyeball, is it the main bridge and control centre for this Moc or is it simply the business end of a giant laser? And what exactly is this Moc, some kind of Alien Mothership or a deadly super-weapon belonging to a nefarious James Bond villain? I'm intrigued by this Moc and its super weird design. And curious about the strength of its skeletal frame-work, I imagine that the middle collum would support its fair share but obviously it’s not going to support everything. Makes me wonder just how heavy this Moc is all up.

I guess it's time to get back to sorting, Winamp silently humming away in the background, I've got the radio as a back-up, I'm going to do it. I shall conquer the sorting beast today! Well maybe not now there's something interesting on Tv in just a few minutes. Maybe tomorrow, maybe..

Death of a Shade of Blue.

I have to start off with some sad news today, aside from the recent death of Kurt Vonnegut. A few of you might know that for the past two-ish years I've been running a '.Space' in a small LEGO General section of the BionicleZonePower(BZP) forums, a small refuge of spacey hope in an unlikely place. Its produced a good number of space builders over its relatively small 3 year reign: Tom here, Arpy, Justin Long (taurithod), and myself (forgive if I've missed a few). Well, life is an unforgiving organism, and over the last 2 years the pace there has really slowed. When the group was launched it was a huge success and it was what drew me back into system Lego, and Space. And for that, I really owe that little '.Space' and its first curator Spongey (see I wish I was a Spaceman). But given that it seems we've dried up the creative well, I took the liberty of closing down the group. A sad move, but all dogs have their day, and hers has passed. RIP.

Interesting uncompleted project from Nnenn here today - we need an acronym for that - a dirty looking microscale ship. It makes some excellent use of BURPs and contains a wonderful looking technic frame. The engines are quite hot as well. And engines are always a fun topic during builds, many people always seem to struggle making a design that's worth while - and although Paul Baulch's article is a great read, someone really needs to expand on it... Maybe I should? Other notable places on Nnenn's ship include the detailed entrance to his hangar, I really do like the sentry/control towers and the control hub on the inside is a nice touch. I'm not too keen on his gun designs, but that's also a hard aspect of building. Maybe I aught to whip up an article on that as well.

Next on the blog list is a fighter, and a microscale ship - all in one. Usually microscale fighters don't get a whole lot of street cred. if they're built in a larger scale. On the contrary, if one thinks of microscale as a seperate technique of building used for more then just ships that would be implausible in mini-fig scale, then I think the idea of a larger scale fighter in micro is kind of interesting. Anyways, brickshelf user Towel created their fighter after Star Fox's arch enemy's craft - The Wolfen. theirs is specifically based on the one from Star Fox Assault, and although I've never played that game, it seems that the overall design of the Wolfen hasn't altered a whole lot since good ol' Star Fox 64. Towel's approach is built using a variety of techniques - from the pretty complex to the very basic, and where this might look bad on other ships, their use of colour blocking allows them to really pull it off. I think it really goes to show that a great MOC doesn't have to be made entirely of complex techniques - it just has to be executed well. I'm really liking the colourful engine block on this ship too, it reminds you that this ship exists in the realm of video games and not strict-realism. Check it out, it's a really awesome ship design to begin with, and Towel has pulled it off nicely.

I've got plenty more coming: New member on CS, pezzab, was noticed on brickshelf shortly before his arrival with his BFAI (Brute Force And Ignorance) fighter. Now, although I haven't heard/seen the words from his mouth/posts, I think the ship is supposed to be a sci-fi german fighter, hence the BF part and the colouring. This is an interesting ship, it's really boxy and it works. His use of SNOT makes his fighter look plenty smooth and strong, and seems to allow for some visuals to be worked into the design. And when we turn the fighter over and take a good look at her belly, I think it increases my love of the craft even more. There's something about the landing gear bays - maybe its just the uneven stepping in the doors - that make them look sturdy and robust. Although I think the landing gear itself is lacking. There's a great use of colour in this model, the nice touch of sand green in the missiles is beautiful and the red/white striping around the canopy is great! Pezzab's a pretty new builder, although there are a few other things in his brickshelf; keep an eye on this one!

My last feature here is a bit of a double feature. I've always kept my eye on Brickshelf user Kero40, his wide array of Homeworld themed microscale is interesting and very inspiring. His two latest works are pretty awesome. There's always been something that attracts me to his clunky and messy style of building, whereas some builders would fail miserably when attempting a style along these lines, Kero seems to know almost exactly what he is doing. It seems to be that he builds a basic frame of a ship, and then just begins to throw stuff on - and yet, it works. He has also got a particular skill for using medium sized BURPs to great effect, making smooth uninterrupted panels among the chaos and greebles of the rest of the ship. Some might say however, that his chunky colouring can be quite distracting - a few maybe even hideous. But click around and you'll find other ships that he has built which are very cleanly coloured and show that again - he knows what he is doing.

I'll go specifically first with his Pirate battle-carrier. This represents his clunky building style perfectly. Eclectic colours, mixed smooth and greebley sections, and big large turrets that still don't seem to betray scale. This ship really looks like it's just been clobbered together from a bunch of other craft, and outfitted with massive cannons. It's messy, and that's how it's supposed to be. Scattered windows also do great to bring in scale, and the small accompanying craft really adds some realism - I don't quite know how, but I think that I'm going to try and do the same thing in the future. The mass block of engines at the back work, though I wish they were more then wheels.

Next is his Sobani Remote Trade Gateway Spaceship. This is quite the juxtaposition to the above work, it isn't really messy, the colours are cleaner, and there's no turrets of varying sizes. Instead this ship seems to be very well planned and structured, which being that the last ship was for pirates, seems fitting. The two large yellow hangars are great, and I wish I had whatever piece he's using for them. The smooth hull is dotted and creased with inlays of detail, striking the imagination - one particular trench along the middle near the front with the barring (what piece is that?) is quite intriguing. Engines are, again, a bit disappointing - however they do work with the design. And again the use of smaller support craft bring an odd sense of realism to the model.


Alright, I've written myself to death. Fitting no?