New News from TwoMorrows Publishing

Joe Meno 'tweets' that BrickJournal #14 has gone to the printers to ship on March 23rd. The fourteen issue stands out for several reasons...

First the man behind the Jason Burnett (AKA JasBrick) has scored an interview with Matthew Ashton of The LEGO Group about minifigure designs on several play themes, including the Collectible Minifigures line! An excerpt of the interview can be found on pages 19 and 20 of this pdf preview. You'll have to pick up Brick Journal 14 for the full scoop (you can order a digital copy too).

Not only does the latest issue have Jas' interview, it also contains several feature articles on 'brick animation' and a Minifig Customization 101 article from Jared Burks on 'purist customization'.

Speaking of Jared, his new book 'Minifigure Customization: Populate Your World!' goes on sale April 27th!

You can see it all at the TwoMorrows website.

LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean Video from Toy Fair

Joe Meno has uploaded another American International Toy Fair video on YouTube, this time walking us through the LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean sets. Good comprehensive close-ups of the sets and minifigures, unfortunately it looks like folks weren't allowed to pick items up for full 360 views.

Again, another big thanks to Joe for taking these shots. I'm guessing we could have videos for all the themes as time goes on.

Personal Tour of LEGO Alien Conquest at AIT

It's official...I'm very excited for the new LEGO Alien Conquest line due this August. Joe Meno of BrickJournal just uploaded a video tour through each set by Master Model Builder Erik Varzegi. Thanks Joe!

JasBrick Brings Back that Shadowrun Magic

I may be dating myself here, but does anyone else remember the Shadowrun role-playing game? At the heart of the game universe you had a mash-up of fantasy elements like Elves, Dwarves, and magic and cyberpunk themes often found in William Gibson novels. There may have even been a mention of Aztechology at one point...

Regardless, it seems that JasBrick has the same fond memories of those days as well. He's posted his first Shadowrun custom of a Elven Street Samurai using the Series 3 hairpiece, custom accessories, and nice Shadowrun decal tattoo. Jas has promised more Shadowrun in the near future. Can't wait...

See all of Jas' custom creations on his Flickr stream. Oh, in separate, but related news...Jas has scored an interview with Matthew Ashton the Senior Creative Director of Lego Playthemes and IP regarding the development of the Collectable Minifig Series. The interview will be appearing in BrickJournal magazine in the near future. More details as they become available.

Minifig Customization 101: The Best of Sculpting

Did you know that back issues of BrickJournal are available as free digital downloads? Did you know BrickJournal has a recurring column called 'Minifig Customization 101'?

It appears that BrickJournal 10 is now available as a free pdf download, and guess what? It has a sculpting tutorial as part of the Minifig Customization 101 series! In the past these have been available as links on our tutorial page, but I'll have to see if I can track these down. In the meantime, you can download the entire free issue here.

In a quick scan of the TwoMorrows Publishing site unearthed another gem...Jared Burks (AKA Kaminoan) has a new book coming out in April 2011 called Minifigure Customization: Populate Your World! Jared has authored the Minifig Customization 101 articles through the years and, of course, has his own operation at Fine Clonier. It looks like you may be able to pre-order the book for 15% off. The regular MSRP is $9.95 and should be in stock on April 27, 2011. Check out the book description here.

Joe Meno - BrickForge at BrickFair 2010

That Joe Meno. Always with the posting of pics. Always with the exclusives...

Joe appears to have arrived in DC and is touring the floor of BrickFair 2010. He's posted some great pics on his Facebook page of the new 2010 BrickForge items. The poster here gives you a sense of what they have to offer, but Joe also has pics of the real stuff in bins. So go be 'friends' with Joe and check it out!

A fair number of these items were present as prototypes at BrickWorld if you remember.

I can't wait to see what else happens this weekend!

(Via Joe Meno's Facebook page)

Minifig Customization 101: Collected

Let me start this out by saying, "this is NOT my work". These are only links to the KAM forums where the articles reside. I'm only collecting these in the post for ease of navigation. The articles in each pdf are from BrickJournal magazine and brought to you by Joe Meno and BrickJoural Media. The series is titled "Minifig Customization 101".

As 'The Duck' grows and changes over time, we will be exploring different channels of the minifig universe. One of the most interesting and exciting areas I've found on my journey has been minifig customization. This is one of the three pillars by which I hope to take 'UD' into the future, the other two being official minifig coverage (i.e. the guides) and brick media (brick comics and film).

I hope you enjoy each of these articles as they are the product of a lot of time and passion from those who've contributed. As I find more customization resources over time, they will reside on the right-hand side of the blog, growing the knowledge and, hopefully, size of the community. Enjoy!

Decals

• Minifig Customization 101: Decal Design
• Minifig Customization 101: Decal Application
• Minifig Customization 101: Advanced Decal Application

Modding

• Minifig Customization 101: Altering the Color of LEGO
• Minifig Customization 101: Parts Modification
• Minifig Customization 101: Clay Sculpting
• Minifig Customization 101: Silicon Rubber Mold Making
• Minifig Customization 101: Casting Parts in Resin Plastic

Cloth

• Minifig Customization 101: Cloth Accessories

Digital Photography and Effects

• Minifig Customization 101: Macro Digital Photography
• Minifig Customization 101: Digital Backgrounds
• KAM Forums: Resizing Image Tutorial

(Via KAM Forums and BrickJournal)

New Silver and Gold Boba Fetts at Comic Con

Joe Meno of BrickJournal has been posting photos from the San Diego Comic Con. Although a little blurry, he shows us this...

It would appear that there is a third and fourth promotional Boba Fett figure in sterling silver and 14k gold. This package is a drawing prize at the LEGO booth.

The best I can tell, the writing shows that there are 10,000 white Boba Fetts, two gold, and maybe three silver variants. We know someone received 1 of 2 bronze Boba Fetts as part of a Shop at Home promotion in May. Makes me wonder where the others might show up?

More to come...

(Via Joe Meno's Facebook page)

BrickJournal Has Some Scoop on Series 2

Joe Meno, editor of BrickJournal magazine, has been blogging about the new Collectible Minifigure Series 2, due out in a couple of months. He's been sharing some early pics from his business trip to Billund a few months ago.

In his most recent post he reveals that the designers have been slipping 'Easter eggs' onto the figures, usually related to their names. He confirms that initials on The Lifeguard's bathing suit are, in fact, the designers initials. Unconfirmed 'Easter eggs' from Series 1 include the name 'Dawes' on The Nurse's chart, and the license plate number from The Demolition Dummy.

We'll keep scouting for more of these details as they become available.

(Via BrickJournal Journal)