UD Minifig Design Battle - Samurai Sho(w)down Winner

Congratulations go out to Burakki for winning the February UD Minfig Design Battle! The challenge was to select a character from the video game 'Samurai Shodown/Samurai Spirits', and craft a minifigure in it's likeness. Burakki opted for Oboro's Amazon as her subject.

Burakki will be receiving a gift card to FireStar Toys worth £25 which can be used on a wide variety of LEGO brand products, custom minifigures, or custom accessories.

I encourage everyone to check out all of the entries by visiting the UD Minfigure Design Battle page.

The Emperor is challenging all designers with this month's theme - 'Oh My Goddess...' The brief and details of the contest can be found at the UD Minfigure Design Battle page.

Congratulations once again to Burakki and my thanks to everyone who participated this month.

To those who are about to design, we of the Minifig Nation salute you!

March UD Minifig Design Brief - Oh My Goddess...

Three design battles have come to pass. The Emperor of Minifig Nation would like to know if you have the mettle for his next challenge...

The fourth minifig design battle has begun. The theme of this month’s challenge is...

“Oh My Goddess...”

The challenge is simple - you must depict a minifigure as a female diety with power beyond those of mortal...um...women. You may choose a goddess from an existing mythological pantheon such as Athena or Kali.

You may also ‘freestyle’ on this challenge. You can derive your own ‘goddess of war’ or ‘technology’ or ‘wisdom’; however, the figure you design and create must clearly emanate ‘godliness’ - no mortals need apply.

- You must depict the goddess as the main element of your design.
- This is a ‘goddess’ challenge so the minifigure must be a woman or female.
- You must state in the body of your entry who your character is supposed to represent (i.e. “Athena”) or what your ‘freestyle’ creation is the goddess of.
- The goddess should be a LEGO minifigure.

A couple of additional design ‘rules’ if you don’t want your entry disqualified...Although goddesses often don’t feel the need for clothing, yours should. The fact is we deal with a medium that is also a child’s toy so keep it clean. Also keep any depictions of gore or violence to a minimum - see the ‘Rules and Guidelines’ on the Flickr group page.

If you choose an existing female deity for your design, treat it with respect. We all have our own beliefs and this is a group of inclusion. Any entries that are blatantly putting down another religion through their design will be disqualified and their image removed from the pool. You will also be disqualified from further contests.

Other elements that will be looked upon favorably but are entirely optional include lighting, presentation, posing, and photography/digital effects. Do remember that the figures should be the primary focus of the composition and should not be overwhelmed by other design elements.

Although this is not a ‘customization-only’ contest, you may find many of the tutorials we’ve collected on the site to be helpful. There are also tutorials on photography, presentation, and digital effects.

Entries must be submitted to the UD Minifigure Design Battle Arena group on Flickr before 12:01 am EST April 16th, 2011. Entries submitted after this time will not be considered eligible. Remember to read the ‘Rules and Guidelines’ thread before submitting your entry.

This month’s winning prize is sponsored by FireStar Toys, where the victor will receive a gift card to FireStar worth £25 (approximately $40 USD**) which can be used on a wide variety of LEGO brand products, custom minifigures, or custom accessories from companies like BrickArms, Tiny Tactical, Si-Dan Toys, or Amazing Armory Ltd., to name a few. You can start planning on how to spend your winnings by visiting FireStar Toys today.

Questions about this contest or the rules should be submitted to Cygnet at uglyduck.bricklink@gmail.com.

To those who are about to design, we of the Minifig Nation salute you. Good luck!

*Please read the contest ‘Rules and Guidelines’ thread regarding views on depicting violence and other topics of a potentially serious nature.
**Exact value in US Dollars is dependent on the currency exchange rates at that time.

Reminder: Samurai Sho(w)down Deadline

This month has been a little unique and as a result I've not been able to send out as many reminders about this month's UD Minifigure Design Battle Challenge - 'Samurai Sho(w)down'.

Hopefully, you've all been working on your designs this month. Entries must be submitted to the UD Minifigure Design Battle Arena group on Flickr before 12:01 am EST March 16th, 2011. If this is the first you are hearing of the contest, then you can check out the design brief and start finalizing that entry today!

This month’s winning prize is sponsored by FireStar Toys, where the victor will receive a gift card to FireStar worth £25 (approximately $40 USD*) which can be used on a wide variety of LEGO brand products, custom minifigures, or custom accessories from companies like BrickArms, Tiny Tactical, Si-Dan Toys, or Amazing Armory Ltd., to name a few. You can start planning on how to spend your winnings by visiting FireStar Toys today.

Questions about this contest or the rules should be submitted to Cygnet at uglyduck.bricklink@gmail.com.

*Exact value in US Dollars is dependent on the currency exchange rates at that time.

UD Minifig Battle - The Paranormal Gunslinger Winner

Once again, I want to thank everyone who participated in the Paranormal Gunslinger challenge. The battle was well fought by everyone with lots of fantastic entries.

The judges have convened and the verdict is in. The winner of the Paranormal Gunslinger challenge is...

...KJ the Knight! KJ's entry embodied the spirit of the brief quite well, with his Ghostbusters in the 1800's concept. The devil hat was a nice touch too. KJ will be receiving a gift card to FireStar Toys worth £25 which can be used on a wide variety of LEGO brand products, custom minifigures, or custom accessories.

I encourage everyone to check out all of the Paranormal Gunslingers by visiting the UD Minfigure Design Battle page. This month's competition was fierce and difficult for the judges to decide.

The Emperor is challenging all designers with this month's theme - The Samurai Sho(w)down. The brief can be found at the UD Minfigure Design Battle page.

To those who are about to design, we of the Minifig Nation salute you!

Let the Next Challenge Begin - Samurai Sho(w)down

The exalted Emperor of the Minifig Nation, Adolphus Bartholomew Smythe, is pleased by the combatants who brought forth their ‘Sinister Toymakers’ and ‘Paranormal Gunslingers’ to the arena. His thoughts have turned to the east for this next challenge...

The third minifig design battle has begun. The theme of this month’s challenge is...

“Samurai Sho(w)down”

The video game experience of the 1990’s was dominated and defined by arcade fighting games. Companies like Capcom and SNK provided complex fighters with amazing, and often wacky, character designs. SNK produced a series of games under the title of ‘Samurai Shodown’ or ‘Samurai Spirits’. We have provided a link to a character list from that series below. Your challenge is to pick one of the 66 character designs and depict that character in minifigure form:

• You must depict the character as the main element of your design. 
• You must state in the body of your entry who your character is supposed to represent (i.e. “Haohmaru”). 
• This is not a ‘in the style of’ challenge. It must be based on one of the 66 characters. 
• The fighter should be a LEGO minifigure.

You can find a listing of the 66 characters from the franchise at the Samurai Shodown official website. The site gives a brief synopsis on each of the 66 characters. You can then use sites like Google Images to find more reference material.

Other elements that will be looked upon favorably but are entirely optional include lighting, presentation, posing, and photography/digital effects. Do remember that the figures should be the primary focus of the composition and should not be overwhelmed by other design elements.

Although this is not a ‘customization-only’ contest, you may find many of the tutorials we’ve collected on the site to be helpful. There are also tutorials on photography, presentation, and digital effects.

Entries must be submitted to the UD Minifigure Design Battle Arena group on Flickr before 12:01 am EST March 16th, 2011. Entries submitted after this time will not be considered eligible. Remember to read the ‘Rules and Guidelines’ thread before submitting your entry.

This month’s winning prize is sponsored by FireStar Toys, where the victor will receive a gift card to FireStar worth £25 (approximately $40 USD**) which can be used on a wide variety of LEGO brand products, custom minifigures, or custom accessories from companies like BrickArms, Tiny Tactical, Si-Dan Toys, or Amazing Armory Ltd., to name a few. You can start planning on how to spend your winnings by visiting FireStar Toys today.

Questions about this contest or the rules should be submitted to Cygnet at uglyduck.bricklink@gmail.com.

To those who are about to design, we of the Minifig Nation salute you. Good luck!

*Please read the contest ‘Rules and Guidelines’ thread regarding views on depicting violence and other topics of a potentially serious nature.

**Exact value in US Dollars is dependent on the currency exchange rates at that time.

Last Weekend for Paranormal Gunslinger Challenge

This is a reminder that this will be your last weekend towork on your entry for this month’s UD Minifig Design Battle challenge, The Paranormal Gunslinger. All entries are due at the end of the day Tuesday, sowhen the clock strikes 12:01 am EST on Wednesday, February 16th wewill be moving on to the next design brief and challenge.

We have some really great entries this month, so even if youaren’t planning on entering, drop by the contest page and check them all out.

Once this month’s contest has concluded, the judges shall convenein a secret conclave to decide the winner. We will announce the winner shortlythereafter.

This month’s winning prize is once again sponsored by FireStar Toys, where the victor will receive a gift card to FireStar worth £25 (approximately $40 USD*) which can be used on a wide variety of LEGO brand products, custom minifigures, or custom accessories from companies like BrickArms, BrickForge, Tiny Tactical, Si-Dan Toys, or Amazing Armory Ltd., just to name a few.

Questions about this contest or the rules should be submitted to Cygnet at uglyduck.bricklink@gmail.com. Good luck!

*Exact value in US Dollars is dependent on the currency exchange rates at that time.

Photo Tutorial - Producing Ghost/Hologram Effects

As we approach the weekend, it's another opportunity for folks to work on their entries for this month's Minifigure Design Battle brief - The Paranormal Gunslinger. An effect you may want to try in your presentation is to make the gunslinger or his adversaries appear to be more ghostlike (ghosts one of the many creatures that fall under the banner of 'paranormal activity').

I managed to find a nice tutorial from site JC Icons which walks you through a process for making hologram projections in GIMP - a free, open-source image editing software with functions similar to Photoshop. The functions are so similar, that I'm guessing the Photoshop experts could follow along as well. The final result gives you a blue, transparent 'hologram' effect like you would see with the AI in Halo or the projections in Star Wars. A color change and/or a wipe effect where the image phases in would produce a nice phantasm for your final entry into the contest. 

Speaking of which, entries must be submitted to the UD Minifigure Design Battle Arena group on Flickr before 12:01 am EST February 16th, 2011 (in other words, at the end of that Tuesday). Entries submitted after this time will not be considered eligible. Remember to read the ‘Rules and Guidelines’ thread before submitting your entry.

This month’s winning prize is once again sponsored by FireStar Toys, where the victor will receive a gift card to FireStar worth £25 (approximately $40 USD*) which can be used on a wide variety of LEGO brand products, custom minifigures, or custom accessories from companies like BrickArms, BrickForge, Tiny Tactical, Si-Dan Toys, or Amazing Armory Ltd., just to name a few.

Questions about this contest or the rules should be submitted to Cygnet at uglyduck.bricklink@gmail.com . Good luck!

(Thanks to JC Icons for the great how to!)

*Exact value in US Dollars is dependent on the currency exchange rates at that time.

Days of Future Past: Family Bricks' Sinister Toymaker

Family Bricks was unable to post his entry into last month's UD Minifig Design Batttle, The Sinister Toymaker, due to several factors (one of which being how I stated the deadline). He's been gracious enough, however, to share his entry 'Evil Pinocchio':

"...This evil pinocchio features a custom nose for an angry Pinocchio (for you see, little did he know that when the Blue Fairy turned him into a real boy, she forgot to tell him that if he lied, his nose would continue to grow, and after years of lying, his new appendage was unsightly and angered him. Due to this, he created a remote control figure to drill into Gepettos head, and surgically install a wooden nose with leaves."

A great custom figure, and dig that remote control! There are more photos of this diabolical puppet man, including a group shot depicting Gepetto's fate, on Family Bricks' Flickr stream.

Reminder - Paranormal Gunslinger Minifig Design Battle

We've received a fantastic response to this month's Minifigure Design Battle brief - The Paranormal Gunslinger. At last count we nearly had as many entries in just the first two weeks, as we did the entire month in the last round! There's still plenty of time to create and submit your entry.

Speaking of which, entries must be submitted to the UD Minifigure Design Battle Arena group on Flickr before 12:01 am EST February 16th, 2011. Entries submitted after this time will not be considered eligible. Remember to read the ‘Rules and Guidelines’ thread before submitting your entry.

This month’s winning prize is once again sponsored by FireStar Toys, where the victor will receive a gift card to FireStar worth £25 (approximately $40 USD*) which can be used on a wide variety of LEGO brand products, custom minifigures, or custom accessories from companies like BrickArms, BrickForge, Tiny Tactical, Si-Dan Toys, or Amazing Armory Ltd., just to name a few.

Questions about this contest or the rules should be submitted to Cygnet at uglyduck.bricklink@gmail.com . Good luck!

*Exact value in US Dollars is dependent on the currency exchange rates at that time.

UD Minifig Battle - The Sinister Toymaker Winner

I want to take the time to thank everyone who participated in this most recent UD Minifig Desgin Battle contest - The Sinister Toymaker. I appreciate everyone's efforts and hope to see you back in the arena soon.

The judges have convened in a secret location to submit their votes. I have submitted these to the Emperor who is happy to announce the winner of his first challenge is...

...Legoagogo! Mark will be receiving a gift card to FireStar Toys worth £25 (no need to worry about conversion since he's in the UK) which can be used on a wide variety of LEGO brand products, custom minifigures, or custom accessories.

You can see all of the Sinister Toymakers by visiting the UD Minifig Design Battle Flickr page.

The Emperor bids me to remind you that his second challenge has been announced (The Paranormal Gunslinger), and  his Excellency looks forward to all of the coming designs for this month. You can find the next design brief, rules, and more details on the UD Minifig Design Battle Flickr page.

To those who are about to design, we of the Minifig Nation salute you!

Next Minifig Design Challenge - The Paranormal Gunslinger

Citizens,

The exalted Emperor of the Minifig Nation, Adolphus Bartholomew Smythe, has decreed that the second minifig design battle has begun. It will be the challenge of combatants to depict...

“The Paranormal Gunslinger”

Whether he, she, or ‘it’ is a cowboy who draws his six-shooters with telekinesis, has showdowns at high noon with residents of a ghost town, or is even a ghost himself, is up to you. Submissions should include the following design elements:

• You must depict the gunslinger/gunfighter as the main element of your design.
• Gunslingers are often associated with the old west of 1800’s in the United States.
• The gunslinger should be a LEGO minifigure.
• There must be an element incorporated of a ‘paranormal’ nature. Paranormal themes include - ghosts and other supernatural creatures, magic, aliens, extra sensory/‘mind’ powers (telekinesis, telepathy,etc.).

A character in popular culture who represents this theme might include Roland Deschain from Stephen King’s Dark Tower series.

This is a mash-up of two, somewhat distinct, themes. Designers who create a minifigure that represents a good balance between the ‘western gunfighter’ and ‘paranormal/supernatural’ themes will be most true to the challenge.

Other elements that will be looked upon favorably but are entirely optional include lighting, presentation, posing, and photography/digital effects. Do remember that the figures should be the primary focus of the composition and should not be overwhelmed by other design elements.

Although this is not a ‘customization-only’ contest, you may find many of the tutorials we’ve collected on the site to be helpful. There are also tutorials on photography, presentation, and digital effects.

Entries must be submitted to the UD Minifigure Design Battle Arena group on Flickr before 12:01 am EST February 16th, 2011. Entries submitted after this time will not be considered eligible. Remember to read the ‘Rules and Guidelines’ thread before submitting your entry.

This month’s winning prize is sponsored by FireStar Toys, where the victor will receive a gift card to FireStar worth £25 (approximately $40 USD**) which can be used on a wide variety of LEGO brand products, custom minifigures, or custom accessories from companies like BrickArms, Tiny Tactical, Si-Dan Toys, or Amazing Armory Ltd., to name a few. You can start planning on how to spend your winnings by visiting FireStar Toys today.

Questions about this contest or the rules should be submitted to Cygnet at uglyduck.bricklink@gmail.com.

To those who are about to design, we of the Minifig Nation salute you. Good luck!

*Please read the contest ‘Rules and Guidelines’ thread regarding views on depicting violence and other topics of a potentially serious nature.
**Exact value in US Dollars is dependent on the currency exchange rates at that time.

Sound the Klaxons - UD Design Battle Entries are Due

Call it the 'eleventh hour' or the 'two-minute warning'...You have under 48 hours to submit your final entries for the first UD Minifig Design Battle - The Sinister Toymaker. All entries must be submitted to the UD Minifig Design Battle Arena on Flickr before 12:01 am EST January 16th, 2011. Entries submitted after this time will not be considered eligible.

Voting will take place next week, and the winner will be announced on the site and notified accordingly.

The next design brief will then be announced on the morning of January 16th with the details for the next design challenge.

My thanks to everyone who participated in this round, and I look forward to seeing the new creations for next month's challenge.

Cygnet

Minister of Information

Ugly Duck Command Center

Minifig Nation

First UD Minifig Design Battle to End Soon

Hear ye, hear ye, citizens of the Minifig Nation. You have approximately one week to enter your final entries for the first UD Minifig Design Battle - The Sinister Toymaker. All entries must be submitted to the UD Minifig Design Battle Arena on Flickr before 12:01 am EST January 16th, 2011 (roughly one week). Entries submitted after this time will not be considered eligible. No exceptions. We did give you a month after all...

This month’s winning prize is sponsored by FireStar Toys, where the victor will receive a gift card to FireStar worth £25 (approximately $40 USD**) which can be used on a wide variety of LEGO brand products, custom minifigures, or custom accessories from companies like BrickArms, Tiny Tactical, Si-Dan Toys, or Amazing Armory Ltd., to name a few. You can start planning on how to spend your winnings by visiting FireStar Toys today.

The emperor has been holding court to determine what his minifig design challenge will be. The next design brief will then be announced on the morning of January 16th.

Reminder: UD Minifig Design Battle Contest

We have reached the halfway point in this month's Minifig Design Battle - The Sinister Toymaker. Four combatants have entered the arena to date. A big thanks to Legoagogo, Faligi, Flaming Feonix, and Professor McRackel for their entries. I'm hoping to see many more before this month's contest closes on January 16th (12:01am EST). If you've not seen the design brief you can check out the original post or go straight to the Flickr group page.

This month’s winning prize is sponsored by FireStar Toys, where the victor will receive a gift card to FireStar worth £25 (approximately $40 USD*) which can be used on a wide variety of LEGO brand products, custom minifigures, or custom accessories from companies like BrickArms, Tiny Tactical, Si-Dan Toys, or Amazing Armory Ltd., to name a few. You can start planning on how to spend your winnings by visiting FireStar Toys today.

Questions about this contest or the rules should be submitted to Cygnet at uglyduck.bricklink@gmail.com.

To those who are about to design, we of the Minifig Nation salute you. Good luck!

*Exact value in US Dollars is dependent on the currency exchange rates at that time.

The First Sinister Toymaker Has Arrived!

Professor McRackel is the first on the board with his rendition of The Sinister Toymaker, this month's Minifig Design Battle character. I'm looking forward to seeing all of this month's entries!

Remember that FireStar Toys is offering a 25 GBP (approximately $40 USD*) gift card to their online store for the winner. 

You can check out more from 'the professor' on his Flickr stream. 

*Exact value in US Dollars is dependent on the currency exchange rates at that time.

Alex Eylar's Jack-in-the-Box

Are you still wracking your brain on how to fulfill this month's UD Minifigure Design Battle challenge, The Sinister Toymaker? Although the toymaker should be the focus of the creation, I thought I might offer up some potential examples of his or her dastardly creations...

Case in point, Alex Eylar created a series of Jack-in-the-Boxes last year after marathon stints of playing LEGO Batman. This jester version happened to be my favorite. Is it a toy? Check. Is it sinister? Check. Should something like this be the focus of your contest entry? Nope, but hopefully it might give you inspiration to help you along.

Other 'creation' ideas include water guns filled with acid, R/C cars loaded with bombs, and teddy bears with knives for claws. You get the idea...

Still plenty of time to design and present your creation. This design brief challenge ends at 12:01 EST January 16th, 2011. You can see the design brief for this round, sponsored by FireStar Toys, on the Flickr group page.

(Picture via Alex Eylar's Flickr stream)

Quick Hits: Holiday Traveling

Doing a bit of traveling to visit relatives this weekend, but there are a few items to report.

Remember those great film vignettes that Alex Eylar was putting together? Well I guess at least one of them was used for a story on The New York Times website. Very nice! Not only that, he's selling many of those creations as prints via Imagekind. Check it out when you get a chance.

Huw scores again with news of individual Series 4 Collectible Minifigure pics. These are via Brandora, a website that's offered up similar pics of earlier series. Although rendered, it gives you a closer look at each figure to see what they have to offer. I'll definitely be using these once we start our Series 4 guide entries in the near future. Thanks Brickset!

Hopefully our combatants aren't finding this month's Minifig Design Battle brief too difficult - The Sinister Toymaker. If you have any questions, just drop us a line (uglyduck.bricklink@gmail.com) or post a question on the group page. 

Also don't forget that you can get 10% any order at FireStar Toys, now through the end of January 2011. Just click the banner at the top of the page and enter coupon/voucher code 'KV882256' at check-out. It might be a good way to get supplies for the challenge.

That's all for now, citizens. Have a great weekend.

Cygnet
Minister of Information
Ugly Duck Command Center
Minifig Nation

UD Minifig Battle Brief - The Sinister Toymaker

Citizens,

The exalted Emperor of the Minifig Nation, Adolphus Bartholomew Smythe, has decreed that the first minifig design battle has begun. It will be the challenge of combatants to depict...

“The Sinister Toymaker” 

Whether he (or she) is a renegade elf from the North Pole, Geppetto with a grudge, or a villain in a superhero’s rouge’s gallery, is up to you. This challenge is not constrained to any time period, theme, or style. It can take place in medieval times just as easily as in a post-apocalyptic future. Submissions should include the following design elements:

• You must depict the toymaker and at least one of his creations.
• The toymaker should be a LEGO minifigure, but his creations don’t need to be.
• The challenge isn’t called ‘The Happy-Go-Lucky Toymaker’. Your submission needs to reflect that this character is a villain or a of a dark nature*.

Characters in popular culture who are representations of this theme are Geppetto from Bill Willingham’s Fables, Superman villain Toyman, or even Jack Skellington from Nightmare Before Christmas.

Other elements that will be looked upon favorably but are entirely optional include lighting, presentation, posing, and photography/digital effects. Do remember that the figures should be the primary focus of the composition and should not be overwhelmed by other design elements.

Although this is not a ‘customization-only’ contest, you may find many of the tutorials we’ve collected on the site to be helpful. There are also tutorials on photography, presentation, and digital effects.

Entries must be submitted to the UD Minifigure Design Battle Arena group on Flickr before 12:01 am EST January 16th, 2011. Entries submitted after this time will not be considered eligible. Remember to read the ‘Rules and Guidelines’ thread before submitting your entry.

This month’s winning prize is sponsored by FireStar Toys, where the victor will receive a gift card to FireStar worth £25 (approximately $40 USD**) which can be used on a wide variety of LEGO brand products, custom minifigures, or custom accessories from companies like BrickArms, Tiny Tactical, Si-Dan Toys, or Amazing Armory Ltd., to name a few. You can start planning on how to spend your winnings by visiting FireStar Toys today.

Questions about this contest or the rules should be submitted to Cygnet at uglyduck.bricklink@gmail.com

To those who are about to design, we of the Minifig Nation salute you. Good luck!

*Please read the contest ‘Rules and Guidelines’ thread regarding views on depicting violence and other topics of a potentially serious nature.

**Exact value in US Dollars is dependent on the currency exchange rates at that time.

Inspiration: Sucker Punch

I do not apologize in advance if several of the design briefs from our upcoming Minifigure Design Battles are inspired by the upcoming movie 'Sucker Punch'. Granted some trailers end up being better than the films themselves, but man, the trailer alone could send you in several directions all by itself.

So if the winter 'blahs' are turning into inspirational 'blocks', check out the trailers on iTunes and blow those barriers away.

And, yes, that is a 30-foot samurai fighting a woman in a school girl's uniform while wielding a chain gun. I do not apologize...

P.S. The first design brief for the UD Minifig Design Battles debuts tomorrow morning (my morning, 9am EST, so don't stay up until midnight in your neck of the woods to find out what it is). But don't worry you'll have a whole month to design your entry.

Presentation Technique: Computer Screen as Backdrop

The picture above by Captain Ordo uses a clever technique to create the starry backdrop without using expensive software or fancy digital tricks. As you can see here on the good Captain's Flickr stream, the backdrop is simply a laptop screen showing the stars.  This technique has also been used by others such as Shobrick in their presentations. The top down lighting is a flashlight shining through a hole at the top of the set. A fantastic example of how presentation can be enhanced through techniques that are readily available to most.

Approaches with lighting and presentation are exactly the thing we will be looking for in our monthly design challenges, which start in just a few days (the first challenge starts December 15th). Join us on Flickr and take part in the contest.