Two New Contests - BrickArms and VingnetteBricks

Two new contests have been announced. The first is BrickArms' 'Last Stand' Contest. The challenge is to create a 32x32 (or larger) scene of "a small group making a valiant last struggle against a much larger force". The prize pool is quite nice with accessories in rare colors, prototypes, and printed minifigs all up for grabs. You can see the full details and rules on the BrickArms' forums.

The second contest comes from a site I just found out about! VignetteBricks is hosting a 'Murderous Minifigs' contest. The objective is to create an 8x8 vignette depicting either a classic scene from the game 'Clue', or a riff off of the classic concept. This could really be a lot of fun! The title of 'King of Vigs' is up for grabs...that and some loot, of course. You can see all the details on VignetteBricks.

Bring Out Your Dead...

This scene from chaosfish1 made me laugh. It seems having a common last name can even cause confusion in the afterlife (as in 'The Mr. Johnson you want is down the hall').

Great use of the Series 3 Mummy arm as a cast. I've seen this part used to great effect in recent weeks.

Read the full story for this shot on chaosfish1's Flickr stream.

Final Round...FIGHT!

Posing...this gets a post for the posing of the figs alone. Great combos of minfig elements and brick-built parts. Oh, and it doesn't hurt that this marital arts tourney is overseen by a Squidman grand master...

Fantastic creation by Joshua Morris (I Scream Clone). See more shots of this vignette on his Flickr stream.

He Can Move You with His Mind

Alex Eylar has a unique super power - he can make your mind explode through his creations. His creations, on the other hand, can move things with their mind.

What's more amazing is that he likely didn't use any digital wizardry to create this. Let's hope agents one through eight show similar promise...

(Via Alex Eylar's Flickr stream)

1000 Cinematic Ways to Die?

Alex Eylar doesn't have a lot of time, being a film school grad and all, but recently he's posted these pics depicting several key scenes in the movies Psycho, Pulp Fiction, and Reservoir Dogs. He states these are "..for a thing." I can't wait to see what exactly this 'thing' happens to be.

One of the many things that I love about Alex is that he's very open to sharing how he achieves some of his shots. All three set ups for these shots can be found on his Flickr stream (link below).

This just in...a fourth shot depicting Bond has just gone up for this mystery project! Do you expect us to figure out the mystery? "No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die." The plot thickens...

(Via Alex Eylar's Flickr stream)

Yoshix - Heart of Ice

Yoshix brings us this great vignette depicting Victor Fries (AKA Mr. Freeze) lamenting to his frozen wife Nora. I have to say that Bruce Timm's Batman: The Animated Series really got a lot of the mythos right. I will always hear Michael Ansara's voice when thinking of this character.

(Via Yoshix's Flickr stream)

Modular Minifigure Display

Originally found on A Modular Life, this Collectible Minifigure display is quite nice. A room for every figure from both Series 1 and Series 2. A few more series and cecilihf will have to find a bigger place to live. Many more photos, including close-ups, on their photostream.

(Via A Modular Life and cecilihf's Flickr stream)

Waldo's Got Nothing on This Guy

Alex Eylar (AKA Profound Whatever) has another fantastic composition featuring a strong concept and presentation. Titled 'Camouflage' it took me a while to figure out what was going on. I wonder why that knife is floating in midair...

(Via Profound Whatever's Flickr stream)

Alien Birds and the Bees

Not to worry. You can continue to avoid 'that' conversation for a little while longer...

As originally seen on that small, unknown blog The Brothers Brick, Fat Tony reveals the colonels secret recipe for Little Green Men.

You have to check out this guy's Flickr stream. Just on the first page alone the man shows how he's designing and building an office based off the Nautilus from Jule's Verne's 2000 Leagues Under the Sea. I wonder if he likes the Atlantis theme?

(Via Fat Tony's Flickr stream)

To the Infirmary, and Beyond!

There's been a lot of activity recently around a 10 day Star Wars minifig challenge on Flickr. eclipseGrafx has been participating and his most recent submission is fantastic. Take a look at this med droid and vignette. My eye immediately went to the droids' head leaving me to wonder, where did this part come from?

I then saw this companion pic of the figure in full. The head is actually a painted Buzz Lighyear part! The entire creation is perfectly proportioned from top to bottom

I also wanted to point out the lightsaber blades acting as a channel for the bacta fluids. Here's a use where the bubbles in the plastic make perfect sense!


(Via eclipseGrafx's Flickr stream)

Onosendai's Tribute to 'They Live'

And the award for best vignette depicting a film starring Rowdy Roddy Piper goes to Onosendai (AKA Andrew Lee). Utilizing the robot heads from the Series 1 Collectible Minifigures, he scores a spot on tribute to the cult classic 'They Live'.

It's no secret that these heads were my favorite part to come out of series one. My 4 year-old son actually experimented with these heads in a similar way. Without realizing it, he recreated another cult film tribute when he married The Robot noggin and The Cowboy. Wanna' guess which film? Answer here.

(Via Onosendai2600's Flickr stream)

Steampunk Aliens vs. Predator

There is still time to submit entries to the Deadliest LEGO Warrior contest which wraps up September 1st. Submissions are starting to show up online like this vignette from Family Bricks.

Not satisfied with a simple Aliens vs. Predator set-up, FB adds an additional twist and makes them steampunk variants to boot.

Family Bricks has all the right touches to make this a great creation. He's obviously developed some unique and interesting figures, he's placed them into a scene that adds to the narrative but doesn't distract, and he's provided a rich and detailed back story (see link) to tie everything together.

Not having seen the other entries, and recognizing that the battle is far from over, I think it's safe to say that FB's competition has their work cut out for them.

(Via Family Brick's Flickr stream)

Alex Eylar Revisits Escher's Works

A week ago, Alex Eylar (AKA Profound Whatever) posted his MOC of M.C. Escher's 'Relativity', albeit with LEGO Spacemen. The model made the rounds of several blogs, but largely featured the set design and not the figures. Alex has done it again; however, I feel the figs are more central to this piece.

When I first saw this creation I had a hard time distinguishing the real and 'brick-built' elements. The book from which the Spacemen emerge blends well into scenery. This is based, of course, on Escher's 'Lizards' which you can reference below.

(Via Profound Whatever's Flickr stream)

Prometheus Awakening and Sabotage

Last month we were turned onto Bart De Dobbelaer's serialized vignettes for The Life Aquatic with Clumsy Pete. At the time he was just finishing the series after 100 vignettes.

Now it appears he's started his new vignette project set in space, Prometheus. The first two vignettes are featured here. Let's hope the protagonist discovers what's going on before he ends up like his colleagues.

"Voice log C18531-1: I woke up inside some kind of tube. Panic engulfed me as I failed to free myself. Suddenly my air supply was cut off and I fell on the floor as the pod opened. I took off my helmet and looked around. I noticed strange machinery and several other pods in the room. What is this place? Where am I? Who am I? I can't remember a thing ..."

"Voice log C18531-2: Besides me there does not seem to be anyone else here. At least not alive. I wonder what happened to them. I found a doorway but the controls did not work. Someone messed around with the cabling. We seem to have locked ourselves in ... but why? More questions ... and I don't have the answers."

(Via Bart de Dobbelaer's Flickr stream)

Karf Oohlu's Robo-Zombies Attack!

I have to say that the best part to come out of the Series 1 Collectible Minifigures was The Robot head, hands down. Place that head on any of the other collectible minifigures, and suddenly it's pure awesomeness. It's almost a shame that they put that helmet over such a great print.

I don't know if Karf Oohlu would agree, but his "Robo-Zombie" vignette just helps me to prove my point. Poor electronic bastards never saw it comin'...

(Via Karf Oohlu's Flickr stream)

Hopper's Nighthawks in LEGO (x3)

Edward Hopper started to paint his iconic "Nighthawks" immediately after the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. I don't know what Alex Eylar (AKA Profound Whatever) was doing the night he started these LEGO vignettes, but the result is brilliant.

There have been many parodies and variants of this painting over the years. Alex, has added three in just a matter of days.

Here's the first, rather straightforward version...

...then the zombies attacked...

...but then the space police arrived, vaporized everyone, and restored order to the universe.

(Via Profound Whatever's Flickr stream)