Making things out of LEGO that "move" is a wonderful thing. Creating something out of LEGO that can do something in response to human input is pretty awesome. There are a few LEGO vending machines out there that can be easily found with a Google search. In fact, in the description of the LEGO Starburst vending machine video the builder acknowledges the "LEGO vending machines" of another YouTube user by the name of ElectryDragonite. While ElectryDragonite's LEGO vending machines are numerous and very interesting, what makes iceleftd's Starburst vending machine wonderful is the sleekness of the design coupled with the very well thought out mechanical components and functionalities. This LEGO Starburst vending machine is a truly impressive build that really shows off the talent of this amazing builder.
In addition to an impeccably well produced video, iceleftd has also created a very sleek rendering of the vending machine which can be found on the builder's Flickr.
Channel 4 over in the UK has recently put out a brilliant documentary that chronicles some great behind the scenes action at LEGO. Many topics near and dear to the LEGO community's heart are touched upon and lots of notable LEGO fans are featured prominently.
Fortunately for those of us not in the UK, a kind YouTube user by the name of "Legoboy" has taken the time to post the documentary in its entirety for your viewing pleasure.
(Please note that the video embedded above was viewable at the time of this posting. If at some point in the future this video is no longer viewable please alert us as such and we will attempt to update this post with a working video.)
EDIT 3/5/2016: Channel 4 now has this documentary available on demand online.
Details: Minifig sculptures are an interesting genre - you can build them at so many different scales, and with so many different techniques, but it still seems like most people just copy set 3723. Increasingly, the official sculptures that LEGO uses for promotional purposes seem to be getting increasingly cartoony, with dimensions and angles that look less like actual LEGO pieces and more like something out of a LEGO-branded video game. It's an interesting aesthetic that I suspect we'll see leaking into fan-created builds over time, but so far seems to be used primarily by professionals.
One advantage of Ryan McNaught's status as a LEGO Certified Professional in Australia is that his model shop is LEGO's preferred method of making official promotional sculptures in Australia (this doesn't happen in most of the world, but it's an advantage of being on a continent without other model shops or certified professionals). Because of this, official designs for sculpted large minifigures have been trickling out on Ryan's Flickr photostream for some time now. They're not all necessarily built or designed by Ryan, but they're all built in his studio. You can see a few more characters under his legominifig tag and legocity tag, or, say, in anyofthesephotos. There aren't too many photos of any particular model, but the models themselves are nice, with appropriate details and sculptural technique. It's worth taking a look and browsing through his photostream.
Details: The latest addition to the exciting world of scaled-up LEGO elements made out of standard LEGO elements is this incredible rendition of the classic rubber band holder, a much-derided "useless part" that was seemingly inescapable in sets for about a decade. This particular build is about 8 times the regular size of the part, and makes great use of the 4x4 macaroni element to portray the Technic pin holes in the part. I'm also enjoying the use of curved-top arches and 1x3 curved slopes to capture the curvature at the edges of the part.
What elevated this part to a more beloved status was a joke by one LEGO fan about how "cool" LEGO pieces don't get named after builders who use them frequently anymore. Surely the LEGO fan community has been around too long and we'll never name a great piece after someone who used it well again. Nate "nnenn" Nielson figured that if a piece were named after him, it would be something like this rubber band holder (unfortunately, variations on this story have been told so many times in tribute to the man that it seems to no longer be possible to find his original quote in a quick search of the web). After Nnenn passed away, the decision to refer to this part as a "nnenn" was unanimous.
Details: Those of you who have supported a Kickstarter project in the past may have recognized a project that showed up in yesterday's "Projects We Love" e-mail. "This Week in Kickstarter" featured PancakeBot, which I wrote about here in 2011 and spotlighted in advance of World Maker Faire 2012. For those of you just tuning in, this is a machine that can print pancakes with custom designs. The non-LEGO Kickstarter project is already well beyond the original funding goal, and will eventually be available for sale at $299 USD (you can still support the project on Kickstarter to get it at a lower price). Oddly, much of what's been written about the current Kickstarter project refers to 2013 as when the idea became the "working LEGO version" and 2014 as when the "First working prototype" was made. I was pretty impressed with the video from 2011, but perhaps a later LEGO version (that I can't seem to find with a quick search) was more reliable and is what they're now considering the "working" version.
There's been a considerable amount of hype around the Mindstorms line as a source of tomorrow's great inventions. This 'bot might be the first to actually go all the way from LEGO-based rapid prototyping to being a mass-produced product that people buy. If you can think of another one, let us know!
Details: In the past few years, there's been a proliferation of seed-part based challenges in the wake of the popular "Iron Builder" contest. I (Dan) did my part by finding a way to make such a game fit in at BrickFair, but most of these challenges revolve around Flickr. Sometimes, like in this case, it's just a couple of builders taking up the challenge for the fun of it. This particular challenge is based around the current small, 5-link chain element. Surely a silly piece, it's much too short to be useful and was originally used for Ninjago weaponry when it first came out. They've found plenty of clever uses for it, although some of them make use of the classic "everything is more useful in quantity" trick.
Details: I've recently written about the increasing popularity of building sculptures with studs facing out in all directions. It allows for a stunning level of precision in a model, making it pop with realism. This one's a bit different than most of the others I've blogged inthepast, though: most of the shape of this model was generated by a computer. LSculpt has been around for a while, but for us LEGO Open Source junkies (I know I'm not the only one), it's exciting to see it used to make RepRap's version of the iconic Linux mascot, Tux the penguin, exist in the brick. Sure, sure, it's not that difficult to build a model from computer-generated instructions, but it's no mean feat to track down all the right pieces for a model on this scale (50 cm/63 studs/20 inches tall), and most of standing out in the LEGO community is more about having good ideas for what to build than about how clever you are with LEGO techniques anyway. It's hard to overstate the cleverness of the complete Free Open Source Software chain here - a Linux penguin, colored in GIMP, modeled in Blender, run through LSculpt.
There's also that nose - zoom in on the photos and you can see that care was put in to use tiles to round things out just a little more than LSculpt suggested. You'd be surprised how often small details like that end up being what separates a builder who really knows what he/she is doing from someone who is building directly from a program.
It's also noteworthy for historical reasons (and comparison's sake) that Eric Harshbarger (in many ways the first big freelance LEGO sculptor) has built Tux in a more traditional studs-up style, without the aid of modern programs or techniques. Newer tools and tricks have a way of making awesome models seem less exciting in retrospect (as they say, nostalgia isn't what it used to be).
Details: This gorgeous Formula One racer is actually an alternate model of the MINI Cooper set. The set itself is a great model, of the sort we would have blogged here if we were on top of things, but never mind that now. This retro Formula One racer kicks it up a notch, taking the snazzy color scheme and adding some wicked curves and angles to coax a far more difficult shape out of the same parts. The aft section is all built at an angle, but attached so well that it feels seamless. The front involves a bit of artistic license (or perhaps is a good reason for the builder to say this isn't modeled on any particular life-sized vehicle), but is a pretty stunning look nonetheless. The Speed Racer windshields in dark green looked pretty clever as wheel wells in the set, here they look even better as the rounded area around the front grille.
The details are classy too, although it's a little hard to highlight them with just 5 photos. You'll have to look closely and take my word for it that they're in there and look good. There's a hood ornament, dashboard instruments, an exhaust pipe, and even an adjustable headrest. I'm pretty sure I even see gas and brake pedals in one of the photos. I'm not sure if the doors really open, and I'm not sure I mind much either way - it's hard to make an alternate build look this good.
