Monday, June 29, 2015

LEGO Starburst Vending Machine

Name of Model: LEGO Starburst Vending Machine
Created by: Stuart "iceleftd" Roll
Found at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2RRsMwc3Ho
Details:

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.



 

Sunday, June 28, 2015

The Secret World of LEGO Documentary

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.

Tuesday, June 9, 2015

Cat Burglar Sculpture

Name of Model: Up to no good.
Created by: Ryan McNaught (The BrickMan)
Found at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/ryanmcnaught/17403430781/
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 any of these photos. 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.