Announcements

Custom Minifigures

I’ve recently ventured into a whole new realm of the multi-faceted LEGO fan universe that I’ve wanted to for quite some time; selling custom designed and printed minifigures. All of these offerings will be available in my store. The first of these will be posted soon, and for more of a personal backstory of this announcement, please read below. 🙂

Why Custom Minifigures?

I love collecting and displaying LEGO minifigures… maybe as much as building with LEGO bricks…

I’ve been collecting minifigs as far as I can remember, but really delving into it when the Star Wars theme began back in 1999. Collecting LEGO Star Wars minifigs took over my desire to collect Kenner/Hasbro Star Wars action figures, and (thankfully) probably prevented me from starting on other collections.

There were a lot of minifigs that I waited for the LEGO group to produce. The longer I waited (20 years now in some cases), the more I realized that there are certain minifigs that the LEGO company will not (or can not) produce, and I’d either have to get used to that, or look at other options. Case in point; we still have yet to receive a Darth Sidious minifigure that’s been promised (at least in artwork, pictured here) dating back to 1999.

There are minifigs from movies, TV shows, video games, etc. that I’d like to own. LEGO Ideas has helped to bring a lot of those to official LEGO minifig form. There are so many custom minifigure outlets that produce amazing work, that it helps to fill in the gaps of what the LEGO group hasn’t made/won’t make.

There are even more figures that I’d like to own that are so unique, or just undesirable to anyone but me, that there’s no way that I could expect to ever see them offered by the LEGO group or a custom outlet.

Jabba’s Palace Luke (left) and Bespin Luke (right)

I also like consistency. So having a collection of, for example, Luke Skywalker minifigs, in every different outfit he wore in the original Star Wars trilogy, is great. But having different styles (naturally styles have changed in the 20 years of designing minifigure prints), from my perspective, serves to highlight the past negatively by showing how much better the current style and quality are. In this picture, Jabba’s Palace Luke has simple printing on his torso only, and has brown eyebrows, while Bespin Luke is highly detailed on his torso and legs, and has dark tan eyebrows. So, consistency fail, in by book. I realized that the only way I could get the consistency I wanted was to design minifigs myself.

I played around with designing a few years back, and really enjoyed it. After delving into collecting custom minifigures and working with several custom outlets to print some bricks/minifigures for myself and for commissions, I’ve decided to venture out into offering some minifigs that I think other people might want to own as well.

The first of these figures will be revealed very soon. I hope you like the selection that I’ll be offering, and consider picking some up for yourself! 🙂

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers LEGO Ideas Project – Support Achieved!

I’m delighted to say that the LEGO Ideas Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Project has received 10,000 supporters! A huge THANK YOU to everyone who’s supported this project. What does this mean for the project now? Now that the project has achieved the required 10,000 supporters, it has gone into the LEGO Review phase. Beginning in May and lasting for several months, this project (along with several others) will be evaluated by a LEGO review board to see if it can become a new LEGO Ideas set. If it does get picked, there will then be several more months of design and production before it hits shelves. Let’s hope that happens! 🙂

Regarding the possibility of Saban Brands signing a deal with the LEGO group while already having a deal with another brand (MEGA), Jason Bischoff (Director of Global Consumer Products for Saban Brands) put those fears to rest pretty early on with a post on RangerBoard.com, saying:

“It is a non-exclusive deal […] there is nothing about the MEGA deal that prevents us from exploring LEGO ideas.”

The Art of LEGO Design

Jordan Schwartz’s book The Art of LEGO Design came out back in June. It is filled with some of the best creations by the leading AFOLs in the community including Mike Nieves, Nannan Zhang, Tyler Clites and, of course, Jordan Schwartz. I also happen to have some content in there. This book is great for any new or seasoned builder looking for inspiration or just to pass the time.

The section on Dynamic Sculpting has a nice four page write-up on the Lowell Sphere (pictured above), with instructions and several examples of its application, including my donut, cactus, and Oscar Mayer Wienermobile!

Buy The Art of LEGO Design on Amazon.

The Art of LEGO Design

In Which I Redesign My LEGO Wall

This past month I undertook a project several years in the making, and at least one year overdue: redesigning my main LEGO wall. This is what my wall looked like as of the start of the project:

I wanted to document this process since I’ve received a lot of questions and comments over the years about my LEGO organization. If you follow me on Instagram, you might’ve seen some in-progress shots of one side of the wall. Also, since today is the two year anniversary of my website going public, I thought I’d try posting something new and different.

I’ve been using the above space as my LEGO studio for about five years now, and my vision for what I need and want out of the space has vastly changed in the time that I’ve been building in it. This wall, for instance, was originally intended to hold up at least forty-five Stack-On containers (they make 18, 39, and 60 drawer options in this size). This was my main means of organizing my LEGO bricks between roughly 2003 to 2010, and it worked well in my previous work space.

Many factors, including the increasing size of my collection, the depth of the drawers and the change in building space, caused me to almost completely outgrow this method. Back around 2005 I bought forty-eight Sterilite 3-drawer containers, and have moved on to more than double to a current total of 100 (only one will be pictured here). Interesting side note: it’s really crazy seeing the price of the Sterilite containers more than double since I first started purchasing them, from about $5.00 to about $12.00 on average.

I’ve become very fond of using Darice bead organizers mostly because of their price (consistently $2.00 each) but also for their functionality for sorting specific smaller elements that need more separation than a Stack-On or Sterilite drawer will offer.

Over the years, certain part types and colors have outgrown single Darice containers. I was searching for a few different options (including using two Darice containers for single part types) but finally settled last year on Plano organizers for their versatility, compatible size (two Darice containers fit perfectly on top of one Plano container) and price (about $2.50 each; I got really lucky and found a bunch on massive discount).

Now that we’re past the primer on the types of containers I use and why, we can get on to the whys and hows of this remodel. As I mentioned, my collection outgrew the Stack-On containers but the original shelving I used was still geared specifically for them. The containers were bolted to the wall, and because of how I made the shelving, they were angled back so that when an earthquake hits (when, not if; California’s due for one soon!) the containers and drawers shouldn’t fly forward. The shelves were only 8″ deep, and the Darice bead organizers are about 11″ wide and the Plano containers about 11″ deep, so both stuck out around 3″. I also needed more shelves between the original three levels meant for the Stack-On containers, so that the Darice and Plano containers wouldn’t be stacked too high and/or putting too much weight on the shelves.

The original wood paneling on the wall was nice (I guess), but a big chunk was missing out of the top right corner. I wanted to have lighter walls (that actually covered the entire wall) and that would allow for more shelves above the top shelf, maximizing the amount of shelving and allowing for growth in the future; if there’s one thing I’ve noticed about my LEGO collection is that it only gets bigger. Lastly, I wanted the shelves to be legitimately earthquake proof; having not just more and deeper shelves, but shelves that would secure the containers on them when the next big quake comes around. After much note taking, plan drawing, and cost calculating, I was ready to go.
TL;DR: Wall bad, need to make good.

Continue to Page 2 in which we’ll tear down and rebuild the wall!

Bruce in The LEGO® Movie – Screenshots

The LEGO® Movie was released on DVD and Blu-ray today and I got my copy! As I mentioned in a post when the movie was first released in theatres, a few of my MOCs made it into the movie. Now that the movie is out I was able to get some screenshots. Check them out below!

First we have my taco, which can be seen in the scene where Wyldstyle is encouraging the citizens of Bricksburg to fight back against Lord Business’ plan to rule the world. Two mini-figs can be seen carrying a deliciously huge taco across the plaza.

THE LEGO® MOVIE. TM & ® WARNER BROS. ENT. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Next, we have my donut. When Will Farrell (a.k.a President Business/Lord Business/The Man Upstairs) is searching for the Kragle, the donut is visible on one of the shelves, in the bottom left of the screen.

THE LEGO® MOVIE. TM & ® WARNER BROS. ENT. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

THE LEGO® MOVIE. TM & ® WARNER BROS. ENT. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

My cow skull can be seen during the western vignette of the end credits.

THE LEGO® MOVIE. TM & ® WARNER BROS. ENT. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

What’s even better is seeing it right below the legendary Morgan Freeman’s name.

The LEGO® Movie. TM & ® WARNER BROS. ENT. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

THE LEGO® MOVIE. TM & ® WARNER BROS. ENT. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Lastly, my hot dog can also be seen in the movie vignette of the end credits, getting lathered with mustard and onions.

THE LEGO® MOVIE. TM & ® WARNER BROS. ENT. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

THE LEGO® MOVIE. TM & ® WARNER BROS. ENT. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Comparably cool with having Morgan Freeman’s name above one of my MOCs is having the LEGO® name branded one of them.

THE LEGO® MOVIE. TM & ® WARNER BROS. ENT. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

THE LEGO® MOVIE. TM & ® WARNER BROS. ENT. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

There were a few more of my MOCs that were used on set for the live action scene that I haven’t yet been able to spot in the movie. My rubber ducky, however, did make into The LEGO® Movie Experience at LEGOLAND, California. If there are any other MOCs you noticed in the movie, be sure to let me know!

Bruce in The LEGO® Movie Experience at LEGOLAND, California

Bruce in The LEGO® Movie Experience

Tommy over at BrickNerd send me this photo of my donut and rubber ducky designs being used at The LEGO® Movie Experience at LEGOLAND, California. It’s a very convincing recreation of the set from the movie, and the rubber ducky and donut look pretty accurate, so kudos to the builders! I hope to see the exhibit soon! You can see more details on the event here.