video Archives - Page 9 of 13

Lego NASA Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity Rover (21104) Reviewed with Designer Stephen Pakbaz

The new Lego CUUSOO set, NASA Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity Rover (21104), has recently been released and is extremely hard to find. Not only that, but reviews for the the Rover are also rare. Maybe it is because YCF Lego Reviews has pretty much posted the definitive video review. Not only do they have the set designer (and Curiosity engineer!), Stephen Pakbaz, assisting in the review, but this 18 minute video also features a Lego studio tour. The Lego Curiosity Rover is the smallest CUUSOO set yet. With 295 pieces and a price tag of $29.99. The little Rover features a unique 6 wheel rocker-bogie suspension, an articulated arm, and even a model nuclear power source. This thing is ready to explore Lego Mars.

One of the most interesting aspects of this review is that they spend a great deal of time comparing the released Rover with the original proposed Rover. The most apparent change is the color of Mars (baseplate) and its rocks. Opting for a gray color because the dark orange is not in production. Good news is that there are many gray rocks on Mars, so it stays accurate. There are two other big changes. The articulated arm has been reinforced, to prevent accidental breaking. And, the suspension has been refined. Stephen Pakbaz compliments Lego with designing a more accurate and sturdy suspension in the released Rover.

The video from YCF also features a pretty extensive tour of Stephen Pakbaz’s studio. Featuring other space themed models (Voyager, Juno…), Transformers, and even Samurai Jack’s villain: Aku. This is a great setup for a Lego room… wow.

http://youtu.be/63R25E4FigY

Check out the Mars Curiosity Rover over on Amazon: Curiosity Rover (21104)

“I want to be the very best, Like no one ever was…” Pokemon Lego Ash and Misty

Pokémon is still going strong today with the recent release of Pokémon X and Pokémon Y on the Nintendo 3DS. Even the original Gameboy games are being sought after and collected today by fans. These original games, titled Pokémon Red and Pokémon Blue, lead to a television show spinoff. The original animated series made its debut in 1998 with a prime after school timeslot. The show took many liberties compared to the Gameboy games. With a whole cast of reappearing characters that were not present in the original games. The two most memorable are Ash, and his friends Misty and Brock. Two of these have been carefully recreated in Lego by lisqr.

Lego Misty is a great SNOT style figure. With her super orange hair and trademarked blue shorts and yellow tanktop her design is spot on. The anime style hair and eyes are especially good. Lego Ash on the other hand is wearing his (oversized) red and white hat. His design allows him to have more articulation then the Misty figure. I can just imagine him hassling a Lego Pikachu.

To get the best impression of these MOCs make sure to play the Pokémon theme song. “I want to be the very best, Like no one ever was…”

You can find more Pokemon Lego stuff here: http://everydaybricks.com/tag/pokeman/

Lego Ash and Misty, by lisqr, are over on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/43699326@N00/12316679374/

Lego CUUSOO Fall 2013 Review: Ghostbusters 30th Anniversary!

Lego just announced the results for the next CUUSOO set. The Lego Review board has approved a Ghostbusters 30th Anniversary set. The other proposals that were looked at included the Female Minifigures set, Poptropica, FTL Spaceships, the Road to Oz, ATLAS mini model, Ghostbusters, and Ghostbusters 30th Anniversary. Lego made a good choice and chose the better of the two Ghostbusters sets. Too bad it sounds like they will not be making the handsome headquarters building. Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz, Egon Spengler and Winston Zeddemore are back in action.

Lego specifically mentions the Minifigures and the Ecto-1 for this upcoming set. With a tentative release date of 2014, but no exact month. This is great complimentary set to the recent Back to the Future set. Read more about the Ghostbuster here: http://everydaybricks.com/lego-ghostbusters-cuusoo-project/

Check out the full Lego CUUSOO Fall 2013 Review for all the details. Make sure to watch the whole video as their are some updates on pending projects at the end.

http://youtu.be/_QT5zu1x65Q

Build Something Awesome with Google’s Build with Chrome Website

Google and Lego have teamed up to create the “Build with Chrome” experiment. You can create and share Lego projects through a WebGL based website that is designed to be used with Google Chrome. Although I had no trouble at all using Apple Safari. There are three modes to explore on the website, a map of the world that lets you look at other peoples creations, the actual building website, and the “Build Academy.” Minifigures from the Lego Movie make cameo appearances in the Build Academy, which is a series of tutorials.

Build with Chrome started out in Australia as an experiment. Since then the site has been expanded out and now covers the whole world. You can pick a piece of unbuilt land, or use a randomly assigned plot to design your creation. Each plot is a 32×32 baseplate, with coloring based on a low resolution Google Map of the surrounding area. There are 21 basic bricks that come in 10 colors. Which means the LDD has nothing to worry about for now…

http://youtu.be/r4TIkhm2tWc

Check out the Build with Chrome website here: http://www.buildwithchrome.com

Lego Simpsons House Officially Revealed (71006), with Design Video

Lego has officially announced set 71006: The Simpsons House. With 2,523 pieces and 6 minifigures the $199.99 price tag is a little bit cheaper then most people expected. If you need a whole lot of beige, teal, and brown this set would be a great one to part out. The most surprising reveal is the release date, expect to see these around this February. Also, coming this spring will be a full Collectable Minifigures series, and a special Lego Simpsons episode in May.

The Lego Simpsons House (71006) will include minifigures for Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, Maggie Simpson and next door neighbor Ned Flanders. They have a fully decorated interior to play around in. With a family room, kitchen, garage, Bart and Lisa’s bedrooms, the Master bedroom, and two bathrooms. Even the iconic pink station wagon is included. The whole set is modular with removable roof, and floors. Also, the house can open to the side with hinges.

Lego has put a whole lot of references and detail into this set. With Krusty the clown posters, Radioactive Man comics, Bart’s red hat, a TV with Itchy and Scratchy playing, family photos, a plutonium rod, borrowed furniture, El Barto graffiti, etc. This attention to detail is awesome and really helps to sell the Simpsons House. The biggest problem that Lego has here is that the minifigures are a hard sell. They made a decision to include weird half open “tired” eyes on four of the minifigures. Although it adds some personality to the playset everyone ends up looking like they are stoned. Argh. If I had to guess why Lego did this, I would say that the “open” eye minifigs will be in the upcoming Simpsons Collectable Minifigure series. Having to rebuy four minifigures at $2.99 is asking a lot. Ay, caramba!

Check out the official Lego Designers Video to see the Simpsons House in action. They spend a good amount of time showing the design process for the minifigures too.

The Simpsons™ House Designer Video: http://youtu.be/zxCIXqYaSPU

D’oh! The Simpsons™ House has been turned into LEGO® bricks!

Build The Simpsons™ House with detachable roof, modular design, car with dent, the famous family couch, 6 minifigures and so much more.

Recreate hilarious scenes from the classic animated TV series with The Simpsons™ House. Taken right out of Springfield, this amazing model is crammed with tons of LEGO® brick detail. Lift off the roof and open up the house to discover Homer and Marge’s big family bedroom including bed and Maggie’s crib, Bart’s room with his skateboard and Krusty the Clown poster, Lisa’s room with her favorite books, jazz poster and more, and bathroom with shower, toilet, sink and mirror. Lift off the top floor to reveal the fully-fitted kitchen with dining table, chairs, yellow and light-blue tiled floor and lots of pots, pans and other accessories. Then it’s into the living room with couch and TV playing Itchy and Scratchy, purple piano and more. Next to the house is the detachable garage, complete with workbench, tool rack, vacuum cleaner, broom, toolbox, tools and the family car, complete with dent (because only in a LEGO world are dents a plus!), opening trunk and ‘radioactive’ bar from the nuclear power plant. Step outside onto the terrace and you’ll find loads of cool items, including a grill, wheelbarrow and air conditioning unit with ‘Property of Ned Flanders’ decoration, sausages, 2 garden loungers, flowerpots, a shovel, 2 fruit cocktail glasses, Lisa’s camera, Bart’s skateboard ramp with ‘El Barto’ graffiti and an antenna on the roof. The Simpsons™ House is the perfect collector’s item for fans of all ages. Includes 6 minifigures: Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, Maggie and Ned Flanders.
Ages 12+ 2,523 pieces

US $199.99 – CA $229.99 – DE 199.99€ – UK £179.99 – DK 1,699.00 DKK

The box art for this release was leaked a bit early, check it out here: http://everydaybricks.com/revealed-simpsons-house-71006-lego/

Lego Minecraft Co-build Holiday Update!

Lego has been running a Minecraft Co-build project over on Facebook. The goal of the project is to create Lego sets in a Minifigure scale Minecraft theme. The Lego designers for this project are working with the community. Minecraft and Lego fans get to vote on various details, such as the shape and articulation of the Creeper, the possible biome settings, etc. One of the huge announcements based on community feedback is that the final sets will have no stickers. Pictured here are two of the “in progress” biomes. A desert/sand set, and a jungle set. Steve is looking pretty good, and sporting a pixelated sword.

Lego has recently released a video update. Recapping some of the recent design decisions and such. It is worth a look, and reveals just how much thought and time goes into designing an official Lego set.

http://youtu.be/FK5uRIRCeP8

The Last of Us Lego Video Game by Brian Anderson and Dustin Bozovich

Lego and The Last of Us are not normally associated with each other. One is a family friendly and timeless creative toy, and the other is a critically acclaimed zombie video game. But, here we are with a fully realized video combining the two. Brian Anderson and Dustin Bozovich put together this video showcasing The Last of Us as it would be if it was a Lego video game. The three minute video is extremely well made and pretty funny too. The fake achievement earned is hilarious, and I can honestly say that I didn’t expect that surprise ending.

“It’s the Last of Us… but, you know, for kids!”

The Last of Us Lego Video Game: http://youtu.be/Ab8ds7NmigE

Lego Batman and Robin, Joker’s Funhouse / Gotham Park. Fully Animated MOC.

Batman and Joker go together like peanut butter and jam. No other hero / villain duo are as famous or an entertaining. It seems that in every version of Batman (the Comics, original TV show, the Tim Burton films, the Animated Series, the various video games or the recent Christopher Nolan film trilogy) these two eventually have an all out showdown. Usually involving some sort of abandoned theme park or funhouse. Lego has released their own version of the funhouse with “The Dynamic Duo Funhouse Escape (6957).” As awesome as that set is, one has to wonder what it would be like if money was not an issue. For instance, Brickbaron created “Lego Batman and Robin, Joker’s Funhouse” as a tribute to several Batman video games. This giant automaton funhouse is so much fun. This is Lego at its best.

Joker’s Funhouse is a fully animatronic and extremely well lit MOC. Make sure to check out this YouTube video:

http://youtu.be/95gUCiT_-A8

There are three levels built into Joker’s Funhouse, and each one contains a story. On the left side is the entrance to “Gotham Park.” At one time this little seaside park would have been a blast, but has since rundown and has been taken over by Joker and his goons. The entrance to the park features an intense fight with Batman, 2 goons, Killer Croc, and the Scarecrow. There are many hidden features, such as Robin up on the roof ready to surprise some bad guys.

The whole scene is topped off with a dilapidated roller coaster. Which leads over to the right side of the pier, where a spinning ride has been taken over by Joker and the Penguin. Here Batman and Robin are in a desperate fight for their lives as an army of armed penguins is closing in. The simple spinning mechanism add a lot to the energy of the funhouse.

The interior of the Gotham Park is by far the most deadly. Robin is in a fight for his life against Poisen Ivy and her carnivorous plants. While Harley Quinn is holding Commissioner Gordon hostage over a boiling pot of Lego. Which is not distracting Two Face from torturing an innocent girl with explosives. The Riddler seems to be hosting some sort of decoding game show, while Catwoman is off in the corner stealing diamonds. The whole time this is going on, Batman is fighting a giant robotic version of the Joker in the center. Whew. Even more impressive is that everything is animated with technic and lit with fancy dramatic lighting.

Gotham Park is a masterpiece MOC. It perfectly captures the mood and feeling of a funhouse thats been taken over by the Joker. Brickbaron spent some two months working on this creation. And has since been bringing it around to various Lego conventions. Joker’s Funhouse made its debut at Brickcon 2013 in Seattle.

Make sure to check out all the photos over on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/14964802@N07/10989059253/

Erebor by Blake Baer and Jack Bittner. 80,000 Lego pieces strong.

“Far over the Misty Mountains cold,
To dungeons deep and caverns old,
We must away, ere break of day,
To seek our pale enchanted gold.

The pines were roaring on the heights,
The wind was moaning in the night,
The fire was red, it flaming spread,
The trees like torches blazed with light.

The bells were ringing in the dale,
And men looked up with faces pale.
The dragon’s ire, more fierce than fire,
Laid low their towers and houses frail.

The mountain smoked beneath the moon.
The dwarves, they heard the tramp of doom.
They fled the hall to dying fall
Beneath his feet, beneath the moon.”

The Hobbit — J.R.R. Tolkien

Blake Baer and Jack Bittner set out to create their largest Lego creation. The result is the super impressive Erebor. Based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit. This massive Lego MOC is centered around a huge mountain and contains the main entrance into the dwarven city, a human city, a working windmill, and more details then you can imagine. A total of 6 months went into this build, and 80,000 Lego pieces. With no dragon, this Lonely Mountain sure is looking very peaceful.

http://youtu.be/iiYI-5_08Hg

The sheer size of Erebor is hard to capture with just a few photographs. Luckily, a video has been made to show off a lot of the features. A build this size needs a video.

Here an overhead perspective shows just how large the exterior of this build is. A huge river, three different roads, and a plethora of flora can all be seen from above. It feels like you are bird flying over everything.

The tiny details give so much personality. From a tiny bird nest perched near the river, to an overcrowded market place. There is so much to look at. By taking these photos from a lower angle it allows the viewer to be drawn into the scene.

Erebor has some amazing stats:

80,000+ Lego pieces.
16, 32×32, baseplates in a 4×4 pattern.
56 inches tall at the peak.
Modular, breaks away into 11 separate sections.
400+ hours of work.

One interesting thing about these massive builds is what goes into creating the illusion of a solid MOC. Usually Erebor will be shown in person with its back to the wall, so the hidden support structure will never be seen. This massive mountain is a technicolor hollow shell with many supports and miscellaneous pieces holding up the exterior walls. Amazing.

Check out many many more photos, or read the full story about Erebor over on MOCPages: http://www.mocpages.com/moc.php/375137

There is also a Flickr page here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/baericks/sets/72157638097215594/

Lego Ninjago Rebooted: Trailer

Lego Ninjago Rebooted will be released in 2014. With a whole slew of new Lego sets, and an all new TV show. The first official trailer is out now. Taking place in the hi-tech “New Ninjago City.” It looks like this newest version of Ninjago has gone cyber-punk.

“Time has passed and the Ninja have found they’ve become obsolete in this new hi-tech world. The 2014 season of Ninjago will take the ninja beyond anything they would have ever expected … and even thought possible.

The Ninja will be pushed to their limits as they face new digital threats and gain new allies in New Ninjago City.

All new episodes of Ninjago will premiere in 2014. A ninja never quits… Ninjaaaaa-GO!!!”

http://youtu.be/tIuGSfSKZPE