Sunday, August 30, 2015

Brick Bucket Review: 75099 Rey's Speeder

3/5

Appearance - 2/5
Construction - 3/5
Pieces - 3/5
Playability - 2/5

Minifigs/accessories - 5/5
Value for money - 4/5

75099 Rey's Speeder is one of the new Star Wars sets for late fall 2015. It's the smallest of the sets based on The Force Awakens (with the exception of battlepacks). There are 193 pieces in this $19.99/25.99€ set, resulting in a CPP of 10.36 cents/piece. 



Verdict: A pretty average Star Wars set. Some nice pieces (especially all that dark red), and great minifigs. Good for anyone excited about The Force Awakens!

Editor's Note: Today Dead Frog presents a review of a set so new, we don't even know all the information about it! Rey's Speeder is one of the Star Wars sets from The Force Awakens, and technically we aren't even supposed to have pictures of these sets yet... but thanks to "a little toy store somewhere in Germany," Frog has picked up a copy to review here. So now, without further ado, The Brick Bucket is proud to present (as far as we know) the internet's first-ever review of this brand new LEGO Star Wars set!   -Tate


Read the review after the jump!

Lobstah

Here in Maine, we don't say "lobster." It's the Lobster Capital of the World, and the grizzled old fishermen up here all say "lobstah," so that must be the right pronunciation. Regardless of what you call the undersea critter, it's "wicked good" on a plate with some melted butter... or immortalized in LEGO bricks by the talented Grantmasters
Mmm, check out all that NPU: a Japanese fan, minifig hands, and some Galaxy Squad Mosquitoid antennae, not to mention Davy Jones's lobster-hand (from Pirates of the Caribbean) for those trademark claws!

Friday, August 28, 2015

LAVTRON Light Strike Vehicle

This is my kind of MOC: clean and compact, but still using nice techniques for a great overall effect. The shaping in the body and front fender is brilliant, and I quite like the construction of the top-mounted gun; the trans-green windscreen also adds a nice color pop. If anyone knows builder Chris Perron (thebrickbin) in real life, please give him a fist bump for me...

Tuesday, August 25, 2015

Crocodile fort

Castleheads have not yet gotten tired of the ramshackle style that BrickNerd's Tommy Williamson recently dubbed "Tilted Timbers." This MOC by Dubbadgrim is one of my new favorite examples of this building style, and it also features a nicely layered base with plenty of SNOT construction. 
This was built for the Guilds of Historica "Historica Husbandry" minichallenge on Eurobricks. 

Saturday, August 22, 2015

Dracholich - undead dragon

Dragons are awesome enough, but a skeleton dragon? Even cooler. And an amazingly well-built MOC of a skeleton dragon by vitroleum? Too cool to not post! Just look at how nicely all the pieces fit together in this build...

Half-Life

Building duo vir-a-cocha brings us a MOC straight out of possibly the greatest first-person shooter of all time: Half-Life. Some very creative part uses were implemented to capture all the little details in microscale - most incredible are the Chima mammoth heads used to create those aliens, although I also like way the turret is constructed. Everything is well-constructed and it makes for a nice tribute to a classic game. 

Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Hot stuff

This jaw-dropping (and jaw-melting) lava dragon is brought to you courtesy of Deus Otiosus. The large window panels used as wings arguably stick out most prominently at first, but the fantastic chest detailing, superbly formed head, and lighting (!) make the biggest impact, if you ask me.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/deus-otiosus/20087311754/in/contacts/

Sunday, August 16, 2015

Mr. Dozer

Djordje "just wanted to build a big humanoid guy" and I'm glad he did, since I think the result is a smashing success. Every piece has a purpose and it all fits together into one cohesive whole. The head especially has a very Transformers-esque look to it. And I'm a big fan of the way those big curved pieces are used as shoulder armor. 
See more images on Brickshelf here (when the gallery goes public). 

Saturday, August 15, 2015

War of the worlds

vitroleum makes his second appearance on The Brick Bucket this month with this fantastically built microscale scene:
That could be one of the best-used BURPs I've ever seen in a MOC, not least a microscale one. And making all this look so realistic at this scale? Nice work.

The Force Awakens set images and analysis!

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD
Scrolling through my Flickr feed this morning I was presented with something really really cool: images of the new Star Wars sets from The Force Awakens, posted by THE BRICK TIME! After seeing these images, I can say I'm extremely excited for these sets to come out - even more so then before. In this post I'm going to do a little preview/analysis for each set saying what looks good and bad about the design, pointing out new parts and techniques, and making price estimates. 

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away... 

Thursday, August 13, 2015

Evolution of the Ferret

I've been waiting a long time for finished pics of this MOC. Back in April of this year, Carl Greatrix (bricktrix) posted some work-in-progress images of his Daimler Ferret armored scout car model:
Now, here in August, the model is finally done!
There are illegal connections everywhere, along with a nice custom sticker/paint job, which lend a "not quite LEGO" feel to this build. Have a look through this Flickr album to see more angles - some of the techniques used in this thing are really smart. 

EDIT: I was wrong, there's no paint used on this! If I'd paid a little more attention I would have seen bricktrix's Flickr comment saying it's all decals. :P   -Tate

Monday, August 10, 2015

"May need time for a cup of coffee"

Video games are always a great source of inspiration for LEGO builds. Now Sparks brings us this sweet recreation of SiMo from the sci-fi shooter Sanctum 2. The MOC is perfect all around, from the windscreen pieces used to make a holographic screen to the wings as lower legs, every piece seems to fit perfectly.
Sanctum 2: SiMo

Sunday, August 9, 2015

Tau Hammerhead

https://www.flickr.com/photos/garry_rocks/20421877365/in/contacts/
Note the subtly articulated front section. The low-slung guns surrounded by an appealing semicircle of hinge bricks. The seamless curves accomplished with studs-in slope plates.

Garry_rocks deserves a round of internet applause.

Saturday, August 8, 2015

Screwing around

Let's be honest here: there are way too few Pokémon MOCs around. But now Baron Julius von Brunk brings us this amazing recreation of Magnemite. I love the round shaping used to make the build seem really true to the character!

Friday, August 7, 2015

The Brazilian Bombshell

Parks and Wrecked Creations built a bust of the popular 1940s actress Carmen Miranda, aka the "Brazilian Bombshell." The careful shaping of the face and shoulders, as well as the details such as the necklaces, earrings, and fruit-laden hat, make this model really stand out. 

Sunday, August 2, 2015

Emerald hourglass

Funny... the staff here at The Brick Bucket was chatting the other day about interesting uses for the Airjitzu capsule dome piece. In fact, our very own Dead Frog recently posted a MOC using that piece. But on this morning's browsing of Flickr I came across another nice usage: vitroleum used two of the domes to construct a neat hourglass. 
That's not the only instance of NPU here, either - check out the construction of the melted candle wax, and the little red flag used as a bookmark.

Junk and rust

Tons of NPU, an eye-catching composition, and a touch of editing combine in Tim Schwalfenberg's second entry to the current Iron Builder, in which he competes against Matt De Lanoy (Pepa Quin). In this round, builds revolve around the Metallic Silver Barbell, and the variety of ways that Tim has used this piece in "The Scrap King" are quite impressive.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/112058573@N02/20012177048/in/dateposted/
Editor Tate adds: also note the uses of the World Racers trophy and Ultra Agents villain headgear!