DOOM with MOOD

Accomplished builder Anthony Wilson (The Secret Walrus) brings us a magnificent micro inspired by the video game DOOM. Whether you've played or not, I think you'll be able to appreciate Anthony's handiwork:

 

This build has a healthy balance of quality detailing and effective techniques. The pentagram and demonic skull are cleverly designed, but the majority of the build features simpler architecture that gives it hearty substance without overwhelming the viewer. 

What struck me most immediately about this build is the excellent presentation! Real lighting effects and the inclusion of smoke (perhaps real, perhaps added in post-production) energize the build, giving it a mysterious and malevolent atmosphere. A single nanofig stands at the threshold of unknowable evil, illustrating the feeling of enthrallment this build creates. In the foreground, tangled brambles add visual variety and another color to the build without forsaking the pervasive feeling of DOOM. 

Anthony has suggested a fitting soundtrack to accompany this masterpiece. Click on the image above to visit the original photo and find out what it is!

Spaceship Inspirations

In the ever-growing genre of spaceships, there are many different avenues that one can take.  Lego builder Random Vector from Flickr has some excellent examples of such a theme, invoking an unorthodox use of parts and unique construction.  Just take a look at some of these amazing MOCs!

The Kel Corona space station is a brilliant example of taking an avenue not often chosen.  From the shaping of the bricks to the superb photography, this build sure is an eye-catcher.  The cockpit on the front of the ship also is a separate module that is a self-sufficient vehicle.  Amazing craftsmanship can be further seen in the way that the circular rocket assembly is not only built, but also lit.

The Void Raven is another model that demonstrates a memorable form for a ship.  Its wide array of weaponry and stealth-looking angles make it an aggressive ship that would definitely be a force to be reckoned with.  Having gotten to see this particular model at BrickFair Virginia, I have a profound appreciation for all the engineering and parts usage that went into this model.

Jungle Jamboree

Simon NH of Flickr has again stunned the community with another great build.  And I'm not "lion," this is a fantastic MOC, indeed.  Using everything from rock pieces for the hips to roller skates as part of the tale assembly, there are continually more and more fascinating parts of this build to notice every time it is viewed.  It's one thing to expertly build an animal, but to also include a landscape that includes an equal amount of detailing is truly next-level.

I spy a spider

Beast or bot? Flesh and blood or metal and bolts? These are the questions that come to mind just before Mitsuro Nikaido's arachnophobia-inducing concoction leaps toward you from the darkness...

Mitsuro, who goes by ToyForce120 on Flickr, has been working on a whole gallery of mech-animals, including a whale, a crocodile, a rabbit, and even a horseshoe crab - so I suggest you go check out his photostream for more robotic goodness!

Classy automobile

It's not often that the LEGO building community sees a larger scale highly detailed car, but when one "rolls" around, people definitely take notice.  LEGO artist Bricksonwheels' beautiful rendition of this 1935 Duesenberg SJ Dual Cowl Phaeton certainly begs a double take, not only for the supreme detailing throughout, but also of the flashy chrome decorations.  I really applaud the work here; the scaling is just perfect.

Area 51 (and 500th post by the Brick Bucket!)

It has been a while since I have posted here...  First off, big congratulations to the Brick Bucket team and especially to Tate for his constancy here on this wonderful blog.  This marks 500 posts of high-quality MOCs delivered by the Brick Bucket to you, in hopes of inspiring creativity and a love for LEGO.  Now, onto the featured build!

One of the things I admire most about LEGO is when a builder is able to exceed the sometimes seemingly impossible limitations of the LEGO building system and construct a simply magnificent model.  Such is the case with detail-oriented builder Brian Williams.  Posted several years ago, his rendition of the first scene from Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is indeed mind-blowing.  Aside from the usual characteristics of his MOCs: good photography, excellent building, accurate minfigures, etc., Williams has included a mirror so as to create the illusion of a warehouse.  Ingeniously named crates can be seen throughout the diorama, in addition to some brilliantly lit ceiling assemblies.

"There were a lot of explosions for two people blending in"

Rogue One is the best Star Wars movie of all time,* and one of the best scenes in the film is the battle on the planet Jedha. A mythical city home to ancient secrets of the Jedi and the Force comes under assault from Imperials and rebel insurgents alike, and amidst all the new characters and vehicles, the tried-and-true AT-ST still finds a place in the fight. I'm a fan of the official Jedha AT-ST set, but this midi-scale version by the Rogue Bantha himself, Tim Goddard, is equally fantastic. The use of myriad small elements that comprise the guns, joints, and armor show Tim's renowned skill for sci-fi building. 

*You heard what I said.

“The lunatic, the lover, and the poet, are of imagination all compact.”

Check out this microscale model of the Odeon of Herodes Atticus, an ancient Greek theater in Athens, built by George Panteleon (ZetoVince). I think Greek architecture is absolutely beautiful, and seeing a classic drama performed in this ancient theater (which has been renovated and is still used today) is something I'd like to experience. Despite its repetition and bland color scheme, this model pops because of the contrast of textures: the smooth SNOTed sections reflect the chiseled rows of seats in the amphitheater, opposing the rough rocks and crumbling ruins on the edges of the build. You can check out this construction shot to see how it's built (although I must confess I'm still not entirely sure!). 

Pink poison

The Brick Bucket's fearless reporting takes us once again into the Iron Builder arena, home now to a peculiarly pink battle between Grant Davis and Kosmas Santosa (kosbrick). The seed part at stake is the 4x4x13 curved panel, more commonly known as the "hot air balloon segment," in any and all of its three existing colors. 

The Brick Bucket's intrepid journalism has now discovered the source of the pink variety of these pieces: they must be harvested from the abdomens of a very rare and beautiful spider deep within the jungles of Iron Builder Land. But there's a risk to be taken for beauty, as this spider is not just pink; it's deadly poisonous. Watch your step...

Follow the Iron Builder action at this link!

The history of the world is at stake!

In 480 BC, King Xerxes of Persia sent a massive army to invade the Greek city-states. A tiny force of Greeks (the subject of the movie 300) stalled the Persian advance at the pass of Thermopylae, giving the Greek general Themistocles just enough time to launch a naval defeat of the Persians in the straits near the island of Salamis. This deterred the Persian invasion, led to the proliferation of ancient Greece, and ultimately shaped the history of the world. 

That's not what's going on in this scene by Micah Beideman (Hacim Bricks), but it could very well be something just as important. Maybe that trade ship is holding the future king of a country? In any event, there's a Greek trireme involved; that was enough to kickstart me into history mode. 

Note the nicely constructed mountainous background, and a pretty cool part use on the trireme: a flaming sticker from a Racers set holds a cheese slope on the front of the ship! 

Arrival at Fornax K7

The good folks at the ABS Builder Challenge have wasted no time cleaning the arena floor from the Season 1 Finale and getting Season 2 all set up. Mark Erickson (Mark of Falworth) is one of the four contestants in Season 2's inaugural round, and he's setting a tough precedent: a lovely, whimsical alien-planet-landing scene that seems straight out of the Pikmin games. 

The minifigures have apparently landed in a human-scaled world, where flowers are tree-sized and pebbles are boulder-sized (but only to the little plastic dudes). The seed part is in fact the red bucket element, put to use very nicely in those flowers. And the whimsically positioned stems, leaves, and tufts of grass? It all looks terrific, as does the spaceship itself, with a Classic Space design and that nice bulbous moon-lander shape. 

Cheep cheep!

It's always nice to see new builders on Flickr, and it's even nicer when they're posting MOCs as good as this one. Josephine Monterosso (jigsawjo) just showed up this month, but she's already posted probably 20 different builds ranging from mosaics to mecha. I'm only highlighting one of her builds in this post, but I highly recommend you go give her a follow and check out some more of her work!

This bird's nest must use just about every flexible brown part that's been produced - flex-tubes, bullwhips (thanks Indy Jones), and vines, as well as a few rigid parts. It has a very nice natural aesthetic and looks just like a real bird nest, complete with a couple of eggs that hopefully will soon reveal a couple of baby birds, mouths agape to receive a fresh worm or two from mama bird. While actual egg pieces technically exist (from the Angry Birds sets), I like the use of the light-blue minifig heads here, presumably as robin eggs. 

Into the jungle

This jungle temple by Jonas Wide is chock full of creative building techniques and part uses. The structure has a really nice decaying feel that blends well with the mayhem of the jungle - vines growing everywhere, monkeys scurrying about, birds chirping loudly... it reminds me of a quote from the author Orson Scott Card: "The natural world is beautiful, and it is beautiful again when it reclaims the ruins of humans who are gone." 

Something that works really well here is the blend of different shades of green - there's the olive-green grass, dark green of the vines, and medium shades used for the trees. It offers a nice contrast and adds that natural touch to the build. Also noteworthy are the microfigure "statues" set a half-stud into the walls of the temple, and the incredible multi-layered, intricate construction of that tree nudged up against the ruins. (I'm also a fan of that spindlier tree on the other side of the build, but I don't know what the pieces used for the leaves are!)

Prisma and LEGO

Sometimes it's not just the construction of a MOC that catches my attention, but the presentation of it too. That's the case with this "Bug Smasher Mech" from Marco Marozzi. Marco built a pretty sweet mecha, but he took it to the next level by using the photo-editing program Prisma on one of the pictures. The result is this artsy-swirly-not-quite-right-but-still-recognizably-LEGO work of art: 

This is a really interesting (and creative) concept, and one I might like to apply to some of my future builds, given my own fascination with Prisma. 

For reference, here's the unedited photo:

The color scheme is flashy; I love yellow paired with a duller color or set of colors, and the black and light grey here work perfectly. There are also some fantastic greebles. I particularly love the construction of the legs. It's clear that Marco isn't just a good photographer - he's got building chops too!

Cute characters from a galaxy far, far away

A few Star Wars character builds have sprung up in my Flickr feed over the past few days, so I decided to compile them all in one post. 

The first is this Admiral Ackbar figure by Djokson, whose signature CCBS-pieces style lends itself to some fantastic part usage: 

The next two figures are both by Miro Dudas (Miro78), and both feature Princess Leia. First, here's Leia's disguise as the bounty hunter "Boushh" from Return of the Jedi: 

There's some excellent part use on this figure too, notably the "letter E" tiles on the mask, Technic pins to form the staff, and various ball joints, binoculars, and the like for greebles. The textured 1x2 bricks work great to provide texture to the pants. 

Also featuring this pants technique is Leia in her Hoth outfit from Empire Strikes Back: 

The rounded, smooth elements and lack of facial features give this figure a charming, inquisitive demeanor, almost non-LEGO. Character builds are always stunning when pulled off correctly, and these three are certainly well done. 

A sight to sea

Several months ago I built a coral reef for the ABS Builder Challenge, and it's still my most-faved Flickr photo to this day. I was intrigued by the opportunities presented by the vast array of corals and other denizens of the reef environment; combined with the opportunity for some Nice Part Use, it seemed like a perfect build. Unfortunately I was never quite happy with the way I incorporated the seed part. 

Now Drazard has built his own reef model for an ABS competition, this time for the Season 1 Finale (which I also competed in). And I've gotta say I think I like it better than my own...

The seed part (dark red elbow brick) features quite nicely, used for both the dark red coral and the shiny treasure chest, but that's not nearly all. The array of different pieces and colors here is spectacular! There's not a coral I don't like - each one features smart part usage and impeccable color combinations. The rockwork and stacked seaweed is a great frame for the photo. Feel free to compare to my own reef model and report back in the comments - and be sure to check out the rest of the fantastic builds from the Season 1 Finale of ABS!

Tasty burger

As the ABS Season 1 Finale races to a close, jsnyder002 is still churning out MOCs, compressing them into patties, and dousing them with ketchup. Everything about this meaty build is top-notch, right down to the excellent shaping of the melted cheese and splotches of ketchup. I especially love the window shutters used as lettuce: 

Back to the future

I've got a handful of Popular Science magazines from the 1950s, and it's both fascinating and hilarious to look back on what bygone generations predicted the future would be like. These hovercars by timhenderson73 look just like something out of those magazine pages, right between the sexist advertisements and Cold War hysteria:

Tim got some great shaping on these and I love the bubble cockpits and how they accent the sleek, studless surface. The use of a few textured grilles adds the perfect level of contrast.

The builder has a few more hovercars over on Flickr, so be a good fellow and take a look.

Café au lait

Confession: I'm much more of a tea person than a coffee person. Coffee tends to make me shaky, but there's not much more soothing that some chamomile tea or a chai latte. But hey, if Brother Steven wants to be a coffee drinker, that's up to him. I just don't know how I'd feel about my morning cuppa being made of plastic. 

This was built for the ABS Season 1 Finale (which I'm a proud part of!) using the dark red elbow brick as the seed part. 

A cool castle (plus some personal updates!)

I'm back!
The last few months have been super busy and I've barely even touched a LEGO brick, much less had the time to build anything serious or, as you've probably noticed, post anything here. But I'm still here, and so are the other Bucketeers, so never fear! Woo, rhymes!

A couple of asides before I jump into the main content of this post:

First, the Season 1 finale of the ABS Builder Challenge is underway, and as a Season 1 contestant, I'm included! 16 competitors are using the dark red "elbow brick" to create some dang cool MOCs, and I'll be blogging several of those in the next few days, as well as hopefully uploading a few of my own contributions to Flickr. 

Second, the other day I had an excellent conversation with my English teacher regarding the LEGO fan community. Turns out his 10-year-old son is a big fan and my teacher got suckered in, and they took a trip to LEGOLAND in Florida over February break. My teacher showed my a video he took of Miniland, and we discussed conventions and TFOLs; the next day I brought my copy of Beautiful LEGO for him and his son to borrow. I found it impressive that LEGO fan terminology and culture has now reached the level of popularity that I can discuss it with my English teacher as normally as if we were talking about Huckleberry Finn or The Catcher in the Rye. 

Anyways. I do actually have a MOC to show you today, and it's a good one. 

"Waelras Castle" comes from the build table of Sir Gillian and it's a case study in constructing a natural, tranquil Castle setting. Everything flows together nicely, from the greebled stone walls of the castle to the rocky, leafy cliffs to the smooth SNOTed water. 

Check out the Flickr album for several more shots, because there are a lot of creative details packed into this build. But I gotta point this one out: what are a Fabuland figure and a Rock Monster doing down here?

Explain yourself, sir. 

I'll be back later with some more quality content™!