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!

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! 

The desert of forced perspective

Certain comments about building a wall aside, most people consider Mexico a land of beauty: red sand, spicy food, crystal beaches, tequila, mustangs, mariachi bands, El Dorado... Since childhood, vir-a-cocha has wanted to visit this country. Hopefully someday he will, but for now all he can do is build the beautiful desert landscape with LEGO:

This MOC makes expert use of forced perspective - just check out that distant shadowy cactus, created brilliantly with small pieces! That steer skill in the foreground is very well built, and the red-and-pink sunset completes the scene. Fantastic build!

The Kingdom of ABS

As ABS Round 1.6 rages on (and I keep struggling to come up with more uses for the seed part), we seem to be heading off in the Castle direction - usually not my preferred genre, but when the builds are as cool as my competitor Mark of Siloam's new microscale MOC, I really can't complain! 

The seed part was used six times: four times in the castle, one in the windmill, and one in the cathedral (the builder's favorite). I really like the rockwork and the SNOT techniques in the castle walls and the cathedral. Really nice work, and some more tough competition for me in this round! 

Stay tuned for more ABS coverage, including some personal insights into the contest...

"I'm late I'm late I'm late"

I don't have much time today - but here's a great Alice in Wonderland scene from The /\rchitect, featuring some great landscape building:

Spaceport on the dunes

We started off the month in a Castle mood and now we're finishing on a Space streak. This microscale space scene from Karf Oohlu gives off a great 50s/60s sci-fi vibe and I love the texture and color transition from the sand dunes to the sleek metal. 

Dragon mountain

Rod Gillies (2 Much Caffeine) added another nice entry to his Iron Builder battle with Kosmas Santosa (kosbrick) by using the paint roller seed part on a fierce Asian dragon. 

Aside from the dragon, my favorite detail of this build is the little bridge - a simple construction of bar plates, but it looks quite nice. 

Bad things come in threes

Three legs, two guns, one eye.

Pretty poetic for something that's going to stalk you down relentlessly and trample/bullet-riddle/dismember you.

It's been quite some time since I've seen any Black Fantasy MOCs, let alone one done as well as this tripod strider by ...The Chosen One.... Integrated tubing and carefully sculpted shapes give it a thoroughly organic look while the imposing guns and solitary eye introduce a mechanical aspect. All in all a build truly possessing all the unsettling hallmarks of Black Fantasy.
However, my favorite part is the landscape, which is composed mostly of Bionicle elements. Comparing it to the more System-heavy strider creates an effective contrast, as does the innovative and cute flora (made with Clikits!) that it tramples through.

Ambush on the desert planet

Mark of Falworth has cooked up a great little sci-fi story based on his latest MOC, which features some great color-layered rockwork. Click here to read the full story and see more images! 

Sunset

This really caught my eye in my Flickr feed this morning. Once again, Kosmas Santosa's clean building style and impeccable photography have served him well. This beautifully constructed and photographed scene makes great use of contrasting colors to show a landscape bathed in the sun's last golden glow. 

The tree and clouds help add texture, and I love the three-piece boat: so simple, but it adds so much. Also, the 1x1 clips used as grass might be the most inspired use I've seen for that part. 

Capture the flag

I've said it before and I'll say it again: I love seeing great rockwork and landscaping in a MOC. The rocks in this scene by Julia LeeP are just awesome. Despite using parts like the binoculars and droid torso, they still have a wonderfully natural, flowing look. The water, trees, and foliage aren't too shabby either. 

Keep calm and vaporize

All that 'ask questions first' nonsense is an enormous humbug, I say. When you're on one of those confounded savage planets, the best thing to do is shoot any blasted thing that moves and assume that there are more ugly chaps out there." -Duke Hugh A. Fitzgeraldson VI

A Plastic Infinity's style really shines through in his latest MOC, which seems to depict a sort of steampunk/space mash-up. The clusters of mushrooms and pits of... acid green stuff (?) look fantastic. Plus, that minifig is hilarious... I love the idea that he wears his top hat in space and has a wind-up ray gun. Nice build. 

Bushidō- Way of the Warrior

The New Year is almost here and it seems like some builders are pulling out all the stops to try and create their best MOC of 2014. This creation by Disco86 is simply beautiful- one of the best builds I've seen this year. 

The builder says:

Bushido is a Japanese word for the way of the samurai life, loosely analogous to the concept of chivalry. Samurais have been trained in outlying academies to learn this way of life and of course fihgting with the sword.

There is so much to take in here that I'll just go ahead and grace you with the full photoset...

I love the peaceful landscape... the cherry tree and wild deer... the tranquil waterfall and water lilies... the detailed stone path and bridge... the bright blue elements on the buildings (everything about the buildings actually)... the carefully placed minifigures... yeah. *blissfully dissolves into LEGO-brick-surrounded trance*

Rockwork and clockwork

This MOC by David Collins (intrond) has all the makings of a great fantasy scene. A great steampunk giant stomps through a fabled land: through forested plains, along rivers, past castles and bridges...

There's a lot to like here but I think my favorite parts are the palace and the rockwork leading up to it. The microscale boat in the river is also a nice touch and it (along with the trees) gives a sense of scale. That is one huge giant...

Winter

Landscaping is not easy to do in LEGO. The contours of the land... rocks, water, snow, and soil... plants and animals... building these things with sharp-angled plastic bricks is tricky, to say the least. I really appreciate when a builder pulls off an outstanding landscape scene. 

Brick Productions has done just that with this beautifully bleak and minimalist MOC. There are no minifigures or human structures of any kind- just the beauty of nature. This would look great on a shelf.

Falworth Castle

Today marks Mark of Falworth's fourth year in the online LEGO community! In addition to updating his sigfig for the first time in years, Mark has revisited this old MOC to improve and expand upon the original. The result is awesome.

The waterfall and castle walls have some great texture, and I love the palm tree on the far right side of the build. Nice build, a great improvement on the original. Here's to another four years!

Plenty more images of this creation can be found in Mark of Falworth's photostream. Go check them out- there are a lot of other angles to this that you can't see from the photo above.

State Gardens of Lenfald

The State Gardens of Lenfald, at Stonewald, were first founded by High Lord Wensesclaus the 1st. Throughout the years each successive leader has improved the gardens, ’til they reached the way they look today, brimming with vibrant flowers, exotic animals and stunning architecture.

When he took office, High Lord Triphian I decided that the gardens should be for everyone to enjoy, not just the nobility. He opened the gardens to the public, so that all who want to can visit them, and marvel in their magnificence. Now, peasants and nobles rub shoulders daily, all equal inside the twisting paths, maze-like hedges, and beautiful grottos and buildings.

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Haymar and Mirranda walk through the gardens, enjoying the fresh air, (and each other's company), after pledging Haymar's army to High Lord Triphian I, for the coming siege of Maldrake's Fortress.

I really like this castle gardens scene by JBIronWorks. The path, walls, and flowers and greenery all contribute to a nice peaceful castle MOC, refreshingly free of any battling armies or angry dragons. 

Click here for more images. 

710 Blue Meadow Ave

Nick V (Brickthing) has got a prime piece of real estate with spacious living areas and plenty of ventilation. Not to mention a healthy dose of olive green. 

I must confess it took me forever to figure out what those lumpy green shrubs on the lawn were made with. Then I realized: troll hands! Genius! 

In fact, really the whole build is genius. Just look at the pointy roof, tiled walls, and that big ventilation grille! 

White White West

This is a beautiful fantasy MOC, intricate and beautifully composed, with a great sense of motion. The careful posing and positioning of the scene's elements is just as awesome as the builds themselves. Fantastic job by Brick Vader. 

See more photos on the Dutch LEGO forums Imperium Der Steine. 

Deforestation

I'm a big fan of A Plastic Infinity's work. He's prolific; his MOCs are well-built, wonderfully weird, and creative; plus he's a fellow TFOL, which automatically makes him cool... Anyway, here's his latest build, a yellow mech thing destroying a mostly-unconnected natural background. Awesome. And just look at all those wacky part uses...*

A closer look at the 'bot:

There's a little backstory and some notes on the build, so without furthe ado:

Baqnarra used to be a particularly nice place.

It had a lot going for it. An almost perfectly round and very rapid orbit close to its star, a weak Red Dwarf, and negligible axial tilt allowed the planet to sustain an all-but-perpetual, balmy summer for millennia.

Naturally, it was thickly forested all around except for a few patches of tundra toward the axial poles. An extremely shallow "ocean" extending over the planet's surface and dividing the landmasses into countless tiny islands kept everything well irrigated. Plants and animals abounded.

You could say it was a pretty well-rounded planet. It was averaged out; no extreme biomes.

And this was very Unusual.

Very Valuable.

It attracted Attention.

____________________

1.) I built a robot while sorting, incorporated a fiddler crab-style arm with a yellow surfboard as I've been wanting to do for a while, and built a 95% unconnected background for it to burn to ashes.

Seriously. There's literally less than thirty pieces connected. -_-

2.) I also finally used all my green spiky Barraki things, yellowish Barraki squids, and silver Rahkshi carapaces. :D

3.) I might take some photos of the bot alone later.

4.) FROG!!!!

5.) I learned how to use curves in 
Photoshop that editing program I use. :D

6.) 400TH PUBLIC PHOTO IS 400TH PUBLIC PHOTO!!!!

Hue hue hue so many private photos

Enjoy. :)

*Jackhammer, surfboard, Ninjago snake tail, Joker hair, random BIONICLE elements