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. 

Beware of the Draygon

One of my favorite sci-fi builders, Tromas combines unorthodox, creative vehicle designs with a great cast of minifigures, as well as detailed descriptions and backstories. His latest is a prototype YB-81 "Draygon" Bomber from the Incom Corporation, the Star Wars manufacturer responsible for (among other things) the X-wing and the Snowspeeder. Although Tromas's build isn't a real Star Wars ship, it certainly seems like it could be one. 

We recommend that you check out more images (including underside and interior shots and some hints at the construction methods) in the Flickr album, and there's also a video - because this bomber lives up to its name! Also, take a look at that minifig: while not the main focus of the model, it really completes the look, combining some rare parts into an interesting and fitting character. 

Smokin' Joe Ravan

Hammerstein NWC has been building a series of Space Pirates minifigures. My favorite member of the crew has to be Smokin' Joe Ravan, the ship's lookout.

I really like how the builder has created figures that use some minifig parts, but aren't entirely minifigs - they have a larger scale that allows for more detail. Check out the album linked above to see the rest (including a very interesting first mate). 

War has been declared

Commander Mark Informs his troops that War has been declared. They are to march to attack the city of Lampsacus at dawn tomorrow.

This scene from Mark of Falworth makes great use of several custom pieces and some nice building techniques to achieve a natural, realistic look. I love MOCs that draw on historical architecture (Greek and Roman in this case) - besides LEGO, history is another of my big interests. 

The contoured base here is complemented by the dark green landscaping, which is itself contrasted by the bright leaves on the trees and the red of the building's roof. Overall this is a really nice looking MOC. (The custom minifig parts look great as well... I'll have to look into getting a few!)

EDIT: I'd thought the neon green leaves were custom; turns out they're actually from some of the new Elves sets. Regarding the minifigs, the builder says:

Those helms are Brickforge as are the shields and most of the spears. The armor piece and the scroll on Mark are Brickwarriors. :)

Silly Sunday

I'm back after a few days' absence and it's time for some fun. This will be gladly provided by .Tromas and his gang, "Yesterday's Tomorrow": 

The gang will be riding in their Volkswagen Cube-Vanagon, from which they run their illegal black market operation:

It's not often that I post figbarfs but these are particularly well done and I quite like the truck as well. 

Backstory

Mechanical minion

I just blogged one of Cole Blaq's mechanoids the other day. This one is smaller but no less impressive. It should also be recognized for some serious Nice Part Use: the cabinet doors, rapier, and could that be a trans-light-blue watch segment?

Impressive minifigure as well; it fits the theme and looks great without distracting from the main model. The use of the brand-new Ultra Agents helmet with some older minifig parts somehow looks very good together. 

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. 

Bluth's Original Frozen Banana Stand

Bruce Lowell's first build of 2015 came after his realization that the truck driver minifigure from set 76026 Gorilla Grodd Goes Bananas looks exactly like a Banana Stand employee from Arrested Development! 

Executron from The LEGO Movie looks like Tumblr's "anonymous" symbol

He totally does, right? 

Why are Collectible Minifigures so overpriced now? [Editorial]

Back when they were introduced in May 2010, LEGO's Collectible Minifigures were clearly something special. 16 different characters in mystery packs, so you wouldn't know who you'd get- but you knew you would get something good. It was undoubtedly a quite profitable idea for LEGO, but it also gave us fans something new and exciting, whether you wanted the parts or just another nice minifigure for your collection. 

And for a few years, everything was going well. 11 series of minifigures were produced- a total of 176 different characters. Parts from the line were beginning to find their way into mainstream sets, but the minifigures kept getting better and better. 

Then, in May 2014- four years after the original Minifigures series- The Simpsons series was released. This was an interesting move on LEGO's part, and some thought it was a bad one. Previously, LEGO had made a series based on The LEGO Movie, but The Simpsons series was the first truly licensed theme, based on another company's property. Due to the licensing costs, this series of minifigures cost $3.99 each instead of the usual $2.99. This was slightly aggravating, but in this case understandable. 

BUT THEN...

LEGO announced that Series 12 (which was just released a month ago) would also have minifigures priced at $3.99 each, just like The Simpsons series. The difference here was that these minifigures weren't licensed. There wasn't really any good reason for LEGO to keep the price a dollar above the previous amount. 

Four dollars is not a lot of money, I know. But the minifigures have not suddenly started containing more pieces. They are still tiny little toys, no more than 10 parts each (usually more like 5 or 6). Four dollars for six parts is waaaayyyyy higher than would reasonably be expected in any other LEGO theme. It comes out as about 67 cents per piece, compared to the average of 10 or 11 cents per piece. 

I really think The LEGO Group should consider taking the price of Collectible Minifigures back down to three dollars (or even two dollars, the price back in 2010) for the next series and any (non-licensed) ones after that. The current price increase has taken a considerable amount away from the joy of purchasing, opening, and trading your minifigures. 

And anyway- at its heart, LEGO isn't entirely about making scads of money. It's about having fun. Collectible minifigures used to be fun. If LEGO brings the price down to a more reasonable amount, they can be fun again. 

Jump right in...

This is more a nice photograph than an awesome MOC, but I think it's worth posting anyway. Chris McVeigh cobbled together a swimmer, a shark, and some seaweed to create this "welcome to summer" scene. 

I love the use of the "queasy" minifig head from the new Fairground Mixer set, it makes for a very nice "holding your breath" face too!