ABS Round 1.6 now in progress...featuring The Brick Bucket Editor Tate Whitesell!

The ABS Builder Challenge is back! This time, the four competitors are...

• Roy of Florenheim 
• ConRoy
• Mark of Siloam
• ...and yours truly, Tate Whitesell!

I'm a little bit of an "outsider," as my three competitors are primarily castle builders, while I focus more on sci-fi...but I'm sure there will be plenty of excellent MOCs of all genres in this contest!

I'm incredibly excited to participate in ABS and I'm grateful to the contest's organizers for including me. I will be posting some updates from this round right here on The Brick Bucket, so stay tuned for some insights into my building and the contest in general. 

Now I'm off to go figure out this seed part... may the best builder win!

You can follow this round of the ABS Builder Challenge here: https://www.flickr.com/groups/abs-builder-challenge/discuss/72157674968251745/

Please welcome new contributor John Klapheke!

Hello everyone!  My name is John (aka BrickBuilder7622), and I am the newest writer for The Brick Bucket.  I am honored to be able to contribute to this awesome blog alongside some wonderful and very talented LEGO® fans.

My LEGO® experience really has been something of a journey.  Getting my first Duplo set when I was about three or four, I've always been fascinated with assembling and designing things.  I upgraded to the normal LEGO® System bricks a year or so later.  But it was not until I was about fourteen or so that I began to truly appreciate all the possibilities for the wonderful interlocking brick system. 

That was around the time that I started MOCing.  Since then, it's pretty much been a non-stop roller coaster of only good times and meeting a lot of great people.  I was fortunate enough to have won a competition hosted by the LEGO® Group back in July of 2014, and I have been nominated twice at BrickWorld for Best Sea Vessel. I've also been blogged several times, and have even been commissioned to build a MOC.

My personal theory behind the hobby of building, blogging, and working with LEGO® is that the builder can make anything that they want.  The sky truly is the limit.  This ability to take an idea, a concept from the imagination, and transpose it to a 3D medium is amazing.  I don’t restrict myself just to building with LEGO®; I also like to render objects and models using a computer, and I am about to embark on the journey of drawing and improving my artistic skills.

Well, that’s about it for me intro-wise.  If you would like to see my works, please check out my Flickr, as well as my personal website (dedicated to LEGO® builds).

Stay creative!  Cheers and ciao.

- John Klapheke

Amazing Amazon discounts on 2015 Airjitzu sets

I don't post news or set-discount information that much, but while browsing the discounts on Brickset today I came across something too good to pass up: 

That's an 80% discount on two of last year's Airjitzu flyer sets from the Ninjago line. In other words, they're down from $10 (already a pretty reasonable price for what you get) to just two dollars. You could get five of these sets for the original price of one! 

Aaron reviewed the Airjitzu Morro Flyer here last summer, and while it's not one of the sets on sale, it's similar, so check out that review if you want to see if an Airjitzu flyer is right for you. There's a lot to like as far as cool and useful pieces go, and getting all that for $2 could be a dream come true for builders. 

At the time of this post only a few sets are left in stock, so do yourself a favor and go take a look!
- Cole
- Zane

Nexo Knights set images and analysis!

I've been holding my breath for the theme that has been chosen to replace Legends of Chima: the half-castle, half-sci-fi Nexo Knights, coming January 2016. Now, thanks to Eurobricks hackers' discovery of a stash of new images on LEGO.com's servers, we can finally stop guessing and see some of these exciting new sets for the first time. 

Oddly, I don't think Nexo Knights - a "big bang" IP in the same vein as Ninjago - has been getting the same hype as Chima was before that came out in 2013. Maybe it's that Nexo Knights has had less time to sit in everyone's brain: before a logo was discovered, the theme was mere speculation, and it was only a few days ago that LEGO released some teasers and showed off two of the sets at New York Comic Con. 

Regardless, I'm pretty excited about Nexo Knights. In my opinion it's looking better than Chima, but still not on par with my perennial favorite Ninjago. It seems like it'll have plenty of time to prove itself though. More than the storyline, I'm just excited about the new pieces and sets themselves, so without further ado, let's jump into the newfound stash of images!

UPDATE 10/23/15: While going through Brickset today I decided that I could match some of the known names listed there to some of the sets in this post, just based on intuition. I have edited the post accordingly. 

UPDATE 1/7/15: These sets have been out for some time now and I thought I'd point out that I accurately predicted the price for all but two. Merlok's Library was predicted at $30 and is really $25; the King's Mech was predicted at $35 and is really $30. So overall, these sets ended up being even cheaper than I'd thought! (Now I just need to decide which ones to get...)

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... 

New logo!

Contributor Dead Frog has created a sweet new logo for the blog!

And then there were three

Today The Brick Bucket welcomes its third resident blogger: Aaron Van Cleave, better known as A Plastic Infinity. He is a talented builder as well as a blogger, and we think he will be a welcome presence here on the blog. You can follow Aaron on Flickr here to see more of his work; in the meantime, here's what he himself had to say: 

It's morning somewhere - good morning!

Or good night.

Hope you're enjoying your lunch as you read this.

I've always wanted to write for a blog, but was also always too lazy to start one myself...which is why I'm very grateful to Tate for inviting me to act as a contributor here! I look forward to rooting out underrated MOCs, which there are far too many of, and recognizing them here. While I lean heavily toward Sci-fi, I can certainly appreciate a good Castle or City build. Most themes, in fact.

As a fairly active builder myself, I hope to expand my own understanding of what constitutes a "good" MOC, and share that knowledge. And use way too many emoticons. :D

-A Plastic Infinity

Welcome Dead Frog Inc. to The Brick Bucket!

Editor Tate Whitesell is happy to announce that another writer will be joining The Brick Bucket to post MOCs and other LEGO-related musings from around the web! You may know Dead Frog Inc. from his great sci-fi MOCs on Flickr... now you'll see his commentary right here on The Brick Bucket. Here's what he had to say: 

Aloha!

I'm Dead Frog Inc., but most people just call me Frog. I originally wrote for The Brick Tavern Blog, but it went pretty inactive, and Tate was kind enough to invite us over to join The Brick Bucket Blog-team. And now I am here.

I'm mostly a Sci-Fi builder, although I do enjoy Fantasy, Bionicle and car builds. I've been active in the flickr community since late 2011, but I had a long break and started again early 2013.

DFinc.

More writers may be joining the Brick Bucket blogging team soon. If you'd like to be one of them, contact us! 

Cool things are on the way...

I'm in talks with a few people that have expressed interest in joining me here on The Brick Bucket and turning this blog into more than a one-man operation. Nothing has been finalized yet, but it's possible that there will be a team of bloggers here - not just me - in the near future. If you're interested joining that potential team in writing for The Brick Bucket, don't hesitate to get in touch with me via Flickr or the Contact page. Stay tuned! 

Series 4 Mixels discounted 20% on LEGO Shop

I don't usually post news or product updates, but I was on LEGO Shop and happened to notice that all Series 4 Mixels are down from $4.99 to $3.98, a 20% decrease. I assume this is to clear the stock to make room for the new Series 5. This could be a good opportunity to grab a large quantity of Mixels - as I've said many times, they have a ton of rare and useful pieces for MOCing, and they're quite cheap too. Do yourself a favor and pick a few up on sale here: 

http://shop.lego.com/en-US/LEGO-Mixels-ByTheme

UPDATE: 41533 Globert is already sold out!

One year of the Brick Bucket!

Today, The Brick Bucket turns one year old. This is an exciting day for any blog - proof that one cares enough about the topic and the community to continue updating the site day after day for 12 months. 

I will, of course, continue to update this site into its second year and beyond, and I hope for it to eventually reach the "higher ranks" of some of the web's more well-known LEGO blogs. In this post I'll talk a little bit about what I want to do in the future, as well as what the past year has been like for The Brick Bucket. 

So... one year.
This blog's first post was on May 17th, 2014. Back then it was known as Brickology. (As to why it's now The Brick Bucket, check out this post.) The rest of that month saw a further 25 posts, and since then I've averaged 24 posts per month - a pretty good track record. Real life has caught up to me a bit in the last few months but I've still put up at least 15 posts a month, on average one every two days. There's so many great MOCs out there to talk about and admire, and I want to post as many of my favorites as I can. (Even if they don't make it onto the blog, chances are they'll be on The Brick Bucket's Pinterest board.)

Sci-fi and fantasy MOCs seem to have taken a slight priority over town/city, Technic, sculpture, and other styles, though I try to feature a few of each every month for a good variety of posts. Since the beginning of 2015 I've started doing more set reviews and the like, but The Brick Bucket has remained (and will remain) primarily a MOC blog. After all, the heart of the LEGO community lies with fans' ability to create an infinite number of possibilities with a limited palette of elements - it's this creative spirit that drives the hobby and enables me to write this blog. 

What's next? 
In the next year, my focus will be on extending the reach of The Brick Bucket and hopefully attaining a larger readership. Subscriptions to the blog's feed (links at bottom of the site) and followers on Twitter and Pinterest are always appreciated. I also want to forge a stronger relationship with some of the other LEGO bloggers out there - there are some great people and blogs in this hobby and it's nice to know who I can depend on for advice. On a personal level, I also want to meet some builders, build more of my own MOCs, maybe make it to a convention sometime. My Flickr photostream is here and I would love comments - positive or negative - on my MOCs to help make me a better builder. 

The Brick Bucket started running ads in the sidebar recently and any income from these will go to one of three things: 1) site maintenance (non-Blogger-hosted domain?); 2) community contests and challenges (with prizes!); and 3) buying sets for reviews. As a TFOL I don't have the biggest LEGO budget but I'd like to try for a policy of one set review per month. 

There you have it - I'd prefer to not be too wordy and instead leave time and space for more MOC posts. Running this blog has been a pleasure so far. I hope reading it has been too. 

Brickology is now The Brick Bucket!

In light of some recent events that I've discussed in my two previous posts, this blog needs a new name, and I've decided on The Brick Bucket. The new URL is www.thebrickbucket.blogspot.com. (I am looking into purchasing a custom, non-blogspot URL soon.) The new URL for the review site is www.brickbucketreviews.blogspot.com. Thank you for your understanding and sorry for any confusion. 

Name change coming soon!

Due to reasons I mentioned in my last post, this site needs a new name, and right now it looks like it's going to be The Brick Bucket. 

(testing logo, not final)

This means that very soon, this blog will be moved to the new domain, www.thebrickbucket.blogspot.com. I will post again when that happens. Sorry for any confusion. 

Brickology needs a new name

I was contacted earlier today by LEGO Certified Professional Beth Weis, who, previously unknown to me, has a LEGO business called Brickology. Since Beth owns the rights to the "Brickology" name, and since she clearly has more experience in the LEGO community than I do, she requested that I change the name of my blog. I'm happy to do so, but this will require that I create both a new name and a new web domain. 

This is where I need your help, dear readers. This is your site; I'm always open to suggestions from fellow LEGO fans. If anyone has some new LEGO blog name ideas, please don't hesitate to let me know via the Contact page. I've got some ideas in my brain too, but one of you might come up with something great... 

A new name will be a big change for this site, requiring a new web domain as well as changes to all the social-network accounts in this blog's name. Please stay tuned; I will have more information about these developments in the days to come. 

Summer 2015 set reveal masterpost (images and analysis)

Some unofficial images of summer 2015 sets are starting to appear online, and I haven't seen them posted on any major LEGO blogs yet, so I figured I'd do a write-up here on Brickology. Imgur user Scarilian created an album of images from around the web; I'm using those images in this post for my own analysis of the sets. You can view the original album here.  

In this image we see the Ultra Agents set 71068 Drillex Diamond Job, which will be available soon (if it isn't already). However, in the background we can see part of another set, which seems to be some sort of ocean/dock structure (I'm thinking maybe an oil rig). A new villain minifigure can be seen, as well as what appears to be a new shark design. This set could be 70173 Ultra Agents Ocean HQ, which will go for $79.99 according to The Brick Fan's London Toy Fair 2015 report. 

2014 Creations for Charity 24-hour live stream begins November 28th!

Creations for Charity is planning a 24-hour live stream event on November 28th, 2014. Here's what coordinator Nannan Zhang had to say:


You are invited to join the Creations for Charity 2014 24-hour live stream hosted by Joshua Hanlon and Matthew Kay from Beyond the Brick. From 5pm EST 11/28 through 5pm 11/29, tune in for a full day fun and building with Lego fans from the online community on Google Hangout. The link will be live on the day of the stream.

Of course, we will be raising money together for this year’s Creations for Charity through a pledge system. For each hour spent on the stream, anyone can pledge to donate a certain amount to the fundraiser. The LEGO Group has pledged to donate a set for every man-hour on air!

To join in on the fun, please sign up on creationsforcharity.org. You can join and leave the stream at your convenience. Feel free to re-post this image and tag some friends and invite them to join you!

You can sign up to join the stream here. For more information on Creations for Charity, click here.

First-ever BrickUniverse LEGO convention coming to Raleigh, North Carolina!

The people behind the upcoming LEGO fan convention, BrickUniverse, asked if I would post their press release here. I would of course be happy to do so... so without further ado: 

We are pleased to announce BrickUniverse 2015, a convention for LEGO fans of all ages coming to Raleigh, North Carolina. BrickUniverse 2015 will be held at the Raleigh Convention Center.

The event will be held on March 26, 27, 28, and 29 with public days being on the 28 and 29.

• Show off your awesome creations
• Try your luck and earn free LEGO in our drawings
• Test your skills and win in our various games
• Learn more about the bricks in our seminars
• Hang out with fellow LEGO enthusiasts
• And much much more!

Check out our builder website for more info on the four day convention and to register. The quicker you register, the cheaper!

Please go to: www.brickuniverse.org

And contact us at: info@brickuniverse2015.com

Everything is NOT awesome [Editorial]

Update- as of October 9th, 2014, LEGO has ended its partnership with Shell, claiming they want no involvement with Shell or Greenpeace. Read more on The Brick Fan or The LEGO Car Blog. 

Though this blog has a fun, playful tone (it is about a toy and an art form, after all), today I'm using it to address a real-life (but still, of course, LEGO-related) issue. 

The video above is fantastic... and it tells of a real problem. 

Greenpeace is asking LEGO to sever its ties with oil company Shell, who is "polluting our kids' imaginations" through their associations with LEGO. You can click here to learn more and to sign a petition to try and help stop LEGO's partnership with Shell. This is an important issue and I'm glad to see someone addressing it in such a peaceful, useful manner. 

Here's what Greenpeace said regarding this video on YouTube: 

http://www.legoblockshell.org/?ytv1

We love LEGO. You love LEGO. Everyone loves LEGO. 

But when LEGO's halo effect is being used to sell propaganda to children, especially by an unethical corporation who are busy destroying the natural world our children will inherit, we have to do something.

http://www.legoblockshell.org/?ytv1

Children's imaginations are an unspoilt wilderness. Help us stop Shell polluting them by telling LEGO to stop selling Shell-branded bricks and kits today. Sign our petition athttp://www.legoblockshell.org/?ytv1

Greenpeace is calling on LEGO to end its partnership with Shell to Save the Arctic

It begins

In the beginning there was nothing. 

Then... there was Brickology. 

I'm starting this blog today – May 17, 2014 – with the intention of highlighting the best LEGO fan creations on the web. My primary focus will be on creations by other builders, though from time to time I may blog LEGO-related news articles. 

I hope you enjoy Brickology. 

UPDATE: As of March 15th, 2015, Brickology is now The Brick Bucket (www.thebrickbucket.blogspot.com). Click here to read more about the name change. (Don't worry, there's still the same great LEGO content!)