BrickJournal #76

Issue 76 • November 2022

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Looking at the Brick Animal Kingdom!

Inside: Miro Dudas’ Savannah Critters

Ken Ito’s Sea Creatures

Filbrick’s Animals

INSTRUCTIONS and MORE!

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Issue 76 • November 2022

Contents From the Editor....................................................2

People Sean Kenney: Connecting Animals with Bricks..................3 Fraser Ratzlaff’s Archelon Castle................................................8 Builder Spotlight: Loïc Brun..........................................................16

Building Ken Ito’s Beasts and Birds.............................20 Miro Dudas: From Star Wars to Animals..........................22 BrickNerd Instructions: Miro Duda’s Brickpals Lion...................................................................23 Giraffe..............................................................27 Rhino................................................................30 Chris Perron: Designing the XL-15 Spaceship Set.....34 Chris Giddens: Building the XL-01.......................................42 Jonathan Baxter’s LEGOLand Space Fleet...............................44 Minifigure Customization 101: I Love the ‘80s.................................................50 You Can Build It: Tauntaun and AT-AT....................................54

Community Bantha Bricks: Eloi Parizeau’s The Vigil Cargo Frigate ..............................60 Inside LEGO Campus: An Exclusive Tour of LEGO’s New Billund Headquarters.......................66 Last Word.............................................................79 Classic AFOLs.....................................................80

From the Editor: This was an issue of surprises—initially bad, then good! The bad surprises were that everything went slow for some reason, so the schedule for magazine production went slower than hoped.

November 2022 Issue 76 Publisher John Morrow

Editor in Chief Joe Meno BrickNerd and Assistant Editor Dave Schefcik Photography Editor Geoff Gray Proofreader John Morrow

Japanese Bureau Editor Nathan Bryan West Coast Editors Ashley Glennon

Bantha Bricks Correspondent Steven Smyth Contributors: Jonathan Baxter, Loïc Brun, Jared Burks, Christopher Deck, Miro Dudas, Chris Giddens, Are M. Heiseldal , Ken Ito, Sean Kenney, Eloi Parizeau, Chris Perron, Fraser Ratzlaff, and Greg Hyland.

But that led to some different opportunities—we got an article from LEGO Set Designer Chris Perron on the set he designed for the movie Lightyear—the XL-15 Spaceship! Then we got instructions for some cute animals from cover builder Miro Dudas and BrickNerd! And finally, we got an article from brick artist Sean Kenney about his animal builds! And look at the new LEGO offices? We have that too!

So I hope you are as pleasantly surprised as I was finishing up this issue!

Have fun!

Joe Meno, editor P.S. Have ideas or comments? Drop me a line at brickjournal@gmail.com. I’m open to suggestions and comments and will do my best to reply.

P.P.S... Yes, BrickJournal has a website — www.brickjournal.com! Twitter? Yep, there too — http://twitter.com/brickjournal. Facebook? Yup — http://www.facebook.com/group. php?gid=58728699914&ref=mf.

Or you can scan the bottom codes with a QR reader!

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Many thanks to the websites who have served as mirrors for BrickJournal:

www.LUGNET.com, www.Brickshelf.com, www.peeron.com, www.brickmodder.net www.rustyclank.com

About the Cover: Seagulls wal on the pier in a photo

by Miro Dudas.

About the Contents: Sean Kenney’s ladybug is busy with aphids.

Photo provided by Sean Kenney.

Glossary AFOL (Adult Fan of LEGO) AFFOL (Adult Female Fan of LEGO) TFFOL (Teen Female Fan of LEGO) NLSO (Non-LEGO Significant Other) MOC (My Own Creation) TLG (The LEGO Group) BURP (Big Ugly Rock Piece) LURP (Little Ugly Rock Piece) POOP (Pieces­—that can be or should be made—Of Other Pieces)

SNOT (Studs Not on Top) LUG (LEGO Users Group) LTC (LEGO Train Club) MECHA (a large armored robot on legs, typically controlled by a pilot seated inside) MECH (a large piloted combat robot) DARK AGES (usually teen years, when you drift away from building) STUDS OUT (building where the studs on bricks face the viewer)

BrickJournalTM issue 76, November 2022 (ISSN 1941-2347) is published bi-monthly by TwoMorrows Publishing, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614, USA. Phone: (919) 449-0344. Periodicals postage paid at Raleigh, NC. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to BrickJournal, c/o TwoMorrows, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614.

Joe Meno, Editor. John Morrow, Publisher. BrickJournal Editorial Offices: 6701 Coachman Drive, Springfield, VA 22152, USA. E-mail: admin@brickjournal.com.

Send subscription funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial offices. Six-issue subscriptions: $68 US, $103 Elsewhere, $29 Digital Only, and can be purchased at www.twomorrows.com. LEGO ®, TECHNIC, MINDSTORMS, Belville, Scala, BIONICLE, ExoForce, Mars Mission, World City, and other LEGO theme lines are trademarks of the LEGO Group of companies. All articles, photos, and art are © BrickJournal Media, LLC 2021, TwoMorrows Publishing and the respective writers, photographers, and artists. All rights reserved. All trademarked items are the property of their respective owners and licensees. Printed in China. FIRST PRINTING.

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BrickJournal and its staff would like to thank the LDraw community for the software it makes available to the community, which we use for making all of the instructions and renderings in this magazine. We would especially like to thank Kevin Clague for his continued upgrades of the LPub tool that is a part of the LDraw suite. For more information, please visit http://www.ldraw.org.

People

Sean Kenney at the Denver Zoo with some friends.

Sean Kenney:

Connecting Animals with Bricks

I’ve been creating nature-themed art with LEGO bricks for about ten years. In that time, I’ve created hundreds of sculptures, collectively built with over three million LEGO bricks, which have been put on exhibition and have visited nearly 100 botanical gardens, arboretums, zoos, science centers, and museums across the United States, Canada, Europe, and Asia.

I enjoy exploring the interconnections found in the natural world. LEGO bricks are a nice metaphor for this: just as LEGO pieces interconnect, everything in nature is interconnected in a delicate balance. Insects and plants have important relationships; different species of animals have symbiotic, mutualistic, or predatory relationships with each other; and animals have connections with their families just like we do. All of this is important because we humans have a connection with nature, too. Even in our urban and modern lives, we occupy land, we’re part of the food chain, we feed plants every time we exhale; we are a part of nature and nature is a part of us.

Panda bears having fun!

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When I create sculptures of animals with LEGO bricks, I want them to have a spark of life; to feel alive, like they have some magic to them. I’m never content to just “make a thing”; it has to be special somehow. If someone says “make a penguin,” I ask myself first: okay, why? What is the penguin doing? What do penguins do, actually? How do they interact? What do they interact with? I look at photos and videos online, and start to think about how I, myself, can relate to that creature, or how I can try to capture some part of that creature’s life and show it to my audience.

Penguins in progress.

Sean working on a penguin chick at his studio.

And more than anything else, I need to have some kind of personal connection to the subject matter. That can often be challenging; how can I relate to a leopard? But in doing my research about each sculpture, I find something that I can sync with, and then use that as the focus of the piece.

For example, my sculpture “Mother Polar Bear and Cubs” is a life-size sculpture of a mother with three cubs climbing on and cuddling around her. Watching videos of polar bears with their cubs, I was taken by how almost-human they seemed, and as a parent of young children, I saw myself and my kids reflected back at me... I wanted to try to capture this aspect of their lives. In doing this, I put my imprint onto the sculpture, and hopefully it then becomes more than just a stack of bricks pushed together the right way. It has an energy to it. By humanizing the bear a little, it can feel a little more relatable and familiar to audiences. And by doing this, maybe viewers can relate to them a bit more.

Polar bear cubs.

Mother Polar Bear and Family.

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Every sculpture always starts out as a drawing or set of drawings. Once I have an illustration that I like, I model the sculpture in 3D on my computer. There’s no magic computer button that designs the sculptures for me, but by spending weeks designing on the computer (as opposed to with my bricks on the table the old fashioned way), I have all the power of undo, copy-paste, and save-as. I can experiment, explore, and play with the model design without any fear of messing things up. Once I have a brick model design that I am happy with, I use those designs as a blueprint to build the sculpture for real.

As I build brick-by-brick, I glue each piece into place with industrial solvents, often around a metal armature. Because these will be put on public display and will travel around the world for many years, the sculptures need to be durable and permanent. They need to withstand adverse weather, wind, fallen branches, scorching sun, heat expansion — not to mention overly-curious fingers and the rigors of truck transport and disinterested forklift drivers. Most of these giant sculptures take weeks of full-time work to physically construct, and some can take months. Altogether the sculptures in these exhibits took over 30,000 hours to design and build. After they’re built, the sculptures are coated with a special lacquer to protect the plastic from breaking down under the sun’s UV rays. They’re also bolted down to the ground to protect against weather and vandalism.

Sean works on a wolf’s snout, which is supported by a brick stand.

But this makes it challenging to try to capture the delicate wispiness of nature in something that needs to be so robustly constructed. I try to strike a balance, but I also hide The stand is later removed as the head is secured and glued in place.

Adjusting a peacock feather.

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Sean’s work touches on environmental themes.

structural components and other things that help further a visual along. For example, insect legs often cross each other or touch back to the sculpture’s body, so that they do not become long thin dangling extremities. All of my quadrupeds have one leg that is nearly perfectly straight, because it will have a thick sturdy steel bar inside to keep the sculpture upright and pinned to the ground. The wings of birds and butterflies are far chunkier than they would otherwise be in real life to allow for a lot more brick-overlapping, and are often angled in ways that hide this.

A close-up of the leopard.

Other works—an orb weaver spider and a macaw mosaic.

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I don’t modify any of my bricks, or purchase non-LEGO elements; everything that I use is an authentic off-the-shelf LEGO element. And every piece is connected “in system,” meaning with a legal LEGO connection, the way the toy is designed to be used. I do not just cut parts, or slap things on with glue, or recolor elements or use clone customs when the LEGO won’t do what I like. I like the challenge of working within the limitations of the LEGO system, but I also like knowing that I am playing with the toy the way it is meant to be used. Much like the world of “found art,” creating art with LEGO bricks forces you to do more with less and to reimagine how you can use what you already have.

While most of these sculptural forms are constructed with just basic rectangular bricks, I “step up” the detail in the important areas that need to be more expressive and detailed, like faces and hands. I need to balance the level of detail with the fact that the rest of the model is somewhat

Zebra and wildebeest, built actual size.

blocky and pixelized. Sometimes the detailing looks too “high res” and I have to back it out a bit to get it to feel right in the greater context of the sculpture.

Using these smaller and more detailed LEGO elements, I can give the face of every animal its own personality. The lion is regal, the dodo is stupid, the zebra is concerned, the wolf is cunning, the penguin is paternal, the leopard is heartbroken. I anthropomorphize their expressions, but only a little bit. I want their expressions to be readable, the way you would read a human face, but not to the point of being cartoonish or silly.

All of these design processes, methodologies, mantras, thoughts, and technical processes are things I’ve developed over fifteen years of creating art with LEGO bricks full-time. And every one of these steps serves a single purpose: a momentary suspension of disbelief when you look at them. From a distance, would you think they were real? In a photo, does it feel alive? The processes and engineering are all things I hope you never notice, so that when you see my sculptures, you see them for what they are, and who they are. You connect with them emotionally, relate to them, or maybe just smile a bit. Because art doesn’t have to be so serious all the time.

A colorful tree frog perches on a branch.

Dodo and lion.

People

After a two-year break from building because our daughter was born, I began to plan my next big build.

I wanted to incorporate a lot of movement. I liked the idea of doing something big for BrickCon that moved on a turntable, and looked great from every angle. I also wanted to keep re-inventing the Castle theme.

A lot of castle form and function is about defense, and I became captivated by this idea of a castle built on the back of a giant prehistoric sea turtle. What moat could be bigger than the ocean? What defense is better than obscurity? The castle is never in the same place twice. How can you attack if you don’t know it exists or can’t find it?

Archelon is the name of the largest species of sea turtle ever discovered. In my story, this is the last one.

It never dives below the surface, slowly roaming the ocean—letting the sun warm it, and eating mostly what swims into its mouth.

The turtle isn’t even really aware there’s a castle on its back.

Fraser Ratzlaff’s

Archelon Castle Article and Photography by Fraser Ratzlaff 8

It was fun to develop the story. The build was so big and challenging, from the beginning I wasn’t even sure it would work. The hardest parts were creating a large organic shape, getting the fins to move, designing a turntable to handle the weight, and the sheer scale of the project. It was really hard, but so much fun, and it really pushed me to grow as a builder in many ways. Hope you like it!

Here’s the story: A very long time ago, a huge storm shipwrecked a giant ship. Only two souls survived, and were able to piece together a makeshift raft from the wreckage, before everything sank below the waves. After weeks floating aimlessly at sea with no sight of land or ship, and out of water and supplies, they thought they were doomed for sure. And then, all of a sudden, they spotted a tiny island on the horizon, and they were drifting towards it! As they got closer they realized it wasn’t an island at all, but actually the back of an enormous sea turtle. With their raft failing, they scrambled up on to the shell of the turtle, thinking they were saved for the moment, but as soon as the turtle dove below the surface, all hope would be lost. But the turtle never did.

After the two shipwreck survivors were living on the sea turtle for awhile, a few other people lost at sea found their way to the ‘floating island’, and a tiny community began to form—almost a little refugee camp on the ocean, everyone contributing in their own way to help the group.

Then one day the turtle swam into a big cove with a small entrance and stayed awhile. The people living on the turtle decided they liked life at sea and agreed to build a permanent home together. They used their small rafts and boats to ferry stone from a natural quarry over to the turtle to build a castle. After awhile, the turtle swam out of the cove and back into the open ocean.

Archelon Castle is a community of 25 people who live and work together on the ‘floating island.’ They do meet other people occasionally, almost always from ships passing by who want to trade, need help, or are simply in disbelief at what they are seeing, but these interactions and meetings are actually fairly rare, simply due to how vast the ocean is. Even more rare is finding someone who is shipwrecked and in need of rescue, although it does happen. They join the community for awhile and are always free to leave when the next ship passes by, as is anyone. But the people who call Archelon home tend to stay, and any visitors tend to leave, no matter how fascinated they are, or how strong of a connection they make with the place or the people.

And regardless of how deep their desire to go back, or how hard they look, they will never be able to find it again.

Concept and story by Fraser Ratzlaff. Original drawings and watercolor by Andrea Krook.

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The Archelon turtle is a peaceful creature. It’s so big and so old, anything that would bother it has gone extinct.

Archelon Castle, or “the floating island,” has inadvertently rescued many a shipwrecked sailor out in the open ocean who thought they wouldn’t make it. During sunny weather, the four doors of the castle remain open. If you could ever find it and get there, you can just walk right in. During storms, the doors are sealed shut.

The lighthouse at the top is used to signal nearby ships for trading goods, more than it is used as a warning for ships not to crash into it at night. Each tower provides a different vantage point to scan the sea for shipwrecks, islands, survivors, ships, and land.

The people hardly ever need weapons, but they have them, and are trained, because they know there are pirates out in the open ocean.

ARCHELON CASTLE • Time to Build = 20 Months • Number of Hours = Lots • Number of Pieces = A Whole Bunch • Weight = 92.8 lbs • Height = 44 in • LEGO LEDs = 20 • LEGO Motors = 8 • LEGO Battery Packs = 8 • BrickLink Orders = Too Many • 100% LEGO

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The people of Archelon Castle also built a special tower just for birds. The tower allows the birds to survive in the middle of the ocean, and they provide eggs for the people who live there.

Battle scarred from centuries at sea, weathered from the sun, storms, and wind, the enormous dinosaur swims on, the last of the great Archelon sea turtles.

Building the Model I built three different turntables before I was finally able to design one that could handle the weight. The turtle and castle are about 60 lbs.

I got the turntable design concept from the book The Unofficial LEGO Technic Builder’s Guide by Paweł “Sariel” Kmiec, page 55. I designed two EV3 Mindstorms motors with a differential to work together for more power. The EV3 motors are one of the most powerful motors ever made by LEGO: https://www.philohome.com/motors/motorcomp.htm I also got a pro tip from fellow builder Wayne Hussey: don’t use the full 41 balls, but actually take one out, and use 40 total for less friction and a smoother turntable.

At the very beginning I didn’t know if the project could work, but I started in anyway. I taped printer paper down and hand-drew the outline of the turtle, then laid out plates for the base.

The internal turntable.

Probably the most tedious part was using a bazillion jumper plates and 1x2 plates to create the under shell. To create the curvature I needed, I did one jumper plate stacked on top of two 1x2 plates, and went up and out around the edge until the last three levels, which extend out a full stud each instead of a half-stud.

I tend to over-build things anyway, but I knew the turtle body needed to be super strong to hold all the gearing and motors for making all four fins move, and to support the head and the castle—and to balance on a turntable so the whole thing could rotate.

I designed the fins in the same way, hand-drawing a sketch on paper taped down to my work table, then laying out plates over the drawing. I eyeballed the scale and actually got it right the first time.

It was a big moment when I got the front fins to work.

Once I figured out how to make the front fins move, I knew the whole build could work.

Building up the shell of the model.

Assembling fins.

The front fins are each anchored to the large Technic swivels, and then actually roll with three sets of small rubber wheels on tile to eliminate friction. Reinforced Technic arms with big ball joints on both ends drive the fins’ movement. Each has its own Power Functions Large Motor, significantly geared down, so the fins “swim” at different rates, to make the movement look more organic.

I then worked to get the back fin Technic mechanism design finalized and built into the base. It was very tricky to get the strength I needed while being able to rotate on three axes. Credit to Nathan Diller for helping me by figuring out it could work, and creating the initial design: https://www.flickr.com/photos/fraserratzlaff/51702536932/in/ album-72157720178630536/ In the spirit of over-building, and making things stronger than they need to be, I may have overdone it with the internal Technic beams. One of the best questions I got at BrickCon was, “If you could build it again, what would you change?” I said I would make the turtle body about 10-15 pounds lighter. The finished turtle was about 50 pounds. It actually needs to be heavy for stability, but not that heavy.

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Building up the sides was faster and easier than constructing up and out off the base, but it still felt like it took forever. The tricky parts were building over the gears and moving arms for the fins.

I wanted the turtle to be green but also look more interesting and ancient, weathered by the ocean, sun, and centuries at sea—and fights with bigger sea creatures that have now gone extinct.

I was making progress on the body, but I was putting off building the head, because I just didn’t know where to start. I knew I had to nail it, especially the proportions and the eyes, for the whole build to look good.

The mechanism for fin movement. The single center gear moves the fin up and down while the three gears move the fin backward and foward.

It was hard to get started on building the head, and even once I got going, it was slow in the beginning, but at some point it took off and then went fast. I knew early on how I wanted to do the nose and beak. I had played around with different eye designs for months, so I had a head-start on that. Once I finished the head, I felt a huge relief, and the rest of the turtle almost built itself.

I started building on January 18, 2020, and finished the turtle on February 12, so 13 months. I had also been working on several turntable designs during this time, but had not started the underwater scene for the base, or the castle.

I decided to create the castle in the vesica piscis shape for several reasons. 1) It fit nicely, almost elegantly, on the back of the turtle shell; 2) It would break waves in the front and back during storms at sea for the people living on the castle; and 3) I wanted to build a castle in a new shape I’d never seen before.

Reinforcing the shell.

I originally thought I would use long pieces of LEGO tubing with clips, but that wasn’t as strong, and I could get the same or better effect with hinges. The walls are anchored to the base with every available stud, and the rest sits on tile.

I got the castle walls up and started to work on the first towers. It was a real challenge to try to fit a big castle into such a small space, and have it look like the right scale with the turtle, and also have the castle look and feel bigger than it is, playing with scale and perception like the Cinderella Castle in Disneyland.

Making a surface for the castle.

It was strange; I hit a bit of a mental block and got stuck right after I finished the castle walls. Even though I thought from the beginning the castle would be the easiest and most fun part of the whole project, once I got there I wasn’t sure exactly how I was going to build it.

So I took a break. I took about three weeks off from building and didn’t touch the project at all. At some point I started doing some sketches of the castle, and that was helpful because I knew exactly how many studs I had to work with.

The sketches turned out to be really important; because it was such a tight space, everything had to be planned out.

And after I sketched something, I could go measure out the footprint with bricks and see how big it would be.

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Defining the vesica piscis shape for the castle walls.

Taking the break was important, too, as it allowed me to shift my thinking from the turtle, which had been pretty much all-consuming, to the castle.

After I decided on the layout, I was finally able to get going on the castle. Once I had the outline of the central tower, it went up pretty fast. I absolutely love the point when you are so deep into a project, it takes on a life of its own and sort of finishes itself.

I got the castle about 85% done, and still had lots of details to add, but the essential framework was there. I got inspired on a whim to add the tower outside the wall—just because I felt like I wanted the castle to be bigger somehow, but I couldn’t move the wall—and it’s one of my favorite parts of the whole castle.

At this point it was just pure fun, and very enjoyable. As good as my sketches were, there were a few things I did discover along the way. There wasn’t quite enough room for a few towers I had planned, but I did find room for a few towers in other places I couldn’t think of until I was building and at that point.

Adding the walls.

I added the final touches —birds, people, more plants, flowers, trees, and some gold railing and lots of tiny details like mushrooms, barnacles, and these great turtle stickers I found on Bricklink from a 2017 Disney set—and it was finally done! What a relief!

This was my pandemic project, and a really fun escape for my inner extrovert to deal with the fact that everything got canceled for two years.

When I showed it at BrickCon, the comment I heard the most from kids was, “Look at that shark eating that other shark! And he’s eating that other shark!”

It was almost painful to take apart my last big build (ninefoot-tall Castle Lorinean) but I never would have been able to do this project without those parts. And every time I tell myself, “If I take it apart, I’ll build something better.”

But this build was so hard, and so big, and so fun, I can’t imagine what that would be. So, this one is going to stay together for awhile.

The model nears completion.

A closer look at the center tower and its stained glass.

The turtle has a lobster stuck in its teeth, but since he doesn’t have any arms or hands, he can’t get it out. He’s just stuck with it.

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Sea turtles hatching!

The castle.

The castle blacksmith hammering out a sword.

The circle of life.

A closer look at the stained glass windows.

Fraser poses with his creation.

The bird tower.

The gate to Atlantis can be found here, guarded by the King of Atlantis himself.

Under the turtle is an entire underwater setting.

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People Loïc Brun, known as filbrick or Les briquet de Loïc online, is a French product design student and LEGO builder. Since he was a child, he has been building, starting with secondhand bricks that his parents found at flea markets. Having the blue LEGO system 4153 box, he created small towns with a few figures. With a little imagination, he could bring his story to life. He received more sets on his birthday and at Christmas. Loïc ’s first Technic box seeded an interest in mechanics and technology in him.

Loïc never stopped LEGO building, so he never had a Dark Age. He’s 22 and has been building for contests since he was 8. At the age of 14, he finished in fifth place (out of 75 participants) in a contest where his passion for building started. The following year’s contest theme was the Far West and he got first place with a chess scene between Jolly Jumper and Lucky Luke (from a famous comic book in Europe). Since that moment, he never stopped doing LEGO contests. He still does them now and joined a local LEGO users group: “Puissance Brick.”

Loïc with one of his builds.

Builder Spotlight:

Loïc Brun Article by Joe Meno Photos by Loïc Brun A western scene built by Loïc.

Childhood-related themes such as comics and cartoons are Loïc’s favorite themes. He also likes to convert these characters to 3D. With the LEGO themes, he really likes the Creator “3 in 1” sets which allow you to create several models. For him, this is the original spirit of the LEGO brand, to create various objects only with bricks and without figures.

He finds that this is what allows his imagination to be conceptualized the best. The models may be simplistic, but with a few bricks one can build an airplane, a car, or a boat.

This confirms how the bricks can be used universally. Loïc feels that this range is underestimated by the fans, which is sad since it is a great place to see the playability and creativity of building bricks.

Jumper and Lucky.

LEGO Masters France was an unforgettable experience for Loïc. Just the fact that he could build with so many bricks at his disposal was amazing. He and his partner Guillaume Roussel (known online as Disney Brique and the designer of the LEGO Ideas set The Globe [21332]) won third place in the show.

The show allowed them to leave their comfort zone and have the opportunity to make creations that they would have never done elsewhere. Favorite events included launching a LEGO creation into a wall at 80 kilometers an hour (building a UFO) and rebuilding the missing half of an object (a garden gnome). It was a memorable human adventure with other LEGO fans.

Loïc builds MOCs not only for competitions—after participating in many competitions and exhibitions, seeing the smiles and the eyes full of joy from visitors is a great motivation. Moreover, since his participation in the LEGO Masters France 2020 competition, he has gained an international visibility which motivates him even more. That said, the majority of his builds are created for contests, which is a real motivation. These allow him to discover more building universes, and force him out of his comfort zone.

Other inspirations come directly from art. Loïc likes to create more and more creations with a style that hasn’t been explored or done yet, like his creations that are inspired by the art of cut paper, while still in the world of the LEGO brick.

A bouquet of characters.

Another LEGO Masters France team creation: an amusement park.

From LEGO Masters France: the half-built gnome.

The UFO model built for the show.

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Loïc’s animals: dinosaurs...

When building, Loïc does design on a computer, but doesn’t order the appropriate parts. As a student, he has a very limited budget, so he buys secondhand sets in flea markets.

During contests or raffles, he often has the chance to win a new set. When he builds, he doesn’t use a computer. He has all his parts in bulk and he builds according to his imagination, and only with the parts he has on hand, so he assembles and disassembles and reassembles to make his models stronger or get the effect he is looking for.

He builds with the bricks as the material of his creation in mind, using and selecting totally unexpected pieces in a construction that, in the end, creates a model that speaks to all those who view it. It’s the incredible ability of the pieces which, depending on their use and the model, the viewer’s brain will translate in a different way depending on the context.

As a perfectionist, he builds and rebuilds many times before stopping a model. Also, he is often building for competitions, so he has a limited amount of time that can vary from one week to several weeks.

...and a chameleon (above) and toucan (below).

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Napoleon on his mount.

Sketching out a rover and (inset) the completed model.

Creations based on papercraft.

For Loïc, all models have their difficulties and technical challenges. The reproduction of a statue of Napoleon Bonaparte was especially difficult for him. Being his first realistic build as opposed to cartoonish, the most difficult thing was to make the four small legs of the horse support the weight of the horse and the character.

With all of his builds, Loïc doesn’t have a favorite. He likes all of his builds—otherwise, he would have modified them until he liked them. When pressed, though, he does have a preference for his little animals.

With studies and exams, Loïc doesn’t have time to build as much as he would like to. When he does have a few minutes to spare, he creates LEGO building tutorials for the French LEGO fan magazine Briques Mag. For advice, Loïc offers this to builders: “Buy the LEGO Creator 3-in-1 sets. Also, look into joining local LEGO user groups and meeting fellow fans on social networks.”

You can see more of Loïc’s work at his flickr gallery: https://flickr.com/photos/183638684@N02 or by scanning this QR code!

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19

Building

Ken’s Tyrannosaurus Rex.

Ken Ito’s

Beasts and Birds!

An orca.

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Ken Ito is a civil servant, father of three, and LEGO builder. He started building at the young age of four, eventually fell into a Dark Age, but returned when he found out his wife had the LEGO Idea book #6000. After looking through the book, he started building again.

He builds dinosaurs, creatures and classic space! A Creator set, Prehistoric Creatures (4507) inspired him to build his own creations. When he built the models with his son, he wasn’t satisfied with the set models. He wanted to make a more realistic Tyrannosaurus Rex for his son. From there, Ken began to build other animals and creatures.

For inspiration, Ken uses illustrations, sculptures, and movies that feature dinosaurs, monsters and whales. Some particular sources of inspiration are the monsters and creatures in movies by Ray Harryhausen, famed stop-motion animator and moviemaker.

Ken builds by initially visualizing in his mind how he is going to sculpt his model. Once he feels confident about what he wants, he starts to build. In most cases he begins by building heads or faces. If this doesn’t go well, he probably can’t complete the build. If he does progress, it can take two to three weeks for him to finish a model.

The hardest model he has done was Yamata-no-orochi, an eight-headed dragon. He tried to build it without using slopes and wedges. It was very hard for him, but he really enjoyed the challenge of building it. However, Ken is most proud of his blue Tyrannosaurus Rex. It was the earliest of all of his MOCs. His style of building is to make the model look like it has a skeleton and muscles. For Ken, the skeleton is a very important element. When he was a child, he tried to build dinosaurs and dragons in vain. Now, he has more knowledge, experience, new parts, and money, so he can build better. Ken wants to build those past models with an eye on beauty, dynamic poses, and scientific accuracy. If a viewer feels a little of the passion of his building with his MOCs, he’ll be very happy.

Yamata-no-orochi.

Ken’s advice for builders is for creature and animals: “If you want to build realistic creatures, you should refer to skeleton and picture books of this creatures—they will be really helpful.”

Bottlenosed dolphin.

Apatosaurus.

Emperor penguin family.

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Building Miro Dudas:

From Star Wars to Animals!

Some examples of Miro Duda’s animals.

Miro Dudas was last in BrickJounal #59, showing his Star Wars figures. A builder since 2012, he has also done some animal and wildlife models. He tells us how he got started animal building: Miro: At the end of 2016, Eurobricks’ site was having a snow-themed building contest, and I happened to align two white slopes back-to-back which created the fox’s mouth and snout, and from there it just grew into a head with other pieces. By end of the day, I had built the Red Fox in a seated position with its head tilted down and a paw in an upright position. I like dynamic poses and expressions that tell as story, so I then built a snow base with a hole that the fox was peering down in, awaiting for its next meal to pop out of it. I named the build “Winter Fox Hunt.” The build instantly got a lot of attention on blog sites and I quickly realized that I had found my favorite theme—brick building animals and other characters.

Shortly thereafter, I built a wolf, a bear cub, and a raccoon.

Along with the fox, they made up the Woodland Creatures collection. I made instructions for them, which I have been selling through Rebrickable/Bricklink. I have built additional animals (deer buck, birds, bunnies). I had plans to build more, but just have not gotten around to building other animals. I have created a smaller version of some of my animals, which I call the BrickPals theme. They are much smaller, with oversized heads that can be posed.

They are geared more towards younger builders, and I have designed three eco-system groups: the Woodland (fox, wolf, raccoon), the Forrest (bear, panda, koala), and the Savannah (lion, rhino, giraffe). In fact, you’ll be able to build the Savannah Brickpals!

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Lion Parts List

(Parts can be ordered through Bricklink.com by searching by part number and color)

Qty Part Color 1 6141.dat Black 2 98138pz1.dat Black 1 2 3 4 1 5 1

2420.dat 3021.dat 3023.dat 3024.dat 3176.dat 3623.dat 4032b.dat

11

6091.dat

1 1

11090.dat 15068.dat

1

15573.dat

2 4

25269.dat 26604.dat

1 1

54200.dat 60474.dat

1

60478.dat

6 6 5 2 1 1 2

92946.dat 3023.dat 3024.dat 3623.dat 3710.dat 4070.dat 6091.dat

2 1

11477.dat 15068.dat

3

15070.dat

1

15573.dat

1

20482.dat

2 1 6 1

25269.dat 32028.dat 54200.dat 85861.dat

1

93273.dat

1 2 1

99207.dat 99780.dat 14704.dat

1

22484.dat

Description Plate 1 x 1 Round Tile 1 x 1 Round with Two White Squares Within Black Round Pattern Tan Plate 2 x 2 Corner Tan Plate 2 x 3 Tan Plate 1 x 2 Tan Plate 1 x 1 Tan Plate 3 x 2 with Hole Tan Plate 1 x 3 Tan Plate 2 x 2 Round with Axlehole Type 2 Tan Brick 2 x 1 x 1 & 1/3 with Curved Top Tan Bar Tube with Clip Tan Slope Brick Curved 2 x 2 x 0.667 Tan Plate 1 x 2 with Groove with 1 Centre Stud, without Understud Tan Tile 1 x 1 Corner Round Tan Brick 1 x 1 with Studs on Two Adjacent Sides Tan Slope Brick 31 1 x 1 x 0.667 Tan Plate 4 x 4 Round with Hole and Snapstud Tan Plate 1 x 2 with Handle on End Tan Slope Plate 45.73 2 x 1 Reddish Brown Plate 1 x 2 Reddish Brown Plate 1 x 1 Reddish Brown Plate 1 x 3 Reddish Brown Plate 1 x 4 Reddish Brown Brick 1 x 1 with Headlight Reddish Brown Brick 2 x 1 x 1 & 1/3 with Curved Top Reddish Brown Slope Brick Curved 2 x 1 Reddish Brown Slope Brick Curved 2 x 2 x 0.667 Reddish Brown Plate 1 x 1 with Tooth Perpendicular Reddish Brown Plate 1 x 2 with Groove with 1 Centre Stud, without Understud Reddish Brown Tile 1 x 1 Round with Pin and Pin Hole Reddish Brown Tile 1 x 1 Corner Round Reddish Brown Plate 1 x 2 with Door Rail Reddish Brown Slope Brick 31 1 x 1 x 0.667 Reddish Brown Plate 1 x 1 Round with Open Stud Reddish Brown Slope Brick Curved 4 x 1 Double Reddish Brown Bracket 1 x 2 - 2 x 2 Up Reddish Brown Bracket 1 x 2 - 1 x 2 Up Lt Bluish Grey Plate 1 x 2 with Socket Joint-8 with Friction Centre Dark Bluish Grey Bar 2L with Ball Joint-8

Design and Instructions

by Miro Dudas (HumbleBricks.com) from BrickNerd Let’s go on a safari! In honor of the creatures featured in this issue, I designed three iconic animals from Africa: a lion, giraffe, and rhinoceros.

I picked these three animals because I loved watching them at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, where I took my family for many years. I loved seeing them move so gracefully, yet still embody so much character.

That’s why I made BrickPals. I wanted to capture these animals in a LEGO form so small, that even a child could hold them in their palm of their hand. I tried to imbue them with as much character as possible, so they could be a desk or nightstand buddy.

They can be posed so they can tilt their heads or even look back at you, bringing them that much more to life. This was a fun collection to design—I hope you enjoy building them!

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BrickNerd is a LEGO fan website that was started by Tommy Williamson. Relaunched in 2021 by Dave Schefcik and some of the best LEGO builders in the world, the site continues the mission started by Tommy: to show the best of the LEGO fan community online with builds, interviews and articles.

BrickJournal is proud to continue its partnership with BrickNerd.

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You can go to the BrickNerd website by typing: https://bricknerd.com/ on your browser or by scanning this QR code!

Giraffe Parts List (Parts can be ordered through Bricklink.com by searching by part number and color)

Qty Part Color 2 98138pz1.dat Black 1 4 8 2 2

2420.dat 3023.dat 3024.dat 3623.dat 4032b.dat

1 1 4

4070.dat 4490.dat 6091.dat

1 2 1

11090.dat 11477.dat 15068.dat

2 4

26601.dat 26604.dat

1

30165.dat

1

34103.dat

1 3 1

51739.dat 54200.dat 60474.dat

1

87087.dat

2 1 4

92946.dat 3021.dat 3023.dat

Description Tile 1 x 1 Round with Two White Squares Within Black Round Pattern Tan Plate 2 x 2 Corner Tan Plate 1 x 2 Tan Plate 1 x 1 Tan Plate 1 x 3 Tan Plate 2 x 2 Round with Axlehole Type 2 Tan Brick 1 x 1 with Headlight Tan Arch 1 x 3 Tan Brick 2 x 1 x 1 & 1/3 with Curved Top Tan Bar Tube with Clip Tan Slope Brick Curved 2 x 1 Tan Slope Brick Curved 2 x 2 x 0.667 Tan Plate 2 x 2 without Corner Tan Brick 1 x 1 with Studs on Two Adjacent Sides Tan Brick 2 x 2 with Curved Top and 2 Studs on Top Tan Plate 1 x 3 with 2 Studs Offset Tan Wing 2 x 4 Slope Brick 31 1 x 1 x 0.667 Tan Tan Plate 4 x 4 Round with Hole and Snapstud Tan Brick 1 x 1 with Stud on 1 Side Tan Slope Plate 45.73 2 x 1 Reddish Brown Plate 2 x 3 Reddish Brown Plate 1 x 2

Qty Part 2 3024.dat 1 3069a.dat 2 3623.dat 1 3710.dat 1 3937.dat 1 3938.dat 3 4032b.dat 1 5

4070.dat 6091.dat

1

18674.dat

1

20482.dat

2 1

25269.dat 34103.dat

1

60478.dat

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85861.dat

1 1

85984.dat 87087.dat

6 1

92946.dat 93273.dat

1 2 1

99207.dat 99780.dat 14704.dat

3

22484.dat

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4

Color Description Reddish Brown Plate 1 x 1 Reddish Brown Tile 1 x 2 without Groove Reddish Brown Plate 1 x 3 Reddish Brown Plate 1 x 4 Reddish Brown Hinge 1 x 2 Base Reddish Brown Hinge 1 x 2 Top Reddish Brown Plate 2 x 2 Round with Axlehole Type 2 Reddish Brown Brick 1 x 1 with Headlight Reddish Brown Brick 2 x 1 x 1 & 1/3 with Curved Top Reddish Brown Plate 2 x 2 Round with 1 Centre Stud Reddish Brown Tile 1 x 1 Round with Pin and Pin Hole Reddish Brown Tile 1 x 1 Corner Round Reddish Brown Plate 1 x 3 with 2 Studs Offset Reddish Brown Plate 1 x 2 with Handle on End Reddish Brown Plate 1 x 1 Round with Open Stud Reddish Brown Slope Brick 31 1 x 2 x 0.667 Reddish Brown Brick 1 x 1 with Stud on 1 Side Reddish Brown Slope Plate 45.73 2 x 1 Reddish Brown Slope Brick Curved 4 x 1 Double Reddish Brown Bracket 1 x 2 - 2 x 2 Up Reddish Brown Bracket 1 x 2 - 1 x 2 Up Lit Bluish Grey Plate 1 x 2 with Socket Joint-8 with Friction Centre Dark Bluish Grey Bar 2L with Ball Joint-8

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Rhino Parts List (Parts can be ordered through Bricklink.com by searching by part number and color) Qty Part Color 2 98138pz1.dat Black

Qty Part 2 15573.dat

2 1

3024.dat 14704.dat

1 2

22484.dat 24201.dat

2

22388.dat

1

85861.dat

2 2 4

25269.dat 26601.dat 26604.dat

4 1 2 8 3 2 5 3 1 1 4 1 1

92946.dat 3020.dat 3021.dat 3023.dat 3024.dat 3069a.dat 3623.dat 3710.dat 3937.dat 3938.dat 4070.dat 4740.dat 4859.dat

2 7

51739.dat 54200.dat

1

60478.dat

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61409.dat

3 1

63864.dat 85984.dat

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87580.dat

4 1

92946.dat 93273.dat

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6091.dat

2

15068.dat

1 2

99207.dat 99780.dat

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Description Tile 1 x 1 Round with Two White Squares Within Black Round Pattern Lt Bluish Grey Plate 1 x 1 Lt Bluish Grey Plate 1 x 2 with Socket Joint-8 with Friction Centre Lt Bluish Grey Slope Brick 50 1 x 1 x 0.667 Quadruple Lt Bluish Grey Plate 1 x 1 Round with Open Stud Lt Bluish Grey Slope Plate 45.73 2 x 1 Dk Bluish Grey Plate 2 x 4 Dk Bluish Grey Plate 2 x 3 Dk Bluish Grey Plate 1 x 2 Dk Bluish Grey Plate 1 x 1 Dk Bluish Grey Tile 1 x 2 without Groove Dk Bluish Grey Plate 1 x 3 Dk Bluish Grey Plate 1 x 4 Dk Bluish Grey Hinge 1 x 2 Base Dk Bluish Grey Hinge 1 x 2 Top Dk Bluish Grey Brick 1 x 1 with Headlight Dk Bluish Grey Dish 2 x 2 Inverted Dk Bluish Grey Wing 3 x 4 with 1 x 2 Cutout without Stud Notches Dk Bluish Grey Brick 2 x 1 x 1 & 1/3 with Curved Top Dk Bluish Grey Slope Brick Curved 2 x 2 x 0.667

Color Description Dk Bluish Grey Plate 1 x 2 with Groove with 1 Centre Stud, without Understud Dk Bluish Grey Bar 2L with Ball Joint-8 Dk Bluish Grey Slope Brick Curved 2 x 1 Inverted Dk Bluish Grey Tile 1 x 1 Corner Round Dk Bluish Grey Plate 2 x 2 without Corner Dk Bluish Grey Brick 1 x 1 with Studs on Two Adjacent Sides Dk Bluish Grey Wing 2 x 4 Dk Bluish Grey Slope Brick 31 1 x 1 x 0.667 Dk Bluish Grey Plate 1 x 2 with Handle on End Dk Bluish Grey Slope Brick 18 2 x 1 x 0.667 Grille Dk Bluish Grey Tile 1 x 3 Dk Bluish Grey Slope Brick 31 1 x 2 x 0.667 Dk Bluish Grey Plate 2 x 2 with Groove with 1 Centre Stud Dk Bluish Grey Slope Plate 45.73 2 x 1 Dk Bluish Grey Slope Brick Curved 4 x 1 Double Dk Bluish Grey Bracket 1 x 2 - 2 x 2 Up Dk Bluish Grey Bracket 1 x 2 - 1 x 2 Up

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Building

A preliminary sketch of the XL-15. Image courtesy of Pixar.

Chris Perron:

Designing the XL-15 Spaceship Set Photography provided by the LEGO Group Production art courtesy of Pixar

Beginnings

Design work started on the sets for Lightyear in 2021, with the arrival at the LEGO Group of preproduction art from Pixar. Renderings of the many vehicles were received, such as the art above, and with guidance from Pixar, models and their functions would be outlined.

One of the LEGO sets released for Lightyear was the XL-15 Spaceship (76832). Designed by Chris Perron, who has been featured in BrickJournal previously, this set was designed with the help of the director of Lightyear, Angus MacLane—himself a LEGO fan.

Chris showed the design process that led to the creation of the set at BrickCan 2022, a LEGO Fan Event.

Here, thanks to Chris and the LEGO Group, we are able to take an exclusive look behind the making of a set!

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Here you can see the first sketch model that Chris made. Sketch models are rough models used to figure out functions and dimensions. The colors for this model were set on Buzz Lightyear’s iconic colors, as initial illustrations of the spaceship were done in grayscale and Chris assumed that he would be using the colors from the Toy Story movies and the Buzz Lightyear of Star Command show. This turned out not to be the case, as the colors chosen by Pixar were blue, white, grey, and a yellow windscreen, which was requested by Angus MacLane.

Screening a Spaceship

Revisions were made by Chris, with the underside of the XL-15 changing from the lime green to blue, and a prototype windscreen added in transparent orange. It was seen in production art that their spaceship was on a launcher, so Chris started building a rough stand for the model. An initial idea was a four-legged stand.

From the beginning there was no provision to have weapons on XL15. Form follows function, and the XL-15’s function is speed. Having large engines and a long body gave the spaceship a dynamic shape that evokes a racer, and is also very swooshable!

At this point, the windscreen hadn’t been produced—it’s a new piece that first appears in this set (thanks Angus!). For that reason, the digital model doesn’t have a windscreen.

Chris’ solution was to create a windscreen by combining some parts in the digital building software LEGO uses to develop sets that fit the implied footprint and dimensions of the piece. For creating sketches of the geometry of the new element, Chris likes to use Blender.

You can see more refinements added to the spaceship as well as the mashed-up windscreen. The intakes have been changed and the fuselage was made longer. The leading edge of the wings were also changed to a tile instead of a built stripe pattern.

Further revisions are tried below with possible ways to blend in the windscreen to the body of the XL-15.

The final set retains the wedges seen on these slides. An initial windscreen design is also seen here. The windscreen was planned to have a shallow angle and be usable for this and other sets.

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The requirements for the windscreen were to be ten studs long (an even number), four studs wide (to fit a minifigure) and roughly two bricks tall. Within that set of dimensions, variants were made, as seen here.

One thing that was wanted at the beginning was a bar for clips to attach to.

Another idea was to have a flat area at the rear of the windscreen in front of the clip bar that was a stud in length. This would add more interior space for a minifigure, blend the windscreen closer to the body of the ship, and provide a place to add the part number. To leave no marks on any of the surfaces, the injection point was moved to the bar.

Here are the three main references for the windscreen.On the left is the windscreen that used finger hinges; at the center is the X-Wing windscreen that has a one-stud raised top face; and at the right, a windscreen that also showed up in Star Wars sets that has a curved slope and a 2 x 2 stud roof with studs.

The variants were all tried out on the digital model, as seen here. This is where Chris noticed the one stud roof would open up the interior space for the minifigure’s head.

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When the final design was chosen, it was added to the digital model.

The windscreen ended up having sloped sides to blend the part into the body and match sloped bricks or elements. The studs were not added here, giving the element an overall smooth look.

Here’s a sketch model in progress with the windscreen added. Minifigures are now added to the set—stud shooters are originally considered.

The stand is also changed. Chris recalled a design he used to display his MOCs at BrickCon 2015! This design allowed the set to be displayed at an angle using Technic liftarms.

Below is the progression of the windscreen from its creation as a 3D printed piece at the left, to final production part. The studs were removed from the piece in the second 3D printed part, leaving a clear area for the part number. A preliminary molded part is made in pink plastic; then after approval, the final windscreen is produced.

Winging it!

Another important part of the XL-15 is the wings. Having a set of wings that sloped downward posed a unique problem for Chris. He had to slope the wings and capture the intake shape without stressing elements. His initial brainstorming was done on the computer screen—making duplicate models and trying different builds to try to make the desired angle.

He made so many different ways to lock a sloping angle, he took photos to keep a reference, in case he need to do this in a future project. A lot of them used Technic pins, while others used clips.

The solution for the plate geometry came after Chris talked with a fellow designer, Mike Psiaki, who is the resident math wizard of the office.

Chris used the reflected triangle rule, seen at the left. If you mirror both sides of a joint with the same number of elements, a secure angled surface is created. The second form is a larger assembly, but since they match in elements, an angle is also created.

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A version of the last assembly is used in the set to secure the wings to the body of the ship. The top pin assembly is part of the intake cowling, and the bottom black pin is replaced by a long Technic pin with axle holder for ease of building.

Here is the final model. The stand was modified to black and had a UCS (Ultimate Collectible Series) style nameplate added.

This photo shows a couple of different elements that are unique: For landing the ship, Chris used an unusual piece. He wanted the bottom to have some greebling detail with a center underrib, and needed a part with some bulk (a four-plate height).

He found a part that fit his requirements, which can be seen at the bottom of the XL-15.

The crystolic fusion core that Buzz is holding is a 1 x 1 transparent blue brick that is printed on two opposite sides. This is the first time that LEGO has done this, and allowed for the edge bars to be on the corners.

The drive exhausts are halves of a Technic differential element. Chris was looking for a part that would fit the cylinder piece on the drive, and inspiration struck when he was exploring parts at the department parts library. Once he found that the part fit and had some discussions, the part was incorporated into the model!

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Cockpit Building!

The cockpit of the XL-15 was based on a piece of production art that showed the ship controls. Details that Chris was able to include were the Heads Up Display (HUD), which he replicated with a click hinge base, and the joystick which also served to help secure IVAN, which is printed on a 2 x 2 triangular tile. With the scale of the set and parts, the amount of detail inside the cockpit is a neat surprise.

Including IVAN!

It was determined at the beginning that IVAN, the AI navigator for Buzz’s spacecraft, would be a removable piece. While the LEGO part is triangular, the initial IVAN for the XL-01 in the movie is rectangular as seen below, not too unlike an old game cartridge. IVAN gets updated as the movie progresses, so it becomes triangular.

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Making Characters!

You can see from the above production art how the LEGO minifigures are designed to be recognizable, and also stylized to fit the LEGO figure universe. Shown from left to right are: Armor suit, Mo Morrison, and Darby Steel. The figures and graphics (including the IVAN tiles) were designed by Mark Tranter.

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Building

The XL-1, built by Chris Giddens.

Chris Giddens:

Building the XL-01!

Article and Photography by Chris Giddens The rear of the ship, showing the exhausts.

Chris Giddens is one of the first AFOLs that appeared online. In the decades that he has been building, he created a new fan theme (Pre-Classic Space), helped in creating a building standard for creating LEGO moonbases, and brought countless other builders into the hobby with his models online and at conventions. He also sold custom sets, and that’s where he starts his story and started a friendship...

Chris: I remember the day. I sealed the package and looked a third time at the email and the address. It had cool words like Emeryville and Pixar and... Angus. Who is this guy who worked at Pixar who wanted to buy a little home built set that I made? In those days the internet wasn’t dominated by social media platforms, but LEGO fans could connect through fan message groups, personal websites, and Flickr—and apparently a guy at Pixar was a LEGO nerd just like us. It was fun swapping messages and nerd jokes back and forth with the guy.

Years later, that guy is deep in our world again, throwing down what looks to be a super spacey adventurous backstory to a classic character known as Lightyear. (Buzz to his friends.) When the teaser trailer hit and a spaceship was on the screen, I honestly felt like I was little Andy watching that movie that changed his life—and Angus will show us yet again he’s a nerd like us.

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When you watch that trailer, they feature a spaceship.

Actually, it’s two. The one we know tangibly from a LEGO set is the XL-15. It’s an amazing set and an amazing build with an amazing classic space colored canopy. “He knows—a nerd like us.” But the other—actually the first one in the trailer—is the XL-01. It’s bigger, it’s chunkier, and logically you can deduce that there’s some sort of technology development at work—bigger chunkier tech

getting more efficient and moving to sleeker and faster tech. So that bigger chunkier ship became the challenge. In fact, Angus threw down the challenge for me to do it, dad gum it, and I had to. “Nerd like us.”

So I made some deliberate choices to make it the size and scale that would compare to the LEGO model. It’s also built using similar techniques and part choices, so they look natural together on display. I tried to use a different canopy—I really did—but I got another copy of the XL15 and used that one. It looked best. Angus, I’m not sure what cut you get from each set, but enjoy that cup of coffee I bought you.

I can also be honest that sending progress shots and asking for advice from Angus while building it, was fun and a little intimidating—especially when he was brutally honest about something. But that was cool. If we don’t get that, we don’t grow as builders. As I got into it and complained about the many complicated angles and shapes, I mostly got laughter, but then encouragement that I can do it.

The XL-1 as seen in Lightyear. Photo courtesy of Pixar.

So here it is: the XL-01. It’s fun to woosh around, close one eye for camera flyby, and make rumbly space noises.

Does it take me back to that day where I sent a S.L.A.M. kit to California? No, it grabs a different moment, seeing spaceships zapping each other and a robot proclaiming, “They’ve hit the main reactor.” And we know a friend, a kid named Angus, is watching too. “A nerd like us.”

Thanks, man, for this amazing moment. You are a steely eyed missile man.

You can see more of Chris’ work at his Flickr gallery: https://www.flickr.com/photos/fazoom/ or by scanning the QR code here!

Chris’ model coming on approach.

A look at the rear of the model, showing drive details.

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Building

The fleet on display.

Jonathan Baxter’s

LEGOLAND Space Fleet!

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I am an expat Brit currently living in the USA. My very first LEGO set was the 648 Service Station from 1971. I remember that there was a piece missing: one of the clear 1x2 plates. However upsetting that was, it did not deter me from actively collecting LEGO. I saved up my meager pocket money for the small sets—and I requested the bigger sets for Christmas and birthdays. My main era of collecting was the 1970s. By the mid-1980s, I had stopped regularly buying sets, only occasionally purchasing a few sets of interest (as I still do today). In preparation for my move to the USA, I donated some of my existing LEGO to friends, thinking that I had outgrown LEGO (silly me!). Today I relish the nostalgia of those old sets, and I have re-purchased a selection of those classic sets, especially the original range of LEGOLAND Space System (as it was then called).

As a science-fiction fan, I often built spacecraft, so the 1979 range dedicated to space was a pure delight. In my opinion, that original range has never been bettered. Sets in those days had just enough specialized pieces to take away some of the squareness/blockiness of the models, but they were still unquestionably LEGO. Although I still love building modern-day sets, and marvel at the flexibility in building and working around the standard studs-on-top-method, the feeling is more akin to scale modelling rather than classic LEGO construction.

These are my old MOCs from 1979 to the mid-1980s. They were built in minifig scale to accompany LEGOLAND Space, and most featured in adventures I would imagine/ create back then. I had set them in a future history from about 2038–2063, which essentially followed the career of a space guy who started out as a freighter pilot (flying LL924) and was based on the Moon. He would thwart alien invasions, Earth-bound bad guys, and other natural threats (meteors, moonquakes, etc.) and would captain the Altares deep space mission. Later, he would go on the run when he was faced with a false accusation of drug smuggling, but would clear his name after some time. He eventually died in a spacecraft crash in a battle after saving the Earth once again.

Most craft incorporated hinged roofs for access to the cockpits (although the P7022 had removable roof sections).

Colour schemes were of course determined by pooling the selection of sets I had acquired over the years. Additional control panels were hand-drawn sticky labels which were applied where required. The craft remain practically unchanged from when I built them all those years ago, apart from a few labels which have now been replaced (where the old ones were peeling off) and a few extra tile pieces incorporated to the rear section of P7022 to enable the roof to be removed more easily.

Some details about each of the craft.

ANDROMEDA The earliest of my surviving MOCS, this was built in 1979.

The shape was loosely based on NASA’s Space Shuttle.

The Space Logo on the front was cut out of a catalogue and stuck on with clear tape.

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A look at some of the detail ofthe town.

The Realm Garden.

The red Spacehog Tug.

The interior of the red Spacehog.

SPACEHOG TUG This was built in 1980 and inspired by a spacecraft in a Doctor Who comic strip (drawn by Dave Gibbons). Built predominantly in red, it had interconnecting ore containers which could be detached individually. I also built a blue variant later in 1980, but this was taken apart in late 1981 and the Delta Survey craft was effectively built with most of the parts. I also wanted to create a black variant and in 1988–89, using some of the Blacktron sets which were then available, I built the black ‘Pirate’ version. Another version I would have liked to have made at that time was white.

Eventually, in late 2020, I finally acquired the parts and built one! And this time, the extra control panels were printed via a computer.

The interior of the white Spacehog.

Spacehog at port.

The white Spacehog.

A rear view, showing the container connection tail.

ALTARES A four-man, deep space probeship, also built in 1980. For my stories, in 2055 it departed Earth on a two-year mission to explore strange new worlds... now, I wonder where that idea came from? The front section, the Lander, detaches and could explore a planet whilst the main ship, the Orbiter, would remain in space. The ship was inspired by the TV series Fireball XL5 and named after the lightship in the TV movie The Day After Tomorrow: Into Infinity. Note that I was able to use some broken pieces—topless tail pieces became fins and a flag pole, without the flag, became an aerial.

DELTA SURVEY CRAFT Built in late 1981. More use of topless tail pieces as fins. I remember ordering replacements from LEGO Spares at Wrexham, Wales—some to replace a couple which had inadvertantly broken, and some to actually take the top off to make into more fin pieces.

Altares lander separating.

Delta survey ship.

Delta at port.

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LANDCRUISER/SURVEY TRUCK Built 1982–83. Most of my stories concerned Earth Space Fleet, but by this time I had envisioned other organisations or subsidiaries, so this truck was emblazoned with the logo U.P.E.C.—United Planets Exploration Commission.

P7022 HEAVY CRUISER The Land Cruiser.

Built 1984–85. Envisioned as a long range cruiser to operate in space and atmosphere. The P7022 normally carried six crew, but crew space could accommodate up to ten.

The craft was also equipped with two buggies and a ‘Bug’ hover-scooter for reconnaissance.

The Heavy Cruiser with escorts.

Bug deployed!

The Heavy Cruiser’s interior.

These are the only ones which survive from those days.

Over time, I assembled and disassambled many other craft, some of which I only have vague memories of. I did not have a camera back then, so it’s pity that I do not have a photo record (but I still have written records of some of the stories). However, with my dad’s permission, I was able to borrow his camera and take a photo of some of the MOCs in the back garden in 1980. Visible in that shot is the blue Spacehog and another big craft which I named Auriga. At right, you can clearly see how the 48 roofs opened on hinges to access the cockpits.

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Building Minifigure Customization 101:

Article and Photography

by Jared Burks Matt Tracker in minifigure form.

Hello everyone. I have been stuck in a review of my childhood lately, and today’s article is not going to deviate too far from that thought, as the title indicates: “I Love the ’80s.” Growing up in the 1970s and ’80s, there were quite a few cartoons, TV shows, and movies that have stuck with me throughout my adult years. Some of these have been remade or rebooted, and some merely continue to this day.

While some only live in our memories, I have revisited multiple of them over the years in this article series, and made several figures.

Most recently I made Rick Hunter from Robotech, featuring custom visor, design, and aftermarket watches. I have also made many GI Joe, He-Man, Flash Gordon, Inspector Gadget, countless Star Wars, and other characters from the late ’70s and ’80s. Honestly, listing them all and all the things that I customized or created for them would take more pages than editor Joe Meno would allow—but I digress.

Inspiration and reference for the minifigure.

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For today’s article, I am going to share Matt Trakker from the M.A.S.K. television series. The interesting bits about M.A.S.K. and Matt Trakker are that the cartoon character was very different from the toy, and the character went on to join GI Joe and Transformers, from what I can find online. I clearly do not recall this bit of the character’s development, but this is part of the fun that I became aware of when I created He-Man. I think I remember what he looked like in the cartoon; however, the toys were so prevalent that many of my memories have been biased by what I actually recall of the toy, and not merely the original reference TV show. This caused issues when I created He-Man, as he merely didn’t look correct when I created a figure straight from the original reference. It took little changes to hybridize the TV show version with the toy version. I believe the same is true for Matt Trakker.

The TV Show M.A.S.K. was created in 1985 by a French American company, and produced by DIC and ICC TV Productions. The show was based on Kenner Production toys, the same company that made the Star Wars action figures.

M.A.S.K. is an acronym that stands for Mobile Armored Strike Kommand, which was a special task force led by Matt Trakker that operated transforming armored vehicles in their ongoing battle with the criminal organization V.E.N.O.M. V.E.N.O.M. stood for Vicious Evil Network of Mayhem, which was led by Miles Mayhem, a former friend of Matt Trakker. The characters on the show work special super-powered helmets termed “masks.” Oddly enough, V.E.N.O.M.’s goal was to obtain money through robbery, extortion, counterfeiting, kidnapping, or theft of historical artifacts. In total, 75 episodes were made, and in reality, the show lasted just over one season. In the ’80s, a season was 65 episodes. So while the run in the ’80s was relatively short-lived, the characters and concept have lived on in comic books, and the characters have joined other series as previously mentioned. Keep this in mind: this show lasted just over one season.

Matt Trakker was the founder and leader of M.A.S.K. and had originally helped his brother Andy Trakker and Miles Mayhem develop the M.A.S.K. technology.

Mayhem killed Andy and stole the technology to form V.E.N.O.M. Matt formed M.A.S.K. in memory of his brother to fight V.E.N.O.M. and bring Mayhem to justice. During these 75 episodes, Matt Trakker wore eight different masks or helmets (Spectrum, Ultra Flash, Lava Shot, Shroud, New Spectrum, Arrow, Dolphin, and Lasertron) and drove or was a member of six different vehicles (Thunderhawk, Rhino, Volcano, Goliath 1, Skybolt, and Hornet). This further complicates the creation of a Matt Trakker figure, as he simply was everywhere and in many different outfits; but for today, we are going with the one from the DVD cover, which is his Thunderhawk get-up. Interestingly, there were eight different toy versions of Matt Trakker made, one for each of the eight different masks he wore. So this furthered the memory confusion of this character, but just like He-Man and others, the outfits on the action figures never really featured the same details, colors, or even designs that the shows did. It seemed that the artists for the action figures merely did whatever they felt like that day, paying little attention to the cartoon—or perhaps it was the cartoon that paid little attention to the action figure. I am not sure which came first where this show is concerned, and it wouldn’t be the first to have a toy first and a show second. For all of these toy details, please visit: https://www.maskforce.com/matt-trakker---mask.html

More references for Matt Tracker.

Like many ’80s cartoons, the outfits were very basic, as they would have to be animated, and the less detail on the outfit, the faster it could be drawn and the animation created. Matt Trakker is no exception to this rule. So his outfit features a vest, harness, gloves, and a helmet. Oddly enough, his harness didn’t connect to the vehicle, as he is commonly shown wearing an additional seat belt. I guess we were kids and didn’t notice his five-point harness wasn’t securing him in the vehicle. Anyway, this outfit was largely his helmet, but before we go there, let’s look at his outfit. I created a very basic vest with the five-point harness in the front, which was only a four-point in the back, so I have no idea where the strap between his legs disappears to; but that is, again, the way the character was created. He wore a jumpsuit-style underoutfit and had some kneepads, and what appears to be a flame retardant red undersuit—perhaps they took inspiration from race car drivers.

Minifigure printing design for the Matt Tracker minifigure.

M.A.S.K. and all related characters and properties are TM & © DIC Enterprises, Inc/Kenner or successor in interest.

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Now that I had the basic outfit created, I had to figure out how to create his mask helmet. This is where I jumped into Thingiverse. For those that don’t know, Thingiverse is an older repository of 3D files for 3D printing. DiMarzio shared his Matt Trakker Spectrum helmet with a unique display stand: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:120478

Working on the helmet in Meshmixer.

Figuring out an issue on the helmet in Meshmixer.

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The finished print on a blank minifigure.

While I didn’t need the stand, the proportions looked like they would work fairly well for a LEGO figure, so I downloaded the design. I then placed the design in Meshmixer where I altered the proportions and added a LEGO head, so I could cut it from the helmet. The trick here is I had to create an extended head so that the bottom would protrude. To do this, you can copy a head, cut the middle out, and then cut the original head in half and extend the head by adding the middle from the second head. This doesn’t distort the stud acceptor at the top, which is critical to get the helmet to fit correctly. I then used this extended head to cut and make the hole in the helmet. I also had to use a torso, as the helmet will touch the shoulders of the figure, so I had to gut this away as well. Once I had these alterations to the helmet, I had to 3D-print it on my EPAX X1 4k. Once printed, I had to prime and paint it. Due to some logistics and timing issues, I can’t share the final figure, but will show a nearly complete version of the Matt Trakker figure. I primed the helmet with a light grey vinyl dye from VHT. I then painted the black visor, followed by the silver highlights (these were definitely not in the show or the action figure, but I like these details). I then painted the visor and hoses red and sealed the whole figure.

Printed out helmets.

The completed minifigure.

Well, that is pretty much the Matt Trakker I recall, which isn’t really true to any specific reference. If you look at the Cosplay community, they have had the same issues I have: which is, our memories are tricky. We have a memory of what characters looked like, and it is almost always more detailed than what we actually saw on television or when we played with our toys. This is where our imaginations took over and filled in details that weren’t present. Hopefully, with today’s and the other ’80s figures I shared, everyone can see where I tried to keep it true to the memories of these characters. So I leave you with this: Do you remember these characters the same way I do, or did your imagination do other things?

More views of the minifigure.

A look at Matt Tracker.

Come back next issue for more Minifigure Customization!

Don’t miss Jared’s two books Minifigure Customization: Populate Your World! and its sequel Minifigure Customization: Why Live In The Box? (available at twomorrows.com).

You can view Jared’s webpage by going to http:// www.fineclonier.com/ or scanning this QR code!

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You Can Build It MINI Build

2 Alternate Models from Creator Set 30188:

Tauntaun and AT-AT Design and Instructions

by Christopher Deck

Hello everybody, and welcome to an exciting building session about animals! Brick-built animals already had been popular during the 1970s and 1980s. I am sure many of you can remember the lovely bricked horses in the Classic Castle sets, and the large variety of animals brickable with the universal building sets of these decades.

With the release of the recent Designer and Creator series in the early 2000s, brick built creatures had a renaissance.

We see small brick-built animals in Creator playsets as well as larger display sculptures these days. They remind us that creativity is unlimited and you can build anything with basic bricks.

Today we are going to manage a real challenge together by having a closer look at Creator set 30188—Cute Kitten—of the year 2014. This is a very small set, only consisting of sixty pieces (six extra parts already included).

It is not a common 3-in-1 Creator set, as there are just instructions for the cat, but we will take it beyond this single model now!

Sixty pieces is not much, and that makes the real challenge: Building a proper model with very limited parts supply and variety. So let’s get started with a wellknown creature seen in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back!

Tauntauns are used to cold weather, and thus were used to cross the ice desserts of Hoth. So if you’ve got a polybag of set 30188 somewhere—you get a Tauntaun!

But there is even more potential in this set. Although no longer produced, you will still find this set in large numbers on internet marketplaces. So if you happen to have two of those polybags and combine them, you can build another “creature” from Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. Admittedly, it’s more an artificial metal creature with four legs: The AT-AT! I hope you will enjoy building these. Have fun, and I’ll see you next time!

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Parts List (Parts can be ordered from Bricklink.com by searching by part number and color)

Tauntaun

Qty Color Part 3 Light-Bluish-Gray 87087.dat 1 Dark-Bluish-Gray 3004.dat 1 Light-Bluish-Gray 11211.dat 3 1 1

Light-Bluish-Gray 3024.dat Light-Bluish-Gray 3023.dat Light-Bluish-Gray 11476.dat

2

Light-Bluish-Gray 15573.dat

1 2 2 1 1 1 5 2 3 1

Light-Bluish-Gray 60478.dat Dark-Bluish-Gray 3710.dat Dark-Bluish-Gray 2420.dat Light-Bluish-Gray 3021.dat White 3021.dat White 3020.dat Light-Bluish-Gray 54200.dat Dark-Bluish-Gray 3048b.dat White 3040b.dat White 3040a.dat

1 4 3 2 1

Light-Bluish-Gray 93606.dat Dark-Bluish-Gray 6541.dat Light-Bluish-Gray 3700.dat Black 2780.dat White 3069b.dat

Description Brick 1 x 1 with Stud on 1 Side Brick 1 x 2 Brick 1 x 2 with Two Studs on One Side Plate 1 x 1 Plate 1 x 2 Plate 1 x 2 with Clip Horizontal on Side (Thick C-Clip) Plate 1 x 2 with Groove with 1 Centre Stud, without Understud Plate 1 x 2 with Handle on End Plate 1 x 4 Plate 2 x 2 Corner Plate 2 x 3 Plate 2 x 3 Plate 2 x 4 Slope Brick 31 1 x 1 x 0.667 Slope Brick 45 1 x 2 Triple Slope Brick 45 2 x 1 Slope Brick 45 2 x 1 without Centre Stud Slope Brick Curved 4 x 2 Technic Brick 1 x 1 with Hole Technic Brick 1 x 2 with Hole Technic Pin with Friction and Slots Tile 1 x 2 with Groove

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AT-AT Parts List

(Parts can be ordered from Bricklink. com by searching by part number and color)

AT-AT Main Body

Qty Color Part 4 Light-Bluish-Gray 87087.dat 2 Dark-Bluish-Gray 3004.dat 2 Light-Bluish-Gray 11211.dat

15

6 1 1

Light-Bluish-Gray 3024.dat Light-Bluish-Gray 3023.dat Light-Bluish-Gray 11476.dat

2 1 1 2 6 4 4

Dark-Bluish-Gray 3022.dat Light-Bluish-Gray 3021.dat White 3020.dat Pink 54200.dat White 3040b.dat Light-Bluish-Gray 3700.dat Black 2780.dat

Legs

Qty Color Part 4 Dark-Bluish-Gray 3710.dat 4 Dark-Bluish-Gray 3048b.dat 8 Dark-Bluish-Gray 6541.dat 8 Light-Bluish-Gray 3700.dat 4 Black 2780.dat

Side Cover

Qty Color Part 4 Dark-Bluish-Gray 2420.dat 4 Light-Bluish-Gray 54200.dat 2 Light-Bluish-Gray 93606.dat

Head

Qty Color Part 2 Light-Bluish-Gray 87087.dat 1 Black 4593.dat 1 Light-Bluish-Gray 3023.dat 4 Light-Bluish-Gray 15573.dat 1 1 2

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Light-Bluish-Gray 60478.dat Light-Bluish-Gray 3021.dat Light-Bluish-Gray 54200.dat

Description Brick 1 x 1 with Stud on 1 Side Brick 1 x 2 Brick 1 x 2 with Two Studs on One Side Plate 1 x 1 Plate 1 x 2 Plate 1 x 2 with Clip Horizontal on Side (Thick C-Clip) Plate 2 x 2 Plate 2 x 3 Plate 2 x 4 Slope Brick 31 1 x 1 x 0.667 Slope Brick 45 2 x 1 Technic Brick 1 x 2 with Hole Technic Pin with Friction and Slots Description Plate 1 x 4 Slope Brick 45 1 x 2 Triple Technic Brick 1 x 1 with Hole Technic Brick 1 x 2 with Hole Technic Pin with Friction and Slots Description Plate 2 x 2 Corner Slope Brick 31 1 x 1 x 0.667 Slope Brick Curved 4 x 2 Description Brick 1 x 1 with Stud on 1 Side Hinge Control Stick Plate 1 x 2 Plate 1 x 2 with Groove with 1 Centre Stud, without Understud Plate 1 x 2 with Handle on End Plate 2 x 3 Slope Brick 31 1 x 1 x 0.667

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59

The Vigil cargo frigate

Eloi Parizeau’s

The Vigil Cargo Frigate

Article by Steven Smyth, Bantha Bricks: Fans of LEGO Star Wars Photography by Eloi Parizeau Galactic greetings! I’m Steven Smyth from Bantha Bricks: Fans of LEGO Star Wars.

Since the community’s founding in 2016, on an almost daily basis, I have witnessed amazing and creative Star Wars builds in the best Star Wars themed building brick group on Facebook.

Eloi Parizeau is one such creative builder and recently shared this custom build of The Vigil, a Kuat Drive Yards built Vakbeor-class Cargo Frigate from Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi. You may remember Eloi from a previous BrickJournal issue, #67, in May 2021. His wellhoned ability to transfer a Star Wars ship to LEGO medium is a topic we wanted to come back to.

Steven Smyth: How’s it going Eloi? I’ve known you for years now through the Facebook group, first as a member and then as a moderator of the all-volunteer Admin Team that helps monitor the group content to maintain a family friendly atmosphere. Everyone in Bantha Bricks has been wowed by your many awesome Star Wars brick builds, but for the uninitiated, please introduce yourself and tell us a little about what you do.

Eloi Parizeau: Hi Steven, I am doing well, and always happy to talk about LEGO and Star Wars! First, for fans who do not know me, I am an architectural technician, so in real life, I do inter-professional coordination and I lead a team of technicians to bring great projects to reality.

For those who think I build LEGO models because of my work, it is actually the total opposite. I have built LEGO since my childhood, when I was four years old!

My favorite LEGO themes growing up were Castle and Space, particularly Blacktron. I would love to see the Castle theme back on shelves. We got the privilege to get the Blacksmith Shop and some Creator sets lately, but a complete wave could be amazing.

Star Wars and all related characters and properties are TM & © Lucasfilm.

Data File: The Vigil The Vigil was a Vakbeor-class cargo frigate captured by Resistance commandos from pirates during a battle off the Chasidron Shoals. It became part of the Resistance fleet under the command of Vice Admiral Jotis during their war with the First Order.

Source: Star Wars Wookieepedia

The drive units of the Vigil.

If you would be so kind, please refresh us on why you love Star Wars so much, and why you choose the LEGO brick as your medium to express yourself?

Yeah, back to the main topic, Star Wars. I remember seeing The Return of the Jedi in 1983, and it is an amazing memory.

My older brother was a Star Wars fan, playing with Kenner toys and creating role playing game backstories. He is probably the main reason why I jumped into the Star Wars world. As far as I can remember, I have played with LEGO for at least 40 years, so in 1999, when I first saw the X-Wing set 7140 on the shelf at Walmart, it automatically just fell in my buggy, I could not resist. I have many years in collecting the Star Wars sets; then I had a kind of Dark Age when my finances were really bad in 2006. It remained like this until my present fiancée bought me the Millennium Falcon microfighter for Christmas in 2014.

I am now at over 300 sets in my collection. With time, building all these sets, I learned a lot of techniques and started to try building “out of the box.” Some friends from a LUG (LEGO User Group) in my country convinced me to attend events to show my builds, and that is how I realized people love my creations. This fueled my desire to get into building even more. The Vigil is my largest project to date.

I personally find the subject of this build a very interesting choice. First, because it is in the movie Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi, which, if we are being honest, is not every Star Wars fan’s cup of tea. Secondly it is an obscure ship design, being a Kuat Drive Yards cargo frigate that was targeted by the First Order after the evacuation of Resistance on D’Qar, and was the first to be destroyed in the ensuing chase. What inspired you to build this particular ship?

First of all, choosing a model to build has to inspire me; the challenge, the shape—and has the model ever been built with LEGO before? I usually search for inspiration on Google, for pictures of ships or unknown vehicles. When I first saw the Vigil, I really loved the shape; then I asked myself if it was possible to do this kind of shelled shaped ship hull with LEGO, but I wanted to build this much larger than my previous builds. My mindset was to build a three-to-four foot long ship, so it was a good fit. I just needed to find the right techniques to build it, as it had never been done before with LEGO at that scale.

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Can you tell us a bit about the construction, and any special techniques you used?

The forward section of the ship.

The Vigil has a very interesting backstory in The Last Jedi supplement books like the Visual Dictionary; was this something you looked at when deciding you wanted to build it?

At first, I did not really know the story of the ship. I just saw an amazing frigate to build. Then, I found some information by searching on Wookieepedia and learned the backstory of the Vigil. Wookieepedia is an interesting way to learn more about some of the obscure parts of Star Wars.

The top of the Vigil.

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I really used my experience from previous builds for this one, making the whole ship modular to be able to bring it to events, like I did for my Nebulon-B Medical Frigate. I used a Technic bridge with the back, and a front Technic core. The center bridge is built with two Technic beam structures covered with a total of 15 panels fixed with half Technic pins to the Technic structure, covered with all sorts of greebling. Both ends of the bridge are fixed into the Technic inner structure with pins. Fun fact: I can lift the whole ship with one hand, taking it by the bridge, as it is very solid. The front section was the ultimate challenge. I used tons of curved slopes of all sizes to create the shell, a total of 13 curved panels, fixed with tons of clips to the top and under panels that both are fixed to the Technic inner structure. The main curved panels can be opened to see the six decorative panels fixed to the core, showing tanks, pipes, long cannons, and what I like to call “the inner front city of the Vigil.” I utilized an awesome amount of greebling that seems like a microscale city inside the shell.

Side view.

Another fun fact: every curved panel is different, not only mirrored from each other, but the color match and curved slope organization are different on each panel. The back section was easier to build using four large panels covered with tiles and some texture parts affixed to the top panel and covered with grills, tiles and pipes, and a under panel where I put some Technic plates with pins to fix the tail.

The reactor section is a creative amount of details on a box fixed to a larger panel that covers all the inner structure. I did another panel like this for the front of the back section with a mix of plates in dark bluish gray and trans-dark blue to simulate windows and lights. The tail is built with SNOT (Studs Not On Top) bricks to make it easy to do both side panels.

What are your favorite design elements you used for the creation of the Vigil?

I really like “the inner front city of The Vigil.” Creating those kinds of details is a real challenge and is clearly a highlight in this build, giving life in some ways to this big gray ship. I have used this building style in some of my previous builds, like my GR-75 or my microscale Jedha City.

Some of the detail work on the ship.

What references did you use to help you build this ship?

At the beginning, I searched for all the pictures of the ship that I could find from every possible angle to determine the version I could build. It is not easy to find pictures of every side of this ship from a same source. I did my best to analyze all the good pictures I found to use as a reference.

Did you freestyle build this Resistance Fleet ship or did you use a computer design program to lay it out first?

Every time I build a MOC, I do it in my mind first, thinking of all the ways I can build it. I think of which techniques to use and try to find the best way to connect the parts so that I can build it without failures in the

To see more amazing builds, cool contests and giveaways and family-friendly discussion about everything Star Wars brick, check out the Bantha Bricks: Fans of LEGO Star Wars Facebook group at: http://www.facebook.com/groups/starwarsLEGOgroup or banthabricks.com or scan the QR code here!

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structure. Then, after a long time thinking about it, I sort parts from my inventory and buy parts I know that I will need to complete the build. There are always four or five more Bricklink orders in the process. Only after the sorting is completed can I start building. This usually helps me in accomplishing quick and efficient building time. It is only when I finish the model that I start building it virtually on Stud.io. It is like another challenge to the build and, of course, as an AutoCAD user and a Bricklink addict, using Stud.io is child’s play for me!

I always like to ask builders of custom sets a certain question that may inspire a reader and future MOC builder to push the envelope of their skills to achieve their dream. Were there any moments on either, or both, of these builds where you felt like, “Aww, man, I’m stuck!” If so, how did you overcome those obstacles?

I am rarely stuck on a project like that. It happened to me once when I built my Jedha City. I built one fourth of it, and it turned out like nothing I wanted, so I dismantled it and put it aside for almost five months. Then, suddenly, I figured out the way I wanted to build it and… boom, Jedha City was made.

What would be your advice to anyone looking to build a Star Wars ship on their own—especially an obscure ship?

Start with something that inspires you and use techniques you know well to be sure to generate a solid and great build. Building something only to build something never gets the “wow factor”; you need to put passion in your creations.

Some more views of the ship.

Do you have instructions available for people to follow along and build the amazing things you design? If you do, how would our reader go about finding these?

As I have shared with you before, I build almost every creation I make in Stud.io. It is a way to make the fun last longer! You can find a lot of my builds on Rebrickable.com by searching for my user name Jedimasterels. For the Vigil, I can tell you that my Stud.io model is done, my detail of building steps are done too, but it is still a work in progress to achieve the complete instructions to make them available to everyone. So, soon, I hope.

I know I have asked you this question before, but quite some time has passed since we last interviewed. In regards to your time spent in the Bantha Bricks community, have there been any builders you have come across that have helped or inspired you to make your cool creations? Any new names over the past year come to mind?

I still love to say that Tom Vanhaelen inspired me a lot at the beginning. Kyle Jorstad builds are always a great way to learn fantastic techniques, and Simon Liu is a microscale master reference for me. There are a lot of great builders in my community who are amazing creators, even if they do not build Star Wars-themed MOCs. I think of Yvan Brickbandit, Sebastien Racicot and Sylvain Daunais; these guys are awesome builders and great friends too.

Any final ideas or thoughts you would like to add?

I would say that if you are not yet a Bantha Bricks Facebook group member, you should join, and then you will discover a community that takes the LEGO Star Wars passion to the next level. Thank you so much, Steven, for this opportunity to share my passion!

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Community

The LEGO Campus, from LEGO’s press release. Photo by Adam Mørk.

Inside LEGO Campus:

An Exclusive Tour of LEGO’s New Billund Headquarters Article by Are M. Heiseldal Photography by Are M. Heiseldal and Adam Mørk

Join us as we tell the story of a super-exclusive tour of LEGO’s new Campus in Billund—two months ahead of its official opening!

Although technically, it’s not entirely correct to say that LEGO’s new headquarters opened in early April.

The business part of the building, with offices for people working in company management, has been operational for a while, but the part of the building that recently opened its doors for the first time was the so-called People House, which will undoubtedly have an incredible impact on the everyday life of all LEGO employees in Billund. You will understand why later when I explain what this building is all about.

LEGO Set #4000038 LEGO Campus, only for LEGO employees. Photo courtesy of Brickset.com

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But for the official opening, collectors all over the world were amazed to see a new Architecture-style set depicting the building, only to be handed out to the employees who are lucky enough to work in the actual HQ itself—which is only around 2,000 people. I haven’t been able to get my hands on one of those sets, (Edit: That’s still technically correct, but I now know I will in September!) but I got pretty lucky, too, way back in January: Along with a select few other Scandinavian AFOLs, I was allowed to see the inside of the building before the vast majority of the actual employees had a chance to do the same!

An Inconspicuous Request In late November last year, the former chairman of our Norwegian LUG, Brikkelauget, posted a message on our forum saying that they’d had a request from LEGO for some MOCs to be displayed at the new headquarters, LEGO Campus, in Billund. The models would be put in special glass cases of various sizes like the ones in LEGO House, and the deadline for applying was very short, only a couple of weeks. That meant attempting to build something specifically for this was not a good solution, so they were mainly looking for AFOLs who had something already built that they could lend to LEGO for a few months.

This suited me perfectly, as I don’t like building under pressure—am I a weird Ken Block, headed for LEGO Campus!

AFOL for not doing that? It also means I’d never consider being on LEGO Masters and don’t really do contests. I just don’t enjoy them! I also haven’t built much in the past few years because my LEGO time has simply been eaten up by other things such as BrickNerd, events and… marriage (not a bad thing). So I basically volunteered up a lot of MOCs I had sitting around—my version of the Hoonicorn (YouTube phenomenon Ken Block’s car), my LEGO LEGO store (see what I did there?), and quite a few models from my everlasting Updated Classics project (see BrickJournal #22).

In mid-December I got the email I had been hoping to get: I had been selected as one of the builders for the Campus Display! We were told that we’d have to get to Billund by ourselves, with all our MOCs, and in my case that meant travelling from Bergen, Norway to Copenhagen, Denmark by plane, renting a car and driving the not-quite three hours to LEGO Campus. LEGO would cover our stay in Billund, but not our travel—although for those of us who had the furthest to go, they would offer “compensation in the form of LEGO sets”— which is always a very nice sentence to hear as an AFOL. The MOCs were selected and assigned to the various glass cases, and the only things left to do were to make sure I had time off from work and to pack everything as safely as possible for the flight—the clue is to avoid as much air as possible and pack compact so that anything potentially fragile has nowhere to go—and then head to The Promised Land! Which is how, with a negative COVID-19 test in place and the mandatory online LEGO Health & Safety course completed, I found myself outside Hotel Svanen in Billund on a lovely morning in late January, in the rather exclusive company of the seven other selected builders.

Initial Impressions

LEGO LEGO Store, headed for LEGO Campus!

Lars Barstad and myself, representing Norway and Brikkelauget on this beautiful Billund morning.

LEGO had reached out to the three Scandinavian LUGs (Brikkelauget in Norway, Byggepladen in Denmark and Swebrick in Sweden), so the builders in question were myself, my fellow countryman Lars Barstad (Lego Fjotten), Swedes Anders Horvath (Anders67), Oscar Cederwall (oOger) and LEGO Masters Sweden finalist Peter Ilmrud (Zilmrud), and Anne Mette Vestergård (Anne Mette V) and the father/son duo (LEGO Masters Denmark celebrities) Kim Petersen and Rune Lander Petersen (The Dragon Builder) from Denmark.

We met up with Jan Beyer from LEGO outside the hotel—he was going to help us get into the building, which would otherwise be pretty much impossible.

Security, as we would later discover, was super tight, especially in the People House. With Jan, we were able to unload our cars and get everything inside easily, after having been equipped with some super cool looking LEGO ID badges (which we sadly had to hand in at the end of the day).

As you might be able to tell from the picture, it was an early start. White is the color code for which areas at LEGO Campus we were allowed to visit.

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The Grand Atrium by the main entrance to LEGO Campus. Technicians were working on the giant screens as we were setting up our models in the glass cases just visible in the far end of the room at the bottom of the picture.

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We were led to the area where our builds would be on display, and where the glass cases were waiting for us: The giant, multi-storied atrium by the main entrance to LEGO Campus. If you get the opportunity to visit the building before the Skærbæk Fan Weekend in September when we’ll be onsite to take them back home with us when their time at LEGO Campus is finished, you’ll find them at the far end of the hall after having walked through the entrance.

This also gave us a first glimpse of the architecture of the interior of the building, which is certainly impressive—just have a look at this:

Then it was time to set everything up.

Luckily, Scandinavian Airlines had been kind to my MOCs, so there were no major disasters, but it still took a while to get everything into place—I had, after all, been forced to pack things a bit more sturdy than the others, who all had come to Billund by car, so I didn’t feel that bad about being the last to finish. I wanted to enjoy the occasion as well and had to take some pictures, too—especially as this was pretty much the only part of the building where we were allowed to do just that. Plus, being a car guy, I just had to have a closer look at the amazing blue wonder you can see on this page.

Yep, that’s the one and only fullscale, drivable LEGO version of the Bugatti Chiron supercar. How cool is that? This is parked in the atrium.

I had seen the video of it actually moving, obviously, but being able to see the real thing up close, even if it was standing still and being prepared for the opening of the building, was just amazing. Especially because I was actually present at the LEGO Fan Media Days back in June 2018 when the Technic Chiron was first unveiled. At that point, there was an actual Bugatti Chiron on display in LEGO House, which is nice and all… but this one is arguably even more exclusive!

We spent the better part of three hours getting everything done, only interrupted by lunch in the LEGO Campus canteen—needless to say, lovely and healthy food—and along the way discovered that there was also at least one other fan-made creation on display in the building: namely, the wonderful LEGO version of the Danish hospital ship Jutlandia, made on commission by Dutch ship builder extraordinaire Arjan Oude Kotte a few years ago.

On our way back to the atrium we walked past another intriguing feature of LEGO Campus: A super exclusive restaurant where the quality of the food is promised to be Michelin-star level—but that one is by invitation only, much like Le Gourmet in the LEGO House before it closed. At least now the top brass actually have a place in Billund to take their business partners when they visit!

This is the real deal: a one-of-a-kind, drivable, full-size LEGO Bugatti Chiron!

The Jutlandia, by Arjan Oude Kotte, safely on display at LEGO Campus. Good to see, particularly as she was at one point lost and then rediscovered by accident... in a Norwegian warehouse, of all places!

The LEGO Campus canteen. Yum.

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Finally, all the MOCs were set up, the cool custom-printed 1x16 bricks with our names and LUGs on them were added to the displays, the glass lids were lifted in place, and we could take a (very brief) moment to discover what the other builders had brought: Some truly gorgeous models spanning from my Citythemed stuff to science-fiction and fantasy to a Harry Potter train station.

Only a small sampling of the models displayed at the LEGO Campus.

The Grand Tour But everything we had experienced thus far was about to be eclipsed completely by the next item on our schedule—and probably the thing you’re most excited to read about— namely, a super exclusive tour of the building, particularly the People House part, which is surely unique in its kind, at least outside of Silicon Valley.

Quite a few years ago, when the now omnipresent giant tech companies like Meta/Facebook, Google and Apple started growing enormously, pictures of their amazing headquarters, or campuses as they were commonly referred to, went viral. Indoor slides, big halls full of slot machines and pinball games, restaurants with free food, sports facilities — these were all regular features. And one can About to embark on the super top secret tour of LEGO Campus. understand the idea that creative people will perform better in their job with creative surroundings—plus, of course, the added bonus of employees staying at work for longer hours because it’s quite simply fun to be there.

What LEGO has now built in Billund—not only for employees, but also for employees’ families and, we were told, even retired employees and their partners—is most certainly a place that you could understand people wouldn’t want to leave.

We were given this tour on the condition that we didn’t take pictures, so any illustrations for this next part are from LEGO’s own press release. We also had to promise not to talk about what we saw until the building was officially opened and the embargo was lifted. And the tour happened so early that very few LEGO employees had even been allowed to enter the building (one of the employees who accompanied us admitted that he did so mainly because he was so curious to see what it looked like because he hadn’t been allowed in there before). In fact, us wandering around in there at all was pretty much unheard of.

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This way! Or that...

This led to us, on more than one occasion, being stopped by security guards simply insisting that we were not allowed to be in there and that we would have to leave immediately, upon which our guides would have to refer to the people higher up the ladder who had given permission for the tour. So the only people in the building were us, the security guards, and the odd contractor working on electronics and adding finishing touches to the interior.

The fact that we couldn’t take pictures means I have to rely on my memory to tell you what we saw. That shouldn’t be too difficult though, because it left a big impression. I have been fortunate enough to visit the Silicon Valley headquarters of both Meta (back when it was Facebook) and Google, and those are the only two places I’ve seen that are vaguely reminiscent of this. But LEGO Campus still comes across as cooler and fresher… and, as is expected in this day and age, it’s obviously all environmentally friendly, to the extent that all outdoor furniture has been made from waste LEGO bricks.

LEGO Campus photos by Adam Mørk.

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A House for the People So what does the People House contain? Put simply, it’s a playground that all the LEGO people in Billund, and their families, can visit as often as they want, stay at as long as they want, use as much as they want, for free. They can cultivate their hobbies, find new ones, just have a coffee with colleagues, or—maybe particularly in the case of the significant others, or the kids—connect with other people in a similar life situation.

The sports hall.

And the possibilities are almost endless. There are, of course, build rooms for kids to build with LEGO. There are yoga rooms, meditation rooms, and prayer rooms. There is a big kitchen with space enough for a whole master class, where people can take food courses or run them. An arts and crafts room with 3D printers, sewing machines, and equipment to print on T-shirts.

There’s also a big high-tech sports hall that, at first glance, doesn’t have any markings on the floor—until you push the button on the wall that says “volleyball,” upon which LED lights embedded in the floor surface will form the required markings for volleyball—or badminton. If you select basketball, the baskets automatically are lowered from the ceiling.

There are rooms that employees can book for celebrations and anniversaries, and several of them are themed—one that we were shown had a wall covered with LEGO rubber tires, and the brand awareness shines through in everything.

There are coffee places in several locations, one of them next to a corner where milestones from the company history are highlighted. And right next to that, one of my favourite features: A mini golf course that starts inside the building and then continues on the roof, next to the greenhouse where people can grow their own flowers or herbs. I wish I had a picture of that!

Oh, and I almost forgot! LEGO Campus has a hotel. With sixty-odd rooms. But of course it does! Not the kind of hotel where you and I can book a room, but a hotel for LEGO employees from other parts of the world so they won’t have to stay elsewhere when they visit the Mothership in Billund. The rooms are cozy but small; this is on purpose, as they are mainly for sleeping.

Spare time is obviously better spent elsewhere in the building!

It is, after all, a building that also has a giant fitness studio (if I remember correctly, our tour guide claimed it was the largest corporate fitness studio in Denmark, or at least among the largest), a movie theatre that can maybe spawn a film club or just be a place to go to watch that cinema classic in the quality that A large meeting space at the People House. Photo by Adam Mørk. it deserves—or use the karaoke facilities, if you’re so inclined—and then there’s an amazingly cozy room with a 72 fireplace (seen above).

The image on the big brick wall is there for a reason: It’s a cropped LEGO mosaic version of a big painting by Peter Stimeling that hangs in Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen’s office. When the creative minds of C.F. Møller Architects were working on ideas for the building, their first proposals didn’t quite meet the company owner’s expectations. He wanted the new HQ to be more playful, and showed them the painting to inspire them. Now a brick-built copy is located at the very hub of People House.

We walked past this area for the second time as we headed back out of the building, our minds spinning from all the impressions. I was certainly thinking that if I were ever offered a job inside LEGO and had to consider bringing my family to Billund with me, this building is the kind of thing that would make that decision much more likely to swing in favour of becoming a Dane.

Filling Up Empty Suitcases After having thanked our tour guides thoroughly for this unique experience, we were very kindly allowed into the employee store, another LEGO Campus treasure trove now relocated in the main building. The new premises are much lighter than the old ones, but let’s be honest: That’s not what our main focus was. We gave our best “kids in the candy store” impression and made sure that any luggage space that had been freed up by the MOCs (that were now safely in place in their glass boxes) was exploited to the maximum on the way home… and then we were handed the “travel compensation,” which didn’t make things easier. Oh, the pain.

The original painting from Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen’s office that inspired the architects.

So what more is there to say? I have a nice employer, and I like my job. But my employer doesn’t spend millions upon millions of dollars on a building solely dedicated to making me enjoy my spare time more. Granted, my employer doesn’t make eight billion dollars a year, either, but still—it’s easy to be envious of the LEGO employees in Billund.

Now, I’ve never wanted to become a LEGO designer. At least not seriously, after getting to know quite a few people who do that for a living—not even those who insist that this is their dream job. I’d be too afraid to lose the fun of the hobby, and of the restraints that are provided by tight deadlines, quality control, the need to deliver understandable instructions, and so on. But maybe a job in LEGO’s PR department? Or something AFOL-related?

I have to admit it: Knowing that I would have the People House at my disposal does make it a whole lot more tempting.

The gang after installing the MOCs in the atrium. Left to right: Anne Mette Vestergård, Rune Lander Petersen, Oscar Cederwall, Peter Ilmrud, Are M. Heiseldal, Jan Beyer (LEGO), Kim Petersen, Anders Horvath, and Lars Barstad.

The art of Tetris: Good luck cramming all this into two checked bags on the flight back home (I managed)!

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(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $8.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99

BRICKJOURNAL #56

LIFE-SIZE LEGO and what it takes to build them (besides a ton of LEGO brick)! HELEN SHAM’s sculptures of giant everyday items, MAGNUS LAUGHLO’s GI Joe®-inspired models, military builds by ERIC ONG, plus “Bricks In The Middle” comic by KEVIN HINKLE, “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd’s DIY Fan Art, Minifig Customization by JARED K. BURKS, & more!

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $8.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99

BRICKJOURNAL #55

BRICKJOURNAL #54

BRICKJOURNAL #53

BRICKJOURNAL #52

LEGO HEADS & TAILS: FELIX JAENSCH’s remarkable LEGO sculptures, from realistic animals to the human skull and amazing face masks! BRYAN BENSON’s detailed Kermorvan Lighthouse and how he built it from LEGO bricks. A spectacular Winter layout by DAVE SCHEFCIK! Plus: Minifigure customizing, step-by-step instructions, BrickNerd, & more!

FOR YOUR EYES ONLY: HSINWEI CHI and his revolutionary LEGO animals and giant robots! We also declassify other top LEGO builders’ creations, including MICHAEL BROWN’s Technic-scale F-18 Hornet!

Plus: Minifigure customizing from JARED K. BURKS, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd’s DIY Fan Art, & more!

TYLER CLITES and SEAN MAYO show you LEGO hacks to twink and juice your creations! Also, see big bad game-inspired models by BARON VON BRUNK, and Pokemon-inspired models by LI LI! Plus: Minifigure customizing from JARED K. BURKS, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd’s DIY Fan Art, & more!

Russian builder TIMOFEY TKACHEV, plus what it takes to become a LEGO Certified Professional (an elite group of builders officially recognized by LEGO), with New York’s SEAN KENNEY and Australian RYAN McNAUGHT! Also: Minifigure customizing from JARED K. BURKS’, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd’s DIY Fan Art, & more!

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $8.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $8.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $8.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $8.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99

NOW ON SALE! BOOKS FOR LEGO FANS!

BRICKJOURNAL #51

STEAMPUNK, with builder GUY HIMBER! PAUL HETHERINGTON talks about his cover model “Unchain My Heart,” ROD GILLIES’ latest Steampunk work, and a look at the creations of other top Steampunk builders! Plus: Minifigure customizing from JARED K. BURKS’, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd’s DIY Fan Art, & more!

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $8.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99

MINIFIGURE CUSTOMIZATION 1 & 2

YOU CAN BUILD IT, BOOK 1 and BOOK 2

JARED K. BURKS shares his knowledge of the techniques he uses to alter the lovable LEGO® Minifigure into any character you can imagine! With step-by-step tutorials on decal design and application; color alteration; custom part modification and creation; plus tips on minifigure displays and digital photography to capture your custom figures in the best light! Book 2 features advanced techniques on virtual customization; designing decals and advanced decal application; custom part modification and creation; 3-D printing; advanced painting techniques; lighting figures with LEDs or EL wire; tips on minifigure displays; and a Gallery from top customizers, with their best tricks and tips!

From the producers of BRICKJOURNAL MAGAZINE comes a new series of books, compiling STEP-BY-STEP INSTRUCTIONS by the LEGO fan community’s top custom builders!

BOOK ONE is for beginning-to-intermediate builders, and features instructions for LEGO creations from a fire engine and Christmas ornaments to miniscale models from a galaxy far, far away! BOOK TWO is for intermediate-to-advanced builders, with more detailed projects to tackle, from a miniscale yellow castle and miniland people, to a mini USS Constitution! Together, these books take you from novice to expert builder, teaching you key building techniques along the way!

(84-page FULL-COLOR trade paperback) $10.95 NOW ONLY $5 each (Digital Editions) $4.99 each

(84-page FULL-COLOR trade paperbacks) $9.95 NOW ONLY $5 each (Digital Editions) $4.99 each

BRICKJOURNAL #50

DOUBLE-SIZE BOOK! JOE MENO discusses the beginnings of BrickJournal, LEGO Group’s TORMOD ASKILDSEN interviewed, fan community growth over 10 years, and the best builders of the past 50 issues! Plus: Minifigure customizing with JARED K. BURKS, instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, & more!

(144-page FULL-COLOR trade paperback) $17.95 NOW ONLY $10 (Digital Edition) $8.99

BRICKJOURNAL #45

BRICKJOURNAL #49

BRICKJOURNAL #48

BRICKJOURNAL #47

BRICKJOURNAL #46

40th ANNIVERSARY OF LEGO TECHNIC! GEOFF GRAY explores Technic history, JOE MENO interviews former LEGO Set Designer SØREN HOLM about the classic Technic Space Shuttle, MICHAEL BROWN shows off his Technic-scale AH-64, and more! Plus: Minifigure customizing from JARED K. BURKS’, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd’s DIY Fan Art, & more!

THE WORLD OF LEGO MECHA! Learn the secrets and tricks of building mechs with some of the best mecca builders in the world! Interviews with BENJAMIN CHEH, KELVIN LOW, LU SIM, FREDDY TAM, DAVID LIU, and SAM CHEUNG! Plus: Minifigure customizing from JARED K. BURKS’, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd’s DIY Fan Art, & more!

LEGO GOES UNDERSEA! Builder MITSURU NIKAIDO shows us his undersea creatures and organic builds! Then jump aboard MARCELLO DeCICCO’s minifigure-scale warships! And see amazing architectural creations by PEDRO NASCIMENTO! Plus: Minifigure customizing from JARED K. BURKS’, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd’s DIY Fan Art, & more!

LEGO TRAINS! Spotlight on train builder CALE LEIPHART, a look at the train layouts and models from the PENNSYLVANIA LEGO Users Group (PENNLug), BRICK MODEL RAILROADER (a new LEGO Train fan website that launched this year), and more locomotive action! Plus: Minifigure customizing from JARED K. BURKS’, stepby-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, & more!

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $3.00 (Digital Edition) $2.99

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $3.00 (Digital Edition) $2.99

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $3.00 (Digital Edition) $2.99

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $3.00 (Digital Edition) $2.99

BRICKJOURNAL #44

BRICKJOURNAL #43

BRICKJOURNAL #42

BRICKJOURNAL #41

FEMALE LEGO BUILDERS! US Architectural builder ANURADHA PEHRSON, British Microscale builder FERNANDA RIMINI, US Bionicle builder BREANN SLEDGE, and Norwegian Town builder BIRGITTE JONSGARD discuss their work and inspirations! Plus: Minifigure customizing from JARED K. BURKS’, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, & more!

THEME PARK ISSUE! ERIK JONES’ custom LEGO version of Cinderella Castle, STÉPHANE DELY’s Disneyland Paris Sleeping Beauty Castle, and JOHN RUDY’s brick-built versions of your favorite theme park rides! Plus: Step-by step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd’s DIY Fan Art, Minifigure Customization with JARED K. BURKS, MINDSTORMS robotics lessons and more!

LEGO GAMING! IMAGINE RIGNEY’s Bioshock builds, NICK JENSEN’s characters and props from HALO and other video games, and GamerLUG member SIMON LIU builds LEGO versions of video game characters, spaceships and more! Plus: “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd’s DIY Fan Art, Minifigure Customization with JARED K. BURKS, MINDSTORMS robotics and more!

LEGO EDUCATION! See how schools and AFOLs build with the new WeDo, FIRST LEGO LEAGUE’s 2016 season explored (with national competitions at LEGOLand California), and robotics builders the Seshan Brothers take LEGO MINDSTORMS to the next level! Plus: Minifigure customizing from JARED K. BURKS’, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, & more!

OUT OF THIS WORLD LEGO! Spacethemed LEGO creations of LIA CHAN, 2001: A Space Odyssey’s Orion space plane

by NICK DEAN, and Pre-Classic Space builder CHRIS GIDDENS! Plus: Orbit the LEGO community with JARED K. BURKS’ minifigure customizing, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd DIY Fan Art, MINDSTORMS robotics by DAMIEN KEE, and more!

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $3.00 (Digital Edition) $2.99

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $3.00 (Digital Edition) $2.99

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $3.00 (Digital Edition) $2.99

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $3.00 (Digital Edition) $2.99

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $3.00 (Digital Edition) $2.99

BRICKJOURNAL #40

BRICKJOURNAL #39

BRICKJOURNAL #38

BRICKJOURNAL #37

BRICKJOURNAL #36

LEGO MECHA! Build giant robots and mechs with BENJAMIN CHEH MING HANN and KELVIN LOW, and SETH HIGGINS shows us his amazing transforming LEGO robots! And even cyborgs love Minifig Customization by JARED K. BURKS, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, DIY Fan Art by BrickNerd TOMMY WILLIAMSON, MINDSTORMS robotics lessons, and more!

LEGO DINOSAURS! Builder WILLIAM PUGH discusses building prehistoric creatures, a LEGO Jurassic World by DIEGO MAXIMINO PRIETO ALVAREZ, and dino bones by MATT SAILORS! Plus: Minifigure Customization by JARED K. BURKS, stepby-step “You Can Build It” instructions

by CHRISTOPHER DECK, DIY Fan Art

by BrickNerd TOMMY WILLIAMSON, MINDSTORMS robotics lessons, and more!

LEGO COOL CARS AND HOT RODS! LEGO car builders STEPHAN SANDER, JORDANIAN FIRAS ABU-JABER, and ANDREA LATTANZIO! Plus: Minifigure Customization by JARED K. BURKS, AFOLs by cartoonist GREG HYLAND, step-bystep “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd Pop Art

by TOMMY WILLIAMSON, MINDSTORMS robotics lessons by DAMIEN KEE, and more!

STAR WARS! Amazing custom ships by ERIC DRUON, incredible galactic layouts by builder AC PIN, a look at the many droid creations built by LEGO fans—truly, the LEGO Force has awakened! Plus JARED K. BURKS on minifigure customizing, stepby-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd DIY Fan Art, MINDSTORMS robotics lessons by DAMIEN KEE, and more!

MICROSCALE BUILDING! JUSTIN McMILLAN’s micro house, a look at the MICROSCALE Standard by TwinLUG, and featuring some of the best microscopic LEGO work from around the world, plus JARED K. BURKS’ minifigure customizing, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd DIY Fan Art, MINDSTORMS robotics lessons by DAMIEN KEE, and more!

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $3.00 (Digital Edition) $2.99

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $3.00 (Digital Edition) $2.99

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $3.00 (Digital Edition) $2.99

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $3.00 (Digital Edition) $2.99

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $3.00 (Digital Edition) $2.99

BRICKJOURNAL #35

BRICKJOURNAL #34

BRICKJOURNAL #33

BRICKJOURNAL #32

BRICKJOURNAL #31

HISTORY IN LEGO BRICKS! LEGO pro RYAN McNAUGHT on his LEGO Pompeii and other projects, military builder DAN SISKIND on his BrickMania creations, and LASSE VESTERGARD about his historical building, JARED K. BURKS on minifigure customizing, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd DIY Fan Art, MINDSTORMS robotics lessons by DAMIEN KEE, and more!

TOMMY WILLIAMSON on the making of his YouTube sensation BATMAN VS SUPERMAN, BRANDON GRIFFITH’S COMICBRICKS PROJECT recreates iconic comic book covers out of LEGO, JARED BURKS and his custom Agents of SHIELD minifigs, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd DIY Fan Art, MINDSTORMS robotics lessons by DAMIEN KEE, and more!

LEGO ROBOTS! A talk with MINDSTORMS EV3 builders MARC-ANDRE BAZERGUI and ANDY MILLUZZI, designer LEE MAGPILI, CHRIS GIDDENS with his amazing robot sculptures, plus Minifigure Customization by JARED BURKS, stepby-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd DIY Fan Art by TOMMY WILLIAMSON, other looks at MINDSTORMS building, and more!

LEGO ARTISTRY with builder/photographer CHRIS McVEIGH; mosaic builders BRIAN KORTE, DAVE WARE and DAVE SHADDIX; and sculptors SEAN KENNEY (about his nature models) and ED DIMENT (about a full-size bus stop built with LEGO bricks)!

Plus Minifigure Customization by JARED K. BURKS, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, MINDSTORMS building, and more!

Building LEGO bricks WITH character, with IAIN HEATH and TOMMY WILLIAMSON, Manga-inspired creations of MIKE DUNG, sculptures by Taiwanese Brick Artist YO YO CHEN, Minifigure Customization by JARED BURKS, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd DIY Fan Art by TOMMY WILLIAMSON, MINDSTORMS building, and more!

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $3.00 (Digital Edition) $2.99

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $3.00 (Digital Edition) $2.99

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $3.00 (Digital Edition) $2.99

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $3.00 (Digital Edition) $2.99

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $3.00 (Digital Edition) $2.99

BRICKJOURNAL #30

BRICKJOURNAL #29

BRICKJOURNAL #28

BRICKJOURNAL #27

BRICKJOURNAL #26

LEGO ARCHITECTURE with JONATHAN LOPES, a microscale model of Copenhagen

by ULRIK HANSEN, and a look at the LEGO MUSEUM being constructed in Denmark! Plus Minifigure Customization

by JARED BURKS, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd DIY Fan Art by TOMMY WILLIAMSON, MINDSTORMS building with DAMIEN KEE, and more!

Technic hot rod builder PAUL BORATKO and editor JOE MENO diagram instructions on adding functions to your models, shop-talk with LEGO Technic designers, and more surprises to keep your creations moving at top speed! Plus Minifigure Customization by JARED BURKS, stepby-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd DIY Fan Art by TOMMY WILLIAMSON, and more!

Learn what went into the making of The LEGO Movie and other brickfilms with moviemaker DAVID PAGANO, chat with brickfilmers The Brotherhood Workshop, sit in on a talk with the makers of LEGO: A Brickumentary, a look at MINDSTORMS building, minifigure customization by JARED BURKS, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, AFOLs by GREG HYLAND, & more!

GUY HIMBER takes you to the IRON BUILDER CONTEST, which showcases the top LEGO® builders in the world! Cover by LEGO magazine and comic artist PAUL LEE, amazing custom models by LINO MARTINS, TYLER CLITES, BRUCE LOWELL, COLE BLAQ and others, minifigure customization

by JARED BURKS, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, AFOLs by GREG HYLAND, & more!

CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL with builders SEAN and STEPHANIE MAYO (known online as Siercon and Coral), other custom animal models from BrickJournal editor JOE MENO, LEGO DINOSAURS with WILL PUGH, plus more minifigure customization by JARED BURKS, AFOLs by cartoonist GREG HYLAND, step-bystep “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, and more!

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $3.00 (Digital Edition) $2.99

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $3.00 (Digital Edition) $2.99

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $3.00 (Digital Edition) $2.99

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $3.00 (Digital Edition) $2.99

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $3.00 (Digital Edition) $2.99

TwoMorrows TwoMorrows Publishing 10407 Bedfordtown Drive Raleigh, NC 27614 USA 919-449-0344 E-mail:

BRICKJOURNAL #25

BRICKJOURNAL #24

BRICKJOURNAL #23

BRICKJOURNAL #22

MEDIEVAL CASTLE BUILDING! Top LEGO® Castle builders present their creations, including BOB CARNEY’s amazingly detailed model of Neuschwanstein Castle, plus others, along with articles on building and detailing castles of your own! Also: JARED BURKS on minifigure customization, AFOLs by cartoonist GREG HYLAND, stepby-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, and more!

LEGO TRAINS! Builder CALE LEIPHART shows how to get started building trains and train layouts, with instructions on building microscale trains by editor JOE MENO, building layouts with the members of the Pennsylvania LEGO Users Group (PennLUG), fan-built LEGO monorails minifigure customization by JARED BURKS, microscale building by CHRISTOPHER DECK, “You Can Build It”, and more!

STAR WARS issue, with custom creations from a long time ago and far, far away!

JACOB CARPENTER’s Imperial Star Destroyer, MARK KELSO’s Invisible Hand, interview with SIMON MACDONALD about building Star Wars costume props with LEGO elements, history of the LEGO X-Wing, plus our regular features on minifigure customization by JARED BURKS, “You Can Build It” instructions, and more!

LEGO PLANE BUILDING! Top builder RALPH SAVELSBERG takes off with his custom LEGO fighter models, there’s a squadron of articles on Sky-Fi planes by FRADEL GONZALES and COLE MARTIN, find instructions to build a Sky-Fi plane, plus our regular feature on minifigure customization by JARED BURKS, AFOLs by GREG HYLAND, other step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions, and more!

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $3.00 (Digital Edition) $2.99

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $3.00 (Digital Edition) $2.99

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $3.00 (Digital Edition) $2.99

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $3.00 (Digital Edition) $2.99

store@twomorrows.com

Order online at twomorrows.com

LEGO®, the Minifigure, and the Brick and Knob configurations are trademarks of the LEGO Group of Companies. BrickJournal is not affiliated with The LEGO Group. All characters shown are TM & © their respective owners.

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Last Word And issue #76(!) is done!

Just a few days ago, there was an announcement that the LEGO Group would be building a factory in Virginia, not very far away from Richmond. This is a really interesting development, as LEGO left the US more than a few years ago—the nearest factory now is in Mexico.

So why come back? The site is by a major highway, so that allows deliveries to go out, and there are ports in Richmond for receiving materials. The factory appears to be a response to the shipping and supply issues that have been with the company for the past holiday seasons. And with a LEGO Discovery Center being built in Virginia in a southern suburb of Washington, DC, there is a center of LEGO activity forming in the state. We’ll see what happens.

On another thought, it’s not event season in the US until you see Amado Pinlac (AC Pin) do his trademark pose, and I caught it—with his wife joining in! Seriously, he’s a great builder that we’ll be featuring in a couple of issues...

Amado and Marleth!

Till then, build on!

That Joe Meno Guy

Classics

80

RetroFan: The Pop Culture You Grew Up With!

Remember when Saturday morning television was our domain, and ours alone? When tattoos came from bubble gum packs, Slurpees came in superhero cups, and TV heroes taught us to be nice to each other? If you love Pop Culture of the Sixties, Seventies, and Eighties, TwoMorrows’ new magazine is just for you! Editor MICHAEL EURY (author of numerous books on pop culture, former editor for DC Comics and Dark Horse Comics, and editor of TwoMorrows’ Eisner Award-winning BACK ISSUE magazine for comic book fans) has assembled an unbeatable roster of regular and rotating Celebrity Columnists to cover the pop culture you grew up with: • ANDY MANGELS (best-selling sci-fi author and award-winning pop culture historian) • ERNEST FARINO (Emmy Award-winning visual effects designer, animator, and director) • SCOTT SHAW! (acclaimed cartoonist, animator, Emmy Award-winning storyboard artist, and historian) • WILL MURRAY (pulp adventure novelist and pop culture historian) • SCOTT SAAVEDRA (graphic designer, cartoonist, and COMIC BOOK HEAVEN creator) • MARK VOGER (renowned pop culture newspaper columnist and book author), and others!

RETROFAN #21

RETROFAN #22

RETROFAN #23

RETROFAN #24

RETROFAN #25

Meet JULIE NEWMAR, the purr-fect Catwoman! Plus: ASTRO BOY, TARZAN Saturday morning cartoons, the true history of PEBBLES CEREAL, TV’s THE UNTOUCHABLES and SEARCH, the MONKEEMOBILE, SOVIET EXPO ’77, and more fun, fab features! Featuring columns

by ANDY MANGELS, WILL MURRAY, SCOTT SAAVEDRA, SCOTT SHAW, and MARK VOGER! Edited by MICHAEL EURY.

Surf’s up as SIXTIES BEACH MOVIES make a RetroFan splash! Plus: He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, ZORRO’s Saturday morning cartoon, TV’s THE WILD, WILD WEST, CARtoons and other drag-mags, VALSPEAK, and more fun, fab features!

Like, totally! Featuring columns by ANDY MANGELS, WILL MURRAY, SCOTT SAAVEDRA, SCOTT SHAW, and MARK VOGER! Edited by MICHAEL EURY.

Meet the stars behind the Black Lagoon: RICOU BROWNING, BEN CHAPMAN, JULIE ADAMS, and LORI NELSON! Plus SHADOW CHASERS, featuring show creator KENNETH JOHNSON. Also: THE BEATLES’ YELLOW SUBMARINE, FLASH GORDON cartoons, TV’s cult classic THE PRISONER and kid’s show ZOOM, COLORFORMS, M&Ms, and more fun, fab features! Edited by MICHAEL EURY.

Interviews with Lost in Space’s ANGELA CARTWRIGHT and BILL MUMY, and Land of the Lost’s WESLEY EURE! Revisit Leave It to Beaver with JERRY MATHERS, TONY DOW, and KEN OSMOND! Plus: UNDERDOG, Rankin-Bass’ stop-motion classic THE LITTLE DRUMMER BOY, Christmas gifts you didn’t want, the CABBAGE PATCH KIDS fad, and more!

Edited by MICHAEL EURY.

Meet Mission: Impossible’s LYNDA DAY GEORGE in an exclusive interview!

Celebrate Rambo’s 50th birthday with his creator, novelist DAVID MORRELL! Plus: TV faves WKRP IN CINCINNATI and SPACE: 1999, Fleisher’s and Filmation’s SUPERMAN cartoons, commercial jingles, JERRY LEWIS and BOB HOPE comic books, and more fun, fab features! Edited

by MICHAEL EURY.

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $10.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99 • Ships June 2022

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $10.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99 • Ships Aug. 2022

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $10.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99 • Ships Oct. 2022

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $10.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99 • Ships Dec. 2022

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $10.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99 • Ships Feb. 2023

TwoMorrows.

The Future of Pop History.

RETROFAN #17

RETROFAN #18

RETROFAN #19

RETROFAN #20

Dark Shadows’ Angelique, LARA PARKER, sinks her fangs into an exclusive interview.

Plus: Rankin-Bass’ Mad Monster Party, Aurora Monster model kits, a chat with Aurora painter JAMES BAMA, George of the Jungle, The Haunting, Jawsmania, Drak Pack, TV dads’ jobs, and more fun, fab features! Featuring columns by FARINO, MANGELS, MURRAY, SAAVEDRA, SHAW, and MICHAEL EURY.

Our BARBARA EDEN interview will keep you forever dreaming of Jeannie! Plus: The Invaders, the BILLIE JEAN KING/BOBBY RIGGS tennis battle of the sexes, HANNABARBERA’s Saturday morning super-heroes of the Sixties, THE MONSTER TIMES fanzine, and more fun, fab features! Featuring ERNEST FARINO, ANDY MANGELS, WILL MURRAY, SCOTT SAAVEDRA, SCOTT SHAW!, and MICHAEL EURY.

Interview with Bond Girl and Hammer Films actress CAROLINE MUNRO! Plus: WACKY PACKAGES, COURAGEOUS CAT AND MINUTE MOUSE, FILMATION’S GHOSTBUSTERS vs. the REAL GHOSTBUSTERS, Bandai’s rare PRO WRESTLER ERASERS, behind the scenes of Sixties movies, WATERGATE at Fifty, Go-Go Dancing, a visit to the Red Skelton Museum, and more fun, fab features!

MAD’s maddest artist, SERGIO ARAGONÉS, is profiled! Plus: TV’s Route 66 and an interview with star GEORGE MAHARIS, MOE HOWARD’s final years, singer B. J. THOMAS in one of his final interviews, LONE RANGER cartoons, G.I. JOE, and more! Featuring columns by ANDY MANGELS, WILL MURRAY, SCOTT SAAVEDRA, SCOTT SHAW, and MARK VOGER! Edited by MICHAEL EURY.

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $9.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $9.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99

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(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $10.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99 • Now shipping!

TwoMorrows Publishing 10407 Bedfordtown Drive Raleigh, NC 27614 USA 919-449-0344 E-mail:

store@twomorrows.com

Order at twomorrows.com

New from TwoMorrows!

ALTER EGO #179

KIRBY COLLECTOR #85

BACK ISSUE #140

BACK ISSUE #141

COMIC BOOK CREATOR #29

KIRBY: ANIMATED! How JACK KIRBY and his concepts leaped from celluloid, to paper, and back again! From his 1930s start on Popeye and Betty Boop and his work being used on the 1960s Marvel Super-Heroes show, to Fantastic Four (1967 and 1978), Super Friends/Super Powers, Scooby-Doo, Thundarr the Barbarian, and Ruby-Spears.

Plus EVAN DORKIN on his abandoned Kamandi cartoon series, and more!

DINOSAUR COMICS! Interviews with Xenozoic®’s MARK SCHULTZ and dinoartist extraordinaire WILLIAM STOUT! Plus: Godzilla at Dark Horse, Sauron villain history, Dinosaurs Attack!, Dinosaurs for Hire, Dinosaur Rex, Dino Riders, Lord Dinosaur, and Jurassic Park! Featuring ARTHUR ADAMS, BISSETTE, CLAREMONT, COCKRUM, GERANI, STRADLEY, ROY THOMAS, and more. SCHULTZ cover.

SPIES AND P.I.s! Nick Fury from Howling Commando to Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., Ms. Tree’s MAX ALLAN COLLINS and TERRY BEATTY in a Pro2Pro interview, MARK EVANIER on his Crossfire series, a Hydra villain history, WILL EISNER’s John Law, Checkmate, and Tim Trench and Mike Mauser. With ENGLEHART, ERWIN, HALL, ISABELLA, KUPPERBERG, STATON, THOMAS, and cover by DAVE JOHNSON!

DON McGREGOR retrospective, from early ’70s Warren Publications scripter to his breakout work at Marvel Comics on BLACK PANTHER, KILLRAVEN, SABRE, DETECTIVES INC., RAGAMUFFINS, and others. Plus ROBERT MENZIES looks at HERB TRIMPE’s mid-’70s UK visit to work on Marvel’s British comics weeklies, MIKE GOLD Part Two, and CARtoons cartoonist SHAWN KERRIE! SANDY PLUNKETT cover!

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $10.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99 • Ships Dec. 2022

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $10.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99 • Ships Winter 2023

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $10.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99 • Ships Nov. 2022

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All characters TM & © their respective owners.

Celebrating the 61st Anniversary of FANTASTIC FOUR #1—’cause we kinda blew right past its 60th—plus a sagacious salute to STAN LEE’s 100th birthday, with never-before-seen highlights—and to FF #1 and #2 inker GEORGE KLEIN! Spotlight on Sub-Mariner in the Bowery in FF #4—plus sensational secrets behind FF #1 and #3!

Also: FCA, MICHAEL T. GILBERT, a JACK KIRBY cover, and more!

THE LIFE & ART OF

DAVE COCKRUM

Follows his career from fandom to redesigning the LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES and his introduction of X-MEN characters Storm, Nightcrawler, Colossus, and Thunderbird (plus his design of Wolverine’s alter ego, Logan). Includes later work on THE FUTURIANS, unused character designs, and other rare material! Written by GLEN CADIGAN with introduction by ALEX ROSS.

TEAM-UP COMPANION OUR ARTISTS AT WAR

Examines team-up comic books of the Silver and Bronze Ages of Comics: Brave and the Bold, DC Comics Presents, Marvel Team-Up and Two-in-One, plus other team-up titles, treasuries, and treats—in a lushly illustrated selection of informative essays, special features, and trivia-loaded issue-by-issue indexes! By BACK ISSUE and RETROFAN editor MICHAEL EURY.

(160-page COLOR softcover) $27.95 (Digital Edition) $14.99 Now shipping!

(256-page COLOR PAPERBACK) $39.95 (Digital Edition) $15.99 ISBN: 978-1-60549-112-7 Now shipping!

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Alter Ego (Six print issues) Back Issue (Eight print issues) BrickJournal (Six print issues) Comic Book Creator (Four print issues) Jack Kirby Collector (Four print issues) RetroFan (Six print issues)

AMERICAN TV COMIC BOOKS

Examines US War comics: EC COMICS (Two-Fisted Tales, Frontline Combat), DC COMICS (Enemy Ace, All American Men of War, G.I. Combat, Our Fighting Forces, Our Army at War, Star-Spangled War Stories), WARREN PUBLISHING (Blazing Combat), CHARLTON (Willy Schultz and the Iron Corporal) and more! Featuring KURTZMAN, SEVERIN, DAVIS, WOOD, KUBERT, GLANZMAN, KIRBY, and others!

By RICHARD ARNDT and STEVEN FEARS, with an introduction by ROY THOMAS.

PETER BOSCH’s history of over 300 TV shows and 2000+ comic book adaptations across five decades, from well-known series (STAR TREK, THE MUNSTERS) to lesserknown shows (CAPTAIN GALLANT, PINKY LEE). With profiles of artists who drew TV comics: GENE COLAN, ALEX TOTH, DAN SPIEGLE, RUSS MANNING, JOHN BUSCEMA, RUSS HEATH, and more!

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(192-page COLOR SOFTCOVER) $29.95 (Digital Edition) $15.99

ECONOMY US

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PREMIUM US

CHARLTON COMPANION

An all-new definitive history of the notorious all-in-one comic book company, from the 1940s Golden Age to the Bronze Age of the ’70s. Examines DICK GIORDANO’S ’60s “Action Hero Line” featuring STEVE DITKO and others (and inspiring ALAN MOORE’S Watchmen), JOE STATON’S E-Man and JOHN BYRNE’S Doomsday +1, and more. By JON B. COOKE with MICHAEL AMBROSE & FRANK MOTLER. (272-page COLOR PAPERBACK) $43.95 (Digital Edition) $15.99 ISBN: 978-1-60549-111-0 Ships November 2022!

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