BrickJournal #87

Issue 87 • November 2024

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Jesse Gros’ Airships Take to the Air!

Making a LEGO Minifigure!

Jack Carleson’s Airliners!

INSTRUCTIONS AND MORE!

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Issue 87 • November 2024

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

Building

People

Jack Carleson: Aircraft Artistry! ............................................32 Miles Bellmore: Plane Crazy! ....................................................42

Jesse Gros: Building Airships! ............................................3 Eric Landreneau’s Luminous Imperator and Shoddy Mariah......................................10 Markus Ronge’s Full Steam 2 ....................................................18 Kendall and Kelsey Swafford: Mural Madness! ............................................26

The LEGO Group

Going Back to Ice Planet, One Figure at a Time! .................................46 BrickNerd Instructions: Airship Island .................................................54 You Can Build It: Le Nuage de Pourpre en miniature ..................................................60

Minifigure Customization 101: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland III ..........................................65

Community

Bantha Bricks: Jared Oswald Life in Pieces ...................................................69 Community Ads ..............................................78 Last Word ............................................................79 AFOLs ...................................................................80

BrickJournal is no longer sold in Barnes & Noble stores.

But it’s still available in independent bookstores, comic book shops, and by mail order and subscription!

From the Editor: Yeah, I’m still reading the same issue (#18)—it’s that good! It’s also sold out, as well as most issues prior to #50, except as part of an “Ultimate Bundle” set (see page 76 to order it).

But enough of that—let’s talk about this issue...

November 2024 Issue 87 Publisher John Morrow

Editor in Chief Joe Meno

This time, we take a look at some builders who make models in a very different genre: airships! These models and builders don’t fit any specific genre, but they have a lot of creativity.

BrickNerd and Assistant Editor Dave Schefcik Photography Editor Geoff Gray

We also have some more models of planes, and also a look at the creation of one of the minifigures in the Space collection of collectible minifigures from a couple of LEGO designers!

Proofreader John Morrow

Japanese Bureau Editor Nathan Bryan West Coast Editors Ashley Glennon

Bantha Bricks Correspondent David Strenzler

Contributors: Cody Anderson, Miles Bellmore, Jared Burks, Jack Carleson, Christopher Deck, Jesse Gros, Tore M. Harmark-Alexandersen, Eric Landreneau, Jared Oswald, Chris Perron Markus Ronge, Kendall and Kelsey Swafford, and Greg Hyland.

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: Jesse Gros’ Capital Airship.

Art by Jesse Gros.

About the Contents: A look at Jesse Gros’ layout of Bilgewater. Photo by Jesse Gros.

There’s also our regular instructions and columns from BrickNerd and Bantha Bricks and builder Christopher Deck, so have a seat and take a look at all the fun in this issue!

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!

Website

Twitter

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)

Facebook

Subscriptions

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 87, November 2024 (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: $73 US, $111 Elsewhere, $29 Digital Only, and can be purchased at 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. Star Wars, The Mandalorian TM & © Lucasfilm. All articles, photos, and art © BrickJournal Media, LLC, 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.

Hi, I’m Jesse Gros. As a Life Coach, I guide transformative spiritual adventure retreats in Peru and Nepal. I also lead the “Wild Hearted Writers’ Circle” and am the proud author of four books, including My Life Coach Wears a Tutu and Your Wild Precious Life. I built LEGO until I was 12 years old, but then I discovered girls and entered a dark age for LEGO. Six years ago, I became an AFOL (Adult Fan of LEGO). My journey back into the world of LEGO started when my wife bought a Moana set for our four-year-old daughter. As I helped her build it, something magical happened—it felt like a creative light had been switched back on. That same night, I went

People

Jesse Gros:

Building Airships!

Article and Photography

by Jesse Gros

Jesse Gros with one of his airships.

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to Target and came home with the Ninjago Lighthouse Siege set. I couldn’t believe how much LEGO had evolved during my hiatus. The next day, I returned for another Ninjago set, and just like that, my enlightenment period with LEGO began.

That week, I stumbled upon the LEGO community on YouTube and went down the rabbit hole for a month. I discovered Brickvault’s “Top 10 MOCs of the Week” and instantly knew I’d be creating my own builds. When someone mentioned that LEGO had its own stores, I was amazed.

At the LEGO store I discovered a thing of beauty called the “Pick-a-Brick” wall. After six years of PAB hunting at the five stores in LA County, I pretty much have my own PAB wall at home. Interestingly, I own very few sets; 95% of my adult LEGO purchases have been bulk pieces.

My favorite LEGO themes are Elves, Pirates, and Castle, but that’s only because LEGO has yet to come to their senses and launch a steampunk-themed line.

(I’ll keep dreaming.) I mostly build in genres I call “Pirate-Punk” and “Fantasy-Punk,” which combine steampunk, pirate, and fantasy elements. I’m also deeply inspired by the aesthetic of the animated series Arcane, a beautiful blend of steampunk and Art Deco.

Currently, I’m obsessed with airships. There’s something magical and mysterious about seeing balloons floating in the sky—different from airplanes. Fun fact: I used to own a hot air balloon until my friend and I crash-landed on a private estate and were given 20 minutes by the groundskeeper to vacate the property. I sold my balloon that week, but my love for silent flight continues, in a much safer way—through the brick.

The Capital Airship draws inspiration from Gayle Spiller’s MOC “The Winged Ship,” showcased in the LEGO House Masterpiece Gallery. Spiller’s creation, based on Vladimir Kush’s painting of the same name, features a vintage ship with butterfly wings for sails.

Inspired by this concept, I used Midjourney to develop different iterations of an “airship with butterfly wings.”

I kept the front window design from one rendering and ditched the butterfly wings for a more industrial aesthetic, incorporating large engines and dark organic shapes reminiscent of H.R. Giger’s style in the lower front and sides of the MOC.

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Jesse Gros’ Capital Airship.

The front of the Capital Airship.

A top view of the airship.

The ship has a regal and imposing appearance at the front, built from several PAB cups of 1x1 modified gold bricks—finally put to use after years of hoarding—before transitioning into an industrial rear section, housing a nuclear reactor and exposed structural supports. On the underside, you’ll spot train cattle guard pieces—the very first bulk purchase I made on Bricklink (I bought 50 of them!). Including this piece in all my builds has turned into a sort of personal challenge and a little reminder to myself: “See, I did need that piece!”

The Capital Airship is my biggest flying LEGO MOC to date; it took me three weeks to build. I have built many other smaller airships and one very large seafaring hovership called Captain Mayhem’s Party Barge, which you can see on the “Beyond the Brick” YouTube channel.

When it comes to building, I prefer not to go it alone.

Building can be pretty solitary, so I like to connect with the LEGO community. I find it inspiring and motivating to bounce ideas off fellow builders and get their input, especially when I hit a wall on a big project.

I hit a snag halfway through constructing the Capital Airship and couldn’t figure out how to proceed. So, I shot a quick video and posted it on Instagram, asking for suggestions. I ended up incorporating some of those ideas into the final design—it was such an uplifting collaborative experience.

An aft view of the airship.

I think of myself as a flow-state builder rather than someone who sticks to a preplanned idea. I rarely know what the end product will look like and I love being surprised by the process and adapting as new ideas emerge. Sometimes, just one piece will send me in a new direction, and I’m not afraid to take apart hours of work if needed. I find it quite entertaining how often my designs end up looking nothing like my original concepts. Some of my best builds have come from failed attempts at something else. For example, I once tried to recreate Metal Beard’s Sea Cow without instructions. About three hours in, I realized I didn’t have the right pieces, so I pivoted, and it turned into a flying battle chicken—my first airship!

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My process typically begins with a seed image. From there, I gather all the pieces in the color palette I plan to use. Then, I slip into the pre-build jitters stage, where I start second-guessing the project and jumping between different ideas (the list is long!). Eventually, I force myself to commit and begin building. Once I’m about an hour into the project, I dive in fully and don’t look back. But that initial phase of committing is always a bit nerve-racking. Once I’ve started, I often try to replicate a small element from the seed image that I love. However, I quickly stop referencing it, letting my own creative intuition take over.

When it comes to colors, I primarily build with earth tones and metallics. I love dark shades like dark blue, dark green, dark red, dark tan, and dark orange. If a LEGO color has “dark” in front of it, I’ll probably buy it—along with any shiny pieces (the precious). I have an entire drawer full of gold, silver, copper, and metallic blue parts. These earth tones are on display in a build I’m particularly proud of, called “Coming Home.”

It’s a fantasy-punk creation with Swiss Family Jesse’s layout, “Bilgewater,” which was displayed at Bricks by the Bay 2022.

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“Coming Home,” a layout built by Jesse.

Robinson vibes and a wild, colorful forest inspired by the movie Avatar. In the story, the parents return to their forest hideout after a journey on their airship and are greeted by their children. This build was featured in the Glendale LEGO store for a year.

Before I got obsessed with airships, I built two large Landscape MOCS. The largest and most detailed MOC took me over a year to build. It’s inspired by a scene from Bilgewater, a cliff-dwelling fantasy pirate village within the League of Legends universe. A friend of mine worked on the game’s art, and when I saw his depiction of Bilgewater, I was determined to recreate some version of it in LEGO. This build is incredibly detailed and features mostly darker colors to capture the mood of Bilgewater. I put a lot of effort into it, including incorporating over 70 custom soldered LED lights for both interior and scene lighting.

“Bilgewater” won “Best in Show” at Bricks LA during my fifth year as an AFOL, which really boosted my confidence as a builder. On top of that, Riot Games, the creators of League of Legends, contacted me to feature my MOC in a mini documentary at their headquarters.

Unfortunately, I had already dismantled the build by the time they reached out. This reflects another aspect of my building philosophy—I don’t keep my creations.

I prefer to build them, showcase them, capture them through photos and videos, and then dismantle them.

I’m fully immersed in the building process, and afterwards, I recycle the parts for new creations.

I build because it makes me feel alive. I am a creator. I must make things. As a kid, I lived in the country and I was constantly making forts, digging tunnels, building skate ramps; now I live in the city, so LEGO is how I create in the space I have available to me.

Do I have any advice for new MOC builders?

Absolutely! Take it slow. Avoid comparing yourself to others. Practice by replicating MOCs you admire. When I started out, I learned a lot by recreating my favorite builds from online sources. You can also buy instructions from Rebrickable and try building MOCs you find inspiring. Attend conventions and chat with your favorite builders. Watch YouTube tutorials for additional tips and tricks. And don’t hesitate to seek help online or in-person. The LEGO community is incredibly supportive and can assist with everything from techniques, to sourcing rare pieces, to sharing their MOC building experiences.

Other airships by Jesse: the FSS Barracuda.

The Shark Hunter.

The Lao Lao.

You can find my MOCs online @ westside_lego_daddy You can find me online @ www. jessegros.com or you can scan the QR code here!

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Here’s my process for building airships:

The forward section of the Capital Airship under construction.

A side panel. Below are some roof parts for various sections of the airship.

1.

Start with the front. This sets the tone for the entire ship.

2.

Attach a Technic frame to support the bottom studs facing down, especially for larger builds.

A strong yet lightweight frame is essential, akin to adding shaped panels onto a simple frame, like a car.

3.

Keep in mind that you’ll need to be able to pick it up and move it around, so choose sturdy points in the build to hold the weight. If you plan to hang your airship at home, consider attachment points accordingly.

4.

Work on the sides and top next.

5.

Focus on the back, thinking of it sectionally.

6.

Construct the bottom separately and attach it with Technic pins, leaving gaps for attaching a stand directly to the Technic frame.

7.

Build from front to back.

8.

Don’t hesitate to flip your MOC upsidedown or try different angles while building.

Sometimes what you thought was the front may become the back, or the bottom might look better as the top, prompting a complete change in the build.

9.

As for the interior, it’s up to you. I usually leave it out, but if I include one, I save it for last and ensure easy access for additions by having a removable side of the MOC.

The forward gallery of the airship.

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Building

Eris Landreneau’s

Luminous Imperator and Shoddy Mariah Article by Eric Landreneau Photography by Cody Anderson Eric Landreneau’s airships have been seen online and are a great example of imaginative building. BrickJournal chatted to him and got to show off two of his ships!

What do you do for a living, and how long you have been LEGO building?

I was an optician for about a decade. A couple of years ago I ditched that for a job as a Manufacturing Tech at Intel.

Our machines grind thin wafers down to very, very thin wafers, before they’re cut into individual chips. Sounds kinda high-tech, and it sometimes is, but the machines do all the fancy work. I maintain the machines, which mostly involves wrenches and grease. I’ve also written some short stories which have been published in several now-defunct

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magazines, and I have self-published a couple of novels. I haven’t written lately, though—been having too much fun building.

I also build, hang out with my wife, cook tasty food, seek and enjoy great music, think about building, spend time outside, play with the cat, play board games, read, study, and did I say build yet? I love sci-fi and fantasy books and movies, but I don’t watch shows much; don’t have that kinda time. Gotta build. I don’t play video games nearly as much as I used to. Reaction time is dwindling and really, with the grim reaper drawing nearer, I can’t spend too long on a video game before I think, “What am I doing? I should be creating!” I have a Wii U, if that indicates how much of a gamer I’m not.

Okay, that’s out of the way. Time to talk about LEGOs. That’s what matters, innit? I have been building for as long as I can remember. I remember getting sets when I was five-ish, but LEGO was already in my life. I knew what to do with them. I’m the youngest of four, born in 1983. The classic yellow castle and some classic space and town sets were part of the household before

I was. I would pick a spot on the floor in the living room, dump out my tub of bricks, and I’d be good for hours, putting things together, making up stories. I was probably six when I figured out the clean-up hack (we didn’t call them hacks then); got an old sheet from Mom, dumped the LEGOs on the sheet, then when I was done I just pucked the whole sheet up and bundled it into the bin. Easy-peasy.

I didn’t have a proper Dark Age. Just got kinda dim in college. Didn’t have them with me, but I would often return to them when I was home. So I never really lost interest. I did hit a dark spot after college where I thought two things: 1. I shouldn’t be doing this anymore.

2. I need money.

So I did something I deeply regret: I rebuilt my sets and sold them on Ebay. The whole Ice Planet line; The whole Exploriens line; The M:Tron Mega Core Magnetizer; Unitron, Aquanauts, Blacktron 1 and 2 and Space Police 1 and 2, UFO, Spyrius, various town and Technic and castle sets... when I was done I had raked in about one paycheck. What a fricken’ bonehead. All those parts I really wish I still had. Wasn’t worth it.

But even then I didn’t sell it all off.

Still had odds and ends and a few more recent sets. I kept playing with my truncated collection, building mechs and stuff, making up stories. So even as I was selling off my childhood collection, part of me knew “I like this. This is part of me forever.” So I’ve always been building, mainly as a solo activity. Sometime in the ’00s I started taking photos and posting on MocPages, interacting with the online community, which only encouraged and inspired me more. I eventually migrated to Flickr. A couple of years ago my wife cajoled me to start going to our local LUG meetings (PortLug represent!).

“These are your people,” she said. So plainly, like, “No duh,” I should have figured out that for myself. So I hooked into the local community, started showing at Bricks Cascade, and that again has amplified my interest, my energy, my drive to create, and now collaborate and challenge myself.

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What got you interested in building?

Probably having the toys, watching cartoons, and being able to use the toys to create the things I saw in the cartoons. That was powerful, realizing I could see something cool and figure out how to make it for myself. I didn’t need an X-wing toy or a Transformer or whatever; I already had it. I just had to figure out how to make it from what I had. But the more I worked with my bricks, finding new connections and new ways to look at the shapes of different elements, the more I moved away from building what I saw on TV and towards building my own designs, making up my own stories as I did, drawing inspiration from different sources and mashing them up in my own blender-brain.

What do you like building the most?

Aft view of the Luminous Imperator.

A look at the main deck of the Luminous Imperator.

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Sci-fi. It’s always been mechs, spaceships, ground vehicles for me. Something about the possibilities of futuristic vehicles has always hooked into me. And I always wanted to go big. When I was a teenager I built a minifig-scale Bolo (giant tank from the Keith Laumer books). It was multi-colored as anything and had hundreds of wheels because I didn’t own any tank treads, but it was big and fun and I loved it. And I always liked modular playfeatures like a lot of LEGO space sets had, and built several takes on the theme of giant-spaceship-splits-intolittle-spaceships. Both of those teenage builds are on my mind because I’ve been thinking about revisiting them.

So big spaceships, little ones, rovers, mecha... definitely mecha. “I was building cool mecha way back before you had your new-fangled clicky-joints and ball joints and whutnot. All we had was flippy hinges and frictionless Technic pins... and we liked it!” Okay, enough of the geezer voice. I always liked the challenge of the mech, getting it to look good while being poseable and able to stand on its own two feet. Not easy. And I’ve done a few good transformers, which takes the difficulty to another level. Seriously, every single piece you add to a transformer, you have to make them move through the whole transformation sequence, find out it gets in the way, pull it off, and start over. But the challenge, the learning, the frustration of endless trial-and-error, is so worth it when I actually get the result.

I’ve built some bases and structures, especially more recently. Built a futuristic house a couple of years ago, and spent a lot of energy on furniture and interior decorating, stepping way out of my norm. Hardwood floors and tile bathrooms and such. Building structures is in some ways more relaxed because the object isn’t meant to move, it has a solid base to stand on, but then the drive is to go even bigger. And it takes a different kind of thinking to put interesting shapes into a static structure; vehicles guide their own shape by the necessity of wheels, cockpits, engines, legs, whatnot. A static structure only needs to be a box with holes. To make it interesting you can make it... anything. Polygonal, round, crooked, organic, Gothic, Brutalist, Modernist, whatever. I’m getting more interested in that kind of architectural building and the little details of interior design, and I plan to nurture that more with coming designs. There’s rumblings in the community about bringing back the Moonbase, and I’m all for it.

A look at rear of the Luminous Imperator.

One of the crewmen on deck.

The figurehead of the Imperator, which opens...

The hull of the ship.

...to reveal a cannon!

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But my first and greatest love is for vehicles. Swooshable things. Toys that move, that are fun to play with. I really like building in mechanisms, functional play features.

I’m not great at that yet, but I’m getting better. There’s something so fascinating and satisfying about little mechanisms. Takes a lot of experimental building, tweak this, tweak that, test and fail and tinker and test again. But when you get the pieces arranged just right to transfer the energy and create the motion you want, it’s priceless.

The build-story for the Luminous Imperator and the Shoddy Mariah started with the acquisition of a bunch of translight-blue quarter-domes. A game I like to play is to check out a part and ask myself, “What else can this be, other than what it obviously is?” So, how could I use these parts in a way that wasn’t windows? Then I held one at such an angle that the curve reminded me of a billowing sail, and the build took me from there, out of space and into a more steampunk/magitek vein. Definitely some Treasure Planet inspiration, with ships that fly by catching sunlight in gleaming sails. I wanted to build a pirate ship, but the sails didn’t let me. Their color was too pristine, and drew me to make something clean, proper, bright—white and gold and fast lines. So I made an Imperial ship, a pirate-hunter commissioned by a nation of the air with deep pockets.

There was a steampunk anime I saw years ago where massive airships fought broadside battles not with cannons, but with soldiers on deck ranked up like Napoleonic firing formations with steam-powered rifles. That kinda fed into the deck gun designs.

I wanted a main forward cannon on the thing, and it was just natural to hide it inside a

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It’s always been mechs, spaceships, and ground vehicles for me. Something about the possibilities of futuristic vehicles has always hooked into me.

dragon’s head prow with opening jaws. Seemed like the kind of frivolous-butawesome intimidation move an Imperialist would spend money on. I wanted it to look fast and agile, but I didn’t want a straight hull. I wanted the broadside guns to be able to aim forward as well. That’s why I built the deck diamond-shaped, and used some peg-and-clip black magic to hang the segments of hull on the angle of the deck. Most of my big white pieces are taken up by other builds, so I didn’t have a lot of easy options for designing the hull. But I have a lot of the long white angled wedges, so I worked with them, and the other parts I had to create a pattern I could repeat across the hull—lots of SNOTty monkey-business and probably “illegal” connections to attach those panels at every orientation but up.

But I still wanted a pirate ship.

I carried on with the ideas of windows as sails, and dug through my collection for candidates. Had the older huge blue quarterdomes, bought used somewhere, in pretty rough shape, all scratched and nicked—perfect, actually. A pirate ship wouldn’t be pristine, fresh-off-the-line, all polished brightwork and pomp. A pirate ship would be cared and maintained by pirates who, let’s admit it, are not diligent. Romanticization aside, pirates are awful people, right? So a ship in their care would have the look of a toilet abandoned on a front lawn: Rough, scuffy old-fashioned lightsails. Mis-matched planks, junkyard components. I had some other blue canopies to make the side sails, but not enough, so that became part of the story, too. I imagine it told by a couple of the crew:

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Katie Bloodlet Th’ Mariah? Aye, she were a noble old merchantman what we found.

Wyld Haggis Aye, we found ‘er. Salvage, right.

Katie So’s the Baron an’ us all, we patched ‘er up wif bits an’ pieces we bartered for.

Wyld Heh. Bartered. “Me cutlass off yer neck for that harpoon cannon a’ yours.”

Katie Fair trade, that. So then came a time when we had a bit of a scuffle wif th’ ‘Mperial Navy. Ended up wif our starboard sails an’ a fair bit o’decking blown off.

Wyld ‘Twer a misunderstanding, y’see.

The quaterdeck of the Shoddy Mariah.

Katie B ‘S’right. Can’t reason wif some poeple. Managed to limp away from that. Happened upon a Clanker ship what was scuttled— Wyld [sotto voce] ‘T’were scuttled when we were done cuttin’ the right half off the ship— Katie B An’ Billy done a right fine job fixin’ their starboard sails (an a fair bit o’ decking besides) into the gap in the’ Mariah’s side. Bridged th’ conduits wif twine an’ wire an’ tuned the lux-flowamajiggers through old rum bottles. A right fine ‘gineer that Billy SixEyes is, when he ain’t been in his cups.

Part of the main deck of the Shoddy Mariah.

The aft of the Shoddy Mariah opens up...

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Wyld An’ a better one still when he ‘as been. ...to reveal an escape drive!

That little impromptu play is a great example of the kind of storytelling I invent while building. I make a thing, and simultaneously I invent the world and the people to go with it. That helps steer design choices, as I try to make the thing look like it was made in this other reality, with its own people and norms. The story guides the attitude behind the MOC, in hopes that the MOC will then evoke some sense of its story for those who see it.

Here, having invented these characters and their brand of drunken swagger and bravado, the story told me what kind of play function the Shoddy Mariah needed. The Luminous Imperator has its cannon in a lever-operated dragon mouth. The crew of the Shoddy Mariah are more invested in making off with their booty than sticking around for a fight. But they’re happy to antagonize the Imperials. So instead of a weapon, they have powerful thrusters hidden in the cabin, exposed by a working crank mechanism, and a fingerbones farewell sign for whoever they leave in their dust.

A higher view of the main deck.

You can see more of Eric’s work at his Flickr gallery: https://www.flickr. com/photos/146086690@N07/ with/53544855669 or you can scan this QR code!

The figurehead.

A side view of the ship.

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Building

Markus Ronge’s

Full Steam 2 Article and Photography

by Markus Ronge

From the moment I picked up my first LEGO brick as an adult, my building interest has been in traditional scale model ships and everything steampunk.

Anything with a funnel and some elaborate ornaments will spark my creative drive.

The scale modeling part mostly centers around real life classic yachts or tug boats, whereas my steampunk adventures are much more varied. They encompass all types of building sub-genres: vehicles, architecture, landscape, micro-scale, and vignettes — and Airships, of course. Always, Airships.

As a nod to the Airship, I created a story in the style of a classic graphic novel called Full Steam. It provides me with fresh new ideas for models yet to be built, as they have to serve certain story arcs or scenes. Sometimes the story inspires a MOC, sometimes it’s the other way around.

The setting of Full Steam 2, Aircatraz.

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The “fullsteamchronicles” moniker comes from a fictional newspaper which monitors events happening in the city of Brickston. The pivotal event of the story is the crash of the Skytanic with a skyberg, which leads to a princess going overboard, a manhunt on sky pirates, a murder trial for all kinds of suspected conspirators, and a subsequent ‘mission impossible’ style prison break from Aircatraz.

Follow me on instagram to catch up with everything that’s happened so far!

One of my main world-building goals is to stay true to classic LEGO themes and color schemes, while giving everything else a personal and modern twist. I approach a theme as if it were a full-blown line of sets available for purchase, meaning there’s usually one big ship, several smaller but different sized support vehicles, and the occasional building or landscape scene.

With a monumental story like this, there are also lots of minifigures involved—and even here I try to make room for the occasional cameo of existing LEGO characters like the Ninjago Sky Pirates.

The action in Full Steam 1 was centered around the Brickston fire department coming to the rescue of the Skytanic’s passengers (chief among them Queen

Bricktoria). I crafted several airships in the classic fire boat color scheme of red, white and blue. Full Steam 2 focuses on the subsequent manhunt for the culprits of this aviation disaster, which gave me a chance to dive deep into LEGO’s police sub-theme. The challenge here was to make all this black, grey and white not look too repetitive and boring.

Fortunately—it being steampunk—I could dig deep into my pearl gold, flat silver and Bionicle collection for unique details and ornaments.

The Hover Boat.

The Copter.

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The Dreadnaught in flight with patrolling biplanes.

The bridge of the vessel in minifigure scale.

The Dreadnaught Police dreadnaught zeppelins are used to secure the airspace over the Brickston empire’s vast dominion. Built for long range duty, they are not the fastest aircraft out there, but what they lack in speed they make up for in firepower. Out of their bellies, a fleet of high-speed fighter biplanes can be employed to chase down faster aircraft.

In Full Steam 2 the fleet is sent out to hunt down Nadakhan’s Sky Pirates en route to their safe haven in the Lepin jungle.

While I would have loved to build such a zeppelin in minifig-size, this literally would have been an airSHIP. Therefore I went three different routes: midi, micro, and a minifig-sized MOC only of the bridge. This gave me the flexibility for varied, yet detailed cinematic shots for my storyline.

Under construction.

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The Copter As helicopters are a fairly new invention, coming up with a believable steampunk version was harder than expected.

I ended up fusing used elements of an old carriage, a helicopter and a vertical-takeoff aircraft. The Copter shuttles prisoners from the Brickston station to Aircatraz and is able to make a landing on the cargo platform. In Full Steam 2, the utility is hijacked by an unlikely couple conspiring to break a specific prisoner out of the facility.

The Hover Boat

The Copter picking up a prisoner.

I grew up with images of old police and fire ships with their detachable hulls and swimming weights. The original police boat (314) and subsequent iterations are still dear to my heart and served as the main inspiration here. I liked the idea of a dual use vehicle able to patrol the rough rocky water and foggy airspace around Aircatraz.

The “Paddle-Wagon” The paddle-wagon (a play on “Paddy wagon,” obviously) is heavily inspired by 19th century steam tugs. I needed a cargo lifting support vehicle for my storyline, and since I had never built a paddle boat, this MOC gave me the perfect opportunity. Overall this was a fun build which uses random Technic panels, Bionicle parts or mining accessories (surfboards) for shaping and detail.

The Hover Boat in boat mode.

The Paddle Wagon.

The Hover Boat in flight mode.

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The Lady Luck.

The Lady Luck: The Lady Luck is probably the biggest and heaviest airship I’ve built so far. It is inspired by old prison hulks, which were decommissioned tall ships turned into floating prisons. In my storyline this airship had crashed on some rocks off the Brickston coast some time ago, as nobody ever figured out how to reliably fly this behemoth. It was deemed too expensive to recover the ship, which led to the idea of turning it into a high-security prison hulk.

Around it, several building structures were erected—now commonly known as Aircatraz.

Starboard view.

The captain’s office.

While often not visible from the outside, all of my builds have a highly detailed interior. It gives more life to the build if it’s not just an empty facade. I knew from the beginning that I would need detailed action shots of prisoners and police force inside the ship, so I designed the build to have a closed front and an open backside. This made for some interesting structural challenges, which were fun to figure out.

On deck.

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Port view.

Trouble on the port side!

If you want to see more of Markus’ work, you can go to his Instagram page at: https://www.instagram.com/ fullsteamchronicles/?hl=en or scan this QR code!

A look at the masthead.

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Aircatraz Aircatraz is an offshore high-security prison—deemed inescapable. Several actors will put this belief to the test in Full Steam 2.

Police stations are a beloved staple of the LEGO catalog.

While I also built the ‘headquarters,’ this particular ensemble references the few LEGO sets with police stations residing in water (60419, 60130). The compound consists of a watchtower, a water tower, a landing and cargo platform, a cargo crane, the Lady Luck, a surveillance hot-air balloon, a flak tower, and a dual-use hover boat.

The prison hold, which is on the Lady Luck.

Approaching Aircatraz.

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The cargo crane.

The landing and cargo platform.

Another view of the compound.

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Building

Kendall and Kelsey Swafford:

Kendall and Kelsey Swafford.

Article by Kendall Swafford Photography by Kelsey Swofford

Ever have one of those ideas? An idea that was too crazy to even attempt!? An idea too big to fail!? This is the story of just such an idea...

I never dreamt of building 9’ tall LEGO murals as a child; I was never a LEGO kid growing up. If I had any LEGO sets as a child, those memories are lost to the ravages of time. A comic book cover built entirely out of LEGO was never one of my life goals. Until it was.

Kelsey Swafford.

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My co-builder in crime, the Robin to my Batman if you will, is my eldest daughter Kelsey. As a child, she would build the occasional set that I would bring her, and she still has her Scala set (3290) The Big Family House and (3569) Grand Soccer Stadium. The LEGO bug really bit us both with the release of the inaugural Batman sets in 2006, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention fellow LEGO fan Mike Schmidt.

Mike was (and is) a customer of ours at Up Up & Away!, a small chain of comic shops in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Mike was enthusiastic about LEGO, to say the least, and it’s fair to say Mike contributed greatly to our current LEGO obsession!

Flash forward to 2012, and the release of the DC Universe sets inspired us to build large-scale 2D recreations of classic comic book covers. It never occurred to us that it couldn’t be done, so we began planning our first build that fall, with construction of the first mural commencing on July 4th, 2013! I was determined to make them impressive in scale, so the initial mural rose to an amazing nine feet tall. As these are built in one of our stores so customers can see our progress, we had to stop at the ceiling!

Inspiration.

Choosing the subject of our first mural wasn’t all that hard. We’re both big Batman fans, and I’m a big fan of comic book artist David Mazzucchelli, so we chose the cover to Batman #405, the second chapter in the classic Batman: Year One saga. Full disclosure: we picked this issue for our very first mural because there was no background and the figure was mostly cape. Since we had no idea what we were doing, this seemed like the safest bet! The entire mural took about eight weeks, and was completed in one of our stores so we could work on it daily. Fun fact; the lavender background on this mural was originally LEGO blue. At the time of the initial build, we could not source lavender 1x2 plate in sufficient quantities (and at a reasonable price), and since some copies of this comic appeared more blue than purple, we went with blue. Just two weeks before the mural was to make its debut at Cincinnati ComiCon, I received a call from TLG telling me 1x2 lavender plate was now available to purchase. “I need 20,000 of em, STAT!” So we replaced the entire background at the very last minute. Whew!

Completion.

Creation.

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The art behind the second mural.

Our next mural is the classic Green Lantern #76 by the legendary Neal Adams.

Neal was scheduled to make a signing appearance at one of our stores on September 14th, 2014, so we knew this was the only choice for our next mural.

Work began on August 9th, 2014 and was completed just minutes before Neal and his wife Marilyn arrived at our store! Neal was rarely humbled by anyone, but he seemed rather impressed by this particular homage, and was gracious enough to sign the mural itself.

Cover artist Neal Adams (left) and Kendall Swafford, with mural behind.

A look at some of the detail of the town.

The completed mural.

Neal Adams’ autograph on the mural.

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Progression from source art.

The completed piece.

Our third mural, Sabretooth’s first appearance in Iron Fist #14, was done at someone else’s behest. Initially, I refused. “It can’t be done” I said; too much detail and too many hard-to-source LEGO colors made this one a challenge in my mind. Months passed, but eventually we were convinced to give it a try, with work commencing on February 11, 2017, and it was completed over seven months later. By this time, we were running two stores and a local comic convention, so building slowed considerably. Once completed, it quickly became my favorite of the three. We’re both clearly learning new build techniques with each mural, and I think it shows with this one.

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Source art.

Completed mosaic.

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Our most recent mural was a bit of a departure for us in a number of ways. It was our first horizontal comic cover, which gave us an opportunity to expand our canvas. A whopping 8’ tall and 12’ wide, it’s comprised of over 138,000 LEGO studs, which we estimated 50,000+ pieces went into it. It’s also the first mural built partially off-site. Running a multi-store operation means that Kelsey and I are rarely onsite at the same store to work on the mural together. And knowing the sheer size of this one (121 baseplates!), we decided it was best if we worked on it separately for a period of time before coming together to push it across the finish line! Darwyn Cooke has been a huge favorite of both mine and Kelsey’s since we discovered his work in DC: The

New Frontier back in 2005. Kelsey chose this particular cover, and I think it was the perfect choice to honor the late Mr. Cooke.

And now, a peak behind the curtain! It’s important to note that we do not use any mosiac-creating software to aid us in the build. We take a high-res scan of the original comic book cover and lay a grid over the cover using Adobe FreeHand that corresponds with the underlying baseplates so we have a basic grid to work from. That’s it, at least as far as our design prep goes. Next we build our ‘canvas’; seventy 10” baseplates and five 15” baseplates are glued to a wood frame. Don’t worry, that’s all the glue we ever use! None of these murals are glued in place and could (theoretically) be disassembled at any time.

Next, we simply pick a place each of us wants to start. At first glance, creating murals based on existing comic covers might seem a little like “paint by numbers”, but it can be way more complicated than that. A lot of thought goes into translating an artist’s work into LEGO plates. Sometimes, even a simple 1x1 plate is too large to capture the artists’ intent. We sometimes debate endlessly over changes from the original cover, particular techniques and even the proper LEGO colors to use. Martian Manhunter’s face is a great example of knowing when to stray from the original a little. My first attempt at his face was pretty hideous. Kelsey knew best how to translate Darwyn’s art into LEGO, and the results were both terrific and still accurate to the original art.

You can find out more about Up, Up and Away Comics by visiting their website: www.upupandawaycomics.com or by scanning this QR code!

Martian Manhunter in progress.

While Batman has been displayed at both Cincinnati ComiCon and the Cincinnati Museum Center, they’re really not built for travel. All four murals are on permanent display at our two comic shops, Up Up & Away! If you find yourself in the Greater Cincinnati area, look us up.

You might even find Kelsey or myself behind the counter, where we’re already plotting our next LEGO mural!

Completed Manhunter,

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Building

Jack Carleson: American Airlines DC-10

Aircraft Artistry

Article and Photography

by Jack Carleson The last time we talked to Jack Carleson was in BrickJournal #62, where we saw some of his first aircraft models. Since then, he has made many more models that have been displayed at LEGO fan events and museums. Here’s a look at his more recent builds!

The American Airlines DC-10 is my most recent and Technically ambitious project to date. Construction of this behemoth took about six months, and the model uses an estimated 20,000 LEGO parts. A majority of the chrome pieces on the DC-10 are authentic LEGO silver pieces collected over a number of years to construct the DC-10 in the famous American Airlines chrome livery. This model features a full interior, including a first-class and coach lounge and an innovative below-deck galley. In addition to the details on the inside, the DC10 model features a motorized landing gear that can be programmed with the LEGO Powered Up app to extend and retract. The engines on this model can also spin and the inside of the plane is illuminated with lights.

This model is based on the earliest variant of the DC-10, known as the DC-1010, which was first produced in 1970. The DC-10 was the first wide-body trijet to enter service in the early 1970s, and it was designed to compete against the legendary Boeing 747 and later the Lockheed L1011. The DC-10 had a bumpy start, with multiple high-profile crashes taking place soon after it entered commercial service. Even though the airplane had a rough start, it went on to form the backbone of numerous airlines, such as American and United, for many years.

Some views of the DC-10.

DC-10 cockpit.

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The landing gear of the DC-10 under development.

The American Airlines DC-10 seen from above.

The American Airlines DC-10 interior.

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Emirates A380:

Landing gear being developed for the A380.

This is a minifigure scale model of the largest commercial airliner in the world, the Airbus A380. Emirates is by far the largest operator of the A380, employing more than 100 of the superjumbos in their fleet, so it was fitting that this model be depicted in the Emirates livery. Using an estimated 40,000 LEGO pieces and with a wingspan of seven feet, the Emirates A380 is by far the largest model I’ve ever built, taking over a year to construct. The massive jet has a fully detailed interior featuring first-class suites, a shower, a fully stocked bar, and a spiral staircase. In addition to all of that, the flaps and spoilers are motorized and can be remotely retracted and extended using the LEGO Powered Up app. Constructing the A380 was a Technical challenge that required extensive planning to pull off correctly. Some of the most complex parts to design were the wing box that supports the load of the wings, as well as the landing gear that has to support the immense weight of the model. The fuselage shaping also proved to be quite tricky because of the unusual shape of the double-decker fuselage and the model’s overall size.

After over a year of building and countless hours of planning, the A380 model is now proudly displayed at the Emirates Innovation Center in Expo City, Dubai, where it can be in good company with its fellow superjumbos.

The A380’s bar.

The A380’s lower deck.

The A380’s display at Dubai.

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The A380.

The A380’s upper deck.

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B-52D Stratofortress Many things may come to mind when you think of the Vietnam War. Some good and some bad, but few can doubt that the Vietnam War produced some incredibly iconic military machinery. One of those icons of the Vietnam War was the legendary Boeing B-52 Stratofortress. The B-52 started its life shortly after WWII ended when the newly formed Strategic Air Command (SAC) headed by General Curtis LeMay demanded an all-jet heavy bomber that could strike deep within the Soviet Union. The new jet would replace the obsolete B-29s and B-36s and would soon form the backbone of Strategic Air Command.

The B-52 first flew in 1952 and was quickly produced in massive numbers.

The B-52 was designed to carry out a nuclear strike against the Soviet Union, but as ICBM technology matured and the war in Vietnam heated up, the B-52 found itself serving a new role: dropping conventional explosives. The B-52D, which is depicted here, is the B-52 variant that was used during the Vietnam War. The B-52D received modifications to its bomb bay known as “Big Belly” modifications, which allowed it to carry significantly more conventional explosives. The B-52 still serves in the USAF today, and there are currently no plans to retire the Cold War-era bomber anytime soon.

This LEGO Model uses an estimated 15,000 LEGO pieces and took about three months to build. The B-52 has a wingspan of five feet and a length of around four feet. This model is depicted in the “City of Fort Worth” livery because it was the first B-52 delivered to the 4123 strategic wing at Carswell Air Force base in February of 1958.

Overhead view of B-52D Stratofortress.

The B-52D Stratofortress.

Side view of B-52D Stratofortress.

Bottom of the B-52D, showing exterior bomb loads.

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The tail gun of the bomber.

Developing the wings to the model.

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Marine One.

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Marine One with the top removed, revealing its interior.

Marine One When it comes to presidential transport, most people will think of the heavily armored limo or the iconic 747 that carries the president. While Air Force One and the presidential motorcade play a significant role in transporting the president, Marine One provides a valuable service that allows the president to quickly and safely get where he needs to go. Marine One is a call sign used whenever the President of the United States is onboard a USMC vehicle. The current helicopter that is utilized as “Marine One” is a modified Sikorsky VH-3D Sea King. Marine One often flies in groups of up to five helicopters to help obscure the president’s location and act as decoys. Marine One is flown out in a C-5 Galaxy whenever the president travels abroad for use in whatever country the president is visiting.

This LEGO model is built at 1/40 scale and features a full interior, folding rotor, and accurate color scheme. This model was built to accompany the larger Air Force One model which has been previously featured in BrickJournal and is now on permanent display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio.

Marine One with rotors folded for air transport.

Marine One’s interior.

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The XB-35 Flying Wing.

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The XB-35 Flying Wing in progress.

The XB-35 cockpit.

XB-35 Flying Wing When the B-2 stealth bomber rolled out of its hangar in Palmdale, California in November of 1988, this was the first time most of the world had ever seen a flying wing. Its radical design eliminated the fuselage and tail and left just a sleek, highly advanced wing. Despite the unconventional appearance of the bomber, this was not the first time the US Military was interested in a flying wing bomber, nor was it Northrop’s first time building one. Development of the Northrop flying wing can actually be traced back to the 1930s when Jack Northrop began experimenting with radical new flying wing designs. After seeing the enormous potential of the flying wing, in December of 1941, the US Army Air Corps awarded a contract to Northrop to develop the XB-35 to be used in the war against Nazi Germany as a long-range strategic bomber.

Developing a flying wing bomber proved challenging, and the XB-35 program was delayed. The first flight of the XB-35 took place in June of 1946 after the Second World War had ended. The flying wing had issues with stability, as did its large counter-rotating engines. Later variants of the flying wing, such as the YB-49, utilized jet engines to boost their speed and bring them into the jet age.

Despite the promises the flying wing offered, what the XB-35 really needed were computers to keep itself stable. Without that crucial innovation, coupled with Air Force politics, the program was canceled in 1949.

This Custom LEGO XB-35 model is built at a scale of 1/40 and has a full interior, retractable landing gear, opening bomb bays, and motorized counterrotating propellers. The model is built using a complex system of bricks-on-side construction and curved slopes at multiple angles. The hardest part of building this plane was achieving the proper airfoil. The XB-35 may not be the most glamorous plane I’ve built, but it’s definitely the quirkiest.

You can see more of Jack’s planes at his Flickr gallery: https:// www.flickr.com/people/166701137@N06/ or you can scan this QR code!

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41

Building

Miles Bellmore’s model of the Ford Tri-Motor from the movie Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.

Miles Bellmore:

Plane Crazy!

Article and Photography by Miles Bellmore

His name is Miles Bellmore, but you probably know him on Flickr as PickleGambino. As a college student, he has been building since he was three. He took a break in middle school but returned to building when the pandemic started. He started building military models and realized that he could apply his interest in movies as well.

World War II and other historically-themed vehicles on Flickr inspired and encouraged him to attempt MOCs when he was eight. His favorite theme is Indiana Jones.

Building inspiration came from WWII and other historicalthemed vehicles on Flickr. These caught his interest.

Miles finds inspiration for his models in his love for movies and 20th Century military history. These interests often intersected with what he makes and encouraged him to attempt MOCs when he was about eight. Regarding how he builds, Miles was inspired by LEGO’s old Town line, with its smaller vehicles, to use the smaller 1:48 scale that is a little more proportionate to a minifigure’s height than larger scales like 1:35, which is better proportioned for a figure’s width.

A preliminary build sketch of the top of the plane.

Planning starts by researching what he wants to replicate; understanding the historical context surrounding the subject and compiling reference photos are integral steps in his building process. Miles always learn more about the subject as he builds it, so the research process doesn’t end until he places the final piece.

After some preliminary research, Miles starts by finding the build’s dimensions. This is usually simple; if he can find a vehicle’s real-life dimensions, he plugs the numbers into one of the many online LEGO unit/scale converters to receive stud dimensions. He also utilizes any schematics that he can find online. These were particularly useful

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The front view of the preliminary build.

while modeling the Lao Che Ford Tri-Motor from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. It was important to get the Tri-Motor’s simple, iconic silhouette right, especially in places like the wings and fuselage. Regardless of the subject, he always prioritizes scale and proportion over details.

The fictitious Horten Ho38 flying wing from Raiders of the Lost Ark was the most difficult and ambitious build Miles has tackled. It took effort to shape it faithfully, especially in the middle. He likes that he used 2x2 wedge plates to cover gaps as the middle of the plane slopes down. Miles plans to update the model in the future because he used colors that only exist digitally in the parts he used. He has also improved in making better-scaled brick-built propellers.

The plane picking up Indiana Jones.

Another view of the plane in flight.

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Miles’ crop dusters.

Miles is most proud of his N3N-3 Canary crop duster from the Hitchcock thriller North by Northwest (it’s the plane that chases Cary Grant around). There aren’t many classic American biplane MOCs at this smaller scale, so he thought this plane would be a great opportunity to create something from one of his favorite movies. The Canaries’ history also fascinates him. The US Navy used them for training, and many were sold for agricultural use after WWII, hence the movie appearance.

copy of Brickarms’ “u-clip” that he used on the struts. He also colored the wings an accurate chrome silver which one could spray-paint onto parts and still match the LEGO palette.

Miles built his first N3N-3 draft in 2022, but the proportions didn’t sit right, and he wanted to build a more intricate radial engine. He updated his design using techniques he learned since. Building digitally allowed him to make parts in Bricklink’s Part Designer, like the

Miles builds both because he wants to replicate something and because he likes to create. The feeling after “finishing” a MOC is satisfying, but he almost likes the process of researching and building the models more.

A closer look at one of the crop dusters.

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The main shape for a plane like the Canary takes about three hours, but Miles usually goes on and off obsessively editing things. This process can span days or weeks, depending on how much he ends up changing and if he can find time.

Miles’ Horten Ho38 flying wing from Raiders of the Lost Ark.

For future projects, Miles has recently been researching the Pacific Theater of WWII and wants to make more models of the vehicles used.

The best advice Miles gives to beginners wanting to build vehicles is to focus on the proportions of the vehicle by comparing side profiles. It’s also helpful to find your preferred scale and practice primarily building in this scale. As you practice converting dimensions to your preferred scale and using reference pictures/schematics, you’ll naturally develop an eye for what looks right and what could be off.

Another look at the flying wing.

The TDN-1 in flight.

Miles’ rendition of a TDN-1, a drone developed by the US Navy in 1942.

You can see more of Miles’ work at his Flickr gallery: https://www.flickr.com/ photos/192811708@N02/ or you can scan this QR code!

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The LEGO Group

New and old Ice Planet figures.

Going Back to Ice Planet...

One Figure at a Time!

Article by Chris Perron and Tore M. Harmark-Alexandersen Art provided by The LEGO Group, Chris Perron, and Tore M. Harmark-Alexandersen

Growing up, Ice Planet was one of Chris Perron’s favorite themes (likely due to the heavy snowfall of Canadian winters) and he has a very distinct memory of opening up the 6983 Ice Station Odyssey for Christmas one year.

At university, Chris studied Industrial Design while being a passionate AFOL building his own MOCs and sharing them online and at fan conventions. Now that he has moved to Denmark to work as a model designer at The LEGO Group, he still enjoys building in his free time and sharing his love for the brick!

Tore M. Harmark-Alexandersen’s father worked at LEGO before Tore was born and until he was four years old. His father was a model/concept designer, but also did final products. One of the sets Tore’s father remembers designing was 7822 Railway Station. So of course, he had a lot of LEGO bricks in his household, and of course it made Tore a mad LEGO fan from birth.

What happens when these two designers team up to make an updated Ice Planet minifigure? BrickJournal let the designers tell the story themselves!

But first, an introduction...

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Chris Perron (left) and Tore M. Harmark-Alexandersen.

About the Designers Chris Perron is a Senior Designer at the LEGO Group. He has been a model designer since 2016, working on many sets across lines such as Super Heroes and Monkie Kid, while bouncing around various teams to work on specific products such as: 76832 XL-15 Spaceship, 10316 Rivendell, and getting to work with his wife, Laura Perron, also a LEGO Designer on 21336 The Office.

Chris Perron’s Ice Planet-themed creations.

Tore M. Harmark-Alexandersen is a character/graphical designer at the LEGO Group and has worked there since 2009. Over the years he has worked on many different play themes, like Pharaoh’s Quest, Castle 2013, Galaxy Squad, Chima, Nexo Knights, Duplo, CITY, and many more. In 2019 Tore moved to Minifigure Collectibles, where he works in collaboration with the Design lead Esa Petteri Nousiainen. He has been creating the yellow skinned minifig series ever since.

Some illustrations by Tore M. Harmark-Alexandersen.

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Getting Started Chris Perron: For me it started when I heard rumors that there was going to be an Ice Planet minifigure in the newest Collectible Minifigure line-up. Knowing that Tore was working on the line-up, I ran down to his desk to learn more about it. He showed me the initial concept and told me the plan was to design a new helmet element for this figure, with the idea of having a narrow eye slit/visor to accommodate the bright conditions of the frozen Ice Planet. Mani Zamani, an element designer who has done many amazing elements over the past years, was the designer assigned to the element. I next ran to his desk to learn more! As a huge Ice Planet fan, I was just excited this was happening and really wanted to be a part of it, any tiny way that I could be. Even if that was just doing a quick concept sketch, or giving a little bit of input, I just wanted to be involved.

Early sketch by Tore M. Harmark-Alexandersen. Since the transparent neon orange element color is currently not available, the design team knew early on that a printed visor would be the way to get around that limitation.

Tube pattern brushes that were created as vector graphics in order to easily be bent into a preferred shape on the torso.

Approaching Mani’s desk was funny; he swiveled his chair looking at me and said, “Ah yes, I’ve been expecting you!”, knowing what a fan I was and that it was only a matter of time before I caught wind of it. Mani offered the opportunity for me to do some initial sketches (mostly sculpting in Zbrush) to generate some ideas, as he had seen some of my 3-D artwork I’ve been doing for fun and had an idea of what I could do. As I am normally a model designer, designing the builds of a LEGO set, this was a different experience for me to work on a more purely aesthetic element like this. As time went on, both Mani and Esa (the Creative Lead for the project) were happy with my work and progress. Mani then offered to let me take the element through the entirety of the element design process and would mentor me along the way so I could learn this discipline of LEGO Design. This was a great experience and I’m very grateful for it, as it’s always helpful to understand more fully what each of the branches of LEGO Design is doing in their roles.

Tore M. Harmark-Alexandersen: Working on the concept phase of Series 26 was quite surreal, a whole series dedicated to space and sci-fi related characters. It would have been easy to do the whole line-up of updated remakes of older LEGO space themes, but that would only represent a fraction of just how many different archetypes there are related to this world.

Space is generally really, really cold, but to have a minifigure representing a planet all made of ice, is a cool concept and it had been done so brilliantly back in 1993, with the Ice Planet 2002 theme. I clearly remember this theme from my childhood; I was twelve years old when I first saw the Ice Planet sets, in the LEGO catalogue. These ice explorers were not just surrounded by dust and craters, but a relatable harsh and cold environment, with snow and ice. Back then the LEGO catalogues showed these amazing sceneries that created so much depth and story, and one detail that still stands clear in my memory is the scene where the ice planet team is cutting through real ice cubes, and freeing a Balcktron II minifigure, to be handed over to the police.

Nostalgia aside…

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This Ice Planet minifigure in the context of a Minifigures Space themed series would be justified, since it represented an astronaut adapted to a specific planetary biome.

Beginning The Process Tore M. Harmark-Alexandersen: The challenge was how to show all the ice and snow, when we only had a single minifigure…

Our first thought was to give the character a big collar of fur as an element.

Chris Perron: The initial idea was to have this new helmet fit in some way with the existing neck fur element. This option was explored briefly, but it became apparent that in order for a separate helmet element to mesh tightly into the fur element, it would need to have a very strange asymmetrical cutout at the bottom to allow it to slot into place. The revised direction was to include the fur as part of the helmet, so it would become one larger piece that would fit over the head. This proved to be challenging as the fur needed to be white, and to keep in line with the established Ice Planet theme, the helmets should also remain white. Being that the entire piece was white, it was hard to make a clean line showing where the hard surface of the helmet ends and where the fur begins. We explored adding the tubes to help establish that transition line, but it very quickly started feeling very messy—and this was before taking serious molding considerations into account. Due to the nature of how the shells of the mold need to slide apart, we would need to avoid undercuts and have appropriate draft angles. This would all result in everything starting to melt together, which was not desirable.

We briefly entertained the idea of using color to differentiate the components, but making the tubes blue added a lot of complexity and just didn’t feel right with how Ice Planet has been represented before. The next part to consider was how this would all integrate with the air tank element.

Creating the negative space at the back of the neck to allow for the air tanks to fit would be very strange, as when the minifig is built without using air tanks, there would be a giant hole exposing the back of the head and neck. If the air tanks were necessary to fill that gap, then it made sense to also include the air tanks as part of the sculpt. So now I had this giant element, kind of like the Aquazone headgear, where it was a big piece that included the helmet, the air tanks and the fur. This was not feeling right. It felt like way too much white in such a large solid mass and it would sit right above the white arms of the minifigure, adding even more white.

I was also trying to wrap my head around the story of this character. I love the design of the original Ice Planet minifgures, I think they are great and it didn’t make sense to me for this to be a “replacement” or “update” for them.

As an Ice Planet fan, what I really wanted was more Ice Planet minifigures. Having this helmet essentially copy the elements that previously existed (hose, fur, air tanks) didn’t feel like it was doing anything different enough. I spent a lot of time consulting my closest colleagues, asking for their thoughts and opinions to get this just right.

A few of the details when making this helmet were creating the right callbacks to the original theme. The old visors had a round spherical antenna on the left side, so I wanted to have a similar attachment on this one so they felt like

One of the first sculpts of a potential helmet idea.

A preliminary helmet design with air tanks added.

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Final Designs

part of the same team. I also wanted to make sure the helmets would feel like they have a similar bounding box, so the antenna is made to line up exactly in the same spot from a side view, and the same height from the front. The fully spherical tip was not possible due to the undercuts it would create when molding, so I opted for a cylindrical version that feels like it can fit in with the story of this being the heavy armor unit.

One suggestion that came was to see if we could include some kind of shoulder armor piece to help break up the white. I wasn’t sure if this was something that was possible, as it would be adding another element to the figure that wasn’t in the plan, but it would mean the helmet would get much smaller and could exist purely as a helmet. The relatively new armor piece used in both Star Wars and in the Lightyear sets felt like the perfect piece. It had very nice clean geometry that really fit the ’90s space aesthetic, and had large printable surfaces. I made a quick mock-up of what it could look like, drawing a quick Ice Planet logo on one shoulder pad and trimming off the fur and air tanks of the helmet to pitch the idea to the Creative Lead, Esa. He loved it! With the go-ahead, everything else started fitting together, in both the story and design. Now this character was making sense: it was a heavily armored unit made for extreme cold and dangerous conditions. The bulky armor provides extra protection with its integrated air supply. The helmet has a narrow, reinforced visor slit, so it is more protected from avalanches and cave-ins.

Placing hoses on the helmet digitally.

Hose segments being added.

In order to create a more clean layout design on the torso and since the tubes were added to the helmet, they were removed from the torso.

It is important to be consistent with our portfolio. Even though it would be really fun to create your own design takes, it is highly important to build on to, and not just redo.

In other words, when creating an add-on to an existing LEGO theme, the new version should add something while still feeling a part of the same universe.

A final digital model.

1993

Ice Planet Lineage

+ Ice Planet

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2022

2024

= LEGO Chinese New Year Set

CMF Series 26

Tore M. Harmark-Alexandersen: Unfortunately, that (the fur) became hard to integrate with the helmet design, and so that was dropped. Luckily Chris has this thing about placing penguins in his MOCs and so he suggested that we add a penguin as a companion to this character.

These simple but relatable elements like a penguin, will resonate with most, and so the fur was no longer necessary to clearly tie the character to a snowy environment.

Chris Perron: The penguin? A very important member of the team!

They are there to help assist in getting into smaller, hard to reach places, and can run back to get help in case of an emergency cave-in. While we want to leave these types of stories open to interpretation so people can be creative in how they use them, it really helps to create a bit of a narrative like this to guide design decisions along the way.

Tore M. Harmark-Alexandersen: The Penguin itself went back and forth between black, white and blue. But since the most iconic part of this character was the white helmet with the slim orange visor, we decided to go with that color option. Originally the visor on the Ice Planet figures was transparent neon orange; unfortunately that element color was not available, so we decided to print the orange instead.

Chris Perron: The original Ice Planet sets were very prominent in using the transparent neon orange color, and as that color had exited our portfolio of materials, we were unable to use it for this figure. The next closest color available is the regular transparent orange, which is still very cool, but not quite the same. With that in mind, during the entire process, it was decided very early on that the visor slit would be treated with an orange printed decoration. This solved multiple issues for us: first the penguin and the helmet would match and look like a team. Second, for those Ice Planet fans nostalgic for the original color scheme, the printed orange still works if you use this helmet with either of the transparent oranges. The iconic transparent orange chainsaw had to be included, even if it wasn’t in the original orange, since for those who don’t care what was done in 1993, it’s still super cool! And for those that want the original color, it’s the exact same molded element as before, so it’s very easy to swap out. I like to think that transparent orange is what the chainsaws look like when they are turned off, and they glow transparent neon orange when on. It’s also funny, because now it implies that all Ice Planet minifigures have been running around and storing live chainsaws for the past 30+ years. Turns out they just found the off switch now!

Refining the digital model.

Microbuild by CMF Design Lead: Esa Petteri Nousiainen

The original chainsaw build from 1993 had a larger body.

But with this updated version, Esa wanted to make it look more like a real chainsaw, where the blade is much longer than the body. Note that this Ice Chainsaw 2.0 kicks just as much of a punch as its predecessor, it is just way more pocket-friendly.

Final vector design. The final design reflects a heavy armored special unit, which can tackle even the toughest and coldest conditions. Therefore it needed spiked boots for stability.

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Checking the helmet fit with air tanks.

Extra Considerations

Final product render. No one knows if the companion is a real penguin in a special chill-resistant suit, or if it is indeed a robot.

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Chris Perron: Speaking of mixing new and old, I’m really hoping people will mix up these figure parts with their old ones as well!

I think the blue shoulder pads will look awesome with the old helmets, and I wanted to make sure this new helmet would fit with the air tanks. This meant the back had to be angled in a very specific way to make this fit. It was definitely a big challenge, as a lot of my initial designs had a lot of extra bulk and detail back there, and it was tough to get it to feel just right without it looking abruptly “chopped”. Making this fit also helped keep the helmet nice and tight so that it can rotate freely when being worn with the shoulder pads. Overall I think I made about 100 variants of this helmet, some of them being radically different, some of them having tiny bevel and chamfer changes that only I would notice as I obsessed over every edge, surface transition and panel line. After the initial concepts were sculpted in Zbrush, I used Blender to build each of the main shapes and utilized the boolean functions to nondestructively cut the main shapes. This was very useful, as it would allow me to iterate quickly while still keeping my surfaces clean and planar.

A robodog for the Retro Space Heroine.

Proposed designs for Alien Beetlezoid.

A preproduction version of the Imposter.

Leg print designs for the M-Tron Powerlifter.

But Wait! There’s More!

As a bonus, BrickJournal received some concept and production art from Tore M. Harmark-Alexandersen from his work on other minifigures in the Space series. Here’s a unique look at the process of design for a LEGO product!

Head print designs for the Imposter.

Color proposals for Alien Beetlezoid.

Prototype versions of the Robot Butler.

Preproduction designs of the M-Tron Powerlifter.

Print designs for the Spacewalking Astronaut’s controls.

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Parts List

(Parts can be ordered through Bricklink.com by searching by part number and color) Qty Part Color Description 1 2 4 1 1 1 1 8 2 1 3 3 5 1 3 3 4 8 2 1 2

Airship Island Design by the BrickNerd Team

When it comes to flying vehicles, nothing captures the imagination quite like airships soaring in the sky.

They instantly transport you to a realm of wonder and possibility where craggy mountains peek above the clouds and waterfalls careen to the world below.

For our airship island, we wanted to create something that felt airy with lots of negative space—an island that looks like it is balancing delicately in the sky. To achieve this, we used a strong base made from mudguards that are locked into place with SNOT bricks.

To make the build more playful, we used bright colors to be fun and eye catching. Lime green 4x4 domes are used for mounds of grass, medium azure for the water, and Minecraft Axolotl faces for some cute houses!

Lastly, we wanted to show two different kinds of flying transportation in microscale—hence a traditional airship (using minifigure shoulder pads) and a hot air balloon (using a minifigure neck ruffle and a few Ninjago masks to create the spherical shape), all held up by the new clear curved bars for a little extra magic.

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So weigh anchor and start building your own airship island to take to the skies!

1 1 1 1 1 3 1 1 1 3 1 2 2 4 1 1 1 1 2

50955.dat

Dark Bluish Grey Wedge 10 x 3 x 1 Double Rounded Left 41747.dat Dark Bluish Grey Wedge 2 x 6 Double Right 54200.dat Dark Bluish Grey Slope Brick 31 1 x 1 x 0.667 11211.dat Dark Bluish Grey Brick 1 x 2 with Two Studs on One Side 60477.dat Dark Bluish Grey Slope Brick 18 4 x 1 78443.dat Dark Bluish Grey Wing 2 x 6 Left 93273.dat Dark Bluish Grey Slope Brick Curved 4 x 1 Double 3024.dat Dark Bluish Grey Plate 1 x 1 62361.dat Dark Bluish Grey Car Mudguard 6 x 1.5 x 1 with Arch 26604.dat Dark Bluish Grey Brick 1 x 1 with Studs on Two Adjacent Sides 3666.dat Dark Bluish Grey Plate 1 x 6 43710.dat Dark Bluish Grey Wedge 4 x 2 Double Left 86996.dat Dark Bluish Grey Plate 1 x 1 x 0.667 73230.dat Dark Bluish Grey Technic Brick 1 x 1 with Axlehole 35480.dat Dark Bluish Grey Plate 1 x 2 with Round Ends and 2 Open Studs 79491.dat Dark Bluish Grey Plate 2 x 2 Corner Round 6231.dat Dark Bluish Grey Panel 1 x 1 x 1 Corner with Rounded Corners 4733.dat Dark Bluish Grey Brick 1 x 1 with Studs on Four Sides 43711.dat Dark Bluish Grey Wedge 4 x 2 Double Right 99251.dat White Minifig Neck Ruff 85861.dat White Plate 1 x 1 Round with Open Stud 35787.dat White Tile 2 x 2 Triangular 87994.dat White Bar 3L 85861.dat Trans Clear Plate 1 x 1 Round with Open Stud 4042.dat Trans Clear Bar Curved with Axle End and 2 Opposite Studs 30374.dat Trans Clear Bar 4L Lightsaber Blade 22388.dat Red Slope Brick 50 1 x 1 x 0.667 Quadruple 85861.dat Reddish Brown Plate 1 x 1 Round with Open Stud 92690.dat Reddish Brown Bar 1L with Top Stud and Two Side Studs 88295.dat Reddish Brown Minifig Armour Shoulder Pads with Top Spikes 3024px0.dat Bright Lt Orange Plate 1 x 1 with 2 Black Squares and Dark Orange Rectangle Pattern 15573.dat Lime Plate 1 x 2 with Groove with 1 Centre Stud, without Understud 65138.dat Lime Brick 4 x 4 x 0.667 with Rounded Top and Four Top Studs 26601.dat Lime Plate 2 x 2 without Corner 59900.dat Green Cone 1 x 1 with Stop 4162.dat Medium Azure Tile 1 x 8 3460.dat Medium Azure Plate 1 x 8 6091.dat Medium Azure Brick 2 x 1 x 1.333 with Curved Top 3070b.dat Medium Azure Tile 1 x 1 with Groove 24504.dat Blue Minifig Face Scarf with Notch in Back

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You Can Build It MINI Build

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

Airship Balloon Qty Color 2 Dark-Purple 1 Dark-Purple

Part 3005.dat 49307.dat

1

Dark-Purple

86876.dat

10 Dark-Purple

11211.dat

3 2 2 2 4 1 1 6

Dark-Purple Dark-Purple Red Dark-Purple Dark-Purple Red Dark-Purple Dark-Purple

3003.dat 3002.dat 3710.dat 3021.dat 3020.dat 3020.dat 3795.dat 4287a.dat

2 1

Dark-Purple Red

3039.dat 22889.dat

4 1

Dark-Purple Dark-Purple

61678.dat 87079.dat

Cloud Side Panels

Le Nuage de Pourpre en miniature

de Christopher Deck

Qty Color 2 Dark-Purple 1 Dark-Purple 1 Dark-Purple 2 White

Part 3710.dat 3022.dat 3021.dat 35470.dat

2 2

41770.dat 41769.dat

Dark-Purple Dark-Purple

Airship Cabin

Bienvenue à une nouvelle session de construction dans le nouveau brickjournal!

Qty Color Part 1 Reddish-Brown 48723.dat

After this short introduction in the French language, let’s switch back to English and let me welcome you to another mini model building session in BrickJournal! This issue is all about airships, and thus it is my pleasure to share a special airship from the popular three-episode miniseries Around the World in 80 Days from the year 1989. In this television adaption of Jules Verne’s famous adventure novel, the heroes cross the alps in an airship called “Le Nuage de Pourpre” which translates to “The Purple Cloud”. When you have seen the miniseries, you will instantly recognize the following model. Besides, it’s fun to build, and brings back old memories. It is also a possibility to use some of your dark purple bricks whose number steadily increases since 2003. So, have fun building, and see you next time!

1 2 1 2

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1 6

Description Brick 1 x 1 Brick 1 x 1 x 0.667 with Curved Top Brick 1 x 2 with Centred Stud on Long Side Brick 1 x 2 with Two Studs on One Side Brick 2 x 2 Brick 2 x 3 Plate 1 x 4 Plate 2 x 3 Plate 2 x 4 Plate 2 x 4 Plate 2 x 6 Slope Brick 33 3 x 1 Inverted with Notch and Thick Front Slope Brick 45 2 x 2 Slope Brick 45 6 x 2 Double Inverted with Open Centre Slope Brick Curved 4 x 1 Tile 2 x 4 with Groove Description Plate 1 x 4 Plate 2 x 2 Plate 2 x 3 Plate 3 x 5 Cloud Shape with 3 Studs Wing 2 x 4 Left Wing 2 x 4 Right

Description Bar 1L Quadruple with Axlehole Hub Yellow 2458.dat Brick 1 x 2 with Pin Trans-Orange 4589.dat Cone 1 x 1 Dk-Bluish-Gray 34103.dat Plate 1 x 3 with 2 Studs Offset Yellow 87580.dat Plate 2 x 2 with Groove with 1 Centre Stud Black 3020.dat Plate 2 x 4 Yellow 3087cc01.dat Window 1 x 1 x 1 Classic with Short Sill (Complete)

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Statement of Ownership, Management, and Circulation Publication Title: BrickJournal Publication Number: 1941-2347 Filing Date: July 4, 2024 Issue Frequency: Bi-monthly Number of Issues Published Annually: 6 Annual Subscription Price: $73 Address of Known Office of Publication and General Business Office of Publisher: TwoMorrows Publishing, 10407 Bedfordtown Dr., Raleigh, NC 27614 Contact Person: John Morrow Telephone: 919-449-0344 Editor: Joe Meno, 6701 Coachman Drive, Springfield, VA 22152 Publisher and Managing Editor: John Morrow, TwoMorrows Publishing, 10407 Bedfordtown Dr., Raleigh, NC 27614 Owner: Joe Meno, 6701 Coachman Drive, Springfield, VA 22152 Known Bondholders, Mortgagees, and Other Security Holders: None Issue Date for Circulation Data: June 2024 Average No. Copies Each Issue During Preceding 12 Months: 6472 No. Copies of Single Issue Published Nearest to Filing Date: 6450 Paid Circulation (By Mail and Outside the Mail) (1) Mailed Outside-County Paid Subscriptions Stated on PS Form 3541 (Include paid distribution above nominal rate, advertiser’s proof copies, and exchange copies): 373 (2) Mailed In-County Paid Subscriptions Stated on PS Form 3541 (Include paid distribution

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Advertise In FULL-COLOR Ad Rates: Color Back Cover (8.375" x 10.875", full color): $1200 Inside Front Cover (7.5" x 10", full-color): $1000 Inside Back Cover (7.5" x 10", full-color): $1000 Full Page interior (7.5" x 10", full-color): $800 Half Page interior (7.5" x 4.875", full-color): $500 Quarter Page interior (3.625" x 4.875", full-color): $300

64

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Send ad copy and payment (US funds) to: TwoMorrows Publishing • 10407 Bedfordtown Dr. • Raleigh, NC 27614 919-449-0344 • fax 919-449-0327 • E-mail: twomorrow@aol.com

This series of BrickJournal articles has been written to address the deficit in the LEGO-verse where Alice in Wonderland, a.k.a. “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” are concerned. LEGO has seen fit to create the following characters in Minifigure form: Alice, the Cheshire Cat, and the Queen of Hearts. This deficit is no longer tolerable; several of the most beloved characters in the book and animated Disney Classic and just absent. This will stand no more. It is the intension of this author to rectify this issue in a series of articles for BrickJournal to create and share “how to create” the key missing characters, including, the Hatter, the White Rabbit, the Caterpillar, the brothers Tweedle, the King of Hearts, the March Hare, and the Dormouse. I encourage all readers to watch the animated Disney Classic “Alice in Wonderland,” which is available on Disney+. As with all literary works, I am behind schedule, so without further ado, let’s begin this journey.

Building Minifigure Customization 101:

Article and Photography by Jared K. Burks

Tiger-lily: In most gardens they make the beds too soft—so that the flowers are always asleep.

I believe the chapter title will proclaim the figures we are constructing today; however, for those unfamiliar with the work, please revisit the animated classic. I am using the 1951 animated film as inspiration for these additional figures as it is from this source that LEGO has released the three characters it has sought to create (Alice, Cheshire Cat, and the Queen of Hearts). I had great ambitions for today’s article and life has gotten in the way, so I have restructured a bit to create a part of the Wonderland Universe that I had intended to eventually make. Today’s figures are a dalliance, and I will continue to refine these for some time as they are much more complex than I recalled. Today, we are going to make the flower garden.

Alice encounters many sentient flowers throughout her excursions through Wonderland, including the White and Red Rose, Chrysanthemums, Blue Bonnets, Calla Lily, Daisy, Daffodil, Sweet Peas, Tulips, Iris, Dandelions, and Pansies. The flowers are sentient beings who live near the White Rabbit’s House and love to sing. When Alice first meets them, they mistake her for a type of flower that can move. For example, when Alice says it’s nonsense for flowers to talk, the rose replies, “We can talk”. The pansies then tell Alice that they sing too, and the flowers argue about who they should sing about.

As mentioned, today’s activities are going to be a first generation creation, as I have never made a flower person before and I wanted the garden to look like a garden. I started by looking at all the LEGO flowers. I then realized that LEGO intended most of their flowers to have the flower bud facing up, not out as if it was looking at someone—this created an issue. This is because most of the flowers LEGO has created are in the Clicks or Friends lines as accessories to figures and not in the plants section of Bricklink, meaning they don’t easily interface with the stem parts. Thus, I would have to change the direction and

Alice meets the flowers of Wonderland.

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Inspirational art.

also the way the flowers attach to stems—and honestly, the stems themselves, as all of the stems come off in low angle directions as if the flowers are falling over, and I need vertical flowers if one examines the inspirational art. Most of these flowers are hair accessories only featuring a pin connector. So a bit of modification is required to get them where they need to be.

Alice: Oh, but that’s nonsense.

Flowers can’t talk.

Rose: But of course we can talk, my dear.

Below: LEGO flower elements.

Orchid: If there’s anyone worth talking to.

Daisy: Or about.

Below: Digital elements ready for modification.

When wanting to make something for a LEGO figure, you can design it from the ground up, modify a LEGO part, or find something on Thangs, Thingiverse, or Google to see what all is available. For this option I am going to start with a LEGO part, as I want these flowers to feel at home in the Alice LEGOverse. So I headed over to LEOCad to find the 3-D files for the flowers that LEGO has created.

For this article I have used Meshmixer to cut off the back of the flower, create a flower stem that attaches to the new flower stem, and add a LEGO baby head (resized) to give the flower a face. I use Meshmixer for these alterations, as I can cut and add things, including resizing the head, to make it fit a touch better.

As I started to modify the flowers, I found that the front and back were both visually appealing of certain flowers, so I made multiples of some flower elements by flipping it over. I added stem acceptors to the bottom of each flower and I made three different types of stems: tall with offshoots, short with offshoots, and simply straight with single stem. This was easier as I used a separate shells command, which pulled the stems into their component parts, and it was an easy matter of changing the angles. I debated making some new foliage elements, but ran out of time for now.

Next I added the LEGO baby head to the center of the flowers, resizing the head as appropriate for each flower size. I found that the stud, not vertically sitting half into and half out of the flower was distracting, so I removed this from the baby head, leaving just the head shape. As each flower was visibly different in thickness, I recessed the head a different amount as well. The rose was of particular challenge as it was very thick, and adding the head made it more complex. On the whole I believe the daisy looks the best, but again this was a learning curve and I will be continuing to play with these designs.

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Below: 3-D printed elements.

Daisy: Do you suppose she’s a wildflower?

The next step was to 3-D print the newly created parts.

Having collected several colors of resin, I merely set up different resins and sequentially printed every flower part designed in a series of colors. This was fairly quick, but I did have to play with size as the flowers originally came in larger than I intended. As such, I measured one of the LEGO flowers and scaled both the flower and the stem to this size. Apparently, the stem was resized differently, so I had to print it a second time to get the correct scale.

Double check your parts before printing!

Alice: You can learn a lot of things from the flowers...

As I have mentioned over the course of this series, I have been studying YouTube videos on miniature painters to learn how to better paint smaller details on the custom elements I create. This is again helpful and I discovered painting small faces is incredibly challenging. Painting the flower pedals in various ways I think was wildly successful. I have learned that using a wet palette helps keep the paint properly diluted in water as I am using acrylics, but this also keeps the paints from drying out and lets the paint flow from the brush in a better application.

The second big bit is using Kolinsky sable brushes; these are higher end brushes. I have tried synthetic bristle brushes and the natural bristle has lasted longer and given me a fine point. Please know your mileage may vary and there is a massive price difference between the two.

As to painting, you merely add small amounts of paint to the wet palette, which is basically a sponge with a layer between. This allows the paint to flow from the brush and apply to the properly primed part. The next step I learned from watching so many videos is how to layer the paint to gain the best control possible. I have learned about how to layer the paints in order to achieve the desired effect. I found the flower faces the most challenging thing I have painted to date and am not currently happy with my results. I do like the way I painted the petals and brought more color to the flowers as the film is quite colorful, but as to the faces, I am not yet satisfied and may create a custom waterslide decal to add this detail in the future. For now, as with some of the parts, specifically the lily, I have made due by painting a similar color scheme on a flower to serve as a stand in and I am happy. This yielded a unique element that I can add to the Alice in Wonderland LEGOverse.

A painted flower.

Wet pallette for painting.

Don’t miss Jared’s two books (available now at www.twomorrows.com).

On sale: $5 each!

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Alice: Huh! Seems to me they could learn a few things about manners!

The final bit to this creation was arranging the flowers in the garden form based on the inspirational photo. This primarily was using various LEGO foliage parts to stagger the height of the flowers to various levels to showcase them visibly. I believe the LEGO Alice figure works well with the garden, and while I continue to play with these designs, I do like this novel dive into alternative figures in the LEGOverse, and hope you do as well. *Cheshire Cat designed by iBrickHeadz and color and part modified by Jared K. Burks You can view Jared’s webpage by going to http://www.fine clonier.com/ or scanning this QR code!

Come back next issue for more Minifigure Customization!

A close-up of the painted flowers.

The finished garden.

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Jared Oswald:

Life in Pieces

Article by David Strenzler, Bantha Bricks: Fans of LEGO Star Wars Photography by Jared Oswald Duel on Jabiim.

Galactic greetings! We are Bantha Bricks: Fans of LEGO Star Wars. As administrators of one of the best LEGO Star Wars themed groups on Facebook, David Strenzler, Frank Averstegge and Eloi Parizeau witness amazingly creative builds by Star Wars fans worldwide on a nearly daily basis.

This time, we would like to introduce you to another very talented MOC builder and Bantha Bricks community member: Jared Oswald (Life in Pieces).

David Strenzler: Hello Jared. Welcome to the Bantha Bricks Files! The LEGO Star Wars community has been familiar with your skilled Star Wars-inspired designs for some time. Could you please introduce yourself and what you do?

Jared Oswald: Thanks for the kind words, David. I’m Jared Oswald, owner of Life In Pieces Brick Shop and Design Studio. Through Life In Pieces, I work as a professional LEGO artist, designing custom models for corporations and other organizations. I also run our Bricklink/Brick Owl store, which has roughly one million parts in stock.

I’ve been designing and running the business full-time since 2021.

Would you say that Star Wars is your favorite theme, or are there others that we might not expect?

I would say Star Wars is my favorite active theme. I loved Mars Mission and Space Police when they were out. Each had a unique space aesthetic that set them apart. I was also a huge fan of Bionicle before it retired.

Why have you chosen the LEGO brick as your medium of self-expression? What makes LEGO so special to you?

I’ve worked with LEGO since I was a kid. It just makes sense to me. Working in traditional mediums (paint, drawing, clay sculpting, etc.) you can create the exact detail that you want for any given project. I think the largest appeal to working with LEGO is the challenge of working in a medium that has limited options. Not every part is available in every color or in unlimited quantities. It forces you to adapt and find creative solutions.

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Your latest model, Duel on Jabiim, perfectly captures the epic fight between Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Vader as seen in episode 6 of Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi. What inspired you to build this particular scene?

The scene is iconic. It’s one of the best choreographed, live-action duels in recent Star Wars media. I hadn’t seen many LEGO MOCs depicting it when I started the design, so there was some room to work without being influenced by the work of others.

Can you tell us a bit about the construction of your build?

Did you use any special techniques?

The rock features are a collection of wedge plates and curved slopes around a SNOT brick core. I created three different sized rocks, then used Stud.io’s mirror function to create flipped versions of each of them. That made each rock feature very easy to design and build, since I only had to create one design for each rock size. Both the initial and mirrored features are oriented in different directions on the base, which makes it more difficult to notice that each size is practically the same design. I went through several drafts for each rock size to make sure they were accurate to the show.

The base is decorated haphazardly with slopes, ingots, plates, and tiles to demonstrate the broken, rocky ground in the show. Utilizing exposed studs was important here.

They provide an extra depth and help trick the eye into seeing a craggy surface.

The cliffs attach to the base.

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The duel seen in daylight.

The cliffs also have a core to attach the sides.

Which of the design elements of your model are your favorite?

The most visually exciting thing was the light up lightsabers. Those came from Light My Bricks and they were a fantastic addition to the model. The wiring aspect for the lights was very fun to implement. The interior frame is laid out with Technic bricks that have many of their pin holes exposed. This gave some extra space to run the wires through and keep them neat. The model also has easy-access hatches to allow the electrical components to be serviced or changed, if needed. I also added a USB switch into the model, which was a big quality of life improvement.

How do you start your MOCs? Do you build the design in a freestyle way, or do you use a computer design program to lay it out first?

The bottom of the diorama, showing access points to the power cable (top) and lighting board (bottom).

I start each design in Stud.io by focusing only on creating the right shapes and capturing important visible details.

After that work is done, I go back to make sure everything is structurally stable and optimize it for a physical build.

There is always a lot of tweaking of small things involved to try to make sure that each detail is as perfect as it can be.

Another view of the duel.

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While making this build, were there any moments when you felt stuck? If so, how did you overcome that obstacle?

Initially, I struggled with the right size for the model. I knew I wanted the model to be used as a display model for events. It would need to be portable, so I couldn’t make it as large as I wanted. I went through five or so different versions before I settled on the final model size, about a third of the size of what I started with. It was a bit discouraging to hit a barrier before I saw the potential of the model, but I just kept at it. Taking a break for a day can really help get the creativity flowing.

As an experienced builder, what advice do you have to offer to someone who would like to build a MOC of their own?

Learn the part catalog. One of the largest benefits of running a Bricklink store has been the constant influx of new and unfamiliar part molds. New molds are released every year along with new color variations of older parts.

Any one of those can be the seed for a new MOC idea or the solution to a problem in your MOC. Can you tell us a little bit more about your Star Wars related wall art and mosaics?

I’ve been building LEGO mosaics for years, many of them being Star Wars related. Slowly, I’ve honed that craft, experimenting with different parts, layers, and new frames, amongst other details. Lately, I’ve been toying with new wall art, using more 3-D effects. The Way was the first of several of these models I have planned, creating silhouettes of iconic Star Wars scenes and characters.

Some Rebel-themed mosiacs.

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A look at the exterior supports of the chamber.

A look at the farm complex.

What inspired you to design these builds?

The initial mosaics were just for my own use as decorations, but they quickly expanded into a very popular commission request. Now, I make sure that any wall piece I create includes some new technique or idea for me to try. That goal helps me grow as a designer and means every MOC will be unique. When you put them all in a line, they tell a story of how I’ve grown as an artist.

Are instructions for your designs available to the public?

If so, where can they be found?

I’m slowly updating our Rebrickable page with new instructions, but the best place to keep up with everything is Instagram and our website. Those are updated regularly and new models are announced there first.

Instagram: @LifeInPiecesBrickShop Website: www.lifeinpiecesbrickshop.com Can you tell us something about your next project? Do you have any final thoughts that you would like to share with our readers?

I just want to express a sincere thank you to you and the rest of the team at Bantha Bricks for your interest in my work. I always find learning the details of a MOC to be inspirational, so hopefully this evokes the same feeling in someone else. As for my next Star Wars project, I have another silhouette project in the works. It’s of a Sith Lord in a hallway. He would like his Death Star plans back, please.

TIE Fighter down!

Inside the Rebel hangar.

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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But it’s still available through comic book shops, subscription, and print & digital editions at www.twomorrows.com PLUS: Check out our new digital storefront and start your permanent digital collection:

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A mosaic of General Grievious.

2024

BACK ISSUES! BRICKJOURNAL #86

LEGO LANDSCAPING! A detailed look at how to create realistic stone and foliage from bricks: ANU PEHRSON’s White Wall from Game of Thrones, and JOEL and JONATHAN NEUBER’s (working!) Pirates of the Caribbean ride! Plus BRICKNERD, BANTHA BRICKS: Fans of LEGO Star Wars, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, and Minifigure Customization with JARED K. BURKS!

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Celebrating Disney’s 100th anniversary in LEGO! Disney Castles with MARTIN HARRIS and DISNEYBRICK, magical builds

by JOHN RUDY and editor JOE MENO, instructions to build characters, plus: Nerding Out with BRICKNERD, AFOLs by GREG HYLAND, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, and Minifigure Customization with JARED K. BURKS!

Head to the city: Ellis City by GARETH and CATHY ELLIS, New Hasima by STEFAN FORMENTATO, and Fabuland City by STEVEN LAUGHLIN! Plus a wealth of other MOCs (”My Own Creations”) are showcased, along with: Nerding Out with BRICKNERD, AFOLs by GREG HYLAND, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions

by CHRISTOPHER DECK, and Minifigure Customization with JARED K. BURKS!

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Visit the BRICK ANIMAL KINGDOM with with KEN ITO’s amazing ocean creatures, fascinating woodland creatures by MIRO DUDAS, and the animal creations of FILBRICK! Plus: Nerding Out with BRICKNERD, AFOLs by GREG HYLAND, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, Minifigure Customization with JARED K. BURKS, and more! Edited by JOE MENO.

The fast-changing world of MECHA! Learn how to build mechs with some of the best mecha builders in the world: BENJAMIN CHEH, KELVIN LOW, LU SIM, and SAM CHEUNG! Plus: AFOLs (“Adult Fans of LEGO”) by cartoonist GREG HYLAND, step-by step “You Can Build It” instructions

by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd’s DIY Fan Art, Minifigure Customization with JARED K. BURKS, and more!

Amazing LEGO® STAR WARS builds, including Lando Calrissian’s Treadable

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Board ANTOINE HUGUERRE’s Big Thunder Mountain! Go to Monstropolis to help Sully find Mike Wazowski in BRANDON JAMES’ Monsters, Inc factory! Plus, more intricate STAR WARS creations by builder LEE GOLDMAN, nerding Out with BrickNerd, AFOLs by GREG HYLAND, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions

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ZOWIE!

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CLIFFHANGER!

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CINEMATIC SUPERHEROES OF THE SERIALS: 1941–1952 by CHRISTOPHER IRVING Hold on tight as historian CHRISTOPHER IRVING explores the origins of the first on-screen superheroes and the comic creators and film-makers who brought them to life. CLIFFHANGER! touches on the early days of the film serial, to its explosion as a juvenile medium of the 1930s and ‘40s. See how the creation of characters like SUPERMAN, CAPTAIN AMERICA, SPY SMASHER, and CAPTAIN MARVEL dovetailed with the early film adaptations. Along the way, you’ll meet the stuntmen, directors (SPENCER BENNETT, WILLIAM WITNEY, producer SAM KATZMAN), comic book creators (SIEGEL & SHUSTER, SIMON & KIRBY, BOB KANE, C.C. BECK, FRANK FRAZETTA, WILL EISNER), and actors (BUSTER CRABBE, GEORGE REEVES, LORNA GRAY, KANE RICHMOND, KIRK ALYN, DAVE O’BRIEN) who brought them to the silver screen—and how that resonates with today’s cinematic superhero universe. NOW SHIPPING! (160-page COLOR HARDCOVER) $39.95 • (Digital Edition) $15.99 • ISBN: 978-1-60549-119-6

COMIC BOOK IMPLOSION (EXPANDED EDITION) by KEITH DALLAS & JOHN WELLS

NOW IN FULL-COLOR WITH BONUS PAGES! In 1978, DC Comics launched a line-wide expansion known as “The DC Explosion,” but pulled the plug weeks later, cancelling titles and leaving dozens of completed comic book stories unpublished. Now, that notorious “DC Implosion” is examined with an exhaustive oral history from JENETTE KAHN, PAUL LEVITZ, LEN WEIN, MIKE GOLD, AL MILGROM, and other DC creators of the time, plus commentary by other top pros, examining how it changed the landscape of comics forever! This new EXPANDED EDITION of the Eisner Award-nominated book explodes in full cover for the first time, with extra coverage of LOST 1970S DC PROJECTS like Ninja the Invisible and an adaptation of “The Wiz,” Jim Starlin’s unaltered cover art for BATMAN FAMILY #21, content meant for cancelled Marvel titles such as Godzilla and Ms. Marvel, and more! NOW SHIPPING! (144-page FULL-COLOR SOFTCOVER) $26.95 • (Digital Edition) $10.99 • ISBN: 978-1-60549-124-0

IT ROSE FROM THE TOMB An all-new book written by PETER NORMANTON

Rising from the depths of history comes an ALL-NEW examination of the 20th Century’s best horror comics, written by PETER NORMANTON (editor of From The Tomb, the UK’s preeminent magazine on the genre). From the pulps and seminal horror comics of the 1940s, through ones they tried to ban in the 1950s, this tome explores how the genre survived the introduction of the Comics Code, before making its terrifying return during the 1960s and 1970s. Come face-to-face with the early days of ACG’s alarming line, every horror comic from June 1953, hypodermic horrors, DC’s Gothic romance comics, Marvel’s Giant-Size terrors, Skywald and Warren’s chillers, and Atlas Seaboard’s shocking magazines. The 192-page fullcolor opus exhumes BERNIE WRIGHTSON’s darkest constructs, plus artwork by FRANK FRAZETTA, NEAL ADAMS, MIKE KALUTA, STEVE DITKO, MATT FOX, WARREN KREMER, LEE ELIAS, BILL EVERETT, RUSS HEATH, THE GURCH, and many more. Don’t turn your back on this once-in-a-lifetime spine-chiller—it’s so good, it’s frightening!

(192-page SOFTCOVER) $31.95 • (Digital Edition) $15.99 • ISBN: 978-1-60549-123-3 • NOW SHIPPING!

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The Future of Pop History.

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ORIGINAL MINIFIGURE COMIC BOOK COVER REPRODUCTIONS

by GREG HYLAND

Commission LEGO™ illustrator, Greg Hyland, to draw a full-size, production-quality recreation of any Marvel or DC comic book cover using LEGO™ Minifigures!

STAR WARS #7

78

Artwork will be a black & white ink drawing on 11”x17” comic book illustration board.

Art will include paste-up cover copy, logos, and trade dress.

Email greg@lethargiclad.com for |NCREDIBLE HULK #181 information on pricing and timeframe.

Last Word And another issue is done.

This one was finished the day before my 59th birthday, which is pretty neat. The magazine is over 15 years old, and it still hasn’t run out of material. And it won’t.

There’s so much out online and at events. If you want to see what’s going on and be inspired, go to a LEGO fan event! You’ll see great builders and their creations, and if you’re lucky, they’ll show you how they built their MOCs!

At LEGO fan events, you’ll meet the coolest builders, like Cale Leiphart, who builds trains!

You’ll also get an idea of how big the LEGO fan community is. There are fan events around the world, from Brickfair and BrickCon and Brickworld in the US, to Fanabriques in France to Bricking Bavaria in Germany to Japan Brickfest, to list a few. It’s been fascinating to see events grow worldwide. Each event has the common thread of LEGO, but each is different in how they are conducted.

I visit the events in the US, so maybe I’ll see you. Til then, build on!

Joe Meno PS. The next (last) page doesn’t have a comic strip—it has something that I got with the Ice Planet figure article. I couldn’t help but put it on a page by itself!

80

Art by Tore M. Harmark-Alexandersen:

Satiate Your Sinister Side!

“Greetings, creep culturists! For my debut

All characters and properties TM & © their respective owners.

issue, I, the CRYPTOLOGIST (with the help of FROM THE TOMB editor PETER NORMANTON), have exhumed the worst Horror Comics excesses of the 1950s, Killer “B” movies to die for, and the creepiest, kookiest toys that crossed your boney little fingers as a child! But wait... do you dare enter the House of Usher, or choose sides in the skirmish between the Addams Family and The Munsters?! Can you stand to gaze at Warren magazine frontispieces by this issue’s cover artist BERNIE WRIGHTSON, or spend some Hammer Time with that studio’s most frightening films? And if Atlas pre-Code covers or terrifying science-fiction are more than you can take, stay away! All this, and more, is lurching toward you in TwoMorrows Publishing’s latest, and most decrepit, magazine—just for retro horror fans, and featuring my henchmen WILL MURRAY, MARK VOGER, BARRY FORSHAW, TIM LEESE, PETE VON SHOLLY, and STEVE and MICHAEL KRONENBERG!” (84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $10.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99

#1 is now shipping!

TwoMorrows.

The Future of Comics Horror History.

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

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CRYPTOLOGY #2

CRYPTOLOGY #3

CRYPTOLOGY #4

The Cryptologist and his ghastly little band have cooked up more grisly morsels, including: ROGER HILL’s conversation with our diabolical cover artist DON HECK, severed hand films, pre-Code comic book terrors, the otherworldly horrors of Hammer’s Quatermass, another Killer “B” movie classic, plus spooky old radio shows, and the horrorinspired covers of the Shadow’s own comic book. Start the ghoul-year with retro-horror done right by FORSHAW, the KRONENBERGS, LEESE, RICHARD HAND, VON SHOLLY, and editor PETER NORMANTON.

This third wretched issue inflicts the dread of MARS ATTACKS upon you—the banned cards, the model kits, the despicable comics, and a few words from the film’s deranged storyboard artist PETE VON SHOLLY! The chilling poster art of REYNOLD BROWN gets brought up from the Cryptologist’s vault, along with a host of terrifying puppets from film, and more comic books they’d prefer you forget! Plus, more Hammer Time, JUSTIN MARRIOT on obscure ’70s fear-filled paperbacks, another Killer “B” film, and more to satiate your sinister side!

Our fourth putrid tome treats you to ALEX ROSS’ gory lowdown on his Universal Monsters paintings! Hammer Time brings you face-to-face with the “Brides of Dracula”, and the Cryptologist resurrects 3-D horror movies and comics of the 1950s! Learn the origins of slasher films, and chill to the pre-Code artwork of Atlas’ BILL EVERETT and ACG’s 3-D maestro HARRY LAZARUS. Plus, another Killer “B” movie and more awaits retro horror fans, by NORMANTON, the KRONENBERGS, LEESE, VOGER, and VON SHOLLY!

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New from TwoMorrows!

ALTER EGO #191

ALTER EGO #192

KIRBY COLLECTOR #92

KIRBY COLLECTOR #93

COMIC BOOK CREATOR #37

MARK CARLSON-GHOST documents the mid-1950s super-hero revival featuring The Human Torch, Captain America, SubMariner, Fighting American, The Avenger, Phantom Lady, The Flame, Captain Flash, and others—with art by JOHN ROMITA, JOHN BUSCEMA, BILL EVERETT, SIMON & KIRBY, MIKE SEKOWSKY, MORT MESKIN, BOB POWELL, and other greats! Plus FCA, Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt, and more!

IN THE NEWS! Rare newspaper interviews with Jack, 1973 San Diego panel with Jack and NEAL ADAMS discussing DC’s coloring, strips Kirby ghosted for others, unused strip concepts, collages, a never-reprinted Headline Comics tale, Jimmy Olsen pencil art gallery, 2024 WonderCon Kirby panel (featuring DAVID SCHWARTZ, GLEN GOLD, and RAY WYMAN), and more!

Cover inked by DAVID REDDICK!

SUPPORTING PLAYERS! Almost-major villains like Kanto the Assassin and Diablo, Rodney Rumpkin, Mr. Little, the Falcon, Randu Singh, and others take center stage!

Plus: 1970 interview with Jack by SHEL DORF, MARK EVANIER’s 2024 Kirby Tribute Panel from Comic-Con, neverreprinted Simon & Kirby story, pencil art gallery, and more! Unused Mister Miracle cover inked by MIKE ROYER!

STEVE ENGLEHART is spotlighted in a career-spanning interview, former DC Comics’ romance editor BARBARA FRIEDLANDER redeems the late DC editor JACK MILLER, DAN DIDIO discusses going from DC exec to co-publisher, we conclude our 100th birthday celebration for ARNOLD DRAKE, take a look at the 1970s underground comix oddity THE FUNNY PAGES, and more, including HEMBECK!

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $10.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99 • Ships Dec. 2024

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(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $10.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99 • Ships Winter 2025

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All characters TM & © their respective owners.

#191 is an FCA (FAWCETT COLLECTORS OF AMERICA) issue! Documenting the influence of MAC RABOY’s Captain Marvel Jr. on the life, career, and look of ELVIS PRESLEY during his stellar career, from the 1950s through the 1970s! Plus: Captain Marvel co-creator BILL PARKER’s complete testimony from the DC vs. Fawcett lawsuit, MICHAEL T. GILBERT in Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt, and other surprises!

BACK ISSUE #157

BACK ISSUE #158

RETROFAN #36

RETROFAN #37

KEITH GIFFEN TRIBUTE ISSUE! Starstudded celebration of the prolific writer/ artist of Legion of Super-Heroes, Rocket Raccoon, Guardians of the Galaxy, Justice League, Lobo, Blue Beetle, and others!

With CARY BATES, TOM BIERBAUM, J.M. DeMATTEIS, DAN DIDIO, ROBERT LOREN FLEMING, CULLY HAMNER, SCOTT KOBLISH, PAUL LEVITZ, KEVIN MAGUIRE, BART SEARS, MARK WAID, and more!

HEY, MISTER ISSUE! The FF’s Mr. Fantastic, STEVE DITKO’s Mr. A, the 40th anniversary of MICHAEL T. GILBERT’s Mr. Monster, Mr. X, the Teen Titans’ Mr. Jupiter, R. CRUMB’s Mr. Natural, Archie’s Mr. Weatherbee, and a Mr. Freeze villain history! Featuring BYRNE, CARDY, CONWAY, DeCARLO, DINI, ENGLEHART, the HERNANDEZ BROS., MIGNOLA, MOTTER, and more!

Cover by ED McGUINNESS.

Feel the G-Force of Eighties sci-fi toon BATTLE OF THE PLANETS! Plus: The Girl from U.N.C.L.E.’s STEFANIE POWERS, CHUCK CONNORS, The Oddball World of SCTV, Rankin/Bass’ stop-motion Santa Claus Is Coming to Town, TV’s Greatest Catchphrases, one-season TV shows, and more! With ANDY MANGELS, WILL MURRAY, SCOTT SAAVEDRA, SCOTT SHAW, MARK VOGER & MICHAEL EURY.

The Jetsons, Freaky Frankensteins, Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling’s HOLLYWOOD, the Archies and other Saturday morning rockers, Star Wars copycats, Build Your Own Adventure books, crazy kitchen gadgets, toymaker MARVIN GLASS, and more! Featuring columns by ANDY MANGELS, WILL MURRAY, SCOTT SAAVEDRA, SCOTT SHAW, and MARK VOGER. Edited by MICHAEL EURY.

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BACK ISSUE #156

BRONZE AGE GRAPHIC NOVELS! 1980s GNs from Marvel, DC, and First Comics, Conan GNs, and DC’s Sci-Fi GN series!

With BRENT ANDERSON, JOHN BYRNE, HOWARD CHAYKIN, CHRIS CLAREMONT, JOSÉ LUIS GARCÍA-LÓPEZ, JACK KIRBY, DON MCGREGOR, BOB McLEOD, BILL SIENKIEWICZ, JIM STARLIN, ROY THOMAS, BERNIE WRIGHTSON, and more. WRIGHTSON cover.