Sorry Son, Daddy Needs Your Bricks

I wonder if this diorama by Karwick stirs up memories for any of our readers. It depicts an AFOL father who’s decided to take over his children’s Lego collection, and start building. I’ll take the tied up children as a bit of poetic license.

The story aside, this diorama is packed full of well-built details. A few of note are the radiator under the shelf on the right side, the wall light above the bed, with cord leading to an outlet, and the clever floor.

Description is Useless

What can I say to add to the experience of viewing this amazingly bizarre creation by halfbeak? It does make interesting use of some parts (like car doors on the arms), but that’s certainly not what caught my eye. This is an engaging character, and that’s why I like it.

Amazing Lego Sidewalk Art

Ok, it’s the street, but it’s still some amazing chalk work.

There’s some speculation that this may be related to the giant Lego minifig that recently washed up in Florida.

Thanks to Tom Hohman for the heads up.

UPDATE (Nov 9): Artist Leon Keer has posted complete photos of his chalk art effort on Flickr (I’ve replaced the unsourced photo above with one of his). And here’s the finished artwork, evocative of Emperor Qin Shi Huang’s terracotta army:

LEGO Universe to close operations, lay off 115 employees [News]

Breaking news from LEGO. It appears that LEGO Universe will be shutting down at the start of the new year. My heart goes out to all those who will be losing their jobs. Here’s the press release:

LEGO Universe to close in 2012

Online game will close on January 31, 2012. The LEGO Group’s digital offerings will continue to develop over the coming years.

November 4, 2011 – The LEGO Group today announced that it will close LEGO® Universe, an MMOG (massively-multiplayer online game) that has been in operation since the autumn of 2010.

In spite of very positive player feedback and a large number of players in the free play zone, it has not been possible to convert a satisfactory number of players to paying subscribers. It has therefore been decided to close the game as of January 31, 2012.

“The LEGO Universe team can take pride in having developed and launched a great LEGO experience that many players will miss,” said Jesper Vilstrup, Vice President, LEGO Universe. “Right now, we have almost 2 million players in LEGO Universe, and we get extremely positive feedback from players. Unfortunately, we have not been able to build a satisfactory revenue model in our target group, and therefore, have decided to close the game.”

Despite the change, the ambition to develop and run a digital business remains. In future, it is the intention to further pursue cooperation with partners. The LEGO Group has a strong and continuing partnership with TT Games Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment to create digital LEGO experiences within video games. A further expansion in the digital area will mainly be based on similar partnerships.

“The development of our digital offerings continues to be a very important element in our strategy,” said Mads Nipper, Executive Vice President, LEGO Group. “We have more than 20 million visitors on www.LEGO.com every month, and LEGO video games are among the bestselling children’s video games with sales of more than 60 million units in the last five years. Through our experience developing and running LEGO Universe, we have gained a lot of valuable insights, and we have a very strong foundation for future development in the digital area.”

As a consequence of the closure, the LEGO Universe staff has today been informed that the ‘Play Well Studios’ in Louisville, Colorado and the game’s marketing function in Billund, Denmark will be closed. This will affect 115 employees. All affected employees will be offered assistance in finding new jobs inside or outside the LEGO Group.

I Find Your Lack of Faith Disturbing

If you’re not familiar with the Family Guy spoofs of Star Wars, I suggest you look into them. Even if you don’t know the original source, you have to love car_mp‘s rendition of big-headed baby Stewie as Darth Vader. I like this enough that I may have to build one for myself.

Get To Da Choppa!

It’s been quite awhile since I’ve built anything with my own Lego, but I’m going to post something anyways. I built this light transport helicopter months ago, and have finally managed to get the photos together. I tried to spice things up with a little scene this time, although it may be too little for the helo.

I’m a big fan of tilt-rotors, though I hear this is properly called a tilt-wing. Either way, the tilting adds a fun little activity, when swooshing this thing around.

Get Robo!

I don’t know what the Get Robo company does, but I know I like this sculpture if their mascot by Ewok in Disguise. The robot is cute, and incorporates some intersting building techniques in the torso. Frankly, I think it’s better looking than the source image he based it on.

Positively Smashing!

Building a realistic looking car out of LEGO is an impressive feat. Building a realistic looking crashed car out of LEGO is something else altogether. The little details on this scene by zgrredek are just spectacular. Check out the crumpled hood, smashed roof, and bent bumper, just don’t ask me why the driver appears to be holding a green ball.

Blade Roller

This police tank posted recently by Lord Dane on flickr packs all the right angles. It features an unusual arrangement of wheels, some clever details (that gun is so simple, but so nice) and a shape that’s sleek and chunky at the same time. I don’t know if I’d get the same Blade Runner vibe if the creation had a different name, but it’s certainly there for me now.

Nice Figure

I never thought I’d see a space ship with a slim waist, but the Feros by Stijn (Red Spacecat) is just that. This thing is all smooth curves, synched in by a belt (in this case the bridge) in the center. He’s scattered a few interesting details throughout, which stand out starkly against the otherwise smooth figure.

As always, Stijn goes the extra mile in photoshop to bring us a nice presentation, as well.

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