BrickJournal #56 by TwoMorrows Publishing

The Magazine for LEGO® Enthusiasts of All Ages! Issue 56 • April 2019

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in the US

Building Life-Size LEGO ! ®

Helen Sham on Living Large

GI JOE® in Bricks! Eric Ong’s Military Models

Instructions AND MORE!

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Issue 56 • April 2019

Contents

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

People Malin Kylinger’s World Inside of Me.......3 Helen Sham: Building Life-Size.............10 Builder Spotlight: Eric Ong....................18 Building is Half the Battle: Reimagining G.I. Joe Through LEGO.........................................23 You Can Build It: Cobra C.L.A.W...........................................32

Building Ralf Langer: Building The Future is Bright..............36 Djorde Dobrosavljevic’ : Character Builder!...................................40 You Can Build It: The Miner..................................................44 You Can Build It: House Mouse...........................................51 You Can Build It: Krennic’s Personal Shuttle...................56 BrickNerd’s DIY: Neuralizer..................................................60 Minifigure Customization 101: It is Good to Have Friends!..................64

Community An Abridged History of Little Guys... in Space!..............................69 Community Ads.........................................78 Last Word......................................................79 AFOLs.............................................................80

From the Editor: Making this magazine is a challenge I face every two months. Finding content is sometimes tough (the beginning of the year is a time where I am not going to any events so I usually get the notes I have written or look online to see what is out there in terms of building). If I am lucky, someone e-mails me an idea or article outline.

April 2019 Issue 56

Publisher John Morrow

Editor in Chief Joe Meno

Photography Editor Geoff Gray Proofreader John Morrow

Japanese Bureau Editor Nathan Bryan West Coast Editors Ashley Glennon

LEGO Ideas Correspondent Glen Wadleigh

After that, it’s a matter of finding the people to interview or information to research. Sometimes, when I see a particularly neat technique, I will go on Bricksmith and make a digital model and figure out how to diagram the technique. You’ll see that here with Ralf Langer’s curving modules and Malin Kylinger’s eye model. Interviewing can be easy (e-mail) or hard (phone or live—transcribing is tough). Writing an article is not as hard, but all of these have to offer something to you, the reader. While the photos may be inspiring, they can be intimidating. The writing should pull things down to earth—the most impressive builder has had tough builds and may have the same favorite theme as you do! And if they can build, so can you! And if you do, I’ll be watching for you at events or online! Hope to see you there! Joe Meno, Editor

Contributors:

Jared Burks, Christopher Deck, Djorde Dobrosavljević, Felix Jaensch, Malin Kylinger, Ralf Langer, Magnus Lauglo, Eric Ong, David Pagano, Helen Sham, Tommy Williamson, and Greg Hyland.

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

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

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About the Cover: Some of the models and creations made by Helen Sham. Photo by Helen Sham. About the Contents: Ever see a Technic trebuchet? Here’s one on the left that is aimed at the tower...will it hit? Go to YouTube to find out! Photo provided by Malin Kylinger

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

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

LEGO®, TECHNIC, MINDSTORMS, Belville, Scala, BIONICLE, ExoForce, Mars Mission, World City, and other LEGO theme lines are trademarks of the LEGO Group of companies. All articles, photos, and art are copyright BrickJournal Media, LLC 2011, TwoMorrows Publishing and the respective writers, photographers, and artists. All rights reserved. All trademarked items are the property of their respective owners and licensees. Subscriptions are $62 Economy US, $74 Expedited US, $96 International, or $24 Digital Only and can be purchased at www.twomorrows.com or payment sent to: TwoMorrows Publishing, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614 USA. The editorial/advertising office address for BrickJournal is: BrickJournal Editor, 9001 Barb Anne Court, Springfield, VA 22152, USA or admin@brickjournal.com. First Printing. Printed in China. ISSN 1941-2347. 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.

Malin Kylinger’s creation, World Inside of Me, is a great example of LEGO building becoming art. There’s many levels to the model, from the sculptural aspects of the face to the landscaping of the foreground and background. It’s both beautiful and dark, wondrous and ominous. With all of these visual elements mixed to make a complex visual setting, Malin’s inspiration was actually pretty simple. She bought the two collectible minifigures (Genie and Ghost) at the same time in April 2018 and wanted to do something with them because they have similar “leg”parts and can be seen as opposites. Malin wanted them to stand on the shoulders of a person as the classic devil and angel. Having had both physical and mental problems for the last twenty years, she wanted to build something to represent some of the duality she felt. Her LEGO hobby saved her these last couple of years, and the community has made her see that she was not alone in feeling that there can be a duality in one’s personality. Malin has one side that is very social and energetic, but also has a more introverted personality where she loves to sort and build LEGO. But it’s not just that simple; she wanted to build something that other people could connect to and interpret in a way that is meaningful for them. When publishing the photos of this build, she saw that the different landscapes could represent the imagination: the sea of creative force that can be both light and dark. So when reading this, one can understand that in her view the landscape and the symbolic value of the build is worth the most; the face is only the setting for her message. But that doesn’t mean that one can’t just appreciate the build for the face.

People

Malin Kylinger’s

World Inside of Me

Article and Photography by Malin Kylinger

World Building

Her work is very organic; starting with a certain part, she then builds them together. With experience from previous builds, she started building this creation from the top-down. This worked a lot better than the other way around. The hardest part in this whole build has been striking the balance between creating depth, and looking good when it is seen straight on.

Getting Nosy

After making a rough sketch of her model, she began building. Starting with the nose, she used pretty straightforward SNOT techniques with studs facing forward.

Lip Service

The lips are just cheese slopes on the side and are only held in place by the pieces around them. She very carefully pushed the tan cheese slopes halfway in so that the transition is smoother.

Eye to Eye

For the eye Malin used the mudguard (98282) as an eyelid and to create a marked rounded edge. She also used this part when building the dragon creature in a previous build: The Legend of Anendra. In the eye there are 1x1 cheese slopes on the sides, with the iris being held in place by a droid arm. The upper eyelash was originally set by the eye as seen above, but was later mounted from the head jewelry, as seen below.

Facing the Face

In the process of working with the face and the curved slopes, she often worked with 1x1 plates underneath so she could change the slopes when she wanted to try something new out. As a result, she used quite a lot of them! When she built the jawline and part of the neck, there were some compromises, but there the model transitions to having the studs not facing forward, but to the side. Under the nose there is also a shift with jumper plates so that the nose is right in the center of the lips and jaw. After the head and neck were set and built into place, the diorama was built with the colors noted on the paper sketch.

Doing the Hair

The most unique part of the sculpture is the hair. Here, Malin used 12 Strings with End Studs 21L overall with Climbing Grips (63141). On those strings, leaf elements are attached with a clip, as seen below. On the top of the head, the leaves are attached to clips that are clipped onto bars, then a final upper layer of leaves was attached. While Malin will admit that some of them were not attached that strongly, they held together pretty well for transport to the Swebricks exhibit in Norrköping (Sweden).

Malin’s World Malin’s model reflects her thoughts on herself, but when asked, she wants viewers to engage and find their answers to what they see:

“I want to build what’s on my mind and this last couple of years has been a roller coaster ride with both my physical and mental health. I built this to try to show the chaos of my mind and being a host of so many different feelings, experiences and aptitudes. You could see it as a classic good versus evil, but my thought is that you also can see it as a pendulum between the not so pleasant feelings as fear, sorrow and anger on one side, and happiness and pleasure on the other. But there is also a third interpretation, my experience of having a dual personality where I one moment love all social activities and a busy life, and the other moment want to live alone in my tower and just build with my LEGO. What do you see when you look at my build?”

The Legend of Anendra An earlier build of Malin’s, this layout is where she first used the mudguard as part of the upper eyelid of the serpent. Other techniques she uses here include turning the stud direction sideways to build letterforms, and using clip tiles to attach embellishments on the pages and on the serpent.

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KIRBY COLLECTOR #75

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People

Helen Sham:

Building Life-Size! 10

Article and Art by Helen Sham

First of all, I would like to thank Mr. Joe Meno, editor of BrickJournal, who invited me back for a third interview. This is an honor that my work will be used on the cover of this edition of the magazine.

Some of Helen’s models.

I started building things at an early age (around five or six years old), when I received a big box of LEGO from an uncle as a present. I would spend hours and hours working on it. I can’t remember exactly what kind of vehicle it was anymore. Soon after I completed it, I disassembled it and used all those LEGO pieces to build my own toys, which included airplanes, houses, race cars, etc... As I grew up, I left my LEGO pieces behind... until a couple years ago. Initially, like many others, I purchased and assembled different LEGO sets that were available in the market. This all changed when I walked by a store which sold LEGO individual pieces... It was incredible! I didn’t realize that I could purchase parts to build my own creations! That was the very first time I heard of “My Own Creation” (MOC), although I have been producing my own creations for such a long time! With all those LEGO parts I could purchase, my building possibilities were endless. I officially stepped on my MOC path. One afternoon, I was watching television and a Ghostbusters movie trailer came on, which stimulated my creative juices. I spent two days designing the iconic “Stay Puft Marshmallow Man” from Ghostbusters with LEGO bricks and the outcome was surprisingly good. One of my good friends is a collector of LEGO minifigures, such as those wearing rabbit, piggy, and monkey costumes. These minifigures made me wonder, “How cute would it be if I could enlarge them?” I began to design my first 25 cm tall LEGO figure, which was a LEGO figure in a bumblebee costume.

Since then, I have created many new designs and posted them on social media. I received many inquires about my figures and requests for instruction manuals, so I opened a Facebook page (www.facebook.com/helenshamfigures) to better communicate with all the LEGO fans around the world. I post my designs online and I sell LEGO pieces with instruction manuals. This is, at the moment, my full-time job. So basically, my hobby is also my career. After spending a couple years on the designing and creation of figurines, I began to realize that I could make designs from products used in our daily lives. I then tried to create some “functional” LEGO products.

Helen’s radio/speaker.

My first “LEGO lifestyle” design was a “LEGO Radio Cassette Player” installed with a mini Bluetooth speaker. When connected to your mobile phone or mp3 player, music can be played via the Cassette player. My second design was a 140cm tall, 3-level Batman storage cabinet. The cabinet interior.

A Batman storage cabinet.

My third design was a traditional big Chinese calendar that could be re-used, as you are able to adjust the year, month and date. My fourth design was the well-known Hasselblad 503CX original film camera. I tried my very best to follow the frame, structure, as well as the functions of the real camera. This LEGO camera’s parts can be separated. I also added a piece of mirror, so we can see outside from the viewfinder. As for the shutter button, I put a spring-loaded hinge, so it feels like pressing a real camera button. In the rotation film part, there is a number display to show how many shots you have taken. This design was also registered to LEGO IDEAS: https://tinyurl.com/yckv9nq8 I was so touched and grateful that my camera design was recognized and supported by Hasselblad’s president, Mr. Skip Cohen (details are available on my Facebook page). My fifth design was a LEGO pen. A ball point pen refill was installed inside the LEGO blocks. This LEGO pen can let you explore your imagination and writing skills.

Chinese calendar.

Helen’s camera model.

The sixth design was a LEGO clock which followed the traditional alarm clock. A real clock movement was installed. The seventh design was a LEGO calculator. The eighth design followed the style of a traditional oil lantern. A LED light connected by a portable USB power pack was installed, so it can actually be used for camping. It also makes for a nice decoration piece in your home. The ninth design was a box of color pencils and pencil box. Just like the LEGO pen, each color pencil was installed with a different color of refill.

Pencils.

The tenth design was a vacuum tube audio set—LEGO McIntosh pre-power combination. It followed the structure of the two famous McIntosh 275/ma6600 vacuum tube audio sets and amplifier. A CD player was installed to mimic the function of a turntable record player.

Clocks and crayons.

A working lamp.

A calculator.

An audio set.

The eleventh design was a 180cm tall video game arcade console with a 14” screen. It used Donkey Kong vs Mario as the theme. The console has 4000 video games installed with powerful speakers to provide endless fun to all the game lovers. The twelfth design was the popular Disney robot character Wall-E. A micro CCTV was installed inside Wall-E’s eyes and connected via WiFi to a mobile device. It can be used as a security device to monitor your home. Wall-E’s wheels were installed with eight LEGO motors. A LEGO remote control was used to control the motions of Wall-E to go forward, backward, left and right. Wall-E’s chest can be opened and the remote control can be stored inside when not in use. The thirteenth design was a Cup Noodle aromatherapy machine. The structure was based on the “Korean Shin Ramyun” cup noodles. An aromatherapy machine connected with USB portable power was installed inside, as the vapors emerge, it looks just like a prepared cup of noodle is ready to eat!

Video games.

WALL•E.

Mario Bros. and all related characters TM & © Nintendo.

Ramen cup.

The fourteenth design was a huge edition of Chinese chess, a great novelty for parties and gatherings! The fifteenth design was an air compressor that can be used to spray paint of different colors. A mini air compressor with conductors was installed inside this LEGO design. The sixteenth design was a music box designed with a Swan theme. A lady’s dress was created by a long framework that had two swans underneath. A music box was installed; when the music turns on, the swans revolve in sync.

Chinese chess. Air compressor.

Music box.

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Last but not least, my final design of 2018 was to celebrate the third anniversary of “helensham figures.” It is a model figurine, where the parts can be disassembled and put inside a LEGO box as a beautiful home decoration. I look forward to using LEGO bricks to create more life designs that are more functional.

Model figurine.

For more information, please go to: Website: www.helenshamfigures.com facebook: www.facebook.com/helenshamfigures youtube: www.youtube.com/channel/ UCaVfYYRyIPW3sCyJ44wr3rw

People

Builder Spotlight:

Eric Ong

Article and Photography by Eric Ong Some views of Eric’s F-117A.

For Eric Ong, it’s only been four years since he returned to LEGO building. He grew up building with his father’s LEGO CITY Police and Fireman sets but gradually got lost in the world of video games, cartoons and toys in the ’80s and ’90s. Now a 45-year-old Engineering Supervisor in the Semiconductor industry, he uses LEGO as a source of inspiration and as a creative outlet. His favorite LEGO themes are Superheroes, Lord of the Rings and Star Wars. The Ultimate Collector Series Batman Tumbler is his favorite set. He has combined his building hobby with another hobby—building military hobby kits to create amazing models of military hardware. Eric took out some time to show and talk about some of his best creations.

F-117A Nighthawk Stealth Fighter This is the world’s first operational stealth aircraft, and Eric has always dreamed of recreating the iconic warbird into a LEGO model. It took three months to plan, research, source brick elements, and countless iterations to finish the project. The distinctive ‘flying wing” design was quite a challenge for Eric. He ended up using numerous slope plates for the wings, and as a result, the model became a large 1/32 scale creation. Highlights on the craft include the swept wing with detailed underpanels and payload, the sharp geometric air frame supported by a Technic frame, and the angular pilot canopy.

A look at the canopy.

Canopy up.

Landing gear down.

Landing gear up.

Various views of the F-16D.

F-16D Fighting Falcon Eric created a fictitious F-16D (Thunder Ace), which is based on a Singapore Air Force twin-seater attack plane. The F-16 is always a popular choice for modelers to work on, and Eric is a fan of its sleek and functional appearance. It took six weeks for Eric to research, design, build, and decal his model. It took him a while to work on the moving parts such as the wing ailerons, stabilizers, air brakes, arrestor hook, and landing gear. He’s glad the wings are able to handle its payloads (fuel tanks, GBUs and missiles) and the model is sturdy enough to swoosh with. Some uncommon LEGO elements, such as the angled tile, were used on the wings and stabilizers.

Details of the model.

CH-47SD Chinook Super-D

Eric states it best: “I’ve always wanted to build a helicopter and I was torn between the AH-64 Longbow Apache and the CH-47SD Chinook (Super D version). In the end, the Chinook’s large airframe and playability won me over.” The model took him about a month from subject research, sourcing of parts, and building to complete. The model is based on a CH-46 Sea Knight LEGO model and took off from there, modelling it from reference photos and blueprints. Eric makes his designs to be playable, robust, and scaled to minifigure proportions when possible. For him, it’s fun playing heli-lift operations with his Chinook model.

The Chinook.

A look at the front of the Chinook.

Above: Rear cargo door down. Below: interior open.

M4A1 Sherman Tank

Eric’s Sherman tank is based on an actual tank, “Axis Poison” in the Siege of Bastogne, Belgium 1944. His interest in the tank is inspired by the movie Fury, which features the late version M4A3 “Easy-Eight+ Sherman.” This was a short twoweek project, where he pulled out all the stops to complete it. It was a very satisfying experience to build the tank, as Eric wanted a realistic model, especially on the hull shaping, welded front armor plates and axles. He spent some time modelling and remodelling them. The details on this model tell a story—from the spare wheel hub, bent antenna, maintenance tools, ammo box, backpacks, cooking pan, washing pail, and torn-out tank markings, and highlight Eric’s skill.

Two views of the Sherman tank.

Front of tank.

Eric’s advice for builders is: Develop your ideas. Do online and book research on your subject. Check out fellow builders’ works, be inspired (which he did), and enjoy the building process. Take a short break to recharge or search for parts when you need to, as there should be no tight deadline to work on your creation. It’ll be gratifying when you look at your finished creation.

Building

The G.I. Joe® brand first emerged in the early ’60s as a 1:6 scale 12-inch military themed “action figure”—socalled due to the assumption that boys would not play with dolls—and marketed by Hasbro. In 1982 the G.I. Joe toy brand was revived and reinvented—this time in the form of much smaller action figures, due to a natural oil shortage. The size chosen was 3.75 inch—the same 1:18 scale used by Star Wars figures, but with far more sophisticated joint articulation. In this format, G.I. Joe became the code name of a fictional U.S. military special forces team, made up of the best of the best in the U.S. armed forces, and equipped with an array of modern and state-of-the-art (but largely fictional) military hardware. Their enemy was Cobra—a ruthless “international terrorist organization” (a description which during the Cold War sounded more fantastical and less alarmingly real world than it might today), full of colorful villains that would not be out of place in a James Bond movie. Cobra had a large arsenal of fictional vehicles that were typically even more futuristic-looking than their Joe counterparts. Unlike the Star Wars toys competing for shelf space in toy store aisles, G.I. Joe toys did not depend on a large-budget movie for their story. Supported by a popular cartoon and a longrunning comic, G.I. Joe would go on for a dozen years into the early ’90s. At its peak around the mid ’80s, it was one of the most successful toys in the United States. This is the G.I. Joe that I grew up on, and the one I have been reimagining in LEGO.

Building is Half the Battle!

Reimagining G.I. Joe through LEGO Article by Magnus Lauglo

Magnus Lauglo has been active in the AFOL community since the early 2000s, back in the Lugnet days. He has built largely in the Castle and military themes, and even has his own modular landscape. For the past eight years, he has been busy breathing new life into the G.I. Joe universe in brick form. You can run into him on flickr at Magnus-L https://www.flickr.com/ photos/78224984@N00/ or in person at BrickFair VA. G.I. Joe and all related characters TM & © Hasbro.

Magnus has built a multitude of G.I. Joe and COBRA vehicles. Here’s a sample of his many builds:

his light Guns - T other d in lw Whir hind G.I. Joe can be towed be n u dual g . vehicles

G.I. Joe Killer W.H.A.L.E. – On e of the most popula r G.I. Joe vehicl es. I’ve added some co and expanded its lor to my version capacity for troo transport. p

As a child living in Europe, I spent the ’80s deeply immersed in LEGO and Transformers, and I didn’t start collecting G.I. Joe until the early ’90s, a little after what are usually considered the brand’s best years. This meant that I never owned any of the early-to-mid period classic action figures and vehicles. I stayed faithfully, if increasingly dubiously, with the toy line until it was cancelled in the mid ‘90s, after suffering from several years of inferior product, resulting from attempts to keep up with an everchanging and fad-driven toy market. All those years I also continued building LEGO. Unlike many builders, I never went through a “Dark Age.” I discovered the AFOL community around the beginning of the 21st Century, initially spending some time as a Castle builder. I lost steam as a Castle builder in the early 2000s, soon after LEGO discontinued its classic gray colors, in favor of new brighter shades of gray. However, around this same time, LEGO introduced dark green, which in turn inspired me to start my own building military vehicles. (See my article on building modern armor in Brick Journal #1, Volume 2, Spring 2008.) I was active in the military building community for many years, and I count G.I. Joe as a major inspiration for my military building style. However, there are only so many tanks, helicopters, and fighter planes I could build before the same ideas started rehashing themselves, and eventually I found myself burning out on military building. I stayed active in the AFOL community, but for several years I built very sparingly—I still liked LEGO, I just didn’t know what to build next.

e best r - Probably th G.I. Joe Maule classic line. I added e basic tank of th and modified the ge fla ou m some ca et a little. unmanned turr

I don’t remember how it occurred to me one day in 2011 to build something from the G.I. Joe universe, but I started with my modernized take on the classic Cobra H.I.S.S. Tank, and pretty much just kept going. Since then, most of my building has been recreating parts of the G.I. Joe universe. I credit getting into G.I. Joe-themed building with pulling me out of a stretch of “builder’s block” I had been experiencing for several years.

’n’ elayer (“Toss G.I. Joe Bridg ight have the best m Cross”) – This y G.I. Joe toy and is an of e ur at fe play cles in e realistic vehi or m e th of e on the line.

G.I. Joe building took advantage of my prior building experience working on more conventional military building, while encouraging me to move between several building styles, all within the same theme. The brand obviously has a strong military component, but much of it also leans heavily sci-fi, and there are dashes of the postapocalyptic style in some of the “Dreadnok” vehicles. I haven’t seriously collected G.I. Joe toys in a long time, but building them in LEGO gives me a way to stay active in both the LEGO and G.I. Joe fan communities. Building G.I. Joe as an adult has given me the chance to build lots of the early-to-mid era toys I never had myself. I’ve even built a large Cobra transport helicopter, which featured very heavily in the comic, but was never made into an actual toy. My collection is growing quickly, but in minifig scale, my vehicles take up less display space than original toys would. G.I. Joe action figures were 3.75 inches tall—over twice the height of a LEGO minifig. Their vehicles had to fit action figures of this size, and many of them represented quite large vehicles. As a result, many of them had their sizes and proportions adjusted to be able to fit figures inside, without getting too large to become unwieldy for children to play with (and too expensive to reasonably sell). For example, the Rattler, the Cobra ground attack jet based on U.S. A-10, was shrunk down to the point of the cockpit looking unusually large and almost chibi-like in appearance. As a result, many G.I.joe vehicles, large

G.I. Joe A.W.E. Striker – A great little dune buggy-style ride tha t I couldn’t really improve on.

unkier awk – A little ch in G.I. Joe Tomah fit to l al — original hts, looking than the internal cabin lig e lik es ur play feat . rs motorized roto suspension, and

G.I. Joe Rolling Thunder – One of the biggest vehicles in the Joe arsena l—my version is actually a little less ove r-thetop than the original, which had ICBMs that popped out of the middle.

toys though they may be, are smaller than they should be compared to the action figures. This is exactly the opposite scale problem from most LEGO minifig-scale vehicles, which tend to be larger than they should be compared to minifigs, whose wide and squat proportions create their own scale-related headaches. When I render a Joe or Cobra vehicle in LEGO, I am often scaling it up a fair amount— both to bring it closer to real world scale and to be able to fit minifigs inside. When I start on a new vehicle build, I spend some time researching the original toy online, looking for pictures and online reviews, and also looking to see how it has been depicted in comics, because vehicles will occasionally look a little different there than they do in toy form. Then I will check out how the vehicle may have been built by other LEGO builders, and perhaps look for non-LEGO customs of the toy in the G.I. Joe custom toy building community. I’ll see what works and what doesn’t, what I don’t need to reinvent and what I can improve upon. By the time I start building, I usually have a pretty good idea of how I want it to look at the end, but as with any MOC, it is always interesting to see how a new build will end up. When I build a G.I. Joe MOC, I usually end up adding some personal touches to rectify shortcomings I see in the original design, or just to make it my own or modernize it a little. Some of my vehicles have more significant upgrades than others, and I am not opposed to completely changing the colors of a design if I think a vehicle merits a “repaint.” Many of the original toy designs that were

G.I. Joe Hammer – One of the bet ter Joe designs from the ’90s, and a good example of a vehicle that is based closely on real world mil itary hardware.

red in nquest – Rende G.I. Joe X-30 Co comic and cartoon its white to match hich ther than gray w ra s, ce an appear . y-accurate would be more to

exciting for preteen kids are quite impractical, sporting bright colors and limited crew protection, and these are the kinds of things I try to improve upon. In fact, part of the fun for me is “redoing” old toys that I never felt looked quite right to me, even when I was a child. The dimensions and chunky proportions of the minifigs themselves sometimes direct my upgrades. For instance, when I had a go at the aforementioned Rattler, there was simply no way for me to fit a rotating turret with a minifig gunner inside the four-stud-wide fuselage. So instead, I modified it so that the gunner sat in a rear-facing cockpit, and the turret itself was now remote-operated and facing downward beneath the belly of the plane—which, conveniently enough, makes better sense to me than having it on top.

Cobra Ferret A.T.V. – One of the more iconic of the really sm all vehicles.

All that said, it is always important to me when I build my version of an existing toy to keep it close enough to the original as to be recognizable by Joe fans. I do have one or two self-designed vehicles that I’ve injected into my LEGO “Joeverse” and I hope to build more, but when I do this, I try to build MOCs that look like they could fit in with the G.I. Joe aesthetic. Although I usually add my own additions or upgrades, occasionally I will encounter an outstanding 30-year-old toy design that still holds up very well, and that lends

assic ank – Cobra’s cl Cobra H.I.S.S.T into e m t go at OC th “tank” and the M e beefed it up a I’v building G.I. Joe. inal. ig or e th om fr little

build Cobra Stinger – Another early the of look the to and modeled close original.

boatCobra Moray – A popular cigar h. teet the to ed arm il, style hydrofo

itself to be being rendered faithfully in minifig scale. In those cases, the best I can do is to try to model it as close as possible to the original. I’ve never built models before—all my earlier military MOCs were vehicles that I designed myself. So building G.I. Joe theme has gotten me into scale model building as well, as with the Mad Maxesque Dreadnok Thunder Machine. The larger vehicles tend to be the most work, the most challenging, and the most satisfying to pull off; and they can take a month or two for me to finish. The G.I. Joe Rolling Thunder is the largest land vehicle I’ve ever built; and I have been able to incorporate Power Functions into several of my large helicopters, giving them motorized spinning rotors. Biggest of all (so far) there’s the Cobra Terror Drome—a large base for the bad guys, full of weapons, play features, and a full accessible interior. But there’s also great satisfaction to be had in getting the details just right on one of the small vehicles that was based on toys that might only have cost twice as much as an action figure. Unlike the large toys that are the most celebrated, the small vehicles were affordable enough for

Cobra Thunder Machine – The classic cobbled-together ride for the wild postapoc-style Dreadnoks.

VTOL Cobra Rattler - Cobra’s classic to fire ret tur the ved mo attack jet. I’ve y. bell the from rds downwa

kids to buy with pocket money, and are some of the most commonly owned and remembered vehicles. I’m getting close to eight years of G.I. Joe building and in that time, I have finished dozens of Joe and Cobra builds. There are many left for me to recreate, but I don’t intend to build them all, and at this point I have tackled many of the best-known ones. I’ve dabbled in micro- and even nanoscaled MOCs, and doing more of that could be a good way to represent some of the very largest playsets and bases. And I have more ideas and inspiration than time, which is a good problem to have as a builder. I will keep doing this so long as I am able to and so long as I am having fun with it. The original G.I. Joe had a pretty good long run from 1982 to 1994, and it would be great to be able to match that stretch myself.

Cobra Maggot – Heavy artiller y vehicle with excellent terrain mo bility. My up-armored version holds a crew of five.

Cobra B.U.G.G. – An unusual sci-fi style amphibious “wheeled submarine”. I’ve muted the colo rs from the bright colored original.

Cobra Anaconda – My name for the unnamed but ubiquitous Cob ra transport helicopter that feature d heavily in the comics, yet was never released as a toy. Typical ly represented in purple, I went wit h black.

Cobra Terror Drome - The larg est non-modular MOC I’ve ever bui lt was also my most challenging. I fina lly got started after thinking about it for a few years. It required a lot of pla nning to pull off and took about half a year’s work. It was very gratifying to pull off its characteristic appearance, whi ch combines angled walls and rou nded shapes. It features a full multip le-floor interior and a motorized elevato r to launch a vertical takeoff mini jet and spinning radar dish. It houses a pair of C.L.A.W.s and a Firebat mini jet. The hangar/garage space can functio n as a maintenance area for the Fire bat or hold two H.I.S.S. tanks.

Hangar/Maintenance Bay

The Terror Drome is a twolevel set that is in an octagonal shape that is separated into eight sections. Three of the sections compose the hangar/garage. Stowed in the center bay of the drome is the Firebat, an armed minijet that can be deployed by LEGO Power Functions remote. The communications array on the top of the Terror Drome also rotates.

Adjoining sections have window bays that can look into the hangar below—the Base Commander can be seen at the right bay at his command and control room, and Dr. Mindbender can see from his lab bay window.

Command Control/ Mess Hall

The Base Commander’s Command and Control Room can be found on the upper level on the adjoining counterclockwise section to the hangar. Here, he leads and monitors the activities of G.I. Joe. Below C and C is the mess hall, with seating and tables for Cobra troops to eat. There is seating for 12 troops.

Officer’s Quarters/ Kitchen

Officer’s quarters are on the upper level and provide a little privacy to the senior staff of the facility. Below is the kitchen, with all the equipment needed to feed the troops in the Terror Drome.

Security Brig/Power

The security brig is on the upper level, which has two holding cells. The lower level is where the batteries are stored for the powered sections of the Terror Drome (not shown).

Officer’s Quarters/ Bathroom

The upper level has another set of officer’s quarters. The lower level is a community bathroom for the troops. Toilets and showers are separate stalls.

Dr. Mindbender’s Lab/ Barracks

The upper level is Dr. Mindbender’s lab, which has the instruments and devices he uses to continue his ‘studies’ in mind control. The lower level is a barracks for the lower-ranked troops. There are also beds on the top deck, giving the Terror Drome a troop capacity of 32.

You Can Build It Minifigure Model

Cobra C.L.A.W.

Design by Magnus Lauglo Instructions by Joe Meno

About this model: The C.L.A.W. is a Covert Light Aerial Weapon used by Cobra. Basically a personal flying wing, this was armed with two rockets and a machine gun. This particular model is designed to fold up and be stowed in compartments in the upper deck of the Terror Drome, ready for quick deployment.

Parts List

(Parts can be ordered through Bricklink.com by searching by part number and color) Qty Part Color Description 2 57467.dat Chrome Silver Minifig Harpoon 2 2431.dat White Tile 1x4 with Groove 1 2452.dat White Hinge Plate 1x2 with 3 Fingers On Side 2 2540.dat White Plate 1x2 with Handle 1 3022.dat White Plate 2x2 3 3068b.dat White Tile 2x2 with Groove 2 3710.dat White Plate 1x4 2 4070.dat White Brick 1x1 with Headlight 1 4276b.dat White Hinge Plate 1x2 with 2 Fingers and Hollow Studs 2 4599b.dat White Tap 1x1 without Hole in Spout 1 6636.dat White Tile 1x6 2 14719.dat White Tile 2x2 Corner 1 15573.dat White Plate 1x2 with Groove with 1 Centre Stud, without Understud 1 15712.dat White Tile 1x1 with Clip (Thick C-Clip) 1 41769.dat White Wing 2x4 Right 1 41770.dat White Wing 2x4 Left 1 43722.dat White Wing 2x3 Right 1 43723.dat White Wing 2x3 Left 2 44676.dat White Flag 2x2 Trapezoid 2 60478.dat White Plate 1x2 with Handle on End 4 61252.dat White Plate 1x1 with Clip Horizontal (Thick C-Clip) 2 99774.dat White Minifig Ski 4L without Hinge 2 30377.dat Dk Bluish GreyMinifig Mechanical Arm 1 3062b.dat Black Brick 1x1 Round w/ Hollow Stud 1 30374.dat Black Bar 4L Lightsaber Blade 1 6141.dat Lt Bluish Grey Plate 1x1 Round 2 24201.dat Lt Bluish Grey Slope Brick Curved 2x1 Inverted 1 42446.dat Lt Bluish Grey Bracket 1x1 - 1x1

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Order now at: http://bit.ly/Brickjournal50 35

Building

Ralf Langer:

Building The Future is Bright Article and Photography by Ralf Langer

Ralf Langer is an Information Technology specialist (software developer, software architect) who works and lives in Cologne, Germany. He began LEGO building recently in 2017, starting when a colleague showed him an online photo of the VW transporter. This resulted in Ralf buying the Technic Truck Crane (42009), then a used UCS Imperial Shuttle, and then the Parisian Restaurant. For Ralf, the restaurant was by far the most interesting and pleasing build, so he bought other modular buildings (of which some are still waiting to be built). Eventually, he bought a 22 pound lot of used bricks. He spent almost two years only buying collections, building up his stock and selling the parts he (supposedly) would not need. In retrospect, this was a waste of time, as after some time Ralf had a very large collection of elements without anything built. He had absolutely no idea where and how to start. To develop his style on his own, Ralf tried to refrain from seeing other builders’ builds or tutorials in general. Ralf’s favorite themes are medieval and historic because of the dirt and imperfections that are in such builds, but he has also built city, science-fiction, and art themes as well. In general, he has a preference for landscapes, buildings, and architecture. All of these interests led him to building an amazing landscape of a space station interior he named The Future is Bright, where cities and land are built inside a immense cylinder that spins to create artificial gravity. Ralf thought about this—as a child, he read many science -fiction books and remembered having 36 seen some illustrations showing similar concepts

“The future is bright,” as seen by a nanoscale resident.

in non-fiction books. A more recent influence was probably the video game Mass Effect. For him, the idea of a cylindric world featured many things that he liked, and it seemed like a really good blend of architecture and nature presented in a spectacular way. Ralf occasionally does research, sketches, and thinks about textures and techniques for his creations. However, for this model there was in fact very little planning. In the beginning, though, there were some major questions Ralf had to answer to start building: Which form would the model be: Tube or ring? How would the model be lit? Building a closed tube would make the interior dark. Lighting The Future is Bright was something Ralf spent some time thinking about before building. How would he

get light into a tube? What would a real station like this look like? It would also need light. Were there some lights in the middle of the circle? He doubted it. He guessed that there had to be some kind of sky. This led him to two options: Building a half circle or leaving open spaces. Outside of this, there was hardly any planning, just a lot of trial and error. As a result, he built a lot of buildings and towers only to find out that they looked weird, and he had to choose another scale for them. One of the difficulties with the model was the extreme perspective of the main photo. Because of the perspective, Ralf could not see an overall picture of the layout until all the curved landscape parts were put together. He hardly knew what he was doing at this point, so he just hoped

that it would turn out okay. When rebuilding the model for an exhibition, he had much more control, since he could actually see his building results. Changes were still very hard to make due to the construction of the model. One thing Ralf knew beforehand was that the structure of the surfaces wouldn’t be that hard, but building a decent landscape would require a set of unusual techniques that felt very different. Whatever technique he would use would have to rely on 1x2 bricks. He wanted to include bright green and medium green as well as green and dark green. Medium green is a very rare color with almost no available parts, except for the 1x2 bricks, which Ralf had already gathered in quantity and wanted to use.

Ralf’s solution for building? He put the 1x2 bricks on hinges! That’s an oversimplification of his technique, but is in a nutshell what he did. He constructed a structure where the ground ‘bends’ (tilts) every two studs. While bending at every stud would have created a smoother curve, bending every two studs allowed him to take advantage of SNOT techniques. Two studs in length equals five plates in height, which would allow the 1x2 bricks he had to be used in four positions: The normal studs-up position (in this case pointing inwards towards the center of the circle made) lengthwise or crosswise or sideways (SNOT) lengthwise or crosswise. This technique led to many restrictions: 1. Every two studs, the ground bends upwards, so Ralf could only build on a 2-stud wide track. Nothing could be built wider than two studs.

A look at the clamping sections that create the curve for the model. Separate clips join the plates together in a way that the studs angle slightly inward.

2. The ‘ground level’ is the level where the bricks perfectly align to each other. One stud on the two stud wide track can be built on, but nothing can be built next to it. Building below ground level is possible, but gaps are formed between the bricks. 3. The bends between the two-wide tracks is done with Mixel hinges, although other hinges would have worked better, since Ralf only needed the bend to be in one direction. As a result, he had to fix everything in a way that adjacent tracks would stay together and not open up. This is only possible on certain heights. 4. There were only a few parts available in the colors he used: Medium green, bright green, green, and dark green.

A side view of the sections, showing how tiles can be used to straddle the plates to fasten and secure sections. This also shows how the two-stud wide strips couldn’t place two plates next to each other above the bricks—the edges would overlap and try to straighten the gap between the sections. A look at one of the living sections, showing how plates, bricks, and tiles were used to make cities and terrain. Ground level is the top of the medium bricks on the right side.

Medium green (ironically a very light and damped color and not medium at all) is a rare Scala color with almost no available parts. There are no small plates and no tiles. Ralf only had the 1x2 bricks. Bright green has a few more parts but is still very limited. For example, there is only the 1x4 size tile available, along with no plates.

5. Making changes was difficult. Sometimes, even taking out a single brick was a nightmare. There was no way to get a grip on a brick that sat somewhere in the middle except by putting another brick on it and hoping that it would pull out. There were times, however, where Ralf had to open the locked surfaces and disassemble the surrounding bricks. Most of this build was done in September 2018. Some days were lost building towers—about thirty different towers were made, but most couldn’t be used because they didn’t fit the scale properly or were just too fancy. It took another three weeks in October 2018 to rebuild the model for an upcoming exhibition and do a video animation of the rotating station. Ralf had to learn how a video program worked first. He also had problems with his hardware. The model could be improved in many ways, but Ralf plans to move on and do something else. If he had to rebuild it, he would enlarge the radius of the supporting wings, as they are just too small for his taste. That would result in the model being less deep, though, because he wouldn’t have enough bricks to keep its length. The radius of the rings determines the model’s scale, so the larger scale would make the cities look more convincing. Ralf has a huge list of ideas for MOCs but he doesn’t know which ones he will work on. Most of them have an experimental edge in some way or are totally weird. There will be a follow-up model to The Future Is Bright, as it was planned as a series from the start. Ralf’s advice for new builders? “Be creative! There is so much to discover yet!”

The clip modules were placed at regular intervals, and the plate strips were held together with the 2x2 round plates seen here.

An overhead look at one of the living sections. Here one can see the different ways Ralf built in green, pipes, and relief.

A city in this scale can be built using tiles and some slope elements. Carefully placed elements hide the gaps of the ground level bricks.

Building

The Spinebeast.

Djordje Dobrosavljević:

Character Builder!

Article by Joe Meno Photography by Djordje Dobrosavljević

Djordje Dobrosavljević builds characters. If you look on his Flickr gallery, you’ll see creatures and beings of all sorts, from whimsical aliens to terrifying beasts. They all look like they were photographed during a live photo session, showing their personality with their stance, and sometimes their smile. Very few of them look like something that could be made from LEGO elements, except for perhaps the LEGO theme that was made up of crazy-looking creatures; the Mixels. The 24-year-old builder has been building these since 2001, when the Bionicle line was released. Djordje did have a Dark Age where he stopped building, which started in 2007. For him, when Bionicle was released, it was a really new sort of toy—a constructible action figure, or construction figure. He never had any actual LEGO sets until that point, but those weird colorful robot things really grabbed his attention. Their designs and the intricate storyline LEGO made up for the characters really inspired him. He returned to building four years later. What got him back into building from his Dark Age was the Hero Factory line, which was the successor to Bionicle. This time, his building was more driven by wanting to explore character design in general, which is another of Djordje’s long-time interests.

Different views of the Spinebeast.

With a high interest in animation and character design, Djordje used to have sketchbooks filled with, as he says, “not very well-drawn” character ideas and doodles. His LEGO building became an extension of his interests. For him, the constraction sets with a dash of System parts really lent themselves to the character creation. As a result, Bionicle and Hero Factory hold a special place for him, but he also was a fan of the Mixel theme when it came out, and all the strange and fun characters (and useful parts) it provided. When building, he really enjoys building figures Debumoto.

Djordje’s Spinebeast.

The last of the Lionhearts.

that show personality and tell their story through the way they look. This is why Djordje is not a big fan of actually writing stories and background for his creations. For him, it means a lot more to let the viewer make their own story by just looking at the build. The toughest model Djordje has had to build was Makuta the Mask Breaker. This figure was made for a LEGO contest held on Rebrick (a LEGO site that spotlighted fan builds) when Bionicle Generation 2 ended. The trickiness came in with the sheer size of the build, as he usually builds in a smaller scale. This was definitely a different sort of challenge, but it was ultimately worth it, as Makuta was one of the winning creations in the contest.

Above: The chopper.

Below: Another look at the Lionheart.

As the creator of many different figures and creatures, it is very hard for Djordje to pick a favorite, but if he had to choose, he would pick his big fat red Oni Debumoto because he really showcases Djordje’s style and has a lot of character. He also was a lot of fun to build! Creating Djordje’s models is a process, and one that he can’t really describe immediately. He makes stuff as ideas pop into his head, mostly by messing with unconventional parts and being inspired by them to make strange characters. Creating these characters is not a matter of making them scary-looking or humorous-looking, as he enjoys making both types. However, he does find that injecting a tiny bit of the humorous element into

frightening-looking things can sometimes make them all the more unsettling for it. Even with the enjoyment he gets from figures and animals, he does want to go out of his comfort zone more, maybe with some more vehicle builds or even architectural builds at some point. For beginning builders, Djordje offers this advice: “Do it for fun. LEGO is a toy after all. Build whatever you want and the stuff you like and things that interest you personally.” That said, outsider input and constructive criticism are also a very helpful tool for refining your builds and giving them that little something that they are missing. A lot of his builds have been vastly improved by commentary from his friends!

Ol’ Murgley One Eye.

Roy McBlitz, the greatest guitarist in the galaxy!

You Can Build It MINI Model

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

The Miner

Design by Djordje Dobrosavljević Instructions by Joe Meno The Miner is a build that spotlights the whimsy and humor that Djordje invokes when creating. Using Technic and Hero Factory parts, he builds a mole—not just any mole, but a miner mole! With helmet on, the mole is ready to start digging into his next job! When asked, Djordje had this to say about the Miner: “People usually regard moles as garden ruining pests, but I’ve always been a bit fascinated by them and how they make their elaborate and winding tunnel homes right beneath our feet. It was this appreciation for them that inspired the build, as I wanted to portray the animal as the industrious construction worker that it is. The build itself is fairly simple and came together pretty quickly over the course of an afternoon a few years ago. I hope the readers have as much fun building it themselves as I did originally!”

Qty 2 6 1 1 2 2 2 2 1 2 1 4 2 1 1 1 6 2 2 3 2 1 1 1 2 5 1 2 1 2 3 2 1 2 3 2 1 1

Color White White Red Red Reddish Brown Reddish Brown Orange Orange Orange Orange Yellow Black Black Black Black Black Black Black Black Black Black Black Black Black

Part Description 53451.dat Minifig Helmet Viking Horn 87747.dat Bar 0.5L with Curved Blade 2L 6141.dat Plate 1x1 Round 32062.dat Technic Axle 2 Notched 3069b.dat Tile 1x2 with Groove 60481.dat Slope Brick 65 2x1x2 3004.dat Brick 1x2 3005.dat Brick 1x1 44790.dat Technic Hockey Helmet 54200.dat Slope Brick 31 1x1x0.667 92208.dat Head, Upper Part W. Hole 3005.dat Brick 1x1 3021.dat Plate 2x3 3023.dat Plate 1x2 3941.dat Brick 2x2 Round 3942c.dat Cone 2x2x2 with Hollow Stud Open 4070.dat Brick 1x1 with Headlight 4519.dat Technic Axle 3 4599b.dat Tap 1x1 without Hole in Spout 4697b.dat Technic Pneumatic T-Piece - Type 2 4733.dat Brick 1x1 with Studs on Four Sides 6141.dat Plate 1x1 Round 6233.dat Cone 3x3x2 15573.dat Plate 1x2 with Groove with 1 Centre Stud, without Understud Black 15712.dat Tile 1x1 with Clip (Thick C-Clip) Black 32474.dat Technic Ball Joint w/Axlehole Blind Black 47753.dat Wedge 4x4 Triple Curved without Studs Black 48729a.dat Bar 1.5L with Clip without Hole in Shaft Black 60470b.dat Plate 1x2 with 2 Clips Horizontal (Thick C-Clips) Black 61252.dat Plate 1x1 with Clip Horizontal (Thick C-Clip) Black 85861.dat Plate 1x1 Round with Open Stud Black 87087.dat Brick 1x1 with Stud on 1 Side Black 87994.dat Bar 3L Black 90641.dat Constraction Shell 2.5x3x3 Flat Light Bluish Grey 90650.dat Constraction Shell 2.5x4x6 Flat with Wings Light Bluish Grey 4274.dat Technic Pin 1/2 Light Bluish Grey 4697b.dat Technic Pneumatic T-Piece - Type 2 Light Bluish Grey 30374.dat Bar 4L Lightsaber Blade

You Can Build It

Model

House Mouse

Design and Instructions by Felix Jaensch

About this model: Last issue, Felix Jaensch showed us some wonderful animal builds. This issue, he shows us how he builds one of his animals: A house mouse. There are a couple of features that aren’t easily seen on this model. The head can rotate slightly from side to side thanks to the attachment by a lightsaber bar. The other feature is that the tail can bend thanks to the flex tube that runs through the 1x1 round parts and cone. Enjoy building!

Parts List

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

Qty Part 2 3023.dat 1 3024.dat 2 3700.dat 2 4070.dat 1 4733.dat 1 1 1 4 2 3 4 1 1 2 4 1

Color Red Red Red Red Red

Description Plate 1x2 Plate 1x1 Technic Brick 1x2 with Hole Brick 1x1 with Headlight Brick 1x1 with Studs on Four Sides 30374.dat Red Bar 4L Lightsaber Blade 3001.dat Dk. Bluish Grey Brick 2x4 3002.dat Dk. Bluish Grey Brick 2x3 3004.dat Dk. Bluish Grey Brick 1x2 3005.dat Dk. Bluish Grey Brick 1x1 3020.dat Dk. Bluish Grey Plate 2x4 3023.dat Dk. Bluish Grey Plate 1x2 3024.dat Dk. Bluish Grey Plate 1x1 3039.dat Dk. Bluish Grey Slope Brick 45 2x2 3040b.dat Dk. Bluish Grey Slope Brick 45 2x1 3069b.dat Dk. Bluish Grey Tile 1x2 with Groove 3070b.dat Dk. Bluish Grey Tile 1x1 with Groove

Qty Part Color Description 1 3622.dat Dk. Bluish Grey Brick 1x3 1 3623.dat Dk. Bluish Gre Plate 1x3 5 3665.dat Dk. Bluish Grey Slope Brick 45 2x1 Inverted 2 3700.dat Dk. Bluish Grey Technic Brick 1x2 with Hole 2 3794a.dat Dk. Bluish Grey Plate 1x2 without Groove with 1 Centre Stud 1 4070.dat Dk. Bluish Grey Brick 1x1 with Headlight 2 6541.dat Dk. Bluish Grey Technic Brick 1x1 with Hole 1 32064a.datDk. Bluish Grey Technic Brick 1x2 with Axlehole Type 1 1 43722.dat Dk. Bluish Grey Wing 2x3 Right 1 43723.dat Dk. Bluish Grey Wing 2x3 Left 3 50746.dat Dk. Bluish Grey Slope Brick 31 1x1x0.667 1 61678.dat Dk. Bluish Grey Slope Brick Curved 4x1 3 85984.dat Dk. Bluish Grey Slope Brick 31 1x2x0.667 1 3794a.dat Black Plate 1x2 without Groove with 1 Centre Stud 8 3062b.dat Lt. Bluish Grey Brick 1x1 Round w/Hollow Stud 2 4032a.dat Lt. Bluish Grey Plate 2x2 Round with Axlehole Type 1 2 4274.dat Lt. Bluish Grey Technic Pin 1/2 4 4275b.dat Lt. Bluish Grey Hinge Plate 1x2 with 3 Fingers and Hollow Studs 1 4589.dat Lt. Bluish Grey Cone 1x1 1 71175.dat Lt. Bluish Grey Technic Flex-System Hose 12L (240LDU)

52 52

Celebrating the Crazy Cool Culture We Grew Up With! RETROFAN #1 cover-features an all-new interview with TV’s Incredible Hulk, LOU FERRIGNO, and introduces a quartet of columns by our regular celebrity columnists: MARTIN PASKO’s Pesky Perspective (this issue: The Phantom in Hollywood), ANDY MANGELS’ Retro Saturday Mornings (Filmation’s Star Trek cartoon), ERNEST FARINO’s Retro Fantasmagoria (How I Met the Wolf Man—Lon Chaney, Jr.), and The Oddball World of SCOTT SHAW (the goofy comic book Zody the Mod Rob). Also: Mego’s rare Elastic Hulk toy; RetroTravel to Mount Airy, NC, the real-life Mayberry; an interview with BETTY LYNN, “Thelma Lou” of The Andy Griffith Show; the scarcity of Andy Griffith Show collectibles; a trip inside TOM STEWART’s eclectic House of Collectibles; RetroFan’s Too Much TV Quiz; and a RetroFad shout-out to Mr. Microphone. Edited by Back Issue magazine’s MICHAEL EURY! (84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $8.95 • (Digital Edition) $4.95 • ISSUES #1-4 NOW SHIPPING!

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You Can Build It MINI Model

and can be folded upwards until the wing tips are touching each other once the shuttle is in parking position. With that our model is finished, and I hope you will enjoy building this elegant spacecraft with its long and elegant lines. I hope to see you next time!

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

Director Krennic’s Personal Shuttle Design and Instructions by Christopher Deck

Hello everybody, I am glad to be back for another exciting mini building session together with you in BrickJournal! Today we want to build a model with a sophisticated geometry. It’s Director Krennic’s personal shuttlecraft as seen in the Star Wars spin-off movie Rogue One. Its remarkable design features a pyramid-like main body with a tail on the backbone and two extraordinarily long wings which can fold up in landing position. To do the angles justice, we cannot simply use standard slopes of 45 degrees, but need an inner construction with hinges instead. The hull sides and front can then be attached on these internal hinges. A tight central construction which will later hold the upper backbone of the shuttle is necessary, as the angled sides do not leave much space inside. A pretty clever way to realize the two angled engine thrusters on the backside is to use transparent light-blue Bionicle tooth pieces. They seat perfectly between the angled side panels. As a bonus, the wings are functional

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

Color Black Black

Part Description 3005.dat Brick 1x1 30165.dat Brick 2x2 with Curved Top and 2 Studs on Top Black 4589.dat Cone 1x1 Black 3937.dat Hinge 1x2 Base Black 3938.dat Hinge 1x2 Top Black 3024.dat Plate 1x1 Black 26047.dat Plate 1x1 Round with Horizontal Handle on Side Black 32028.dat Plate 1x2 with Door Rail Black 60478.dat Plate 1x2 with Handle on End Black 3839b.dat Plate 1x2 with Handles Type 2 Black 3710.dat Plate 1x4 Black 2444.dat Plate 2x2 with Hole and Split Underside Ribs Black 3021.dat Plate 2x3 Black 3020.dat Plate 2x4 Black 2450.dat Plate 3x3 without Corner Black 4460a.dat Slope Brick 75 2x1x3 with Open Stud Black 43093.dat Technic Axle Pin with Friction Black 32523.dat Technic Beam 3 Black 2780.dat Technic Pin with Friction and Slots Black 15712.dat Tile 1x1 with Clip (Thick C-Clip) Black 3069b.dat Tile 1x2 with Groove Black 3068b.dat Tile 2x2 with Groove Black 87079.dat Tile 2x4 with Groove Black 43723.dat Wing 2x3 Left Black 43722.dat Wing 2x3 Right Black 47397.dat Wing 3x12 Left Black 47398.dat Wing 3x12 Right Black 43719.dat Wing 4x4 with 2x2 Cutout Trans-Light-Blue 41669.dat Technic Tooth 1x3 with Axlehole

Neuralizer

About this issue’s model:

I’d like to tell you about this month’s model, but it’s classified. Oh, and that bright light you saw wasn’t a UFO. Swamp gas from a weather balloon was caught in a thermal pocket and refracted the light from Venus. Now if you’ll just look at this right here, I’ll explain everything...

Parts List

(Parts can be ordered through Bricklink.com by searching by part number and color) Qty Part Color 2 85080.dat Red 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 1 2 2 1 2 6 18

Design and Instructions by Tommy Williamson

2 1 3

Description Brick 2x2 Corner Round w Stud Notch and Reinforced Underside 3023.dat Lt Bluish Grey Plate 1x2 3034.dat Lt Bluish Grey Plate 2x8 3069b.dat Lt Bluish Grey Tile 1x2 with Groove 3710.dat Lt Bluish Grey Plate 1x4 4274.dat Lt Bluish Grey Technic Pin 1/2 6192.dat Lt Bluish Grey Brick 2x4 with Curved Top 6222.dat Lt Bluish Grey Brick 4x4 Round with Holes 6587.dat Lt Bluish Grey Technic Axle 3 with Stud 11477.dat Lt Bluish Grey Slope Brick Curved 2x1 15712.dat Lt Bluish Grey Tile 1x1 w/Clip (Thick C-Clip) 48336.dat Lt Bluish Grey Plate 1x2 with Handle Type 2 50746.dat Lt Bluish Grey Slope Brick 31 1x1x0.667 60474.dat Lt Bluish Grey Plate 4x4 Round with Hole and Snapstud 85080.dat Lt Bluish Grey Brick 2x2 Corner Round w Stud Notch and Reinforced Underside 86500.dat Lt Bluish Grey Dome 4x4 Smooth 99780.dat Lt Bluish Grey Bracket 1x2 - 1x2 Up 2654.dat Dish 2x2 Black

Tommy Williamson is no stranger to BrickJournal, having been featured previously for his Jack Sparrow miniland scale figure. Since then, he has gone farther into building, making some remarkable Star Trek props and other models. He’s now doing a column for BrickJournal: DIY Fan Art. Here, Tommy takes a little time out from his busy schedule at BrickNerd.com to make a model of his choosing for the magazine.

www.brickcoaster.com

Custom Roller Coaster Tracks, Sets and Accessories

Building

Minifigure Customization 101:

It is Good to Have Friends!

Article and Photography by Chris Campbell and Jared K. Burks Spider-Man and all related characters TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

I had an article written. I had a strategy in mind. Life happened late on Boxing Day (for my fellow Americans, that is December 26th) though; the power company’s transformer blew up near my house while I was on holiday with my family. I returned on the 27th to initially discover the AC was not working (I live in Texas and it is hot all the time), which was not fun. To date we have discovered that it fried the transformer on the AC, the doorbell, a breaker, several outlets, a coffee maker, and my decal printer and computer. My computer and printer were plugged into a surge protector and while other items plugged in survived, but my printer didn’t. My printer survived Hurricane Harvey, the associated flooding, and the massive drywall induced dust storm of the Harvey tear-out, yet it did not survive a transformer blowing up and sending a power spike (even though it was powered off)! ARGH! I, of course, discovered that the printer was broken the night before this article was due to Joe Meno for page layouts, therefore it became a last-minute scramble. This left me very discouraged, with a very expensive repair bill, and without a way to complete this article. I started scrambling and the article present is due to Chris Campbell and his willingness to not sleep, and pay overnight shipping fees to send me parts. Thank you Chris! Chris will be helping to open Brick Print Studios in the near future (brickprintstudios.com), if not by the time this article is in print. Sometimes the simplest strategies are generally the hardest to create, but result in the best designs. Examine Apple products. They make it look easy, but it is not. Look at other designs out there; how many points of failure exist, and why everyone chases Apple. I hope in this article to demonstrate how to keep things simple and fun, even with a last-minute scramble. For the purpose of this article, we need an inspiration. I recently took my daughter to see the film Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse, and given the dynamic range that Marvel has created in the multi-universe of Spider-people/ characters, this gives us a bit to work with. I am going to do my best to stick

to the film and create one or two of them for the article, as clearly we all need friends to help bail us out of trouble and broken printer situations from time to time. This article was originally going to create Spider-Ham and Spider-Noir from Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse, but things changed last minute and I now have most of the cast; some created by me, some by modifying LEGO or aftermarket parts, and some from the companies in Asia selling versions. This is the scramble. I will leave certain descriptive details about what I was going to do for Spider-Ham and hopefully create a better option for the next article, using Fusion 360 with a more detailed approach. For this article I will be showcasing the following:

Inspiration art for Miles Morales.

• Miles Morales Spider-Man (My custom design and custom direct-printed by Chris, thank you) • Peter B. Parker – Alternate Universe out-of-shape Spider-Man (Mix and Match Official LEGO Parts + Custom Cloth by Mark Parker – MMCB Capes, again it is good to have friends) • Spider-Noir (My custom design, custom direct printed by Chris, thank you, + Custom Cloth by Mark Parker – MMCB Capes, again it is good to have friends)

Inspiration art for Miles Morales with hood.

• Jefferson Davis (Miles Father – Mix and Match Official LEGO Parts, will tweak later) • Stand-in Spider-Ham (Mix and Match Parts + Crazy Bricks [crazybricks.com] Pig head) • Stand-in Spider-Gwen (from Asian supplier, will make my own later) • Peter Parker Spider-Man of Miles’ Universe (Official LEGO Spider-Man)

Miles Morales

Miles was a last-minute addition to this article. In all honesty, the plan was for Spider-Ham and Spider-Noir, but hey, things go wonky and someone isn’t sleeping, so more gets piled on to make up. So Miles was designed. He was a quick modification to the Spider-Man design, primarily adding his version of the Spider to the front and back of the outfit. As his is a black suit, it is keeping the webbing low-key; I had designed it in white, but Chris determined it was too bold and converted it to dark bluey-grey. We completed the figure using a similar eye design to Spider-Noir; just wait for the details below. I am toying playing with this one and using the new Harry Potter movable stubbie legs, adding a black jacket and a red hood for his “transition” look from the film. If I had my printer working I would mod and add my Nike design from a Shaun of the Dead Ed figure I made, but it’s not possible here (future work!). Hope you like Miles!

Miles Morales with and without hood.

Inspiration art for Peter B. Parker, Spider-Gwen, and Miles Morales.

Peter B. Parker

When Chris and I began talking, we started thinking about other figures. I had planned on Peter B. Parker for a bit, but just with sweatpants on as a simple mod to the official LEGO figure. This then took on a life of its own as I hunted down a scruffy head, hair, and finally another jacket by Mark Parker (MMCB Capes). Once I had this all together it was very apparent that I had captured the Peter B. Parker figure. If I was going to do this from scratch, the only mod, would be a belly line on the spider suit to show the “out of shape” style of the B-man, who actually turns out to be fairly awesome in the film!

Spider-Noir

One of my favorite characters is Spider-Noir. Let’s begin with the definition of Noir.

noir/nwär/noun Peter B. Parker and Miles Morales. Spider-Noir inspiration.

1. a genre of crime film or fiction characterized by cynicism, fatalism, and moral ambiguity. “his film proved that a Brit could do noir as darkly as any American” 2. a film or novel in the noir genre. plural noun: noirs “he says he’s making a noir”

Most of these types of films are set between the 1940-50s and are in black-andwhite, which will affect our design. Spider-Noir has a similar backstory to Peter Parker, but Wiki describes it as: An inexperienced but idealistic apprentice of a respected yet troubled reporter in 1933, during the Great Depression, Peter Parker is accidentally bitten by an illegally imported and highly-venomous spider, while secretly investigating a smuggling ring of ancient spider statues. Instead of killing him, the bite gave him super-human abilities, similar to that of a spider. Taking advantage of his new abilities, Parker begins to wage a one-man war against the criminal underworld in New York City as a brutal and feared vigilante, known as the “Spider-Man,” partly to avenge the deaths of his uncle Ben Parker and his mentor, Ben Urich, at the hands of the city’s major crime lord, Norman Osborn. Right off the bat we notice that Spider-Noir is melding Noir with the Great Depression. Regardless, this backstory should sound a bit similar, no pun intended. When we see the character, the resemblance will be more striking. The black-and-white nature gives the character a bit of a classic Hollywood vibe of all black, and that helps inform us about our figure. Now, in the comic books and other sources, they break up the monochrome character with some very dark blues; I did not see that in the film or in the promotional materials for the film. They did dither the edges, making it slowly pixel-dissolve out at the edges to make his appearance more grey in certain close-up shots. I would love to do this and may investigate this further, but for this article we will keep it simple (the original theme for this article). Spider-Noir appears simple, clean, and elegant, and checks all the boxes for good design. His name tells you exactly what and how he should look.

So let’s launch into this design; I may end up switching out the legs because I can to get some dark blues in too, but for now I am digging the black. There are two ways to go about making this character: A black Spider-Man, add hat, trench coat, and give him a gun, or you can go the more Batman/Rocketeer style, which is what I believe is intended in the film. I created a simple torso art, but I added a very basic spider to the torso, as all Spider-people seem to have one, and I thought it added a bit—and in all honesty, it is hard to see if it is present in the film or not. He has a torso design similar to the Rocketeer with a double-layered leather jacket under a trench coat. So keeping all the colors muted, I stayed to dark bluey-grey and light-bluey grey in the art. This is where designing for a black LEGO figure is a bit challenging, as you cannot print in darker black for shadow. This is seen in his eyes/goggles. It appears it is lenses affixed to his hood more so than goggles. To try and capture this detail,

I added a reflection to the lens and a bit of a curvature color point, so check out the head. My original thought was to not underprint the spider to make it more outstanding. When or if I fix my printer, I may try this trick. This design features five colors: White, light bluey-grey, dark bluey-grey, 80% black (spider), and black. The figure features a utility belt, much as his inspiration; I merely took a LEGO Batman utility belt and used vinyl dye to make it black. I could have added this in the design, but I thought the layered look would be better. I finished off the figure with one of Mark’s trench coats and a black LEGO hat. Chris did an awesome job printing the figure and he appears as I intended.

Spider-Noir.

Jefferson Davis

This again was a last-minute thought. Chris and I were talking about the stubbie legs needed for Miles and I was frantically searching through my poorly organized space for the few Harry Potter Collectible Minifigure Series figures I had purchased. This is when I stumbled upon Captain Stacy, from the SpiderMan: Doc Ock’s Tentacle Trap set. I thought it fitting to modify Captain Stacy into Miles’ father and with a quick, yet imperfect, head change, we have Jefferson as a counterpoint to Miles. The head came from an old Spider-Man set, Doc Ock’s Bank Robbery from 2004, so again a fitting Spider-Man-based addition merging Stacy’s body with the security guard’s face. I will attempt to add a mustache, the only missing element to this figure’s design. If I can find a Police Cap I will add it; otherwise it is old school LEGO hair to finish off this figure.

Jefferson Davis.

Spider-Ham (Stand-in for final figure) Who doesn’t chuckle when they see a pig in a Spider-Man costume? And it gets better when they learn his name is Peter Porker, not Parker! Spider-Ham is actually quite old as he dates back to 1983, likely older than many people reading this article, from Marvel Tails Starring Peter Porker, the Spectacular Spider-Ham! This title earned him a bi-monthly series after its initial installment. Peter Porker is from Earth-8311, which helps setup the multi-dimensionality of the Spider-Verse. Apparently Earth-8311 featured nothing but anthropomorphic parodies of a variety of other Marvel characters, and a very extensive list can be found on Wiki: https:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spider-Ham#Other_characters. More fun may be had creating some of the other occupants of Earth-8311, but I digress. My goal, if time permits, is to create a Spider-Ham head and make a custom Spider-Ham figure as a bonus. I put this information here to inspire the readers, and hope I can pull it off. There are many places that can lead to error here as his head in the movie is different from the LEGO game, and very different from the many comic books he has been featured in. Whenever I am looking to sculpt something, or create a digital 3D file of something (digital sculpting), I break the shape down into its simple shapes. This was a trick I learned in drawing class, especially if you don’t know quite how to draw the final objects. Therefore the bulk of his head is simply a balloon (head) sitting on a donut (jaw) with a megaphone (snout), and finally the most difficult objects are his ears, composed of two parts: A volumetric rectangle attached to a narrow quarter cylinder. The area of connection is the hardest, and as this is the thinnest part, the most fragile. He has a neck in the film, which is a cone, and this is also a challenge for LEGO figures, as they really have no neck, generally speaking. They have a small disk shape at the bottom of the head. For now and due to the aforementioned scramble, I have a stand-in for this part from Crazy Bricks. My next article will be on creating this in Fusion 360 and 3D printing the results.

Spider-Ham inspiration.

In order to create the stand-in figure, I merely took a Crazy Bricks Pig head, vinyl dyed it red, and placed it on top of an official torso with stubbie blue legs. Quick, easy, and to the point, even if the head is wrong. Spider-Ham.

Spider-Gwen.

Spider-Gwen (Stand-in for final

figure)

To my knowledge LEGO hasn’t released their Spider-Gwen figure yet even though it shows up in Bricklink, so I needed a stand-in till I get mine designed and made. A friend had sent me one from one of the Asian suppliers and as it was on hand, it is in some of the photos! As this is my daughter’s favorite character from the film, look out for one from me in the future! I still believe the hood could be better, so I will try and solve that issue at a later time.

Spider-Gwen inspiration. Peni Parker inspiration.

Peni Parker

Clearly Peni Parker and her spiderbot, which was way beyond the timeframe for this article, are missing, and no quick alternative exists. Perhaps through a collaboration these could be created for a future article. If anyone is interested in building Peni’s bot, I will make a figure for Peni; e-mail me!

The theme of today’s article, much like the film, is troubles come and go, and it is all about how we rise up and face the challenges. Clearly, my figures did not completely come to form as I had originally thought they would. It is a motley cast, but I have almost the whole cast (sorry Peni) together, and I did it thanks to the help of my friends, just as Miles did in the film. Thank you Chris (Uubergeek online) and good luck with your endeavors at Brick Print Studios, which will be opening soon, possibly by the publishing of this article (brickprintstudios.com). I hope you enjoyed the film as much as I did and you find some educational bits in the scramble Chris and I put together here. Sometimes inspiration hits and great things are created; sometimes it just meets the deadline, and it is amazing what you can do if you just try. You can view Jared’s webpage by going to http://www.fineclonier.com/ or scanning this QR code!

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

Come back next issue for more Minifigure Customization!

Community

David Pagano is an award-winning filmmaker and the head of Paganomation, a New York-based production studio. His brickfilm work has appeared on LEGO.com, Disney XD, Nickelodeon, and for two seconds at the climax of The LEGO Movie. David is also the co-author of The LEGO Animation Book, the definitive guide to filmmaking with LEGO bricks and characters. Little Guys... In Space! is the biggest, craziest, most complicated film I’ve ever made. Everything in the film is built from LEGO bricks and elements. There are 27 characters across eleven different locations, and the characters alone took a total of 33,286 LEGO pieces to create. It took a crew of 18 people 2,528 hours over the course of seven-and-a-half years to complete the film.

An Abridged History of Little Guys… In Space!

Article and Photography by David Pagano Additional Photography by Jennifer Bourne

And the film is only three minutes long.

But First, the Original Little Guys... In Space! (LGIS for short) is a sequel, and to fully understand it requires a bit of backstory. I made the original Little Guys! film as my thesis project at NYU back in 2007. On the first day of our senior production class, my professor told us something along the lines of: “You can make your film about anything, but I suggest that you pick an idea that you really love. Because at some point during the production process, you’re going to hate working on it. But if you start from a place of really loving it, it’ll make the days when you do hate it a little less rough.” Filmmaker David Pagano on set.

What kind of film would I really love to make? The answer was simple: An homage to/parody of 1980s toy commercials. And since I was expected to “get a real job” after graduation, I decided to create the film using a medium I also loved: LEGO bricks. After all, no one would ever hire me to make a stop-motion film using toys (or so I thought). And so, the concept behind Little Guys! was born. I would take LEGO bricks—which can be used to create pretty much anything—and use them to make an exciting commercial for a fake toy that does essentially nothing.

Making “Little Guys!” The most basic of the Little Guys! figures. Despite being locked in a nonarticulated T-pose, these toys are marketed (within the world of the Little Guys! films, anyway) as “the most exciting, most fun friends you’ve ever played with.”

I spent eight months creating the first Little Guys! film, using (and reusing) every piece in my collection to make it work. I would build a character and backdrop, animate the scene, and then take everything apart to build the next scene. The retro ’80s vibe was chosen partially out of necessity—I was shooting with an HD camera, but if I made the final film low-resolution, I could explain away any technical limitations or lo-fi design choices as intentional artifacts of the era. I graduated in 2007 and found work in the New York animation industry. And over the next several years, Little Guys! made the rounds at festivals, at LEGO fan events, on the Internet… and at The LEGO Group itself. Eventually, unexpectedly (and somewhat remarkably), the original Little Guys! film got my foot in the door making shorts for TLG, and was the impetus for starting my own animation studio, leading to dozens of other Paganomationproduced animated shorts. So, naturally, I decided to make another one.

The characters from the original Little Guys! film had limited articulation. The arms and torsos were all solid pieces, but these kids could nod, turn their heads, and rotate their wrists and eyebrows. The eyes and mouth shapes could also be swapped to have the character blink or talk.

And Then, a Sequel The idea for a Little Guys! sequel had always been to set it “In Space”. I love science-fiction almost as much as I love retro commercials, and there’s a rich history of transporting beloved franchises into outer space as a trope. If it could work for Power Rangers, Friday the 13th, and Gilligan’s Island, why not Little Guys!? I started working on LGIS on May 13, 2011. As with the original film, I began by collecting reference material for inspiration. I watched tons of 1980s commercials on YouTube, had a sci-fi movie marathon, and poured over books on the art of Star Wars, NASA history, and retro video game box art.

The improved articulation of the LGIS charaters is apparent in this scene featuring alien co-workers Susan Williams (left) and Groblenak (right). Susan’s eyes use ball turret parts from LEGO Star Wars, and Groblenak’s snout is fully posable thanks to the larger ball-and-socket joints. In the background is a water cooler prop made possible by the release of #21313 Ship in a Bottle.

One of the things I really enjoy is world-building—both with my LEGO collection, and in terms of writing a story. I love the idea of a film universe that’s larger than just what you see on screen. For LGIS, my research into old spacey content had revealed recurring themes of “the future!”, synthesizers, goofy alien make-up, and an air of vague militarism. I tried to cram as much of that stuff into the script as possible. I’m a big fan of films like Airplane!, and that level of obscure references and jokes-per-minute is definitely something I aspire to match. I always describe the Little Guys! films as both parody and pastiche, and I believe that to make a successful parody, you have to really know and love the originals.

Getting Started Kickstarter was just shy of three years old when I launched a crowdfunding campaign for LGIS. As a small animation studio working freelance for various clients, there always are gaps between projects, and the idea to crowdfund the film came during one of these gaps. Because crowdfunding was so new and I was so young, I completely lowballed the estimate for the film’s budget, in terms of both money and time. But more than money, the thing I really wanted from a Kickstarter project was accountability. I wanted people who would keep me working on the film and make sure it actually did get made. The LGIS Kickstarter campaign was a success, raising just shy of $8500 USD over the course of a month. Fellow AFOL and artist Sean Kenney joked that I should have “added another zero” to the end of my target fundraising amount. (Years later, some postfilm budget calculations would prove how right he was.)

Making Time for LGIS LGIS was unlike anything I’ve ever worked on. Writing and development happened all upfront because I wanted to have the animatic done to coincide with the launch of the Kickstarter campaign. After that, the actual animation production and post work spread itself out over five years. Somewhere between starting the film and launching the Kickstarter campaign, I found paid work again, and my unemployment free time was gone. Go figure.

The Muppet influence is apparent in the design of Space General Brikenpleight (voiced by Sean Kenney). Rather than using mouth shapes, the General’s lip sync was achieved by changing the size and angle of the two halves of his moustache.

My studio kept busy for the next several years, creating (among other things) nearly 50 short videos for The LEGO Group. I enjoyed working on these promotional shorts, but most of them were very formulaic minifig-scale animations with limited budgets and timelines that didn’t allow for much creative experimentation. So with LGIS, it was important that every scene had some opportunity to experiment or offered a new creative challenge—moving camera shots, wiring lights inside characters, mixing different scales, etc. One thing you’ll notice is that there isn’t a single minifigure in the entire film. The closest you’ll find are the minifig-scale monkeys who worship the Little Guys! monolith. Unlike The LEGO Movie (which came out halfway through production), 95% of LGIS is stop-motion. There is a bit of live-action footage, because I really wanted to use a smoke machine in the Little Guys! product beauty shots. But apart from some digital graphics and compositing, there’s no CGI in the film. That’s why I included time-lapse shots of us building and animating in the film’s end credits sequence. Everything in LGIS is a real, physical build, and I wanted to make it clear to the audience just how ambitious of an undertaking this film was.

Little Guys! and Big Challenges As my ambitions for LGIS grew, so did the scope of the production, which stretched longer and longer as our studio kept working on other paid projects. Some years we worked on LGIS for 900+ hours, and other years, we spent less than a day on the film. This discrepancy confused me

Even the giant, imposing logo for the Intergalactic Imperial United-Alliance Planetary Federation Corps was physically built as a 45’ x 45’ mosaic and photographed for the film.

until much later when I realized, “Oh, right! I also wrote The LEGO Animation Book (and made the accompanying short film, The Magic Picnic) during that time.” I wanted each shot of the film to be impressive and unique, but I eventually realized that it was more important to finish the film and get it out the door than to follow every flight-of-fancy I had. In my typical work for clients, I take every opportunity to repurpose designs or animation techniques from things I’ve made in the past—it’s a great time saver. And as the LGIS production timeline rolled on, I came to rely on reuse more and more, which actually enabled some of my crazier ideas to come to fruition.

Above: Sketches of one of the film’s Kickstarter backers turned into a creepy doctor. Below: Six pairs of LEGO Power Functions lights gave this alien kid his glowing eyes.

My original plan for the final shot of LGIS was ridiculously complicated: A 22-second shot featuring eight 15” brick-built characters, animated by four different people, while the camera is moved, frame by frame, down a 4’ track. To help offset that complexity, we designed the characters with a ton of reuse—for example, borrowing arms from other characters in the film. And in the middle of the stop-motion animation (at around 1:00 AM), I had the idea to shave off a few of those 22 seconds by reusing a “photo freeze-frame” effect from one of our old videos as the new ending of the film. Even with these time-saving measures, the shot still took four of us an extremely long 18-hour day to complete.

Preparing to Launch On April 23, 2018, I announced a release date for LGIS: August 31, 2018. Although my Kickstarter backers had provided some level of accountability, I needed a selfimposed deadline to motivate the finishing and release of the film. I created a “countdown to LGIS”—a screensaver on my computer that counted down like a ticking time bomb from day 130 to day zero, August 31. It kept me on track for the next four months, as I pulled countless allnighters to crank out the remaining shots, visual effects, sound design, and finishing touches.

Below, left to right: Animators Valerie Champagne, Matt Witham, Jeff Wallenhorst, and David Pagano smile for the camera after completing the film’s herculean final shot.

After a rough cut screening at BrickFair Virginia, the final film was released on our YouTube channel, in the nick of time—August 31st, 2018 at 11:17pm PT. While I typically expect the worst from YouTube comments, the response from viewers was almost universally positive. My favorite comments expressed the simple, but immensely gratifying sentiment: “It was worth the wait.” Ultimately, I created LGIS to accomplish a couple of things. I wanted a new calling card, something to show people that “this is what I do and what I’m capable of.” And I wanted to push the medium to new heights, and create something exciting and unique that had never been seen in a brickfilm before. To quote visual effects artist Richard Taylor, I wanted LGIS to “remind you of something you’ve never seen before.” It’s a surreal thing, to be done with this film. And I can’t wait to see where it takes me.

Watch Little Guys...In Space! and see more of David’s work at http://www.paganomation.com

Designing the characters of Little Guys… In Space! The main draw of the Little Guys! films was designing and animating the characters. As a kid, I was totally inspired by the giant sculptures built by TLG’s Master Model Builders. It blew my mind that rectangular LEGO bricks could be used to create round shapes, or that static characters could express emotion through a few specific part choices. I’m also a huge fan of The Muppets, and Jim Henson’s imaginative sensibility is something I try to emulate. I love assembling a motley cast of weirdos and envisioning how they might act and what kind of world they inhabit. And thus, I was inspired to create my own waist-up puppet rig for animation (also known as the “PaganoPuppet XL”). The design of these brick-built puppets has developed a lot from the original Little Guys! film. Back then, the articulation was limited to the head, neck, hands, and facial features. For LGIS, I upgraded the rigs so that the arms are now fully articulated. The body of the puppet is also more versatile—it can sit flat on a tabletop or be attached to a tripod using a custom glued base I built out of modified Technic parts. I created two PaganoPuppet XL templates in LDraw: One for child-sized bodies (15 bricks tall, 16 studs wide), and one for adult-sized bodies (20 bricks tall, 20 studs wide).

The heads of all the characters are about the same size: Typically, around 16-18 bricks tall. When it comes to designing individual characters, I start by thinking about their personality and their role in the film. I then use my LDraw templates as a basis for figuring out facial and wardrobe details. Sometimes my design inspiration comes from a single element I know I want to use. For the “Future War Soldier Mom” in LGIS (seen above), I knew I wanted to use pirate ship hulls as shoulder pads, and I went from there. One unusual aspect of LGIS is that several of the characters were caricatures of my Kickstarter supporters. These lucky backers sent me photos of themselves from both a front and profile view, and I used those photos as a reference to sketch out their heads on LEGO graph paper. Some of the backers appear as their human selves, while others are part of the “alien council” at the end of the film. Having further developed and finessed the PaganoPuppet XL throughout the making of LGIS, it’s exciting to now have a robust template for creating all kinds of new characters in the future. A few of my close friends have strongly discouraged me from even joking about a third Little Guys! film (for at least the next couple of years). But I already have a few ideas for where 73 the franchise could go next.

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BRICKJOURNAL #58

LEGO WARBIRDS, PAST AND PRESENT! JEFF CHERRY’S WWII and modern fighters (P-51 Mustang and F-14 Tomcat), RALPH SAVELSBURG’S BrickJournal exclusive X-plane, MICHAEL BROWN’S F-14 Tomcat “Vandy One”, step-by-step LEGO instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd’s DIY Fan Art with TOMMY WILLIAMSON, Minifigure Customization with JARED K. BURKS, and more! SHIPS JULY 2019!

BRICKJOURNAL #57

MICROSCALE LEGO BUILDING! Tour WAYNE TYLER’S National Mall (Washington, DC) layout, skyscrapers from ROCCO BUTTLIERE, BRANDON GRIFFITH’S Battlestar Galactica model, step-by-step LEGO instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd’s DIY Fan Art with TOMMY WILLIAMSON, Minifigure Customization with JARED K. BURKS, and more! SHIPS MAY 2019!

OUTER SPACE

BRICKJOURNAL #6

CLASSIC SPACE SETS and new ones, BRANDON GRIFFITH shows his STAR TREK MODELS, LEGO set designers discuss their work creating the SPACE POLICE with PIRATE SETS, POWER FUNCTIONS TRAIN DEVELOPMENT, the world’s TALLEST LEGO TOWER, MINIFIGURE CUSTOMIZATION, plus coverage of BRICKFEST 2009 and more!

BRICKJOURNAL #17

LEGO SPACE WAR issue! A STARFIGHTER BUILDING LESSON by Peter Reid, WHY SPACE MARINES ARE SO POPULAR by Mark Stafford, a trip behind the scenes of LEGO’S ALIEN CONQUEST SETS, plus JARED K. BURKS’ column on MINIFIGURE CUSTOMIZATION, building tips, event reports, our step-by-step “YOU CAN BUILD IT” INSTRUCTIONS, and more!

BRICKJOURNAL #24

BRICKJOURNAL #46

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

BRICKJOURNAL #54

FOR YOUR EYES ONLY: A covert Dossier on Taiwan’s HSINWEI CHI and his revolutionary LEGO animals and giant robots! We also declassify other top LEGO builders’ creations, including MICHAEL BROWN’s colossal Technic-scale F-18 Hornet! Plus: Minifigure customizing from JARED K. BURKS, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd’s DIY Fan Art, & more! NOW SHIPPING!

STAR WARS™

BRICKJOURNAL #41

Space-themed LEGO creations of LIA CHAN, 2001: A Space Odyssey’s Orion space plane by NICK DEAN, and Pre-Classic Space builder CHRIS GIDDENS! Plus: JARED K. BURKS’ minifigure customizing, stepby-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd DIY Fan Art, MINDSTORMS robotics by DAMIEN KEE, and more!

TRAINS

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

BRICKJOURNAL #55

LEGO HEADS & TAILS: FELIX JAENSCH’s remarkable LEGO sculptures, from realistic animals to the human skull and amazing face masks! BRYAN BENSON’s detailed Kermorvan Lighthouse and how he built it from LEGO bricks. A spectacular Winter layout by DAVE SCHEFCIK! Plus: Minifigure customizing from JARED K. BURKS, “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd, & more! NOW SHIPPING!

BRICKJOURNAL #23

Custom creations from a long time ago and far, far away! JACOB CARPENTER’s Imperial Star Destroyer, MARK KELSO’s Invisible Hand, interview with SIMON MACDONALD about building Star Wars costume props with LEGO elements, history of the LEGO X-Wing, plus minifigure customization by JARED BURKS, “You Can Build It” instructions, and more!

BRICKJOURNAL #37

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

MECHA

BRICKJOURNAL #15

Feature editor NATHAN BRYAN spotlights mecha builders such as SAITO YOSHIKAZU, TAKAYUKI TORII, SUKYU and others! Also, a talk with BRIAN COOPER and MARK NEUMANN about their mecha creations, mecha building instructions by SAITO YOSHIKAZU, our regular columns on minifigure customization, building, event reports, and more!

BRICKJOURNAL #40

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

BRICKJOURNAL #48

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

CARS

BRICKJOURNAL #11

“Racers” theme issue, with building tips on race cars by the ARVO BROTHERS, interview with LEGO RACERS designer ANDREW WOODMAN, LEGO FORMULA ONE RACING, TECHNIC SPORTS CAR building, event reports, MINIFIGURE CUSTOMIZATION by JARED K. BURKS, MICRO BUILDING, builder spotlights, LEGO HISTORY, and more!

STEAMPUNK

BRICKJOURNAL #51

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

TECHNIC

BRICKJOURNAL #21

LINO MARTINS & NATHAN PROUDLOVE of LUGNuts share secrets behind their LEGO car creations, and present TECHNIC SUPER-CAR MODELS by PAUL BORATKO III and other top builders! Plus custom instructions by TIM GOULD & CHRISTOPHER DECK, minifigure customization by JARED BURKS, step-by-step “You Can Build It” section, and more!

BRICKJOURNAL #38

LEGO car builders STEPHAN SANDER, JORDANIAN FIRAS ABU-JABER, and ANDREA LATTANZIO! Plus: Minifigure Customization by JARED K. BURKS, AFOLs by cartoonist GREG HYLAND, step-bystep “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd Pop Art by TOMMY WILLIAMSON, MINDSTORMS robotics lessons by DAMIEN KEE, & more!

DISNEY®

BRICKJOURNAL #9

LEGO® DISNEY SETS, with features on the Disney LEGO sets of the past (MICKEY and MINNIE) and present (TOY STORY and PRINCE OF PERSIA)! We also present Disney models built by LEGO fans, and a look at the newest Master Build model at WALT DISNEY WORLD, plus articles and instructions on building and customization, and more!

BRICKJOURNAL #44

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

BRICKJOURNAL #29

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

CASTLES

BRICKJOURNAL #25

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

SCULPTURE

BRICKJOURNAL #12

Back-to-school sculptures by NATHAN SAWAYA, LEGO builder MARCOS BESSA’s creations, ANGUS MACLANE’s CubeDudes, a Nepali Diorama by JORDAN SCHWARTZ, instructions to build a school bus, MINIFIG CUSTOMIZATION by JARED K. BURKS, how a POWER MINERS model became one for ATLANTIS, building standards, and much more!

BRICKJOURNAL #18

Two JAPANESE LEGO FAN EVENTS, plus a look at JAPAN’S SACRED LEGO LAND, Nasu Highland Park—the site of BrickFan events and a pilgrimage site for many Japanese LEGO fans. Also, a feature on JAPAN’S TV CHAMPIONSHIP OF LEGO, a look at the CLICKBRICK LEGO SHOPS in Japan, plus how to get into TECHNIC BUILDING, LEGO EDUCATION, and more!

BRICKJOURNAL #31

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

BRICKJOURNAL #49

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

BRICKJOURNAL #45

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

DINOSAURS

BRICKJOURNAL #52

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

BRICKJOURNAL #39

WILLIAM PUGH discusses building prehistoric creatures, a LEGO Jurassic World by DIEGO MAXIMINO PRIETO ALVAREZ, and dino bones by MATT SAILORS! Plus: Minifigure Customization by JARED K. BURKS, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, DIY Fan Art by BrickNerd TOMMY WILLIAMSON, and more!

SUPER-HEROES

BRICKJOURNAL #20

Behind-the-scenes of the DC and Marvel Comics sets, plus a feature on GREG HYLAND, the artist of the superhero comic books in each box! Also, other superhero work by ALEX SCHRANZ and our cover artist OLIVIER CURTO. Plus, JARED K. BURKS’ regular column on minifigure customization, building tips, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions, and more!

BRICKJOURNAL #32

LEGO ARTISTRY with builder/photographer CHRIS McVEIGH; mosaic builders BRIAN KORTE, DAVE WARE and DAVE SHADDIX; and sculptors SEAN KENNEY (about his nature models) and ED DIMENT (about a full-size bus stop built with LEGO bricks)! Plus Minifigure Customization by JARED K. BURKS, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions, and more!

GAMING

BRICKJOURNAL #34

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

MINDSTORMS & ROBOTICS

BRICKJOURNAL #5

MINDSTORMS 10th ANNIVERSARY at LEGO HEADQUARTERS, Pixar’s ANGUS MACLANE on LEGO in filmmaking, the LEGO Group’s past with the DIRECTOR OF LEGO’S IDEA HOUSE, event reports, how SEAN KENNEY’s LEGO creations ended up on NBC’S 30 ROCK television show, instructions and spotlights on builders, and more!

BRICKJOURNAL #33

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

BRICKJOURNAL #42

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

ARCHITECTURE

BRICKJOURNAL #43

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

BRICKJOURNAL #53

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

UNDERSEA

BRICKJOURNAL #10

Looks at the creation of LEGO’S ATLANTIS sets, plus a spotlight on a fan-created underwater theme, the SEA MONKEYS, with builder FELIX GRECO! Also, a report on the LEGO WORLD convention in the NETHERLANDS, builder spotlights, stepby-step building instructions, minifigure customization by JARED BURKS, LEGO history, and more!

MICROSCALE

BRICKJOURNAL #47

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

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TwoMorrows. BRICKJOURNAL #7

Focuses on the new LEGO ARCHITECTURE line, with a look at the new sets designed by ADAM REED TUCKER, plus interviews with other architectural builders, including SPENCER REZKALLA. Also, behind the scenes on the creation of POWER MINERS and the GRAND CAROUSEL, a LEGO BATTLESHIP over 20 feet long, reports from LEGO events worldwide, and more!

BRICKJOURNAL #30

LEGO ARCHITECTURE with JONATHAN LOPES, a microscale model of Copenhagen by ULRIK HANSEN, and a look at the LEGO MUSEUM being constructed in Denmark! Plus Minifigure Customization by JARED BURKS, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd DIY Fan Art by TOMMY WILLIAMSON, and more!

BRICKJOURNAL #35

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

BRICKJOURNAL #36

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

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

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Last Word It’s January as I am writing this. Another snow has hit town, and so things are quiet. Finishing this particular issue has also been quiet too, which is nice. Next issue we get small with microscale building, which I love to build in. You’re going to have a lot of fun reading and seening what is in store for #57! Til then, Build on! That Joe Meno Guy

From WOODSTOCK to THE BANANA SPLITS, from SGT. PEPPER to H.R. PUFNSTUF, from ALTAMONT to THE PARTRIDGE FAMILY, GROOVY is a far-out trip to the era of lava lamps and love beads. This profusely illustrated HARDCOVER BOOK, in PSYCHEDELIC COLOR, features interviews with icons of grooviness such as PETER MAX, BRIAN WILSON, PETER FONDA, MELANIE, DAVID CASSIDY, members of the JEFFERSON AIRPLANE, CREAM, THE DOORS, THE COWSILLS and VANILLA FUDGE; and cast members of groovy TV shows like THE MONKEES, LAUGH-IN and THE BRADY BUNCH. GROOVY revisits the era’s ROCK FESTIVALS, MOVIES, ART—even COMICS and CARTOONS, from the 1968 ‘mod’ WONDER WOMAN to R. CRUMB. A color-saturated pop-culture history written and designed by MARK VOGER (author of the acclaimed book MONSTER MASH), GROOVY is one trip that doesn’t require dangerous chemicals! (192-page FULL-COLOR HARDCOVER) $39.95 • Digital Edition: $13.95 • ISBN: 9781605490809 Diamond Comic Distributors Order Code: JUL172227

LOU SCHEIMER

CREATING THE FILMATION GENERATION Hailed as one of the fathers of Saturday morning television, LOU SCHEIMER was the co-founder of FILMATION STUDIOS, which for over 25 years provided animated excitement for TV and film. Always at the forefront, Scheimer’s company created the first DC cartoons with SUPERMAN, BATMAN, and AQUAMAN, ruled the song charts with THE ARCHIES, kept Trekkie hope alive with the Emmy-winning STAR TREK: THE ANIMATED SERIES, taught morals with FAT ALBERT AND THE COSBY KIDS, and swung into high adventure with TARZAN, THE LONE RANGER, ZORRO, HE-MAN, MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE, live-action shows SHAZAM!, THE SECRETS OF ISIS, JASON OF STAR COMMAND and others. Now, LOU SCHEIMER tells the entire story to bestselling author (and RETROFAN columnist) ANDY MANGELS, including how his father decked ADOLF HITLER, memories of the comics of the Golden Age, schooling with ANDY WARHOL, and what it meant to lead the last all-American animation company through nearly thirty years of innovation and fun! Profusely illustrated with PHOTOS, MODEL SHEETS, STORYBOARDS, PRESENTATION ART, looks at RARE AND UNPRODUCED SERIES, and more—plus stories from TOP ANIMATION INSIDERS about Scheimer and the story behind Filmation’s stories!

By RetroFan’s ANDY MANGELS!

(288-page trade paperback with COLOR) $29.95 • (Digital Edition) $14.95 • ISBN: 9781605490441 Diamond Comic Distributors Order Code: JUL121245

HERO-A-GO-GO!

Welcome to the CAMP AGE, when spies liked their wars cold and their women warm, good guys beat bad guys with a pun and a punch, and Batman shook a mean cape. HERO-A-GO-GO celebrates the camp craze of the Swinging Sixties, when just about everyone—the teens of Riverdale, an ant and a squirrel, even the President of the United States—was a super-hero or a secret agent. BACK ISSUE magazine and former DC Comics editor MICHAEL EURY takes you through that coolest cultural phenomenon with this all-new collection of nostalgic essays, histories, and theme song lyrics of classic 1960s characters like CAPTAIN ACTION, HERBIE THE FAT FURY, CAPTAIN NICE, ATOM ANT, SCOOTER, ACG’s NEMESIS, DELL’S SUPER-FRANKENSTEIN and DRACULA, the “Split!” CAPTAIN MARVEL, and others! Featuring interviews with BILL MUMY (Lost in Space), BOB HOLIDAY (It’s a Bird … It’s a Plane … It’s Superman), RALPH BAKSHI (The Mighty Heroes, Spider-Man), DEAN TORRENCE (Jan and Dean Meet Batman), RAMONA FRADON (Metamorpho), DICK DeBARTOLO (Captain Klutz), TONY TALLARICO (The Great Society Comic Book), VINCE GARGIULO (Palisades Park historian), JOE SINNOTT (The Beatles comic book), JOSE DELBO (The Monkees comic book), & more! (272-page FULL-COLOR TRADE PAPERBACK) $36.95 • (Digital Edition) $13.95 • ISBN: 978-1-60549-073-1 Diamond Comic Distributors Order Code: JAN172100

TwoMorrows. The Future of Pop History.

TwoMorrows Publishing • 10407 Bedfordtown Drive • Raleigh, NC 27614 USA

By M EURY ICHAEL , edito r of

Phone: 919-449-0344 E-mail: store@twomorrows.com Web: www.twomorrows.com

Relive The Pop Culture You Grew Up With!

Remember when Saturday morning television was our domain, and ours alone? When tattoos came from bubble gum packs, Slurpees came in superhero cups, and TV heroes taught us to be nice to each other? Those were the happy days of the Sixties, Seventies, and Eighties— our childhood—and that is the era of TwoMorrows’ new magazine RETROFAN!

#5: Interviews with MARK HAMILL and Greatest American Hero’s WILLIAM KATT! Blast off with JASON OF STAR COMMAND! Stop by the MUSEUM OF POPULAR CULTURE! Poke fun at a campy BATMAN COMIC BOOK! Plus: “The First Time I Met Tarzan,” MAJOR MATT MASON, Moon Landing Mania, SNUFFY SMITH at 100 with cartoonist JOHN ROSE, TV Dinners, Celebrity Crushes, and more fun, fab features! SHIPS JUNE 2019! #6: Interviews with crazy creepster SVENGOOLIE and Eddie Munster himself, BUTCH PATRICK! Call on the original Saturday Morning Ghost Busters, with BOB BURNS! Uncover the nutty Naugas! Plus: “My Life in the Twilight Zone,” “I Was a Teenage James Bond,” “My Letters to Famous People,” the ARCHIEDOBIE GILLIS connection, the PINBALL Hall of Fame, Super Collector DAVID MANDEL’s comic art collection, Alien action figures, the RUBIK’S CUBE fad, and more fun, fab features! SHIPS SEPTEMBER 2019!

Please add $1 per issue for shipping in the US.

RETROFAN #1

RETROFAN #2

RETROFAN #3

RETROFAN #4

THE CRAZY, COOL CULTURE WE GREW UP WITH! LOU FERRIGNO interview, The Phantom in Hollywood, Filmation’s Star Trek cartoon, “How I Met Lon Chaney, Jr.”, goofy comic Zody the Mod Rob, Mego’s rare Elastic Hulk toy, RetroTravel to Mount Airy, NC (the real-life Mayberry), interview with BETTY LYNN (“Thelma Lou” of The Andy Griffith Show), TOM STEWART’s eclectic House of Collectibles, and Mr. Microphone!

HALLOWEEN! Horror-hosts ZACHERLEY, VAMPIRA, SEYMOUR, MARVIN, and an interview with our cover-featured ELVIRA! THE GROOVIE GOOLIES, BEWITCHED, THE ADDAMS FAMILY, and THE MUNSTERS! The long-buried Dinosaur Land amusement park! History of BEN COOPER HALLOWEEN COSTUMES, character lunchboxes, superhero VIEW-MASTERS, SINDY (the British Barbie), and more!

40th Anniversary interview with SUPERMAN: THE MOVIE director RICHARD DONNER, IRWIN ALLEN’s sci-fi universe, Saturday morning’s undersea adventures of Aquaman, horror and sci-fi zines of the Sixties and Seventies, Spider-Man and Hulk toilet paper, RetroTravel to METROPOLIS, IL (home of the Superman Celebration), SEA-MONKEYS®, FUNNY FACE beverages, Superman and Batman memorabilia, & more!

Interviews with the SHAZAM! TV show’s JOHN (Captain Marvel) DAVEY and MICHAEL (Billy Batson) Gray, the GREEN HORNET in Hollywood, remembering monster maker RAY HARRYHAUSEN, the way-out Santa Monica Pacific Ocean Amusement Park, a Star Trek Set Tour, SAM J. JONES on the Spirit movie pilot, British sci-fi TV classic THUNDERBIRDS, Casper & Richie Rich museum, the KING TUT fad, and more!

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